"Like as a lyon, whose imperiall powre,

A prowd rebellious unicorn defyes,

T'avoide the rash assault and wrathful stowre

Of his fiers foe, him a tree applyes,

And when him ronning in full course he spyes,

He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast

His precious horne, sought of his enemyes,

Strikes in the stocke, ne thence can be releast,

But to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast."

Shakspeare also (Julius Cæsar, Act II. Sc. 1.) speaks of the supposed mode of entrapping them:

"For he loves to hear,

That unicorns may be betrayed with trees,

And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,

Lions with toils, and men with flatterers."

The ancients were most liberal with their descriptions of fabulous animals, and the Monoceros or Unicorn was a favourite subject with them; but I am not aware whether or no the account which Spencer gives has so early an origin.

The connexion of the unicorn with the lion in the royal arms of this country naturally forces itself upon the attention, and I find that the present arms were settled at the accession of George I. We owe the introduction of the unicorn, however, to James I.; who, as King of Scotland, bore two unicorns, and coupled one with the English lion when the two kingdoms were united. Perhaps some of your correspondents can inform me how two unicorns became the "supporters" of the "achievement" of the Scottish kings.

The position of the lion and unicorn in the arms of our country seems to have given rise (and naturally enough in the mind of one who was ignorant of heraldic decoration) to a nursery rhyme, which I well remember to have learnt:

"The lion and the unicorn

Were fighting for the crown,

The lion beat the unicorn

All round the town," &c. &c.;

unless it alludes to a contest for dominion over the brute creation, which Spenser's "rebellious unicorn" seems to have waged with the tawny monarch.

Erica.


FLANAGAN ON THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND.

Can you tell me anything of the history of a little work, of which the following is the title?—

"A Discourse of the Round Towers of Ireland, in which the errors of the various writers on that subject are detected and confuted, and the true cause of so many differences among the learned, on the question of their use and history, is assigned and demonstrated. By John Flanagan, Kilkenny. Printed for the author by Thomas Kelly, 1843."

It was purchased by a Dublin bookseller at Jones' last sale (Catalogue, No. 704.), for 2s. 6d. The bookseller, who has kindly lent me the book, says that it was never printed in Kilkenny, and that it is very scarce, he having seen only one other copy of it. It is a small quarto of twenty-four pages, beautifully printed on good paper, which leads me also to believe that the book could not have been printed in Kilkenny. The author, whoever he was or is, boldly says that, "There are no Round Towers in Ireland," p. 8., and through the pages of the work runs a vein of nonsense, which would lead a person to think that the author was not very right in his mind. Still, there is something very remarkable in the production.

R. H.


Minor Queries.

St. Augustine's Six Treatises on Music.—Dupin mentions St. Augustine's Six Treatises on Music: do these exist in print? if so, in what edition are they to be found?

E. A. H. L.

Bishop Merriman.—A few years ago inquiry was unsuccessfully made in the Gentleman's Magazine, and elsewhere both in England and Ireland for some particulars of John Merriman, the first Protestant Bishop of Down and Connor.

In Cox's Hibernia Anglicana it appears that "Loftus, Archbishop of Armagh, was consecrated by the Popish Archbishop Curwin; Thomas Lancaster, the first Protestant Bishop of Kildare, was consecrated by Archbishop Brown; and John Merriman, the first Protestant Bishop of Down and Connor, was consecrated by Lancaster when Primate."

This Bishop Merriman had been chaplain to Queen Elizabeth; he was made Vicar of St. John's, Atheboy, in the first year of her reign, and was consecrated Bishop of Down and Connor, Jan. 19, 1568/9. He died in 1572.

The probable father of Bishop Merriman may be found in the Rutland Papers, published by the Camden Society, where Mr. Meryman, in a second list called William Meryman, who held some office in the "Kechyn," is selected as one of the attendants on Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

There was formerly a family of the name of Merriman residing in Ireland: does it now exist? In England there are several families of this name: are any of them descended from this source?

