Volume 4 — Replies.

THE CAXTON MEMORIAL. (Vol. iv., p. 283.)

In forming a literary project, whether extensive or otherwise, it is advisable to keep in view the humble science of arithmetic. Without that precaution, it may become a source of vexation both to its projector and its promoters; and, in some cases, the non-completion of it may be a real injury to literature.

When I proposed a typographic memorial of William Caxton, in preference to an architectural memorial, and intimated that it might be compressed into an octavo volume, and produced at a very moderate price, I flattered myself with having made a more correct estimate than is commonly made by designers and architects—Paxton, Cubitt, and Fox, always excepted—and I venture to announce, on more mature reflection, the same decided opinion.

With thanks to MR. BOTFIELD for his enumeration of the translated works of Caxton, I must remind him that the proposal was a collection of his original compositions, with specimens of his translations. To reprint the entire works which proceeded from his press was never my project. I could not have entertained such an idea for one moment; nor should I think the realisation of it desirable, even if it could be effected by magic. I readily admit, however, that I have a liking for Fayts of armes and chyvalrye—that Thystorye of Reynard the foxe is very attractive—and that the Boke for travellers would be a choice morçeau philologique.

The publications of Caxton are about sixty in number, and I am sure that more than six pages would seldom be required for any one work, and that many articles might be properly treated in less than two pages each. A short memoir of Caxton, a glossary of obsolete words and phrases, an appendix of documents, and an index, are the only additions which I should consider as essential to the completeness of the design. All this might be comprised in an octavo volume of moderate extent.

The Typographical antiquities of Ames, as augmented by Dibdin, being the accredited source of information on Caxton, and having misled some superior writers, I shall presume to deliver my opinion of the first volume of that work—not having much acquaintance with the subsequent volumes. Dibdin had formed, at the very outset, a most injudicious resolution. Caxton was his hero; and he resolved, as he tells us in his autobiography, to "devote the first volume entirely to the productions of his press." In order to carry out this plan, he was led to introduce much extraneous and useless matter. We have endless repetitions of what Lewis says, and what Ames says, and what Herbert says, and even what the dreamer Bagford says, instead of such information as should have been derived from an examination of the books themselves. Moreover, he is very deficient in the logic of history, in point of method, and in point of accuracy; and the extracts, being in modern orthography, are to philological students UTTERLY WORTHLESS.

This, and perhaps more than this, I may hereafter have occasion to prove; and should it seem to others that I express myself harshly, due consideration shall be given to their objections.

I must now assure MR. BOTFIELD that it gives me satisfaction to observe him somewhat disposed to view my project with favour, and that I am not less disposed to make such modifications of the conditions of publication as may meet the wishes of himself and the other contributors toward The Caxton Testimonial. Two modes of union suggest themselves, which I submit to his consideration in the form of queries.

1. If the preparation and impression of the intended volume should be undertaken by a certain literary society, honourably distinguished by the substantial character of the works which have been edited under its sanction, would the committee of The Caxton Testimonial engage to take a certain number of copies, in case the council of the society alluded to should assent to such a deviation from its usual course?

2. If this arrangement should be objected to on either side, would the committee of The Caxton Testimonial undertake to produce a literary memorial of Caxton on the plan before-described, or not much differing from it, and under the editorship of persons to be named by themselves?

If neither plan should be approved, I shall not abate one jot of hope as to the success of the project; but, by permission of the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES," proceed with my humble contributions to The Caxton Coffer.

BOLTON CORNEY.

Might not the purpose be attained by the establishment of a club (on the same principles as the Bannatyne, Maitland, and Spalding Clubs), for the republication of the works of the first English printer? His works are of such excessive rarity that they are inaccessible even to the most devoted antiquary, and indeed many of them are scarcely known even by name. They are principally thin quartos, and the actual expense of reprinting them could not be heavy. The only trouble would be in collating them; and if the matter was once set on foot, we have many able typographical antiquaries who, I have no doubt, would assist in editing them. Such a plan appears preferable, because in making the Club open to any party who chose to pay the agreed-on subscription, it would thus become better known throughout the kingdom, and consequently stand a much better chance of support and, of course, success.

The great object of the memorial, in addition to a just recognition of the important services of Caxton, appears to be to revive his memory; and this end can only be effectually gained by a republication of his works, and the plan of a club appears to be the only way by which they can be extensively circulated.

PETRO-PROMONTORIENSIS.

[Our correspondent has, he will perceive, misapprehended MR. CORNEY'S suggestion; which is a far more practical one, than a reprint of all the works which issued from the press of Caxton. In the first of the modes which MR. CORNEY now suggests for carrying out his views he appears to us to have hit upon a very happy expedient; which we think may easily be accomplished in a way to do credit to all parties concerned in it, and really to do honour to the memory of William Caxton.]

EPIGRAM ASCRIBED TO MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. (Vol. iv., pp. 316. 356.)

As your correspondent C. has noticed the copy of Sallust containing the autograph of Mary Queen of Scots, which was presented to the library of this University by our illustrious alumnus JOHN WILSON CROKER, I think it right to send you the following account of it.

The full title is as follows:—

The words here printed in Italics are in rubric in the original. Then follows on the title-page a table of contents of the volume, with reference to the folio in which each piece is to be found.

Then follows a small square woodcut, representing SS. Peter and Paul holding the sacred handkerchief with the face of Christ impressed upon it; and on each side of this is the date in rubric, thus,

The whole is surrounded with a framework formed of various woodcut ornaments. One of these (on the left) represents Judas betraying our Lord with a kiss; the other (on the right) our Lord bearing His cross.

On the reverse of the title is a dedicatory letter from Iodocus Badius Ascensius to Franciscus de Roban, Archbishop of Lyons.

Then follows Tabula Alphabetica, occupying four pages.

Then (on fol. A. iiij) a letter, "Aug. Mapheo rerū Ro. Thesaur. Pōp. letus. S." beginning "Marcus Valerius probus unice vetustatis amator."

On the next page is 'Caij Crispi Sallustij vita per Pōpo. letū."

