Volume 5 — Queries.

BURNING OF THE JESUITICAL BOOKS AT PARIS.

The Quarterly Reviewer who endeavours in the number just published to establish the claim of Thomas Lord Lyttelton to the authorship of Junius, instances the following coincidence in support of his theory:—

"Junius tells us directly, 'I remember seeing Busenbaum, Suarez, Molina, and a score of other Jesuitical books, burnt at Paris, for their sound casuistry by the hands of the common hangman.' We may assume that this took place in 1764, as it was in that year that Choiseul suppressed the Jesuits. Thomas Lyttelton was on the continent during the whole of 1764, and for part of that time resided at Paris."[1]

But the orders of the parliament of Paris against the Jesuits, one of which condemned some thirty of their books to be burnt, were issued three years before the suppression of their order in France, viz., in the early part and summer of 1761. That Thomas Lyttelton could then have been in Paris is highly improbable; he was only seventeen, and it was a time of war. Will any one take the trouble to ascertain where Francis was? I believe he was appointed secretary to the Portuguese embassy in 1760, and returned to London in 1763.

H. MERIVALE.

GRANTHAM ALTAR CASE.

An old book now lies before me, intituled England's Reformation from the time of King Henry VIII. to the end of Oates's Plot, a Poem in four Cantos, with large Marginal Notes according to the Original. By Thomas Ward. London: Printed for W. B. and sold by Thomas Bickerton, in Little Britain. 1716.

In Canto IV., and beginning at p. 353., there is an account of a brawl in the parish church of Grantham, anno 1627, arising, as appears by a marginal note, out of circumstances connected with the "removal of the Communion table from the upper part of the quire to the altar place." A master alderman Wheatley, assisted by "an innkeeper fat as brawn," and "a bow-legged tailor that was there," appears to have taken an active part in the scuffle which ensued upon the vicar's persisting in his determination. The alderman and his mob seem to have been triumphant on this occasion, for we read, p. 356.:

A pamphlet war followed; for there was immediately A Letter to the Vicar of Grantham about setting his Table altarwise. In answer to this came A Coal from the Altar; which was in its turn assailed by The Quench Coal out, and The Holy Table, Name and Thing (said to have been written by Williams, Bishop of Lincoln.) A Dr. Pocklington (who was he?) espoused the side of the Altar party, and published his Altare Christianum. During this literary contest the vicar appears to have died, and, some twelve months after his death, out comes The Dead Vicar's Plea.

The affair seems to have created what we should now call a great sensation in the "religious world:" for, says our author:

Master Ward did not like these men, and therefore I omit his rather uncharitable conclusion.

Is there any record left of the notable quarrel, which appears to have engaged the attention and pens of some of the learned men of the age? Perhaps some of your correspondents at Grantham could throw some light upon this question.

L. L. L.

Kirton-in-Lindsey.

[This celebrated altar controversy occurred during the reign of Charles I., and its origin will be found in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. The Puritans contended that the proper place for the table, when the eucharist was administered, was in the body of the church before the chancel door, and to be placed tablewise, and not altarwise; that is, that one of the ends of the table was to be placed towards the east, so that one of the larger sides might be to the north, the priest being directed to stand at the north side, and not at the north end of the table. The Church party, on the contrary, contended that as the Injunctions ordered that the table should stand where the altar used to stand, it should consequently be placed as the altar was. This matter was the source of much violent contention, and tracts were published neither remarkable for courtesy of language nor for accurate statements of facts. It appears to have originated in a dispute between Mr. Titly, the Vicar of Grantham, and his parishioners, respecting the proper place for the table. The vicar insisted that it ought to stand at the upper end of the chancel, against the east wall. Some of the parishioners contended that it should stand in the body of the church. The vicar removed it from that situation, and placed it in the chancel. The alderman of the borough and others replaced it in its former situation, when a formal complaint was made to the bishop (Williams). In 1627 the bishop published his judgment on the question, in A Letter to the Vicar of Grantham. The visitation of 1634 tempted Peter Heylyn to republish this Letter, together with an answer under the title of A Coal from the Altar, &c. Williams replied in 1637 by a treatise entitled The Holy Table, Name and Thing, more anciently and literally used under the New Testament than that of Altar. Heylyn rejoined by his Antidotum Lincolniense; or an Answer to a Book entitled "The Holy Altar, Name and Thing," &c. The bishop was preparing for his further vindication, when he was prevented by his troubles in the Star Chamber, in consequence of which his library was seized. "And how," says Hacket, "could he fight without his arms? or, how could the bell ring when they had stolen away the clapper?" During the controversy Dr. Pocklington, Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, published his Altare Christianum; or, the Dead Vicar's Plea, wherein the Vicar of Grantham being dead yet speaketh, and pleadeth out of Antiquity against him that hath broken down his Altar, 4to. 1637. The best historical notice of this controversy is given in Hacket's Life of Archbishop Williams, pt. ii. pp. 99-109., and was particularly referred to by the counsel on the Cambridge stone altar case, 1844-1845, as well as by Sir Herbert Jenner Fust in his judgment on it.]

