Notes and Queries, Number 52, October 26, 1850

However, the answer to the suggestion of Mr. Ellacombe and C. consists in this important distinction, that the Lancastrian livery collar was not a chain of linked esses, but a collar of leather or other stiff material, upon which the letters were distinctly figured at certain intervals; and when it came to be made of metal only, the letters were still kept distinct and upright. On John of Ghent's collar, in the window of old St. Paul's (which I have already mentioned in p. 330.), there are only five,

S       S       S       S       S,

at considerable intervals. On the collar of the poet Gower the letters occur thus,—

SSSSS       SSSSS.

On that of Queen Joan of Navarre, at Canterbury, thus,—

S | S | S | S | S | S |

There is then, I think, little doubt that this device was the symbolum or nota of some word of which S was the initial letter; whether Societas, or Silentium, or Souvenance, or Soveraigne, or Seneschallus, or whatever else ingenuity or fancy may suggest, this is the question,—a question which it is scarcely possible to settle authoritatively without the testimony of some unequivocal contemporary statement. But I flatter myself that I have now clearly shown that the esses were neither the links of a chain nor yet (as suggested in a former paper) identical with the gormetti fremales, or horse-bridles, which are said to have formed the livery collar of the King of Scots.

John Gough Nichols."Christus purpureum gemmati textus in auroSignabat Labarum, Clypeorum insignia ChristusScripserat; ardebat summis crux addita cristis."

By the same sort of reasoning—viz. conjecture—that Mr. John Gough Nichols adheres to the opinion that the Collar of SS. takes its name from the word Seneschallus, it might be contended that the initial letters of the lines above quoted mystically stand for "Collar, S. S." Enough, however, has already been written on this unmeaning point to show that some of us are "great gowks," or, in other words, stupid guffs, to waste so much pen, ink, and paper on the subject.

There are other topics, however, connected with the Collar of SS. which are of real interest to a numerous section of the titled aristocracy in the United Kingdom; and it is with these, as bearing upon the heraldic and gentilitial rights of the subject, that I am desirous to grapple. Mr. Nichols, and those who pin faith upon his dicta, hold that the Collar of SS. was a livery ensign bestowed by our kings upon certain of their retainers, in much the same sense and fashion as Cedric the Saxon is said to have given a collar to Wamba, the son of Witless. For myself, and all those entitled to carry armorial bearings in the kingdom, I repudiate the notion that the knightly golden Collar of SS. was ever so conferred or received. Further, I maintain that there was a distinction between what Mr. Nichols calls "the Livery Collar of SS.," and the said knightly golden Collar of SS., as marked and broad as is the difference between the Collar of the Garter and the collar of that four-footed dignitary which bore the inscription,

"I am the Prince's Dog at Kew,Pray whose Dog are you?"

In his last communication Mr. Nichols lays it down that "livery collars were perfectly distinct from collars of knighthood;" adding, they did not exist until a subsequent age. Of course the collars of such royal orders of knighthood as have been established since the days of our Lancastrian kings had necessarily no existence at the period to which he refers. But Gough (not Mr. Gough Nichols) mentions that the Collar of SS. was upon the monument of Matilda Fitzwalter, of Dunmow, who lived in the reign of King John; and Ashmole instances a monument in the collegiate church at Warwick, with the portraiture of Margaret, wife of Sir William Peito, said to have been sculptured there in the reign of Edward III. What credit then are we to attach to Mr. N.'s averment, that the "Collar of Esses was not a badge of knighthood, nor a badge of personal merit, but was a collar of livery, and the idea typified by livery was feudal dependence, or what we now call party?" What sort of feudal dependence was typified by the ensign of equestrian nobility upon the necks of the two ladies named, or upon the neck of Queen Joan of Navarre? Mr. Nichols states that in the first Lancastrian reigns the Collar of SS. had no pendant, though, afterwards, it had a pendant called "the king's beast." On the effigy of Queen Joan the collar certainly has no pendant, except the jewelled ring of a trefoil form. But on the ceiling and canopy of the tomb of Henry IV., his arms, and those of his queen (Joan of Navarre), are surrounded with Collars of SS., the king's terminating in an eagle volant (rather an odd sort of a beast), whilst the pendant of the queen's has been defaced.

