Volume 5 — Queries.

POEM BY NICHOLAS BRETON.

I have recently purchased a small manuscript in quarto, containing fifteen leaves, written about the year 1590, which consists of a poem in six cantos, without title or name of the author, but which, I feel convinced, from the style, is one of the numerous works of Nicholas Breton. In the hope that some of your correspondents may be able to identify the poem, which may possibly be printed in some of Breton's very rare works, I subjoin the commencing stanzas:

These two stanzas are by no means favourable specimens of the entire poem, but I prefer to give them, because the work itself may be printed. If it appears, on inquiry, to be still inedited, I may venture to submit a few other extracts from it of a more illustrative character. Our bibliographers would be more useful guides, were they always to give the first lines of old poems. I have a tolerably good library, but can find no work sufficiently descriptive of Breton's works to enable me to trace the above.

H.

THE VIRTUOSI, OR ST. LUKE'S CLUB.

Where is to be found that intensely interesting MS. Lot 120., Sixth Day's Sale, at Strawberry Hill, a folio tract entitled The "Virtuosi," or St. Luke's Club, held at the Rose Tavern, first established by Sir Anthony Vandyke; with Autographs of all the eminent Artists of the day?

Such is the account of Mr. George Robins, to the sound of whose hammer it fell, let us hope, into worthy hands.

By the aid of a note made whilst the several precious contents of that "Gothic Vatican of Greece and Rome," as I think Pope described it, were on view, I hope to whet the appetite of some of our literary vultures:

"Rose Tavern, Mar. 5. 1697.

"An order for raising an annual fund for pictures; with twenty names of stewards."

What say you, Mr. Editor, to such subscribing parties as, among others, "Grinling Gibbons, Michael Dahl, J. Closterman, and Christopher Wren?" I cannot remember more, but I think "Alex. Verrio" was among them.

Mem. the second: as entries in a sort of journal:

"That our steward, John Chicheley, Esquire, gave us this day a Westphalia Ham, which had been omitted in his entertainment on St. Luke's day."

Again:

"Paid and spent at Spring Gardens, by Knightsbridge, forfeiture £3 15 shgs."

Why, Mr. Editor, here are the new Roxburgh Revels of the Knights of the Brush and Palette. And now that the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day is expected to take out his diploma, and the ex-Premier is to be the new Professor of Perspective, vice the author of the Fallacies of Hope, it becomes a question of prevailing interest, which I commend to the research of your dilettanti querists. It may be a thread of connexion with those stores of precious materials obtained by Walpole from the widow of that persevering investigator George Virtue.

J. H. A.

THE RABBIT AS A SYMBOL.

The 29th vol. of the Archæologia contains an interesting "description of a monumental effigy of Richard Cœur de Lion, recently discovered in the cathedral of Notre Dame at Rouen," by Alfred Way, Esq., who, with his usual precision, has noticed what he very properly calls "some singular details" beneath the figure of the lion crouching at the king's feet; among these details is "the head of a rabbit[1] peeping out of its burrow, and, a little above, a dog warily watching the mouth of the hole." Mr. Way adds:

"I have met with nothing among the accessory ornaments of monumental sculpture analogous to this; and though convinced that what in itself may appear a trifling detail, was not placed here without design, I am quite at a loss to conjecture what could have been its import."

The same symbol or device, well known to all lovers of ancient wood-engraving, appears in some of the earliest specimens of that art. It is found in an impression of one of the oldest known playing-cards, representing the knave of diamonds, now in the print-room of the British Museum, of which a fac-simile is inserted at p. 214. of Chatto's History of Playing Cards. Another instance of this device occurs (without the dog) in an old woodcut, dated 1418, discovered a few years ago at Malines, of which a copy appeared in the Athenæum of Oct. 4, 1845. And a third example is contained in that celebrated and unique woodcut of St. Christopher, dated 1423, in the possession of Earl Spencer, copies of which may be found in Janson's Essai sur l'Origine de la Gravure, and in Ottley's work. Being as fully convinced as Mr. Way that the symbols he observed on the effigy of Richard at Rouen were never introduced without design, but that they were meant to convey some esoteric signification, I have for many years consulted both books and friends to obtain an explanation of this allegorical device, but without success. As a last resource, I address myself to the "N. & Q.," in hopes, from their having now obtained so wide a circulation, that I may receive through their medium, and the kindness of a more learned correspondent, a solution of this enigma.

