Volume 5 / Part 1 — Queries.

WHERE WAS ANNE BOLEYN BURIED?

It is said in Miss Strickland's Queens of England (iv. 203.), that there is a tradition at Salle in Norfolk that the remains of Anne Boleyn were removed from the Tower, and interred at midnight, with the rites of Christian burial, in Salle Church, and that a plain black stone without any inscription is supposed to indicate the place where she was buried. An account of Salle Church, with the inscriptions on the Boleyn monuments, is given in the 4th volume of Blomefield's Norfolk (folio ed.), p. 421., but no allusion is made to any such tradition; and other parts of the same work, where the Boleyns (including the Queen) are referred to, are equally silent on the subject. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his History of King Henry VIII., does not state how or where she was buried. Hollingshed, Stow, and Speed say, that her body, with the head, was buried in the choir of the chapel in the Tower; and Sandford, that she was buried in the chapel of St. Peter in the Tower.

Burnet (vol. i. p. 318.), who is followed by Henry, Hume, and Lingard, says that her body was thrown into a common chest of elm-tree that was made to put arrows in, and was buried in the chapel within the Tower, before twelve o'clock. Sharon Turner, in his History of the Reign of King Henry VIII., vol. ii p. 464., cites the following passage from Crispin's account of Anne Boleyn's execution, written fourteen days after her death, viz.:

"Her ladies immediately took up her head and the body. They seemed to be without souls, they were so languid and extremely weak; but fearing that their mistress might be handled unworthily by inhuman men, they forced themselves to do this duty; and though almost dead, at last carried off her dead body wrapt in a white covering."

In a letter in the Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1815, signed "J. C.," it is said—

"But the headless remains of the departed Queen were said to be deposited in an arrow-chest, and buried in the Tower Chapel, before the High Altar. Where that stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of less than three hundred years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar the body of a person of short stature, without a head, not many years since was found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anna; but soon after re-interred in the same place, and covered with earth."

I am informed that the stone in Salle Church was some time since raised, but that no remains were to be found underneath it. Has the tradition referred to by Miss Strickland been noticed by any other writer? and upon what authority does Burnet say that her remains were placed in an arrow-chest? I may add that Miss S. states that a similar tradition is assigned to a black stone in the church at Thornden on the Hill: but Morant, in his History of Essex, does not notice it.

J. H. P.

TORTOISESHELL TOM CATS.

Can any correspondents of "N. & Q." who may have paid particular attention to natural history, throw any light or grounds for explaining the fact of there, I may almost say, never being instances of a male tortoiseshell cat? for though I have been very lately told that such a one was exhibited in the great display in Hyde Park, yet as I did not witness it myself, I can only use it as the exception which proves the general rule.

Having for the last fifty years been in the constant habit of keeping cats, and having frequently during that time possessed many of a rare and foreign breed, some of which were tortoise-shells of the most beautiful varieties, I have always endeavoured, by mixing the breeds in every way, to procure a male of this peculiar colour; but with the vast number of kittens that during this long period have fallen under my observation, I have invariably found that if there was the slightest appearance of a single black hair on one, otherwise white and orange, so sure would it prove a female; and thus vice versâ, an orange hair appearing on a black and white skin, even in the smallest degree, would immediately proclaim the sex.

I have asked for an elucidation of this curious fact from two of our greatest naturalists of the present day, but without any success; I have racked my own brain even for some plausible mode of accounting for it, but in vain; for it should be observed that this peculiarity or line of demarcation as to sexes does not obtain with other animals, for I have seen what may be called tortoiseshell horses and cows, that is, with the same admixture of colours, and yet they have been indiscriminately of both sexes.

Now it is true we hear occasionally of a tortoiseshell tom cat advertised as having been seen or heard of, but in all these instances a solution of the nitrate of silver has been freely used to aid the imposition, and with all the pains I have taken, I have never been fortunate enough to meet with a bonâ fide ocular demonstration.

Should any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." have it in their power to throw light on this curious fact in natural history, it will much gratify me, even if it should prove that I am making much about nothing.

W. R.

Surbiton.

Minor Queries.

Oasis.

—What is the proper pronunciation of this word? Ninety-nine people out of a hundred will say, as I said, "Oāsis, of course!" Let them, however, proceed to consult authorities, and they will begin to be puzzled. Its derivation from the Coptic "wáhe" (or "ouahe," the French way of expressing the Egyptian word wáhe.—Encycl. Metrop.) seems universally admitted. As to the pronunciation, the way in which the word is accented by the different authorities in which I have been able to find it is as follows:—

Ὄασις (πόλις).—Herodot. iii. 26. Larcher's Notes, and Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon, give no help as to the pronunciation.

