NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

No. 47. | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1850 | Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:— | Page
Old Songs | 257
"Junius Identified." by J. Taylor | 258
Folk Lore:—Spiders a Cure for Ague—Funeral Superstition—Folk Lore Rhymes | 259
On a Passage in the Tempest, by S.W. Singer | 259
Punishment of Death of Burning | 260
Note on Morganatic Marriages | 261
Minor Notes:—Alderman Beckford—Frozen Horn—Inscription translated—Parallel Passages—Note on George Herbert's Poems—"Crede quod habes"—Grant to Earl of Sussex—First Woman formed from a Rib—Beau Brummell's Ancestry | 262
QUERIES:— |
Gray's Elegy and Dodsley's Poems | 264
Hugh Holland and his Works, by E.F. Rimbault, L.L.D. | 265
Harvey and the Circulation of the Blood | 266

Minor Queries:—Bernardus Patricius—Meaning of Hanger—Cat and Bagpipes—Andrew Becket—Laurence Minot—Modena Family—Bamboozle—Butcher's Blue Dress—Hatchment and Atchievement—"Te colui Virtutem"—"Illa suavissima Vita"—Christianity, Early Influence of—Meaning of Wraxen—Saint, Legend of a—Land Holland—Farewell—Stepony Ale—"Regis ad Exemplar"—La Caronacquerie—Rev. T. Tailer—Mistletoe as a Christmas Evergreen—Poor Robin's Almanacks—Sirloin—Thompson of Esholt
266

REPLIES:— |

Replies to Minor Queries:—Pension—Execution of Charles I.—Paper Hangings—Black-guard—Pilgrims' Road—Combs buried with the Dead—Aërostation—St. Thomas of Lancaster—Smoke Money—Robert Herrich—Guildhalls—Abbé Strickland—Long Conkin—Havock—Becket's Mother—Watching the Sepulchre—Portraits of Charles I.—Joachim, the French Ambassador
269

MISCELLANEOUS:— |
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. | 271
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted | 271
Notices to Correspondents | 271
Advertisements | 272

NOTES.

OLD SONGS.

I heard, "in other days," a father singing a comic old song to one of his children, who was sitting on his knee. This was in Yorkshire: and yet it could hardly be a Yorkshire song, as the scene was laid in another county. It commenced with—

"Randle O'Shay has sold his mare

For nineteen groats at Warrin'ton fair,"

and goes on to show how the simpleton was cheated out of his money.

I find in Hasted's History of Kent (vol. i. p. 468., 2nd edit.) mention made of the family of Shaw, who held the manor of Eltham, &c., and who "derive themselves from the county palatine of Chester." It is further stated that Randal de Shaw, his son, was settled at Haslington Hall in that county.

All, indeed, that this proves is, the probability of the hero of the song being also a native of Cheshire, or one of the adjacent counties; and that the legend is a truth, even as to names as well as general facts. The song is worthy of recovery and preservation, as a remnant of English character and manners; and I have only referred to Hasted to point out the probable district in which it will be found.

There are many other characteristics of the manners of the humbler classes to be found in songs that had great local popularity within the period of living memory; for instance, the Wednesbury Cocking amongst the colliers of Staffordshire and Rotherham Status amongst the cutlers of Sheffield. Their language, it is true, is not always very delicate—perhaps was not even at the time these songs were composed,—as they picture rather the exuberant freaks of a half-civilised people than the better phases of their character. Yet even these form "part and parcel" of the history of "the true-born Englishman."

One song more may be noticed here:—the rigmarole, snatches of which probably most of us have heard, which contains an immense number of mere truisms having no connexion with each others, and no bond of union but the metrical form in which their juxtaposition is effected, and the rhyme, which is kept up very well throughout, though sometimes by the introduction of a nonsense line. Who does not remember—

"A yard of pudding's not an ell,"

or

"Not forgetting dytherum di,

A tailor's goose can never fly,"

and other like parts?

It is just such a piece of burlesque as Swift might have written: but many circumstances lead me to think it must be much older. Has it ever been printed?

There is another old (indeed an evidently very ancient) song, which I do not remember to have seen in print, or even referred to in print. None of the books into which I have looked, from deeming them likely to contain it, make the least reference to this song. I have heard it in one of the midland counties, and in one of the western, both many years ago; but I have not heard it in London or any of the metropolitan districts. The song begins thus:—

"London Bridge is broken down,

Dance over my Lady Lea:

London Bridge is broken down,

With a gay ladée."

This must surely refer to some event preserved in history,—may indeed be well known to well-read antiquaries, though so totally unknown to men whose general pursuits (like my own) have lain in other directions. The present, however, is an age for "popularising" knowledge; and your work has assumed that task as one of its functions.

The difficulties attending such inquiries as arise out of matters so trivial as an old ballad, are curiously illustrated by the answers already printed respecting the "wooing frog." In the first place, it was attributed to times within living memory; then shown to exceed that period, and supposed to be very old,—even as old as the Commonwealth, or, perhaps, as the Reformation. This is objected to, from "the style and wording of the song being evidently of a much later period than the age of Henry VIII.;" and Buckingham's "mad" scheme of taking Charles into Spain to woo the infanta is substituted. This is enforced by the "burden of the song;" whilst another correspondent considers this "chorus" to be an old one, analogous to "Down derry down:"—that is, M. denies the force of MR. MAHONY's explanation altogether!

(Why MR. MAHONY calls a person in his "sixth decade" a "sexagenarian" he best knows. Such is certainly not the ordinary meaning of the term he uses. His pun is good, however.)

Then comes the HERMIT OF HOLYPORT, with a very decisive proof that neither in the time of James I., nor of the Commonwealth, could it have originated. His transcript from Mr. Collier's Extracts carries it undeniably back to the middle of the reign of Elizabeth. Of course, it is interesting to find intermediate versions or variations of the ballad, and even the adaptation of its framework to other ballads of recent times, such as "Heigho! says Kemble,"—one of the Drury Lane "O.P. Row" ballads (Rejected Addresses, last ed., or Cunningham's London). Why the conjecture respecting Henry VIII. is so contemptuously thrown aside as a "fancy," I do not see. A fancy is a dogma taken up without proof, and in the teeth of obvious probability,—tenaciously adhered to, and all investigation eschewed. This at least is the ordinary signification of the term, in relation to the search after truth. How far my own conjecture, or the mode of putting it, fulfills these conditions, it is not necessary for me to discuss: but I hope the usefulness and interest of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" will not be marred by any discourtesy of one correspondent towards another.

At the same time, the HERMIT OF HOLYPORT has done the most essential service to this inquiry by his extract from Mr. Collier, as the question is thereby inclosed within exceedingly narrow limits. But if the ballad do not refer to Henry VIII., to whom can it be referred with greater probability? It is too much to assume that all the poetry, wit, and talent of the Tudor times were confined to the partizans of the Tudor cause, religious or political. We know, indeed, the contrary. But for his communication, too, the singular coincidence of two such characteristic words of the song in the "Poley Frog" (in the same number of the "NOTES AND QUERIES") might have given rise to another conjecture: but the date excludes its further consideration.

I may add, that since this has been mooted, an Irish gentleman has told me that the song was familiar enough in Dublin; and he repeated some stanzas of it, which were considerably different from the version of W.A.G., and the chorus the same as in the common English version. I hope presently to receive a complete copy of it: which, by the bye, like everything grotesquely humorous in Ireland, was attributed to the author of Gulliver's Travels.

T.S.D.

"JUNIUS IDENTIFIED."

It is fortunate for my reputation that I am still living to vindicate my title to the authorship of my own book, which seems otherwise in danger of being taken from me.

