Volume 4 — Queries.

GHOST STORIES.

From some recent experiments of the Baron von Reichenbach, it seems probable that wherever chemical action is going on light is evolved, though it is only by persons possessing peculiar (though not very rare) powers of sight, and by them only under peculiar circumstances, that it can be seen. It occurred to him that such persons might perhaps see light over graves in which dead bodies were undergoing decomposition. He says:

"The desire to inflict a mortal wound on the monster, superstition, which, from a similar origin, a few centuries ago, inflicted on European society so vast an amount of misery; and by whose influence, not hundreds, but thousands of innocent persons died in tortures on the rack and at the stake;—this desire made me wish to make the experiment, if possible, of bringing a highly sensitive person, by night, to a churchyard."—§ 158. Gregory's Translation, p. 126.

The experiment succeeded. Light "was chiefly seen over all new graves; while there was no appearance of it over very old ones." The fact was confirmed in subsequent experiments by five other sensitive persons, and I have no design of questioning it. My doubt is only how far we can consider the knowledge of it as giving a "mortal wound" to superstition. "Thousands of ghost stories," the Baron tells us, "will now receive a natural explanation, and will thus cease to be marvellous;" and he afterwards says, "Thus I have, I trust, succeeded in tearing down one of the densest veils of darkened ignorance and human error." I repeat that I do not question the fact; my Query is, where to find the "thousands of ghost stories" which are explained by it; and as I suspect that you have some correspondents capable of giving information on such subjects, I shall feel much obliged if they will tell me.

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester.

A BOOK WANTED OF ENZINAS.—FRANCISCO DE ENZINAS, OR DRYANDER, TRANSLATOR OF THE SPANISH NEW TESTAMENT, 1543.

Can any obliging reader of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" inform me of the existence, in any of our public libraries, or for sale, of the following book: Dryandri (Franciscus) Flandriæ propriæ incarcerationis et liberationis Historia: Antwerpiæ(?) 1545. Sm. 8vo.? Fox, the martyrologist, writing of Dryander, says:

"I read the book in the shop of John Oporine, printer, of Basil."

I have a French translation of it, and a Spanish version is sanctioned by Pellicea (after Gerdes), under this title: Breve Descripcion del Pais Baxo, y razon de la Religion en España, en 8vo.; but in such a manner as leaves it questionable. If a Spanish version is known, I should esteem it a favour to be informed where it can now be found.

Enzinas passed part of the years 1542-3 with Melancthon at Wittemberg. Having completed his New Testament, he returned early in the latter year to Antwerp to get it printed. After much reflection and advice with his friends, he made an agreement with Stephen Mierdmann of Antwerp, in the following manner:

"I determined," says he, "to do my duty in the affair, at all events; which was, to undertake the publication, and to leave the consequences, and the course of the inspired Word, to the providence of God, to whom it of right belonged. I therefore spoke with a ——, and asked him whether he was willing to print my book. He answered, Yes, very gladly; partly because I desire to do some good for the commonweal more than for my own particular interest, caring little for gain or for the slander of opponents; and partly, also, said he, because it is a book that has long been desired. Then I asked him whether it was needful to have a license or permission, and whether he could not print it without these: for, said I, it would ill beseem the Word of God, from which kings and rulers derive the authority for the exercise of their power, that it should be subject to the permission or prohibition of any human feeling or fancy. To this he answered, that no law of the Emperor had ever forbidden the printing of the Holy Scriptures; and this was well known, for in Antwerp the New Testament had already been printed in almost every language of Europe but the Spanish, and that neither himself nor any other printer had ever previously asked permission. From his experience, he had no doubt that, provided it was faithfully translated, the New Testament might be freely printed without leave or license. Then, said I, get ready your presses and everything needful for the work. I will answer for the interpretation of the text, and you shall take the risk of printing. And more, in order that you shall not suffer by loss or fine from our Spaniards, I will take the expense of the impression on myself. So I delivered to him the copy, and begged him to dispatch the business as soon as possible.