Mr. Nichols, in a postscript, puts this query to the antiquaries of Scotland: "Can any of them help me to the authority from which Nich. Upton derived his livery collar of the King of Scotland de gormettis fremalibus equorum?" If Mr. N. puts this query from no other data than the citation given in my former paper upon this subject (vide Vol. ii., p. 194.), he need not limit it to the antiquaries of Scotland. Upton's words are as follows:—

"Rex etiam scocie dare solebat pro signo vel titulo suo, unum collarium de gormettis fremalibus equorum de auro vel argento."

This passage neither indicates that a King of Scotland is referred to, nor does it establish that the collar was given as a livery sign or title. It merely conveys something to this purport, that the king was accustomed to give to his companions, as a sign or title, a collar of gold or silver shaped like the bit of a horse's bridle.

Mr. Nichols takes exception to Favine as an heraldic authority. Could that erudite author arise from his grave, I wonder how he would designate Mr. Nichols's lucubrations on livery collars, &c. But hear Matthew Paris: that learned writer says Equites Aurati were known in his day "by a gold ring on their thumbs, by a chain of gold about their necks, and gilt spurs." Let us look to Scotland: Nesbit says, vol. ii. p. 87.:

"Our knights were no less anciently known by belts than by their gilt spurs, swords, &c. In the last place is the collar, an ensign of knightly dignity among the Germans, Gauls, Britains, Danes, Goths, &c. In latter times it was the peculiar fashion of knights amongst us to wear golden collars composed of SS."

Brydson, too, in his Summary View of Heraldry in reference to the Usages of Chivalry, and the General Economy of the Feudal System, (a work of uncommon ingenuity, deserving to be called the Philosophy of Heraldry), observes, p. 186, ch. v., that knights were distinguished by an investiture which implied superior merit and address in arms—by the attendance of one or more esquires—by the title Sir—by wearing a crest—a helmet of peculiar form—apparel peculiarly splendid—polished armour of a particular construction—gilded spurs—and a Golden Collar.

He states, ch. iv., p. 132.:

"In the fifth dissertation of Du Cange it is shown that the splendid habits which the royal household anciently received at the great festivals, were called 'Liveries,' being delivered or presented from the king."

But he nowhere countenances for a moment any of the errors entertained by Mr. John Gough Nichols, which these remarks are intended to explode.

Mr. Nichols has not yet answered B.'s query. Nor can he answer it until he previously admits that he is wrong upon the four points enumerated in my opening article (Vol. ii., p. 194.).

Armiger.

Replies to Minor Queries

Symbols of the Evangelists (Vol. i., pp. 375. 471.; vol. ii., pp. 13. 45. 205.).—Should the inquirer not have access to the authorities which, as is stated in p. 471., are referred to by Dr. Wordsworth, or not have leisure to avail himself of his copious references, he may be glad to find that in the Thesaurus Theologico Philologicus (vol. ii. pp. 57.-62.), there is a dissertation containing an analysis of more than fifty authors, who have illustrated the visions of Ezekiel and St. John, and an explanation of the Sententiarum Divortia of Irenæus, Jerome, and Augustine, respecting the application of the symbols, or of the quæstio vexata—quodnam animal cui Evangelistæ comparandum sit. Thomasius, the author of this dissertation, suggests that to recall to mind the symbol applied to Luke, we should remember the expression denoting elephantes, boves lucas. Abundant information is also supplied on this subject by that hierophantic naturalist, Aldrovandus, de Quadrup. Bisulcis, p. 180. et seq. Nor should Daubuz be neglected, the learned commentator on the Revelations.

T. J.

Becket's Mother (Vol. ii., pp. 106. 270.).—In support of the view of Mr. Foss with regard to Becket's mother, against that propounded by J. C. R. (Vol. ii., p. 270.), I would mention that Acon is the ordinary mediæval name for the city of Acre, and appears in the earlier deeds relating to the hospital in Cheapside, while the modern form occurs in those of later date; e.g. Pat. 18 Edw. II., "S. Thomæ Martyris de Aconia;" Pat. 14 Edw. III., "S. Thomæ Martyris Cantuarensis de Acon;" but Rot. Parl. 23 Hen. VI., "Saint Thomas the Martir of Acres," "the Martyr of Canterbury of Acres." (Deeds in Dugdale, Monast. vi. 646, 647.)