I can assure your correspondent R.J. (Vol. ii., p. 103.) that I was not only "literally the writer," (as he kindly suggests, with a view of saving my credit for having put my name to the book), but in its fullest sense the author of "Junius Identified"; and that I never received the slightest assistance from Mr. Dubois, or any other person, either in collecting or arranging the evidence, or in the composition and correction of the work. After I had completed my undertaking, I wrote to Mr. Dubois to ask if he would allow me to see the handwriting of Sir Philip Francis, that I might compare it with the published fac-similes of the handwriting of Junius; but he refused my request. His letter alone disproved the notion entertained by R.J. and others, that Mr. Dubois was in any degree connected with me, or with the authorship of the work in question.

With regard to the testimony of Lord Campbell, I wrote to his lordship in February, 1848, requesting his acceptance of a copy of Junius Identified, which I thought he might not have seen; and having called his attention to my name at the end of the preface, I begged he would, when opportunity offered, correct his error in having attributed the work to Mr. Dubois. I was satisfied with his lordship's reply, which was to the effect that he was ashamed of his mistake, and would take care to correct it. No new edition of that series of the Lives of the Chancellors, which contains the "Life of Lord Loughborough," has since been published. The present edition is dated 1847.

R.J. says further, that "the late Mr. George Woodfall always spoke of the pamphlet as the work of Dubois;" and that Sir Fortunatus Dwarris states, "the pamphlet is said, I know not with what truth, to have been prepared under the eye of Sir Philip Francis, it may be through the agency of Dubois." If Junius Identified be alluded to in these observations as a pamphlet, it would make me doubt whether R.J., or either of his authorities, ever saw the book. It is an 8vo. vol. The first edition, containing 380 pages, was published in 1816, at 12s. The second edition, which included the supplement, exceeded 400 pages, and was published in 1818, at 14s. The supplement, which contains the plates of handwriting, was sold separately at 3s. 6d., to complete the first edition, but this could not have been the pamphlet alluded to in the preceding extracts. I suspect that when the work is spoken of as a pamphlet, and this if often done, the parties thus describing it have known it only through the medium of the critique in the Edinburgh Review.

Mr. Dubois was the author of the biography of Sir Philip Francis, first printed in the Monthly Mirror for May and June, 1810, and reprinted in Junius Identified, with acknowledgment of the source from which it was taken. To this biography the remarks of Sir Fortunatus Dwarris are strictly applicable, except that it never appeared in the form of a pamphlet.

JOHN TAYLOR.

30. Upper Gower Street, Sept. 7. 1850.

FOLK LORE.

Spiders a Cure for Ague (Vol. ii., p. 130.).—Seeing a note on this subject reminds me that a few years since, a lady in the south of Ireland was celebrated far and near, amongst her poorer neighbours, for the cure of this disorder. Her universal remedy was a large house-spider alive, and enveloped in treacle or preserve. Of course the parties were carefully kept in ignorance of what the wonderful remedy was.

Whilst I am on the subject of cures, I may as well state that in parts of the co. Carlow, the blood drawn from a black cat's ear, and rubbed upon the part affected, is esteemed a certain cure for St. Anthony's fire.

JUNIOR.

Funeral Superstition.—A few days ago the body of a gentleman in this neighbourhood was conveyed to the hearse, and while being placed in it, the door of the house, whether from design or inadvertence I know not, was closed before the friends came out to take their places in the coaches. An old lady, who was watching the proceedings, immediately exclaimed, "God bless me! they have closed the door upon the corpse: there will be another death in that house before many days are over." She was fully impressed with this belief, and unhappily this impression has been confirmed. The funeral was on Saturday, and on the Monday morning following a young man, resident in the house, was found dead in bed, having died under the influence of chloroform, which he had inhaled, self-administered, to relieve the pain of toothache or tic-douloureux.

Perhaps the superstition may have come before you already; but not having met with it myself, I thought it might be equally new to others.

H.J.

Sheffield.

Folk Lore Rhymes.—

"Find odd-leafed ash, and even-leafed clover,

And you'll see your true love before the day's over."

If you wish to see your lover, throw salt on the fire every morning for nine days, and say—

"It is not salt I mean to burn,

But my true lover's heart I mean to turn;

Wishing him neither joy nor sleep,

Till he come back to me and speak."

"If you marry in Lent,

You will live to repent."

WEDSECNARF.

EMENDATION OF A PASSAGE IN THE "TEMPEST."

Premising that I should approach the text of our great poet with an almost equal degree of awful reverence with that which characterises his two latest editors, I must confess that I should not have the same respect for evident errors of the printers of the early editions, which they have occasionally shown. In the following passage in the Tempest, Act i., Scene 1., this forbearance has not, however, been the cause of the very unsatisfactory state in which they have both left it. I must be indulged in citing at length, that the context may the more clearly show what was really the poet's meaning:—

"Enter FERDINAND bearing a Log.

"Fer. There be some sports are painful; and their labour

Delight in them sets off; some kinds of baseness

Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters

Point to rich ends. This my mean task

Would be as heavy to me, as odious; but

The mistress, which I serve, quickens what's dead,

And makes my labours pleasures: O! she is

Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed;

And he's composed of harshness. I must remove

Some thousands of these logs, and pile them up,

Upon a sore injunction: My sweet mistress

Weeps when she sees me work; and says such business

Had never like executor. I forget:

But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours;

Most busy lest when I do it."

Mr. Collier reads these last two lines thus—

"But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours;

Most busy, least when I do it."

with the following note—

"The meaning of this passage seems to have been misunderstood by all the commentators. Ferdinand says that the thoughts of Miranda so refresh his labours, that when he is most busy he seems to feel his toil least. It is printed in the folio 1623,—

'Most busy lest when I do it,'

—a trifling error of the press corrected in the folio 1632, although Theobald tells us that both the oldest editions read lest. Not catching the poet's meaning, he printed,—

'Most busy-less when I do it,'

and his supposed emendation has ever since been taken as the text; even Capell adopted it. I am happy in having Mr. Amyot's concurrence in this restoration."

Mr. Knight adopts Theobald's reading, and Mr. Dyce approves it in the following words:—

"When Theobald made the emendation, 'Most busy-less,' he observed that 'the corruption was so very little removed from the truth of the text, that he could not afford to think well of his own sagacity for having discovered it.' The correction is, indeed, so obvious that we may well wonder that it had escaped his predecessors; but we must wonder ten times more that one of his successors, in a blind reverence for the old copy, should re-vitiate the text, and defend a corruption which outrages language, taste, and common sense."

Although at an earlier period of life I too adopted Theobald's supposed emendation, it never satisfied me. I have my doubts whether the word busyless existed in the poet's time; and if it did, whether he could possibly have used it here. Now it is clear that labours is a misprint for labour; else, to what does "when I do it" refer? Busy lest is only a typographical error for busyest: the double superlative was commonly used, being considered as more emphatic, by the poet and his contemporaries.

Thus in Hamlet's letter, Act ii. Sc. 2.:

"I love thee best, O most best."

and in King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 3.:

"To take the basest and most poorest shape."

The passage will then stand thus:—

"But these sweet thoughts, do even refresh my labour,

Most busiest when I do it."

The sense will be perhaps more evident by a mere transposition, preserving every word:

"But these sweet thoughts, most busiest when I do

My labour, do even refresh it."

Here we have a clear sense, devoid of all ambiguity, and confirmed by what precedes; that his labours are made pleasures, being beguiled by these sweet thoughts of his mistress, which are busiest when he labours, because it excites in his mind the memory of her "weeping to see him work." The correction has also the recommendation of being effected in so simple a manner as by merely taking away two superfluous letters. I trust I need say no more; secure of the approbation of those who (to use the words of an esteemed friend on another occasion) feel "that making an opaque spot in a great work transparent is not a labour to be scorned, and that there is a pleasant sympathy between the critic and bard—dead though he be—on such occasions, which is an ample reward."

S.W. SINGER

Mickleham, Aug 30. 1850.

PUNISHMENT OF DEATH BY BURNING.

(Vol. ii., pp. 6. 50. 90. 165.)

In the "NOTES AND QUERIES" of Saturday, the 10th of August, SENEX gives some account of the burning of a female in the Old Bailey, "about the year 1788."

