Volume 4 — Queries.

CONTINENTAL WATCHMEN AND THEIR SONGS.

The inquiries I made in Vol. iii., p. 324., respecting the Bellman and his Songs, have been answered by most interesting information (pp. 377. 451. 485.); and the references made by the Editor to V. Bourne's translation was most acceptable. The interest of this subject is increased by finding that the Custos Nocturnus exists at the present day in other countries, resembling very much in duties, costume, and chants the Westminster Bellman. I venture to send you extracts from W. Hurton's Voyage from Leith to Lapland, and Dr. Forbes's Physician's Holiday.

"During the past year of 1849 it has been my lot to reside at four of the most remarkable capitals of Europe, and successively to experience what spring is in London, what summer is in Paris, what autumn is in Edinburgh, and what winter is in Copenhagen. Vividly, indeed, can I dwell on the marvellous contrast of the night aspect of each: but one of the most interesting peculiarities I have noticed in any of them, is that presented by the watchmen of the last-named. When I first looked on these guardians of the night, I involuntarily thought of Shakspeare's Dogberry and Verges. The sturdy watchers are muffled in uniform great coats, and also wear fur caps. In their hand they carry a staff of office, on which they screw, when occasion requires, that fearful weapon the 'morning star.' They also sometimes may be seen with a lanthorn at their belt: the candle contained in the lanthorn they place at the top of their staff, to relight any street-lamps which require trimming. In case of fire, the watchmen give signals from the church towers, by striking a number of strokes, varying with the quarter of the city in which the fire occurs; and they also put from the tower flags and lights pointed in the direction where the destructive element is raging. From eight o'clock in the evening, until four (Query, until five) o'clock in the morning, all the year round, they chant a fresh verse at the expiration of each hour, as they go their rounds. The cadence is generally deep and guttural, but with a peculiar emphasis and tone; and from a distance it floats on the still night air with a pleasing and impressive effect, especially to the ear of a stranger. The verses in question are of great antiquity, and were written, I am told, by one of the Danish bishops. They are printed on a large sheet of paper, with an emblematical border, rudely engraved in the old style; and in the centre is a large engraving exactly representing one of the ancient watchmen, in the now obsolete costume, with his staff and 'morning star' in hand, a lanthorn at his belt, and his dog at his feet.

"A copy of the broadside has been procured me, and my friend Mr. Charles Beckwith has expressly made for me a verbatim translation of the verses; and his version I will now give at length. I am induced to do this, because, not only are the chants most interesting in themselves, as a fine old relic of Scandinavian customs, but there seems to me a powerful poetical spirit pervading them. At the top of the sheet are the lines which in the translation are—

"In large letters over the engraving of the watchman are the words (translated):

"I will now give the literal version, printed exactly in the same arrangement of lines, letters, and punctuation, as the original:

"Every hour between eight and five o'clock inclusive has its own chant. The last is—

Dr. Forbes writes:

"We had very indifferent rest in our inn, owing to the over-zeal of the Chur watchmen, whose practice it is to perambulate the town through the whole night, twelve in number, and who on the present occasion displayed a most energetic state of vigilance. They not only called, but sung out, every hour, in the most sonorous strains, and even chanted a long string of verses on the striking of some.... I suppose the good people of Chur think nothing of these chantings, or from habit hear them not; but a tired traveller would rather run the risk of being robbed in tranquillity, than be thus sung from his propriety during all the watches of the night."—A Physician's Holiday, pp. 80, 81.

Dr. Forbes gives a copy of a "Watch Chant at Chur," with a translation, pp. 81, 82. At p. 116. he says:

"In our hotel at Altorf we were again saluted, during the vigils of the night, but in a very mitigated degree, with some of the same patriotic and pious strains which had so disturbed us at Chur. As chanted here, however, they were far from unwelcome. The only other place, I think, where we heard these Wächterrufe was Neufchatel. These calls are very interesting relics of the old times, and must be considered indicative as well of the simple habits of the old time, as of the pious feelings of the people of old."

He then gives the Evening and Morning Chants in the town of Glarus, and the chant in use in some places in the canton of Zurich; but in Zurich itself the chant is no longer heard.

