Vol. IV.—No. 88.
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION
FOR
LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

VOL. IV.—No. 88.

SATURDAY, JULY 5. 1851.

Price Threepence.   Stamped Edition 4d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

OUR FOURTH VOLUME.

We cannot permit the present Number, which commences the Fourth Volume
of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” to come into the hands of our Readers without
some few words of acknowledgment and thanks to those Friends, Readers,
and Correspondents, whose kind encouragement and assistance have raised
our paper to its present high position;—

To those thanks we will add our promise, that no effort shall be wanting
to carry on this paper in the same spirit in which it was commenced, and
to add, if possible, to its utility and interest. And by way of setting
an example to our correspondents—

we will, with these thanks and this promise, bid our friends fall to on
the Banquet of Pleasant Inventions spread out for them in the following
pages.

Notes.

THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH’S POCKET-BOOKS.

In “NOTES AND QUERIES” (Vol. i., p. 198.) is inserted from Chambers’
Edinburgh Journal an account of a manuscript volume said to have been
found on the person of the Duke of Monmouth at the time of his arrest;
which was exhibited by Dr. Anster at a meeting of the Royal Irish
Academy, November 30, 1849, accompanied by some remarks, which appeared
in the Proceedings of the Academy, vol. iv. p. 411., and which furnish
the substance of the article in Chambers above mentioned. In a
subsequent number of the “NOTES AND QUERIES” (Vol. i., p. 397.), the
authenticity of the volume is somewhat called in question by
MR. C. ROSS, on account of certain historical entries not appearing in it,
which are printed by Welwood in his Memoirs[1], and stated to have
been copied by him from “a little pocket-book” which was taken with
Monmouth, and afterwards delivered to the King. Dr. Anster replied to
this in the Dublin University Magazine for June, 1850 (vol. xxxv. p.
673.), and showed by references to the Harleian Miscellany (vol. vi.
p. 322., ed. 1810), and Sir John Reresby’s Memoirs (p. 121. 4to.,
1734), that more than one book was found on the Duke of Monmouth’s
person when captured. In the former of these authorities, entitled An
Account of the Manner of taking the late Duke of Monmouth: by his
Majesty’s[2] command, printed in 1685, and perhaps compiled from
information given by the king himself, the following statement is
made:—

“The papers and books that were found on him are since delivered
to his Majesty. One of the books was a manuscript of spells,
charms, and conjurations, songs, receipts, and prayers, all
written with the said late Duke’s own hand. Two others were
manuscripts of fortification and the military art. And a fourth
book, fairly written, wherein are computes of the yearly expense
of his Majesty’s navy and land forces.”

[1] Query, what is the date of the first edition of Welwood’s
work? The earliest in the Museum library is the third edition, printed
in 1700.

It is remarkable that the “pocket-book” mentioned by Welwood is not here
specified, but it is possible that the entries quoted by him may have
been written on the pages of one of the other books. Two of the above
only are noticed by Mr. Macaulay, namely, “a small treatise on
fortification,” and “an album filled with songs, receipts, prayers, and
charms”; and there can be no reasonable doubt that the latter, which is
mentioned by the author of the tract in the Harleian Miscellany, as
well as by Reresby and Barillon, is the identical manuscript which forms
the subject of Dr. Anster’s remarks.

Within a few weeks this singular volume has been added by purchase to
the National Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum, previous
to which I ascertained, by a careful comparison of its pages with
several undoubted letters of the Duke of Monmouth (an advantage Dr.
Anster did not possess), that the whole of the volume (or nearly so) is
certainly in the Duke’s handwriting. This evidence might of itself be
deemed sufficient; but some lines written on the fly-leaf of the volume
(which are passed over by Dr. Anster as of no moment) confirm the fact
beyond all cavil, since, on seeing them, I immediately recognised them
as the autograph of King James himself. They are as follows:

“This book was found in the Duke of Monmouth’s pocket when he was
taken, and is most of his owne handwriting.”

Although the contents of this volume have been already described in
general terms by Dr. Anster, yet it may not perhaps be uninteresting to
give a more detailed list of what is written in it:—

1. Receipts “for the stone”; “to know the sum of numbers before
they be writ doun”; “pour nettoyer l’ovrages de cuyvre argenté;”
“for to make Bouts and Choos [Boots and Shoes] hold out water;”
and “to keep the goms well.”—pp. 1-4. 8.

2. Magical receipts and charms in French, written partly in an
abbreviated form, accompanied by cabalistic figures. Two of these
are to deliver a person out of prison, and are no doubt the same
which Sir John Reresby refers to.—pp. 5. 7. 9. 11-17.

3. “The forme of a bill of Excheng,” drawn on David Nairne of
London, from Antwerp, May 16, 1684, for 200l. sterling.—p. 6.

4. Astrological rules in French for finding out anything
required; together with a planetary wheel, dated 1680, to show
life or death in case of illness, also happiness and
adversity.—pp. 19-25.

5. Directions “pour savoire si une person sera fidelle ou non,”
&c. At the bottom is a cypher, in which a stands for 10, b for
52, &c., p. 27. All this is entered again at pp. 45. 47.

6. “The way from London to East Tilbery,” dated December 1,
1684.—p. 29.

7. Prayers for the morning and evening, pp. 31-43.

8. List of the Christian names of women and men.—pp. 44. 46. 48.

9. Arithmetical table of the number 7, multiplied from 1 to
37.—pp. 49. 51.

10. Receipts “to take away a corne;” “a soveraign water of Dr.
Stephens;” “to make the face fair;” “to make golden letters
without gold;” “to kip iron from rusting;” “to write letters of
secrets;” “to make hair grow;” “to make hair grow black, though
of any colour;” and several more.—pp. 52-61.

11. Casualties that happened in the reigns of the English
sovereigns, from William I. to Queen Mary inclusive; consisting
chiefly of remarkable accidents, and reputed prodigies.—pp.
62-78.

12. “Socrates, Platon, Aristote et Ciceron ont fait ces trente
Comandemens pour leurs disciples.”—pp. 78, 79.

13. “A receipt for the Farcy.”—p. 81.

14. A poem intitled “The Twin Flame, sent mee by M P“—pp.
83-91.

The words in Italics have been scribbled over with the pen for the
purpose of concealment. The verses commence:

15. Receipts for secret writing, to take impressions of prints
upon glass, to boil plate, &c.—pp. 93-98.

16. Several songs in English and French, pp. 99-107.

Among them are the verses printed in “NOTES AND QUERIES,” Vol. i., p.
199., beginning “With joie we do leave thee,” accompanied by the musical
notes; and also a song commencing “All ye gods that ar above,” with the
musical notes. It is most probable that these songs are copied from
printed sources; but as they have been conjectured to be compositions by
Monmouth himself, the following short specimen may not be unacceptable,
copied literatim.

This poem immediately follows the one in which Toddington in
Bedfordshire (which the Duke spells, probably as then pronounced,
Tedington) is referred to.

17. Prayers after the confession of sins, and the sense of pardon
obtained.—pp. 108-125.

These prayers breathe a spirit of the most humble and ardent piety; and
if composed by the Duke himself, exhibit the weakness of his character
in a more favourable light than the remainder of the volume. One
paragraph is striking:—

“Mercy, mercy, good Lord! I aske not of thee any longer the
things of this world; neither power, nor honours, nor riches, nor
pleasures. No, my God, dispose of them to whom thou pleasest, so
that thou givest me mercy.”

18. “The Batteryes that can be made at Flushing to keep ships
from coming in.”—pp. 127, 128.

19. “Traité de la guere ou Politique militaire.”—pp. 130-132.

20. “The Rode that is to be taken from Bruxels to Diren, the Pri.
of Orange’s house.”—p. 133.

21. “The Road from Bruxells to Sousdyck, the Prince of Orange his
hous.”—p. 134.

22. “The way that I tooke from Diren, when I went for England,
Nov. the 10. 84.”—p. 135.

23. “The way that I took when I came from England, December the
10th. 84.”—p. 137.

24. “The way that I took the first day of Jan. n. st. [1684-5]
from Bruxells to the Hague.”—p. 139.

25. Similar memoranda from 11th to 14th March, 1685, between
Antwerp and Dort.—p. 141.

26. The addresses of various persons in Holland, London, Paris,
and elsewhere, to whom letters were to be written, 1685.—pp.
142. 147-155.

