"At length his lonely cot appears in view
Beneath the shelter of an aged tree:
Th' expectant wee things, todlin', stacher through
To meet their dad with flichterin' noise and glee:
His wee-bit ingle blinkin' bonnilie,
His clean hearth-stane, his thrifty wifie's smile,
The lisping infant prattling on his knee,
Does a' his weary carking cares beguile,
And makes him quite forget his labour and his toil."
Burns may have taken the thought from Gray, or some other English source. But he has not disgraced it by his mode of treating it.
Allen Ramsay, in his Gentle Shepherd, has a very pretty allusion to children, which I have not at hand to consult, but which concludes with,
"While all they ettle at, their greatest wis',
Is to be made o', and obtain a kiss."
J. S. W.
Stockwell.
Come, my very merry gentle people, only list a minute,
For tho' my song may not be long there's something comic in it;
A stranger I, yet, by the bye, I've ventured in my ditty,
To say a word at parting, just in praise of Gloucester city.
The Romans they this city built, and many folks came down here,
Kings Richard, Henry, John, and Ned, did visit Glo'ster town here;
King William dined each Christmas here, and Glo'ster folks it pleases,
To know the food he relished most was double Berkeley cheeses.
The ladies, Heaven bless 'em all! as sure as I've a nose on,
In former times had only thorns and skewers to stick their clothes on;
No damsel then was worth a pin, whate'er it might have cost her,
Till gentle Johnny Tilsby came, and invented pins in Glo'ster.
Your fine cathedral when I saw, tho' much I was delighted,
Yet in the whisp'ring gallery I got most sadly frighted;
Some question there I asked myself, when not a soul was near me,
And suddenly an answer came, as if the walls could hear me.
The Severn full of salmon fine enriches low and high land,
And then, for more variety, you've got a little island;
Of which I've read a Taylor's Tale, a dozen verses long, sirs,
And may I go to Old Harry, if it's not a clever song, sirs.
George Ridler's oven, I've been told, contains some curious jokes, sirs,
And much of it is said by many Glo'ster folks, sirs;
But ovens now are serious things, and from my soul I wish, sirs,
Your ovens here many ne'er want bread to fill the poor man's dish, sirs.
Now if you will but all forgive this slight attempt at rhyme, sirs,
I'll promise, like the little boys, to mend another time, sirs;
May health, with every blessing, join this company to foster,
Till, with your leave, some future time I come again to Glo'ster.
The stwons that built George Ridler's oven,
And thauy keum from the Bleakeley's Quaar;
And George he wur a jolly old mon,
And his yead it grawed above his yare.
One thing of George Ridler I must commend,
And that wur vur a notable theng;
He meud his braags avoore he died,
There's Dick the Treble and John the Mean,
(Let ev'ry mon zeng in his auwn pleace)
And George he wur the elder brother,
And therevoore he would zeng the Beass.
Mine Hostess' moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell),
A pretty wench, and I loved her well;
I loved her well, good reazun whoy,
Because zhe loved my dog and I.
My dog is good to catch a hen,
A duck or goose is vood vor men;
And where good company I spy,
O thether gwoes my dog and I.
My mother told I when I wur young,
If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot,
That drenk would pruv my auverdrow,
And meaak me vear the thread bare cwoart.
My dog has gotten sich a troick,
To visit moids when thoiy be zick;
When thoiy be zick and loik to die,
O, thether gwoes my dog and I.
When I have dree zixpences under my thumb,
O, then I be welcome wherever I keum;
But when I have none, O then I pass by,
'Tis poverty pearts good company.
If I should die as it may hap,
My greauve shall be under the green yeal tap;
In voulded earmes there wool us lie,
Cheek by jowl, my dog and I.
The foregoing is a very famous old Gloucestershire ballad, corrected according to the fragments of a MS. found in the Speech-house of Dean several centuries ago, and used to be sung at the meetings of the Gloucestershire Society, a charitable institution held at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand.
Both these ballads are literally copied from the Broadsides.
