Notes and Queries, Number 22, March 30, 1850

C.B.

NOTE ON HERODOTUS BY DEAN SWIFT

The inclosed unpublished note of Dean Swift will, I hope, be deemed worthy of a place in your columns. It was written by him in his Herodotus, which is now in the library of Winchester College, having been presented to it in 1766, by John Smyth de Burgh, Earl of Clanricarde. The genuineness of the handwriting is attested by a certificate of George Faulkner, who, it appears, was well qualified to decide upon it. The edition is Jungerman's, folio, printed by Paul Stephens, in 1718.

W.H. GUNNER.

"Judicium de Herodoto post longum tempus relicto:—

"Ctesias mendacissimus Herodotum mendaciorum arguit, exceptis paucissimis (ut mea fert sententia) omnimodo excusandum. Cæterum diverticulis abundans, hic pater Historicorum, filum narrationis ad tædium abrumpit; unde oritur (ut par est) legentibus confusio, et exinde oblivio. Quin et forsan ipsæ narrationes circumstantiis nimium pro re scatent. Quod ad cætera, hunc scriptorem inter apprimè laudandos censeo, neque Græcis, neque barbaris plus æquo faventem, aut iniquum: in orationibus fere brevem, simplicem, nec nimis frequentem: Neque absunt dogmata, e quibus eruditus lector prudentiam, tam moralem, quam civilem, haurire poterit.

"Julii 6: 1720. J. SWIFT"

"I do hereby certify that the above is the handwriting of the late Dr. Jonathan Swift, D.S.P.D., from whom I have had many letters and printed several pieces from his original MS.

"Dublin, Aug. 21. 1762. GEORGE FAULKNER."

HERRICK'S HESPERIDES

There can be few among your subscribers who are unacquainted with the sweet lyric effusion of Herrick "to the Virgins, to make much of Time," beginning—

"Gather you rose-buds while ye may,Old Time is still a-flying;And this same flower, that smiles to-day,To-morrow will be dying."

The following "Answer" appeared in a publication not so well known as the Hesperides. I have therefore made a note of it from Cantos, Songs, and Stanzas, &c., 3rd ed. printed in Aberdeen, by John Forbes, 1682.

"I gather, where I hope to gain,I know swift Time doth fly;Those fading buds methinks are vain,To-morrow that may die."The higher Phoebus goes on high,The lower is his fall;But length of days gives me more light,Freedom to know my thrall."Then why do ye think I lose my time,Because I do not marrie;Vain fantasies make not my prime,Nor can make me miscarrie."J.M. GUTCH.

Worcester.

QUERIES

REV. DR. TOMLINSON

Mr. G. Bouchier Richardson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who is at present engaged in compiling the life and correspondence of Robert Thomlinson, D.D., Rector of Whickham, co. Dur.; Lecturer of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and founder of the Thomlinson Library there; Prebendary of St. Paul's; and Vice-Principal of Edmund Hall, Oxon., is very anxious for the communication of any matter illustrative of the life of the Doctor, his family and ancestry; which, it is presumed, is derivable from the family of that name long seated at Howden, in Yorkshire.

MINOR QUERIES

"A" or "An," before Words, beginning with a Vowel.—Your readers are much indebted to Dr. Kennedy for his late exposure of the erroneous, though common, use of the phrase "mutual friend," and I am convinced that there are many similar solecisms which only require to be denounced to ensure their disuse. I am anxious to ask the opinion of Dr. K., and others of your subscribers, on another point in the English language, namely, the principles which should guide our use of "A" or "An" before a word beginning with a vowel, as the practice does not appear to be uniform in this respect. The minister of my parish invariably says in his sermon, "Such an one," which, I confess, to my ear is grating enough. I conclude he would defend himself by the rule that where the succeeding word, as "one," begins with a vowel, "An," and not "A," should be used; but this appears to me not altogether satisfactory, as, though "one" is spelt as beginning with a vowel, it is pronounced as if beginning with a consonant thus, "won." The rule of adding or omitting the final "n," according as the following word commences with a vowel or a consonant, was meant, I conceive, entirely for elegance in speaking, to avoid the jar on the ear which would otherwise be occasioned, and has no reference to writing, or the appearance on paper of the words. I consider, therefore, that an exception must be made to the rule of using "An" before words beginning with a vowel in cases where the words are pronounced as if beginning with a consonant, as "one," "use," and its derivatives, "ubiquity," "unanimity," and some others which will no doubt occur to your readers. I should be glad to be informed if my opinion is correct; and I will only further observe, that the same remarks are applicable towards words beginning with "h." An horse sounds as bad as a hour; and it is obvious that in these cases employment of "A" or "An" is dictated by the consideration whether the aspirate is sounded or is quiescent, and has no reference to the spelling of the word.

