Volume 5 — Replies.

MODERN NAMES OF PLACES. (Vol. iv., p. 470.)

Your correspondent L. H. J. T. has noticed the corruption of Greek topographical names, arising from the use of the definite article, which the ear of a traveller not skilled in the language supposes to be a part of the name, and so makes Statines or Satines from Athens, Stives from Thebes, &c.

It may be interesting to some readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to know that exactly the same thing has happened in Ireland, and that the recognised Anglicised forms of several proper names, now stereotyped, are a combination of the definite article an, of the Gaelic or Irish language, with the name of the place.

For instance, Nenagh in the co. Tipperary is properly Aonach [pron. eenagh], but generally spoken of by the people with the definite article an Aonach, the Aonach, i.e. fair, place of a fair or assembly; and hence by the English made Nenagh.

So also the river Ainge [pron. nearly as Anny] is usually called an Ainge, the Ainge; and therefore is now Nanny, the Nanny, or Nanny water, in the co. Meath.

In like manner, the island Aondruim in Loch Cuan, on which stood once a celebrated monastery, is in Irish always called an Aondruim, the Aondruim, and is now Nandrum or Nantrim Island.

The town of Newry is another instance. It has its name from an ancient yew tree [in Irish Iubhair, pron. nearly as the word your] which stood near it, and was said to have been planted by St. Patrick. Hence the town is always called an Iubhair, the yew tree; which, by incorporating the article, has been Anglicised Newry.

The river Nore in Ossory, is properly an Eoir, the Eoir [pron. Ore].

So also the Navan fort near Armagh, is an Eamhain, the Eamhain [pron. nearly as Avan].

I might fill a page with other instances, but I shall only mention another similar corruption in proper names, where after dropping the Mac the c is retained, in cases where the patronymic begins with a vowel. Thus the descendants of the Danish family of Ottar became Mac Ottar, and are now Cotter. So Mac Etigan became Gettigan; Mac Eeoghegan, Geoghegan; the c being further transmuted into g. And hundreds of similar instances could be given.

It may also be observed that the English very generally caught the genitive, or oblique case, of the Irish proper names, and from it formed the name which is now in use amongst the English speaking population. Thus they heard the Irish speak of the isles Araun, i.e. the isles of Ara, for Araun is the genitive; and hence they are now the Aran Isles. So also the ford Trim or Druim, in Irish Ath-Druim (the ford of the long low hill, vadum Dorsi), where Druim [pron. nearly Trim] is the genitive of Drom or Drum, a long low hill, a back.

The names given to Ireland by medieval writers, after the ancient name of Scotia had been transferred to Alban (which, by the way, is itself a genitive, from Alba), afford instances of the same thing.

One of the native names of Ireland is Eri, or Eire, genitive Erinn. From this the Greeks and Romans formed the name Ierne, from the old word I, an island—I-Erinn, the island of Eri. And so we now have also the genitive Erin, as a poetical name of the island. The Danes, however, retained the absolute form, and called it Eri-landt, Ireland.

So also from the old word Ibh, or Hibh, a tribe, or country, we have Hibh-Erinn, the tribe, or people of Eri, and hence evidently Hibernia and Ivernia.

T. D.

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY.—PAROCHIAL LIBRARY AT MAIDSTONE. (Vol. iv., p. 92.)

As some of your readers may be aware, there is an old and somewhat valuable library in the vestry of All Saints Church, Maidstone, which was partly purchased by the parishioners of the executors of Dr. Bray (who bequeathed his books to any parish which would advance fifty pounds as a consideration for the value of them), and was afterwards increased by the munificence of several benefactors.

Up to the year 1810, when the present catalogue was made, it would appear that but little, or at any rate very insufficient, care was taken of these books; for Mr. Finch, who rearranged the library and wrote the catalogue, carefully correcting the inaccuracies in the former one, declares, in a note that he has placed at the commencement, dated October 1, 1810, that he "found many valuable books missing, and a still larger number irretrievably damaged by the incursions of worms and damp."

The number of volumes missing and decayed amounted to about 100, whilst the number remaining in the library appears to have been 710, and their gross value about 165l.

Since 1810 far greater care seems to have been bestowed on them, for but few, very few, volumes mentioned in the catalogue then made are missing, and a daily fire during the winter months tends greatly to prevent their further injury by damp.

I will not, however, trouble you with any further remarks about the library itself, but proceed at once to the subject of my note, which is to offer for your acceptance three proverbs (which I have met with in reading one of the books) as an addition to the valuable collection lately sent by your correspondent COWGILL.