P.S.—In addition to the above four instances of the device of a rabbit occurring in ancient sculpture and wood-engraving, a French writer, M. Th. Gautier, in the feuilleton of La Presse of the 27th September, 1851, describes the Madonna of Albert Durer as being "presque toujours accompagnée d'un lapin," derived (in his opinion) from a "vague ressouvenir du panthéisme Germanique."

SYMBOL.

IS WYLD'S GREAT GLOBE A PLAGIARISM FROM MOLENAX? (Vol. v., p. 467.)

Some time ago I made the following Notes, which, though they throw some light on the subject of Molineux's globe, yet they do not bear out MR. EASTWOOD'S conjecture. The first is from Richard Hakluyt's Address to the Reader in The Principal Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, folio, 1589:

"Nowe, because peraduenture it would bee expected as necessarie, that the descriptions of so many parts of the world would farre more easily be conceiued of the Reader, by adding Geographicall and Hydrographicall tables thereunto, thou art by the way to be admonished that I haue contented myselfe with inserting into the worke one of the best generall mappes of the world onely, vntill the comming out of a very large and most exact terrestriall Globe, collected and reformed according to the newest, secretest, and latest discoueries, both Spanish, Portugall, and English, composed by M. Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, a rare Gentleman in his profession, being therein for divers yeeres greatly supported by the purse and liberalitie of the worshipfull marchant M. William Sanderson."

My second Note is from the rare little volume by John Davis, entitled, The Worlde's Hydrographical Discription, 12mo., London, 1595:

"The cause why I vse this particular relation of all my proceedinges for this discouery, is to stay this obiection, why hath not Dauis discouered this passage [the North-west] being thrise that waies imploied, and how far I proceeded, and in what fourme this discouery lyeth, doth appeare vpon the Globe which Master Sanderson to his verye great charge hath published, whose labouring indevour for the good of his countrie deserueth great fauour and commendations, made by Master Emery Mullineux, a man wel qualited, of a good iudgement and verye expert in many excellent practises, in myselfe being the onely meane with Master Sanderson to imploy Master Mullineux therein, whereby he is nowe growne to a most exquisite perfection."

P. 25.

And here a Query may not be out of place. Whose account of Iceland does Nash refer to?

In the writings of our early navigators, there is frequent allusion to terrestrial globes. This of Mollineux's, for instance, contains Davis's own discoveries, and should therefore be of some importance. In the tract just quoted, Davis says:

"It is wel knowne that we haue globes in the most excellent perfection of arte, and haue the vse of them in as exquisite sort, as Master Robert Hues in his book of the globes vse, lately published, hath at large made known."

P. 41.

And in an unpublished MS. relating to Sir Thomas Button's voyage, addressed to King James I. in 1610, the writer says:

"I haue left wth Mr. Wright in yor librarie att St James, a hand globe terrestriall for demonstrac̅on of these."

Do any of the globes exist, and where?

As I am about to reprint Davis's tract with additional illustrations, including the MS. above referred to, I shall be glad to receive any particulars of the life of Davis, and of his connexion with that great patron of discovery, William Sanderson; of his death, any reference to his autograph, and to any authentic portrait of him.

JOHN PETHERAM.

Minor Queries.

Poem on the Burning of the Houses of Parliament.

