Volume 5 — Replies.

MEANING AND ORIGIN OF ERA. (Vol. iv., pp. 383. 454.)

It would greatly assist the elucidation of this word, if the earliest instances extant of its use, in a chronological sense, could be ascertained.

The dictionary of Facciolatus goes no further back than Isidorus the younger, at the end of the sixth century; who perhaps was the first who gave to era the meaning of a cursus of years: before his time, as well as afterwards, it is certain that era was a synonyme of annus.

In recording dates, the Spanish account made no use of annus either expressed or understood—era was an independent word, having numerals in concord with itself: thus it was prima era, secunda era, tertia era, &c. Spelman therefore had sufficient reason to contend that the origin of era might be Gothic and not Roman, and that it is but a variation of our own word year. He says that Isidorus, when dating from the Roman epoch, used the Roman word, but that when dating from the Gothic epoch, he conformed to the idiom of the Goths, "apud quos," he adds, "eram annum significasse ex eo liqueat, quod prisci Saxones (quibus magna Gothis sermonis affinitas) annum 'Ȝear' dicebant—Angli hodie 'year'—Belgi 'iaer.'"

The absence of the diphthong in era is attributed by Facciolatus to the barbarism of the age; but it is at least equally probable that the diphthong never did really belong to era, but that its claim to it originated in the fanciful derivation from æs, as imagined by Isidorus—or rather from es, as he would spell it, the real corruption being in the latter word: thus, when the diphthong was restored to æs, it would, as a matter of course, be also applied to its supposed affinitive.

The Spaniards, who have the best right to the word, have never adopted the diphthong. With them it is still era, and Scaliger asserts that there is not in all Spain a single inscription in which the diphthong is recognised. Alluding to Sepulveda, he says,—

"Mirum mihi visum hominem doctissimum ac præterea Hispanum, cum tot monimenta extent in Hispania in quibus hujus rei memoria sculpta est, ne unum vidisse—In illis, ut diximus, nunquam æra, semper era, scriptum est."

The practical institution of the Spanish, or era account, was probably, like the Dionysian, long subsequent to its nominal commencement; so that an enquiry into its earliest known record would possess the additional interest of determining whether such were the case or not.

Censorinus, in his comparative enumeration of the various accounts of years—the Julian—the Augustan—the Olympiad—and the Palilian, makes no mention of the Era, which he would scarcely have omitted, had it been then in existence and of imperial institution. Between his time, therefore, which was towards the middle of the third century, and that of Isidorus, the practice of computation by eras most probably arose.

As for its institution by Cæsar Augustus, which rests on the authority of Isidorus; that suggestion, even if free from anachronism, had probably no better foundation than an accidental similitude in sound, and a wish to compliment the bishop of CÆSARAUGUSTA, to whom the epistle containing it was addressed by him of Hispalis. The latter appears to have dealt largely in conjecture in framing his Origines—as, for example, in hora,—

"Hora enim finis est temporis sic et oræ, sunt fines maris, fluminorum, et vestimentorum"—

an analogy which reminds one of the cockney—hedge from edge, because it edges the field.

With respect to the initial-letter method of derivation, of which, in the case of era, there are three or four different versions, something has been already said upon that subject, with reference to the alleged derivation of N. E. W. S. in the first volume of "N. & Q." Scaliger called such suggestions puerile and ridiculous, and doubtless they are little better; his castigation of Sepulveda's version was so complete that it may well serve for its modern imitations.

The original meaning of era has been, like our own word day, expanded into a period of indefinite duration; in that sense it is particularly useful as a general denomination for a running account of years. It is an elegant and convenient expression, and its service to chronological and historical language could be ill dispensed with—it has, moreover, the prescription of long usage in its favour.

But a modern and far more indefensible attempt has been made in the opposite extreme, to deprive era of all duration, and to restrict its meaning to that of a mere initial point—such a meaning, already well supplied by the word epoch, is, in the case of era, opposed alike to reason, analogy, usefulness, and usage.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

SINGING OF SWANS. (Vol. ii., p. 475.)

Amongst the Egyptians, the SWAN was an emblem of music and musicians: Cygnus with the Latins was a common synonym for poeta, and we sometimes use the expression ourselves; thus, Shakspeare is called "the swan of Avon."

This bird was sacred to Apollo, as being endued with DIVINATION, "because, foreseeing his happiness in death, he dies with singing and pleasure:"

"Cygoni non sine causa Apolini dicati sint, quod ab eo divinationem habere videantur, qua providentes quid in morte boni sit, cum cantu et voluptate moriantur."—Tull. Quæst. Tusc. 1. c. 30.

Giles Fletcher, in his Temptation and Victory of Christ, speaks of—

An American poet has the following beautiful lines:

Tennyson, with all that luxury of dreariness, sadness, and weariness, which characterises his masterpieces, has also sung of "The Dying Swan." I subjoin an extract, wishing your limits would admit of the entire:

So much for the melody of the dying swan. That of the living swan also requires consideration. Mr. Nicol, in his valuable Iceland, Greenland, &c., thus describes the Cygnus musicus which frequents the lakes and rivers of Iceland:

"The largest and noblest of this class [the natatorial] is undoubtedly THE WILD OR WHISTLING SWAN, with pure white plumage, slightly tinged on the head with orange-yellow. This majestic bird is five feet long, and, with extended wings, eight broad. It is rarely seen in Greenland, and appears merely to rest in Faroe, on its journeys to and from Iceland in the spring and autumn. Some of them, however, remain all the winter in the latter, AND DURING THE LONG DARK NIGHTS THEIR WILD SONG IS OFTEN HEARD as they are passing in troops from one place to another. It appears to be a kind of signal or watchword to prevent the dispersion of the party, and is described as remarkably pleasant, RESEMBLING THE TONES OF A VIOLIN, THOUGH SOMEWHAT HIGHER, each note occurring after a distinct interval. THIS MUSIC IS SAID TO PRESAGE A THAW, and hence the Icelanders are well pleased when, in long-continued frosts, it breaks their repose."