MEANING OF GROOM.

In investigating the descent of two Devonshire families, I save met with four instances of persons designating themselves as groom. They were certainly well connected, and in fortune apparently much above the class of people who accept the care of horses in this present day.

If they were grooms of horses, society was in a very different state from that in which it is at the present day; if they were not such grooms, what then were they? I believe they were unmarried persons. First, there is Samuel Weeks, of South Tawton, groom; will proved in the Archdeacon of Exeter's Court, 1639. His father was Richard Weeks, styled gentleman in the parish register; and Samuel Weeks signs his name in a peculiarly fine Italian hand, that I do not remember to have seen in any instance of that time except in that of a thorough gentleman.

Francis Kingwell, of Crediton, groom. His will was proved in the Bishop's Court in 1639; his sister married a Richard Hole, of South Tawton, yeoman of substance; her second husband was John Weeks, of South Tawton, gentleman, and his sons were gentlemen. These Weekses were, I doubt not, nearly related to the Wykes or Weeks, of North Wyke, in the same parish, a family of great antiquity.

Thirdly, here is John Hole, of South Tawton, groom, 1640. His inventory is 180l., of which 4l. was for his clothes, whereas a gentleman in one case in this neighbourhood has his clothes valued at ten shillings; Kingwell's inventory was the same.

Robert Hole, of Zeal Monachorum, groom, is the fourth instance. His will was proved at Westminster in 1654; he was the son of a wealthy yeoman, and his brother, Thomas Hole, was a gentleman.

I trouble you that I may learn, through your kindness, whether groom, in these instances, was used with the meaning which we attach to it; or at that time, or in the English language, or the vernacular tongue of central Devonshire, meant anything else.

E. DAVIS PROTHEROE.

Minor Queries.

Gregentius and the Jews in Arabia Felix.—

I had also had my place at that "We have a remarkable instance to this purpose in ecclesiastical history, which is attested by many and great authors. It seems, about 400 years after our Saviour's ascension, one Gregentius, a bishop, endeavoured the conversion of those Jews which lived in Arabia Felix. After a tedious disputation of three days' continuance some of the Jews desired the bishop to show them Jesus alive, and it would convince them. Immediately upon this the earth began to tremble, and the sky to shine and echo with lightnings and thunder. After these ceased, the gates of the celestial palace opened, and a bright serene cloud appeared, darting forth beams of an extraordinary lustre. At last our blessed Saviour showed himself walking on this bright cloud, and a voice was heard from this excellent glory saying, 'I am He who was crucified by your fathers.' This glorious appearance cast all the Jews prostrate on the ground, and, beating their breasts, they cried with a loud voice, 'Lord have mercy on us!' and afterwards were baptised into the faith of Christ."—Sermons by John March, B.D., late Vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 2nd ed. 1699, p. 235.

Who are the "many and great authors" who have attested this extraordinary apparition?

E. H. A.

King Street Theatre.

—Among a large collection of medallic tickets of admission to theatres, I am unable to fix the precise attribution of the following:

Ob.: A group of dramatic emblems, mask, sword, mirror, scourge, and a legend:

Rev.:

"Admit Mr. Cooper, or bearer, to any part of the house before the curtain."