H. G. D.
The biographers of Caxton may be divided into two classes; those who wrote before the publication of the Typographical antiquities, A.D. 1749, and those who wrote after that date. The same distinction may be made with regard to those who have incidentally noticed his life or publications.
The principal writers of the first period are Leland, Bale, Stow, Pits, Fuller, Nicolson, Middleton, Birch, Oldys, Lewis and Tanner. At the present moment, I must content myself with a critical remark on the mode in which Leland has been so often quoted. The first passage contains the expression to which I allude.
(1.) "Gulielmus Caxodunus, Angliæ prototypographus, hæc, aut similia his, Anglice refert" etc.
(2.) "Quanquam priusquam id, quod modo sum pollicitus, præstitero, non alienum meo erit instituto palam facere Gulielmum Caxodunum, hominem nec indiligentem, nec indoctum, et quem constat primum LONDINI artem exercuisse typographicam, Chauceri opera, quotquot vel pretio vel precibus comparare potuit, in unum volumen collegisse."
The incidental expression Angliæ prototypographus has been considered as a proof that Leland discredited the typographical claims of Oxford. The second quotation conveys an opposite notion. I tax no one, however, with unfairness, but ascribe the oversight to reliance on the Index scriptorum à Joanne Lelando laudatorum, which refers only to the first quotation.
BOLTON CORNEY.
—As Mr. Clinton and others have endeavoured to invalidate Newton's conclusions with respect to the length of reigns, by examples from modern history, I have made a Note on that subject which may be of use. Taking in the times which may be supposed most to resemble those to which the question refers, we find in England, from Alfred to the Conquest, 13 kings in 166 years:
From 1066 to 1272 8 kings 206 yrs.
From 1272 to 1837 27 [kings] 565 [yrs.] An average on the whole of 19-1/2 years.
If we add the time from Egbert, 5 kings, 73 yrs., the average becomes 19 yrs.
The average from 1272 is only 21.
In France 559 to 814 18 kings 255 yrs.
[In France] 814 [to] 1830 47 [kings] 1016 [yrs.] Average 19-1/2.
Average from 814 only 21-1/2.
In Germany 840 to 1835 50 emper. 995 yrs. Average not 20.
Turks 1299 to 1808, 30 sover. 509 yrs. Average 17.
Scotland 1057 to 1567, 20 kings 510 yrs. Average 25-1/2
Spain 1479 to 1833, 14 kings 354 yrs. Average 25.
Portugal 1102 to 1826, 27 kings 724 yrs. Average not 21.
Denmark 1157 to 1839, 28 kings 672 yrs. Average 25.
Russia 1722 to 1825, 9 sover. 103 yrs. Average 11-1/2 yrs.
Total: 294 sovereigns, 6085 years; being an average of about 20-2/3, although including the latest times. It is evidently unfair to take recent times only, as Hales, Clinton, &c. do.
ALTRON.
—One of your correspondents, in a late reply (Vol. iv., p. 243.), alludes to "a marvellous or cock and bull story." Query, as to the origin of this saying. From an early number of the Phonetic Journal made the following Note.
Dr. Burgess, a Methodist preacher, who often indulged in pointed remarks, perceiving some young men attending his preaching, whose behaviour plainly showed that amusement was their only object, turned his discourse, and addressed himself particularly to them as follows:—
"Young men, I know you are come to hear a story, and I will tell you one. There was once a man, a cock, and a bull, who, being intimate, agreed to travel together. They had not gone far on their journey when they found themselves on the brink of a river, which they had determined to cross, but could discover neither bridge nor ferry. After a consultation it was agreed the cock should first make the attempt of crossing the water, which he did without much difficulty; the bull afterwards plunged into the stream, and by mere strength waded through. The man, not being able to swim, was afraid to follow his companions; and while they were encouraging him from the other side to get over, he was observed to cut some osiers which grew by the water-side. Perhaps you imagine these were intended to form a vehicle for conveying him across the river? No such thing, I assure you. What other purpose could he design them for? I will tell you, young men; it was to lash the backs of those fools who chose to hear a story of a cock and a bull, rather than the word of God."