27. “The footway from Trogou to Amsterdam.”—p. 143.

28. An obscure memorandum, as follows:—”1683. Munday the 5th of
November. H. W. had T.—The 9th of November, Poupe.—The 16th of
November, Poupe.”—p. 156.

29. Value of duckatons, pistols, and gilders.—Ib.

30. Note of the route from London to Tedington.—p. 157.

Although this volume is not of the same historical value as the Diary
mentioned by Welwood, yet it is a curious and interesting relic of the
unfortunate man who possessed it, and whose want of education,
superstition, and frivolity are so prominently displayed in its pages.
As to its recent history, Dr. Anster states that it was purchased at a
book-stall in Paris, in 1827, by an Irish divinity student; the same,
probably, who has written his name at p. 90.: “John Barrette, Irish
College, Paris, Dec. 31, 1837.”—The same person has made a memorandum
in pencil, at p. 1., which has subsequently been partially rubbed out,
and, as far as now legible, is as follows:—

“This Book was found in … of the English College in Paris,
among other MSS. deposited there by James II.”

An earlier hand has scribbled a list of the contents at the
commencement, with the signature “S. Rutter.” If King James deposited
this volume in the College at Paris, in all probability the others found
on the person of the Duke of Monmouth accompanied it, and may one day or
other turn up as unexpectedly as the present book has done.

F. MADDEN.

British Museum, June 27.

FOLK LORE.

Stanton Drew and its Tradition.

—At the little village of Stanton
Drew, in the county of Somerset, east of the road between Bristol and
Wells, stands a well-known Druidical monument, which, in the opinion of
Dr. Stukeley, was more ancient than that at Abury. It consists
(according to a recent writer) of four groups of stones, forming (or,
rather, having formed when complete) two circles; and two other figures,
one an ellipse. Although the largest stones are much inferior in their
dimensions to those at Stonehenge and Abury, they are by no means
contemptible; some of them being nine feet in height and twenty-two feet
in girth. There is a curious tradition very prevalent amongst the
country people, respecting the origin of these remains, which they
designate the “Evil Wedding,” for the following good and substantial
reasons:—Many hundred years ago (on a Saturday evening), a newly
married couple, with their relatives and friends, met on the spot now
covered by these ruins, to celebrate their nuptials. Here they feasted
and danced right merrily, until the clock tolled the hour of midnight,
when the piper (a pious man) refused to play any longer: this was much
against the wish of the guests, and so exasperated the bride (who was
fond of dancing), that she swore with an oath, she would not be baulked
in her enjoyment by a beggarly piper, but would find a substitute, if
she went to h-ll to fetch one. She had scarcely uttered the words, when
a venerable old man, with a long beard, made his appearance, and having
listened to their request, proffered his services, which were right
gladly accepted. The old gentleman (who was no other than the Arch-fiend
himself) having taken the seat vacated by the godly piper, commenced
playing a slow and solemn air, which on the guests remonstrating he
changed into one more lively and rapid. The company now began to dance,
but[4] soon found themselves impelled round the performer so rapidly
and mysteriously, that they would all fain have rested. But when they
essayed to retire, they found, to their consternation, that they were
moving faster and faster round their diabolical musician, who had now
resumed his original shape. Their cries for mercy were unheeded, until
the first glimmering of day warned the fiend that he must depart. With
such rapidity had they moved, that the gay and sportive assembly were
now reduced to a ghastly troop of skeletons. “I leave you,” said the
fiend, “a monument of my power and your wickedness to the end of time:”
which saying, he vanished. The villagers, on rising in the morning,
found the meadow strewn with large pieces of stone, and the pious piper
lying under a hedge, half dead with fright, he having been a witness to
the whole transaction.

DAVID STEVENS.

Godalming, May 10. 1851.

Minor Notes.

The Hon. Spencer Perceval.

—Being on a tour through the West of
England some years ago, I found myself one morning rapidly advancing up
the river Tamar, in the gig of “the Captain of the Ordinary” at
Plymouth. We were bound for the noble ruins of Trematon Castle, in the
area of which a good modern house has been erected, and in one of the
towers is arranged a very pleasing collection of antiquities.

As we proceeded up the river, the gallant captain related the following
anecdote in reference to the then proprietor of Trematon:—

It is well known that in the afternoon of the 12th May, 1812, the
Hon. Spencer Perceval, the then prime minister, fell by the hand
of Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons; the cause
assigned by the murderer being the neglect of, or refusal to
discharge a supposed claim he had upon the government.

On the same night the gentleman above alluded to, and residing at
Trematon, had the tragic scene so minutely and painfully depicted in his
sleep, that he could not resist the desire of sending the particulars to
a friend in town, which he did by the up mail, which departed a few
hours after he had risen on the following morning.

He informed his friend that his topographical knowledge of London was
very meagre; and that as to the House of Commons (the old one), he had
seen only the exterior: he went on to state, that, dreaming he was in
town, he had a desire to hear the debates in Parliament, and for this
purpose enquired his way to the lobby of the House, the architectural
peculiarities of which he minutely described; he gave an exact
description of the few officials and others in the room, and especially
of a tall, thin man, who seemed to watch the opening of the door as any
one entered with wild and restless gaze: at length Mr. Perceval arrived,
whose person (although unknown to him) and dress he described, as also
the manner in which the horrid deed was done: he further communicated
the words uttered by the victim to the effect “the villain has
murdered—;” how the wounded man was treated, and the person of the
medical man who was on the instant called in.

These, with other particulars, which have escaped my memory, were thus
recorded, and the first newspaper he received confirmed the accuracy of
this extraordinary dream.

M. W. B.

An Adventurer in 1632.

—I transcribe from a manuscript letter now
before me, dated “Tuesday, Whitsun-week, 1632,” the following passage.
Can you or any of your correspondents give me (or tell me where I am
likely to find) any further information of the adventurer there named?

“Heer is much Speach of the Brauery of a Porter yt hath taken
a Braue House, and hath his Coach & 4 Horses. Ye Lord Mayor
examined him how he gott yt Wealth: he answered nothing. Then
ye Lords of ye Council gott out of him, that he being the
Pope’s Brother Borne in Essex, Goodman Linges Sonnes, was
maintained by him, and tempted much to have come over to him:
these 2 Brothers beings Ship Boyes to a French pirate, the porter
gott meanes to come againe into England, but ye other being a
Witty Boy was sould to a Coortier in Paris, who trauelling to
Florence, thear bestowed his Boy of a Great Man, who when he dyed
tooke such affection to this Boy, yt changeing his name to his
owne left his estate to him: and so in time grew a Florentine, a
Cardinall, & now Pope, ye greatest linguist for the Latine
yt ever was.”

C. DE D.

[Maffeo Barberini (Urban VIII.) was the Roman pontiff between
1623 and 1644, and is said to have been born at Florence in 1568,
of a noble family. He was a good classical scholar, and no mean
Latin poet. One charge brought against him was his weak
partiality towards his nephews, who abused his old age and
credulity. It is probable some of our correspondents can throw
some light on this mysterious document.]

Almanacs.

—A friend of mine, in taking down his old rectory house last
year, found under one of the floors a book almanac, of which the
following is the title given:

“A Prognossicacion and an Almanac fastened together, declaring
the Dispocission of the People, and also of the Wether, with
certaine Electyons and Tymes chosen both for Phisicke and
Surgerye, and for the Husbandman. And also for Hawekying,
Huntying, Fyshing, and Foulyinge, according to the Science of
Astronomy, made for the yeare of our Lord God M. D. L. calculed
for the Merydyan of Yorke, and practiced by Anthony Askam.”

At the end of the Almanac:

“Imprynted at London, in Flete Strete, at the Signe[5] of the
George, next to Saynt Dunstone’s Churche, by Wyllyam Powell, cum
priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.”

Then follows the “Prognossicacion,” the title-page to which is as
follows:

“A Prognossicacion for the yere of our Lord M.CCCCCL., calculed
upon the Meridiane of the Towne of Anwarpe and the Country
thereabout, by Master Peter of Moorbecke, Doctoure in Physicke of
ye same Towne, whereunto is added the Judgment of M. Cornelius
Schute, Doctor in Physicke of the Towne of Bruges in Flanders,
upon and concerning the Disposicion, Estate, and Condicion of
certaine Prynces, Contreys, and Regions for thys present yere,
gathered oute of hys Prognostication for the same yere.
Translated out of Dutch into Englyshe by William Harrys.”

