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Notes and Queries, Number 63, January 11, 1851
Query, By whom was it made?
L.Private Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth.—Several years ago I met with a book bearing this, or a similar title, upon one of the tables of the reading room of the British Museum. A passing glance made me anxious to refer to it at a future opportunity. But, although I have again and again searched through the Catalogues, and made anxious inquiries of the attendants in the reading-room, I have never yet been able to catch a glimpse of it. Can any of your correspondents furnish me with the correct title, and state whether it is still preserved in this national library?
J.E.C.Invention of Steam Power.—The following doggerel is the burden of a common street-ditty, among the boys of Campden, in Gloucestershire.
"Jonathan Hulls, With his paper skulls,Invented a machineTo go against wind and stream; But he, being an ass, Couldn't bring it to pass,And so was asham'd to be seen."Now this Jonathan Hulls was the great grandfather of a man of the same name, now residing in Campden; so that if there be any truth in the tradition, the application of steam power to the propulsion of hulls must be long prior to the time of Watts his name!
Can any reader of NOTES AND QUERIES throw any light on the inventions of this man Hulls?
NOCAB.Mythology of the Stars.—I want (in perfect ignorance whether there is such a book) a "Mythology of the Stars." Considering how often persons of sound mind express an enthusiasm for the celestial bodies, and exclaim, of clear night, that the stars are the poetry of Heaven, it is wonderful how little most of us know about them. Nine out of ten educated persons would be quite unable to do more than point out the Great Bear and North Star.
If there is not, there ought to be, some collection of the nomenclature and mythological history of the heavens, with a familiar treatise on astrology ancient and modern. The Chaldeans, Egyptians, Grecians, Arabs, Celts, and Norsemen, must have had names and stories, whose relation (both in itself and to one another) would make a very pretty volume either of poetry or prose. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to inform me of such a work, or where detached masses of the information I want could be found.
G.I.C.Sword of William the Conqueror.—Can any one inform me where is the sword of William the Conqueror? It was kept in Battle Abbey till the dissolution, and then taken to Sir John Gage's house at Firle, as it is said.
P.Neville Family.—Will any of your correspondents inform me what family of the Nevilles were connected by marriage with the Fleetwoods or Cromwells?
In a collateral note in my family pedigree, I find it stated, that Sarah Neville (who married Thomas Burkitt, in 1683) was cousin to General Charles Fleetwood, who married Bridget Cromwell, daughter of the Protector; and, on the cover of a book, I find written—
"My Cozen Fleetwood he gave me this book.—Sarah Burkitt, 1684."
I have also traditional testimony in possessing a valuable cabinet, known us "the Fleetwood;" and a portrait of the above Bridget Cromwell; both of which have been preserved in the family for more than a century and a half, and supposed to have passed into their possession by the marriage of Sarah Neville.
A.H.B.Clapham, Jan 1. 1851.
Difformis, Signification of.—Can any of your classical readers refer me to a competent source of information with regard to the signification of the word difformis, which is repeatedly to be met with in the writings of Linnæus, and which I cannot find recorded in Ducange, Facciolati, or any of our ordinary Latin dictionaries?
TYRO.Dublin.
Lynch Law.—What is the origin of this American phrase?
J.C.R.Prior's Posthumous Works.—Among the curiosities collected by the Duchess of Portland, was a volume containing some prose treatises in MS. of the poet Prior. Forbes, in his Life of Beattie (Vol. ii. p. 160.), speaking of this interesting volume, says:—
"Her Grace was so good as to let me read them, and I read them with great pleasure. One of them, a dialogue between Locke and Montaigne, is all admirable piece of ridicule on the subject of Locke's philosophy."
Have these treatises since been printed? And where now is Prior's original MS.?
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.Suppressed Chantries.—Does there exist (and if so, where is it to be found) a list of the 2374 chantries suppressed by 37 Henry VIII. and 1 Edward VI.?
IGNOBUS.REPLIES
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES BY R.G
(Vol. ii., p. 422.)Pagnini's Bible.—I have before me a 12mo. copy of Liber Psalmorum Davidis. Trālatio Duplex Vetus et Nova. It contains also the Songs of Moses, Deborah, etc., with annotations. In the title-page, the new translation is said to be that of Pagnini. It was printed by Robert Stephens, and is dated on the title-page "1556," and in the colophon "1557, cal. Jan."