PHILIP S. KING.
—To show how stories are made standing dishes with what we may call current sauce (no pun intended), take the following:—If we believe anything to have happened in our own day, that is, in Liverpool or Castlereagh time, it is the anecdote of the borough-monger who would answer nothing to the excuses of the minister, except "There are five of us." This story was told as an old one in the Telegraph in 1798; and a long dialogue was given between Lord Falmouth, who wanted the Captaincy of the Yeomen of the Guard, and Henry Pelham, who had promised it elsewhere. To all the poor minister could say, the peer could only answer, "There are seven of us." I hope that, in an age when coincidences are sought for, Wordsworth will not be suspected of plagiarism.
Again, what reader of gossip does not know that when George III. went to Weymouth, the Mayor, in making his address, mistook the private directions of his prompter for parts of his address, and gave it the King as follows:—"Hold up your head, and look like a man—what the —— do you mean?... By ——, Sir, you'll ruin us all." This story was told in a newspaper in 1797, as having happened between James II. and the Mayor of Winchester.
In the Monthly Magazine in 1798, is a paper on peculiarities of expression, among which are several which we flatter ourselves belong to our own time. For instance, "to cut a person," which was then current: some tried to change it into spear, but failed. Also, to vote, as in "he voted it a bad lounge;" and the words bore, done up, dished, &c.; not forgetting spilt for "upset" in a carriage.
The parliamentary phrases of "catching the speaker's eye," "being upon his legs," "meeting the ideas of the house," "committing himself," "taking shame to himself," "being free to confess," "putting a question roundly," "answering it fairly," "pushing an investigation," are all noted as then worthy of remark. And, if we are to trust the article cited, the word truism was born and bred in the House of Commons, in the sense of a forcible and undeniable truth. And the same origin is given to the idiom "in my own mind" as in "I feel no doubt, in my own mind,..."
M.
—I recollect two curious historical instances of mere vulgar mis-pronunciation, which have established themselves in use; perhaps others of your readers may mention more, which it would be interesting to trace to their origin.
Massaniello is universally recognised as the name of the celebrated Neapolitan insurrectionist, who at one time nearly overturned the government of that kingdom. How few who use the word are aware that "Mas-Aniello" is but a corruption of Thomas Aniello, so pronounced by his vulgar companions, and now raised to the dignity of an historical name.
Hougoumont is a conspicuous feature of the great field of Waterloo, and a name familiarly used in speaking of the famous battle; in course of time it will be forgotten that this is a mere mistake, said to have originated with the great general who achieved the victory, catching up from the peasantry around, the sound of Chateau Goumont, the real name of the little rural demesne in question. Nobody doubts, however, the right of the "Great Duke" to call a place he has made so famous by any name he might please to apply, and so Hougoumont it will remain while history lasts.
A. B. R.
Although Mr. Cosh, at p. 248. of his admirable work on The Method of Divine Government, observes on the rapidity with which females descend to the depths of sin, the old apothegm, "Nemo repenti turpissimus fuit," recurs when thinking of Mary Queen of Scots, and leads me to ask the following question. Permit me to preface it with a remark. Mary is represented by all contemporary and subsequent writers to have been, from her earliest years to the death of Darnley, worthily beloved for her amiable qualities of heart and her superiority of intellect, and then to have fallen suddenly into an abyss of sin and wickedness, comprising domestic treason, murder, perjury, the subornation of perjurers, adultery, the conniving at divorce without adequate grounds, and all the other crimes connected with such proceedings; and then, after fifteen months of such a desperate course, to have risen to her former elevation, and have passed the remainder of her life with dignity, calmness, resignation, and in the habitual exercise of sincere piety, and to have met her death with a degree of heroism which has secured the admiration of posterity, and strengthened the doubts of her being guilty of the crimes imputed to her. The whole controversy, from Buchanan to Bell, is, I take for granted, known to your readers. Your publication is not the place suited to an examination of such mental operations, which are without a historical prototype, and without a known parallel. If any light can be thrown on any part of this subject, it becomes an act of historical justice, a work of Christian charity to Mary, and an illustration of the workings of the mind in a great emergency.