He adds in a note, "The account of the MIDNIGHT SONG OF THE SWAN is from Olafsen, who says it 'das allerangenehmste zu hören ist,' is very delightful to hear."

Henderson says of the river Nordura in Iceland, near its confluence with the Hrita:

"The bleakness of the surrounding rocks was greatly enlivened by the number of SWANS that were swimming and SINGING MELODIOUSLY in the river."—Iceland, 2nd ed. p. 277.

In the Edda we find Njörd, god of the winds and waves, when he came back to the mountains to please his wife, thus singing:

"How do I hate the abode of the mountains! There one hears nothing but the howling of wolves, instead of the SWEET SINGING OF THE SWANS who dwell on the sea-shores."

Waterton gives an account of the last moments of a favourite swan which he watched, in hopes of catching "some plaintive sound or other, some soft inflection of the voice," but was "disappointed."

GERONIMO.

QUEEN BRUNEHILDA. (Vol. v., p. 40.)

[8]

I am glad that C. B. has questioned the propriety of the epithet "female monster," which some of your correspondents have applied to Queen Brunehilda. Knowing how the passion and prejudice that characterise party spirit have under our own observation been able to distort facts and blacken characters, we should receive with the greater caution the statements of those who, if they were free, which is hardly possible, from a strong bias, lived in an age when exact information was hardly possible to obtain, and when the most odious calumnies could defy refutation. From the success with which Brunehilda maintained the sovereignty of her husband's kingdom through a long life, I should conclude that she was a woman of great abilities as well as energy; and the terms in which Gregory the Great addresses her, tend to confirm this opinion. And in reference to this it seems somewhat surprising that it should not have struck those who first raised this question, that the evidence of the "wise and virtuous pontiff" was at least as good as that of the historian who might be neither wise nor virtuous. Gregory is surely as powerful to raise Brunehilda, as Brunehilda to pull down Gregory. But the plain fact is, that there is a tendency to be hyperbolical in our estimation of crowned heads; in all probability, if one was no monster the other was no saint.

The circumstances in favour of the more favourable view of Brunehilda's character, are sufficiently well attested. That she was the superior in every respect to Fredegunda probably she felt herself, and as probably the latter was made to feel. Gregory of Tours was not merely struck by the beauty of her person and her engaging manner, but he has also remarked upon her good sense and her agreeable conversation. Sisterly affection appears in the first instance to have precipitated her into a conflict that ended but with her life. Her sister's murder was followed by those of Sigebert and Merowig; and it is not a little remarkable that though it is not doubted who was the instigator of these crimes, the name of "monster" is never applied to Fredegunda, but reserved for the familiar appellation of her victim. When we consider how generally vague are the charges against Brunehilda, and, regarding what is otherwise known of her, how improbable, I think some suspicion of an undue leaning on the part of the Frankish historians will not be altogether misplaced. My own opinion is that she was one of those remarkable women who from time to time astonish the world; one, whom for her superior knowledge and acquirements, the rumour of a rude age gifted with supernatural powers. And I am farther inclined to think that in the course of time the characters reported of her from opposite sources became finally so antagonistic, that they came to be considered as those of two distinct persons; and with a reference to the eternal enmity between Fredegunda and herself, she became more world-wide famous than has been hitherto supposed, as both the Criemhilda and Brunehilda of the Nibelungen Noth. Many circumstances may be brought forward to support this latter view.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

St. John's Wood.

COVERDALE'S BIBLE. (Vol. v., p. 59.)

The answer of our friend MR. OFFOR to the inquiry of your correspondent H. H. H. V., Vol. v., p. 59., would have required no remarks but for the paragraph which follows his description of the copies of Coverdale's Bible in his valuable collection. That paragraph was as follows:—

"The introduction of the words from the Douche 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."

If MR. OFFOR will look at "the Prologue to the Translation of the Bible—Myles Coverdale unto the Christian Reader," in that copy of his, which he describes with the delight of an amateur of rare editions as having "several uncut leaves," he may read in its first page, how Coverdale confesses, with that humility which especially adorned his character, that "his insufficiency in the tongues" made him loath to undertake the task. He then touchingly alludes to Tyndale's adversity, suppressing his name, while he speaks of his "ripe knowledge," and laments the hindrances to his completing the translation of the Scriptures. But "to help me herein," he proceeds, "I have had sundry translations, not only in Latin, but also of the Dutch [i.e. German] interpreters, whom because of their singular gifts and special diligence in the Bible, I have been the more glad to follow for the most part, according as I was required." And again he says, "Lowly and faithfully have I followed mine interpreters."

My attention was drawn to this subject nearly thirty years ago by the strange inaccuracies in Bishop Marsh's account of the sources of our authorised version; in which he had assumed that Tyndale could not translate from the Hebrew, which there is the clearest evidence that he knew well; and that he therefore translated from the German, of which language it is almost equally certain that he was ignorant.

I saw, on the other hand, that Coverdale honestly confessed that his own translation was a secondary one, from the German and the Vulgate. He named the language, but not the translator, Luther, for the same reason that in two references to Tyndale's ability he desisted from naming him, viz., that his translation was to be dedicated to Henry VIII., who hated both their names.

