S. W. SINGER.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Countess of Pembroke's Epitaph (Vol. iii., p. 307.).

J. H. M.

Court Dress (Vol. iii., p. 407.).

—There are no orders of the Earl Marshal, printed or manuscript, upon the subject of court costume—it is not within his department. It is more likely that the Lord Chamberlain has notices upon the subject. In all cases of court mourning, his lordship specifies the dress, and notifies the changes, not always, however, strictly adopted or comprehended.

Ʒ.

Ex Pede Herculem (Vol. iii., p. 302.).

—The origin of this proverb is to be found, I think, in Plutarch, who is quoted by Aulus Gellius (i. 1.) as saying in substance as follows:

"Pythagoras ingeniously calculated the great stature of Hercules, by comparing the length of various stadia in Greece. All these courses were nominally 600 feet in length, but Hercules was said to have measured out the stadium at Olympia with his own feet, while the others followed a standard of later days. The philosopher argued that by how much the Olympic course exceeded all others in length, by the same proportion did the foot of Hercules exceed that of men of a subsequent age; and again, by the same proportion must the stature of Hercules have been pre-eminent."

(The original is to be found also in Plutarchi Varia Scripta, ed. Tauchnitz, vol. vi. p. 393.)

C. P. PH***.

The Day of the Accession of Richard III. (Vol. iii., p. 351.).

—I have examined the original inrolment of the entry upon the Remembrance Roll ex parte Capitalis Rememoratoris Hiberniæ, of the second year of Richard III., with the fac-simile of that entry which appears in the Irish Record Reports (1810-1815, plate 9.), and I find that the fac-simile is correct. The accession of Richard III. is shown by the entry upon the original record to have taken place on the twenty-sixth day of June. This entry is, as I have stated, upon the roll of the second year of Richard III., and not of the first year, as stated by the said Record Reports, there being no Remembrance or Memoranda Roll of the first year of that monarch to be found amongst the Exchequer Records of Ireland. Upon this subject of Richard III.'s accession, I beg to transmit to you the copy of a regal table which is entered in the Red Book of the Exchequer, probably the most ancient, as well as the most curious, record in Ireland. Judging by the character of the handwriting of this Tabula Regum, I would come to the conclusion, that the entries prior in date to that of Henry VIII.'s reign have been made during the time of that monarch; or, in other words, that this table has probably not been compiled at any time previous to the reign of Henry VIII.

J. F. F.

Nomina Regum [Angliae] post [conquestum] [Willielmi] [Bastardi].

Tennyson's "In Memoriam" (Vol. iii., pp. 142. 227.).

If you can find space for a second suggestion, I think the question will be cleared up by the following extract from the valuable work which I cited before (the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, edited by Dr. W. Smith):

"Eos, Ἠώς, in Latin Aurora, the goddess of the morning red, who brings up the light of day from the east. At the close of night she ascended up to the heaven from the river Oceanus to announce the coming light of the sun to the gods as well as to men. In the Homeric poems, Eos not only announces the coming Helios (the sun), but accompanies him throughout the day, and her career is not complete till the evening: hence she is sometimes mentioned when one would have expected Helios (Od. v. 390. x. 144.); and the tragic writers completely identify her with Hemera (the day), of whom, in later times the same mythes are related as of Eos."

As Aurora rises from the river Oceanus, he may be called her father, and as she sinks into the same, he may be called her grave. The expression then will mean neither more nor less than this, "We returned home before the close of day."

Perhaps Mr. Tennyson had a line of Lycidas running in his mind:

Milton's day-star, however, I take to be the sun himself.

Another of your correspondents, I see, suggests a different interpretation of the "crimson-circled star."

I hope I shall not be considered as taking too great a liberty if I avail myself of the medium of your pages to request Mr. Tennyson (deus ex machinâ) to descend and settle the question.

X. Z.

Cardinal Azzolin (Vol. iii., pp. 370. 371.).

—Cardinal Azzolini was appointed by Alexander VII. Intendant to Queen Christina on her receiving a pension of 12,000 scudi from that Pope. On the withdrawal of this grant by Innocent XI., her majesty wrote a furious letter to the Cardinal, which is one of the most curious pieces contained in a Collection of Letters, edited by M. Matter (Paris, chez Amiot). That a close intimacy existed between the Queen and the Cardinal appears from some allusions in contemporary letters (1685-1687). See M. Valéry's Correspondence de Mabillon et de Montfaucon avec l'Italie (Paris, 1846), vol. i. p. 99.: "La Reine de Suède, grande amie du Cardinal Azzolin" ... vol. ii. p. 83.:

"Il n'y a plus de différend qu'entre le marquis Del Monte et le Cardinal Azzolin [sic], à qui aura meilleure part dans les bonnes grâces de la Reine pendant sa vie, et dans son testament après sa mort."

