NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

No. 23. | SATURDAY, APRIL 6. 1850. | Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:— | Page
Periplus of Hanno, by R.T. Hampson | 361
Pope Vindicated | 362
The Supper of the Lorde | 362
Folk Lore:—Palm Sunday Wind—Curious Symbolical Custom—The Wild Huntsman | 363
On Authors and Books, No. VI, by Bolton Corney | 363
QUERIES:— |
Nicholas Breton's Crossing of Proverbs, by J.P. Collier | 364
Sword called Curtana, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. | 364
Is the Dombec the Domesday of Alfred? by George Munford | 365
Minor Queries:—Wickliffite Versions of the Scriptures—Gloves—Law Courts at St. Alban's—Milton Pedigree—Sapcote Motto—Scala Coeli, &c. | 366
REPLIES:—
The Arabic Numerals and Cipher | 367
Replies to Minor Queries, by Sir W.C. Trevelyan | 368
Derivation of "News" | 369
Replies to Minor Queries:—Swot—Pokership—Vox Populi—Living Dog better than dead Lion—Curious Monumental Brasses—Chapels—Forthlot—Loscop— Smelling of the Lamp—Anglo-Saxon MS. of Orosius—Golden Frog—Sword of Charles I.—John Bull—Vertue MSS.—Lines attributed to Tom Brown, &c. | 369
MISCELLANIES:— |
Epigram by La Monnoye—Spur Money—Minimum de Malls—Epigram on Louis XIV.—Macaulay's Young Levite—St. Martin's Lane—Charles Deering, M.D. | 373
MISCELLANEOUS:— |
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. | 375
Books and Odd Volumes wanted | 375
Notices to Correspondents | 375
Advertisements | 376

PERIPLUS OF HANNO THE CARTHAGINIAN.

I am not sufficiently Quixotic to attempt a defence of the Carthaginians on the western coast of Africa, or any where else, but I submit that the accusation brought against them by Mr. S. Bannister, formerly Attorney-General of New South Wales, is not sustained by the only record we possess of Hanno's colonising expedition. That gentleman, in his learned Records of British Enterprise beyond Sea, just published, says, in a note, p. xlvii.:—

"The first nomade tribe they reached was friendly, and furnished Hanno with interpreters. At length they discovered a nation whose language was unknown to the interpreters. These strangers they attempted to seize; and, upon their resistance, they took three of the women, whom they put to death, and carried their skins to Carthage" (Geogr. Græci Minores, Paris, 1826, p. 115.).

Hanno obtained interpreters from a people who dwelt on the banks of a large river, called the Lixus, and supposed to be the modern St. Cyprian. Having sailed thence for several days, and touched at different places, planting a colony in one of them, he came to a mountainous country inhabited by savages, who wore skins of wild beasts, δερματα θηρεια ενημμενων. At a distance of twelve days' sail he came to some Ethiopians, who could not endure the Carthaginians, and who spoke unintelligibly even to the Lixite interpreters. These are the people whose women, Mr. Bannister says, they killed. Hanno sailed from this inhospitable coast fifteen days, and came to a gulf which he calls Νοτου Κερα, or South Horn.

"Here," says the Dr. Hawkesworth, of Carthage, "in the gulf, was an island, like the former, containing a lake, and in this another island, full of wild men; but the women were much more numerous, with hairy bodies (δασειαι τοισ σωμασιν), whom the interpreters called γοριλλασ. We pursued the men, who, flying to precipices, defended themselves with stones, and could not be taken. Three women, who bit and scratched their leaders, would not follow them. Having killed them, we brought their skins to Carthage."

He does not so much as intimate that the creatures who so defended themselves with stones, or those whose bodies were covered with hair, spoke any language. Nothing but the words ανθρωποι αγριοι and γυναικεσ can lead us to believe that they were human beings at all; while the description of the behaviour of the men, and the bodies of the women, is not repugnant to the supposition that they were large apes, baboons, or orang-outangs, common to this part of Africa. At all events, the voyagers do not say that they flayed a people having the faculty of speech.

It is not, however, improbable that the Carthaginians were severe taskmasters of the people whom they subdued. Such I understand those to have been who opened the British tin mines, and who, according to Diodorus Siculus, excessively overworked the wretches who toiled for them, "wasting their bodies underground, and dying, many a one, through extremity of suffering, while others perished under the lashes of the overseer." (Bibl. Hist. l. v. c. 38.)

R.T. Hampson.

POPE VINDICATED.

"P.C.S.S." is too great an admirer of Pope not to seek to vindicate him from one, at least, of the blunders attributed to him by Mr. D. Stevens, at p. 331. of the "Notes and Queries."

"Singed are his brows, the scorching lids grow black."

Now, if Mr. S. will refer to Homer, he will find that the original fully justifies the use of "brows" and "lids" in the plural. It runs thus (Od. ix. v. 389.):

"Παντα δε υι βλεφαρ αμφι και οφρυασ ευσεν αυτμη."

"P.C.S.S." wishes that he could equally remove from Pope the charge of inaccuracy respecting the three cannibal meals of Polyphemus. He fears that nothing can be alleged to impugn Mr. Stevens's perfectly just criticism.

While on the subject of Pope, "P.C.S.S." would wish to advert to a communication (No. 16. p. 246.) in which it is insinuated that Pope was probably indebted to Petronius Arbiter for the well-known passage—

"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;

The rest is all but leather and prunella."

With all respect for the ingenious author of that communication, "P.C.S.S." confesses that he is unable to discover such a similitude of expression as might warrant the notion that Pope had been a borrower from Petronius. He cannot suppose that Mr. F. could have been led away by any supposed analogy between corium and coricillum. The latter, Mr. F. must know, is nothing more than a diminutive of a diminutive (coricillum, not corcillum, from corculum); and the word is coined by Petronius to ridicule one of the affectations of Trimalchio (Nero), who was wont to indulge, to an absurd extent, in the use of such diminutives (vide Burmann, in loco). "P.C.S.S." will now subjoin such translations of the passage in question as he has hitherto had opportunities of referring to. The first is from The Works of Petronius Arbiter, translated by several hands, Lond. 8vo. 4th edit. 1714. At the beginning of the translation itself there is this heading—"Made English by Mr. Wilson, of the Middle Temple, and several others." The passage in question is thus rendered:—

"Come, my friends, let us see how merry you can be! for in my time, I have been no better than yourselves; but, by my own industry, I am what I am. 'Tis the heart makes the man; all the rest is but stuff!"

In another translation, which, with Grub-Street audacity, the publisher, in his title-passage, presumes to attribute to Addison! and which appeared in 1736 (Lond. 8vo.), the passage is as follows:—

"I was once as you are: but now, thanks to my industry, I am what I am. It is the heart that makes the man; all the rest is but stuff!"

Be the translator who he may, this version, so impudently ascribed to the moral Addison, is written with much spirit and power, and with a remarkable comprehension of the author's meaning. Some of the poetical fragments at the end are, indeed, singularly well done.

Of the two French versions which "P.C.S.S." has examined, the one by Levaur (Paris, 8vo. 1726) thus translates the passage:

"Je vous prie, mes amis ... C'est le coeur qui fait les hommes; je compte le reste pour un fétu."

In that of Boispreaux (Lond. 1742), it is simply rendered—

"Mon sçavoir faire m'a tiré du pair. C'est le coeur qui fait l'homme ..."

No attempt is made to translate the quisquilia.

P.C.S.S.

"THE SUPPER OF THE LORDE."

I shall be glad to find that your correspondent "C.H." (No. 21. p. 333.) receives a satisfactory answer to his inquiry, as such a reply would also satisfy my earlier query, No. 7. p. 109. I perceive, however, from his letter, that I can give him some information on other points noticed in it, though the absence of papers now passing through the press with the Parker Society's reprint of a third volume of Tyndale, will prevent my replying with such precision as I could wish. That ancient tract on "The Supper of the Lorde, after the true meanyng of the sixte of John," &c., of which "C.H." says he possesses a copy, was reprinted at different intervals with the same date, viz., MCCCCCXXXIII, Apryll v., on its title-page. The original edition has a final colophon, stating that it was "imprinted at Nornberg, by Nielas Twonson," and is so rare, that I have not been able to discover the existence of any copy, but one recently deposited in the Bodleian. That "C.H.'s" copy is not a specimen of that first edition, is apparent from two circumstances. The first is, that he has given you a quotation from his copy as follows:—"And as for M. More, whom the verity most offendeth, and doth but mocke it," whereas the original edition has, "And as for M. Mocke," &c., and Sir Thomas More notices this mockage of his name in his reply. The next is, that his copy contains "Crowley's Epistle to the Reader," which does not appear in any edition of an earlier date than 1551. When first attached to this treatise, the epistle was anonymous, as may be seen in the Lambeth copy; but Crowley eventually affixed his name to the epistle, as it appears in "C.H.'s" and in other copies. Robert Crowley was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate; a printer and publisher; but to his singular combination of titles, we cannot add that of author of the treatise in question. "C.H." has seen that he did not enter Oxford till 1534; and in his Prefatory Epistle, Crowley speaks of the author of the treatise as a person distinct from himself.