At the end—

“Imprynted at London by John Daye, dwellynge over Aldersgate and
Wylliam Seres, dwellyng in Peter Colledge. These Bokes are to be
sold at the Newe Shop by the lytle Conduyte in Chepesyde.”

The print is old English. Mr. Francis Moore and the Almanacs have
figured in your recent Numbers, and I have thought that a brief notice
of an almanac three hundred years old might not be unacceptable to your
“NOTES AND QUERIES” friends.

D.

Exeter, June 18. 1851.

Queries.

GHOST STORIES.

From some recent experiments of the Baron von Reichenbach, it seems
probable that wherever chemical action is going on light is evolved,
though it is only by persons possessing peculiar (though not very rare)
powers of sight, and by them only under peculiar circumstances, that it
can be seen. It occurred to him that such persons might perhaps see
light over graves in which dead bodies were undergoing decomposition. He
says:

“The desire to inflict a mortal wound on the monster,
superstition, which, from a similar origin, a few centuries ago,
inflicted on European society so vast an amount of misery; and by
whose influence, not hundreds, but thousands of innocent persons
died in tortures on the rack and at the stake;—this desire made
me wish to make the experiment, if possible, of bringing a highly
sensitive person, by night, to a churchyard.”—§ 158. Gregory’s
Translation, p. 126.

The experiment succeeded. Light “was chiefly seen over all new graves;
while there was no appearance of it over very old ones.” The fact was
confirmed in subsequent experiments by five other sensitive persons, and
I have no design of questioning it. My doubt is only how far we can
consider the knowledge of it as giving a “mortal wound” to superstition.
“Thousands of ghost stories,” the Baron tells us, “will now receive a
natural explanation, and will thus cease to be marvellous;” and he
afterwards says, “Thus I have, I trust, succeeded in tearing down one of
the densest veils of darkened ignorance and human error.” I repeat that
I do not question the fact; my Query is, where to find the “thousands of
ghost stories” which are explained by it; and as I suspect that you have
some correspondents capable of giving information on such subjects, I
shall feel much obliged if they will tell me.

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester.

A BOOK WANTED OF ENZINAS.—FRANCISCO DE ENZINAS, OR DRYANDER,
TRANSLATOR OF THE SPANISH NEW TESTAMENT, 1543.

Can any obliging reader of the “NOTES AND QUERIES” inform me of the
existence, in any of our public libraries, or for sale, of the following
book: Dryandri (Franciscus) Flandriæ propriæ incarcerationis et
liberationis Historia: Antwerpiæ(?) 1545. Sm. 8vo.? Fox, the
martyrologist, writing of Dryander, says:

“I read the book in the shop of John Oporine, printer, of Basil.”

I have a French translation of it, and a Spanish version is sanctioned
by Pellicea (after Gerdes), under this title: Breve Descripcion del
Pais Baxo, y razon de la Religion en España, en 8vo.; but in such a
manner as leaves it questionable. If a Spanish version is known, I
should esteem it a favour to be informed where it can now be found.

Enzinas passed part of the years 1542-3 with Melancthon at Wittemberg.
Having completed his New Testament, he returned early in the latter year
to Antwerp to get it printed. After much reflection and advice with his
friends, he made an agreement with Stephen Mierdmann of Antwerp, in the
following manner:

“I determined,” says he, “to do my duty in the affair, at all
events; which was, to undertake the publication, and to leave the
consequences, and the course of the inspired Word, to the
providence of God, to whom it of right belonged. I therefore
spoke with a ——, and asked him whether he was willing to print
my book. He answered, Yes, very gladly; partly because I desire
to do some good for the commonweal more than for my own
particular interest, caring little for gain or for the slander of
opponents; and partly, also, said he, because it is a book that
has long been desired. Then I asked him whether it was needful to
have a license or permission, and whether he could not print
it without these: for, said I, it would ill beseem the Word of
God, from which kings and rulers derive the authority for the
exercise of their power, that it should be subject to the
permission or prohibition of any human feeling or fancy. To this
he answered, that no law of the Emperor had ever forbidden the
printing of the Holy Scriptures; and this was well known, for in
Antwerp the New Testament had already been printed in almost
every language of Europe but[6] the Spanish, and that neither
himself nor any other printer had ever previously asked
permission. From his experience, he had no doubt that, provided
it was faithfully translated, the New Testament might be freely
printed without leave or license. Then, said I, get ready your
presses and everything needful for the work. I will answer for
the interpretation of the text, and you shall take the risk of
printing. And more, in order that you shall not suffer by loss or
fine from our Spaniards, I will take the expense of the
impression on myself. So I delivered to him the copy, and begged
him to dispatch the business as soon as possible.

“Nothing relating to it was done in secret; everybody knew that
the New Testament was being printed in Spanish. Many praised the
project; many waited for it with eagerness; my rooms were never
closed, every one who wished came in and out: and yet I doubt not
that some who came and beforehand praised my book, when they were
behind my back, and with their own parties, sung another song;
well perceiving that the reading of the Scriptures by the people
is not very likely to profit their avaricious stomachs. I care
little, however, for such opinions and selfish passions,
confiding in God alone, who directed and would protect an
undertaking devoted solely to His own glory.”

It were too long for the “NOTES AND QUERIES” to tell how he was induced
to cancel the first leaf of his New Testament after it was printed,
because it had one word which savoured of Lutheranism; of his presenting
the finished volume to the Emperor Charles V. at Brussels; how he
received him, and what he said of his being entrapped by his confessor,
and cast into prison for fifteen months, escaping and being let down by
a rope over the city wall, until he found repose and security again at
Wittemberg with Melancthon.

Few of the early translations of the New Testament into the vulgar
languages of Europe are so little known as the Spanish of Francisco de
Enzinas, or Dryander; and yet, perhaps, of no one of them are there such
minute particulars of the printing and publication to be found upon
record as that published by him in 1543, and of his imprisonment in
consequence of it.

BENJAMIN B. WIFFEN.

Mount Pleasant, near Woburn.

SALTING THE BODIES OF THE DEAD.

Every reader of Ariosto, of Boiardo, or of Berri, is acquainted with the
character of Turpin, as an historian. John Turpin’s History of the Life
of Charles the Great and Roland has long since been regarded as a
collection of fables; as a romance written under a feigned name. Its
real character is, however, best described by Ferrario, when he says
that it is not to be considered as “the mere invention of any one
impostor, but rather as a compilation of ancient tales and ballads that
had been circulating amongst the people from the ninth century.”
(Storia ed Analisi degli Antichi Romanzi di Cavalleria, vol. i. pp.
21, 22.) In such a work we must not calculate upon meeting with facts,
but we may hope to be able to obtain an insight into ancient practices,
and an acquaintance with ancient customs. It is for this reason I would
desire to draw the attention of the reader to a curious mode of
preserving the bodies of the dead, stated by Turpin. He says that the
Christians, being without a sufficient supply of aromatic drugs
wherewith to embalm the dead, disembowelled them, and filled them up
with salt. The passage thus stands in the original:

“Tunc defunctorum corpora amici eorum diversis aromatibus
condiverunt; alii myrrha, alii balsamo, alii sale diligentes
perfuderunt: multi corpora per ventrem findebant et stercora
ejiciebant, et sale, alia aromata non habentes, condiebant.“—C.
27.

Does any other author but Turpin mention this mode of “salting,” or
rather of “pickling” the dead? This is the Query which I put, in the
expectation of having it answered in the affirmative, as I am quite
certain I have met with another author—although I cannot cite his
name—who mentions the body of a Duke of Gloucester being thus preserved
with salt; but unfortunately I have not taken a note of the author, and
can only thus vaguely refer to the fact.

W. B. MACCABE.

Minor Queries.

The Star in the East (St. Matt. ii. 2.).

—I have been told that in the
year of the Nativity three of the planets were in conjunction. Some one
of your astronomical correspondents may probably be able to furnish
information on this subject: it is full of sacred interest and wonder.

J. W. H.

Meaning of Sinage: Distord: Slander.

—In a translation of Luther’s
Revelation of Antichrist by the Protestant martyr Frith, the word
sinage occurs in a list of ecclesiastical payments, which the popish
prelates were wont to exact from the parochial clergy.

