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.

DIVISION OF INTELLECTUAL LABOUR.

Every one confesses, I believe, the correctness
of the principle called “Division of labour.” But
if any one would form an adequate estimate of the
ratio of the effect produced, in this way, to the
labour which is expended, let him consult Dr.
Adam Smith. I think he states, as an example,
that a single labourer cannot make more than ten
pins in a day; but if eight labourers are employed,
and each of them performs one of the eight separate
processes requisite to the formation of a pin, there
will not merely be eight times the number of pins
formed in a day, but nearly eighty times the number.
(Not having the book by me, I cannot be
certain of the exact statistics.)

If this principle is proved, then, to be of such
extraordinary utility, why should it not be made
serviceable in other matters besides the “beaver-like”
propensity of amassing wealth and satisfying
our material desires? Why should not your
periodical be instrumental in transferring this invaluable
principle to the labours of the intellectual
world? If your correspondents were to send you
abstracts or précis of the books which they read,
would there not accrue a fourfold benefit? viz.:

1. A division of intellectual labour; so that the
amount of knowledge available to each person is
multiplied in an increasing ratio.

2. Knowledge is thus presented in so condensed
a form as to be more easily comprehended at a
glance; so that your readers can with greater
facility construct or understand the theories deducible
from the whole circle of human knowledge.

3. Authors and inquiring men could tell, before
expending days on the perusal of large volumes,
whether the particulars which these books contain
would be suitable to the object they have in view.

4. The unfair criticisms which are made, and the
erroneous notions diffused by interested reviewers,
would in a great measure be corrected, in the
minds, at least, of your readers.

You might object that such précis would be as
partial as the reviews of which the whole literary
world complain. But, in the first place, these abstracts
would be written by literary men who are
not dependent on booksellers for their livelihood,
and would not therefore be likely to write up
trashy books or detract from the merit of valuable
works, for the sake of the book trade. And besides,
your correspondents give their articles under
their signature, so that one could be openly corrected
by another who had read the same work.
Again, it is only the leading idea of the book which
you would require, and no attendant praise or
blame, neither eulogistic exordium nor useless
appeals to the reader. The author, moreover,
might send you the skeleton of his own book, and
{490}
you would of course give this the prior place in
your journal.

Another objection is, that the length of such
précis would not permit them to come within the
limits of your work. But they should not be long.
And even if one of them should take up four or five
pages, you could divide it between two or three
successive numbers of your periodical. And, besides,
your work, by embracing this object, would
be greatly increased in utility; the number of your
subscribers would be multiplied, and the increased
expense of publication would thus be defrayed.

But, if the advantages resulting from such a
division of intellectual labour would be as great
as I fondly hope, I feel sure that the energy and
enterprise which caused you to give a tangible
reality to your scheme for “Notes and Queries”
would also enable you to overcome all difficulties,
and answer all trifling objections.

R.M.

ON A PASSAGE IN LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST.

In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act II. Sc. 1., Boyet,
speaking of the King of Navarre and addressing
the Princess of France, says:

This speech is a remarkable specimen of the
affected style of compliment prevalent in the time
of Elizabeth. The third couplet, at first sight,
appears to have a signification exactly opposed to
that which the context requires. We should expect,
instead of “the tongue all impatient to speak,”
to find “the tongue all impatient to see.”

No one of the editors of Shakspeare appears to
me to have given a satisfactory explanation of this
passage. I therefore venture to offer the following.

In the Latin poets (who in this followed the
Greeks) we find adjectives and participles followed
by the genitive case and the gerund in di. Thus
in Horace we have “patiens pulveris atque solis,”
“patiens liminis aut aquæ cœlestis,” and in Silius
Italicus (vi. 612.), “vetus bellandi.” For other
instances, see Mr. Baines’ Art of Latin Poetry,
pp. 56-60.

The Latin poets having taken this license, then
proceeded a step further, and substituted the infinitive
mood for the gerund in di. I cannot find
any instance either of “patiens” or “impatiens”
used in this connection; but numerous instances of
other adjectives and participles followed by the
infinitive mood may be found in pp. 68. to 73. of
the Art of Latin Poetry. I cite two only, both
from Horace: “indocilis pauperiem pati,” “quidlibet
impotens sperare.”

Following these analogies, I suggest that the
words “impatient to speak and not see” mean
“impatient of speaking (impatiens loquendi) and
not seeing,” i.e., “dissatisfied with its function of
speaking, preferring that of seeing.”

This construction, at least, renders the passage intelligible.

X.Z.

TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION.

(Vol. ii., pp. 168. 446.)

I feel greatly indebted to J.B. for a complete
solution of the question respecting this ambiguous
book. Bewildered by the frequent reference to
it by nearly cotemporaneous writers, I had apprehended
it certain, that it had been a printed, if not
a published work; and that even a second edition
had altered the title of the first. It is now certain,
that its existence was, and is, only in manuscript;
and that the alteration was intended only
for its first impression, if printed at all. It is a
fact not generally known, that many papal productions
of the time were multiplied and circulated
by copies in MS.: Leycester’s Commonwealth,
of which I have a very neat transcript, and of
which many more are extant in different libraries,
is one proof of the fact.¹ I observe that in Bernard’s
very valuable Bibliotheca MSS., &c., I had
marked under Laud Misc. MSS., p. 62. No. 968.
45. A Treatise against Equivocation or Fraudulent
Dissimulation, what I supposed might be the
work in request: but being prepossessed with the
notion that the work was in print, I did not pursue
any inquiry in that direction. I almost now
suspect that this is the very work which J.B. has
brought to light. I had hoped during the present
year to visit the Bodleian, and satisfy myself with
an inspection of the important document. I am
additionally gratified with the information relative
to the same subject by Mr. Sansom, p. 446. J.B.
observes, that the MS. occupies sixty-six pages
only. Will no one have the charity for historic
literature to make it a public benefit? If with
notes, so much the better. It is of far more interest,
as history is concerned, and that of our own
country, than many of the tracts in the Harleian
or Somers’ Collections. Parsons’s notice of it in
his Mitigation, and towards the end, as if he
was just then made acquainted with it, is very
{491}
characteristic and instructive. He knew of it
well enough, but thought others might not.

Again I say, why not print the work?

J.M.

[We have reason to believe that this important historical
document is about to be printed.]

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

In Shakspeare’s Henry IV., Act V. Sc. 4., the
Prince exclaims, beholding Percy’s corpse,—

In Ovid we find the following parallel:—

A second one appears in the pretended lines on
the sepulchre of Scipio Africanus:—

The same reflection we find in Ossian:—

It is very difficult indeed to determine in which
of these passages the leading thought is expressed
best, in which is to be found the most energy, the
deepest feeling, the most touching shortness. I
think one should prefer the passage of Shakspeare,
because the direct mention of the corporal existence
gives a magnificent liveliness to the picture,
and because the very contrast of the space appears
most lively by it; whereas, at the first reading of
the other passages, it is not the human being, consisting
of body and soul, which comes in our mind,
but only the human spirit, of which we know
already that it cannot be buried in the grave.

One of the most eminent modern authors seems
to have imitated the passage of Shakspeare’s
Henry IV. Schiller, in his Jungfrau von Orleans,
says:—

Albert Cohn.

Berlin.

Minor Notes.

True or False Papal Bulls.—

“Utrum bulla papalis sit vera an non.

“Si vis scire utrum literæ domini Papæ sint veraces
vel non, numera punctos quæ sunt in bulla. Et si
inveneris circulum ubi sunt capita apostolorum habentem
73 punctos, alium vero circulum 46, alium
super caput Beati Petri habentem 26, alium super
caput Sancti Pauli habentem 25 punctos, et punctos
quæ sunt in barbâ 26, veraces sunt; alioquin falsæ.—Sir
Matthew Hale’s Manuscripts, Library of Lincoln’s
Inn, vol. lxxiii. p. 176.