Rees's Cyclopædia, and the Encyclopædia Britannica, do not accent the word at all. Brasse's Greek Gradus, Ainsworth's and Riddle's Dictionaries, Yonge's Gradus, Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, Webster, Richardson, and Johnson, do not even contain the word.

The few authorities which do accent the word, do it "with a difference." Ex. gr.:

Who is right? I have searched all the Indices to the Delphin edition of the Latin poets, without finding the word at all. A Cambridge friend quoted at once "sacramque Ammonis oasim;" but, on being pressed, admitted, that if it were not the fag-end of some prize-poem line lurking in his memory, he did not know whence it came. I cannot get anybody to produce me an instance of the use of the word in English poetry. One says, "I am sure it's in Moore," and another, "You're sure to find it in Milton;" but our English poets lack verbal indices. Some such line as "Some green oasis in the desert's waste," haunts my own memory, but I cannot give it a "local habitation." Of course, two or three instances from English poets would not absolutely determine the question one way or the other, as we pronounce many words derived from Greek and Latin sources in defiance of their original quantity. Still they would not be without their value. Can any wise man of the East help?

HARRY LEROY TEMPLE.

Ballad on Shakspeare.

—About fifty years ago there was an old ballad in praise of Shakspeare which used to be very popular in Warwickshire. All I remember is the following stanza, which, I remember, was the concluding one:—

Where can the rest of the ballad be obtained? and who was the author?

SAXONICUS.

Dr. Toby Matthew.

—In Le Neve's Lives of the Protestant Archbishops under Dr. Toby Matthew, Archbishop of York, it is stated that he was appointed Bishop of Durham in 1595; and that on 7th April, Archbishop Whitgift granted a commission to Archbishop Hutton, "to confirm and consecrate this our bishop within the province of Canterbury, which," says Le Neve, "no doubt was done accordingly, though I cannot find, either in his diary or elsewhere, the time when, place where, or the names of the bishops who assisted at that solemnity," (vol. ii. pp. 105-6.). In Surtees' History of Durham, it is said that his consecration took place on "Palm Sunday." Palm Sunday fell on 9th April that year: the very Sunday, therefore, which followed the date of the licence mentioned by Le Neve. I believe Surtees refers to Rot. Durham as his authority. In the Church of England Magazine, Jan. 1847, p. 13., there is a Life of Dr. T. Matthew, said to be "Abridged from a manuscript in the British Museum, entitled 'The Preaching Bishop,'" &c. Does this document supply the information which Le Neve sought in vain?[3] Can any reader ascertain from the diary, or elsewhere, what the bishop was doing on 9th April, 1595, or where he was; or give any information on the subject?

C. H. D.

Hart and Mohun.

—Very little is known of these two old actors and managers. When were they born, and when did they die?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Burial without Religious Service.

—In case of the friends of any person deceased either objecting to, or not wishing to compel the clergyman to use, the burial service, is there any law to forbid the corpse being interred in the parish churchyard without any religious service at all? Suppose the deceased were a baptized dissenter, who had himself in his lifetime objected to, and whose surviving relatives also objected to the performance of the burial service, though they wished the body to be deposited in the churchyard; does a clergyman render himself liable to any penalty in permitting the body to be thus silently interred? Some years ago, at the Kensal Green cemetery the sons of Carlile protested at the grave against the performance of any religious service. The chaplain persisted in its performance in spite of their expressed wishes to the contrary! Was this right or wrong in a legal point of view?

C. H. D.

Ganganelli's Bible.

—Can any of your readers inform me who was the translator of the "Ganganelli (Pope) Bible," published in 1784 in folio, what is the merit of the translation, and who wrote the notes? If I mistake not, Evans, the auctioneer who sold the Duke of Sussex's library, puts in the catalogue that the notes are not the Pope's, it being "a scandalous imposture" in the title-page to say so, "for they have a free-thinking tendency."

The title-page of said Bible says that that Pope and the translator were liberals, and the author of the notes must have been a radical, all very intelligible in those days, but not without instruction to these.

The Duke's copy sold to the British Museum for 30l. May I ask why it is so rare?

J. D. G.

Wherland Family.

—Information is desired respecting the family of "Wherland," now of Cork, and whether they came from Scotland; and if so, whether the family still exists there? The crest of the Cork Wherlands is a demi-lion rampant out of a ducal coronet.

T. W. W.

Flemish Proverb quoted by Chaucer.