The book from which I have derived them is a small quarto, containing the following tracts or treatises; but whether any or all of them are now but rarely to be met with, I know not.

1st. "The Heresiography, or a description of the Hereticks and Sectaries of these latter times, by E. Pagitt. 5th edit. London, 1654."

2nd. "An apologie for our publick ministerie and infant baptism, by William Lyford, B.D. and Minister of the Gospel at Sherborn in Dorcetshire. London, 1653."

3rd. "The Font guarded with XX arguments, containing a compendium of that great controversie of Infant Baptism, proving the lawfulness thereof; as being grounded on the word of God, agreeable to the Practice of all Reformed churches: together with the concurrent consent of a whole jury of judicious and pious divines. With a word to one Collier and another to Mr. Tombs, in the end of the Book. Birmingham, 1651."

4th. "Vindiciæ, Pædo-Baptismi, or A Vindication of Infant Baptism in a Full Answer to Mr. Tombs his twelve arguments alleaged against it in his exercitation, and whatsoever is rational or material in his answer to Mr. Marshall's sermon. By John Geree, M.A. and Preacher of the Word sometime at Tewksbury, but now at St. Albanes. London, 1646."

5th. [Title-page wanting, but it appears to have been this:] "The Gangrene of Heresie, or A catalogue of many of the Errours, Blasphemies, and Practices of the Sectaries of the time, with some observations upon them. By Thomas Edwards, 1650."

6th. "The Patrimony of Christian Children, or A defence of Infants Baptisme prooved to be consonant to the Scriptures and will of God against the erroneous positions of the Anabaptists. By Robert Cleaver, with the joynt consent of Mr. John Dod. London, 1624."

These six treatises contain from 80 to 220 pages each, and in reading them I have noted the three following "sententious truths," which I hope may be thought worthy to be added to the much larger number contributed by COWGILL. The first is from the lines of Beriah Philophylax to his friend Mr. Thomas Hall, which is prefixed to his "Font Guarded;" and the other two from Edwards' "Gangrene of Heresie,"—

JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.

Maidstone.

"A BREATH CAN MAKE THEM AS A BREATH HAS MADE." (Vol. iv., p. 482.)

With reference to the observations of HENRY H. BREEN upon a well-known passage in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, a little consideration will convince him that the view taken by D'Israeli and himself is not only extremely superficial, but that the proposed emendation would entirely destroy the poet's meaning.

The antithesis is not between flourishing and fading, but between the difficult restoration of a bold peasantry and the easy reproduction of princes and lords.

The first branch of the antithesis is between wealth and men:

It then proceeds to set forth that it matters little whether nobles flourish or fade, because a breath can make them as easily as it has originally made them: but not so with a bold peasantry. When once they are destroyed, they can never be replaced.

In fact, so far from the sense requiring the alteration of "makes" into "unmakes," the substitution, if we would preserve the author's meaning, should be "remakes:"

I only put this in illustration: Heaven forbid I should recommend it as an improvement!

As for the cited "parallel passages," the best answer that can be given to them is, that they cease to be parallel passages!

I shall therefore take the liberty to repeat a sentence from MR. BREEN, with a slight alteration:

"That Goldsmith wrote the line in question with the word 'unmakes,' there seems (every) reason to doubt."

A. E. B.

Leeds.

P.S.—As a mere matter of fact, apart from other considerations, although a breath from the fountain of honour may create a noble, it may be questioned whether it would not require something more than a breath to unmake him?

[We have received many other excellent defences of the original reading of this passage in Goldsmith. We have selected the present as one of the shortest among those which first reached us. We will add to it a postscript from the communication of another correspondent, J. S. W., showing a curious typographical error which has crept into the recent editions of Goldsmith.]

Passage in the Traveller.—There is a line in the Traveller, I may observe, into which an error of the press, or of some unlucky critic, has intruded. Goldsmith, speaking of the Swiss, says that he

In some editions it is given—

Breasts was doubtless the original word, for it is quoted in Johnson's Dictionary, under the word Breast. This alteration, however, does not, like the supposed change of unmakes into can make, affect the sense.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

BOGATZKY. (Vol. iii., pp. 478., 526.; Vol. iv., p. 44.)

Perhaps the following Note may prove interesting, as a contribution to the literary history of Bogatzky's popular work, and as explanatory of the statement of R. D. H. (Vol. iii., p. 526.), that the book was almost entirely re-written by the Rev. H. Venn.