This would seem to identify the distinctive name of the hospital with the city in the Holy Land but the following passage from the Chronicle of Matthew of Westminster (p. 257.) seems quite conclusive on this point, as it connects that city with Becket in a manner beyond all dispute:—

"Anno gratiæ 1190. Obsessa est Acon circumquaque Christianorum legionibus, et arctatur nimis. Capella Sancti Thomæ martyris ibidem ædificatur."

If, as J. C. R. supposes, there was no connexion between the saint and Acre in Syria, the foundation of a chapel to his honour in or near that city would seem quite unaccountable. However this may be, the truth of the beautiful legend of his mother can, I fear, be never proved or disproved.

While on this subject, let me, at the risk of being tedious to your readers, quote the amusing tale told by Latimer, with regard to this hospital, in his "Sixth Sermon preached before Edward VI." (Parker Soc ed., p. 201.):—

"I had rather that ye should come [to hear the Word of God] as the tale is by the gentlewoman of London: one of her neighbours met her in the street and said, 'Mistress, whither go ye?' 'Marry,' said she; 'I am going to St. Thomas of Acres, to the sermon; I could not sleep all this last night, and I am going now thither; I never failed of a good nap there.' And so I had rather ye should go a-napping to the sermons than not to go at all."

On the name "S. Nicholas Acon," I can throw no light. Stow is quite silent as to its signification.

E. Venables.

Herstmonceux.

Becket's Mother.—I am, in truth, but a new subscriber, and when I wrote the remarks on Mr. Foss's note (Vol. ii., p. 270.), had not seen your first volume containing the communications of Mr. Matthews (p. 415.) and Dr. Rimbault (p. 490.). The rejection of the story that Becket's mother was a Saracen rests on the fact that no trace of it is found until a much later time, when the history of "St. Thomas of Canterbury" had been embellished with all manner of wonders. Mr. Matthews may find some information in the English Review, vol. vi. pp. 40-42. Dr. Rimbault is mistaken in saying that the life of St. Thomas by Herbert of Boshain "is published in the Quadrilogus, Paris, 1495." It was one of the works from which the Quadrilogus was compiled; but the only entire edition of it is that by Dr. Giles, in his S. Thomas Cantauriensis.

J. C. R.

Passage in Lucan (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—The following are parallel passages to that in Lucan's Pharsalia, b. vii. 814., referred to by Mr. Sansom.

Ovid. Metam. 1. 256.:—

"Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus,Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia cœliArdeat; et mundi moles operos laboret."

Cic. De Nat. Deor. 11. 46.:—

"Ex quo eventurum nostri putant id, de quo Panætium addubitare dicebant, ut ad extremum omnis mundus ignesceret; cum, humore consumto, neque terra ali posset neque remearet ær; cujus ortus, aqua omni exhausta, esse non posset," etc.

Cic. De Divinatione, 1. 49.:—

"Nam et natura futura præsentiunt, ut aquarum fluxiones et deflagrationem futuram aliquando cœli atque terrarum," etc.

Cic. Acad. Quæst. iv. 37.:—

"Erit ei persuasum etiam, solem, lunam, stellas omnes, terram, mare, deos esse … fore tamen aliquando ut omnis hic mundus ardore deflagret," etc.

Cic. Somn. Scipionis, vii.:—

"Propter eluviones exustionesque terrarum quas accidere tempore certo necesse est, non modo æternam, sed ne diuturnam quidem gloriam assequi possumus."

Seneca, Consol. ad Marciam, sub fine:—

"Cum tempus advenerit quo se mundus renovaturus extinguat … et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit."

Id. Natural Quæst. iii. 28.:—

"Qua ratione inquis? Eadem qua conflagratio futura est … Aqua et ignes terrenis dominantur. Ex his ortus et ex his interitus est," etc.

There are also the Sybilline verses (quoted by Lactantias de Ira Dei, cap. xxiii.):—

"Καί ποτε τὴν ὀργὴν θεὸν οὐκ ἔτι πραΰνοντα,Ἀλλ' ἐξεμβρίθοντα, καὶ εξολύοντά τε γέννανἈνθρώπον, ἅπασαν ὑπ' ἐμπρησμοῦ πέρθοντα."

Plato has a similar passage in his Timæus; and many others are quoted by Matthew Pole in his Synopsis Criticorum Script. Sacræ Interpretum; on 2 Pet. iii. 6. 10.; to which I beg to refer Mr. Sansom; and also to Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth, book iii. ch. 3.

