Volume 5 — Queries.

THE POET COLLINS.

The deeply interesting additions lately made in your pages to our knowledge of General Wolfe, induces me to hope, if not quite to expect, that something, however small, may be done in the same joint-stock manner for the memory of the poet Collins. Sir Egerton Brydges asserts that "new facts regarding Collins are not to be had," and I am deeply sensible of the value of Mr. Dyce's labours, as well as of those of the editor of Mr. Pickering's Aldine edition of his works. No pains, trouble, or expense, have been spared in collecting and arranging the "dulces exuviæ" of the highly gifted poet; and the memoir prefixed to Pickering's edition reflects no small credit upon the good taste and feeling of the editor.

Still may I not ask, through the medium of the "N. & Q.," whether some further discoveries may not possibly be made? Cannot any one connected with the town of Chichester, where Collins was born and died—any one brought up at Winchester College, where he was educated, lend a helping hand? Are there no additional traces of him as directly or indirectly associated with the Wartons, Johnson, Quin, Garrick, Foote, and Thomson? Cannot some of his letters be discovered? Some fragments of his poetry, however disjointed? Some portions of his prose? There seems a mystery about Collins himself, as strange as that about his own weird compositions. Though beloved and admired by all, no one ever picked up accurate information respecting him. He has been blamed for waywardness and want of perseverance, as if these were not symptoms of the fearful visitation that wrecked his noble mind; or as if perseverance and concentration of energies in any pursuit were not natural gifts as much as acquired, and gifts of a high and most valuable kind too. Collins did not want perseverance whilst at school: he came off first on the roll of which Joseph Warton was second; and his Oriental Eclogues, written before his eighteenth year, are not unworthy of the boyhood of any of our greatest poets. Besides, he was a highly accomplished classical scholar, an accurate linguist, was well read in early English poetry and black-letter books, was passionately fond of music; and some of his poems, if nothing else, prove him to have viewed nature with a painter's eye. In his own line of poetry, the personification of abstract qualities, Collins stands unrivalled. Let us but compare him with all or any of his numerous imitators, and we ever find him in the calm dignity of genius,

Amidst such a number of book-learned correspondents as you have, surely I may "lay the flattering unction to my soul" that some interesting discoveries could be made.

Collins is well worthy of all that can be done for his memory, for if his Ode on the Passions and his Ode to Evening be not true poetry, I fear that the English language has not much poetry to produce.

RT.

Warmington.

PORTRAITS OF HENRY PURCELL.

Being employed upon an entirely new biography of Henry Purcell, I am most anxious to procure all the information in my power relative to the various portraits extant of this "famous musician." Granger's list is very imperfect, but having by my own researches considerably extended it, I submit it to your readers for perusal, in the hope that those who are versed in the lore of "print" or "picture collecting" may correct errors, or point out omissions.

Paintings and Drawings.

1. Head of Purcell, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Lately in the possession of E. Bates, Esq., of Somerset House.

2. Half-length, said (but evidently erroneously) to have been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Now in the meeting-room of the Royal Society of Musicians, Lisle Street, Soho.

3. Half-length, originally used as a sign at the tavern known by the name of "The Purcell's Head," in Wych Street, Strand. Query, where is it at present?

4. Portrait of Purcell when a very young man, formerly among Cartwright's pictures in Dulwich College. Query, what has become of it?

5. An original portrait by Closterman. In his hand is a miniature of Queen Mary. Formerly in the collection of Charles Burney, Mus. Doc., at whose sale it was sold, in 1814, for 18l. 18s. I cannot trace this picture.

6. Crayon drawing, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, from the first-mentioned painting. Formerly in Mr. Bartleman's collection.

Engravings.

1. An engraving by T. Cross, prefixed as frontispiece to his Twelve Sonatas, 1683.

2. Ditto, by R. White, from a painting by Closterman. Frontispiece to the Orpheus Britannicus.

3. Ditto, engraved by W. N. Gardiner, from a drawing by S. Harding, taken from the original picture in Dulwich College, 1794.

4. Ditto, by T. Holloway, from the crayon drawing by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

5. An etching inscribed "Henry Purcell," but without the name of painter or engraver.

6. A small engraving, by Grignion, in Sir John Hawkins's History of Music.

7. An engraving by W. Humphries, after Sir Godfrey Kneller. Frontispiece to Novello's edit. of Purcell's Sacred Music.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

QUERY ON THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT FLUXIONS.

In the report made by the Committee of the Royal Society, it is stated that the Committee had "consulted the Letters and Letter-books in the custody of the Royal Society, and those found among the Papers of Mr. John Collins....;" thus leaving it doubtful whether Collins's papers then belonged to the Society, or, it may be, meaning to distinguish them as not so belonging.

