"Lord Angelo is pressis,
Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confesses," &c.;
the double ending rhyme giving it the air of burlesque. The appropriateness of precise, moreover, depends chiefly upon its being assumed to express the quality of a precision, which has not only not been proved, but which I am inclined very much to doubt.
Has it not been a true instinct that has guided the early English commentators to the choice of words of the form of "princely," "priestly," and myself to "saintly," and do not the two passages taken together require this form in reference to a character such as that of a prince, a priest, or a saint? For instance, the term pious might be applied to Angelo, equally well with priestly or saintly; but it could not correctly be applied to garb or vestments, while either of the latter could.
In what respect is the "cunning" of the "livery of hell" shown, if "the damnedst body" be not invested in "guards" of the most opposite character? Shakspeare never exactly repeats himself, though we frequently find the same idea varied in form and differently applied. The following passage from Othello, Act II. Sc. 3., appears to be intended to convey the same idea as the one in question, and thus strengthens the opinion that, if not saintly, one of like form and meaning was intended:
"Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now."
Any of your readers who are acquainted with the common careless handwriting in use at the time, will greatly oblige by informing me if it be beyond likelihood that a word commencing with the letter s should have been read as though it began with p.
I have no intention of continuing the contest on the meaning of "eisell," nor should I have felt it necessary to notice the remarks of J. S. W. in No. 91., had they been avowedly in opposition to mine and MR. SINGER'S. But when the advocate assumes the ermine, and proceeds to sum up the evidence and pass judgment, I feel it only right that those points in which he has misrepresented my argument should not be passed over. I did not say "that the word cannot mean a river because the definite article is omitted before it." What I did say was, that "English idiom requires an article unless it be personified." Milton's lines merely confirm this, though I am willing to admit that the argument is of little weight When, however, J. S. W. expresses his surprise that "a gentleman who exhorts," &c., had not looked to the general drift of the passage, I fancy he cannot have read my first observations with regard to it, in which I say "the idea of the passage appears to be," &c. What is this but the "general drift?" Before finally leaving this subject, allow me to explain, that, in objecting to the terms "mere verbiage" and "extravagant rant" of a correspondent, I took them together. I included the latter perhaps hastily. But, however "extravagant" the "rant" of his real or assumed madmen may be, I am satisfied that there is no "mere verbiage" to be found in Shakspeare.
SAMUEL HICKSON.
Some years ago, in the library of a noble earl in the north of England, I met with a "fair and perfect" copy of this rare book. The following is a list of the plates which it contained:—
The copy here described contains the "folding plate" mentioned by your correspondent; and as it was a presentation copy from the Earl of Egmont to Earl Ferrers, the presumption is that it is an unmutilated one.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
In answer to the Query of your correspondent H.T.E., I beg to state that the folding map of part of the estate of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont, does occur in my copy of The House of Yvery, at page 92. of the first volume. Lowndes, in his list of the plates, assigns this map to the second volume; but its proper place is as above. Perhaps this mistake of Lowndes may have given rise to the doubt as to the existence of this map; but I suppose any copy of the work without it must be considered imperfect.
J. H.
I am sure that you will not be sorry to hear that "NOTES AND QUERIES" is a great favourite with young people; and I hope you will have no objection to encourage our "pursuits of literature" by admitting into your delightful miscellany this little contribution.
I have been reading Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest these holidays; and when I saw MR. BREEN'S Queries respecting St. Gregory and Queen Brunéhaut, I remembered that the historian had mentioned them. On referring to the passage, at p. 11. of the translation published by Whittaker and Co., 1843, I found that (1.) "Le Saint Pape Grégoire," who "donna des éloges de gloire" to Queen Brunéhaut, was Gregory the Great;—that (2.) This illustrious Pope did actually degrade himself by flattering the bad queen;—and (3.) That the proof of his having done so is to be found in a passage of one of Gregory's letters given by Thierry, and appearing in the foot-note "12" at p. 11. of Messrs. Whittaker's edition, as follows:
"Excellentia ergo vestræ quæ proba in bonis consuevit esse operibus."—"In omnipotentis Dei timore, excelleltiæ vestræ mens soliditate firmata."—Epist. Greg. Papæ, apud Script. rer. Gallic. et Francic., tom. iv. p. 21.
