REPLIES.

THE PASSAGE IN TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

(Vol. ii., p. 386.)

The oldest edition of this play is the quarto of 1609, in which the passage referred to stands thus:—

This reading, by stopping the sense at "holy," renders less likely to be correct the emendation of Tyrwhitt, adopted by Malone:—

Dr. Johnson observes, "This is so oddly confused in the folio, that I transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness:—

With reference to these particulars, I should be glad if you would allow me to propose a reading which has not yet been suggested:—

The meaning being, it is as unlawful to do hurt by being just, as it would be to give to a robbery, or to rob for a charity; to assist a bad cause by a good deed, or a good cause by a bad deed.

The word "count," in its second occurrence, was inserted by the printer in the wrong line; when it is restored to its proper place, the passage presents but little difficulty.

JOHN TAYLOR.

BLACK IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN.

(Vol. ii., p. 510.)

Your correspondent, MR. HOLT WHITE, throws cut a suggestion relative to the origin of the black doll as a sign at old store shops, which is ingenious, but not very probable. The images of black virgins are confined, I believe, to the south of Europe, with the exception of the celebrated shrine of Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The origin of the colour appears to be oriental, as MR. W. surmises. I send the following extract, in answer to his query on the subject. It is a quotation from Grimm, in M. Michelet's Introduction to Universal History; and, as your readers must be all familiar with the language of the gifted historian, I will not make the attempt to convey his brilliant style into another tongue.

"Une des idées qui reviennent le plus dans nos meistersinger, dit Grimm, c'est la comparaison de l'incarnation de Jésus Christ avec l'aurore d'un nouveau soleil. Toute religion avait eu son soleil-dieu, et dès le quatrième siècle l'église occidentale célèbre la naissance du Christ au jour où le soleil remonte, au 25 Décembre, c'est-à-dire, au jour où l'on célébrait la naissance du soleil invincible. C'est un rapport évident avec le soleil-dieu Mithra. On lit encore, dans nos poètes, que Jésus à sa naissance reposait sur le sein de Marie, comme un oiseau, qui, le soir, se réfugie dans une fleur de nuit éclose au milieu de la mer. Quel rapport rémarquable avec le mythe de la naissance de Brama, enfermé dans le lis des eaux, le lotus, jusqu'au jour où la fleur fut ouverte par les rayons du soleil, c'est-à-dire, par Vischnou lui-même, qui avait produit cette fleur. Le Christ, le Nouveau-jour, est né de la nuit, c'est-à-dire de Marie la Noire, dont les pied reposent sur la lune, et dont la tête est couronnée de planètes comme d'un brillant diadême. (Voyez les tableaux d'Albert Dürer.) Ainsi reparaît, comme dans l'ancien culte, cette grande divinité, appelée tour-à-tour Maïa, Bhawani, Isis, Cérès, Proserpine, Perséphone. Reine du ciel, elle est la nuit d'où sort la vie, et où toute vie se replonge; mystérieuse réunion de la vie et de la mort. Elle s'appelle aussi la rosée, et dans les mythes allemands, la rosée est considérée comme le principe qui reproduit et redonne la vie. Elle n'est pas seulement la nuit, mais comme mère du soleil, elle est aussi l'aurore devant qui les planètes brillent et s'empressent, comme pour Perséphone. Lorsqu'elle signifie la terre, comme Cérès, elle est représentée avec la gerbe de blé; elle est Perséphone, la graine de semence; comme cette déesse, elle a sa faucille: c'est la demi-lune qui repose sous ses pieds. Enfin, comme la déesse d'Ephèse, la triste Cérès et Proserpine, elle est belle et brillante, et cependant sombre et noire, selon l'expression du Cantique des Cantiques: 'Je suis noir, mais pleine de charmes, le soleil m'a brûlée' (le Christ). Encore aujourd'hui, l'image de la mère de Dieu est noire à Naples, comme à Einsiedeln en Suisse. Elle unit ainsi le jour et la nuit, la joie avec la tristesse, le soleil et la lune (chaleur, humidité), le terrestre et le céleste."

This fragment is, perhaps, rather too long; but I think your readers will consider it too beautiful to abridge. The late G. Higgins, in his Anacalepsis (ii. 100.), has some observations to the same purport, and points out the resemblance of some of the old Italian paintings of the Virgin and Child to Egyptian representations of Isis and the infant Horus.

Many of these ideas have been taken up by the free-masons, and are typified and symbolised in their initiatory ceremonies.

J.B. DITCHFIELD.

OUTLINE IN PAINTING.

A correspondent (J.O.W.H.) at p. 318. of Vol. i. asks a question on the subject of outline in painting; instancing the works of Albert Durer and Raffaelle as examples of defined, and those of Titian, Murillo, &c., of indefined outline. He wishes to know whether there is "a right and a wrong in the matter, apart from anything which men call taste?"

The subject generally is a curious one, and has interested me for some time; as experiments exhibit several singular phenomena resulting from the interference and diffraction of rays of light in passing by the outline of a material body. As a matter of fact, I believe I may say, that there is no such thing in nature as a perfectly defined outline; since the diffraction of the rays, in passing it, causes them to be projected upon it more or less, according to the nature of the particular body, and the intensity of the light. And I may remark, by the way, that I believe this circumstance of the projection of a star upon the moon's disc at the time of an occultation, is to be accounted for on this principle (though with all due deference to higher authority); a phenomenon which is to this day unexplained.

Of course every outline is rendered less defined by any motion of the eye of the observer, however slight. Hence, perhaps, the comparative indistinctness of outline commonly seen in pictures, compared with those in nature; as the artist would be apt to take advantage of this circumstance, and give to his painting the same kind of effect the reality would have to an eye wandering over it; thereby taking away the attention from individual parts, and, as it were, forcing it to judge of the general effect, which general effect is, perhaps, the main object in painting.

Hence it follows that wherever, in any design, separate portions are intended to arrest attention, the outline should be more defined and, accordingly, we may remark that Albert Durer, and others like him, who were very careful of minutiæ, are also distinct and hard in their outlines, which is also the case, for the most part, in the Dutch school, and in architectural paintings, fruit-pieces, &c.; and we find that in proportion as the artist discards the comparatively unworthy minute accompaniments of his subject, and aims at unity of effect, so does he neglect sharpness of outline. Which is the correct practice—distinctness, or indistinctness of outline—will be differently judged by those who hold different opinions on painting in general. While one person will maintain that a picture, to be perfect, must be an exact copy of nature, in short an artistic daguerreotype; another will hold almost the contrary; so that the subject of outline must be matter of opinion still. However, the lover of general effect has this rational ground of argument on his side, viz., there is no such thing as a strictly defined outline in nature, even to an eye at rest; while to one in motion, which is perhaps the normal state, that outline is rendered still more indistinct.

H.C.K.

—— Rectory, Hereford, Dec. 28. 1850.

TEN CHILDREN AT A BIRTH.

(Vol. ii., p. 459.)

The curiosity excited by the perusal of my previous communication under the foregoing head, and the interesting editorial note appended in "NOTES AND QUERIES," induce me to continue the attempt to verify one of the most remarkable instances of abnormal fecundity in an individual of the human species recorded in modern times. The reader must judge of the following "circumstantial evidence:"—

1. I have just seen widow Platts (formerly Sarah Birch), a poor, fat, decent woman, who keeps a small greengrocer's shop, in West Bar, Sheffield. She says she was born in Spring Street in the same town, on the 29th Sept. 1781; well remembers wondering why she was so much looked at when a girl: and her surprise, when afterwards told by her mother, that she was one of ten children born at the same time. Had often been told that she was so small at birth, that she was readily put into a quart measure; and for some time, lay in a basket before the fire "wrapped in a flannel like a newly hatched chicken."