"Nothing relating to it was done in secret; everybody knew that the New Testament was being printed in Spanish. Many praised the project; many waited for it with eagerness; my rooms were never closed, every one who wished came in and out: and yet I doubt not that some who came and beforehand praised my book, when they were behind my back, and with their own parties, sung another song; well perceiving that the reading of the Scriptures by the people is not very likely to profit their avaricious stomachs. I care little, however, for such opinions and selfish passions, confiding in God alone, who directed and would protect an undertaking devoted solely to His own glory."

It were too long for the "NOTES AND QUERIES" to tell how he was induced to cancel the first leaf of his New Testament after it was printed, because it had one word which savoured of Lutheranism; of his presenting the finished volume to the Emperor Charles V. at Brussels; how he received him, and what he said of his being entrapped by his confessor, and cast into prison for fifteen months, escaping and being let down by a rope over the city wall, until he found repose and security again at Wittemberg with Melancthon.

Few of the early translations of the New Testament into the vulgar languages of Europe are so little known as the Spanish of Francisco de Enzinas, or Dryander; and yet, perhaps, of no one of them are there such minute particulars of the printing and publication to be found upon record as that published by him in 1543, and of his imprisonment in consequence of it.

BENJAMIN B. WIFFEN.

Mount Pleasant, near Woburn.

SALTING THE BODIES OF THE DEAD.

Every reader of Ariosto, of Boiardo, or of Berri, is acquainted with the character of Turpin, as an historian. John Turpin's History of the Life of Charles the Great and Roland has long since been regarded as a collection of fables; as a romance written under a feigned name. Its real character is, however, best described by Ferrario, when he says that it is not to be considered as "the mere invention of any one impostor, but rather as a compilation of ancient tales and ballads that had been circulating amongst the people from the ninth century." (Storia ed Analisi degli Antichi Romanzi di Cavalleria, vol. i. pp. 21, 22.) In such a work we must not calculate upon meeting with facts, but we may hope to be able to obtain an insight into ancient practices, and an acquaintance with ancient customs. It is for this reason I would desire to draw the attention of the reader to a curious mode of preserving the bodies of the dead, stated by Turpin. He says that the Christians, being without a sufficient supply of aromatic drugs wherewith to embalm the dead, disembowelled them, and filled them up with salt. The passage thus stands in the original:

"Tunc defunctorum corpora amici eorum diversis aromatibus condiverunt; alii myrrha, alii balsamo, alii sale diligentes perfuderunt: multi corpora per ventrem findebant et stercora ejiciebant, et sale, alia aromata non habentes, condiebant."—C. 27.

Does any other author but Turpin mention this mode of "salting," or rather of "pickling" the dead? This is the Query which I put, in the expectation of having it answered in the affirmative, as I am quite certain I have met with another author—although I cannot cite his name—who mentions the body of a Duke of Gloucester being thus preserved with salt; but unfortunately I have not taken a note of the author, and can only thus vaguely refer to the fact.

W. B. MACCABE.

Minor Queries.

The Star in the East (St. Matt. ii. 2.).

—I have been told that in the year of the Nativity three of the planets were in conjunction. Some one of your astronomical correspondents may probably be able to furnish information on this subject: it is full of sacred interest and wonder.

J. W. H.

Meaning of Sinage: Distord: Slander.

—In a translation of Luther's Revelation of Antichrist by the Protestant martyr Frith, the word sinage occurs in a list of ecclesiastical payments, which the popish prelates were wont to exact from the parochial clergy.

If any of your correspondents can say what sinage means, he may oblige me still further by explaining the word distord, in the same page; where it is said "they stir princes and officers to distord against them," viz., against such as resist the claims of churchmen.

Is there any authority for supposing that sclawnder, ordinarily slander, may sometimes mean injury, without reference to character? It is certain that the parallel term calumnia was so used in monkish Latin.

H. W.

Miss.

—It is generally, I believe, understood that, prior to the time of Charles II., married women were called Mistress, and unmarried had Mistress prefixed to their Christian name; and that the equivocal position of many in that reign, gave rise to the peculiar designation of Miss or "Mis." Can any of your readers show an earlier use of the term than the following, from Epigrams of all Sorts, by Richard Flecknoe, published 1669?