The Golden Treasury was introduced to English readers through the late excellent John Thornton, Esq. This gentleman having met with a copy of the German work, caused it to be translated into English. Of this translation (in which many of Bogatzky's papers are exchanged for extracts from English writers) a single copy was printed, interleaved, and sent to the Rev. John Berridge, of Everton, for final revision. This copy is now before me. The title runs thus: A Golden Treasury for the Children of God, whose Treasure is in Heaven; consisting of select Texts of the Bible, with practical Observations in Prose and Verse, for every Day in the Year. By C. H. v. Bogatzky: with some Alterations and Improvements by various Hands. Also a Preface on the right Use of this Book. Together with a few Forms of Prayer for private Use. "Where your Treasure is, there will your Heart be also." Matt. vi. 21. London: Printed in the Year MDCCLXXV. Then follows the Preface (pp. iii.-xvi.), written by Mr. Thornton. The rest of the book extends to 374 pages of a small oblong form. The whole is very copiously annotated by Mr. Berridge, whose corrections are most important and judicious. He greatly improved and simplified the language, his chief aim evidently being to accommodate the book to the use of as large a number of readers as possible. The humour of the man breaks out ever and anon in cutting rebukes and sarcasms directed against unsound doctrine: neither Calvinist nor Arminian, Pharisee nor Antinomian, escape his lash. A considerable number of papers are either entirely re-written, or very largely altered; e.g. Jan. 29 (by J. Thornton); Feb. 10, 19; April 8, 26; May 2, 3, 16, 20; June 19, 22; Sept. 9, 17, 18, 21, 25; Oct. 10; Nov. 18; Dec. 1, &c. About forty-three papers are left untouched, and twenty others have only some verses added by Mr. Berridge. Next, as to the extracts from English authors: in the interleaved copy the sources are indicated in Mr. Thornton's handwriting for the first six months; beyond which there is no indication of the kind. I subjoin a list of the authors from whom extracts have been made:—

Aberdeen Bible, Feb. 17, 22, April 1, 18, June 8; Mr. Adams, March 28; Mr. Bentley, Jan. 1, 12, April 21; Mr. Brewer, April 15; Darracot's Scripture Marks, March 5, April 3; Mr. De Coetlogon, June 5; Mr. Fletcher, May 4, 5; Mr. Forster, Feb. 10, 20; Dr. Guise, June 11; Bishop Hall, Feb. 12, 26, March 12, May 3, June 9; Mr. Howe, March 1, April 6; Mr. Keash (?), Feb. 1; Mr. King, Jan. 31, Feb. 8; Mr. Law, June 4; Mr. Mason, March 29, 30; Mr. Newton, April 17; Dr. Owen, Feb. 21, March 15, 21; Mr. Romaine, Jan. 29; Spencer's Storehouse, Feb. 16, March 19, 31, April 20, 30, May 29, June 14, 17; Mrs. Thornton, March 10; Mrs. Wills, April 19.

I will only add that most of the corrections of Mr. Berridge were adopted by Mr. Thornton, and have consequently appeared in the London editions in current use.

C. P. PH***.

MORAVIAN HYMNS. (Vol. iv., p. 502.)

John Wesley was at one time of his life a pupil of the Moravians, and Southey's Life of that remarkable man, like most of his works, pregnant with interest and erudition, affords a satisfactory answer to your correspondent's Query. I quote from the 3rd edition of the Life, 2 vols., 1846. Of the Moravians he says:—

"Madness never gave birth to combinations of more monstrous and blasphemous obscenity than they did in their fantastic allegories and spiritualizations. In such freaks of perverted fancy the abominations of the Phallus and the Lingam have unquestionably originated; and in some such abominations Moravianism might have ended, had it been instituted among the Mingrelian or Malabar Christians, where there was no antiseptic influence of surrounding circumstances to preserve it from putrescence. Fortunately for themselves, and for that part of the heathen world among whom they have laboured, and still are labouring with exemplary devotion, the Moravians were taught by their assailants to correct this perilous error in time."—Vol. i. p. 173.

He adds in a note:

"The reader who may have perused Rimius's Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Herrnhuters, and the 'Responsorial Letters of the Theological Faculty of Tübingen' annexed to it [the 2nd edition was published London, 1753], will not think this language too strong."

In the Appendix, p. 481., Southey further says:

"The most characteristic parts of the Moravian hymns are too shocking to be inserted here: even in the humours and extravagances of the Spanish religious poets there is nothing which approaches to the monstrous perversion of religious feeling in these astonishing productions. The copy which I possess is of the third edition printed for James Hutton, 1746. An interesting account of James Hutton, who published the Moravian Hymns, may be seen in the great collection of Literary Anecdotes by Mr. Nichols, vol. iii. p. 435. Of their silliness I subjoin only such a specimen as may be read without offence:—

"Yet even the Moravian Hymns are equalled by a poem of Manchester manufacture in the Gospel Magazine for August, 1808, entitled the 'Believer's Marriage in Christ.'"—Southey's Life of Wesley.