The late Chevalier Bronsted, of whose learning and accuracy his archæological works bear record, and whose straightforward simplicity of mind was highly estimated by all who knew him, had read in manuscript the second part of the confession of Bothwell, made previous to his death. I think the manuscript was in the private cabinet of the King of Denmark. In that confession he owned to have violated the person of Mary, and that she became enceinte; that she miscarried, and immediately took measures to rid herself of him. Concluding that event to have transpired, there seems to be some clue to her forwarding the discussion of her council, and acquiescing in their request to marry Bothwell. A young queen, surrounded by ruffians, barbarians, and selfish and unprincipled leaders of factions, placed in a situation in which every feeling of the woman was outraged, every sentiment lacerated, her honour, her station, her life in jeopardy, her memory liable to degradation and disgrace, in terror, having in such extremity no friend to whom she could apply for advice and succour, she may have been induced to adopt means for her safety which, if injudicious, were excusable. My request is, to learn if any of your correspondents have seen or are cognisant of this very curious and important document.
ÆGROTUS.
—Can any of your correspondents tell me where the following lines are to be found?—
"At length in an unearthly tone I heard these accents drop,
'Sarvice is done, 'tis tuppence now for them as wants to stop.'"
I met with them in a newspaper (I think the Morning Herald) between twenty and thirty years ago, but I believe they have been transferred to that sheet from the pages of some periodical. The lines above given are the concluding lines of the piece; the preceding lines were devoted to the description of the dying away of the tones of the organ, and the musings of the poet amongst the tombs in Westminster Abbey.
REMIGIUS.
—Can any of your correspondents explain to me the reason why, according to Herodotus, the Scythians used to blind their slaves? The passage is in chapter ii. book iv. I believe the reasoning to be hopelessly unreasonable, and have always been told that it is so, though I have met with many who have read the chapter again and again without even noticing the difficulty. The question is this:—What are we to supply in thought in order to connect the practice of blinding the slaves with the process of milking the mares, and stirring the milk to separate the cream or butter from it? Is it thus? The Scythians only feed cattle, and have no other use for slaves than to stir the milk, which they can do when blinded, at the same time that they are unable to escape, having been deprived of sight, and so their masters have not the trouble of watching them. This does not satisfy me; nor will it, I think, satisfy any one else.
THEOPHYLACT.
Blackheath.
—In the Note on "The Antiquity of Kilts," MR. STEPHENS quotes the Gododin, an ancient poem, or poems, on which there is great diversity of opinion regarding its contents. The Gododin was written or composed by Aneurin, in the dialect of the Northumbrian Britons, about the year 510, according to Llwyd. It is evident that a work of this description, with the usual accidents attending on transmission, must necessarily be somewhat obscure at the present day. Indeed, it appears to be so much so, that there are two very different versions; one giving it as the description of a battle, in which the intoxicated Britons were easy victims to the swords of the "stranger;" the other version, by the Rev. E. Davies, refers it to the "Brad y Cyllyll Hirion," (or, Plot of the Long Knives), or massacre of the British chiefs at Stonehenge, during a feast. Now as this event is stated to have occurred in 472, the Dinogat of Aneurin is not the Dinogat of 577. Moreover Davies describes him as Octa, a son of the Saxon Hengist. As MR. STEPHENS does not follow this version, and as he has given considerable attention to those subjects, perhaps he is enabled to decide this questio vexata. It should be observed that Davies accompanies his version with reasons that give it much weight.
GOMER.