PRISCIAN.

The Lucky have whole Days.—I, like your correspondent "P.S." (No. 15., p. 231.), am anxious to ascertain the authorship of the lines to which he refers.

They stand in my Common-place Book as follows, which I consider to be a more correct version than that given by "P.S.":—

"Fate's dark recesses we can never find,But Fortune, at some hours, to all is kind:The lucky have whole days, which still they choose;The unlucky have but hours, and those they lose."H.H.

Line quoted by De Quincey.—"S.P.S." inquires who is the author of the following line, quoted by De Quincey in the Confessions of an English Opium Eater:—

"Battlements that on their restless fronts bore stars."

Bishop Jewel's Papers.—It is generally understood that the papers left by Bishop Jewel were bequeathed to his friend Dr. Garbrand, who published some of them. The rest, it has been stated, passed from Dr. G. into the possession of New College, Oxford. Are any of these still preserved in the library of that college? or, if not, can any trace be found of the persons into whose hands they subsequently came, or of the circumstances under which they were lost to New College?

A.H.

Allusion in Friar Brackley's Sermon.—In Fenn's Paston Letters, XCVIII. (vol. iii., p. 393., or vol. i., p. 113. Bohn), entitled "An ancient Whitsunday Sermon, preached by Friar Brackley (whose hand it is). At the Friers Minors Church in Norwich" occurs the following:—

"Semiplenum gaudium est quando quis in præsenti gaudet et tunc cogitans de futuris dolet; ut in quodam libro Græco, &c."

"Quidam Rex Græciæ, &c.; here ye may see but half a joy; who should joy in this world if he remembered him of the pains of the other world?"

What is the Greek Book, and who is the king of Greece alluded to?

N.E.R.

Selden's Titles of Honour.—Does any gentleman possess a MS. Index to Selden's Titles of Honour? Such, if printed, would be a boon; for it is a dreadful book to wade through for what one wants to find.

B.

Colonel Hyde Seymour.—In a book dated 1720, is written "Borrow the Book of Col. Hyde Seymour." I am anxious to know who the said Colonel was, his birth, &c.?

B.

Quem Deus vult perdere, &c.—Prescot, in his History of the Conquest of Peru (vol. ii., p. 404., 8vo. ed.), says, while remarking on the conduct of Gonzalo Pisaro, that it may be accounted for by "the insanity," as the Roman, or rather Grecian proverb calls it, "with which the gods afflict men when they design to ruin them." He quotes the Greek proverb from a fragment of Euripides, in his note:—

"Οταν δε Δαιμων ανδρι παρσυνη κακαΤον νουν εβλαψε πρωτον."

I wish to know whether the Roman proverb, Quem vult perdere Deus prius dementat, is merely a translation of this, or whether it is to be found in a Latin author? If the latter, in what author? Is it in Seneca?

EDWARD S. JACKSON.

Southwell's Supplication.—Can any one inform me where I can see a copy of Robert Southwell's Supplication to Queen Elizabeth, which was printed, according to Watts, in 1593? or can any one, who has seen it, inform me what is the style and character of it?

J.S.

Gesta Grayorum.—In Nichol's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. iii., p. 262., a tract is inserted, entitled "Gesta Grayorum; or, History of the High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole, &c., who lived and died in A.D. 1594." The original is said to have been printed in 1688, by Mr. Henry Keepe. Is any copy of it to be had or seen?

J.S.

Snow of Chicksand Priory.—"A.J.S.P." desires information respecting the immediate descendants of R. Snow, Esq., to whom the site of Chicksand Priory, Bedfordshire, was granted, 1539: it was alienated by his family, about 1600, to Sir John Osborn, Knt., whose descendants now possess it. In Berry's Pedigrees of Surrey Families, p. 83., I find an Edward Snowe of Chicksand mentioned as having married Emma, second daughter of William Byne, Esq., of Wakehurst, Sussex. What was his relationship to R. Snow, mentioned above? The arms of this family are, Per fesse nebulée azure, and argent three antelopes' heads, erased counterchanged, armed or.