The ticket is of silver, and is evidently of the time of Garrick; it cannot therefore apply to the theatre in King Street, St. James's, which is of recent erection; nor am I aware of any other King Street in London which contained a theatre. Its situation will most probably be found in some provincial town.

If any of your obliging correspondents could furnish information as to its locality, they would confer a favour on the writer.

B. N.

Lesteras and Emencin.

—In an old MS. I meet with the following words:—

"One (a pillar) was made of Lefteras (I do not know whether the third letter is an s or an f in the original) which would not burn."

"After they came to the land of Emencin, which is the country of Jerusalem."

Can any of your readers give me any information as to either of the words Lesteras or Emencin?

O. OGLE.

Oxford.

Epigram on Franklin and Wedderburn.

—Will any of your correspondents acquaint me with the name of the author of the following lines, written shortly after Dr. Franklin's attendance at the Privy Council in January, 1774, in allusion to Wedderburn's severe remarks upon him?—

The lines were repeated to me by the late Francis Maseres, Esq., Cursitor Baron of the Court of Exchequer.

W. S.

Richmond, Surrey.

Plenius and his Lyrichord.

—May I hope to ascertain, through the medium of your journal, where to look for information on the subject of the "lyrichord of Plenius," referred to in Rees' Encyclopædia, art. "Basse Fondamentale," as having been "tuned by weights instead of tension?" The point left in doubt by this, is whether a single weight was substituted for tension, or whether the different notes in the musical scale were produced by altering the weight according to the rules for that purpose.

Was Plenius an ancient, a Middle-Age man, or was he Herr Plen, who latinized his name, as was the fashion a century or two ago?

T.

Epigram on Burnet.

—A friend of mine across the Atlantic wishes to ask, whether any one knows where the following epigram, which he remembers in MS. in an old folio copy of Burnet's History, comes from:—

C. B.

Dutch Chronicle of the World.

—Will any of your readers oblige me with information respecting a Dutch work, professing to be an historical chronicle of the world from the creation to the time in which it was printed, which was in the days of Merian, the celebrated engraver, father to the naturalist Madame Merian, who was also an artist of some repute. The work I allude to was illustrated by numerous spirited engravings (supposed to have been executed on pewter), and of which I possess several hundred, which had been cut out of the letter-press which surrounded the prints, and bought at a stall in London many years back. I question whether there is a copy of the work to be found in England, except it be in the British Museum.

JOHN FENTON.

"Arborei fœtus alibi, atque injussa virescunt Gramina" (Virgil G. I. 55.).

—Amongst my school reminiscences, I retain very distinctly the remembrance of the surprise we felt in the sixth form, when we were desired by our revered and excellent master to construe the above words as follows:

"'Arborei fœtus,' flourish unbidden in one situation, grass in another."

Or, more literally:

"'Arborei fœtus,' flourish unbidden in situations different from those in which grass (flourishes unbidden)."

I well remember too, that some of us, while we admired the ingenuity, ventured to doubt the correctness of the translation. Will some of your learned correspondents kindly favour me with their opinions?

W. S.

History of Brittany.

—I shall feel obliged to any one who can refer me to a good history or histories of Brittany; more especially to those which relate to the genealogies and heraldry of the Breton families, or which contain pedigrees.

T. H. KERSLEY, B.A.

Serjeants' Rings.

—T. P. would be obliged to any of your antiquarian readers who could inform him, through the medium of your paper, whether the custom of serjeants-at-law presenting rings with mottoes, on taking the coif, prevailed so long back as A.D. 1670-80, and, if so, whether there are any records, or other sources, from which he could ascertain the motto used by an individual who was admitted to that degree about that period?

The Duchess of Cleveland's Cow-pox.

—In Baron's Life of Jenner, Vol. i. p. 123., there occurs the following note, extracted from one of Dr. Jenner's note-books of 1799:

"I know of no direct allusion to the disease in any ancient author, yet the following seems not very distantly to bear upon it. When the Duchess of Cleveland was taunted by her companions, Moll Davis (Lady Mary Davis) and others, that she might soon have to deplore the loss of that beauty which was then her boast, the small-pox at that time raging in London, she made a reply to this effect,—that she had no fear about the matter, for she had had a disorder which would prevent her from ever catching the small-pox. This was lately communicated by a gentleman in this county, but unfortunately he could not recollect from what author he gained his intelligence."