In the preface to the Analysis per Quantitatum Series ... by William Jones (father of his more celebrated namesake), London, 1711, 4to., which contains some of the matter published in 1712 in the Commercium Epistolicum, occurs the following passage:—

"Etenim secundus jam agitur annus ex quo Scrinia D. Collinsii (qui, uti notum est, amplissimum cum sui sæculi Mathematicis commercium habuit) meas in manus inciderint; et in illis plurima reperi à cunctis fere totius Europæ eruditis ipsi communicata; et inter ea non pauca, quæ a Viro Cl. D. Newtono scripta fuerint."

This is hardly language which could be used with reference to papers lodged in the custody of the Society: it would seem as if Jones, in 1709 or 1710, became the owner or borrower of papers, till then in private hands exclusively. Can any evidence be brought forward as to the manner in which Jones and the Royal Society, or either, obtained these papers? I believe the Royal Society itself can give no information.

A. DE MORGAN.

Minor Queries.

Madrigal, Meaning of.

—What is the derivation of the word madrigal?

NEMO.

"Experto crede Roberto."

—Can any of your correspondents inform me what is the origin of the expression so frequently quoted, "Experto crede Roberto?"

W. L.

Chronological Institute.

—I understand a Chronological Institute has been formed in London. Can you inform me where a prospectus can be obtained?

F. B. RELTON.

Buzz.

—What is the derivation of the word buzz, i.e. empty the bottle; and how came it to have that extraordinary meaning?

W.

The Old Scots March.

—Can any of your correspondents throw light on the measure of the "Old Scots March," which appears to have been beat with triumphant success as to many of the onslaughts, infalls, and other martial progresses of Gustavus's valiant brigades?

Grose has given what he styles "The English March," as ordered to be beat by Prince Henry. And as a pendant, the recovery of "The Scots March" would be very desirable.

J. M.

Hans Holbein.

—Is the place of this eminent artist's sepulture now known? His death (by the plague) in 1554 was probably a release from neglect and poverty. When he was compelled to give up his painting-rooms at the palace, after Henry's decease, he is conjectured to have resided in Bishopsgate street.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Ivory Medallion of Lord Byron.

—In the catalogue which Mr. Cole, of Scarborough, printed in 1829, of books in his private collection, he mentions a copy of Lord Byron's Marino Faliero, 1821, bound in a unique style, and having, inserted in a recess, on the front cover, a finely finished head of the noble poet, on ivory, in high relief, of beautiful Italian carving. Can any of your correspondents tell me who is now the possessor of this work of art?

W. S. G.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Trumpington Church.

—On the north side of the tower of Trumpington Church, Cambridgeshire, there is a curious recess in the basement story, which I have not met with anywhere else, or seen fully accounted for. It is sufficiently capacious for a man to stand in, having an arched entrance six feet in height, with a turning to the westward of about two feet, and is formed completely within the thickness of the wall. The village tradition, that it was formerly used as a confessional, founded on the existence of an opening into the interior part of the tower, now blocked up, has long been disesteemed. In the volume by the Cambridge Camden Society, on the Churches in Cambridgeshire, it is said to have been made for an ecclesiastic to stand in, to ring the Sanctus bell. A round hole, lined with wood, in the roof of the niche, evidently intended for a bell-rope, and chafings upon the upper part of the little aperture, such as the friction of one would produce, are very convincive of its having been used for some such purpose. But when we consider that the Sanctus bell, except when a hand one, was "suspended on the outside of the church, in a small turret over the archway leading from the nave into the chancel,"[5] the probability that it was made for the purpose above-mentioned seems very much weakened. I shall feel obliged for a reference to any other instance, or a more satisfactory explanation.

R. W. ELLIOT.

"Carmen Perpetuum," &c.

—Upon the title-page of a Bible which I have had some years in my possession, I have just discovered, in my own handwriting, the following very beautiful and apposite quotation:—

"Carmen perpetuum primaque ab origine mundi ad tempora nostra."

I have lost all remembrance of the source from which I borrowed this happy thought, so happily expressed; and shall feel much obliged to any one whose better memory can direct me to the mine from which I formerly dug the gem.

HAM.

"The Retired Christian."

—Who was the author of The Retired Christian, so generally, but I believe erroneously, attributed to Bishop Ken?

S. FY.

The Garrote.