Having myself been present at the last execution of a female in London, where the body was burnt (being probably that to which SENEX refers), and as few persons who were then present may now be alive, I beg to mention some circumstances relative to that execution, which appear to be worthy of notice.

Our criminal law was then most severe and cruel: the legal punishment of females convicted of high treason and petty treason was burning; coining was held to be high treason; and murder of a husband was petty treason.

I see it stated in the Gentleman's Magazine, that on the 13th of March, 1789,—

"The Recorder of London made his report to His Majesty of the prisoners under sentence of death in Newgate, convicted in the Sessions of September, October, November, and January (forty-six in number), fourteen of whom were ordered for execution; five of whom were afterwards reprieved."

The recorder's report in regard to these unfortunate persons had been delayed during the incapacity of the king; thus the report for four sessions had been made at once. To have decided at one sitting of council upon such a number of cases, must have almost been enough to overset the strongest mind. Fortunately, these reports are now abolished.

In the same number of the Gentleman's Magazine, under date the 18th of March, there is this statement,—

"The nine following malefactors were executed before the Debtors' Door at Newgate pursuant to their sentence, viz., Hugh Murphy and Christian Murphy alias Bowman, Jane Grace, and Joseph Walker, for coining. [Four for burglary, and one for highway robbery.] They were brought upon the scaffold, about half an hour after seven, and turned off about a quarter past eight. The woman for coining was brought out after the rest were turned off, and fixed to a stake and burnt; being first strangled by the stool being taken from under her."

This is the execution at which I was present; the number of those who suffered, and the burning of the female, attracted a very great crowd. Eight of the malefactors suffered on the scaffold, then known as "the new drop." After they were suspended, the woman, in a white dress, was brought out of Newgate alone; and after some time spent in devotion, was hung on the projecting arm of a low gibbet, fixed at a little distance from the scaffold. After the lapse of a sufficient time to extinguish life, faggots were piled around her, and over her head, so that her person was completely covered: fire was then set to the pile, and the woman was consumed to ashes.

In the following year, 1790, I heard sentence passed in the Criminal Court, in the Old Bailey, upon other persons convicted of coining: one of them was a female. The sentence upon her was, that she should be "drawn to the place of execution, and there burnt with fire till she was dead."

The case of this unfortunate woman, and the cruel state of the law in regard to females, then attracted attention. On the 10th of May, 1790, Sir Benjamin Hammett, in his place in the House of Commons, called the attention of that House to the then state of the law. He mentioned that it had been his official duty to attend on the melancholy occasion of the burning of the female in the preceding year (it is understood he was then one of the sheriffs of London), he moved for leave to bring in a bill to alter the law, which he characterised as—

"One of the savage remains of Norman policy, disgracing our statute book, as the practice did the common law."

He noticed that the sheriff who did not execute the sentence of burning alive was liable to a prosecution; but he thanked Heaven there was not a man in England who would carry such a sentence into effect. He obtained leave to bring in a bill for altering this cruel law; and in that session the Act 30 G. III. c. 48. was passed—

"For discontinuing the judgment which has been required by law to be given against women convicted of certain crimes, and substituting another judgment in lieu thereof."

A debt of gratitude is due to the memory of Sir Benjamin Hammett, for his exertions, at that period, in the cause of humanity. Thank God, we now live in times when the law is less cruel, and more chary of human life.

OCTOGENARIUS.

A NOTE ON MORGANATIC MARRIAGES.

Grimm (Deutsche Rechts Alterthumer, vol. ii., p. 417.), after a long dissertation, in which it appears that the money paid by the bridegroom to the wife's relations (I believe subsequently also to the wife herself) had every form of a purchase, possibly derived also from some symbolic customs common to all northern tribes, offers the following as the origin of this word "morganatic:"—

"Es gab aber im Alterthum noch einen erlaubten Ausweg für die Verbindung vorneluner Männer mit geringen (freien und selbst unfreien) Frauen, den Concubinat, der ohne feierliches Verlöbniss, ohne Brautgabe und Mitgift eingegangen wurde, mithin keine wahre und volle Ehe, dennoch ein rechtmässiges Verhältniss war.

"Da jedoch die Kirche ein solches Verhältniss missbilligte durch keine Einsegnung weihte, so wurde es allmählich unerlaubt und verboten als Ausnahme aber bis auf die neueste Zeit für Fürsten zugelassen—ja durch Trauung an die linke Hand gefeiert. Die Benennung Morganatische Ehe,—Matrimonium ad Morganaticam (11. Feud. 29.), rührt daher, dass den Concubinen eine Morgangabe (woraus im Mittelalter die Lombarden 'Morganatica' machten)—bewilligt zu werden pflegte—es waren Ehen auf blosse Morgengabe. Den Beweis liefern Urkunden, die Morganatica für Morgengabe auch in Fallen gebrauchen wo von wahrer Ehe die Rede ist." (See Heinecius, Antiq. 3. 157, 158.)

The case now stands thus:

It was the custom to give money to the wife's relations on the marriage-day.

It was not the custom with respect to unequal marriage (Misheirath): this took place "ohne Brautgabe und Mitgift," which was also of later origin.

The exception made by the Church for princes, restored the woman so far, that the marriage was legally and morally recognised by the Lombard law and the Church, with exceptions as regards issue, and that the left hand was given for the right.

With regard to this latter, it would be desirable to trace whether giving of the hand had any symbolic meaning. I think the astrologists consider the right as the nobler part of the body; if so, giving of the left in this case is not without symbolic significance. It must be remembered how much symbolism prevailed among the tribes which swept Europe on the fall of the Roman empire, and their Eastern origin.

The Morgengabe, according to Cancianus (Leges Barbarorum, tom. iv. p. 24.), was at first a free gift made by the husband after the first marriage night. This was carried to such excess, that Liutprand ordained

"Tamen ipsum Morgengabe volumus, ut non sit amplius nisi quarta pars ejus substantia, qui ipsum Morgengabe dedit."

This became subsequently converted into a right termed justitia.

Upon this extract from a charter,—

"Manifesta causa est mihi, quoniam die ilio quando te sposavi, promiseram tibi dare justitiam tuam secundum legem meam [qr. my Lombard law in opposition to the Roman, which he had a right to choose,] in Morgencap, id est, quartam portionem omnium rerum mobilium et immobilium," &c.

Cancianus thus comments:—

"Animadverte, quam recte charta hæc cum supra alligatis formulis conveniat. Sponsus promiserat Morgencap, quando feminam desponsaverat, inde vero ante conjugium chartam conscribit: et quod et Liutprandi lege, et ex antiquis moribus Donum fuit mere gratuitum, hic appellatur Justitia secundum legem Langobardorum."

The Morgencap here assumes, I apprehend, somewhat the form of dower. That it was so, is very doubtful. (Grimm, vol. ii. p. 441. "Morgengabe.")

"An demselben Morgen empfängt die JungFrau von ihrem Gemahl ein ansehnliches Geschenk, welches Morgengabe heisst. Schon in der Pactio Guntherammi et Childeberti, werden Dos und Morganagiba unterschieden, ebenso Leg. Rip. 37. 2. Alaman. 56. 1, 2. Dos und Morgangeba; Lex Burgend. 42. 2. Morgangeba und das 'pretium nuptiale;' bei den Langobarden, 'Meta und Morgengab.'"

I do not say this answers the question of your correspondent G., which is, what is the derivation of the word?

Its actual signification, I think, means left-handed; but to think is not to resolve, and the question is open to the charitable contributions of your learned and able supporters.

As regards the Fairy Morgana, who was married to a mortal, I confess, with your kind permission, I had rather not accept her as a satisfactory reply. It is as though you would accept "once upon a time" as a chronological date! She was married to a mortal—true; but morganatically, I doubt it. If morganatic came from this, it should appear the Fairy Morgana was the first lady who so underwent the ceremony. Do not forget Lurline, who married also a mortal, of whom the poet so prettily sings:

"Lurline hung her head,

Turned pale, and then red;

And declared his abruptness in popping the question

So soon after dinner had spoilt her digestion."

