Notes and Queries, Number 59, December 14, 1850

E.V.Herstmonceux, Nov. 18.

MINOR QUERIES

Yorkshire Ballads.—Any of your readers would confer a great favour by referring me to any early Yorkshire ballads, or ballads relating to places in Yorkshire, not reprinted in the ordinary collections, such as Percy, Evans, &c. I am of course acquainted with those in the Roxburghe collection.

H.

Ringing a Handbell before a Corpse.—Is it true that whenever an interment takes place in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, the corpse is preceded on its way to the grave by a person who rings a small handbell at intervals, each time giving a few tinkling strokes? My informant on this subject was an Oxford undergraduate, who said that he had recently witnessed the burials both of Mr. –, a late student of Christ Church, and of Miss –, daughter of a living bishop: and he assured me that in both cases this ceremony was observed. Certainly it is possible to go through the academical course at Oxford without either hearing the bell, or knowing of its use on such occasions: but I should now be glad to receive some explanation of this singular custom.

A.G.Ecclesfield.

Church of St. Saviour, Canterbury.—Tradition, I believe, has uniformly represented that an edifice more ancient, but upon the present site of St. Martin's, Canterbury, was used by St. Augustine and his followers in the earliest age of Christianity in this country. St. Martin's has, on that account, been often spoken of as the mother-church of England. Lately, however, in perusing the fourth volume of Mr. Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus, p. 1. I find a charter of King Canute, of the year 1018, which states the church of ST. SAVIOUR, Canterbury, to be the mother-church of England:

"Æcclesia Salvatoris in Dorobernia sita, omnium Æcclesiarum regni Angligeni mater et domina."

In none of the histories of Kent or of Canterbury can I find any mention of a church dedicated to St. Saviour. May I beg the favour of you to insert this among your Notes?

HENRY ELLIS.

Mock Beggar's Hall.—What is the origin of this name as applied to some old mansions? One at Wallasey, in Cheshire, was so named, and another near Ipswich, in Suffolk. And what is the earliest instance of the title?

BURIENSIS.

Beatrix Lady Talbot.—Since the publication of Sir Harris Nicolas' able contribution to the Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica (vol. i. pp. 80-90.) no one may be excused for confounding, as Dugdale and his followers had done, Beatrix Lady Talbot with Donna Beatrix, daughter of John, King of Portugal, to whom Thomas FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, was married, 26th Nov., 1405. What I now wish to learn is, whether anything has since been discovered to elucidate further the pedigree of Lady Talbot? It is evident that she was of Portuguese origin; and it may be inferred from the quarterings on her seal, as shown in a manuscript in the British Museum (1st and 4th arg., five escutcheons in cross az., each charged with five plates in saltire, for Portugal; and 2nd and 3rd az., five crescents in saltire, or), that she was a member of the Portuguese family of Pinto, which is the only house in Portugal that bears the five crescents in saltire, as displayed on the seal.

SCOTUS.

English Prize Essays.—Is there at present, in either of the universities, or elsewhere, any prize, medal, or premium given for English essays, for which all England could compete, irrespective of birth, place of education, &c.; and, if so, particulars as to where such could be obtained, would greatly oblige

MODEST AMBITION.

Rev. Joseph Blanco White.—History of the Inquisition.—In the Rev. J.H. Thom's Life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco White it is stated that he had made a collection for a history of the Inquisition which he intended to publish; and in a batch of advertisements preceding the first volume of Smedley's Reformed Religion in France, published in 1832 by Rivingtons, as part of their Theological Library. I find an announcement of other works to be included in the series, and amongst others, already in preparation, The Origin and Growth of the Roman Catholic Inquisition against Heresy and Apostacy; by Joseph Blanco White, M.A. I need not ask whether the work was published, for it is not to be found in the London Catalogue; but I wish to ask whether any portion of the work was ever placed in the publisher's hands, or ever printed; or whether he made any considerable progress in the collection, and, if so, in whose hands the MSS. are? Such papers, if they exist, would probably prove of too much importance to allow of their remaining unpublished.

IOTA.

