p-books.com
Notes and Queries, Number 190, June 18, 1853
Author: Various
1  2     Next Part
Home - Random Browse

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

{589} NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

* * * * *

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

* * * * *

No. 190.] Saturday, June 18, 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:— Page

On the Use of the Hour-glass in Pulpits 589 The Megatherium Americanum in the British Museum 590 Remunerations of Authors, by Alexander Andrews 591 Coincident Legends, by Thomas Keightley 591 Shakespeare Readings, No. VIII. 592 Shakespeare's Use of the Idiom "No had" and "No hath not," by S. W. Singer, &c. 593

MINOR NOTES:—The Formation of the Woman, Gen. ii. 21, 22.—Singular Way of showing Displeasure —The Maids and the Widows—Alison's "Europe"— "Bis dat, qui cito dat:" "Sat cito, si sat bene" 593

QUERIES:—

House-marks 594

Minor Queries:—"Seductor Succo"—Anna Lightfoot —Queries from the "Navorscher"—"Amentium haud Amantium"—"Hurrah!" and other War-cries —Kissing Hands at Court—Uniforms of the three Regiments of Foot Guards, temp. Charles II.—Raffaelle's Sposalizio—"To the Lords of Convention"— Richard Candishe, M.P.—Alphabetical Arrangement— Saying of Pascal—Irish Characters on the Stage— Family of Milton's Widow—Table-moving 595

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:—Form of Petition, &c.—Bibliography—Peter Francius and De Wilde— Work by Bishop Ken—Eugene Aram's Comparative Lexicon—Drimtaidhvrickhillichattan—Coins of Europe—General Benedict Arnold 596

REPLIES:—

Parish Registers: Right of Search, by G. Brindley Acworth 598 The Honourable Miss E. St. Leger, a Freemason, by Henry H. Breen 598 Weather Rules, by John Booker, &c. 599 Scotchmen in Poland, by Richard John King 600 Mr. Justice Newton 600 The Marriage Ring 601 Canada, &c. 602 Selling a Wife, by William Bates 602 Enough 603

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:—Mr. Wilkinson's Mode of levelling Cameras—Collodion Negative— Developing Collodion Process—An iodizing Difficulty 604

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Bishop Frampton—Parochial Libraries—Pierrepont—Passage in Orosius —Pugna Porcorum—Oaken Tombs and Effigies— Bowyer Bible—Longevity—Lady Anne Gray—Sir John Fleming—Life—Family of Kelway—Sir G. Browne, Bart.—Americanisms, so called—Sir Gilbert Gerard, &c. 605

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes on Books, &c. 610 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 610 Notices to Correspondents 610 Advertisements 611

* * * * *

Notes.

ON THE USE OF THE HOUR-GLASS IN PULPITS.

George Herbert says:

"The parson exceeds not an hour in preaching, because all ages have thought that a competency."—A Priest to the Temple, p. 28.

Ferrarius, De Ritu Concion., lib. i. c. 34., makes the following statement:

"Huic igitur certo ac communi malo (the evil of too long sermons) ut medicinam facerent, Ecclesiae patres in concionando determinatum dicendi tempus fereque unius horae spatio conclusum aut ipsi sibi praescribant, aut ab aliis praefinitum religiose observabant."

Bingham, commenting on this passage, observes:

"Ferrarius and some others are very positive that they (their sermons) were generally an hour long; but Ferrarius is at a loss to tell by what instrument they measured their hour, for he will not venture to affirm that they preached, as the old Greek and Roman orators declaimed, by an hour-glass."—See Bingham, vol. iv. p. 582.

This remark of Bingham's brings me at once to the subject of my present communication. What evidence exists of the practice of preaching by the hour-glass, thus treated as improbable, if not ridiculous, by the learned writer just quoted? If the early Fathers of the church timed their sermons by any instrument of the kind, we should expect their writings to contain internal evidence of the fact, just as frequent allusion is made by Demosthenes and other ancient orators to the klepshydra or water-clock, by which the time allotted to each speaker was measured. Besides, the close proximity of such an instrument would be a constant source of metaphorical allusion on the subject of time and eternity. Perhaps those of your readers who are familiar with the extant sermons of the Greek and Latin fathers, may be able to supply some illustration on this subject. At all events there appears to be indisputable evidence of the use of the hour-glass in the pulpit formerly in this country. {590}

In an extract from the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of St. Helen, in Abingdon, Berks, we find the following entry:

"Anno MDXCI. 34 Eliz. 'Payde for an houre-glasse for the pulpit,' 4d."—See Hone's Table-Book, vol. i. p. 482.

Among the accounts of Christ Church, St. Catherine's, Aldgate, under the year 1564, this entry occurs:

"Paid for an hour-glass that hangeth by the pulpitt when the preacher doth make a sermon that he may know how the hour passeth away."—Malcolm's Londinium, vol. iii. p. 309., cited Southey's Common-Place Book, 4th Series, p. 471.

In Fosbrooke (Br. Mon., p. 286.) I find the following passage:

"A stand for an hour-glass still remains in many pulpits. A rector of Bibury (in Gloucestershire) used to preach two hours, regularly turning the glass. After the text the esquire of the parish withdrew, smoaked his pipe, and returned to the blessing."

The authority for this, which Fosbrooke cites, is Rudder's Gloucestershire, in "Bibury." It is added that lecturers' pulpits have also hour-glasses The woodcuts in Hawkins's Music, ii. 332., are referred to in support of this statement. I regret that I have no means of consulting the two last-mentioned authorities.

In 1681 some poor crazy people at Edinburgh called themselves the Sweet Singers of Israel. Among other things, they renounced the limiting the Lord's mind by glasses. This is no doubt in allusion to the hour-glass, which Mr. Water, the editor of the fourth series of Southey's Common-Place Book, informs us is still to be found, or at least its iron frame, in many churches, adding that the custom of preaching by the hour-glass commenced about the end of the sixteenth century. I cannot help thinking that an earlier date must be assigned to this singular practice. (See Southey's Common-Place Book, 4th series, p. 379.) Mr. Water states that one of these iron frames still exists at Ferring in Sussex. The iron extinguishers still to be found on the railing opposite large houses in London, are a similar memorial of an obsolete custom.

I trust some contributor to the "N. & Q." will be able to supply farther illustrations of this custom. Should it be revived in our own times, I fear most parishes would supply only a half-hour glass for the pulpit of their church, however unanimous antiquity may be in favour of sermons of an hour's duration. One advantage presented by this ancient and precise practice was, that the squire of the parish knew exactly when it was time to put out his pipe and return for the blessing, which he cannot ascertain under the present uncertain and indefinite mode of preaching. Fosbrooke (Br. Mon., p. 286.) states that the priest had sometimes a watch found for him by the parish. The authority cited for this is the following entry in the accounts of the Chantrey Wardens of the parish of Shire in Surrey:

"Received for the priest's watch after he was dead, 13s. 4d."—Manning's Surrey, vol. i. p. 531.

This entry seems to be rather too vague and obscure to warrant the inference drawn from it. This also may be susceptible of farther illustration.

A. W. S.

Temple.

* * * * *

THE MEGATHERIUM AMERICANUM IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Amongst the most interesting specimens of that collection certainly ranges the skeleton of the above animal of a primaeval world, albeit but a cast; the real bones, found in Buenos Ayres, being preserved in the Museum of Madrid. To imagine a sloth of the size of a large bear, somewhat baffles our imagination; especially if we ponder upon the size of trees on which such a huge animal must have lived. To have placed near him a nondescript branch (!!) of a palm, as has been done in the Museum here, is a terrible mistake. Palms there were none at that period of telluric formation; besides, no sloth ever could ascend an exogenous tree, as the simple form of the coma of leaves precludes every hope of motion, &c. I never can view those remnants of a former world, without being forcibly reminded of that most curious passage in Berosus, which I cite from memory:

"There was a flood raging then over parts of the world.... There were to be seen, however, on the walls of the temple of Belus, representations of animals, such as inhabited the earth before the Flood."

We may thence gather, that although the ancient world did not possess museums of stuffed animals, yet, the first collection of Icones is certainly that mentioned by Berosus. I think that it was about the times of the Crusades, that animals were first rudely preserved (stuffed), whence the emblems in the coats of arms of the nobility also took their origin. I have seen a MS. in the British Museum dating from this period, where the delineation of a bird of the Picus tribe is to be found. Many things which the Crusaders saw in Egypt and Syria were so striking and new to them, that they thought of means of preserving them as mementoes for themselves and friends. The above date, I think, will be an addition to the history of collections of natural history: a work wanting yet in the vast domain of modern literature.

A FOREIGN SURGEON.

Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury Square.

* * * * * {591}

REMUNERATION OF AUTHORS.