I do not wish, however, to be considered as positively affirming the treatise to be Tyndale's. Foxe, the martyrologist, edited Tyndale's works for Day, and he has only said that this treatise was "compiled, as some do gather, by M. Wm. Tyndale, because the method and phrase agree with his, and the time of writing are [sic] concurrent." On the other hand, the authorship is unhesitatingly assigned to Tyndale by Mr. C. Anderson (Annals of the English Bible, §ix. ad finem), and by Mr. Geo. Offer (Mem. of Tyndale, p. 30.), the two most pains-taking and best informants as to his works. But still there are objections of such force, that I must confess myself rather inclined to attribute the treatise to Joy's pen, if I could but be satisfied that he was capable of writing so correctly, and of keeping so clear of vulgarity in a controversy with a popish persecutor.

H.W.

FOLK LORE.

Palm Sunday Wind.—It is a common idea among many of the farmers and labourers of this immediate neighbourhood, that, from whatever quarter the wind blows for the most part on Palm Sunday, it will continue to blow from the same quarter for the most part during the ensuing summer.

Is this notion prevalent in other parts of the country, as a piece of "Folk-Lore?"

R.V.

Winchester, March 26.

Curious Symbolical Custom.—On Saturday last I married a couple in the parish church. An old woman, an aunt of the bridegroom, displeased at the marriage, stood at the church gate and pronounced an anathema on the married pair. She then bought a new broom, went home, swept her house, and hung the broom over the door. By this she intimated her rejection of her nephew, and forbade him to enter her house. Is this a known custom? What is its origin?

H. Morland Austen.

St. Peter's, Thanet, March 25. 1850.

The Wild Huntsman.—The interesting contributions of your correspondent "Seleucus," on "Folk Lore," brought to my recollection the "Wild Huntsman" of the German poet, Tieck; of whose verses on that superstitious belief, still current among the imaginative peasantry of Germany, I send you a translation, done into English many years ago. The Welsh dogs of Annwn, or "couriers of the air"—the spirit-hounds who hunt the souls of the dead—are part of that popular belief existing among all nations, which delivers up the noon of night to ungracious influences, that "fade on the crowing of the cock."

"THE WILD HUNTSMAN.

"At the dead of the night the Wild Huntsman awakes,

In the deepest recess of the dark forest's brakes;

He lists to the storm, and arises in scorn.

He summons his hounds with his far-sounding horn;

He mounts his black steed; like the lightning they fly

And sweep the hush'd forest with snort and with cry.

Loud neighs his black courser; hark his horn, how 'tis swelling!

He chases his comrades, his hounds wildly yelling.

Speed along! speed along! for the race is all ours;

Speed along! speed along! while the midnight still lours;

The spirits of darkness will chase him in scorn,

Who dreads our wild howl, and the shriek of our horn,

Thus yelling and belling they sweep on the wind,

The dread of the pious and reverent mind:

But all who roam gladly in forests, by night,

This conflict of spirits will strangely delight."

J.M.

Oxford, March 13.

ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. VI.

In the union of scholarship, polished manners, and amiability of character, we have had few men to surpass the reverend Joseph Spence. His career was suitable to his deserts. He was fortunate in his connections, fortunate in his appointments, and fortunate in his share of fame.

His fame, however, is somewhat diminished. His Essay on the Odyssey, which procured him the friendship of Pope, has ceased to be in request; his Polymetis, once the ornament of every choice library, has been superseded by the publications of Millin and Smith; his poems are only to be met with in the collections of Dodsley and Nichols. If we now dwell with pleasure on his name, it is chiefly as a recorder of the sayings of others—it is on account of his assiduity in making notes! I allude to the volume entitled Anecdotes, observations, and characters of books and men, which was edited by my friend Mr. Singer, with his wonted care and ability in 1820.

The Essay on the Odyssey was first published anonymously in 1726-7. It was reprinted in 1737 and 1747. A copy of the latter edition, now in my possession, contains this curious note:—

"It is remarkable that of twelve passages objected to in this critique on the English Odyssey, two only are found in those books which were translated by Pope.

"From Mr. Langton, who had his information from Mr. Spence.

"When Spence carried his preface to Gorboduc in 1736 to Pope, he asked him his opinion. Pope said 'It would do very well; there was nothing pert or low in it.' Spence was satisfied with this praise, which however, was in implied censure on all his other writings.—He is very fond of the familiar vulgarisms of common talk, and is the very reverse of Dr. Johnson.

"E.M." [Edmond Malone.]

The note is not signed at length, but there can be no doubt as to its authorship, as I purchased the volume which contains it at the sale of the unreserved books of Mr. Malone in 1818.

Bolton Corney.

QUERIES.

NICHOLAS BRETON'S "CROSSING OF PROVERBS."

Although my query respecting William Basse and his poem, "Great Britain's Sun's Set," (No. 13. p. 200), produced no positive information touching that production, it gave an opportunity to some of your correspondents to communicate valuable intelligence relating to the author and to other works by him, for which I, for one, was very much obliged. If I did not obtain exactly what I wanted, I obtained something that hereafter may be extremely useful; and that I could not, perhaps, have obtained in any other way than through the medium of your pleasant and welcome periodical.

I am now, therefore, about to put a question regarding another writer of more celebrity and ability. Among our early pamphleteers, there was certainly none more voluminous than Nicholas Breton, who began writing in 1575, and did not lay down his pen until late in the reign of James I. A list of his pieces (by no means complete, but the fullest that has been compiled) may be seen in Lowndes's Bibl. Manual; it includes several not by Breton, among them Sir Philip Sidney's Ourania, 1606, which in fact is by a person of the name Backster; and it omits the one to which my present communication refers, and regarding which I am at some loss.

In the late Mr. Heber's Catalogue, part iv. p. 10., I read as follows, under the name of Nicholas Breton:—

"Crossing of Proverbs. The Second Part, with certaine briefe Questions and Answeres, by N.B., Gent. Extremely rare and very curious, but imperfect. It appears to contain a portion of the first part, and also of the second; but it appears to be unknown."

Into whose hands this fragment devolved I know not; and that is one point I am anxious to ascertain, because I have another fragment, which consists of what is evidently the first sheet of the first part of the tract in question, with the following title-page, which I quote totidem literis:—

"Crossing of Proverbs. Crosse-Answeres. And Crosse-Humours. By B.N., Gent. At London, Printed for John Wright, and are to be solde at his Shop without Newgate, at the signe of the Bible, 1616."

It is in 8vo., as Heber's fragment appears to have been; but then the initials of the author are given as N.B., whereas in my fragment they stand B.N., a usual inversion with Nicholas Breton; the brief address "To the Reader" is also subscribed B.N.; and then begins the body of the work, thus headed: "Crosse and Pile, or, Crossing of Proverbs." It opens as follows:

"Proverb. The more the merrier.

Cross. Not so; one hand is enough in a purse.

P. Every man loves himselfe best.

C. Not so, when man is undone by suretyship.

P. He that runnes fastest gets most ground.

C. Not so, for then foote-men would have more land than their masters.

P. He runnes far that never turnes.

C. Not so, he may breake his necke in a short course.

P. No man can call againe yesterday.

C. Yes, hee may call till his heart ake, though it never come.

P. Had I wist was a foole.

C. No, he was a foole that said so."

And so it proceeds, not without humour and point, here and there borrowing from known sources, as in the following:—

"Proverb. The world is a long journey.

Cros. Not so, the sunne goes it every day.

P. It is a great way to the bottom of the sea.

C. Not so, it is but a stone's cast."

However, my object is not to give specimens of the production further than are necessary for its identification. My queries are, 1st, Who bought Mr. Heber's fragment, and where is it now to be found? 2nd, Are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a perfect copy of the work?

I naturally take a peculiar interest about Nicholas Breton, because I have in my possession an unknown collection of amatory and pastoral poems by him, printed in quarto in 1604, in matter and measure obvious imitations of productions in "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, imputed to Shakespeare, and some of which are unquestionably by Richard Barnfield.

Any new information regarding Breton and his works will be most acceptable to me. I am already in possession of undoubted proof that he was the Nicholas Breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of Norton, in Northamptonshire, a point Ritson seems to have questioned.

J. Payne Collier.

March 30. 1850.

THE SWORD CALLED CURTANA.

In the wardrobe account for the year 1483, are "iij swerdes, whereof oon with a flat poynte, called curtana, and ij other swords, all iij swords covered in a yerde di of crymysym tisshue cloth of gold."