—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q.," or, should I not rather say, of its Dutch ally, "DE NAVORSCHER," point out the original of the old Flemish proverb,

"Soth play quod play,"

quoted by Chaucer in his Prologue to the "Cook's Tale;" and whether or not there is any history attached to it?

PHILO-CHAUCER.

Derivation of the Word "Callis," an Almshouse.

—The word is not given in Bailey or Richardson. It appears in Holloway's and Halliwell's Provincial Dictionaries in the plural, and is spelt "calasses." Each quotes Grose, who refers the word to the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1784; but there the above question only is asked, and is unanswered. It has been suggested that the callis may be so called from its having been founded by some merchant of the Staple of Calais, or from its endowment being derived from donations to the chalice, made by persons to the priest administering extreme unction. Calis was the old form of chalice.—Vide Halliwell's Dictionary.

J. P. JUN.

Nashe's "Terrors of the Night," 4to. 1594.

—Can any correspondent oblige me with Notes, critical, philological, or otherwise, illustrative of the subjoined passages, which occur, among many others scarcely less curious, in the above rare tract, of which I am fortunate enough to possess a (not quite perfect) copy? Speaking of Iceland, he says,—

"It is reported, that the Pope long since gaue them a dispensation to receiue the Sacrament in ale, insomuch as for their vncessant frosts there, no wine but was turned to red emayle as soone as euer it came amongst them."

D. iii.

"Other spirits like rogues they have among them, destitute of all dwelling and habitation; and they chillingly complayne if a constable aske them Cheuela in the night, that they are going vnto Mount Hecla to warme them."

D. ii.

What is emayle? and is Cheuela for Qui va là?

Speaking of a vision of devils, he mentions some with

"Great glaring eyes, that had whole shelues of Kentish oysters in them; and terrible wide mouthes, whereof not one of them but would well haue made a case for Molenax' great gloabe of the world."

D. iii.

Is, then, Wyld's great Globe only a plagiarism from Molenax?

J. EASTWOOD.

Did Orientals ever wear Spurs?

—In the second volume, p. 38., of Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, are given some lines from Hyta, Guerras de Granada, &c., descriptive of the departure of Abdallah Chico on his fatal expedition against Lucena. These, enumerating all the braveries of the cortège, amongst others, mention

Now, unless this be an oversight of Hyta, his spurs of gold and stirrups of silver require some explanation, since the specification of both does not leave us the alternative of supposing that the former merely meant the sharp corners of the shovel-stirrup, which we all know serve the Oriental horseman of the present day as spurs.

Was Hyta a Spaniard or a Moor?

A. C. M.

Badges of Noblemen in the Fifteenth Century.

—What were the customary badges or cognizances of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, executed 1450; Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and John Duke of Bedford, Protectors, temp. Henry VI.; Cardinal Beaufort; the Earls of Somerset, Salisbury, and Arundel, temp. Henry VI.; and Sir John Fastolfe?

BURIENSIS.

Sir Roger de Coverley.

—In the first article of the Number of the Quarterly Review just published, on Sir Roger de Coverley, by the Spectator, with Notes and Illustrations, by W. Henry Wills, it is stated,—

"At the suggestion of Swift they took advantage of a popular name, and derided the Knight's descent from the inventor of the celebrated country-dance," &c.

I should like to know the authority for this statement respecting Swift, as, at the time of the Spectator first appearing, he was certainly not on good terms with either Addison or Steele. The first Number of the Spectator was published on the 1st of March, 1710-11. In Swift's journal, sent to Stella, he says, March 6th,—

"I have not seen Mr. Addison these three weeks: all our friendship is over."

On the 16th he says,—

"Have you seen the Spectator yet? a paper that comes out every day. 'Tis written by Mr. Steele, who seems to have gathered new life, and have a new fund of wit; it is in the same nature as his Tatlers, and they have all of them had something pretty. I believe Addison and he club. I never see them," &c.

C. DE D.

Lines on Elizabeth.

—No doubt some of your readers will be able to tell me where I may find these verses:—

"Princeps Elizabetha tuis Dea magna Britannis."

which is fathered upon Ascham; and the following, which report gives to Camden:—

"Elizabetha suis Diva et Dea sola Britannis."

PETROS.

Twyford.

—Simeon of Durham relates the history of the acts of a council held A.D. 684, in the presence of King Egfrid, and presided over by Archbishop Theodore, at a place called Twyford, near the river Alne [Ættwyforda, quod significat ad duplex vadum.]—Libellus, &c., p. 44. Is there any vestige or record of the site of Twyford? Camden mentions it when speaking of the Northumberland coast:

"The shore afterwards opens for the river Alaun, which, still retaining the same name it had at Ptolemy's time, is called by contraction Alne, on whose bank is Twifford, q. d. Two-fords, where was held a synod under King Egfrid; and Eslington, Alnwick," &c.

