Volume 3 — Notes.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. IX. The Astronomical Evidence of the True Date of the Canterbury Pilgrimage.

As a conclusion to my investigation of this subject, I wish to place upon record the astronomical results on which I have relied in the course of my observations; in order that their correctness may be open to challenge, and that each reader may compare the actual phenomena, rigidly ascertained with all the helps that modern science affords, with the several approximations arrived at by Chaucer. And when it is recollected that some at least of the facts recorded by him must have been theoretical—incapable of the test of actual observation—it must be admitted that his near approach to truth is remarkable: not the less so that his ideas on some points were certainly erroneous; as, for example, his adoption, in the Treatise on the Astrolabe, of Ptolemy's determination of the obliquity of the ecliptic in preference to the more correct value assigned to it by the Arabians of the middle ages.

Assuming that the true date intended by Chaucer was Saturday the 18th of April, 1388, the following particulars of that day are those which have reference to his description:—

H. M.

Right Ascension { Of the Sun at noon - 2 . 17·2

{ Of the Moon at 4 p. m. 12 . 5·7

{ Of the star (δ. Virginis) 12 . 25

° ′

North Declination { Of the Sun at noon - 13 . 47·5

{ Of the Moon at 4 p. m. 4 . 49·8

{ Of the star (δ. Virginis) 6 . 43·3

° ′

Altitude { Of the Sun at noon - 45 . 15

{ Of the Sun at 4 p. m. 29 . 15

{ Of the Moon at 4 p. m. 4 . 53

{ Of the star at 4 p. m. 4 . 20

Azimuth - Of the Sun at rising - 112 . 30

H. M.

Apparent Time { Of the Sun at half Azimuth 9 . 17 a. m.

{ Of the Sun at altitude 45° 9 . 58 a. m.

{ Of the Sun at altitude 29° 4 . 2 p. m.

{ Of apparent entrance of

{ Moon's centre into Libra 3 . 45 a. m.

It will be seen that, if the place here assigned to the moon be correct, Chaucer could not have described it more appropriately than by the phrase "In méné Libra:" providing (of which there can be little doubt) that he used those words as synonymous with "in hedde of Libra." "Hedde of Libra," "hedde of Aries," are expressions constantly used by him to describe the equinoctial points; and the analogy that exists between "head," in the sense head-land or promontory, as, for example, "Orme's Head," "Holyhead," "Lizard Head," and the like; and "menez" in the same sense, need not be further insisted upon. Evidence fully sufficient to justify a much less obvious inference has been already produced, and I am enabled to strengthen it still further by the following reference, for which I am indebted to a private communication from H. B. C.

"MENEZ, s. m. Grande masse de terre, ou de roche, fort élevée au-dessus du sol de la terre.

"MEAN, ou MAEN, s. m. Pierre, corps dur et solide qui se forme dans la terre.

"(En Treguier et Cornouailes), MÉNÉ."

(Gonidec, Dictionnaire Celto-Breton. Angoulême, 1821.)

This last reference is doubly valuable, in referring the word méné to the very neighbourhood of the scene of Chaucer's "Frankleine's Tale," and in dispensing with the terminal letter z, thereby giving us the verbum ipsissimum used by Chaucer.

I must not be understood as entertaining the opinion that Chaucer's knowledge of astronomy—although undoubtedly great, considering the age in which he lived and the nature of his pursuits—would have enabled him to determine the moon's true place, with such correctness, wholly from theory; on the contrary, I look upon it as more probably the result of real observation at the time named, and, as such, adding another link to the chain of presumptive evidence that renders it more probable that Chaucer wrote the prologues to his Canterbury Tales more as a narration (with some embellishments) of events that really took place, than that they were altogether the work of his imagination.

A. E. B.

Leeds, June, 1851.

CURIOUS EPIGRAMS ON OLIVER CROMWELL.

