Notes and Queries, Number 11, January 12, 1850

Various

Notes and Queries, Number 11, January 12, 1850

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

SIR EDWARD DERING'S 1 HOUSEHOLD BOOK, A.D. 1648-52

About ten years since, I remember seeing, in the hands of a London bookseller, a curious MS. purporting to be the "Household Book of Receipts and Expences of Sir Edward Dering, Bart., of Surrenden Dering, Kent, from Lady-Day, 1648, to April, 1652." It was a think folio, in the original binding, entirely in the hand-writing of the distinguished baronet.

Sir Edward was the only son of Sir Edward Dering, the first baronet, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir John Ashburnham, of Ashburnham, Sussex, Knt. He succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his father, in 1644, and married Mary, daughter of Daniel Harvey, Esq., of Combe, Surrey, who was brother of the famous Dr. Harvey, the discoverer of the circulations of the blood.

The volume commences at Lady-day, 1648, with the gifts of his grandmother Cramond, and his uncles Dr. Harvey and Eliab Harvey. Nov. 8. 1648, is a memorandum of receipts of "the full remainder of the three thousand pounds he was to pay me on my marriage." The receipts close March 25. 1652, with "a note of what money I have received for rent, wood, &c.; in effect, what I have to live upon, for four years, 1413l. 8s." The expenses begin at the same period; and among the earliest is, "given my wife, in gold, 100l." Under the date Aug. 4. 1648, we read, "Item: paid Mr. Edward Gibbes, to the use, and by the appointment of my sister Dorothy, it being her portion, 1200l." Dorothy was probably Sir Edward's only sister, by the same mother, Sir Edward, the first baronet's second wife. Her sun of life soon set; for Feb. 21. 1650, a whole page is occupied with items of mourning "at the death of my deare and only sister, the Lady Darell."

Independently of the frequent notices of relatives, almost serving as a family history, there are entries of high interest to the general historian and the antiquary. The costs of every article of use and virtue are set down in full, and a few of the items (which I find in my Common-place Book) will serve as a specimen of the general contents:—

The entry concerning the Celebrated Henry Lawes, Milton's Tuneful Harry, is very interesting, and is well illustrated by the following dedication, prefixed to Lawes' Second Book of Ayres and Dialogues, 1655:—

"To the Honourable the Lady Dering, Wife to Sir Edward Dering, of Surenden Dering, Bart.

"Madam,—I have consider'd, but could not finde it lay in my power, to offer this Book to any but your Ladiship. Not only in regard of that honour and esteem you have for Musick, but because those Songs which fill this Book have receiv'd much lustre by your excellent performance of them; and (which I confesse I rejoice to sepak of) some, which I esteem the best of these ayres, were of your own composition, after your noble husband was pleas'd to give the words. For (although your Ladiship resolv'd to keep it private) I beg leave to declare, for my own honour, that you are not only excellent for the time you spent in the practice of what I set, but are yourself so good a composer, that few of any sex have arriv'd to such perfection. So as this Book (at least a part of it) is not Dedicated, but only brought home to your Ladiship. And here I would say (could I do it without sadness), how pretious to my thoughts is the memory of your excellent Mother (that great example of prudence and charity), whose pious meditations were often advanc'd by hearing your voice. I wish all prosperity to your Ladiship, and to him who (like yourself) is made up of Harmony; to say nothing of the rest of his high accomplishments of wisdome and learning. May you both live long, happy in each other, when I am become ashes; who, while I am in this world, shall be ever found, Madame,

"Your Ladiship's humble Admirer "and faitnful Servant,

"HENRY LAWES."