T. D. P.

The Escubierto.—Where can the effusions of the Capateiro da Bandarra be seen in England? And has any of your correspondents read them, so as to be able to explain the nature of his language and teaching concerning the Escubierto? I believe it is admitted, that the doctrine of the Sebastianistas is superadded, exegetically, to that of the Capateiro, and is not to be found in him.

A. N.

J. Scandret.—I should be much obliged for any information respecting "J. Scandret, priest of the Church of England," the author of a little treatise entitled Sacrifice, the Divine Service, originally published in 1707; with a recommendation from the celebrated Charles Leslie, Chancellor of Connor. Mr. Parker, of Oxford, reprinted it in 1840; but as "N. & Q." had not then begun its useful career, the editor was unable to satisfy that curiosity which most readers feel respecting the authors of such books as merit their attention.

E. H. A.

Mary Horton.—I find in Burke's Extinct Baronetage, p. 269. (article "Horton of Chadderton"), that "William Horton, of Coley, in Halifax parish, died in 1739-40: by Mary his wife, daughter of (Thomas) Chester, Esq., he left an only daughter, Mary, living and unmarried in 1766." Can any one inform me whether this Mary Horton ever married, when she died, and where she was buried?

Tewars.

Biblicus on the Apocalypse.—I shall feel much obliged if any reader of "N. & Q." will give me information respecting a series of articles which appeared about the year 1819 in some newspaper or periodical with the signature of Biblicus appended to them: they were intended, as far as I can learn, to be a sort of commentary on some portion of the Apocalypse. The writer left his work unfinished; but as many as appeared thus periodically were afterwards published in a separate pamphlet. I should be glad to know where a copy of this pamphlet is to be had; or in what paper the articles originally appeared.

F. N.

Cleopatra playing at Billiards.—Perhaps one of your readers, more learned in Shakspeare than myself, can tell me what game he refers to in the following extract:

"Cleo. Let us to billiards. Come, Charmian.

Char. My arm is sore: best play with Mardian."

Ant. and Cleo., Act II. Sc. 5.

Can the game of billiards, as we now have it, boast of such high antiquity as to have been played by "the serpent of Old Nile;" or is the mention of it simply one of the great poet's anachronisms?

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

"Then comes the reckoning," &c.—Who is the author of the following well-known couplet?

"Then comes the reckoning when the feast is o'er,

The dreadful reckoning, when men smile no more."

A Constant Reader.

Giving the Sack.—Will any of your numerous readers kindly explain to me the origin of the phrases "to give any one the sack or bag," and "einem einen Korb geben"? We must all be aware of their acceptation.

Thomas Lawrence.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Scotch Provincial Tokens of the Seventeenth Century.—Can any of your readers inform me if there were any of these tokens, which were so abundant throughout England, Wales, and Ireland, issued in Scotland?

R. H. B.

Burial of Sir John Moore.—You have had many very interesting communications respecting the justly admired poem on "The Burial of Sir John Moore." Let me ask whether it was a matter of fact, that they "buried him darkly at dead of night"? I believe the clergyman who read the service is now living near Hereford, and that he will state that the interment took place in the morning after the battle.

Balliolensis.

Mexican, &c. Grammar.—I hope some of your readers can tell me where I may get a grammar of the language of the Mexicans, Chilians, or any other of the tribes of South America. The Spanish missionaries compiled grammars of some of the South American tongues; but I think they must have become scarce, as I can never find one in any catalogue of old books.

W. B. D.

Foundation Stones.—In the Illustrated News of the 29th of May, is an account of the masonic jewels for the grand lodge of England, including three ivory gavels for "laying foundation stones:" hence arise the following Queries.

When did the laying of foundation stones first become a ceremony?

What old foundation stones have been restored to light, showing the date of laying, and the accessories used, whether oil, wine, and corn, or what else? I have never seen an allusion to such discovery in the demolition of old buildings.

Jno. D. Allcroft.

Oxford Square.

Mary Faun.—Can any of your subscribers give me any account of the ancestry of Mary Faun said to have married Thomas Charlton, Esq.? See Burke's Landed Gentry, vol. i. p. 209.

B.

Tonson and the Westminsters.—I have a small duodecimo print, in which are represented three scenes,—

A man tossed in a blanket.