EDITH C.
Preston, Aug. 1851.
It is, I think, indisputable that the St. Gregory commemorated on the tomb of Brunéhaut is Pope Gregory the Great. Among his Letters are several addressed to the Frankish queen, betokening the unqualified esteem in which she was held by the Roman pontiff. See Gregor. Opp. (tom. ii., edit. Paris, 1586), Lib. v. Indict. xiv. ep. 5; Lib. vii. Indict. i. ep. 5.; Lib. ix. Indict. vi. ep. 8.; Lib. xi. Indict. vi. ep. 8. I will give a short specimen from the first and last Letters:
"Excellentiæ vestræ prædicandam ac Deo placitam bonitatem et gubernacula regni testantur et educatio fidel manifestat."—Col. 766.
"Inter alia bona hoc apud vos præ ceteris tenet principatum, quod in mediis hujus mundi fluctibus, qui regentis animos turbulenta solent vexatione confundere, ita cor ad Divini cultus amorem et venerabilium locorum disponendam quietam reducitis ac si vos nulla alia cura sollicitet."—Col. 1061.
Much to her merit, in the eyes of Gregory, arose from her abjuration of Arianism, and the patronage she extended to religious houses. At the same time, it is impossible to acquit her of the serious charges under which she labours.
"Elle est diffamée," says Moreri, "dans les écrits des autres auteurs, par sa cruauté, sa vengeance, son avarice, et son impudicité."
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
I entirely dissent from your correspondent's statements that "the Lord Mayor is no more a privy councillor than he is Archbishop of Canterbury." First, as to the argument on which your correspondent's conclusion is founded. He assumes first that the title of Lord is a mere courtesy title; and, secondly, that it is because of this courtesy title that the Mayor is deemed a privy councillor. The second assumption is the erroneous one. It is not necessary to have the courtesy title of Lord in order to be a privy councillor; nor are all courtesy lords styled Right Honorables. Your correspondent's assertion in this respect is a curious blunder, which every day's experience contradicts. No one styles a courtesy Lord "Right Honorable" except such persons as will persist in the equally absurd blunder of calling a Marquis "Most Noble." The Boards of the Treasury and Admiralty are not designated "Right Honorable" merely because of the courtesy title of "Lord" being attached to their corporate name, but because these Boards are respectively the equivalents of the Lord High Treasurer and Lord High Admiral, each of whom was always a member of the sovereign's Council. No individual member of the Board is, by membership, "Right Hon." Your correspondent's precedent is equally inconclusive on the subject. He says, "Mr. Harley, when (1768) Lord Mayor of London, was sworn of His Majesty's most honorable Privy Council." This precedent does not prove the argument; and for this simple reason, that the individual who holds the office is not "Right Honorable," but the officer is. Mr. Harley was not, as an individual, a privy councillor, till he was made one: he could only have appeared in council as "the Lord Mayor," and not as "Mr. Harley." The description, therefore, of "The Right Honorable A. B., Lord Mayor," which has probably misled your correspondent, is, like the "Most Noble the Marquis," a blunder of ignorant flattery; the correct description being "A. B., the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor:" or rather, the A. B. ought to be suppressed, except the individual, for a particular reason, is to be personally designated, and the style should be written, "The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor." This distinction between the officer and the man is almost universal in our system. Our Judges are Lords in court (yet, by-the-bye, this courtesy "Lord" does not give any one of them at any time the title of Right Honorable, another instance of the fallacy of your correspondent's reasoning), and they are Sirs in individual designation. In Scotland the Judges assume the titles of Baronies during their tenure of office, but become mere Esquires on surrender of it. The Lord Mayor is always summoned to the council on the accession of a new sovereign, and was formerly, when his office was of greater practical importance than at present, accustomed to put his name very high on the list of signatures attached to the declaration of accession. A commoner might by the bare delivery of the great seal become "Lord" in the Court of Chancery, and be the President of the House of Lords, where he would sit by virtue of his office, without having any title to speak or vote. Mr. Henry Brougham did so for one if not two nights before his patent of peerage was completed. The same distinction between officer and individual applies to the Lord Mayor, who is Right Honorable as Lord Mayor, but in no other way whatever.