—There are curious circumstances about this frontispiece which some of your readers may explain. The figure of Leviathan represents the upper part of a man with a crown on his head, a sword in his right hand, and a crozier in his left, the body and arms being made up of small human figures in various dresses. In the common editions the face has a manifest resemblance to Cromwell (the work was published in 1651), although it wears, as I have said, a regal crown. But in the copy belonging to Trinity College Library, the face appears to be intended for Charles I. The engraving of this copy is very much worse than the other, and is not worked into the same careful detail by the artist, though the outline is the same: and the text of the book is a separate and worse impression, though the errata are the same with the other copies, as well as the date. How Hobbes himself, or any other person, should come to print the Leviathan in this manner, it seems difficult to explain.
I have also a small French translation of Hobbes, De Corpore Politico, dated 1652, which has a similar figure for a frontispiece, but with an upright sword in the right, and a balance in the left, hand.
W. W.
Cambridge.
—What is the origin of the arrow head as a government mark?
↗
—Mr. Robert Hooke, professor at Gresham College, writing in 1674, says he has—
"seen at a gentleman's house, not far from Bansted-Downs in Surrey, a well which is dug through a body of chalk, and is near 360 feet deep, and yet dry almost to the very bottom."
Is this well still known, and can any of your correspondents vindicate its situation, and give any particulars relating to it? The pamphlet in which it is mentioned is curious, for it is "an attempt to prove the motion of the earth [in its orbit] from observations." It will be observed that the work was written in the year 1674.
W. S. G.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
—About nine miles from Reading, on the road to Newbury, and removed about two miles from the high road, is an ancient manor house called Upton Court. It is most curious as to architecture, and is a most interesting specimen of the houses of the gentry of former days. It belonged to a Catholic family of the name of Perkins. The chapel, in the house, and the hiding-place for priests, can still be seen. It is said that Pope wrote the Rape of the Lock there. I should be glad to know if any of your correspondents can confirm this fact from authentic evidence.
A. E.
—In Vol. iv., p. 175., Pirog is stated to be the Russian custom of the mistress of a family distributing on certain occasions bread or cake to her guests.
Query, Is this the origin of our slang word prog, meaning provisions?
J. SS.
—I am nearly an octogenarian, consequently I ought to have something better, and humbly hope I have something better, to employ my thoughts than relics of old ditties and forgotten rhymes. Still the recurring questions of numerous grandchildren compel one to resort to long forgotten lore, and to request those whose memory still survives to compensate for the deficiencies of my own. I am particularly anxious to recover my lapsis in the following metrical, yet logical, history of England, which I have long ago forgotten:
"William and William, and Henry and Stephen,
And Henry the Second, to make the First even."
If either MR. HALLIWELL, or DR. RIMBAULT, will favour me, they will confer a great obligation, and add much to the hilarity of my ensuing Christmas table.
MÆRIS.
—Besides some interesting monuments, &c., to be found in the church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, there stands under the western gallery a finger pillory, or stocks to confine the fingers only: it is fastened at its right-hand extremity into the wall, and consists of two pieces of oak; the bottom and fixed piece is three feet eight inches long; the width of the whole is four and a half inches, and when closed it is five inches deep: the left-hand extremity is supported by a leg of the same width as the top, and two feet six inches in length; the upper piece is joined to the lower by a hinge, and in this lower and fixed horizontal part are thirteen perpendicular holes, varying in size; the largest are towards the right hand: these holes are sufficiently deep to admit the finger to the second joint, and a slight hollow is made to receive the third one, which lies flat; there is of course a corresponding hollow in the top or movable part, which, when shut down, incloses the whole finger.
Its use is stated to have been for the punishment of persons guilty of mal-practices during divine service: truly, a mischievous urchin, or a lout of a farm servant, dragged off to the stocks, must have been a scene extremely edifying to the congregation, particularly if the offenders were obstreperous, and had no inclination whatever to be in a fix.
Query, Is there another known instance of stocks for the fingers alone, and applied to similar purposes?
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
—1. What was the christian name, birth, and parentage of the Stallenge who planted the mulberry trees at Sion House at the commencement of the seventeenth century?