The editor adds (vol. iii. p. 298.):

"Le Cardinal Azzolini fut le principal héritier de Christine."

C. P. PH***.

Babington's Conspiracy (Vol. iii., p. 390.).

—In Dr. Maitland's Index of English Books in the Lambeth Library will be found the following entry:

"* Babington (Anthony), His Letter to the Queen. No place, printer, or date." The asterisk denotes that it is not mentioned by Herbert in his edition of Ames.

This, I believe, will be a satisfactory answer to J. BT.'s Query.

H. P.

Robert de Welle (Vol. ii., p. 71.).

—Not observing that H. W.'s Query regarding Robert de Welle has as yet been answered, I would refer him to Blomefield's Hist. of Norf., vol. vii. p. 288., edit. 1807, 8vo., where under "Bicham-well" he will find a Robert de Welle, lord of the manor of Well Hall, an. 1326 (20 Edw. II.), which was held under the Earl of Clare, the capital lord. He died circ. 9 Edw. III.

I have met also with a Roger de Welle, in an old roll undated, but about the time of Hen. III., in which he is entered as holding a manor in Wimbotsham, co. Norf.:

Rogerus de Welle tenet manerium suum de Winebodesham cum libero tenemento villanis suis et cotariis ad illud manerium pertinentibus de comite Warenne per servicium quarte partis unius scuti et comes de domino rege in capite, per quale servicium nescimus. Et habet in eodem manerio unum messuagium et unam carucatam terre arabilis et xiiij acras prati in dominico unum molendinum ad ventum liberum tauros et verres eidem manerio pertinentes et facit sectam ad curiam de Castelacre de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas. Et capit amerciamenta pistorum et braciatorum et hoc sine waranto ut credimus. Et clamat habere warennam per cartam domini regis.

The manor passed from him to Ingaldesthorp, under which manor the continuator of Blomefield mentions (vol. vii. p. 517.) that Roger de Frevil in 13 Hen. III. had a carucate of land here. This is probably the same person as Roger de Welle, as it was not uncommon for persons at that period to be known by different designations.

Thomas Knox, M.P. for Dungannon, was created Baron Welles, 1780. H. W. will find the history of the family in Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, by Archdall, vol. vii. p. 195., ed. 1789.

G. H. D.

Family of Sir John Banks (Vol. iii., p. 390.).

Of these only two appear to have left descendants: Sir Ralph Banks, who is the ancestor of the Earl of Falmouth, and Baroness Le Despenser; and of George Bankes, Esq., M. P. for Corfe Castle, his lineal descendant. Mary Banks, third daughter, married Sir Robert Jenkinson, Knt.; and is the ancestor of the Earls of Liverpool and Verulam, of the Countesses of Craven, Clarendon, and Caledon; Viscountess Milton, and Viscountess Folkestone.

Burke's Commoners would probably answer the rest of R. C. H. H.'s Query, or Lysons' Middlesex.

L. H.

Charles Lamb's Epitaph (Vol. iii., p. 322.).

—I can explain to MARIA S. how this epitaph came to be attributed to Wordsworth. The late laureate did write some lines on the occasion of Lamb's death, beginning—

They were composed, the author says,

C. P. PH***.

Quebeça and his Epitaph (Vol. iii., p. 223.).

This epitaph is said, upon the authority of Segrais, to be upon the king of Spain's preceptor, and to be seen at Saragossa. The version of it in my possession differs from that supplied by your correspondent, and is as follows:

"Here lies John Cabeça, preceptor of my lord the king. When he is admitted to the choir of angels, whose society he will embellish by his powers of song, God shall say to the angels, 'Cease, ye calves! and let me hear John Cabeça, the preceptor of my lord the king.'"

J. B. COLMAN.

Eye, March 24. 1851.

The Frozen Horn (Vol. iii., p. 282.).

—The story of the frozen and thawed words in Rabelais' Pantagruel, book iv. c. 55. and 56., is borrowed from a passage in Plutarch's Morals, vol. vi. p. 293., Leipsic, Reiske's edition. I beg to subjoin the Latin translation of this fable of so remote a date:

"Joco enim Antiphanes dixit, in urbe quadam voces illico frigore loci congelare, ac per æstatem, gelu soluto, demum exaudiri, quæ dicta erant hyeme; ita ille quæ adolescentes e Platone audivissent, aiebat, plerosque vix tandem ingravescente ætate intelligere."

C. I. R.

West Chester (Vol. iii., p. 353.).

—JOHN FRANCIS X. asks "why so designated?" Camden will answer him. That antiquary gives the Roman, British, and Saxon names, and adds:

"Nos contractius West Chester ab occidentali situ."—Britannia, edit. 1607, p. 458.