T. H. Kersley.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

Combs buried with the Dead (Vol. ii., pp. 230. 269.).—On reference to Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia, I find two passages which may supply the information your correspondent seeks as to the reason for combs being buried with human remains. In section i., pp. 26, 27. (I quote from the Edinburgh reprint of 1822, published by Blackwood) the author says:

"In a field of Old Walsingham, not many months past (1658), were digged up between forty and fifty urns, deposited in a dry and sandy soil, not a yard deep, not far from one another, not all strickly of one figure, but most answering these described; some containing two pounds of bones, distinguishable in skulls, ribs, jaws, thigh-bones, and teeth, with fresh impressions of their combustion, besides extraneous substances, like pieces of small boxes, or combs, handsomely wrought, handles of small brass instruments, brazen nippers, and in one some kind of opale."

And again he says (pp. 36, 37.):

"From exility of bones, thinness of skulls, smallness of teeth, ribs, and thigh-bones, not improbable that many thereof were persons of minor age, or women. Confirmable also from things contained in them. In most were found substances resembling combs, plates like boxes, fastened with iron pins, and handsomely overwrought like the necks or bridges of musical instruments, long brass plates overwrought like the handles of neat implements, brazen nippers to pull away hair, and in one a kind of opale, yet maintaining a bluish colour.

"Now that they accustomed to burn or bury with them things wherein they excelled, delighted, or which were dear unto them, either as farewells unto all pleasure, or vain apprehension that they might use them in the other world, is testified by all antiquity."

The instances which he appends relate only to the Pagan period, and he does not appear to have known that a similar practice prevailed in the sepulture of Christians—if, indeed, such a custom was general, and not confined to the particular case mentioned by your correspondent.

J. H. P. Leresche.

The Norfolk Dialect (Vol. ii., p. 217.).—

Mauther.—A word peculiar to East Anglia, applied to a girl just grown up, or approaching to womanhood.

"Ipse eodem agro [Norfolciensi] ortus, a Dan. moer," virgo, puella, "deflectit."—Spelman.

Spelman assures us, in endeavouring to rescue the word from the contempt into which it had fallen, that it was applied by our very early ancestors, even to the noble virgins who were selected to sing the praises of heroes; they were called scald-moers, q.d. singing mauthers!

"En quantum in spretâ jam voce antiquæ gloria.""Ray spells the word mothther."P. I am a mother that do want a service."Qu. O thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy),Where maids are mothers, and mothers are maids."—R. Brome's Engl. Moor, iii. 1.

It is written also modder.

"What! will Phillis then consume her youth as an ankresse,Scorning daintie Venus? Will Phillis be a modder,And not care to be call'd by the deare-sweete name of a mother?"—A. Fraunce's Ivy Church, A. 4. b."Away! you talk like a foolish mauther"—

says Restive to Dame Pliant in Ben Jonson. Alchemist, IV. 7. So Richard says to Kate, in Bloomfield's Suffolk ballad:—

"When once a giggling mawther you,And I a red-faced chubby boy."—Rural Tales, 1802, p. 5.

Perhaps it is derived from the German

with the termination een or -den added, as in the Lincolnshire dialect, hee-der, and shee-der, denote the male and female sex.

Gotsch.—A jug or pitcher with one ear or handle. Forby thinks it may be derived from the Italian gozzo, a throat.

Holl.—From the Saxon holh. German

, a ditch.

Anan! = How! what say you? Perhaps an invitation to come near, in order to be better heard, from the Saxon nean, near. Vid. Brockett's,—Jennings, and Wilbraham's Chesh. Glossaries.

To be Muddled.—That is, confused, perplexed, tired. Doubtless from the idea of thickness, want of clearness; so, muddy is used for a state of inebriety.

Together.—In Low Scotch, thegether, seemingly, but not really, an adverb, converted to a noun, and used in familiarly addressing a number of persons collectively. Forby considers to and the article the identical; as to-day, to-night, in Low Scotch, the day, the night, are in fact, this day, this night; so that the expression together may mean "the gathering," the company assembled.

The authorities I have used are Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia; Moor, Suffolk Words and Phrases; and Lemon, English Etymology; in which, if Icenus will refer, he will find the subject more fully discussed.