A man flogged.

A man begging.

This victim is said to be Jacob Tonson, the printer. The tormentors, who are all in collegiate dresses, are said to be Westminster Collegians.

Are these scenes facts or fictions?

What was Tonson's offence?

Is there any other explanation of the print?

I hope some old Westminster to whom the school tradition may have descended will be kind enough to answer these Queries.

Griffin.


Minor Queries Answered.

Lady Farewell's Funeral Sermon.—Would any of your correspondents help me to unravel the mystery (if there be any) involved in the typography of the Latin portion of the following title of a book "printed for Edw. Brewster, at the Crane, in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1661?"

"Magna Charta; or the Christian's Charter Epitomized. In a Sermon preached at the Funerall of the Right Worshipfull the Lady Mary Farewell at Hill-Bishops near Taunton, by Geo. Newton, Minister of the Gospel there.

D. FareweLL obIIt MarIa saLVtIs

In anno

Hos annos posItos VIXIt & Ipsa

VaLe."

W. A. J.

[The information required by our correspondent is more quaint and curious than difficult to supply. The four lines with which the title concludes form a chronogram, or an inscription comprising a certain date and number, expressed by those letters inserted in larger characters; which are to be taken separately and added together, according to their value as Roman numerals. When the arithmetical letters occurring in the first two lines are thus taken, they will be found to compose the year 1660, when the Lady Farewell died, as the words declare; and when the numerals are selected from the last two lines, they exhibit 74, her age at the time, as they also indicate; in the following manner:—

D 500 I 1
LL 100 VIXI 17
II 2 I 1
MI 1001 VL 55
LVI 56
I 1 74
——
1660

The lady who is commemorated in this inscription was the daughter of Sir Edwald Seymour of Berrie Castle, in Devonshire, Baronet, and wife of "the excellently-accomplished Sir George Farewell, Knight, who died May 14, 1647;" as it is recorded on his monument at Hill-Bishops. In the same epitaph it is stated, that she was the mother of twenty children, and that she died Dec. 13, 1660; and the inscription concludes with these verses to the united memory of Sir George and Lady Farewell:

"A person graceful, learn'd, humble, and good,

Well match'd with beautie, virtue, and high blood:

Yet, after sufferings great and long, both dead

To mind us where great worth is honouréd."

Collinson's Somersetshire, vol. iii. p. 255.

The practice of making chronograms for the expressing of dates in books, epitaphs, and especially on medals, was extremely common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One of the most remarkable is that commemorating the death of Queen Elizabeth:—

"My Day Is Closed In Immortality:"

the arithmetical formula of which is M = 1000 + D = 500 + C = 100 + III = 3 = A. D. 1603. In the second paper by Addison on the different species of false wit (Spectator, No. 60) is noticed the medal that was struck of Gustavus Adolphus, with the motto:

"ChrIstVs DuX ergo trIVMphVs."

"If you take the pains," continues the author, "to pick the figures out of the several words, and range them in their proper order, you will find they amount to MDCXVVVII, or 1627; the year in which the medal was stamped."

There is one peculiarity in the chronogram sent by our correspondent, which singularly illustrates a passage in Shakspeare, and by which also it is most amusingly illustrated. It will be observed, that the Rev. G. Newton takes advantage of the double letters at the end of Farewell, to express 100: and it will be remembered that "good M. Holofernes," in Love's Labour's Lost, introduces the same thought into his sonnet as an exquisite and far-fetched fancy:

"If Sore be sore, then L to Sore

Makes Fifty Sores: Oh sore L!

Of One sore I an Hundred make,

By adding but One more L."]

Sir E. K. Williams.—Will any gentleman refer me to the pedigree of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edmund Kenyon Williams, a distinguished Peninsular officer, who died about three years ago? And also, where can I find or obtain such a book as the History of Aberystwith, or Blaina Gwent?

C. W.

Bradford.

[Sir Edmund Keynton Williams, K.C.B., born 1779, at Mathern, county of Monmouth, died Dec. 7, 1849, Colonel of the 80th Regiment of Foot, was only son of the Rev. Henry Williams, Vicar of Undy, county of Monmouth; who was second son of Edmund Williams, of Incasryddit, in the parish of Bedwelty, county of Monmouth; and grandson of William Williams of the same place. Where any farther account of his family can be found we know not.]