Dr. Forbes concludes the twelfth chapter with the following observation:

"The same antiquity, and also the inveteracy of old customs to persist, is strikingly shown by the fact that in some parts of the canton of Tessino, where the common language of the people is Italian, the night watch-call is still in old German."

The apparent universality of the Bellman throughout Europe gives rise to questions that would, I apprehend, extend beyond the object of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" such as, Is pure religion benefited by the engrafting of it upon stocks so familiar as the bellman or watchman? What are the causes that the old ecclesiastic bellman is no longer heard in some countries, whilst in others he continues with little or no variation? Has religion lost or gained by the change?

Dr. Forbes's notice of the Tessino watchman calls up the public crier in England, another class of bellmen, asking for a hearing, with his "O yes! O yes!" Little does he think that he is speaking French.

F. W. J.

Minor Queries.

151. Quotation from Bacon.

—In Lord Campbell's Life of Lord Bacon (Lives of the Lord Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 314.) he gives an extract from Lord Bacon's speech in the House of Commons, on his proposed bill for "Suppressing Abuses in Weights and Measures." In the following sentence there is a word which seems to require explanation:

"The fault of using false weights and measures is grown so intolerable and common, that if you would build churches you shall not need for battlements and halls, other than false weights of lead and brass."

The use of lead for the battlements of churches seems obvious enough: but what can halls mean, unless it be a misprint for bells, for which brass would be required?

PEREGRINUS.

152. Carmagnoles.

—Can any of your readers tell me the exact meaning of the Carmagnoles of the French Revolution? Is the "Marseillaise" a Carmagnole song? If the word be derived from Carmagnuola in Piedmont, what is the story of its origin?

W. B. H.

153. The Use of Tobacco by the Elizabethan Ladies.

—In An Introduction to English Antiquities, by James Eccleston, B.A., 8vo. 1847, p. 306., the author, speaking of the ladies of the reign of Elizabeth, has the following passage:

"It is with regret we add, that their teeth were at this time generally black and rotten, a defect which foreigners attributed to their inordinate love for sugar, but which may, perhaps, be quite as reasonably ascribed to their frequent habit of taking the Nicotian weed to excess."

Does the author mean to insinuate by the above, that the Elizabethan ladies indulged in the "filthy weed" by "smoaking" or "chewing?" I have always understood that the "Nicotian weed" whitened the teeth rather than blackened them, but should be glad to be enlightened upon the subject by some of your scientific readers.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

154. Covines (Vol. iii., p. 477.).

—Remembering to have seen it stated by one of your correspondents, that witches or sorcerers were formerly divided into classes or companies of twelve, called covines, I should feel obliged by a reference to the authorities from which this statement is derived. They were not alleged at the time.

A. N.

155. Story referred to by Jeremy Taylor.

—Jeremy Taylor (Duct. Dubit., book iii. chap. ii. rule 5. quæst. 2.) states:

"The Greek that denied the depositum of his friend, and offered to swear at the altar that he had restored it already, did not preserve his conscience and his oath by desiring his friend to hold the staff in which he had secretly conveyed the money. It is true, he delivered it into his hand, desiring that he would hold it till he had sworn; but that artifice was a plain cozenage, and it was prettily discovered. For the injured person, in indignation at the perjury, smote the staff upon the ground, and broke it, and espied the money."

Whence is the above incident derived?

A TR.

156. Plant in Texas.

—I shall be glad to learn the scientific name of the plant to which the following extract from the Athenæum (1847, p. 210.) refers:—

"It is a well-known fact that in the vast prairies of Texas a little plant is always to be found which, under all circumstances of climate, changes of weather, rain, frost, or sunshine, invariably turns its leaves and flowers to the north," &c.

.ת.א

157. Discount.

—Can any of your readers inform me how discount originated, and where first made use of?

JAMES C.

158. Sacre Cheveux.

—The motto of the arms of the family of Halifax of Chadacre in Suffolk, and of Lombard Street, is—

"SACRE CHEVEUX."

It does not seem to bear allusion to the crest, a griffin, nor to any of the charges in the coat, which I do not at the moment accurately remember. If you will enlighten me as to the meaning and origin of the motto, I shall be obliged.

S. A.

159. "Mad as a March Hare."

—In Mr. Mayhew's very interesting work, London Labour and the London Poor, Part xxxiii. p. 112., a collector of hareskins, in giving an account of his calling, says:

"Hareskins is in—leastways I c'lects them—from September to the end of March, when hares, they says, goes mad."