Looking carefully over a curious copy of the Flagellum, or the Life and Death, Birth and Buriall of O. Cromwell, the late Usurper, printed for Randal Taylor, 1672, I found on the back of the title the following epigrams, written in a handwriting and ink corresponding to the date of the book (which, by the way, is a late edition of the "little brown lying book," by Heath, which Carlyle notices): as they are curious and worth preserving, and I believe not to be met with elsewhere, I presume they may be of some interest to your readers. The book is also full of MS. marginal notes and remarks, evidently by some red-hot royalist, which are also curious in themselves, and with a selection of which I may some day trouble you should you wish it.

In regard to the little controversy which I started regarding Bunyan's claim to be author of the Visions of Heaven and Hell, I hope soon to decide it, as I am on the scent of a copy of, I believe, a first edition, which does not claim him for author.

JAMES FRISWELL.

12. Brooke Street, Holborn.

FOLK LORE.

Popular Superstitions in Lancashire.

—That a man must never "go a courting" on a Friday. If an unlucky fellow is caught with his lady-love on that day, he is followed home by a band of musicians playing on pokers, tongs, pan-lids, &c., unless he can rid himself of his tormentors by giving them money to drink with.

That hooping-cough will never be taken by any child which has ridden upon a bear. While bear baiting was in fashion, great part of the owner's profits arose from the money given by parents whose children had had a ride. The writer knows of cases in which the charm is said certainly to have been effectual.

That hooping-cough may be cured by tying a hairy caterpillar in a small bag round the child's neck, and as the caterpillar dies the cough goes.

That Good Friday is the best day of all the year to begin weaning children, which ought if possible to be put off till that day; and a strong hope is sometimes entertained that a very cross child will "be better" after it has been christened.

That May cats are unlucky, and will suck the breath of children.

That crickets are lucky about a house, and will do no harm to those who use them well; but that they eat holes in the worsted stockings of such members of the family as kill them. I was assured of this on the experience of a respectable farmer's family.

The belief in ghosts, or bogards, as they are termed, is universal.

In my neighbourhood I hardly know a dell where a running stream crosses a road by a small bridge or stone plat, where there is not frectnin (frightening) to be expected. Wells, ponds, gates, &c., have often this bad repute. I have heard of a calf with eyes like a saucer, a woman without a head, a white greyhound, a column of white foam like a large sugar-loaf in the midst of a pond, a group of little cats, &c., &c., as the shape of the bogard, and sometimes a lady who jumped behind hapless passengers on horseback. It is supposed that a Romish priest can lay them, and that it is best to cheat them to consent to being laid while hollies are green. Hollies being evergreens, the ghosts can reappear no more.

P. P.

Folk lore in Lancashire (Vol. iii., p. 55.).

—Most of, if not all the instances mentioned under this head by MR. WILKINSON are, as might be expected, current also in the adjacent district of the West Riding of Yorkshire; and, by his leave, I will add a few more, which are familiar to me:

1. If a cock near the door crows with his face towards it, it is a sure prediction of the arrival of a stranger.

2. If the cat frisks about the house in an unusually lively manner, windy or stormy weather is approaching.

3. If a dog howls under a window at night, a death will shortly happen in that house.

4. If a female be the first to enter a house on Christmas or New Year's day, she brings ill luck to that house for the coming year.

5. For hooping-cough, pass the child nine times over the back and under the belly of an ass. (This ceremony I once witnessed, but cannot vouch for its having had the desired effect.)

6. For warts, rub them with a cinder, and this tied up in paper and dropped where four roads meet, will transfer the warts to whoever opens the packet.

J. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

Lancashire Customs.

—The curfew is continued in many of the villages, and until the last ten or fifteen years it was usual at a Roman Catholic funeral to ring a merry peal on the bells as soon as the interment was over. The Roman Catholics seem now to have discontinued this practice.