2. The improbability of finding any living gossip who was present at the birth, must be obvious: but I have conversed with old women who had heard their mothers describe the occurrence from personal knowledge.

3. One ancient dame had no more doubt of the fact than the cause of it. Having apparently heard and believed a monstrous tradition of a multitudinous gestation extant in common "folklore." "It was," said she, with all gravity, "the effect of a wish," intended to spite the father; who, having had two children by his wife, and an interval of nine years elapsing before the portentous pregnancy in question, did not desire, it seems, any further increase to his family.

4. The parents died, the daughter married, and the "story of her birth" was forgotten: until the publication of White's Sheffield Directory in 1833, when, among other local memorabilia, the strange announcement of "ten children at birth," was reproduced on the contemporary authority of the Leeds Mercury. From that time Mrs. Platts has been more or less an object of curiosity.

5. The Directory paragraph is as follows:—

"An instance of extraordinary fecundity is recorded in the Leeds Mercury of 1781, which says that Ann [Sarah] Birch, of Sheffield, was, in that year, delivered of ten children!!! We, in our time, have heard of Sheffield ladies having three children at birth; but we know no other case, but that of the aforesaid Mrs. Birch, which countenances the fructiferous fame which they have obtained in some circles."

I have been unsuccessful in an effort to collate the foregoing with the original newspaper paragraph: but Mr. White, while he personally assured me of the veracity of the transcript, also pointed out to me an earlier version of the same fact from the same source in the Annals of the Clothing Districts, published about thirty years since.

6. In conformity with the suggestion (NOTES AND QUERIES, Vol. ii., p. 459), I have examined the Parish Register of Baptisms, but the entry is as curt and formal as possible, viz.:—

"Sarah, Dr. of Thos. and Sarah Birch, Cutler,"

under the date, Dec. 12.1781.

Taking all the foregoing circumstances into account, there seems to me little ground for the erection of any strong objection to the alleged fact—extraordinary as it is—of ten children having been brought forth at one time; or, to the hardly less interesting coincidence, that one of them is still living. I cannot but add, that if the contemporary notice of this extraordinary birth in the Leeds Mercury of 1781 should not be admitted as good evidence for the fact, it does, at least, negative the presumptive value of any objection derived from the silence of the writer in the Philosophical Transactions six years afterwards; strange as such silence assuredly appears. After all, the question occurs: What has become of the bodies said to have been preserved? As all parties concur in naming "old Mr. Staniforth" as the accoucheur in attendance on Mrs. Birch; and as that gentleman has been dead many years, I called upon his eldest surviving pupil, Mr. Nicholson, surgeon, to ask him whether, in conversation, or among the preparations in the surgery of his worthy master, he had ever met with any illustration of the parturition in question? He replied that he had not. It may not, perhaps, be out of place here to mention that the above-named Mr. Nicholson, surgeon, himself delivered a poor woman of five children, on the 10th of February, 1829, at Handsworth Woodhouse, near Sheffield. This case was even more remarkable than that which gave occasion to the paper which was read before the Royal Society in 1787, inasmuch as not only were four of the children born alive, but three of them lived to be baptized.

N.D.

Sheffield, Jan. 13. 1851.

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF "CAPTIOUS."

(Vol. ii., p. 354.)

In All's Well that Ends Well, Act I. Sc. 3., Helena says to the Countess, speaking of her love for Bertram,—

It is not without hesitation that I venture to oppose MR. SINGER on a point on which he is so well entitled to give an opinion. But I cannot help thinking that MR. SINGER'S explanation, besides being somewhat too refined and recondite, is less applicable to the general sense and drift of the passage than that of Steevens, which Malone and Mr. Collier have adopted.

What I think wanting to Steevens' interpretation, is an increase, if I may so express myself, of intensity. He takes the word, I conceive, in its right bearing, but does not give it all the requisite force. I should suggest that it means not merely "recipient, capable of receiving," but, to coin a word, captatious, eager or greedy to receive, absorbing; as we say avidum mare, or a greedy gulf. The Latin analogous to it in this sense would be, not capax, or MR. SINGER'S captiosus, but captax, or captabundus; neither of which words, however, occurs.

The sense of the word, like that of many others in the same author, must be determined by the scope and object of the passage in which it is used. The object of Helena, in declaring her love to the Countess, is to show the all-absorbing nature of it; to prove that she is tota in illo; and that, however she may strive to stop the cravings of it, her endeavours are of no more use than the attempt to fill up a bottomless abyss.

The reader may, if he pleases, compare her case with that of other heroines in like predicaments. Thus Medæa, in Apollonius Rhodius:

"Παντη μοι φρενες εισιν αμηχανοι, ουδε τις αλκη Πηματος."

And the same lady in Ovid:

Or Dido, in Virgil or Ovid:

Or Phædra, in Seneca:

The complaints of all are alike; they lament that they make attempts to resist their passion, but find it not to be resisted; that they are obliged at last to yield themselves entirely to it, and to feel their whole thoughts, as it were, swallowed up by it.

Such being the way in which Shakspeare represents Helena, and such the sentiments which he puts into her mouth, it seems evident that the interpretation of captious in the sense of absorbent is better adapted to the passage than the explanation of it in the sense of fallacious.

"I know I love in vain, and strive against hope; yet into this insatiable and unretaining sieve I still pour in the waters of my love, and fail not to lose still."

I said that the sense of fallacious seemed to be too refined and recondite. To believe that Shakspeare borrowed his captious in this sense, from the Latin captiosus, we must suppose that he was well acquainted with the exact sense of the Latin word; a supposition which, in regard to a man who had small Latin, we can scarcely be justified in entertaining. This interpretation is, therefore, too recondite: and to imagine Helena as applying the word to Bertram as being "incapable of receiving her love," and "truly captious" (or deceitful and ensnaring) "in that respect," is surely to indulge in too much refinement of exposition.

That Shakspeare had in his mind, as MR. SINGER suggests, the punishment of the Danaides, is extremely probable; but this only makes the explanation of captious in the sense of absorbent more applicable to the passage, with which that of Seneca, quoted above, may be aptly compared.

I am sorry that Johnson was so unfortunate as to propose carious as an emendation; but even in doing this, he had, according to my notion of the lines, the right sense in view, viz., that of letting through or swallowing up, like a rotten tub or a quicksand.

I hope that MR. SINGER will take these remarks in good part, as being offered, not from a wish to oppose his opinion, but from a conviction that the interpretation now given is right, and from a desire that to every word in Shakspeare should be assigned its true signification.

J.S.W.

Stockwell.

SWORD OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.

(Vol. iii., p. 24.)

There can be little doubt that the sword respecting which P. inquires is in the armoury at Goodrich Court. It was presented by Lord Viscount Gage to the late Sir Samuel Meyrick, and exhibited by Dr. Meyrick to the Society of Antiquaries, Nov. 23. 1826. The Doctor's letter is to be found in the Appendix to the Archæologia of that date, with an engraving of the sword. He states that the arms on the pommel are those of Battle Abbey, that its date is about A.D. 1430, and that it was the symbol of the criminal jurisdiction of the abbot. At the dissolution of the abbey it fell into the hands of Sir John Gage, who was one of the commissioners for taking the surrender of religious houses.

Its entire length is 3 feet 5 inches, and the breadth of the blade at the guard 2 inches. The Doctor considers it to be "the oldest perfect sword in England." The arms are a cross, with a crown in the first and last quarters, and a sword in the second and third. There are also the letters T.L., the initials of the Abbot, Thomas de Lodelow, who held that office from 1417 to 1437. This fixes its date in the reign of Henry V., though the fact of the first William having been the founder of Battle Abbey has given colour to the tradition of its having been his property.