—On the 17th of October, 1834, the houses of parliament were burnt down, and I believe you will recollect that very soon afterwards a long serio-comic poem was published, detailing the event; the following stray morsels of which just occur to me:

Again—

I wish very much to find out this poem, or whatever else it may be called; can you assist me? I am told it was published in one of the weekly papers at the time, probably the Sunday Times or Dispatch.

T. B.

Exeter.

Newton's Library.

—In 1813, Leigh and Sotheby sold the books of Mrs. Anne Newton, professing to contain the collection of Newton's own books. As it is fully believed that no personal property of Newton descended to any relatives of his name, how is this pretension explained? The statement is copied from Sotheby's catalogue of sales into Hartwell Horne's Bibliography, and will be credited at a future time, if not now called in question.

M.

Meaning of Royd.

—What is the meaning of the word Royd, which is attached to the names of so many persons and places in Yorkshire, as Ackroyd, Learoyd, Brownroyd, and Boltonroyd?

C. W.

The Cromwell Family.

—I have in my possession a document, which shows that my great-grandfather, "William Cromwell of London," mason, was admitted into

"The freedom aforesaid, and sworn in the Mayoralty of Thomas Wright, Esq., Mayor, and John Wilkes, Esq., Chamberlain; and is entered in the book signed with the letter A., relating to the purchasing of freedom and the admission of freemen, (to wit) the 4th day of April, in the 26th year of the reign of King George the Third, and in the year of our Lord 1786. In witness whereof," &c.

The parchment bears the initials "J. W."

I am anxious to learn, from some of your numerous correspondents, whether this person once lived near Bath, and then at Hammersmith? and, secondly, whether he was descended from the Protector?

J. G. C.

Sir John Darnell, Knt.

—Who was Sir John Darnell, whom did he marry, who were his father and mother, and what arms did he bear? His daughter Mary was married to the Hon. Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of Scotland (alive in 1773). Any other particulars regarding his family will be gratefully received by

E. N.

Royal "We."

—Can you inform me when, and under what circumstances, the use by royalty in Europe sprung up, of using the plural "we" instead of "I," the first person singular?

FRANCIS J. GRUBB.

Gondomar.

—Mr. Macaulay, in one of his "Essays," remarks,

"The skill of the Spanish diplomatists was renowned throughout Europe. In England the name of Gondomar is still remembered."

True, oft have I heard of thee, Count Gondomar, and have read from time to time divers anecdotes of thy wit and wisdom, quips and quiddities. But is it not passing strange that this man, this Spanish Don, who, as is well known, exercised such a powerful influence over the weak-minded "Solomon of Whitehall," and who, moreover, bore so large a share in the murder of the brave and highly gifted Raleigh, should be excluded from a niche in the biographical temple; for such I am told is the case. Having deputed a friend to make search for me in the several biographical dictionaries, he reports that the name of Gondomar is not to be found in the best book of the kind, the Biographie Universelle, nor in the dictionaries of Rose and Chalmers. This desideratum will, I confidently hope, ere long be supplied through the medium of "N. & Q.," by some of its learned contributors.

W. STANLEY SIMMONDS.

Wallington's Journal.

—At the sale of the library of Mr. Joseph Gulston, 1784, was sold a Journal of Mr. Nehemiah Wallington, a Puritan divine, written in the year 1630. This volume probably contains some curious matters respecting the Puritans of the day; and, as it is much desired, should any person know of its whereabouts, I should feel much obliged by a note of it.

R.

Epistola Luciferi, &c.

—Nicolas Oresmius, or d'Oresme, bishop of Lisieux, who died in 1382, wrote Epistola Luciferi ad prælatos Ecclesiæ, afterwards printed, Magd. 1549, 8vo., and in Wolf's Lect. Memor., vol. i. p. 654. So far Fabricius. Who was Lucifer? I mean, was he the potentate who goes by the opposite name of the Prince of Darkness? And what is the tenor of his letter? The bishop was a quiet man, of orthodox fame, and tutor to a king of France.