CEYREP.

Irish Titles of Honour: The Knight of Kerry; The O'Conor Don; The O'Gorman Mahon.

—Will somebody explain for me the origin of, and right to, these titles, which do not receive the honour of any mention in the ordinary "Baronetages, Knightages," &c. &c.; as also the mode in which the individuals who claim them are addressed in ordinary conversation.

HARRY LEROY TEMPLE.

Sir Hobbard de Hoy.

—A common term for a lad between boyhood and manhood is a hobbledehoy. I find an early use of this word in Tusser's Hundred Points of Husbandry, A.D. 1557, in his verses entitled Man's age divided here ye have, By Prenticeships from birth to grave.

Can you tell me the origin of this curious term?

W. W. E. T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

The Moon and her Influences.

—Can any of your readers inform me of books treating, scientifically, or giving traditional notices, about the supposed influences of the moon; for instance, on the tides, on lunatics, on timber felled during the wane, on fish taken by moonlight in the tropics?

Also can any account be given of the origin of the tradition that connects "the man in the moon" with the history given of the "man gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day" (Numbers, xv. 32-36.)?

W. H.

St. Ulrich's, Augsburg.

—In Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, the author refers to a book containing an account, with illustrations, of the Trésor of the church of St. Ulrich at Augsburg; he also adds, "this book is now very rare." Could any of your correspondents inform me who is the author; for I have searched the Museum catalogue under the names "Augsburg and Ulric, or Udalric," without any success? Probably, if I had the author's name, I might run some chance of finding it.

W. B.

The late Mr. Miller of Craigentinny.

—I should be glad if any of your Edinburgh or other correspondents could favour me with any particulars relating to the above gentleman. He was a well-known book collector, and in the spirit of his purchases the legitimate successor of Richard Heber. He bequeathed his noble collection of books to the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. In early English poetry the collection is almost unrivalled. Mr. Miller was the purchaser of the Heber Ballads. The collection, in money market value, is nearly equal to the Grenville gift to the British Museum. I have heard the title to the property of Craigentinny was in dispute.

PETROPROMONTORIENSIS.

Whipping Boys.

—Will any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform me when ceased the custom of male heirs apparent to the throne of England having whipping boys? when and why it originated? what remuneration such boys received? and whether our queens had during their state of pupillage any such kinds of convenience. I have only met with the names of two whipping boys; Brown, who stood for Edward VI., and Mungo Murray, who did the like for Charles.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Edwards of Essex.

—This family can be traced to Anstey from 1700. A descendant in New York has the arms: Argent, a fess ermines between 3. martlets (2. and 1.) sable. Can any correspondent find him any old branches of his family tree?

E.

New York.

Minor Queries Answered.

Polynesian Languages.

—Where could I obtain Testaments in the various languages of Polynesia, more especially in the Feejeean and Samoan? I have applied at the British and Foreign Bible Society without success. These Testaments have been published by this society.

EBLANENSIS.

[Our correspondent should consult The Bible of every Land, lately published by Bagster and Sons, which gives some account of the different Polynesian and Malayan versions.—See Class V., pp. 299-312.]

Arms of Thompson.

—Will any of your Lancashire correspondents be kind enough to inform me whether they have ever met with the following arms in connexion with the name of Thompson in any work on the history of Lancashire, or on any monument in that county, namely, "Per pale, argent and sable, a fess embattled between three falcons, countercharged, belled or?" I believe a family of the name to which the arms are attributed held landed property in the neighbourhood of Hornby and Gressingham.

JAYTEE.

[We know nothing beyond the fact of such a coat being described in an ordinary of arms for Thompson of Lancashire, without any particular locality.]

The Silent Woman.

—What is the origin of the old sign-board "The Silent Woman?" She is represented headless, holding her head under her arm. There is, or was, a sign of this at a small ale-house not far from Ledbury, in Herefordshire, and I was told it was not an uncommon sign in these parts.

F. J. H.

Edinburgh.

[Has not this sign, which we have seen also described as that of The Good Woman, its origin in the satirical spirit which prompted the Dutch epigrammist to write,—

Review of Hewett's Memoirs of Rustat.

—In what literary paper can I find review of Mr. Hewett's Memoirs of Tobias Rustat?

C. W.

[A review of this work will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1850, pp. 638-640.]

Robert Recorde.

—Can any of your readers inform me whether Robert Recorde, who in 1549, or possibly some years later, was Comptroller of the Mint at Bristol, was the same person as the author of The Whetstone of Wit, and other mathematical works? Also, whether there is any fuller account of his life to be met with than that given by Hutton?