W.J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

I much doubt the fact of the Conqueror's sword ever having been in the possession of the monks of Battle. Nor am I aware of any writer contemporary with the dissolution of that famous abbey who asserts it. William's royal robe, adorned with precious gems, and a feretory in the form of an altar, inclosing 300 relics of the saints, were bequeathed by him to the monastery; and Rufus transmitted them to Battle, where they were duly received on the 8th of the calends of November, 1088. This information is furnished by the Chronicle of Battel Abbey, which I have just translated for the press; but not one word is said of the sword.

Though I have always lived within a few miles of Firle Place, the seat of the Gages, and though I am tolerably well acquainted with the history and traditions of that noble family, I never heard of the sword mentioned by P. Had that relic really been preserved at Battle till the time of Henry VIII., it is not improbable that it might have come into Sir John Gage's hands with the manor of Aleiston, of which he was grantee, while his son-in-law, Sir Anthony Browne, became possessor of the abbey itself.

Will P. have the goodness to mention the source from which he obtained his statement?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

In reply to the Query respecting the sword of William the Conqueror (Vol. iii., p. 24.), I am enabled to inform you that the sword, and also the coronation robes, of William the Conqueror, were, together with the original "Roll of Battel," kept in the church or chapel of Battel Abbey until it was dismantled at the Reformation; when they were transferred to the part of the abbey which remained, and which became the possession and habitation of Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse to Henry VIII. These precious relics continued in the possession of his descendants, who were created Lords Mountacute; and when Battel Abbey was sold by them to the ancestor of the present owner, they conveyed them to Cowdray Park, Sussex, where they remained until they were destroyed in the lamentable fire which burned down that mansion; and which, by a singular coincidence, took place on the same day that its owner, the last male representative of the Brownes Lords Mountacute, was drowned in a rash attempt to descend the falls of Schaffhausen in a boat.

E.H.Y.

MEANING OF EISELL.

(Vol. ii., pp. 241. 286. 315. 329)

After all that has been written on this subject in "NOTES AND QUERIES," from MR. SINGER'S proposition of wormwood in No. 46., to MR. HICKSON'S approval of it in No. 51., the question remains substantially where Steevens and Malone had left it so many years agone.

It is not necessary to discuss whether vinegar, verjuice, or wormwood be the preferable translation of the Shakspearian word; for before either of them can be received, the advocate is bound to accommodate his exposition to Shakspeare's sentence, and to "get over the drink up," which still stands in his way as it did in that of Malone.

MR. SINGER get over the difficulty by simply saying "to drink up was commonly used for simply to drink." The example he quotes, however,—

is not to his purpose; it is only an equivalent by the addition of the words "potions of" to give it the same definite character. Omit those words, and the question remains as before.

MR. HICKSON (Vol. ii., p. 329.) has laid down "a canon of criticism for the guidance of commentators in questions of this nature," so appropriate and valuable, that I cannot except to be bound by it in these remarks; and if in the sequel his own argument (and his friend's proposition to boot) shall be blown up by his own petard, it will show the instability of the cause he has espoused.

"Master the grammatical construction of the passage in question (if from a drama, in it dramatic and scenic application), deducing therefrom the general sense, before you attempt to amend or fix the meaning of a doubtful word."

Such is the canon; and Mr. HICKSON proceeds to observe, in language that must meet the approval of every student of the immortal bard, that—

"Of all writers, none exceed Shakspeare in logical correctness and nicety of expression. With a vigour of though and command of language attained by no man besides, it is fair to conclude, that he would not be guilty of faults of construction such as would disgrace a schoolboy's composition."

With this canon so ably laid down, and these remarks so apposite, MR. HICKSON, taking up the weak point which Mr. SINGER had slurred over, observes—

"Drink up is synonymous with drink off, drink to the dregs. A child taking medicine is urged to 'drink it up.'"

Ay, exactly so; drink up what? the medicine; again a defined quantity; dregs and all,—still a definite quantity.

MR. HICKSON proceeds:

"The idea of the passage appears to be that each of the acts should go beyond the last preceding in extravagance.

and then comes the climax—'eat a crocodile?' Here is a regular succession of feats, the last but one of which is sufficiently wild, though not unheard of, and leading to the crowning extravagance. The notion of drinking up a river would be both unmeaning and out of place."

From this argument two conclusions are the natural consequences: first, that from drinking up wormwood,—a feat "sufficiently wild but not unheard of," to eating a crocodile, is only a "regular succession of events;" and, secondly, that the "crowning extravagance," to eat a crocodile, is, after all, neither "unmeaning" nor "out of place;" but, on the contrary, quite in keeping and in orderly succession to a "drink up" of the bitter infusion.

MR. SINGER (vol. ii., p. 241.) says:

"Numerous passages of our old dramatic writers show that it was a fashion with the gallants of the time to do some extravagant feat as proof of their love."

I quite agree with him, if he mean to say that the early dramatists ascribe to their gallants a fashion which in reality belongs to the age of Du Gueslin and the Troubadours. But Hamlet himself, in the context of the passage in question, gives the key to his whole purport, when, after some further extravagance, he says:

That being so, why are we to conclude that each feat of daring is to be a tame possibility, save only the last—the crowning extravagance? Why not also the one preceding? Why not a feat equally of mere verbiage and rant? Why not a river?

Adopting MR. HICKSON'S canon of criticism, the grammatical construction of the passage requires that a definite substantive shall be employed to explain the definite something that is to be done. Shakspeare says—

—a totality in itself, without the expression of quantity to make it definite. If we read "drink up wormwood," what does it imply? It may be the smallest possible quantity,—an ordinary dose of bitters; or a pailful, which would perhaps meet the "madness" of Hamlet's daring. Thus the little monosyllable "up" must be disposed of, or a quantity must be expressed to reconcile MR. SINGER'S proposition with Mr. HICKSON'S canon and the grammatical sense of Shakspeare's line.

If with Steevens we understand esile to be a river, "the Danish river Œsil, which empties itself into the Baltic," the Yssel, Wessel, or any other river, real or fictitious, the sense is clear. Rather let Shakspeare have committed a geographical blunder on the information of his day, than break Priscian's head by modern interpretation of his words. If we read "drink up esile" as one should say, "woul't drink up Thames?"—a task as reasonably impossible as setting it on fire (nevertheless a proverbial expression of a thirsty soul, "He'll drink the Thames dry"),—the task is quite in keeping with the whole tenor of Hamlet's extravagant rant.

H.K.S.C.

Brixton.

ALTAR LIGHTS, ETC.

(Vol. ii., p. 495. Vol. iii., p. 30.)

The following passage from the works of a deeply pious and learned Caroline Divine, which I have never before seen quoted, merits, I think, a place in "NOTES AND QUERIES:"—

"As our Lord himself, so his Gospel also, is called Light, and was therefore anciently never read without a burning taper, 'etiam Sole rutilante' ('tis Saint Hierome's testimony), though it were lighted in the sun.... The careful Church, perceiving that God was so much taken with this outward symbol of the Light, could do no less than go on with the ceremony. Therefore, the day of Our Lord's nativity was to be called επιφανια, or, appearing of the Light; and so many tapers were to be set up the night before, as might give name to the vigil, 'Vigilia Luminum'. And the ancients did well to send lights one to another, whatsoever some think of the Christmas candle. The receiving of this Light in Baptism, though called not usually so, but φωτισμος, Illumination, which further to betoken the rites, were to celebrate this sacrament ‛απτομενων παντων των κηρων, etc., with all the tapers lighted, etc., as the order in the Euchologus. The Neophytus, also, or new convert, received a Taper lighted and delivered by the Mystagogus, which for the space of seven days after, he was to hold in his hand at Divine service, sitting in the Baptistery.