In this edition, both the old and new versions have the verses distinguished by cyphers (numerals). I have not the means of knowing whether, in the earlier editions of Pagnini's Bible, the verses are so distinguished; but I gather from R.G. that they are.
The writer of the article "BIBLE" in Rees's Cyclopædia, says that R. Stephens reprinted Pagnini's Bible in folio, with the Vulgate, in 1557. And it appears, from my copy of the Psalms of David, that he also printed that part of Pagnini's Bible in 12mo. in the same year, 1557—the colophon probably containing the correct date.
Your pages have recommended that communications should be made of MS. notes and remarks found in fly-leaves, margins, etc. of printed books; and the above is written, partly in confirmation of Pagnini's title to the honour of distinguishing the verses of the Bible with cyphers, as suggested by R.G., but chiefly to note that there is written with a pen, in my copy, the word "Vetus" over the column which contains the old, or Vulgate, and the words "Pagnini sive Ariæ Montani" over the column containing the new version of the first psalm.
The writer in Rees's Cyclopædia, above referred to, says, that "in the number of Latin Bibles is also usually ranked the version of the same Pagninus, corrected, or rather rendered literal by Arias Montanus." But in the title-page of my copy Montanus is not mentioned.
My copy belonged to Jo. Sheldrake (who was he?) in 1663; to D. Hughes, of Queen's College, Cambridge, in 1761; and to E. Tymewell Bridges (as the family name was then spelled) in 1777. The latter was a brother of the late Sir S. Egerton Brydges. But the MS. note above mentioned does not seem to be in the handwriting of either of them.
Will some learned reader of your work let me know whether there be any, and what ground for attributing the new translation, as it stands in this volume, to Montanus; or as Pagnini's corrected by Montanus?
P.H.F.THE FROZEN HORN
(Vol. ii., p. 262.)The quotation from Heylin is good; "the amusing anecdote from Munchausen" may be better; but the personal testimony of Sir John Mandeville is best of all, and, if I am not mistaken, as true a traveller's lie as ever was told. Many years ago I met with an extract from his antiquated volume, of which, having preserved no copy, I cannot give the admirable verbiage of the fourteenth century, but must submit for it the following tame translation in the flat English of our degenerate days.
He testifies that once, on his voyage through the Arctic regions, lat. ***, long. ***, the cold was so intense, that for a while whatever was spoken on board the vessel became frost-bound, and remained so, till, after certain days, there came a sudden thaw, which let loose the whole rabblement of sounds and syllables that had been accumulating during the suspense of audible speech; but now fell clattering down like hailstones about the ears of the crew, not less to their annoyance than the embargo had been to their dismay. Among the unlucky revelations at this denouement, the author gravely states that a rude fellow (the boatswain, I think), having cursed the knight himself in a fit of passion, his sin then found him out, and was promptly visited by retributive justice, in the form of a sound flogging. If this salutary moral of the fable be not proof sufficient to authenticate both the fact in natural history, and the veracity of the narrator, I know nothing in the world of evidence that could do so. It may be added, that the author of Hudibras, in his significant manner, alludes to the popular belief of such an atmospheric phenomenon in the following couplet:
"Where Truth in person doth appear,Like words congeal'd in northern air." Hudibras, Book i. Canto i.It is possible that Zachary Grey, in his copiously illustrated edition of the poem, may have quoted Sir John Mandeville's account of this notable adventure, in his wanderings, like a true knight-errant, through Scythia, Armenia, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Media, Persia, Chaldea, Greece, Dalmatia, Belgium, &c. He wrote an Itinerary of his travels in English, French, and Latin. In these he occupied nearly forty years, and was long supposed to have died in the course of them, but (as if his person had been "congealed in northern air" and suddenly thawed into warm life again) when he re-appeared, his friends with difficulty recognised him.
J.M.G.Hallamshire.
DOMINICALS
(Vol. ii., p 154.)I believe to have been that kind of customary payment or oblations made on Sundays to the rector, or his vicegerent, of the church where a person heard divine service and received the sacraments:
"Hostiensis dicit quod in præcipuis festivitatibus tenetur quis offerre, et cogi potest; maximè cum sit quasi generalis consuetudo ubique terrarum … et intelligit festivitates præcipuas, dies Dominicos, et alios dies festivos."—Lyndwood, Prov., p. 21., not. e., ed. Oxon. 1679.