The name of curtana for many ages continued to be given to the first royal sword in England. It existed as long ago as the reign of Henry III., at whose coronation (A.D. 1236) it was carried by the Earl of Chester. We find it at the coronations of Edward II. and Richard II.; also in the time of Henry IV., Richard III., and Henry VII.; and among the royal arms of Edward VI. we read of "a swerde called curtana."

Can any of your readers explain the origin of the name curtana, a sword so famous that it carries us back to the days of ancient chivalry, when it was wielded by the Dane Uggiero, or by the still more famed Orlando.

Edward F. Rimbault.

IS THE DOMBEC THE DOMESDAY OF ALFRED?

I beg to propose the following "Query":—Is the Dombec, a work referred to in the Laws of Edward the Elder, the same as what has been called the Domesday or Winchester Book of Alfred the Great? I incline to think that it is not, and shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents, learned in the Anglo-Saxon period of our history, who will give himself the trouble of resolving my doubts.

Sir Henry Spelman, in his Glossary voce Dombec, calls it the Liber Judicialis of the Anglo-Saxons; and says it is mentioned in the first chapter of the laws of Edward the Elder, where the king directs his judges to conduct themselves in their judicial proceedings as on [Old English: thaere dom bec stand], that is, as is enjoined in their Dome Book.—"Quod," he continues, "an de præcedentium Regum legibus quæ hodie extant, intelligendum sit: an de alio quopiam libro hactenus non prodeunte, incertum est."

But this uncertainty does not seem to have attached itself to the mind of Sir William Blackstone; for in the third section of the Introduction prefixed to his Commentaries on the Laws of England, he informs us that our antiquaries "tell us that in the time of Alfred, the local customs of the several provinces of the kingdom were grown so various, that he found it expedient to compile his Dome Book, or Liber Judicialis, for the general use of the whole kingdom." This book is said to have been extant so late as the reign of King Edward IV., but is now unfortunately lost. It contained, we may probably suppose, the principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for misdemeanors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. Thus much may be at least collected from that injunction to observe it, which we find in the Laws of King Edward the Elder, the son of Alfred.—"Omnibus qui reipublicæ præsunt etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus æquos se præbeant judices, perinde ac in judiciali libro (Saxonice, [Old English: dom bec]) scriptum habetur: nec quidquid formident quin jus commune (Saxonice, [Old English: folcrihte]) audactes libereque dicant."

But notwithstanding this, it appears to me by no means conclusive, that the Dombec referred to in the Laws of Edward the Elder and the Liber Judicialis of Alfred are the same; on the contrary, Alfred's Liber Judicialis seems to have been known not under the name of Dombec, but under that of the Winchester Roll, from the circumstance of its having been principally kept at Winchester: and Sir Henry Spelman says, the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror was sometimes called Rotulus Wintoniæ, a similitudine antiquoris, from its resemblance to an older document preserved at Winchester. And he quotes Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland, who says, "Iste rotulus (i.e. the Domesday Book of William) vocatus est Rotulus Wintoniæ, et ab Anglicis pro sua generalitate, omnia tenementa totius terræ integre continente Domesday cognominatur." And the he proceeds, "Talem rotulum et multum similem; ediderat quondam Rex Alfredus, in quo totam terram Angliæ per comitatus, centurias, et decurias descripserat, sicut prænotatur. Qui quidem Rotulus Wintoniæ vocatus est, quia deponebatur apud Wintoniam conservandus," &c.

Here is nothing said of this work being called [Old English: dom bec]: neither does Spelman, in his enumeration of the works of Alfred, give the least intimation that any one of his collections of laws was called [Old English: dom bec].

We know, indeed, that Alfred compiled a code of laws for his subjects; but whether any part of them has been preserved, or how much of them is embodied in subsequent codes, cannot now be determined. Asser mentions that he frequently reprimanded the judges for wrong judgments; and Spelman, that he wrote "a book against unjust magistrates," but any complete body of laws, if such was ever framed by Alfred, is now lost; and that attributed to him in Wilkin's Leges Anglo-Saxon, is held in suspicion by most writers.

For these reasons, and considering that Sir William Blackstone's knowledge of English history was rather superficial, I incline to the belief, that the [Old English: dom bec] referred to in the laws of Edward the Elder, was some collection of laws made prior to the time of Alfred: this might clearly be the case, as Sharon Turner informs us that the Saxon laws were committed to writing as early as the commencement of the 7th century.

The opinions of your learned correspondents on this disputed point may be of much interest to many of your readers, and to none more than to

George Munford.

East Winch.

MINOR QUERIES.

MSS. of the Wycliffite Translations of the Scriptures.—The Add. MS. 15,521., in the British Museum, contains a copy of Lewis's edition of the Wycliffite New Testament, printed in 1731, with manuscript notes by Ames and Lewis, and the former has transcribed into it some additional prologues, prefixed to each book of the New Testament, which had not been printed by Lewis, and were taken by Ames from a MS. of the New Testament, written in 1424, and in 1731 in the possession of Thomas Granger. It would be very desirable to learn what became of this MS. subsequently. Granger died in the following year, but the MS. does not appear in the sale catalogue of his library, nor is it found in the catalogue of Ames's own library, dispersed in 1760. Any information relative to this remarkable copy of the New Testament, would be very acceptable to the Editors of the Wycliffite Versions of the Scriptures, who are now, after a literary labour of more than twenty years, about to bring the work to a conclusion. They would also feel much obliged by the communication of any notices of MSS. of the Wycliffite versions, existing in private hands, exclusive of those copies of which they already possess descriptions, existing in the libraries of the following individuals:—Mrs. Allanson of Farn, Flintshire, the Earl of Ashburnham, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., Sir Peregrine Ackland, Bart., Sir David Dundas, H.M. Judge Advocate, Dr. Cardwell, Principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, and Thomas Bannister, Esq.

F. Madden.

British Museum, March 28.

Why are Gloves not worn before Royalty?—Can any of your readers inform me what is the origin of the custom observed at Court, of persons in the royal presence not wearing gloves? Is it a matter of pure etiquette, or does the observance of it derive its origins from barbarous times, when chivalry was little else than barbarism in armour?

F.E.

Law Courts at St. Albans.—Can any of your correspondents give me the reference to a communication in the Gentleman's Magazine (between, I think, the years 1815 and 1836), in which a passage in Massinger, which alludes to lawyers going to St. Albans, is illustrated by an inscription in the nave of St. Alban's Abbey Church, which records that the courts were held there on account of the sweating-sickness in the reign of Elizabeth?

Σ.

Richard Haley, or Hales.—Milton Pedigree.—I should feel obliged by any particulars respecting Richard Haley, or Hales, of Idlestreete, otherwise Ilstreyd, in com. Hertford, yeoman; my object being to ascertain the nature of some transaction he had with Milton, in July 1674, referred to in a bond which the former executed, dated the 27th of that month, for performance of the covenants contained in an indenture of even date.

Is any thing known of Richard Milton, who signs his name as the attesting witness to the releases given by two of the poet's daughters for their share of his estate? Is there any pedigree of the family of Sir Christopher Milton, the poet's brother, drawn up with sufficient apparent accuracy to exclude the probability of Richard Milton being his son? I have referred to the pedigree in the British Museum (Harl. MS. 5802. fo. 19b.), which makes no mention of the letter; but it is evidently so imperfect a notice, as to be of little authority one way or other.

J.F.M.

Sapcote Motto.—Over the old gatehouse of Elton, co. Hunts., built by the family of Sapcote, is their coat of arms, namely, "three dove-cotes;" and upon a scroll, surrounding the lower part of the shield, is carved a motto, evidently French, and as evidently cut by a person ignorant of that language. So far as I can decypher it, the letters appear to be

sco toot X vinic [or umic]

X poncs.

Possibly the first and last letters s are only flourishes. I shall be glad of any suggestion as to its meaning.

I have not been able to find the Sapcote motto on record; and I believe the Carysfoot family, the possessors of Elton, and the Duke of Bedford, the heir in blood, to be ignorant of what this scroll is intended to represent.

Erminois.

Athenæum Club.

Scala Coeli.—In a will, dated 12 Hen. VIII., the testator directs that there shall be four trentals of Saint Gregory said for his soul at London at "Scala Coeli." Can any of your readers explain what place is meant by "Scala Coeli?"

A Subscriber.