"Who perceiveth not that by this right way the Tapers came into the Church, mysteriously placed with the Gospel upon the altar as an emblem of the Truer Light?...

"The Funeral Tapers (however thought of by some) are of the same harmless import. Their meaning is, to show that the departed souls are not quite put out, but having walked here as the Children of the Light, are now going to walk before God in the Light of the Living. The sun never rose to the ancients, no, not so much as a candle was lighted, but of this signification. 'Vincamus' was their word, whensoever the Lights came in; φως γαρ την Νικην, etc., for Light (saith Phavorinus) betokeneth victory. It was to show what trust they put in the Light, in whom we are more than conquerors. Our meaning is the same when, at the bringing in of a candle, we use to put ourselves in mind of the Light of Heaven: which those who list to call superstition do but 'darken counsel by words without knowledge.' Job xxxviii. 2."—Gregorie's Works, 4th ed. p. 110. Lond. 1684.

I believe it is a fact, that in some churches (I hope not many) lamps or candles are placed on the altar unlighted during divine service. Now I would not quarrel with persons who have objections to altar lights, &c., but I have no patience with that worse than superstition which would place unlighted candles on the altar,—if they symbolize any thing, it is damnation, excommunication, misery, and dark woe.

Coming out of a church one time in which unlighted candles were ostentatiously displayed, I was forcibly reminded of an hieroglyphical of Quarles—an extinguished taper,—and under it the words, "Sine lumine inane."

I can hardly refrain from quoting here a beautiful passage from Wordsworth:

Any communication of interest of the above subject will much oblige

JARLTZBERG.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

Handbell before a Corpse (Vol. ii., p. 478.).—It is usual, at the funeral of any member of the University of Oxford, for the University marshal and bellman to attend in the character of mutes. As the procession moves along, the latter rings his bell at about half-minute time. I have witnessed it also when the deceased has been one of the family of a member of the University, and when he has been a matriculated person. I have never considered it as anything but a cast of the bellman's office, to add more solemnity to the occasion.

ב.

L—— Rectory. Somerset.

Sir George Downing (Vol. ii., pp. 464. 497.).—It may assist your querist "ALPHA," to be informed that among the monuments to the family of Pengelly, in the church of Whitchurch near Tavistock, in the county of Devon, is one to the memory of Ann, wife of Francis Pengelly, and daughter of Sir George Downing of East Hatley in the county of Cambridge, who died the 23rd of November, 1702; with the arms of Pengelly impaling Barry of six argent and gules, over all a wyvern or—for Downing.

Nicholas Downing of Exeter College, vicar of Kingsteignton, in Devon, who died in 1666, and was buried there, seems to have been of another family, as he bore a very different coat of arms.

A Lieut. Downing was buried in Charles church, Plymouth, in 1799, but the arms on his monument are not the same as either of the above.

Other than these, I know of none of the name, ancient or recent, in the county, and I shall be glad to learn on what ground Sir George Downing's family is said to be of most ancient origin in Devonshire. The name does not appear in Westcote, Pole, Prince, Risdon, or the Heralds' visitations, and the modern authorities state that the family was from Essex or Norfolk.

J.D.S.

The following memorandum I found accidentally on the margin of a MS. pedigree of Downing, but I am sorry I cannot recall the source from whence I obtained it. Possibly, however, it may assist "ALPHA" in his enquiry.

"Sir George Downing was not the son of Calibut Downing, rector of Hackney, but of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New England. Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, gives the true account of Downing's affiliation, which has been further confirmed by Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New England."

J.P.C.

Hulls, the Inventor of Steam-boats (Vol. iii., p. 23.).—Your facetious correspondent, NOCAB, may gain some information relative to his friend Jonathan Hulls, by going to the British Museum, and asking for the following book from Mr. Grenville's library.

I will give the full title and Mr. Grenville's note, as it stands in my Catalogue of the library.

GRENVILLE CATALOGUE (Vol. i. p. 351.)

"This new invented machine is a steam-boat. It entirely puts an end to the claims of America to the invention of steam navigation, and establishes for this country the honour of that important discovery."

HENRY FOSS.

42. Devonshire Street, 12. Jan. 1851.

[We are also indebted to for a reply to NOCAB'S query.]

"The lucky have whole days" (Vol. i., pp. 231. 351.).—I can inform your correspondents P.S. and H.H., that the passage in question is correctly quoted by the latter at p. 351., and that it is to be found in Dryden's Tyrannic Love.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, West Indies, Nov. 1850

"Clarum et venerabile nomen" (Vol. ii., p. 463.).—Your enquirer as to whence comes "Clarum et venerabile nomen," &c., will find them in Lucan. Book ix. l. 203.

E.H.

Norwich.

Occult Transposition of Letters (Vol. i., p. 416.; Vol. ii., p. 77.).—Concert of Nature.—Other examples of these ambiguous verses are given by J. Baptista Porta, de Furtivis Literarum Notis, one of which has suggested the following lines, as conveying the compliments of the season to the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES:" but which, transposed, would become an unseasonable address:—

I beg leave sincerely, to add, in the words of Ausonius (Ep. xxv.),—

This magnificent epistle inculcating—

should be compared with the celebrated stanza of Spenser's Faerie Queen (book ii. canto xii. st. 71.), beginning with

and with D'Israeli's animated defence, in his Amenities (vol. ii. p. 395.) of these charming verses against the πλημμελης and tasteless, the anti-poetical and technical, criticism of Twining, in his first Dissertation on Poetical and Musical Imitation.

T.J.

Darby and Joan (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—I never heard of the tradition mentioned by H. I can only suppose that the poet referred to was the first person who introduced the ballad at the manor-house. Helaugh Nichols, an excellent authority in such matters, whose trade traditions, through the Boyers, father and son, went back a century and a half, tells us that the ballad was supposed to have been written by Henry Woodfall, while an apprentice to Darby. The Darbys were printers time out of mind—one Robert Darby was probably an assistant to Wynkyn de Worde, who certainly left a legacy to a person of that name. The Woodfalls, too, can be traced up as printers for nearly two centuries. The Darby, and Joan, his wife, were probably John Darby, printer, in Bartholomew Close, who was prosecuted in 1684 for printing "Lord Russell's Speech," and died in 1704. The Woodfall, the printer, is understood to have been Henry Woodfall, afterwards "Woodfall without Temple Bar," grandfather of Henry Sampson, the printer of Junius' Letters, and great-great-grandfather of the present excellent printer of the same name.

J.D.Y.

Did Bunyan know Hobbes? (Vol. ii., p. 518.).—Before this question, put by JAS. H. FRISWELL, can be answered satisfactorily, it should be shown that Bunyan was the author of the Visions of Hell. In Chambers' Journal for Sept. 7. 1833, n., it is taken for granted that he was, and the passage alluding to Hobbes is noticed. Your correspondent more justly questions the fact.

A very intelligent friend of mine, who has devoted much research into the supposed origin of the Pilgrim's Progress, the result of which I hope ere long will appear, tells me that he is decidedly of opinion that the Visions in question are not the production of the "prince of dreamers."