On the next page begins "De historia et ea concernentibus collecta per ascensium;" and in the blanks round the heading of this page is one of the autographs of the unfortunate queen, in her large bold hand,

On the next page begin "Viginti precepta pro historica lege," which are continued on the next two pages. In the blank spaces left round the titles of the ninth and tenth precepta, the queen has again written,

On the next leaf begin the works of Sallust, with the commentaries and other apparatus. The sheets are in eights, so that the book is more properly large 8o than 4o, signatures A—S(but S is only a half-sheet). The prefatory matter (including the title) is contained on a single sheet, sig. A, of six leaves only. This is expressed by the printer's register at the end—

The colophon has not been completely given by C.; it is as follows:

"¶ Crispi Sallustii Catilina (sic) et Jugurthina cum reliquis collectaneis ab Ascensio: ut cum[que] explanatis: hic suum capit finem. Lugduni diligenti recognitione Impressus per Antoniū Blachard[6] anno domini M. quingētesimo. xxiii. pridie Calend. Sextiles."

These particulars may enable your readers to identify this edition, which is, I believe, very rare.

After the colophon are two pages occupied by remarks on Sallust by "Jacobus a cruce Bononiensis:" leaving the last page in the volume blank, except that in the centre is a woodcut of larger size than that already mentioned, which is on the title-page, but representing the same subject, viz. SS. Peter and Paul holding the sacred handkerchief.

On the upper right-hand corner of this last page are the verses quoted by C., and correctly quoted, except that meæ and puellæ in the first line are mee and puelle in the original.

There is not the smallest shadow of probability for supposing these verses, or any of the other MS. annotations which occur in the volume, to be in the handwriting of Mary Queen of Scots. She wrote a large and not by any means a scholarlike hand, which is very well known; whereas these verses and the other annotations, are in a small and crampt scholarlike hand of the sixteenth century, as unlike the handwriting of Mary as any that can be imagined. In fact I was not aware, until I read C.'s letter in "NOTES AND QUERIES," that anybody had ever supposed it to be hers.

The note recording the donation of this book by James I. to Bishop Hall, occurs fol. xc. It is in a large schoolboylike hand, and is correctly quoted by C.

The book contains numerous woodcuts, which have no discoverable relation to the text, and are inserted merely to mark the commencement of the books, or different pieces of which the volume consists. Many of these are repeated several times.

The ornamental letter to which C. refers is the letter O, the first in the book. The grotesque character of it noticed by C. would not be easily observed except it were specially pointed out. C. may be assured that it was not particularly pointed out to Her Majesty when she did us the honour of inspecting this and some other literary treasures of our library in 1849.

JAMES H. TODD.

Trinity Coll. Dublin.

STANZAS IN CHILDE HAROLD. (Vol. iv., pp. 223. 285. 323.)

I trust that a few words more will not be deemed overmuch in pointing out what I think will be found to be the source of T. W.'s difficulty. We need not go to French or German translators, because it is reasonable to suppose that where any sense can be made out of the text as it stands, the last thing a foreigner would do would be to complete an elliptical expression. I agree with MR. COLLINS, who says the expression "is very good sense;" and from his adding "much more Byronic," I expect he will agree with me in adding also, "but very bad taste." T. W. seems to have felt this; and nothing can be more conclusive than his criticism upon this point. I trust that there are few men of taste who have not as utter an abhorrence of tyranny as Lord Byron; but I think that, strongly as men of genius may be supposed to feel, few would have lugged in the tyrants on such an occasion; as it seems to me it was just in the nature of the noble poet, with or without cause, to do. What Byron says is perfectly true; it is simply out of place: nevertheless, as the text stands, it is said with force. But adopt T. W.'s variation, and can a flatter truism be conceived? And, after all, the objection not removed; for the allusion would be equally out of place: unless, indeed, your correspondent could make out of the text that

SAMUEL HICKSON.

I will not dwell on T. W.'s last remarks about Byron's "Address to the Ocean," farther than to observe, that it is difficult to conceive how he can understand the French translation which he quotes, in such a way that it shall tally with the view which he has put forward. The translation says, "the waves wasted their shores in the days of liberty, as they have done since under many a tyrant." This is very different from making the line mean either "the waves wasted the tyrants," as T. W. thinks it means with Byron's punctuation, or "the shores obey the tyrants," as T. W. would make it mean with his amended punctuation.

In a recent number (p. 325.) MR. M. COLLINS objects to—

and exclaims, "In vain!" Why, did not Columbus, &c.? But this criticism also overlooks the meaning of the passage. The fleets traverse the ocean quite in vain, as to producing any permanent traces, as is explained in the very next words:

W. W.

Cambridge.

CAGOTS. (Vol. iv., pp. 190. 331.)

A reference to Dr. Guggenbühl's Letter to Lord Ashley on Cretinism, and to the reviews of the subject, of which I can name two in the Athenæum, one in 1848, p. 1077., and another on June 21, 1851, will, I think, show that there are no "races of Cretins," though the disease—for it is nothing but a disease—will sometimes largely affect even families. One of the principal characteristics of the disease is a disgusting goître, enlarging the neck to such a size, that a part of it becomes pendulous to the length of upwards of a foot, and can even be flung over the shoulder, and is, indeed, often carried there. It is very commonly accompanied by idiocy; and, in fact, the Cretin is one of the most distressing objects that can be seen. The disease is very common in some parts of Switzerland, especially, I believe, the Valais; some attribute it to the water: and probably climatic influences, in conjunction with the deleterious elements contained in the water, and the frequent intermarriage of the villagers, and deficient or unwholesome diet, are the chief sources to which it must be traced. It is curable; at the institution on the Abendberg the treatment is very successful. The disease never appears above a certain level, and disappears when, under favourable circumstances, the patient is raised to that level. Cases have been found in Lancashire, and at Chiselborough in Somersetshire, and at other places which present predisposing causes resembling those of Switzerland.

I do not think that AJAX'S suggestion "credentes" as the derivation of Cretin can be substantiated. Is it a term at all connected with diversity of religious opinion and consequent persecution? In the Alps, Cretinism is regarded with pity and kindness, as RUSTICUS truly remarks. The term cagot is current in the French with the meaning of an impostor, a hypocrite; "celui qui a une dévotion fausse ou mal-entendue," is the meaning in the Dictionnaire de l'Académie; also a bigot.