Illustrations of Gresset's "Vert Vert," painted on Enamel, &c.—In a Paris edition of Gresset's Works (Janet et Cotelle, 1823), in the preface is the following passage.—

"Vert-vert fut bientôt dans toutes les mains. Le suffrage de la multitude se joignit à celui des connoisseurs; la mode, qui est aussi en possession de donner son suffrage, s'empressa de parer les ajustemens d'invention récente, du nom de l'illustre perroquet; les vases d'ornement, les vases usuels qui sortoient des fabriques françoises, retraçoient presque tous quelques épisodes du petit poëme. Un artist dont le nom est venu jusqu'à nous, Raux, en peignit sur émail les sujets les plus marquants; et tandis qu'on faisoit passer dans une version latine les vers élégants du poëte jésuite, M. Bertin, ministre d'état, le gratifioit d'un magnifique cabaret de Sèvres, dont toutes les pièces reproduisoient les aventures de son héros, ce qui fit dire à Gresset, qu'on le traduisoit aussi en porcelaine de Sèvres."

The Query I wish to make is, Have any of these illustrations or designs from Gresset's poem of Vert-vert, painted on enamel china, or earthenware of any sort, of French or any other manufacture, come to light of late years? or more lately still, among the articles that have been dispersed among various buyers of almost all nations, in the sales within these few weeks effected at Paris?

Robert Snow.

Urbanus Regius.—A friend of mine, a delightful old lady, fresh, genial, and inquisitive, has in her possession an old volume, a family heir-loom, which is not the less dear to her for being somewhat dingy and dilapidated, and touching which she would gladly receive such information as your correspondents can supply.

It is made up of three apparently distinct treatises; the first (of which several leaves are wanting) on the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed. The second is "The ryght foundation, and pryncypall common places of the hole godly Scripture," &c., by Doctor Urbanus Regius. Prefixed is an epistle to Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury (evidently Cranmer), to whom "Hys dayly oratoure, Gwalter Lynne (the writer of the epistle), wyssheth lyfe euerlastynge." Between this second treatise and the third, and apparently belonging to the latter, is a title-page with the following inscription:

"Imprinted for Gwalter Lynne, dwelling upon Somers Kaye, by Byllinges gate. In the yeare of oure Lorde. MDXLVIII. And they by [sic] to be solde at Poules church yarde at the north doore, In the signe of the By-bell, By Richard Jugge."

This last treatise is in smaller type than the others, and has no general designation: it contains chapters on various subjects, e.g. "The Signification of Baptism," &c.

Query 1. Is this volume well known? 2. Who were Urbanus Regius and Walter Lynne?

G.P.

March 16. 1850.

REPLIES.

THE ARABIC NUMERALS AND CIPHER.

I might, with a little more consideration, have referred "E.V." to several other authorities which he will do well to consult.

9. Wallis's Algebra, p. 9. and p. 153. of the additions.

10. Phil. Trans., Nos. 439. and 475.

11. Montucla, Histoire des Mathématiques, tom. i. chap. 2.

12. Baillie, Histoire de l'Astronomie.

13. Delambre¹, Hist. de l'Astr. du moyen age.

14. Hutton's Tracts (8vo. ed. 1812.), vol. ii. (subject "History of Algebra")

15. Huet, Demonstratio Evangelica.

16. Dr. John Taylor's Translation of the Lilawati. (Bombay, 1816.)

17. Strachey's Translation of the Bija Ganita².

18. Colebrooke's Algebra of the Hindus.

Would it not be worth while to give a facsimile of the "Tabel for all manere of merchauntes," in the "Notes and Queries"? It is not only a curiosity, but an important element (and unique as far as is known) in the philosophic history of our arithmetic. It was, no doubt, an actual instrument in constant use in the merchant's office, as much so as an almanac, interest-tables, a "cambist" and a copying-press, are now.

As regards the cipher, the difficulty only commenced with writing numbers in the new symbology. With persons accustomed to the use of this instrument, there is no doubt that the mode of obviating the difficulty of "keeping the place," would suggest itself at once. In this instrument an empty hole (without its peg) signified "none of this denomination." What then more simple than to make the outline of the empty hole which occupied the "local position" of any denomination, when none of that precise denomination occurred in the number itself? Under this view the process at least becomes simple and natural; and as the early merchants contributed so largely to the improvement of our arithmetical processes, such a conclusion is wholly divested of improbability on any other ground. The circle would then naturally become, as it certainly has practically become, the most appropriate symbol of nothingness.

As regards the term cipher or zero (which are so obviously the same as to need no remark), it is admitted on all hands to be derived from one or other of the Semitic languages, the Hebrew or the Arabic. It is customery with the mathematical historians to refer it to the Arabic, they being in general more conversant with it than with the Hebrew. The Arabic being a smaller hand than the Hebrew, a dot was used instead of the circle for marking the "place" at which the hiatus of any "denomination" occurred. If we obtained our cipher from this, it would be made hollow (a mere ceinture, girdle, or ring) to save the trouble of making a dot sufficiently large to correspond in magnitude with our other numerals as we write them. Either is alike possible—probability must be sought, for either over the other, from a slightly different source.

The root-words in Hebrew and in Arabic are precisely the same (ts-ph-r), though in the two languages, and at different ages of the same language, they might have been vowelised differently. In some shape or other, this name is used in all countries that have derived their arithmetic from mediæval Italy, or from the Saracens. It is with some cipher, with others chiffre, and with all zero. The word is certainly no more Italian than it is French or English. Be it remembered, too, that ezor (quoted at p. 268.), as a girdle, is radically the same word, somewhat mutilated. The cardinal meaning of the word (denuded of the conventional accretions of signification, which peculiar applications of it adds to the cardinal meaning) appears to be emptiness, hollowness, nothingness. It may be further remarked, that in the fine Chartres MS. of Boetius, described by Chasles, the 0 is called sipos:—the same name, he remarks, that Graves found in use in the East. The modern Turks call the 0, tsifra.

It is curious enough that in all languages, the term ciphering is popularly used to denote all arithmetical operations whatever. Our schoolboys do their "ciphering," and write carefully in their "ciphering-books." This all seems to point to the art of dispensing with the use of the abacus or counting table.

T.S.D.

Shooter's Hill, March 5.

Arabic Numerals.—I had replied to "E.V." (No. 15. p. 230.), when I saw by your "Notice to Correspondents," that the question was answered. I therefore waited the publication of the replies, which I find do not embrace any one of the points to which I would call the attention of "E.V."—Diophantus of Alexandria, who flourished about 150 years after Christ, and who wrote thirteen books of algebra or arithmetic in the Greek language, is generally supposed to be the oldest writer on the subject that has come down to our time; but it was not from him that we received the knowledge of algebra in Europe. It appears certain that the first knowledge of this science in England was from Italy or Spain, after the Moors settled in the latter country; and the Arabians and Persians appear to have derived their arithmetical method of computing by ten characters from the Indians: who, in their turn, have most probably borrowed from the Chinese, and improved on their method by the adoption of a zero, which was one of the most important improvements effected by the Hindoos. In China, the words ancient and modern are almost synonymous; their usages and customs being so unchangeable, as appears by their instrument of computation, the swanpan, which is still used in all their calculations. The Oriental scholar will find much curious and interesting information connected with this subject in the Sanscrit Vija Ganita and Lilivati of Bhaskara Acharya: the former was translated into Persian at Agra, or Delhi, in 1634, and the latter by Fyzee in 1587; but there are also English translations, all of which are in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Khalasah-ul-Hisah is another work of repute in India. Mr. Strachey wrote and printed in India, for the Asiatic Researches, a valuable paper, which contains most conclusive evidence of the Indian (if not Chinese) origin of our numerals. See also Astronomie Indienne, of M. Bailly; 2d vol. Asiatic Researches, "On the Astronomical Computations of the Hindoos," by Saml. Davis; "Two Dissertations on Indian Astronomy and Trigonometry," by Professor Playfair, in the 2d and 4th vols. of the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions. And many others might be referred to; but all tending to prove that our numbers came originally from China and India, through Persia, Arabia, Africa, Spain, and Italy, by gradual and successive changes in form, several of them still retaining a close resemblance to the ancient and modern Sanscrit, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Hindoo numerals.

Henry Wilkinson.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

I send you a few Notes on Queries scattered through some of the later numbers of your very valuable publication:

Anonymous Ravennas.—In the library of the Royal Geographical Society, I believe there is a copy of an 8vo. edition of that cosmography.

Selago.—This plant, I should think it probable, is the Lycopodium clavatum of modern botanists; the seeds of which, when ripe, and when the plant is struck, rise like smoke ("fumum" of Pliny), and may have been supposed, from their remarkable inflammability when dashed into a flame, igniting with a sudden flash, to have possessed wonderful virtues. The species known as Lycopodium selago is rare in comparison to the other.

Portugal.—In the library of the Geographical Society are some of the more recent works published in Lisbon on the topography of that country, but they are generally very meagre and unsatisfactory. In a periodical published in Lisbon in numbers, on the plan of the Penny Magazine, there is a good deal of information, with engravings, regarding many places of interest in Portugal. I think it is called The Album, but I am sorry I have not at present the power of sending you more correct particulars concerning it. It is in 4to.

