Volume 4 — Notes.

PRIVATELY PRINTED BOOKS AND PRIVATELY ENGRAVED PORTRAITS.

If the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in the course of its career, had only called the attention of antiquaries to the necessities of collecting epitaphs and inscriptions to the dead found in churches, and thus brought into active exertion a large number of zealous and intelligent recorders of monuments, its usefulness would have been fully established; but the multitude of suggestive hints and recommendations constantly appearing in its pages, added to the great amount of precise and unquestionable knowledge given to the public through its means, have established the publication as of the greatest importance to archæologists, and literary men generally.

A noble and highly regarded author (Lord Braybrooke) has recently shown the necessity for recording the existence of painted historical portraits, scattered, as we know they are, throughout residences of the nobility and gentry, and from thence too often descending to the humble dwelling or broker's warehouse, through the effluxion of time, the ill appreciation, in some instances, of those who possess them, or the urgencies of individuals: but there are other memorials of eminent persons extant, frequently the only ones, which, falling into the possession of but few persons, are to the seeker after biographical or topographical knowledge, for the most part, as though they had never existed. I allude to Privately Printed Books and Privately Engraved Portraits. Surely these might be made available to literary persons if their depository were generally known.

How comparatively easy would it be for the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in each county, to transmit to its pages a short note of any privately engraved portrait, or privately printed volume, of which they may be possessed, or of which they have a perfect knowledge. Collectors could in most instances, if they felt inclined to open their stores, give the required information in a complete list, and no doubt would do so; but still a great assistance to those engaged in the toils of biographical or other study could be afforded by the transmission to these pages of the casual "Note," which happens to have been taken at a moment when the book or portrait passed under the inspection of a recorder who did not amass graphic or literary treasures.

As respects some counties, much less has been done by the printing press to furnish this desideratum; at least that of privately engraved portraits. In Warwickshire, a list of all the portraits (with a few omissions) has within a few years been brought before the public in a volume. In Norfolk, the Illustrations of Norfolk Topography, a volume containing an enumeration of many thousand drawings and engravings, collected by Dawson Turner, Esq., of Great Yarmouth, to illustrate Blomefield's History of the county, is also a repertory of this kind of instruction, as far as portraits are concerned. Privately printed books are entirely unrecorded in this and most other localities. Without the publication now mentioned, persons having no personal knowledge of Mr. Turner's ample stores would be not only unacquainted with that gentleman's wonderful Norfolk collection, but also ignorant that through his liberality, and the elegant genius and labours of several members of his family, the portfolios of many of his friends have been enriched by the addition of portraits of many persons of great virtues, attainments, and learning, with whom he had become acquainted. In Suffolk, the veteran collectors, Mr. Elisha Davy, of Ufford, and Mr. William Fitch, of Ipswich, have compiled lists of portraits belonging to that county. These are, however, in manuscript, and therefore comparatively useless; though, to the honour of both these gentlemen let it be said, that no one ever asks in vain for assistance from their collections.

I trust it can only be necessary to call attention to this source of knowledge, to be supported in a view of the necessity of a record open to all. I have taken the liberty to name the "NOTES AND QUERIES" as the storehouse for gathering these scattered memorabilia together, knowing no means of permanence superior, or more convenient, to literary persons, although I am not without fears indeed, perhaps convictions, that your present space would be too much burthened thereby.

As the volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" just completed has comprised a large amount of intelligence respecting the preservation of epitaphs, the present would, perhaps, be appropriately opened by a new subject of, I am inclined to think, nearly equal value.

JOHN WODDERSPOON.

Norwich.

SARDONIC SMILES.

A few words on the Γέλως σαρδάνιος, or Sardonius Risus, so celebrated in antiquity, may not be amiss, especially as the expression "a Sardonic smile" is a common one in our language.