See also Crantz's History of the Brethren, translated by Latrobe, 8vo. London, 1780; A True and Authentic Account of Andrew Frey, translated from the German, London, 1753, an extremely curious work; also A Solemn Call on Count Zinzendorf, by Henry Rimius, London, 1754.

JARLTZBERG.

December 30th, 1851.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Inveni portum (Vol. v., p. 10.).

—This couplet, which occurs at the close of the second volume of Gil Blas, is a version of the following Greek epigram among those of uncertain authors in the Anthologia:

It is a slight alteration of the translation given by William Lilly, Sir Thomas More's friend and schoolfellow, and occurs, with Sir Thomas More's version, in the Progymnasmata prefixed to the first edition of More's Epigrams, a very elegant volume, printed under the care of Beatus Rhinanus by Frobenius, at Basle, in 1520: small 4to. The frontispiece is by Holbein:

There is a longer epigram, also by an uncertain author, in the First Book of the Anthologia, the first lines of which differ but slightly. It runs thus:

The epigram has been very frequently translated. We have Latin versions by W. Morel, Grotius, and others; and several Italian and French versions. Mr. Merivale has thus rendered it:

Thomas Moore has given us a spirited paraphrase of it.

S.W. SINGER.

Manor Place, South Lambeth.

Quarter Waggoner (Vol. v., p. 11.).

—As the editor, in the exercise of his official functions, may class this scrap with the Replies, it cannot be amiss to state that I offer its contents as mere conjectures.

In the Sea grammar of captain John Smith, which was published in 1627, we have a list of books adapted to the use of those who would learn to observe the altitude, to prick their card, or say their compass. It is as follows:

"Master Wrights Errours of nauigation. Master Tapps Sea-mans kalender. The art of nauigation. The sea regiment. The sea-mans secret. Waggoner. Master Gunters workes. The sea-mans glasse for the scale. The new attracter for variation. Master Wright for vse of the globe. Master Hewes for the same."

It thus appears that Waggoner was either the title of a book, or the name of an author; and we may infer, from the absence of particulars, that it was quite familiar to the seamen of that period—as much so as Charles'-wain. May it not indicate Lucas Jansz Wagenaer of Enchuisen, author of the Spieghel der zeevaerdt, or mirror of navigation, published at Leyden in 1585. The Spieghel became a standard work; and a translation of it by Anthony Ashley was printed at London, with a dedication to sir Christopher Hatton, about the year 1588. Mr. Joseph Ames, who gives the title of this translation, observes: "Perhaps the sailors from this book call their sea charts Wagenars." He was the son of a merchant-captain, and passed his life as a ship chandler in Wapping: I need not search for a better witness. With regard to the word Quarter, it seems to be an abbreviation of quarter-deck; and if so, Quarter Waggoner would mean the quarter-deck charts, or the charts which were supplied to the commander of a ship for the use of himself and the other officers.

BOLTON CORNEY.

Cibber's Lives of the Poets (Vol. v., p. 25.).

—MR. CROSSLEY says that none of Johnson's biographers appear to have known that the prospectus which he has sent you was furnished by Dr. Johnson; but of this fact he gives no other proof than his own opinion that "the internal evidence is decisive." Now I really must say, that to my poor judgment nothing can be less like Johnson's peculiar style; and, moreover, MR. CROSSLEY, who quotes Mr. Croker's note (p. 818., ed. 1848) on this subject, has certainly not read that note accurately, for the object of that note was to endeavour to account for Johnson's having frequently and positively asserted that Cibber had nothing to do with these lives, of which MR. CROSSLEY would have us suppose he wrote the prospectus for Cibber. If MR. CROSSLEY will read more carefully the note referred to, which is half Boswell's and half Croker's, and also another note (also referred to), p. 504., he will see that it is impossible that Johnson could have written this prospectus.

As I happen to be addressing MR. CROSSLEY, I take the liberty of asking whether he has yet been able to lay his hands on Pope's Imitation of Horace, printed by Curll in 1716 (see "N. & Q.," Vol. iv., pp. 122. 139.), and which he tells us he possesses. I wonder and should be sorry that such a curiosity should be lost or even mislaid.

C.

Poniatowski Gems (Vol. v., p. 30.).