This lady's marriage resembled the other in all respects, and I leave you to decide, and no man is more competent, from your extensive knowledge of the mythology of Medieval Europe, whether Morgana, beyond the mere accident of her name, was more likely than Lurline to have added a word with a puzzling etymology to the languages of Europe. The word will, I think, be found of Eastern origin, clothed in a Teutonic form.

After all, Jacob Grimm and Cancianus may interest your readers, and so I send the Note.

S.H.

Athenæum, Sept. 6. 1850

MINOR NOTES.

Alderman Beckford.—Gifford (Ben Jonson, vol. vi. p. 481.) has the following note:—

"The giants of Guildhall, thank heaven, yet defend their charge: it only remains to wish that the citizens may take example by the fate of Holmeby, and not expose them to an attack to which they will assuredly be found unequal. It is not altogether owing to their wisdom that this has not already taken place. For twenty years they were chained to the car of a profligate buffoon, who dragged them through every species of ignominy to the verge of rebellion; and their hall is even yet disgraced with the statue of a worthless negro-monger, in the act of insulting their sovereign with a speech of which (factious and brutal as he was) he never uttered one syllable." ... "By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words."

But Gifford was generally correct in his assertions; and twenty-two years after his note, I made the following one:—

"It is a curious fact, but a true one, that Beckford did not utter one syllable of this speech. It was penned by Horne Tooke, and by his art put on the records of the city and on Beckford's statue, as he told me, Mr. Braithwaite, Mr. Seyers, &c., at the Athenian Club.

"ISAAC REED.

"See the Times Of July 23. 1838, p. 6."

The worshipful Company of Ironmongers have relegated their statue from their hall to a lower position: but it still disgraces the Guildhall, and will continue to do so, as long as any factious demagogue is permitted to have a place among its members.

L.S.

The Frozen Horn.—Perhaps it is not generally known that the writer of Munchausen's Travels borrowed this amusing incident from Heylin's Mikrokosmos. In the section treating of Muscovy, he says:—

"This excesse of cold in the ayre, gave occasion to Castilian, in his Aulicus, wittily and not incongruously to faine that if two men being smewhat distant, talke together in the winter, their words will be so frozen that they cannot be heard: but if the parties in the spring returne to the same place, their words will melt in the same order that they were frozen and spoken, and be plainly understood."

J.S.

Salisbury.

Inscription from Roma Subterranea.—If you deem the translation of this inscription, quoted in Lord Lindsay's fanciful but admirable Sketches of the History of Christian Art, worth a place among your Notes, it is very heartily at your service.

"Sisto viator

Tot ibi trophæa, quot ossa

Quot martyres, tot triumphi.

Antra quæ subis, multa quæ cernis marmora,

Vel dum silent,

Palam Romæ gloriam loquuntur.

Audi quid Echo resonet

Subterraneæ Romæ!

Obscura licet Urbis Cœmetria

Totius patens Orbis Theatrium!

Supplex Loci Sanetitatem venerare,

Et post hac sub luto aurum

Coelum sub coeno

Sub Româ Romam quærito!"

Roma Subterranea, 1651, tom. i. p. 625.

(Inscription abridged.)

Stay, wayfarer—behold

In ev'ry mould'ring bone a trophy here.

In all these hosts of martyrs,

So many triumphs.

These vaults—these countless tombs,

E'en in their very silence

Proclaim aloud Rome's glory:

The echo'd fame

Of subterranean Rome

Rings on the ear.

The city's sepulchres, albeit hidden,

Present a spectacle

To the wide world patent.

In lowly rev'rence hail this hallow'd spot,

And henceforth learn

Gold beneath dross

Heav'n below earth,

Rome under Rome to find!

F.T.J.B.

Brookthorpe.

Parallel Passages.—

"There is an acre sown with royal seed, the copy of the greatest change from rich to naked, from cieled roofs to arched coffins, from living like gods to die like men."—Jeremy Taylor's Holy Dying, chap. i. sect. 1. p. 272. ed. Edin.

"Here's an acre sown indeed

With the richest royalest seeds,

That the earth did e'er suck in,

Since the first man dyed for sin:

Here the bones of birth have cried,

Though gods they were, as men they died."

F. BEAUMONT

M.W. Oxon.

A Note on George Herbert's Poems.—In the notes by Coleridge attached to Pickering's edition of George Herbert's Poems, on the line—

"My flesh begun unto my soul in pain,"

Coleridge says—

"Either a misprint, or noticeable idiom of the word began: Yes! and a very beautiful idiom it is: the first colloquy or address of the flesh."

The idiom is still in use in Scotland. "You had better not begin to me," is the first address or colloquy of the school-boy half-angry half-frightened at the bullying of a companion. The idiom was once English, though now obsolete. Several instances of it are given in the last edition of Foxe's Martyrs, vol. vi. p. 627. It has not been noticed, however, that the same idiom occurs in one of the best known passages of Shakspeare; in Clarence's dream, Richard III., Act i. Sc. 4.:

"O, then began the tempest to my soul."

Herbert's Poems will afford another illustration to Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 7.:—

"And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh,

That hurts by easing."

Coleridge, in the Literary Remains, vol. i. p. 233., says—

"In a stitch in the side, every one must have heaved

a sigh that hurts by easing."

Dr. Johnson saw its true meaning:

"It is," he says, "a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers."

In allusion to this popular notion, by no means yet extinct, Herbert says, p. 71.:

"Or if some years with it (a sigh) escape

The sigh then only is

A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss."

D.S.

"Crede quod habes," &c.—The celebrated answer to a Protestant about the real presence, by the borrower of his horse, is supposed to be made since the Reformation, by whom I forget:—

"Quod nuper dixisti

De corpore Christi

Crede quod edis et edis;

Sic tibi rescribo

De tuo palfrido

Crede quod habes et habes."

But in Wright and Halliwell's Reliquiæ Antiquæ, p. 287., from a manuscript of the time of Henry VII., is given—

"Tu dixisti de corpore Christi, crede et habes

De palefrido sic tibi scribo, crede et habes."

M.

Grant to the Earl of Sussex of Leave to be covered in the Royal Presence.—In editing Heylyn's History of the Reformation, I had to remark of the grant made by Queen Mary to the Earl of Sussex, that it was the only one of Heylyn's documents which I had been unable to trace elsewhere (ii. 90.). Allow me to state in your columns, that I have since found it in Weever's Funeral Monuments (pp. 635, 636).

J.C. ROBERTSON.

Bekesbourne.

The first Woman formed from a Rib (Vol. ii., p. 213.).—As you have given insertion to an extract of a sermon on the subject of the creation of Eve, I trust you will allow me to refer your correspondent BALLIOLENSIS to Matthew Henry's commentary on the second chapter of Genesis, from which I extract the following beautiful explanation of the reason why the rib was selected as the material whereof the woman should be created:—

"Fourthly, that the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."

IOTA.

Beau Brummel's Ancestry.—Mr. Jesse some years back did ample justice to the history of a "London celebrity," George Brummell; but, from what he there stated, the following "Note" will, I feel assured, be a novelty to him. At the time that Brummell was considered in everything the arbiter elegantiarum, the writer of this has frequently heard Lady Monson (the widow of the second lord, and an old lady who, living to the age of ninety-seven, had a wonderful fund of interesting recollections) say, that this ruler of fashion was the descendant of a very excellent servant in the family. Not long ago, some old papers of the family being turned over, proofs corroborative of this came to light. William Brummell, from the year 1734 to 1764, was the faithful and confidential servant of Charles Monson, brother of the first lord: the period would identify him with the grandfather of the Beau; the only doubt was, that as Mr. Jesse has ascertained that William Brummell, the grandfather, was, in the interval above given, married, had a son William, and owned a house in Bury Street, how far these facts were compatible with his remaining as a servant living with Charles Monson, both in town and country. Now, in 1757, Professor Henry Monson of Cambridge being dangerously ill, his brother Charles sent William Brummell down, as a trustworthy person, to attend to him; and in a letter from Brummell to his master, he, with many other requisitions, wishes that there may be sent down to him a certain glass vessel, very useful for invalids to drink out of, and which, if not in Spring Gardens, "may be found in Bury Street. It was used when Billy was ill." From the familiarity of the word "Billy," he must be speaking of his son. These facts are certainly corroborative of the old dowager's statement.