If any of your correspondents can say what sinage means, he may oblige
me still further by explaining the word distord, in the same page;
where it is said “they stir princes and officers to distord against
them,” viz., against such as resist the claims of churchmen.

Is there any authority for supposing that sclawnder, ordinarily
slander, may sometimes mean injury, without reference to character? It
is certain that the parallel term calumnia was so used in monkish
Latin.

H. W.

Miss.

—It is generally, I believe, understood that, prior to the time
of Charles II., married women were called Mistress, and unmarried had
Mistress prefixed to their Christian name; and that the equivocal
position of many in that reign, gave rise to the peculiar designation of
Miss or “Mis.” Can any of your readers show an earlier[7] use of
the term than the following, from Epigrams of all Sorts, by Richard
Flecknoe, published 1669?

Again, was the term, when used with especial reference to these ladies,
always spelt with one s, as Mis?

M. S.

Jacques Mabiotte.

—I read, that certain members of the continental
masonic lodges interpret the Hiram, whose death the freemasons affect to
deplore, as meaning Molai, Grand Master of the Templars; but that others
understand the said Hiram to mean Jacques Mabiotte. Now, I should think
the person whom secret associations can be even imagined, ever so
falsely, to keep in continual remembrance, and who is thus placed in
competition with the Grand Master of the Temple, should at least enjoy
that moderate share of celebrity that will enable some of your
correspondents to inform me who he was, and what were the circumstances
of his death. I have not myself been able to find him.

A. N.

Registry of British Subjects abroad.

—There is a notion that all
British subjects born in foreign parts are considered as born within the
diocese of London. What is the origin of this notion? I have heard it
said that it is founded on some order made by King George I., on the
occasion of his journeys to Hanover. But it must be of older date.

Can any of your readers throw any light upon this? and greatly oblige,

J. B.

[A notice was published in the London Gazette in March, 1816, stating
that the Bishop of London’s registrar would register all marriages of
British subjects solemnised in foreign countries; and also the births
and deaths of British subjects which occurred abroad. Has that notice
any reference to the notion?]

Shawls.

—When were shawls first introduced into this country from the
East? and whence has the name arisen? for I see no trace of it in our
English dictionaries. Is it from its Persian name, “do-shâllâ?” I should
also much wish to know when plaids and tartans were first mentioned as
part of the national dress of Scotland.

A JUROR.

“Racked by pain, by shame confounded.“

—From whence are the following
lines taken?

Y. G. F.

Oxford, June 17. 1850.

Figures of Saints.

—During some slight repairs in my parish church,
vestiges of mural paintings were discovered above and on each side of
the chancel arch. I caused the plaster and whitewash to be removed, and
discovered two colossal angelic figures, but in a very imperfect state.
Each have nimbi of a blue colour, surmounted by crosses, with globular
extremities.

The S. figure holds an enormous spear. The N. one is so much defaced
that nothing could be traced but the outline of the figure, and what
appears a gigantic serpent, or perhaps a scroll of a blue colour behind
it. The clerk reports that traces of an anchor could be seen ten years
ago; but on his statement I cannot place much reliance. I should be
obliged for any information respecting the subject. Above the centre of
the arch I could only see a profusion of fragments of wings surrounded
by a glory.

E. S. TAYLOR.

Martham, Norfolk, June 7.

Conceyted Letters, who wrote?—

“Conceyted Letters, newly laid open: or a most excellent bundle
of new wit, wherein is knit up together all the perfection or art
of episteling, by which the most ignorant may with much modestie
talke and argue with the best learned.” London: B. Alsop, 1618.

Who is the author of this little work? Lowndes gives it as an anonymous
production, but it is sometimes ascribed to Nicolas Breton. The initials
I. M. affixed to the preface, would rather denote Jervase Markham as the
author.

Δ.

Acta Sanctorum.

—Is any endeavour being made for the completion of
that vast work, the Acta Sanctorum, the last volume of which I believe
was published at Brussels in 1845?

P. S. E.

Pope’s “honest Factor.”

—I shall be obliged if any of your readers can
inform me who was the “honest factor” referred to in Pope’s “Sir Balaam”
in the lines:

I have seen it noticed in the biography of an individual who held some
official post in India, but have forgotten the name.

J. SWANN.

Norwich, May, 1851.

Meaning of “Nervous.”

—Will any of your correspondents kindly oblige
me, by stating what is the actual meaning of the word nervous? On
reference to Johnson, I find it expressed as follows:—

“Nervy, sinewy, vigorous; also having diseased or weak
nerves.”

Now, by this definition, I am led to believe that the word has two
meanings, directly opposed to each other. Is this so?

K. BANNEL.

Liverpool.

Doomsday Book of Scotland.

—In vol. xx. of Sir John Sinclair’s
Statistical Account of Scotland, 1798, the following extract of a
letter appears[8] from John Pinkerton, Esq., the antiquarian writer,
dated the 23rd February, 1794:

“In looking over the Survey of Scotland accomplished by your
exertions, it occurred to me that I could furnish an article,
worthy to appear in an Appendix to one of the volumes of the
Statistical Account. I need not inform you, that in the third
volume of Prynne’s Records there is a large but undigested list
of all those in Scotland who paid homage to Edward I. in 1291 and
1296, forming a kind of Doomsday Book of the country at that
period. Four years ago, I, with some labour, reduced the numerous
names and designations into alphabetical order, and the list
being now adapted to general use, and containing the names and
designations of the chief landholders, citizens, and clergy of
the time, it may be regarded as of no small importance to our
ancient statistics, topography, and genealogy. If your opinion
coincides, I shall with pleasure present it to you for the
purpose, and correct the press.”

Now the article so kindly proffered by Mr. Pinkerton did not appear in
the Statistical Account of Scotland, or in any of Mr. Pinkerton’s
subsequent publications, that I am aware of. I should feel obliged if
any correspondent could inform me if it was ever published.

ABERDONIENSIS.

Minor Queries Answered.

Dr. Sacheverell.

—Was Dr. Sacheverell’s speech on his trial (supposed
to have been the work of Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester) ever
published? If so, when, and by whom?

COLLY WOBBLES.

[A printed copy of Dr. Sacheverell’s speech is now on our table,
but without any publisher’s name. The following is a copy of the
title: “The Speech of Henry Sacheverell, D.D., upon his
Impeachment at the Bar of the House of Lords, in Westminster
Hall, March 7. 1709-10. London, Printed in the year 1710.” On the
back of the title-page appears the following advertisement: “Just
published, Collections of Passages referred to by Dr. Henry
Sacheverell in his Answer to the Articles of his Impeachment,
under four Heads. I. Testimonies concerning the doctrine of
Non-resistance to the Supreme Powers. II. Blasphemous,
irreligious, and heretical Positions, lately published. III. The
Church and Clergy abused. IV. The Queen, State, and Ministry
reflected upon.”]

Princess Wilbrahama.

—Advertisement of a pamphlet appearing in 1767:

“A plain Narrative of Facts relating to the Person who lately
passed under the assumed name of the Princess Wilbrahama, lately
detected at the Devizes: containing her whole History, from her
first Elopement with the Hon. Mrs. Sc***ts, till her Discovery
and Commitment to Devizes Bridewell; together with the very
extraordinary Circumstances attending that Discovery, and the
Report of a Jury of Matrons summoned on that Occasion, &c.
London: printed for the Author.”

I shall be very thankful for any elucidation of the above case. It
appears to have been sufficiently popular to warrant the publisher in
engaging, as he says, “the best artists” to illustrate it with a series
of caricatures. I have never been able to meet with a copy in any public
library.

J. WAYLEN.

[The notorious impostor noticed in the communication of our
correspondent, performed her surprising feats of hazardous
versatility between the years 1765 and 1768. On different
occasions she assumed the names of Wilson, alias Boxall, alias
Mollineaux, alias Irving, alias Baroness Wilmington, alias Lady
Viscountess Wilbrihammon, alias Countess of Normandy. In 1766 her
ladyship, “with gentle mien and accent bland,” received for her
dextrous lubricities something like a whipping at Coventry. In
1767 she was adjudged a vagabond at Devizes, and in the following
year sentenced to transportation at the Westminster assizes.
Alderman Hewitt of Coventry, in 1778, published some memorabilia
of her ladyship in a pamphlet entitled, Memoirs of the
celebrated Lady Viscountess Wilbrihammon, the greatest Impostress
of the present age. The alderman does not notice the tract
mentioned by our correspondent, so that it still remains a query
whether it was ever issued, although it may have been
advertised.]

