Notes and Queries, Number 13, January 26, 1850

A much more remarkable specimen of Logographic Printing than the number of the Times newspaper mentioned by NASO, No. 9., p. 136., is an edition of Anderson's History of Commerce, with a continuation, in 4 vols. 4to., printed by that method in 1787-1789, "at the Logographic Press, by J. Walter, Printing-House Square, Blackfriars." The work, which makes in all not much short of 4000 pages, is very well printed in all respects; and the following interesting note on the subject of Logographic Printing is attached to the preface heading the Continuation, or fourth volume.

"Mr. Walter cannot here omit suggesting to the Public a few observations on his improved mode of printing LOGOGRAPHICALLY. In all projects for the general benefit, the individual who conceives that the trade in which he is engaged diminishes in its emoluments from any improvement which another may produce in it, is too much disposed to become its enemy; and, perhaps, the interest of individuals never exerted itself with more inveteracy than has been experienced by Mr. Walter from many concerned in the trade into which he had entered.

"The invention which he brought forward, promised to be of essential service to the public, by expediting the process and lessening the expense of printing. Dr. Franklin sanctioned it with his approbation, and Sir Joseph Banks encouraged him with the most decided and animated opinion of the great advantages which would arise to literature from the LOGOGRAPHIC PRESS. Nevertheless Mr. Walter was left to struggle with the interest of some, and the prejudice of others, and, though he was honoured by the protection of several persons of high rank, it happened in his predicament, as it generally happens in predicaments of a similar nature, that his foes were more active than his friends, and he still continued to struggle with every difficulty that could arise from a very determined opposition to, and the most illiberal misrepresentations of, the LOGOGRAPHIC IMPROVEMENT.

"Mr. Walter has, however, at length triumphed over the falsehood and malignity of his opponents; LOGOGRAPHIC PRINTING, after having produced such a work as this, which he now presents to the public, with many excellent publications that he has already printed, can no longer be considered as an idle speculation: on the contrary, it is proved to be a practical improvement, that promises, under a due encouragement, to produce a great national benefit. To advance it to the perfection of which it is capable, Mr. Walter engages to employ his utmost exertions, and he takes the liberty of expressing his confidence, that he shall not be disappointed in the enjoyment of that public favour which now promises to reward his labours."

C.

Old Brompton, Jan. 3. 1850.

[We may mention another work printed in this manner—an edition of Robinson Crusoe, in 3 vols. 8vo. 1790—"printed at the Logographic Press, and sold by J. Walter, No. 169. Piccadilly, opposite Old Bond Street."]

MEMORIALS OF THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S LAST DAYS. 10

At a recent meeting of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Dr. Anster exhibited a manuscript volume of 157 pages, which he declared to be the identical "album filled with songs, recipes, prayers, and charms," found in the Duke of Monmouth's pocket when he was seized. It was purchased at a book-stall in Paris in 1827 by an Irish divinity student, was given by him to a priest in the county of Kerry, and, on the priest's death, became the property of the present possessor. Respecting in its identity and history, from its removal from the rebel duke's pocket down to its production at the Royal Irish Academy, Dr. Anster showed that after Monmouth was beheaded—which he was on Tower Hill, by the too-celebrated John Ketch, on the 15th July, 1685—the articles found on his person were given to the king. At James's deposition, three years afterwards, all his manuscripts, including those that had belonged to Monmouth, were carried into France, where they remained till the Revolution in that country a century afterwards. Dr Anster, in exhibiting the book, showed that the remains of silver clasps had been destroyed, and a part of the leather of the covers at each side torn away, seemingly for the purpose of removing some name on a coat of arms with which it had been once marked; and this he accounted for by the belief that at the period of the French Revolution the persons in whose custody they were, being fearful of the suspicions likely to arise from their possession of books with royal arms on them, tore off the covers, and sent the books to St. Omer's. The after-fate of the larger books was, that they were burned; some small ones, we are distinctly told, were saved from this fate, but seem to have been disregarded, and all trace of them lost. The Abbé Waters—a collateral descendant of Lucy Waters, the Duke of Monmouth's mother—was the person with whom George IV. negotiated for the Stuart papers, and from whom the volumes which have since appeared as Clark's Life of James the Second were obtained; and it is from the Abbé Waters we have the account of the destruction of King James's autograph papers. Dr. Anster showed, written on the inner cover of this volume, the words, "Baron Watiers" or "Watrers."