But X. adds:

The writer has the maps and plans of Braun, Hollar, Saxton, Speed, and Blome, before him, but these have "Chester" simply; and does not at present recollect any county map with the prefix mentioned. Perhaps X. will oblige by a reference.

LANCASTRIENSIS.

West Chester (Vol. iii., p. 353.).—So called in contradistinction to Chester-le-Street, Chester Magna, Chester Parva, Chesterfield, Chesterton, and a hundred other Chesters throughout England. To be sent to West Chester (frequently so called in the beginning of the last century), was to be sent into banishment, i. e. into Ireland; of which Chester was in those days the usual, and indeed almost the only, route.

C.

Registry of Dissenters (Vol. iii., p. 370.).

—I beg to inform D. X. that I have met with several instances of Dissenters' burials being entered in parish registers, at a time when a more amicable feeling than now exists prevailed between churchmen and themselves. In the register of Warbleton, co. Sussex, in particular, there are several entries of Quakers who were buried in their own cemetery in that parish, about 150 years since.

M. A. LOWER.

Lewes.

Registry of Ministerial Offices performed by Dissenters (Vol. iii., p. 370.).—The note of D. X. has led me to examine the baptismal registers of Ecclesfield parish, and I find on the parchment fly-leaf of the book which contains the baptisms, that date from nearly the beginning of the seventeenth century, the following heading—"Births of the children of some Dissenters enter'd as given." Then comes a list of the names of fourteen children, with the dates of their births; and, after several miscellaneous entries of baptisms, I find,

"January 3. 1750-1, Samuel, son of Thomas Sayles, said to be baptised at Sheffield by ye Popish priest."

The enrolment of births is, no doubt, quite improper. But the entering of dissenting baptisms in the parish register (mentioned by D. X.) would not, I think, be equally open to reprobation; inasmuch as the registering has always been of baptisms in the parish, and not merely in the church. Hence, if dissenting baptism be, as no doubt it is, a valid title to burial by the clergyman, he might, not unreasonably, be disposed to keep a list of such irregular administrations. That the law has regarded them as irregular, is evident from the fact, that when in 1812 an act was passed "for the better regulating and preserving parish and other registers of births, baptisms, marriages, and burials in England," the 146th chap. of the same distinctly declares, that when a baptism is performed by any other than the licensed minister of the parish, the certificate of its performance must state that it was "according to the rites of the United Church of England and Ireland." No dissenting baptism, therefore, could now be registered by the clergyman.

In our burial register there is a slip of paper pinned, with this inscription upon it:

"These are to certify that the remains of Ann, the wife of Thomas Ellis, was buried in the Methodist chapel-yard in Ecclesfield, the 5th day of November, 1826, aged (about) seventy-three."

The poor woman chose to lie apart from her "rude forefathers;" and she has continued to be the solitary tenant of the small enclosure round the chapel. It seems, however, that her friends did the best they could towards preserving her name on the list of those who sleep in the consecrated cemetery.

ALFRED GATTY.

Poem on the Grave (Vol. iii., p. 372.).

—A correspondent in your No. of May 10th, signed A. D., wishes to be informed of the author of "The Grave," a very beautiful poem; and he gives a portion of it thus:—

(From what I remember of the poem, this stanza flows on thus):—

This poem extends to fifteen or twenty stanzas, and is exquisite in its imagery, and peculiarly forcible (its author was a Russian, I think Derzhavin), and in its original language might compare with the works of the most polished poetry of advanced nations. It can be found translated in Bowring's Russian Anthology, 12mo., published about 1824: where also will be found some beautiful translations from Lomonosoff, "Or Broken Nose," and other Russian poets. Derzhavin also has his grandest poem on God, translated there: this poem is popular in no less than thirty-six languages, and is familiar to the Chinese and Tartar nations, and even as far as Southern India. I give the exordium, which is noble:—

And in a further portion of the poem, describing Heaven as the abode of God, he speaks thus:

I think I have quoted sufficient to direct A. D.'s attention to the northern poets, who, though few in number, make up their deficiency in quantity by the sterling and magnificent quality of their works.

GREGORY BATEMAN.

Tansor Rectory, near Oundle, Northamptonshire,
May 15. 1851.

The poem inquired for by A. D. is copied in an album in my possession "from Bowring's translation of Russian Poetry," and is entitled "The Churchyard."

J. R. PLANCHÉ.

Round Robin (Vol. iii., p. 353.).

—The "little predie round-robin," mentioned by Dr. Heylin, was no doubt a small pancake. (See Halliwell's Archaic and Provincial Dictionary, under "Round Robin.")