We find this epithet used by several Greek writers; it is even as old as Homer's time, for we read in the Odyssey, μείδησε δὲ θυμῷ σαρδάνιον μάλα τοῖον, "but he laughed in his soul a very bitter laugh." The word was written indifferently σαρδάνιος and σαρδόνιος; and some lexicographers derive it from the verb σαίρω, of σέσηρα, "to show the teeth, grin like a dog:" especially in scorn or malice. The more usual derivation is from σαρδόνιον, a plant of Sardinia (Σαρδώ), which was said to distort the face of the eater. In the English of the present day, a Sardonic laugh means a derisive, fiendish laugh, full of bitterness and mocking; stinging with insult and rancour. Lord Byron has hit it off in his portraiture of the Corsair, Conrad:

In Izaak Walton's ever delightful Complete Angler, Venator, on coming to Tottenham High Cross, repeats his promised verse: "it is a copy printed among some of Sir Henry Wotton's, and doubtless made either by him or by a lover of angling." Here is the first stanza:—

In Sir J. Hawkins's edition is the following note on the word "Sardonic" in these lines:

"Feigned, or forced smiles, from the word Sardon, the name of an herb resembling smallage, and growing in Sardinia, which, being eaten by men, contracts the muscles, and excites laughter even to death. Vide Erasmi Adagia, tit. RISUS."

Sardonic, in this passage, means "forced, strained, unusual, artificial;" and is not taken in the worst sense. These lines of Sir H. Wotton's bring to mind some of Lorenzo de Medici's in a platonic poem of his, when he contrasts the court and country. I quote Mr. Roscoe's translation:—

The Edinburgh Review, July, 1849, in an article on Tyndale's Sardinia, says:

"The Sardonic smile, so celebrated in antiquity, baffles research much more than the intemperie, nor have modern physiologists thrown any light on the nature of the deleterious plant which produces it. The tradition at least seems still to survive in the country, and Mr. Tyndale adduces some evidence to show that the Ranunculus sceleratus was the herb to which these exaggerated qualities were ascribed. Some insular antiquaries have found a different solution of the ancient proverb. The ancient Sardinians, they say, like many barbarous tribes, used to get rid of their relations in extreme old age by throwing them alive into deep pits; which attention it was the fashion for the venerable objects of it to receive with great expressions of delight: whence the saying of a Sardinian laugh (vulgo), laughing on the wrong side of ones mouth. It seems not impossible, that the phenomenon may have been a result of the effects of 'Intemperie' working on weak constitutions, and in circumstances favourable to physical depression—like the epidemic chorea, and similar complaints, of which such strange accounts are read in medical books."

GERONIMO.

PRIVATE AMOURS OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

I know nothing more of the enclosed, than that I found it with the MS. which I lately sent you on the subject of Cromwell's "Dealings with the Devil" (Vol. iii., p. 282.).

I should conclude it to be a carelessly-made transcript of a contemporary MS., the production, probably, of some warm royalist, who may, or may not, have had some grounds for his assertions. At all events, it gives a few curious details, and, in its general outline, agrees singularly with the incidents on which Mrs. Behn's play, The Round Heads; or The Good Old Cause, is founded: sufficiently so to give it at least an air of authenticity, so far as the popular belief of the day was concerned.