He believes the Visions first appeared as Bunyan's in a stereotyped collection or selection of his works, about 1820-8. Some time after seeing this, my friend was surprised at meeting with the following little volume, which is now before me: The World to Come. The Glories of Heaven, and the Terrors of Hell, lively displayed under the Similitude of a Vision. By G.L., Sunderland. Printed by R. Wetherald, for H. Creighton, 1771. 12mo. The running title, as far as p. 95., is, The World to Come; or, Visions of Heaven; and on that page commence the Visions of Hell, and of the Torments of the Damned: and here it is the author has charitably placed Hobbes, with whom the colloquy alluded to by your querist occurs.

I shall not occupy your papers with any remarks on the ignorance betrayed by G.L. (whoever he may be), both of the writings and character of Hobbes; but I shall be glad if I can lead to the elucidation of what yet remains a literary obscurity, and obtains the name of G.L.

F.R.A.

Mythology of the Stars (Vol. iii., p. 23.).—G.I.C. is recommended to study the ordinary celestial globe, and to make himself familiar with its use, in order to enhance the interest of the spectacle of the sidereal heavens as seen by the naked eye. He is also particularly referred to the Celestial Cycle, by Capt. Smyth, published by Parker and Co., West Strand, in 2 vols. 8vo., price 2l. 2s.; a book full of astronomical and mythological gossip.

G.I.C. will find books on Astrology for sale at Maynard's, No. 8. Earl's Court, Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, more readily, perhaps, than any where else in London.

ROBERT SNOW.

6. Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, Jan. 13. 1851.

Dodo Queries (Vol. i., pp. 261, 262.).—MR. STRICKLAND is informed, that in the list of Pingré's works, as given in Quérard's France Littéraire, there is one with the following title:—

"Mémoire sur les Découvertes faites dans la Mer du Sud, avant les derniers Voyages des Français autour du Monde, lu à l'Académie des Sciences, 1766, 1767, 1778, in. 4."

I have not read Pingré's works, but if they contain any mention of Solitaires, it will probably be found in the Mémoire above referred to.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

Holland Land (Vol. ii., pp. 267. 345.; Vol. iii., p. 30).—In an ancient charter, in my possession, bearing date 19 Edw. I.: "Gilebertus dictus ate Vorde, de Farlegh," and "James, son of the late Philip de Essche," quitclaim to James, son of Paulinus de Wynchelse:

"dimidiam acram terre Flandrensis ... in villa de Ickelesham,"

to have and to hold

una cum redditu et servitio mihi (sic) pertinentibus de alia dimidia acra terre Flandrensis."

The polders of Holland are familiar to all travellers, as lands lying below the level of the sea, once a mere morass, redeemed from that state, and brought into cultivation by embankments, &c., &c.

In another charter, somewhat earlier in date and relating to the same district, viz. the neighbourhood of Winchelsea, Hamo de Crevecour speaks of lands in La more in Ideun, which the monks of Robertsbridge, with consent of his father Hamo, "a mari incluserunt."

I have always supposed that the "terra Flandrensis" of my charter signified land of the same description as the Dutch polders; the art of thus redeeming land being probably introduced from the Low Countries. It is not unlikely that, in that day, lands so brought into cultivation were designated as "terre Flandrenses," and the term afterwards anglicised into "Holland Land."

L.B.L.

Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—Symbology of the swan.

Dr. Lingard states that "the vows of chivalry were not taken on the gospels, but, ridiculous as it may appear, in the presence of a peacock, or pheasant, or other bird of beautiful plumage."—History of England, Edward I.

"Cum Edwardus primus," &c. &c.—Spelmanni Aspilogia, p. 132.

The Spaniards found that the swan had been employed emblematically in Mexico, supporting the theory of Hornius that that part of America was colonised by the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, inasmuch as, according to Bryant, "where the Canaanites or their descendants may have settled, there will a story be found in reference to swans."

The mythological history of the Cygnus will be found in the latter author's Analysis, and in Hill's Urania, or a Complete View of the Heavens, containing the Ancient and Modern Astronomy, in Form of a Dictionary, which will perhaps meet the wants of G.I.C. (Vol. iii. p. 24.).

It will not, perhaps, be irrelevant to this subject to advert to the story of Albertus Aquensis (in Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 196.), regarding a Goose and a Goat, which in the second crusade were considered as "divino spiritu afflati," and made "duces viæ in Jerusalem." Well may it be mentioned by the histoian as "scelus omnibus fidelibus incredibile;" but the imputation serves to show that the Christians of that age forgot what a heathen poet could have taught them,—

"Εις οιωνος αριστος αμυνεσθαι περι πατρης."

T.J.

Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—The quotation given by your correspondent E.T.M. (Vol. ii., p. 451.), only increases my desire to receive a reply to my query on this subject, since he has adduced a parallel custom. What are the earliest notices of the usage of swearing by swans and pheasants? Was the pheasant ever considered a royal bird?

R.V.

The Frozen Horn (Vol. iii., p. 25.).—I am quite angry with J.M.G. for supposing my old friend Sir John Maundevile guilty of such a flam as that which he quotes from memory as the worthy knight's own statement. There is no such story in the Voiage and Travaile: nay more, there is not in the whole of that "ryght merveillous" book, a single passage given on the authority of Sir John as eyewitness that is not perfectly credible. When he quotes Pliny for monsters, the Chronicles for legends, and the romances of his time for narratives of an extraordinary character, he does so in evident good faith as a compiler. His most improbable statements, too, are always qualified with some such phrase as "men seyn, but I have not sene it." In a word, I believe Sir John Maundevile to have been as truthful in intention as any writer of his age. I am afraid that J.M.G.'s knowledge of our old "voiager" is limited to some jest-book of more modern times, which attributes to him sayings and doings of which he is perfectly guiltless.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

Cockade and True Blue (Vol. iii., pp. 7. 27.) both owe their origin to the wars of the Scottish Covenanters; and the cockade appears to have been first adopted as a distinguishing emblem by the English army at the battle of Sherra-muir, where the Scotch wore the blue ribbon as a scarf, or on their bonnets (which was their favourite colour). The English army then, to distinguish themselves, assumed a black rosette on their hats; which, from its position, the Scotch nick-named a "cock'ade" (with which our use of the word "cockscomb" is connected) and is still retained.

An old Scotch song describing, "the Battle of Sherra-muir" (which name it bears) in verse 2., line 1., speaks of the English as—

verse 3., describing the Scotch and their mode of fighting, says,—

The song, which is rather a long one, carries you with the army to the Forth, Dumblane, Stirling, Perth, and Dundee. Oft referring to the "Poor red-coat," and to the "Angus lads."

BLOWER.

The Vavasours of Hazlewood (Vol. ii., p. 326.).—1. It is a well-known fact that the stone for York minster was given by the Vavasour family. To commemorate this, there is, under the west window in that cathedral, a statue of the owner of Hazelwood at that period, holding a piece of stone in his hand. Hence may have arisen the tradition that the chief of the family might ride into York minster on horseback.

2. In feudal times Hazlewood was a fortified castle, having its regular retainers, &c.

3. Hazlewood Chapel was the only Roman Catholic parish church in England which did not become a Protestant church at the Reformation.

CHAS. D. MARKHAM.

Jan. 10. 1851.

"Breeches" Bible (Vol. iii., p. 17.).—In quoting from specimens of early printing, correctness of orthography, even in trivial matters, is desirable, and therefore I venture, in allusion to the interesting communication from on the subject of the Geneva or "Breeches" Bible, to state that the edition of 1576, in my possession, is "Imprinted by Christopher Barkar" (not Barker), "dwelling in Paternoster Rowe, at the signe of the Tygres Head."

The text quoted varies also in two or three words from my copy, and it is probably from the Geneva edition. The English edition of 1576 runs thus, (Gen. iii. 7.): "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made them selves breeches." I am, sir, yours truly,

S.H.H.