Though Lyndwood himself, as I understand him, seems to doubt the cardinal's statement, that the payment could be enforced, unless sanctioned by local custom.
Ducange, in v. "Denarius," 8vo. ed., Adel. 1774, says, the "Denarius de Palmâ" and "Denarius Dominicalis" were the same:
"Habebit (vicarius) cum eis victum suum competentem, et ad vestes sibi emendas XL. solidos Andegavenses, et Denarium singulis diebus Dominicis ecclesiasticâ consuetudine offerendum."
On this extract from a charter he observes:
"Erat itaque Denarius de Palmâ, ille qui singulis Diebus Dominicis et [lege à] fidelibus offerrebatur. Cur autem dictus 'de Palmâ' non constat, nisi forte sic dictus fuerit quod in manum seu palmam traderetur." Denarius Dominicalis, idem.—Arest. MS. a. 1407.
It would seem also from his definition to be the same as the payment called "Denaria Sacramentorum," that is:
"iidem denarii qui singulis offerrebantur Dominicis, ideoque Sacramentorum dicti, quod tempore Sacrosancti Missæ Sacrificii, pro excellentiâ interdum nudè appellati Sacramentum, a fidelibus offerrentur."—Annal. Bened., t. iv. p. 466., n. 80. ad annum 1045.
These extracts sufficiently explain, perhaps, the payment known by the different names of "Dominicals," "Palm-penny," and "Sacrament-pence;" and still indicated, probably, by the weekly offertory of our communion service.
Of a kindred nature were the "Denarii pro Requestis," or "Denarii perquisiti," sometimes also called "Denarii memoriales," pence paid for masses in memory of the dead: called "pro requestis," because they were obtained by special petition [requesta] from the curate; and "perquisiti," "perquisite pence," because they were demanded [perquirebantur] from the devotion of the parishioners, over and above the customary offerings. And in this, perhaps, we find the origin of our word "perquisite." (Lyndw. Prov. p. 111., notes c, e. and p. 237.)
In further illustration of this subject, I will quote the following note from Mr. Dansey's learned work Horæ Decanicæ Rurales, vol. i., p. 426., ed. 1844, which refers also to Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. iv. p. 63.:
"A.D. 1686. The dean of the deanery of the city of Norwich was committed to custody, on one occasion, by the itinerant justices, for exacting hallidays toll by his sub-dean in too high a manner; but on his proving that he took of every great boat that came up to the city on a holiday 1d. only, and of each small one a halfpenny; of every cart 1d., and of every horse or man laden an halfpenny; and of all bakers, butchers, and fishmongers, that sold their commodities on a holiday, 1d. each; and that his predecessors always had immemorially taken it, he was discharged.—Something of the same kind is related, in T. Martin's MS. history, respecting the dues exacted by the rural dean of Thetford. Dr. Sutton's MS. Letter."
E.A.D.MEDAL STRUCK BY CHARLES XII.—RUDBECK'S ATLANTICA
Although no numismatist, yet, being resident at Stockholm, I have taken steps to enable me to reply to L.'s Query (Vol. ii., p. 408. of "NOTES AND QUERIES") respecting Charles XII.'s medal in commemoration of the victory at Holowzin.
No copy of the medal exists in the cabinet of the Royal Museum of Antiquities; but in that belonging to the National Bank, there is a very fine example of it in copper, and the inscriptions are as follow:
On the Reverse:—"Silvæ. Paludes. Aggeres. Hostes. Victi."
In the Exergue:—"Moschi ad Holowzinum victi A. 1708 3/14 Jul."
And round the margin the verse from Lucan in question:
"Victrices Copias Alium Laturus In Orbem:"with the substitution of copias for aquilas, recorded by Voltaire and criticised by L.
The same inscriptions are given in Bergh's Beskrifning öfver Svenska mynt och Skädepenningar, 4to., Upsala, 1773; only he adds, that the inscription in the margin is only found on some copies.
I may transcribe Bergh's description in full:
"Slagetvid Holofsin.
'119. Konungens Bild och hamnunder Armen NAT. 17. JUN. 1682, SILVÆ. PALVDES. AGGERES. HOSTES. VICTI. En Wahl-platz pä hoilken stär en Rysk Trophé; och twenne fängar derwid bunden. I exerguen: MOSCHI AD HOLOFZINUM VICTI. A. 1708 3/14 JUL.
"Pä nägra exemplar är denna randskrift: VICTRICES COPIAS ALIVM LATVRVS IN ORBEM."