—A. O. O. D. is informed that a portion of these gems were sold by Christie and Manson about the second week in June of last year, under an order of the Court of Chancery, on account of the estate of the late Lord Monson. The contents of one cabinet were alone put up, and the auctioneers can, no doubt, supply the particulars that A. O. O. D. requires; or more general information might possibly be obtained from the solicitors, Messrs. Pooley and Beisly, 1. Lincoln's Inn Fields.

M——N.

Dial Motto at Karlsbad (Vol. iv., pp. 471. 507.).

—I do not think it difficult to throw light upon the Karlsbad inscription sent to you by HERMES. I believe that there is a mistake either by the inscriber or the transcriber, and that the word CEdIt ought to be written CeDIt. The chrono-grammatic letters or numerals would then be MDCCVVVVIIIIIIIIII = MDCCXXX = 1730. There are, however, as you have printed it, three other capital letters, but I observe they are not in the same type as the numerals. The question then arises, how do they appear in the original inscription? do they all appear there, or only the first two. It is possible that they, i.e. H. H. T., may be the initials of the name of the then owner of the house I should like this explanation better if the only capitals, not numerals, were H. H., the initials of the first two words of the inscription, and unmingled with the numerals. It would then be H. H. MDCCXXX, or as it would appear upon a house of the present day:

It is probable that by inquiry at Karlsbad, if it were worth while, the name of the owner and date of the house might afford a certain solution of his difficulty. The doubtful letters may be the initials of the maker of the dial.

GRIFFIN.

P.S. Upon what authority does your correspondent E. H. D. D. (Vol. iv., p. 507.) assert that "E in such compositions stands for 250?"

Passage in Jeremy Taylor (Vol. iv., p. 435.).

—I have to thank your correspondent F. A. for calling my attention to a passage in the present edition of Jeremy Taylor, in which the bishop cites a "common saying" concerning Repentance. I had already discovered the error which F. A. alludes to, my attention having been called to the words in question, by finding them quoted by Jackson (Sermon on Luke, xiii. 6. et seq.); and a MS. note in the margin by a former possessor of the volume gave me the true account of the sentence.

I am living at a distance from libraries, and without the opportunity of examining questions; but I believe F. A. will find that he has slightly misunderstood L'Estrange; the sentence in question not being found in Coverdale's translation of the Bible.

C. P. E.

Aue Trici and Gheeze Ysenoudi (Vol. i., pp. 215. 267.).

—These two nuns belonged to the convent of St. Margaret at Gouda. In 1714 there still existed in the library of that city a book entitled Coll==tarius (Commentarius) supra Psalmos.[2] This work, written by Peter Por of Floref, and dedicated to John of Arckel, bishop of Utrecht, was transcribed on parchment in the year 1454 by seven nuns of the above convent, these were:

On the back of the MS. is a list of the books belonging to the convent: these were then seventy in number.

Lambertus Wilhelmi, a monk of Sion Abbey, and director of these nuns, composed in the year 1452 a History of the Convent of St. Margaret at Gouda, by order of its superintendent, Heymanus Florentii, a monk of 'S. Gravezande. This convent was burnt in 1572 by one of Lumey's captains, Hans Aulterman, who for his many crimes was condemned on the 11th of April, 1573, and burnt alive at the gates of Gouda.

The Nicholas de Wit mentioned in the Query was prior of the monastery of St. Michael, near Schoonhoven. (See further T. Walvisch, Beschrÿving van Gouda, II. pp. 123-172.)

ELSEVIER.

Leyden, Navorscher, Jan. 1852.

Rev. John Paget (Vol. iv., p. 133.).

—Of this clergyman the following mention is made in the Resolutions of the States General:

"9 January, 1607. Op te requeste van John Paget, predikand van de Engelsche regimenten, is geordonneert de selve te stellen in handen van den Ovesten Horace Vere, Ridder, omme ordre te stellen, dat den suppl. van syn tractament mach worden betaelt."

9 January, 1607. Touching the request of John Paget, chaplain of the English regiments, is ordained that the same be placed in the hands of the Colonel Horace Vere, Knight, that provision may be made for the payment of the suppliant's salary.

From the register of a marriage celebrated at Leyden the 7th of January, 1649, between Mathys Paget, smith, and Maria Picters Del Tombe, both of that city, it would appear that other members of the Paget family have resided there.

ELSEVIER.

Leyden, Navorscher, Jan. 1852.