Histoire des Sévarambes (Vol. iii., p. 4.).—On the subject of the authorship of this work I will transcribe a note which I subjoined to a short account of Isaac Vossius (Worthington's Diary, p. 125):—

"Whether the History of the Sevarites, of Sevarambi by Captains Thomas Liden, published in two parts (London, 1675-9, 12mo.), which is one of the ablest of the fictions written after the model of More's Utopia, and which has been ascribed to Isaac Vossius by J.A. Fabricius, be his, is a point yet unsettled. On a careful consideration of the internal evidence, and a comparison with his avowed publications, so far as such a comparison can be made between works so dissimilar in character, I incline to the conclusion that this tract is justly ascribed to Isaac Vossius."

On a reconsideration of the subject, I see no reason to alter this opinion. Morhof, who always attributed it to Isaac Vossius (see Polyhistor, vol. i. p. 74., edit. 1747), was thoroughly versed in the literary history, including the English, of the period, and was not likely to have been mistaken. Vossius lived in England from 1670 to 1688, when he died. I have seen several English letters of his, though his general correspondence was in Latin or French, and he seems quite able to have written it, as far as the language is concerned. Vairasse appears to have translated it into French but to have had no other part in it. I may observe, that the publication in English, London, 1738, is a retranslation from the French, not a reprint of the original work of 1675-9.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Verses attributed to Charles Yorke (Vol. ii., p. 7.; and Vol. iii., p. 43.).—These lines, "Stript to the naked soul," have been frequently printed, indeed so lately as in Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, at the end of the Life of Charles Yorke, as his, but without any observation. What is most singular is, that the excellent editor of Bishop Warburton's Literary Remains has overlooked the fact that they are driven in that prelate's correspondence with Bishop Hurd as Pope's. (See Letters, p. 362., edit. 1809, 8vo.) Warburton observes, "The little poem is certainly his." He remarks in a letter to Yorke—

"You have obliged me much (as is your wont) by a fine little poem of my excellent and endeared friend, Mr. Pope, and I propose to put in into use."—Letters from Warburton to C. Yorke. 1812, 4to. p. 64.

Warburton then gave them to Ruffhead, who inserted them in his Life of Pope, from which they were transferred in Bowles's editions of Pope's Works (vol. ii. p. 406), and in the supplementary volume to Pope's Works (1807, 4to.). The extraordinary circumstance is, that they had appeared as far back as 1753 in the miscellaneous works of Aaron Hill, published in 1753, in 4 vols. 8vo., and are included in that collection as his own. Roscoe observes (Life of Pope, in vol. i. of his edition of Pope's Works, p. 361., edit. 1824), without, however appearing to have been fully acquainted with the facts of the case:

"These verses are not the production of Pope, as might indeed readily have been perceived, but of Aaron Hill."

I must confess I cannot agree with the remark. If the point be to be decided by internal evidence, the verses are surely Pope's. The collection of A. Hill's miscellaneous works was a posthumous one for the benefit of the family, and includes several other poems, which were certainly not written by him. Little stress, therefore, can be laid upon the fact of the lines being included in this collection, which seems to have comprised whatever was found amongst Hill's papers, without any nice examination or scrutiny. My conclusion is, that the verses are Pope's; and it is at all events certain that they are not Charles Yorke's.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Archbishop Bolton of Cashel (Vol. iii., p. 39.).—He was born at Burrishool, in the county of Mayo, about 1678; graduated at Trinity College, Dublin; was ordained deacon in 1702; priest in 1703; became a prebendary of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1707; chancellor of that cathedral in 1714; vicar-general of the diocese of Dublin in 1720; vicar of Finglas, near Dublin, in the same year; præcentor of Christ Church, Dublin, in 1722; bishop of Clonfert in the same year; bishop of Elphin in 1724; archbishop of Cashel in 1729; to which diocese he bequeathed his valuable library.

He died in January, 1744, and was buried at St. Werburgh's Church, in Dublin.

See my Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, vols. i., ii., and iv., for a few more particulars, if required.

H. COTTON.

Thurles, Ireland, Jan. 20. 1851.

Erasmus and Farel (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—In my Life of Calvin, p. 46., I mention that Erasmus named Farel, Phallicus; and infer that he probably did so from some manifestation of amorous propensities on the part of that reformer.

A querist in your last number (J.C.R.) points out that D'Aubigné, or his translator, spells the word Fallicus, and refers it to the deceitful character of Farel.

Phallicus is a Greek word, and has a meaning—φαλλικος, of or belonging to the φαλλος. Fallicus, to the best of my knowledge, is neither Greek nor Latin, and has no meaning. Erasmus, in his epistles, constantly spells the word Phallicus. (See Epp. 698. 707. &c. Leyden, ed. 1706.) And that I was justified in drawing from it an inference which is in analogy with its meaning, the following passages, in the last of the epistles just cited, will establish:—

"Hunc stomachum in me concepit (Phallicus) quod in spongia dubitem de Lutheri spiritu: præterea quod scripserim, quosdam sordidos, et impuræ vitæ se jactitare nomine Evangelii."

And a little farther on—

"At tamen quicquid hactenus in me blateravit Phallicus, non minus vane quam virulente, facite condonabitur hominis morbo, modo posthac sumat mores Evangelii præcone dignos."

THOS. H. DYER.

London, Jan. 20. 1851.

Early Culture of the Imagination, (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—The interesting article to which MR. GATTY refers will be found in the Quarterly Review, No. XLI. Sir Walter Scott, in a letter addressed to Edgar Taylor, Esq. (the translator of German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories by M.M. Grimm), dated Edinburgh, 16th Jan. 1823, says—

"There is also a sort of wild fairy interest in them [the Tales] which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the imagination and soften the heart of childhood, than the good-boy stories which have been in later years composed for them. In the latter case, their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks, like their feet at the dancing-school, and the moral always consists in good moral conduct being crowned with temporal success. Truth is, I would not give one tear shed over Little Red Riding-Hood for all the benefit to be derived from a hundred Histories of Jemmy Goodchild.... In a word, I think the selfish tendencies will be soon enough acquired in this arithmetical age; and that, to make the higher class of character, our wild fictions—like our own simple music—will have more effect in awakening the fancy and elevating the disposition, than the colder and more elaborate compositions of modern authors and composers."

F.R.R.

Milnrow Parsonage.

Early Culture of the Imagination (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—MR. ALFRED GATTY will find what he inquires for in the 74th volume of the Quarterly Review, "Children's Books." With the prefatory remarks of that article may be compared No. 151. of the Rambler, "The Climacterics of the Mind."

T.J.

William Chilcot (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—MR. HOOPER is referred to the History of Tiverton, by Lieut. Col. Harding, ed. Boyce, Tiverton; Whittaker, London, 1847, vol. ii., B. III., p. 167., for an account of the family of Chilcot alias Comyn; to which most likely the author belonged, and was probably a native of Tiverton. As MR. HOOPER many not have ready access to the book, I send the substance of an extract. Robert Chilcott alias Comyn, born at Tiverton, com. Devon, merchant, and who died, it is supposed, at Isleworth, com. Middlesex, about A.D. 1609, "married Ann, d. of Walter Cade of London, Haberdasher, by whom he had one son, William, who married Catherine, d. of Thomas Billingsly of London, Merchant, and had issue." Certain lands also in Tiverton, A.D. 1680-90, are described as "now or late of William Comyns alias Chilcott."—Ibid. p. 61.

If the first edition of the work were in 1698, most likely the author was a grandson of the above-named William Chilcot and Catherine his wife, which the Tiverton registers might show. If the search prove unsuccessful there, try that of Watford, Herts, where a branch of the same family was settled, and to which there are monuments in Watford churchyard.