The Bristol Riots.—"J.B.M." asks our Bristol readers what compilation may be relied on as an accurate description of the Bristol riots of 1831? and whether The Bristol Riots, their Causes, Progress, and Consequences, by a Citizen, is generally received as an accurate account?

1, Union Place, Lisson Grove.

A Living Dog better that a Dead Lion.—Can any of your readers inform me with whom the proverb originated: "A living dog is better than a dead lion?" F. Domin. Bannez (or Bannes), in his defence of Cardinal Cajetan, after his death, against the attacks of Cardinal Catharinus and Melchior Canus (Comment. in prim. par. S. Thom. p. 450. ed. Duaci, 1614), says—

"Certe potest dici de istis, quod de Græcis insultantibus Hectori jam mortuo dixit Homerus, quòd leoni mortuo etiam lepores insultant."

Query? Is this, or any like expression, to be found in Homer? If so, I should feel much obliged to any of your correspondents who would favour me with the reference.

JOHN SANSOM.

Author of "Literary Leisure."—Can any of your readers inform me of the name of the author of Literary Leisure, published by Miller, Old Bond Street, 1802, in 2 volumes? It purports to have come out in weekly parts, of which the first is dated Sept. 26. 1799. It contains many interesting papers in prose and verse: it is dedicated to the Editors of the Monthly Review. The motto in the title-page is—

"Saiva res est: philosophatur quoque jam;Quod erat ei nomen? Thesaurochrysonicochrysides."—Plautus.

Is the work noticed in the Monthly Review, about that time?

NEMO.

The Meaning of "Complexion."—Is the word "complexion," used in describing an individual, to be considered as applied to the tint of the skin only, or to the colour of the hair and eyes? Can a person, having dark eyes and hair, but with a clear white skin, be said to be fair?

NEMO.

American Bittern—Derivation of "Calamity."—It has been stated of an American Bittern, that it has the power of admitting rays of light from its breast, by which fish are attracted within its reach. Can any one inform me as to the fact, or refer me to any ornithological work in which I can find it?

In answer to "F.S. Martin"—Calamity (calamitas), not from calamus, as it is usually derived, but perhaps from obs. calamis, i.e. columis, from κολω κολαω κολαζω to maim, mutilate, and so for columitas. (See Riddle's Lat.-Eng. Dictionary.)

AUGUSTINE.

Inquisition in Mexico.—"D." wishes to be furnished with references to any works in which the actual establishment of the Inquisition in Mexico is mentioned or described, or in which any other information respecting it is conveyed.

Masters of St. Cross.—"H. EDWARDS" will be obliged by information of any work except Dugdale's Monasticon, containing a list of the names of the Master of the Hospital of St. Cross, Winchester; or of the Masters or Priors of the same place before Humphry de Milers; and of the Masters between Bishop Sherborne, about 1491, and Bishop Compton, about 1674.

Etymology of "Dalston."—The hamlet of Hackney, now universally known only as Dalston, is spelt by most topographists Dorleston or Dalston. I have seen it in one old Gazette Darlston, and I observed it lately, on a stone let in to an old row of houses, Dolston; this was dated 1792. I have searched a great many books in vain to discover the etymology, and from it, of course, the correct spelling of the word, the oldest form of which that I can find is Dorleston.

The only probable derivations of it that I can find are the old words Doles and ton (from Saxon dun), a village built upon a slip of land between furrows of ploughed earth; or Dale (Dutch Dal), and stone, a bank in a valley. The word may, however, be derived from some man's name, though I can find none at all like it in a long list of tenants upon Hackney Manor that I have searched. If any of your readers can furnish this information they will much oblige.

H.C. DE ST. CROIX.

"Brown Study"—a term generally applied to intense reverie. Why "brown," rather than blue or yellow? Brown must be a corruption of some word. Query of "barren," in the sense of fruitless or useless?

D.V.S.

Coal Brandy.—People now old can recollect that, when young, they heard people then old talk of "coal-brandy." What was this? Cold? or, in modern phase, raw, neat, or genuine?

CANTAB.

Swot.—I have often heard military men talk of swot, meaning thereby mathematics; and persons eminent in that science are termed "good swots." As I never heard the word except amongst the military, but there almost universally in "free and easy," conversation, I am led to think it a cant term. At any rate, I shall be glad to be informed of its origin,—if it be not lost in the mists of soldierly antiquity.

CANTAB.