The Derings appear to have been great lovers and patrons of music; and one of their family, Richard, practised the art as his profession. This excellent musician was educated in Italy; and, when his education was completed, he returned to England with great reputation. He resided in his own country for some time, but, upon a very pressing invitation, went to Brussels, and became organist to the convent of English nuns there. From the marriage of Charles I., until the time when that monarch left England, he was organist to the Queen. In 1610 he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor in Music at Oxford, and died in the communion of the Church of Rome, about the year 1657.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

BAYSWATER AND ITS ORIGIN

A piece of topographical history was disclosed at the recent trial of a cause at Westminster, which it may be worth while to record among your "Notes." The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are possessed of the manor of Westbourne Green, in the parish of Paddington, parcel of the possessions of the extinct Abbey of Westminster. It must have belonged to the Abbey when Domesday was compiled; for, though neither Westbourne nor Knightsbridge (also a manor of the same house) is specially named in that survey, yet we know, from a later record, viz. a Quo Warranto in 22 Edward I., that both of those manors were members, or constituent hamlets, of the vill of Westminster, which is mentioned in Domesday among the lands of the Abbey. The most considerable tenant under the abbot in this vill was Bainiardus, probably the same Norman associate of the Conqueror who is called Baignardus and Bainardus in other parts of the survey, and who gave his name to Baynard's Castle.

The descent of the land held by him of the abbot cannot be clearly traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant of the Abbey or Chapter lands to Foxcrafte and another, describes "the common field at Paddington" as being "near a place commonly called Baynard's Watering."

In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter in the same common field are described, in a terrier of the Chapter, to be the occupation of Alexander Bond, of Bear's Watering, in the same parish of Paddington.

The common field referred to, is the well-known piece of garden ground lying between Craven Hill and the Uxbridge road, called also Bayswater Field.

We may therefore fairly conclude, that this portion of ground, always remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to Baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his watering-place now figures on the outside of certain green omnibuses in the streets of London, under the name of BAYSWATER.

E.S.

EVA, DAUGHTER OF DERMOT MACMURROUGH

Being a subscriber to Mr. O'Donovan's new translation of The Annals of the Four Masters, I beg to inform your correspondent, "A HAPLESS HUNTER" (No. 6, p. 92.), that the copy which I possess begins with the year 1172; consequently, it is hopeless to refer to the years 1135 and 1169. In 1173 the death of Mulmurry Mac-Murrough is recorded; as also of Dermot O'Kaelly, from whom the family name of Kelly is derived; but I do not find any notice of the daughter of Dermot MacMurrough.

J.I.

Oxford.

If some earlier note-taker has not anticipated me, please to inform your correspondent from Malvern Wells that the published portion of the Annals of the Four Masters, by O'Donovan, commences with the year 1172. The earlier portion of the Annals is in the press, and will shortly appear. When it sees the light, your querist will, it is to be hoped, find an answer. A query, addressed personally, to Mr. O'Donavan, Queen's College, Galway, would, no doubt, meet with a ready reply from that learned and obliging Irish scholar and historian.

J.G.

Kilkenny.

"A HAPLESS HUNTER" will find, in the Statute of Kilkenny (edited by James Hardiman, Esq., M.R.I.A. for the Irish Archaeological Society in 1843), pp. 28, 29, note, two incidental notices of Eva, daughter of Dermot McMorrough; the first, her witnessing a grant made by Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, during his lifetime; and the second, a grant made by her to John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, in the reign of Richard I. (at least sixteen years after her husband's death), "pro salute anime mee et domini comitis Ricardi," &c. Should he not have an opportunity of consulting the work, I shall have much pleasure in furnishing the entire extract, on receiving a line from him.

JOHN POWERS.

10. Dorchester Place, Blandford Square.

Giraldus Cambrensis mentions, that MacMurrough, having, in the year 1167, procured letters patent from Henry II., repaired to England, and there induced Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke and Strighul, to engage to aid him, on condition of receiving, in return, the hand of his eldest daughter, Eva, and the heirship of his dominions.—Girald. Camb. p. 761. And further, that Strongbow did not arrive in Ireland until the eve of St. Bartholomew's day, September, 1170; he was joined at Waterford by Eva and her father, and the marriage took place a few days after, and during the sacking of that place.—Ibid. p. 773.

"Strongbow left, by his second wife Eva, one daughter, named Isabella, an infant. * * * Richard the First gave Isabella in marriage to William de la Grace, who thus became Earl of Pembroke, and was created First Earl Marshal of England," &c.—Fenton's Hist. Pembrokeshire.

SELEUCUS.