In that varied and interesting of antiquarian and literary curiosities, "N. & Q.," perhaps a collection of the prices paid by booksellers and publishers for works of interest and to authors of celebrity might find a corner. As a first contribution towards such a collection, if approved of, I send some Notes made some years ago, with the authorities from which I copied them. With regard to those cited on the authority of "R. Chambers," I cannot now say from which of Messrs. Chambers's publications I extracted them, but fancy it might have been the Cyclopaedia of English Literature. To any one disposed to swell the list of the remunerations of authors, I would suggest that Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature, Boswell's Life of Johnson, Johnson's Lives of the Poets and other works of every-day handling, would no doubt furnish many facts; but all my books being in the country, I have no means of searching, and therefore send my Notes in the fragmentary state in which I find them:—

Title of Work. Author. Publisher. Price. Authority. - - - - Gulliver's Travels Dean Swift Molte 300l. Sir W. Scott. - - - - Tom Jones H. Fielding Miller 600l. Ditto. and 100l. after - - - - Amelia Ditto Ditto 1000l. Ditto. - - - - History of England Dr. Smollett 2000l. Ditto. - - - - Memoirs of Richard Cumberland Himself Lackington 500l. Ditto. - - - - Vicar of Wakefield Dr. Goldsmith Newberry 50l. Dr. Johnson. - - - - Selections of English Poetry Ditto 200l. Lee Lewis. - - - - Deserted Village Ditto 100l. Sir W. Scott. - - - - Rasselas Dr. Johnson 100l. and 24l. Ditto after - - - - Traveller Dr. Goldsmith Newberry 21l. Wm. Irving - - - - Old English Baron Clara Reeve Dilly (Poultry) 10l. Sir W. Scott. - - - - Mysteries of Geo. Udolpho Ann Radcliffe Robinson 500l. Ditto - - - - Italian Ditto 800l. Ditto - - - - Mount Henneth Robert Bage Lowndes 30l. Ditto - - - - Translation of Jacob Ovid John Dryden Tonson 52l. 10s. R. Chambers. - - - - Ditto of 1200l. Virgil Ditto Ditto and Ditto subscriptions - - - - Fables and Ode for St. Cecilia's Ditto Ditto 250 guineas Ditto Day - - - - Paradise Lost John Milton Sam. Symmons 5l., 5l. 2nd edit., and Sir W. Scott. 8l. - - - - Translation of Alexander the Iliad Pope 1200l. R. Chambers. - - - - Ditto of the Odyssey (half) Ditto 600l. Ditto. - - - - Ditto ditto (remainder) Ditto Browne 500l. Ditto. - - - - Ditto ditto (ditto) Ditto Featon 300l. Ditto. - - - - Beggar's Opera (1st part) John Gay 400l. Ditto. - - - - Ditto (2nd part) Ditto 1100l. or 1200l. Ditto. - - - - Three abridged Histories of Dr. Goldsmith Newberry About 800l. Ditto. England - - - - History of Animated Nature Ditto Ditto 850l. Ditto. - - - - Lives of the Poets Dr. Johnson 210l. Ditto. - - - - Evelina Miss Burney 5l. Ditto. - - - - History of England during the Reign David Hume 200l. of the Stuarts - - - - Ditto ditto (remainder) Ditto 5000l. Ditto. - - - - History of Scotland Robertson 600l Creech. - - - - History of Charles V. Ditto 4500l. Ditto. - - - - Decline and Fall of the Roman Gibbon 6000l. R. Chambers. Empire - - - - Sermons (1st part) Blair 200l. Creech - - - - Ditto Tillotson 2500 guineas R. Chambers - - - - Childe Harold (4th canto) Lord Byron 2100l. Ditto. - - - - Poetical Works (whole) Ditto 15,000l. Ditto. - - - - Lay of the Last Minstrel Sir W. Scott Constable 600l. Ditto. - - - - Marmion Ditto Ditto 1050l. Miss Seward. - - - - Pleasures of Thos. Hope Campbell Mundell 1050l. R. Chambers. - - - - Gertrude of Wyoming Ditto Ditto 1500 guineas Ditto. - - - - Poems Crabbe Murray 3000l. Ditto. - - - - Irish Melodies Thomas Moore 500l. a year Ditto. - - - - Spelling Book Vyse 2200l. and 50l. a year Ditto. - - - - Philosophy of 1050l., 1st Natural History Smellie edition and 50l. each after Ditto - - - - Various (aggregate) Goethe 30,000 crowns Ditto. - - - - Ditto (ditto) Chateaubriand 500,000 francs Ditto. - - -

I perfectly agree with the suggestion of one of your correspondents, that, in a publication like yours, dealing with historic facts, the communications should not be anonymous, or made under noms de guerre. I therefore drop the initials with which I have signed previous communications, and append my name as suggested.

ALEXANDER ANDREWS.

* * * * *

COINCIDENT LEGENDS.

In the Scandinavian portion of the Fairy Mythology, there is a legend of a farmer cheating a Troll in an argument respecting the crops that were to be grown on the hill within which the latter resided. It is there observed that Rabelais tells the same story of a farmer and the Devil. I think there can be no doubt that these are not independent fictions, but that the legend is a transmitted one, the Scandinavian being the original, brought with them perhaps by the Normans. {592} But what are we to say to the actual fact of the same legend being found in the valleys of Afghanistan?

Masson, in his Narrative, &c. (iii. 297.), when speaking of the Tajiks of Lughman, says,—

"They have the following amusing story: In times of yore, ere the natives were acquainted with the arts of husbandry, the Shaitan, or Devil, appeared amongst them, and, winning their confidence, recommended them to sow their lands. They consented, it being farther agreed that the Devil was to be a sherik, or partner, with them. The lands were accordingly sown with turnips, carrots, beet, onions, and such vegetables whose value consists in the roots. When the crops were mature the Shaitan appeared, and generously asked the assembled agriculturists if they would receive for their share what was above ground or what was below. Admiring the vivid green hue of the tops, they unanimously replied that they would accept what was above ground. They were directed to remove their portion, when the Devil and his attendants dug up the roots and carried them away. The next year he again came and entered into partnership. The lands were now sown with wheat and other grains, whose value lies in their seed-spikes. In due time, as the crops had ripened, he convened the husbandmen, putting the same question to them as he did the preceding year. Resolved not to be deceived as before, they chose for their share what was below ground; on which the Devil immediately set to work and collected the harvest, leaving them to dig up the worthless roots. Having experienced that they were not a match for the Devil, they grew weary of his friendship; and it fortunately turned out that, on departing with his wheat, he took the road from Lughman to Barikab, which is proverbially intricate, and where he lost his road, and has never been heard of or seen since."

Surely here is simple coincidence, for there could scarcely ever have been any communication between such distant regions in remote times, and the legend has hardly been carried to Afghanistan by Europeans. There is, as will be observed, a difference in the character of the legends. In the Oriental one it is the Devil who outwits the peasants. This perhaps arises from the higher character of the Shaitan (the ancient Akriman) than that of the Troll or the mediaeval Devil.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE READINGS, NO. VIII.

I have to announce the detection of an important misprint, which completely restores sense, point, and antithesis to a sorely tormented passage in King Lear; and which proves at the same time that the corrector of MR. COLLIER'S folio, in this instance at least, is undeniably in error. Here, as elsewhere (whether by anticipation or imitation I shall not take upon me to decide), he has fallen into just the same mistake as the rest of the commentators: indeed it is startling to observe how regularly he suspects every passage that they have suspected, and how invariably he treats them in the same spirit of emendation (some places of course excepted, where his courage soars far beyond theirs; such as the memorable "curds and cream," "on a table of green frieze," &c.).

I say that the error of "the old corrector," in this instance, is undeniable, because the misprint I am about to expose, like the egg-problem of Columbus, when once shown, demonstrates itself: so that any attempt to support it by argument would be absurd, because superfluous.

There are two verbs, one in every-day use, the other obsolete, which, although of nearly opposite significations, and of very dissimilar sound, nevertheless differ only in the mutual exchange of place in two letters: these verbs are secure and recuse; the first implying assurance, the second want of assurance, or refusal. Hence any sentence would receive an opposite meaning from one of these verbs to what it would from the other.

Let us now refer to the opening scene of the Fourth Act of King Lear, where the old man offers his services to Gloster, who has been deprived of his eyes:

"Old Man. You cannot see your way.

Gloster. I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen Our means secure us, and our mere defects Prove our commodities."

Here one would suppose that the obvious opposition between means and defects would have preserved these words from being tampered with; and that, on the other hand, the absence of opposition between secure and commodious would have directed attention to the real error. But, no: all the worretting has been about means; and this unfortunate word has been twisted in all manner of ways, until finally "the old corrector" informs us that "the printer read wants 'means,' and hence the blunder!"