REPLIES

THE DODO

Mr. Strickland has justly observed that this subject "belongs rather to human history than to pure zoology." Though I have not seen Mr. Strickland's book, I venture to offer him a few suggestions, not as answers to his questions, but as slight aids towards the resolution of some of them.

Qu. 1. There can be no doubt about the discovery of Mauritius and Bourbon by the Portuguese; and if not by a Mascarhenas, that the islands were first so named in honour of some member of that illustrious family, many of whom make a conspicuous figure in the Decads of the Portuguese Livy. I expected to have found some notice of the discovery in the very curious little volume of Antonio Galvaõ, printed in 1563, under the following title:—Tratado dos Descobrimentos Antigos, e Modernos feitos até a Era de 1550; but I merely find a vague notice of several nameless islands—"alguma Ilheta sem gente: onde diz que tomaraõ agoa e lenha"—and that, in 1517, Jorge Mascarenhas was despatched by sea to the coast of China. This is the more provoking, as, in general, Galvaõ is very circumstantial about the discoveries of his countrymen.

Qu. 5. The article in Ree's Cyclopædia is a pretty specimen of the manner in which such things are sometimes concocted, as the following extracts will show:—

"Of Bats they have as big as Hennes about Java and the neighbor islands. Clusius bought one of the Hollanders, which they brought from the Island of Swannes (Ilha do Cisne), newly styled by them Maurice Island. It was about a foot from head to taile, above a foot about; the wings one and twenty inches long, nine broad; the claw, whereby it hung on the trees, was two inches," &c. "Here also they found a Fowle, which they called Walgh-vogel, of the bigness of a Swanne, and most deformed shape." (Purchas his Pilgrimage, 1616, p. 642.)

And afterward, speaking of the island of Madura, he says,—

"In these partes are Battes as big as Hennes, which the people roast and eat."

In the Lettres édifiantes (edit. 1781, t. xiii. p. 302.) is a letter from Père Brown to Madame de Benamont concerning the Isle of Bourbon, which he calls "l'Isle de Mascarin" erroneously saying it was discovered by the Dutch about sixty years since. (The letter is supposed to have been written about the commencement of the eighteenth century.) He then relates how it was peopled by French fugitives from Madagascar, when the massacre there took place on account of the conduct of the French king and his court. In describing its production, he says,—

"Vers l'est de cette Isle il y a une petite plaine au haut d'une montagne, qu'on appelle la Plaine des Caffres, où l'on trouve un gros oiseau bleu, dont la couleur est fort éclatante. Il ressemble à un pigeon ramier; il vole rarement, et toujours en rasant la terre, mais il marche avec une vitesse surprenante; les habitans ne lui ont point encore donné d'autre nom que celui d'oiseau bleu; sa chair est assez bonne et se conserve longtemps."

Not a word, however, about the Dodo, which had it then existed there, would certainly have been noticed by the observant Jesuit. But now for the bat:—

"La chauve-souris est ici de la grosseur d'une poule. Cet oiseau ne vit que de fruits et de grains, et c'est un mets fort commun dans le pays. J'avois de la répugnance à suivre l'exemple de ceux qui en mangeoient; mais en ayant goûté par surprise, j'en trouvai la chair fort délicate. On peut dire que cet animal, qu'on abhorre naturellement, n'a rien de mauvais que la figure."

The Italics are mine; but they serve to show how the confusion has arisen. The writer speaks of the almost entire extinction of the land Turtles, which were formerly abundant; and says, that the island was well stocked with goats and wild hogs, but for some time they had retreated to the mountains, where no one dared venture to wage war upon them.

Again, in the Voyage de l'Arabie Heureuse par l'Océan Oriental et le Détroit de la Mer rouge, dans les Années 1708-10 (Paris, 1716, 12mo.), the vessels visit both Mauritius and Bourbon, and some account of the then state of both islands is given. At the Mauritius, one of the captains relates that, foraging for provisions,—

"Toute notre chasse se borna à quelques pigeons rougeâtres, que nous tuâmes, et qui se laissent tellement approcher, qu'on peut les assommer à coup de pierres. Je tuai aussi deux chauve-souris d'une espèce particulière, de couleur violette, avec de petites taches jaunes, ayant une espèce de crampon aux ailes, par où cet oiseau se pend aux branches des arbres, et un bec de perroquet. Les Hollandois disent qu'elles sont bonnes à manger; et qu'en certaine saison, elles valent bien nos bécasses."