PLAGIARISMS, OR PARALLEL PASSAGES

I have placed this title in my note-books, more than one instance of similarity of thought, incident, or expression that I have met with during a somewhat desultory course of reading. These instances I shall take the liberty of laying before you from time to time, leaving you and your readers to decide whether such similarity be the effect of accident or design; but I flatter myself that they may be accepted as parallel passages and illustrations, even by those who may differ from me in the opinion I have formed on the relation which my "loci inter se comparandi" bear to each other.

In Lady Blessington's Conversations with Lord Byron, pages 176, 177., the poet is represented as stating that the lines—

"While Memory, with more than Egypt's art,Embalming all the sorrows of the heart,Sits at the altar which she raised to woe,And feeds the source whence tears eternal flow!"

suggested to his mind, "by an unaccountable and incomprehensible power of association," the thought—

"Memory, the mirror which affliction dashes to the earth, and, looking down upon the fragments, only beholds the reflection multiplied."

afterwards apparently embodied in Childe Harold, iii. 33.

"Even as a broken mirror, which the glassIn every fragment multiplies; and makesA thousand images of one that was,The same, and still the more, the more it breaks."

Now, Byron was, by his own showing, an ardent admirer of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. See Moore's Life of Byron, vol. i. page 144. Notices of the year 1807.

Turn to Burton, and you will find the following passage:—

"And, as Praxiteles did by his glass, when he saw a scurvy face in it, brake it to pieces, but for that one, he saw many more as bad in a moment."—Part 2. sect. 3. mem. 7.

I am uncharitable enough to believe that Childe Harold owes far more to Burton, than to "the unaccountable and incomprehensible power of association."

MELANION.

BILLINGSGATE

I think your correspondent in No. 6. p. 93., starts on wrong premises; he seems to take for granted that such a structure as Belin's Gate really existed. Now the story entirely rests on the assertion of Geoffrey of Monmouth. What amount of credit may be placed on that veracious and most unromantic historian, your correspondent doubtless knows better than myself. Geoffrey says, in the 10th chap. of the 3rd book, that Belin, among other great works, made a wonderful gate on the bank of the Thames, and built over it a large tower, and under it a wharf for ships; and when he died his body was burned, and his ashes put into a golden urn on the top of the tower. Stow seems to doubt it. In Strype's edition, 1720, he says, concerning this gate, "Leaving out the fable thereof faming it to be builded by King Belin, a Briton, long before the incarnation of Christ." Burton, writing 1722, mentions the legend, but adds, "But whether of that antiquity is doubted." and John Brydall, in 1676, mentions it only as a wharf or quay for ships. Now, as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle is generally allowed by critics to be but a mass of romance and monkish legends, built on a slight foundation of truth, we may suppose this account to partake of the general character of the rest of the work. That some circumstance gave rise to the name is not doubted. "Haply," says Stow, "some person of that name lived near." I look on the name as only a corruption or romantic alteration of the word Baal or Bel; and, as we have every reason to suppose he was worshipped by part of the aborigines of this country, I deem it not improbable that on or near this spot might once have existed a temple for his worship, which afterwards gave a name to the place. It is true Baal generally had his temples placed on the summit of lofty mountains or other eminences. But supposing a number of his votaries to have settled near London, and on the banks of the Thames, nothing would be more likely than, to obviate the natural lowness of the ground, they would raise a tower for the better celebration of the ceremonies attendant on his worship. This might have been the foundation upon which Geoffrey built his story. However, I only suggest this. The real origin of the name I am afraid is too far sunk in oblivion to hold out any hopes of its being rescued at the present day.

VOX.

If "WILLIAM WILLIAMS" will examine the map of London in 1543, lately engraved from a drawing in the Bodleian Library, he will perceive the "Water Gate,", about which he inquires, defended on the west side by a lofty hexagonal machicolated tower.

C.S.

NOTES FROM FLY-LEAVES, NO. 4

In order to forward your views as regards the valuable department of "Notes from Fly-Leaves" I have spent some leisure hours in beating the covers of a portion of my library. I send you the produce of my first day's sport, which, you will observe, has been in the fields of poetry. Make what use of it you think fit, selecting such notes only as you think of sufficient interest for publication.

I. Note in the handwriting of Richard Farmer, in a copy of "Canidia, or the Witches; a Rhapsody in five parts, by R.D." 4to. London, printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell, 1683.