It is altogether a religious term. May I suggest that they are a relique of the old population of the mountain vallies imperfectly Christianised, therefore despised by the more enlightened population of the neighbourhood,—half-civilised, perhaps, and physically degraded by the same causes which have given the goître and the idiocy of the Cretin to the inhabitants of the Valais. If so, they may be Iberian, or what is commonly called Celtiberian, a term which I think there is reason for abandoning. I shall be glad to hear more of these Cagots; about the Cretins a good deal is known, and with much certainty, but nothing, as far as I can learn, that tends to identify them historically with any religious sect.

I am able to add further information concerning the Cagots. They are a miserable race, mostly beggars, or employed only about the meanest and filthiest work, abounding in leprosy and other cutaneous diseases, and in the most loathsome vermin; houseless, half-clad, inhabiting stables, barns, or any casual place of shelter, generally mutilated and lame, outcasts from society, reputed to lead infamous lives, indulging in the most horrible practices, even of cannibalism, and worse offences than that. Their brand used to be an eggshell on their clothes, and the custom was to pierce their feet with an iron. Scaliger derived their name from "Canis Gottus," and their origin has been assigned to some one of the northern nations which penetrated into the south of France and north of Spain in the third and fourth centuries before our era.

On this may I be allowed to forward a Query or two? What is their language? What are their own traditions concerning their origin? I am confirmed in my opinion that they are no way analogous to the Cretins; the latter being diseased, and Cretins because they are diseased; the Cagot being diseased and filthy, and despised because he is a Cagot, an individual of a degraded and outcast race of men.

THEOPHYLACT.

TEXTS BEFORE SERMONS. (Vol. iv., p. 344.)

In the early church the sermon was delivered immediately after the reading of the Scriptures (Const. Apost. lib. viii. c. 5.), and sometimes preached without any text; at other times, upon more texts than one; but most commonly the text was taken out of some paragraph of the Psalms or Lessons, as they were read. Origen expressly calls Sermons, explanations of the Lessons (Orig. cont. Cels., lib. iii.). The Fathers sometimes so ordered the matter, as to preach upon the Psalm, the Epistle, and the Gospel all together, when they happened to be on the same subject. Thus St. Augustine (Serm. x. t. x. p. 112.) preached upon the subject of praise and thanksgiving, out of the Epistle, the Psalm, and the Gospel together, because they each had something relating to his subject. (Bingham, book xiv. ch. iv. § 17.) This may have given rise to the present plan of textual preaching. During the middle ages we frequently meet with the terms postilla, postillæ, postillare, and the like (from post illa verba Scripturæ sacræ), denoting sometimes merely expositions of Scripture, and sometimes popular discourses founded upon a passage just before read.

In England, about the year 957, Elfric, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, required the priest in each parish to explain the Gospel of the day, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, on Sundays and holydays. (Canon XXIII. Ælfrica, Wilkins, Concil. tom. i. p. 253.) The same person afterwards compiled Homilies in the Anglo-Saxon language, which for some time continued to be read in the English Church. (Cave, Historia Literaria, tom. ii.)

During the reign of King John, A.D. 1204, the custom of preaching from a text appears to have originated with Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and adopted by some of the divines of the University of Oxford. The practice, however, met with some opposition by the sages and seniors of that seat of learning, as related by the author [Sir John Peshall] of The History of the University of Oxford, from the Death of William the Conqueror to the Demise of Queen Elizabeth, 4to. 1773, p. 7.:—

"The ancient practice of explaining considerable portions of Scripture first showed itself openly in this University. This was to name a thesis or text from the Scripture, and make divisions upon it; which method is said to have been adopted by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who therefore divided the Scriptures into chapters. The people at their religious assemblies much approved of this way, in preference to the raw discourses of young and ignorant preachers. Yet others, rejecting new customs and innovations, chose to follow their old way, which was that of the Saints Austin, Jerome, Barnard, &c.; and Robert Grostest, D.D. (whose word was a law with the university), was among the opposers. This was postillando, i.e. by expounding the words of Scripture as they stood in order, by inferences drawn from them. They took no text, but began in this manner: 'I intend, by the grace of God, in my following discourse, to treat of certain matters; and in these matters I intend to draw certain and true conclusions, for I intend now to speak of the fear of God. First, concerning fear,' &c. And so far down as the fifteenth century this kind of preaching continued: for so Vascanius, doctor and chancellor of the university, relates of himself: 'Anno 1450, in the octaves of St. John the Evangelist, on the Lord's Day, I showed in my sermon, preached at Oxford, in St. Martin's Church at Carfax, that Dr. Augustine preached four hundred sermons to the clergy and people without any thesis, and without taking a text at the beginning of his discourse. And so I (says he) preached the day and year above mentioned, in Oxford, by taking no theme or text; but I administered to the people profitable matters, without repeating of any text, but only words pertinent to matters proposed or declared.'"

The ancient practice of explaining considerable portions of Scripture to the people was revived by our reformers. Before them Colet had employed many years in publicly expounding all the Epistles of St. Paul. Archbishop Cranmer expounded Hebrews; as Bishops Hooper, Latimer, and Jewel, did Jonah, the Lord's Prayer, many of the Epistles, and all the Epistles and Gospels on Sundays and holydays.

"From the practice of Ambrose, Origen, Chrysostom, and Austin, among the ancients, and of our reformers, and more modern divines, we may safely affirm (says Mr. Shepherd in his Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer) that explaining and applying portions of Scripture read in the Lessons, is a very beneficial mode of preaching to ordinary congregations."

J. Y.

Hoxton.

THE REV. —— GAY. (Vol. iii., pp. 424. 508.)

Through the kindness of a friend, who takes an interest in the pedigree of the Gay family, I am enabled to offer the following information to MR. TAGART.

In Paley's Life of Law, prefixed to the Theory of Religion, mention is made of Gay's dissertation; and the author is there stated to be of "Sidney College." Inquiry was accordingly made in that quarter, and the following answer was returned:—

"I find there have been four persons of the name of Gay educated at Sidney College; three of them certainly—and in all probability the fourth—members of the same family. As I shall have occasion to refer to them subsequently, I will give you their several entries in the College Register:

"'1. Johannes, fil. Jacobi Gay, clerici, natus apud Meath in com. Devon. lit. gram. instit. per quinquennium apud Torrington sub Mro Reynolds, deinde per biennium sub Mro Rayner, apud Tiverton in com. prædicto. Adm. est Pens. min. anno æt. 18mo sub tut. Mro Nath. Popple, S.T.B., et Mro Laur. Jackson, M.A., 7mo Nov. 1717.'