2. What was the name of the first wife of that Sir Nicholas Stallenge who, towards the close of the sixteenth century, married as his second wife Florence Kenn, widow of Sir Christopher Kenn, of Kenn, in the county of Somerset?
3. What city or castle in England was Sir Thomas Stallenge his son governor of?
4. What was the name of the wife of the said Sir Thomas Stallenge?
M. C. U.
—In the year 1796, there was in the possession of the Rev. Robert Rennie, minister of Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, an old MS. which that gentleman (in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account) thus describes:—
"It seems to be a chronicle of Scotland. The most of it is legible. It takes up the history of Scotland at the Christian era, and contains a regular series of all the remarkable events in every king's reign, with the name of the kings, down to the year 1565. I have compared it with many histories and annals of Scotland, but am of opinion that it is an original, and not a copy."
Can any of your correspondents give any additional information regarding it?
ABERDONIENSIS.
—Can you tell me the meaning of Pharetram de Tutesbit and sagittas flectatas in the following?
"William de Gresely tenet manerium de Drakelow in Com. Derby in Capite, et reddit unum arcum sine corda, et unum Pharetram de Tutesbit, et duodecim Sagittas flectatas, et unum buzonem."—Blount's Tenures.
H. N. E.
Bitton Vicarage, Oct. 1851.
—In Lysons' Environs of London, vol. iv. p. 359., it is stated that in the year 1671 a great inundation happened at and near Deptford, which did much mischief, so that the inhabitants were obliged to retire in boats to the upper town, and that an account of it was extant in a small pamphlet published at the time. If any of your correspondents could inform me where a copy of this is to be met with, or give me any further particulars concerning the occurrence, I should feel very much obliged.
W. H. HART.
New Cross.
—In the account of Bishop Butler, attached to his works, mention is made of MS. sermons, from which those which have been published were selected. Is it known if there are any writings of his in existence, and where they are? His executor was Dr. Nathaniel Foster.
L.
—Can any one familiar with the Coleridge Papers inform me whether the following is a veritable fragment of the poet's own continuation of Christabel, or perhaps of one of those conclusions (some serious, some jocose) which we owe to Tupper, Moir, and Maginn?
"This was the lovely lady's cry—
'Holy One! who camest to die,
Camest, yea, to die for me
Who have despite done to Thee—
And didst feel the proud man's scorn,
And the woe of one forlorn—
Whose heavenly eyes were brimmed with tears
For the sorrows of human years;
Whose holy hands were pierced through,
Whose feet long toil and travel knew,
Who felt all grief, all wild despair,
That the race of man may ever bear.
O look down from thy placid sky,
Upon a maiden worn with woe,
Who in snowy chastity,
Has passed the years of life below!
O let no spirit of affright,
Visit me this ghastly night!'
"So she prayed: and listening,
Stood beside the magic spring,
But only heard the brookless plash,
And the berries fall from the mountain ash,
And the cry of birds in the woods away,
And the step of the roe over lichens gray."
MORTIMER COLLINS.
—When the Queen visited the library of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1849, she was shown an early edition of Sallust, which had belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, and has her autograph signature, and many MS. notes and a MS. Latin epigram, supposed to be her Majesty's composition. The volume is a small quarto, title Opera Sallustiana, with the date 1523, and a colophon:
"Impressus per Antonium Blanchard anno domini M. quingentessimo xxiii. pridie Kalend. Sextilis."
But on a page following the title there appears—
"Ex officina nostra caleographa Parrhisiis pridie Kalendas Novembris anni hujus M. CCCCC quarti."
The volume was presented to the College library by Mr. Croker, as appears by a dono dedit in his handwriting, and by the following note in that of the learned Dr. Barrett:—
"This book, which formerly belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, was presented by James I. to Bishop Hall (fol. 90.), and presented to this library, July 26, 1800, by John Wilson Croker, F.C., A.B."
The presentation by James to the Bishop is thus recorded:—
"Hunk [sic] librum Jacobus rex dono dedit amico suo reverendo Doctori Hall."