Portugal is a country that is so little travelled in either by natives or foreigners, that information regarding places in the interior is not easily obtained; and facilities for travelling, as well as accommodation for travellers, is of a very limited description.

Sir Roger de Coverley.—In one of your early numbers was a query on this subject, which I do not think has been yet answered. I have a MS. account of the family of Calverley, of Calverley, in Yorkshire, an autograph of Ralph Thoresby in the year 1717, in which occurs the following passage:—

"Roger, so named from the Archbishop" (of York), "was a person of renowned hospitality, since, at this day, the obsolete known tune of Roger a Calverley is referred to him, who, according to the custom of those times, kept his minstrells, from that their office named harpers, which became a family and possessed lands till late years in and about Calverley, called to this day Harpersroids and Harper's Spring.... He was a knight, and lived in the time of K. Richard 1st. His seal, appended to one of his charters, is large, with a chevalier on horseback."

W. CALVERLEY TREVELYAN.

DERIVATIONS OF "NEWS."

It is not declared with what motive "Mr. GUTCH" (No. 17. p. 270.) has laid before the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" the alleged derivation of N.E.W.S.

It must therefore be supposed, that his object was to have its justness and probability commented upon; and it is quite time that they should be so, since the derivation in question has of late become quite a favourite authoritative dictum with etymology compilers. Thus it may be found, in the very words and form adopted by your correspondent, in Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, and in other authorities of equal weight.

This sort of initial-letter derivation was probably brought into fashion in England by the alleged origin of "Cabal," or, perhaps, by the many guesses at the much disputed word "Æra." I shall take the liberty of quoting a few sentences with reference to such etymologies, as a class, which I find in an unpublished manuscript upon a kindred subject.

"Besides, such a splitting up of a word of significant and perfect meaning in itself is always a bad and suspicious mode of derivation.

"It is generally an after-thought, suggested by some fortuitous or fancied coincidence, that appropriateness of which is by no means a sufficient proof of probability.

"Of this there can scarcely be a better example than the English word 'news,' which, notwithstanding the felicity of its supposed derivation from the four cardinal points, must, nevertheless, so long as the corresponding words 'nova,' 'nouvelles,' &c. exist, be consigned to its more sober and common-place origin in the adjective 'new.'"

To this it must be added that the ancient orthography of the word newes, completely upsets the derivation Mr. Gutch has brought before your readers. Hone quotes from "one Burton, printed in 1614: 'if any one read now-a-days, it is a play-book, or a pamphlet of newes."

I had been in two minds whether or not to send this communication, when the scale is completely turned by the apropos occurrence of a corroboration of this latter objection in "NOTES AND QUERIES" of this day. Mr. Rimbault mentions (at p. 277.), "a rare black letter volume entitled Newes from Scotland, 1591."

Here is one more proof of the usefulness of your publication, that I am thus enabled to strengthen the illustration of a totally different subject by the incidental authority of a fellow correspondent.

A.E.B.

Leeds, March, 1850.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

Swot is, as the querist supposes, a military cant term, and a sufficiently vulgar one too. It originated at the great slang-manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. You may depend upon the following account of it, which I had many years ago from the late Thomas Leybourne, F.R.S., Senior Professor of Mathematics in that college.

One of the Professors, Dr. William Wallace, in addition to his being a Scotchman, had a bald head, and an exceedingly "broad Scotch" accent, besides a not very delicate discrimination in the choice of his English terms relating to social life. It happened on one hot summer's day, nearly half a century ago, that he had been teaching a class, and had worked himself into a considerable effusion from the skin. He took out his handkerchief, rubbed his head and forehead violently, and exclaimed in his Perthshire dialect,—"It maks one swot." This was a God-send to the "gentlemen cadets," wishing to achieve a notoriety as wits and slangsters; and mathematics generally ever after became swot, and mathematicians swots. I have often heard it said:—"I never could do swot well, Sir;" and "these dull fellows, the swots, can talk of nothing but triangles and equations."

I should have thought that the sheer disgustingness of the idea would have shut the word out of the vocabularies of English gentlemen. It remains nevertheless a standard term in the vocabulary of an English soldier. It is well, at all events, that future ages should know its etymology.

T.S.D.

Pokership, (antè, pp. 185. 218. 269. 282. 323, 324.)—I am sorry to see that no progress has yet been made towards a satisfactory explanation of this office. I was in hopes that something better than mere conjecture would have been supplied from the peculiar facilities of "T.R.F." "W.H.C." (p. 323.) has done little more than refer to the same instruments as had been already adverted to by me in p. 269., with the new reading of poulterer for poker! With repect to "T.R.F.'s" conjecture, I should be more ready to accept it if he could produce a single example of the word pawker, in the sense of a hog-warden. The quotation from the Pipe-roll of John is founded on a mistake. The entry occurs in other previous rolls, and is there clearly explained to refer to the porter of Hereford Castle. Thus, in Pipe 2 Hen. II. and 3 Hen. II. we have, under Hereford,

"In liberatione portarii castelli ... 30s. 5d."

In Pipe 1 Ric. I. we have,

"In liberatione constitutâ portarii de Hereford, 30s. 5d."

Again, in Pipe 3 Joh.

"In liberatione constitutâ portario de Hereford, 30s. 5d."

A similar entry is to be found in other rolls, as well printed as inedited. I could indulge some other criticisms on the communication of your correspondent in Spring Gardens, but I prefer encouraging him to make further inquiries, and to produce from the records in his custody some more satisfactory solution of the difficulty. In the meantime, let me refer to a Survey of Wrigmore Castle in the Lansdowne Collection, No. 40. fo. 82. The surveyor there reports, that the paling, rails, &c. of the park are much decayed in many and sundry places, and he estimates the repairs, with allowance of timber from the wood there, "by good surveye and oversight of the poker and other officers of the said parke," at 4l. The date of the survey is 13 May, 1584.

Comparing this notice of the office with the receiver's accounts tempore Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. (antè, p. 269.), in which the officer is called "pocarius omnium boscorum," I cannot doubt that his duty, or at least one of his duties, was that of woodward, and that, as such, he assigned timber for repair of the premises. How he came by his local title and style of poker is a mystery on which we have all hitherto failed to throw any light.

E.S.

Vox Populi Vox Dei,—about the origin of which saying "QUÆSITOR" asks (No. 21. p. 321.),—were the words chosen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Mepham, as his text for the sermon which he preached when Edward III. was called to the throne, from which the nation had pulled down his father, Edward II. This we learn from Walsingham, who says:

"Archiepiscopus verò Cantuariæ præsenti consensit electioni, ut omnes prælati et archiepiscopus quidem assumpto themate, Vox populi Vox Dei, sermonem fecit populo, exhortans omnes ut apud regem regum intercederent pro electo."—Tho. Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ed. Camden, p. 126.

DANIEL ROCK.

A living Dog better than a dead Lion.—I no not know whether your correspondent (No. 22. p. 352.) ever goes to church; but if he is not prevented by rain next St. Swithin's day, he will learn who was the author of this proverb. It will be a good thing, if your work should sometimes lead your readers to search the Scriptures, and give them credit for wisdom that has flowed from them so long, and far, and wide, that its source is forgotten; but this is not the place for a sermon, and I now only add, "here endeth the first lesson" from

ECCLESIASTES.

["J.E.," "D.D.," and other correspondents, have also replied to this Query by references to Eccl. ix. 4.]

Curious Monumental Brass (No. 16. p. 247.)—If "RAHERE" will turn to Mr. Boutell's Monumental Brasses and Slabs, p. 148., he will there find a description as well as an engraving of what, from his account, I doubt not he will discover to be the identical fragment to which he refers. A foot legend, and what remains of a border inscription, is added to it. In the above work, pp. 147 to 155, and in the Oxford Architectural Society's Manual for the Study of Brasses, p. 15., "RAHERE" will find an account and references to numerous examples of palimpsest brasses, to which class the one in question belongs.

I presume that "RAHERE" is a young brass-rubber, or the fact of a plate being engraved on both sides would have presented no difficulty to him.

ARUN.

[We have received several other replies to this Query, referring to Mr. Boutell's Monumental Brasses: one from "W."; another from "A CORNISHMAN," who says,—

"The brass in question, when I saw it last, had been removed from the Rectory and placed in the tomb of Abbot Wheathampstead, in company with the famous one of Thomas Delamere, another Abbot of St. Albans."

Another from "E.V.," who states,—

"Other examples are found at St. Margaret's, Rochester (where the cause of the second engraving is found to be an error in costume in the first), St. Martins at Plain, Norwich, Hedgerly Church, Bucks, and Burwell Church, Cambridgeshire. Of this last, an engraving and description, by Mr. A.W. Franks, is given in the fourteenth part of the Publications of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society."