L. M.
The poet's family was originally of Stroode in Slinfold, Sussex, not Kent, as Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chan., vol. iv. p. 258.) states, and spelt their names Cooper. The first person who altered the spelling was John Cooper of London, father of the first baronet, and he probably adopted the spelling in affectation of the Norman spelling; the family having in those days been styled Le Cupere, Cuper, and Coupre in Norman-French, and Cuparius in Latin, as may be seen by the grants made to Battle Abbey. The pronunciation was never changed. All the Sussex branches continued the spelling of Cooper until the time of Henry Cowper of Stroode, who died 1706. In Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors (p. 259.) the first letter is signed "William Cooper."
W. D. COOPER.
Cowper.—There is an affectation in the present day for pronouncing words, not only contrary to established usage, but in defiance of orthography. The Bar furnishes one example, and "polite society" the other. By the former, a judge on the bench is called, instead of "My Lord" and "His Lordship," "My Lud" and "His Ludship;" and in the latter, Cowper is metamorphosed into Cooper. Now, I fancy that "My Lord" is a vast deal more euphonious than "My Lud" and Cowper, as Shakspeare has it, "becomes the mouth as well" as Cooper. We don't speak of getting milk from the coo, but from the cow; and Cow being the first syllable of the poet's name should not be tortured into Coo, in compliment to a nonsensical fastidiousness, whoever may have set the example. As Cowper the poet has been hitherto known, and by that name will be cherished by posterity. John Kemble, the great actor, I remember, tried to alter the pronunciation of Rome to room, and was laughed at for his pains, though he had the authority of a pun of the bard's own for the change: "Old Rome and room enough." But Shakspeare was but an indifferent punster at the best, as is proved by Falstaff's refusing to give a reason on compulsion, even though "reasons were as plentiful as blackberries;" corrupting raisin into reason, for his purpose, which is as far-fetched as any instance of the kind on record, I think. But I digress, and beg pardon for running so away from the cow.
JOHN BULL.
Lord Campbell, in his entertaining Lives of the Chief Justices, says, in paragraph introductory to the life of Sir Edward Coke:
"As the name does not correspond very aptly with the notion of their having come over with the Conqueror, it has been derived from the British word 'Cock' or 'Coke' a 'Chief;' but, like 'Butler,' 'Taylor,' and other names now ennobled, it much more probably took its origin from the occupation of the founder of the race at the period when surnames were first adapted in England. Even in Queen Elizabeth's reign, as well as that of James I., Sir Edward's name was frequently spelt 'Cook.' Lady Hatton, his second wife, who would not assume it, adopted this spelling in writing to him, and according to this spelling, it has invariably been pronounced."
Lord Campbell, who seems rather fond of such speculations, however, in the case of Lord Cowper does not give the etymology of the name. But he gives a letter written from school by the subsequent chancellor, in which he signs his name "William Cooper." However, elsewhere, in a note he speaks of the propensity evinced by those who have risen to wealth and station to obliterate the trace of their origin by dropping, adding, or altering letters and among them he mentions "Cowper" as having its origin in "Cooper." Mr. Mark Antony Lower, too, in his Essay on English Surnames, classes Cowper among the surnames derived from trade. Possibly, therefore, notwithstanding the alteration, the original pronunciation has been continued.
TEE BEE.
—I have four varieties of this coin:
1. The one which J. N. C. describes, and which is engraved by Lindsay, in his work on the coinage of Ireland, and is considered the rarest type.
2. A precisely similar type, with the exception that the "P" is beneath, instead of being on the side of the portrait.
3. A more youthful portrait, and of smaller size than the preceding, and a trifle better executed. It wants the "P" altogether, and has for "MM." a small quatrefoil. The engrailing also very different.
4. A totally different, and older portrait than any of the preceding. "MM." and engrailing the same as No. 3., and it also wants the "P."