As to the identity of the book, Dr. Anster quoted several passages from contemporary authors to test their account of the contents of the "album" with those of the book he was describing. In the Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi. p.323., it is stated in Sir John Reresby's memoirs, that "out of his [Monmouth's] pocket were taken books, in his own handwriting, containing charms or spells to open the doors of a prison, to obviate the danger of being wounded in battle, together with songs and prayers." Barillon describes the book in what is nearly a translation of this—"Il y avoit des secrets de magie et d'enchantment, avec des chansons des recettes pour des maladies et des prieres." Again, in a note by Lord Dartmouth to the modern editions of Burnet's Own Times, we have the following statement:—

"My uncle Colonel William Legge, who went in the coach with him [Monmouth] to London as a guard, with orders to stab him if there were any disorders on the road, showed me several charms that were tied about him when he was taken, and his table-book, which was full of astrological figures that nobody could understand; but he told my uncle that they had been given to him some years before in Scotland, and he now found they were but foolish conceits."

The actual contents of the manuscript volume show a great resemblance to these descriptions. The most curious passages which it contains are the duke's memorandums of his journey on two visits to the Prince of Orange, in the year previous to his last rash adventure. His movements up to the 14th of March, 1684-85, are given. The entries do not seem to be of much moment; but they may accidentally confirm or disprove some disputed points of history. There is an entry without a date, describing the stages of a journey in England, commencing with London and Hampstead: it ends with Toddington. This forms a strong link in the chain of identity; for Toddington is a place remarkable in the history of the duke. Near it was the residence of Lady Henrietta Maria Wentworth, baroness (in her own right) of Nettlestead, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lord Wentworth, grandchild and heir of the Earl of Cleveland. Five years before the execution, her mother observed that, despite the duke being a married man, her daughter had, while at court, attracted his admiration, and she hurried her away to Toddington. In 1683, after the failure of the Rye-House Plot, Monmouth was banished from the royal presence, and it was to Toddington he retired. When, on retracting the confession he had made on the occasion, he was banished the kingdom, the companion of his exile was Lady Henrietta Wentworth.

"I dwell on this," said Dr. Anster, "because the accidental mention of Toddington seems to authenticate the book: the name of Lady Henrietta Wentworth does not occur in it, and the persons in whose hands the book has been since it was purchased in Paris do not seem to have noticed the name of Toddington, or to have known that it had any peculiar relation to the duke's history. It occurs twice in the book—once in the itinerary, and again in a trifling and unmetrical song, which is probably the duke's own composition; written probably on the eve of his flight with his romantic but guilty companion to Holland:—

"'With joy we leave thee,False world, and do forgiveAll thy false treachery.For now we'll happy live.We'll to our bowers,And there spend our hours;Happy there we'll be,We no strifes can see;No quarrelling for crowns,Nor fear the great one's frowns;Nor slavery of state,Nor changes in our fate.From plots this place is free,There we'll ever be;We'll sit and bless our starsThat from the noise of warsDid this glorious place give(Or did us Toddington give)That thus we happy live.'"

In Macaulay's history we find that the latest act of the duke on the scaffold, before submitting to the stroke of the executioner, was to call his servant, and put into the man's hand a toothpick-case, the last token of ill-starred love. "Give it," he said, "to that person!" After the description of Monmouth's burial occurs the following affecting passage:—

"Yet a few months and the quiet village of Toddington, in Bedfordshire, witnessed a yet sadder funeral. Near that village stood an ancient and stately hall, the seat of the Wentworths. The transept of the parish church had long been their burial-place. To that burial-place, in the spring which followed the death of Monmouth, was borne the coffin of the young Baroness Wentworth of Nettlestead. Her family reared a sumptuous mausoleum over her remains; but a less costly memorial of her was long contemplated with far deeper interest: her name, carved by the hand of him she loved too well, was, a few years ago, still discernible on a tree in the adjoining park."