M(2).

QUERIES.

GRAY'S ELEGY AND DODSLEY POEMS.

I have here, in the country, few editions of Gray's works by me, and those not the best; for instance, I have neither of those by the Rev. J. Mitford (excepting his Aldine edition, in one small volume), which, perhaps, would render my present Query needless. It relates to a line, or rather a word in the Elegy, which is of some importance. In the second stanza, as the poem is usually divided (though Mason does not give it in stanzas, because it was not so originally written), occurs,

"Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight."

And thus the line stands in all the copies (five) I am able at this moment to consult. But referring to Dodsley's Collection of Poems, vol. iv., where it comes first, the epithet applied to "flight" is not "droning," but drony—

"Save where the beetle wheels his drony flight."

Has anybody observed upon this difference, which surely is worthy of a Note? I cannot find that the circumstance has been remarked upon, but, as I said, I am here without the means of consulting the best authorities. The Elegy, I presume, must have been first separately printed, and from thence transferred to Dodsley's Collection; and I wish to be informed by some person who has the earliest impression, how the line is there given? I do not know any one to whom I can appeal on such a point with greater confidence than to MR. PETER CUNNINGHAM, who, I know, has a large assemblage of the first editions of our most celebrated poets from the reign of Anne downwards, and is so well able to make use of them. It would be extraordinary, if drony were the epithet first adopted by Gray, and subsequently altered by him to "droning," that no notice should have been taken of the substitution by any of the poet's editors. I presume, therefore, that it has been mentioned, and I wish to know where?

Now, a word or two on Dodsley's Collection of Poems, in the fourth volume of which, as I have stated, Gray's-Elegy comes first. Dodsley's is a popular and well-known work, and yet I cannot find that anybody has given the dates connected with it accurately. If Gray's Elegy appeared in it for the first time (which I do not suppose), it came out in 1755 which is the date of vol. iv. of Dodsley's Collection, and not in 1757, which is the date of the Strawberry Hill edition of Gray's Odes. The Rev. J. Mitford (Aldine edit. xxxiii.) informs us that "Dodsley published three volumes of this Collection in 1752; the fourth volume was published in 1755 and the fifth and sixth volumes, which completed the Collection, in 1758." I am writing with the title-pages of the work open before me, and I find that the first three volumes were published, not in 1752, but in 1748, and that even this was the second edition so that there must have been an edition of the first three volumes, either anterior to 1748, or earlier in that year. The sale of the work encouraged Dodsley to add a fourth volume in 1755, and two others in 1758 and the plate of Apollo and the Muses was re-engraved for vols. v. and vi., because the original copper, which had served for vols. i., ii., iii., and iv., was so much worn.

This matter will not seem of such trifling importance to those who bear in mind, that if Gray's Elegy did not originally come out in this Collection in 1755, various other poems of great merit and considerable popularity did then make their earliest appearance.

THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT.

Sept. 1850.

P.S. My attention has been directed to the subject of Gray's Poems, and particularly to his Elegy, by a recent pilgrimage I made to Stoke Poges, which is only five or six miles from this neighbourhood. The church and the poet's monument to his mother are worth a much longer walk; but the mausoleum to Gray, in the immediate vicinity, is a preposterous edifice. The residence of Lady Cobham has been lamentably modernised.

HUGH HOLLAND AND HIS WORKS.

The name of Hugh Holland has been handed down to posterity in connexion with that of our immortal bard; but few know anything of him beyond his commendatory verses prefixed to the first folio of Shakspeare.

He was born at Denbigh in 1558, and educated at Westminster School while Camden taught there. In 1582 he matriculated at Baliol College, Oxford; and about 1590 he succeeded to a Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge. Thence he travelled into Italy, and at Rome was guilty of several indiscretions by the freedom of his conversations. He next went to Jerusalem to pay his devotions at the Holy Sepulchre, and on his return touched at Constantinople, where he received a reprimand from the English ambassador for the former freedom of his tongue. At his return to England, he retired to Oxford, and, according to Wood, spent some years there for the sake of the public library. He died in July, 1633, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, "in the south crosse aisle, neere the dore of St. Benet's Chapell," but no inscription now remains to record the event.

Whalley, in Gifford's Jonson (1. cccxiv.), says, speaking of Hugh Holland—

"He wrote several things, amongst which is the life of Camden; but none of them, I believe, have been ever published."

Holland published two works, the titles of which are as follows, and perhaps others which I am not aware of:—

1. "Monumenta Sepulchralia Sancti Pauli. Lond. 1613. 4to."

2. "A Cypres Garland for the Sacred Forehead of our late Soveraigne King James. Lond. 1625. 4to."

The first is a catalogue of the monuments, inscriptions, and epitaphs in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, which Nicolson calls "a mean and dull performance." It was, at any rate, very popular, being printed again in the years 1616, 1618, and 1633.

The second is a poetical tract of twelve leaves, of the greatest possible rarity.

Holland also printed commendatory verses before a curious musical work, entitled Parthenia, or the Maydenhead of the First Musick for the Virginalls, 1611; and a copy of Latin verses before Dr. Alexander's Roxana, 1632.

In one of the Lansdowne MSS. are preserved the following verses written upon the death of Prince Henry, by "Hugh Hollande, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge:"—

"Loe, where he shineth yonder

A fixed Star in heaven,

Whose motion here came under

None of the planets seven.

If that the Moone should tender

The Sun her love, and marry,

They both could not engender

So sweet a star as HARRY."

Our author was evidently a man of some poetical fancy, and if not worthy to be classed "among the chief of English poets," he is at least entitled to a niche in the temple of fame.

My object in calling attention to this long forgotten author is, to gain some information respecting his manuscript works. According to Wood, they consist of—1. Verses in Description of the chief Cities of Europe; 2. Chronicle of Queen Elizabeth's reign; 3. Life of William Camden.

Can any of your readers say in whose possession, or in what library, any of the above mentioned MSS. are at the present time? I should also feel obliged for any communication respecting Hugh Holland or his works, more especially frown original sources, or books not easily accessible.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

HARVEY'S CLAIM TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.

I have both a Note and a Query about Harvey and the circulation of the blood (Vol. ii., p. 187.). The Note refers to Philostratus (Life of Apollorius, p. 461., ed. 1809), Nouvelles de la République des Lettres, June, 1684, xi.; and Dutens pp. 157-341. 4to. ed. 1796. I extract the passage from Les Nouvelles:—

"On voit avec plaisir un passage d'André Cæsalpinus qui contient fort clairement la doctrine de la circrilation. Il est tiré de ses Questions sur la médecine imprimées l'an 1593. Jean Leonicenas ajoûte que le père Paul découvrit la circulation du sang, et les valvules des veines, mais qu'il n'osa pas en parler, de peur d'exciter contre luy quelque tempête. Il n'etois déjà que trop suspect, et il n'eut fallu que ce nouveau paradoxe pour le transformer en hérétique dans le pais d'inquisition. Si bien qu'il ne communiqua son secret qu'au seul Aquapendente, qui n'osant s'exposer à l'envie.... Il attendit à l'heure de sa mort pour mettre le livre qu'il avoit composé touchant les valvules des veines entre les mains de la république de Venise, et comme les moindres nouveautez font peur en cc pais-là, le livre fut caché dans le billiothèque de Saint Marc. Mais parcequ' Aquapendente ne fit pas difficulté de s'ouvrir à un jeune Anglois fort curieux nommé Harvée, qui étudioit sous lui a Padouë, et qu'en même temps le père Paul fit a même confidence à l'Ambassadeur d'Angleterre, ces deux Anglois de retour chez eux, et se voyant en pais de liberté, publièrent ce dogme, et l'ayant confirmé par plusieurs expériences, s'en attribuèrent toute la gloire."