"'2. Nicholas, fil Jacobi Gay, clerici, natus apud Meath in com. Devon. lit. gram. instit. per quinquennium apud Torrington sub Mro Reynolds, deinde per triennium sub Mro Rayner apud Tiverton, in com. prædicto. Adm. est Sizator 20mo Oct. 1718, anno æt. 17mo, Tut. Laurentio Jackson, A.M.'

"'3. Jacobus, fil. natû max. Revdi Joannis Gay, hujus Collii quondam Socii, posteà Vicarii de Wilshamstead, natus apud Wilshamstead, in com. Bedf. lit. gr. instructus apud Bampton in com. Devon. sub Mro Wood. Adm. est Sizator 24to Aug. 1752, annum agens 17mo, Tut. J. Lawson et J. Cranwell.'

"'4. Johannes, fil. natû max. Nicolai Gay, de Newton St. Cyres in com. Devon. Vicarii, ibidem natus, lit. verò gram. inst. apud South-Molton per sexennium, et apud Ottery St. Mary per triennium sub viro revdo Joanne Colridge. Adm. est Sizator 15to Junii 1762, annum agens 19mo, Tut. Gul. Elliston, Mro Ci et Joh. Hey.'

"Gay (1.) was a scholar of Peter Blundell's foundation, and in 1724 succeeded to a fellowship on the same foundation. This fellowship, of which there are two at this college, is tenable for ten years; and all our fellows are compelled to proceed regularly to the degree of B.D. (seven years after they have taken that of M.A.). Mr. Gay was M.A. in 1725, and might have proceeded to B.D. in 1732: but he never took any higher degree than M.A. He must therefore have vacated his fellowship before 1732. I find no mention of his name in our College Office-book later than 7th May, 1730. He was probably presented during that year to the vicarage of Wilshamstead (which of course would render void his fellowship), and subsequently entered upon another kind of fellowship, one of the results of which was Gay (3.).

"Of Gay (2.) I find it recorded that he was appointed Chapel Clerk in 1719; that he was B.A. 1722, and M.A. 1731. As far as dates are concerned, it might be questioned which of the brothers (1. or 2.) was the author of the 'Preliminary Dissertation.' In our University Library I can find only two editions of Law's translation of Archbishop King's work, viz. the 2nd edit., 1732, which contains the 'Preliminary Dissertation,' but no mention of its author; and the 4th edit., Camb. 1758, at the end of the Preface to which are these words: 'The following Dissertation was composed chiefly by the late Rev. Mr. Gay.' The author of the Dissertation must therefore have died in or before 1758. But in the entry of Gay (4.) 1762 (who was without doubt nephew of 1.), I do not find 'defuncti' attached to his father's name, which it has always been usual to add, in the case of the father being deceased.

"I am convinced in my own mind that the Mr. Gay of Sidney College, mentioned by Paley in his life of Bishop Law, was Gay (1.). There would be no difficulty, I should think, in ascertaining the time of Mr. John Gay's decease. The present vicar of Wilshamstead could no doubt readily inform you. If it should be found that Mr. John Gay died before 1758, then there can be no question but that he is Bishop Law's late Mr. Gay.

"Fellow of Sidney College."

VERMIN, PAYMENTS FOR DESTRUCTION OF, AND ANCIENT NAMES. (Vol. iv., p. 208.)

The 8 Eliz. c. 15. and 14 Eliz. c. 11. provide that in every parish the churchwardens with six other parishioners shall yearly on one of the holydays in Easter week, and at every other time when needful, tax and assess every land and tithe-owner within the parish to pay such sums of money as they shall think meet according to the quantity of such their lands or tithes, and on nonpayment thereof within fourteen days after demand to forfeit five shillings, which, together with the sum assessed shall be levied by distress on the goods and chattels of such land or tithe-owner; and as well the said sums as penalties shall be delivered to two honest and substantial persons of the parish eligible by the churchwardens, to be named "The distribution of the provisions for the destruction of noisome fowl and vermin." Such is the authority required by J. B. (Manchester), by which churchwardens in old times paid sums of money for the destruction of vermin in the several parishes of England. It will, however, be observed that their authority was not confined to "vermin," but extended to the "fowls of the air;" and the "old volumes of churchwardens' accounts," to which your correspondent has access, amply testify to the fact that those churchwardens were fully alive to their duty, powers, and authority, under the above-named statutes; inasmuch as two, at least, of the ancient names belong to the feathered tribe; glead being identical with kite, and ringteal or ringtail (subbuteo) with a species of hawk, in some districts more commonly called the hobby. Greas' head I must leave to some other head to determine, unless indeed is meant the great-shrike or butcher-bird belonging to the same order (accipitres) as the kite and ringtail or hobby. Notwithstanding J. B.'s diffidence, I am much inclined to adopt his surmise, that the worthy churchwarden really intended badger when he wrote baggar.

FRANCISCUS.

It is hardly so impossible to identify the animals mentioned by your correspondent J. B. as he supposes. Glead is the A.-S. glida or kite, though, in our version of Deut. xiv. 13., both glede and kite are mentioned. Ringteal or ringtail is the female of the Circus cyaneus or hen-harrier, another species of falcon. Greas' head and baggar refer to the same animal (the badger), for there is no wonder that a scribe who writes greas' head for gray's head should write also baggar for badger. This latter animal has a variety of names by which he is known in one and the same district, e.g. gray or graye, bawson or bowson, brock and badger, and in our churchwardens' accounts these names occur indiscriminately. I hope some one will be able to point out the origin of paying for the destruction of these animals out of the parochial funds; I have frequently searched without success such authorities as I have access to. The earliest entry of the kind in the books of this parish (which date from 1520) is in 1583.

I subjoin a few extracts, which afford a curious instance of the respective prices put upon the heads of these animals at a time when such entries occur; as,

1587 for ij dyverse p'achers for iij sermones iijsiiijd.