—The West India newspapers are filled with the details of General Lopez's second attempt on Cuba, and his subsequent capture and execution. The latter event took place at Havannah on the 1st September, in presence of 8000 troops, and the manner of it is said to have been the Garrote, which is thus described in a Jamaica Journal:—

"The prisoner is made to sit in a kind of chair with a high back, to which his head is fastened by means of an iron clasp, which encloses his neck, and is attached to the back by a screw. When the signal is given, the screw is turned several times, which strangles the victim, and breaks his neck."

The word Garrote being Spanish (derived probably from the French "garrotter"), and the punishment having been inflicted in a Spanish colony, it is to be presumed that we are indebted to the latter nation for the invention of it. Can any of your readers give any information as to the origin and use of this mode of punishment?

HENRY H. BREEN.

Monastic Establishments in Scotland.

—Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish me with a list of the ancient monastic establishments of Scotland? Having communicated with many learned antiquaries, both in England and Scotland, and having failed in obtaining what I desired, I conclude that no complete list exists. Spottiswoode's list, now appended to Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, is very imperfect. But there are great facilities now for compiling a perfect list from such works as the publications of the Roxburgh, Bannatyne, and Maitland Clubs, Innes's Origines Parochiales, &c. I would like the list to be classed either according to the different counties, or by the respective orders of the religious houses, with a separate list of the mitred houses that had seats in parliament. The list is wanted for publication. Perhaps the writer of "Scottish Abbeys and Cathedrals" in the Quarterly may have compiled such a list.

CEYREP.

Bonds of Clearwell and Redbrook.

—Can you inform me where I can find the pedigree of the Bonds of Clearwell and Redbrook, in the county of Gloucester?

†

Eliza Fenning.

—Pray, what has become of the collection of documents relating to Eliza Fenning, which was formerly in the possession of Mr. Upcott?

Is it true that some years after the execution of Eliza Fenning a person confessed that he had committed the offence of which she was found guilty?

ONETWOTHREE.

"Character of a True Churchman."

—In 1711 a valuable essay was published anonymously, entitled The Character of a True Churchman, in a letter from a gentleman in the city to his friend in the country: London, printed for John Baker, at the Black Boy, in Paternoster Row, 1711. Who is the writer of it?

J. Y.

"A Roaring Meg."

—What is the origin of calling any huge piece of ordnance "a roaring Meg?"

Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, says:

"Musica est mentis medecina mæstæ, a roaring meg against melancholy, to rear and revive the languishing soul."

The earliest edition of the Anatomy of Melancholy is, I believe, the Oxford one of 1624.[6]

The large old-fashioned piece of artillery, called Mons Meg, in the castle of Edinburgh, which is so great a favourite with the Scottish common people, is said by Sir Walter Scott to have been "fabricated at Mons in Flanders, in the reign of James IV. or V. of Scotland;" that is, between A.D. 1508 and 1514 (note to Rob Roy, vol. ii. ch. 10.).

This accounts for the Mons; but whence comes the Meg? The tradition of the Edinburgh people is different from that of Sir Walter: and Black, in his Tourist of Scotland, pp. 51. 341., says, it was forged at Threave Castle, a stronghold of the Black Douglases; was used by James II. in 1455; and that it was called Mons Meg after "the man who cast it and his wife." The date in the above must be a mistake, as I believe James II. was killed in A.D. 1437.

There is another cannon of similar caliber, and bearing the name of Roaring Meg, presented by the Fishmongers' Company of London to the city of Londonderry in 1642 (Simpson's Annals of Derry, chap. vii. p. 41.).

Can any of your readers explain the origin of the name, and say whether the phrase "A roaring Meg" occurs in any English author earlier than Burton?

W. W. E. T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

Cardinal Pole.

—In 1513 Sir Richard Pole, a Welsh knight, married Margaret, daughter of George Duke of Clarence, who was drowned in the butt of Malmsey. Can any of your readers assist me in tracing his pedigree? If of Welsh extraction, the name was probably Powell, that is, ap Howel. Or can a connexion be shown with the old family of Pole, Poole, or Pull, of Cheshire?

I. J. H. H.

Theoloneum.

—In an agreement made A.D. 1103, before Henry I., between the Abbott of Fécamp, in Normandy, and Philip de Braiosâ, the Lord of Bramber, mention is made of a "theoloneum, quod injustè recipiebant homines Philippi, de hominibus de Staningis." What is a theoloneum?

M. T.

Sterne in Paris.

—I should feel extremely obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to any contemporary notices of Sterne's residence at Paris in 1762. The author of Tristram Shandy must have been somewhat lionized by the Parisian circles, and allusions to his wit probably occur among the many memoirs of the period.

T. STERNBERG.

King Robert Bruce's Watch.