Order of the Cockle.—What sort of Order was this? Was it the Order of St. Michael? It is mentioned incidentally by John Knox in his History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland (book v.):

"In the end of January [1566] arrived an ambassador from France, named Monsieur Rambullet, having with him about forty horse in train, who came from England. He brought with him the Order of the Cockle from the King of France to the king [Lord Darnley], who received the same at the mass, in the chapel of the palace of Holyrood House."

In 1548, also, the Duke of Chatelherault, and the Earls of Huntly, Argyle, and Angus, had been invested with the same Order (book i.). Of course, Knox was always ready to ridicule such "remnants of paganism and popery."

R. S. F.

Perth.

[The order which Dudley received was that of St. Michael. There was formerly in France an order "du navire et de la coquille de mer," instituted, says Perrot[2], by St. Louis, in 1269, in memory of a perilous expedition which he made by sea for the succour of Christians; but adds, "il a peu survécu à son fondateur."]

Footnote 2:(return)

Collection Historique des Ordres de Chevalerie. Paris, 4to. 1820, p. 270.

Waller Family.—I find from Clutterbuck's Herts, vol. ii. p. 476., that Sir Henry Boteler, Kt., of Hatfield Woodhall, Herts, married to his first wife, at Watton Woodhall, Herts, July 26, 1563, Katherine, daughter of Robert Waller, of Hadley, and widow of Mr. Pope. I have examined all the pedigrees of the Wallers I can find to ascertain to which branch of them this lady belonged. Can any of your readers supply me with any particulars of her family?

Tewars.

[Possibly from the Wallers of Groombridge, county of Sussex. Thomas Waller, of Lansdall, in that county, second son of Thomas Waller, of Groombridge, had a son, Thomas, whose only daughter and heir, Catherine, married Thomas Pope, of Henfield, county of Sussex. In such cases the Christian name given by Clutterbuck may be wrong.—See the Histories of Kent and Sussex for the account of the Wallers.]

Life of St. Werburgh.—In King's Vale Royal, and other works on Cheshire antiquities, reference is made to a Life of St. Werburgh in verse, by Henry Bradshaw, a monk of Chester. I am anxious to ascertain whether the original MS. is now in existence; and, if not, in what collection a copy of the poem is preserved?

T. H.

[Mr. Hawkins of the British Museum edited a reprint of this Life of St. Werburgh for the Chetham Society, and in Mr. H.'s preface will be found all that is known of the existing copies of the printed work. The Editor did not know of any manuscript copy of the Life.]

Blindman's Holiday.—I have frequently heard the term "Blind Man's Holiday" used when it is getting dark in the evening, and one cannot see to read or write, work, &c. I have asked several persons if they knew the origin and reason of application of this expression, but can obtain no satisfactory explanation. Can any of your readers furnish one?

W. H. C.

[Florio has "Feriato, vacancy from labour, rest from worke, blindman's holiday." That amusing old antiquary, Dr. Pegge, made a query of this term about half a century ago. He says, "The twilight, or rather the hour between the time when one can no longer see to read, and the lighting of the candle, is commonly called blindman's holiday: qu. the meaning or occasion of this proverbial saying? I conceive, that at that time, all the family being at leisure to converse and discourse, should there be a blind person in the family, it is the time when his happiness is greatest, every one then being at liberty to attend to, and to entertain him."—Anonymiana, cent. iii. sect. xviii.]