To test the different sources from which Tyndale and Coverdale formed their respective translations, nothing more is necessary than to open any chapter in the Hebrew and German Bibles; and whilst the translators from either will of course be found to agree in the broad meaning of any verse, there will be delicate distinctions in rendering idiomatic forms of speech, which will be decisive of the question. Having preserved my collation of some verses in Genesis xli., I find the following:

Ver. 1. First word, וַיְהִי , literally, And it was. An introductory expression fairly represented by the Greek Εγενετο δε. Tyndale, And it fortuned. Luther and the Vulgate have omitted it, and therefore so has Coverdale.

וְהִנֵּה, lit. And behold; Luther, Wie; Coverdale, How that.

על-היאר, LXX, Επι του ποταμου; Tyndale, By a river's side; Luther, Am Wasser; Coverdale, By a water side. Here the Greek preserves the emphatic article ה, which pointed to the Nile; the Latin necessarily lose it, Tyndale neglects it, Coverdale copies Luther's vague expression. Our authorised version has correctly, By the river.

Ver. 2. מן-היאר עלת, literally, Out of the river ascending; LXX, Εκ του ποταμου ανεβαινον; Vulg., De quo ascendebant; Luther, Aus dem Wasser steigen; Coverdale, Out of the water there came; Tyndale, There came out of the river.

Ver. 3. וַתַּעֲמֹדְנָה , Tyndale, And stode, which is quite literal; Vulg., Et pascebantur; Luther, Und traten; Coverdale, And went.

Ver. 7. וְהִנֵּה חֲלוֹם , lit. And behold a dream; Vulg., Post quietem; Tyndale, And see, here is his dream; Luther, Und merckte daß es ein Traum war; Coverdale, And saw that it was a dream.

Such instances might be multiplied to any extent. Their effect upon my mind was to convince me that Coverdale did not even know the Hebrew letters when he published his version of the Bible. In fact, the Jews being then expelled from England, and the only Hebrew Lexicon, that of Xantes Pagninus, having probably not arrived here, it was scarcely possible for an Englishman to master the Hebrew tongue, without going abroad to obtain access to learned Jews, as Tyndale did, and as Coverdale himself did after the appearance of his Bible; and then, as I think Mr. Pearson has afforded some evidence, he may have become acquainted with Hebrew.

If H. H. H. V. desires to know more of Coverdale, he can find all that late researches have been able to discover in the first volume of Mr C. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, and in the biographical notice of Coverdale prefixed to the Parker Society's edition of his Remains, by the Rev. G. Pearson. But when that gentleman describes Coverdale's portion of Matthew's Bible, and says that the book of Jonah is of Tyndale's version, he has made a mistake. Perhaps I may be allowed to say, that the question, whether Tyndale put forth any version of Jonah, is adhuc sub judice. At any rate, I can say, from collation, that the Jonah in Matthew's Bible is identical with that which Coverdale put forth in his own version.

The account of our early versions in Macknight's Introduction to the Epistles is very erroneous; and that prefixed to D'Oyley and Mant's Bible, published by the Christian Knowledge Society, is far from being correct.

HENRY WALTER.

SERJEANTS' RINGS AND MOTTOES. (Vol. v., pp. 59. 92.)

For much curious information upon these subjects, I would refer your correspondents to a rather scarce and privately printed tract or volume, entitled Observations touching the Antiquity and Dignity of Serjeant-at-Law, 1765. I am not sure that it was not subsequently reprinted and published. The author was Mr. Serjeant Wynne. He says:

"The first introduction of rings themselves on this occasion (of making serjeants) is as doubtful as that of mottoes. They are taken notice of by Fortescue in the time of Hen. VI., and in the several regulations for general calls in Hen. VIII. and Queen Elizabeth's time. The antiquity of them, therefore, though not to be strictly ascertained, yet being thus far indisputable, makes Sir H. Spelman's account rather extraordinary (see Gloss. tit. Serv. ad Legem); but whatever is the antiquity of these rings, that of mottoes seems to fall short of them at least a century. That in the 19 & 20 Eliz. (1576-77) may perhaps be the first; because, till that time, they are nowhere mentioned.

"When Dugdale speaks (p. 136.) of the posies 'that were usual,' he must be understood to speak of the usage of his own time."

The motto which Serj. Wynne notices as of the earliest occurrence in 19 & 20 Eliz., was Lex regis præsidium. The earliest of subsequent date appear to be as follow:

13 Car. II. Adest Carolus Magnus.

2 Jac. II. Deus, rex, lex, (at the call of Christopher Milton, the poet's brother, John Powell, and others).

3 Jac. II. Rege lege.

1 Wm. & Mary. Veniendo restituit rem.

12 Wm. Imperium et libertas.

2 Anne. Deo et regina.

5 Anne. Moribus, armis, legibus.

9 Anne. Unit et imperat.

1 Geo. Plus quam speravimus.

10 Geo. Salvâ libertate potens.

20 & 21 Geo. II. Mens bona, fama, fides.

Serjeant Wynne brings his list of the Serjeants called down to the year 1765, and gives in most cases the mottoes, which were not confined, it would seem, to individuals, but adopted by the whole call. He remarks, that in late years they have been strictly classical in their phrase and often elegant in their application,—whether in expressing the just idea of regal liberty—in a wish for the preservation of the family—or in a happy allusion to some public event, and, at the same time, a kind of prophetic declaration of its success. At p. 117. will be found an account of the expense and weight of the rings, which, upon the occasion referred to, were 1,409 in number, and the expense 773l. I will not occupy further space, but refer your correspondents to the work of Serjeant Wynne.

G.