J. E.

[It does not appear that Robert Recorde, the celebrated mathematician, was ever connected with the Bristol mint. The best account we have met with of the author of The Whetstone of Wit, is in Mr. Halliwell's pamphlet on The Connexion of Wales with the Early Science of England, 8vo., 1840. Consult also a very able and learned article in the Companion to the British Almanack for 1837, pp. 30-37., by Professor De Morgan.]

Strange Opinions of great Divines.

—I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can give me references to the following quotations from the works of two great divines:

(1.) "I would that we were well rid of this [the Athanasian] Creed."

(2.) "The Apocalypse either finds a man mad, or leaves him so."

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

[1. The first quotation will be found in a letter of Archbishop Tillotson's to Bishop Burnet, dated Oct. 23, 1694. The archbishop says, "The account given of Athanasius' Creed (i.e. in Burnet's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles) seems to me no-wise satisfactory. I wish we were well rid of it." Dr. Birch adds, "The archbishop did not long survive the writing of this letter."—See Birch's Life of Tillotson, edit. 1752, p. 343.; ed. 1753, p. 315. Consult also Remarks upon Dr. Birch's Life of Tillotson, 8vo., 1753, p. 53., anonymous, but attributed to George Smith, a Nonjuror.

2. The second quotation is probably the following, which occurs in Dr. South's Sermon on the Nature and Measures of Conscience (Serm. XXIII.): "Because the light of natural conscience is in many things defective and dim, and the internal voice of God's Spirit not always distinguishable, above all, let a man attend to the mind of God, uttered in His revealed Word: I say, His revealed Word; by which I do not mean that mysterious, extraordinary (and of late so much studied) book called 'The Revelation,' and which, perhaps, the more it is studied, the less it is understood, as generally either finding a man cracked, or making him so; but I mean those other writings of the prophets and apostles, which exhibit to us a plain, sure, perfect, and intelligible rule; a rule that will neither fail nor distract such as make use of it."]

Inquisitiones Post Mortem.

—What are these, extending to seven volumes, regularly paged, and coming down to 1656, referred to in Oldfield's History of Wainfleet? Are they printed works? It is quite a different publication to the Calendarium, &c. in four volumes.

When did the Post Mortem Inquisitions cease?

W. H. L.

[The Inquisitiones quoted by Oldfield are sometimes called Cole's Escheats, and will be found in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum, the first five volumes in Nos. 756. to 760., and the sixth and seventh, Nos. 410, 411.]

Derivation of Carmarthen.

—What is the derivation of this word Carmarthen?

LLEWELLYN.

[Caermarthen appears to have been the Maridunum of Ptolemy, and the Muridunum of Antoninus, one of the principal stations in the country of the Dimetæ, situated on the Via Julia, or great Roman road. Its modern name of Caermarthen, or Caer Fyrdden, as it is called by the Welsh (by a change of the convertible consonants f and m, common in their language), implies "a military station fortified with walls," and perfectly agrees with the description given by Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls it, "Urbs antiqua coctilibus muris."]

"Mediæval and Middle Ages."

—These terms are now in constant use, and very differently and vaguely defined. Will any of your correspondents, antiquaries or historians, say what period is comprehended in these terms, and give the date when it should commence, and when terminate?

L. T.

[The late lamented Rev. J. G. Dowling, in his Introduction to the Critical Study of Ecclesiastical History, fixes upon the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, as the commencement of the Mediæval, or Middle Ages, which he thinks ended with the revival of classical literature in the fifteenth century, "that age of transition and revolution, combining in itself several of the most striking characteristics of the two states of society between which it forms the interval." This able work ought to find a place in the library of every ecclesiastical student.]

Garlands hung up in Churches.

—It is said that the pretty wild flower, the small Woodruff (Asperula Cynanchica), was formerly employed in adorning the walls of churches. Is this true? If so, what was the origin of the custom? Was this particular flower thus used for the reason that it long preserves its scent? Is it mentioned by any early poet in connexion with the decoration of churches?

R. VINCENT.

[Garlands of Rosemary and Woodroof were formerly used to decorate the churches on St. Barnabas' day, as appears by many old entries and church-books; e.g. in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, in the city of London, 17 and 19 Edward IV., the following entry occurs: "For Rose garlondis and Woodrove garlondis on St. Barnebe's daye, xjd." The reason Woodroof was used, Gerard tells us in his Historie of Plants, p. 965.: "It doth very well attemper the aire, coole and make fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are therein."]