The reverses of all four appear to differ only in very minute particulars. Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, vol. ii. p. 127., after stating that the Irish halfpence and farthings were all coined in the Tower, and then sent to Ireland, there being no mint in that country, remarks—
"In 1760, however, there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland; upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and 'VOCE POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater resemblance to the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left in doubt. Some say that these pieces were issued without any leave being asked or obtained."
E. S. TAYLOR.
I would have referred J. N. C. to either Pinkerton or Lindsay, where he would find a full account about his Irish halfpenny, but as he may not possess a numismatic library, perhaps you will allow me to trouble you with the extracts. Pinkerton says:
"In 1760 there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and 'VOCE POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater resemblance to the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left to doubt."
Pinkerton does not here specially refer to the type, where "the letter P is close to the nose:" but if J. N. C. can turn to Lindsay's Coinage of Ireland, 1839, he will find his coin engraved in the fifth supplementary plate, No. 16., and in the advertisement, p. 139., the following remarks on it:
"This curious variety of the 'voce populi' halfpence exhibits a P before the face, and illustrates Pinkerton's remark that the portrait on these coins seems intended for that of the Pretender: it is a very neat coin, perhaps a pattern."
BLOWEN.
—The sign is of greater antiquity than may be expected. See Cocke Lorelle's Bote:—
"Also Annys Angry with the croked buttocke
That dwelled at ye synge Of ye dogges hede in ye pot.
By her crafte a breche maker."
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby de la Zouch.
—As no one has hitherto appropriated these fine lines, as to the author of which your correspondent inquires, I may mention that they are taken from the "Chorus Sacerdotum," at the end of Lord Brook's Mustapha. (See his Works, fol. 1633, p. 159.) The chorus is worth quoting entire:
"O wearisome condition of humanity!
Borne under one Law, to another bound:
Vainely begot, and yet forbidden vanity;
Created sick, commanded to be sound:
What meaneth Nature by these diverse Lawes?
Passion and reason self division cause.
Is it the mark or majesty of power
To make offences that it may forgive?
Nature herself doth her own self defloure
To hate those Errors she herself doth give.
For how should Man think that he may not do
If Nature did not fail and punish too?
Tyrant to others, to herself unjust,
Only commands things difficult and hard,
Forbids us all things, which it knows is lust,
Makes easy pains, impossible reward.
If Nature did not take delight in blood,
She would have made more easy ways to good.
We that are bound by vows and by promotion,
With pomp of holy sacrifice and rites,
To teach belief in good and still devotion,
To preach of Heaven's wonders and delights;
Yet when each of us in his own heart looks,
He finds the God there far unlike his Books."
I should like to see a collected edition of the works of the two noble Grevilles, Fulke and Robert, Lords Brook; the first the friend of Sir Philip Sidney, the second the honoured of Milton. The little treatise on Truth of the latter, which Wallis answered in his Truth Tried, is amply sufficient to prove that he possessed powers of no common order.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
—The work referred to by your correspondents is so manifestly not the Composition of John Bunyan that it is extraordinary that the title-page, which was evidently adopted to get off the book, should ever have imposed upon anybody. The question, however, put by your correspondents F. R. A. and N. H., as to who G. L. was, has not yet been answered. The person referred to by these initials is the real author of the book, who was George Larkin, a printer and author, and great ally and friend of the redoubted John Dunton, who gives a long character of him, in his Life and Errors, in his enumeration of London printers. (See Life and Errors, edit. 1705, p. 326.)
"Mr. Larkin, Senior—He has been my acquaintance for Twenty years, and the first printer I had in London. He formerly writ a Vision of Heaven, &c. (which contains many nice and curious thoughts), and has lately published an ingenious Essay on the noble Art and Mystery of Printing. Mr. Larkin is my alter ego, or rather my very self in a better edition."
The book itself was first published about 1690, and went through many editions in the early part of the last century.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
—I am much obliged to MR. CROSSLEY for having corrected the error (for which I cannot account) in the title of the pamphlet in question, which was certainly not by "the author of the Critical History of England," and certainly was by Dennis, as is marked by Pope's own hand in the copy now before me. As MR. CROSSLEY puts hypothetically the correctness of my quotation, I subjoin the whole passages.