The custom of Serjeants-at-law presenting rings on their creation was used in (and probably before) the reign of Henry VI. (See Fortescue De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, cap. 50,; and see instances and particulars in the reigns at Henry VIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, and Elizabeth in Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, 2nd edit., pp. 116. 118. 122. 123. 124. 130.) Mottoes were used as early as 1606, but I am not prepared to say they originated at that period, though I do not observe any mention of them in Dugdale's accounts of the ceremonies at the creation of Serjeants of an earlier date. The following mottoes may interest some of your readers:

Sir Edward Coke, 1606. Lex est tutissima cassis.

Sir John Walter and Sir Thomas Trevor, 1625. Regi legi servire libertas.

Sir Henry Yelverton, 1625. Stat lege corona.

Sir Robert Berkeley, 1627. Lege Deus et rex.

Robert Callis, 1627. Regis oracula legis.

Sir George Vernon, 1627. Rex legis regnique patronus.

Sir James Weston, 1631. Servus regi serviens legi.

Sir Robert Heath, 1631. Lex regis vis regis.

Sir George Jeffreys, 1680. A Deo rex a rege lex.

Sir Michael Foster, 1736. Nunquam libertas gratior.

Sir William Blackstone, 1770. Secundis dubiisque rectus.

Sir Alexander Thomson, 1787. Reverentia legum.

William Cockell, 1787. Stat lege corona.

On Serjeant Cockell's call, "in consequence of a late regulation no rings were given to the judges, the bar, or to the attornies."

Some of the older, and most of the modern, law reporters, mention the mottoes on the rings given by the serjeants.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge.

T. P. is informed that the custom of Serjeants-at-law presenting rings with mottoes prevailed long before A.D. 1670. In the Journal of the Arch. Institute, vol. vii. p. 196., he will find mention of a mediæval ring of the kind, described as "A Serjeant-at-law's gold ring, the hoop 3/8 of an inch in width, and of equal thickness, inscribed Lex regis præsidium."

CEYREP.

On June 8, 1705, fifteen Serjeants-at-law took the customary oaths at the Chancery Bar, and delivered to the Lord Keeper a ring for the Queen, and another for his H.R.H. Prince George of Denmark, each ring being worth 6l. 13s. 4d. The Lord Keeper, Lord Treasurer, Lord Steward, Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Chamberlain, Master of the Household, Lord Chamberlain, and the two Chief Justices, received each a ring of the value of 18s.; the Lord Chief Baron, Master of the Rolls, the Justices of either Bench and two Chief Secretaries each one worth 16s.; the Chief Steward and Comptroller each a ring valued at 1l.; the Marshal, Warden of the Fleet, every Serjeant-at-Law, the Attorney-General, and Solicitor-General, each a ring worth 12s.; the three Barons of Exchequer a ring worth 10s.; the two Clerks of the Crown, the three Prothonotaries, the Clerks of the Warrants, the Prothonotary of Queen's Bench, and the Chirographer, each a ring worth 5s.; each Filazer and Exigenter, the Clerk of the Council, and the Custos Brevium, each a ring that cost 2s. 6d. The motto on the rings was this, "Moribus, armis, legibus."

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

48. Jermyn Street.

EXTERMINATION OF EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ORKNEY. (Vol. iv., p. 439.)

It is capable of demonstration that Christianity was introduced into the Orkney Islands, or at least that missionaries were sent there, long previous to the invasion of Harold Harfagre. Your correspondent W. H. F. mentions that Depping, in the Histoire des Expéditions Maritimes des Normands, states that Sigurd, the second nominally, though really the first earl, expelled the Christians from Orkney, and he requests to know Depping's authority; as the circumstance is not alluded to by Torfæus, the Orkneyinga-Saga or Snorro Sturleson, and has been "either overlooked by Barry, or unknown to him."

The well-known "Diploma or Genealogical Deduction of the Earls of Orkney," written by the bishop of that diocese in the year 1406, and printed in Wallace's Account of Orkney, and in the appendices to Barry's History, and the Orkneyinga-Saga, is generally looked upon, from the circumstances under which it was drawn up, as an authentic document of considerable historical value. It is there mentioned, that the Norsemen found the islands inhabited by the Peti and the Papé, whom they exterminated. But I transcribe the words of the Diploma:

"Hæc terra sive insularum patria Orcadie fuit inhabitata et culta, duabus nacionibus scilicet Peti et Pape, que due genera naciones fuerant destructe radicitus, ac penitus per Norwegenses de stirpe sive de tribu strenuissimi principis Rognaldi, qui sic sunt ipsias naciones aggressi, quod posteritas ipsarum nacionum Peti et Pape non remansit."

Though Chalmers (Caledonia, vol. i. p. 261.) is rather inclined to discredit the above account, it seems probable that those Papé were missionaries or priests, who were also found, under precisely the same name, in Iceland when that island was colonised by the Norsemen (Pinkerton's Enquiry, vol. ii. p. 297.). I have not my copy of Depping at present by me, and therefore am unable to say whether he explains his use of the word Christians in his mention of their expulsion. It may be that, without going into detail, he accepted, as proved, the identity of the Papé and the priests, and believed himself warranted in making the assertion. But perhaps he might have had some other authority of which I am ignorant, as he attributes the expulsion (according to W. H. F.) to Sigurd, whereas the words of the Diploma are, "per Norwegenses de stirpe sive de tribu strenuissimi principis Rognaldi," by no means limiting the deed to his (Rognald's) immediate successor, though inferentially accusing Sigurd of participation. A careful consideration of the entire passage in Depping, and of his general style, may tend to show whether he relied merely on the Diploma, or whether he had some more definite authority.