One from "WILLIAM SPARROW SIMPSON," who says,—

"It is also described in the Oxford Architectural Society's Manual of Mon. Brasses, No. 6. pp. 6, 7. other examples of which occur at Rochester, Kent, and at Cobham, Surrey. A small plate of brass, in the possession of a friend, has on one side a group of children, and on the reverse the uplifted hands of an earlier figure."

And lastly, one from "A.P.H." (to which we cannot do ample justice, as we do not keep an engraver), from which we extract the following passages:—

"A friend of mine has a shield in his possession, taken from a slab, and which has been enamelled. It is of late date and rudely executed. On the back is seen the hands and breast of a small female figure, very nearly a century earlier in date. I can also remember an inscription in Cuxton Church, Kent, which was loose, and had another inscription on the back in the same manner.

"I am very much impressed with the idea that the destroyed brasses never had been used at all; but had been engraved, and then, from circumstances that of course we cannot hope to fathom, thrown on one side till the metal might be used for some other purpose. This, I think, is a more probable, as well as a more charitable explanation than the one usually given of the so-called palimpsest brasses."]

Chapels (No. 20. p. 333.).—As to the origin of the name, will you allow me to refer Mr. Gatty to Ducange's Glossary, where he will find much that is to his purpose.

As to its being "a legal description," I will not undertake to give an opinion without a fee; but I will mention a fact which may assist him in forming one. I believe that fifty years ago the word Chapel was very seldom used among those who formed what was termed the "Dissenting Interest;" that is, the three "denominations" of Independents, Baptists, and Presbyterians. But I well recollect hearing, from good authority, nearly, or quite, forty years ago, that an eminent barrister (whom I might now describe as a late learned judge), who was much looked up to by the dissenters as one of their body, had particularly advised that in all trust-deeds relating to places of dissenting worship, they should be called "Chapels." I do not know that he assigned any reason, but I know that the opinion was given, or communicated, to those who had influence; and, from my own observation, I believe that from about that time we must date the adoption of the term, which has now been long in general use.

I do not imagine that there was any idea of either assistance or opposition to the Church of England, in the mind of him who recommended, or those who adopted, the alteration, or that either of them expected or sought any thing by this measure but to obtain a greater security for property, or, rather, to avoid some real or imagined insecurity, found or supposed to attach to the form of description previously in use.

A BARRISTER.

Forlot, Forthlot (No. 20. p. 320.).—A measure of grain used throughout Scotland at present—query fourthlot. See Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.

"Firlot; Fyrlot; Furlet.—A corn measure in S., the fourth part of a boll.

"Thay ordainit the boll to mat victual with, to be devidit in foure partis, videlicet, foure fyrlottis to contene a boll; and that fyrlot not to be maid efter the first mesoure, na efter the mesoure now usit, bot in middill mesoure betwixt the twa."—Acts Jac. l. 1526. c. 80. edit. 1566.

"—Ane furme, ane furlet,

Ane pott, ane pek."

Bannatyne Poems, p. 159.

Skinner derives it from A.-S. feower, quatuor; and lot, hlot, portio (the fourth part); Teut. "viertel."

J.S.

Loscop (No. 20. p. 319).—To be "Louecope-free" is one of the immunities granted to the Cinque Ports in their charters of Liberties.

Jeakes explains the term thus:—

"The Saxon word Cope (in Low Dutch still Kope or Koope), for trade or merchandising, makes this as much as to trade freely for love. So that by no kind of monopoly patent, or company or society of traders or merchants, the portsmen be hindered from merchandising; but freely and for love, be permitted to trade and traffick, even by such company of merchants, whenever it shall happen their concerns lie together."

In my MSS., and in the print of Jeakes, it is "Louecope," with which "Lofcope" may be readily identified; and f may easily be misread for s, especially if the roll be obscured.

If Jeakes's etymology of the word be correct, the inference would rather be that "Lovecope" was a tax for the goodwill of the port at which a merchant vessel might arrive; a "port duty" in fact, independent of "lastage" &c., chargeable upon every trader that entered the port, whatever her cargo might be. And the immunities granted to the portsmen were that they should be "port duty free."

I do not venture to offer this as any thing more than a mere guess. Among your contributors there are many more learned than myself in this branch of antiquarian lore, who will probably be able to give a more correct interpretation, and we shall feel obliged for any assistance that they can give us in elucidating the question.

"Lovecope" might perhaps be the designation of the association of merchants itself, to which Jeakes alludes; and the liberty of forming such association, with powers of imposing port duties, may have been dependent on special grant to any port by royal charter, such as that which forms the subject of your correspondent's communication.

After all, perhaps, "Lovecope" was the word for an association of merchants; and "Louecope-free" is to be freed from privileged taxation by this body.

L.B.L.

Smelling of the Lamp (No. 21. p. 335.).—"X." will find the expression Ιλλυχνιων οζειν attributed to Pytheas by Plutarch (Vit. Demosth., c. 8.).

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Anglo-Saxon MS. of Orosius (No. 20. p. 313.).—It may gratify Mr. Singer to be informed that the Lauderdale MS., formerly in the library at Ham House, is now preserved, with several other valuable manuscripts and books, in the library at Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, the seat of the Tollemache family.

M.

Golden Frog.—Ingenious as is the suggestion of "R.R." (No. 18. p. 282.), that Sir John Poley stuck a golden frog in his ear from his affection for tadpoles, I think "R.R.'s" "Rowley Poley" may be dismissed with the "gammon and spinach" of the amorous frog to which he alludes.

Conceiving that the origin of so singular a badge could hardly fail to be commemorated by some tradition in the family, I have made inquiry of one of Sir John Poley's descendants, and I regret to hear from him that "they have no authentic tradition respecting it, but that they have always believed that it had some connection with the service Sir John rendered in the Low Countries, where he distinguished himself much by his military achievements." To the Low Countries, then, the land of frogs, we must turn for the solution of the enigma.

Gastras.

Cambridge, March 9.

Sword of Charles I.—Mr. Planché inquires (No. 12. p. 183.), "When did the real sword of Charles the First's time, which, but a few years back, hung at the side of that monarch's equestrian figure at Charing Cross, disappear?"—It disappeared about the time of the coronation of Her present Majesty, when some scaffolding was erected about the statue, which afforded great facilities for removing the rapier (for such it was); and I always understood it found its way, by some means or other, to the Museum, so called, of the notoriously frolicsome Captain D——, where, in company with the wand of the Great Wizard of the North, and other well-known articles, it was carefully labelled and numbered, and a little account appended of the circumstances of its acquisition and removal.

John Street.

[Surely then Burke was right, and the "Age of Chivalry is past!"—Otherwise the idea of disarming a statue would never have entered the head of any Man of Arms, even in his most frolicsome of moods.]

John Bull.—Vertue MSS.—I always fancied that the familiar name for our countrymen, about the origin of which "R.F.H." inquires (No. 21. p. 336.), was adopted from Swift's History of John Bull, first printed in 1712; but I have no authority for saying so.

If the Vertue MSS. alluded to (No. 20. p. 319.) were ever returned by Mr. Steevens to Dr. Rawlinson, they may be in the Bodleian Library, to which the Doctor left all his collections, including a large mass of papers purchased by him long after Pepys' death, as he described it, "Thus et odores vendentibus."

These "Pepys papers," as far as I can recollect, were very voluminous, and relating to all sorts of subjects; but I saw them in 1824, and had only then time to examine and extract for publication portions of the correspondence.

Braybrooke.

Audley End, March 25.

Vertue's Manuscripts.—The MS. quoted under this title by Malone is printed entire, or rather all of it which refers to plays, by Mr. Peter Cunningham, in the Papers of the Shakspeare Society, vol. ii. p. 123., from an interleaved copy of Langbaine. Since the publication of that paper, the entries relating to Shakspeare's plays have been given from the original MS. in the Bodleian Library, in Halliwell's Life of Shakspeare, p. 272.

S.L.

Vertue's MSS. (No. 20. p. 319.) were in Horace Walpole's possession, bought by him, I think, of Vertue's widow; and his Anecdotes of Painting were chiefly composed from them, as he states, with great modesty, in his dedication and his preface. I do not see in the Strawberry-Hill Catalogue any notice of "Vertue's MSS.," though some vols. of his collection of engravings were sold.

C.

Lines attributed to Tom Brown.—In a book entitled Liber Facetiarum, being a Collection of curious and interesting Anecdotes, published at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by D. Akenhead & Sons, 1809, the passage attributed to Tom Brown by your correspondent "J.T." is given to Zacharias Boyd.

The only reference given as authority for the account is the initials H.B.