Now, mark the perfect antithesis the passage receives from the change of secure into recuse:

"Full oft 'tis seen Our means recuse us, and our mere defects Prove our commodities."

I trust I may be left in the quiet possession of whatever merit is due to this restoration. Some other of my humble auxilia have, before now, been coolly appropriated, with the most innocent air possible, without the slightest acknowledgment. One instance is afforded in MR. KEIGHTLEY'S communication to "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 136., where that gentleman not only repeats the explanation I had previously given of the same passage, but even does me the honour of requoting the same line of Shakspeare with which I had supported it.

I did not think it worth noticing at the time, nor should I now, were it not that MR. KEIGHTLEY'S {593} confidence in the negligence or want of recollection in your readers seems not have been wholly misplaced, if we may judge from MR. ARROWSMITH's admiring foot-note in last Number of "N. & Q.," p. 568.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

* * * * *

SHAKESPEARE'S USE OF THE IDIOM "NO HAD" AND "NO HATH NOT."

(Vol. vii., p. 520.)

We are under great obligations to the REV. MR. ARROWSMITH for his very interesting illustration of several misunderstood archaisms; and it may not be unacceptable to him if I call his attention to what seems to me a farther illustration of the above singular idiom, from Shakspeare himself.

In As You Like It, Act I. Sc. 3., where Rosalind has been banished by the Duke her uncle, we have the following dialogue between Celia and her cousin:

"Cel. O my poor Rosalind! whither wilt thou go? Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine. I charge thee, be not thou more grieved than I am.

Ros. I have more cause.

Cel. Thou hast not, cousin: Pr'ythee be cheerful: know'st thou not, the duke Hath banish'd me, his daughter?

Ros. That he hath not.

Cel. No hath not? Rosalind lacks, then, the love Which teacheth thee that thou and I are one. Shall we be sunder'd," &c.

From wrong pointing, and ignorance of the idiomatic structure, the passage has hitherto been misunderstood; and Warburton proposed to read, "Which teacheth me," but was fortunately opposed by Johnson, although he did not clearly understand the passage. I have ventured to change am to are, for I cannot conceive that Shakspeare wrote, "that thou and I am one!" It is with some hesitation that I make this trifling innovation on the old text, although we have, a few lines lower, the more serious misprint of your change for the charge. I presume that the abbreviated form of the = y^e was taken for for y^r, and the r in charge mistaken for n; and in the former case of am for are, indistinctness in old writing, and especially in such a hand as, it appears from his autograph, our great poet wrote, would readily lead to such mistakes. That the correction was left to the printer of the first folio, I am fully persuaded; yet, in comparison with the second folio, it is a correct book, notwithstanding all its faults. That it was customary for men who were otherwise busied, as we may suppose Heminge and Condell to have been, to leave the correction entirely to the printer, is certain; for an acquaintance of Shakspeare's, Resolute John Florio, distinctly shows that it was the case. We have this pithy brief Preface to the second edition of his translation of Montaigne:

"To the Reader.

"Enough, if not too much, hath beene said of this translation. If the faults found even by myselfe in the first impression, be now by the printer corrected, as he was directed, the work is much amended: if not, know that through mine attendance on her Majesty, I could not intend it; and blame not Neptune for my second shipwracke. Let me conclude with this worthy man's daughter of alliance: 'Que t'ensemble donc lecteur?'

Still Resolute JOHN FLORIO."

S. W. SINGER.

Mickleham.

Shakspeare (Vol. vii., p. 521.).—May I ask whether there is any precedent (I think there can be no excuse) for calling Shakspeare's plays "our national Bible"?

A CLERGYMAN.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

The Formation of the Woman, Gen. ii. 21, 22.—The terms of Matthew Henry on this subject, in his learned Commentary, have become quite commonplace with divines, when speaking of the ordinance of marriage:

"The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam: not made out of his head, to top him; nor out of his feet, to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side, to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart, to be beloved."

Like many other things in his Exposition, this is not original with Henry. It is here traced to the Speculum Humanae Salvationis of the earliest and rarest printed works. Some of your readers can probably trace it to the Fathers. The verses which follow are engraven in block characters in the first edition of the work named, and are copied from the fifth plate of specimens of early typography in Meerman's Origines Typographicae: Hague, MDCCLXV.:

"Mulier autem in paradiso est formata De costis viri dormientis est parata Deus autem ipsam super virum honestavit Quoniam Evam in loco voluptatis plasmavit, Non facit eam sicut virum de limo terrae Sed de osse nobilis viri Adae et de ejus carne. Non est facta de pede, ne a viro despiceretur Non de capite ne supra virum dominaretur. Sed est facta de latere maritali Et data est viro pro gloria et socia collaterali. Quae si sibi in honorem collata humiliter praestitisset Nunquam molestiam a viro unquam sustinuisset."

O. T. D.

Singular Way of showing Displeasure.

"The earl's regiment not long after, according to order, marched to take possession of the town (Londondery); but at their appearance before it the citizens clapt up the gates, and denyed them entrance, {594} declaring their resolution for the king (William III.) and their own preservation. Tyrconnel at the news of this was said to have burnt his wig, as an indication of his displeasure with the townsmen's proceedings."—Life of James II., p. 290.

E. H. A.

The Maids and the Widows.—The following petition, signed by sixteen maids of Charleston, South Carolina, was presented to the governor of that province on March 1, 1733-4, "the day of the feast:"

"To His Excellency Governor Johnson.

"The humble Petition of all the Maids whose names are underwritten:

"Whereas we the humble petitioners are at present in a very melancholy disposition of mind, considering how all the bachelors are blindly captivated by widows, and our more youthful charms thereby neglected: the consequence of this our request is, that your Excellency will for the future order that no widow shall presume to marry any young man till the maids are provided for; or else to pay each of them a fine for satisfaction, for invading our liberties; and likewise a fine to be laid on all such bachelors as shall be married to widows. The great disadvantage it is to us maids, is, that the widows, by their forward carriages, do snap up the young men; and have the vanity to think their merits beyond ours, which is a great imposition upon us who ought to have the preference.

"This is humbly recommended to your Excellency's consideration, and hope you will prevent any farther insults.

"And we poor Maids as in duty bound will ever pray.

"P.S.—I, being the oldest Maid, and therefore most concerned, do think it proper to be the messenger to your Excellency in behalf of my fellow subscribers."

UNEDA.

Alison's "Europe."—In a note to Sir A. Alison's Europe, vol. ix. p. 397., 12mo., enforcing the opinion that the prime movers in all revolutions are not men of high moral or intellectual qualities, he quotes, as from "Sallust de Bello Cat.,"

"In turbis atque seditionibus pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus aluntur."

No such words, however, are to be found in Sallust: but the correct expression is in Tacitus (Hist., iv. 1.):

"Quippe in turbas et discordias pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus indigent."

Sir A. Alison quotes, in the same note, as from Thucydides (l. iii. c. 39.), the following:

"In the contests of the Greek commonwealth, those who were esteemed the most depraved, and had the least foresight, invariably prevailed; for being conscious of this weakness, and dreading to be overreached by those of greater penetration, they went to work hastily with the sword and poniard, and thereby got the better of their antagonists, who where occupied with more refined schemes."

This paragraph is certainly not in the place mentioned; nor can I find it after a diligent search through Thucydides. Will Sir A. Alison, or any of his Oxford friends, be good enough to point out the author, and indicate where such a passage is really to be found?

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

"Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. vi., p. 376.).—"Sat cito, si sat bene."—The first of these proverbs reminded me of the second, which was a favourite maxim of Lord Chancellor Eldon. (See The Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, vol. i. p. 48.) I notice it for the purpose of showing that Lord Eldon followed (perhaps unconsciously) the example of Augustus, and that the motto is as old as the time of the first Roman emperor, if it is not of more remote origin. The following is an extract from the Life of Augustus, Sueton., chap. XXV.:

"Nil autem minus in imperfecto duce, quam festinationem temeritatemque, convenire arbitrabatur. Crebro itaque illa jactabat, [Greek: Speude bradeos]. Et:

'[Greek: asphales gar est' ameinon e thrasus stratelates].'

Et, 'Sat celeriter fieri, quicquid fiat satis bene.'"

Perhaps T. H. can give us the origin of these Greek and Latin maxims, as he has of "Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. i., p. 330).

F. W. J.

* * * * *

Queries.

HOUSE-MARKS.

Are there traces in England of what the people of Germany, on the shores of the Baltic, call Hausmaerke, and what in Denmark and Norway is called bolmaerke, bomaerke? These are certain figures, generally composed of straight lines, and imitating the shape of the cross or the runes, especially the so-called compound runes. They are meant to mark all sorts of property and chattels, dead and alive, movable and immovable, and are drawn out, or burnt into, quite inartistically, without any attempt of colouring or sculpturing. So, for instance, every freeholder in Praust, a German village near Dantzic, has his own mark on all his property, by which he recognises it. They are met with on buildings, generally over the door, or on the gable-end, more frequently on tombstones, or on epitaphs in churches, on pews and old screens, and implements, cattle, and on all sorts of documents, where the common people now use three crosses.

