Volume 4 — Queries.

ROMAN FUNERAL PILE.

Did the Romans throw corn, pulse, or beans on the flames of the funeral pile (rogus), or deposit them with the bones and ashes of the deceased in their sepulchres? The Query is suggested by a quantity of, to all appearance, calcined small field beans having recently been found by me, in small heaps, among a deposit of ashes embedded in sand, in the perpendicular cutting of a sand-pit at Comb Wood, near Kingston. The deposit is black, reduced to a fine powder, and, with the exception of the beans, homogeneous: it was perfectly distinct from the surrounding sand, and was about two feet under the surface of the soil. For centuries past Roman remains have been from time to time discovered at Comb Wood, and it is known to have been a Roman station. The locality in which I found the deposit is said to have been the sepulchre of the station; and from an intelligent person, engaged in excavating the sand, I learned that he occasionally came upon deposits similar to that in question, containing baked, but unglazed, clay vessels; some, of an oval form, about a yard in circumference and nearly a foot in depth, and others of the size and somewhat of the form of a flower-pot. These vessels fall to pieces after two or three days, through exposure to the air. He had also found pieces of copper or brass about an inch square, and of the thickness of a penny, as also coins.

Authorities (Virg. Æn. VI. 225.; Stat. Theb. VI. 126.; Lucan, IX. 175.) may be cited, showing that perfumes, cups of oil, ornaments, clothes, dishes of food, and other things supposed to be agreeable to the deceased, were thrown upon the flames; but I do not find corn or beans specifically mentioned as having been used on these occasions.

I may add, that the field containing the sand-pit (which is the property of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge) is close to the road leading by Putney Heath to Kingston, and on the brow of the declivity of Comb Hill, overlooking that ancient Saxon seat of royalty which is stated to have been built out of the remains of the adjoining Roman station.

JOHN AP WILLIAM AP JOHN.

Inner Temple, Nov. 1. 1851.

DACRES OF THE NORTH.

William Lord Dacre, of the North, had four sons: 1. Thomas; 2. Leonard; 3. Edward; 4. Francis. The eldest son Thomas married, and died in his father's lifetime; leaving a son George, and three daughters, all under age. This George, on his grandfather's death, became Lord Dacre; and was in ward to the Duke of Norfolk during his minority, and his mother became the Duke's second wife. George Lord Dacre was accidentally killed before he attained his majority, leaving his three sisters his coheiresses-at-law. Two of the coheiresses were married to the Duke's two sons, the Earl of Arundel and Lord William Howard. Can any of your readers state what became of the third sister?

On the death of George Lord Dacre, the title and estates were claimed by Leonard, the second son of William Lord Dacre, by virtue of an alleged entail on the heirs male of William. Leonard, taking part in the rebellion of 1569, was attainted and fled abroad; and soon afterwards died, and is buried at Brussels, I think. The next brother, Edward, was also implicated, and fled. Is it known when and where he died; and did he leave any issue?

Francis, the fourth son of William Lord Dacre, carried on a long contest at law with the Earl of Arundel and the Lord William Howard for the Dacre's estates; claiming, under the entail of his father William Lord Dacre on the male line. He married, and had a son and a daughter. He fell under suspicion of the government, and retired abroad about the year 1588, and died there. His son is stated to have compromised his claims to the estates with the Howards.

I wish to ascertain, and possibly some of your readers may be able to state, whom did Francis Dacre marry? What was the name of his son, and was he married; and the name of his daughter, and whom did she marry; and whether there are any descendants of this branch of the Dacre family now in existence?

ERCAD.

Minor Queries.

270. Etymology of Salter.

—I wish to ascertain the precise etymology of the word salter as applied to localities far removed from the sea, and from those districts in which the making of salt is carried on. It seems to be applied in the north of England to places adjoining ancient roads, or where these pass: e.g. part of the old highway from Rochdale to Burnley is called the Salter's Gate. The old road from Rochdale to Hebden Bridge crosses Salter Edge, on Blackstone Edge. The road from Rochdale to Middleton crosses Salter Edge in Hopwood. The road from Ashton to Peniston passes Salter's Brook in the woodlands of Cheshire. It is somewhat remarkable that all these roads lead in direct lines to the Cheshire salt works.

