NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

“When found, make a note of.”—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

CONTENTS.

NOTES

SHAKSPEARE AND MARLOWE.

A special use of, a use, indeed, that gives a special value to
your publication, is the communication through its means of facts
and conclusions for the information or assistance of editors or
intending editors. I do not suppose that any gentleman occupying
this position would be guilty of so much disrespect to the many
eminent names which have already appeared in your columns, as would
be implied in not giving all the attention it deserved to any
communication you might see fit to publish; and with this feeling,
and under this shelter, I return to the subject of Marlowe, and his
position as a dramatic writer relative to Shakspeare. I perceive
that a re-issue of Mr. Knight’s Shakspeare has commenced,
and from the terms of the announcement, independently of other
considerations, I conclude that the editor will take advantage of
this opportunity of referring to doubtful or disputed points that
may have made any advance towards a solution since his previous
editions. I have read also an advertisement of an edition of
Shakspeare, to be superintended by Mr. Halliwell¹, which is to contain the plays of
“doubtful authenticity, or in the composition of which Shakspeare
is supposed only to have taken a part.” Neither of these gentlemen
can well avoid expressing an opinion on the subject I have adverted
to, and to them more especially I would address my
observations.

I think I have observed that the claims of Marlowe have been
maintained with something very like party spirit. I have seen
latterly several indications of this, unmistakeable, though
expressed, perhaps, but by a single word. Now it is true both Mr.
Collier and Mr. Dyce are committed to a positive opinion on this
subject; and it would be unreasonable to expect either of those
gentlemen to change their views, except with the fullest proof and
after the maturest consideration. But who, besides these, is
interested in maintaining the precedence of Marlowe? These remarks
have been called forth by an article in the Athenæum,
containing the following passages:—

“All Marlowe’s works were produced prior, we may safely assert,
to the appearance of Shakspeare as a writer for the stage,
or as an author, in print.

“It is now universally admitted among competent critics, that
Shakspeare commenced his career as a dramatic author, by
remodelling certain pieces written {370} either separately or
conjointly by Greene, Marlowe, Lodge, and Peele.”

An anonymous writer commits himself to nothing, and I should not
have noticed the above but that they illustrate my position. In the
passage first cited, if the writer mean “as a writer for the stage
in print,” it proves nothing; but if the words “in print”
are not intended to be so connected, the assertion cannot be
proved, and many “competent critics” will tell him it is
most improbable. The assertion of the second quotation is simply
untrue; Mr. Knight has not admitted what is stated therein, and if
I recollect right, an Edinburgh Reviewer has concurred with him in
judgment. Neither of these, I presume, will be called incompetent.
I cannot suppose that either assertion would have been made but for
the spirit to which I have alluded; for no cause was ever the
better for allegations that could not be maintained.

In some former papers which you did me the honour to publish, I
gave it incidentally as my opinion that Marlowe was the author of
the Taming of a Shrew. I have since learned, through Mr.
Halliwell, that Mr. Dyce is confident, from the style, that he was
not. Had I the opportunity, I might ask Mr. Dyce “which style?”
That of the passages I cited as being identical with passages in
Marlowe’s acknowledged plays will not, I presume, be disputed; and
of that of such scenes as the one between Sander and the tailor, I
am as confident as Mr. Dyce; it is the style rather of Shakspeare
than Marlowe. In other respects, I learn that the kind of evidence
that is considered by Mr. Dyce good to sustain the claim of Marlowe
to the authorship of the Contention and the True
Tragedy, is not admissible in support of his claim to the
Taming of a Shrew. I shall take another opportunity of
showing that the very passages cited by Mr. Dyce from the two
first-named of these plays will support my view of the case, at
least as well as his; doing no more now than simply recording an
opinion that Marlowe was a follower and imitator of
Shakspeare. I do not know that I am at present in a position to
maintain this opinion by argument; but I can, at all events, show
on what exceedingly slight grounds the contrary opinion has been
founded.

I have already called attention to the fact, that the impression
of Marlowe’s being an earlier writer than Shakspeare, was founded
solely upon the circumstance that his plays were printed at an
earlier date. That nothing could be more fallacious than this
conclusion, the fact that many of Shakspeare’s earliest plays were
not printed at all until after his death is sufficient to evince.
The motive for withholding Shakspeare’s plays from the press is as
easily understood as that for publishing Marlowe’s. Thus stood the
question when Mr. Collier approached the subject. Meanwhile it
should be borne in mind, that not a syllable of evidence has been
advanced to show that Shakspeare could not have written the
First part of the Contention and the True Tragedy, if
not the later forms of Henry VI., Hamlet and
Pericles in their earliest forms, if not Timon of
Athens, which I think is also an early play revised, Love’s
Labour’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, &c., all
of which I should place at least seven years distance from plays
which I think were acted about 1594 or 1595. I now proceed to give
the kernel of Mr. Collier’s argument, omitting nothing that is
really important to the question:—

“‘Give me the man’ (says Nash) ‘whose extemporal vein, in any
humour, will excel our greatest art masters‘ deliberate
thoughts.’

“Green, in 1588, says he had been ‘had in derision’ by ‘two
gentlemen poets’ because I could not make my verses get on the
stage in tragical buskins, every word filling the mouth like the
faburden of Bow-bell, daring God out of heaven with that atheist
tamburlane, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the sun. Farther
on he laughs at the ‘prophetical spirits’ of those ‘who set the end
of scholarism in an English blank-verse.’

“Marlowe took his degree of Master of Arts in the very
year when Nash was unable to do so, &c.

“I thus arrive at the conclusion, that Christopher Marlowe was
our first poet who used blank-verse in dramatic compositions
performed in public theatres.”—Hist. of Dramatic
Poetry, vol. iii. pp. 110, 111, 112.

This is literally all; and, I ask, can any “conclusion” be much
more inconclusive? Yet Mr. Collier has been so far misled by the
deference paid to him on the strength of his unquestionably great
services, and appears to have been so fully persuaded of the
correctness of his deduction, that he has since referred to as a
proved fact what is really nothing more than an exceedingly
loose conjecture.

Of the two editors whose names I have mentioned, Mr. Knight’s
hitherto expressed opinions in reference to the early stage of
Shakspeare’s career in a great measure coincide with mine; and I
have no reason to suppose that it is otherwise than an open
question to Mr. Halliwell. For satisfactory proof in support of my
position, time only, I firmly believe, is required; but the first
stage in every case is to remove the false conclusion that has been
drawn, to weaken its impression, and to reduce it to its true
value; and that I have endeavoured to do in the present paper. In
conclusion, I take the opportunity of saying, as the circumstance
in some degree bears upon the present question, that the evidence
in support of the priority of Shakspeare’s Taming of the
Shrew to the so-called older play which I withheld, together
with what I have collected since my last paper on the subject, is I
think stronger even than that which I communicated.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

October, 1850.

Footnote 1:(return)

This communication was written and in our hands before the
appearance of Mr. Halliwell’s advertisement and letter to The
Times, announcing that the edition of Shakspeare advertised as
to be edited by him and published by the Messrs. Tallis, is
only a reprint of an edition, with Notes and Introductions by Mr.
Halliwell, which was commenced at New York some months
ago.—ED.

A PLAN FOR A CHURCH-HISTORY SOCIETY.

The formation of a Society, having for its object any special
literary service, is a matter so closely connected with the very
purpose for which this paper was established, that we shall only be
carrying out that purpose by calling the attention of our readers
to a small pamphlet in which our valued correspondent DR. MAITLAND
offers a few suggestions to all who may be interested in the
formation of a “CHURCH-HISTORY SOCIETY, and willing to co-operate
in such a design.”

DR. MAITLAND’S suggestions are:

1. The collection of a library containing the books particularly
required for the objects of the proposed society: and those who
have not paid attention to the subject will perhaps be surprised to
learn that in DR. MAITLAND’S opinion (and few higher authorities
can be found on this point), “A moderate-sized room would hold such
a library, and a very few hundred pounds would pay for it.” On the
advantage of this plan to the editors of the works to be published
by the Society, it can scarcely be necessary to insist; but other
benefits would result from the formation of such a library, for
which we may refer, however, to the pamphlet itself.

The next points treated of are the works to be undertaken by the
Society; which may briefly be described as

2. New and corrected editions of works already known and
esteemed; critical editions, for instance, of such well-known
writers as Fox, Fuller, Burnet, and Strype: and the completion, by
way of “posting up,” of such as have become defective through lapse
of time, like Le Neve’s Fasti, Godwin’s De
Presulibus, &c.