To which may be added, that in digging for the
foundations of the new (or present) London
Bridge, an instrument was dug up for counterfeiting
the seals or Bullæ? Where is it now deposited?

J.E.

Burning Bush of Sinai.—

“Pococke asserts that the monks have planted in
their garden a bush similar to those which grow in
Europe, and that by the most ridiculous imposture,
they hesitate not to affirm that it is the same which
Moses saw—the miraculous bush. The assertion is
false, and the alleged fact a mere invention.”—Geramb’s
Pilgrimage to Palestine, &c., English trans.

March 1. 1847. The bush was exhibited by
two of the monks at the back of the eastern apse
of the church, but having its root within the walls
of the chapel of the burning bush. It was the
common English bramble, not more than two
years old, and in a very sickly state, as the monks
allowed the leaves to be plucked by the English
party then in the convent. The plant grows on
the mountain, and therefore could be easily replaced.

Viator.

The Crocodile (Vol. ii., p. 277.).—February,
1847, a small crocodile was seen in the channel,
between the island of Rhoda and the right bank
of the Nile.

Viator.

Umbrella.—It was introduced at Bristol about
1780. A lady, now eighty-three years of age, remembers
its first appearance, which occasioned a
great sensation. Its colour was red, and it probably
came from Leghorn, with which place Bristol
at that time maintained a great trade. Leghorn
has been called Bristol on a visit to Italy.

Viator.

Rollin’s Ancient History, and History of the Arts
and Sciences.—Your correspondent Iota inquires
(Vol. ii., p. 357.), “How comes it that the editions”
(of Rollin) “since 1740 have been so castrated?”
i.e. divested of an integral portion of the work, the
History of the Arts and Sciences. It is not easy to
state how this has come to pass. During the last
century comparatively little interest was felt in the
subjects embraced in the History of the Arts and
Sciences; and probably the publishers might on
that account omit this portion, with the view of
making the book cheaper and more saleable. It is
more difficult to assign any reason why Rollin’s
Prefaces to the various sections of his History
should have been mutilated and manufactured into
a general Introduction or Preface, to make up
which the whole of chap. iii. book x. was also
taken out of its proper place and order. A more
remarkable instance of merciless distortion of an
{492}
author’s labours is not to be found in the records
of literature. Iota may take it as a fact—and that
a remarkable one—that since 1740 there had
appeared no edition of Rollin having any claim to
integrity, until the one edited by Bell, and published
by Blackie, in 1826, and reissued in 1837.

Veritas.

Glasgow, Dec. 7. 1850.

MSS. of Locke.—E.A. Sandford, Esq., of
Nynehead, near Taunton, has a number of valuable
letters, and other papers, of Locke, and also an
original MS. of his Treatise on Education. Locke
was much at Chipley in that neighbourhood, for
the possessor of which this treatise was, I believe
composed.

W.C. Trevelyan.

The Letter .—Dr. Todd, in his Apology for the
Lollards, published by the Camden Society, alludes
to the pronunciation of the old letter  in various
words, and remarks that “it has been altogether
dropped in the modern spelling of erþ, ‘earth,’
frut, ‘fruit,’ erle, ‘earl,’ abid, ‘abide.'” The
Doctor is, however, mistaken; for I have heard
the words “earl” and “earth” repeatedly pronounced,
in Warwickshire, yarl and yarth.

J.R.

A Hint to Publishers (Vol. ii., p. 439.) reminds
me of a particular grievance in Alison’s
History of Europe. I have the first edition, but
delay binding it, there being no index. Two other
editions have since been published, possessing each
an index. Surely the patrons and possessors of
the first have a claim upon the Messrs. Blackwood,
independent of the probability of its repaying
them as a business transaction.

T.S.

Queries.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES.

(Continued from p. 441.)

(25.) Has there been but a single effort made
to immortalise among printers Valentine Tag?
Mercier, Abbé de Saint-Léger, in his Supplément
à l’Hist. de l’Imprimerie, by Marchand, p. 111.,
accuses Baron Heinecken of having stated that this
fictitious typographer set forth the Fables Allemandes
in 1461. Heinecken, however, had merely
quoted six German lines, the penultimate of
which is

intimating only that the work had been concluded
on St. Valentine’s day.

(26.) Can there be any more fruitful source of
error with respect to the age of early printed books
than the convenient system of esteeming as the
primary edition that in which the date is for the
first time visible? It might be thought that experienced
bibliographers would invariably avoid
such a palpable mistake; but the reverse of this
hypothesis is unfortunately true. Let us select
for an example the case of the Vita Jesu Christi,
by the Carthusian Ludolphus de Saxonia, a work
not unlikely to have been promulgated in the infancy
of the typographic art. Panzer, Santander,
and Dr. Kloss (189.) commence with an impression
at Strasburg, which was followed by one at Cologne,
in 1474. Of these the former is mentioned by
Denis, and by Bauer also (ii. 315.). Laire notes
it likewise (Ind. Par., i. 543.: cf. 278.), but errs in
making Eggestein the printer, as no account of
him is discernible after 1472. (Meerman, i. 215.)
Glancing at the misconceptions of Maittaire and
Wharton, who go no farther back than the years
1478 and 1483 respectively, let us return to the suppressed
editio princeps of 1474. De Bure (Théol.,
pp. 121-2.) records a copy, and gives the colophon.
He says, “Cette édition, qui est l’originale de cet
ouvrage, est fort rare;” and his opinion has been
adopted by Seemiller (i. 61.), who adds, “Litteris
impressum est hoc opus sculptis.” In opposition
to all these eminent authorities, I will venture to
express my belief that the earliest edition is one
which is undated. A volume in the Lambeth collection,
without a date, and entered in Dr. Maitland’s
List, p. 42., is thus described therein:
“Folio, eights, Gothic type, col. 57 lines;” and
possibly the printer’s device (List, p. 348.) might
be appropriated by I. Mentelin, of Strasburg. To
this book, nevertheless, we must allot a place inferior
to what I would bestow upon another folio,
in which the type is particularly Gothic and uneven,
and in which each of the double columns
contains but forty-seven lines, and the antique
initial letters sometimes used are plainly of the
same xylographic race as that one with which the
oldest Viola Sanctorum is introduced. It may be
delineated, in technical terms, as being sine loco,
anno, et nomine typographi. Car. sigg., paginarum
num. et custodd. Vocum character majusculus est,
ater, crassus, et rudis. Why should not Mentz
have been the birthplace of this book? for there
it appears that the author’s MS. was “veneratione
non parva” preserved, and there he most probably
died. I would say that it was printed between
1465 and 1470. It is bound up with a Fasciculus
Temporum, Colon. 1479, which looks quite modern
when compared with it, and its beginning is:
“De Vita hiesu a venerabili viro fratro (sic) Ludolpho
Cartusiensi edita incipit feliciter.” The
leaves are in number forty-eight. At the end of
the book itself is, “Explicit vita ihesu.” Then
succeeds a leaf, on the recto of which is a table of
contents for the entire work and after its termination
we find: “Explicit vita cristi de quatuor
ewãgelistis et expositõne doctorum sanctorum
sumpta.”

(27.) Upon what grounds should Mr. Bliss
(Vol. ii., p. 463.) refuse to be contented with the
{493}
very accurate reprint of Cardinal Allen’s Admonition
to the Nobility and People of England and
Ireland, with a Preface by Eupator (the Rev.
Joseph Mendham), London, Duncan, 1842?

(28.) In an article on Ticknor’s History of
Spanish Literature, in the Quarterly Review for
last September, p. 316, we read:

“The second Index Expurgatorius ever printed was
the Spanish one of Charles V. in 1546.”