Again, was the term, when used with especial reference to these ladies, always spelt with one s, as Mis?

M. S.

Jacques Mabiotte.

—I read, that certain members of the continental masonic lodges interpret the Hiram, whose death the freemasons affect to deplore, as meaning Molai, Grand Master of the Templars; but that others understand the said Hiram to mean Jacques Mabiotte. Now, I should think the person whom secret associations can be even imagined, ever so falsely, to keep in continual remembrance, and who is thus placed in competition with the Grand Master of the Temple, should at least enjoy that moderate share of celebrity that will enable some of your correspondents to inform me who he was, and what were the circumstances of his death. I have not myself been able to find him.

A. N.

Registry of British Subjects abroad.

—There is a notion that all British subjects born in foreign parts are considered as born within the diocese of London. What is the origin of this notion? I have heard it said that it is founded on some order made by King George I., on the occasion of his journeys to Hanover. But it must be of older date.

Can any of your readers throw any light upon this? and greatly oblige,

J. B.

[A notice was published in the London Gazette in March, 1816, stating that the Bishop of London's registrar would register all marriages of British subjects solemnised in foreign countries; and also the births and deaths of British subjects which occurred abroad. Has that notice any reference to the notion?]

Shawls.

—When were shawls first introduced into this country from the East? and whence has the name arisen? for I see no trace of it in our English dictionaries. Is it from its Persian name, "do-shâllâ?" I should also much wish to know when plaids and tartans were first mentioned as part of the national dress of Scotland.

A JUROR.

"Racked by pain, by shame confounded."

—From whence are the following lines taken?

Y. G. F.

Oxford, June 17. 1850.

Figures of Saints.

—During some slight repairs in my parish church, vestiges of mural paintings were discovered above and on each side of the chancel arch. I caused the plaster and whitewash to be removed, and discovered two colossal angelic figures, but in a very imperfect state. Each have nimbi of a blue colour, surmounted by crosses, with globular extremities.

The S. figure holds an enormous spear. The N. one is so much defaced that nothing could be traced but the outline of the figure, and what appears a gigantic serpent, or perhaps a scroll of a blue colour behind it. The clerk reports that traces of an anchor could be seen ten years ago; but on his statement I cannot place much reliance. I should be obliged for any information respecting the subject. Above the centre of the arch I could only see a profusion of fragments of wings surrounded by a glory.

E. S. TAYLOR.

Martham, Norfolk, June 7.

Conceyted Letters, who wrote?—

"Conceyted Letters, newly laid open: or a most excellent bundle of new wit, wherein is knit up together all the perfection or art of episteling, by which the most ignorant may with much modestie talke and argue with the best learned." London: B. Alsop, 1618.

Who is the author of this little work? Lowndes gives it as an anonymous production, but it is sometimes ascribed to Nicolas Breton. The initials I. M. affixed to the preface, would rather denote Jervase Markham as the author.

Δ.

Acta Sanctorum.

—Is any endeavour being made for the completion of that vast work, the Acta Sanctorum, the last volume of which I believe was published at Brussels in 1845?

P. S. E.

Pope's "honest Factor."

—I shall be obliged if any of your readers can inform me who was the "honest factor" referred to in Pope's "Sir Balaam" in the lines:

I have seen it noticed in the biography of an individual who held some official post in India, but have forgotten the name.

J. SWANN.

Norwich, May, 1851.

Meaning of "Nervous."

—Will any of your correspondents kindly oblige me, by stating what is the actual meaning of the word nervous? On reference to Johnson, I find it expressed as follows:—

"Nervy, sinewy, vigorous; also having diseased or weak nerves."

Now, by this definition, I am led to believe that the word has two meanings, directly opposed to each other. Is this so?

K. BANNEL.

Liverpool.

Doomsday Book of Scotland.