Ab. Seller.—Any information respecting Ab. Seller, rector of Combentynhead, Devon, and author of The Devout Communicant, assisted with Rules for the Worthy Receiving of the Blessed Eucharist, London, 1686, will be much valued by

E. D. R.

[Abednego Seller was a native of Plymouth, educated at Lincoln College, Oxford; minister of Combentynhead, in Devonshire, and subsequently vicar of St. Charles, Plymouth; but was deprived for refusing to take the oaths to William III. In Hearne's MS. Diaries, 1710, vol. xxv. occurs a notice of him:—"Mr. Abednego Seller was another Nonjuror, and had also collected an excellent study of books; but as he was a man of less learning than Dr. Thomas Smith [the editor of Bede], so his books were inferior to them, and heaped together with less discretion." Another notice of him occurs in Granger's Biog. Dict., vol. iv. p. 11.;—"Mr. Ashby, President of St. John's College, Cambridge, has a copy of Konigii Bibliotheca, interleaved and filled with MS. notes by A. Seller." He was the author of several works which are given in Watt's Bibliotheca Britan., but the following is omitted: Remarks upon the Reflections of the Author of 'Popery Misrepresented,' &c. in his Answerer, particularly as to the Deposing Doctrine, Anon., London, 4to. 1686. Another work has also been attributed to him, viz. Considerations upon the Second Canon in the Book entitled 'Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical,' &c. Lond., 4to. 1693. Seller died about 1720, aged seventy-three. A letter from Seller to Humphrey Wanley, concerning Greek music, &c., will be found in the Harl. MSS. No. 3782, Art. 26. Consult also Wood's Athenæ Oxon., vol. iv. p. 563. edit. Bliss.]

Martin-drunk.—1. Thomas Nash, in his classification of drunkards, describes the seventh species as "Martin-drunk, when a man is drunk, and drinks himself sober ere he stir." What is the origin of the expression "Martin-drunk?"

2. This passage reminds me of a line, which I fancied I had read in Lord Byron, but which I am now unable to trace. It is (if I remember aright):

"And drinking largely sobers one again."

Can you give me a reference for this, either in Byron or any other of our poets?

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

[2. The latter passage occurs in Pope's Essay on Criticism, line 215:—

"A little learning is a dangerous thing!

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again."]

Bagster's English Version.—Who edited Bagster's English version of the Polyglott Bible? The preface is signed T. C. Whence is the motto:

Πολλαι μεν θνητοις Γλωτται, μια δ' Αθανατοισιν;

A. A. D.

[The late Dr. Thomas Chevalier was the editor, and wrote the Preface; and the Rev. H. F. Cary supplied the Greek motto.]


Replies.

REPLY TO MR. HICKSON'S OBJECTIONS.

Vol. v., pp. 554. 573.)

That Mr. Hickson should have discovered no graver objections to certain suggestions of mine respecting the text of Shakspeare than those he has brought forward, is of itself no slight testimonial in their favour.

In one instance I have already (Vol. v., p. 210.) shown Mr. Hickson (I trust satisfactorily) that his then somewhat similar objection had no weight; nor do these now advanced appear much more formidable.

As to the passage from As You Like It, which Mr. Hickson remarks is capable of a moral as well as a physical interpretation—undoubtedly it is! But, in the first place, it must still remain a matter of opinion which sense best accords with the context: and, secondly, even admitting the moral sense to be the true one, still it does not necessarily disturb the analogy between it and Imogen's allusion to the jay of Italy. In that case, also, the moral sense may be understood as implying the absence of all principle other than that derived from her own gaudy vanity.

Were I disposed to cavil, I might, in my turn, question Mr. Hickson's estimate of Phebe's beauty. Surely Rosalind's depreciation of it is not real, but only assumed, for the purpose of humbling, Phebe! Inky brows, black silk hair, bugle eye-balls, cheek of cream—these are not items in a catalogue of ugliness!

Mr. Hickson's second objection (p. 573.) is to my explanation of the demonstrative that in the Duke's opening speech in Measure for Measure. He thinks that, according to "the language we in England use," the Duke would have used the word this instead of that.

Does Mr. Hickson seriously mean to say that Shakspeare's language is to be scanned by our present ideas of correctness? Is the bold sweep of the Master's hand to be measured by the graduation of modern convention? Are there no instances in Shakspeare of the indiscriminate substitution of personal and impersonal pronouns—of active and passive participles—of words and phrases waiting upon the magician's wind, like familiar spirits, to be moulded to his will, and acknowledging no rule but of his creation?

But, in the present case, I will not admit that any such licence is necessary. To Mr. Hickson's question, "Is this the language we in England use?" I answer, It is!