—————————

1583 It[=m] for iiij fox headsxvjd

1586 — ij fox headsijs

1589 — catte headesiiijd

1590 — xij bulspyncke (bulfinch) heades.vjd

" — vj crowe headesjd

" — an urchen (hedghog) headeijd

1596 — a grayes headvjd

1620 — a bawson headxijd

1621 — tow fox cub headsxijd

" — vij hedghoge headsxiiijd

1626 — a wylde catt headijd

1736 — an otter headxijd

1741 — a fulmart's headiiijd

" — a ffoomard's headiiijd

1744 — 3 marts headsis"

These entries are very numerous in our books with every variety of spelling, though the prices remain very much the same. I have found no entries of the kind after 1744, but that may be owing to the accounts being not entered fully in every case after that period; but I cannot agree with J. B. in his assertion that these animals are now considered innocuous; witness the vulgar error with regard to the hedgehog's sucking the teats of cows, an error which no process of reasoning can induce the farmers about here to renounce; moreover, I know for a fact that not more than a dozen years ago the farmers near Wakefield used to give a halfpenny per head for every unlucky sparrow (fledged or unfledged) that was brought to them by any bird-nesting youngster.

J. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield, Sheffield.

THE CLAIMS OF LITERATURE. (Vol. iv., p. 337.)

There is the more pressing need, in our day, of an Order of Victoria, or of Civil Merit—such as you justly and feelingly contend for and describe in the "NOTES AND QUERIES"—from the great and increasing numbers of our literary and scientific men, who are acutely sensible of the undeserved stigma and ban under which they lie, by being often excluded from the intellectual society so congenial to them, owing to their not possessing some recognised badge of honour and passport in life, equivalent to the degrees or distinctions so justly conferred upon those who have studied at our Universities, or are awarded to men who have won eminence in the Naval, Military, or Civil Service of the Crown. An honourable title, proceeding from the Sovereign herself, and bestowed alike on both sexes (for who would think—certainly not our beloved Queen—of wounding the delicate female mind by excluding a Somerville, a Hannah More, a Joanna Baillie, or a Felicia Hemans—the three latter not needing now our poor applause—from the cheering honours due to their genius, their talents, and their virtues?) would be a fitting tribute from a British, a Christian Monarch to that intellectual superiority and moral worth which are the immortal distinctions of our race. At present many individuals who have raised themselves by their native force of mind and acquirements to a position of honour and respectability as literary and scientific men, are yet looked upon and treated as pariahs by those who are the bestowers and guardians of national distinctions. The just pride and self-respect of such men will forbid their courting, by any unworthy advances, an introduction to society, from which, by their position, they stand excluded; and it would be a truly royal exercise of her sovereign rights, for Queen Victoria to extend, beyond the present line of demarcation, the barriers that now prevent those from meeting together, who, if they were better acquainted, would learn to value and esteem each other: while society at large would be an immense gainer in all its relations—scientific, literary, and artistic—by the honours and distinctions thus conferred upon a most worthy, but most contemned and neglected portion of the educated community.

A CONTRIBUTOR TO "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Replies to Minor Queries.

Arbor Lowe—Stanton Moor—Ayre Family (Vol. iv., p. 274.).

—In Rhodes's Peak Scenery, p. 228, it is said:

"Near Middleton, by Youlgrave, we found the celebrated Druidical monument of Arbor Low, one of the most striking remains of antiquity in any part of Derbyshire. This circle includes an area of from forty to fifty yards diameter, formed by a series of large unhewn stones, not standing upright, but all laid on the ground, with an inclination towards the centre; round these the remains of a ditch, circumscribed by a high embankment, may be traced. Near the south entrance into this circle there is a mound, or burial-place, in which some fragments of an urn, some half-burnt bones, and the horns of a stag, were found."

In the same work, at pages 236, 237., is an account of the Druidical remains at Stanton Moor. And at page 224. are the following remarks:—

"The Eyres is one of the oldest families in Derbyshire, where they have continued to reside through the long lapse of more than seven hundred years, as appears from the following curious extract from an old pedigree which is preserved at Hassop. 'The first of the Eyres came in with King William the Conqueror, and his name was Truelove; but in the battle of Hastings (14 Oct. 1066) this Truelove, seeing the king unhorsed, and his helmet beat so close that he could not breathe, pulled off his helmet and horsed him again. The king said, Thou shalt hereafter from Truelove be called Air or Eyre, because thou hast given me the air I breathe. After the battle the king called for him, and being found with his thigh cut off, he ordered him to be taken care of; and being recovered, he gave him lands in the county of Derby, in reward for his services, and the seat he lived at he called Hope, because he had hope in the greatest extremity; and the king gave the leg and thigh cut off in armour for his crest, and which is still the crest of all the Eyres in England.'"

A descendant of this person is the present Earl of Newburgh, of Hassop Hall.

At page 240. is an account of the village of Birchover, and also of the Rowter Rocks, but no mention is made of the family of the Ayres, or of the ruins of any house formerly belonging to them.

JOHN ALGOR.

Sheffield.

The Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-books (Vol. iv., p. 3.).

—The paragraph quoted by SIR F. MADDEN out of Prayers after the confession of sins, and the sense of pardon obtained, and well called by him "striking," is a verbatim copy of a passage in "A Guide for the Penitent," published at the end of Jeremy Taylor's Golden Grove.

The short preface, by a nameless hand, which precedes this division of the Golden Grove, would lead one to suppose that "A Guide for the Penitent" was a posthumous work of Jeremy Taylor; but this is not exactly stated. The prayers, however, have the same spirit and grandeur of piety which characterise those which are the acknowledged compositions of Bishop Taylor. Monmouth was beheaded eighteen years after Taylor died. It would be interesting to identify the author of "A Guide for the Penitent" (should there be any doubt on the subject): also, to ascertain how far Monmouth quoted, in his "prayers," from Taylor or any other divine.

MARGARET GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

Buxtorf's Translation of Elias Levita's "Tov Taam."

—Your correspondent T. T., in reply to my Query respecting this work, says (Vol. iv., p. 328.) that it "was printed in Venice, 1538, in 4to." This is impossible: for the elder Buxtorf was born in 1564; and it would be singular if he had translated R. Elias' work, and printed it at Venice, twenty-six years before he was born.

T. T. seems not to have observed that my inquiry related to Buxtorf's translation, not to the original work of Elias Levita, which, although now rare, is sufficiently well known to Rabbinical scholars. I must therefore renew my inquiry (Vol. iv., p. 272.): has Buxtorf's translation ever been printed, or does it now exist in MS.?

