Volume 4 — Queries.

THE USE OF MISERERES.

I notice the following paragraph in Mr. Howitt's Visits to Remarkable Places, 1840, pp. 470, 471.:

"Perhaps the most curious things about the chapel [of Winchester College] are the ancient stall-seats now affixed to the wall of the ante-chapel. These have their seats so fixed upon hinges that those who sit in them can only maintain their position by balancing themselves with care, and resting their elbows on the seat-arms; so that if the monks who used them dropped asleep during divine service, the seats came forward and pitched them headlong upon the floor; nay, if they only dozed and nodded the least in the world, the hard oaken seat clapped against the hard oaken back, and made a noise loud enough to attract the attention of the whole audience. Nothing was ever more cleverly contrived to keep people awake at church or chapel; and, no doubt, most of us know where they would be especially useful now."

On the latter point there is little room for doubt; but allow me to ask whether this account of the use of the miserere can be supported by adequate authority, and is anything more than a joke? Mediæval monks were, doubtless, sometimes caught napping; since Dr. Maitland (Dark Ages, 2nd edit. pp. 336. and 337. n.) mentions an amusing expedient employed in the monastery of Clugni for the detection of drowsy brethren. What I doubt is, whether the miserere was intended for that useful purpose. In the Glossary of Architecture (4th edit. p. 242.) its use is thus described:—

"They [misereres] were allowed in the Roman Catholic church as a relief to the infirm during the long services that were required to be performed by the ecclesiastics in a standing posture."

In such matters, I should imagine Mr. Parker to be a better authority than his versatile contemporary; but if they were intended and permitted only for the infirm, it seems rather remarkable that they are so general in most cathedral or monastic churches that retain their ancient fittings. I would also ask when were they first introduced, and by whose authority?

QUIDAM.

JOCELINE'S LEGACY.

The Mother's Legacy to her unborn Child, by Elizabeth Joceline. This is the title to a thin octave volume printed at "Oxford at the Theater for the satisfaction of the person of quality herein concerned, 1684." This, the first edition, is of rare occurrence; that in the British Museum being a dirty duodecimo chap book. "The Approbation" of the volume bears the signature of "Thos. Goad." It is addressed as a legacy "to her truly and most dearly-loved husband, Tourell Joceline." The letter to her husband, and The Mother's Legacy, are two of as beautiful, pious, and feeling compositions, as were ever penned by woman. The latter is so full of religious instruction and exhortation to faith in the mercies of a Redeemer, under the apprehension that she might not survive the birth of a child, that it is surprising this valuable little tract has not become a standard book for distribution by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

My reason for bringing it under the notice of the correspondents of "NOTES AND QUERIES" is my strong desire to learn of what family was Tourell Joceline, the husband of this most excellent lady. Of that of the lady herself, I gather the following particulars from Mr. Goad's Approbation of the volume.

Elizabeth Joceline was the wife of Tourell Joceline, granddaughter of Doctor Chaderton, sometime Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, and Professor of Divinity in that university; afterwards Bishop, first of Chester, and then of Lincoln; by whom she was, from her tender years, carefully nurtured. Her father was Sir Richard Brooke; her mother the daughter of Dr. Chaderton. She was born in 1595, and died in childbed in 1622, six years after her marriage, as she seems to have anticipated; and hence her previous writing of the Legacy. The child, a daughter, survived the mother.

I ought to add, that I parted with the first edition of The Mother's Legacy to the Rev. C. H. Craufurd, Rector of Old Swinford, Worcestershire, in exchange for a volume of his sermons, 1840; at the end of which he had printed the entire of The Mother's Legacy, which is well worthy to be printed separately.

J. M. G.

Worcester.

Minor Queries.

261. Early Muster Rolls.

—Are the muster rolls of the army that landed with King William at Torbay, or of the army that served in Ireland in 1690 and 1691, now to be met with, and if so, where? Any information on this subject will oblige

BARTANUS.

Dublin.

262. Convocation for the Province of York.

—The religious newspapers recently gave us an account of the meeting of Convocation for the province of Canterbury, but I have seen no account of the meeting of Convocation in the province of York. Does that body ever meet, and is any record kept of its proceedings?

ENQUIRER.

263. The Scent of the Bloodhound.

—In a MS. (Camb. Univ. Dd. i. p. 542.) I find the following allusion to this subject:—

Is there any truth in this statement?

C. H.

264. Cooper's Miniature of Cromwell.

—Can any of your readers inform me what has become of the original miniature of Oliver Cromwell painted by Samuel Cooper? It was long in the possession of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and given by his will to Richard Burke the younger, who survived him only two years, dying unmarried in 1794.

Should the portrait be still extant, and the subject attract any notice, I am prepared to supply some authentic particulars as to its early history, respecting which Northcote was completely misinformed. See his Life of Reynolds, vol. ii. p. 221. 2d edition.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End, Nov. 1.