F. R. R.

271. Chattes of Haselle.

—Sir John Mandeville, in giving the account of the growth of pepper in India, says:

"The long Peper comethe first, whan the Lef begynnethe to come; and it is lyche the Chattes of Haselle, that cometh before the Lef, and it hangethe lowe."

Is this old name for "catkins" retained in any part of England, or is it the same word?

H. N. E.

272. "Truth is that which a man troweth."

—Would some one of your correspondents furnish the authority for the saying, "Truth is that which a man troweth?"

Γ.

273. Religious Statistics.

—Is there any work published, on which reliance may be placed, which would give me the numbers, or supposed numbers, of persons professing the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, Episcopal, and other varieties of religious worship? The number of professing members of the Greek Church is given in various works, but I have never seen any complete list of the numbers professing other religions.

Q. E. D.

274. Cross-legged Effigies.

—What is the date of the latest cross-legged effigy known, and is the person commemorated known to have been connected with the Crusades? Is there any cross-legged memorial effigy with the hands in the attitude of drawing the sword of so late a date as the fourteenth century?

Dugdale and others say that persons pledged to join a crusade were marked with the cross. How was this ceremony performed?

W. H. K.

275. Verses accidentally occur in Classical Prose often.

—Has a collection of these ever been made? (I have a "Note" on the subject, but do not send it, feeling sure I must have been anticipated.)

A. A. D.

276. Count Maurice Tanner de Lacy.

—From what family connexion did "Count Maurice Tanner de Lacy," general in the Austrian service, and who died in 1819, take the name of "Tanner?" What relative was General M. de Lacy to Joseph Francis Maurice Count de Lacy, field marshal under Joseph II., and who distinguished himself so highly during the Seven Years' War; also who was mother of the latter?

Ποθέω.

277. The Sinaitic Inscriptions.

—Your correspondent E. H. D. D. (Vol. iv., p. 332.) says that the Sinaitic inscriptions have been already deciphered. May I ask, by whom?

T. D.

278. Portrait of Dr. Bray.

—Is any authentic portrait in existence of Dr. Bray, to whom the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel owes its origin?

C.

279. Peter Plancius' Map of the World.

—In M. Blundevill his Exercises, containing Eight Treatises, 6th edition, 4to., 1622, one of the eight is described thus:

Item. A plaine and full description of Peter Plancius his universall Mappe lately set forth in the yeare of our Lord 1592, containing more places newly found, as well in the East and West Indies, as also towards the North Pole, which no other Mappe heretofore hath."

Where is this Peter Plancius' map to be found?

J. O. M.

280. Derivation of Theodolite.

—Can any of your correspondents give the derivation of theodolite? I fear that θεάομαι δολος might be considered a libel.

J. S. WOOD.

281. Lycian Inscriptions.

—I should be glad to hear what attempts have been made, and with what success, to decipher the inscriptions upon the Lycian monuments in the British Museum. Col. Mure, in his History of Grecian Literature, vol. i. p. 84., speaks of them as at present unintelligible. The character, he says, is a variety of the Græco-Phœnician. I find several, if not the greater part, of the letters in Gesenius's Monumenta Phœnicia, especially Tab. 11. and 12. What is the language in which they are written? And if an aboriginal tongue, over what portion of Asia did the stock to which it belongs extend in the historical period, and what is that stock? Is it to that class of dialects that the language of the Gods, as Homer distinguishes a certain tongue from the language of men, belongs: which called the "night-jar" χαλκίς, named by men κύμινδις (Il. 14. 291.); and "the giant" Βριάρεως, instead of Αἰγαίων (Il. 1. 403.); and "the Xanthus, Ξάνθος, instead of Σκάμανδρος; and, which is more remarkable still, "the hillock" on the plain of Troy, the σῆμα πολυσκάρθμοιο Μυρίνης, while men named it Βατίεια (Il. 2. 813.) I have hitherto been accustomed to consider these names which the gods use to be the old Pelasgian names, assured as I feel that the Pelasgi occupied the north-west corner of Asia Minor before the Greeks (Hellenes) took Troy, which event I have looked upon as one of many in which the energies and [ ... ] of the young and vigorous Hellenic family were successfully exerted against their contemporaries of the other less powerful descendants of the old Pelasgic settlers in that part of the world. But I shall be thankful for the information which others wiser than I can give, even if it be but a theory: accompanied with the facts on which it is based, it will be worth attention.

THEOPHYLACT.