In further proof of identity, Dr. Anster pointed out several charms and recipes which the manuscript volume contains. The conjurations are in general for the purpose of learning the results of sickness in any particular case, and of determining whether friends will be in certain circumstances faithful. There are also incantations for the use of several maladies, and one to make gray hair grow black. No "charms against being wounded in battle," such are Sir John Reresby mentions, are to be found in the volume; but there are some prayers against violent death, which have the appearance of having been transcribed from some devotional book. There is evidently a mistake in supposing that this book contains any charm for breaking open prison doors, and it is likely that Sir John Reresby was misled in this way:—There is in p. 7. a charm in French to procure repose of body and mind, and deliverance from pains; and the word for "pains" is written in a contracted form; it might as well stand for prisons; but, examining the context, it is plainly the former word which is meant.

The rest of the entries consist of extracts from old recipe-books, mixed in the oddest way with abridgements of English history, and the most trifling memorandums, chiefly of a private and personal kind. Altogether, this commonplace work is highly indicative of the weakness, vanity, and superstition which stood forward so prominently in the character of the rash but unfortunate Duke of Monmouth.

QUERIES

CATHERINE PEGGE

Mr. Cunningham was mistaken in supposing that I had overlooked Catherine Pegge, for I was well aware that she could not have been Pepys's "pretty Lady." She must, in fact, have attained her fortieth year, and there is no record of her being on the stage; whereas Margaret Hughes had, when Pepys saluted her, recently joined the Theatre Royal, and she is expressly styled "Peg Hughes" by Tom Browne, in one of his "Letters from the Dead to the Living." Having disposed of this question, I am tempted to add that Morant does not confirm the statement that Catherine Pegge married Sir Edward Green, for he says that

"Sir Edward Greene, created a Baronet, 26 July, 1660, was seated at Little Sampford in Essex; he had 3 wives, the first was Jeronyma, daughter and coheir of William Everard, of Linsted, Esq., and by her he had 6 daughters; by Mary, daughter of – Tasborough, he had a son; and by the third lady –, daughter of – Simonds, he had a daughter. He was the last of the Greenes that enjoyed this estate, having lost it by gaming."—Morant's Essex, vol. ii. p. 525.

This account of the Greene family is stated in a note to have been taken from a fine pedigree on vellum, penes T. Wotton, Gent.

If Catherine Pegge was one the three ladies mentioned above, she must have changed her name previously to her marriage, in hopes of concealing her former history; but the circumstance of the baronetcy being conferred upon Sir Edward is very suspicious. Probably some of your correspondents can settle the question.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End, Jan. 19. 1850.

WILLIAM BASSE, AND HIS POEMS

Can any of your readers inform me where a perfect or imperfect copy is to be found of a poem, of which I possess only a single half sheet, under the following title:—

"Great Brittaines Sunnes-set, bewailed with a Shower of Teares. By William Basse. At Oxford, Printed by Ioseph Barnes. 1613"?

It is one of the many poems published on the death of Prince Henry; and although I have been in search of it, or of a fragment of it, for more than twenty years, I have never been able to obtain tidings of more than of that small portion in my possession; nor am I aware of the mention of it in any bibliographical authority. I have not at hand Sir H. Nicolas's edition of Walton's Angler, in which Basse is spoken of, but I remember looking at that beautiful and costly work a long time ago, and, as far as I recollect, not finding in it anything to my purpose. I observe that a William Basse (or Bas, as the name is there spelt) printed in 1602, 4to., a tract called Sword and Buckler, or Serving Man's Defence; but I know no more of it than that it was sold in Steevens's sale; and among the MSS. of the late Mr. Heber was a volume of poems called Polyhymnia, apparently prepared for the press, and dedicated by William Basse to Lady Lindsey, which contained an "Elegie on a rare Singing Bull-finch," dated 19th June, 1648; so that he was still living nearly half a century after he had printed his earliest known performance.

The production that Izaac Walton refers to must be the ballad preserved in the Pepys Collection at Cambridge, under the heading "Maister Basse his Careere, or the new Hunting of the Hare. To a new Court tune;" and beginning—

"Long ere the morne expects the returne."