265. Lines on Cagliostro.

—Mr. Carlyle, in Miscellanies, 3rd edit., vol. iii. p. 324., quotes the following "epigraph," as appended to a portrait of Cagliostro:

Is there any possibility of ascertaining, at the present day, to which of the countless dupes of that "quack of quacks" we are indebted for this hyperbolical effusion?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, Sept. 1851.

266. The Names and Numbers of British Regiments.

—Formerly the regiments in the British army were distinguished not by a particular number, but the name of an officer of rank.

I shall feel obliged by information on the following points:—

1. What was the origin of thus naming, instead of numbering, regiments?

2. Who conferred the name? Was it done at the War-office, or how?

3. If in honour of an officer commanding the corps, was the name changed when that officer died, or removed to another regiment; or what was the rule?

4. When did the present mode of numbering regiments begin, and by whom was it introduced; and what was the rule adopted in applying the number to each corps? I mean, what was the principle followed in giving any regiment a certain number? Was it according to the length of time it had been embodied?

5. What is the guide now, in identifying a named with a numbered regiment?

Ȝ.

267. Praed's Charade.

—Can any of your correspondents tell me the answer to the following charade by W. M. Praed?

I have several of Praed's charades, but this is the only one of which I have not the answer.

E. C.

268. Cozens the Painter.

—Can any of your correspondents give me information as to Cozens, the painter? The celebrated painter Turner has declared that for much of the poetry of painting he is indebted to Cozens. Now, on the wall opposite to which I am sitting, hangs a portrait of Cozens by Pine, which has been sometime in our family. I wish to know where I shall find mention of him, or where I can see any of his works.

C. S. B. S.

269. Parliamentary Debates.

—By the fortunate preservation of the MSS. of Mr. Cavendish, there was a probability of our getting a pretty full report of the proceedings of what has been called "the unreported parliament," which sat from 1768 to 1774. Unfortunately, on the death of Mr. Wright, the publication stopped, having arrived only to the debates of March, 1771. Is there any chance of the further publication of this important work? If not, where is the MS., and can it be consulted?

P. D.

Minor Queries Answered.

Merry Wakefield.

—Whence arose the Yorkshire proverb "Merry Wakefield?" Fuller mentions it in his Worthies; but does not give, or guess at, its derivation.

R. W. ELLIOT.

[What peculiar cause of mirth the town of Wakefield hath above others, Fuller certainly confesses he cannot tell, unless that it may be entitled to that epithet from its cheapness, and the plenty of good cheer. Grose, however, adds, "Might it not be mirrie, that is, faithful Wakefield? and allude to some event in the disputes between the houses of York and Lancaster. Mirrie-men is a term that frequently occurs in old ballads, signifying true or faithful men." While again it has been suggested that it derives this complimentary epithet from the reputation of that

for Braithwaite, in his Strappado for the Divell, applies it to both of them, when he speaks of

The two Kings of Brentford.

—Occasionally when there is an expression of ultra-friendship on the part of two persons who were before supposed, their profession to the contrary notwithstanding, to hate each other right heartily, the following comparison is elicited from the bystanders: "They are like the two kings of Brentford smelling at one nosegay." I have sought for the meaning of this profound remark from many denizens of that ancient locality, but hitherto without success; it being, somewhat like the mud of Brentford, impenetrable.

Presuming that the remark, like most popular sayings, bears reference to some foregone fact or event, I shall feel obliged by some one of your contributors stating to what the adage refers, and what it is meant to imply. Does it bear any relation to the fact that the two members for Middlesex are nominated at Brentford? And is the comparison quoted from any and what work?

E. J. HYTCHE.

[The saying owes its rise to the celebrated farce of The Rehearsal, written by Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with the assistance of Butler, Spratt, and others, in order to correct the public taste by holding up the rhyming tragedies to ridicule. It is said that no less than ten years were employed in collecting and polishing the materials. The original hero was Davenant, satirized under the name of Bilboa; but Dryden eventually became its Bayes. The allusion referred to by our correspondent is to Act II. Sc. 2., where the stage direction is, "Enter the two Kings, hand in hand,"—where they probably did so—"smelling at one nosegay," although no such direction occurs; or to Act V. Sc. 1., "The two right Kings of Brentford descend, in the clouds, singing, in white garments; and three Fidlers sitting before them in green."]

Meaning of V. D. M.

—In the church of old St. Chads, Shrewsbury, there is a tablet to a celebrated Nonconformist minister, Rev. Job Orton, after whose name (which is twice mentioned) occurs the (to me) uncommon suffix or designation V.D.M written thus—Rev. Job Orton, V.D.M. "Vir dignus memoriæ," or "Veri Dei minister," &c., &c., may be suggested. All I want to know is, whether it represents any recognised formula.

G. R. M.

[This suffix is Verbi Dei Minister, Minister of the Word of God.]