Lady Deloraine.—The Delia of Pope's line,

"Slander or poison dread from Delia's rage,"

is supposed to have been Lady Deloraine, who remarried W. Windam, Esq., of Carsham, and died in Oct., 1744. The person said to have been poisoned was a Miss Mackenzie. Are the grounds of this strange suspicion known?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Speke Family.—I shall be glad to ascertain the family name and the armorial bearings of Alice, wife of Sir John Speke, father of Sir John Speke, founder of the chapel of St. George in Exeter Cathedral. She is said to have been maid of honour to Queen Catherine.

J.D.S.

Pope's Villa.—In Pope's Literary Correspondence, published by Curll, an engraving, is advertised of his (Pope's) Villa at Twickenham, engraved by Rysbrach and published by Curll. Are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a copy, and the price at which it can be obtained?

C. BATHURST W.

Armorial Bearings.—Among the numerous coats-armorial in the great east window of the choir of Exeter Cathedral, there is one respecting which I am at a loss. Argent a cross between four crescents gules. Can either of your readers kindly afford the name?

J.D.S.

Passage from Tennyson.—You have so many correspondents well versed in lore and legend, that I am induced to beg through you for an explanation of the allusion contained in the following passage of Tennyson:—

"Morn broaden'd on the borders of the dark,Ere I saw her, who clasp'd in her last tranceHer murder'd father's head."

It occurs in the Dream of Fair Women, st. 67.

W.M.C.Cambridge.

Sauenap, Meaning of.—In the will of Jane Heryng, of Bury, 1419, occurs this bequest:—

"To Alyson my dowter, xl s. and ij pottys of bras neste the beste, and a peyr bedys of blak get, and a grene hod, and a red hod, and a gowne of violet, and another of tanne, and a towayll of diaper werk, and a sauenap; also a cloke and rownd table."

What was the sauenap?

BURIENSIS.

Hoods worn by Doctors of the University of Cambridge.—Pray permit me to inquire, through your agency, what is the proper lining of the scarlet cloth hoods worn by doctors in the three faculties of the university of Cambridge? The robe-makers of Cambridge have determined upon a pink or rose-coloured silk for all; the London artists adopt a shot silk (light blue and crimson) sometimes for all faculties, at others for Doctors in Divinity only. On ancient monuments (there is one in Canterbury Cathedral) I find that the hoods were lined with ermine; and this is the material of those attached to the full-dress robes of doctors on the occasion of their creation, and in the schools, and at congregations. I cannot find the statutes bearing upon the subject.

As the Oxford statutes have recently been published, the matter is not so much in the dark,—black silk being the material prescribed for the lining of hoods of Doctors in Divinity, and those of the doctors in the other faculties being prescribed to be of silk of any intermediate colour, which the Oxford doctors understand to mean a deep rose-colour.

D.C.L.

U. University Club, Dec. 4. 1850.

Euclid and Aristotle.—The ordinary chronologies place Aristotle as nearly a century anterior to Euclid; but Professor De Morgan ("Eucleides," in Dr. Smith's Biographical Dictionary) considers them as contemporary. Any of your readers conversant with the subject will oblige me by saying which is right, and likewise why so.

GEOMETRICUS.

Ventriloquism. Fanningus the King's Whisperer.—To the Query respecting Brandon the juggler (Vol. ii., p. 424.), I beg leave to add another somewhat similar. Where is any information to be obtained of "The King's Whisperer, εγγαστριμυθος, nomine Fanningus, who resided at Oxford in 1643?"

T.J.

Frances Lady Norton.—Can any of your readers give me an account of the life of Frances Lady Norton, who wrote a work, entitled The Applause of Virtue, in Four Parts, consisting of Divine and Moral Essays towards the obtaining of True Virtue, 4to. 1705? It is a very delightful book, full of patristic learning. I am aware she was the daughter of Ralph Freke, Esq., of Hannington, and married Sir George Norton, Knt. of Abbot's Leigh, in the county of Somerset. I wish to know what other books she wrote, if any, and where her life may be found? Perhaps the Freke family could furnish an account of this learned lady. The work I believe to be extremely scarce.

RICHARD HOOPER.

Westminster Wedding.—Jeremy Collier says, in one of his Essays (Part iii. Essay viii.):

"As for the business of friendship you mentioned, 'tis not to be had at a Westminster Wedding."