S. H. H.

"After Cromwell had been declared General of the Commonwealth's Forces, he seized the possessions of the Royalists, who had escaped his implacable resentment; and the New Hall fell to the share of the Usurper, who, flushed with the victory of Worcester, disposed at pleasure of the forsaken seates of the noble Fugitives, who still supported Charles II.'s Drooping Standards; and adding insulte to oppression, commanded the domesticks of the Duke of Buckingham to follow their master's desperate fortune, and to carry him five shillings, which he might want in his exile, for the purchase of a Lordship, whose yearly value exceeded then 1300l. Cromwell kept possession of New Hall till he assumed the title of Protector, and was instaled at White Hall, in the Pallace of the English Kings: Then he chose Hampton Court for his Summer Residence. He led at New Hall an obscure life, without pomp, without luxury, having but two servants in his retinue. Though his manners were natuaraly austere, he had some private amoures, which he indulged with great Caution and Secrecy. His favourites were General Lambert's wife and Major-General Vernon's sister: the first was a well-bred, genteel woman, fatheless to her husband from natural aversion, and attached to Cromwell from a conformity of inclination in a mysterious enjoyment and stolen embraces, with mask of religious deportment and severe virtue: the other was a person made to inspire lust and desire, but selfish, revengfull, and indiscreet. These too rivals heartily detested each other: Mrs. Lambert reproached Cromwell for his affection to a worthless, giddy, and wanton woman; and Mrs. Vernon laughed at him for being the dupe of the affected fondness and hipocry of an artful Mistress. They once met at the house of Colonel Hammond, a Creature of Cromwell's, and reviled each other with the most virulent sarcasms. Mrs. Lambert, fired with rage and resentment, went immediately to New Hall, where Oliver was at that juncture, and insisted upon her Rival's dismission for her unprovoked outrage. Cromwell, who was then past the meridian of voluptuous sensations, sacrificed the person he was no longer fit to enjoy, to a woman who had gained his esteem and confidence, and delegated to Mrs. Lambert all the domestic concerns of his house in Essex. Cromwell's wife, called afterwards the Protectress, was a sober helpmate, who, dressed in humble stuff, like a Quaker, neither interfered in his amours or politics. She never went to New Hall but once, and that was on the 25th of April, 1652, when he invited all his family to a grand entertainment on account of his Birthday. The other Guests were, his mother, who survived his elevation to the Protectorship: she was a virtuous woman of the name of Stewart, related to the Royall Family; Desborough, his brother-in law; and Fleetwood, who had married his daughter; his Eldest Son, Richard, a man of an inoffensive and unambitious Character, who had been married some years, and lived in the country on a small estate which he possessed in right of his wife, where he spent his time in acts of benevolence: at the trial of Charles I. he fell on his knees and conjured his Father in the most pathetic manner to spare the life of his Sovereign; his brother Henry, afterwards Govonor of Ireland, where he was universally beloved for his mild administration; Mrs. Claypole, the darling of her father; and his three other daughters: Mrs. Rich, married to the Grandson and heir of the Earl of Warwick; Lady Falconbridge; and the Youngest, who lived in celibacy. They spent a week at New Hall, in innocent mirth and jollity; Oliver himself joining in convivial pleasure with his children, disengaged the whole time from state affairs and Political Speculations.

"His constant visitors at New Hall were some Regicides, and the meanest, lowest, and most ignorant among the Citizens on whome he had decreed that the Sovereign power should be vested. To excell in Fanaticism seemed a necessary qualification in this new parliment; and Oliver foresaw that they would soon throw up the reins of Government, which they were unqualified to guide, and raise himself to an unlimited power far beyond that of former Kings.

"It seems Mrs. Lambert continued to reside at New Hall during Cromwell's Protectorship, and that Col. Wite, his trusty friend, was often sent with kind messages and preasants from Oliver, who travelled himself in the night, with hurry and precipitation, to enjoy with her some moments of domestic comfort and tranquility."

SPURIOUS EDITION OF BAILY'S ANNUITIES.

In the course of last year a curious and impudent bibliographical fraud was perpetrated by some parties unknown. I am not aware that it has been publicly exposed as yet.

The celebrated work on annuities, by the late Francis Baily, was published in 1810 by Richardson, and printed by Richard Taylor. It was at first in one volume: but on the publication of an appendix in 1813, two titles were printed with this last date, and the stock then remaining was sold in two volumes. As the book became scarce, it gradually rose in price, until, when by a rare chance a copy came to the hammer, it seldom fetched less than five guineas. This price was lowered, as well by the general decline in the price of old books, as by the sale of Mr. Baily's own library in 1844, which threw a few copies into the market; but the work was still saleable at more than the original price. In the course of last year, copies, as it was pretended, of the original edition were offered at the assurance offices, and to individuals known to be interested in the subject, at twenty-five shillings. Some were taken in, others saw the trick at once. There has been, in fact, a reprint without any statement of the circumstance, and without a printer's name; but with a strong, and, on the whole, successful attempt at imitation of the peculiar typography of the work. If the execution had been as good as the imitation, the success would have been greater. But this is wretchedly bad, and will amuse those who know how very particular Mr. Baily always was in his superintendence of the press, and how plainly his genuine works bear the marks of it.