I may mention, that though it has escaped W. H. F.'s observation, he will find, by referring to pp. 87. 116. 133., Headrick's edition, that Barry did not overlook the early Christianising of the Orkneys, and the extirpation of the Papé; although, seeing that the former is matter of history, and the latter was not a mere tradition in 1406, but derived from a more trustworthy source ("sicut cronice nostre clare demonstrant"), he is scarcely distinct enough, or decided in his inferences. It would be interesting to know what were those "cronice" appealed to by the bishop.

A. H. R.

Caithness.

THE CRIME OF POISONING PUNISHED BY BOILING. (Vol. v., p. 32.)

MR. J. B. COLMAN has directed attention to the special act of attainder passed in 22 Hen. VIII. in order to punish Richard Roose for poisoning the family of the Bishop of Rochester; but I have reason to believe that he is wrong in his assertion that, prior to that statute, "there was no peculiarity in the mode of punishment" for the crime in question. In the Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London, which I am now engaged in editing for the Camden Society, I find an instance of the like punishment being inflicted for the same crime in the 13th Hen. VIII.:

"And this yere was a man soddyne in a cautherne (sc. a cauldron) in Smythfelde, and lett up and downe dyvers tymes tyll he was dede, for because he wold a poyssynd dyvers persons."

I would therefore beg to inquire whether MR. COLMAN has taken a correct view of the statute of 22 Hen. VIII. as prescribing a new punishment, retrospective to the case of Richard Roose; and whether the act was not, so far as he was concerned, simply one of attainder, to deprive the culprit of the "advantage of his clargie," whereby he might otherwise have escaped the legal punishment already provided for the crime. Having declared Roose attainted of high treason, the statute proceeds to enact that all future poisoners shall also be debarred of the benefit of clergy, and immediately committed to death by boiling. Roose's own case is recorded in the Grey Friars' Chronicle with the same horrible circumstances as those related in the former instance, of his life being gradually destroyed:

"He was lockyd in a chayne and pullyd up and downe with a gybbyt at dyvers tymes tyll he was dede."

A third instance occurs in 1542, when—

"The x day of March was a mayde boyllyd in Smythfelde for poysynyng of dyvers persons."

This last is the same case which is cited by L. H. K. in your Vol. ii., p. 519. If my view of the statute of 22 Hen. VIII. be the right one, it still remains to be ascertained when this barbarous punishment was first adopted; and is it certain that it ceased with the reign of Hen. VIII.?

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

There appears to have occurred in Scotland one instance at least of this barbarous mode of executing justice. In his Notes to Leyden's Ballad of Lord Soulis (in the Minstrelsy of the Border), Sir Walter Scott says:—

"The tradition regarding the death of Lord Soulis, however singular, is not without a parallel in the real history of Scotland. The same extraordinary mode of cookery was actually practised (horresco referens) upon the body of a Sheriff of the Mearns. This person, whose name was Melville of Glenbervie, bore his faculties so harshly, that he became detested by the Barons of the country. Reiterated complaints of his conduct having been made to James I. (or, as others say, to the Duke of Albany), the monarch answered, in a moment of unguarded impatience, 'Sorrow gin the Sheriff were sodden, and supped in broo!' The complainers retired, perfectly satisfied. Shortly after, the Lairds of Arbuthnot, Mather, Laureston, and Pattaraw, decoyed Melville to the top of the hill of Garvock, above Lawrencekirk, under pretence of a grand hunting party. Upon this place (still called the Sheriff's Pot), the Barons had prepared a fire and a boiling cauldron, into which they plunged the unlucky Sheriff. After he was sodden (as the king termed it) for a sufficient time, the savages, that they might literally observe the royal mandate, concluded the scene of abomination by actually partaking of the hell-broth.

"The three Lairds were outlawed for this offence; and Barclay, one of their number, to screen himself from justice, erected the kaim (i.e. the camp, or fortress) of Mathers, which stands upon a rocky and almost inaccessible peninsula, overhanging the German Ocean. The Laird of Arbuthnot is said to have eluded the royal vengeance, by claiming the benefit of the law of clan Macduff. A pardon, or perhaps a deed of replegiation, founded upon that law, is said to be still extant upon the records of the Viscount of Arbuthnot.

"The punishment of boiling," adds Sir Walter, "seems to have been in use among the English at a very late period, as appears from the following passage in Stowe's Chronicle:—'The 17th March (1524) Margaret Davy, a maid, was boiled at Smithfield for poisoning of three households that she had dwelled in.'"

According to tradition, however, the boiling, or broiling rather, of the Wizard-Earl Soulis, was still more frightful:—

R. S. F.

Perth.

Replies to Minor Queries.

List of English Sovereigns (Vol. v., p. 28.).

—The principal reason why the names of the Empress Matilda, King Henry junior, and Queen Jane (Grey or Dudley), are not inserted in the lists of English sovereigns, as J. J. S. suggests they should be, arises from the fact of the periods of their supposed reigns being concurrent with those of other monarchs, and our constitution recognising one only at a time. The name of Queen Jane has, however, found a place in some recent lists; following that given in Sir Harris Nicolas's Chronology of History (edit. 1833, p. 330.), where he states that her nominal reign extended from the 6th to the 17th July, 1553. Appended to The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary (printed for the Camden Society), I have given a list of all the public documents or state papers known to be extant which bear date in the reign of Queen Jane, and the last is a letter of the Privy Council to Lord Rich, dated the 19th July; this extends the period two days longer than in the Chronology of History, and was certainly the last public document that recognised Jane's authority. Only one private document so dated has been discovered. It is a deed relating to the parish of St. Dunstan's in Kent (dated 15th July), which was communicated by Mr. Hunter to the Retrospective Review, N. S. vol. i. p. 505. But an act of parliament of the 1st March, 1553-4, legalised all documents that might be so dated from the 6th of July to the last day of the same month (Nicolas, p. 316.). Among our historians, Heylin, in his History of the Reformation, has apportioned a distinct division of his narrative to "The Reign of Queen Jane."