The Query is, what share Harvey had in the discovery attributed to him?

W.W.B.

Minor Queries.

Bernardus Patricius.—Some writers mention Bernardus Patricius as a follower of Copernicus, about the time of Galileo. Who was he?

M.

Meaning of Hanger.—Can any one of your readers inform me, what is the meaning of the word hanger, so frequently occurring in the names of places in Bedfordshire, such as Panshanger?

W. Anderson

Cat and Bagpipes.—In studying some letters which passed between two distinguished philosophers of the last century, I have found in one epistle a request that the writer might be remembered "to his friends at the Crown and Anchor, and the Cat and Bagpipes." The letter was addressed to a party in London, where doubtless, both those places of entertainment were. The Crown and Anchor was the house where the Royal Society Club held its convivial meetings. Can you inform me where the Cat and Bagpipes was situated, and what literary and scientific club met there? The name seems to have been a favourite one for taverns, and, if I mistake not, is common in Ireland. Is it a corruption of some foreign title, as so many such names are, or merely a grotesque and piquant specimen of sign-board literature?

Quasimodo.

Andrew Becket.—A.W. Hammond will feel obliged for any information respecting Andrew Becket, Esq., who died 19th January, 1843, æt. 95, and to whose memory there is a handsome monument in Kennington Church. According to that inscription, he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature," personally acquainted in early life with the most distinguished authors of his day, long the intimate friend of David Garrick, "and a profound commentator on the dramatic works of Shakspeare." Can any of the learned readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" satisfy this Query?

Laurence Minot.—Is any other MS. of Minot known, besides the one from which Ritson drew his text? Is there any other edition of this poet besides Ritson's, and the reprints thereof?

E.S. JACKSON.

Modena Family.—When did Victor Amadeus, King of Sardinia, die? When did his daughter, Mary Duchess of Modena, die, (the mother of the present Duke of Modena, and through whom he is the direct heir of the House of Stuart)?

L.M.M.R.

Bamboozle.—What is the etymology of bamboozle, used as a verb?

L.M.M.R.

Butcher's Blue Dress.—What is the origin of the custom, which seems all but universal in England, for butchers to wear a blouse or frock of blue colour? Though so common in this country as to form a distinctive mark of the trade, and to be almost a butcher's uniform, it is, I believe, unknown on the continent. Is it a custom which has originate in some supposed utility, or in the official dress of a guild or company, or in some accident of which a historical notice has been preserved?

L.

Hatchment and Atchievement.—Can any one of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" tell me how comes the corruption hatchment from atchievement? Ought the English word to be spelt with a t, or thus, achievement? Why are hatchments put up in churches and on houses?

W. ANDERSON.

"Te colui Virtutem."—Who is the author of the line—

"Te colui virtutem ut rem ast tu nomen inane es?"

It is a translation of part of a Greek tragic fragment, quoted, according to Dio Cassius, by Brutus just before his death. As much as is here translated is also to be found in Plutarch De Superstitione.

E.

"Illa suavissima Vita."—Where does "Illa suavissima vita indies sentire se fieri meliorem" come from?

E.

Christianity, Early Influence of.—"The beneficial influence of the Christian clergy during the first thousand years of the Christian era."

What works can be recommended on the above subject?

X.Y.Z.

Wraxen, Meaning of.—What is the origin and meaning of the word wraxen, which was used by a Kentish woman on being applied to by a friend of mine to send her children to the Sunday-school, in the following sentence?—"Why, you see, they go to the National School all the week, and get so wraxen, that I cannot send them to the Sunday School too."

G.W. Skyring.

Saint, Legend of a.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I can find the account of some saint who, when baptizing a heathen, inadvertently pierced the convert's foot with the point of his crozier. The man bore the pain without flinching, and when the occurrence was discovered, he remarked that he thought it was part of the ceremony?

J.Y.C.

Land Holland—Farewell.—In searching some Court Rolls a few days since, I found some land described as "Land Holland" or "Hollandland." I have been unable to discover the meaning of this expression, and should be glad if any of your correspondents can help me.

In the same manor there is custom for the tenant to pay a sum as a farewell to the lord on sale or alienation: this payment is in addition to the ordinary fine, &c. Query the origin and meaning of this?

J.B.C.

Stepony Ale.—Chamberlayne, in his Present State of England (part. i. p. 51., ed. 1677), speaking of the "Dyet" of the people, thus enumerates the prevailing beverages of the day:—

"Besides all sorts of the best wines from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Grecia, there are sold in London above twenty sorts of other drinks: as brandy, coffee, chocolate, tea, aromatick, mum, sider, perry, beer, ale; many sorts of ales very different, as cock, stepony, stickback, Hull, North-Down, Sambidge, Betony, scurvy-grass, sage-ale, &c. A piece of wantonness whereof none of our ancestors were ever guilty."

It will be observed that the ales are named in some instances from localities, and in others from the herbs of which they were decoctions. Can any of your readers tell me anything of Stepony ale? Was it ale brewed at Stepney?

James T. Hammack

"Regis ad Exemplar."—Can you inform me whence the following line is taken?

"Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis."

Q.Q.Q.

"La Caconacquerie".—Will one of your numerous correspondents be kind enough to inform me what is the true signification and derivation of the word "caconac?" D'Alembert, writing to Voltaire concerning Turgot, says:

"You will find him an excellent caconac, though he has reasons for not avowing it:—la caconacquerie ne mène pas à la fortune."

Ardern.

London Dissenting Ministers: Rev. Thomas Tailer.—Not being entirely successful in my Queries with regard to "London Dissenting Ministers" (Vol. i., pp. 383. 444. 454.), I will state a circumstance which, possibly, may assist some one of your correspondents in furnishing an answer to the second of those inquiries.

In the lines immediately referred to, where certain Nonconformist ministers of the metropolis are described under images taken from the vegetable world, the late Rev. Thomas Tailer (of Carter Lane), whose voice was feeble and trembling, is thus spoken of:—

"Tailer tremulous as aspen leaves."

But in verses afterwards circulated, if not printed, the censor was rebuked as follows:—

"Nor tell of Tailer's trembling voice so weak,

While from his lips such charming accents break,

And every virtue, every Christian grace,

Within his bosom finds a ready place."

No encomium could be more deserved, none more seasonably offered or more appropriately conveyed. I knew Mr. Tailer, and am pleased in cherishing recollections of him.

W.

Mistletoe as a Christmas Evergreen.—Can any of your readers inform me at what period of time the mistletoe came to be recognised as a Christmas evergreen? I am aware it played a great part in those ceremonies of the ancient Druids which took place towards the end of the year, but I cannot find any allusion to it, in connexion with the Christian festival, before the time of Herrick. You are of course aware, that there are still in existence some five or six very curious old carols, of as early, or even an earlier date than the fifteenth century, in praise of the holly or the ivy, which said carols used to be sung during the Christmas festivities held by our forefathers but I can discover no allusion even to the mistletoe for two centuries later. If any of your readers should be familiar with any earlier allusion in prose, but still more particularly in verse, printed or in manuscript, I shall feel obliged by their pointing it out.

V.

Poor Robin's Almanacks.—I am anxious to ascertain in which public or private library is to be found the most complete collection of Poor Robin's Almanacks: through the medium of your columns, I may, perhaps, glean the desired information.

V.