JAMES H. TODD.

Trin. Coll. Dub.

Burke's "Mighty Boar of the Forest" (Vol. iii., p. 493.).

—Idomeneus awaiting the attack of Æneas could hardly be compared with Junius attacking every body in his way. Burke more probably borrowed his boar from even a greater poet than Homer. See Psalm lxxx. verses 8 to 13 (Common Prayer Version), and the context before and following, which contains perhaps the most picturesque and beautiful, as well as practical, allegory in the compass even of sacred literature. "The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up, and the wild beasts of the field devour it."

J. M. G.

Hallamshire.

"Son of the Morning" (Vol. iv., pp. 209. 330.).

—I have always understood Byron's apostrophe "Son of the morning, rise! approach you here!" to be merely an appeal to one of the Orientals who then ruled in that region. And this appears to me to be confirmed by the suggestion which follows that the creed of Mahomet shall pass away as that of Jove has done. The words "Come—but molest not yon defenceless urn," did not appear to me to have any reference to the iconoclastic propensities of the person addressed. But this notice of your correspondent is ingenious.

W. W.

Cambridge.

"Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love" (Vol. iv., p. 72.).

—This quotation, the author of which was inquired for,—

is from a comedy in three acts called the Panel, altered from Bickerstaff's comedy 'Tis well it's no worse.

M. W. B.

Burges, Sept. 26. 1851.

Anecdote of Curran (Vol. iv., p. 173.).

—This anecdote, I beg to observe, is incorrectly represented; and surely presents to the reader no adequate provocation for the sharp retort on him attributed to the hostess, on his offering her a glass of wine. But the fact is, that the circumstance occurred, not at a small country inn, but in the city of Galway; nor solely in company with a brother advocate, as stated by M.W.B., but at the general bar-mess. The Connaught circuit was not Curran's, who had been called there specially, and who, having heard of the barmaid's ready wit, was determined to test it. Her name, I well recollect, was Honor Slaven; and her quick repartee to the not very delicate jokes constantly practised on her by the gentlemen (?) of the bar, had spread her fame beyond the province. Curran, however, was far superior to those whom she had foiled in these too often unseemly combats, and was expected to prove that superiority in this contest. Among the customary toasts of that time was a succession of three alliterative ones, of which the last was of flagrant indecency; and this Curran resolved should fall to Honor's turn to give in due rotation. Making her take a seat, with one interposed between them, he began with the first:—"Honor (directing himself to her) and Honesty," followed by "Love and Loyalty" from his next neighbour; when, ordering a bumper, he said, "Come Honor, you know the next toast; be not squeamish, and let us have it." "No, Sir," replied she, with an arch smile, "but I will pledge you in your own toast—'Honor and Honesty, or, your absent friends.'" These last words were uttered with special emphasis, and, in their provoked application, well sustained the barmaid's reported character; as, indeed, promptly acknowledged by Curran himself. I have more than once heard similar retorts from her when thus assailed.

J. R.

Cork.

Sibi (Vol. iv., p. 327.).

—The erroneous use of the reflective pronoun, of which MR. FORBES gives an example in a quotation from the Legenda Aurea, is common in monkish writings. I have an instance before me, in a charter of Cnut (Kemble's Codex Dipl. Anglo-Sax., vol. iv. p. 28.):

"Eius (i.e. Christi) quippe largiflua bonitate regia dignitate subtronizatus, ego Knu[d] rex Angligenæ nationis, pro nauciscendo eius immensitatis misericordiæ dono, concedo sibi de suo proprio quæ mihi gratuito concessit, villam," &c.

C. W. G.

Cassek Gwenwyn (Vol. iv., p. 269.).

—I learn from the dictionaries of Walters and Owen, that casec gwanwyn, mare of spring, means a woodpecker. And the more curious part of the name is confirmed by Llwyd, who calls a woodpecker casec drychin, mare of storms. But here I read that casec gwenwyn, mare of poison, means a screech-owl. Of this I have not elsewhere found anything. Therefore I ask for more information; to save me from the heresy of thinking that that woman was turned into a woodpecker. In what country and language does mara mean a screech-owl?

A. N.

The Monumental Inscriptions of the Bourchier Family (Vol. iv., p. 233.).

—Your inquirer L. M. M. will most probably meet with the information he desires in the county of Essex, of which portion of the kingdom they were Earls, and held immense possessions from the early part of the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Their principal estates were in the parishes of Moreton, Tollesbury, Chingford, Little Laver, Greensted, Ramsden, South Church, Wakering, Maldon, North Farnbridge, Lachingdon, Mayland, Langford, Great Totham, Bentley, Wickes, Tendring, Great Holland, Beaumont, Ramsey, Bromfield, Rivenhall, Halsted, Hanningfield, Chicknall, Ulting, Messing, Hedingham Sibil, Ballington, Foxearth, Belchamp, Toppesfield, Braintree, Little Easton, Chickney; Broxted, Roding Aythorp, Little Hallingbury, Walden, and Farnham. In all these parishes they held manors, with the advowsons of several of the churches. Many of the manors are called after the family, Bourchier's Hall; some members of the family were buried in Bilegh Abbey, which stood in the west part of the town of Maldon. In Halsted they founded a chantry for a master and eight priests; and adjoining Little Easton church still remains a fine chapel, known as Bourchier's chapel, where there are tombs to some of the family in fine preservation. By a visit to the churches of the parishes above enumerated, much information may probably be obtained, for there can be little doubt but so powerful a family were great benefactors to the churches of the several parishes where their estates and mansions were situated; and most probably many members of the family were interred in them, and had tombs to their memory.

J. R. J.

Test of the Strength of a Bow (Vol. iv., p. 56.).

—TOXOPHILUS will find all his Queries well answered in Hansard's Book of Archery. The modern method of proving a bow is very different from that quoted by PHILOSOPHUS from Ascham, p. 211. A bow is now, I believe, tested by placing the bow across a piece of stout timber made for the purpose, and hanging weights to the string till it reaches about twenty-seven or twenty-eight inches. The weight necessary to do this determines the power of the bow.

H. N. E.

Bitton Vicarage, Oct. 1851.

Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester (Vol. iv., p. 274.).