Being much interested in weddings in Westminster at the present day, I should be much obliged to any of your readers who can throw any light on the observation of the Essayist, as above cited. What other authors use the term?

R.H.

Stone's Diary.—Stone, the celebrated sculptor, left a valuable diary. The MS. was in the possession of Vertue the engraver. Has it ever been printed?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Dr. King's Poem of The Toast.—Where can I find a key to Dr. King's Heroic Poem, called The Toast? Isaac Reed's copy, with a manuscript key, sold at his sale for 10l. 10s.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Anima Magis, &c.—To whom is this sentence to be ascribed—

"Anima magis est ubi amatQuam ubi animat."TYRO-ETYMOLOGICUS.

The Adventures of Peter Wilkins.—Is the author of this delightful work of fiction known? The first edition was published in 1751, but it does not contain the dedication to Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland, found in later impressions. When was this dedication added? It is observable that in all the editions I have seen, the initials R.P. are signed to the dedication, while R.S. appears on the title-page.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Talmud, Translations of.—1. Have there been any English translations of the Talmud, or any complete section of it? 2. What are the most esteemed Continental and Latin translations?

S.P.H.T.

Torn by Horses.—What is the last instance in the history of France of a culprit being torn by horses? Jean Châtel, who attempted to assassinate Henri Quatre, suffered thus in 1595. (Crowe's France, i. 364.)

ED. S. JACKSON.

The Marks *, †, ‡, &c.—What is the origin of the asterisk, obelus, &c., used for references to notes? When were they first used? What are their proper names?

ED. S. JACKSON.Totteridge, Herts, Oct. 23.

Blackguard.—Walking once through South Wales, we found an old woman by the roadside selling a drink she called blackguard. It was composed of beer and gin, spiced with pepper, and well deserved its name. Is this a common beverage in the principality?

J.W.H.

REPLIES

CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY

I am much obliged to your correspondent LAICUS for his inquiry respecting the proposed Society (Vol. ii., p. 464). Will you allow me to express to him my confident hope, that the proposed plan, or some modification of it by a committee (when one shall exist) may in due time be carried out. But there seems to be no reason for haste; and in the formation of such body it is desirable to have as many avowed supporters to select from as possible. I do not think that the matter is much known yet, though I have to thank you for a kind notice; and I need not tell some of your correspondents that I have received very encouraging letters. But, in truth, as I did not expect any profit, or desire any responsibility as to either money or management, and only wished to lay before the public an idea which had existed in my own mind for some years, and which had obtained the sanction of some whom I thought competent judges; and as I had, moreover, published pamphlets enough to know that a contribution of waste paper to any object is often one of the most costly, I did not feel myself called on to go to so much expense in advertising as I perhaps might have done if I had been spending the money of a society instead of my own. I sent but few copies; none, I believe, except to persons with whom I had some acquaintance, and whom I thought likely to take more or less interest in the subject.

I trust, however, that the matter is quietly and solidly growing; and from communications which I have received, and resources on which I believe I may reckon, I feel no doubt that if it were considered desirable, friends and money enough to set such a society going might be immediately brought forward. It is one advantage of the proposed plan, that it may be tried on almost any scale. A society so constituted would NOT begin its existence with great promises of returns to subscribers, and heavy engagements to printers, papermakers, and editors. Its only necessary expenses would be those of management; and if the society were very small, these expenses would be so too. It is, indeed, hardly possible to imagine that they should be such as not to leave something to be funded for future use, if they did not furnish means for immediate display; but it seems better to wait patiently until such real substantial support is guaranteed as may prevent all apprehension on that score.

S.R. MAITLAND.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

(Vol. ii., p. 442.)

It is quite startling to be told that the title of "Defender of the Faith" was used by any royal predecessor of Henry VIII.

Selden (Titles of Honour, ed 1631, p. 54) says:

"The beginning and ground of that attribute of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, which hath been perpetually, in the later ages, added to the style of the kings of England, (not only in the first person, but frequent also in the second and in the third, as common use shows in the formality of instruments of conveyance, leases and such like) is most certainly known. It began in Henry the VIII. For he, in those awaking times, upon the quarrel of the Romanists and Lutherans, wrote a volume against Luther," &c.