E.A.D.

By and Bye (Vol. ii., p. 424.).—Surely this means "by the way." Good by may mean "Bon voyage."

S.S.

Mocker (Vol. ii., p. 519.).—In some of the provincial dialects of England, and in the Scotch of the lowlands of Scotland, there are a good many Dutch words. Moker, in Dutch, means a large hammer. This is probably the word used by the old cottager of Pembridge, and spelt Mocker by W.M.

G.F.G.

Edinburgh.

Was Colonel Hewson a Cobbler? (Vol. iii., p. 11.).—Hume's History relates that "Colonel Hewson suppressed the tumult of London apprentices, November, 1659:" and that "he was a man who rose from the profession of a cobbler to a high rank in the army."

Colonel John Hewson was member for Guildford from September 17, 1656, to January 27, 1658-59. (Bray and Manning.)

GILBERT.

Mole (Vol. ii., p. 225.).—This story is of course much older than the form which it now appears. Sir Bevil Grenville is the great hero of the N.W. coast of Cornwall most of the floating legend has been gathered about him.

Legends referring to the origin of different animals are common. Mrs. Jamieson (Canada) has a very beautiful Chippewa story of the first robin.

It is believed in Devonshire that moles begin to work with the flow, and leave off with the ebb of the tide. The same thing is asserted of the beaver.

Pillgarlick (Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., p. 42.).—The word is given by Todd, in his edition of Johnson, under the forms Pilgarlick and Pilled-garlick. The same orthography is adopted by other lexicographers. The spelling, concerning which your querist desires information, is, however, the least important point. I trust that the question will elicit information of a valuable kind as to the origin of the term, by which I have I myself been sorely puzzled, and which, I think, has not been satisfactorily cleared up by any of those who have attempted it. Following the authority of Skinner, our philologists are satisfied with assuring us, that pilled means bald (French, pelé) and about this there can be no dispute. Thus Chaucer (Reve's Tale) says:—

Shakspeare also has:—

for "shaven priest." But pilled, in other cases as might be shown by quotations, which for the sake of brevity I omit, means pillaged, robbed, and also peeled, of which last sense the quotations above given seem only to be a figurative application. The difficulties which arise from these explanations are, first, if bald be the true meaning, why must we, with Todd, limit it to baldness, resulting from disease, or more especially (as Grose will have it) from a disgraceful disease?

Secondly, if peeled be taken as the equivalent to pilled, why is peeled garlick a more perfect type of misery than any other peeled root or fruit?

Thirdly, if pillage is an essential ingredient in the true meaning of the term "pilled garlick," what has the stolen garlick to do with wretchedness? And,

Lastly, how will any one, or all of these explanations together, tally with the following passage from Skelton:—

Without further elucidation of this pilling, the existing definitions are pills which defy deglutition of

F.S.Q.

A Recent Novel (Vol. i., pp. 231, 285.).—May I be permitted to correct an error in a communication from one of your correspondents? ADOLPHUS (p. 231.) puts a Query respecting the title of a recent novel; and J.S. (p. 285) informs him that the title is Le Morne au Diable, by Eugène Sue. The fact is, that "La Morne au Diable" is the principal scene of the events described, and nothing more. The title is L'Aventurier, ou la Barbe-bleue; and an English translation, styled the Female Blue Beard, or the Adventurer, was published in 1845 by W. Strange, 21. Paternoster Row.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850

Tablet to Napoleon (Vol. i., p. 461.).—The form and punctuation given to this inscription by C. suggest its true meaning. Napoleon is called the Egyptian, the Italian, for reasons similar to those for which Publius Cornelius Scipio obtained the name of "Africanus." There is, however, another sense in which the epithet "bis Italicus" is applicable to Napoleon: he was an Italian by birth as well as by conquest. It is in this sense that Voltaire has applied to Henri Quatre the second line of the following couplet:—

As to the "lingual purity" of the inscription, there is not much to be said about it, one way or the other. It is on a level with most modern inscriptions and epitaphs in the Latin language; neither so elegant as the Latinity of Dr. Johnson, or Walter Savage Landor, nor yet so hackneyed as our "Latin de cuisine."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

North Sides of Churchyards (Vol. ii., pp. 55. &c.)—In a chapter on the custom of burying on the south side of churches, in Thompson's History of Swine, published 1824, I find the following mention of the north side being appropriated to felons:

"The writer hereof remembers, that between fifty and sixty years ago, a man who was executed at Lincoln, was brought to Swine, and buried on the north side of the church, as the proper place in which to bury a felon."

I have heard it stated by several inhabitants of the parish, that it is only within a few years that burials began to be made irrespectively on the north side. Whilst speaking of things in connection with this church, I may mention for the interest of antiquaries, that only a short time ago, the sexton discovered a very curious fresco of the Virgin on one of the pillars in the north aisle. There is an inscription beneath the figure, but so very indistinct, as not to admit of being deciphered.

R.W.E.

Hull.

Wisby (Vol. ii., p. 444.).—

"Wisby was fortified about 1200 against its country neighbours; and King Magnus, 1288, quieted another civil war, and allowed the citizens to restore their fallen walls."—Olaus Magnus, ii. 24.

"It was destroyed in 1361 (Koch) by Walderna, King of Denmark, who, taking advantage of the discords in Sweden, and having flattered the King Magnus till he made him a mere tool of his own, conquered or destroyed some valuable parts of the Swedish dominions, and among the rest Gothland."—Johannes Magnus, Rex Suev., xxi. 6.

and in 7.:

"... ob direptum insigne emporium Vis becense."

"As, therefore, it was not an individual event, probably it had not any individual cause, and that the pane of glass story is not true."—Olaus Magnus, x. 16

The same Olaus (ii. 24.) says, that pride and discord were its ruin; that its inhabitants scattered into the continental cities; and that in his time, 1545, there were splendid ruins, iron doors, brass or copper windows, once gilt or silvered.

C.B.

Singing of Swans (Vol. ii., p. 475.).—If your correspondent T.J. will turn to Erman's Travels in Siberia translated by Cooley, vol. ii. p. 43., he will find that the singing of swans is by no means so groundless a notion as Bp. Percy supposed. Erman says the notes of the Cygnus Olor are most beautifully clear and loud—"and that this bird, when wounded, pours forth its last breath in such notes, is now known for certain." There is more also to the same purpose.

A.C.M.

Dacre Monument at Herstmonceux (Vol. ii., p. 478.).—In answer to part of the third Query of your correspondent E.V., I beg to inform him that sable, a cross potent or, is the coat of Alleyn. Sable, a cross patonce or, belongs to Lascelles. Argent a fesse gules belongs to the Solers family. And barry of six argent and gules, with a canton ermine, is the coat of Apseley of Sussex.

H.C.K.

Herstmonceux Castle (Vol. ii., p. 477.).—The elucidation of your correspondent's second Query suggests several further questions; for instance—Was Juliana wife of William, the owner of the estate? If so, did she die in the lifetime of her husband? If so, did she leave issue? semble not, and assuming her to have no direct heirs, the estate would escheat. Was the King lord of the fee? Were William de Warburton and Ingelram de Monceaux relatives of the half blood of Juliana? If so, a re-grant to them, if claimants, would not, I imagine, have been unusual upon payment of a fine to the crown. It would almost seems as if a doubt existed as to the heirship, from the expression "whose next of kin they SAY they are." This note is conjectural only, and is therefore offered with much diffidence.

I.B.C.

Suem.—Ferling.—Grasson (Vol. iii., p. 7.).—It is obvious that your correspondent's extract from the Rotherfield court-roll is not accurately transcribed. The original most probably contains no such words as suem.