The Rev. John Paget doubtless belonged to an English or Scotch family, sometimes also called Pagett, or Pagetius. John Paget, who was the first minister of the English church in Amsterdam, came there in 1607, and preached his introductory sermon on the 5th of February, in the chapel prepared for that purpose: his formal induction took place in the month of April, in the same year, and here he remained twenty-nine years. Thomas Paget, invited from Blackeley in England, was inducted in November 1639, and departed the 29th of August 1646, for Shrewsbury. Robert Paget, or Pagetius, minister of the Scotch congregation at Dordrecht from 1638 to 1685, "was a man of extensive biblical knowledge, but of extreme modesty." When the English church in Amsterdam was offered him, he could not be prevailed upon to accept it. With Jacob Borstius he lived on terms of close intimacy.

Consult the Kerkelÿk Alphabeth of Veeris, Wagenaar, Beschrÿving van Amsterdam, and Balen Beschrÿving van Dordt; also The History of the Scottish Church at Rotterdam, by the Rev. William Steven, M.A., Edinburgh and Rotterdam, 1832, and Schotel, Kerkelÿk Dordrecht, vol. i. p. 457., and the note (2), vol. ii. p. 217., where many particulars concerning the Pagets, especially Robert, are found. It is, however, probable that CRANMORE may obtain more information touching his family in England than in this country. In Töcher's Gelehrten Lexicon mention is made of Ephraim, Eusebius, and Wilhelmus Paget, all of whom resided in England.

We also read in the Lÿste van de Namen der Predikanten in de Provincie van Utrecht, by H. van Rhenen, 1705, p. 66., that Robert Paget, an Englishman, and English preacher at Dordt, nephew of Thomas Paget, was invited to Utrecht in 1655, but declined. He remained at Dordrecht, and died there in 1684.

V. D. N.

Rotterdam, Navorscher, Jan. 1852.

Lines on the Bible (Vol. iv., p. 473.).

—"Within that awful volume lies," &c. These lines are Walter Scott's. They are spoken by the White Lady of Avenel, in The Monastery. It appears that they were copied by Lord Byron into his Bible, for they are inserted at the end of Galignani's 1-vol. edition of Byron's Works (Paris, 1826), among the "attributed pieces," as "lines found in Lord Byron's Bible." This I believe is the only authority on which the compiler of the volume referred to by your correspondent can have supposed his lordship to have been the author. In Murray's editions they have no place, nor even in Galignani's later editions.

B. R. I.

[We are indebted to many other correspondents for similar replies.]

Dial Mottoes (Vol. iv., p. 471.).

—The following is an inscription which I copied from a dial-plate in the churchyard of Kirk-Arbory, Isle of Man:

There is a coat of arms also, but the tinctures are not marked; viz. Quarterly of three coats: first and fourth, three roundels in fess, between two barrulets; second, on a bend three mullets; third, a chevron between three lozenges.

T. H. KERSLEY, B.A.

Martial's Distribution of Hours (Vol. iv., pp. 273., 332.).

—I ought perhaps to thank THEOPHYLACT for good intention in answering, not the question I did ask, but that which he thinks I "might have asked."

My real question was based upon an assumption, the truth of which THEOPHYLACT denies: his reply therefore is rather a challenge to premiss, than an answer to the question.

I totally dissent from him in understanding "quies lassis" in any sense short of absolute recumbent repose: "finis," which he takes as the real commencement of the siesta, I understand as its conclusion: nor am I aware of any, except the last final quies, to which the term finis would be applicable.

Neither can I admit, upon the authority of THEOPHYLACT, that there was any gradual or partial cessation of business in Rome during the hour which we call "between eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon." Julius Cæsar left home, commenced the business of the senate, was surrounded by thronging applicants, and was assassinated—all during that hour: and, unless THEOPHYLACT can show that therefore, and on that account, it became distasteful to succeeding emperors, he must excuse me from admitting his interpretation.

A. E. B.

Nelson's Signal (Vol. iv., p. 473.).

—I send you Nelson's exact words as conveyed by signal at Trafalgar, as noted down by several ships in the fleet:

Let me add, that the refrain of the best song on the Battle of Trafalgar, gives the exact words of the signal:

You should have heard this chanted in the singing-days of

W. H. S.

Cooper's miniature, &c. (Vol. v. p. 17.).

—I have a painting on copper of Oliver Cromwell. It is oval, and about six inches by four. It resembles the engravings of him which have Cooper's name attached to them. In the distance is a "white horse," faintly sketched in. My father, in whose possession it long was, set a very great value upon it. I have not had sufficient opportunity to inquire—Did ever Cooper paint in oil?

B. G.

Roman Funeral Pile (Vol. iv., p. 381.).