Carol singing and hand-bell ringing prevail at Christmas, and troops of men and children calling themselves pace eggers, go about in Passion Week, and especially Good Friday, as mummers in the south of England do at Christmas. Large tallow candles may often be seen decorated with evergreens, hanging up in the houses of the poor at Christmas time.

P. P.

Od.

—One of the experiments by which the existence of this agency is tested, consists in attaching a horsehair to the first joint of the forefinger, and suspending to it a smooth gold ring. When the elbow is rested on the table, and the finger held in a horizontal position, the ring begins to oscillate in the plane of the direction of the finger; but if a female takes hold of the left hand of the person thus experimenting, the ring begins forthwith to oscillate in a plane at right angles to that of its former direction. I have never tried the experiment, for the simple reason that I have not been able to prevail upon any married lady of my acquaintance to lend me her wedding-ring for the purpose; and even if I had found it come true, I should still doubt whether the motion were not owing to the pulsations of the finger veins; but whatever be the cause, the fact is not new. My father recently told me, that in his boyhood he had often seen it tried as a charm. For this purpose it is essential, as may be supposed, that the ring be a wedding-ring, and of course the lady towards whom it oscillates is set down as the future spouse of the gentleman experimenting.

R. D. H.

Pigeons.

—The popular belief, that a person cannot die with his head resting on a pillow containing pigeons' feathers, is well known; but the following will probably be as new to many of your readers as it was to myself. On applying the other day to a highly respectable farmer's wife to know if she had any pigeons ready to eat, as a sick person had expressed a longing for one, she said, "Ah! poor fellow! is he so far gone? A pigeon is generally almost the last thing they want; I have supplied many a one for the like purpose."

J. EASTWOOD.

Minor Notes.

Lord Nelson's Dress and Sword at Trafalgar.

—Perhaps you may think it worth while to preserve a note written by the late Rev. Dr. Scott on the 498th page of the second volume of Harrison's Life of Lord Nelson, in contradiction of a bombastic description therein given of the admiral's dress and appearance at the battle of Trafalgar.

"This is wrong, he wore the same coat he did the day before; nor was there the smallest alteration in his dress whatsoever from other days. In this action he had not his sword with him on deck, which in other actions he had always carried.—A. J. Scott."

Dr. Scott was the chaplain and friend in whose arms Lord Nelson died.

When the late Sir N. Harris Nicolas was engaged in a controversy in The Times, respecting the sale of Lord Nelson's sword, I sent him a copy of the above note, and told him I had heard Dr. Scott say that "the sword was left hanging in the admiral's cabin." It was not found necessary to make use of this testimony, as the dispute had subsided.

ALFRED GATTY.

Crucifix of Mary Queen of Scots.

—The crucifix that belonged to this unfortunate queen, and which she is said to have held in her hands on the scaffold, is still preserved with great care by its present owners (a titled family in the neighbourhood of Winchester), and at whose seat I have frequently seen it. If I mistake not, the figure of our Saviour is of ivory, and the cross of ebony.

THE WHITE ROSE.

Jonah and the Whale.

—In No. 76., p. 275., MR. GALLATLY calls attention to the popular error in misquoting the expression from Genesis: "In the sweat of thy face," &c. There is another popular error which may not be known to some of your correspondents: it is generally supposed that Jonah is recorded in the book bearing his name as having been swallowed by a whale,—this is quite an error. The expressions is "a great fish," and no such word as whale occurs in the entire "Book of Jonah."

E. J. K.

Anachronisms of Painters.

—I send you a further addition to the "Anachronisms of Painters," mentioned in Vol. iii., p. 369., and, like them, not in D'Israeli's list.

My father (R. Robinson, of the Heath House, Wombourne) has in his collection a picture by Steenwyk, of the "Woman taken in Adultery," in which our Lord is made to write in Dutch! The scene also takes place in a church of the architecture of the thirteenth century!

G. T. R.

Wombourne, near Wolverhampton.