Sirloin.—When on a visit, a day or two since, to the very interesting ruin (for so it must be called) of Haughton Castle, near Blackburn, Lancashire, I heard that the origin of this word was the following freak of James I. in his visit to the castle; a visit, by the way, which is said to have ruined the host, and to have been not very profitable even to all his descendants. A magnificent loin of meat being placed on the table before his Majesty, the King was so struck with its size and excellence, that he drew his sword, and cried out, "By my troth, I'll knight thee, Sir Loin!" and then and there the title was given; a title which has been honoured, unlike other knighthoods, by a goodly succession of illustrious heirs. Can any of your correspondents vouch for the truth of this?

H.C.

Bowden, Manchester.

Thomson of Esholt.—In the reign of Henry VIII. arms were granted to Henry Thomson, of Esholt, co. York, one of that monarch's gentlemen-at-arms at Boulogne. The grant was made by Laurence Dalton, Norroy. The shield was—Per fesse embattled, ar. and sa., three falcons, belted, countercharged—a bend sinister. Crest: An armed arm, embowed, holding a lance, erect. Families of the name of Thompson, bearing the same shield, have been seated at Kilham, Scarborough, Escrick, and other places in Yorkshire. My inquiries are,—

1. Will any of your readers by kind enough to inform me where any mention is made of this grant, and the circumstances under which it was made?

2. Whether any ancient monuments, or heraldic bearings of the family, are still extant in any parts of Yorkshire?

3. Whether any work on Yorkshire genealogies exists, and what is the best to be consulted?

JAYTEE.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Pension (Vol. ii., p. 134.).—In the Dictionnaire Universelle, 1775, vol. ii. p. 203., I find the following explanation of the French word Pension:—

"Somme qu'on donne pour la nourriture et le logement de quelqu'un. Il se dit aussi du lieu où l'on donne à manger."

May not the meeting of the benchers have derived its name for their dining-room in which they assembled?

BRAYBROOKE.

Execution of Charles I. (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 110-140. 158.).—In Lilly's History of his Life and Times, I find the following interesting account in regard to the vizored execution of Charles I., being part of the evidence he gave when examined before the first parliament of King Charles II. respecting the matter. Should any of your correspondents be able to substantiate this, or produce more conclusive evidence in determining who the executioner was, I shall be extremely obliged. Lilly writes,—

"Liberty being given me to speak, I related what follows: viz., That the next Sunday but one after Charles I. was beheaded, Robert Spavin Secretary to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Pearson and several others along with him to dinner. That their principal discourse all dinner time was only who it was that beheaded the king. One said it was the common hangman; another, Hugh Peters; others were also nominated, but none concluded. Robert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand, and carried me to the south window. Saith he, 'These are all mistaken; they have not named the man that did the fact: it was Lieutenant-Colonel Joice. I was in the room when he fitted himself for the work; stood behind him when he did it; when done, went in with him again: there is no man knows this but my master, viz. Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and myself.'—'Doth Mr. Rushworth know it?' saith I. 'No, he doth not know it,' saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin since has often related to me, when we were alone."

R.W.E.

Cheltenham.

Paper Hangings (Vol. ii., p. 134.).—"It was on the walls of this drawing-room (the king's at Kensington Palace) that the then new art of paper-hangings, in imitation of the old velvet flock, was displayed with an effect that soon led to the adoption of so cheap and elegant a manufacture, in preference to the original rich material from which it was copied."—W.H. Pyne's Royal Residences, vol. ii. p. 75.

M.W.

Black-guard.—There are frequent entries among those of deaths of persons attached to the Palace of Whitehall, in the registers of St. Margaret's, Westminster, of "——, one of the blake garde." about the year 1566, and later. In the Churchwarden's Accompts we find—

"1532. Pd. for licence of 4 torchis for Black Garde, vj. d."

The royal Halberdiers carried black bills. (Grose, Milit. Antiq., vol. i. p. 124.) In 1584 they behaved with great cruelty in Ireland. (Cornp. Peck's Des. Curios., vol. i. p. 155.) So Stainhurst, in his Description, says of bad men: "They are taken for no better than rakehells, or the devil's blacke guarde."—Chap. 8. Perhaps, in distinction to the gaily dressed military guard, the menial attendants in a royal progress were called black-guards from their dull appearance.

I remember a story current in Dublin, of a wicked wag telling a highly respectable old lady, who was asking, where were the quarters of the guards, in which corps her son was a private, to inquire at the lodge of Trinity College if he was not within those learned walls, as the "black guards were lying there."

M.W.

Pilgrims' Road (Vol. ii., p. 237.).—Your correspondent S.H., in noticing the old track "skirting the base of the chalk hills," and known by the name of the "Pilgrims' Road," has omitted to state that its commencement is at Oxford,—a fact of importance, inasmuch as that the Archbishops of Canterbury had there a handsome palace (the ruins of which still exist), which is said to have been the favourite residence of Thomas à Becket. The tradition in the county thereupon is, that his memory was held in such sanctity in that neighbourhood as to cause a vast influx of pilgrims annually from thence to his shrine at Canterbury; and the line of road taken by them can still be traced, though only portions of it are now used as a highway. The direction, however, in which it runs makes it clear (as S.H., no doubt, is aware) that it cannot be Chaucer's road.

While on the subject of old roads, I may add that a tradition here exists that the direct road between London and Tunbridge did not pass through Sevenoaks; and a narrow lane which crosses the Pilgrims' road near Everham is pointed out as the former highway, and by which Evelyn must have been journeying (passing close, indeed, to the seat of his present descendant at St. Clere) when he met with that amusing robber-adventure at Procession Oak.

M(2).

Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury.—In the Athenæum of Nov. 2nd, 1844, there is a notice of Remarks upon Wayside Chapels; with Observations on the Architecture and present State of the Chantry on Wakefield Bridge: By John Chessell and Charles Buckler—in which the reviewer says—

"In our pedestrianism we have traced the now desolate ruins of several of these chapels along the old pilgrims' road to Canterbury."

If this writer would give us the results of his pedestrianism, it would be acceptable to all the lovers of Chaucer. I do not know whether PHILO-CHAUCER will find anything to his purpose in the pamphlet reviewed.

E.S. JACKSON.

Combs buried with the Dead.—In Vol. ii., p. 230., the excellent vicar of Morwenstow asks the reason why combs are found in the graves of St. Cuthbert and others, monks, in the cathedral church of Durham. I imagine that they were the combs used at the first tonsure of the novices, to them a most interesting memorial of that solemn rite through life, and from touching affection to the brotherhood among whom they had dwelt, buried with them at their death.

M.W.

The Comb, concerning "the origin and intent" of which MR. HAWKER (Vol. ii., p. 230.) seeks information, was for ritual use; and its purposes are fully described in Dr. Rock's Church of our Fathers, t. ii. p. 122., &c.

LITURGICUS.

Aërostation.—C.B.M. will find in the Athenæum for August 10th, 1850, a notice of a book on this subject.

E.S. JACKSON.

St. Thomas of Lancaster (Vol. i., p. 181.).—MR. R.M. MILNES desires information relative to "St. Thomas of Lancaster." This personage was Earl of Leicester as well as Earl of Lancaster; and I find in the archives of this borough numerous entries relative to him,—of payments made to him by the burgesses. Of these mention is made in a History of Leicester recently published. The most curious fact I know of is, that on the dissolution of the monasteries here, several relics of St. Thomas, among others, his felt hat, was exhibited. The hat was considered a great remedy for the headache!

JAYTEE.

Smoke Money (Vol. ii., p. 120.).—"Anciently, even in England, were Whitsun farthings, or smoke farthings, which were a composition for offerings made in Whitsun week, by every man who occupied a house with a chimney, to the cathedral of the diocese in which he lived."—Audley's Companion to the Almanac, p. 76.

Pentecostals, or Whitsun Farthings, are mentioned by Pegge as being paid in 1788 by the parishioners of the diocese of Lichfield, in aid of the repairs of the cathedral, to the dean and chapter; but he makes no allusion to the word smoke, adding only that in this case the payment went by the name of Chad-pennies, or Chad-farthings, the cathedral there being dedicated to St. Chad.