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

Moravian Hymns (Vol. v., p. 30.).

—I cannot tell H. B. C. what is the editio princeps of these hymns; but as he appears to know of no edition anterior to 1749, I beg to observe that an edition of Psalms and Hymns for the use of the Moravians was published by the Rev. John Gambold, one of their bishops, at London, in 1738. It is in 12mo. without the name of any printer. There is a copy of this book in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. But as it is five-and-twenty years, or more, since I saw it, I have no recollection of the particulars of its contents.

H. C.

Thurles.

In 1801 a Moravian Hymn-book was issued, which, being out of print, was reprinted in 1809. I should suppose the book a great improvement upon the old Moravian hymn-books. I have a copy of the edition of 1809: about half the hymns are translations from the German, and the rest selected from Watts, Wesley, Steel, Robinson, and others. The hymn "To you, ye Jesus' wounds" is not in it. The book contains also their simple and beautiful liturgy, offices for baptism, burial, ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons, &c.

JAMES EDMESTON.

Homerton.

The following is the title of a book, printed in 1749, for James Hutton, Fetter Lane:—Hymns composed for the Use of the Brethren by the Right Rev. and most Illustrious C. Z. (Count Zinzendorf?) I transcribe some specimens.

JAMES CORNISH.

Age of Trees—"Essex Broad Oak" (Vol. v., pp. 10. 40.).

—Was not the "Essex Broad Oak" identical with the "Fairlop Oak?" The Fairlop Oak is thus described in Excursions through Essex (Longman, 1818, vol. ii. p. 56.):

"In Hainault Forest, about one mile from Barkingside, stands an oak which has been known through many centuries by the name of Fairlop. For an account of this celebrated tree (which seems to have escaped the attention of the laborious Camden, and his indefatigable continuator, Mr. Gough) we are indebted to the Rev. Mr. Gilpin. 'The tradition of this tree,' says this ingenious writer in his Remarks on Forest Scenery and other Woodland Views, 'traces it half way up the Christian æra. It is still a noble tree, though it has suffered greatly from the depredations of time. About a yard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem is 36 feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast arms; yet not in the horizontal manner of an oak, but rather in that of a beach. Beneath its shade, which overspreads an area of 300 feet in circuit, an annual fair has long been held on the first Friday in July.' This celebrated tree was for some time fenced round with a close paling about five feet high. Almost all the extremities of its branches have been sawed off, and Mr. Forsyth's composition applied to them, to preserve then from decay; and the injury which the trunk of the tree had sustained from the lighting of fires have been repaired, as much as possible, with the same composition. On one of the branches a board was fixed, with this inscription, 'All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, a plaister having been lately applied to its wounds.'"

If my recollection serves me correctly, a drawing and description of this old tree is contained in one of Hone's publications,—I think his Table Book.[9]

Another large tree is mentioned in the same volume (p. 87.) as being called "Doodle [Query, dole or boundary] Oke."

To conclude (if I have not already trespassed too much upon your space), Is the Fairlop Oak still standing; and, if so, what is its present condition?

J. B. COLMAN.

Eye.

Cypress trees on the continent of America grow to immense ages. By counting the concentric rings observed in the wood, on sawing a trunk across, it appears that 400 years is a common age. There is a gigantic trunk near Santa Maria del Tula, in the province of Oaxaca, in Mexico, whose circumference at the dilated base is no less than 200 feet. Of this, taking 1·6 line as the average growth of a year, the age would be 3512 years. (Lyell's Second Visit to United States, vol. ii. pp. 254, 255. Prescott's Peru, vol. ii. p. 315. 4th edition.) Adanson, the celebrated botanist, calculated the age of one of the famous Baobab trees of Senegal to be 5150 years. (Marquis of Ormonde's Sicily, p. 76.) A tamarind tree in the Mahometan burial-ground at Putelam, in Ceylon, is 39 feet in diameter, or upwards of 117 feet in circumference, from which the age may be calculated on the above scale. (Sirr's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 85.)

T. G.

Arrangement of Books (Vol. v., p. 49.).

—Your correspondent L.'s letter is very valuable. May I add a few contributions?

There is a mode of printing used in Cuvier's Règne Animal, which is exceedingly useful for books of classification, that is, to print those sentences which relate to the primary divisions in a larger type, and full up to the side; the subdivisions to be printed short, as sums are entered in an account book, and in a smaller type. I believe I had the fortune to introduce a slight improvement in indexes. For instance, in your index the subordinate items are arranged according to time, but that gives a great deal of trouble. Under MR. BREEN'S name there are fifteen items; they should be arranged alphabetically, like the principal items, as is done in the same index in the case of notices of books, unavoidably. But such subordinate items had better, in general, have the word on which the alphabetical arrangement turns printed in Italics to catch the eye, rather than invert the order of the words, as must be done in the principal items.

In what books the old spelling should be retained is a matter of individual question, upon which no rules can be laid down. Walpole complained that the Paston Letters were printed with the old spelling, and that, though a version is on the opposite page; but few persons will agree with him in that. In such books we have a right to see the old spelling in order to judge whether the version is right, as well as for general information.

C. B.

The Ring-finger (Vol. iv., pp. 150. 198. 261.).