E. S. T

Conflagration of the Earth (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—The eventful period when this globe, or "the fabric of the world,"1 will be "wrap'd in flames" and "in ruin hurl'd," is described in language, or at least, in sense similar to the quotations of our correspondent in p. 89., by the poets, philosophers, fathers, and divines here referred to:—

Lucan, lib. i. 70. et seqq. 75.:—

"Omnia mistis Sidera sideribus concurrent."

Seneca ad Marciam, cap. ult.:—

"Cum tempus advenerit, quo se mundus renovaturus extinguat, viribus ista se suis cedent, et sidera sideribus incurrent, et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit."

Quæst. Nat. iii. 27., which contains a commentary on St. Peter's expression, "Like a thief in the night:"—

"Nihil, inquit, difficile est Naturæ, ubi ad finem sui properat. Ad originem rerum parcè utitur viribus, dispensatque se incrementis fallentibus; subitò ad ruinam et toto impetu venit … Momento fit cinis, diu silua."

Compare Sir T Browne's Rel. Med. s. 45.

Seneca, Hercul. Œt. 1102.

Ovid. Metamorph. lib. i. s. viii.

Diplilus as quoted by Dr. H. More, Vision. Apoc. vi. 9.

Cicero, Acad. lib. ii. 37. "Somn. Scipionis."

–– de Nat. Deorum. lib. ii. 46.

Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 16.

These are the opinions of writers before Christ; whether they were derived from Scripture, it is not now my purpose to discuss. See also Lipsii Physiologia. On the agreement of the systems of the Stoics, of the Magi, and of the Edda, see Bishop Percy's Notes to Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. ii.

The general conflagration and purgatorial fire were among the tenets of the Sibylline books, and maintained by many Fathers of the Greek and Latin churches down to the sixth century. See Blondel on the Sibyls, and Arkudius adversus Barlaam. Among modern writers on this subject, it will be sufficient to name Magius de Mundi Exustione, Dr. H. More, and Dr T. Burnet. Ray, in the third of his Physico-Theological Discourses, discusses all the questions connected with the dissolution of the world.

T. J.

Wraxen, (Vol. ii., p. 207.).—G. W. Skyring will find the following explanation in Halliwell's Dictionary of Provincial and Archaic Words, "to grow out of bounds, spoken of weeds," c. Kent. Certainly an expressive term as used by the Kentish women.

J. D. A.

Wraxen.—Probably analogous to the Northumbrian "wrax, wraxing, wraxed," signifying to stretch or (sometimes) to sprain.

A peasant leaving overworked himself, would say he had wraxed himself; after sitting, would walk to wrax his legs. Falling on the ice would have wraxed his arm; and of a rope that has stretched considerably, he would say it had wraxed a gay feck.

It may possibly have come, as a corruption, from the verb wax, to grow. It is a useful and very expressive word, although not recognised in polite language.

S. T. R.

Wraxen.—Rax or Wrax is a very common word in the north of England, meaning to stretch, so that when the old Kentish woman told Mr. Skyring's friend her children were wraxen, she meant their minds were so overstretched during the week, that they required rest on Sunday.

W.

Miscellaneous

NOTES OF BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

Of the various changes which have been made of late years in public education, there is not one so generally admitted to be an improvement as that which has made the study of

"The tongueWhich Shakspeare spake,"

an essential part of the system and probably no individual has so effectually contributed towards this important end as Dr. Latham, the third edition of whose masterly and philosophical volume, entitled The English Language, is mow before us. Dr. Latham has ever earnestly and successfully insisted on the disciplinal character of grammatical studies in general, combined with the fact, that the grammatical study of one's own language is exclusively so; and having established this theory, he has, by the production of various elementary works, exhibiting a happy combination of great philological acquirements with the ability to apply them in a logical and systematic manner, enabled those who shared his views to put that theory into practice. Hence the change in our educational system to which we have alluded. His volume entitled The English Language is, however, addressed to a higher class of readers, and this third edition may justly be pronounced the most important contribution to the history of our native tongue which has yet been produced; and, as such every student of our early language and literature must, with us, bid it welcome.

We have received the following Catalogues;—Cole's (15. Great Turnstile, Holborn) List No. XXIX. of curious Old Books; Kerslake's (3. Park Street, Bristol) Valuable Books containing Selections from Libraries at Conishead Priory; of Prof. Elrington; T. G. Ward, &c.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE

Odd Volumes

Camden's Britannia, ed. by Gough, Vol. I.

Warton's Edition of Pope. 8vo. 1797 Vol. IX. In boards.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.