We do, even at the present day, say to a messenger, "Take that to," &c., even before we have transferred the missive from our hand to his. I can even fancy an individual, less anxious perhaps about grammar than benevolence, stretching forth to some unfortunate, and exclaiming, while yet his intended gift was in his own keeping, "There needs but THAT to your relief—there it is!"

It does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Hickson that the same "fatal objection" which he brings forward against that, might also be pleaded against there. When the Duke says, "There is our commission:" why not, "Here is our commission"? There stands precisely in the same relation to that, as here does to this!

A. E. B.

Leeds.


THE TERM "MILESIAN."

(Vol. v., p. 453.)

In reference to the communication of Mr. Richards, but I have not seen Mr. Fraser's Query, I beg to observe, for the honour of "Old Ireland," that upwards of thirty years since, the Royal Irish Academy awarded to me a prize of 80l., with the Cunningham gold medal, for an Essay on the Ancient History, &c. of Ireland. It was published in the sixteenth volume of their Transactions to an extent of 380 pages quarto; and Mr. Moore has done me the honour to write to me, that it was his guide throughout the first two volumes of his history of this country. In that Essay, I have written very fully of the "Milesian" colonisation; so called, not directly from Milesius himself, but from his two sons, Heber and Heremon, who led the expedition. The native annalists represent the course of the emigrants through the Mediterranean by such progressive stages as indicate the state and progress of the Phœnicians after their exodus under the conduct of Cadmus; though the ingenuity of the Bards occasionally introduced that colouring of romance, which perhaps can alone make very remote objects distinguishable. External testimonies of these oriental wanderers are traceable through Herodotus, lib. iv. c. 42.; Pliny, c. 86.; Nennius, Hist. Britt., c. 9.; Thomas Walsingham, Ypodigma Neustriæ ad ann. 1185. The venerable Wintoun adopts all the traditions of the Irish Chronicles on the subject (Cronyk. of Scotl., lib. ii. c. 9.); and Macpherson declares (Dissertation, p. 15.) that such of the ancient records of Scotland as escaped the barbarous policy of Edward I. support this account. The writers on Spanish history, the Hispania Illustrata, De Bellegarde's Hist. Gen. d'Espagne, vol. i. c. i. p. 4., Emanuel de Faria y Sousa, &c., carry the links through Spain; and such indeed has been the long and general faith in the tradition, that it has been actually embodied, even to the names of those alleged leaders Heber and Heremon, in an act of parliament (of Ireland I must admit) in the eleventh year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and through an occurrence therein engrafted upon it is expressly derived one of Her Majesty's—

"Auntient and sundrie strong authentique tytles for the Kings of England to this land of Ireland."

John D'Alton.

48. Summer Hill, Dublin.


BEN. JONSON'S ADOPTED SONS.

(Vol. v., p. 537.)

I doubt if Alexander Brome was one of Ben. Jonson's adopted sons. It is not improbable, however, that Richard Brome (author of the comedies of The Northern Lass and the Antipodes) was one. In Ben. Jonson's Underwoods is a poem to Richard Brome "on his comedy of The Northern Lass," which commences thus:

"I had you for a servant once, Dick Brome,

And you perform'd a servant's faithful parts;

Now you are got into a nearer room

Of fellowship, professing my old arts."

Thomas Randolph was certainly one of Jonson's sons. See in his Poems (4th edit. p. 17.): "A gratulatory to M. Ben. Jonson for his adopting of him to be his son."

In Jonson's Underwoods is a poem "To my dear Son and right learned Friend Master Joseph Rutter." This is in praise of his "first play," but I am unable to state what that play was; nor can I give further information respecting Master Joseph Rutter, than that he is apparently the author of "An Elegy upon Ben. Jonson" in Jonsonus Viribus.

Of William Cartwright Ben. Jonson used to say, "My son, Cartwright, writes all like a man." (Campbell's Specimens of the British Poets, ed. 1841, p. 183.)

James Howell was another of Jonson's sons, and has, in Jonsonus Viribus, some lines "Upon the Poet of his Time, Benjamin Jonson, his honoured Friend and Father."