—The two questions mooted concerning the ring-finger, i.e. why the third finger is the ring-finger, and why the wedding-ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand? have not yet been satisfactorily answered.

The third finger is the only recognised ring-finger. Hence all who wear rings ex officio, wear them on that finger. Cardinals, bishops, doctors, abbots, &c., wear their ring on the third finger. The reason is that it is the first vacant finger. The thumb and the first two fingers have always been reserved as symbols of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. When a bishop gives his blessing, he blesses with the thumb and first two fingers. Our brasses and sepulchral slabs bear witness to this fact. And at the marriage ceremony, the ring is put on to the thumb and the first two fingers, whilst the names of "The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost" are pronounced. Thus the third is the first vacant finger, and the ring-finger. The wedding-ring is worn on the left hand to signify the subjection of the wife to her husband. The right hand signifies power, independence, authority; according to the words:

The left hand signifies dependence or subjection. Married women, then, wear the wedding-ring on the third finger of the left hand, because they are subject to their husbands.

Bishops, because they have ecclesiastical authority, and doctors, because they have authority to teach, wear the ring on the ring-finger of the right hand.

CEYREP.

Count Königsmark (Vol. v., p. 78.).

—The Queries put by MR. MARKLAND will be found solved in that excellent book, The English Causes Célèbres, edited by Mr. Craik, and published in 1840. It is a great pity that Mr. Craik's undertaking was not prosecuted beyond vol. i.

Walpole was wrong, and Sir Egerton Brydges right. Charles John Count Königsmark was the instigator of the assassination of Mr. Thynne. Philip Christopher von Königsmark, the younger brother of Charles John, was the presumed lover of Sophia of Zell.

Charles John von Königsmark was mortally wounded at the battle of Argos, on the 29th August, 1686.

The presumed "foul play" in the Königsmark case consisted, I suppose, in Chief Justice Pemberton summing up strongly, in accordance with the known wish of the king, that the Count should be acquitted.

JOHN BRUCE.

MR. MARKLAND will find his inquiries as to the two Königsmarks answered in a late number of the Quarterly Review (I think that for October, 1851), in an article on the Lexington Papers.

C.

Petition respecting the Duke of Wellington (Vol. iv., pp. 233. 477.; Vol. v., p. 43.).

—I thank ÆGROTUS for the clue he has afforded me, as to the date of the document he inquired for, and can now give him some further particulars. At a Court of Common Council held Feb. 23, 1810, in consequence of a proposition in the House of Commons to settle upon Lord Wellington 2000l. per ann. for three lives, a motion was made, and carried by sixty-five to fifty-eight, to petition the House against it. The petition is very long, but it is to the following tenor: it commences by objecting to the grant on the ground of economy, and that his services have not deserved it; "that his gallant efforts in Portugal have lead only to the disgraceful and scandalous Convention of Cintra, signed by his own hand;" that the result of the battle of Talavera was a retreat, with the abandonment of sick and wounded; that as yet they have seen no inquiry into either of these campaigns; that he and his family have held lucrative appointments in the East Indies; that no provision has been made for the family of the highly deserving Sir John Moore. It then goes on to say, "that it appears a high aggravation of the misconduct of his Majesty's incapable and unprincipled advisers;" that they advised his Majesty to refuse to receive from the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, either at a levee, or personal audience, a petition from the livery praying an inquiry into the conduct of the commanders of the late campaign. This is the substance of the petition which I should think might be readily seen in extenso by a reference to a file of newspapers of the date.

E. N. W.

Southwark.

P.S.—The petition from the Livery, doubtless agreed to in Common Hall, which the king refused to receive, and which is referred to above, is most probably the one which ÆGROTUS inquires about, and of which the Duke complains in his dispatch of Jan. 1810. I have not been able to see it; but if I can find it, will send you notes of it; the mem. I have sent establishes the fact of its having been carried.

Reichenbach's Ghosts (Vol. iv., p. 5.; Vol. v., p. 89.).

—If A. N. will do me the favour to refer to my question, he will see that his remarks do not furnish a reply. Reichenbach says, that "thousands of ghost stories will now receive a natural explanation," from his discovery that the decomposition of animal matter is accompanied by light, or luminous vapour, which is visible to certain sensitive persons. As I originally stated, "my Query is, where to find the 'thousands of ghost stories' which are explained by it." I now repeat that Query in unaffected ignorance. I have read a good many ghost stories, British and foreign; but I know that some of the writers in "N. & Q." are much better acquainted with German literature and superstitions than I am; and I ask them if they can tell me where to find such stories,—that is, ghost stories explained by Reichenbach's discovery? I do not ask for "thousands," nor even hundreds—a score or two will be quite enough; or even a dozen, if they are good ones.

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester.

The Broad Arrow.

—I can only offer the following note on the above subject as a conjecture, probably most of your readers will think a very wild one.

It has sometimes occurred to me that the origin of the symbol now generally known as the "broad arrow" might be traced back to the mysteries of Mithras. At all events, it is known that the same figure occurs on coins, gems, &c. as the symbol of Mithras as the Sun. Now, so widely was the worship of Mithras spread throughout the Roman empire, that I believe no one would feel any surprise at the adoption of a Mithraic symbol even in the remotest parts of the empire; and indeed the fact that Carausius, during his usurpation of the imperial authority in Britain, issued coins with the inscription Ἡλίῳ Μίθρᾳ ἀνικήτῳ, brings the worship of Mithras, as it were, home to our own doors. Whether the symbol of the sun was ever employed for any such purpose as our modern broad arrow, is a question on which I hope some of your readers may be able to throw some light. Meanwhile, being quite ignorant as to the antiquity of our Ordnance mark, the above is merely thrown out as a conjecture. It is perhaps, to some extent, confirmed by a statement of Grimm's (Deutsche Mythologie), that the symbol of the Moon was used by the ancient Germans precisely as our broad arrow, viz. on boundary stones, &c.