Could any of your readers obtain from the British Museum answers to the following Queries respecting Rudbeck's Atlantica, for the use of a Swedish friend of mine.
British Museum.—Biblioteca Grenvilliana—Olof Redbeck, Atland sive Manheim.Tomus i. S. anno 1675, 1679. Has any one of these three copies a separate leaf, entitled Ad Bibliopegos? If so, which of them? Has the copy with the date 1679 Testimonia at the end? If so, how many pages do they consist of? Have they a separate title and a separate sheet of errata? Is there a duplicate copy of this separate title at the end of the Preface?Tomus ii. 1689 How many pages of Testimonia are there at the end of the Preface?Is there, in any one of these volumes, the name of any former owner, any book number, or any other mark by which they can be recognised (for instance, that of the Duke de la Vallière)?
Should there be any other copy of any one of these tomes in the British Museum, these questions will extend to that volume also.
G.J.R. GORDON.Stockholm, Dec. 17. 1850
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES
Fossil Deer (not Elk) of Ireland, C. Megaceros (Vol. ii., p. 494.).—Your correspondent W.R.C. will find in Mr. Hart's description of a skeleton of this animal (Dublin, 1825), in a pamphlet, published by W. Richardson (Dublin, 1846, M'Glashan), in Professor Owen's British Fossil Mammalia, and in the Zoologist (Van Voorst) for 1847 and for 1848, p. 2064., all that is known and much that has been imagined on the subject of his inquiry. The rib which he mentions is well known, and is in fact one of the principal bones of contention between the opposing theorists. I never before heard the story of the specimen shot in 1533, although several years ago I devoted some time to the subject. I am inclined to suspect that it must have been found in some Irish manuscript which has been discovered, since (in the year 1847) some bones of the fossil deer were found in a certain lake in the west of Ireland in company with those of a turkey. (See Zoologist, ub. sup.)
W.R.F.Lincoln's Inn, Dec. 21. 1850.
"Away, let nought to Love displeasing" (Vol. ii., p. 519.).—This song, usually entitled "Winifreda," has been attributed to Sir John Suckling, but with what justice I am unable to say.
It has also acquired additional interest from having been set to music by the first Earl of Mornington, the father of the Duke of Wellington.
The author should certainly be known; and perhaps some of your correspondents can furnish a clue by which he may be discovered.
BRAYBROOKE.Red Sindon (Vol. ii., pp. 393. 495.).—I have only just seen your correspondent, B.W.'s Query respecting the "red sindon," and refer him to Du Cange, where he will find—
"Sindon pro specie panni [Byssus tenuis], etc."
It was a manufacture that was used for dresses as well as hangings, and is constantly mentioned in inventories and descriptions of the middle ages.
J.R. PLANCHÉ.Jan. 1. 1851.
Coleridge and the Penny Post (Vol. iii., p. 6.).—Mr. Venables asks a question in a way that may lead the reader to infer an answer, and an ungenerous answer; and he calls on Mr. Hill to give him satisfaction, as if Mr. Hill had nothing better to do than to inform Mr. Venables, and correct Miss Martineau's blunders. If Mr. Venables had taken an active part in bringing about the greatest moral movement of our age, he would have known that, amongst the hundred other illustrations adduced by Mr. Hill, was the very anecdote to which he refers; and that Mr. Hill quoted it, not once or twice, but dozens of times, and circulated it, with Coleridge's name, over the whole length and breadth of the three kingdoms, by tens of thousands of printed papers. Mr. Hill has not had a tithe of the honour he deserves—and never will have—and I cannot remain silent, and see his character questioned, though in matters too trifling, I think, even to have occupied a corner in "NOTES AND QUERIES."
C.W.D.The Autograph of Titus Oates (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—It may be seen in the Library of St. John's College, Cambridge. It is written at the end of every chapter in "A Confession of Faith, put forth by the Elders and Brethren of many Congregations of Christians (baptized upon profession of Faith) in London and the Country." 12mo. Lond. 1688.
J.R.Cambridge.
Circulation of the Blood (Vol. ii., p. 475.).—The passage in Venerable Bede referred to by J.MN. may have been in a tract De Minutione Sanguinis sive de Phlebotomia; (which occurs in the folio editions, Basle, vol. i. p. 472.; Colon., vol. i. p. 898.). In the enumeration of the veins from which blood may be taken, he says,—
"De brachio tres, qui per totum corpus reddunt sanguinem, capitanea linea, matricia, capsale."