—In vol. xx. of Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, 1798, the following extract of a letter appears from John Pinkerton, Esq., the antiquarian writer, dated the 23rd February, 1794:

"In looking over the Survey of Scotland accomplished by your exertions, it occurred to me that I could furnish an article, worthy to appear in an Appendix to one of the volumes of the Statistical Account. I need not inform you, that in the third volume of Prynne's Records there is a large but undigested list of all those in Scotland who paid homage to Edward I. in 1291 and 1296, forming a kind of Doomsday Book of the country at that period. Four years ago, I, with some labour, reduced the numerous names and designations into alphabetical order, and the list being now adapted to general use, and containing the names and designations of the chief landholders, citizens, and clergy of the time, it may be regarded as of no small importance to our ancient statistics, topography, and genealogy. If your opinion coincides, I shall with pleasure present it to you for the purpose, and correct the press."

Now the article so kindly proffered by Mr. Pinkerton did not appear in the Statistical Account of Scotland, or in any of Mr. Pinkerton's subsequent publications, that I am aware of. I should feel obliged if any correspondent could inform me if it was ever published.

ABERDONIENSIS.

Minor Queries Answered.

Dr. Sacheverell.

—Was Dr. Sacheverell's speech on his trial (supposed to have been the work of Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester) ever published? If so, when, and by whom?

COLLY WOBBLES.

[A printed copy of Dr. Sacheverell's speech is now on our table, but without any publisher's name. The following is a copy of the title: "The Speech of Henry Sacheverell, D.D., upon his Impeachment at the Bar of the House of Lords, in Westminster Hall, March 7. 1709-10. London, Printed in the year 1710." On the back of the title-page appears the following advertisement: "Just published, Collections of Passages referred to by Dr. Henry Sacheverell in his Answer to the Articles of his Impeachment, under four Heads. I. Testimonies concerning the doctrine of Non-resistance to the Supreme Powers. II. Blasphemous, irreligious, and heretical Positions, lately published. III. The Church and Clergy abused. IV. The Queen, State, and Ministry reflected upon."]

Princess Wilbrahama.

—Advertisement of a pamphlet appearing in 1767:

"A plain Narrative of Facts relating to the Person who lately passed under the assumed name of the Princess Wilbrahama, lately detected at the Devizes: containing her whole History, from her first Elopement with the Hon. Mrs. Sc***ts, till her Discovery and Commitment to Devizes Bridewell; together with the very extraordinary Circumstances attending that Discovery, and the Report of a Jury of Matrons summoned on that Occasion, &c. London: printed for the Author."

I shall be very thankful for any elucidation of the above case. It appears to have been sufficiently popular to warrant the publisher in engaging, as he says, "the best artists" to illustrate it with a series of caricatures. I have never been able to meet with a copy in any public library.

J. WAYLEN.

[The notorious impostor noticed in the communication of our correspondent, performed her surprising feats of hazardous versatility between the years 1765 and 1768. On different occasions she assumed the names of Wilson, alias Boxall, alias Mollineaux, alias Irving, alias Baroness Wilmington, alias Lady Viscountess Wilbrihammon, alias Countess of Normandy. In 1766 her ladyship, "with gentle mien and accent bland," received for her dextrous lubricities something like a whipping at Coventry. In 1767 she was adjudged a vagabond at Devizes, and in the following year sentenced to transportation at the Westminster assizes. Alderman Hewitt of Coventry, in 1778, published some memorabilia of her ladyship in a pamphlet entitled, Memoirs of the celebrated Lady Viscountess Wilbrihammon, the greatest Impostress of the present age. The alderman does not notice the tract mentioned by our correspondent, so that it still remains a query whether it was ever issued, although it may have been advertised.]

Early Visitations.

—In Noble's College of Arms, it is stated, p. 25., that—

"Henry VI. sent persons through many of the counties of England to collect the names of the gentry of each; these lists have reached our time. It is observable, that many are mentioned in them who had adopted the meanest trades, yet were still accounted gentry."

Where are these lists to be found?

H. WITHAM.

[Noble's statements upon such points are extremely loose. We know not of any such lists, but would refer to Grimaldi's Origines Genealogicæ, under "Rolls and Visitations," where, in all probability, something may be found in reference to the subject, if there ever were any such lists.]