"In Mr. Hutton's Catale P. 65. N. 1552. this strange composition is ascribed to one Dixon. There was a Robert Dixon, an author about the time, and D.D. (Woods's Fasti, v. ii. p. 103.), but it surely must not be given to him! Qu.? This is the only copy I have seen, 1785."

[Lowndes has the work under the name of Robert Dixon, D.D.]

II. Note in the handwriting of James Bindley, in a copy of an English translation of Milton's "Defensio pro Populo Anglicano," printed in the year 1692.

"Translated into English by Richard Washington, Esq., of the Middle Temple."

On another page, however, he has written,

"Mem. in a miscellany called 'Poems on Affairs of State,' 8vo. 5th edit. 1703, at page 223 'In memory of Joseph Washington, Esq., late of the Middle Temple, an elegy written by N. Tate, Servant to their Majesties.' Though Mr. Warton calls him Richard, his name was, I believe, as above, and the translator most likely of this book.—J.B."

To this is added, in the handwriting of the late Mr. Ford, bookseller, formerly of Manchester—

"The note on the opposite side, signed J.B., stands for James Bindley, who may be considered as good authority for what is here asserted. Some curious information will be found relative to the original work in 'Diction. des Livres Condamnés,' &c., par Peignot. tom. ii. p 319."

III. Note in the handwriting of Mr. Ford, in a copy of Fletcher's "Purple Island,", &c. 1633.

"See the lines at the end by Francis Quarles, which are ingenious and poetical. This curious and very rare volume I purchased out of Longman's celebrated catalogue of old English poetry, called 'Bib. Ang. Poet.,' where it will be found marked £2 12s. 6d., which is what it cost me. Mr. Montgomery, the poet, styles

this poem a fantastical allegory describing the body and soul of man, but containing many rich and picturesque passages (v. his 'Christian Poem,' p. 163.) But there is a most excellent critique upon it in the 'Retrosp. Rev.' for Nov. 1820 (v.p. 351.), but see also Headley, who highly praises it. The name of Fletcher ranks high in the list of our poets. He was born in 1584, and was the son of Dr. Giles Fletcher, who was himself a poet; the brother of Giles Fletcher, the author of 'Christ's Victory;' and the cousin of John Fletcher, the celebrated dramatist."

IV. In a note on a copy of "Iter Boreale, with large additions of several other poems, being an exact collection of all hitherto extant; never before published together. The author R. Wild, D.D., printed for the booksellers in London, 1668,"—the author is described as "of Tatenill, near Burton supr Trent." The note is apparently of contemporary date, or a little later.

This edition is not noticed by Lowndes, nor is another edition (anonymous), of which I have a copy, the date of which is 1605 (printed for R.J., and are to be sold in St. Paul's Churchyard). Of course this date is a mistake, but query what is the real date? Probably 1665. The volume concludes with the 70th page, being identical with the 72nd page of the edition of 1668.

V. Note in the handwriting of Mr. Ford, in a copy of "Waller's Poems," 1645 (after quoting "Rymer on Tragedy," pp. 2. and 79.):—

"The dedicatory epistle in this first and rare edition 'To my Lady,' is omitted in all the subsequent editions, even in Fenton's of 1729 (see Dibdin).—I find it is inserted in Fenton's edition among the speeches and letters; but he adds, in his observations thereon, that it appears not to have been designed for a public dedication, though why or wherefore he assigns no reason; and he further adds, 'I never met with any tradition to what Lady it was originally directed.' It certainly has as much the appearance of having been intended for a dedication, if we may judge from internal evidence, as such sort of things generally have. This is the first genuine edition and very scarce. It is priced in the 'Bib. Ang. Poet.'; at 2 gs. No. 851. The subsequent editions are of no particular value, exception Fenton's elegant and complete edition in 4to., which is worth about the same sum."

VI. Note in a handwriting of the 17th century, in a copy of Cawood's edition of the "Ship of Fools," opposite to the dedication, which is "Venerandissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino, domino Thomæ Cornissh, Tenenensis pontifici, ac diocesis Badonensis Suffraganio vigilantissimo," &c.

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1

The successor of the Sir Edward Dering, from whose Household Book the Rev. Lambert B. Larking communicated the interesting entries in No. 9. p. 130.