"After having been for fifteen years as it were an imitator, he has made no proficiency. His first imitations, though bad, are rather better than the succeeding, and this last Imitation of HORACE the most execrable of them all."—P. 7.
Again:
"An extravagant libel, ridiculously called an imitation of Horace."—P. 11.
And again:
"Of all these libellers the present Imitator is the most impudent and incorrigible."—P. 15.
MR. CROSSLEY says he has a fragment of the "Imitation of the second satire of the first book of Horace," published by Curll in 1716. This, which I never saw, nor before heard of, would solve the difficulty; and I respectfully request MR. CROSSLEY to favour us with a transcript of the title-page, which is the more desirable, because all Pope's biographers, and indeed he himself (to Spence), have attributed his first imitation of Horace to a much later date, certainly subsequent to 1723. The imitation, therefore, of that satire of Horace, printed in 1716 by Curll, is valuable as to Pope's history, and great curiosity and as MR. CROSSLEY states that Lady Mary is not mentioned in that edition, I am curious to know how Pope managed the rhyme now made by her name.
MR. CROSSLEY adds that this imitation was reproduced in "folio, printed by J. Boreman about 1734, with some alterations from the former edition." Would it be trespassing too much on your space and his kindness, to request him to give us a few specimens of the alterations, particularly the "change of initials" which MR. CROSSLEY mentions. MR. CROSSLEY seems to think that this poem was not reprinted after the folio in 1734, till it appeared in a supplement to Cooper's edition in 1756. This is a mistake. It was published by Pope himself, with his other imitations of Horace, in the collection of his works by Dodsley in 1738; and though only entitled "in the manner of Mr. Pope,", excited very natural surprise and disgust. His having deliberately embodied it in the general collection of his works, is Warton's only excuse for having reproduced it.
C.
—In accordance with the wish of your correspondent SPERIEND, I have examined the series of early editors of this celebrated astrologer in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the following is the result of my inquiries.
The earliest edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not to be found in any library in Paris, but was published in 1555 (so says the latest account of the prophet, by M. Eugène Bareste) but contains little more than three centuries (or cantos, as they might be called) of prophecies; each century containing a hundred quatrains. The next edition, which before the French Revolution belonged to the Benedictines of St. Maur, is entitled:
"Les Prophéties de M. Michel Nostradamus, dont il y en a trois cens qui n'ont encore jamais esté imprimées. Adjoustées de nouveau par ledict Autheur. A Lyon, chez Pierre Rigaud, rue Mercière, au coing de rue Ferrandière. Avec permission."
It has, in MS., on the title-page, "1555 et 1558." M. Bareste says of this edition:
"On prétend qu'elle est de 1558; mais nous ne le pensons pas, car elle a été probablement faite l'année même de la mort de l'auteur, c'est à dire, en 1566."
However, as there is no known edition between 1555, the date of the first, and 1566, this doubtless is the earliest containing the ninth century; and at No. 49. of this century is to be seen the following quatrain:
"Gand et Bruceles marcheront contre Anvers, Sénat de Londres mettront à mort leur Roy; Le sel et vin luy seront à l'envers, Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy."
I can find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1572; but in the editions of 1605, 1629, 1649, and 1650, the prophecy is given as above, almost letter for letter, so that there can be no doubt it was not first known in that form in 1672. As to the number of this quatrain agreeing with the year of King Charles's death, it is most probably an accident; for out of the nine hundred and odd quatrains composing the twelve centuries (the 7th, 11th, and 12th being imperfect), and which are nearly all regularly numbered, it is, I believe, the only one in which this singularity occurs. On the fly-leaf of a copy of Nostradamus in the Bibliothèque de Ste Geneviève (dated 1568, but really printed in 1649), I found, in an old handwriting, a couplet that may be new to the English admirer of the astrologer:
"Falsa damus cum Nostra damus, nam fallere nostrum est
Et cum nostra damus, non nisi Falsa damus."
If SPERIEND wishes for more information on the subject of the life and works of Nostradamus, I should recommend him to look at the work I have quoted above, which treats very fully on all matters connected with this "vaticinating worthy." It is entitled Nostradamus, par Eugène Bareste: Paris, 1840, and will doubtless be found in the British Museum.