Of the derivation of the petition also called a round robin, I find the following account in the Imperial Dictionary:—

"ROUND ROBIN, n. [Fr. rond and ruban.] A written petition, memorial, or remonstrance signed by names in a ring or circle. The phrase is originally derived from a custom of the French officers, who, in signing a remonstrance to their superiors, wrote their names in a circular form so that it might be impossible to ascertain who had headed the list. It is now used to signify an act by which a certain number of individuals bind themselves to pursue a certain line of conduct."

The round robin sent to Dr. Johnson on the subject of his epitaph on Goldsmith is well known. In speaking of it Boswell states that the sailors make use of it "when they enter into a conspiracy, so as not to let it be known who puts his name first or last to the paper."

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, May 3. 1851.

Derivation of the Word "Yankee" (Vol. iii., p. 260.).

—Your correspondent J. M., and M. Philarète Charles, are both incorrect in saying that this derivation is not given in any English or American work. In the Poetical Works of John Trumbull, LL.D., published at Hartford (U.S.), 1820, in two volumes, in the Appendix, appears the following Note:

"Yankies.—The first settlers of New England were mostly emigrants from London and its vicinity, and exclusively styled themselves the English. The Indians, in attempting to utter the word English, with their broad guttural accent, gave it a sound which would be nearly represented in this way, Yaunghees; the letter g being pronounced hard, and approaching to the sound of k joined with a strong aspirate, like the Hebrew cheth, or the Greek chi, and the l suppressed, as almost impossible to be distinctly heard in that combination. The Dutch settlers on the river Hudson and the adjacent country, during their long contest concerning the right of territory, adopted the name, and applied it in contempt to the inhabitants of New England. The British of the lower class have since extended it to all the people of the United States. This seems the most probable origin of the term. The pretended Indian tribe of Yankoos does not appear to have ever had an existence; as little can we believe in an etymological derivation of the word from ancient Scythia or Siberia, or that it was ever the name of a horde of savages in any part of the world."

I some time ago thought of sending you a copy of this "Note," but had forgotten it, until recalled to my memory by reading J. M.'s extract.

T. H. KERSLEY, A.B.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

Yankee—Yankee-doodle (Vol. iii., p. 260.).—In a curious book on the Round Towers of Ireland (I forget the title), the origin of the term Yankee-doodle was traced to the Persian phrase, "Yanki dooniah," or "Inhabitants of the New World." Layard, in his book on Nineveh and its Remains, also mentions "Yanghi-dunia" as the Persian name of America.

BENBOW.

Birmingham.

Yankee.—The following lines from a poem, written in England by the Rev. James Cook Richmond, of Providence, Rhode Island, and dated Sept. 7, 1848, gives the derivation of this word:—

M. Philarète Charles then has too hastily concluded that this etymology is not given in "aucun ouvrage américain ou anglais," and has supplied us with a surprising coincidence, since he appears to have fairly translated the first two lines, viz.: "Les Anglais, quand ils se moquent des Yankies, se moquent d'eux-mêmes."

W. DN.

Letters on the British Museum (Vol. iii., pp. 208. 261.).

Your correspondent's Query as to the author of these letters, published by Dodsley in 1767, 12mo., has not yet been answered. The author's name was Alexander Thomson. It is inserted in manuscript in two copies of this work which I possess. I have also seen the assignment of the copyright to Dodsley, in which the same name occurs as that of the author.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

Names of the Ferret (Vol. iii., p. 390.).

—The name by which the male ferret is known in the midland counties is the hob: the female is called the jill. In that district there is a saying current, which is applied to the human genus:

In Welsh, the name of the ferret is ffured, which means a wily, crafty creature.

A RATCATCHER.

Anonymous Ravennas (Vol. i., p. 124.).

"Paucis abhinc diebus prodiit ab uno e nostris erutus in lucem Anonymus Ravennas, qui ante annos circiter mille de Geographia scripsit libros quinque. [Michel Germain à Gattola, Dec. 31. 1686.] Je vous destine un volume in 8vo. que notre cher Dom. Placide Porcheron vient de donner au public, c'est un Anonyme de Ravenne, Goth ou Grec de naissance, qui vivait il y a mille ans ... [the same, to Magliabechi, Jan. 10. 1687.]"

The editor gives the date 1688, and the form 4to., for this book; the date is evidently a misprint.

C. P. PH***.

The Lion, a Symbol of the Resurrection (Vol. i., pp. 385. 472.).

—As JARLTZBERG has not replied to MR. EASTWOOD'S Query, permit me to refer the latter to Sacred Latin Poetry Selected, by R. C. Trench, London, 1849, pp. 67. 152. 153.:

"The Middle-Age legend, that the lion's whelps were born dead and first roused to life on the third day by the roar of their sire, was often alluded to in connexion with, and as a natural type of the Resurrection. Adam de S. Victore (De SS. Evangelistis, verse 25.):