M.

Cambrian Literature.

—Being a collector of works on Druidical remains and Cambrian history, I shall feel greatly favoured if any of your numerous readers will answer me the following questions, viz.:—

1st. The name of the first book or commentary printed in any language abroad, previous to the introduction of printing into England, actually written by a Cambrian?

2nd. The first book printed in the English language, actually written by a Cambrian then living?

3rd. The first and second books printed in England in the Welsh language?

4th. The first book printed in the Welsh language abroad?

5th. The first book printed in the Welsh language in Wales?

6th. The most ancient author in MSS. and in print who mentions Stonehenge and Aubury; also the monument called Cromlêch?

7th. Who has on sale the most extensive collection of Welsh books, and those relating to British history?

P. B. W

7. Harrington Street, Regent's Park.

"VCRIMDR" on Coins of Vabalathus (Vol. v., p. 148.).

—As no professed Oriental scholar has directed any attention to this word yet, and as, although root in the words Karimat and Akram appears the same, the analogy to VCRIMDR is not very obvious, I may mention that on searching further I have found the adjective Ucr, with the various meanings, weighty, precious, esteemed, honourable. I leave it to Orientalists to tell us if VCRIMDR is a compound or an inflexion of Ucr. I regret that owing to a peculiarity in my handwriting, De Gauley was twice substituted for De Sauley in my last note, Vol. v., p. 149.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

Lines on Woman.—

Will any of your readers be kind enough to favour me with the completion of the above stanza, as well as to state who is the author of the same?

J. T.

Penkenol.

—John Aubrey, the antiquary, in his Collections for North Wilts, Part I. p. 51. (Sir Thomas Phillips's edition), describing the stained glass in Dauntsey Church, uses the following expression:

"Memorandum. The crescents in these coats: Therefore Sir John [Danvers] was not the penkenol."

The word is correctly printed from the original MS. Can any of your readers explain its meaning?

J. E. J.

Fairfax Family Mansion.

—On the right-hand side of the road between Tadcaster and Thorpe Arch, Yorkshire, extends the domain of the Fairfax family. The mansion, a comfortable old fashioned red-brick Tudor-looking structure, stands some two hundred yards back in the grounds through which, from the road to the front door of the house, extends a fine avenue of chestnuts, terminated at the roadside by a pair of venerable, rusty, and decaying iron gates which are kept closed; the entrance to the park being by a sort of side gateway of insignificant and field-like appearance further on. Can any of your readers give me the facts, or the local tradition which accounts for this peculiarity? I believe it is a family incident of somewhat historical interest, and a subject on which I am desirous of information.

G. W.

Postman and Tubman in the Court of Exchequer.

—In the Legal Observer of the 24th April, I find the following:

"LAW PROMOTION.—Mr. James Wilde has been appointed to the office of Postman, in the Court of Exchequer. The Postman is the senior counsel without the bar attending the court, and has pre-audience of the attorney and solicitor-general in making the first motion upon the opening of the court. The Tubman is the next senior counsel without the bar. The Postman and Tubman have particular places assigned them by the Chief Baron in open court."

My Query is, from whence and at what date these two offices sprang into existence, with a list of the persons who have occupied them. And it would be as well to inquire what their duties are: for although Stephen's Blackstone derives the names from the places in which the individuals themselves sit, still the explanation hardly conveys sufficient to gather what their duties are.

JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.

Second Exhumation of King Arthur's Remains.

—What chronicle narrates the circumstances of the second disinterment of King Arthur's bones in Glastonbury, temp. Edw. I. (A.D. 1298)?

H. G. T.

Stukeley the Antiquary, and Boston.

—In Anecdotes of British Topography, &c. (Lond. 1768), occurs the following, speaking of Boston:—

"The Churchwardens' account from 1453 to 1597, and the town-book, wrote by Mr. John Stukeley, 1676, one of his (Dr. Stukeley's) ancestors, are in the hands of the Doctor's son-in-law, Mr. Fleming."