C.I.R.

Robert Herrick (Vol. i., p. 291.).—MR. MILNER BARRY states that he found an entry of the burial of the poet Herrick in the parish books of Dean Prior. As MR. BARRY seems interested in the poet, I would inform him that a voluminous collection of family letters of early date is now in the possession of William Herrick, Esq., of Beaumanor Park, the present representative of that ancient and honourable house.

JAYTEE.

Guildhalls.—The question in Vol. i., p. 320., relative to guildhalls, provokes an inquiry into guilds. In the erudite and instructive work of Wilda on the Guild System of the Middle Ages (Gildenwesen im Mittelälter) will be found to be stated that guilds were associations of various kinds,—convivial, religions, and mercantile, and so on; and that places of assembly were adopted by them. A guild-house where eating and drinking took place, was to be met with in most villages in early times: and these, I fancy, were the guild-halls. On this head consult Hone's Every-day Book, vol. ii. p. 670., and elsewhere, in connexion with Whitsuntide holidays.

JAYTEE.

Abbé Strickland (Vol. ii., pp. 198. 237.).—The fullest account of the Abbé Strickland, Bishop of Namur, is to be found in Lord Hervey's Memoirs (Vol. i., p. 391.), and a most curious account it is of that profligate intriguer.

C.

Long Lonkin (Vol. ii., pp. 168. 251.).—This ballad does not relate to Cumberland, but to Northumberland. This error was committed by Miss Landon (in the Drawing-room Scrap-book for 1835), to whom a lady of this town communicated the fragment through the medium of a friend. Its real locality is a ruined tower, seated on the corner of an extensive earth-work surrounded by a moat, on the western side of Whittle Dean, near Ovingham. Since this period, I have myself taken down many additional verses from the recitation of the adjacent villagers, and will be happy to afford any further information to your inquirer, SELEUCUS.

G. BOUCHIER RICHARDSON.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sept. 7. 1850.

Havock (Vol. ii., p. 215.).—The presumed object of literary men being the investigation of truth, your correspondent JARLTZBERG will, I trust, pardon me for suggesting that his illustration of the word havock is incomplete, and especially with reference to the line of Shakspeare which he has quoted:

"Cry havock! and let slip the dogs of war."

Grose, in his History of English Armour, vol. ii. p. 62., says that havok was the word given as a signal for the troops to disperse and pillage, as may be learned from the following article in the Droits of the Marshal, vol. ii. p. 229., wherein it is declared, that—

"In the article of plunder, all the sheep and hogs belong to such private soldiers as can take them; and that on the word havok being cried, every one might seize his part; but this probably was only a small part of the licence supposed to be given by the word."

He also refers to the ordinance of Richard II.

In agreeing with your correspondent that the use of this word was the signal for general massacre, unlimited slaughter, and giving no quarter, as well as taking plunder in the manner described above, the omission of which I have to complain is, that, in stating no one was to raise the cry, under penalty of losing his head, he did not add the words, "the king excepted." It was a royal act; and Shakspeare so understood it to be; as will appear from the passage referred to, if fully and fairly quoted:—

"And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Até by his side, come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,

Cry Havock! and let slip the dogs of war."

Julius Cæsar Act iii.

It is not at this moment in my power to assist F.W. with the reference to the history of Bishop Berkeley's giant, though it exists somewhere in print. The subject of the experiment was a healthy boy, who died in the end, in consequence of over-growth, promoted (as far as my recollection serves me) principally by a peculiar diet.

W(1).

Becket's Mother.—I do not pretend to explain the facts mentioned by MR. FOSS (Vol. ii., p. 106.), that the hospital founded in honour of Becket was called "The Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, of Acon;" and that he was himself styled "St. Thomas Acrenis, or of Acre;" but I believe that the true explanation must be one which would not be a hindrance to the rejection of the common story as to the Archbishop's birth. If these titles were intended to connect the Saint with Acre in Syria, they may have originated after the legend had become popular. But it seems to me more likely, that, like some other city churches and chapels, that of St. Thomas got its designation from something quite unconnected with the history of the patron. In particular, I would ask what is the meaning of "St. Nicolas Acons?" And may not the same explanation (whatever it be) serve for "St. Thomas of Acon?" Or the hospital may have been built on some noted "acre" (like Long Acre and Pedlars Acre); and if afterwards churches in other places were consecrated to St. Thomas under the designation "of Acre," (as to which point I have no information), the churches of "our Lady of Loretto," scattered over various countries, will supply a parallel. As to the inference which Mr. Nichols (Pilgrimages, p. 120.) draws from the name Acrensis, that Becket was born at Acre, I must observe that it introduces a theory which is altogether new, and not only opposed to the opinion that the Archbishop was of English or Norman descent on both sides, but essentially contradictory of the legend as to the fair Saracen who came from the East in search of her lover.

J.C.R.

Watching the Sepulchre (Vol. i., pp. 318. 354. 403.).—In the parish books of Leicester various entries respecting the Sepulchre occur. In the year 1546, when a sale took place of the furniture of St. Martin's Church, the "Sepulchre light" was sold to Richard Rainford for 21s. 10d. In the reign of Queen Mary gatherings were made for the "Sepulchre lights;" timber for making the lights cost 5s.; the light itself, 4s.; and painting the Sepulchre, and a cloth for "our lady's altar," cost 1s. 10d. Facts like these might be multiplied.

JAYTEE.

Portraits of Charles I. in Churches (Vol. i., pp. 137. 184.).—In reference to this I have to state, that in the south aisle of the church of St. Martin, in Leicester, a painting of this kind is yet to be seen, or was lately. It was executed by a Mr. Rowley, for 10l., in the year 1686. It represents the monarch in a kneeling attitude.

JAYTEE.

Joachim, the French Ambassador (Vol. ii., p. 229.).—In Rapin's History of England I find this ambassador described as "Jean-Joachim de Passau, Lord of Vaux." This may assist AMICUS.

J.B.C.

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford, whose pleasant gossiping Memorials of Westminster, and History of St. Margaret's Church, are no doubt familiar to many of our readers, is, as an old Wykehamist, collecting information for a "History of Commoners and the Two S. Marie Winton Colleges;" and will feel obliged by lists of illustrious alumni, and any notes, archæological and historical, about that noble school, which will be duly acknowledged.

The Cambrian Archæological Association, which was established in 1846 for the purpose of promoting the study and preservation of the antiquities of Wales and the Marches, held its fourth anniversary meeting in the ancient and picturesque town of Dolgelly, during the week commencing the 26th ultimo. The Association is endeavouring to extend its usefulness by enlarging the number of its members; and as its subscribing members receive in return for their yearly pound, not only the Society's Journal, the Archæologia Cambrensis but also the annual volume of valuable archæological matter published by the Association, we cannot doubt but their exertions will meet the sympathy and patronage of all who take an interest in the national and historical remains of the principality.

The preceding paragraph was scarcely finished when we received proof of the utility of the Association in Mr. Freeman's volume, entitled Remarks on the Architecture of Llandaff Cathedral, with an Essay towards a History of the Fabric—a volume which, as we learn from the preface, had its origin in the observations on some of the more singular peculiarities of the fabric made by the author at the Cardiff meeting of the Association in 1849. These remarks were further developed in a paper in the Archæologia Cambrensis; and have now been expanded into the present descriptive and historical account of a building which, to use Mr. Freeman's words, "in many respects, both of its history and architecture, stands quite alone among English churches." Mr. Freeman's ability to do justice to such a subject is well known: and his work will therefore assuredly find a welcome from the numerous body of students of church architecture now to be found in this country; and to their judgments we leave it.

Notes on Bishop Jeremy Taylor's Works. A reprint being called for of vol. vi. of the present edition of Bishop Taylor's works, the Editor will be glad of any assistance towards verifying the references which have been omitted. The volume is to go to press early in October.

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