H. C. DE ST. CROIX.
I have an edition of 1605 of these prophecies, Revueës et corrigées sur la coppie imprimée à Lyon, par Benoist Rigaud, 1586, but without place or printer's name. It contains (century nine, stanza 49.), the quatrain quoted by SPERIEND.
The following quatrain may be thought to apply to Cromwell (century eight, stanza 76.):
"Plus Macelin que Roy en Angleterre,
Dieu obscur nay par force aura l'empire:
Lasche sans foy sans loy Seignera terre,
Son temps s'aproche si près que je souspire."
The edition of 1605 does not contain the line quoted by SPERIEND, "Sénat de Londres," &c.; nor any address "A mes Imprimeurs de Hongrie;" but, in addition to the ten centuries contained in the edition of 1568 (the original edition), it contains the eleventh and twelfth centuries; also 141 stanzas of additional "Presages, tirez de ceux faicts par M. Nostradamus en années 1555 et suivantes jusques en 1567:" and 58 "Predictions Admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siecle, Recueillies des Memoires du feu M. Nostradamus, par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire en Languedoc, dès le 19 Mars, 1605, au Chateau de Chantilly."
My edition is not mentioned by Brunet nor in any of the French Catalogues that I have been able to consult.
R. J. R.
—The following is an extract from a review in the Gentleman's Magazine of Dec. 1849, of the Life of Shirley; it may be interesting as explaining some part of the verse in the game of "Thread the Needle:"
"Lord Nugent, when at Hebron, was directed to go out by the needle's eye, that is, by the small gate of the city; and in many parts of England, the old game of thread the needle is played to the following words:
"'How many miles to Hebron?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by midnight?
Yes, and back again.
Then thread the needle,' &c.
"Now this explains and modifies one of the strongest and most startling passages of Scripture, on the subject of riches; for the camel can go through the needle's eye but with difficulty, and hardly with a full load, nor without stooping."
The above was copied out from the magazine on account of its explaining the camel and the needle's eye: it does not tell much upon the Query concerning the game of "Thread the Needle;" but it may be interesting, and so is sent with pleasure by
E. F.
P.S. A friend suggests, could the game have come from the Crusades?
A line of players, the longer the better, hold hands and one end of the line, which thus becomes almost a circle, runs and drags the rest of the line after it through the arch made by the uplifted arms of the first couple of the other end of the line—a process nearly enough resembling threading a needle. There are subsequent evolutions by which each couple becomes in succession the eye of the needle.
C.
—Those of your readers who know that I am connected with Billingsgate market would look to me for the reply to R. J. R.'s Query. I must therefore inform them that only thirty or forty years back salmon were taken in rather large quantities in the Thames; but since the introduction of steam-boats and the increase of traffic, the fish have gradually, I might say suddenly, disappeared, for during the last twenty years very few salmon indeed have been taken: those that found their way to market have realised high prices; not that Thames salmon was ever esteemed for its flavour, but only for its extreme rarity of late years.
The hindrance to salmon taking the Thames is the steam-boat and other traffic, which, agitating the water, frightens them (they being a very timid fish), and stirs up the mud, which chokes them; for there is no doubt that ever after a salmon enters a river, it lives by suction. It is possible that one or two salmon a season even make up our river now, for becoming frightened, and rushing on having back and head nearly out of water, and the tide with them, they would get a long way in a night, and possible reach clear water above bridge with life, but in a very weak state. I believe that, under the most favourable circumstances, salmon would not again frequent the Thames in any large quantities, it being too southern; and there is no doubt but that the fish have been fast decreasing of late years, for some of the best rivers in the north are now without salmon.
BLOWEN.
Billingsgate.
—The insect which J. E. found on the Linaria minor is probably either the Euphitecia Linariata or E. Pulchellata. The former species is known to feed on Toad flax, and there is little doubt that the latter does also. If J. E. found any of the caterpillars he may identify them by referring to Westwood's British Moths, vol ii. p. 59., where the caterpillar of Euphitecia Linariata is engraved and described as "yellow or greenish, with dark chesnut spots on the back and sides."