The custom is first mentioned in the old Swedish law of the thirteenth century (Uplandslagh, Corp. Jur. Sveo-Goth., iii. p. 254.), and occurs almost at the same period in the seals of the citizens of the Hanse-town Lubeck. It has been in common use {595} in Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sleswick, Holstein, Hamburgh, Lubeck, Mecklenburgh, and Pomerania, but is at present rapidly disappearing. Yet, in Holstein they still mark the cattle grazing on the common with the signs of their respective proprietors; they do the same with the haystacks in Mecklenburgh, and the fishing-tackle on the small islands of the Baltic. In the city of Dantzic these marks still occur in the prayer-books which are left in the churches.

There are scarcely any traces of this custom in the south of Germany, except that the various towers of the city-wall of Nurnberg are said to bear their separate marks; and that an apothecary of Strasburg, Merkwiller, signs a document, dated 1521, with his name, his coat of arms, and a simple mark.

Professor Homeyer has lately read, before the Royal Academy of Berlin, a very learned paper on the subject, and has explained this ancient custom as significant of popular law, possibly intimating the close connexion between the property and its owner. I am sorry not to be able to copy out the Professor's collection of runic marks; but I trust that the preceding lines will be sufficient in order to elicit the various traces of a similar custom still prevalent, or remembered, in the British isles; an account of which will be thankfully received at Berlin, where they have lately been informed, that even the eyder-geese on the Shetlands are distinguished by the marks of their owners.

[alpha].

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

"Seductor Succo."—Will any of your readers oblige me by giving me either a literal or poetical translation of the following lines, taken from Foulis, Rom. Treasons, Preface, p. 28., 1681?

"Seductor Succo, Gallo Sicarius; Anglo Proditor; Imperio Explorator; Davus Ibero; Italo Adulator; dixi teres ore,—Suitam."

CLERICUS (D).

Anna Lightfoot.—T. H. H. would be obliged by any particulars relating to Anna Lightfoot, the left-handed wife of George III. It has been stated that she had but one son, who died at an early age; but a report circulates in some channels, that she had also a daughter, married to a wealthy manufacturer in a midland town. It is particularly desired to know in what year, and under what circumstances, Anna Lightfoot died.

Queries from the "Navorscher."—Did Addison, Steele, or Swift write the "Choice of Hercules" in the Tatler?

Was Dr. Hawkesworth, or, if not, who was, the author of "Religion the Foundation of Content," an allegory in the Adventurer?

In what years were born C. C. Colton, Pinnock, Washington Irving, George Long, F. B. Head; and when died those of them who are no longer among us?

Who wrote "Journal of a poor Vicar," "Story of Catherine of Russia," "Volney Becker," and the "Soldier's Wife," in Chamber's Miscellany?

Did Luther write drinking-songs? If so, where are they to be met with?

"Amentium haud Amantium."—I should be glad to ascertain, and perhaps it may be interesting to classical scholars generally to know, if any of your correspondents or readers can suggest an English translation for the phrase "amentium haud amantium" (in the first act of the Andria of Terence), which shall represent the alliteration of the original. The publication of this Query may probably elicit the desired information.

FIDUS INTERPRES.

Dublin.

"Hurrah!" and other War-cries.—When was the exclamation "Hurrah!" first used by Englishmen, and what was the war-cry before its introduction? Was it ever used separately from, or always in conjunction with "H.E.P.! H.E.P.?" Was "Huzza!" contemporaneous? What are the known war-shouts of other European or Eastern nations, ancient or modern?

CAPE.

Kissing Hands at Court.—When was the kissing of hands at court first observed?

CAPE.

Uniforms of the three Regiments of Foot Guards, temp. Charles II.—Being very desirous to know where well authenticated pictures of officers in the regimentals of the Foot Guards during the reign of Charles II. may be seen, or are, I shall be greatly obliged to any reader of "N & Q." who will supply the information. I make no doubt there are, in many of the private collections of this country, several portraits of officers so dressed, which have descended as heir-looms in families. I subjoin the colonels' names, and dates of the regiments:

1st Foot Guards, 1660: Colonel Russell, Henry Duke of Grafton.

Coldstream Guards, 1650: General Monk.

3rd Guards, 1660: Earl of Linlithgow. 1670: Earl of Craven.

D. N.

Raffaelle's Sposalizio.—Will DIGITALIS, or any of your numerous correspondents or readers, do me the favour to say why, in Raffaelle's celebrated painting "Lo Sposalizio," in the gallery of the Brera at Milan, Joseph is represented as placing the ring on the third finger of right hand of the Virgin?

I noticed the same peculiarity in Ghirlandais's fresco of the "Espousals" in the church of the Santa Croce at Florence. This I remarked to the custode, an intelligent old man, who informed {596} me that the connexion said to exist between the heart and the third finger refers to that finger of the right hand, and not, as we suppose, to the third finger of the left hand. He added, that the English are the only nation who place the ring on the left hand. I do not find that this latter statement is borne out by what I have seen of the ladies of continental Europe; and I suppose it was an hallucination in my worthy informant.

I must leave to better scholars in the Italian language than I am, to say whether "Lo Sposalizio" means "Betrothal" or "Marriage:" certainly this latter is the ordinary signification.

I have a sort of floating idea that I once heard that at the ceremony of "Betrothal," now, I believe, rarely if ever practised, it was customary to place the ring on the right hand. I am by no means clear where I gleaned this notion.

G. BRINDLEY ACWORTH.

Brompton.

"To the Lords of Convention."—Where can I find the whole of the ballad beginning—

"To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverh'se that spoke;"

and also the name of the author?

L. EVANS.

Richard Candishe, M.P.—Pennant (Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 48.) prints the epitaph of "Richard Candishe, Esq., of a good family in Suffolk," who was M.P. for Denbigh in 1572, as it appears on his monument in Hornsey Church. Who was this Richard Candishe? The epitaph says he was "derived from noble parentage;" but the arms on the monument are not those of the noble House of Cavendish, which sprung from the parish of that name in Suffolk. The arms of Richard Candishe are given as "three piles wavy gules in a field argent; the crest, a fox's head erased azure."

BURIENSIS.

Alphabetical Arrangement.—Can any one favour me with a reference to any work treating of the date of the collection and arrangement in the present form of the alphabet, either English, Latin, Greek, or Hebrew? or what is the earliest instance of their being used to represent numerals?

A. H. C.

Saying of Pascal.—In which of his works is Pascal's saying, "I have not time to write more briefly," to be found; and what are the words in the original?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

Irish Characters on the Stage.—Would any of the contributors to "N. & Q." oblige me with this information? Who, or how many, of the old English dramatists introduced Irishmen into their dramatis personae? Did Ben Jonson? Shadwell did. What others?

PHILOBIBLION.

Family of Milton's Widow.—Your correspondent CRANMORE, in his article on the "Rev. John Paget" ("N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 327.), writes thus: "Dr. Nathan Paget was an intimate friend of Milton and cousin to the poet's fourth (no doubt meaning his third) wife, Elizabeth Minshall, of whose family descent, which appears to be rather obscure, I may at another time communicate some particulars."

Now, as more than a year has elapsed since the article referred to appeared in your valuable columns, without the subject of Elizabeth Minshall's descent having been farther noticed, I hope your correspondent will pardon my soliciting him to supply the information he possesses relative thereto, which cannot fail proving interesting to every admirer of our great poet.

V. M.

Table-moving.—Was not Bacon acquainted with this phenomenon? I find in his Sylva Sylvarum, art. MOTION:

"Whenever a solid is pressed, there is an inward tumult of the parts thereof, tending to deliver themselves from the compression: and this is the cause of all violent motion. It is very strange that this motion has never been observed and inquired into; as being the most common and chief origin of all mechanical operations.

"This motion operates first in a round by way of proof and trial, which way to deliver itself, and then in progression where it finds the deliverance easiest."

C. K. P.

Newport, Essex.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Form of Petition, &c.—May I request the insertion of a Query, requesting some of your readers to supply the ellipsis in the form with which petitions to Parliament are required to be closed, viz.: "And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." To me, I confess, there appears to be something like impiety in its use in its present unmeaning state. Would a petition be rendered informal by any addition which would make it more comprehensible?

C. W. B.

[The ellipsis appears to have varied according to circumstances: hence we find, in an original petition addressed to the Privy Council (apparently temp. Jac. I.), the concluding formula given at length thus:—"And yo^r sup^{lt}, as in all dutie bounden, shall daylie pray for your good L^{ps}." Another petition, presented to Charles I. at Newark, A.D. 1641, closes thus: "And your petitioners will ever pray for your Majesty's long and happy reign over us." Another, from the Mayor and Aldermen of London, in the same year: "And the petitioners, as in all duty bound, shall pray for your Majesty's most long and happy reign." Again, in the same year, the petition of the Lay-Catholic Recusants of England to the Commons closes thus: "And for so great a charity your humble petitioners {597} shall ever (as in duty bound) pray for your continual prosperity and eternal happiness." We do not believe that any petition would be rendered informal by such addition as would make it more comprehensible.]

Bibliography.—I am about to publish a brochure entitled Notes on Books: with Hints to Readers, Authors, and Publishers; and as I intend to give a list of the most useful bibliographical works, I shall feel much obliged to any one who will furnish me with a list of the various Printers' Grammars, and of such works as the following: The Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant; comprising Explanations of the Process of Printing, Preparation and Calculation of MSS., Paper, Type, Binding, Typographical Marks, &c. 12mo., Lond. 1840. I have met with Stower's Printers' Grammar, London, 1808.

MARICONDA.

[The following Printers' Grammars may be advantageously consulted; 1. Hansard's Typographia; an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing, royal 8vo. 1825. 2. Johnson's Typographia; or the Printers' Instructor, 2 vols. 8vo. 1824. 3. Savage's Dictionary of the Art of Printing, 8vo. 1841, the most useful of this class of works. 4. Timperley's Dictionary of Printers and Printing, royal 8vo. 1839. Stower also published The Compositors' and Pressmen's Guide to the Art of Printing, royal 12mo. 1808; and The Printer's Price Book, 8vo. 1814.]

Peter Francius and De Wilde.—In a little work on my shelf, with the following title,

"Petri Francii specimen eloquentiae exterioris ad orationem M. T. Ciceronis pro A. Licin. Archia accommodatum. Amstelaedami, apud Henr. Wetstenium M DC XCVII.],"

occurs the following brief MS. note, after the text of the speech for Archias:

"Orationem hanc pro Archia sub Dno Petro Francio memoriter recitavi Wilhelmus de Wilde in Athenaei auditorio Majore, a.d. xviii kal. Januarias, a^{ni} 1699."

The volume is 12mo., containing about 200 pp.; the text of the speech occupying nearly 42 pp.

Who was Peter Francius? Did De Wilde ever distinguish himself?"

D.

[Peter Francius, a celebrated Greek and Latin poet, was born in 1645 at Amsterdam, afterwards studied at Leyden, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws at Augers. In 1674, the magistrates of Amsterdam appointed him Professor of History and Rhetoric, which office he held till his death in 1704. See Biographie Universelle.]

Work by Bishop Ken.

"A Crown of Glory the Reward of the Righteous; being Meditations on the Vicissitude and Uncertainty of all Sublunary Enjoyments. To which is added, a Manual of Devotions for Times of Trouble and Affliction: also Meditations and Prayers before, at, and after receiving the Holy Communion; with some General Rules for our Daily Practice. Composed for the use of a Noble Family, by the Right Reverend Dr. Thomas Kenn, late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. Price 2s. 6d."

I find the above in a list of "books printed for Arthur, Betterworth, &c.," at the end of the 7th edition of Horneck's Crucified Jesus: London, 1727. I do not remember to have seen any notice of this work in the recent biographies of the saintly prelate to whom it is here attributed.

E. H. A.

[This work originally appeared under the following title: The Royal Sufferer; a Manual of Meditations and Devotions, written for the use of a Royal though afflicted Family, by T. K., D. D., 1669, and was afterwards published with the above title. It has been rejected as spurious by the Rev. J. T. Round, the editor of The Prose Works of Bishop Ken, l838.]

Eugene Aram's Comparative Lexicon.—This talented criminal is said to have left behind him collections for a dictionary of the Celtic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English languages, comprising a list of about 3000 words, which he considered them to possess in common. Was this ever published? and where are any notices of his works to be found?

E. S. TAYLOR.

[The following notice of Eugene Aram's Lexicon occurs in a letter written by Dr. Samuel Pegge to Dr. Philipps, dated Feb. 18, 1760: "One Eugene Aram was executed at York last year for a murder. He has done something, being a scholar and a schoolmaster, towards a Lexicon on a new plan. Hearing of this, I sent for the pamphlet, which contained some account of his life, and the specimen of a Lexicon. He goes to the Celtic, the Irish, and the British languages, as well as others; and there are things, in the specimen that will amuse a lover of etymologies." (Gent. Mag., 1789, p. 905.) Aram left behind him an Essay relative to his intended work, from which some extracts are given in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, s.v. The Lexicon does not appear to have been printed.]

Drimtaidhvrickhillichattan.—I should feel obliged through the medium of "N. & Q.," to be informed of the whereabouts of a locality in Scotland with the above euphonious name.

ALPHA.

[Drimtaidhvrickhillichattan is situated in the island of Mull, and county of Argyle.]

Coins of Europe.—Where can I find the fullest and most accurate tables showing the relative value of the coins in use in different parts of Europe?

ALPHA.

[Consult Tate's Manual of Foreign Exchanges, and the art. COINS in M^cCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce.]

General Benedict Arnold.—Can any of the readers of "N.& Q." inform me where General Arnold is buried? After the failure of his attempt to deliver up West Point to the English, he escaped, went to England, and never returned to his native {598} country. I have heard that he died about forty years ago, near Brompton, England; and would be glad to have the date of his death, and any inscription which may be on his tomb.

W. B. R.

Philadelphia.

[General Arnold died 14th June, 1801, in the sixty-first year of his age. His remains were interred on the 21st at Brompton.]

* * * * *

Replies.

PARISH REGISTERS.—RIGHT OF SEARCH.

In Vol. iv., p. 473. a Query on this subject is inserted, to which, in Vol. v., p. 37., MR. CHADWICK replied.

The question, one of great importance to the genealogist, has recently been the subject of judicial decision, in the case of Steele v. Williams, reported in the 17th volume of the Jurist, p. 464. (the Number for Saturday, 28th May).

At the opening of the argument, the Court of Exchequer decided that the fees, &c. are regulated by the 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86., "An Act for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England," which in the 35th section enacts—

"That every rector, vicar, curate, and every registrar, registering officer, and secretary, who shall have the keeping, for the time being, of any register book of births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made of any register book in his keeping, and shall give a copy, certified under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the fee hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, for every search extending over a period not more than one year, the sum of 1s., and 6d. additional for every additional year; and the sum of 2s. 6d. for every single certificate."

MR. CHADWICK seemed to consider this section only applied to "civil registration;" but this view is, I apprehend, now quite untenable.

The case was, whether a parish clerk had a right to charge 2s. 6d., where the party searching the register did not require "certified copies," but only made his own extracts; and it is decided he has no such right.

Mr. Baron Parke in his judgment says:

"I think this payment was not voluntary, because the defendant" [the parish clerk] "told the plaintiff, that if he did not pay him for certificates, in all cases in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not make a search at all. I think the plaintiff had at all events a right to make a search, and during that time make himself master, as he best might, of the contents of the book, and could not be prevented from so doing by the clerk in whose custody they were; who in the present case insisted that if he wanted copies he must have certificates with the signature of the incumbent. For the 1s. he paid, the applicant had a right to look at all the names in one year. He had no right to remain an unreasonable time looking at the book; nor perhaps, strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it into his hands at all: for the clerk has a right to superintend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, 'Your hands are dirty: keep them in your pockets.' The applicant could therefore only exercise his right of search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that way. If a man insists on taking himself a copy of anything in the books, that case is not provided for by the statute: but if he requires a copy certified by the clergyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it.

"It was consequently an illegal act in the defendant to insist that the plaintiff should pay 2s. 6d. for each entry in the book, of which he might choose to make an extract," &c.

Mr. Baron Martin says:

"With respect to the statute, counsel (Mr. Robinson) says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in the statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an extra payment for allowing them to be made. Where a man is allowed by statute to receive money, it is, as it were, by virtue of a contract that the statute makes for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different sum. The defendant here is bound by the entirety of the statute; he may be paid for a search, OR for a certified copy, BUT THERE IS NO INTERMEDIATE COURSE."

This decision will, I hope, have the effect of removing the difficulties so often experienced in making searches for genealogical purposes. At all events, the person making such search can now safely make his own notes, none daring lawfully to make him afraid. I have to apologise for the length of this letter.

G. BRINDLEY ACWORTH.

12. King's Bench Walk, Temple.

* * * * *

THE HONOURABLE MISS E. ST. LEGER, A FREEMASON.

(Vol. iv., p. 234.)

There is an inquiry in Vol. iv., p. 234., as to whether there is any truth in the story, that the Honourable Miss E. St. Leger was made a freemason; and as no account of the circumstances has yet appeared in your pages, I send you the following statement, which has been extracted from The Patrician. Apart from its value as a record of this singular fact, it contains other particulars which you may deem worthy of preservation in "N. & Q."

"The Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger as the only female who was ever initiated into the ancient and honourable mystery of Freemasonry. How she obtained this honour we shall lay before our readers, having obtained the only genuine information from the best sources.

"Lord Doneraile, Miss St. Leger's father, a very zealous mason, held a warrant, and occasionally opened Lodge at Doneraile House, his sons and some intimate friends assisting; and it is said that never were the masonic duties more rigidly performed than by the brethren of No. 150, the number of their warrant.

"It appears that previous to the initiation of a gentleman to the first steps of masonry, Miss St Leger, {599} who was a young girl, happened to be in an apartment adjoining the room generally used as a lodge-room; but whether the young lady was there by design or accident, we cannot confidently state. This room at the time was undergoing some alteration: amongst other things, the wall was considerably reduced in one part, for the purpose of making a saloon.

"The young lady having heard the voices of the Freemasons, and prompted by the curiosity natural to all, to see this mystery so long and so secretly locked up from public view, she had the courage to pick a brick from the wall with her scissors, and witnessed the ceremony through the first two steps. Curiosity gratified, fear at once took possession of her mind; and those who understand this passage, well know what the feelings of any person must be who could unlawfully behold that ceremony. Let them then judge what were the feelings of a young girl, under such extraordinary circumstances.

"Here was no mode of escape except through the very room where the concluding part of the second step was still being solemnised; and that being at the far end, and the room a very large one, she had resolution sufficient to attempt her escape that way, and with light but trembling step glided along unobserved, laid her hand on the handle of the door, and gently opening it, before her stood, to her dismay, a grim and surly tiler, with his long sword unsheathed. A shriek that pierced through the apartment alarmed the members of the lodge, who all rushing to the door, and finding that Miss St. Leger had been in the room during the ceremony, in the first paroxysm of their rage, it is said, her death was resolved upon; but from the moving and earnest supplication of her younger brother, her life was spared, on condition of her going through the two steps of the solemn ceremony she had unlawfully witnessed. This she consented to do, and they conducted the beautiful and terrified young lady through those trials which are sometimes more than enough for masculine resolution, little thinking they were taking into the bosom of their craft a member that would afterwards reflect a lustre on the annals of Masonry.

"Miss St. Leger was directly descended from Sir Robert De St. Leger, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and was of that high repute that he, with his own hand, supported that prince when he first went out of his ship to land in Sussex.

"Miss St. Leger was cousin to General Anthony St. Leger, Governor of St. Lucia, who instituted the interesting race and the celebrated Doncaster St. Leger stakes.

"Miss St. Leger married Richard Aldworth, Esq., of Newmarket, a member of a highly honourable and ancient family, long celebrated for their hospitality and other virtues. Whenever a benefit was given at the theatres in Dublin or Cork for the Masonic Orphan Asylum, she walked at the head of the Freemasons, with her apron and other insignia of Freemasonry, and sat in the front row of the stage box. The house was always crowded on those occasions.

"The portrait of this estimable woman is in the lodge room of almost every lodge in Ireland."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

* * * * *

WEATHER RULES.

(Vol. vii., p. 522.)

Your correspondent J. A., jun., invites further contributions on the subject to which he refers. Though by no means infallible, such prognostics are not without a measure of truth, founded as they are on habits of close observation:

1. "Si sol splendescat Maria Purificante Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante."

Rendered thus:

"When on the Purification sun hath shin'd, The greater part of winter comes behind."

2. "If the sun shines on Easter-day, it shines on Whit Sunday likewise."

To this I may add the French adage:

"Quel est Vendredi tel Dimanche."

From a MS. now in my possession, dating two centuries back, I extract the following remarks on "Times and Seasons," as not wholly unconnected with the present subject:

"Easter-day never falleth lower than the 22nd of March, and never higher than the 25th of April."

"Shrove Sunday has its range between the 1st of February and the 7th of March."

"Whit Sunday between the 10th of May and the 13th of June."

"A rule of Shrovetide:—The Tuesday after the second change of the moon after New Year's-day is always Shrove Tuesday."

To these I may perhaps be permitted to add certain cautions, derived frown the same source:

"The first Monday in April, the day on which Cain was born, and Abel was slain.

"The second Monday in August, on which day Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

"The 31st of December, on which day Judas was born, who betrayed Christ.

"These are dangerous days to begin any business, fall sick, or undertake any journey."

We smile at the superstition which thus stamps these several periods as days of ill omen, especially when we reflect that farther inquiry would probably place every other day of the week under a like ban, and thus greatly impede the business of life—Friday, for instance, which, since our Lord's crucifixion on that day, we are strongly disinclined to make the starting-point of any new enterprise.

In many cases this superstition is based on unpleasing associations connected with the days proscribed. Who can wonder if, in times less enlightened than our own, undue importance were attached to the strange coincidence which marked the deaths of Henry VIII. and his posterity. They all died on a Tuesday; himself on Tuesday, January 28, 1547; Edward VI. on Tuesday, July 6, {600} 1553; Mary on Tuesday, November 17, 1558; Elizabeth on Tuesday, March 24, 1603.

JOHN BOOKER.

Prestwich.

It is a saying in Norwich,—

"When three daws are seen on St. Peter's vane together, Then we are sure to have bad weather."

I think the observation is tolerably correct.

ANON.

* * * * *

SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.

(Vol. vii., p. 475.)

In the debates about a union with Scotland in 1606, the "multiplicities of the Scots in Polonia" formed one of the arguments of the opposing party, who thought that England was likely to be overrun in a similar fashion. According to Wilson (Hist. of James I., p. 34.), the naturalisation of the Scots—

"Was opposed by divers strong and modest arguments. Among which they brought in the comparison of Abraham and Lot, whose families joining, they grew to difference, and to those words, 'Vade tu ad dextram, et ego ad sinistram.' It was answered, That speech brought the captivity of the one; they having disjoined their strength. The party opposing said, If we admit them into our liberties, we shall be overrun with them; as cattle, naturally, pent up by a slight hedge, will over it into a better soil; and a tree taken from a barren place will thrive to excessive and exuberant branches in a better,—witness the multiplicities of the Scots in Polonia.

"To which it was answered, That if they had not means, place, custom, and employment (not like beasts, but men), they would starve in a plentiful soil, though they came into it. And what springtide and confluence of that nation have housed and familied themselves among us, these four years of the king's reign? And they will never live so meanly here as they do in Polonia; for they had rather discover their poverty abroad than at home."

This last "answerer" was Lord Bacon. In his speech "Of general Naturalisation" (Works, vol. v. p. 52.), he asserts that the "multiplication of Scots in Polonia" must of necessity be imputed

"To some special accident of time and place that draws them thither; for you see plainly before your eyes, that in Germany, which is much nearer, and in France, where they are invited with privileges, and with this very privilege of naturalisation, yet no such number can be found; so as it cannot either be nearness of place, or privilege of person, that is the cause."

What these "special accidents" were, it would be interesting to ascertain. Large bodies of men were levied in Scotland during the latter half of the sixteenth century, for the service of Sweden, and employed in the Polish wars. Can these have turned merchants, or induced others to follow them? In 1573, Charles de Mornay brought 5000 Scots to Sweden. In 1576, whilst they were serving in Livonia, a quarrel broke out between them and a body of Germans also in the Swedish pay, and 1500 Scots were cut down. (Geiger, ch. xii.)

I believe MR. CUNNINGHAM will find some notices of Scottish merchants in Poland in Lithgow's Travels, which I have not at present by me.

RICHARD JOHN KING.

* * * * *

MR. JUSTICE NEWTON.

(Vol. vii., p. 528.)

Sir Richard Newton was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1438 to 1444, and died Dec. 13th, 1444, and was buried in a chapel of Bristol Cathedral. (Collins's Baronage, vol. iii. p. 145.) He assumed the name of Newton, instead of Caradoc, from Newton in Powysland. (Collinson's Somersetshire, East Harptrie); and, as Camden, p. 60., says, the Newtons "freely own themselves to be of Welsh extraction, and not long ago to have been called Caradocks." These Caradocs were descended from the ancient kings of Wales. Sir Richard Newton was twice married: 1. to a daughter of Newton, of Crossland; and 2. to Emmett, daughter of John Harvey, of London, according to a MS. in the British Museum; but, according to Somersetshire and Gloucestershire Visitations, to Emma, daughter of Sir Thomas Perrott, of Islington. He had issue by both marriages, and from the second descended Sir John Newton, who was created a baronet 12 Car. II., and died in 1661. The baronetcy was limited in remainder, at its creation, to John Newton, of Hather, in Lincolnshire, and he became the second baronet. There are several pedigrees tracing the descent from Sir Richard to the first baronet; but I have not yet seen the descent to the second baronet, though there can be no doubt that he was also descended from Sir Richard, otherwise the baronetcy could not have been limited to him; and probably he was the next male heir of the first baronet, as that is the usual mode of limiting titles. In the Heralds' College there is a pedigree of Sir Isaac Newton, signed by himself, in which he traces his descent to the brother of the ancestor of the second baronet. It should seem, therefore, that Sir Isaac was himself descended from the Chief Justice. It would confer a great obligation on the writer if any of your readers could afford any assistance to clear up the pedigree of the second baronet.