Was the critic dreaming when he wrote these
words? for, otherwise, how could he have managed
to compress so much confusion into so small
a space? To say nothing of “the second” Expurgatory
Index, the first was not printed until
1571; and this was a Belgic, not a “Spanish one.”
It is stamped by its title-page as having been “in
Belgia concinnatus,” and it was the product of the
press of Plantin, at Antwerp. With regard to the
Indices Expurgatorii of Spain, the earliest of them
was prepared by the command of Cardinal Quiroga,
and issued by Gomez, typographer-royal at Madrid,
in 1584. The copy in my hand, which belonged
to Michiels, is impressed with his book-mark
“première édition.” Will the writer in the Quarterly
Review henceforth remember that an Expurgatory
Index is essentially different from one of
the Prohibitory class? But even though he should
faithfully promise to bear this fact in mind, his
misreport as to the year “1546” must not remain
uncensured; for this was not the date of the
“second” appearance of an imperial mandement.
There was an ordinance published for the restraint
of the press, not only in 1544, but also in 1540,
and even in 1510. For the last, see Panzer,
vii. 258.

(29.) What is the nearest approach to certainty
among the attempts successfully to individuate the
ancient relater of Mirabilia Romæ? That he
lived in the thirteenth century seems to be admitted;
and the work, as put forth in Montfaucon’s
Diarium Italicum (pp. 283-298.), will be found to
differ considerably from the edition, in 12mo. with
the arms of Pope Leo X. on the title-page.

(30.) “Antiquitas Sæculi Juventus Mundi.“—The
discussion in your pages (Vol. ii., pp. 218. 350.
395. 466.) of the origin of this phrase has so distinctly
assumed a bibliographical aspect, that I
feel justified on the present occasion in inquiring
from your various correspondents whether, while
they have been citing Bacon and Bruno, Whewell
and Hallam, they have lost sight of the beautiful
language of the author of the Second Book of
Esdras (chap. xiv. 10.)?

“The world hath lost his youth, and the times begin
to wax old.”

“Sæculum perdidit juventutem suam, et tempora
appropinquant senescere.”—Biblia, ed. Paris, 1523.

R.G.

Minor Queries.

Rab. Surdam, Meaning of.—The eccentric but
clever and learned William Nicol, one of the
masters of the High School of Edinburgh, and
noted as the friend of Burns, was the son of a poor
man, a tailor, in the village of Ecclefechan, in
Dumfriesshire. He erected, over the grave of his
parents, in Hoddam churchyard, a throuch stone,
or altar-formed tomb, bearing the words

Query the meaning of these mystical characters?

Edinensis.

Abbot Richard of Strata Florida.—Can you or
any of your antiquarian readers solve me the following.
It is stated in vol. i. p. 100. of Lewis
Dwnn’s Heraldic Visitation into Wales, &c., art.
“Williames of Ystradffin in the county of Caermarthen”:—

“William ab Thomas Goch, Esq., married Joan,
daughter and sole heiress to Richard the Abbot of
Strata Florida, county of Cardigan (temp. Henry VII.),
son of David ab Howel of Gwydyr, North Wales.”

From this I naturally expected to find some
connecting link between the Abbot and the ancient
family of Wynn of Gwydyr, derived from
Rhodri Lord of Anglesey. In their lineage, however,
the name of David ab Howel does not occur;
but about the aforesaid period one of their progenitors
named Meredith ab Sevan, it is stated,
purchased Gwydyr from a David ab Howel Coytmore,
derived through the Lord of Penymachno
from Prince David, Lord of Denbigh, the ill-fated
brother of Llewelyn, last sovereign prince of
North Wales. Is it not therefore likely that the
said Abbot Richard was son to the above David
ab Howel (Coytmore), the ancient proprietor of
Gwydyr; that his surname was Coytmore; and the
arms he bore were those of his ancestor David
Goch, Lord of Penymachno, viz., Sa. a lion ramp.,
ar. within a bordure engr. or.

W.G.S.J.

Cardinal Chalmers.—Can any of your readers
give me some information about a Cardinal Chalmers,—whether
there ever was a cardinal of the
name, and where I could find some account of
him? I have the boards of an old book on which
are stamped in gilding the Chalmers arms, with a
cardinal’s hat and tassels over them. If I remember
correctly, the arms are those of the family of
Chalmers, of Balnacraig, in Aberdeenshire.

I have some reason to believe that the boards
were purchased at the sale of the author of
Caledonia.

S.P.

Armorial Bearings (Vol. ii., p. 424.).—My note
of the coat-armour in question stands thus: “Three
bars between ten bells, four, three, two, and one.”
And I have before now searched in vain for its
appropriation. I am consequently obliged to
{494}
content myself with the supposition that it is a
corruption, as it may easily be, of the coat of
Keynes, viz. “vair, three bars gules,” the name
of the wife of John Speke, the great-great-grandfather
of Sir John Speke, the founder of the chapel;
and this is the more probable as the arms of Somaster,
the name of his grandfather’s wife, appear
also in the roof of the same chapel.

J.D.S.

[J.D.S. is right in his blazon; and we had been
requested by J.W.H. to amend his Query respecting
this coat.—ED.]

“Fiat Justitia“—Who is the author of the
apothegm—

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Painting by C. Bega.—

I have a small oil painting on oak panel which
bears the above inscription. The subject of the
painting is a boy, who holds in his hands a song,
which he appears to be committing to memory,
whilst another boy is looking at the song over his
shoulder. “C. Bega” is written on the back of
the picture-frame, that evidently being the artist’s
name. I shall feel obliged by your translating the
above two lines for me, and also for information as
to “C. Bega.”

W.E. Howlett.

Kirton.

Darcy Lever Church.—On the line of railway
from Normanton to Bolton there is a small station
called Darcy Lever.

The church there struck me, on a casual view,
as one of the most beautiful examples of ecclesiastical
architecture which I have ever seen, and
I should therefore like very much to know the
date of the structure, and, if possible, the architect.

The singularity which attracts attention is the
delicate tracery of the spire, which I should wish
to see largely imitated.

E.

R. Ferrer.—I have a drawing, supposed to be of
Sir W. Raleigh by himself when in the Tower:
it came from Daniel’s History of Henry VII., and
below it was written,

Could the “Notes and Queries” ask if anything
is known of this R.F.?

H.W.D.

Writers on the Inquisition.—In the English
edition of Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary,
article “Inquisition,” I find, among other authors
on that subject who are quoted, Hiescas Salazar,
Mendoça (sic: Query, Salasar y Mendoça?), Fernandez,
Placentinus, Marsilius, Grillandus, and
Locatus. Can any of your bibliographical friends
give me any information as to these authors or
their works? Let me at the same time ask information
respecting Bordoni, the author of Sacrum
Tribunal Indicum in causis sanctæ fidei contra
Hereticos, &c., Rome, 1648.

Iota.

Buckden (Vol. ii., p. 446.).—Will M.C.R. explain
his allusion to “the abbot’s house” at
Buckden. I am not aware of Buckden having
been the seat of a monastic establishment. Perhaps
what he calls “the abbot’s house” is part of the
palace of the bishops of Lincoln.

C.H. Cooper.

Cambridge, December 2. 1850.

True Blue.—Query the origin of the term
“True Blue.” After the lapse of a few years it
seems to have been applied indifferently to Presbyterians
and Cavaliers. An amusing series of
passages might be perhaps gathered exemplifying
its use even to the present time. The colour and
“cry” True Blue are now almost monopolised by
the Tory party, although there are exceptions—Westmoreland
and Yorkshire, for instance.

Viator.

Passage in Hamlet.—In Mr. C. Knight’s
“Library,” “Pictorial,” and “Cabinet” editions of
Shakspeare, the following novel reading is given
without note or comment to say why the universally
received text has been altered. It occurs in
Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 7.