These details may interest bibliographers, as I do not find any notice of this edition in Dibdin, or any other work within my reach[2] but the main object of my curiosity is the Latin epigram in the Queen's hand, and supposed (I suspect erroneously) to be her composition. The lines are:
"Sæpe meæ dixi 'tandem discede' puellæ—
In gremio sedit protinus illa meo;
Sæpe 'pudet' dixi; Lacrimis vix illa retentis
'Me miseram cur te,' dixit 'amare pudet?'"
[2] [See Panzer's Annales Typog., vol. vii. p. 335.]
The obvious reason for doubting ex facie that this is the Queen's composition, is its masculine character; but some of your many learned correspondents may be able to say whether the verses are to be found elsewhere, and attributed to any other author?
I myself have not seen the volume for above fifty years; but the foregoing extracts have been furnished me by a friend who lately examined it. One curious particular, however, I remember. The capital letters at the head of the several divisions of the work are, after the manner of the time, ornamented with devices, and one of these, which Queen Mary must have seen (if she, indeed, wrote the MS. notes), is of a most grotesque character, totally unfit for a lady's, or indeed for any body's eye; and I dare say that page was not exhibited in 1849.
C.
—Devonshire leases for lives often reserve a money payment on the death of each life as a "heriot" or "farlieu." Can you inform me of the etymology and meaning of the latter word? it appears almost synonymous with "heriot."
CLERICUS.
[Bailey, in his Dictionary, says "Farleu or Farley is a duty of sixpence paid to the lord of the manor of West Slapton in Devonshire, in the western parts; farleu being distinguished as the best good thing from heriot the best beast."]
—I would be glad if any of your readers can afford me any information regarding the writer of a work bearing the following title:—
"A History of the Island of Anglesey, from its first Invasion by the Romans, until finally acceded to the Crown of England, &c. Serving as a Supplement to Rowlands' Mona Antiqua Restaurata. To which are also added, Memoirs of Owen Glendower, 4to. Lond. 1775, pp. 88."
Watt, in his Bibliotheca Britannica, ascribes to Dr. John Campbell, author of a Political Survey of Great Britain, &c., &c., the authorship of a little world entitled—
"A true and exact Description of the Island of Shetland, &c. Together with an account of the Great White Herring Fishery of that place, 12 mo. Lond. 1750, and 2d ed. 1753."
In the preface the writer states that he spent five years in Shetland. Now I want to know if Dr. Campbell ever spent five years in Shetland; for if not, he could not be the author, though it would appear from vol. i. p. 679. of the Political Survey that he had at least visited Shetland more than once. Also, as I have only the second edition, if any one would be so kind as to give me a copy of the title-page of the first edition, and the number of pages, I would feel obliged, as I suspect that in both these respects the editions differ.
Βορεας.
[The following is a copy of the title-page of the first edition of the latter work:—"An Exact and Authentic Account of the greatest White Herring Fishery in Scotland, carried on yearly in the Island of Zetland, by the Dutch only. The Method the Dutch use in catching the Herrings, and an exact account of their way of curing, and lasting, or casking them. And a Method laid down whereby we may easily engross that profitable branch of trade into our own hands. To which is prefixed a Description of the Island, its situation, produce, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and their method of trading with the Dutch. By a Gentleman who resided Five Years on the Island. London: Printed for Joseph Davidson, at the Angel, in the Poultry, 1750." Pp. 34, and a Preface to the Candid Reader of three pages.]
—May I add to the East-Anglian Vocabulary the adjective rile == muddy? "The water is too rile to drink" was the remark of a servant the other day. The verb to rile is given in Forby's Vocabulary.
CHARLES THIRIOLD.
[Is not rile a corruption of the American colloquialism royle or roil, to make turbid by stirring up the sediment, or to make angry? Theodore de la Guard, in The Simple Cobler of Aggawam, p. 2. A.D. 1647, says: "Sathan is now in his passions, he feeles his passion approaching: he loves to fish in royled waters."]