"Zacharias Boyd, whose bust is to be seen over the entrance to the Royal College in Glasgow, while Professor in that university, translated the Old and New Testament into Scotch Metre; and, from a laudable zeal to disseminate religious knowledge among the lower classes of the community, is said to have left a very considerable sum to defray the expense of the said work, which, however, his executors never printed."

After a few specimens, the account goes on

"But the highest flight of his Muse appears in the following beautiful Alexandrine:

"And was not Pharaoh a saucy rascal?

That would not let the children of Israel, their wives

And their little ones, their flocks and their herds, go

Out into the wilderness forty days

To eat the Pascal.

"H.B."

Speaking of Zachariah Boyd, Granger says, (vol. ii. p. 379.):

"His translation of the Scripture in such uncouth verse as to amount to burlesque, has been often quoted, and the just fame of a benefactor to learning has been obscured by that cloud of miserable rhymes. Candour will smile at the foible, but applaud the man.

"Macure, in his account of Glasgow, p. 223., informs us he lived in the reign of Charles I."

H.I.

Sheffield, March 9. 1850.

Passage in Frith's Works (No. 20. p. 319).—This passage should be read, as I suppose, "Ab inferiori ad suum superius confuse distribui."

It means that there would be confusion, if what is said distributively or universally of the lower, should be applied distributively or universally to the higher; or, in other words, if what is said universally of a species, should be applied universally to the genus that contains that and other species: e.g., properties that are universally found in the human species will not be found universally in the genus Mammalis, and universal properties of Mammalia wil not be universal over the animal kingdom.

T.J.

Martins, the Louvain Printer.—Your correspondent "W." (No. 12. p. 185.) is informed, that in Falkenstein's Geschichte der Buchdrucherkunst (Leipzig, 1840, p. 257.), Theoderich Martens, printer in Louvain and Antwerp, is twice mentioned. I have no doubt but this is the correct German form of the name. Mertens, by which he was also known, may very possibly be the Flemish form. His Christian name was also written Dierik, a short form of Dietrich, which, in its turn, is the same as Theodorich.

NORTHMAN.

Master of the Revels.—"DR. RIMBAULT" states (No. 14. p. 219.), that Solomon Dayrolle was appointed Master of the Revels in 1744, but does not know the date of his decease. It may be unknown to Dr. Rimbault, that Solomon Dayrolles was an intimate friend and correspondent of the great Lord Chesterfield: the correspondence continues from 1748 to 1755 in the selection of Chesterfield's letters to which I am referring.

Dayrolles, during all that period, held a diplomatic appointment from this country at the Hague. See Lord Chesterfield's letter to him of the 22d Feb. 1748, where Lord C. suggests that by being cautious he (Dayrolles) may be put en train d'être Monsieur l'Envoye.

In several of the letters Chesterfield warmly and familiarly commends his hopeful son, Mr. Stanhope, to the care and attention of Dayrolles.

I have not been able to ascertain when Dayrolles died, but the above may lead to the discovery.

W.H. LAMMIN.

French Maxim.—The French saying quoted by "R.V." is the 223rd of Les Réflexions morales du Duc de la Rochefoucauld (Pougin, Paris, 1839). I feel great pleasure in being able to answer your correspondent's query, as I hope that my reply may be the means of introducing to his notice one of the most delightful authors that has ever yet written: one who deserves far more attention than he appears to receive from general readers in this degenerate age, and from whom many of his literary successors have borrowed some of their brightest thoughts. I need not go far for an illustration:

"Praise undeserved, is scandal in disguise,"

is merely a condensation of,

"Louer les princes des vertus qu'ils n'ont pas, c'est leur dire impunément des injures."—La Rochefoucauld, Max. 327.

I believe that Pope marks it as a translation—a borrowed thought—not as a quotation. He has just before used the words "your Majesty;" and I think the word "scandal" is employed "consulto," and alludes to the offence known in English law as "scandalum magnatum." Your correspondent will, of course, read the work in the original; in fact, he must do so per force. A good translation of Les Maximes is still a desideratum in English literature. I have not yet seen one that could lay claim even to the meagre title of mediocrity; although I have spared neither time nor pains in the search. Should any of your readers have been more fortunate, I shall feel obliged by their referring me to it.

MELANION.

Endeavour.—I have just found the following instance of "endeavour" used as an active verb, in Dryden's translation of Maimbourg's History of the League, 1684.

"On the one side the majestique House of Bourbon,... and on the other side, that of two eminent families which endeavour'd their own advancement by its destruction; the one is already debas'd to the lowest degree, and the other almost reduc'd to nothing." —p. 3.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

MISCELLANIES.

Epigram by La Monnoye.—It has been ingeniously said, that "Life is an epigram, of which death is the point." Alas for human nature! good points are rare; and no wonder, according to this wicked, but witty,

EPIGRAM BY LA MONNOYE.

The world of fools has such a store,

That he who would not see an ass,

Must bide at home, and bolt his door,

And break his looking glass.

S.W.S.

Mickleham, Dec. 10. 1849.

Spur Money.—Two or three years since, a party of sappers and miners was stationed at Peterborough, engaged in the trigonometrical survey, when the officer entered the cathedral with his spurs on, and was immediately beset by the choristers, who demanded money of him for treading the sacred floor with armed heels. Does any one know the origin of this singular custom? I inquired of some of the dignitaries of the Cathedral, but they were not aware even of its existence. The boys, however, have more tenacious memories, at least where their interest is concerned; but we must not look to them for the origin of a custom which appears to have long existed. In the Memorials of John Ray, published by the Ray Society, p. 131., there is the following entry in his second Itinerary:—

"July the 26th, 1661, we began our journey northwards from Cambridge, and that day, passing through Huntingdon and Stilton, we rode as far as Peterborough twenty-five miles. There I first heard the Cathedral service. The choristers made us pay money for coming into the choir with our spurs on."

East Winch.

[The following note from The Book of the Court will serve to illustrate the curious custom referred to by our correspondent:

"In The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII. edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, there occur several entries of payments made to the choristers of Windsor 'in rewarde for the king's spurs'; which the editor supposes to mean 'money paid to redeem the king's spurs, which had become the fee of the choristers at Windsor, perhaps at installations, or at the annual celebration of St. George's feast.' No notice of the subject occurs in Ashmole's or Anstis's History of the Order of the Garter. Mr. Markland, quoting a note to Gifford's edition of Ben Jonson, vol. ii. p. 49., says, 'In the time of Ben Jonson, in consequence of the interruptions to Divine Service occasioned by the ringing of the spurs worn by persons walking and transacting business in cathedrals, and especially in St. Paul's, a small fine was imposed on them, called "spur-money," the exaction of which was committed to the beadles and singing-boys.' This practice, and to which, probably, the items in Henry's household-book bear reference, still obtains, or, at least, did till very lately, in the Chapel Royal and other choirs. Our informant himself claimed the penalty, in Westminster Abbey, from Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and received from him an eighteenpenny bank token as the fine. He likewise claimed the penalty from the King of Hanover (then Duke of Cumberland), for entering the choir of the Abbey in his spurs. But His Royal Highness, who had been installed there, excused himself with great readiness, pleading 'his right to wear his spurs in that church, inasmuch as it was the place where they were first put on him!'—See further, European Mag., vol. iii. p. 16."]

MINIMUM DE MALIS.

(From the Latin of Buchanan.)

Calenus owed a single pound, which yet

With all my dunning I could never get.

Tired of fair words, whose falsehood I foresaw,

I hied to Aulus, learned in the law.

He heard my story, bade me "Never fear,

There was no doubt—no case could be more clear:—

He'd do the needful in the proper place,

And give his best attention to the case."

And this he may have done—for it appears

To have been his business for the last ten years,

Though on his pains ten times ten pounds bestow'd

Have not regain'd that one Calenus owed.

Now, fearful lest this unproductive strife

Consume at once my fortune and my life,

I take the only course I can pursue,

And shun my debtor and my lawyer too.

I've no more hope from promises or laws,

And heartily renounce both debt and cause—

But if with either rogue I've more to do,

I'll surely choose my debtor of the two;

For though I credit not the lies he tells,

At least he gives me what the other sells.

Rufus.

Epigram on Louis XIV.—I find the following epigram among some old papers. The emperor would be Leopold I., the king Louis XIV.

Epigram by the Emperor, 1666, and the King of France.

Bella fugis, sequeris bellas, pugnæque repugnas,

Et bellatori sunt tibi bella tori.

Imbelles imbellis amas, totusque videris

Mars ad opus Veneris, Martis ad arma Venus.

J.H.L.

Macaulay's Young Levite.—I met, the other day with a rather curious confirmation of a passage in Macaulay's History of England, which has been more assailed perhaps than any other.