The subject of bleeding is again referred to in Eccl. Hist., vol. iii, but not to the purpose.
J. EASTWOOD.Ecclesfield.
True Blue (Vol. ii., p. 494.).—From documents relative to the wars of the Scottish Covenanters, in the seventeenth century, it appears that they assumed blue ribbons as their colours, and wore them as scarfs, or in bunches fastened to their blue bonnets and that the border English nicknamed them "blue caps" and "jockies." Hence the phrase, "True blue Presbyterian."
G.F.G.Cherubim and Seraphim.—Why are the cherubim represented as a human head, with the wings of a bird? And why have the seraphim no bodily representation? What, in fact, is the supposed distinction between them?
OMEGA.[Our correspondent will find much curious information on this subject, accompanied by some exquisite woodcuts, in Mrs. Jameson's Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art.]
Darcy Lever Church (Vol. ii., p. 494.), which is referred to by your correspondent, is the first instance, I believe, of the application of a new material to the construction of an ecclesiastical edifice. It is built throughout, walls, tower, and spire, benches and fittings, of terra cotta from the Ladyshore works. The architect is that accomplished antiquary, Mr. Sharpe of Lancaster, who furnished the designs of every part, from which moulds were made, and in these the composition forming the terra cotta was prepared, and hardened by the application of fire. The style is the purest and richest Second Pointed, and the effect of the pierced work of the spire is, as your correspondent observes, very fine when seen from a distance. There is a rich colour, too, in the material, which has a remarkably pleasing result upon the eye. But a nearer approach destroys the charm. It is found to be a "sham." The lines of the mouldings, mullions, etc., are warped by the heat attendant upon the process of the manufacture. The exquisite sharpness of outline produced by the chisel is wanting, and there is (in consequence of the impossibility of undercutting) an absence of that effect of light and shade which is the characteristic of the mediæval carvings. The greatest shock is, however, experienced on an examination of the interior. What at first sight appear to be highly elaborated oaken bench-ends and seats are only painted earthenware. In point of fact, it is a POT CHURCH. A similar and larger structure by the same architect, and in the same material, has been erected near Platt Hall, in the parish of Manchester.
J.H.P. LERESCHE.The church at Lever Bridge, near Darcy Lever Hall, on the line of railway between Normanton and Bolton, was built about seven years since. The architect is Edward Sharpe, Esq., of Lancaster. The material of the entire structure, including the internal fittings, is terra cotta, from the Ladyshore works in the neighbourhood, where a model of the church, in the same material, is in preparation for the Exhibition of 1851.
G.I.F.Lines attributed to Henry Viscount Palmerston (Vol. i., p. 382.).—Having been absent for some time, I have not been able to see whether any one has answered a Query I put, viz:—
"Who was the author of those lines beginning with—
'Stranger! whoe'er thou art that views this tomb,' etc.which Porson translated into Greek Iambics, beginning with—
Ω ξεινε, τουτον ‛οστις εισορας ταφον etc."A friend, who was senior medallist in his time at Cambridge, tells me that tradition said that the lines were set by the Rev. R. Collier, Hebrew Professor and Examiner at Trinity College; and that it is supposed that Collier found them in some magazine of the day.
With reference to the imposition supposed to be set Porson (Vol. ii., p. 71.), and shown by C. at p. 106. to be by Joshua Barnes, I question whether any imposition were ever set him: for I have heard Mr. Summers (Porson's first instructor) observe, that he was a well-conducted man during the whole of his undergraduateship; others have reported the same of him.
A.B.Defender of the Faith (Vol. ii., pp. 442. 481.).—In Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. vi. p. 321., is an indenture of lease
"maide the xxijth daye of Januarye, in the second yeare of the reagne of King Henry the seaventhe, by the graice of God Kinge of England, defendoure of the faithe," etc.
The lessor, Christopher Ratlife, of Hewick, died before 10 Henry VII., and the editor of the above work says, "It is impossible to account for the peculiarity in the date of this deed."
Bishop Burnet cites Spelman as asserting that several of the kings of England before Henry VIII. had borne the title of "Defender of the Faith." A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine (N.S. xvi. 357.) conjectures that the name of Spelman had been inadvertently substituted for the name of Selden; though he justly remarks, that Selden by no means countenances the assertion of the bishop.