—The ceremony of a Roman funeral concluded with a feast, which was usually a supper given to the friends and relatives of the deceased; and sometimes provisions were distributed to the people. (Vid. Adams' Roman Hist., 3rd edit. p. 283.) Basil Kennett, in his Antiquities of Rome, published 1776, further observes (p. 361.) that—

"The feasts, celebrated to the honour of the deceased, were either private or publick. The private feasts were termed silicernia, from silex and cœna, as if we should say suppers made on a stone. These were prepared both for the dead and the living. The repast designed for the dead consisting commonly of beans, lettuces, bread and eggs, or the like, was laid on the tomb for the ghosts to come out and eat, as they fancied they would; and what was left they burnt on the stone."

No authority is cited either by Adams or Kennett for the custom, but your correspondent John ap William ap John might perhaps refer to "Petri Morestelli Pompa Feralis, sive justa Funebria Veterum," with some probability of success in finding the subject there treated at large.

FRANCISCUS.

Barrister (Vol. iv., p. 472.).

—The derivation of this word proposed by W. Y. can only be looked upon as a joke, as he himself seems to regard it. "Roister" can have no more to do with it than "oyster" has with such words as "songster, spinster, maltster, punster, tapster, webster," &c., in which "ster" is the A.S. termination to denote one whose business is "song, or spinning," &c. Thus from the Mediæval Latin "barra" we get "barraster, one whose business is at the bar;" this is confirmed by the old mode of spelling the word, viz., "barrester and barraster." See Spelman's Glossary, v. Cancellarius—

"Dicuntur etiam cancelli septa curiarum quæ barras vocant; atque inde Juris candidati causas illic agentes, Budæo Cancellarii, ut nobiscum Barrestarii."

And again—

"Barrasterius, Repagularis Causidicus."

J. EASTWOOD.

Meaning of Dray (Vol. iv., p. 209.).

—Dray is a squirrel's nest.

"A boy has taken three little young squirrels in their nest or drey."—White's Selborne, p. 333. Bohn's edition.

To which is appended the following note:—

"The squirrel's nest is not only called a drey in Hampshire, but also in other counties; in Suffolk it is called a bay. The word drey, though now provincial, I have met with in some of our old writers."—Mitford.

PANTAGRUEL.

Tregonwell Frampton (Vol. iv., p. 474.; Vol. v., p. 16.).

—In the History of the British Turf, by James Christie Whyte, Esq. (London, Colburn, 2 vols. 8vo. 1840), T. R. W. will meet with a sketch of the life of Mr. Frampton, together with an inquiry into the truth of the well known anecdote respecting his cruelty to his horse Dragon. Mr. Chafin, in his Anecdotes of Cranbourne Chase (London, 1818), p. 47., refers to him, and prints one or two curious original letters from him. Mr. Whyte illustrates his first volume by a portrait of Mr. Frampton.

CRANMORE.

Vermin, Parish Payments of, &c. (Vol. iv., p. 208.).

—There is no doubt but that nearly all country parishes paid at one time for the destruction of different kinds of vermin; but this practice is now entirely discontinued. The following are the prices paid twenty-five years ago by the parish of Corsham, Wilts:—

Vipers, 6d. each; slowworms or blindworms, 3d. each; rats, 1d. each (the tails only were required to be brought); sparrows' heads, 6d. per dozen, (meaning the old birds); sparrows' eggs and young birds, 4d. per dozen.

I shall never forget, when a boy, and my father was churchwarden, the tricks the young lads and boys used to play in order to palm off other birds' eggs and young birds for sparrows. One young rascal actually painted the eggs very cleverly to imitate the sparrows, till I discovered it. Young birds of all kinds were brought, and many dozens paid for that were not sparrows; as it was impossible to tell the young birds of many of the hard billed kinds from the sparrow. At last the parish gave up paying for the eggs or young birds, but gave 1s. per dozen for the heads of old sparrows, and vast numbers were brought throughout the winter; and then attempts were made to substitute other birds' heads, which were in many cases paid for. The next year the parish agreed only to pay for the whole birds, so that no deception could be practised. When the New Poor Law came into operation, all these payments were stopped. Glead was a provincial term for the kite and buzzard, the ringtail for the hen harrier hawk, and greashead or greyhead for the female kestrel or greyheaded falcon. In most of the Wiltshire parishes 6d. per head was paid for the hedgehog, as the farmers always believed they sucked the teats of cows when laid down in the fields. The badger was also paid for in some places.

J. K.

North Wilts.

Alterius Orbis Papa (Vol. iii., p. 497.).