It was "Printed at London by E.A.," i.e. Edward Allde, without date; and it may have been duly noticed by the last editor of The Complete Angler. However, neither this nor Heber's MS. throw any new light upon the small tract (in 8vo., and of perhaps not more than two sheets) with the title of which I commenced, and regarding which I request information. It is a poem in eight-line stanzas, and it is dedicated, at the back of the title-page, "To his honourable Master, Sir Richard Wenman, Knight," without another word addressed to his patron.

My fragment of four leaves, or half an 8vo. sheet, contains stanzas (one on each page), numbered 5, 6, 7, 8. 13, 14.; and the earliest of them is this:—

"To you I therefore weepe: To you aloneI shew the image of your teares, in mine;That mine (by shewing your teares) may be show'nTo be like yours, so faithfull so divine:Such as more make the publique woe their owne,Then their woe publique, such as not confineThemselves to times, nor yet forms from examples borrow:Where losse is infinit, there boundlesse is the sorrow."

I have preserved even the printer's punctuation, for the sake of more perfect identification, if any of your readers are acquainted with the existence of a copy of the production, or of any portion of it. The above stanza, being numbered "5," of course it was preceded by four others, of which I can give no account. Another stanza, from this literary and bibliographical rarity, may not be unacceptable; it is the eighth—

"Here then run forth thou River of my woesIn cease lesse currents of complaining verse:Here weepe (young Muse) while elder pens composeMore solemne Rites unto his sacread Hearse.And, as when happy earth did, here, encloseHis heavn'ly minde, his Fame then Heav'n did pierce.Now He in Heav'n doth rest, now let his Fame earth fill;So, both him then posses'd: so both possesse him still."

Therefore, although Basse had written his Sword and Buckler in 1602 (if it were the same man), he still called his Muse "young" in 1613. I cannot call to mind any precedent for the form of stanza adopted by him, consisting, as it does, of six ten- syllable lines, rhyming alternately, followed by a twelve-syllable couplet. None of the other stanzas contain personal matter; the grief of the author of Great Britain's Sun's-set seems as artificial as might be expected; and his tears were probably brought to the surface by the usual pecuniary force-pump.

I have some notion that William Basse was a musical composer, as well as a writer of verses; but here, again, I am at fault, and particularly request the aid of Dr. Rimbault, who has paid special attention to such matters, and who has just published a learned and valuable work on the music of the ballads in Percy's Reliques. If the volume were not so indisputably excellent in its kind, there are reasons, connected with its dedication, which might make me hesitate in giving it even a just tribute of praise.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

Kensington, Jan. 21. 1850.

MINOR QUERIES

Christmas Hymn.—Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the well-known Christmas Hymn, "Hark the Herald Angels sing," which is so often found (of course without the slightest shadow of authority), at the end of our Prayer-Books? In the collection of poems entitled Christmas Tyde, published by Pickering, the initials "J.C.W." are appended to it; the same in Bickersteth's Hymn Book. In the last number of the Christian Remembrancer, it is incorrectly attributed to Doddridge, who was the author of the other Christmas Hymn, "High let us swell our tuneful notes," frequently appended to Tate and Brady; as well as of the Sacramental Hymn, "My God and is Thy table spread?" If the author of this hymn cannot be determined, it would be interesting to know its probable date, and the time when this and the other unauthorised additions were made to our Prayer-Book. The case of Doddridge's hymn is more remarkable, as being the composition of a dissenter.

E.V.

On a Passage in Pope.—"P.C.S.S.," who is old-fashioned enough to admire and to study Pope, would feel greatly obliged if any of your correspondents could help him to the interpretation of the following lines, in the "Imitation" of Horace's Epistle to Augustus:—

"The Hero William, and the Martyr Charles,One knighted Blackmore, and one pensioned Quarles,Which made old Ben, and sturdy Dennis swear,No Lord's Annointed, but a Russian bear!"