3. The compilation of such original works as may be considered
desiderata. A General Church-History on such a scale, and so far
entering into details as to interest a reader, is not to be found
in our language; nor has the Church of England any thing like the
Gallia Christiana or Italia Sacra. We mention these
merely as instances, referring, of course, for further illustration
to the pamphlet itself, merely quoting the following
paragraph:—

“But on the subject of publication, I must add one thing more,
which appeals to me to be of vital importance to the respectability
and efficiency of such a Society. It must not build its hopes, and
stake its existence, on the cupidity of subscribers—it must
not live on appeals to their covetousness—it must not be, nor
act as if it were, a joint-stock company formed to undersell the
trade. It must not rest on the chance of getting subscribers who
will shut their eyes, and open their mouths, and take what is given
them, on a mere assurance that it shall be more in quantity for the
money, than a bookseller can afford to offer.”

DR. MAITLAND’s fourth section, on the Discovery of
Materials, tempts us to further extracts. After remarking
that

“It would be a most important and valuable part of the Society’s
work to discover in various ways—chiefly by the employing fit
persons to look for, inspect, and make known—such materials
for Church-History as remain unpublished.”

And

“That no person, not wholly illiterate and ignorant of
Church-History, could go about the metropolis only, seeking after
such matters during one month, without gathering into his note-book
much valuable matter.”

The Doctor proceeds:

“By those who have not been led to consideration or inquiry upon
the subject, this may be deemed a mere speculation; but those who
are even slightly acquainted with the real state of things, will, I
believe agree with me that if men, respectable and in earnest and
moderately informed, would only set about the matter, they would
soon be astonished at the ease and rapidity with which they would
accumulate interesting and valuable matter. Transcribing and
printing, it is admitted, are expensive processes, and little could
be effected by them at first; but merely to make known to the world
by hasty, imperfect, even blundering, lists or indexes, that things
unsought and unknown exist, would be an invaluable
benefit.”

We pass over the section on Correspondence, and that on
the establishment of Provincial Societies; but from the
last, On the Privileges of Members, we quote at even greater
length.

“It is but honest to confess in plain terms, that the chief and
most obvious privilege of members at first, is likely to be little
more than a satisfactory belief that they are doing a good work,
and serving their generation. In a word, the nicely-balanced
quid pro quo is not offered. It might be prudent for the
present to confine one’s self to a positive assurance that the
Society will, at the worst, make as good a return as several other
societies formed for the promotion and cultivation of other
branches of knowledge. If subscribers will only be content to pay
as much, and receive as little, as the fellows of the Royal and
Antiquarian Societies, the Church-History Society will thrive. But
considering the nature and object of the proposed Society, I cannot
help expressing my confidence that there are many Christian people
who will give their money freely, and no more wish to have part of
it returned, than if they had put it into a plate at a
church-door—let them only be satisfied that it will not be
embezzled or turned into waste paper.

“At the same time, the members of the Society might derive some
legitimate benefits. They would have constantly increasing
advantages from the use of their library, which would gradually
become, not only rich in books, but in transcripts, catalogues,
indexes, notices, &c., not to be found together elsewhere. Of
all these they would have a right to as much use and advantage as
joint-proprietors could enjoy without hindrance to each other. With
regard to works published by the Society, they might reasonably
expect to be supplied {372} with such as they should choose to
possess, on the same terms as if they were the authors, or the
owners of the copyright. These, however, are details which, with
many others, must be settled by the managers; they are not
mentioned as matters of primary importance or inducement.”

DR. MAITLAND concludes by observing, that he should not have
ventured to publish his plan, had he not been encouraged to do so
by some whose judgment he respected; and by inviting all who may
approve or sanction the plan, to make known (either by direct
communication to himself, or in any other way) their willingness to
support such a Society, and the amount of contribution, or annual
donation, which, if the design is carried out, may be expected from
them. Of course such expressions of opinion would be purely
conditional, and would not pledge the writers to support the
Society if, when organised, they did not approve of the
arrangements; but it is clear no such arrangements can well be made
until something, is known as to the amount of support which may be
expected.

We have entered at some length upon this Plan of a
Church-History Society, and have quoted largely from DR.
MAITLAND’s pamphlet, because we believe the subject to be one
likely to interest a large body of our readers, who might otherwise
not have their attention called to a proposal calculated to advance
one of the most important branches of historical learning.

BURNET AS A HISTORIAN.

The following extract from Charles Lamb ought to be added to the
testimonia already given by “NOTES AND QUERIES” (Vol. i.,
pp. 40. 181. 341. 493.):—

“Burnet’s Own Times.—Did you ever read that
garrulous, pleasant history? He tells his story like an old man
past political service, bragging to his sons on winter evenings of
the part he took in public transactions when his ‘old cap was new.’
Full of scandal, which all true history is. So palliative; but all
the stark wickedness that actually gives the momentum to
national actors. Quite the prattle of age and outlived importance.
Truth and sincerity staring out upon you perpetually in alto
relievo. Himself a party-man, he makes you a party-man. None of
the cursed philosophical Humeian indifference, ‘so cold and
unnatural and inhuman.’ None of the cursed Gibbonian fine writing,
so fine and composite. None of Dr. Robertson’s periods with three
members. None of Mr. Roscoe’s sage remarks, all so apposite and
coming in so clever, lest the reader should have had the trouble of
drawing an inference. Burnet’s good old prattle I can bring present
to my mind; I can make the Revolution present to
me.”—Charles Lamb: Letters.

GUSTAVE MASSON.

Hadley, near Barnet.

Bishop Burnet.—An Epigram on the Reverend Mr.
Lawrence Eachard’s and Bishop Gilbert Burnet’s Histories. By MR.
MATTHEW GREEN, of the Custom-House.

From a Collection of Poems by several hands. London:
Dodsley, 1748.

J.W.H.

EPIGRAMS FROM BUCHANAN.

J.O.W.H.

J.O.W.H.

MISTAKES ABOUT GEORGE CHAPMAN THE POET.

Dr. W. Cooke Taylor, in the introduction to his elegant reprint
of Chapman’s Homer, says of George Chapman, that “he died on
the 12th of May, 1655, and was buried at the south side of St.
Giles’s Church.” The date here is an error; for 1655 we should read
1634.

Sir Egerton Brydges, in his edition of Phillip’s Theatrum
Poetarum (Canterbury, 1800, p. 252.), says of the same poet, “A
monument was erected over his grave by Inigo Jones, which was
destroyed with the old church.” Here also is an error. Inigo
Jones’s altar-tomb to the memory of his friend is still to be seen
in the churchyard, against the south wall of the church. The
inscription, {373} which has been imperfectly re-cut, is as
follows:—

There is no proof that Inigo Jones’s tomb now occupies its
original site. The statement that Chapman was studied on the south
side of the church is, I believe, mere conjecture.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

MINOR NOTES

Shakspeare and George Herbert.—Your correspondent
D.S. (Vol. ii., p. 263.) has pointed out two illustrations to
Shakspeare in George Herbert’s poems. The parallel passages
between the two poets are exceedingly numerous. There are one or
two which occur to me on the instant:—

S.A.Y.

Old Dan Tucker.—In a little book entitled A
Thousand Facts in the Histories of Devon and Cornwall, p. 50.,
occurs the following passage:

“The first governor [of Bermuda] was a Mr. Moore, who was
succeeded by Captain Daniel Tucker.”

Does this throw any light on the popular negro song—

H.G.T.

Lord John Townsend.—I have a copy of the
Rolliad, with the names of most of the contributors, taken
from a copy belonging to Dr. Lawrence, the editor of the volume,
and author of many of the articles. In the margin of “Jekyll,”
lines 73. to 100. are stated to be “inserted by Tickle;” and lines
156. to the end, as “altered and enlarged by Tickle:” and at the
end is the following note:—

“There are two or three other lines in different parts of the
foregoing eclogue, which were altered, or inserted by
Tickle—chiefly in the connecting parts. The first draft
(which was wholly Lord John Townsend’s) was a closer parody of
Virgil’s 18th eclogue; especially in the beginning and conclusion,
in the latter of which only Jekyll was introduced as ‘the
poet.’

“Tickle changed the plan, and made it what it is. The title (as
indeed the principal subject of the eclogue) was in consequence
altered from ‘Lansdown’ to ‘Jekyll.’ The poetry and satire are
certainly enriched by Tickle’s touches; but I question whether the
humour was not more terse and classical, and the subject more just,
as the poem originally stood.”—L.

Probationary Odes No. XII. is by “Lord John Townsend.”