Shackerley Marmion seems to have been another son. See in Jonsonus Viribus, "A Funeral Sacrifice to the sacred memory of his thrice-honoured father Ben. Jonson."

If Jonson really had twelve sons, it is not improbable that some of the following were of the number: Sir Kenelm Digby, Thomas Carew, John Cleveland, Sir John Suckling, Thomas May, Edward Hyde (afterwards Earl of Clarendon), Owen Feltham, Jasper Mayne, Richard West, John Vaughan, Thomas Hobbes.

I should have been disposed to have added to the above illustrious list the name of Edmund Waller, but for a statement of Aubrey, who says, "He told me he was not acquainted with Ben. Jonson" (Aubrey's Lives, p. 564.).

Aubrey (Lives, p. 413.), speaking of Ben. Jonson, says:

"Serjeant Jo. Hoskins, of Herefordshire, was his father. I remember his sonne (Sr Bennet Hoskins, baronet, who was something poeticall in his youth), told me, that when he desired to be adopted his son, 'No,' sayd he, ''tis honour enough for me to be your brother; I am your father's son, 'twas he that polished me, I do acknowledge it.'"

I observe that, prefixed to Randolph's Poems, are some lines by Richard West, B.A., and student of Christ's Church: "To the pious Memory of my dear Brother-in-Law, Mr. Thomas Randolph." As West must have been unmarried, and as I believe Randolph was also unmarried, it is possible that West calls him his brother-in-law from his being also an adopted son of Ben. Jonson.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.


SHAKSPEARE'S SEAL.

(Vol. v., p. 539.)

There is a very full and curious account of a ring-seal (of which I possess two red wax impressions), supposed to have belonged to Shakspeare, in a work unassumingly entitled A Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon, by R. B. Wheler, published in 1814. I presume that is the seal—or, rather, ring-seal—to which reference is made; but how far Mr. Wheler's statements and speculations may encourage "belief in the genuineness of this relic," your correspondent, and others taking any interest in such matters, must for themselves determine.

As the publication above named is before me, it may not be unacceptable to give a summary of Mr. Wheler's narrative, which occupies eight concluding pages of the Guide. It appears that on the 16th March, 1810, an ancient gold ring, weighing 12 dwts., and bearing the initials "W. S.," engraved in Roman characters, was found by a labourer's wife upon the surface of the mill-close adjoining Stratford churchyard, being the exact spot whereon Mr. Oldaker since erected his present residence. It had undoubtedly been lost a great many years, being nearly black; and, continues Mr. W.,—

"Though I purchased it upon the same day, for 36s. (the current value of the gold), the woman had sufficient time to destroy the 'precious ærugo' by having it unnecessarily immersed in aquafortis, to ascertain and prove the metal, at a silversmith's shop, which consequently restored its original colour. It is of tolerably large dimensions, and evidently a gentleman's ring of Elizabeth's age. Similar seal-rings are represented on cotemporary paintings and monuments: and the crossing of the central lines of the 'W.' with the oblique direction of the lines of the 'S.' exactly agree with the characters of that day. For proof we need wander no farther than Stratford Church, where the Totness and Clopton tombs will furnish representations of rings, and Shakspeare's monument of letters, perfectly corresponding in point of shape. The connexion or union of the letters by the ornamental string and tassels" [or True Lover's Knot, according to your correspondent], "was then frequently used, of which numberless instances may be found upon seals and upon inscriptions, in painted windows, and in the title-pages of books of that period; and for further coincidence of circumstances, it may be observed over the porch leading into the hall of Charlcote House near Stratford (erected in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, by the very Sir Thomas Lucy said to have prosecuted Shakspeare for deer-stealing), that the letters 'T. L.' are surrounded in a manner precisely similar."

After adverting to many vain efforts made by him to discover whether there existed anywhere Shakspeare's seal attached to letter or other writing, Mr. Wheler states that he had examined—

"A list of all the inhabitants of Stratford assessed to the levies in 1617, wherein I cannot discover any apparently respectable person the initials of whose name agree with 'W. S.:' but from this assessment, though probably copied from an anterior one, nothing conclusive can be estimated, it being made in the year subsequent to Shakspeare's death; and I should, from a close observation of the ring, be inclined to suppose that it was made in the early part of the poet's life. Mr. Malone, in a conversation I had with him in London," (adds Mr. Wheler), "the 20th April, 1812, about a month before his death, said that he had nothing to allege against the probability of my conjecture as to its owner."