The spurious edition may be known at once by the title-page, in which the words "an appendix" are printed in open letter, which is not the case in the original. Also by "Leienitz," instead of "Leibnitz" in page xi. of the preface. Also by the Greek letter

throughout, which is, in the spurious edition, never anything but an inverted δ, which looks as if it were trying to kick backwards.

In all probability, the agents in this shabby trick are beneath reproof; but it is desirable that the reputation of the author whom they have chosen for its object should not suffer from the effects of their misprint. And as the work they have appropriated is only used by a small public, and a reading one, the mode of exposure which I here adopt will probably be sufficient.

The spurious edition is now on the stalls at a few shillings; and, as a curiosity, will be worth its price.

A. DE MORGAN.

Minor Notes.

Les Anguilles de Melun.

—"Les anguilles de Melun crient avant qu'on les écorche" is a well-known proverb in that town; and as some of your readers may be curious to learn the circumstances in which it originated, I send them to you for "NOTES AND QUERIES."

According to the traditions of the Church, Saint Bartholomew was flayed alive, and his skin rolled up and tied to his back. When the religious dramas, called Mysteries, came into vogue, this martyrdom was represented on the stage at Melun, and the character of the saint was personated by one Languille. In the course of the performance, the executioner, armed with a knife, made his appearance; and as he proceeded to counterfeit the operation of flaying, Languille became terrified and uttered the most piteous cries, to the great amusement of the spectators. The audience thereupon exclaimed, "Languille crie avant qu'on l'écorche;" and hence the "jeu de mots," and the proverb.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, June, 1851.

Derivation of Mews.—

"Muette. C'est le nom qu'on donne à un Edifice élevé au bout d'un parc de maison royale ou seigneuriale, pour servir de logement aux officiers de la venerie, et dans lequel il y a aussi des Chenils, des cours, écuries, &c. Ce terme Muette, vient, dit-on, de Mue, parceque c'est dans ces maisons que les Gardes, et autres officiers de chasse, apportent les Mues ou bois que les Cerfs quittent et laissent dans les Forêts."—Lacombe, Dictionnaire portatif des Beaux Arts, &c. Nouvelle Edition: Paris, 1759.

Is this a better explanation of the English word mews than has generally been given by writers?

W. P.

Curious Monumental Inscriptions.

—In the south aisle of Martham Church, Norfolk, are two slabs, of which one, nearly defaced, bears the following inscription:

The following explanation is given of this enigmatical statement. Christopher Burraway was the fruit of an incestuous connexion between a father and daughter, and was early placed in the Foundling Hospital, from whence, when he came of age, he was apprenticed to a farmer. Coming in after years by chance to Martham, he was hired unwittingly by his own mother as farm steward, her father (or rather the father of both) being dead. His conduct proving satisfactory to his mistress she married him who thus became, successively, mother, sister, mistress, and wife, to this modern Œdipus. The episode remains to be told. Being discovered by his wife to be her son, by a peculiar mark on his shoulder, she was so horror-stricken that she soon after died, he surviving her scarcely four months. Of the other slab enough remains to show that it covered her remains; but the registers from 1729 to 1740 are unfortunately missing so that I cannot trace the family further.

E. S. T.

First Panorama (Vol. iii., p. 526.).

—I remember when a boy going to see that panorama. I was struck with "the baker knocking at the door, in Albion Place, and wondered the man did not move!" But this could not have been the first (though it might have been the first publicly exhibited), if what is told of Sir Joshua Reynolds be true, that, having held that the painting of a panorama was a "thing impossible," on the sight of it he exclaimed—"This is the triumph of perspective!" I have frequently met with this anecdote.

B. G.