As Mr. Knight is now publishing a “National”
edition of Shakspeare, perhaps you will allow me
through your pages to ask for his authority for
this change of “moderate” to “modern,” in order
that his new reading may either be justified or
abandoned.

J.J.M.

Inventor of a secret Cypher.—I think that there
was in the fifteenth century a Frenchman so profound
a calculator that he discovered for the King
of France a secret cypher, used by the court of
Spain. I saw a notice of him in Collier’s great
Dictionary, but have forgotten him, and should
like to renew my acquaintance.

Tyro-Etymologicus.

Fossil Elk of Ireland.—Can any of your learned
readers give me information on the fossil elk of
Ireland—Cervus Megaceros, Cervus Giganteus of
Goldsmith? It is stated to be found in various
countries, as France, Germany, and Italy, besides
England and Ireland. In the Royal Dublin Society
museum there is, I am told, a rib of this animal
which has the appearance of having been wounded
by some sharp instrument, which remained long
fixed in the bone, but not so deeply as to affect
the creature’s life. It seemed to be such a wound
as the head of an arrow would produce.

It has been by some thought to be the “Sech”
of Celtic tradition. I have learned that the last
specimen was shot so lately as 1533, and that a
{495}
figure of the animal, mistaken for the common elk,
is, engraved in the November Chronicle. Now I
should feel exceedingly obliged if any information
could be rendered me on the matters stated above,
as I am most anxious to collect all possible information
regarding this most noble species of the
Dama tribe.

W.R.C. (a Subscriber).

Exeter, Nov. 1850.

Red Sindon (Vol. ii., p. 393.).—Will Mr.
Planché be so good as to say what the red sindon
of the chamber of Philippa was?

B.W.

Lights on the Altar.—1. What evidence is there
that in the British or Saxon churches lights were
burned on the altar at the time of the eucharist?

2. Are there any Canons of these churches,
sanctioning the practice?

3. What evidence is there of any other service
or solemnity, where lights were burned in the
day-time in these churches.

D. Sholbus.

Beloe, Child’s Book by.—In the Sexagenarian,
by Beloe, is the following passage:

“In four mornings he (Rev. W. Beloe) wrote a
book which he intended as an amusement for his children.
Some friends recommended him to print it,
and though many years have elapsed since it was
written, it still continues so great a favourite with
younger readers, that an edition is every year published.”

Can any of your readers inform me the name
of the book here alluded to; and who was the publisher?

F.B. Relton

Replies.

MERCENARY PREACHER.

In reply to a Query as to the meaning of this
epithet in an obituary notice, quoted, in Vol. i,
p. 384., your correspondent Arun suggests, in
the same volume, p. 489., that it was most likely
“used in its primary signification, and in the sense
in which we still apply it to troops in the pay of
a state, foreign to their own.” I cannot help
thinking, that by the designation mercenary was
implied something more disreputable than that
merely of “one who, having no settled cure, was
at liberty to be ‘hired;'” and in this I am borne
out by Chaucer, no mean authority, who, in his
well-known picture of the parson, in the Prologue
to the Canterbury Tales, amongst the various
items of piety and virtuousness with which, in
that inimitable piece of character-painting, he
credits the “pore persoun of a toun,” distinctly
states (I quote Mr. Wright’s Percy Society edition),—

Now this emphatic disclaimer shows clearly enough
that when Chaucer wrote, to be a mercenary
preacher was not, in reputation at least, a desirable
position; and whether some two centuries and a
half later, the appellation became less objectionable,
is a question not unworthy of elucidation. No
lengthened transcript is needed from so popular a
description; its whole spirit is directed not only
against hirelings, but also against non-residents:—

Neither hireling nor non-resident found favour
in Chaucer’s eyes. They could have very little in
common with one whom he says:—

The date of the obituary quoted, 1646, lends,
too some force to the supposition that “old Mr.
Lewis” was, vulgarly speaking, “no better than he
ought to be.” Milton not many years afterwards
published his memorable philippic On the likeliest
Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church; and
after all allowance is made for the sternness of the
Puritan poet’s theology, there would still remain
enough to show that his fiercely eloquent tract
might well have been called forth by the presence
in the church of an overweening army of “Mercenary
Preachers.” Further space, however, need
not now be trenched on; but should any new
facts be adduced by some of your correspondents
illustrative of the curious entry referred to, I am
sure they will be welcomed by all your readers, and
by none more than by yours, obediently,

Henry Campkin.

Reform Club, Dec. 2. 1850.

“THE OWL IS ABROAD.”

(Vol. ii., p. 393.)

A.R. asks, “On what ground is the base song,
‘The Owl is abroad’ attributed to Henry Purcell?”
To which I reply, the mistake—for mistake it is—originated
with Dr. Clarke (afterwards Clarke
Whitfield), who inserted it in his Beauties of Purcell.
How little this musician knew of the
“beauties” of Purcell is exhibited in his work;
and how little he knew of the style and peculiarities
of the music of the period, is shown by his
insertion of the song in question. Dr. Clarke’s
mistake is noticed in the late William Linley’s
elegant work entitled Shakspeare’s Dramatic
Songs, vol. i. p. 6. His words are these:

“In regard to the Tempest music of Mr. Smith, it
has been put to a strange medley of words; some of
them are, however by Shakspeare; but they do not
appear to come the brighter from the polish it was his
design to give them; here and there we have a flash
or two, but they must ever be vainly opposed to Purcell’s
pure and steady light. The song of ‘No More
{496}
Dams,’ is however an excellent one, and it has been
selected accordingly. The other song, ‘The Owl is
abroad,’ is also characteristic, but the words are not
Shakspeare’s. The last air has been inserted in Dr.
Clarke’s Beauties of Purcell, as Purcell’s. This is a
mistake, which, in justice to Smith, should be rectified.”

Your correspondent also refers to Mr. G.
Hogarth’s Memoirs of the Musical Drama, as an
authority for attributing the song in question to
Purcell. Mr. Hogarth’s work, I am sorry to say,
can never be depended upon as to facts. It is
almost entirely made up from second-hand authorities;
consequently blunders of the greatest magnitude
occur in every chapter. It has the merit
of being a well-written and an entertaining book;
but here any praise must end.

A.R. speaks of having referred to Purcell’s
Tempest. I must beg to correct him in this statement,
as no complete copy of that work (my own
excepted) is known to exist. Goodeson’s (printed
at the end of the last century) is the only copy
approaching to anything like completeness, and
that is very unlike Purcell’s Tempest. Did A.R.
find in Purcell’s Tempest the music of the beautiful
lyric, “Where the Bee sucks?” No. Yet Purcell
composed music to it. The absence, then, of “The
Owl is abroad,” is no proof that Purcell did not
write music for that song also.

But, in the present case, A.R. may rest assured
that the song about which he inquires is the veritable
composition of John Christopher Smith.

Edward F. Rimbault.

OLD ST. PANCRAS CHURCH.

Your correspondent Stephen (Vol. ii., p. 407.)
asks for information respecting the “Gospel Oak
Tree at Kentish Town.” Permit me to connect
with it another Query relative to the foundation
of the old St. Pancras Church, as the period of its
erection has hitherto baffled research. From the
subjoined extracts, it appears to be of considerable
antiquity. The first extract is from a MS.
volume which I purchased at the sale of the
library of the Rev. H.F. Lyte (Lot 2578.), entitled,—

“Spicilegium: or A Brief Account of Matters relating
to the ecclesiastical Politie of the British Church,
compiled from Histories, Councils, Canons, and Acts
of Parliament,” A.D. 1674.

It was apparently written for publication, but
is without name or initials. At p. 21. the writer,
after giving an account of the foundation of the
cathedral church of Canterbury, goes on to say,—

“Without the walls, betwixt the Cathedral and St.
Martin’s Church, stood an idol temple, which, with
the leave and goodwill of King Ethelbert, St. Augustine
purged, and then consecrated it to the memory
of St. Pancras the martyr, and after prevailed with the
king to found a monastery there for the monks, in
honour of the two prime apostles, St. Peter and Paul,
appointing it to be the burial-place of the Kentish
Kings, as also for his successors in that see. The like
to this was Pancras Church, near London, otherwise
called Kentish Church, which some ignorantly imagine
was the mother of St. Paul’s Church in London. I
rather think it might be the burying-place belonging
to the church of St. Paul, before Cuthbert, Archbishop
of Canterbury, obtained leave of the Pope to bury in
cities. And in imitation of that at Canterbury, this
near London was dedicated to St. Pancras and called
Kentish Church.”

Connected with the Query of Stephen, it is
worthy of notice that St. Augustine held a conference
with the Cambrian bishops at a place
called by Bede, Augustine’s Ac, or Oak, on the
borders of the Weccii and West Saxons, probably
near Austcliffe, in Gloucestershire (Bede’s Eccles.
Hist. lib. ii. c. 2.).

Norden, who wrote in the reign of Elizabeth,
in his Speculum Britainniæ, says that—

“The church of St. Pancras standeth all alone, as
utterly forsaken, old and weather-beaten, which, for the
antiquitie thereof, is thought not to yield to Paule’s of
London.”

which idea is repeated by Weever. And in the
year 1749, some unknown poet, soliloquising upon
the top of Primrose Hill, bursts out into the following
rapturous musing at the sight of “the old
weather-beaten church” in the distance.—

Gentleman’s Mag., xiv. 276.

Perhaps some of the gentlemen now engaged in
compiling historical notices of the parish of St.
Pancras will be able to dispel the Cimmerian
darkness which at present envelopes the consecration
of the old church.

The late Mr. Smith, author of Nollekins and his
Times, made some collections towards a History
of St. Pancras. Query, What has become of them?

J. Yeowell.

Hoxton.

Old St. Pancras Church (Vol. ii., p. 464.)—In
a note in Croker’s edition of Boswell’s Johnson
(8vo. 1848, p. 840.), Mr. Markland says, that the
reason assigned by your correspondent, and in
the text of Boswell, for the preference given by
the Roman Catholics to this place of burial, rests,
as he had learned from unquestionable authority,
upon no foundation; “that mere prejudice exists
amongst the Roman Catholics in favour of this
church, as is the case with respect to other places
of burial in various parts of the kingdom.” Mr.
Markland derived his information from the late
{497}
Dr. Bramston, Mr. Charles Butler, and Mr. Gage
Rokewoode.

S.D.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Cardinal Allen’s Admonition (Vol. ii., p. 463.).—In
the Grenville Library, at the British Museum,
there is a copy of this work, which I happen to
have seen only a few hours before I read Mr.
Bliss‘s Query. Mr. Mendham’s reprint of the
Admonition, published by Duncan in 1842, appeared
to me to be remarkably accurate, from a
hasty collation which I made of some parts of it
with the original. The Grenville copy was formerly
Herbert’s, and may possible be the same
which was sold for 35s. in Mr. Caldecott’s sale in
1832. Connected with this Admonition of Cardinal
Allen, there is another question of some interest.
In Bohn’s Guinea Catalogue, No. 16,568.,
was a broadside, there said to be unknown and
unique, and entitled A Declaration of the Sentence
and Deposition of Elizabeth, the Usurper and pretended
Queen of England. This was drawn up by
Cardinal Allen, and printed at Antwerp; and
copies were intended to be distributed in England
upon the landing of the Spanish Armada. Can
any of your readers inform me who is the present
possessor of the document referred to, or whether
it has ever been reprinted, or referred to by any
writer? Antony Wood, I am aware, refers to the
document, but it is plain that he never saw it.

H.P.

Bolton’s Ace (Vol. ii., p. 413.).—Ray’s anecdote
concerning the proverb, “Bate me an ace,
quoth Bolton,” is perhaps more correctly told in
the Witty Aunsweres and Saiengs of Englishmen
(Cotton MS. Jul. F. x.):

“William Paulett, Marques of Wynchester and
Highe Treasurer of Engelande, being presented by
John Heywoode with a booke, asked hym what yt
conteyned? and when Heywoode told him ‘all the
proverbs in Englishe.’ ‘What all?’ quoth my Lorde;
‘No, Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton, is that in youre
booke?’ ‘No, by my faith, my Lorde, I thinke not,’
annswered Heywoode.”

The “booke” presented by Heywoode to the
Marquis of Winchester was A Dialogue contayning
in Effect the Number of all the Proverbes in the
English Tongue compact in a Matter concerning
two Marriages; first printed by Berthelet in 1546.
In 1556 it was “Newly overseen and somewhat
augmented.” A copy of the latter is in the British
Museum.

John Bolton, from whom the proverb derives
its origin, was one of Henry VIII.’s “diverting
vagabonds.” He is several times mentioned as
winning money from the king at cards and dice in
one of the Royal Household Books.

It is but right that I should give this information
to your correspondent “T. Cr.”, as I have
omitted to “note it” in my reprint of Hutton’s
curious tract.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Cardinal Beaton (Vol. ii., p. 433.).—In Smith’s
Iconographia Scotica is a portrait of Beaton said
to be painted by Vandyke, and evidently the one
engraved in Lodge. It is accompanied by a
memoir, which would probably be of use to Scotus,
as it contains references to a great number of
authorities used in its compilation. If Scotus
has not met with this, and will send me his address
I will forward to him the leaves containing the
life.

John I. Dredge.

Pateley Bridge.

Portrait of Cardinal Beaton (Vol. ii., p. 433.).—In
No. 57. allusion is made to the portrait of
Cardinal Beaton, now at Blairs College, near Aberdeen.
In Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, where one
of the copies of this portrait, from the easel of
James Giles, Esq., R.S.A., now is, there are some
manuscripts of Abbé Macpherson (who sent the
Blairs picture to this country), purchased at the
sale of the late Mr. Chalmers, author of Caledonia.
Among them there might possibly be some which
might tend to confirm the authenticity of the
original painting.

S.P.

“He that runs may read” (Vol. ii., pp. 374. 439.).—It
is idle to prolong this controversy. I think it
is no interpretation of part of ver. 2., chap. ii,
Habakkuk. Nor do I believe that it has any reference
to it. But it is obviously a favourite
poetic quotation, and your readers will find it at
line 80, in Cowper’s Tirocinium, or A Review of
Schools.

J.G.H.

Pimlico.

Sir George Downing (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—Particulars
respecting the first Sir George Downing
may be found in Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses, ii.
27. 758, 759.; Wotton’s English Baronetage, iv.
415.; Parliamentary History of England, xix.
411. 465. 499.; Continuation of the Life of Edward
Earl of Clarendon, royal 8vo. edit., 1116, 1117.
1165-1170, Burnet’s History of his own Time,
ed. 1838, 136.; Heath’s Chronicle, 2nd edit., 448.
528, 529, 530. 582.; Personal History of Charles II.
(at end of Bohn’s edition of Grammont), 431.;
Lister’s Life of Clarendon, ii. 231-255. 268-271.
311-315. (Mr. Lister’s third volume contains
numerous letters to and from Sir George Downing);
Vaughan’s Protectorate of Cromwell, i. 227.
255, 256. 264. 266. 268., ii. 299. 317. 433.; Courtenay’s
Memoirs of Sir W. Temple, i. 117. 264.
269.; Pepys’s Diary; and Evelyn’s Diary.

Wotton was not acquainted with the fact stated
by your correspondent, that “the family is of
most ancient origin in Devonshire.” Wotton
states, and apparently on good authority, that the
first of the family of whom he had found mention,
was Godfrey Downing, of the county of the city of
{498}
Norwich, who had a son, Arthur Downing, of the
county of Norfolk, whose son, Calybut (the grandfather
of the first Sir George), was of Shennington,
in Gloucestershire.

Mr. Sims, in his Index to the Heralds’ Visitations,
refers to pedigrees and arms of the family of
Downing under Buckinghamshire, Essex, and
Norfolk.

C.H. Cooper.

Cambridge, December 9. 1850.

Burning to Death, or Burning of the Hill (Vol. ii.,
p. 441.).—The following extract from Collinson’s
Somerset, vol. iii. p. 374., where it is quoted from
the Laws of the Miners of Mendip, 1687, may
throw some light upon the incidents referred to by
J.W.H.:—

“Among certain laws by which the miners were
anciently regulated is the following, viz.:

“‘That if any man of that occupation do pick or
steal any lead or ore to the value of thirteen pence
halfpenny, the lord or his officer may arrest all his
lead and ore, house and hearth, with all his goods,
grooves, and works, and keep them as forfeit to his own
use; and shall take the person that hath so offended,
and bring him where his house and work, and all
his tools and instruments belonging to the same occupation,
are; and put him into his house or work,
and set every thing on fire about him, and banish him
from that occupation before all the miners for ever.’—Laws
of the Miners of Mendip, 1687.

“This is called Burning of the Hill.”

It is to be hoped that any of the readers of
“Notes and Queries” resident among this
mining population (who are said to retain many
other ancient and remarkable customs), and possessing
any information in illustration of it, will
record it in your columns.

William J. Thoms.

The Roscommon Peerage (Vol. ii., p. 469.).—My
attention has been called to an article in
No. 58. respecting the descendants of the first
Earl of Roscommon.

As I am very interested in the subject, I
beg An Hiberian, should this meet his eye, to
allow me to correspond with him.

He is quite right as to the old tombstone. When
I was a boy, some five or six and forty years ago,
my father, one day as we were passing by the
churchyard, mentioned that stone to me; but as I
had then several cousins living whose claims were
prior to mine, the matter made but little impression
upon my mind.

My father was Thomas, the second son of
Garrett, who was the son of Thomas, down to
whom the genealogy from the first Earl was traced
upon the stone.

That stone and another, as I learn, were removed
and destroyed, or concealed, many years
ago, doubtless through some interested motive;
and, unfortunately, no copies of the inscriptions
have, that I can discover, been preserved by any
branch of the family.

When the late Earl became a claimant, it was
not known whether the descendants of Patrick, my
father’s elder brother, who had all emigrated, were
living or dead; which circumstance, it was considered,
would be an impediment to my claim.

Besides which it was also thought, the testimony
on the stone having been lost, that the traditions
in the family would not be sufficient to establish a
claim: under these circumstances I refrained from
coming forward to oppose the claims of the late
Earl. But now, as it is believed that there are
none of my cousins living, I am endeavouring to
collect evidence in support of my claim; and proof
of what your correspondent states would be exceedingly
useful.

Garrett Dillon, M.D.

8. Queen’s Parade, Bath.

The Word “after” in the Rubric (Vol. ii.,
p. 424.).—In the edition of the Latin Common
Prayer, published in 12mo., Londini, 1574, which
must be a very early edition (probably the fourth
or fifth), there is a great verbal difference in the
conclusion of the exhortation from the English
original. It stands thus:

“Quapropter omnes vos qui præsentes hic adestis,
per Dei nomen obtestor, ut interni sensus vestri, cum
meo conjuncti pariter, ad cælestis clementiæ thronum
subvolent, ut in hunc, qui sequitur, sermonem, succedatur.”

Then follows the rubric, “Generalis confessio,
ab universa congregatione dicenda, genibus flexis.”
It would appear from this, that the confession was
repented at the same time by the minister and the
congregation, and not by the congregation after
the minister.

Of the authenticity of this edition there can be
no doubt. It bears the royal arms on the titlepage,
and is printed “Cum privilegio Regiæ majestatis.
Excudebat Thomas Vautrollerius.” I have
not seen the earlier editions. A Greek version
was printed with the Latin, in one volume, one
year before; and the Latin was republished in
1584. The edition of 1574 was printed before the
Catechism was completed by the questions on the
sacraments. In the rubrics of the Lord’s Prayer,
in the Post Communion, and in the last prayers
the Commination Service, the word after is rendered
by post.

The difference between the Latin and the
English in the exhortation is very remarkable, for
it does not make the priest dictate the confession,
but repeat it with them; whereas the English services
of Edward and Elizabeth, unaltered in any
subsequent editions, distinctly make the priest
dictate the confession. There can be no doubt
about the sense of the word after, when we find it
in the rubrics of the Post Communion and Commination
translated post. Some of your readers
may be able to give an account of the Latin versions,
and explain by what influence the alteration
{499}
was made, and how it came to be sanctioned, while
the English remained unchanged.

E.C.H.

Disputed Passage in the Tempest (Vol. ii., pp. 259.
299. 337. 429.).—Allow me to remind Mr. George
Stephens, who takes credit for adhering to the
“primitive” text of a certain disputed passage in
the Tempest, that neither he nor any one else does
so; that the “primitive” text, that is, the text of
the first folio, is mere nonsense, and that he simply
adopts the first attempt at correction, instead of
the second, or the third, or the fourth.

Enough has been written, perhaps, on the meaning
of this passage; and opinion will always be
divided between those who adopt the prosaical,
and those who prefer the more poetical reading:
but when Mr. Stephens says the construction is
merely an instance of a “common ellipsis,” I cannot
but think it would be an advantage if he would
inform us whether he uses this term in its common
acceptation, and if so, if he would give the meaning
stated at first. If this be a common ellipsis, I
must confess myself to be so stupid as not to understand it.

I dissent, too, altogether from the opinion that
the comma is of any importance in the construction
of this passage. Assuming, as one correspondent
says, and as Mr. Stephens (for I don’t quite understand
his brief judgment) seems to say, that
“most busie least” means least busy, the placing
a comma between “least” and the conjunction
“when” can in no way affect the sense, though, as
a matter of taste, I should decidedly object to it.

To show that I am not wedded to any particular
interpretation, I have another suggestion to make
which has struck me even while writing. Taking
“lest” for least, can it have been used for at least,
or as some people say, leastwise? The sense would
still be the same as I have contended for, expressed
something like this: “But these sweet
thoughts do even refresh my labours: at least they
are most busy when I forget myself in my occupation.”

Samuel Hickson.

Lady Compton’s Letter (Vol. ii., p. 424.).—Mr.
C.H. Cooper inquires whether this letter appeared
before 1839? Gifford gives an extract from it
in Massinger’s City Madam, Act II., where the
daughters of Sir John Frugal make somewhat
similar stipulations from their suitors. When
speaking of this letter as “a modest and consolatory
one,” Gifford adds, “it is yet extant.” The
editor of a work entitled Relics of Literature (1823)
gives it at length, with this reference, “Harleian
MSS. 7003.” The property of Lady Compton’s
father, Sir John Spencer, is stated variously from
300,000l. to 800,000l. In this case, riches brought
with them their customary share of anxieties.
Lysons, in his Environs of London, informs us that
a plot was actually laid for carrying off the
wealthy merchant from his house at Canonbury,
by a pirate of Dunkirk, in the hope of obtaining a
large ransom.

J.H.M.

Midwives licensed (Vol. ii., p. 408.).—I have
a manuscript volume which belonged to Bishop
Warburton, and apparently to other Bishops of
Gloucester before him; containing, amongst other
Pontificalia, in writing of various ages, a number
of forms of licences, among which occurs “Licentia
Obstetricis,” whereby the bishop

“eandem A.B. ad exercendam Artem et Officium
Obstetricis in et per totam Diocesin Gloucestrensem
prædietam admisit et Literas Testimoniales superiade
fieri decrevit.”

There is no mention of charms or incantations
in the licence, but the oath “de jure in hac parte
requisito,” is required to have been made. The
form is of the same writing as several others which
bear dates from 1709 to 1719. Below is a memorandum
of the fees, amounting to 17s. 6d.

Thomas Kerslake.

Bristol.

Echo Song (Vol. ii., p. 441.).—Although I cannot
supply Llyd Rhys Morgan with the name
of the writer, I may refer him to D’Israeli’s
Curiosities of Literature, p. 257. (Moxon’s edit.
1840), where he will find another Echo Song, by
a certain Francis Cole, so similar to the one he
quotes as to induce me to think that they either
come from the same pen, or that the one is an
imitation of the other.

Y.

The Irish Brigade (Vol. ii., pp. 407. 452.).—It
is understood John C. O’Callaghan, Esq., author
of the Green Book, contemplated a much more
copious work on the subject than that by the late
Matthew O’Connor, mentioned by your correspondent
(p. 452.). The Union Quotidienne of 23rd
April last announced a work by M. de la Ponce,
Essai sur l’Irlande Ancienne, et sur les Brigades
Irlandaises au Service de France, depuis leur Organisation
en 1691; but whether published or not
I am not aware. Perhaps some of your correspondents
may know.

Drumlethglas.

To save one’s Bacon (Vol. ii., p. 424.).—May
I venture to suggest that this phrase has reference
to the custom at Dunmow, in Essex, of giving a
flitch of bacon to any married couple residing in
the parish, who live in harmony for a year and a
day. A man and his wife who stopped short when
on the verge of a quarrel might be said to have
“just saved their bacon;” and in course of time
the phrase would be applied to any one who barely
escaped any loss or danger.

X.Z.

“The Times” Newspaper and the Coptic Language
(Vol. ii., p. 377.).—J.E. quotes a passage
from The Times newspaper respecting the Coptic
language, and asks if any correspondent can furnish
a clearer account of its structure than the writer
of that article has given. A reference to the work
{500}
which he was reviewing (Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt
under the Pharaohs) will show the origin of the
apparent inconsistency on which J.E. animadverts.
In that work it is said (vol. i. p. 100.):

“The roots of the Coptic language appear to have
been generally monosyllabic, and the derivatives have
been formed by a very simple system of prefixing, inserting,
and affixing certain letters, which have usually
undergone but little change, not having been incorporated
with the root, nor melted down by crasis, nor
softened by any euphonic rules.”

Again (vol. i. p. 107.), speaking of the supposed
connexion between India and Egypt:

“The Sanscrit is the most polished and copious
language ever spoken by man; the Coptic, the most
rude of all which were used by the civilised nations of
antiquity.”

The writer in The Times, currente calamo, has
thrown the contents of these two sentences together,
and somewhat strengthened the expressions of his
author, who does not call the Coptic system of inflexion
rude, nor assert that it is totally different
from the Syro-Arabian system, but quotes the
opinion of Benfey, that they differ so much that
neither can have originated from the other, but
both from a parent language. The distinction
between a system of inflexion and one of affixes
and prefixes is not permanent. What we call the
inflexions of the Greek verb were once, no doubt,
affixes; but while, in the Greek, they have become
incorporated with the root, in the Coptic they stand
rigidly apart from it.

Herampion.

Luther’s Hymns (Vol. ii., p. 327.).—A writer
in the Parish Choir of September last (p. 140.)
has traced the words “In the midst of life we are
in death” to a higher source than the Salisbury
Service-book. It occurs in the choir-book of the
monks of St. Gall in Switzerland, and was probably
composed by Notker, surnamed the Stammerer,
about the end of the ninth century, or the
beginning of the tenth.

C.H.

St. Catherine’s Hall, Cambridge.

Osnaburg Bishopric (Vol. ii., pp. 358. 484.).—The
occupiers of this bishopric were princes ecclesiastical
of the empire, and had not only the
ordinary authority of bishops in their dioceses, but
were sovereigns of their provinces and towns in
the same manner as were the princes temporal.

The bishopric of Osnaburg was founded by
Charlemagne, and was filled by various princes
until 1625, when Cardinal Francis William, Count
of Wartemburg, was elected by the chapter.

By the Treaty of Osnaburg, 1642, which was
ratified at the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, the
House of Brunswick resigned all claims to the
archbishoprics of Magdeburg and Bremen, and
to the bishoprics of Halberstadt and Ratzburg;
and received the alternate nomination of the
bishopric of Osnaburg, which was declared to
belong jointly to the Catholic and the Protestant
branch of Brunswick.

Under this arrangement, on the death of Count
Wartemburg in 1662, Ernest Augustus I., the
sixtieth bishop, patriarch of the present royal
family of England, succeeded to the government
of Osnaburg, which he held for thirty-six years.

Ernest Augustus II, sixty-second bishop, Duke
of Brunswick and Lunenburg, was made Duke of
York and Albany, and Bishop of Osnaburg, in
1716, in the room of Charles Joseph of Lorraine.
He died in 1748.

Frederick, second son of George III., was appointed
bishop at an early age; he being called, in
a work dedicated to him in 1772, “An infant
bishop.”

By the Treaty of Vienna, the bishopric of Osnaburg
was made part of the kingdom of Hanover.

The ancient territory of the Bishop of Osnaburg
consisted of Osnaburg, Iborg, Forstenau, Bostel,
Quakenburg, Vorde Gronsburg, Hunteburg on
the lake Dummer, Witlage, Melle, and Holte.

In Halliday’s History of the House of Guelph,
4to., 1821, at p. 133., the conditions of the Treaty
of Osnaburg relative to the bishopric are given at
length.

Whilst preparing the above I have seen the
reply of F.E. at p. 447., and would beg to correct
the following errors:—

The Treaty of Osnaburg was 1642, not 1624.

Halliday’s House of Guelph was published 1821,
not 1820.

Reference to the conditions of the treaty at
p. 133. is omitted.

F.B. Relton.

Scandal against Queen Elizabeth (Vol. ii.,
p. 393.).—There is a current belief in Ireland
that the family of Mapother, in Roscommon, is
descended from Queen Elizabeth: and there are
many other traditions completely at variance with
the ordinarily received opinion as to her inviolate
chastity. A discussion of the matter might discover
the foundation on which they rest.

R. Ts.

Pretended Reprint of Ancient Poetry (Vol. ii.,
p. 463.).—The late Rev. Peter Hall was the person
at whose expense the two copies of the work
mentioned by Dr. Rimbault were reprinted. At
the sale of that gentleman’s library, in May last,
one of these two reprints was sold for 20s.

Cato.

Martin Family (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—If your correspondent
Clericus will refer to Morant’s History
of Essex, vol. ii. p. 188., he will find some
account of the family of Martin. There do not
appear to be any families of the name of Cockerell
or Hopkins in the same neighbourhood.

J.A.D.

“Ge-ho,” Meaning of.—I am a little girl,
only two years and five months old, and my kind
aunt Noo teaches me to spell. Now I hear the
men, when driving their horses, say “Ge-ho;”
{501}
and I think they say so because G, O, spells “Go.”
Is it so, can anybody say?

I am, your youngest correspondent,
Katie.

[Better etymologists than Katie have made far worse
guesses than our youngest correspondent. But in
Brand’s Popular Antiquities, by Ellis, vol. i. p. 294. ed.
1841 (the passage is not in the last edition), is the following
curious illustration of the phrase Ge-ho.

“A learned friend, whose communications I have
frequently had occasion to acknowledge in the course
of this work, says, the exclamation ‘Geho, Geho,’ which
carmen use to their horses, is probably of great antiquity.
It is not peculiar to this country, as I have
heard it used in France. In the story of the Milkmaid,
who kicked down her pail, and with it all her hopes of
getting rich, as related in a very ancient collection of
apologues, entitled Dialogus Creaturarum, printed at
Gonda in 1480, is the following passage: ‘Et cum sic
gloriaretur, et cogitaret cum quantâ gloriâ duceretur
ad illum virum super equum dicendo gio gio, cepit
percutere terram quasi pungeret equum calcaribus.'”

Brand’s learned correspondent was, doubtless, the
late Mr. Douce, from whom the writer of this Note
has often heard the same illustration.]

Lady Norton (Vol. ii., p. 480.).—An account of
lady Norton may be seen in Memoirs of several
ladies of Great Britain, who have been celebrated
for their writings or skill in the learned languages
arts and sciences. By George Ballard. Oxford,
1752. 4º. She is said to have written two books,
viz.: The applause of virtue. In four parts. etc.
London, 1705. 4º. pp. 262; and Memento mori:
or meditations on death. London 1705. 4º. pp. 108.
She was living in advanced years, about 1720.

The same biographical repertory contains an
account of her daughter, lady Gethin—of whom
some particulars were given by myself in a small
volume of essays printed for private circulation,
under the title of Curiosities of literature illustrated,
in 1837. On that occasion I ventured to
express my belief that lady Gethin did not compose
one sentence of the remains ascribed to her;
but I hope the claims of lady Norton to patristic
learning may more successfully bear the test of
critical examination.

Bolton Corney.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Honour to the University of Oxford, Honour to the
Rev. Josiah Forshall, and though last not least, Honour
to the learned Keeper of the Manuscripts in the
British Museum, Sir Frederick Madden, for giving us
The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments
with the Apocryphal Books, in the earliest English versions
made from the Latin Vulgate, by John Wycliffe and
his followers. Never did the University Press put
forth a more valuable or more important work than
these four handsome quartos, (published, too, at the
marvellously small price of five guineas), in which are
now printed, for the first time, in an entire form, those
Versions which may be regarded as the earliest in the
English language which embrace any considerable
proportion of the Holy Scriptures. By this publication,
Oxford has done her part towards wiping away
the disgrace which has so long attached to this country—which
boasts, and justly and proudly boasts, of being
the country of Bibles—for its long-continued neglect
of these early versions of the vernacular Scriptures.
How great was the influence which they exercised
upon the religious opinions and sentiments of the nation
at large in the interval between the years 1382
and 1526, how great an amount of scriptural truth
they diffused, how effectually they supplied the opponents
of the Papal system with the means of exposing
its abuses and errors, and how they thereby
laid a deep foundation for the reform of the sixteenth
century, may be clearly seen by a perusal of the
Preface to this great work; on which the learned editors
have employed their learning and industry for
two and twenty years, to their own high credit,
and to the vindication of English scholarship. But
our limited space will not admit of our detailing
all the claims which this editio princeps of the Wycliffite
Scriptures has upon the attention of our readers, or of
pointing out all the great services which its editors
have rendered to the literary, no less than to the religious
world. When we state briefly that in the work
before us we have the two versions, the earlier and
later versions, printed side by side; that these are accompanied
by various readings gathered from the collection
of upwards of one hundred different manuscripts;
introduced by a preface full of new and most interesting
particulars of this first attempt to give to this
country the Scriptures in a tongue “understanded of the
people;” and the whole rendered complete by an extensive
and most valuable glossary, we feel persuaded
our readers will agree with us in giving honour to all
who have had hand or heart in the production of these
deeply interesting volumes.

We have received the following Catalogues:—C.J.
Stewart’s (11. King William Street, Strand) Catalogue
of Doctrinal, Controversial, Practical, and Devotional
Divinity; a well-timed catalogue containing some
extraordinary Collections, as of Roman and Spanish
Indexes of Books prohibited and expurgated, and of
Official and Documentary Works on the Inquisition;
B.R. Wheatley’s (44. Bedford Street, Strand) Catalogue
of Scarce and Interesting Books for 1851; Joel
Rowsell’s (28. Great Queen Street) Catalogue No.
XL. of a Select Collection of Second-hand Books;
John Miller’s (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 15.
for 1850 of Books Old and New.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs,
etc. 12mo. London. 1651.

N.R. Gent, Proverbs, English, French, Dutch, Italian, and
Spanish. 12mo. London. 1659.

^*_*^* Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free,
to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of “NOTES AND
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Notices to Correspondents.

Our Christmas Number. This week our able contemporary,
Household Words, treats his readers to a
Christmas Number. It is one of the many good things in
which our popular friend has anticipated us. Thanks,
however, to the Peace Congress, we are content to be thus
anticipated without giving utterance to the time-honoured
“Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.” Still, as we
earnestly desire to close the year in peace with all the
world, or, which is much the same thing, with all the
readers of Notes and Queries, we propose, on Saturday
next, treating them to a Christmas Number, rich in
articles on Folk Lore, Popular Literature, &c., and
to use as ballast for our barque, which will at such occasion
be of unwonted lightness, a number of Replies which we
have by us imploring for admittance into our columns.

The Index to Volume the Second will be ready
early in January.

All Catalogues, Bills, or Prospectuses intended for
insertion in our next Monthly Part, must be sent to the
Office, 186. Fleet Street, by Friday the 27th instant.

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. A Book of
Thoughts and Arguments, originally treated. By Martin
Farquhar Tupper, Esq., D.C.L.F.R S., of Christ Church,
Oxford. With a Portrait.

A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF ST.
PAUL’S EPISTLES to the THESSALONIANS, to
TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, and to the HEBREWS,
in the form of Lectures, intended to assist the practice of Domestic
Instruction and Devotion. By John Bird Sumner, D.D.,
Archbishop of Canterbury.

THE GREEK CHURCH. A Sketch by the
Author of “Proposals for Christian Union.”

“Like its predecessors, the volume is amiable and interesting.”—Notes
and Queries.

“Anything written by the Author of ‘Proposals for Christian
Union’ is sure to be distinguished by an excellent spirit. The
‘Greek Church,’ a Sketch, is well put together; and, though
slight, will be found to contain as much real information as many
a book of greater size and more pretension.”—The Guardian.

This Essay concludes the Series. The four preceding numbers
on sale, Second Edition, 1s. each.

London: James Darling, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields.
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WESTMINSTER AND DR. WISEMAN;
or, FACTS v. FICTION. By William Page Wood,
Esq., M.P., Q.C. Reprinted from The Times with an Advertisement
on the subject of the Westminster Spiritual Aid Fund,
and more especially on the Duty and Justice of applying the
Revenues of the suspended Stalls of the Abbey for the adequate
Endowment of the District Churches in the immediate neighbourhood.

London: George Bell, 186. Fleet Street; Messrs. Rivington’s,
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MR. MURRAY’S

LIST OF BOOKS JUST READY.

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PEPYS’ DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.

This Edition will contain all the passages restored from the Original Manuscript, and all the Additional Notes. Vol. I. will be
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“We unhesitatingly characterize this journal as the most remarkable production of its kind which has ever been given to the world.
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“The best book of its kind in the English language. ‘Pepys’ Diary’ is the ablest picture of the age in which the writer lived, and
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THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I.

The appearance of this New Edition at the present moment will doubtless be considered remarkably opportune, for the subjects of
which the work treats not only attract, but absorb the mind of the nation.

“By far the most important work upon the important age of Charles I. that modern times have produced.”—Quarterly Review.

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS AND NEW-YEAR
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Elegantly bound, price 1l. 11s. 6d. The Borders embellished
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TO FOREIGN BOOKSELLERS.—Four
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B.R. WHEATLEY’S CATALOGUE FOR
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CONVERSATIONS OF GOETHE WITH
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Footnote 1: (return)

A Memorial for the Reformation in England, by R.P. (Parsons), of which I have a well transcribed copy, is another. It was published by Gee.

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, December 21. 1850.