The passage in Horace, of which this purports to be an "Imitation," is the well-known

"Boeotum in crasso jurares äere natum,"

and it is clear enough that Pope meant to represent kings Charles and William as so devoid of the taste which should guide royal patronage, that, in selecting such objects of their favour as Blackmore and Quarles, they showed themselves to be as uncouth and unpolished as the animal to which he likens them. But the principal motive of this inquiry is to ascertain whether there exist in their writings any record of the indignation supposed to have been expressed by Jonson and Dennis at the favour shown by majesty to their less worthy rivals.

P.C.S.S.

Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood.– There is a passage in Longinus (ch. xxii.), familiar perhaps to some of the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," which indicates that the fact of the circulation of the blood was well established in the days of Plato. The father of critics, to exemplify, and illustrate the use and value of trope in writing, has garbled from the Timaeus, a number of sentences descriptive of the anatomy of the human body, where the circulation of the blood is pointed at in terms singularly graphic. The exact extent of professional knowledge arrived at in the time of the great philosopher is by no means clearly defined: he speaks of the fact, however, not with a view to prove what was contested or chimerical, but avails himself of it to figure out the surpassing wisdom of the gods in constructing the human frame. Perhaps some of the readers of the "NOTES," who are more thoroughly conversant with the subject, may think it worth while to inquire how much was known on that subject before Harvey wrote his Exercitationes Anatomiae. The Prooemium of that author seems hardly sufficient to satisfy the desire of every reader, who has looked with some care to the passage in Longinus to which I have taken the liberty of calling public attention.

A.W.

Brighton.

The Meaning of "Pallace."—A lease granted by the corporation of Totness in Devon, in the year 1703, demises premises by this description: "All that cellar and the chambers over the same, and the little pallace and landing-place adjoining to the river Dart." Can your readers give an explanation of the term "pallace?"

J.R. ROGERS.

Did Oliver Cromwell write "The New Star of the North?"—Perhaps some of your numerous correspondents, who have perused a curious letter of Count de Tessins, in Clements' Bibliothèque Curieuse, tome ix. page 331., can inform me what credit, or if any, is due to the Count's conjecture, that Oliver Cromwell was the author of the book entitled The New Star of the North, shining upon the victorious King of Sweden, &c. 4to. London, 1632.

J.M.

Oxford.

Meaning of Savegard and Russells.—In the will of Elizabeth Coddington, lady of the manor of Ixworth, 1571, mention is made of "the red russells quilt," of "a felde bed," and of "my cloke and savegard of freseadon." I shall be obliged by any description of the garment known as the savegard, and of the russells quilt.

BURIENSIS.

Pandoxare.—Having met with an old volume containing the entire household expenses, as well as in some degree a diary, kept by a country gentleman during the reigns of James II., William and Mary, and Anne, I observed that he has made use of a species of hieroglyphics, to facilitate his reference to his book, as it contained all the entries of all kinds, in chronological order. For instance, where mention is made of money spent on behalf of one person in his house, he puts at the side of the page a clay pipe, rudely drawn; an entry of the payment of wages to another servant has a jug of ale; another a quill pen; another a couple of brooms, as the housemaid; a fiddle for the dancing master for his daughter; payment made to the sexton or parish-clerk has a representation of the village church by its side, and the window-tax a small lattice-window; and on the days that they brewed, a small barrel is drawn by the side of the date. And the chief object of my letter is with respect to this last; a barrel is often drawn, and by its side the words, primò relinitus, and the date, naturally meaning the day it was tapped; and then shortly after comes another barrel, and to it is written the word Pandox., or sometimes in full Pandoxavimus; in some places at the end of the year there is a list to this effect:—

"(1705.)

(–)

Memoranda.

29. Mar.—Pandoxe.

6. Apr.—relinit.

28. Apr.—relinit.

3. May.—Pandoxe.

17. May.—relinit.

31. May.—relinit.

5. Iun.—Pandoxe."

and at the top of the list the figure of a barrel.

I should be glad if any of the readers of your paper could tell me the meaning of the word Pandoxare? Whatever it was, it took place about once a month.

H.B.

[Ducange explains Pandoxare "Cauponum exercere, agere; cerevisiam venum exponere atque adeo conficere."]

Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms.– In old Izaak Walton's Life of George Herbert, I find the following passage:—