{461}

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{463}

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Notes.

A LEADER FROM A FOREIGN NEWSPAPER: THE NEW RUSSIAN MANIFESTO.

Mention was recently made, in Vol. ix., p. 218., of the valuable
character of many of the leading articles in the continental journals,
and a wish expressed that translations of them were more frequently
communicated in our own papers to English readers. The great newspapers
of this country are too rich in varied talent and worldwide resources of
their own, to make it worth their while in ordinary times to pay much
attention to information and disquisition from foreign politicians, on
subjects of the day; but the infinite importance to England, and to the
world, of the present warlike struggle, renders it a matter of
corresponding weight to know how far the foreign press, in the great
centres of movement and intelligence, stand affected to Great Britain.
Perhaps, therefore, as a specimen of this kind of writing, you will for
once admit, among your varied contents, the following article from the
Kölnische Zeitung of May 4:

“While in England, as a preparation for war, a day of humiliation and
prayer is held, on which the Clergy exhort the people to look into their
own breasts, and to discover and forsake those sins which might provoke
God’s punishments; while the most powerful nation of the world commences
war by humbling itself before God, on the part of Russia a new manifesto
appears, the arrogance of which can scarcely be exceeded by anything
human. The Czar speaks as if he were the representative of God upon
earth. His affair is God’s affair. He carries on war for God, and for His
only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour. God is for him, who can be
against him!

“Such a document has not proceeded from the cabinet of any European
power since the Middle Ages. It exceeds all which even Russian diplomacy
has accomplished, in its zeal for Christianity, during the last century.
For it is worthy of notice that nowhere is religion so much publicly
talked about, as in the place where least of it remains, among the higher
classes in St. Petersburgh. Religion there is inter instrumenta
regni. When Catherine II. permitted her husband Peter III. to be
imprisoned, in order to rob him of his throne and life, the cause of this
was communicated to the Russian people on July 9, 1762, as
follows:—’First of all, the foundation of your orthodox Greek
religion has been shaken and its principles are drawing near to a total
overthrow; so that we ought to dread exceedingly lest we should see a
change in the true ruling faith transmitted from antiquity in Russia, and
a foreign religion introduced.’ So wrote Catherine II., ‘the greatest of
the queens, and of the ——,’ the friend of Voltaire, the
greatest lady-freethinker of her age. But she wrote still
farther:—’Secondly, the honour of Russia as a state, which has been
brought to the highest pinnacle of her victorious arms with the loss of
so much blood, is actually trodden under foot through the newly-concluded
peace with her bitterest enemy.’ And who is this bitterest enemy
of the orthodox Russia? The King of Prussia, Frederick II.! Yes, the King
of Prussia was once declared to be the bitterest enemy of orthodox
Russia; and nothing stands in the way but at some future time he may
again be declared to be so, just as at the decree of the incorporation of
the provinces of Preutzen and Posen. The politicians of St. Petersburgh
know that the Russian people, living on in animal dulness, are
susceptible of no other intellectual impression except a religious one;
and so without reflection, the cross is torn from the high altar, and
used as a military signal. Religion was employed as a pretext, in order
to lead the unhappy Poles step by step into ruin; and Russia was just so
employed in Turkey, when the ‘heathen’ undertook to disturb her in her
Christian work. Rise up, therefore, orthodox nation, and fight for the
true Christian faith!

“We know not whether such a manifesto is sufficient to lead the
Russians willingly, like a devoutly believing flock, in the name of Jesus
Christ to the battle-field; and to perish in a war projected for a
worldly purpose, to obtain the inheritance of the ‘sick man.’ But we do
know that the manifesto will make no one believe throughout civilised
Europe in Russia’s holy views. Nations which have learned to think cannot
help immediately perceiving the contradiction which prevails in this
manifesto. First of all the struggle is represented as religious, and
immediately after as political. ‘England and France’ it says, ‘make war
on Russia, in order to deprive her of a part of her territory.’ The only
logical connexion between the two modes of statement consists in the
words—’their object is to cause our fatherland to descend from the
powerful position to which the hand of the Almighty has raised it.’ And
thereupon is mentioned ‘the holy purpose which has been assigned to
Russia by divine providence.’ And this holy purpose has been no secret
for a long time. ‘According to the design of providence,’ wrote Peter the
Great, ‘the Russian people are called to universal dominion over Europe
for the future.’

“Such a future cannot longer be averted from Europe, except by common
efforts. Prussia has come to an understanding, as to the object in view,
with the other powers; and when an object or purpose is sought to be
attained, the means must also be provided. To make an impression by words
and peaceful means, is quite out of the question, after this imperial
pastoral letter, which proclaims war in the name of God and of Jesus
Christ. Force can only he repelled by force. It was not our wish to
compel our government prematurely. With reference to Prussia’s position,
the warlike interference of our troops was not desired until England and
France had concluded a firm alliance between themselves, and with Turkey;
and had commenced the war in earnest. Now, when all this has taken place,
and the thunder of cannon is roaring over sea and land; now, when
Austria, which conceals within herself so many more dangers, prepares,
with manly determination, to advance; what excuse can Prussia {464}have,
called upon by right to the leadership; what excuse can she make to
herself for remaining behind? In the Vienna protocol of April 9, Prussia
has pledged herself, beyond what we could have dared to hope, towards the
Western Powers: in the treaty with Austria of April 20, Prussia has bound
herself, in certain eventualities that may occur at any moment, to a
warlike support of Austria. Is it not, therefore, high time for Prussia
to arouse herself from her lethargy, in order to undertake the support
contracted for by treaty? If history teaches anywhere an evident lesson,
Prussia will find it in her own past history. Once before Prussia
promised to help Austria, and was not able to perform her engagement. All
the misfortune by which we were attacked in 1806 is to be ascribed to
Prussia not having completed her preparations in 1805, and to her not
appearing in the field before the battle of Austerlitz. It was reported
lately to be the saying of a brave general, that when he heard the
enemies’ batteries firing, it always seemed to him that he heard his own
name called out. Does not Prussia also hear her own name loudly
pronounced, in those cannon-shots fired off in the Baltic and Black Sea
for the public law of nations by Europe’s brave champions? By what means
did the great Elector establish the honour of the Prussian name, except
by bravely taking the field, as a model of German princes, against the
superior force of Louis XIV.? The policy, to which the Prussian
government has again pledged itself, will be unanimously approved of by
the Prussian people. The abuse which Russia has made of the name of
Religion can deceive none, but such as are willing to be deceived.
Catholic Christendom, with the Pope and the dignitaries of the Catholic
Church in England and France at its head, have declared which side in
this struggle is right, and which is wrong; and Righteousness is God’s
earthly name! Not less have the noblest and most pious Protestants loudly
raised their voices as witnesses to the truth, and against the common
oppressor of every Christian church, even his own; Religion,
called upon for aid, denies it to Russia; and political science has long
since pronounced her judgment, that Russia’s superiority must be put an
end to by a general opposition. If Prussia would but seize the
opportunity, and proceed in the same path with Austria, Russia’s ambition
might be tamed by united Europe in one successful campaign. Now is the
favourable moment for Prussia; and if it is not taken advantage of,
generations unborn may have cause to rue it.”

Alpha.

THE LAUNCH OF THE “PRINCE ROYAL” IN 1610.

October 20, 1608, Mr. Phineas Pette commenced the “Prince Royal,”
which was launched in 1610. The keel of this “most goodly shippe for
warre” was 114 feet long, and the cross-beam 44 feet in length, and she
carried three score and four pieces of great ordnance, and was of the
burden of 1400 tons. On the 8th of May, 1609, the king presided at the
trial of Pette at Woolwich for insufficiency, during which Pette sat on
his knees, “baited by the great lord (Northampton) and his bandogs;” and
after the ship had been inspected by the king and his party, Mr. Pette
was acquitted of the charges brought against him. The prince visited the
ship on the 30th of January, 1609, 25th of April, 18th of June, and again
the following day, with the king, and on the 24th of September it was
launched. It is stated that the garnishing of the ship began between
Easter and Michaelmas, and that the number of nobles, gentry, and
citizens, resorting continually to Woolwich to see it, was incredible. On
the 9th of September, divers London maids, with a little boy with them,
visited the ship; the boy fell down into the hold, and died the same
night from the effects of his fall, being the first accident during the
building. About the middle of the month, the ship being ready to be
placed on the ways, twelve choice master carpenters of his Majesty’s navy
were sent for from Chatham to assist in “her striking and launching;” on
the 18th she was safely set upon her ways, and on the 26th was visited by
the French ambassador. Preparations were made in the yard for the
reception of the king, queen, royal children, ladies, and the council;
and on the evening of the 23rd, a messenger was sent from Theobalds,
desiring the ship to be searched, lest any disaffected persons might have
bored holes privily in her bottom. On Monday 24th, the dock gates were
opened; but the wind blowing hard from the south-west, it proved a very
bad tide. The king came from Theobalds, though he had been very little at
ease with a scouring, taken with surfeiting by eating grapes, the prince
and most of the lords of the council attending him. The queen arrived
after dinner, and the lord admiral gave commandment to heave taught the
crabs and screws, though Pette says he had little hope to launch by
reason the wind overblew the tide; “yet the ship started and had
launched, but the dock gates pent her in so straight, that she stuck fast
between them, by reason the ship was nothing lifted by the tide, as we
expected she would; and the great lighter, by unadvised counsel, being
cut off the stern, the ship settled so hard upon the ground, that there
was no possibility of launching that tide; besides which there was such a
multitude of people got into the ship, that one could scarce stir by
another.”

“The king was much grieved at the frustrate of his expectation,” and
returned to Greenwich at five o’clock with the queen and her train; the
prince staid a good while after conferring with the lord admiral and Mr.
Pette, and then rode off to Greenwich, with a promise to return shortly
after midnight. The night was moonlight, but shortly after midnight
became very stormy, which Mr. Pette says made him “doubt that there were
{465}some indirect working among our enemies to
dash our launching.”

The prince however arrived at the yard, went on board a little before
two a. m., when the word being given to get all taught, the ship went
away without any straining of screws or tackles, till she came clear
afloat in the middle of the channel. He then describes the christening of
her by the prince, by the name of the “Prince Royal”; and while warping
to her mooring, his royal highness went down to the platform of the
cock-room, where the ship’s beer stood for ordinary company, and there
finding an old can without a lid, drew it full of beer himself, and drank
it off to the lord admiral, and caused him with the rest of the
attendants to do the like. The hawsers laid ashore for landfasts had been
treacherously cut, but without doing any injury to the ship. The prince
left for Greenwich at nine a. m.

J. H. P.

“NOTES AND QUERIES ON THE ORMULUM, BY DR. MONICKE”
(Programm der Handels-Lehranstalt zu Leipzig, 1853).

Under the above title, Dr. Monicke has published what are considered
by a foreign critic some valuable observations on the admirable Oxford
edition (by Dr. Meadows White) of The Ormulum, an Anglo-Saxon
work, now first edited from the original MS. in the Bodleian Library. The
attention of the readers of “N. & Q.,” who are occupied in the study
of the Anglo-Saxon, with its cognate dialects, and direct descendant,
will be doubly attracted by a title with which they are so familiar, and
which is associated with some of the happiest and most peaceful moments
of their life. The title of the Essay (which I have not yet seen, and
which appears to be written in English) seems to be entirely the choice
of the author, and must be somewhat flattering to the Editor of the
original “N. & Q.”

J. M.

Oxford.

THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SISTERS.

Will the Editor of “N. & Q.,” or any of his correspondents, kindly
inform me of the true circumstances from which the following legend has
sprung? The locality which was the scene of the tragedy is the little
village of Ballybunion, situated within a few miles of Kerry Head. The
scenery around is of the wildest and most striking description. Frowning,
rugged cliffs, rising abruptly out of the water to the height of over one
hundred feet, and perforated with numerous caves, into which the ocean
rushes with fearful fury in winter,—for it is a stormy coast, and
rarely does a month pass without beholding some dead, putrified body
washed ashore; while inland, a barren, uncultivated plain, consisting
mostly of bog, stretches away to nearly the foot of the Reeks, which,
looming in the distance, seem to rear their giant masses even to the sky,
and form, as it were, an impenetrable barrier between the coast and the
interior. On the brink of one of those precipices we have mentioned,
there stands the ruins of a castle, seemingly of great antiquity. Nothing
now remains but the basement storey, and that seems as if it would be
able to withstand the war of winds and waves for hundreds of years
longer. According to the legend, this castle was inhabited by a gallant
chieftain at the period of the incursions of the Danes, and who was the
father of seven blooming daughters. He was himself a brave warrior,
animated with the greatest hatred against the Ostmen, who, at that
period, were laying every part of Erin waste. His sword never rested in
its sheath, and day and night his light gallies cruised about the coast
on the watch for any piratical marauder who might turn his prow thither.
One day a sail was observed on the horizon; it came nearer and nearer,
and the pirate standard was distinguished waving from its mast-head.
Immediately surrounded by the Irish ships, it was captured after a
desperate resistance. Those that remained of the crew were slaughtered
and thrown into the sea, with the exception of the captain and his six
brothers, who were reserved for a more painful death. Conveyed to the
fortress, their wounds were dressed, and they were allowed the free range
of the castle. Here, gradually a love sprung between them and the seven
Irish maidens, who yielded to their ardent protestations, and agreed to
fly with them to Denmark. Everything was arranged for the voyage, and one
fearfully stormy night in winter was chosen for the attempt. Not a single
star shone in the sky, the cold blast came sweeping from the ocean, the
rain fell in torrents, and the water roared and raged with terrific
violence amid the rocky caverns. Escaping down from the battlement by a
rope-ladder, they discovered to their horror, that on reaching the ground
they were surrounded by armed men. Not a word was uttered; but they {466}well
knew into whose hands they had fallen. Conducted again within the
fortress, they found themselves face to face with their injured father.
One deadly glance of hatred he cast on the prisoners, and, muttering some
few words to one of his attendants, he pointed towards his daughters. The
man, on receiving the command, recoiled a few paces, transfixed with
horror; and then he advanced nearer, and seemed as if remonstrating with
him. But the parent’s face assumed an absolutely demoniac expression; and
more peremptorily repeating his order, he stalked out of the room. And
now commenced a fearful scene. The lovers were torn from each other’s
arms, and the women were brought forth again. The storm had grown more
violent, and the spray was dashing far over the cliff, whilst the vivid
flashes of lightning afforded a horrible illumination to the dreary
scene. Proceeding along the brink of the precipice, they at length came
to a chasm which resembled somewhat the crater of a volcano, as it was
completely closed, with the exception of the opening at the top, and one
small aperture below, through which the sea rushed with terrible
violence. The rolling of the waters sounded fearfully on the ear of those
around, and now at length the sisters divined their fate. One by one they
were hurled into the boiling flood: one wild shriek, the billows closed
again, and all was over. What the fate of their lovers was, the legend
says not. The old castle has crumbled into ruins—the chieftain
sleeps in an unknown grave, his very name forgotten; but still the sad
ending of the maidens is remembered, and even unto this day the cavern is
denominated the “Cave of the Seven Sisters.” Such is the above legend as
it still exists amongst the peasantry, and any of your contributors would
extremely oblige by informing me of the name of the Irish leader.

George of Munster.

Queen’s College, Cork.

Minor Notes.

Coincidences.—

J. H. B.

The English Liturgy.—

“It is deserving of notice, that although Dr. Beattie had been brought
up a member of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and regularly
attended her worship and ordinances when at Aberdeen, he yet gave the
most decided preference to the Church of England, generally attending the
service of that Church when anywhere from home, and constantly when at
Peterhead. He spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty, simplicity, and energy
of the English Liturgy, especially of the Litany, which he declared to be
the finest piece of uninspired composition in any language.” Life of
Dr. Beattie, by Sir W. Forbes, Bart., vol. iii. p. 168. note.

J. M.

Oxford.

“To jump for joy.“—This expression, now most often used
figuratively, was probably in the olden time a plain and literal
description of an actual fact. The Anglo-Norman Poem on the Conquest
of Ireland by Henry II., descriptive of events which occurred at the
close of the twelfth century, informs us (at p. 53.) that one of the
English knights, named Maurice de Prendergast, being desirous of
returning with his followers to Wales, was impeded in his march by “les
traitres de Weyseford;” and that this so much provoked him, that he
tendered his services to the King of Ossory, who—

This expression, “saili à pés,” is translated in the Glossary “rose
upon feet;” but the more correct rendering of it appears to me to be that
of jumping or dancing for joy.

James F. Ferguson.

Dublin.

“What is Truth?“—Bacon begins his “Essay of Truth” (which
is dated 1625) with these words:

“What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.
Certainly, there be that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to
fix a belief; affecting freewill in thinking, as well as in acting.”

There is a similar passage in Bishop Andrews’s sermon Of the
Resurrection, preached in 1613:

“Pilate asked, Quid est veritas? And then some other matter
took him in the head, and so up he rose, and went his way, before he had
his answer; he deserved never to find what truth was. And such is our
seeking mostwhat, seldom or never seriously, but some question that comes
cross our brain for the present, some quid est veritas? So sought
as if that we sought were as good lost as found. Yet this we would fain
have so for seeking, but it will not be.”

Perhaps Bacon heard the bishop preach (the sermon was at Whitehall);
and if so, the passage in Andrews will explain the word “jesting” to
mean, not scoffing, but asking without serious purpose of acquiring
information.

J. A. H.

Abolition of Government Patronage.—The following passage,
from Dr. Middleton’s Dedication of the Life of Cicero to Lord
Keeper Hervey, is {467}interesting as showing the enlightened
sentiments of an eminent scholar a hundred years ago when addressing a
minister of the crown:

“Human nature has ever been the same in all ages and nations, and owes
the difference of its improvements to a difference only of culture, and
of the rewards proposed to its industry; where these are the most amply
provided, there we shall always find the most numerous and shining
examples of human perfection. In old Rome, the public honours were laid
open to the virtue of every citizen; which, by raising them in their
turns to the commands of that mighty empire, produced a race of nobles
superior even to kings. This was a prospect that filled the soul of the
ambitious and roused every facility of mind and body to exert its utmost
force; whereas, in modern states, men’s views being usually confined to
narrow bounds, beyond which they cannot pass, and a partial culture of
their talents being sufficient to procure everything that their ambition
can aspire to, a great genius has seldom either room or invitation to
stretch itself to its full size.”

Alpha.

Oxford.

Minor Queries.

“One New Year’s Day.“—An old lady used to amuse my
childhood by singing a song commencing—

The rest I forget, but I should be glad to know if it is extant, and
what is known of its origin, &c.

G. William Skyring.

Somerset House.

Greek denounced by the Monks.—

“Almost the time (A.D. 1530) when the monks
preached in their sermons to the people to beware of a new tongue of late
discovered, called the Greek, and the mother of all
heresies.”—Foreign Quarterly for October, 1842, No. 59.
p. 137.

Can any of your readers give references to such passages in Monkish
sermons?

Cpl.

Pliny’s Dentistry.—As your journal has become the
repository of so many novel and interesting facts, I trust that
the following data will be found acceptable to the readers of “N. &
Q.” Having had occasion, of late, to look over the works of Pliny, I was
struck with the extent to which this ancient naturalist and philosopher
has carried his researches on the above subject; as, in some editions,
the Index of the article Dentes occupies several
closely-printed columns. He recommends tooth-powder (dentifricia)
of hartshorn, pumice-stone, burnt nitre, Lapis Arabus, the ashes
of shells, as well as several ludicrous substances, in accordance with
the mystic prejudices of the age. Amongst the remedies for fixing
(firmare) teeth, he mentions Inula, Acetum
Scillinum, Radix Lapathi sativi, vinegar; and loose teeth are
to be fixed by Philidonia, Veratrum nigrum, and a variety
of other remedies, amongst which some are most rational, and tend to
prove that more attention was paid to the physiological
(hygeistic) department relating to that portion of the human body
than we have been hitherto aware of, as even the most recent works on
Dentistry do not mention these facts.

George Hayes.

Conduit Street.

J. Farrington, R.A.—Having recently met with some views
by J. Farrington, R.A., without a description of the locality, I shall be
obliged by your insertion of a Query respecting information of what views
were executed by this painter, with their localities, in or about the
year 1789. As I am informed that those above referred to belong to this
neighbourhood, and therefore would be invested with interest to me, I
could ascertain their locality with precision.

John Nurse Chadwick.

King’s Lynn.

Henry Crewkerne, of Exeter, “Captain of Dragoons, descended
from Crewkerne, of Crewkerne, in Devonshire,” died at Carlow in Feb.
1664-5. Was he descended from Crewkerne of Chilhay, Dorset? His pedigree
would be very acceptable.

Y. S. M.

Dr. Johnson.—Johnson says somewhere that he never was in
a tight place but once, and that was when he had a mad bull by the tail.
Had he held on, he said he would have been dragged to death over a
stubble field; while if had not held on, the bull would have gored him to
death. Now my Query is, what did Dr. Johnson do, hold on or let go?

G. M. B.

Latin “Dante.”—Is there not a literal Latin prose
translation of Dante, somewhat rhythmical? Has not Stillingfleet cited it
in the Origines? If so, where is its corpus? And in what
form, MS. or printed? Of metrical Latin versions there are several beside
those of the Jesuit Carlo d’Aquino and Piazza. The Query is as to the
prose?

Philip Aske.

Ralph Bosvill, of Bradbourn, Kent, Clerk of the Court of Wards,
married first, Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Clement, and widow of John
Castillon, by whom he had five children. He married secondly, Benedicta
Skinner, by whom he had six children. This I have taken from the
Visitations of Kent. In Harl. MS. 5532.152, he is said to have had
another son Ralph, “slain in Ireland.” This Ralph was his son, and I wish
to discover by which wife, as the entry above-mentioned in the {468}MSS. is of
a much later date than the body of it. He had, I think, two other sons at
least, who are not in the books, namely, Godfrey and William. The name is
sometimes called “Boswell.” Was the younger Ralph’s wife, Mary, daughter
of Alveray Copley of Batley?

Y. S. M.

Major-General Wolfe.—The following MS. is advertised for
sale. Is anything known concerning it?

“A Copy of Orders written by Major-General Woolfe; an important
unpublished Historical MS. This valuable collection commences with
‘General Orders to be observed by a regiment on their arrival in
Scotland, 1748.’ At p. 55. begin ‘Orders by Major-General Woolfe in
America: Halifax, April 30, 1759.’ They continue dated from Louisburg,
Point Orleans, Montmorenci, Cape Rouge, &c., to the last, which is
dated on board the Sutherland, off St. Nicholas, Sept. 12th, the day
before the scaling the heights of Abraham; no doubt the last issued by
Woolfe, as on that day (13th) he fell in battle. There is no clue in the
MS. to its compiler; it consists of 103 pages 4to., beautifully written,
with MS. Plan of Order of Battle, of the army commanded by General Woolfe
in America, 1789. It is believed that no printed copy exists of these
valuable papers, which are of the highest importance to the Historian, as
a slight extract will show. Small 4to., calf.

‘Sept. 12. The Sutherland, at anchor off St. Nicholas:—The
enemies’ forces are not divided; great scarcity of provisions in the
camp, and universal discontent amongst the Canadians. The second officer
in command is gone to Montreal or St. John’s, which gives reason to think
that Governor Amherst is advancing into that colony. A vigorous blow
struck by the army at this juncture might determine the fate of Canada.
Our troops below are ready to join us; all the light infantry and tools
are embarked at the Point of Levi, and the troops will land where the
enemy seems least to expect it.'”

J. Balch.

Philadelphia.

Custom at University College, Oxford.—What is the origin
of the following custom observed at this college? On every Easter Sunday
the representation of a tree, dressed with evergreens and flowers, is
placed on a turf, close to the buttery, and every member there resident,
as he leaves the Hall, after dinner, chops at the tree with a cleaver.
The college-cook stands by holding a plate, in which the Master deposits
half a guinea, each Fellow five shillings, and the other members two
shillings and sixpence each; this custom is called “chopping at the
tree.” When was this custom instituted, and to what circumstance are we
to attribute its origin? Who presented to the chapel of this College the
splendid eagle, as a lectern, which forms one of its chief ornaments? Was
it presented by Dr. Radcliffe, or does it date its origin from the happy
reign of Queen Mary?

M. A.

“Old Dominion.“—It is stated in a newspaper that the term
“Old Dominion,” generally applied here to the state of Virginia,
originated from the following facts. During the Protectorate of Cromwell
the colony of Virginia refused to acknowledge his authority, and sent to
Flanders for Charles II. to reign over them. Charles accepted, and was
about to embark, when he was recalled to the throne of England. Upon his
accession, as a reward for her loyalty, he allowed the colony to quarter
the arms of England, Ireland, and Scotland, as an independent member of
the “Old Dominion;” whence the term. What truth is there in this
story?

Penn.

“Wise men labour,” &c.—

On the fly-leaf of Sir Roger Twysden’s copy of Stow’s Annales
are the following, lines, dated 1643:

From whence are these lines taken?

L. B. L.

Minor Queries with Answers.

Dame Hester Temple.—”Lady Temple lived to see seven
hundred of her own descendants: she had thirteen children.” I have
extracted this “sea-serpent” from an extract in Burke from Fuller’s
Worthies, but I am unable to refer to the original for confirmation
of this astounding fact; if true it is wonderful.

Y. S. M.

Samuel White.—In Bishop Horsley’s Biblical
Criticism, he refers several times to a Samuel White, whom he speaks
of in terms of contempt, and calls him, in one place, “that contemptible
ape of Grotius;” and in another, “so dull a man.” Query, who was this Mr.
White, and what work did he publish?

I. R. R.

Heralds’ College.—Are the books in the Heralds’ College
open to the public on payment of reasonable fees?

Y. S. M.

Pope.—Where, in Pope’s Works, does the passage occur
which is referred to as follows by Richter in his Grönlandische
Prozesse, vol. i.?

“Pope vom Menschen (eigentlich vom Manne) sagt, ‘Er tritt auf, um sich
einmal umzusehen, und zu sterben.'”

A. E.

Aberdeen.

Replies.

BLANCO WHITE’S SONNET.

(Vol. vii., pp. 404. 486.)

This sonnet first appeared in The Bijou, an annual published by
Pickering in 1828. It is entitled:

In a letter from Coleridge to White, dated Nov. 28, 1827, he thus
speaks of it:

“I have now before me two fragments of letters begun, the one
in acknowledgment of the finest and most graceful sonnet in our language
(at least it is only in Milton’s and Wordsworth’s sonnets that I {470}recollect any rival, and this is not my
judgment alone, but that of the man κατ’ ἐξοχὴν
φιλόκαλον,
John Hookham Frere), the second on the receipt of your ‘Letter to Charles
Butler,'” &c.

In a subsequent letter, without date, Coleridge thus again reverts to
the circumstance of its having been published without his or White’s
sanction:

“But first of your sonnet. On reading the sentences in your letter
respecting it, I stood staring vacantly on the paper, in a state of
feeling not unlike that which I have too often experienced in a dream:
when I have found myself in chains, or in rags, shunned, or passed by,
with looks of horror blended with sadness, by friends and acquaintance;
and convinced that, in some alienation of mind, I must have perpetrated
some crime, which I strove in vain to recollect. I then ran down to Mrs.
Gillman, to learn whether she or Mr. Gillman could throw any light on the
subject. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Gillman could account for it. I have
repeated the sonnet often, but, to the best of my recollection, never
either gave a copy to any one, or permitted any one to transcribe it; and
as to publishing it without your consent, you must allow me to say the
truth: I had felt myself so much flattered by your having addressed it to
me, that I should have been half afraid that it would appear to be asking
to have my vanity tickled, if I had thought of applying to you for
permission to publish it. Where and when did it appear? If you will be so
good as to inform me, I may perhaps trace it out: for it annoys me to
imagine myself capable of such a breach of confidence and of
delicacy.”

In his Journal, October 16 [1838?], Blanco White says:

“In copying out my ‘Sonnet on Night and Death’ for a friend, I have
made some corrections. It is now as follows:

‘Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew

Thee from report divine, and heard thy name,

Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,

This glorious canopy of light and blue?

Yet ‘neath a curtain of translucent dew,

Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,

Hesperus with the Host of Heaven came,

And lo! creation widen’d in man’s view.

Who could have thought such darkness lay conceal’d

Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find,

Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal’d,

That to such countless orbs thou mad’st us blind!

Why do we then shun death, with anxious strife?

If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life?'”

S. W. Singer.

GOLOSHES.

(Vol. ix., p. 304.)

This word, Seleucus says, “is of course of
American derivation.” By no means: it is found in German,
gallosche or gallusche; and in French, galoche or
galloche. The word itself most likely comes to us from the French.
The dictionaries refer to Spenser as using it under the form
galage; and it occurs written galege, galosh,
calosh, &c. The French borrowed the term from the Latin
Gallicæ; but the Romans first derived the idea and the thing
itself from Gaul, Gallicæ denoting Gallic or Gaulish shoes. Cicero
speaks of the Gallicæ with contempt.—”Cum calceis et toga,
nullis nec gallicis nec lacerna;” and again, “Cum gallicis
et lacerna cucurristi” (Philip. ii. 30.). Blount, in his Law
Dictionary (1670), gives the following, which refers to one very
early use of the term in this country:

“Galege (galiciæ), from the French
galloches, which signified of old a certain shoe worn by the Gauls
in foul weather, as at present the signification with us does not much
differ. It is mentioned 4 Edw. IV. cap. 7., and 14 & 15 Hen.
VIII. cap. 9.”

Therefore the thing itself and the word were known among us before
America was discovered. As it regards the Latin word Gallicæ, I
only know of its use by Cicero, Tertullian, and A. Gellius. The
last-named, in the Noctes Atticæ, gives the following anecdote and
observations relating to this word. T. Castricius, a teacher of rhetoric
at Rome, observing that some of his pupils were, on a holiday, as he
deemed, unsuitably attired, and shod (soleati) with gallicæ
(galloches, sabots, wooden shoes or clogs), he expressed in
strong terms his disapprobation. He stated it to be unworthy of their
rank, and referred to the above-cited passage from Cicero. Some of his
hearers inquired why he called those soleati who wore goloshes
(gallicæ) and not shoes (soleæ). The expression is
justified by a statement which sufficiently describes the goloshes, viz.,
that they call soleæ (shoes) all those which cover only the lower
portions of the foot, and are fastened with straps. The author adds:

“I think that gallicæ is a new word, which was begun to be used
not long before Cicero’s time, therefore used by him in the Second of the
Antonians. ‘Cum gallicis,’ says he, ‘et lacerna cucurristi.’ Nor
do I read it in any other writer of authority, but other words are
employed.”

The Romans named shoes after persons and places as we do: for
examples, see Dr. W. Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities, sub voc. “Calceus.”

B. H. C.

Poplar.

This word is not of American derivation. In the Promptorium
Parvulorum we find,—

“Galache or Galoche,
undersolynge of manny’s fote.”

Mr. Way says in his note:

“The galache was a sort of patten, fastened to the foot by cross
latchets, and worn by men as early as the {471}time of Edward III.
Allusion is made to it by Chaucer,

‘Ne were worthy to unbocle his galoche.’—Squires Tale, 10,869.”

Among many other quotations Mr. Way gives the following:

And in the Wardrobe Book of Prince Henry, A.D. 1607, are mentioned—

“1 pair of golossians, 6s.; 16 gold buckles with pendants and
toungs to buckle a pair of golosses.”—Archæol. xi. 93.

Nares says:

“Galage. A clown’s coarse shoe from
galloche, a shoe with a wooden sole, old French, which itself is
supposed to be from gallica, a kind of shoe mentioned by Cicero,
Philip. ii. 30., and A. Gellius, xiii. 21. If so, the word has
returned to the country whence it was first taken, but I doubt much of
that derivation; by the passages referred to in the above authors, it
seems more likely that the gallica was a luxurious covering, than
one so very coarse as the galloche. Perhaps the caliga, or
military strong boot of the Romans, from which Caligula was named, may be
a better origin for it. The word galloche is now naturalised among
us for a kind of clog, worn over the shoes.”

See also Richardson’s Dictionary, s. v. “Galoche.”

Zeus.

Seleucus need not have gone quite so far as to
“the tribe of North American Indians, the Goloshes,” or to America at
all, for his derivation. If he will look in his French dictionary he will
find,—

“Galoche (espèce de mule que l’on porte par dessus les
souliers), galoshoe.”

I quote from Boyer’s Dictionnaire Royal, edit. 1753.

Cole, in his English dictionary, 1724, has—

“Galeges, galages, galloches, galloshoes,
Fr., wooden shoes all of a piece. With us outward shoes or cases for
dirty weather, &c.”

C. de D.

CONSONANTS IN WELSH.

(Vol. ix., p. 271.)

For the gratification of your correspondent J. M., I give you the
result of an enumeration of the letters and sounds in three
versions of the Hundredth Psalm in Welsh, and three corresponding
versions of it in English.

1. From the authorised translations of the Bible, Welsh and
English.

2. The metrical version of Tate and Brady, and that of Archdeacon
Prys.

3. Dr. Watts’s metrical version and a Welsh imitation of it.

Letters in three Welsh Versions.
		Bible.	Prys.	Watts.
Consonants		185	205	241
Vowels		148	165	159
		——	——	——
Apparent excess of   consonants in Welsh		37	40	82
Letters in three English Versions.
		Bible.	Tate & Brady.	Watts.
Consonants		220	271	275
Vowels		134	163	170
		——	——	——
Apparent excess of   consonants in English		86	108	105
Sounds in three Welsh Versions.
		Bible.	Prys.	Watts.
Consonants		150	173	200
Vowels		148	165	159
		——	——	——
Real excess of consonants     in Welsh		2	8	41
Sounds in three English Versions.
		Bible.	Tate & Brady.	Watts.
Consonants		195	241	240
Vowels		122	149	159
		——	——	——
Real excess of consonants   in English		73	92	81

From this analysis it appears that the excess of consonant
letters over vowels is, in English, 299; and in Welsh, 159, a
little more than one-half. The excess of consonant sounds is, in
English, 246; in Welsh, 51, considerably less than one-fourth.

This result might readily have been anticipated by anybody familiar
with the following facts:

1. On examining lists of the elementary sounds of both languages, it
will be found that the Welsh has a greater number of vowels than the
English, and the English a greater number of consonants than the
Welsh.

2. Welsh diphthongs are much more numerous than English.

3. In English, three vowels only constitute words in themselves
(a, article; I, pronoun; O, interjection), and each
is used only in one sense. In Welsh, five of the vowels (a,
e, i, o, y) are words; and they are used in
at least a dozen different significations. A, besides being an
affirmative and interrogative adverb, answers to the English and,
as, with, will go.

4. Diphthongs forming distinct words are much more numerous in Welsh
than in English. The following occur: ai, a’i (=a
ei), a’u, ei, eu, ia, ïe,
i’w, o’i, o’u, ow, ŵy,
yw.

5. In Welsh there are no such clusters of consonants as occur in the
English words arched {472}(pronounced artsht),
parched, scorched, marched, hinged
(hindzhd), singed, cringed, fringed,
purged (purdzhd), charged (tshardzhd),
scratched, &c. &c. From the difficulty encountered in
pronouncing some of these combinations, arise the vulgar errors heard in
some parts of the country: burstis for bursts,
castis for casts. Three consonants are very rarely thus
crushed together in Welsh,—four, never.

6. The Welsh, to avoid an unpleasant hiatus, often introduce a
consonant. Hence we have y or yr, the; a or
ac, and; a or ag, as; na or nac, not;
na or nag, than; sy or sydd, is; o,
from, becomes odd; i, to, becomes idd. I cannot call
to mind more than one similar example in English, a or an;
and its existence is attributable to the superfluity of consonants,
n being dropped in a, not added in
an.

The mystery of the consonants in the swearing Welshman’s mouth
(humorously described by Messrs. Chambers) is difficult of explanation.
The words usual in Welsh oaths afford no clue to its solution; for the
name of the Deity has two consonants and one vowel in English, while it
has two vowels and one consonant in Welsh. Another name invoked on these
occasions has three consonants and two vowels in English, and one of the
vowels is usually elided; in Welsh it has three vowels and three
consonants, and colloquially the middle consonant is dropped. The Welsh
borrow a few imprecatory words from the English, and in appropriating
them they append the vowel termination o or io. Prejudice
or imagination, therefore, seems to have had something to do in
describing poor Taffy’s profanities.

In conclusion, I may add that the Hundredth Psalm was chosen for
analysis without a previous knowledge that it would present a greater
excess of consonants (letters or sounds) in English than in Welsh. I do
not believe two chapters from the Bible can be produced, which will show
an opposite result.

Gwilym Glan Tywi.

There is no k in the Welsh alphabet, a circumstance which
reduces the consonants to twenty; while a farther reduction is made by
the fact that w and y are always vowels in Welsh,
instead of being only occasionally so, as in English. J. M. will
therefore find that the Welsh alphabet contains but eighteen consonants
and seven vowels, twenty-five letters in all.

This, however, I imagine, is not the point on which he wishes for
information. If a stranger glances at a page of Welsh without being aware
that y and w are, strictly speaking, vowels, he will of
course naturally conclude that he sees an over proportion of consonants.
Hence, probably, has arisen the very general idea on the subject, which
is perhaps strengthened by the frequent occurrence of the double
consonants Ll and Dd, the first of which is but a sign,
standing for a peculiar softening of the letter; and the latter for
Th of the English language.

Such an idea might perhaps be conveyed by the following instances,
taken at random: Dywyll, Dydd, Gwyddna,
Llwyn, Gwyrliw, &c. But it will be dispelled by an
orthography adapted to the pronunciation; thus Dou-ill^[3], Deeth,
Goo-eeth-na, Lloo-een, Gueer-leeoo.

J. M. will be interested to know that the Welsh language can furnish
almost unexampled instances of an accumulation of vowels, such as that
furnished by the word ieuainc, young men, &c.; but above all
by the often-quoted englyn or stanza on the spider or silkworm,
which, in its four lines, does not contain a single consonant:

Seleucus.

In reply to J. M. I beg to ask who ever before heard that consonants
“cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded?” and how could the writer
in Chambers’s Repository possibly know that the drunken Welshman
cursed and swore in consonants? There is scarcely a more
harshly-sounding word in the Welsh language—admitted by a clever
and satirical author to have “the softness and harmony of the Italian,
with the majesty and expression of the Greek”—than the term
crack, adopted from the Dutch. There is no Welsh monosyllable that
contains, like the Saxon strength, seven consonants with only one
vowel. There is no Welsh proper name, like Rentzsch, the watchmaker of
Regent Street, that contains six consonants in succession in one
syllable; and yet the Welsh have never accused their younger
sister with the use of consonants which “cracked and cracked, and ground
and exploded.” But if the Welsh language, with “its variety, copiousness,
and even harmony, to be equalled by few, perhaps excelled by none,” has
no instance of six consonants in succession, it has one of six vowels in
succession, Gwaewawr, every one of which requires, according to
the peculiarity of its pronunciation, a separate inflection of the
voice.

J. M. may be assured that the remark of the writer in question is only
one of those pitiful “cracks” which flippant authors utter in plain
ignorance of Cymru, Cymraeg, and Cymry.

Cymro.

Marlbro.

I think the following englyn or epigram on a silkworm, which is
composed entirely of vowels, will satisfy your correspondent. I have seen
it in some book, the name of which I forget. It {473}must be borne in mind
that w is a vowel in Welsh, and is sounded like oo in
boot.

Thomas O’Coffey.

SONGS of DEGREES (ASCENTS).

(Vol. ix., pp. 121. 376.)

The analysis of the word הַמַּעֲלוֹת‎
(the steps), confining ourselves to sensible objects, shows,
first, the preposition עַל‎, over
(=up + on); and, secondly, מַעֲלָה‎,
the chamber-over. (Neh. ix. 4., xii. 37.; Jos. x. 10.; 1 Sam. ix.
11.; Am. ix. 6.; Ps. civ. 13.) The translators of the authorised version,
in using the word “degrees,” intended probably to convey the notion of
rank; but the modern mixed-mathematical ideas lead us of this day
rather to think of geographical, barometrical, &c. degrees. That
steps is the word most accordant with the ancient notions is
evident from the concurrence of the Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and
Ethiopic versions, as also from the Chaldee Targum, alluded to by
J. R. G., which has the inscription שירא
דאתאמר עַל
מַסוקִין
דְּתְחוֹמָא‎,
“a song called ‘over the steps of the deep'” (Deut. viii. 7.; Ex.
xv. 8.). The root of this moral is עלח‎,
in the Hebrew and its cognates, and the primitive notion is to
ascend; from which is formed in Arabic , adscendit in tectum; in
Syriac , contignatio
superior, cœnaculum (Jud. iii. 23-25.; Luc. xxii. 12.); and the
Chaldee עַלִּית‎,
pars domus superior, cubiculum, sive cœnaculum superius,
Græc. ὑπερῶον (Dan. vi. 11.).
See Shaw’s Itinerary, pp. 360-365.

The מ‎ prefixed is the
participial form of the verb, equivalent to the termination
ing in English; and converts the verb also into a verbal noun,
conveying the generalised idea of a class of actions; and thereby
the steps, המעלות‎,
the steppings upward, literally, which means “the ascents,” or
“the ascendings.”

The ascent by fifteen steps of the rabbins is probably equally
apocryphal with the quotations from St. Matthew and St. James (ix.
p. 376.); for the same reason (Ex. xx. 26.) which forbad the ascending
the altar by steps, would apply still more strongly to the supposed
“fifteen steps leading from the Atrium Israelis to the court of the
women.”^[4]
Although the ground-plans of the temples are well known, their elevations
are involved in doubt.

Your journal would not afford me sufficient space for an
excursus to establish the suggestion, not assertion, that I
have adventured as to the domestic use of the Alphabetic and
Degree Psalms, but there is negative evidence that these Psalms were
not used in the Jewish liturgy. I will only refer you to
Lightfoot’s ninth volume (Pitman’s edition), where the Psalms used, and
indeed the whole service of the Jews, is as clearly set forth as the
Greek service is in the liturgies of Basil and Chrysostom.

T. J. Buckton.

Lichfield.

THE SCREW PROPELLER.

(Vol. ix., p. 394.)

Anon. is clearly mistaken in thinking that,
when Darwin says that “the undulating motion of the tail of fishes
might be applied behind a boat with greater effect than common oars,” he
had any idea of a screw propeller. He meant not a rotatory, but,
as he says, an “undulating” motion, like that of the fish’s tail: such as
we see every day employed by the boys in all our rivers and harbours,
called sculling—that is, driving a boat forward by the rapid
lateral right and left impulsion of a single oar, worked from the stern
of the boat. It was the application of steam to some such machinery as
this that Darwin seems to have meant; and not to the special action of a
revolving cut-water screw.

I avail myself of this occasion to record, that about the date of
Darwin’s publication, or very soon after, the very ingenious Earl
Stanhope not only thought of, but actually employed, the identical screw
propeller now in use in a vessel which he had fitted up for the purpose;
and in which, by his invitation, I, and several other gentlemen,
accompanied him in various trips backwards and forwards between
Blackfriars and Westminster bridges. The instrument was a long iron axle,
{474}working on the stern port of the vessel,
having at the end in the water a wheel of inclined planes, exactly like
the flyer of a smoke-jack; while, inboard, the axle was turned by a crank
worked by the men. The velocity attained was, I think, said to be four
miles an hour. I am sorry that I am not able to specify the exact date of
this experiment, but it must have been between 1802 and 1805. What Lord
Stanhope said about employing steam to work his machine, I do not clearly
recollect. He entered into a great many details about it, but I remember
nothing distinctly but the machine itself.

C.

AMONTILLADO SHERRY.

(Vol. ix., pp. 222. 336.)

The wines of Xérès consist of two kinds, viz. sweet and dry, each of
which is again subdivided into two other varieties. Amontillado sherry,
or simply Amontillado, belongs to the latter class, the other description
produced from the dry wine being sherry, properly so called, that which
passes in this country generally by that name. These two wines, although
differing from each other in the peculiarities of colour, smell, and
flavour, are produced from the same grape, and in precisely a similar
manner; indeed, it frequently happens that of two or more botas,
or large casks, filled with the same moùt (wort or sweet wine),
and subjected to the same manipulation, the one becomes Amontillado, and
the other natural sherry. This mysterious transformation takes place
ordinarily during the first, but sometimes even during the second year,
and in a manner that has hitherto baffled the attempts of the most
attentive observer to discover. Natural sherry has a peculiar aromatic
flavour, somewhat richer than that of its brother, the Amontillado, and
partakes of three different colours, viz. pale or straw, golden, and deep
golden, the latter being the description denominated by us brown sherry.
The Amontillado is of a straw colour only, more or less shaded according
to the age it possesses. Its flavour is drier and more delicate than that
of natural sherry, recalling in a slight degree the taste of nuts and
almonds. This wine, beings produced by a phenomenon which takes place it
is imagined during the fermentation, is naturally less abundant than the
other description of sherry, and there are years in which it is produced
in very small quantities, and sometimes even not at all; for the same
reason it is age for age dearer also. The word “Amontillado” signifies
like or similar to Montilla, i. e. the wine manufactured at that
place. Montilla is situated in Upper Andalusia, in the neighbourhood of
Cordouc, and produces an excellent description of wine, but which, from
the want of roads and communication with the principal commercial towns
of Spain, is almost entirely unknown.

The two sweet wines of Xérès are the “Paxarite,” or “Pedro Ximenès,”
and the “Muscatel.” The first-named is made from a species of grape
called “Pedro Ximenès,” sweeter in quality than that which produces the
dry sherry, and which, moreover, is exposed much longer to the action of
the sun previous to the process of manufacture; its condition when
subjected to the action of the pressers resembling very nearly that of a
raisin. Fermentation is in this case much more rapid on account of the
saccharine nature of the moùt or wort. In flavour it is similar to
the fruit called “Pedro Ximenès,” the colour being the same as that of
natural sherry. Muscate wine is made from the grape of that name, and in
a manner precisely similar to the Paxarite. The wine produced from this
grape is still sweeter than the Pedro Ximenès, its taste being absolutely
that of the Muscat grape. In colour also it is deeper; but the colour of
both, like that of the two dry wines, increases in proportion to their
age, a circumstance exactly the reverse of that which takes place in
French wines. German sherry wines are capable of preservation both in
bottles and casks for an indefinite period. In one of the bodegas
or cellars belonging to the firm of M. P. Domecq, at Xérès, are to be
seen five or six casks of immense size and antiquity (some of them, it is
said, exceeding a century). Each of them bears the name of some
distinguished hero of the age in which it was produced, Wellington and
Napoleon figuring conspicuously amongst others: the former is preserved
exclusively for the taste of Englishmen.

The history of sherry dates, in a commercial point of view, from about
the year 1720 only. Before this period it is uncertain whether it
possessed any existence at all; at all events it appears to have been
unknown beyond the immediate neighbourhood in which it was produced. It
would be difficult, perhaps, to say by whom it was first imported: all
that can be affirmed with any degree of certainty is, that a Frenchman,
by name Pierre Domecq, the founder of the house before mentioned, was
among the earliest to recognise its capabilities, and to bring it to the
high state of perfection which it has since attained. In appreciation of
the good service thus rendered to his country, Ferdinand VII. conferred
upon this house the right exclusively to bear upon their casks the royal
arms of Spain. This wine, from being at first cultivated only in small
quantities, has long since grown into one of the staple productions of
the country. In the neighbourhood of Xérès there are at present under
cultivation from 10,000 to 12,000 arpents of vines; these produce
annually from 30,000 to 35,000 botas, equal to 70,000 or 75,000
hogsheads. In gathering the {475}fruit, the ripest is invariably selected
for wines of the best quality. The wines of Xérès, like all those of the
peninsula, require the necessary body or strength to enable them to
sustain the fatigue of exportation. Previous, therefore, to shipment
(none being sold under four to five years of age), a little eau de
vie (between the fiftieth and sixtieth part) is added, a quantity in
itself so small, that few would imagine it to be the cause of the slight
alcoholic taste which nearly all sherries possess.

In consequence of the high price of the delicious wines, numerous
imitations, or inferior sherries, are manufactured, and sold in immense
quantities. Of these the best are to be met with at the following places:
San Lucar, Porto, Santa Maria, and even Malaga itself. The spurious
sherry of the first-named place is consumed in larger quantities,
especially in France, than the genuine wine itself. One reason for this
may be, that few vessels go to take cargoes at Cadiz; whilst many are in
the habit of doing so to Malaga for dry fruits, and to Seville for the
fine wool of Estremadura. San Lucar is situated at the mouth of the
Guadalquiver.

W. C.

RECENT CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.

(Vol. ix., p. 136.)

Mr. Thackeray’s work, The Newcomes, would, if consulted by your
correspondent, furnish him with farther examples. For instance, Colonel
Newcome’s Christian name is stated (pp. 27. 57.) to be Thomas: at p. 49.
he is designated Col. J. Newcome. The letter addressed to him (p. 27.) is
superscribed “Major Newcome,” although at p. 25. he is styled “Colonel.”
At p. 71. mention is made of “Mr. Shaloo, the great Irish patriot,” who
at p. 74. becomes “Mr. Shaloony,” and at p. 180. relapses into the
dissyllabic “Shaloo.” Clive Newcome is represented (p. 184.) as admiring
his youthful mustachios, and Mr. Doyle has depicted him without whiskers:
at p. 188. Ethel, “after Mr. Clive’s famous mustachios made their
appearance, rallied him,” and “asked him if he was (were?) going into the
army? She could not understand how any but military men could wear
mustachios.” On this the author remarks, three lines farther on: “If
Clive had been in love with her, no doubt he would have sacrificed even
those beloved whiskers for the charmer.”

At p. 111. the Rev. C. Honeyman is designated “A.M.,” although
previously described a Master of Arts of Oxford, where the Masters are
styled “M.A.” in contradistinction to the Masters of Arts in every other
university. Cambridge Masters frequently affix M.A. to their names, but I
never heard of an instance of an Oxonian signing the initials of his
degree as A.M.

Apropos of Oxford, I recently met the following sentence at p. 3. of
Verdant Green:

“Although pronounced by Mrs. Toosypegs, his nurse, to be ‘a perfect
progidye,’ yet we are not aware that his début on the stage of
life, although thus applauded by such a clacqueur as the
indiscriminating Toosypegs, was announced to the world at large by any
other means than the notices in the county papers.”

If the author ever watched the hired applauders in a Parisian theatre,
he would have discerned among them clacqueuses as well as
clacqueurs.

Juverna, M.A.

ROLAND THE BRAVE.

(Vol. ix., p. 372.)

In justification of Dr. Forbes’ identifying Roland the Brave with the
hero of Schiller’s ballad, Ritter Toggenburg, I beg to refer your
correspondent X. Y. Z. to Deutsches Sagenbuch, von L. Bechstein,
Leipzig, 1853, where (p. 95.) the same tale is related which forms the
subject of Mrs. Hemans’ beautiful ballad, only with this difference, that
there the account of Roland’s death entirely agrees with Schiller’s
version of the story, whereas the English poet has adopted the general
tradition of Roland’s fall at Roncesvalles.

Most of the epic poems of the middle ages in which Roland’s death is
recorded, especially the different old French Chansons de Roland ou de
Roncevaux, an Icelandic poem on the subject, and Stricker’s
middle-high German lay of Roland, all of them written between A.D. 1100
and 1230—agree in this, that after Roland’s fall at Roncesvalles,
and the complete rout of the heathen by Charlemagne, the latter returns
home and is met—some say at Aix-la-Chapelle, others at Blavie,
others at Paris—by Alda or Alite, Olivier’s sister, who inquires of
him where Roland, her betrothed, is. On learning his fate she dies on the
spot of grief. According to monk Conrad (about A.D. 1175), Alda was Roland’s wife. See Ruolandes
Liet, von W. Grimm, Göttingen, 1838, pp. 295—297.

The legend of Rolandseck, as told by Bechstein from Rhenish folk lore,
begins thus:

“Es sasz auf hoher Burg am Rhein hoch über dem Stromthal ein junger
Rittersmann, Roland geheiszen, (manche sagen Roland von Angers, Neffe
Karls des Groszen), der liebte ein Burgfräulein, Hildegunde, die Tochter
des Burggrafen Heribert, der auf dem nahen Schlosz Drachenfels sasz,”
&c.

Here the question is left open whether the hero of the story was
Roland the Brave, or some other knight of that name. The latter seems the
more probable, as Roland’s fall at Roncesvalles is one of the chief
subjects of mediæval poetry, whereas the death of knight Roland in sight
of {476}Nonnenwerth on the Rhine, forms the very
pith of the German local legend. From certain coincidences, however, it
was easy to blend the two stories together into one, as was done by Mrs.
Hemans. As to Schiller, we may suppose that he either followed altogether
a different legend, or, perhaps to avoid misconception, substituted
another name for that of knight Roland, similar to what he has done in
other instances.

R. R.

Canterbury.

I think your correspondent X. Y. Z. is mistaken in attributing to Mrs.
Hemans the lines on the “Brave Roland.” In Mr. Campbell’s Poems he
will find some stanzas which bear a striking resemblance to those he has
quoted. I subjoin those stanzas to which X. Y. Z. has referred:

X. Y. Z. seems also to have forgotten what Mr. Campbell duly records,
viz. that Roland used to station himself at a window overlooking “the
nun’s green isle;” it being after her decease that he met his death at
Roncevall, which event, by the way, is alluded to by Sir W. Scott in
Marmion, canto vi.:

H. B. F.

The legends of Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, are very numerous
and vary much from each other. The Orlando of Pulci has a very different
history from the Orlando of Bojardo and Ariosto.

The legend of “Rolandseck and the Nonnenwerth,” which has been adopted
by Campbell, not Mrs. Hemans, and charmingly set to music by Mrs.
Arkwright, is well known on the Rhine. There are two poems on the legend
in Simrock’s Rheinsagen (12mo., Bonn, 1841), one by the editor,
and another by August Kopisch. They exactly accord with Campbell’s
poem.

The legend of Ritter Toggenburg resembles that of Roland in many
particulars, but it is not the same, and it belongs to another locality,
to Kloster Fischingen, and not to Nonnenwerth. “Roland the Brave” appears
in all the later editions of Campbell’s Poems. Simrock’s
Rheinsagen is one of the most delightful handbooks that any one
can take through the romantic region which the poems (partly well
selected by the editor, and partly as well written by himself)
describe.

E. C. H.

The author of the beautiful lines which are quoted by your
correspondent X. Y. Z., is Campbell, not Mrs. Hemans. The poet, in the
fifth stanza of his ballad, tells how the unfortunate Roland, on finding
that Hildegund had taken the veil, was accustomed to sit at his window,
and “sad and oft” to look “on the mansion of his love below.”

F. M. Middleton.

Scott has, in Marmion,—

I quote from memory, and have not the poem.

F. C. B.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Recovery of Silver.—As many correspondents of “N. &
Q.” have asked how to recover the silver from their nitrate baths when
deteriorated or spoiled, perhaps the following hints may be acceptable to
them. Let them first precipitate the silver in the form of a chloride by
adding common salt to the nitrate solution. Let them then filter it, and
it may be reduced to its metallic state by either of the three following
methods.

1. By adding to the wet chloride at least double its volume of water,
containing one-tenth part of sulphuric acid; plunge into this a thick
piece of zinc, and leave it here for four-and-twenty hours. The chloride
of silver will be reduced by the formation of {477}chloride and sulphate
of zinc, and of pure silver, which will remain under the form of a
blackish powder, which is then to be washed, filtered, and preserved for
the purpose of making nitrate of silver.

2. The chloride of silver which is to be reduced is put into a flask
with about twice its volume of a solution of caustic potash (of one part
of caustic potash to nine of water), in which a small portion of sugar
has been dissolved. Let it boil gently. The operation is complete when
the blackish powder which results from this process, having been washed
in several waters, is entirely soluble in nitric acid, which is easily
ascertained by experimenting on a small quantity. This powder is to be
preserved in the same way as the former for the purpose of converting it
into nitrate of silver.

3. The metallic silver is obtained in the form of a button, by mixing
thoroughly 100 parts of dried chloride of silver, 70 parts of chalk or
whitening, and 4 parts of charcoal. This mixture is to be exposed in a
crucible to a fierce red heat for at least half an hour. When completely
cold the crucible is broken, and a button of pure silver is the result.
The first two processes are those which I should most strongly recommend
to your correspondents.

N. C.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Ashes of “Lignites” (Vol. ix., p. 422.).—Rusticus is obliged to the Editor for so soon giving a
reply to his Query; but seems convicted of being a bad penman, like many
other rustics. For the strange word, respecting which he asked for
information, having seen it used in a newspaper, was not lignites
but liquites. Rusticus could have guessed
that the ashes of lignites were but wood-ashes under a pedantic
name; but a term which looks, to a rustic, as if chemists meant to
persuade him to burn his beer for a valuable residuum, is more
perplexing.

Rusticus.

Old Rowley (Vol. ix., p. 457., &c.).—The late Sir
Charles Bunbury, who was long the father of the Jury, and considered as
an oracle in all matters relating to it, told me, many years ago, that
Charles II. was nicknamed “Old Rowley” after a favourite stallion in the
royal stud so called; and he added, that the same horse’s appellation had
been ever since preserved in the “Rowley Mile,” a portion of the
race-course still much used, and well-known to all frequenters of
Newmarket.

Braybrooke.

“Bachelors of every Station” (Vol. ix., p. 301.) is the
beginning of the Berkshire Lady, an old ballad nearly extinct, and
republished by me some years ago in the form of a small pamphlet, which
sold rapidly. If I can procure one, it shall be forwarded to Mr.
Bell.

The story is a true one, and related to a daughter of Sir William
Kendrick’s, who succeeded him, and was possessor of Calcot Place in the
parish of Tylehurst, and to Benjamin Child, Esq., whom she met at a
marriage feast in the neighbourhood. A wood near Calcot is where the
party met to fight the duel in case Mr. Child rejected the proposals of
marriage made to him by Miss Kendrick.

I had the account from an old man between eighty and ninety years of
age, clerk of the parish; and my friend Miss Mitford agreed with me in
the accuracy of the story: she had it from the late Countess Dowager of
Macclesfield, an old lady celebrated for her extensive and accurate
knowledge of legendary lore.

In opening a vault in St. Mary’s, Reading, last year, her coffin was
found entire, with this inscription:

“Frances Child, wife of Benjamin Child. Esq., of Calcot, and first
daughter of Sir Benjamin Kendrick, Bart. Died Feb. 27, 1722, aged 35. The
Lady of Berks.”

Another coffin,—

“Benjamin Child, Esq., died 2nd May, 1767, aged 84 years.”

Julia R. Bockett.

Southcote Lodge.

Mousehunt (Vol. viii., pp. 516. 606.; Vol. ix., pp. 65. 136.
385.).—In Vol. ix., p. 65., the Natural History of
Quadrupeds, by James H. Fennell, is quoted; where, speaking of the
Beech Marten (alias Mousehunt), he says:

“In Selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to the shore
at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large Basket
Mussel (Mytilus modiolus).”

In p. 136, I ventured to state that Mr. Fennell must have been a
better naturalist than geographer, as Selkirkshire was well known to be
an inland county nowhere approaching the sea by many miles. I added, that
I hoped, for Mr. Fennell’s sake, that Selkirkshire was either a
misprint or a misquotation.

In p. 385. Mr. Archibald Fraser, Woodford, not
choosing to exonerate Mr. Fennell by either of my suggestions, prefers,
as a staunch, but I think rather an inconsiderate friend and champion, to
vindicate the paragraph as it stands, by candidly admitting that
if the word beach had been used, it would certainly have referred
to the sea; but that the word shore applies to rivers as well as
seas. And he goes back as far as Spenser to find an instance of its use,
as applied to the banks of the river Nile.

I will not agree that this use is nearly obsolete, but give him the
full value of his quotation from Spenser. But what does he say to the
habitat of the Mytilus modiolus, which the Mousehunt goes
{478}to the shore to feed upon. I quote
from Rees’ Cyclopædia, voce “Mytilus:”

“Modiolus. Shell smooth and blackish, obtuse
at the smaller end, and rounded at the other; one side near the beaks is
angular. Two varieties are noticed by Lister. It inhabits the
European, American, and Indian seas, adhering to fuci and
zoophytes; is six or seven inches long, and about half as broad: the fish
is red or orange, and eatable.”

J. S.s.

Value of Money in the Seventeenth Century (Vol. ix. p.
375.).—Say, in his Political Economy (Prinsep’s translation,
i. 413.), has furnished a comparative statement, the result of which is,
that the setier of wheat, whose relative value to other
commodities has varied little from 1520 down to the present time, has
undergone great fluctuations, being worth—

Whence it may be inferred that 1000l. in 1640, 1660, and 1680
did not vary much from its value at the present time, such value being
measured in silver. But as the value of all commodities resolves
itself ultimately into the cost of labour, the rate of wages at these
dates, in the particular country or part of a country, must be taken as
the only safe criterion.

Thus, if labour were 20d. per diem in 1640, and is 40d.
at this time, 1000l. in 1640 is equivalent to 500l. (only
half as much) now. But, on the contrary, as the cost of production of
numerous articles by machinery, &c. has been by so much
reduced, the power of purchase now, as compared with 1640, of
1000l., is by so much increased. The article itself must
determine by how much. The question put by C. H. is too general to admit
of a positive solution; but should he specify the commodity and place of
investment in the seventeenth century and to-day of the 1000l.,
our statistics might still be at fault, and deny us even a proximate
determination of his inquiry. Even his 1000l., which he may
consider a fixed measure of value, or punctum comparationis, is
varying in value (=power of purchase) daily, even hourly, as regards
almost every exchangeable product. Tooke On Prices is a first-rate
authority on this subject.

T. J. Buckton.

Lichfield.

Grammars for Public Schools (Vol. ix., pp. 8. 209.).—Pray
add this little gem to your list, now scarce:

“The Gate of Tongues Unlocked and Opened, or else A Seminarie or Seed
Plot of all Tongues and Sciences, that is, a short way of teaching and
thorowly learning, within a yeare and a half at the farthest, the Latin,
English, French, and any other tongue, together with the ground and
foundation of Arts and Sciences, comprised under an hundred Titles and
1058 Periods. In Latine first, and now as a token of thankfulnesse
brought to light in Latine, English, and French, in the behalfe of the
most illustrious Prince Charles, and of British, French, and Irish
Youths. By the labour and industry of John Anchoran, Licentiate of
Divinity, London, 1633.”

Our British youths of those days seem to have been apt
scholars.

I. T. Abbott.

Darlington.

Classic Authors and the Jews (Vol. ix., pp. 221.
384.).—Any edition of the Historiæ Augustæ Scriptores Sex,
containing an index, ought to supply B. H. C. with a few additional
references. See, for instance, the Index to the Bipont Edition, 2 vols.
8vo., , under the
words “Judæi,” “Judaicus,” “Moses.”

C. Forbes.

Temple.

Hand-bells at Funerals (Vol. ii., p. 478.; Vol. vii., p.
297.).—A few years ago I happened to arrive at the small sea-port
of Roscoff, near the ancient cathedral town of St. Pol de Léon in
Britanny, on the day appointed for the funeral of one of the members of a
family of very old standing in that neighbourhood. My attention was
attracted by a number of boys running about the streets with small
hand-bells, with which they kept up a perpetual tinkling. On inquiring of
a friend of mine, a native of the place, what this meant, he informed me
that it was an old custom in Britanny—but one which in the present
day had almost fallen into disuse—to send boys round from door to
door with bells to announce when a death had occurred, and to give notice
of the day and the hour at which the funeral was to take place, begging
at the same time the prayers of the faithful for the soul of the
deceased. The boys selected for this office are taken from the most
indigent classes, and, on the day of the funeral, receive cloaks of
coarse black cloth as an alms: thus attired, they attend the funeral
procession, tinkling their bells as they go along.

Edgar MacCulloch.

Guernsey.

“Warple-way” (Vol. ix., p. 125.).—The communications of
your correspondents (Vol. ix., p. 232.) can scarcely be called answers to
the questions put.

I find, in Holloway’s Dictionary of Provincialisms, 8vo., 1838,
that a ridge of land is called, in husbandry, a warp. It is
defined to be a quantity of land consisting of ten, twelve, or more
ridges; on each side of which a furrow is left, to carry off the
water.

Again, in Halliwell’s Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial
Words, two volumes, 1847, it will be {479}found that warps
are distinct pieces of ploughed land, separated by furrows. I think I
here give the derivation and meaning, and refer to the authority. If the
derivation be not here given, then I would refer to the Saxon word
werpen, meaning “to cast.”

Across marshy grounds, to this day, are seen ridges forming
foot-paths, with a furrow on each side. A ridge of this sort would
formerly be, perhaps, a warple-way. Or perhaps a path across an
open common field, cast off or divided, as Halliwell mentions, by warps,
would be a warple-way.

Viator.

Wapple-way, or, as on the borders of Surrey and Sussex it is
called, waffel-way: and the gate itself, waffel-gate. If it
should appear, as in the cases familiar to me, these waffel-ways run
along the borders of shires and divisions of shires, such as
hundreds, I would suggest that they were military roads,—the
derivation waffe (Ger.), weapon.

H. F. B.

Medal of Chevalier St. George (Vol. ix., pp. 105.
311.).—With reference to the observations of your correspondents
A. S. and H., I would beg to observe that, some time ago, I gave to the
Museum at Winchester a medal struck on the occasion of the marriage of
Prince James F. E. Stuart and M. Clementina Sobieski: on the obverse is a
very striking head and bust of Clementina, with this inscription:

On the reverse is Clementina, driving an ancient chariot towards the
Colosseum, with this inscription: on the top—

at the bottom—

This latter inscription refers to her escape from Innspruck, where the
princess and her suite had been detained by the emperor’s orders.

This marriage, to prevent which so many efforts were made, prolonged
for eighty-eight years the unfortunate House of Stuart.

E. S. S. W.

Shakspeare’s Inheritance (Vol. ix., pp. 75.
154.).—Probably the following extracts from Littleton’s Tenures
in English, lately perused and amended (1656), may tend to a right
understanding of the meaning of inheritance and
purchase—if so, you may print them:

“Tenant in fee simple is he which hath lands or tenement to hold to
him and his heires for ever: and it is called in Latine feodum
simplex; for feodum is called inheritance, and simplex
as much to say as lawful or pure, and so feodum simplex is as much
to say as lawfull or pure inheritance. For if a man will purchase lands
or tenements in fee simple, it behoveth him to have these words in his
purchase, To have and to hold unto him and to his heires: for these words
(his heires) make the estate of inheritance, Anno 10
Henrici 6. fol. 38.; for if any man purchase lands in these words,
To have and to hold to him for ever, or by such words, To have and to
hold to him and to his assigns for ever; in these two cases he hath none
estate but for terme of life; for that, that he lacketh these words (his
heires), which words only make the estate of inheritance in all
feoffements and grants.”

“And it is to be understood that this word (inheritance) is not
only understood where a man hath lands or tenements by descent of
heritage, but also every fee simple or fee taile that a man hath by his
purchase, may be said inheritance; for that, thus his heires may inherite
them. For in a Writ of Right that a man bringeth of land that was of his
own purchase, the writ shall say, Quam clamat esse jus et hæreditatem
suam, this is to say, which he claimeth to be his right and his
inheritance.”

“Also purchase is called the possession of lands or tenements
that a man hath by his deed or by his agreement, unto which possession he
commeth, not by descent of any of his ancestors or of his cosins, but by
his own deed.”

J. Bell.

Cranbroke, Kent.

Cassock (Vol. ix., pp. 101. 337.).—A note in Whalley’s
edition of Ben Jonson has the following remark on this word:

“Cassock, in the sense it is here used, is not to be met with
in our common dictionaries: it signifies a soldier’s loose outward coat,
and is taken in that acceptation by the writers of Jonson’s times. Thus
Shakspeare, in All’s Well that Ends Well:

‘Half of the which dare not shake the snow from their
cassocks.'”

This is confirmed in the passage of Jonson, on which the above
is a note.

“This small service will bring him clean out of love with the soldier.
He will never come within the sign of it, the sight of a
cassock.”—Every Man in his Humour, Act II. Sc. 5.

The cassock, as well as the gown and band, seem to have been the usual
attire of the clergy on all occasions in the last century, as we find
from the paintings of Hogarth and the writings of Fielding, &c. When
did this custom cease? Can any reader of “N. & Q.” supply traditional
proof of clergymen appearing thus apparelled in ordinary life?

E. H. M. L.

Tailless Cats (Vol. ix., p. 10.).—On the day on which
this Query met my eye, a friend informed me that she had just received a
letter from an American clergyman travelling in Europe, in which he
mentioned having seen a tailless cat in Scotland, called a Manx cat, from
having come {480}from the Isle of Man. This is not
“a Jonathan.” Perhaps the Isle of Man is too small to swing long-tailed
cats in.

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Mr. T. D. Stephens, of Trull Green, near this town, has for some years
had and bred the Manx tailless cat; and, I have no doubt, would have
pleasure in showing them to your correspondent Shirley
Hibberd, should he ever be in this neighbourhood.

K. Y.

Taunton.

A friend of mine, who resided in the Park Farm, Kimberley, had a breed
of tailless cats, arising from the tail of one of the cats in the
first instance having been cut off; many of the kittens came
tailless, some with half length; and, occasionally, one of a litter with
a tail of the usual length, and this breed continued through several
generations.

G. J.

Names of Slaves (Vol. viii., p. 339.).—I can answer the
first of J. F. M.’s Queries in the affirmative; it being common to see in
Virginia slaves, or free people who have been slaves, with names acquired
in the manner suggested: e. g. “Philip Washington,” better known
in Jefferson county as “Uncle Phil.,” formerly a slave of the
Washingtons. A large family, liberated and sent to Cape Palmas, bore the
surname of “Davenport,” from the circumstance that their progenitor had
been owned by the Davenports. In fact, the practice is almost universal.
But fancy names are generally used as first names: e. g. John
Randolph, Peyton, Jefferson, Fairfax, Carter, &c. A fine old
body-servant of Col. Willis was called “Burgundy,” shortened into
“Uncle Gundy.” So that “Milton,” in the case mentioned, may have been
merely the homage paid to genius by some enthusiastic admirer of that
poet.

J. Balch.

Philadelphia.

Heraldic (Vol. ix., p. 271.).—On the brass of Robert
Arthur, St. Mary’s, Chartham, Kent, are two shields bearing a fess
engrailed between three trefoils slipped: which may probably be the same
as that about which Loccan inquires, though I am
unable to tell the colours. There are two other shields bearing, Two bars
with a bordure. The inscription is as follows:

“Hic iacet dns Robertus Arthur quondam
Rector isti’ Eccliē qui obiit xxviii^o die marcii
A^o dni Millō
CCCC^oLIIII^o. Cui’ aīe ppiciet’ de’
Amē.”

F. G.

Solar Annual Eclipse of 1263 (Vol. viii., p. 441.).—Mr.
Tytler, in the first volume of his History of Scotland, mentions
that this eclipse, which occurred about 2 P.M.
on Sunday, August 5, 1263, has been found by calculation to have been
actually central and annular to Ronaldsvoe, in the Orkneys, where the
Norwegian fleet was then lying: a fine example, as he justly adds, “of
the clear and certain light reflected by the exact sciences on history.”
S. asks, is this eclipse mentioned by any other writer? As connected with
the Norwegian expedition, it would seem not; but Matthew of Westminster
(vol. ii. p. 408., Bohn’s edit.) mentions it having been seen in England,
although he places it erroneously on the 6th of the month.

J. S. Warden.

Brissot de Warville (Vol. ix., p. 335.).—Brissot’s
Mémoires is a very common book in the original, and has gone
through several editions. The passage quoted by N. J. A. was only an
impudent excuse for an impudent assumption. Brissot, in his early
ambition, wished to pass himself off as a gentleman, and called himself
Brissot de Warville, as Danton did D’Anton, and Robespierre de
Robespierre; but when these worthies were endeavouring to send M. de
Warville to the scaffold as an aristocrat, he invented this fable of
his father’s having some landed property at Ouarville en Beauce
(not Beance), and that he was called, according to the custom of the
country, from this place, where, it seems, he was put out to nurse. When
the dread of the guillotine made M. de Warville anxious to get rid
of his aristocratic pretensions, he confessed (in those same
Mémoires) that his father kept a cook’s shop in the town of
Chartres, and was so ignorant that he could neither read nor write. I
need not add, that his having had a landed property to justify, in any
way, the son’s territorial appellation, was a gross fiction.

C.

“Le Compère Mathieu” (Vol. vi., pp. 11. 111. 181.).—On
the fly-leaf of my copy (three vols. 12mo., Londres, 1766) of this
amusing work, variously attributed by your correspondents to Mathurin
Laurent and the Abbé du Laurens, is written the following note, in the
hand of its former possessor, Joseph Whateley:

“Ecrit par Diderot, fils d’un Coutelier: un homme très licentieux, qui
écrit encore plusieurs autres Ouvrages, comme La Religieuse, Les Bijoux
méchant (sic), &c. Il jouit un grand rôle après dans la
Révolution.

“J. W.”

By the way, A. N. styles it “a not altogether undull work.” May I ask
him to elucidate this phrase, as I am totally at a loss to comprehend its
meaning. “Not undull” must surely mean dull, if anything. The
work, however, is the reverse of dull.

William Bates.

Birmingham.

Etymology of “Awkward” (Vol. viii., p. 310.—H. C. K. has
probably given the true derivation of this word, but he might have
noticed the {481}singularity of one Anglo-Saxon word
branching off into two forms, signifying different ways of acting wrong;
one, awkward, implying ignorance and clumsiness; the other,
wayward, perverseness and obstinacy. That the latter word is
derived from the source from which he deduces awkward, can, as I
conceive, admit of no doubt.

J. S. Warden.

Life and Death (Vol. ix., p. 296.).—What is death but a
sleep? We shall awake refreshed in the morning. Thus Psalm xvii. 15.;
Rom. vi. 5. For the full meanings, see these passages in the original
tongues. Sir Thomas Browne, whose Hydriotaphia abounds with quaint
and beautiful allusions to this subject, says, in one place, “Sleep is so
like death, that I dare not trust him without my prayers:” and he closes
his learned treatise with the following sentence:

“To live indeed is to be again ourselves; which being not only a hope,
but an evidence in noble believers, it is all one to lie in St.
Innocent’s churchyard as in the sands of Egypt; ready to be anything in
the ecstasy of being ever, and as content with six feet as the moles of
Adrianus.”

“Tabesne cadavera solvat,

An rogus, haud refert.”—Lucan.

How fine also is that philosophical sentiment of Lucan:

Can any of your correspondents say in what work the following
analogous passage occurs, and who is the author of it? The stamp of
thought is rather of the philosophic pagan than the Christian, though the
latinity is more monkish than classic:

J. L.

Dublin.

These notes remind my parishioners of an epitaph on a child in
Morwenstow churchyard:

R. H. Morwenstow.

Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound” (Vol. ix., p. 351.).—I
offer a conjecture on the meaning of the obscure passage adduced by J. S. Warden. It seems that Shelley intended to speak
of that peculiar feeling, or sense, which affects us so much in
circumstances which he describes. With the slight alterations indicated
by Italics, his meaning I think will be apparent; though in his hurry, or
inadvertence, he has left his lines very confused and ungrammatical.

F. C. H.

“Three Crowns and a Sugar-loaf” (Vol. ix., p. 350.).—The
latter was perhaps originally a mitre badly drawn, and worse copied, till
it received a new name from that it most resembled. The proper sign would
be “The Three Crowns and a Mitre,” equivalent to “The Bishop’s Arms:” if
Franche was in the diocese of Ely, or Bristol, the reference would be
clearer. Similar changes are known to have happened.

G. R. York.

To the inquiry of Cid, as to the meaning of
the above sign of an inn, I answer that there can be little doubt that
its original meaning was the Pope’s tiara.

F. C. H.

Stanza in “Childe Harold” (Vol. viii., p.258.).—I fear
that, considering Lord Byron’s cacography and carelessness, a reference
to his MS. would not mend the matter much; as, although the stanza
undoubtedly contains some errors due to the printer or transcriber for
the press, the obscurity and unconnected language are his lordship’s own,
and nothing short of a complete recast could improve it materially:
however, to make the verses such as Byron most probably wrote them, an
alteration of little more than one letter is required. For
“wasted,” read “washed;” to supply the deficient syllable, insert “yet”
or “still” after “they,” and remove the semicolon in the next line from
the middle to the end of the verse. Then the stanza runs thus:

The sentiment is clear enough, although not well expressed; and the
use of the present tense, “obey,” for “have obeyed,” is not at all
warranted by the usage of our language. In plain prose, it
means—

“Thy waters washed their shores while they were independent, and do so
still, although many a race of tyrants has successively reigned over them
since then: their decay has converted many fertile regions to
wildernesses, but thou art still unchanged.”

Not having your earlier volumes at hand, I cannot be sure that these
conjectures of mine are original (the correction in the punctuation of
the fourth line certainly is not), and have only to request the {482}forbearance of any of your correspondents
whose “thunder” I may have unwittingly appropriated.

J. S. Warden.

Errors in Punctuation (Vol. viii., p. 217.).—Every one
must agree with R. H. C. as to the importance of correct punctuation; and
it may easily be supposed how it must puzzle readers of works whose
language is in great part obsolete, to meet with mistakes of this kind,
when we find modern writers frequently rendered almost unintelligible by
similar errors. To take those whose works have, perhaps, been oftener
reprinted than any others of this century, Byron and Scott, the foregoing
passage in Childe Harold is a signal instance; and as another, the
Sonnet translated by Byron from Vittorelli, has only had corrected in the
very latest editions, an error in the punctuation of the first two lines
which rendered them a mystery to those who did not understand the
original, as printed on the opposite page. In note 12 to the 5th Canto of
Marmion, every edition, British or foreign, down to the present
day, punctuates the last two or three lines as follows:

“A torquois ring;—probably this fatal gift is, with James’s
sword and dagger, preserved in the College of Heralds, London.”

Sir Walter is thus made to express a doubt, which he never intended,
as to the ring being there. A comma after “ring,” another after “gift,”
and the omission of the dash, will restore the true meaning of the
sentence.

J. S. Warden.

Waugh of Cumberland (Vol. ix., p. 272.).—John Waugh
(D.C.L., Feb. 8, 1734)—born and educated at Appleby, Fellow of
Queen’s College, Oxford; Rector of St. Peter’s, Cornhill; Prebendary of
Lincoln; Dean of Gloucester,—was consecrated to the See of Carlisle
Oct. 13, 1723: he died Oct. 1734, and was buried in the church of St.
Peter, Cornhill. He bore for arms: Arg., on a chevron engrailed gules,
three bezants.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

“Could we with ink,” &c. (Vol. viii.
passim).—Perhaps one more communication may find admission
on the above interesting lines. I received from a clerical friend, many
years ago, a version of them, which differs considerably from that given
in “N. & Q.,” Vol. viii., p. 127. The variations I have marked by
Italics:

My friend did not profess to know who wrote these lines; but he
understood that they were an attempt to render in English verse a sublime
passage of the great St. Augustin. It is highly probable that this
eminent Father was the original author of the passage. It is extremely
like one of his grand conceptions; but I have hitherto searched his
voluminous works for it in vain.

F. C. H.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Particulars of Price, &c. of the following Books to be sent direct
to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses
are given for that purpose:

The Hundred and Ten Considerations of Signior John
Valdesso, translated by Nich. Farrer. Oxford, 1638; or the later
edition of 1650.

Archbishop Lawrence’s Examination of Griesbach’s
Systematic Classification of MSS.

Poems on Several Occasions, by William Broome,
LL.D. London, 1727-1739. 8vo.

Assize Sermon, by the same. on Ps. cxxii. 6.
4to. 1737.

Sermon, by the same, on 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. 8vo.
1700.

Osw. Crollius’s Admonitory Preface, in
English. London, 1657. 8vo.

——— The Mysteries of Nature.
London. 1657. 8vo.

——— On Signatures. London,
1669. Folio.

Warren’s Collection of Glees. Wanted, to
perfect the Set, Nos. 7. 10. 17. 25. and 27 to 32 inclusive. Any one
possessing the above, or a portion of them, may hear of a purchaser, upon
application at Novello’s Sacred Music Warehouse, 69. Dean Street, Soho
Square.

——

The following Works of Symon Patrick, late Lord Bishop of Ely,
&c.:—

Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Smith,
1652.

Divine Arithmetic, Sermon at the Funeral of
Mr. Samuel Jacomb, June 17, 1659.

Angliæ Speculum, Sermon at the Fast, April 24,
1678.

Sermon at Covent Garden, Advent Sunday,
1678.

Sermon on St. Peter’s Day, with enlargements.
1687.

Sermon on St. Mark’s Day, 1686.

Fast Sermon before the King and Queen, April
16, 1690: Prov. xiv. 34.

Exposition of the Ten Commandments, 1665.

Discourse concerning Prayer.

The Pillar and Ground of Truth, 4to. 1687.

Examination of Bellarmine’s Second Note of the
Church, viz., Antiquity. 4to. 1687.

Examination of the Texts which Papists cite out of
the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter, &c. 1688.

Answer to a Book entitled “The Touchstone of the
Reformed Gospel.” 1692.

A Private Prayer to be used in difficult
Times.

A Thanksgiving for our late wonderful
Deliverance, 1689.

{483}

The Advancement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce, or a Description of Machines and Models, &c.,
contained in the Repository of the Society of Arts, &c. By William
Bailey, Registrar of the Society, 1772.

A Register of the Premiums and Bounties given by the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, And Commerce,
from the original Institution in the year 1754 to 1776 inclusive. Printed
for the Society by James Phillips. 1778.

Scott’s Poetical Works. 8vo. 1830. Vol. I., or
the “Minstrelsy,” of that date.

Southey’s Brazil. 4to. Vols. II. and III.

Salazar, Historia de la Conquista de Mexico.
Fol. 1743 or 1786.

Percy Society’s Publications, 93 and 94.
(1l. will be given for them.)

Archæologia, Numbers or Volumes, from Vol.
XXV. to Vol. XXIX. inclusive.

Notices to Correspondents.

We have been induced, by the number of articles we have in type
writing for insertion, to omit our usual Notes on
Books, &c.

Agmond. Cecil was written by Mrs.
Gore.

F. M. M. Balaam Box has long been used in Blackwood as the name of
the depository of rejected articles. The allusion is obvious.

H. M. H. will find all the information he can desire respecting
The Gentlemen at Arms, in Pegge’s Curialia; Thiselton’s Memoir
of that Corps, published in 1819; or, better still, Curling’s Account
of the Ancient Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, 8vo. 1850.

J. C. K. The coin is a very common penny of Henry III., worth
ninepence, or a shilling at most.

Balliolensis. Porson’s jeu d’esprit is
reprinted in the Facetiæ Cantabrigienses (1850). p. 16.

Enquirer. A triolet is a stanza of eight
lines, in which, after the third the first line, and after the sixth the
first two lines, are repeated, so that the first line is heard three
times: hence the name. It is suited for playful and light subjects, and
is cultivated by the French and Germans. The volume of Patrick
Carey’s Trivial Poems and Triolets, edited by Sir Walter Scott, in
1820, from a MS. of 1651, is an early instance of the use of the
term.

A. B. M. The line referred to—”Pride, pomp, and
circumstance of glorious war”—is from Othello, Act III.
Sc. 3.

Jarltzberg. Has not our Correspondent
received a note we inclosed to him respecting The Circle of the
Seasons?

Old Mortality’s offer of a collection of
Epitaphs is declined with thanks. We have now waiting for insertion
almost as many as would fill a cemetery.

Abhba. The proverb “Mad as a March hare”
has appeared in our Fourth Volume, p. 208.—Also, in the same
volume, p. 309. &c., will be found several articles similar to
the one forwarded on “Bee Superstitions.”

F. (Oxford.) The extract forwarded from Southey’s Common Place
Book is a copy of the title-page of the anonymous work
required.

H. C. M. The date of the earliest Coroner’s Inquest, we should
think, cannot be ascertained. The office of Coroner is of so great
antiquity that its commencement is not known. It is evident that Coroners
existed in the time of Alfred, for that king punished with death a judge
who sentenced a party to suffer death upon the Coroner’s record, without
allowing the delinquent liberty to traverse. (Bac. on Gov. 66.; 6
Vin. Abr. 242.) This officer is also mentioned by Athelstan in his
charter to Beverly (Dugd. Monast. 171.).

I. R. R. Henry Machyn was a citizen and merchant-tailor of London
from A.D. 1550 to 1563. See a notice of him prefixed to his Diary,
published by the Camden Society.——An account of
John Stradling, the epigrammatist, will be found in Wood’s Athenæ
(Bliss), vol. ii. p. 396.——Hockday, or Hokeday, is a
high-day, a day of feasting and mirth, formerly held in England the
second Tuesday after Easter, to commemorate the destruction of the Danes
in the time of Ethelred.——For notices of George Wither
in the Gentleman’s Mag., see vol. lxxxvi. pt. ii. 32. 201.;
vol. lxxxvii. pt. i. 42.; vol. lxxxviii. pt. i. 138.——An
interesting account of the Paschal Eggs is given in Hone’s
Every-Day Book, vol. i. p. 246., vol. ii. pp. 439. 450.; and in
Brand’s Popular Antiquities.——Marvell’s reference is
probably to Charles Gerard, afterwards created Baron Gerard of Brandon,
gentleman of the bed-chamber to Charles II., and captain of his
guards.

W. S. The lens is certainly very good; you should practise to
obtain an accurate focus on the ground glass. An experienced hand will
often demonstrate how much the actual sharpness of a picture depends upon
nice adjustment of the focus; for though the picture looks pretty, it is
not sharp in detail.

Photo. We hope shortly to be enabled to
report upon the new paper manufacturing by Mr. Saunders for photographic
purposes.

“Notes and Queries” is published at noon on
Friday, so that the Country Booksellers may receive Copies in that
night’s parcels, and deliver them to their Subscribers on the
Saturday.

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Importer of French and German Lenses, &c. Catalogues by Post on
receipt of Two Postage Stamps. Sets of Apparatus from Three Guineas.

COLLODION PORTRAITS AND VIEWS obtained with the greatest ease and
certainty by using BLAND & LONG’S preparation of Soluble Cotton;
certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined
with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a
most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer.

Albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving
a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, 5s. per
Quire.

Waxed and Iodized Papers of tried quality.

Instruction in the Processes.

BLAND & LONG, Opticians and Photographical Instrument Makers, and
Operative Chemists, 153. Fleet Street, London.

*** Catalogues sent on application.

THE SIGHT preserved by the Use of SPECTACLES adapted to suit every
variety of Vision by means of SMEE’S OPTOMETER, which effectually
prevents Injury to the Eyes from the selection of Improper Glasses, and
is extensively employed by

BLAND & LONG, Opticians, 153. Fleet
Street, London.

{484}

IMPERIAL LIFE INSURANCE
COMPANY.

1. OLD BROAD STREET, LONDON.

Instituted 1820.

——

SAMUEL HIBBERT, ESQ., Chairman.
WILLIAM R. ROBINSON, ESQ., Deputy-Chairman.

——

The SCALE OF PREMIUMS adopted by this Office will be found of a very
moderate character, but at the same time quite adequate to the risk
incurred.

FOUR-FIFTHS, or 80 per cent. of the Profits, are assigned to Policies
every fifth year, and may be applied to increase the sum insured,
to an immediate payment in cash, or to the reduction and ultimate
extinction of future Premiums.

ONE-THIRD of the Premium on Insurances of 500l. and upwards,
for the whole term of life, may remain as a debt upon the Policy, to be
paid off at convenience; or the Directors will lend sums of 50l.
and upwards, on the security of Policies effected with this Company for
the whole term of life, when they have acquired an adequate value.

SECURITY.—Those who effect Insurances with this Company are
protected by its Subscribed Capital of 750,000l., of which nearly
140,000l. is invested, from the risk incurred by Members of Mutual
Societies.

The satisfactory financial condition of the Company, exclusive of the
Subscribed and Invested Capital, will be seen by the following
Statement:

Insurances, without participation in Profits, may be effected at
reduced rates.

PIANOFORTES, 25 Guineas each.-D’ALMAINE & CO., 20. Soho Square
(established A.D. 1785) sole manufacturers of
the ROYAL PIANOFORTES, at 25 Guineas each. Every instrument warranted.
The peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the
following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading
musicians of the age:—”We, the undersigned members of the musical
profession, having carefully examined the Royal Pianofortes manufactured
by MESSRS. D’ALMAINE & CO., have great pleasure in bearing testimony
to their merits and capabilities. It appears to us impossible to produce
instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more
elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their
construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir,
or drawing-room. (Signed) J. L. Abel, F. Benedict, H. R. Bishop, J.
Blewitt, J. Brizzi, T. P. Chipp, P. Delavanti, C. H. Dolby, E. F.
Fitzwilliam, W. Forde, Stephen Glover, Henri Herz, E. Harrison, H. F.
Hassé, J. L. Hatton, Catherine Hayes, W. H. Holmes, W. Kuhe, G. F.
Kiallmark, E. Land, G. Lanza, Alexander Lee, A. Leffler, E. J. Loder,
W. H. Montgomery, S. Nelson, G. A. Osborne, John Parry, H. Panofka, Henry
Phillips, F. Praegar, E. F. Rimbault, Frank Romer, G. H. Rodwell, E.
Rockel, Sims Reeves, J. Templeton, F. Weber, H. Westrop, T. H. Wright,”
&c.

D’ALMAINE & CO., 20. Soho Square. Lists
and Designs Gratis.

CHUBB’S FIRE-PROOF SAFES AND LOCKS.—These safes are the most
secure from force, fraud, and fire. Chubb’s locks, with all the recent
improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. Complete lists, with
prices, will be sent on application.

CHUBB & SON, 57. St. Paul’s Churchyard, London; 28. Lord Street,
Liverpool; 16. Market Street, Manchester; and Horseley Fields,
Wolverhampton.

WESTERN LIFE ASSURANCE
AND ANNUITY SOCIETY.

3. PARLIAMENT STREET, LONDON.

Founded A.D. 1842.

Directors.

Trustees.—W. Whateley, Esq., Q.C.; George Drew, Esq., T. Grissell, Esq.
Physician.—William Rich. Basham, M.D.
Bankers.—Messrs. Cocks, Biddulph, and Co., Charing Cross.

VALUABLE PRIVILEGE.

POLICIES effected in this Office do not become void through temporary
difficulty in paying a Premium, as permission is given upon application
to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed
in the Prospectus.

Specimens of Rates of Premium for Assuring 100l., with a Share
in three-fourths of the Profits:—

ARTHUR SCRATCHLEY, M.A., F.R.A.S., Actuary.

Now ready, price 10s. 6d., Second Edition, with material
additions, INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT and EMIGRATION: being a TREATISE ON
BENEFIT BUILDING SOCIETIES, and on the General Principles of Land
Investment, exemplified in the Cases of Freehold Land Societies, Building
Companies, &c. With a Mathematical Appendix on Compound Interest and
Life Assurance. By ARTHUR SCRATCHLEY, M.A., Actuary to the Western Life
Assurance Society, 3. Parliament Street, London.

BANK OF DEPOSIT.

No. 3. Pall Mall East, and 7. St. Martin’s
Place, Trafalgar Square, London.

Established A.D. 1844.

INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS
may be opened daily, with capital of any
amount.

Interest payable in January and July.

PETER MORRISON.
          Managing Director.

Prospectuses and Forms sent free on application.

BENNETT’S MODEL WATCH, as shown at the GREAT EXHIBITION, No. 1. Class
X., in Gold and Silver Cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all
Climates, may now be had at the MANUFACTORY, 65. CHEAPSIDE. Superior Gold
London-made Patent Levers, 17, 15, and 12 guineas. Ditto, in Silver
Cases, 8, 6, and 4 guineas. First-rate Geneva Levers, in Gold Cases, 12,
10, and 8 guineas. Ditto, in Silver Cases, 8, 6, and 5 guineas. Superior
Lever, with Chronometer Balance, Gold, 27, 23, and 19 guineas. Bennett’s
Pocket Chronometer, Gold, 50 guineas; Silver, 40 guineas. Every Watch
skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. Barometers,
2l., 3l., and 4l. Thermometers from 1s.
each.

BENNETT. Watch, Clock, and Instrument Maker to the Royal Observatory,
the Board of Ordnance, the Admiralty, and the Queen.

65. CHEAPSIDE.

AS SECRETARY OR AMANUENSIS.

A GENTLEMAN who is quite Conversant with the French, German, and
Italian Languages, and well acquainted with Botany and Entomology, is
desirous of obtaining some permanent Employment. The most satisfactory
References as to competency and respectability of family and connections
can be given.

Address, F. G. H., care of MR. NEWMAN, Printer, 9. Devonshire Street,
Bishopsgate Street.

ALLSOPP’S PALE or BITTER ALE.—MESSRS. S. ALLSOPP & SONS beg
to inform the TRADE that they are now registering Orders for the March
Brewings of their PALE ALE in Casks of 18 Gallons and upwards, at the
BREWERY, Burton-on-Trent; and at the under-mentioned Branch
Establishments:

MESSRS. ALLSOPP & SONS take the opportunity of announcing to
PRIVATE FAMILIES that their ALES, so strongly recommended by the Medical
Professions, may be procured in DRAUGHT and BOTTLES GENUINE from all the
most RESPECTABLE LICENSED VICTUALLERS, on “ALLSOPP’S PALE ALE” being
specially asked for.

When in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its
having “ALLSOPP & SONS” written across it.

Patronised by the Royal
Family.

TWO THOUSAND POUNDS
for any person producing Articles superior
to the following:

THE HAIR RESTORED AND GREYNESS
PREVENTED.

BEETHAM’S CAPILLARY FLUID is acknowledged to be the most effectual
article for Restoring the Hair in Baldness, strengthening when weak and
fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring
its natural colour without the use of dye. The rich glossy appearance it
imparts is the admiration of every person. Thousands have experienced its
astonishing efficacy. Bottles 2s. 6d.; double size,
4s. 6d.; 7s. 6d. equal to 4 small;
11s. to 6 small; 21s. to 13 small. The most perfect
beautifier ever invented.

SUPERFLUOUS HAIR REMOVED.

BEETHAM’S VEGETABLE EXTRACT does not cause pain or injury to the skin.
Its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds
of the first families. Bottles, 5s.

BEETHAM’S PLASTER is the only effectual remover of Corns and Bunions.
It also reduces enlarged Great Toe Joints in an astonishing manner. If
space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals,
during the last five years, might be inserted. Packets, 1s.;
Boxes, 2s. 6d. Sent Free by BEETHAM, Chemist, Cheltenham,
for 14 or 36 Post Stamps.

Sold by PRING, 30. Westmorland Street; JACKSON, 9. Westland Row;
BEWLEY & EVANS, Dublin; GOULDING, 108. Patrick Street, Cork; BARRY,
9. Main Street, Kinsale; GRATTAN, Belfast; MURDOCK, BROTHERS, Glasgow;
DUNCAN & FLOCKHART, Edinburgh. SANGER, 150. Oxford Street; PROUT,
229. Strand; KEATING, St. Paul’s Churchyard; SAVORY & MOORE, Bond
Street; HANNAY, 63. Oxford Street; London. All Chemists and Perfumers
will procure them.

Printed by Thomas Clark Shaw, of No. 10
Stonefield Street, in the Parish of St. Mary, Islington, at No. 5 New
Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and
published by George Bell, of No. 186. Fleet
Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London,
Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.—Saturday, May 20.
1854.