Query, into whose hands have the above records fallen? Did Stukeley leave a family?

The name of "Wm. Stukeley" is appended to sundry parish records, anno 1713, at Boston. I believe he practised here for some years.

THOMAS COLLIS.

Letters of Arthur Lord Balmerino.

—Can any one inform me if there are any letters extant of Arthur, seventh Lord Balmerino, and where they are deposited?

W. PELHAM A.

Rochester.

Portrait of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland.

—Is any portrait known of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, who was beheaded at York, A.D. 1572, for the part he took in the "Rising in the North?"

E. PEACOCK, Jr.

Newtonian System.

—Is it known who was the author of a satirical pamphlet against Newton: The Theology and Philosophy in Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis" explained, London, 1751, 8vo.? And has an absurd story which it contains, relative to Newton, Locke, and Lord Pembroke visiting Patrick, the barometer-maker, to be shown that the mercurial vacuum was not a perfect one, ever been told elsewhere?

M.

Antiquity of Vanes.

—We are informed by Baron Maseres, as quoted by Lingard, that the Danes, in the last invasion by Sweyn, 1013, had vanes in the shape of birds or dragons fixed on their masts, to point out the direction of the wind. Is there any record of an earlier adoption of this method of ascertaining the way of the wind?

B. B.

Richard of Cirencester de Situ Britanniæ.

—Is this work a forgery or not? Charles Julius Bertram, Professor of English in the Royal Marine Academy at Copenhagen, wrote to Dr. Stukeley in 1747 that such a manuscript was in the hands of a friend of his. It was not until some time had elapsed, and after Dr. Stukeley was presented to St. George's Church, Queen Square, that he "pressed Mr. Bertram to get the manuscript into his own hands, if possible; which, at length, with some difficulty, he accomplished;" and sent to Dr. Stukeley, in letters, a transcript of the whole. Authors go on quoting from this work as genuine authority, and therefore are perhaps misleading themselves and their readers; and it would be conferring a great boon if "N. & Q." could clear up the doubt as to its authenticity.

Mr. Worsaae, the eminent Danish author, or his English translator, are exactly in the position to render this further service to antiquarian literature; and, as relating to the subject of Roman Britain, the question is of so much interest that a little trouble would not, probably, be deemed uselessly expended in the inquiry.

G. I.

Spanish Vessels wrecked on the Irish Coast.

—Is it true that sixteen Spanish vessels, with 5300 men on board, were wrecked on the coast of Ireland in 1589, and all put to the sword or hanged by the executioner, at the command of the Lord Deputy; who found that they had saved and got on shore a good deal of their treasure which he wanted to secure for himself. Where is any account of it to be found? How came Spanish ships so far north?

CYRUS REDDING.

Analysis of Newton's Principia.

—In the Journal des Savants for April of this year, the celebrated mathematician Biot, in a review of the Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Cotes (Cambridge, 1850), makes mention, with the highest praise, of an analysis of Sir Isaac's Principia contained in the Acta Eruditorum for 1688. Mons. Biot says that at that time there were only two men who could have written such an analysis, Halley and Newton himself; but adds, that the style is not Halley's, being too concise and simple for him. His admiration could not have been contained within such bounds. M. Biot firmly believes that the writer of this analysis was no other than Newton himself (ex ungue Leonem), and earnestly calls on the learned of England and Germany to assist in discovering the origin of the analysis; should there perhaps be any means left for doing so in the literary depôts of the two countries. Permit a contributor to "N. & Q." to repeat M. Biot's inquiry through the medium of a publication far more extensively circulated in England than the Journal des Savants.

J. M.

Minor Queries Answered.

Welsh Women's Hats.

—What was the origin of the peculiar hat so universally worn by women of the lower orders in Wales; and at what period did it come into use?