I think there is more probability in another conjecture of mine, that the same symbol occurs elsewhere, and for a very different purpose, viz. in our churches, and as symbolical of the Sun of Righteousness. Our painted windows and our altar-cloths contain the symbol ↑, which I believe generally goes by the name of the "three sacred nails,"—an explanation which I always thought ridiculous, even at a time when I could give no other. Is it not far more in accordance with the principles of symbolism, and the practice of the early Christians, to believe it to be the adoption of a heathen symbol, and its application to Christian purposes?

J. M. (4).

St. Mary Tavy, Tavistock.

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

—I have met with a gentleman in the navy who informs me that these words should be "Quarter Wagner," and was so called from the publisher's name, "Wagner," who published the charts in four parts answering to the four quarters of the globe. These charts so called have been disused for near thirty years; and it was commonly observed that they who did not make alteration by improvement in the charts, or who knew not of anything beyond what was then known in maritime affairs, did not know anything beyond what was noted on the then existing charts by Wagner. Hence the phrase.

†

In connexion with the notes of BOLTON CORNEY, I would mention that I have a ponderous folio volume, with thick oak backs, covered with canvas, on which is the name of the book, The Dutch Waggoner: the printed title is—

"The Lightning Columne or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern, and Western Navigation; Setting forth in divers necessarie Sea-Cards, all the Ports, Rivers, Bayes, Roads, Depths and Sands, very curiously placed on its due Polus heigt furnished, With the discoveries of the chief Countries, and on what cours and distance they lay one from another. Never theretofore so clearly laid open, and here and there very diligently bettered and augmented for the use of all Seamen. As also the Situation of the Northernly Countries, as Islands, the Strate Davids, the Isle of Jan Mayen, Bear's Island, Old Greenland, Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla: Adorned with many Sea-Cards and Discoveries, gathered out of the Experience and Practice of divers Pilots and Lovers of the famous Art of Navigation. Whereunto is added a brief Instruction of the Art of Navigation, together with New Tables of the Sun's Declination, wit an New Almanach. At Amsterdam. Printed by Casparus Loots-man, Bookseller upon the Water in the Loots-man, 1689. With previledge for fiftheen Iears."

The "priviledge" is signed "Arent Baron van Waggenaer. By the appointment of the States, Symon van Beaumont." The book is full of very curious charts, sections, and headlands, and other engravings, and is very rare; but I merely mention it to show that books of charts, &c. were known as waggoners.

L. JEWITT.

MR. BOLTON CORNEY has traced the "Waggoner" to Wagenaer's work satisfactorily; but surely the Quarter is merely Quarto. I believe the term is not now used in the navy, and apparently was never officially recognised: at least it does not occur in the Admiralty Instructions for the Navy of 1747, 1790, or 1808. I may add a reference to Falconer's Marine Dictionary, where "Waggoner" is explained to be a "book of charts, describing the coasts, rocks, &c.," and to Dalrymple's Charts and Memoirs (1772), where a work called The English Waggoner is mentioned.

Log-book is so called because the rate of sailing of the ship, as ascertained by heaving the log, is one of the most frequent and important entries.

B. R. I.

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

—I have not Croker's last edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson to refer to, to see what is there said respecting Cibber's title to the authorship of this book; but I find the following MS. note on the fly-leaf of the first volume of my copy of the Lives of the Poets:—

"Steevens says that not the smallest part of the work called 'Cibber's Lives of the Poets' was the compilation of Cibber; being entirely written by Mr. Shiells, amanuensis to Dr. Johnson, when his Dictionary was preparing for the press. T. Cibber was in the King's Bench, and accepted of ten guineas from the booksellers for leave to prefix his name to the work, and it was purposely so prefixed as to leave the reader in doubt whether he or his father was the person designed."

The American edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon, at vol. iii. p. 190. makes the same statement, but without giving any authority. The name of Robert Shiells, a Scotchman, is here given as the author of the Lives of the Poets.

P. T.

Shakspere and the English Press (Vol. iv., p. 344.).

—The Second part of Henry the Sixt, ascribed to Shakspere by Heminge and Condell, is founded on a play entitled The first part of the contention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke and Lancaster, which was first printed anonymously in 1594. It was reprinted anonymously in 1600; and, as the work of Shakspere, about 1619. The amended play first appeared in the folio of 1623. The passage in which Jack Cade reproaches lord Say with having promoted education, stands thus in the editions of 1594 and 1623:

"Thou hast most traitorously erected a grammer schoole, to infect the youth of the realme, and against the kings crowne and dignitie, thou hast built vp a paper-mill."—1594. (J. O. H.)

"Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar-school: and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill."—1623. (J. P. C.)

Fabian gives no information on the charges made against lord Say; nor do the subsequent chroniclers. The received text contains two undoubted anachronisms—to what extent, it would require a volume to decide. On comparing the extracts, it appears that we must ascribe the anachronism on paper-making to the earlier dramatist, and that on printing to William Shakspere—who also borrowed the allusion to the score and the tally from a former speech in the work of his unknown precursor.

Malone, when he edited The plays and poems of William Shakspere, undertook to distinguish by inverted commas the lines of this play which the poet "retouched and greatly improved," and by asterisks, those which were "his own original production." The design was commendable, but in the execution of it he committed numerous oversights.

BOLTON CORNEY.