—Is it worth while, in reference to SIGMA'S inquiry as to the name of the author of one of the Bishop of Worcester's works, to tell you a droll mistake on that point, which I have before my eyes? I have the work in a fine old binding, which in the gilt lettering on the back, states it to be by Ed. Wigorn. This reminds me of another similar naïveté. When the late Bishop Prettyman, then Bishop of Winchester, wrote to propose to Mr. Murray to publish his life of Pitt, Mr. Murray, following the signature too literally, addressed his answer to George Winton, Esq.

C.

Yankee Doodle (Vol. iv., p. 344.).

—During the attacks upon the French outposts in 1755 in America, Governor Shirley and General Jackson led the force directed against the enemy lying at Niagara and Frontenac. In the early part of June, whilst these troops were stationed on the banks of the Hudson, near Albany, the descendants of the "Pilgrim fathers" flocked in from the eastern provinces; never was seen such a motley regiment as took up its position on the left wing of the British army. The band played music some two centuries of age, officers and privates had adopted regimentals each man after his own fashion; one wore a flowing wig, while his neighbour rejoiced in hair cropped closely to the head; this one had a coat with wonderful long skirts, his fellow marched without his upper garment; various as the colours of the rainbow were the clothes worn by the gallant band. It so happened that there was a certain Dr. Shuckburgh, wit, musician, and surgeon, and one evening after mess he produced a tune, which he earnestly commended as a well-known piece of military music, to the officers of the militia. The joke succeeded, and Yankee Doodle was hailed by acclamation "their own march." During the unhappy war between the American colonies and the mother country, that quaint merry tune animated the soldiers of Washington; it is now the national air of the United States.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

General Wolfe (Vol. iv., pp. 271. 323.).

—Some of the inquiries made at p. 271. respecting General Wolfe have been subsequently answered, I find, in p. 323., but no mention appears of his family beyond his father and mother; a deficiency which I can in some degree supply by ascending to his great-grandfather, Captain George Woulfe (sic), of whom we are told by Ferrar, in his History of Limerick, there printed by A. Watson, in 1787,—

"That on the capitulation of the city of Limerick in October, 1651, to the Parliamentarian general Ireton, twenty of the most distinguished of its defenders were excepted from pardon, and reserved for execution. Amongst them were two brothers, George and Francis Woulfe: the former, a military officer; the latter, a friar, who was hanged,—but the captain made his escape. He fled," says Ferrar (p. 350.), "to the north of England, where he settled; and his grandson, General Edward Woulfe, was appointed colonel of the 8th regiment of foot in the year 1745. He transmitted his virtues with additional lustre to his son Major-General James Woulfe, whose memory will be for ever dear to his country, and whose name will be immortalised in history."

Captain Woulfe married, and changed his religion; to which his brother the friar fell a martyr, exhibiting on the scaffold, it is related, far more intrepidity than many of his fellow sufferers of military rank. Ireton, however, finally pardoned several of those originally excepted from the capitulation. Woulfe's family was at that period one of the most eminent in the county of Clare, where it still retains a respectable rank; and one of its members was the late Chief Baron, Stephen Woulfe, a gentleman equally beloved in society as respected on the bench. Another was a chemist of some eminence in London, at the close of the past century. They retained the u in the name, which most others, like the captain's descendants, laid aside; as Bonaparte did during his triumphant campaign in Italy, in order to un-Italianise and Frenchify his patronymic Buonaparte. The Chief Justice Wolfe, who was so barbarously murdered in Dublin at the outbreak of young Emmet's rebellion in 1803, was of a different branch. Edward, the general's father, had distinguished himself under Marlborough, as did the son in 1747, at the battle of Lawfelst on the continent. My own family, I may add, has been brought into close connexion with that of the subsisting Irish branch of the general's stock by intermarriage.

J. R. (Cork.)

The Violin (Vol. iv., p. 101.).

—This article reminds me of a distich said to have been inscribed on the violin of Palestrina, the "Musicæ Princeps" of the sixteenth century:—

Thus translated into French:

Palestrina's violin was made by a great musical instrument maker at Bologna, who had the same lines graven on his lutes, bass-viols, &c.

J. R. (Cork.)

Earwig (Vol. iv., p. 274.).

—The allusion to the word "Earwig" induces me to repeat a charade on it, not without merit, though the last lines appear more responsive to the rhyme than to the fact:—

J. R. (Cork.)

Prophecies of Nostradamus (Vol. iv., pp. 86. 140. 258. 329.).

—In answer to MR. DE ST. CROIX'S fair inquiry of the source whence I derived my assertion of the existence of the first edition of Nostradamus (at p. 329.), I have to say, that it was from the very intelligent bibliographer, A. A. Renouard. I had known him in Paris at his dwelling in the Rue de Tournon (where my friend, the celebrated Arthur O'Connor, with his wife, the daughter of Condorcat, had apartments), and I afterwards had some interviews with him in London at my own house; when, on observing in his Catalogue d'un Amateur the Elzevir edition of 1668, we entered into some conversation on the subject; and, in reference to the original edition, not much valued indeed as very imperfect, he said, that though now rare, because long, as not worth preserving, neglected, it still may, and must be, in the Royal Library; "il doit nécessairement s'y trouver, et non-seulement là, mais ailleurs." I too certainly thought that the great national repository must contain it, but I made no inquiry; and as MR. DE ST. CROIX so diligently pursued the search without discovering it, I conclude, of course, that it is not there; but if he authorises M. Renouard's son, who resides in the Rue Garancière, or any respectable bookseller, to provide the little volume for him, I feel confident of his success. Nor do I apprehend that the price will correspond with its rarity, like the works of so many other writers; such even as the prophecies of Merlin, as stated in the article referred to by MR. DE ST. CROIX, without recurring to our Shakspeare's early editions, or to those of Ariosto, Cervantes, Boccacio, Molière, Froissart, Le Roman de la Rose, Amadis de Gaule, the Romances of Chivalry in various languages, and the editiones principes of the classics, &c. &c., a comparison of the value of which two centuries or less ago, as we find them in old catalogues, with their present cost, so strikes the reader. Numerous books, on the other hand, have experienced a proportionally equal depreciation:

J. R. (Cork.)

Expressions in Milton (Vol. iii., p. 241.).

—If this Query has already met with an answer, my apology for troubling you with this must be, that it has escaped my notice.