Mr. W. afterwards proceeds:

"That such a seal was used by a person connected with Shakspeare by a marriage is certain; for I possess an impression of the seal (and apparently a seal-ring) of Adrian Quiney, bailiff of Stratford in 1559-60; and who, I have every reason to believe, was the uncle of Thomas Quiney, our poet's son-in-law. This seal of Quiney's, which is appended to a deed dated June 28, 9 Eliz., 1567, being a conveyance of property in Bridge Street, Stratford, very minutely corresponds with the Shakspeare ring in size, and has a very near resemblance to it in the string and tassels uniting the Roman initials 'A. Q.;' which ornamental junction is carved somewhat similar to what is now called The True Lover's Knot, and in the Shakspeare ring the upper bow or flourish resembles a heart."

In Shakspeare's age—

"Seal-rings were very fashionable, but were probably more limited than at present to the nobility and respectable families; for I still confine myself to the respectability of its proprietor.... After numerous and continued researches into public and private documents, I find no Stratfordian of that period so likely to own such a ring as Shakspeare."

Mr. Wheler concludes—

"At present, I possess no positive proof whatever. Let it be remembered that my observations are merely relative. I yet hope to meet with an impression of the ring in my possession; and in this I am more particularly encouraged by the fact, that should success attend the investigation, this seal-ring would be the only existing article PROVED to have originally belonged to our immortal poet."

When Mr. Wheler wrote, the signatures in Montaigne's work, &c. had not been restored to the light.

A Hermit at Hampstead.


REASON AND UNDERSTANDING ACCORDING TO COLERIDGE.

(Vol. v., p. 535.)

Your correspondent C. Mansfield Ingleby will pardon me if I deny the discrepancy in Coleridge's statements on the difference between these faculties. Coleridge refuses to brutes the possession of reason as a contemplative faculty; he allows them, that which in kind differs from reason, the understanding in a certain degree, and asserts that they do possess, in a very marked and characteristic manner, instinct, which, in degree only, falls below understanding. Instinct is distinguishable in degree from understanding. Reason is distinguishable from it in kind. Some kinds of brutes, as dogs and elephants, possess more intelligence than others, as tigers and swine; and some individual dogs possess more of this intelligence than others. This intelligence arises from the superior activity of the "faculty judging according to sense;" and, when Coleridge says that it is not clear to him "that the dog may not possess an analogon to words," he might have gone, I think, further, and have said, with much probability of truth on his side, that the dog has this analogon of words. I am sure I have often known a dog's thoughts by his own way of expressing them, far more distinctly than I am sometimes able to gather a fellow man's meaning from his words. Nay, much as I love and venerate Coleridge—his goodness, his genius, his writings, his memory—I find a dog sometimes far more intelligible. Language is a property of the understanding, but it cannot be developed in words unless there be in the creature an adequate degree of the faculty. This degree of the faculty, dogs have not. If they had it, they might fairly be expected to speak, read, and write. What we want is the man, or the observation and experiment, which shall show us where the line is to be drawn, if in the nature of such gradations lines can be drawn at all, which shall distinguish the degree at which instinct overlaps understanding. The case is perhaps too hopelessly complicated. Coleridge has carefully guarded his expressions, that they should not seem to assert for brutes more than he can prove that they possess, by the use of the words "analogous or fully equivalent." That brutes can and do reflect, abstract, and generalise, it needs but an understanding of the terms, and some observation of their habits, to feel assured.

Caspar.


GENERAL WOLFE.

(Vol. v., pp. 185. 398. &c.)

Since my last communication relative to this celebrated soldier, I have fallen in with a volume of the London Chronicle for the first half of the year 1760, and from it I send the following extracts: although there is more information relative to the battle, these only I thought worth insertion in "N. & Q." The first is entitled: