Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853

Mrs. Hornby sustains the dignity of the drama by adhering to her five acts, with prologue and epilogue according to prescription. Looking to the prologue for the who, the why, and the wherefore, I am sorry to say I find no materials for the concoction of a biographical note; upon the second point, the why, she tells us:

"When women teem, be it with bad or good,They must bring forth—forsooth 'tis right they should,But to produce a bantling of the brain,Hard is the task, and oft the labour vain."

That her literary accouchement should not be a failure, she further says:

"Lord, how I've bother'd all the gods and graces,Who patronize some mortals, in such cases."

I take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate her predecessor, the ancient occupier of the tenement, who certainly was a protégé of the said parties.

Mrs. Hornby then goes on to relate how that during her gestation she invoked Apollo, Thalia, and Erato:

"Soon they arrived, with Hermes at their side,By Jove commission'd, as their friend and guide.But when the mirth-inspiring dames stepp'd o'erThe sacred threshold of great Shakspeare's door,The heav'nly guests, who came to laugh with me,Oppress'd with grief, wept with Melpomene;Bow'd pensive o'er the Bard of Nature's tomb,Dropt a sad tear, then left me to my doom!"

I leave the reader to judge for himself whether the Muses really "came to laugh" with Mary Hornby, or whether, under the belief of the immortality of our Bard, they did not rather expect a pleasant soirée with Gentle Will, and naturally enough went off in a huff when they found themselves inveigled into a tea-party at Mrs. Hornby's.

Mr. Wilson, in the work above quoted, does condescend to notice Mrs. Hornby,—

"Who rented the butcher's shop under the chamber in which the poet was born, and kept the Shaksperian Album, an interesting record of the visitors to that shrine. Some of the subscribers having given vent to original stanzas suggested by the scene, those effusions," continues the lofty bookseller, "the female in question caused to be inscribed and printed in a small pamphlet, which she sells to strangers."

Not a word, you will see, about the poet's mantle having descended upon the shoulders of our Mary,—which was unpolite of him, seeing that both the tragedy and comedy had the precedence of his book by some years. Not having before me the later history of Shakspeare's house, I am unable to say whether our subject deserved more consideration and gallant treatment at the hands of Mr. Collier, when he and his colleagues came into possession.

J. O.

Minor Notes

Shakspeare's Monument.—When I was a young man, some thirty or forty years ago, I visited the monument of Shakspeare, in the beautiful church of Stratford-upon-Avon, and there copied, from the Album which is kept for the names of visitors, the following lines:

"Stranger! to whom this monument is shown,Invoke the poet's curse upon Malone!Whose meddling zeal his barbarous taste displays,And smears his tombstone, as he marr'd his plays.R. F.Oct. 2, 1810."

This has just now been brought to my mind by reading, in page 155. of the second volume of Moore's Journal, the following account of a conversation at Bowood:

"Talked of Malone—a dull man—his whitewashing the statue of Shakspeare, at Leamington or Stratford (?), and General Fitzpatrick's (Lord L.'s uncle) epigram on the subject—very good—

'And smears his statue as he mars his lays.'"

I cannot but observe that the doubt expressed in the Diary of Moore—whether Shakspeare's monument is "at Leamington or Stratford (?)"—is curious, and I conceive my version of the last line, besides being more correct, is also more pithy. It is incorrect, moreover, to call it a statue, as it is a three-quarters bust in a niche in the wall.

The extract from Moore's Diary, however, satisfactorily explains the initials "R. F.," which have hitherto puzzled me.

Senex.

Archbishop Leighton and Pope: Curious Coincidence of Thought and Expression.—

"Were the true visage of sin seen at a full light, undressed and unpainted, it were impossible, while it so appeared, that any one soul could be in love with it, but would rather flee from it as hideous and abominable."—Leighton's Works, vol. i. p. 121.

Vice is a monster of such hideous mien,As to be hated, needs but to be seen."—Pope.James Cornish.

Grant of Slaves.—I send you a copy of a grant of a slave with his children, by William, the Lion King of Scotland, to the monks of Dunfermline, taken from the Cart. de Dunfermline, fol. 13., printed by the Bannatyne Club from a MS. in the Advocates' Library here, which you may, perhaps, think curious enough to insert in "N. & Q."

"De Servis.

"Willielmus Dei gracia Rex Scottorum. Omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre me, clericis et laicis, salutem: Sciant presentis et futuri me dedisse et concessisse et hac carta mea confirmasse, Deo et ecclesie Sancte Trinitatis de Dunfermlene et Abbati et Monachis ibidem, Deo servientibus in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam, Gillandream Macsuthen et ejus liberos et illos eis quietos clamasse, de me, et heredibus meis, in perpetuum. Testibus Waltero de Bid, Cancellario; Willielmo filio Alani, Dapifero; Roberto Aveneli Gillexio Rennerio, Willielmo Thoraldo, apud Strivelin."

G. H. S.

Edinburgh.

Sealing-wax.—The most careful persons will occasionally drop melting sealing-wax on their fingers. The first impulse of every one is to pull it off, which is followed by a blister. The proper course is to let the wax cool on the finger; the pain is much less, and there is no blister.

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Queries

WALMER CASTLE

In Hasted's History of Kent, vol. iv. p. 172., folio edition, we have as follows:

"Walmer, probably so called quasi vallum maris, i. e. the wall or fortification made against the sea, was expressed to have been a member of the port of Sandwich time out of mind," &c.

Again, p. 165., note m, we find:

"Before these three castles were built, there were, between Deal and Walmer Castle, two eminences of earth, called 'The Great and Little Bulwark;' and another, between the north end of Deal and Sandwich Castle (all of which are now remaining): and there was probably one about the middle of the town, and others on the spots where the castles were erected. They had embrasures for guns, and together formed a defensive line of batteries along that part of the coast," &c.

To the new building of these castles Leland alludes, in his Cygnea Cantio:

"Jactat Dela novas celebris arcesNotus Cæsareis locus trophæis."—Ver. 565.

There are clear remains of a Roman entrenchment close to Walmer Castle. (See Hasted, vol. iv. p. 162., notes.)

Any of your correspondents who could give me any information tending to show that an old fortification had existed on the site of Walmer Castle, previous to the erection of the present edifice—or even almost upon the same site—would do me a very great kindness if he would communicate it, through the columns of "N. & Q.," or by a private letter sent to the Editor.

C. Waymor.

SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND

Can any of your readers throw any light on this passage in Dr. Johnson's Life of Sir John Denham?

"He [Sir John Denham] now resided in France, as one of the followers of the exiled king; and, to divert the melancholy of their condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional verses; one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the Embassy to Poland, by which he and Lord Crofts procured a contribution of ten thousand pounds from the Scotch, that wandered over that kingdom. Poland was at that time very much frequented by itinerant traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent, where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want, and very troublesome to fetch. I have formerly read, without much reflection, of the multitude of Scotchmen that travelled with their wares in Poland; and that their numbers were not small, the success of this negociation gives sufficient evidence."

The title of Denham's poem is "On my Lord Crofts' and my journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000l. for his Majesty by the decimation of his Scottish subjects there."

Peter Cunningham.

BISHOP JUXON AND WALTON'S POLYGLOTT BIBLE

In the library at this island, which formerly belonged to the Knights of Malta, there is an edition of Walton's Polyglott Bible, which was published in London in 1657. This work is in a most perfect state of preservation.

On the title-page of the first of the eleven volumes, there is written, in a bold and perfectly legible manner, the following words:

"Liber Coll. Di Joannis Bapta Oxon Ex dono Reverendiss. in Xto Patris Gvili Jvxon Archiep. Cantvariensis. Ao Dni 1663."

Just below, but on the right of the above, there is written in a clear hand as follows:

"Ex Libris domus Abbatialis S. Antonij Viennensis, Catalogo Inscript an. 1740. No. 11."

That the question which I shall ask at the end of this Note may be the more easily answered, it will perhaps be necessary for me to state, that in the year 1777, Rohan, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, succeeded in annexing the property belonging to the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna to that of Malta. In accepting of these estates, which were situated in France and Savoy, Rohan bound himself to pay the many mortgages and debts with which they were encumbered; and so large an amount had to be thus defrayed, that for a hundred years the convent would not be reimbursed for its advances, and receive the 120,000 livres, at which sum their annual rental would then be valued. Of the foundation of this Order a recent writer (Thornton) thus remarks:

"In 1095 some nobles of Dauphiny united for the relief of sufferers from a kind of leprosy called St. Anthony's fire, which society, in 1218, was erected into a religious body of Hospitallers, having a grand master for chief. This order, after many changes in its constitution, having been left the option between extinction and secularisation, or union with another order, accepted the latter alternative, and selected that of St. John of Jerusalem."

Among the moveable effects which came to the Knights of Malta by this arrangement, was a small and well-selected library, and in it this edition of Walton's Bible.

Without, therefore, writing more at length on this subject, which might take up too much space in "N. & Q.," I would simply add, that my attention was called to this work by the Rev. Mr. Howe, chaplain of H.B.M. ship "Britannia," and for the purpose of asking, At what time, by whom, and in what manner, were these volumes removed from St. John's College at Oxford, and transferred to the library of the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna in France?

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

Minor Queries

Was Andrew Marvell poisoned?—I have just been reading the three ponderous quarto volumes comprising The Works of Andrew Marvell, as collected and edited by his townsman, Capt. Edward Thompson of Hull. In the "Life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot died on Aug. 16, 1678, "and by poison for he was healthful and vigorous to the moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." And again, in a summary of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot virtues were insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical machinations of the state; for what vice and bribery could not influence, was perpetrated by poison." This heinous crime, so formally averred against the enemies of Marvell, may have been committed by "some person or persons unknown;" but, as not a tittle of evidence is adduced or indicated by the zealous biographer in support of the charge—Query, had it any foundation in fact? In the court, and out of the court, the anti-popish, anti-prelatical Puritan had enemies numerous and bitter enough; but is there really any other ground for the abominable imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond his actually sudden death? Is the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date of Marvell's demise? If so, was there any official inquiry—any "crowner's quest?" Surely his admiring compatriots on the banks of the Humber did not at once quietly sit down with the conviction, that thus "fell one of the first characters of this kingdom or of any other."

H.

Anonymous Pamphlet by Dr. Wallis (Vol. vii., p. 403.).—Will Mr. Crossley have the kindness to give the title of the anonymous pamphlet which, he informs us, was published by Dr. John Wallis in defence of the Oxford decree of 1695, on the subject of the Trinity?

Tyro.

Dublin.

Mrs. Cobb's Diary.—Can any of your readers give me any information as to the following book, Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb: London, printed by C. and R. Baldwin, 1805, 8vo., pp. 324.; said to be privately printed?

John Martin.

Roxfield, Bedfordshire.

Compass Flower.—

"Look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from the meadow—See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet;It is the compass flower, that the finger of God has suspendedHere on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's journeyOver the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert." Evangeline, Part II. IV. line 140., &c.

Where can I find a description of this flower, and what is its scientific name?

In Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers, p. 49. edit. 1846, I find the following passage:

"The American hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by attention to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate to him the points of the compass."

Can any one tell me what these "minute appearances" are?

A. H. Battier.

East Sheen, Surrey.

Nuns of the Hotel Dieu.—What is the religions habit of the nuns at the hospital of the Hotel Dieu in Paris at the present day?

M. L.

Purlieu.—Some of your correspondents seem afraid that an attempt to repair the deficiencies of our English dictionaries, by research into disputed etymologies in "N. & Q.," would tend to produce too much and too tedious discussion, and fill its space too much. Could this, at least, not be done without much objection? Could we not co-operate in finding the earliest known mention of words, and thus perhaps trace the occasion and manner of their introduction?

At any rate, this word purlieu is certainly in want of some examination. Johnson has adopted the wretched etymology of pur, Fr. for pure, and lieu, Fr. for place; and he defines it as a place on the outskirts of a forest free of wood.

The earliest record in which this word occurs, so far as I have seen, is in an act of Edward III., quoted by Manwood, and it is there spelt puraley; and it relates to the disafforested parts which several preceding kings permitted to be detached from their royal forests.

Might I ask if any of your correspondents find an earlier use of the word; and can it be gifted with a probable paternity?

The tracing of the earliest known mention of disputed words is a task capable of being finished, and might perhaps be attended, in many cases, with happy results. It would rid us probably of many puerilities which degrade our current dictionaries.

M. C. E.

Jennings Family.—Some time since I requested as a great favour that your correspondent Percuriosus would kindly inform me where I could get a sight of the Spoure MSS. I repeat that I should feel greatly obliged if he would do so: and as this is of no public interest, I send postage envelope, in the event of Percuriosus obliging me with the desired information.

J. Jennings-G.

Latimer's Brothers-in-Law.—In Bishop Latimer's first sermon, preached before King Edward VI., we find the quaint martyr-bishop magnifying the paternal prudence for having suitably "married his sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles, apiece;" but neither the editors of the sermon, nor the writers of several biographical notices of Latimer consulted by me, and in which the extract appears, give any account of the fortunate gentlemen whom the generous parent thus doubly blessed with his twofold treasure.

Can you, or any of your readers, oblige by furnishing the names of Bishop Latimer's brothers-in-law, or by giving some references or brief account of them?

* *

Autobiographical Sketch.—A fragment came into my possession some time ago, among a quantity of waste paper in which books were wrapped, which, from the singularity of its contents, I felt desirous to trace to the book of which it forms a part, but my research has hitherto proved unsuccessful. It consists of two leaves of a large octavo sheet, probably published some twenty years back, and is headed "Autobiographical Sketch of the Editor." It commences with the words: "The Commissioners of the Poor Laws will understand me, when I say, that I was born at Putney, in Surrey." The pages are of course not consecutive: so after an allusion to the wanderings of the writer, I have nothing more up to p. 7., at which is an account of a supposed plot against the lord mayor and sheriffs, concocted by him with the assistance of some school-boy coadjutors; the object of which appears to have been, to overturn the state-coach of the civic functionary, as it ascended Holborn Hill, by charging it with a hackney coach, in which sat the writer and certain widows armed with bolsters in pink satin bags. The word having been given to "Charge!" this new kind of war-chariot was driven down the hill at full speed, gunpowder ignited on its roof, and blazing squibs protruded through its back, sides, and front. The ingenious author declares that the onslaught was crowned with complete success; but here, most unfortunately, the sheet ends: and unless you, Mr. Editor, or some of your correspondents, will kindly help me to the rest of the narrative, I must, I fear return unexperienced to my grave. I have omitted to mention, that the date of this event is given as the 4th of July, 1799.

Cheverells.

Schonbornerus.—Can any of your readers give me information about a book I became possessed of by chance a short time ago, or tell me anything respecting its author, for whom I have vainly sought biographical dictionaries? The volume is a duodecimo, and bears the following title-page:

"Georgii Schonborneri Politicorum, Libri Septem. Editio ad ipsius Authoris emendatum Exemplar nunc primum vulgata. Amsterodami: apud L. Elzevirium, anno 1642."

It is written in Latin, and contains as many quotations as the Anatomy of Melancholy, or Mr. Digby's Broad Stone of Honour.

H. A. B.

Symbol of Globe and Cross.—Can any one oblige me with an explanation of the mysterious symbols on a seal not older than the last century? It contains a globe, bearing a cross upon it, and a winged heart above, with the legend "Pour vous."

C. T.

Booth Family.—Can any of your Lancashire correspondents afford information bearing on the families of Booth of Salford, and Lightbown of Manchester? Is any pedigree extant of either of these families, and what arms did they bear? Humphrey Booth founded, I believe, a church in Salford about the year 1634, the patronage of which still remains, as it might seem, in the family, the Clergy List describing it as in the gift of Sir R. G. Booth.

There is a Booth Hall in Blackley, a small village lying by the road side, between Manchester and Middleton; and from the inquisitio post mortem of Humphrey Booth, 12 Car. I., it appears that he died seised of lands in Blackley as well as Salford.

Is there any evidence to connect him with this hall, as the place of his residence?

A Jesuit.

Jesus College, Cambridge.

Ennui.—What is our nearest approach to a correct rendering of this expression? Some English writer (Lady Morgan, I believe) has defined it "mental lukewarmness:" but, if it be true, as La-Motte Houdart says, that—

"L'ennui naquit un jour de l'uniformité."

the above definition would seem to indicate rather the cause of ennui than ennui itself.

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

Bankruptcy Records.—Where can I search for evidence of a bankruptcy, probably about 1654? The Chief Registrar's indices do not go back nearly so far.

J. K.

Golden Bees.—Napoleon I. and II. are said to have had their imperial robes embroidered with golden bees, as claiming official descent from Carolus Magnus. Query, what is the authority for this heraldic distinction, said to have been assumed by Charlemagne?

James Graves.

Kilkenny.

The Grindstone Oak.—Can any of your topographical correspondents state what is the earliest mention made of an oak tree well known in this part of the country, and the destruction of which by fire, on the 5th of November, 1849, was the subject of regret to all who had seen or heard of it? It was called the Grindstone Oak, and had been a denizen of the forest of Alice Holt, as many suppose, since the days of the Confessor. It measured thirty-four feet in circumference, at the height of seven feet from the ground; and is mentioned by Gilbert White, in his History of Selborne, as "the great oak in the Holt, which is deemed by Mr. Marsham to be the biggest in this island."

L. L. L.

Near Selborne, Hants.

Hogarth.—About the year 1746, Mr. Hogarth painted a portrait of himself and wife: he afterwards cut the canvass through, and presented the half containing his own portrait to a gentleman in Yorkshire.

If any of your numerous readers are in possession of any portrait of Mr. Hogarth, about three feet in length, and one foot eight inches wide, or are aware of the existence of such a portrait, they will confer a favour by addressing a line to

J. Phillips,5. Torrington Place, London.

Adamsons of Perth.—Can any of your Scottish correspondents inform me what relationship existed between Patrick Adamson, titular Archbishop of St. Andrew's, and the two learned brothers, Henry Adamson, author of the Muses' Threnodie, and John Adamson, principal of the college at Edinburgh, and editor of the Muses' Welcome; and whether any existing family claims to be descended from them? They were all born at Perth. Henry and John were the sons of James Adamson, a merchant and magistrate of the fair city. Probably the archbishop was a brother of this James Adamson, and son of Patrick Adamson, who was Dean of the Guild when John Knox preached his famous sermon at St. John's. Mariota, a daughter of the archbishop, is said by Burke to have married Sir Michael Balfour, Bart., of Nortland Castle Orkney. Another daughter would appear to have become the wife of Thomas Wilson, or Volusenus, as he calls himself, the editor of his father-in-law's poems and other publications.

E. H. A.

Cursitor Barons of the Exchequer.—Will you allow me to repeat a question which you inserted in Vol. v., p. 346., as to a list of these officers, and any account of their origin and history? Surely some of your correspondents, devoted to legal antiquities, can give note a clue to the labyrinth which Madox has not ventured to enter. The office still exists—with peculiar duties which are still performed—and we know that it is an ancient one; all sufficient grounds for inquiry, which I trust will meet with some response.

Edward Foss.

Syriac Scriptures.—I am very anxious to know what editions of the Scriptures in Syriac (the Peshito) were published between Leusden and Schaaf's New Testament, and the entire Bible in 1816 by the Bible Society.

B. H. C.

Replies

PSALMANAZAR

(Vol. vii., pp. 206. 435.)

Having long felt a great respect for this person, and a great interest in all that concerns his history, I am induced to mention the grounds on which I have been led to doubt whether the letter in the Gentleman's Magazine, to which Mr. Crossley refers, is worthy of credit. When I first saw it, I considered it as so valuable an addition to the information which I had collected on the subject, that I was anxious to know who was the writer. It had no signature; but the date, "Sherdington, June, 1704," which was retained, gave me a clue which, by means not worth detailing, led me to the knowledge that what thus appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1765, had issued from "Curll's chaste press" more than thirty years before, in the form of a letter from the person now known in literary history as "Curll's Corinna," but by her cotemporaries (see the index of Mr. Cunningham's excellent Handbook of London) as Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, sometime of Dyot Street, St. Giles's, and afterwards of a locality not precisely ascertained, but within the rules of the Fleet, and possibly (though Mr. Cunningham does not corroborate this) at some period of her life resident in the more genteel quarters which Curll assigns to her. To speak more strictly, and make the matter intelligible to any one who may look at it in the Magazine, I should add that the first paragraph (seventeen lines, on p. 78., dated from "Sherdington," and beginning "I dined," says the letter writer, "last Saturday with Sir John Guise, at Gloucester") is part of a letter purporting to be written by her lover; while all the remainder (on pp. 79-81.) is from Corinna's answer to it.