B. P. D. E.
—The editor of the Christian Poet referred to in a paragraph signed S. T. D. has not the School of the Heart by Quarles at hand, and cannot now examine whether the two small pieces quoted in the former volume under the name of Thomas Harvey from SCHOLA CORDIS in forty-seven emblems, 1647, belong to one or the other writer. The only authority, from which he recollects to have gathered them, he believes to be Sir Egerton Brydges' Censura Literaria, or his Restituta, which are very voluminous and miscellaneous, and are at present beyond his research. From internal evidence, he thinks the two poems are not by Quarles, though not unworthy of him in his best vein.
J. M. G.
Hallamshire.
P.S. Since the foregoing note was written, I have found the copy of Sir E. Brydge's Restituta, from which I copied the extract of Schola Cordis, in the Christian Poet.
"Schola Cordis: or the Heart of itself gone away from God, brought back again to Him, and instructed by Him. In 47 Emblems. 1647. 12mo. pp. 196."
Inscribed, without a signature,
"To the Divine Majestie of the onely-begotten, eternall, well-beloved Son of God and Saviour of the World, Christ Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords; the Maker, the Mender, the Searcher, and the Teacher of
The Heart:
the Meanest of his most unworthy Servants
offers up this poore Account of his Thoughts,
humbly begging pardon for all that is
amisse in them, and a gracious
acceptance of these weak endeavours
for the Advancement of his
Honour in the Good of others."
The third edition, dated 1675, ascribes these emblems to the author of The Synagogue, annexed to Herbert's Poems. This, according to Sir John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton's Angler, was Christopher Harvie: but Wood, in his Athenæ, positively affirms that the author of The Synagogue, in imitation of the divine Herbert, was Thomas Harvey, M.A., and first Master of Kingston School in Herefordshire. To him, therefore (adds Sir Egerton Brydges), we may presume to assign it, until a stronger testimony shall dispossess him of a tenure, which reflects honourable reputation on the copiousness of his fancy and the piety of his mind.
—I agree with MR. BREEN that this inscription on the tomb of Margaret of Austria, in the beautiful church of Brou, is "somewhat enigmatical," a literal translation failing entirely to make sense of it. But perhaps MR. BREEN may be willing to accept the interpretation offered by a writer in the Magasin Pittoresque for 1850, where, describing the monuments in the church of Notre Dame de Brou (p. 22.), he says:
"Cette légende bizarre est assez difficile à expliquer, si l'on ne regarde pas le mot infortune comme un verbe. Avec cette hypothèse, la devise signifierait: 'La fortune a rendu une personne très-malheureuse?' Cette explication est d'autant plus plausible que la vie de Marguérite d'Autriche fut affligée de bien de revers. Destinée à regner sur la France, elle est répudiée par Charles VIII., son fiancé; elle épouse le fils du roi d'Aragon, qui la laisse bientôt veuve avec un fils qu'elle a aussi la douleur de perdre peu après; enfin, remariée à Philibert le Beau, elle le voit mourir au printemps de son âge."
There is little doubt, I think that the inscription was meant to typify the misfortunes of Margaret; but the preceding solution is still, in a grammatical point of view, unsatisfactory. If fort could be transposed to fait, the reading would be simple enough; but in these cases we are bound to take the inscriptions as we find them, and the Rebus in stone was the especial delight of the sculptors of the fifteenth century.
D. C.
St. John's Wood, July 28. 1851.
—Ackey weights were, and I believe are, used on the Guinea Coast for weighing gold dust: 1 ackey=20-1/32 grains Troy. The Ackey Trade must be, I suppose, the African gold dust trade.
W. T.
—H. A. B. asks at the end of his Note, "Why a coruscation of joy, upon a wedding day, should forebode evil?" and "Whether any other instances are on record of its so doing?"
As these questions have remained unanswered for some weeks, I am tempted to suggest that your correspondent may have laid too much stress on the fact of the joy having been expressed at a wedding, and that the passage he quoted from Miss Benger's Memoirs of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, may be simply an allusion to the old belief (still more or less prevalent) of "high spirits being a presage of impending calamity or of death." (See Vol. ii., pp. 84. 150.)