Can any reader of "N. & Q." supply this missing authority for a fact which is very important in the history of medicine—if true?

ONETWOTHREE.

Arms of Manchester.

—What are the arms of Manchester? and are they of ancient usage? or only assigned to the town since its incorporation? and if the latter, whence did the bearings originate?

H. H. H. V.

Heraldical MSS. of Sir Henry St. George Garter.

—What has become of these valuable MSS.? and if the place of their deposit is known, can access be obtained to them for literary purposes? They were, as Noble relates, originally sold into the Egmont family, and descended to John James, the third Earl; but some time after his death, about the year 1831, all the personal property of the family was disposed of; the effects at Enmore Castle were sold by auction on the spot; and the writer of this well remembers seeing the old family pictures preparing for the same fate in a sales-room in Conduit Street, he thinks of Mr. Abbots. Mr. Braithwaite, of Great Russell Street, was the auctioneer employed at Enmore, and an inquiry was made of him at the time relative to these MSS., and the answer was, that they also were destined to the hammer. A catalogue also was promised whenever it should come out. The writer was subsequently informed that the MSS. were withdrawn, and he could never learn what became of them.

M——N.

Minor Queries Answered.

The Pelican, as a Symbol of the Saviour.

—Is the pelican now, or was it formerly considered as a symbol of Our Saviour? I have seen it used in the ancient decorations of churches, but never looked on it as such; nor can I remember ever having seen it mentioned as an emblem of the Saviour, with the exception of one passage in Dante's Vision (Canto xxv.) of Paradise.

ROBERT NELSON.

[In the Calendar of the Anglican Church Illustrated, p. 328., will be found an engraving of "a pelican feeding her young with blood from her own breast, signifying the Saviour giving Himself up for the redemption of mankind;" and in the foot-note references to Aringhi's Roma Subterranea, and other works, in which other representations of the same symbol are to be found. Our correspondent may also be referred to Alt's Heiligenbilder, s. 56.]

Bishop Coverdale's Bible.

—When did Bishop Coverdale commence his translation of the Bible? Where was the first edition printed? Is any copy in existence which possesses the original title-page, i.e. not the one added in England, stating that it is translated from the "Douche and Latyn?"

H. H. H. V.

[We have submitted H. H. H. V.'s Query to our obliging correspondent, GEORGE OFFOR, ESQ., whose library is particularly rich in early English versions of the Bible, and who has kindly favoured us with the following communication]:—

In reply to your correspondent H. H. H. V.'s very curious question to know when Myles Coverdale commenced his translation, I beg to state that he was born in 1488, and that it has not yet been discovered when his mind was first led to contemplate the translation of the Sacred Scriptures, nor whether he commenced with the New or the Old Testament. The facts known are, that he finished the translation or the printing of it on the 4th day of October, 1535,—probably at Cologne, because other books printed there about that time have the same initials, wood-cuts, and type. A copy, with the original title-page, is in the Holkham library, having, on the reverse, part of the list of books, showing that originally it was without a dedication; this has the words, "Douche and Latyn." When the dedication was printed, this title was cancelled and a new one printed, still with the words "Douche and Latyn," with the reverse blank. A fine copy of this is in the possession of Earl Jersey, and one with the title-page repaired is in the British Museum. Perfect copies have a map of Palestine. In 1537, this book was reprinted, both in folio and quarto, probably at Antwerp, and in these the words "from the Douche and Latyn" were very properly omitted, Coverdale being still living to see them through the press; these are ornamented with large initial letters with a dance of death, and are the rarest volumes in the English language. In these the dedication is altered from Queen Anne to Queen Jane, as the wife of Henry VIII. They were all dedicated to the king and to the queen; the two latter are all in Old English type. These were followed by an edition dedicated to Edward VI. in a Swiss type, 4to., printed at Zurich by Chr. Froschover, and published under three titles—1st, as the translation of Thos. Matthewe; 2nd, as the translation of Myles Coverdale, London, by Andrew Hester, 1550; and 3rd, London, by Jugge, 1553. These are books of great rarity, and may be all seen in my library by any of your readers, sanctioned by a note from you or any minister of religion. My first edition has several uncut leaves.