TREBOR.

[A gentleman who has resided for the last half century in the Principality, and to whom we submitted our correspondent's Query, has kindly forwarded the following reply:—"I have consulted bards, Welsh scholars, &c., and am sorry that I cannot forward any satisfactory account of the custom alluded to by TREBOR. Some say, we remember the time when the women wore ordinary felt hats manufactured from their own wool: one or two travelling hatters occasionally settled at Bangor, who made and sold beaver hats. We do not think that the women here intended to adopt any particular costume; but retained the hat as agreeing with the peculiar close cap, and projecting border, which it leaves in view, and in possession of its own uprightness! The fashion is going out; all our young people adopt the English bonnet with the English language. The flat hat, with a broad brim, is still retained in the mountain regions."]

Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

—Perhaps some of your readers will kindly inform the Pancake Eating Public as to the period "when," and the reason "why" such a custom grew into existence?

I have frequently heard the question mooted upon this anniversary, without ever hearing, or being able to give, a satisfactory elucidation of it; but it is to be hoped that "N. & Q." will supply the desideratum ere long, and confer a favour on

A LOVER OF PANCAKES AND AN UPHOLDER OF ANCIENT CUSTOMS.

Temple, Shrove Tuesday, 1852.

[Fosbrooke, in his Encyclopædia of Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 572., informs us that "Pancakes, the Norman Crispellæ, are taken from the Fornacalia, on Feb. 18, in memory of the practice in use before the goddess Fornax invented ovens." The Saxons called February "Solmonath," which Dr. Frank Sayers, in his Disquisitions, says is explained by Bede "Mensis placentarum," and rendered by Spelman, in an inedited manuscript, "Pancake Month," because in the course of it cakes were offered by the Pagan Saxons to the sun. So much for the "when:" now for the reason "why" the custom was adopted by the Christian church.

Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, as it is sometimes called, from being the vigil of Ash Wednesday, was a day when every one was bound to confess, and be shrove or shriven. That none might plead forgetfulness of this duty, the great bell was rung at an early hour in every parish, called the Pancake Bell, for the following reasons given by Taylor, the Water Poet, in his Jacke-a-Lent (Works, p. 115. fol. 1630). He tells us, "On Shrove Tuesday there is a bell rung, called the Pancake Bell, the sound whereof makes thousands of people distracted, and forgetful either of manner or humanitie. Then there is a thinge called wheaten floure, which the sulphory, necromanticke cookes doe mingle with water, egges, spice, and other tragicall, magicall inchantments, and then they put it by little and little into a frying-pan of boyling suet, where it makes a confused dismal hissing, like the Lernean snakes in the reeds of Acheron, Stix, or Phlegeton, until at last by the skill of the cooke it is transformed into the forme of a Flap-Jack, which in our translation is called a Pancake, which ominous incantation the ignorant people doe devoure very greedily, having for the most part well dined before; but they have no sooner swallowed that sweet-candied baite, but straight their wits forsake them, and they runne starke mad, assembling in routs and throngs numberlesse of ungovernable numbers, with uncivill civill commotions." In the "Forme of Cury," published with other cookery in Warner's Antiquitates Culinariæ, p. 33., and written in 1390, we find a kind of fried cakes called "comadore," composed of figs, raisins, and other fruits, steeped in wine, and folded up in paste, to be fried in oil. This suggests another savoury Query, Whether this is not an improvement on our apple fritters?]

Shakspeare, Tennyson, and Claudian.—

I remember having seen quoted, à propos of the lines of Shakspeare, a passage from some Latin poet (Claudian, I think) which contained the same idea. Can you, or any of your correspondents, favour me with it; as also where they are to be found? And can they give me the origin and reason of the idea.

H. JOHNSTON.

Liverpool.

[The passage to which our correspondent refers is most probably that already quoted by Steevens, from Persius, Sat. I.