Ferling is a well-known word in old legal phraseology. As a term of superficial measure it denotes a quarter of an acre; of lineal measure, an eighth of a mile, or furlong.

Grassum is the term commonly used in the northern parts of the kingdom to signify the fine, or foregift in money, paid by a lessee for the renewal of his lease from a lay or ecclesiastical corporation. It is derived from the A.-S. Gærsum or Gærsame, a treasure; the root of which is still retained in the northern word Gear, goods or stuff.

Δ.

Jan. 10. 1851.

Portrait of Archbishop Williams (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—Your correspondent Y.Y. desires to be informed of the "locus" of the portraits of several bishops, among them of John Williams, Archbishop of York. There is a full-length in the hall of this college, which I shall have great pleasure in showing to him should he ever find it convenient to pay Cambridge a visit.

P.J.F. GANTILLON.

St. John's College.

Swans hatched during Thunder (Vol. ii., p. 510.).—Some years ago I purchased a pair of swans, and, during the first breeding season after I procured them, they made a nest in which they deposited seven eggs. After they had been sitting about six weeks, I observed to my servant, who had charge of them and the other water-fowl, that it was about the time for the swans to hatch. He immediately said, that it was no use expecting it till there had been a rattling peal of thunder to crack the egg-shells, as they were so hard and thick that it was impossible for the cygnets to break them without some such assistance. Perhaps this is the reason why swans are said to be hatched during a thunder-storm. I need only say, that this is a popular fallacy, as swans regularly hatch after sitting six weeks, whether there happens to be a thunder-storm or not.

HENRY E.

Etymology of Apricot (Vol. ii., p. 420.).—I cannot agree in the opinion expressed by your correspondent E.C.H., that this word is derived from the Latin præcox, signifying "early-ripening,"—that the words προκοκκια and πρεκοκκια are Græcised Latin,—and that the Arabs themselves, adopting the word with a slight variation, made it al-bercoy.

The fact of the fruit itself being of Asiatic origin, renders it in the highest degree improbable that the Orientals would borrow a name for it from the Latin.

My own opinion is, that the reverse is the case—that the Latin is merely a corruption of the Arabic; and that the Latins, in adopting the word, naturally gave it the slight alteration which rendered the Arabic word, to them unmeaning, appropriately significant of the nature of the fruit.

I find that in various languages the word strolls thus in the Latin of the middle age, avercoccius—in the modern Greek, βερυκοκκιον—in the Italian, albercocco, albicocca—in the Spanish, albaricoque—and all these various words, undeducible from the Latin præcox, are readily derivable from the Arabic word, the prefix al, which is merely the article, being in some cases dropped, and in others retained.

I may add, as a curious fact, that, in the south of Italy, of which I am a native, the common people call the apricot verricocca, and the peach precucco, although the former ripen earlier than the latter.

A.P. DI PIO, Italo-Græcos.

Carlisle.

"Plurima gemma latet cæcâ tellure sepulta" (Vol. ii., p.133.).—In the course of my reading, some time back, I met with a passage which was given as quotation from Bishop Hall. I transcribe it, as it appears to me to approach nearer to the above hexameter than even Gray's lines:

"There is many a rich stone laid up, in the bowels of the earth; many a fair pearl in the bosom of the sea, that never was seen, nor ever shall be."

Time when Herodotus wrote (Vol. ii., p. 405.).—The passage in Herodotus which shows that he was still employed on his history when he was seventy-five, is in his first book. But A.W.H. thinks, that, as it is a general introduction, showing why he mentioned all places, small or great, it must have been written at the beginning. I should infer the contrary; that he would give an account why he had done so after he had done it, and not while it rested merely in intention.

But perhaps it may be said, that ην is in the former part of the sentence, and therefore might have been repeated in the latter part, which is the converse of it, though it might not be exactly the proper tense.

However, F. Clinton puts down his birth B.C. 484; 452 or 456 as the years in which he read his history at the Olympic Games; and 408 as a year in which he was still adding to it.

However, if he wrote the passage when he was thirty, that would justify the past tense, which perhaps, too, we have a right to construe have been, for that verb has no perfect preterite.

C.B.

Lucy and Colin (Vol. iii., p. 7.).—The ballad adverted to, which is the one translated by Vincent Bourne, is by Tickel, and will be found in any collection of his works. Notwithstanding Southeys epithet "wretched!" it will always be admired, both in the original and the translation.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Manchester, Jan. 18. 1851.

Translations of Apuleius, &c. (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—In answer to your correspondent, G.P.I., concerning a translation of the Golden Ass of Apuleius, I beg you will insert the following particulars.

KENNETH MACKENZIE.

Taylor's translation of Apuleius's Golden Ass, Lond. 1822, 2 vols., is said by Lowndes to be an esteemed version.

The French translations of the same work, according to De Bure (see Manuel du Libraire) are very inferior.

C.I.R.

Etymology of "Grasson" (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—Grasson appears to be derived front "grassor," "to assail." Livy somewhere has the following—"Grassor in possessionem agri"—which would be rendered, "To enter upon it by force;" it being only by the payment of the fine (Grasson) that the entry, "Grassor," or alienation of copyhold lands, could be warded off: hence the act of the lord of the manor (Grassor) became the name for the fine paid by this tenant, "Grasson."

BLOWER.

Lynch Law (Vol. iii., p. 24.).—Webster's American Dictionary (1848) explains this phrase thus—

"The practice of punishing men for crimes and offences by private unauthorized persons, without a legal trial. The term is said to be derived from a Virginian farmer, named Lynch, who thus took the law into his own hands." (U.S.)

Webster is considered the highest authority in America, or I should not offer the above.

G.H.B.

"Talk not of Love" (Vol. iii., p. 7.).—The song quoted by your Querist, A. M., was written by Mrs. MacLehose, the "Clarinda" of Burns, and is to be found in most of the lives of the Scottish poet.

[J.H., JR., says it is printed in Chambers's Journal, No. 1. New Series. DANIEL FERGUSON points them out at p. 212. of a Collection of Songs of England and Scotland, published by Cochrane, of Waterloo Place; and in vol. ii. of Johnson's Scots Musical Museum; and G.T. also refers to the last-named collection.]

The Butcher Duke (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—The song referred to by MEZZOTINTO is to be found in most of the collections of Scotch songs, under the name of "Bonnie Laddie, Highland Laddie," for which old air it was written; or, when only partially printed, by the commencing line of one of its stanzas:—

It is one of the numerous Jacobite songs composed either about 1715, by some one "out in the Fifteen," or later by a poet of "the Forty-five." The author's name is unknown. In the collection of Scottish songs, published by Robert Chambers in 1829, the song, consisting of no less than twenty-two stanzas, will be found at p. 367.

[L.M.M.R. has also kindly transcribed the song from the Scots Musical Museum; and DR. C., of Newcastle, who says "it is well known in the remoter districts of Northumberland," obligingly offers to furnish MEZZOTINTO with a copy, if he should desire it.]

Curfew (Vol. ii., p. 103.).—The Curfew is rung at Handsworth, near Sheffield.

H.J.

Robertson Struan (Vol. iii., p. 40.).—As one of those who quarter the coat of Robertson Struan, I may perhaps be able to afford C.R.M. some slight information. My maternal grandfather was a son of William Robertson, of Richmond, one of whose daughters married Sir David Dundas, Bart. The arms borne by him were, Gules, three wolves' heads erased, langued, azure. A selvage man in chains hanging beneath the shield. Crest, a bare cubit, supporting a regal Crown. Motto, "Virtutis Gloriæ Merces."

W.J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.