—In Dalyell's Fragments of Scottish History, I find the following:—

"The oldest known English watch was made, it is said, in the sixteenth century. There exists a watch, which, antiquarians allow, belonged to King Robert Bruce."—Preface, p. 3.

Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." give information regarding such an interesting relic of antiquity?

R. S. F.

Perth.

Minor Queries Answered.

Hornchurch; Wrestling for the Boar's Head.

—I have extracted from the Daily News of the 5th instant, the following paragraph, which appears to have been quoted from the Chelmsford Chronicle, relative to this custom:—

"By ancient charter or usage in Hornchurch, a boar's head is wrestled for in a field adjoining the church; a boar, the property of the parish, having been slaughtered for the purpose. The boar's head, elevated on a pole, and decorated with ribbons, was brought into the ring, where the competitors entered and the prize awarded."

The paragraph goes on further to observe that if the prize be taken by a champion out of the parish, the charter is lost. And I shall be glad to know the origin of the custom, and of the notion of the charter or usage, as it is called, being lost if the prize be taken away as before alluded to. I observe that it is noticed in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1828, p. 305.

JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.

[It may be as well to state, as a clue to the discovery of this ancient custom, that the tithes of Hornchurch belong to New College, Oxford; the warden and fellows of which society are ordinaries of the place, and appoint a commissary, who holds an annual visitation. The lessee of the tithes supplies the boar's head, dressed and garnished with bay leaves, &c. Several curious notices are given by Hone in his works of the custom observed at Christmas at Queen's College, Oxford, of serving up at the first course at dinner, "a fair and large boreshead upon a silver platter with minstralsye;" but he has omitted to furnish the origin of the custom at Hornchurch. Perhaps some Oxonian connected with New College will favour us with a reply.]

Spectacles.

—In recent numbers of "N. & Q." there have been several allusions to spectacles, and as I am not aware of any clear and satisfactory data relative to the origin or antiquity of this most important auxiliary to the extension and usefulness of that sense upon which the enjoyment and value of life so much depends, I beg to submit the Query, What is the earliest form in which evidence of the existence of this invaluable optical aid to the human eye presents itself?

H.

[Dr. Johnson expressed his surprise that the inventor of spectacles was regarded with indifference, and has found no biographer to celebrate his deeds. Most authorities give the latter part of the thirteenth century as the period of their invention, and popular opinion has pronounced in favour of Alexander de Spina, a native of Pisa, who died in the year 1313. In the Italian Dictionary, Della Crusca, under the head of "Occhiale," or Spectacles, it is stated that Friar Jordan de Rivalto tells his audience, in a sermon published in 1305, that "it is not twenty years since the art of making spectacles was found out, and is indeed one of the best and most necessary inventions in the world." This would place the invention in the year 1285. On the other hand, Dominic Maria Manni, an eminent Italian writer, attributes the invention to Salvino Armati, who flourished about 1345. (See his Treatise, Degli Occhiali da Naso, inventati da Salvino Armati, 4to. 1738.) On the authority of various passages in the writings of Friar Bacon, Mr. Molyneux is of opinion that he was acquainted with the use of spectacles; and when Bacon (Opus Majus) says, that "this instrument (a plano-convex glass, or large segment of a sphere) is useful to old men, and to those who have weak eyes; for they may see the smallest letters sufficiently magnified," we may conclude that the particular way of assisting decayed sight was known to him. It is quite certain that they were known and used about the time of his death, A.D. 1292.]

Stoke.

—What is the meaning of the word stoke, with regard to the names of places, as Bishopstoke, Ulverstoke, Stoke-on-Trent, &c.?

W. B.

[Bosworth (Anglo-Saxon Dict.) derives it from "stoc, a place; hence stoke, a termination of the names of places; locus:—Wude stoc sylvarum locus, Sim. Dunelm. anno 1123."]

Author of Psalm Tune "Doncaster."

—Our organist is about to add another selection of psalm tunes to the large number already existing. He has been able to assign all the tunes which it comprises to their proper composers, with one exception—the tune called "Doncaster," the author of which he has failed to discover. Will any of your correspondents kindly supply this desideratum?

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

[The well-known tune called "Doncaster" was composed by Dr. Edward Miller, for fifty-one years organist of Doncaster Church, but better known as the author of The History and Antiquities of Doncaster. See his Collection of Psalm Tunes for the Use of Parish Churches, 4to. 1790, pp. 32. 46. 106.]

Dr. Henry Sacheverell.

—Can any of your correspondents refer me to a copy of the Assize Sermon preached at Derby by Dr. Sacheverell, and which formed part of the charge against him?

L. J.

[We can favour L. J. with the loan of a copy of this sermon for a week or two. It shall be left for him at our publisher's.]