Early Visitations.

—In Noble’s College of Arms, it is stated, p.
25., that—

“Henry VI. sent persons through many of the counties of England
to collect the names of the gentry of each; these lists have
reached our time. It is observable, that many are mentioned in
them who had adopted the meanest trades, yet were still accounted
gentry.”

Where are these lists to be found?

H. WITHAM.

[Noble’s statements upon such points are extremely loose. We know
not of any such lists, but would refer to Grimaldi’s Origines
Genealogicæ, under “Rolls and Visitations,” where, in all
probability, something may be found in reference to the subject,
if there ever were any such lists.]

Replies.

WRITTEN SERMONS.
(Vol. iii., pp. 478, 526.)

Perhaps the publication of the following document may lead to a solution
of the question sent by M.C.L. (Vol. iii., p. 478.). It is a copy of a
letter from the Duke of Monmouth, as Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, intimating to the clergy the displeasure of Charles II. at
their use of periwigs, and their practice of reading sermons. His
Majesty, it will be found, thought both customs equally important and
equally unbecoming. Of the latter, it is stated that it “took beginning
with the disorders of the late times, and that the way of preaching
without book was most agreeable[9] to the use of the foreign
churches, to the custom of the University heretofore, and to the nature
and intendment of that holy exercise.” It will surprise many of your
readers to find that the reading of sermons was considered to be a mere
puritanical innovation.

“The Duke of Monmouth, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, to
the Vice-Chancellor and University.

“Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,

“His Majesty having taken notice of the liberty which several persons in
holy orders have taken to wear their hair and periwigs of an unusual and
unbecoming length, hath commanded me to let you know, that he is much
displeased therewith, and strictly injoins that all such persons as
profess or intend the study of divinity, do for the future wear their
hair in a manner more suitable to the gravity and sobriety of their
profession, and that distinction which was always maintained between the
habit of men devoted to the ministry and other persons.

“And whereas, his Majesty is informed that the practice of reading
sermons is generally taken up by the preachers before the University,
and there for some time continued, even before himself, his Majesty hath
commanded me to signify to you his pleasure, that the said practice,
which took beginning with the disorders of the late times, be wholly
laid aside; and that the foresaid preachers deliver their sermons, both
in Latin and English, by memory, or without book, as being a way of
preaching which his Majesty judges most agreeable to the use of the
foreign churches, and to the custom of the University heretofore, and to
the nature and intendment of that holy exercise.

“And that his Majesty’s commands in the premisses may be duly regarded
and observed, his Majesty’s farther pleasure is, that the names of all
such ecclesiastical persons as shall wear their hair as heretofore in an
unfitting imitation of the fashion of laymen, or that shall continue in
the present slothfull way of preaching, be from time to time signified
unto me by the Vice-Chancellor for the time being, upon pain of his
Majesty’s displeasure.

“Having in obedience to his Majesty’s will signified thus much unto you,
I shall not doubt of that your ready compliance; and the rather because
his Majesty intends to send the same injunctions very speedily to the
University of Oxford, whom I am assured you will equal in all other
excellencies, and so in obedience to the king; especially when his
commands are so much to the honour and esteem of that renowned
University, whose welfare is so heartily desired, and shall ever be
endeavoured by, Mr. Vice-Chancellor,

“Your loving friend and Chancellor,

“MONMOUTH.”

I believe this letter, or something like it, was published by Peck in
his Desiderata Curiosa, and also by Mr. Roberts in his Life of
Monmouth. The transcript I send you was made from a copy in the
handwriting of Dr. Birch in the Additional MS. 4162., fo. 230.

JOHN BRUCE.

The following passage occurs in Rutt’s Diary of Thomas Burton, 4
vols.: Colburn, 1828. I have not the work at hand, but from a MS.
extract from the same, believe it may be found as a note by the editor
in vol. i. p. 359.

“Burnet was always an extempore preacher. He says that reading is
peculiar to this nation, and cannot be induced in any other. The
only discourse he ever wrote beforehand was a thanksgiving sermon
before the queen in 1705. He never before was at a pause in
preaching. It is contrary to a university statute, obsolete,
though unrepealed.”

C. H. P.

Brighton, June 27.

LORD MAYOR NOT A PRIVY COUNCILLOR.
(Vol. iii., p. 496.)

This Query, and your answer, involve one or two important questions,
which are worth a fuller solution than you have given.

The Lord Mayor is no more a Privy Councillor than he is Archbishop of
Canterbury. The title of “Right Honourable,” which has given rise to
that vulgar error, is in itself a mere courtesy appended to the title of
“Lord;” which is also, popularly, though not legally, given him: for
in all his own acts, he is designated officially as “Mayor” only. The
courtesy-title of Lord he shares with the Mayors of Dublin and York,
the Lord-Advocate of Scotland, the younger sons of Dukes and Marquises,
&c. &c., and all such Lords are styled by courtesy “Right Honourable;”
and this style of Right Honourable is also given to Privy Councillors
in virtue of their proper official title of “Lords of Her Majesty’s Most
Honourable Privy Council.” So, the “Right Honourable the Lords of the
Treasury and Admiralty.” So much for the title. The fact stated in the
Editor’s answer, of the admission of the Lord Mayor to the Council
Chamber after some clamour, on the accession of William IV., is a
mistake arising out of the following circumstances. On the demise of the
crown, a London Gazette Extraordinary is immediately published, with a
proclamation announcing the death of one sovereign and the accession of
the other. This proclamation styles itself to be that of the—

“Peers Spiritual and Temporal of the Realm, assisted by those of the
late Privy Council, with numbers of others, Gentlemen of Quality, with
the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London.”

The proclamation is that of the Peers alone, but assisted by the
others. The cause of this form is, that the demise of the crown
dissolves the Privy Council, and used (till modern times) to dissolve
parliaments, and abrogate the commissions of the Judges, and all other
public officers; so that the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were the only
subsisting authority. Hence they, of necessity, undertook the duty of
proclaiming the new king, but[10] they fortified themselves “with
the assistance of the principal gentlemen of quality, and of the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens.” This paper is first signed by the Peers,
and then by all who happen to be present, promiscuously. At the
accession of William IV., there were about 180 names, of which “J.
Crowder, Mayor,” stands the 106th. At the accession of Queen Victoria,
there were about 160 names, of which “Thomas Kelly, Mayor,” is the
111th. And in both cases we find the names of the Aldermen, Sheriffs,
Town Clerk, City Remembrancer, and several others,—private citizens,
and many altogether private persons, who happened to come to the palace
at that time.

It is obvious that all this has nothing to do with the Privy Council,
for, in fact, at that moment, no Privy Council exists. But while these
things are going on in an outward room of the palace, where everybody is
admitted, the new sovereign commands the attendance of the late Privy
Council in the council chamber, where the old Privy Councillors are
generally (I suppose always) re-sworn of the new council; and then and
there are prepared and promulgated several acts of the new sovereign,
to which are prefixed the names of the Privy Councillors present. Now,
to this council chamber the Lord Mayor is no more admitted than the
Town Clerk would be, and to these acts of the council his name has
never appeared.

All these facts appear in the London Gazettes for the 27th June, 1830,
and the 30th June, 1837; and similar proceedings took place in Dublin;
though since the Union the practice is at least superfluous.

This establishes the rationale of the case, but there is a precedent
that concludes it:—

“On the 27th May, 1768, Mr. Thomas Harley, then Lord Mayor of
London, was sworn of his Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy
Council!”

—an honour never since conferred on any Mayor or Alderman, and which
could not have been conferred on him if he had already been of that
body.

C.

DR. ELRINGTON’S EDITIONS OF USSHER’S WORKS.
(Vol. iii., p. 496.)

In reply to your correspondent C. PAINE, JUN. I beg to say that this
University has recently requested me to undertake the completion of
Ussher’s works. Dr. Elrington has left about half the fourteenth volume
printed off: but I have found considerable difficulty in ascertaining
what he intended to print, or what ought to be printed, in the remaining
half. The printed portion contains the archbishop’s Theological
Lectures, in reply to Bellarmine, never before
published.[2] I have
found amongst Dr. Elrington’s papers a volume of sermons (a MS. of the
latter half of the seventeenth century), which are attributed, in the
MS. itself, to Ussher; but the authenticity of these sermons is, it
appears to me, very doubtful. I therefore hesitate to print them.

[2]
Elrington’s Life of Ussher, p. 26.

I am anxious to find a treatise on the Seventy Weeks, by Ussher, which I
have some reason to think once existed in MS. This tract, with another
on the question of the Millennium, from Rev. xx. 4., formed the
exercises which he performed for the degree of D.D., at the commencement
of the University in 1612: and I remember Dr. Elrington telling me (if I
did not mistake his meaning), that he intended to print them in the
fourteenth volume. My difficulty is, that I cannot find them amongst
Ussher’s MSS., and I do not know where they are to be had. Some
imperfect fragments on the Seventy Weeks are preserved in MS. in Trinity
College Library, in Ussher’s autograph; but they are far too crude and
unfinished for publication.

The Bibliotheca Theologica, a work on the same plan as Cave’s
Scriptores Ecclesiastici, exists in MS. in the Bodleian Library, and a
copy from the Bodleian MS. is in Dublin. This work has not been included
in Dr. Elrington’s edition; and I remember his discussing the subject
with me, and deciding not to print it. His reasons were these:—1. It is
an unfinished work, which the archbishop did not live to complete. 2. It
is full of errors, which our present increased materials and knowledge
of the subject would easily enable us to correct; but the correction of
them would swell the work to a considerable extent. 3. The work was
used, and is frequently quoted by Cave, who seems to have published the
most valuable parts of it. Its publication, therefore, would not add
anything to our knowledge, whilst it would probably detract, however
unfairly, from the archbishop’s reputation: for the public seldom make
allowances for an unfinished work. 4. It would probably make three, if
not four volumes; and Dr. Elrington did not think its publication of
sufficient importance to warrant so great an addition to the cost and
bulk of the Works.

The System of Theology having been disclaimed by Ussher himself
(although it is quoted as his by the Committee of the Privy Council in
their decision of the “Gorham Case”), has not been included by Dr.
Elrington in the collection of Ussher’s works.

I shall be much obliged to MR. PAYNE, or to any other of your
correspondents, if he will give me any information respecting the
treatises on the Seventy Weeks and on the Millennium, or any other
advice which may assist me in the completion of the fourteenth volume.

I may add, that it is my intention, with the able assistance of my
learned friend Dr. Reeves, of[11] Ballymena, to print a complete
index to Ussher’s Works, which will be compiled by Dr. Reeves, and is
now in active preparation. The references to the more important works,
such as the Primordia, and Annals, will be so contrived as to be
applicable to the old editions, as well as to Dr. Elrington’s edition.
This Index will form the seventeenth volume of the Works.

JAMES H. TODD.

Trinity Coll., Dublin, June 21. 1851.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Mind your P’s and Q’s (Vol. iii., pp. 328. 357. 463. 523.).

—I have
always thought that the phrase “Mind your P’s and Q’s” was derived from
the school-room or the printing-office. The forms of the small “p” and
“q” in the Roman type, have always been puzzling to the child and the
printer’s apprentice. In the one, the down-ward stroke is on the left of
the oval; in the other, on the right. Now, when the types are reversed,
as they are when in the process of distribution they are returned by the
compositor to his case, the mind of the young printer is puzzled to
distinguish the “p” from the “q.” In sorting pie, or a mixed heap of
letters, where the “p” and the “q” are not in connexion with any other
letters forming a word, I think it would be almost impossible for an
inexperienced person to say which is which upon the instant. “Mind your
p‘s and q‘s”—I write it thus, and not “Mind your P’s and Q’s”—has
a higher philosophy than mind your toupées and your queues, which
are things essentially different, and impossible to be mistaken. It
means, have regard to small differences; do not be deceived by apparent
resemblances; learn to discriminate between things essentially distinct,
but which look the same; be observant; be cautious.

CHARLES KNIGHT.

Serius Seriadesque (Vol. iii., p. 494.).

—Il Serio, a tributary to the
Adda, which falls into the Po. Il Serio is, like the Po, remarkable for
the quantity of foam floating upon it, and also for disappearing under
ground, through part of its course.

DE CAMERA.

Catharine Barton (Vol. iii., pp. 328. 434.).

—A correspondent has
asked what was the maiden name of this lady, the widow, as he calls her,
of Colonel Barton. I have a note of Charles Montagu, writing of her as
“the beautiful, witty, and accomplished Catharine Barton,” and have
marked her as the daughter of Major Barton, but cannot find my
authority. What follows is hardly likely to be of use to your
correspondent, though it may, possibly, suggest to him a channel of
inquiry. The Rev. Alexander Chalmers married Catharine Ekins, a niece of
Mr. Conduitt, to whose daughter he was guardian after her father’s
death. Mrs. Chalmers had a brother who was rector or vicar of Barton,
Northamptonshire. Alexander Chalmers was rector of St. Katharine
Coleman, London, and of Burstow, Surrey; clerk of St. Andrew’s, Holborn;
chaplain to the forces at Gibraltar and Port Mahon: he died in 1745, and
was buried in St. Katharine’s: his wife was of the family of Ekins, of
Rushden, in Northamptonshire. On August 12, 1743, Alexander Chalmers
writes, “This will be delivered you by my cousin Lieut. Mathew Barton,”
probably his wife’s cousin: in another letter he speaks of Miss Conduitt
as his wife’s cousin. Mr. Conduitt died 23rd of May, 1737, and his
widow’s “unexpected death” seems to be alluded to in a letter in 1740.

DE CAMERA.

Alterius Orbis Papa (Vol. iii., p. 497.).

—This was not, as A.B.’s
informant thinks, a title of honour bestowed by any Supreme Pontiff upon
any Archbishop of Canterbury, but a mere verbal compliment passed by
Pope Urban II. upon St. Anselm, when the latter went to consult the
former at Rome. The words are those of Gervase, the monk of Canterbury,
who tells us:

“Tantam ejus gratiam habuit, ut eum (Anselmum) alterius orbis
papam vocaret (Urbanus papa).”—Ed. Twysden, ii. 1327.

Eadmer, who was with the archbishop when he went to Italy, gives the
following as the Pope’s expressions:

“Cumque illum, utpote hominem cunctis liberalium artium
disciplinis innutritum, pro magistro teneamus et quasi comparem,
velut alterius orbis Apostolicum et Patriarcham jure venerandum
censeamus.”—AA. SS. Aprilis, t. ii. 886.

D. ROCK.

You have not told us the origin of this title. I have just been reminded
of the omission by the dedication of Ludovici Cappelli Commentarii,
Amstel., 1689, which is—

“Wilhelmo Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi … alterius orbis, sed
melioris, Papæ.”

J. W. H.

Charles Dodd (Vol. ii., p. 496.).

—TYRO will find an account of this
writer in Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire: by John
Chambers, Esq.: Worcester, 1820, 8vo., p. 591., from which we learn that
his true name was Hugh Tootel, a Lancashire man born in 1672, in the
neighbourhood of Preston. The name of Hugh Tootle is recognised in the
prospectus or announcement of Mr. Tierney’s new edition of Dodd’s
Church History of England, of which the first and second volumes
appeared so long ago as 1839: but I regret to say that the work is yet
far from being completed.

F. R. A.

“Prenzie“ (Vol. iii., p. 522.).

—We seem now to have got to the true
reading, “primzie.” The[12] termination zie suits a Scotch word
perhaps. I only wish to mention, that the form “prin” is connected with
the verb “to preen,” which we use of birds. Yet that again seems
connected with prune. Etymology is always in a circle.

C. B.

“In Print” (Vol. iii., p. 500.).

—In confirmation of the statement
made as to the expression “in print” meaning “with exactness,” &c., I
perfectly remember an old Somersetshire servant of our’s, who used to
say, when he saw me romping after I was dressed: “Take care, Sir, you’ll
put your hair out of print.”

C. W. B.

Introduction of Reptiles into Ireland (Vol. iii., p. 491.).

—The
snakes introduced into the county of Down in 1831, alluded to by
EIRIONNACH, were the very harmless and easily tamed species, Coluber
natrix of Linnæus, Natrix torquata of Ray. They were purchased in
Covent Garden Market; and, to the number of six, were turned out in the
garden of Rath Gael House. One was killed at Milecross, three miles
distant, about a week after its liberation; and three others were
shortly afterwards killed in the same neighbourhood. The fate of the
remaining two is unknown, but there can be little doubt that they were
also killed, as the country-people offered a considerable reward for
their destruction. The writer well remembers the consternation and
exceedingly angry feelings caused by this novel importation.

We may conclude, that though the snake is not indigenous to Ireland, yet
there is nothing in either the soil or climate to prevent its
naturalisation. It is highly probable that an insular position is
unfavourable to the spread of the serpent tribe. Other islands—New
Zealand, for instance—as well as Ireland, have no native Ophidia.

It is generally, but erroneously, believed that there are no toads in
Ireland. The Natter-jack (Bufo calamita), a closely allied species to
the common toad, is found about Killarney. Can any reader inform me if
there is any record of its introduction?

W. PINKERTON.

Ancient Wood Engraving of the Picture of Cebes (Vol. iii., pp. 277.
436.).

—Your correspondent THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT having been informed
respecting the subject of his wood-cut, may yet be further satisfied
to know its date, and where it is to be found. It occurs in a Latin
version of the Pinax, with a commentary by Justus Velsius, printed in
4to., at Lyons? (Lugduni) in 1551. The title runs thus: Justi Velseri
Hagani, in Cebetis Thebani Tabulam Commentariorum Libri Sex, Totius
Moralis Philosophiæ Thesaurus. The Pinax commonly accompanies that
valuable little manual the Enchiridion of Epictetus, of which that
excellent man John Evelyn, in a letter to Lord Cornbury, thus speaks:

“Besides the Divine precepts, I could never receive anything from
Philosophy that was able to add a graine to my courage upon the
intellectual assaults like that Enchiridion and little weapon
of Epictetus: ‘Nunquam te quicquam perdidisse dicito, sed
reddidisse,’ says he: ‘Filius obijt? redditus est.’ It is in his
15th chapter. You cannot imagine what that little target will
encounter. I never go abroad without it in my pocket. What an
incomparable guard is that: τὰ
δὲ οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν, cap.
i., where he discourses of the things which are, and are not
in our power. I know, my Lord, you employ your retirements nobly;
weare this defensive for my sake,—I had almost said this
Christian Office.”

S. W. SINGER.

“The Groves of Blarney“ (Vol. iii., p. 495.).

—In a little volume of
the Songs of Ireland, forming one of the series called Duffy’s
Library of Ireland, Dublin, 1845, this song is given. In the
introductory notice it is said to be by Mr. R. A. Milliken, a native of
Cork. The passage referred to by your correspondent stands thus in this
version, which is said to be taken from Croker’s Popular Songs of
Ireland:—

Mr. Maloney, in his late account of the “palace made o’ windows,” has
evidently had these verses in his mind; and in his observations on the
“statues gracing that noble place in,” has adverted to their like
peculiar predicament with the characteristic modesty of his nation.

S. H.

On this subject permit me to observe that a change has “come o’er the
spirit of its dream.” A later poet, in celebrating the praises of the
lake as the only place unchanged, says:

[3] Now Lady Deane.

JUNIOR.

Tennyson’s Lord of Burleigh (Vol. iii., p. 493.).

—The poem of “The
Lord of Burleigh” is founded upon a supposed romance connected with the
marriage of the late Marquis of Exeter with his second wife, Miss
Hoggins. This marriage has also formed the groundwork of a play entitled
The Lord of Burghley, published by Churton in 1845. The story of the
courtship and marriage perpetuated by this poem, may be found in the
Illustrated London News of the 16th November,[13] 1844, having
been copied into that paper from the Guide to Burghley House, pp. 36.,
published by Drakard in 1812.

A very slight tinge of romance attends the real facts of this union,
which took place when the late Marquis was Mr. Henry Cecil. The lady was
not of so lowly an origin as the fiction relates. Mr. Cecil did not
become the Lord of Burghley until the death of his uncle, the 9th Earl
of Exeter, two years after this marriage, up to which time he resided at
Bolas, Salop, the residence of his wife before her marriage, and there
the two eldest of their four children were born. The Countess of
Exeter died greatly beloved and respected at the early age of
twenty-four, having been married nearly seven years.

J. P. JUN.

Bicêtre (Vol. iii., p. 518.)

—It was certainly anciently called
Vincestre. It is so in Monstrelêt, whose history begins about 1400. One
of the treaties between the Burgundians and Orleanists was made there.
President Hénault says (under Charles VI.) that this castle belonged to
John, Bishop of Winchester. If he is right in the Christian name, he
must mean had belonged, not appartenoit, for the John Bishops that I
find in Britton’s list are:

C. B.

On a Passage in Dryden (Vol. iii., p. 492.).

—MR. BREEN appears to me
decidedly wrong in the view he takes of the passage he quotes from
Dryden. In the first place, he commits the mistake of assuming that
Dryden is expressing his own opinion, or speaking in his own person. The
fact is, however, that the speaker is Torresmond. Torresmond is “mad”
enough to love the queen; he has already spoken of the “madness of his
high attempt,” he says he raves; and when the queen offers to give him
counsel for his cure, he says he wishes not be cured:

This is inference, not assertion. Whether it be natural or not, I will
not say, but I can see no blunder.

S. H.

Derivation of Yankee (Vol. iii., p. 461.).

—Washington Irving, in his
Knickerbocker’s History of New York, gives the same derivation of
“Yankee” that is quoted from Dr. Turnbull and from Mr. Richmond.
Irving’s authority is, I believe, earlier than both these. Is the
derivation his? and if his, is he in earnest in giving it? I ask this,
not because I have reason to doubt in this instance either his
seriousness or his philological accuracy, but by way of inserting a
caution on behalf of the unwary. I have read or heard of a learned
German who quoted that book as veritable history. The philology may be
as baseless as the narrative. It is a happy suggestion of a derivation
at all events, be it in jest or in earnest.

E. J. S.

Ferrante Pallavicino (Vol. iii., pp. 478. 523.).

—Your correspondent
CHARLES O’SOULEY will find some account of Ferrante Pallavicino in
Chalmers, or any other biographical dictionary; and a very complete one
in the Dictionnaire Historique of Prosper Marchand. The manuscript he
possesses has been printed more than once; it first appeared in the
Opere Scelte di Ferrante Pallavicino printed at Geneva, but with the
imprint Villafranca, 1660, 12mo., of which there are several
reimpressions. It is there entitled La Disgratia del Conte D’Olivares,
and bears the fictitious subscription of “Madrid li 28 Gennaro, 1643,”
at the end. If the MS. was written at Genoa, it is most probably only a
transcript; for Pallavicino was resident at Venice when it appears to
have been written, and was soon after trepanned by a vile caitiff named
Charles de Bresche alias De Morfu, a Frenchman employed by the Pope’s
nuncio Vitellio, into the power of those whom his writings had incensed,
and was by them put to death at Avignon in 1644.

S. W. SINGER.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The reputation which Mr. Foss acquired as a diligent investigator of
legal antiquities, and an impartial biographer of those who have won for
themselves seats on the woolsack or the bench, by the publication of the
first two volumes of his Judges of England, with Sketches of their
Lives, and Miscellaneous Notices connected with the Courts at
Westminster from the time of the Conquest, will be more than confirmed
by the third and fourth volumes, which have just been issued. In these,
which are devoted to the Judges who flourished between the years 1272
and 1485—that is to say, from the reign of Edward I. to that of Richard
III. inclusive, Mr. Foss has added 473 to his former list of 580 Judges;
and when we say, that every biography shows with what diligence, and we
may add with what intelligence, Mr. Foss has waded through all available
sources of information, including particularly the voluminous
publications of the late Record Commission, we have done more than
sufficient to justify our opening statement, and to recommend his work
to the favourable notice of all lovers of historical truth. To the
general reader the surveys of the reigns, in which Mr. Foss points out
not only everything remarkable connected with the law, but the gradual
development of our legal system, will be by no means the least
attractive portion of his book; while his endeavours to trace the
successive institution of the several Inns of Court and Chancery, and
also of the three different Inns occupied by the[14] Judges and
Serjeants, will be found of great interest to the topographical
antiquary.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell, on Friday and Saturday next, a
very rare, valuable, and interesting Series of Papal Coins, from Pope
Gregory II., anno 715, to Pius IX., anno 1846, the property of an
eminent amateur residing at Rome.

BOOKS RECEIVED.—Shall we keep the Crystal Palace, and have Riding and
Walking in all Weathers among Flowers, Fountains, and Sculpture? by
Denarius. As we believe most of the readers of this pamphlet will
answer in the affirmative, we would, with the writer, remind them to
“instruct their representatives to say ‘Aye,’ when Mr. Speaker puts
the question in the Commons.”—Archæologia Cambrensis. New Series. No.
VII. A very excellent number of this valuable Record of the Antiquities
of Wales and its Marshes.—Notæ Ferales; a few Words on the Modern
System of Interment; its Evils and their Remedy, by Charon. An
endeavour to bring the world to “discontinue the system of interment as
now practised, and restore that of Urn Burial.”

CATALOGUES RECEIVED.—Joseph Lilly’s (7. Pall Mall) Catalogue No. 3. of
very Cheap, Valuable, and Useful Books; W. S. Lincoln’s (Cheltenham
House, Westminster Road) Catalogue No. 70. of English and Foreign
Second-hand Books; J. Petheram’s (94. High Holborn) Catalogue Part
CXXIV., No. 5. for 1851 of Old and New Books; B. Quaritch’s (16. Castle
Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 31. of Books in European and
Oriental Languages and Dialects; W. Heath’s (29 ½. Lincoln’s Inn
Fields) Catalogue No. 4 for 1851 of Valuable Second-hand Books; S.
Alexander’s (207. Hoxton Old Town) Catalogue of Cheap Miscellaneous
Books; C. J. Stewart’s (11. King William Street) Catalogue of Books in
Ecclesiastical and Monastic History and Biography, Antiquities,
Councils, &c., with a Classified Index.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.

• SIR THOS. ELYOT, THE GOVERNOUR. 1st Edit. 1531.
• BASTWICK (DR. JOS.) SUPPLEMENTUM, &c., 1635.
• PRYNNE, CERTAIN QUERIES TO THE BOWERS AT THE NAME OF JESUS. 1636.
• —— A LOOKING GLASSE FOR ALL LORDLY PRELATES. 1636.
• —— CERTAIN QUERIES PROPOUNDED TO BISHOPS, &c. 1636.
• —— NEWS FROM IPSWICH. 1636 and 1641.
• —— A QUENCH COALE. 1637.
• —— ADDITIONS TO THE FIRST PART OF A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A. AND B. &c. 1636.
• —— PLEASANT PURGE FOR A ROMAN CATHOLICK. 1642.
• —— A GAG FOR LONG-HAIR’D RATTLE HEADS. 1646.
• —— SIX PROPOSITIONS OF UNDOUBTED VERITY, &c. A single leaf. 1648.
• —— THE QUAKERS UNMASKED, &c. 1655.
• SATAN, a Poem, by R. Montgomery.
• ARTHUR YOUNG’S TRAVELS IN FRANCE.
• ARTHUR YOUNG’S TRAVELS IN ITALY.
• BORLAND’S HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF DARIAN.
• DR. ADAMS’ SERMON ON THE OBLIGATION OF VIRTUE. Any edition.
• ENGRAVED PORTRAITS OF BISHOP BUTLER.
• MARLBOROUGH DISPATCHES. Volumes IV. and V.
• ART JOURNAL, 1839 to 1844 inclusive. Also 1849.
• BULWER’S NOVELS. 12mo. Published at 6s. per Vol. Pilgrims of the Rhine, Alice, and Zanoni.
• MITFORD’S HISTORY OF GREECE, continued by Davenport. 12mo. 8 Vols. Published by Tegg and Son, 1835. Volume Eight wanted.
• STEPHANI THESAURUS. Valpy. Parts I. II. X. XI. and XXIX.
• KIRBY’S BRIDGEWATER TREATISE. 2 Vols.
• The Second Vol. of CHAMBERS’ CYCLOPÆDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
• AIKIN’S SELECT WORKS OF THE BRITISH POETS. 10 Vols. 24mo. Published by Longmans and Co. 1821. Vols. I. V. and VIII. wanted.
• MARKHAM’S HISTORY OF FRANCE. Vol. II. 1830.
• MARKHAM’S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Vol. II. 1836. Sixth Edition.
• JAMES’S NAVAL HISTORY. (6 Vols. 8vo.) 1822-4. Vol. VI.
• HUME’S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. (8 Vols. 1818.) Vol. IV.
• RUSSELL’S EUROPE, FROM THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. 4to. 1824. Vol. II.
• CLARE’S RURAL MUSE.
• WATT’S BIBLIOTHECA BRITANNICA, Part V. 4to.
• STRUTT’S MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. Vol. II. 4to.
• OLD BAYLEY SESSIONS PAPERS, 1744 to 1774, or any portion thereof. 4to.
• COLDEN’S HISTORY OF THE FIVE INDIAN NATIONS OF CANADA. Vol. I. 12mo. Lond. 1755.
• HEARNE (T.) LELAND’S ITINERARY. Vols. I. II. III. and VII.
• HORACE-ORELLIUS. 2 Vols.
• D’ARBLAY’S DIARY. Vol. III.
• WAAGEN’S WORKS OF ART AND ARTISTS IN ENGLAND. 3 Vols. 8vo. 1838.
• CHEVALIER RAMSAY, ESSAI DE POLITIQUE, où l’on traite de la Nécessité de l’Origine, des Droits, des Bornes et des différentes Formes de la Souveraineté, selon les Principes de l’Auteur de Télémaque. 2 Vols. 12mo. La Haye, without date, but printed in 1719.
• The same. Second Edition, under the title “Essai Philosophique sur le Gouvernement Civil, selon les Principes de Fénélon,” 12mo. Londres, 1721.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage
free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” 186. Fleet Street.

Notices to Correspondents.

THE INDEX AND TITLE-PAGE TO VOLUME THE
THIRD is at press, and will be
issued with our next Number.

J. O. B. The oft-quoted line—

is from a poem by Borbonius. See “NOTES AND QUERIES,” Vol. i., pp.
234. 419.

A READER:—

(not small, as it is too frequently misquoted), is from Prior’s
Henry and Emma. See our Third Vol., p. 154.

JAMES C. has misunderstood MR. PARSONS‘ Query, Vol. iii., p. 495.,
which refers to book plates, not plates or engravings in books.

REPLIES RECEIVED.—Meaning of Hernshaw—Jonah
and the Whale—First Panorama—Dollar
Mark—Equestrian Statues—Brother Jonathan—Nao
a Ship—Eisell—Suum cuique tribuere—Theory
of the Earth’s Form—Alterius Orbis Papa—The Groves
of Blarney—Jusjurandum per canem—Organs in
Churches—Tennyson’s Lord of Burleigh—Registry
of Dissenters—Hugh Holland, and his Works—Shakspeare’s
Small Latin—Apple Pie Order—Lord Mayor a Privy
Councillor—Gillingham.

The commencement of a New Volume with the present Number affords a
favourable opportunity to gentlemen resident in the country to commence
the work. The Subscription for the Stamped Edition of
“NOTES AND QUERIES,”
is ten shillings and twopence for six months, which may be paid
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CIRCULATION OF OUR PROSPECTUSES BY CORRESPONDENTS. The
suggestion of T. E. H., that by way of hastening the period
when we shall be justified in permanently enlarging our Paper to 24
pages, we should forward copies of our Prospectus to
correspondents who would kindly enclose them to such friends as they
think likely, from their love of literature, to become subscribers
to “NOTES AND QUERIES,”
has already been acted upon by several
friendly correspondents, to whom we are greatly indebted. We shall be
most happy to forward Prospectuses for this purpose to any other of
our friends able and willing thus to assist towards increasing our
circulation.

VOLS. I. and II., each with very copious Index, may still be had, price
9s. 6d. each. VOL. III. will be ready in a few days.

NOTES AND QUERIES may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and
Newsvenders. It is published at noon on Friday, so[15] that our
country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring
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All communications for the Editor of
NOTES AND QUERIES should be
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Errata.—No. 84. p. 469., for “John Kentor” read “John Fenton.”
No. 86, p. 504., for “Ordardus” read “Odardus;” p. 509. for “the w
is sometimes sounded like oo,” read “the w is sounded something
like oo.”

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THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No.
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1851.