Perhaps the allusion to the well-known saying, "as mad as a March hare," on this occasion was made without the collector of hareskins being aware of the existence of such a saying. Is anything known of its origin? I imagine that Mr. Mayhew's work will bring many such sayings to light.

L. L. L.

160. Vermin, Payments for Destruction of, and Ancient Names.

—Can you afford me any information as to the authority (act of parliament, or otherwise,) by which churchwardens in old times paid sums of money for the destruction of vermin in the several parishes in England; and by what process of reasoning, animals now deemed innocuous were then thought to merit so rigorous an extirpation?

In some old volumes of churchwardens' accounts to which I have access, I find names which it is impossible to associate with any description of vermin now known. Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to identify them: such as glead, ringteal, greas'head, baggar. My own impression as to the latter name was, that it was only another way of spelling badger; but as, in the volume to which I refer, the word bowson occurs, which the historian Dr. Whitaker pronounces to be identical with that species of vermin, my surmise can scarcely be correct.

J. B. (Manchester).

161. Fire unknown.

—Leibnitz (Sur l'Entendement humain, liv. i. § 4.) speaks of certain islanders to whom fire was unknown. Is there any authentic account of savages destitute of this essential knowledge?

C. W. G.

162. Matthew Paris's Historia Minor.

—During the last few years I have made occasional, but unsuccessful, inquiries after the Historia Minor of Matthew Paris. It is quoted at some length by Archbishop Parker (Antiquit. Eccles. Brit., ed. Hanov. 1605, p. 158.). It is also referred to, apparently upon Parker's authority, by several divines of the succeeding age; by one or more of whom (as well as by Watt) the MS. is spoken of as deposited in the Royal Library at St. James's. The words produced by Parker do not occur in Matthew Paris's Major History; though the editor of the second edition of the larger work would appear to have consulted the Hist. Minor, either in the Biblioth. Reg., or the Cottonian Library, or else in the Library of Corpus Coll., Cambridge. Can any one gratify my curiosity by saying whether this MS. is known to exist, and (if so) where?

J. SANSOM.

163. Mother Bunche's Fairy Tales.

—Who wrote Mother Bunche's Fairy Tales?

DALSTONIA.

164. Monumental Symbolism.

—In the south aisle of Tylehurst church, Berks, is a beautiful monument to the memory of Sir Peter Vanlore, Knight, and his lady, in recumbent positions, at whose feet is the statue of their eldest son in armour kneeling. In the front of the tomb are the figures of ten of their children in processional form—first, two daughters singly; the rest two and two, four of which have skulls in their right hands, and a book in their left, probably to denote their being deceased at the time the monument was erected. At the feet of one of the youngest children is represented a very small figure of a child lying in a shroud, the date 1627.

Query, What do the books symbolise?

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge.

165. Meaning of "Stickle" and "Dray."

—In Wm. Browne's Pastoral, "The Squirrel Hunt," we read of—

The word stickle appears to me to be used here for a pool. Is it ever so used now, or has that meaning become obsolete? I do not find it in Richardson's Dictionary.

In the Lake District, in the Langdales, is Harrison's Stickle or Stickle Tarn, which I think confirms my view of the meaning.

Cowper uses the word dray with reference to the same animal:

What is the correct meaning of this word? Richardson, from Barrett, says, "a dray or sledde, which goeth without wheels." And adds, "also applied to a carriage with low, heavy wheels, dragged heavily along, as a brewer's dray."

He then quotes the passage from Cowper, containing the above line.

F. B. RELTON.

166. Son of the Morning.—

How many read the above beautiful stanza from Childe Harold, Canto II. Stanza 3., without asking themselves who the "Son of the morning" is. Perhaps some of your literary correspondents and admirers of Byron may be able to tell us. I enclose my own solution for your information.

AN OLD BENGAL CIVILIAN.

167. Gild Book.

—The Gild-Book of the "Holy Trinity Brotherhood" of St. Botolph's without Aldersgate, London, once belonged to Mr. W. Hone, by whom it is quoted in his Ancient Mysteries, p. 79. If any of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" would be so kind as to let me know where this MS. is to be found, I should be very thankful.

D. ROCK.

Buckland, Faringdon.