The introduction of the words "from the Douche (meaning Luther's German) and Latyn" has never been accounted for; they probably were inserted by the German printer to make the volume more popular, so as to interest reformers by the German of Luther, and Romanists by the Vulgate Latin. The translation is certainly from the Hebrew and Greek, compared with Luther's and the Vulgate.

GEORGE OFFOR.

Grove Street, Victoria Park.

Age of the Oak.

—The late Queries respecting the age of trees, remind me of some lines of which I have been long in search—

I think it probable that they are from a play of Dryden or Otway; but some of your readers may probably be able to answer this Query.

T. C.

Durham.

[In Richardson's Dictionary, as well as in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, these lines are quoted under the word Patriarch, as from The Cock and the Fox, by Dryden; whereas Bysshe, in his Art of English Poetry, under the word Oak, refers us to Dryden's Ovid. In neither of these pieces do they occur; our correspondent, however, will find them in Dryden's Palamon and Arcite, or the Knight's Tale, line 2334.]

Olivarius.

—Can any of your readers inform me what is the title of a book written by Olivarius, a French astrologer, 1542, in which there is a prophecy relative to France, and somewhat similar to that of St. Cæsarius (p. 471.)? What was his christian name, and in what library is the work to be found?

CLERICUS D.

Dublin.

[Maittaire, in his Annales Typograph., tom. v. pt. ii. p. 102., notices the following work: "Olivarius (Petrus Joannes) Valentinus de Prophetiâ. Basileæ ex officinâ Joannis Oporini, 1543, mense Augusto." From the catalogues of the British Museum and the Bodleian, it does not appear to be in either of these libraries.]

Vincent Bourne's Epilogus in Eunuchum Terentii.

—Will any of your readers inform me whether an Epilogue to the Eunuch of Terence, written by V. Bourne, and spoken in 1746, has ever been printed in any, and what, edition of Bourne's Poems? Gnatho appears on the stage, dressed as a recruiting sergeant, with several recruits, and thus begins:

And the concluding lines are:

This epilogue is in my possession in MS., the handwriting of my father, who was, in 1746, a scholar of Westminster College. It should seem, from a letter written to the Gentleman's Magazine by the late Archdeacon Nares, in April, 1826, and reprinted in Nichols's Illustrations, vol. vii. p. 656., that he was in possession of a copy, as he there tenders it to the editor of the sixth edition of Bourne, which had then (1826) recently issued from the Oxford press.

W. S.

Richmond, Surrey.

[The Epilogue referred to will be found in the beautiful edition of Vinny Bourne's Poems, published by Pickering in 1840, and in the Gentleman's Magazine, May, 1826, p. 450, where, however, the first line reads—

Burton, Bp., Founder of Schools, &c., at Loughborough, co. Leicester.

—Can any of your genealogical readers give a clue to his family, and their armorial bearings?

J. K.

[Thomas Burton was a French merchant, not a prelate. A short notice of him and his gifts will be found in the Reports of Commissioners of Inquiry into Charities, and in Carlisle's Endowed Charities; but no account of his family has been given by his namesake, William Burton, in his History of Leicestershire, or by Nichols in his History.]

Hoo.

—What is the meaning of this word? In Bedfordshire there are two houses and estates called by this name, Luton Hoo and Pertenhall Hoo; and in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Kent are villages so called.

ARUN.

[Luton Hoo, in Bedfordshire, was the manor of the family of Hoo, or De Hoo, who are said by Sir Henry Chauncy to have been settled there before the Norman Conquest. Hasted, in his Kent, says, "Hoo comes from the Saxon hou, a hill." Ihre derives the word from hoeg, high. Spelman, vo. Hoga, observes that ho, how, signifies mons, collis. Jamieson says "How is certainly no other than Isl. haug, Suio-Gothic hoeg, the name given to sepulchral mounds." See also Lemon's English Etymology, s. v. Hough, how.]