Selden then states the well-known occasion upon which this title was conferred, and sets out the Bull of Leo X. (then extant in the Collection of Sir Robert Cotton, and now in the British Museum), whereby the Pope, "holding it just to distinguish those who have undertaken such pious labours for defending the faith of Christ with every honour and commendation," decrees that to the title of King the subjects of the royal controversialist shall add the title "Fidei Defensori." The pontiff adds, that a more worthy title could not be found.

Your correspondent, COLONEL ANSTRUTHER, calls attention to the statement made by Mr. Christopher Wren, Secretary of the Order of the Garter (A.D. 1736), in his letter to Francis Peck, on the authority of the Register of the Order in his possession; which letter is quoted by Burke (Dorm. and Ext. Bar., iv. 408.), that "King Henry VII. had the title Defender of the Faith." It is not found in any acts or instruments of his reign that I am acquainted with, nor in the proclamation on his interment, nor in any of the epitaphs engraved on his magnificent tomb. (Sandford, Geneal. Hist.) Nor is it probable that Pope Leo X., in those days of diplomatic intercourse with England, would have bestowed on Henry VIII., as a special and personal distinction and reward, a title that had been used by his royal predecessors.

I am not aware that any such title is attributed to the sovereign in any of the English records anterior to 1521; but that many English kings gloried in professing their zeal to defend the Church and religion, appears from many examples. Henry IV., in the second year of his reign, promises to maintain and defend the Christian religion (Rot. Parl., iii. 466.); and on his renewed promise, in the fourth year of his reign, to defend the Christian faith, the Commons piously grant a subsidy (Ibid., 493.); and Henry VI., in the twentieth year of his reign, acts as keeper of the Christian faith. (Rot. Parl., v. 61.)

In the admonition used in the investiture of a knight with the insignia of the Garter, he is told to take the crimson robe, and being therewith defended, to be bold to fight and shed his blood for Christ's faith, the liberties of the Church, and the defence of the oppressed. In this sense, the sovereign and every knight became a sworn defender of the faith. Can this duty have come to be popularly attributed as part of the royal style and title?

The Bull of Leo X., which confers the title on Henry VIII. personally, does not make it inheritable by his successors, so that none but that king himself could claim the honour. The Bull granted two years afterwards by Clement VII. merely confirms the grant of Pope Leo to the king himself. It was given, as we know, for his assertion of doctrines of the Church of Rome; yet he retained it after his separation from the Roman Catholic communion, and after it had been formally revoked and withdrawn by Pope Paul III. in the twenty-seventh year of Henry VIII., upon the king's apostacy in turning suppressor of religious houses. In 1543, the Reformation legislature and the Anti-papal king, without condescending to notice any Papal Bulls, assumed to treat the title that the Pope had given and taken away as a subject of Parliamentary gift, and annexed it for ever to the English crown by the statute 35 Hen. VIII. c. 3., from which I make the following extract, as its language bears upon the question:

"Where our most dread, &c., lord the king, hath heretofore been, and is justly, lawfully, and notoriously knowen, named, published, and declared to be King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and the Church of England and also of Ireland, in earth supreme head; and hath justly and lawfully used the title and name thereof as to his Grace appertaineth. Be it enacted, &c., that all and singular his Graces' subject, &c., shall from henceforth accept and take the same his Majesty's style … viz., in the English tongue by these words, Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and of the Church of England, and also of Ireland, in earth the supreme head; and that the said style, &c., shall be, &c., united and annexed for ever to the imperial crown of his highness's realms of England."

By the supposed authority of this statute, and notwithstanding the revocation of the title by Pope Paul III., and its omission in the Bull addressed by Pope Julius III. to Philip and Mary, that princess, before and after her marriage, used this style, and the statute having, been re-established by 1 Eliz. c. 1., the example has been followed by her royal Protestant successors, who wished thereby to declare themselves Defenders of the Anti-papal Church. The learned Bishop Gibson, in his Codex (i. 33, note), treats this title as having commenced in Henry VIII. So do Blount, Cowel, and such like authorities.

WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.Newcastle-on-Tyne, Dec. 1850.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have found (in the nineteenth volume of Archæologia, pp. 1-10.) an essay by Mr. Alex. Luders on this very subject, in which that able writer, who was well accustomed to examine historical records, refers to many examples in which the title "Most Christian King" was attributed to, or used by English sovereigns, as well as the kings of France; and to the fact, that this style was used by Henry VII., as appears from his contract with the Abbot of Westminster (Harl. MS. 1498.). Selden tells us that the emperors had from early times been styled "Defensores Ecclesiæ;" and from the instances cited by Mr. Luders, it appears that the title of "Most Christian" was appropriated to kings of France from a very ancient period; that Pepin received it (A.D. 755) from the Pope, and Charles the Bald (A.D. 859) from a Council: and Charles VI. refers to ancient usage for this title, and makes use of these words:

"—nostrorum progenitorum imitatione—evangelicæ veritatis—DEFENSORES—nostra regia dignitas divino Christianæ religionis titulo gloriosius insignitur—."

Mr. Luders refers to the use of the words "Nos zelo fidei catholicæ, cujus sumus et erimus Deo dante Defensores, salubriter commoti" in the charter of Richard II. to the Chancellor of Oxford, in the nineteenth year of his reign, as the earliest introduction of such phrases into acts of the kings of England that he had met with. This zeal was for the condemnation of Wycliff's Trialogus. In the reign of Hen. IV. the writ "De Hæretico comburendo" had the words "Zelator justitia et fidei catholicæ cultor;" and the title of "Très Chrêtien" occurs in several instruments of Hen. VI. and Edw. IV. It appears very probable that this usage was the foundation of the statement made by Chamberlayne and by Mr. Christopher Wren: but that the title of Defender of the Faith was used as part of the royal style before 1521, is, I believe, quite untrue.

W.S.G.

MEANING OF JEZEBEL

(Vol. ii., p. 357.)

There appear to be two serious objections to the idea of your correspondent W.G.H. respecting the appearance of Baal in this word: 1. The original orthography (אִיזֶּבֶל); whereas the name of the deity is found on all Phœnician monuments, where it enters largely into the composition of proper names, written בעל: and, 2. The fact of female names being generally on these same monuments (as tombstones and so forth) compounded of the name of a goddess, specially Astarth (אַתִֹּרִת or עַ). I do not know that we have any example of a female name into which Baal enters.

The derivation of the word appears to be that given by Gesenius (s.v.); that it is compounded of the root זָבַל (habitavit, cohabitavit) and the negative אֵין, and that its meaning is the same as αλοχος, casta: comp. Agnes. Isabel, in fact, would be a name nearer the original than the form in which we have it.

SC.Carmarthen, Oct. 29. 1850.

Jezebel.—W.G.H. has been misled by the ending bel. The Phœnician god Bel or Baal has nothing to do with this name,—the component words being Je-zebel, not Jeze-bel. Of the various explanations given, that of Gesenius (Heb. Lex., s. voc.) appears, as usual, the simplest and most rational. The name אִיזֶבֶל (Jezebel) he derives from אִי (i) "not" (comp. I-chabod, "In-glorious") and זָבַל (zábal), "to dwell, cohabit with."

The name will then mean "without cohabitation," i.e. αλοχος (Plat. Theæt.) "chaste, modest." Comp. Agnes, Katherine, &c.

Less satisfactory explanations may be found in Calmet's Dictionary, and the Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, edited by Dr. Kitlo.

R.T.H.G.

Jezebel.—The Hebrew spelling אִיזֶבֶל presents so much difficulty, that I fear such a derivation as W.G.H. wishes to obtain for the name is not practicable by any known etymology. Nothing that I am aware of, either in Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic, will help us. The nearest verb that I can find is the Chaldee אֲזָא, signifying, "to light a fire," parts of which occur two or three times in Dan. iii.; but I fear it would be too daring a conjecture to interpret the name quem Belus accendit on the strength of that verb's existence. At present I feel myself obliged to take the advice of Winer, in his Lexicon, "Satius est ignorantiam fateri quam argutari."

"Nominis origo (he says) non liquet. Sunt qui interpretentur non stercus, Coll. 2 Reg. ix. 27., ineptè. Simonis in Onom. dictum putat Ino נְאִי זֶבֶל, mansio habitationis (habitatio tectissima); Gesenius cui nemo concubuit, Coll. זבל, Gen. xxx. 20. Sed satius," &c.