“Three or four lines in the last stanza, and perhaps one or two
in some of the former, were inserted by
Tickle.”—L.

Dialogue between a certain Personage and his Minister (p. 442.
of the 22nd edition) is by “Ld. J.T.”

A new ballad, Billy Eden, is by “Ld. J.T., or Tickle.”

Ode to Sir Elijah Impey (p. 503.):

“Anonymous—I believe L’d. J.T.”—L.

Ministerial undoubted Facts (p. 511.):

“Lord J. Townsend—I believe.”—L.

W.C. TREVELYAN.

Croker’s Boswell (Edit. 1847, p. 721.).—Mr. Croker
cannot discover when a good deal of intercourse could have taken
place between Dr. Johnson and the Earl of Shelburne, because “in
1765, when Johnson engaged in politics with Hamilton, {374} Lord
Shelburne was but twenty.” In 1765 Lord Shelburne was twenty-eight.
He was born in 1737; was in Parliament in 1761; and a Privy
Councillor in 1763.

L.G.P.

Misquotation—”He who runs may read.”—No such
passage exists in the Scriptures, though it is constantly quoted as
from them. It is usually the accompaniment of expressions relative
to the clearness of meaning or direction, the supposititious
allusion being to an inscription written in very large characters.
The text in the prophet Habakkuk is the following: “Write the
vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth
it.” (Ch. ii. 2.) Here, plainly, the meaning is, that every one
reading the vision should be alarmed by it, and should fly from the
impending calamity: and although this involves the notion of
legibility and clearness, that notion is the secondary, and not the
primary one, as those persons make it who misquote in the manner
stated above.

MANLEIUS.

Tindal’s New Testament.—The following
Bibliographical Note, by the late Mr. Thomas Rodd, taken from a
volume of curious early Latin and German Tracts, which will be sold
by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson on Friday next, deserves a more
permanent record than the Sale Catalogue.

“I consider the second tract of particular interest and
curiosity, as it elucidates an important point in English
literature, viz., the place (Worms) where Tindal printed the
edition of the New Testament commonly called the first, and
generally ascribed to the Antwerp Press.

“This book is printed in a Gothic letter, with woodcuts and
Initial Letters (in the year 1518).

“I have carefully examined every book printed at Antwerp, at the
period, that has fallen in my way; but in no one of them have I
found the same type or initial letters as are used therein.

“In the present tract I find the same form of type and woodcuts,
from the same school; and also, what is more remarkable, an initial
(D) letter, one of the same alphabet as a P used in the Testament.
These initial letters were always cut in alphabets, and in no other
books than these two have I discovered any of the letters of this
alphabet.

“The mistake has arisen from the circumstance of there having
been a piratical reprint of the book at Antwerp in 1525, but of
which no copy is known to exist.”

The following is the title of the tract referred to by Mr.
Rodd:—

“Eyn wolgeordent und nützlich buchlin, wie man Bergwerck
suchen un finden sol, von allerley Metall, mit seinen figuren, nach
gelegenheyt dess gebirgs artlich angezeygt mit enhangendon
Berchnamen den anfahanden” and the colophon describes it as
“Getruckt zu Wormbs bei Peter Schörfern un volendet am
funfften tag Aprill, M.D.XVIII.”

The Term “Organ-blower.“—In an old document
preserved among the archives of the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster, is an entry relative to the celebrated composer and
organist HENRY PURCELL, in which he is styled “our
organ-blower.” What is the meaning of this term? It
certainly does not, in the present case, apply to the person whose
office it was to fill the organ with wind. Purcell, at the time the
entry was made, was in the zenith of his fame, and “organist to the
king.” Possibly it may be the old term for an organist, as it will
be remembered that in the fifteenth century the organ was performed
upon by blows from the fist.

At the coronation of James II., and also at that of George I.,
two of the king’s musicians walked in the procession, clad in
scarlet mantles, playing each on a sackbut, and another, drest in a
similar manner, playing on a double curtal, or bassoon. The
“organ-blower” had also a place in these two processions,
having on him a short red coat, with a badge on his left breast,
viz. a nightingale of silver, gilt, sitting on a sprig.

In a weekly paper, entitled the Westminster Journal, Dec.
4. 1742, is a letter subscribed “Ralph Courtevil,
Organ-blower, Essayist, and Historiographer.” This person
was the organist of St. James’s Church, Piccadilly, and the author
of the Gazetteer, a paper written in defence of Sir Robert
Walpole’s administration. By the writers on the opposite side he
was stigmatized with the name of “Court-evil.”

At the present time, as I am given to understand, the organist
of St. Andrew’s Church, Holborn, is styled in the vestry-books, the
“organ-blower.”

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

“Singular” and “Unique.”—The word singular,
originally applied to that of which there is no other, gradually
came to mean extraordinary only, and “rather singular,” “very
singular indeed,” and such like phrases, ceased to shock the ear.
To supply the vacancy occasioned by this corruption, the word
unique was introduced; which, I am horror-struck to see, is
beginning to follow its predecessor. The Vauxhall bills lately
declared Vauxhall to be the “most unique place of amusement
in the world.” Can anything be done to check this ill-fated word in
its career? and, if not, what must we look to for a successor?

M.

QUERIES.

EARLY POETRY, ETC., FIVE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES
RESPECTING.

1. Who was the author of—

“A Poeme on the King’s most excellent maiesties happy progress
into Scotland and much desired returne. May, 1685. Imprinted at
London, MDCXXXIII.”

It consists of ten leaves, exclusive of title-page, and is
signed with the initials J.R. No copy has been traced in any public
or private library.

2. How many leaves does Nich. Breton’s Fantastiques
contain? I have a copy, apparently of a more recent date than the
one alluded to in “NOTES AND QUERIES” (Vol. i., p. 410.), wanting
the title, and probably introductory leaf; the text, however, is
quite complete. Where can a perfect copy be found?

3. There is in my possession a poetical collection, of which I
can find no trace in any library public or private. It is dedicated
to “Edmond Lord Sheffield, Lord President of his Maiesties Council
established in the north parts,” and the following is a copy of the
title-page:—

“Northerne Poems congratulating the King’s Maiesties most happy
and peaceable entrance to the crowne of England.

Printed at London by John Windet for Edmund Weaver, and are to
be solde at the Great North doore of Paules, 1604. Small 4to.”

Four leaves not numbered, and twenty-two pages numbered.

4. Can any account be given of a sort of autobiography by an
individual whom Lord Orford sneers at in his Anecdotes of
Painting; it is entitled:

“A Manifestation by Sir Balthazar Gerbier, K’t. Job. xiii., ver.
18.; ‘Behold now, I have ordered my cause, I know that I shall bee
justified.’ London, Printed for the author, 1651.” 12mo. 36 leaves
and title.

This very singular production does not appear to have been
published, and I cannot trace it in any catalogue. It gives the
author’s descent, which is noble, and contains many interesting
personal details of Sir Balthazar, which cannot be found
elsewhere.

5. In the Bibliographer’s Manual, by Lowndes, there
occurs this entry: “Life and death of Major Clancie, the grandest
cheat in this age,” 1680, and the full catalogue of the Hon. Mr.
Nassau is referred to. Can any of your readers state where a copy
of this production may be found? A brief account of Clancie is
contained in the Memoirs of Gamesters and Sharpers, by
Theophilus Lucas. He wrote, or there was written, under this name,
various other works not noticed by Lowndes. Can any information be
given as to the assumed or real author of these works?

Lowndes also mentions Clancie’s Cheats, or the Life and Death
of Major Clancie, 1687. Where can access to this work be
obtained?

J. MT.

Edinburgh.

MINOR QUERIES.

History of Newspapers.—

“The materials for a satisfactory history of newspapers, lie
scattered in facts known one to this person, and one to that. If
each London or provincial journalist, each reader, and each critic,
who has an anecdote and a date, would give it publicity, some
future volume might be prepared from the combined supply, much more
complete than any to be fairly expected from a comparatively
unaided writer who ventures upon an almost untrodden ground.”

The foregoing extract from the interesting volumes recently
published by Mr. Knight Hunt, under the unpretending title of
The Fourth Estate: Contributions towards a History of
Newspapers, and of the Liberty of the Press, has been very
kindly recommended to our attention by The Examiner. We
gladly avail ourselves of the suggestion, and shall be pleased to
record in our columns any facts of the nature referred to by Mr.
Hunt.

Steele’s Burial-place.—Sir Richard Steele died in
the house now the “Ivy Bush” Inn, at Carmarthen, on the 1st of
September, 1729.

Where was he buried?

Is there a monument or inscription to his memory in any church
in or near Carmarthen?