As to the representatives of Sir Richard, I doubt whether his heir is discoverable, although there are many descendants now living who trace their descent through females.

C. S. G.

* * * * * {601}

THE MARRIAGE RING.

(Vol. vii., p. 332.)

I cannot agree with the answer given, under the above reference, to the question of J. P.: "How did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, originate?" The answer given is taken from Wheatly's Rational Illustration, &c., and is in substance this:—The ring anciently was a seal, and the delivery of this seal was a sign of confidence; and as a ceremony in marriage, its signification is, that the wife is admitted to the husband's counsels. From this argument, and the supposed proofs of it, I beg to dissent; and I conceive that Wheatly has not thrown any light upon the origin of this beautiful ceremony. To bear out his view, it would be necessary to prove that a signet ring had originally been used for the wedding ring—a matter of no slight difficulty, not to say impossibility.

What I take to be the real meaning of the ring as a part of the marriage ceremony, I will now give. It has a far higher meaning in the ceremony, and a more important duty to perform than merely to signify the admission of the wife into the counsels of the husband. Its office is to teach her the duty she owes to her husband, rather than the privilege of admission into his counsels. The ring is a preacher, to teach her lessons of holy wisdom referring to her state of life.

A ring, whenever used by the church, signifies, to use the words of liturgical writers, "integritatem fidei," the perfection of fidelity, and is "fidei sacramentum," the badge of fidelity. Its form, having no beginning and no end, is the emblem of eternity, constancy, integrity, fidelity, &c.; so that the wedding ring symbolises the eternal or entire fidelity the wife pledges to her husband, and she wears the ring as the badge of this fidelity. Its office, then, is to teach and perpetually remind her of the fidelity she owes to her husband, and swore to him at the marriage ceremony.

The wedding ring is to the wife precisely what the episcopal ring is to the bishop, and vice versa. The language used during the ceremony to the one is very similar to that used to the other, as the object of the ceremony and use of the ring is the same. A bishop's ring, as we read, signifies "integritatem fidei," i. e. that he should love as himself the church of God committed to him as his bride. When he receives the ring at his consecration, the words used are, "Accipe annulum, fidei scilicet signaculum, quatenus sponsam Dei, sanctum videlicet ecclesiam, intemerata fide ornatus illibate custodias:" (Receive the ring, the badge of fidelity, to the end that, adorned with inviolable fidelity you may guard without reproach the spouse of God, that is, His Holy Church).

Hence the office of the episcopal ring throws light upon the office of the wedding ring; and there can be no doubt whatever that its real meaning is, in the latter as in the former case, to signify the eternal fidelity and constancy that should subsist between the married couple.

That this is the correct view of the meaning of the wedding ring is farther confirmed by the prayer used in blessing the ring: "Benedic, Domine, annulum hunc ... ut quae eum gestaverit, fidelitatem integram suo sponso tenens, in pace et voluntate tua permaneat, acque in mutua charitate semper vivat."—Rituale, &c.

CYREP.

* * * * *

CANADA, ETC.

(Vol. vii., pp. 380. 504.)

My former Note on the origin of this name suggests a question, which, if you think it worthy of a place in "N. & Q.," may interest many besides myself, viz. At what period and by whom was that part of North America called Canada?

To the French it appears always to have been known as "La Nouvelle France." La Hontan, who quitted the country 1690, I think, calls it Canada. Lajitan certainly does, as well as many other old authors.

In a map of North America, date 1769, the tract bordering on the St. Lawrence, lately called Upper and Lower Canada, is designated "The Province of Quebec;" whilst the region to the northward, lying between it and Hudson's Bay, has the word Canada in much larger letters, as if a general name of the whole. That the name is slightly altered from an Indian word is probable, but not so that it was used by the Indians themselves, who, in the first place, were not in the habit of imposing general names on large districts, although they had significant ones for almost every locality; the former were usually denominated the land of the Iroquois, of the Hurons, &c., i. e. of the people dwelling, on, and in possession of it. Even allowing that the Indians may have had a general name for the country, it is very unlikely that one so unmeaning as "Kanata" would have been imposed upon it by a people whose nomenclature in every other case is so full of meaning.

Moreover, although the Mic-macs of Gaspe may have called themselves Canadians according to Lescarbot, yet we are told by Volney, that—

"The Canadian savages call themselves 'Metoktheniakes' (born of the sun), without allowing themselves to be persuaded of the contrary by the Black Robes," &c.—Vol. ii. p. 438.

The following, to the same purpose, is from the Quarterly Review, vol. iv. p. 463.:

"'Tapoy,' which we understand from good authority to be the generic appellation by which the North American tribes distinguish themselves from the whites," &c.

{602}

Now I should imagine both Lescarbot and Champlain, knowing nothing of the language, and probably having very bad interpreters, must have made a great mistake in supposing the Gaspesiens called themselves Canadians, for I have questioned several intelligent Mic-Macs on the subject, and they have invariably told me that they call themselves "Ulnookh" or "Elnouiek," "Ninen elnouiek!—We are Men." But Mic-mac? "O, Mic-mac all same as Ulnookh." The latter word strictly means Indian-man, and cannot be applied to a white. Mic-mac is the name of their tribe, and, they insist upon it, always has been. Again, Kanata is said to be an Iroquois word, and, consequently, not likely to have been in use amongst a tribe of the Lenape family, which the Mic-macs are. It does not appear that we have any authority for supposing the country was ever called Canada by the Indians themselves.

It is curious enough that as Canada was said to derive from an exclamation, "Aca nada!" so the capital has been made to take its name from another; "Quel bec!" cried one of Champlain's Norman followers, on beholding Cape Diamond. As in the former case, however, so in this, we have evidence of more probable sources of the name, which I will enumerate as briefly as possible. The first, and a very probable one, is the fact, that the strait between Quebec and St. Levi side of the river, was called in the Algonquin language "Quebeio," i. e. a narrowing,—a most descriptive appellation, for in ascending the river its breadth suddenly diminishes here from about two miles to fourteen or fifteen hundred yards from shore to shore.

The little river St. Charles, which flows into the St. Lawrence on the northern side of the promontory, is called in the Indian language (Algonquin?) Kabir or Koubac, significant of its tortuous course, and it is from this, according to La Potherie, that the city derives its name of Quebec.

Mr. Hawkins, in his Picture of Quebec, &c., 1834, denies the Indian origin of the word, since, as he says, there is no analogous sound to it in any of their languages; and he assumes a Norman origin for it on the strength of "Bec" being always used by the Normans to designate a promontory in the first place; and secondly, because the word Quebec is actually found upon a seal of the Earl of Suffolk, of historical celebrity temp. Hen. V. and VI., which Mr. Hawkins supposes to have been the name of some town, castle, or barony in Normandy.

Such are the pros and cons, upon which I do not presume to offer any opinion; only I would observe, that if there are no analogous sounds in the Indian languages, whence come Kennebec and other similar names?

A. C. M.

Exeter.

Surely in the "inscription on a seal (1420), in which the Earl of Suffolk is styled 'Domine [?] de Hamburg et de Quebec,'" the last word must be a misprint for Lubec, the sister city of Hamburg. MR. HAWKINS'S etymology seems to rest on no more substantial foundation than an error of the press in the work, whichever that may be, from which he quotes.

JAYDEE.

* * * * *

SELLING A WIFE.

(Vol. vii., p. 429.)