The pathetic story of a person sentenced to death for sheep-stealing, winning the heart of the gaoler by a long course of good conduct, and executed at last on the "death-warrant" being found in the office, is utterly apocryphal. There has not been such a thing as a death-warrant in England for centuries, except in London and Middlesex (where the recorder communicated the pleasure of the crown to spare certain prisoners, and leave others to their fate, in an instrument improperly so called), and in the special case referred to hereafter. It was necessary, when sentence was pronounced by Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, that a precept under their hands and seals should be made out; but in the case of Commissioners of Gaol Delivery the entry on record of the judgement of the court is sufficient; and though a calendar is now made out, and delivered to the sheriff, specifying the several sentences or acquittals of all the prisoners in gaol, yet it is not necessary. Lord Hale says:
"Rolle would never subscribe any such calendar, but would command the sheriff openly in court to take notice of the judgments and orders of what kind soever, and command the sheriff to execute them at his peril."
And, until a few years ago (when the law requiring murderers to be executed the day next but one after sentence was repealed), murderers were executed on verbal authority only, as no calendar was made out until the close of the assizes, some time after the execution. The special case above referred to is, when a person was tried by the Court of Peers before the Lord High Steward, in which case that officer issued a precept for execution. But if the trial be in parliament, a writ for execution issues under the Great Seal, as in the case of Lord William Russell.
Having demolished one story, I feel bound to give you another.
The Crown never directs execution, but respites it either to a day fixed, or during her Majesty's pleasure, which last is what is commonly called a reprieve. A late learned Baron is said to have respited an unlucky criminal on whose fate he hesitated, once, twice, thrice, till, having lost his reckoning, he wrote to this effect:
"I do not know whether John Smith's respite has expired; if it has, it is no matter; if not, let the execution be further respited until the —— day of —— next."
A. B.
I have seen in an Exeter paper an article taken from "NOTES AND QUERIES," entitled "Execution under singular Circumstances," the writer of which is in manifest error. There is no such thing as a warrant for execution; I will venture to say it could not have happened as is therein stated. I have been repeatedly undersheriff of Devon, and therefore beg to state the mode in which executions take place.
At the end of the assizes the crown-bar judge and the clerk of assize sit down quietly together, and go over the sentences of the prisoners, after which they are classed, and a fair copy signed by the clerk of the assize—not the judge—is delivered to the undersheriff, which is his only authority for carrying the different sentences into execution. If a man is to be hung, opposite his name is written, "Let him be hanged by the neck," and an asterisk is added to draw the undersheriff's attention. Should the man afterwards be respited, the judge, or the clerk of assize, writes to the undersheriff, and also (ex abundanti cautelâ) to the gaoler, to say so. Should the undersheriff hear nothing further, he hangs the man at the end of the respite, as a matter of course. A reprieve comes from the secretary of state's office. At the end of the shrievalty this list of sentences is sent to the Court of Exchequer, as forming part of what is called the Bill of Cravings, and in which the sheriff is allowed a certain sum towards the expenses of the execution. What may be the practice in London I do not know, but the above would be the practice at Winchester.
P. J.
Exeter, Sept. 15. 1851.
Halliwell illustrates this word by a quotation from Nash's Pierce Penilesse, 1592:
"A young heyre or cockney, that is his mother's darling, if hee playde the waste-good at the innes of the court, or about London, falles in a quarrelling humor with his fortune, because she made him not king of the Indies."
Richardson gives the following quotation from Fuller's Worthies:
"I meet with a double sense of this word cockeney.... 1st, One coaks'd or cockered, made a wanton or nestle-cock of.... 2nd, One utterly ignorant of husbandry and housewifery, such as is practised in the country...."
Webster gives the following derivation, &c.:
"COCKNEY, n. [Most probably from L. coquina, a kitchin, or coquino, to cook; Fr. coquin, idle; Fr. cocagne, It. cuccagna, an imaginary country of idleness and luxury.... Hence, a citizen who leads an idle life, or never leaves the city.]
"1. A native of London, by way of contempt. Watts. Shak.