LLEWELLYN.

Socinian Boast.—In an allocution recently held by
Dr. Pusey, to the London Church Union, in St. Martin’s Hall,
reported in The Times of Oct. 17, the following passage
occurs:

“The Socinian boast might be a warning to us against such
declarations. The Socinian pictured Calvin as carrying on the
protest against Rome more vigorously than Luther, himself than
Calvin:

Query, By what Socinian writer are these two hexameter verses
used?

L.

Descent of Edward IV.—Professor Millar, in his
Historical View of the English Government (ii. 174.), in
discussing the claim of Edward IV. to the English throne, speaks of
“a popular though probably a groundless tradition, that by his
mother he was descended from Henry III. by an elder brother of
Edward I., who, on account of his personal deformity, had been
excluded from the succession to the crown.” Where may I find this
tradition? or where meet with any information on the subject?

S.A.Y.

Viscount Castlecomer.—Sir Christopher Wanderforde,
who succeeded poor Strafford as Lord Deputy of Ireland, in April,
1640, was created, between that date and his death, which occurred
in December of the same year, Baron Mowbray and Musters, and
Viscount Castlecomer. I should be glad to know the date of the
patent of his creation, whether Sir Christopher himself ever took
up the title, and what became of the title afterwards?

S.A.Y.

Judge Cradock, afterwards Newton.—MR ELLACOMBE
(Vol. ii., p. 249.), in his notice of a monument in Yatton Church
to “Judge Newton, alias Cradock,” says, “the arms of Cradock
are Arg. on chevron az. three garbs or.”
Richard Cradock, he adds, “was the first of his family who took the
name of Newton.” Does MR. ELLACOMBE mean that the above arms were
those of the Cradock family, or that this Richard Cradock
assumed the coat as well as the name of Newton? The above
was the bearing of the family of Newton, of East Newton, in the
North Riding of York. The eldest daughter and coheir of John Newton
of East Newton was married to William Thornton, which family thus
became possessed of the estate of East Newton, and quartered the
coat assigned by MR. ELLACOMBE to Cradock. I should be glad to know
the occasion on which Richard Cradock assumed the name and arms of
Newton, as well as the connexion between these Newtons and those
settled at East Newton.

S.A.Y.

Totness Church.—In Totness Church, the N. angle of
the chancel is cut off in the lower part of the building, in order
to allow an arched passage from one side of the church to the other
outside.

The upper part of the building is supported by a very strong
buttress or pier, leaving the diagonal passage between it and the
internal wall. Can any one tell whether this was done merely to
afford a gangway for want of room outside?

The graveyard has been recently enlarged in that direction, for
all the tombstones beyond the line of the chancel appear to be of
late date. An old woman informed me, with an air of solemn
authenticity, that this arched passage was reserved as a place of
deposit for the bodies of persons seized for debt, which lay there
till they were redeemed.

H.G.T.

Meaning of “Harissers.”—It is customary in the
county of Dorset, after carrying a field of corn, to leave behind a
sheaf, to intimate to the rest of the parish that the families of
those who reaped the field are to have the first lease. After these
gleaners have finished, the sheaf is removed, and other parties are
admitted, called “barissers.” I have been told that the real title
is “arishers,” from “arista.” I should feel obliged if any of your
correspondents could inform me whether this name is known in any
other county, and what is the derivation of the word.

CLERICUS RUSTICUS.

Ringelbergius—Drinking to
Excess.—Ringelbergius, in the notes to his treatise De
Ratione Studii, speaking of great drinkers, has this
passage:

“Eos qui magnos crateras haustu uno siccare possunt, qui sic
crassum illud et porosum corpus vino implent, ut per cutem humor
erumpat (nam tum se satis inquiunt potasse, cùm, positis
quinque super mensam digitis, quod ipse aliquando vidi,
totidem guttæ excidunt) laudant; hos viros esse et homines
dicunt.”

He says that he himself has seen this. Does any reader of
the “NOTES AND QUERIES” know of any other author who says
that he has seen such an exhibition? Or can Ringelbergius’s
assertion be confirmed from any source?

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Oct. 15.

Langue Pandras.—In the Life of Chaucer prefixed to
the Aldine edition of his poetical works, there is published, for
the first time, “a very interesting ballad,” “addressed to him by
Eustache Deschamps, a contemporary French poet,” of which I beg
leave to quote the first stanza, in order to give me the
opportunity of inquiring the meaning of “la langue Pandras,”
in the ninth line:

May I ask, further, whether any particulars are known of this
contemporary and admirer of Chaucer?

I hope I shall not be deemed presumptuous if I add that I should
have doubted of the genuineness of the poem quoted from, if
Sir Harris Nicolas had not stated that it had been communicated to
him by “Thomas Wright, Esq., who received it from M. Paulin Paris,”
gentlemen in every way qualified to decide on this point, and being
sanctioned by them, I have no wish to appeal from their
judgment.

J.M.B.

The Coptic Language.—I read in The Times of
this morning the following:

“The Coptic is an uncultivated and formal tongue, with
monosyllabic roots and rude inflexions, totally different
from the neighbouring languages of Syria and Arabia, totally
opposite to the copious and polished Sanscrit.”

Do you think it worth while to try if some Coptic scholar among
your learned correspondents can give us some clearer account of the
real position of that tongue, historically so interesting?
{377} The point is this, Is it
inflected, or, does it employ affixes, or is it
absolutely without inflections and affixes?

If the first, it cannot be “totally opposite” to the Sanscrit:
if the second, it cannot be “totally different” from Syriac and
Arabic: if the third, it cannot have “rude inflections.”

J.E.

Oxford, October 23. 1850.

Cheshire Cat.—Will some of your correspondents
explain the origin of the phrase, “grinning like a Cheshire cat?”
The ingenious theory of somebody, I forget who, that Cheshire is a
county palatine, and that the cats, when they think of it, are so
tickled that they can’t help grinning, is not quite
satisfactory to

K.I.P.B.T.

Mrs. Partington.—Where may I find the original Mrs.
Partington, whose maltreatment of the Queen’s English maketh the
newspapers so witty and merry in these dull days?

IGNORANS.

Cognation of the Jews and Lacedemonians.—In the
12th chapter of the 1st Book of Maccabees the letter of Jonathan,
the High Priest, to the Lacedemonians is given, in which he claims
their amity. This is followed by a letter of Arcus, the Spartan
king, in answer, and which contains this assertion:

“It is found in writing that the Lacedemonians and Jews are
brethren, and that they are of the stock of Abraham.”

Have critics or ethnographers commented on this passage, which,
to say the least, is remarkable?

As I am quoting from the Apocrypha, I may point out the anomaly
of these books being omitted in the great majority of our Bibles,
whilst their instructive lessons are appointed to be read by the
Church. Hundreds of persons who maintain the good custom of reading
the proper lessons for the day, are by this omission deprived,
during the present season, of two chapters out of the four
appointed.

MANLEIUS.

REPLIES.

FAIRFAX’S TRANSLATION OF TASSO.

On referring to my memoranda, I find that the copy of Fairfax’s
translation of the Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso, containing
the third variation of the first stanza, noticed in my last,
has the two earliest pages reprinted, in order that the
alteration might be more complete, and that the substitution, by
pasting one stanza over another (as the book is usually met with)
might not be detected. A copy with the reprinted leaf is, I
apprehend, still in the library of the late William Wordsworth; and
during the last twenty years I have never been able to procure, or
even to see, another with the same peculiarity.

The course with the translator was, no doubt, this: he first
printed his book as the stanza appears under the pasted slip; this
version he saw reason to dislike, and then he had the slip printed
with the variation, and pasted over some copies not yet issued.
Again he was dissatisfied, and thinking he could improve, not only
upon the first stanza, but upon “The Argument” by which it was
preceded, he procured the two pages to be reprinted. It is,
however, by no means clear to me that, after all, Fairfax liked his
third experiment better than his two others: had he liked it
better, we should, most probably, have found it in more copies than
the single one I have pointed out.

As your readers and contributors may wish to see “The Argument”
and first stanza as they are given in Mr. Wordsworth’s exemplar, I
transcribe them from my note-book, because, before I gave the book
away, I took care to copy them exactly:—

I own that, to my ear and judgment, this is no improvement upon
what we may consider the author’s second attempt, although I think
that the slip pasted over some (if not most) copies is better than
the first experiment.

THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT.

SMALL WORDS.

I stand convicted by the critical acumen of your correspondent
[Greek: Ph]. of having misquoted the line from Pope which heads my
“note” at p. 305. I entirely agree with [Greek: Ph]. that the
utmost exactness is desirable in such matters; and as, under such
circumstances, I fear I should be ready enough to accuse others of
“just enough of learning to misquote,” I have not a word to say in
extenuation of my own carelessness.

But I entirely dispute [Greek: Ph].’s inference, and am unable
to see that the difference detracts in any substantial degree from
the applicability of my remarks, such as they were.

What does Pope’s epithet “low” mean? Is it used for “vulgar” (as
I presume [Greek: ph]. intends us to infer), or simply for “small,
petty, of little size or value”?

To me it appears impossible to read the line without seeing that
Pope had in his mind the latter idea, that of poor, little, shabby,
statureless monosyllables, as opposed to big, bouncing, brave,
sonorous polysyllables, such as Aristophanes called [Greek:
hræmata hippokræmna]. After all, however, it would do
me very little damage to concede that he intended the meaning which
[Greek: ph]. appears to attribute to the epithet “low”, for if
he did mean “vulgar” words, it is evident that he
considered vulgarity in such matters inseparable from littleness,
as the “low” words must, if his line is not to lose its point
altogether, have been ten in number, that is, every one a
monosyllable, a “small” word.

Take it which way you will, the leading idea is that of
“littleness;” moreover, there is no propriety in the word “creep”
as applied to merely vulgar words, while words petty in size
may, with great justice, be said to “creep” in a “petty pace,”
requiring no less than ten steps to walk the length of a line.

Pope was criticising compositions intended to pass as poetry of
the best kind. Will [Greek: ph]. point out in any existing poem of
such profession and character, a single heroic line, consisting of
ten words, all which ten words shall be “low”
in the sense of “vulgar”? Can even the Muses of burlesque and slang
furnish such an instance?

Has not [Greek: ph]. suffered himself to be carried too far by
his exultation in being “down” (the last-named Muse has kindly
supplied me with the expression) upon a piece of verbal
carelessness on the part of

K.I.P.B.T.?

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

Concolinel (Vol. ii., pp. 217. 317.).—As Calen O
Custore me, after sorely puzzling the critics, was at length
discovered to be an Irish air, or the burthen of an Irish song, is
it not possible that the equally outlandish-looking
“Concolinel” may be only a corruption of “Coolin“,
that “far-famed melody,” as Mr. Bunting terms it in his last
collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin, 1840),
where it may be found in a style “more Irish than that of the sets
hitherto published?” And truly it is a “sweet air,” well fitted to
“make passionate the sense of hearing,” and melt the soul of
even Don Adriano de Armado. The transmogrification of
“Coolin” into “Concolinel“, is hardly more strange
than that of “Cailin og astore mo” [chree] (=my dear
young girl, my [heart’s] darling) into Callino castore
me.

J.M.B.

DR. RIMBAULT’S communication is very interesting, but not quite
satisfactory, not affording me any means of identifying the air. It
would under most circumstances, have given me much pleasure to have
lent DR. R. the MS., for I know no one so likely to make good use
of it; but the fact is, that without pretending to compete with DR.
RIMBAULT in the knowledge of old music, I have also meditated a
similar work on the ballads and music of Shakspeare, and my chief
source is the volume which is said to contain the air of
Concolinel. It will be some time before I can execute the work
alluded to, and I would prefer to see the Doctor’s work published
first. Whichever first appears will most likely anticipate much
that is in the other, for, although Dr. R. says he has spent “many
years” on the subject, the accidental possession of several MS.
volumes has given me such singular advantages, I am unwilling to
surrender my project. I have the music to nearly twenty jigs, and
two have some of the words, which are curious.

R.

Wife of the Poet Bilderdijk—Schweickhardt the
Artist (Vol. ii., pp. 309. 349.).—JANUS DOUSA will find a
very sufficient account of Southey’s visit to the Dutch poet
Bilderdijk, in vol. v. of the Life and Correspondence of
Southey, now publishing by his son. To the special inquiry of
JANUS DOUSA I can say nothing, but I would fain ask who was
Katherine Wilhelmina Schweickhardt? I have in my possession a
series of eight etchings of studies of cattle, by H.W.
Schweickhardt, published in 1786, and dedicated to Benjamin West.
My father was very intimate with Schweickhardt, and I think acted
in some sort as his executor. I do not know when be died but it
must be thirty years since I heard my father speak of his friend,
who was then deceased, but whether recently or not I cannot say. I
am rather disposed to think the event was comparatively a remote
one: he left a widow. Was Mrs. Bilderdijk his daughter? The
etchings are exceedingly clever and artistical; my copy has the
artist’s name in his own handwriting. If I am not mistaken,
Schweickhardt lived, when my father knew him, at Lambeth, then a
picturesque suburb very unlike the “base, common, and popular”
region which it has since become. B.T. Pouncy, another clever
artist of that day, and a friend of my father’s, resided there
also. Pouncy published some etchings which, although not
professedly views of Lambeth, were in reality studies in that
locality. When I was a boy I remember my father pointing out to me
the Windmill, which was the subject of one of them.

The Mrs. Bilderdijk who translated Roderick, was, according to
Southey, the second wife of her husband. How did JANUS DOUSA learn
that her maiden name was Schweickhardt?

G.J. DE WILDE.

Noli me tangere (Vol. ii., p. 153.).—In addition to
the list of artists given by J.Z.P. (p. 253.), BR. will find that
the subject has also been treated by—

Duccio, in the Duomo at Siena.
Taddeo Gaddi, Rinnucini Chapel.
Titian, Mr. Roger’s Collection.
Rembrandt, Queen’s Gallery.
Barroccio. An altar piece which came to England with the
Duke of Lucca’s paintings, but I cannot say where it is now; it is
well known by the engraving from it of Raphael Morgen.

B.N.C.

Chimney Money (Vol. ii., pp. 120. 174. 269.
344.).—There is a church at Northampton upon which is an
inscription recording that the expense of repairing it was defrayed
by a grant of chimney money for, I believe, seven years, temp.
Charles II.

There is also a tombstone in Folkestone churchyard curiously
commemorative of this tax. The inscription runs thus—

E.B. PRICE.

Passage from Burke (Vol. ii., p. 359.).—Q.(2) will
find the passage he refers to in Prior’s Life of Burke, vol.
i. p. 39. It is extracted from a letter addressed by Burke to his
old schoolfellow Matthew Smith, describing his first impressions on
viewing Westminster Abbey, and other objects in the metropolis. Mr.
Prior deserves our best thanks for giving us a letter so deeply
interesting, and so characteristic of the gifted writer, then
barely of age.

I.H.M.

Bath.

Nicholas Assheton’s Journal (Vol. ii., pp.
331-2.).—If T.T. WILKINSON will turn to pp. 45, 6, 7, of this
very amusing journal, published by the Chetham Society (vol. xiv.,
1848), he will find some account of the Revels introduced before
James the First at Hoghton Tower, in the copious notes of the
editor, the Rev. F.R. Raines, M.A., F.S.A., elucidating the origin
and history of these “coarse and indecorous” dances—the
Huckler, Tom Bedlo, and the Cowp Justice of
Peace.

J.G.

Manchester.

Scotch Prisoners, 1651 (Vol. ii., pp. 297.
350.).—Heath’s Chronicle (p. 301. edit. 1676) briefly
notices these unhappy men, “driven like a herd of swine, through
Westminster to Tuthill Fields, and there sold to several
merchants, and sent in to the Barbadoes.”

The most graphic account, however, is given in Another
Victory in Lancashire, &c., 4to. 1651, from which the parts
possessing local interest were extracted by me in the
Civil War Tracts of Lancashire, printed by the Chetham
Society, with references to the other matters noticed,
namely, Cromwell’s entry into London, and the arrival of the four
thousand “Scots, Highlands, or Redshanks.”

These lay on Hampstead Heath, and were thence guarded through
Highgate, and behind Islington to Kingsland and Mile End Green,
receiving charity as they went, and having “a cart load or two of
biskett behind them.” Thence they proceeded by Aldgate, through
Cheapside, Fleetstreet, and the Strand, and on through
Westminster.

“Many of them brought their wives and berns in with them, yet
were many of our scotified citizens so pitifull unto them, that as
they passed through the city, they made them, though prisoners at
mercy, masters of more money and good white bread than some of them
ever see in their lives. They marched this night [Saturday, Sept.
13.] into Tuttle Fields. Some Irishmen are among them, but most of
them are habited after that fashion.”

The contemporary journals in the British Museum would probably
state some epidemic which may have caused the mortality that
followed.

GEO. ORMEROD

Sedbury Park, Clepstow.

Long Friday (Vol. ii., p. 323.).—T.E.L.L. is not
correct in his supposition that “Long Friday” is the same as “Great
Friday”. In Danish, Good Friday is Langfredag; in Swedish,
Längfredag. I have always understood the epithet had reference
to the length of the services.

COLL. ROYAL SOC.

The Bradshaw Family (Vol. ii., p. 356.).—The
president of the pretended high court of justice, a Cheshire man,
had no connexion with Haigh Hall, in Lancashire. E.C.G. may satisfy
himself by referring to Mr. Ormerod’s History of Cheshire
(vol. iii. p. 408.) for some valuable information respecting the
regicide and his family, and to Wotton’s Baronetage (vol.
iii. P. 2. p. 655.) for the descent of the loyal race of
Bradshaigh.

J.H.M.

Bath.

Julin, the drowned City (Vol. ii., pp. 230.
282.).—I am sorry I did not state more clearly the inquiry
respecting the fate of Julin, which DR. BELL has been so
good as to notice. This is partly the printer’s fault. I spoke of
the drowned, not the doomed city.

The drowning was what I desired some account of. “A
flourishing emporium of commerce”, extant {380} in 1072,
and now surviving only in tradition, and in “records” of ships
wrecked on its “submerged ruins,” does not sink into the ocean
without exciting wonder and pity. I knew of the tradition, and
presumed there was some probability of the existence of a legend
(legendum, something to be read) describing a
catastrophe that must have been widely heard of when it
happened.

This I conjectured might be found in Adam of Bremen; to whose
mention of Julin DR. BELL referred. But it seems that in his time
the city was still existing, and flourishing (“urbs locuples”).

The “excidium civitatis,” if the Veneta of Helmold were
Julin, must have taken place, therefore, between 1072 and 1184,
when the latter account was written. If Veneta was Julin, and
“aquarum æstu absorpta,” there must, I suppose, be some
account of this great calamity: and as I have seen in modern German
works allusions to the drowning of the great city, and to the ruins
still visible at times under water, I hoped to find out the
where of its site, and the when of its
destruction—as great cities do not often sink into the waves,
like exhalations, without some report of their fate.

V. Belgravia.

Dodsley’s Poems (Vol. ii., pp. 264. 343).—THE
HERMIT OF HOLYPORT is informed that the first edition of Dodsley’s
Collection of Poems, by several Hands, was published in
1748, 3 vols. 12mo. A fourth volume was added in 1749, containing
pieces by Collins, Garrick, Lyttelton, Pope, Tickell, Thomson,
&c. Those by Garrick and Lyttelton are anonymous. The four
volumes were reprinted uniformly in 1755. The fifth and sixth were
added in 1758.

AMICUS CURIÆ.

Shunamitis Poema (Vol. ii., p. 326.).—The titlepage
to the volume of poems inquired after by E.D. is as follows:

“Latin and English Poems, by a Gentleman of Trinity College,
Oxford.

‘Nec lusisse pudet sed non incidere ludum.’ HOR.

London: printed for L. Bathurst over against St. Dunstan’s
Church, in Fleet Street, MDCCXLI.”

I know not the author; but I suspect either that the title of an
Oxford man was assumed by a Cantab, who might fairly wish not to be
suspected as the author of several of the poems; or that the
author, having been rusticated at Cambridge, vide at p. 84. the ode
“Ad Thomam G.” (whom I take to be Thomas Gilbert of Peterhouse),
transferred himself and his somewhat licentious muse to Oxford.

COLL. ROYAL SOC.

Jeremy Taylor’s Works (Vol. ii., p. 271.).—It seems
desirable that an advance should occasionally be made in
editing, beyond the mere verification of authorities, in
seeing, that is, whether the passages cited are applicable
to the point in hand, and properly apprehended. Bp. Taylor, in his
Liberty of Prophecying, sect. vi., for instance, seems
incorrect in stating that Leo I., bishop of Rome, rejected
the Council of Chalcedon; whereas his reproofs are directed against
Anatolias, bishop of Constantinople, an unwelcome aspirant to
ecclesiastical supremacy. (See Concilia Studio Labbei, tom.
iv., col. 844, &c.)

A passage frown Jerome’s Epistle to Evangelus is often
quoted in works on church government, as equalising, or nearly so,
the office of bishop and presbyter; but the drift of the argument
seems to be, to show that the site of a bishop’s see, be it
great or small, important or otherwise, does not affect the
episcopal office. Some readers will perhaps offer an opinion
on these two questions.

NOVUS.

Ductor Dubitantium.—The Judge alluded to by Jeremy
Taylor in the passage quoted by A.T. (Vol. ii., p. 325.), was
Chief-Justice Richardson; but the place where the outrage was
committed was not Ludlow, as stated by the eloquent divine, but
Salisbury, as appears from the following marginal note in Dyer’s
Reports, p. 1886—a curious specimen of the legal
phraseology of the period:—

“Richardson, C.J. de C.B. at Assizes at Salisbury in Summer 1631
fuit assault per Prisoner la condemne pur Felony; que puis son
condemnation ject un Brickbat a le dit Justice, que narrowly mist.
Et pur ceo immediately fuit Indictment drawn pur Noy envers le
Prisoner, et son dexter manus ampute et fixe al Gibbet, sur que luy
mesme immediatement hange in presence de Court.”

EDWARD FOSS.

Aërostation (Vol. ii., p. 317.).—The account
published by Lunardi of his aërial voyage, alluded to by M.,
is, in the copy I have seen, entitled

“An Account of the First Aërial Voyage in Britain, in a
series of letters to his guardian, the Chevalier Gherardo Compagni,
written under the impressions of the various events that affected
the undertaking, by Vicent Lunardi, Esq., Secretary to the
Neapolitan Ambassador. ‘A non esse nec fuisse non datur argumentum
ad non posse.’ Second edition, London: printed for the Author, and
sold at the Panther; also by the Publisher J. Bell, at the British
Library, Strand, and at Mr. Molini’s, Woodstock Street,
MDCCLXXXIV.”

The book contains printed copies of the depositions of witnesses
who beheld Lunardi’s descent; and Mr. Baker, who, as a magistrate,
took those depositions on oath, to establish what he thought so
wonderful a fact, erected on the spot where the balloon descended,
in a field near Colliers End, in the parish of Standon, Herts, on
the left of the high road from London to Cambridge, a stone with
the following inscription on a copper plate. It is still
{381} legible, though somewhat defaced. It is
engraved in lines of unequal length, but to save your space I have
not adhered to those divisions.

“Let posterity know, and knowing, be astonished, that on the
fifteenth day of September, 1784, Vincent Lunardi of Lucca, in
Tuscany, the first aërial traveller in Britain, mounting from
the Artillery Ground in London, traversing the regions of the air
for two hours and fifteen minutes, in this spot revisited the
earth. On this rude monument for ages be recorded, that wondrous
enterprise, successfully achieved by the powers of chemistry and
the fortitude of man, that improvement in science, which the great
Author of all knowledge, patronising by His providence the
inventions of mankind, hath graciously permitted to their benefit
and His own eternal glory.”

COLL. ROYAL SOC.

Gwyn’s London and Westminster (Vol. ii., p.
297.).—A reference to Mr. Croker’s Boswell (last edit.
1847, p. 181.) may best satisfy § N. “Gwyn,” says Mr. Croker,
“proposed the principle, and in many instances the
details, of the most important improvements which have been
made in the metropolis in our day.” Was this copied into the
Literary Gazette?

Mr. Sydney Smirke speaks favourably of Gwyn’s favourite project,
“the formation of a permanent Board or Commission for
superintending and controlling the architectural embellishments of
London.” (Suggestions, &c., 8vo. 1834, p. 23.)

J.H.M.

Bath.

Gwyn’s London and Westminster (Vol. ii., p.
297.).—Under this head § N. inquires, “Will you permit
me, through your useful publication, to solicit information of the
number and date of the Literary Gazette which recalled
public attention to this very remarkable fact:” namely, that stated
by Mr. Thomas Hunt, in his Exemplars of Tudor Architecture
(Longmans, 1830), to the effect that the Literary Gazette
had referred to the work entitled London and Westminster
Improved, by John Gwynn. London, 1766, 4to., as having “pointed
out almost all the designs for the improvement of London which have
been devised by the civil and military architects of the
present day.”

In answer to the above, your correspondent will find two
articles in the Literary Gazette on this interesting
subject; the first in No. 473., Feb. 11. 1826, in which it is
mentioned that Mr. Gwynn, founding himself in some degree
upon the plan of Sir C. Wren, proposed

“To carry a street from Piccadilly through Coventry Street,
Sydney’s Alley, Leicester Fields, Cranbourn Alley, and so to Long
Acre, Queen Street, and Lincolns Inn Fields, and thus afford an
easy access to Holborn; he also recommends the widening the
Strand in its narrow parts,” &c.

I need hardly notice that by the removal of Exeter Change, the
alterations near Charing Cross, and the more recent openings from
Coventry Street, along the line suggested by Mr. Gwynn, his designs
have been so far carried out.

The second paper in the Literary Gazette was rather a
long one, No. 532., March 31. 1827. In it Mr. Gwynn’s publication
is analysed, and all the leading particulars bearing on the “old
novelties of our modern improvements” are brought to light.

The whole is worth your reprinting, and at your service, if you
will send a copyist to the Literary Gazette office to
inspect the volume for 1827.

W.J., ED.

“Regis ad Exemplum totus componitur Orbis” (Vol. ii., p.
267.).—This hexameter verse, which occurs in collections of
Latin apophthegms, is not to be found in this form, in any
classical author. It has been converted into a single proverbial
verse, from the following passage of Claudian:

L.

St. Uncumber (Vol. ii., pp. 286. 342.).—Sir Thomas
More details in his Dialoge, with his usual quaintness, the
attributes and merits of many saints, male and female, highly
esteemed in his day, and, amongst others, makes special mention of
St. Uncumber, whose proper name, it appears, was
Wylgeforte. Of these saints he says—

“Some serve for the eye onely, and some for a sore breast.
St. Germayne onely for children, and yet will he not ones
loke at them, but if the mother bring with them a white lofe and a
pot of good ale: and yet is he wiser than St. Wylgeforte,
for she, good soule, is, as they say, served and contented with
otys. Whereof I cannot perceive the reason, but if it be bycause
she sholde provyde an horse for an evil housebonde to ride to the
Devyll upon; for that is the thing that she is so sought for, as
they say. In so much that women hath therefore chaunged her name,
and in stede of St. Wylgeforte call her St. Uncumber, bycause
they reken that for a pecke of otys she will not fayle to uncumber
theym of theyr housbondys.”—(Quoted in Southey’s
Colloquies, vol. i. p. 414.)

St. Wylgeforte is the female saint whom the Jesuit Sautel
has celebrated (in his Annus Sacer Poeticus) for her
beard—a mark of Divine favour bestowed upon her in
answer to her prayers. She was a beautiful girl, who wished to lead
a single life, and that she might be suffered to do so free from
importunity, she prayed earnestly to be rendered disagreeable to
look upon, either by wrinkles, a hump on the back, or in any other
efficacious way. Accordingly the beard was given her; and it is
satisfactory to know that it had the desired {382} effect to
the fullest extent of her wishes. (Vid. Southey’s Omniana,
vol. ii. p. 54., where Sautel’s lines are quoted.)

J.M.B.

West (James), President of Royal Society (Vol. ii., p.
289.).—T.S.D. states there “has certainly never been a
president or even a secretary of the Royal Society, of the name of
James West.” Your readers will remember that West is mentioned by
Mr. Cunningham in his London, as having filled the former
distinguished office: his statement, which T.S.D. thus contradicts,
is perfectly correct.

Mr. West’s election took place 30th of November, 1768, and he
filled the chair until his death in July, 1772.

J.H.M.

[Mr. Cooper, of Cambridge, J.G.N., and other
correspondents, have called our attention to this oversight.]

MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES OF BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The idea of selecting from the Spectator those papers in
which the refined taste of Addison, working on the more imaginative
genius of Steele, has embodied that masterpiece of quiet thorough
English humour which is exhibited in the portrait of Sir Roger de
Coverley, is a most happy one,—so excellent indeed, and when
done, it is so obviously well that it is done, that we can only
wonder how it is, that, instead of having now to thank Messrs.
Longman for the quaintly and beautifully got up volume entitled
Sir Roger de Coverley. By the Spectator. The Notes and
Illustrations by Mr. Henry Wills: the Engravings by Thompson, from
Designs by Fred. Tayler,—as a literary novelty—such
a selection has not been a stock book for the last century.
Excellent, however, as is the idea of the present volume, it has
been as judiciously carried out as happily conceived. Mr. Tayler’s
designs exhibit a refined humour perfectly congenial with his
subject, and free from that tendency to caricature which is the
prevailing fault of too many of the comic illustrators of the
present day; while the pleasant gossiping notes of Mr. Wills
furnish an abundance of chatty illustration of the scenes in which
Sir Roger is placed, and the localities he visited, and so enable
us to realise to ourselves, in every respect, Addison’s admirable
picture of the worthy knight, “in his habit as he lived.” May we
add that, on looking through these amusing notes, we were much
gratified to find Mr. Wills, in his illustration of the passage,
“his great-grandfather was inventor of that famous country-dance
called after him,” speaking of “the real sponsor to the joyous
conclusion of every ball” as having “only been recently revealed,
after the most vigilant research,” since that revelation, with
other information contained in the same note, was procured by that
gentleman through the medium of “NOTES AND QUERIES.”

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson are now selling the last portion
of the Miscellaneous Stock of the late Mr. Thomas Rodd. This sale,
which will occupy eleven days, will close on Friday next: and on
Saturday they will sell the last portion of Mr. Rodd’s, books,
which will consist entirely of works relating to Ireland, including
several of great curiosity and rarity.

Messrs. Puttick and Simpson will sell on Monday next a
Collection of Books from the library of the late well-known and
able antiquary, Dr. Bromet, together with his Bookcases, Drawing
Materials, &c.

We have received the following Catalogues:—W. Brown’s (No.
130. and 131. Old Street) List of English and Foreign Theological
Books; W. Nield’s (46. Burlington Arcade) Catalogue, No. 4., of
very Cheap Books; W. Pedder’s (18. Holywell Street) Catalogue Part
IX., for 1850, of Books Ancient and Modern; J. Rowwell’s (28. Great
Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn) Catalogue, No 39., of a Select
Collection of Second-hand Books; W. L. Lincoln’s (Cheltenham House,
Westminster Road) Sixty-second Catalogue of English, Foreign,
Classical, and Miscellaneous Books.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

T. NAOGEONGUS—REGNUM PAPISTICUM. 8vo. 1553.

BARNABE GOOGE’S POPISH KINGDOM. 4to. 1570.

Odd Volumes

BERRY’S HERALDRY, 9 Vols. Supplement.

SHAKSPEARE (Whittingham’s Chiswick Edition), Vol. IV. 1814.

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

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

As we again propose this week to circulate a large number of
copies of “NOTES AND QUERIES” among members of the different
provincial Literary Institutions, we venture, for the purpose of
furthering the objects for which our paper has instituted, to
repeat the following passage from our 52nd Number:—

It is obvious that the use of a paper like “NOTES AND QUERIES,”
bears a direct proportion to the extent of its circulation. What it
aims at doing is, to reach the learning which lies scattered not
only throughout every part of our own country but all over the
literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of
the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world
to give a helping hand to one another. To a certain extent, we have
accomplished this end. Our last number contains communications not
only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every
country in England, but also from Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and
even from Demerara. This looks well. It seems as if we were in a
fair way to accomplish our design. But much yet remains to be done.
We have recently been told of whole districts in England so
benighted as never to have heard of “NOTES AND QUERIES;” and after
an interesting question has been discussed for weeks in our
columns, we are informed of some one who could have answered it
immediately if he had seen it. So long as this is the case the
advantage we may confer upon literature and literary men is
necessarily imperfect. We do what we can to make known our
{383} existence through the customary modes of
announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and
encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press; but
we would respectfully solicit the assistance of our friends upon
this particular point. Our purpose is aided, and our usefulness
increased by every introduction which can be given to our paper,
either to a Book Club, to a Lending Library, or to any other
channel of circulation amongst persons of inquiry and intelligence.
By such introductions scholars help themselves as well as us, for
there is no inquirer throughout the kingdom who is not occasionally
able to throw light upon some of the multifarious objects which are
discussed in our pages.

OXONIENSIS is thanked. His inclosure shall be made use
of.

Volume the First of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” with very copious
Index, price 9s. 6d. bound in cloth, may still be had by order of
all Booksellers.

The Monthly Part for October, being the Fifth of Vol.
II., is also now ready, price 1s. 3d.

In the quotation from Jacob Behmen, p. 356., for “Gate of Deep
“read “Gate of the Deep.”

JOURNAL FRANCAIS, Publié à Londres.—Le
COURRIER de l’EUROPE, fondé en 1840, paraissant le Samedi,
donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les
meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de Paris, la Semaine
Dramatique par Th. Gautier ou J. Jauin, la Révue de Paris
par Pierre Durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles,
etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de France. Prix
6d. London: JOSEPH THOMAS, 1. Finch Lane.

LIBRARY OF THE LATE WILLIAM BROMET, ESQ., M.D., F.S.A.,
BOOKCASES, ENGRAVINGS, DRAWING MATERIALS, &c.

PUTTICK AND SIMPSON, Auctioneers of Literary Property, will Sell
by Auction at their Great Room, 191. Piccadilly, on Monday, Nov.
4th, the Library of the late Wm. Bromet, Esq., M.D., F.S.A.,
consisting of useful Works in General Literature, Topographical and
Antiquarian, many of which contain additional illustrations,
&c. Catalogues will be sent on application.

On the 1st of November, No. II., price 2s. 6d.

DETAILS of GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, measured and drawn from existing
Examples, by J.K. COLLING, Architect. The work is intended to
illustrate those features which have not been given in Messrs.
Brandon’s “Analysis:” it will be uniform with that work, and also
the “Gothic Ornaments.” Each Number will contain five 4to. Plates,
and be continued monthly.

D. BOGUE, Fleet Street; sold also by G. BELL, Fleet Street.

In Four Volumes, Post 8vo., price 2l. 2s.,

ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE. By GEORGE LILLIE CRAIK, M.A. With
Portraits. Vol. IV. will be published on 9th Nov., with a Portrait
of the Duchess of Monmouth and Buccleuch.

HISTORY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, and of the Nineteenth till
the Overthrow of the French Empire. By F.C. SCHLOSSER. Vol. VII.,
thick 8vo. 15s. (9th Nov.)

(Vol. VIII., completing the work, with a copious consulting
Index, is preparing for early publication.)

London: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186. Strand.

WEEKLY SALE OF BOOKS, PRINTS, &c.

MR. L.A. LEWIS will Sell at his house, 125. Fleet Street, on
Thursday 7th, and Friday 8th November, a Miscellaneous Collection
of Books, including a Circulating Library of 1000 Volumes from the
country, Modern School Books, Framed and Unframed Prints, &c.
Mr. L.A. Lewis will have Sales of Libraries, Parcels of Books,
Prints, Pictures, and Miscellaneous Effects, every Friday during
the Months of November and December. Property sent in on Saturday
will be certain to be sold (if required) on the following
Friday.

On the 2nd of December will be published, in post 8vo.,
6s. cloth,

THE ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY, and NARRATIVE OF THE FLOOD; as set
forth in the early portions of the Book of Genesis; critically
examined and explained. By the Rev. E.D. HENDELL, of Preston.

HODSON, 22. Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London.

PROFESSOR DE MORGAN’S WORKS.

ARITHMETICAL BOOKS AND AUTHORS, from the Invention of Printing
to the Present Time. Royal 12mo., 6s.

ELEMENTS OF ARITHMETIC, Fifth Edition. Royal 12mo.
5s.

ELEMENTS OF ALGEBRA, Preliminary to the DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS.
Second Edition. Royal 12mo. 9s.

TRIGONOMETRY AND DOUBLE ALGEBRA. Royal 12mo. 7s.
6d.

FORMAL LOGIC; or the CALCULUS OF INFERENCE, NECESSARY and
PROBABLE. 8vo. 12s.

London: TAYLOR, WALTON, and MABERLY, Upper Gower Street, and Ivy
Lane, Paternoster Row.

NOTICES OF SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN ENGLISH CHURCHES. With
Illustrations, price 3s. 6d. By W. HESTINGS KELKE,
Rector of Drayton Beauchamp.

C. Cox, 12. King William Street, Strand.

Now Ready, 8vo. cloth extra, price 7s. 6d.

GLIMMERINGS IN THE DARK; or, LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE OLDEN
TIME. By F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER.

Recently Published, by the same Author, 8vo. cloth,
5s.

BIBLIOMANIA; or, THE LOVE OF BOOKS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., and all Booksellers.

THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE for NOVEMBER contains, among other
articles: The Prelude, Wordsworth’s Autobiographical Poem;
Rejoicings on the Birth of the Son of James II.; The Castle and
Honour of Clare (with Engravings); Original Letters of Bishop
Bedell; Memoir of Thomas Dodd, author of the “Connoisseur’s
Repertorium” (with a Portrait); Chaucer’s Monument, and Spenser’s
Death, by J. Payne Collier, Esq.; Christian Iconography, the
Heavenly Host, Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, by J.G. Waller,
Esq.; Gothic Windows, by Sharpe and Freeman; Diary of John, Earl of
Egmont, Part II., Memoir of André Chenier; Parker’s
Introduction to Gothic Architecture; The British Museum Catalogue
and the Edinburgh Review. With Notes of the Month; Review of New
Publications; Reports of Archæological Societies; Historical
Chronicle; and OBITUARY, including Memoirs of the Queen of the
Belgians, the Right Hon. C.W.W. Wynn, Vice-Chancellor Shadwell, the
Rev. Dr. Ingram, the Rev. Walter Davies, &c., &c. Price
2s. 6d.

NICHOLS AND SON, 25. Parliament-street.

MR. MURRAY’S ANNOUNCEMENTS OF NEW BOOKS.

I. THE DEFENCELESS STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN. BY SIR FRANCIS B.
HEAD, Bart. Post 8vo. (Ready.)

II. THE COURTS OF LONDON AND VIENNA AT THE END OF THE 17TH
CENTURY. Being Extracts from the Correspondence of LORD LEXINGTON,
British Minister at Vienna, 1694-1698. Edited by the Hon. H.
MANNERS SUTTON, 8vo.

III. MILITARY EVENTS IN ITALY, 1848-9. Translated from the
German. By the EARL OF ELLESMERE. Post 8vo.

IV. NAVAL GUNNERY With detailed Descriptions and Explanations of
the New Guns introduced since the War in 1813. By LIEUT. GEN. SIR
HOWARD DOUGLAS, Bart. Third Edition. 8vo.

V. HUMBOLDT’S COSMOS: Third and last Volume. Translated from the
German. By Col. and MRS. SABINE. Post 8vo.

VI. A MANUAL OF ELEMENTARY GEOLOGY; OR, THE ANCIENT CHANGES OF
THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS. By SIR CHARLES LYELL, KF.R.S. Third
Edition, thoroughly revised. Woodcuts. In One Volume. 8vo.

VII. ENGLAND AS IT IS; Political, Social, and Industrial, in the
19th Century. 2vols. Post 8vo.

VIII. CHRISTIANITY IN CEYLON. Its Introduction and Progress
under the Portuguese, Dutch, British, and American Missions. By SIR
JAMES EMERSON TENNENT. Woodcuts. 8vo.

IX. THE PALACES OF NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS RESTORED. Being an
Attempt to explain the Architecture of the Ancient Buildings now
remaining in Assyria and Persia. By JAMES FERGUSSON, Esq. Woodcuts.
8vo.

X. LIFE OF THOMAS STOTHARD, R.A. With Personal Reminiscences. By
MRS. BRAY. With Illustrations. Small 4to.

XI. KUGLER’S HANDBOOK OF ITALIAN PAINTING. Edited by CHARLES
LOCK EASTLAKE, R.A. Revised Edition. With 100 Woodcuts. Post
8vo.

XII. A NEW CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY, MYTHOLOGY, AND
GEOGRAPHY, FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS. By WILLIAM SMITH, L.L.D. 1 vol.
8vo. (Ready.)

XIII. SALMONIA; OR, DAYS OF FLY-FISHING. By SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
New Edition. With Woodcuts. Fcap. 8vo.

XIV. CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL; OR, THE LAST DAYS OF A PHILOSOPHER.
By SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. New Edition. With Woodcuts. Fcap. 8vo.

XV. SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE’S TABLE-TALK. New Edition. Fcap.
8vo.

XVI. REJECTED ADDRESSES. By JAMES SMITH and HORACE SMITH. New
Edition. Portraits. Fcap. 8vo.

XVII. INDEX TO THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. From Vol. 61 to 79
inclusive. 1 vol. 8vo.

XVIII. MODERN DOMESTIC COOKERY. Founded upon Principles of
Economy and Practical Knowledge, and adapted for the Use of Private
Families. By MRS. RUNMELL. A New Edition, most thoroughly corrected
and much enlarged. By A LADY. With Woodcuts. Fcap.

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, 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,
November 2, 1850.