The popular idea that a man may legally dispose of his wife, by exposing her for sale in a public market, may not improbably have arisen from the correlation of the terms buying and selling. Your correspondent V. T. STERNBERG need not be reminded how almost universal was the custom among ancient nations of purchasing wives; and he will admit that it appears natural that the commodity which has been obtained "per aes et libram"—to use the phrase of the old Roman law touching matrimony—is transferable to another for a similar consideration, whenever it may have become useless or disagreeable to its original purchaser. However this may be, the custom is ancient, and moreover appears to have obtained, to some extent, among the higher orders of society. Of this an instance may be found in Grimaldi's Origines Genealogicae, pp. 22, 23. (London, 1828, 4to.) The deed, by which the transaction was sought to be legalised, runs as follows:

"To all good Christians to whom this writ shall come, John de Camoys, son and heir of Sir Ralph de Camoys, greeting: Know me to have delivered, and yielded up of my own free will, to Sir William de Paynel, Knight, my wife Margaret de Camoys, daughter and heiress of Sir John de Gatesden; and likewise to have given and granted to the said Sir William, and to have made over and quit-claimed all goods and chattels which the said Margaret has or may have, or which I may claim in her right; so that neither I, nor any one in my name, shall at any time hereafter be able to claim any right to the said Margaret, or to her goods and chattels, or their pertinents. And I consent and grant, and by this writ declare, that the said Margaret shall abide and remain with the said Sir William during his pleasure. In witness of which I have placed my seal to this deed, before these witnesses: Thomas de Depeston, John de Ferrings, William de Icombe, Henry le Biroun, Stephen Chamberlayne, Walter le Blound, Gilbert de Batecumbe, Robert de Bosco, and others."

This matter came under the cognisance of Parliament in 1302, when the grant was pronounced to be invalid.

Now, we may fondly believe that this transaction, which occurred five hundred and fifty years ago, was characteristic alone of that dark and distant period, and that no parallel can be found in modern {603} times (at least in a decent class of society, and recognised by legal sanction) to justify the lively French dramatists in seizing upon it as a trait of modern English manners. A transaction, however, came before the public eye a month or two ago, which, should you think the following record of it worth preservation as a "curiosity of legal experience," may lead your readers to a different conclusion:

"A young man, named W. C. Capas, was charged at the Public Office, Birmingham, Jan. 31, 1853, with assaulting his wife. The latter, in giving her evidence, stated that her husband was not living with her, but was 'leased' to another female. Upon inquiry by the magistrate into this novel species of contract, the document itself was produced in court, and read. It ran as follows:

"'Memorandum of agreement made and entered into this second day of October, in the year of our Lord 1852, between William Charles Capas, of Charles-Henry Street, in the borough of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, carpenter, of the one part, and Emily Hickson, of Hurst Street, Birmingham aforesaid, spinster, of the other part. Whereas the said William Charles Capas and Emily Hickson have mutually agreed with each other to live and reside together, and to mutually assist in supporting and maintaining each other during the remainder of their lives, and also to sign the agreement hereinafter contained to that effect: now, therefore, it is hereby mutually agreed upon, by and between the said William Charles Capas and Emily Hickson, that they the said, &c., shall live and reside together during the remainder of their lives, and that they shall mutually exert themselves by work and labour, and by following all their business pursuits, to the best of their abilities, skill, and understanding, and by advising and assisting each other, for their mutual benefit and advantage, and also to provide for themselves and each other the best supports and comforts of life which their means and income may afford. And for the true and faithful performance of this agreement, each of the said parties bindeth himself and herself unto the other finally by this agreement, as witness the hands of the said parties, this day and year first above written."

Here follow the signatures of the consenting parties. The girl Hickson was examined, and admitted that she had signed the document at the office of a Mr. Campbell, the lawyer(!) who prepared it, and that his charge for drawing up the same was, she believed, 1l. 15s. The latter promised her, at the same time, that if the wife of Capas gave her any annoyance he would put in that paper as evidence. The magistrates, considering the assault proved, fined Capas 2s. 6d., and "commented in very strong terms on the document which had that day been brought before them." (See Birmingham Journal, Jan. 5th, 1853.) Has a similar transaction come before the notice of your correspondents?

I may add that we are informed by the Birmingham Argus for March, 1834, that in that month a man led his wife by a halter to Smithfield Market in that town, and there publicly offered her for sale.

WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

* * * * *

ENOUGH.

(Vol. vii., p. 455.)

This word, when written or pronounced enow, is regarded as a plural, and relates to number. In this sense it is employed in Northampton and other Midland counties, and is found in old writers. If the word was always pronounced enow, it must be long since. The distinction above hinted at prevailed in Waller's time, and he conforms to it in the examples quoted. Butler, in Hudibras, has both:

"This b'ing professed we hope enough, And now go on where we left off.' Part i. canto 2. 44.

Again, line 1153. of the same canto:

"For though the body may creep through, The hands in grate are enough;"

an apparent exception, but not really such. (See also canto 3. 117. 285., where it rhymes with "off," as also line 809. At line 739. it written enow, and rhymes with "blow.")

And again, 873:

"My loss of honour's great enough, Thou needst not brand it with a scoff."

Other examples may be quoted from the same author.

In a song, written upon the Restoration of Charles II., we have the following:

"Were not contented, but grew rough, As though they had not won enough." Loyal Arms, vol. i. p. 244.

In the Lamentable Tragedy of Cambises, written early in the reign of Elizabeth, the word occurs:

"Gogs sides, knaves, seeing to fight ye be so rough, Defend yourselves, for I will give ye bothe inough."

In Lusty Juventus, a Morality, temp. Edward VI., is the following:

"Call them Papistes, hipocrites, and joyning of the plough; Face out the matter, and then good ynough."

Here certainly the distinction disappears, as in the next and last example from Candlemas Day, "Ao. Do. 1512," where Joseph is speaking:

"Take hym in your armys, Mary, I you pray, And of your swete mylke let him sowke inowe, Mawger Herowd and his grett fray: And as your spouse, Mary, I shall go with you."

It would seem therefore, that this word has had its present pronunciation about three centuries. {604} Its derivation is directly from the Saxon genoh, but the root is found in many other languages, as the German, Dutch, Danish, &c.

B. H. C.

MR. WRIGHT supposes there has been a change in the pronunciation of this word, and inquires when it took place. Now, if my conjecture be correct, there may have been no change, and these are two words,—not one pronounced differently. Both the instances quoted by him are in conformity with my opinion, viz. that where the sense is "a sufficient quantity," either in substance, quality, or action, we should make use of enough; yet where a sufficient number is intended, we should pronounce and write enow. I recollect (being a native of Suffolk) that I was laughed at by the boys of a school in a western county, nearly seventy years ago: but I was not then laughed out of my word, nor am I likely now to be argued out of it.

P.S.—I see that Johnson's Dictionary gives the same statement about enough and enow. This answer is therefore superfluous. Johnson gives numerous instances of the use of enow from our best authors.

H. C. R.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Wilkinson's Mode of levelling Cameras.—As you have done me the honour to notice my simple invention for levelling cameras, which I have since had an opportunity of trying in the open air for a week, and find to succeed perfectly, I wish to correct some errors which appeared in the Photographic Journal, from which you copied my remarks, and which arose from the notes being taken down from my verbal observations. The first part is perfectly correct but after l. 9. col. 2. "N. & Q." (Vol. vii., p. 462.) it should read thus:

"The other perpendicular is then sought for; the back or front of the camera being raised or lowered until the thread cuts the perpendicular lines drawn upon the sides of the camera. By this means a perfectly horizontal plane is obtained, as true as with the best spirit-levels, and in less time. By tying three knots in the silk at twelve inches distance from the one bullet and from each other, we have a measure for stereoscopic pictures; and by making the thread thirty-nine inches and two-tenths long from one bullet to the centre of the other, we obtain a pendulum vibrating seconds, which is useful in talking portraits; as it will continue vibrating for ten minutes, if one bullet be merely hung over any point of suspension."

Thus we obtain a levelling instrument, a chronometer, and a measure of distances, at a cost considerably under one penny.

The above will more fully explain to your correspondent [Phi]. (Vol. vii., p. 505.) my reasons for the length of thread stated; and with respect to the diagonal lines on the ground glass, it is not material what may be the distance of the principal object, whether six feet or six hundred: for if the cross lines, or any other lines drawn on the glass, cut the central object in the picture at any particular part—for example, the window of any particular house, or the branch of any tree,—then the camera may be removed to higher or lower ground, several feet or inches, to the right or to the left, and the same lines be made to cut the same objects, previously noted; the elevation will then be the same, which completes all that is required.

In most stereoscopic pictures, the distances are too wide. For a portrait, two inches and half to three inches, at nine or twelve feet distant, is enough; and for landscapes much less is required than is generally given, for no very great accuracy is necessary. Three feet, at three hundred yards, is quite enough; and four to six feet, at a mile, will do very well. Let experiment determine: for every photographer must learn his profession or amusement; there is no royal road to be depended on. But a small aperture, a quarter of an inch diameter, may be considered a good practical size for a lens of three and a quarter inches, depending on light and time: the smaller the aperture, the longer the time; and no rules can be given by any one who does not know the size and quality of the lenses employed. Every one can make a few trials for himself, and find it out; which will be more satisfactory than any instructions derived from books or correspondence. I obtain all the information I can from every source, then try, and judge for myself. At worst, you only spoil a few sheets of paper, and gain experience.

1  2     Next Part
Home - Random Browse