The late Miss Landon, in one of her novels, furnishes an additional notice of this belief:
"The ex-queen of Sweden has had one of the gentlemen of her suite put to death in a manner equally sudden and barbarous; and what excites in me a strong personal feeling on the subject is, that Monaldeschi, the cavalier in question, dines with me the very day of his murder, as I must call it. Such a gay dinner as we had! for Monaldeschi—lively, unscrupulous, and sarcastic—was a most amusing companion. His spirits, far higher than his usual bearing, carried us all along with them: and I remember saying to him, 'I envy your gaiety: why, Monaldeschi, you are as joyous as if there were nothing but sunshine in the world.' He changed countenance, and becoming suddenly grave, exclaimed, 'Do not call me back to myself. I feel an unaccountable vivacity, which I know is the herald of disaster.' But again he became cheerful, and we rallied him on the belief, which he still gaily maintained, that great spirits were the sure forerunners of misfortune."—Francesca Carrara, vol. ii. chap. 6.
Perhaps some of your readers may be able to say whether Miss Landon had the authority of any cotemporary writer for the anecdote. Is not the warning, "Sing before noon, and you'll sigh before night," also a proof of the dread with which "coruscations of joy" were looked upon by our forefathers?
C. FORBES.
Temple.
The very unsatisfactory condition of the present laws on the subject of international copyright has induced the eloquent author the The History of the Girondists, when giving to the world The History of the Restoration of Monarchy in France, to consent to write in English some of the most important passages of that history with the view of assisting his publishers in their endeavour to protect themselves against piracy. To this circumstance we are indebted for the appearance at the same moment of the English and French editions; and both at a much lower price than that at which we have hitherto been accustomed to receive original works. M. de Lamartine's present contribution to the modern history of France cannot fail to excite great interest—despite of the manifest prejudices of the writer; for it is written with marked earnestness—not to say bitterness, and depicts in striking colours at once the military genius and the heartless selfishness of Napoleon. The history of the murder of Duc D'Enghien is told with consummate dramatic effect; and as the reader finishes the narrative he feels, the force of the author's closing words, "The murderer has but his hour—the victim has all eternity." The book will be read and re-read for its brilliancy and interest; it can however never by quoted as an authority, for its writer has disdained to quote those on which his own statements are based. M. de Lamartine in making this omission has done injustice both to himself and to his readers.
Letters Historical and Botanical, relating chiefly to places in the Vale of Teign, &c., by Dr. Fraser Halle, is a small volume which we can conscientiously recommend as a desirable travelling companion to such of our friends as may be about to visit this beautiful district of
"Lovely Devonia, land of flowers and songs."
It is clearly the production of a thoughtful scholar; and besides its botanical notices and historical illustrations, contains many pleasant snatches of old song, and hints of by-gone legends.
Lives of the most eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, translated from the Italian of Giorgio Vasari, &c., by Mrs. Foster, vol. iii., is another volume of Mr. Bohn's Standard Library. Vasari's work was one of the favourite books of the unfortunate Haydon; and now, when so much attention is being devoted by all classes to the fine arts, when our nobles are throwing open their galleries to the public, and admitting all to a free study of the exquisite works in their possession, an English version of such a series of biographies as Vasari has given us, and enriched as it is by notes and illustrations drawn from his best commentators, cannot but find an extensive and ready sale.
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson (3. Wellington Street) will sell on Wednesday next a valuable collection of Engravings, the property of a distinguished collector, by whom it was formed thirty years since, chiefly from the Durand Collection; and on Thursday next a most interesting collection of Manuscripts and Books of the poet Gray, the whole in beautiful condition, together with a collection of various editions of his works, a posthumous bust, and other items connected with the poet. On Friday the same auctioneers will be engaged in the sale of the interesting collection of Engraved British Portraits formed by the late Thomas Harrison, Esq.
CATALOGUES RECEIVED.—J. Lilly's (19. King Street, Covent Garden) Very Cheap Clearance Catalogue of Five Thousand Volumes; B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Cheap Book Circular, No. 32., Catalogue of Books in all Languages.
*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.
H. E. (a Subscriber from 1 to 94). If this correspondent will forward copies of the Queries referred to, they shall have immediate attention.
R. H.:—