—The origin of this title is, I think, still open to explanation, and in offering one which I find recorded in Lambard's Perambulation of Kent, 1596, pp. 80, 81. I trust the quaint but interesting style of that learned antiquary and historian will be a sufficient excuse to your readers for its insertion at length verbatim et literatim:

"The whole Province of this Bishopricke of Canterbury, was at the first divided by Theodorus (the seventh Bishop) into five Dioceses only: howbeit, in processe of time it grew to twentie and one, besides itselfe, leaving to Yorke (which by the first institution should have had as many as it) but Durham, Carleil, and Chester only. And whereas by the same ordinance of Gregorie, neither of these Archbishops ought to be inferiour to other, save onely in respect of the priority of their consecration, Lanfranc (thinking it good reason that he should make a conquest of the English clergie, since his maister, King William, had vanquished the whole nation), contended at Windsor with Thomas Norman (Archbishop of Yorke) for the primacie, and there (by judgement before Hugo, the Pope's Legate) recovered it from him: so that ever since the one is called Totius Angliæ primas, and the other Angliæ primas, without any further addition. Of which judgement, one (forsooth) hath yielded this great reason: that even as the Kentish people, by an auncient prerogative of manhood, do challenge the first front in each battel, from the Inhabitants of other countries; so the Archbishop of their Shyre, ought by good congruence to be preferred before the rest of the Bishops of the whole Realme. Moreover, whereas before time, the place of this Archbishop in the generall Councell was to sit next to the Bishop of Sainct Ruffines, Anselmus, the successor of this Lanfranc (for recompence of the good service that hee had done, in ruffling against Priests' wives, and resisting the King for the investiture of clerks) was by Pope Urbane endowed with this accession of honour, that he and his Successours should from thencefoorth have place in all generall councels, at the Pope's right foote, who then said withall. 'Includamus hunc in orbe nostro, tanquam alterius orbis Papam.'"

FRANCISCUS.

Dido and Æneas (Vol. iv., p. 423.).

—I beg leave to transcribe for A. A. D. the following passage from the Facetiæ Cantabrigiensis, p. 95. (London, Charles Mason, 1836):

"Porson observing that he could pun on any subject, a person present defied him to do so on the Latin gerunds, which however he immediately did in the following admirable couplet:

I have also seen these lines attributed to Porson in an old volume of The Mirror. Of any other authorities I have no knowledge.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

Compositions during the Protectorate (Vol. iv., pp. 406. 490.).

—W. H. L. suspects that there is an error in the list of these compositions for Lincolnshire, as given in Oldfield's History of Wainfleet, and asks, "Where is there any account or list of these?" H. F. refers W. H. L. to a small volume entitled A Catalogue of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen that have compounded for their Estates. London, 1655. I have compared Oldfield's list with the reprint of the Catalogue (Chester, 1733), and find that, with some slight exceptions, they agree. Oldfield, however, omits the following compositions for Lincolnshire:

£ s. d.

"Benson, Clement, of North Kelsey, Gent. 120 0 0

Burcroft, Thomas, late of Waltham, pro Frances and Jane, his sisters 70 0 0

Dalton, John, late of Barton on Humber 46 0 0

Fines, Morris, of Christhead (Kirkstead) 50 0 0

Leesing, Thomas, of North Somercotes 12 7 6

Monson, Sir John, of South Carleton 2642 0 0

Moore, Alexander, of Grantham 350 0 0

Manson, Sir John, Jun., of North Thorpe 133 0 0

Thorold, Joseph, of Boston, Gent. 96 0 0

Whichcoat, Edward, of Bishop's Norton, Esq., with 50l. per annum settled 513 0 0."

There are also a few discrepancies in the amounts of the compositions, but none of any importance.

Roger Adams, the publisher of the edition of the Catalogue printed at Chester in 1733, says, in the preliminary address to his subscribers, that—

"The Catalogue was printed five years before the miserable scene of oppression (by sequestration) closed. To supply the defects of it, I apply'd many ways, first to Goldsmith's Hall, where I was told the latter sequestrations were generally imposed; but the haste my friend was in, and some discouragements he met with, rendered this application unsuccessful."

The error which W. H. L. suspects in Oldfield's list, may probably be corrected by application at Goldsmith's Hall.

P. T.

I was aware of the work, A Catalogue, &c., which contains also the error alluded to at p. 406. Will H. F. be so obliging as to say from what materials that work was compiled, and how the whole business of the compositions was managed? Some part of it was carried on at Goldsmith's Hall. Evelyn probably alludes to the compositions at p. 311. of vol. i. of his Diary, edition of 1850.

W. H. L.