282. Maltese Dialect.

—Is it more reasonable to assign the Arabic character of the Maltese dialect to the fact of its early occupation by the Hebrew-speaking Phœnicians, or to the subsequent Saracen occupation? or may its difference from Hebrew and from Arabic be explained by the circumstances of its history, as having been twice, at two very different periods, occupied by invaders belonging to two branches of the same stock? Bochart, Canaan, i. 26., says that the name "Melete" is Hebrew, meaning refugium; and Diodorus Siculus, v. cap. 12., uses the term καταφυγή concerning it so pointedly, that it would almost seem as though he knew that to be the reason why the Phœnicians gave it its name.

THEOPHYLACT.

283. Hobbes's "Leviathan" (Vol. iv., p. 314.).

—You have inserted my inquiry respecting the frontispiece to Hobbes's Leviathan; I should also be glad to know the interpretation put by any of your readers on the various other symbols in that plate. They are, on one side of the title, a castle, a crown, a cannon, a pile of arms, and a field of battle, in compartments one below another; and on the other side, a church, a mitre, a thunderbolt, a collection of implements marked syllogism, dilemma, &c., and a tribunal.

I have my own view of the meaning of each part of this, which is at your service when required.

W. W.

Cambridge.

284. Wigtoun Peerage.

—Can any of your legal correspondents inform me whether there exist any reports of the addresses of the Lord Advocate for Scotland, the king's Attorney-General, or the Lord Chancellor, on the hearing or decision of this case in the year 1782?

The Lord Chancellor was Lord Thurlow; the Lord Advocate, Sir Henry Dundas; the Attorney-General, Mr. Wallace.

S. E. G.

285. Sale by Candle.

—Forty or fifty years ago goods were advertised for public sale "by the candle." Can any of your readers inform me of the origin of this?

I may remark that it was the custom then at some sales to have candles marked with red circles; and the moment the candle burned down to the mark, the lot put up was knocked down to the highest bidder; and, at some sales, a common candle was burned during the sale.

J. S. A.

Old Broad Street.

Minor Queries Answered.

Derivation of Æra.

—Will any of your correspondents inform me of the derivation of the word æra, as, if derived from the Latin word æra, no classical authority that I know of can be adduced. In Ainsworth I find æra signifies a kind of weed amongst corn; a mark upon money to show the value; a remarkable period of time.

J. N. G. G.

[In Andrews' Latin-English Lexicon our correspondent will find the following as the second definition of Æra, "ÆRA, Æ, f. (from Æra, the plural of Æs), a word belonging to Later Latin. 1. In Mathem. The given number, according to which a calculation is to be made. Vitruvius (Vetrubius) Rufus in Salmas. Exerc. I. p. 483. 2. The item of an account for which in the class. per æra, as plur. of æs, came into use. Ruf. Fest. in Breviar. in. The passage of Lucil. cited by Nonius, 2, 42., æra perversa, is prob. also plur. 3. The era or epoch from which time is reckoned."]

Tudur Aled.

—Can any of your Cambrian correspondents inform me when Tudur Aled, a Welsh poet, flourished; and in what collection his works are to be found?

A STUDENT.

[Tudur Aled, so called on account of his residence on the banks of the Aled, in the county of Denbigh, flourished about the year 1490, and was a friar of the Order of St. Francis. He wrote a poetical account of the miracles reported to have been performed at St. Winifred's Well, in the town of Holywell, as well as the life of that saint. He was also one of the followers of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, of Dinevor in Carmarthenshire, and wrote several poems in praise of his great achievements. Some of our Cambrian readers can probably state where his pieces are to be found.]

Tonges of Tonge.

—Can any of your Lancashire correspondents furnish me with information respecting the genealogy and family history of the Tonges of Tonge, near Middleton in that county? This family appears to have been of some consideration at an early period, and to have become extinct at the commencement of the last century.

J. B. (Manchester.)

[Some notices of this family will be found in Baines's History of Lancaster, vol. iii. p. 86.]

Robert Hues on the Use of Globes.

—Is there any edition of this book in English or Latin as early as 1595?

J. O. M.

[The Bodleian contains a copy printed in 1594:—"Robertus Hues, Tractatus de globis et eorum usu, accommodatus iis qui Londini editi sunt anno 1593, sumptibus Gul. Sandersoni. 8vo. Lond. in æd Thomæ Dawson, 1594." Also another copy, "8vo. typ. G. Voegelini, s.a."]