At Bourbon, he says,—

"On y voit grandes nombres d'oiseau bleu qui se nichent dans les herbes et dans les fougères."

This was in the year 1710. There were then, he says, not more than forty Dutch settlers on the Island of Mauritius, and they were daily hoping and expecting to be transferred to Batavia. As editor (La Roque) subjoins a relation furnished on the authority of M. de Vilers, who had been governor there for the India Company, in which it is said,—

"The island was uninhabited when the Portuguese, after having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, discovered it. They gave it the name of Mascarhenas, à cause que leur chef se nommoit ainsi; and the vulgar still preserve it, calling the inhabitants Mascarins. It was not decidedly inhabited until 1654, when M. de Flacour, commandant at Madagascar, sent some invalids there to recover their health, that others followed; and since then it has been named the Isle of Bourbon."

Still no notice of the Dodo! but

"On y trouve des oiseaux appelez Flamans, qui excedent la hauteur d'un grand homme."

Qu. 6. I know not whether Mr. S. is aware that there is the head of a Dodo in the Royal Museum of Natural History at Copenhagen, which came from the collection of Paludanus? M. Domeny de Rienzi, the compiler of Océanie, ou cinquième Partie du Globe (1838, t. iii. p. 384.), tells us, that a Javanese captain gave him part of a Dronte, which he unfortunately lost on being shipwrecked; but he forgot where he said he obtained it.

Qu. 7. Dodo is most probably the name given at first to the bird by the Portuguese; Doudo, in that language, being a fool or lumpish stupid person. And, besides that name, it bore that of Tölpel in German, which has the same signification. The Dod-aers of the Dutch is most probably a vulgar epithet of the Dutch sailors, expressive of its lumpish conformation and inactivity. Our sailors would possibly have substituted heavy-a–. I find the Dodo was also called the Monk-swan of St. Maurice's Island at the commencement of last century. The word Dronte is apparently neither Portugese nor Spanish, though in Connelly's Dictionary of the latter language we have—

"Dronte, cierto páxaro de Indias de alas muy cortas—an appellation given by some to the Dodo."

It seems to me to be connected with Drone; but this can only be ascertained from the period and the people by whom it was applied.

That the bird once existed there can be no doubt, from the notice of Sir Hamon L'Estrange, which there is no reason for questioning; and there seems to be as little reason to suppose that Tradescant's stuffed specimen was a fabrication. He used to preserve his own specimens; and there could be no motive at that period for a fabrication. I had hoped to have found some notice of it in the Diary of that worthy virtuoso Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, who visited the Ashmolean Museum in 1710; but though he notices other natural curiosities, there is no mention of it. This worthy remarks on the slovenly condition and inadequate superintendence of our museums, and especially of that of Gresham College; but those who recollect the state of our great national museum forty years since will not be surprised at this, or at the calamitous destruction of Tradescant's specimen of the Dodo. That the bird was extinct above 150 years ago I think we may conclude from the notices I have extracted from La Roque, and the letter of the Jesuit Brown. Mr. Strickland has done good service to the cause of natural science by his monograph of this very curious subject; and to him every particle of information must be acceptable: this must be my excuse for the almost nothing I have been able to contribute.

S.W. SINGER.

March 26. 1850.

THE WATCHING OF THE SEPULCHRE

Inquired about by "T.W." (No. 20. p. 318.), is a liturgical practice, which long was, and still is, observed in Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, several particles of the Blessed Eucharist, consecrated at the Mass sung that day, were reserved—a larger one for the celebrating priest on the morrow, Good Friday; the smaller ones for the viaticum of the dying, should need be, and carried in solemn procession all round the church, from the high altar to a temporary erection, fitted up like a tomb, with lights, and the figure of an angel watching by, on the north side of the chancel. Therein the Eucharist was kept till Easter Sunday morning, according to the Salisbury Ritual; and there were people kneeling and praying at this so-called sepulchre all the time, both night and day. To take care of the church, left open throughout this period, and to look after the lights, it was necessary for the sacristan to have other men to help him; and what was given to them for this service is put down in the church-wardens' books as money for "watching the sepulchre." By the Roman Ritual, this ceremony lasts only from Maundy Thursday till Good Friday. This rite will be duly followed in my own little church here at Buckland, where some of my flock, two and two, in stated succession, all through the night, as well as day, will be watching from just after Mass on Maundy Thursday till next morning's service. In some of the large Catholic churches in London and the provinces, this ceremony is observed with great splendour.