In his character of the clergy, Macaulay says, they frequently married domestics and retainers of great houses—a statement which has grievously excited the wrath of Mr. Babington and other champions. In a little book, once very popular, first published in 1628, with the title Microcosmographie, or a Piece of the World discovered, and which is known to have been written by John Earle, after the Restoration Bishop of Worcester and then of Salisbury, is the following passage. It occurs in what the author calls a character of "a young raw preacher."

"You shall know him by his narrow velvet cape and serge facing, and his ruffe, next his hire, the shortest thing about him.... His friends, and much painefulnesse, may preferre him to thirtie pounds a yeere, and this meanes, to a chamber-maide: with whom we leave him now in the bonds of wedlocke. Next Sunday you shall have him againe."

The same little book contains many very curious and valuable illustrations of contemporary manners, especially in the universities.

That the usage Macaulay refers to was not uncommon, we find from a passage in the Woman-Hater, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1607), Act III. Sc. 3.

Lazarillo says,

"Farewell ye courtly chaplains that be there!

All good attend you! May you never more

Marry your patron's lady's waiting-woman!"

I.T.

Trin. Coll. Camb., March 16. 1850.

St. Martin's Lane.—The first building leases of St. Martin's Lane and the adjacent courts accidentally came under my notice lately. They are dated in 1635 and 1636, and were granted by the then Earl of Bedford.

Arun.

CHARLES DEERING, M.D.

"Author of the Catalogue of Plants in the neighbourhood of Nottingham. 'Catalogus Stirpium, &c., or a Catalogue of Plants naturally growing and commonly cultivated in divers parts of England, and especially about Nottingham,' 8vo. Nottingh. 1738.

"He was in the suite of the English ambassador to Russia, returned and practised physic in London married unfortunately, buried his wife, and then went to Nottingham, where he lived several years. During his abode there he wrote a small Treatise on the Small Pocks, this Catalogue of Plants, and the History of Nottingham, the materials for which John Plumtre, Esq. of Nottingham, was so obliging as to assist him with. He also was paid 40l. by a London bookseller for adding 20,000 words to an English dictionary. He was master of seven languages, and in 1746 he was favoured with a commission in the Nottinghamshire Foot, raised at that time. Soon after died, and was buried in St. Peter's Churchyard.

"William Ayscough, father of the printer of this Catalogus Stirpium (G. Ayscough), in 1710, first introduced the art of printing at Nottingham.

"Mr. White was the same year the first printer at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and Mr. Dicey at Northampton."—MS. Note in the Copy of the Cat. Stirpium, in the Library of the British Museum.

MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC.

Our advertising columns already show some of the good results of the Exhibition of the Works of Ancient and Mediæval Art. Mr. Williams announced last week his Historic Reliques, to be etched by himself. Mr. Cundall has issued proposals for Choice Examples of Art Workmanship; and, lastly, we hear that an Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition, prepared by Mr. Franks, the zealous Honorary Secretary of the Committee, and so arranged as to form a History of Art, may be expected. We mention these for the purpose of inviting our friends to contribute to the several editors such information as they may think likely to increase the value of the respective works.

The second edition of our able correspondent, Mr. Peter Cunningham's Handbook of London, is on the eve of publication.

There are few of our readers but will be glad to learn from the announcement in a previous column, that the edition of the Wickliffite Versions of the Scriptures, upon which Sir Frederick Madden and his fellow labourers have been engaged for a period of twenty years, is just completed. It forms, we believe, three quarto volumes.

Messrs. Puttick and Simpson lately disposed of a most select and interesting collection of autograph letters. We unfortunately did not receive the catalogue in time to notice it, which we the more regret, because, like all their catalogues of autographs, it was drawn up with amateur-like intelligence and care; so as to make it worth preserving as a valuable record of materials for our history and biography.

We have received the following Catalogues of Books:—No. XXV. of Thomas Cole's (15. Great Turnstile): No. 2. for 1850, of William Heath's (29½ Lincoln's Inn Fields); and No. 15. of Bernard Quarritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue of Oriental and Foreign Books.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE

(In continuation of Lists in former Nos.)

Mills, Rev. Isaac, of Highcleer—Account of the Life and Conversation of, with a Sermon, 8vo., 1721.

Mykur Hazem, by Marcus, London, 1846.

Poems by a Bornnatural, 1849.

Odd Volumes.

Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. I.

Richardson's Correspondence, Vol. I. of the Six-Volume Ed.

Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, 4to., 1819. (Part X. containing Title, Preface, &c.)

Partington's British Cyclopædia—That portion of Natural History which follows Vol. I.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

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Burning for Treason.—Can the Correspondent who furnished us with a curious Note upon this subject favour us with a copy of it, the original having been accidentally mislaid?

We are again compelled, from want of space, to omit many curious and interesting articles; and, after this statement, must beg our kind friends at Leeds, Brompton, &c., who complain of delay in the insertion of their communications, to do us the favour to refer to the notice on this very subject which appeared in our early numbers.

Notes and Queries may be procured by the Trade at noon on Friday: so that our country Subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. Many of the country Booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive Copies in their Saturday parcels. Part V. is now ready.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW,

No. CLXXII. is Published This Day.

CONTENTS:

I. GIACOMO LEOPARDI AND HIS WRITINGS.

II. RANKE'S HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG.

III. QUEEN'S COLLEGE, LONDON.

IV. GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE.

V. URQUHART'S PILLARS OF HERCULES.

VI. FACTS IN FIGURES.

VII. THE DUTIFUL SON.

VIII. CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON.

IX. BAXTER'S IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.

X. LORD LIEUTENANT CLARENDON.

XI. LOUIS PHILIPPE.

John Murray, Albemarle Street.

NEARLY READY.

CHOICE EXAMPLES OF ART WORKMANSHIP Selected from the Exhibition of ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL ART at the Society of Arts

A Prospectus, containing a Specimen of the Illustrations, will be sent on receipt of two postage stamps.

Joseph Cundall, 21. Old Bond Street.

MILLER'S CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT AND MODERN BOOKS.—NUMBER FOUR is ready this day, and can be had Gratis, and sent, if required, Postage Free. Address, John Miller, 43, Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square. This List embraces numerous valuable and interesting Books on English Poetry, the Drama, History, Biography, Voyages and Travels, &c., with the works of a few of the best Continental writers, a selection of Pictorial Books of Scenery, Costume, Topography, and Drawing-room Table Books.

Also, on forwarding Four Postage Stamps, JOHN MILLER'S CATALOGUE OF BOOKS FOR THE PAST QUARTER may be had stitched in a wrapper, with a Table of Contents, showing at one glance the range of subjects embraced, amongst which may be enumerated the following, viz., America, Angling, Banking and Currency, Coins, Dictionaries, Drawing-books, Games, Sports, &c., Heraldry, Genealogy and Family History, Ireland, its History and Literature, Kent, its History and Topography, Law, Music, its History and Theory, Painting and the Fine Arts, Shakspeariana, and a variety of other branches of Literature comprised in upwards of 1500 articles.

John Miller, 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square.

THE ANGLO-SAXON, for April, Price 2s. 6d. or 3s. post-free, contains England and her Colonies: County Colonisation, with Maps—English Church Music—Christian Architecture—London: a Poem, Essay II.—The Alfred Medals: Three Sonnets, by Martin F. Tupper—Anglo-Saxon Literature: the Jubilee Edition of King Alfred's Works, with Specimens and Translations—Wives and Mothers—Anglo-Saxon Colonies: Victoria, Cooksland, Port Essington, (Papua—Timor)—Original Ballads.

The ANGLO-SAXON for 1849 forms a handsome volume, price One Guinea.

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Just Published, Parts 13 and 14, imperial quarto. Price 3s. each, tinted 4s.

RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE, from Drawings by John Johnson, Architect, F.S.A., Lithographed by Alfred Newman.

Contents, Part 13:—Hawton Church; Notts.—St. Mary's, Stamford—Aldwinkle, All Saints, Northamptonshire-Wellingborough Church, Northamptonshire.

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Preparing for immediate Publication, in 2 vols. small octavo.

THE FOLK-LORE OF ENGLAND. By William J. Thoms, F.S.A., Secretary of the Camden Society, Editor of "Early Prose Romances," "Lays and Legends of all Nations," &c. One object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the History of our National Folk-Lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the Writings of Jacob Grimm and other Continental Antiquaries.

Communications of inedited Legends, Notices of remarkable Customs and Popular Observances, Rhyming Charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the Editor. They may be addressed to the care of Mr. Bell, Office of "Notes and Queries," 186. Fleet Street.

Footnote 1:(return)

The best account, because the most consistent and intelligible, of the Greek arithmetic, is that by Delambre, affixed to Peyraud's edition of Archimedes.

Footnote 2:(return)

At a period of leisure I may be tempted to send you a few extracts, somewhat curious, from some of the papers of Mr. Strachey in my possession.

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, April 6, 1850.