R. is undoubtedly right in supposing that a "toothed sleck stone" means a toothed or jagged whetstone; the word sleck preserving a greater resemblance to its Danish cousin slecht than the modern slick.

For "bullish," Milton shall be his own interpreter. "I affirm it to be a bull, taking away the essence of that which it calls itself."

The phrase "bid you the base" is apparently taken from the old game of Prisoner's Base, for which, if necessary, reference may be made to the Boy's Own Book. I am inclined to think that the very phrase was, in my school days, used in the game; but if wrong in any remembrance, I may still be right in my conjecture, and then the phrase would be equivalent to, "I challenge you to follow me," as one boy follows another in Prisoner's Base; and we should then have a curious illustration of the antiquity of the game.

PHILIP HEDGELAND.

The Termination "-ship" (Vol. iv., p. 153.).

—A. W. H. is referred to Dr. Latham's English Language, § 294. p. 372., ed. 2. The Dutch termination -schap, e.g. vriendschap, may be added.

CHARLES THIRIOLD.

"A little Bird told me" (Vol. iv. p. 232.).

—The following are merely a few rough notes made from time to time on this saying. I have tried to put them into some kind of order but they are too trivial, and too easily verified by reference, to deserve more space in print than they have hitherto had in writing:—

1. Last lines of King Henry IV. Part II., and Steevens's note.

2. The "pious lie" of Mahomet's pigeon. See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. 1. Marg. lemma—"His character," the note beginning—"The Christians, rashly enough," &c. And—"Life of Mahomet" [Library of Useful Knowledge] note on p. 19. For line from—Dunciad—[a slovenly reference] see book iv. 358.

3. From the Greek? See Potter's Gr. Antiquities, book ii. chap. xv.—or Robinson's Antiq. Greece, book iii. chap. xv. ad init. as both refer to Aristoph. Aves. [600. 601. Bekker.]

4. Ecclesiastes, chap. x. 20.

To these I may add the origin assigned to the saying by Mr. Bellenden Ker, in his Essay on the Archæology of our Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, 1837, vol. i. p. 63., viz.:—

"A LITTLE BIRD.

"A good humoured way of replying to, who told you this story? And imparting you don't mean to inform him, that you have a good reason for not letting him know. Er lij t'el baerd; q. e. by so doing [telling] I should betray [do wrong to] another," &c.

C. FORBES.

Mark of Reference in Bible (Vol. iv., p. 57.).

—May not this originate in the Hebrew Keri, used for the same purpose, and of nearly the same shape?

F. J.

Bradford.

For the purpose of expounding the law in the Jewish assemblies, the Pentateuch was divided into fifty-four sections (on account of the intercalary year), that the whole might be read over once annually. The sections were distinguished, as they still continue to be, in the Hebrew copies, by the letter Pe, or Phe, the initial of Pharasha, which signifies separation or division. This probably was the original reason for adopting the inverted black P [¶] which is retained in our translation of the Bible to mark paragraphs or transitions. The division of the Old and New Testament into chapters is a modern practice, and the subdivision of chapters into verses still more modern. See Shepherd on the Morning and Evening Prayer.

J. Y.

King Charles II. and Written Sermons (Vol. iv., p. 9.).

—The document inserted at this place is quoted with some variations, and the omission of the part referring to periwigs by the late Mr. Grimshawe, in his Life of the Rev. Leigh Richmond, p. 157. 4th edit. There is added the date, "Oct. 8, 1674;" and the following foot-note is appended, "See Statute Book of the University of Cambridge, p. 301." Car. II., Rex. Mr. Grimshawe's version is printed without any break or asterisks, as if entire.

W. S. T.

Walpole and Junius (Vol. iv., p. 161.).

—CLERICUS quotes some paragraphs from the letters of Horace Walpole, dated 1764, wherein Walpole threatens vengeance for the dismissal of Conway; and CLERICUS concludes by asking, "If these extracts do not prove Horace Walpole to be Junius, &c., &c., what can he allude to?" Why, to the pamphlet which he was then writing, and which he immediately published, entitled A Counter Address to the Public, on the late Dismission of a General Officer.

W. J.

Fermilodum (Vol. iv., p. 345).

—I suspect H. E. has not read his seal quite correctly. I surmise it is Fermelioduni. However, no doubt Dunferline is meant; and the literal translation of the legend is, "Seal of the city of Dunferline." This place was a royal burgh, with a palace; and the word civitas was not then confined to towns which were Bishop's sees.

W. S. W.

Middle Temple.

Finger Stocks (Vol. iv., p. 315.).

—In Littlecote Hall, the fine old seat of the Pophams, in Wiltshire, one of these machines was preserved, and I doubt not but that it is still to be seen there.

It is of oak, and stands upon a pillar and base like those of a small round table. I always understood that it was employed as an instrument of domestic punishment.

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

Lord Hungerford (Vol. iv., p. 345.).

—The story of the device of a toad having been introduced into the armorial bearings of the Hungerfords, in memory of the degradation of some member of the family, is, in every way, nonsensical. "Argent, three toads sable" is certainly one of their old quarterings; as may be seen upon one of the monuments in the chapel at Farleigh Castle near Bath. But it was borne by the Hungerfords for a very different reason. Robert, the second Lord, who died A.D. 1459, had married the wealthy heiress of the Cornish family of Botreaux: and this has one of the shields used by her family, being in fact nothing more than an allusion, not uncommon in heraldry, to the name. This was spelled variously, Botreaux or Boterelles: and the device was probably assumed from the similarity of the name of the old French word Botterol, a toad: (see Cotgrave) or the old Latin word Botterella. The marriage with the Botreaux heiress and the assumption of her arms, having taken place many years before any member of the Hungerford family was attainted or executed (as some of them afterwards were), Defoe's story falls to the ground.

I take this opportunity of adding, that, having been for many years a collector of materials for a more methodical and accurate account of the Hungerford family and their property, than has hitherto appeared, and having completed the arrangement of what I have been able to collect, if any of your readers or correspondents should have it in his power to refer me to any sources of illustration, or to inform me of the existence of anything that might throw light on the subject—such as old deeds, seals, wills, entries in parish registers, family portraits, or the like—they would be rendering a kind service.

J. E. JACKSON.

Rectory, Leigh-Delamere, Chippenham.