Notes and Queries, Number 78, April 26, 1851

Henschoten was ceded to the abbey of Oestbroek in 1130, and sold at the breaking up of the monasteries; and is now the property of Mr. Van Asch van Wyck. Since, therefore, the above extract must have been written before the Reformation, the belief that our forefathers proceeded from this country is by no means new; and the evidence in its support is, I think, stronger than that adduced by Turner and Lappenberg in favour of an immigration from Sleswig; indeed it seems not improbable that the first settlers, with Hengist at their head, sailed from the mouth of the Eem. I have more to add in a future Number, if "Notes and Queries" can afford me space.

J. S.

Woudenberg, April, 1851.

Minor Queries

Villenage.—Can any of your readers inform me at what period villenage became extinct in this kingdom? I have now before me a grant of a manor from the Crown, in the third and fourth year of the reigns of King Philip and Queen Mary, conveying, amongst other goods and chattels, the bondmen, bondwomen, and villeins, with their sequels,—"Nativos, nativas, e villanos cum eoz sequelis." According to Blackstone, the children of villeins were in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called, in Latin, "nativi," which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. What I wish to learn is, whether the old wording of Crown grants had survived the existence of villenage; or whether bondage was a reality in the reign of Philip and Mary; and if so, at what it became extinct?

H. C.

Workington.

[Our correspondent's Query is an interesting one; but he does not seem to be aware that in our First Vol., p. 139., Mr. E. Smirke had given the names of three "bondmen of bloude" living near Brighton in 1617.]

Roman Roads near London.—In the most ancient maps of Middlesex that I have seen, there are no roads marked out. In a folio coloured map of Middlesex, published by Bowen (the date of which is, I think, 1709, although the same map has various dates, like those of Speed, where the date only is altered several times), the roads are introduced. A Roman road appears from the corner of the Tottenham Court Road, where the Hampstead Road and the New Road now meet, running through what must now be the Regent's Park, until it reaches Edgeware, and thence to Brockley Hills, called Sulloniacæ, an ancient city in Antonine's Itinerary. The lanes marking this road are so different from the other roads, as to show at once what is intended; and yet, either in this same map or in another with the same route, Watling Street is printed upon the highway that leads to Tyburn Turnpike, in a manner to show the whole of that distance is meant. The Roman road from Tottenham Court, after making its appearance in a variety of other maps up to a certain date, about 1780, is nowhere to be found since, in any of the Middlesex maps. Can any of your readers show by what authority this was first introduced, and why discontinued; and if the Watling Street branched off, upon its approach to London, where did the part crossing Oxford Street at Tyburn lead to?

John Francis-X.

Mrs. Catherine Barton.—In Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton, p. 250., is the following passage:

"This accomplished nobleman was created Earl of Halifax in 1700, and after the death of his first wife he conceived a strong attachment for Mrs. Catherine Barton, the widow of Colonel Barton, and the niece of Newton."

I wish particularly to know the maiden name of this Catherine Barton; she married Mr. Conduitt, who succeeded Sir I. Newton as Master of the Mint.

J. E. R. S.

Sampford, Braintree, April 7. 1851.

Sempecta at Croyland.—Dr. Maitland has so kindly answered your correspondent's Query respecting his work on Mesmerism, that I venture to ask him another, through the medium of your pages. Where can be found the poem respecting the old soldier monk at Croyland (or Sempecta, as Ingulphus calls him), from which Dr. M. has given extracts in p. 305. of his Dark Ages?

H. R. L.

Trin. Coll.

Schmidt's Antiquitates Neomagensis—Roman Medicine-stamps.—Can any of your readers inform me,—

1st. Of the DATE when Schmidt published his Antiquitates Neomagensis, and WHERE: also in what libraries it is to be found?

2nd. Of the existence of any Roman medicine-stamps found in the British Islands, as yet undescribed by those who have written on the subject.

Q.

Sir Harris Nicolas' History of the Royal Navy.—Is there any probability that the History of the Royal Navy, begun by Sir N. H. Nicolas, and carried by him to the reign of Henry V., will ever be continued. It is a most valuable work, and was stopped by his lamented death, just as it was beginning to be most interesting.

E. N. W.

Wooden Baldrocks.—Thanksgiving-book.—In the vestry-books of St. Peter's, Ruthin, co. Denbigh, there are some entries, explanations of which will be very acceptable.

From 1683, and many subsequent years, there is a constant repetition in the churchwarden's account of "Wooden Baldrocks," from time to time supplied new to the parish.

In 1704, "A Thanksgiving-book" is charged in the parish accounts.

Query the use and nature of Baldrock? and what book is meant by a Thanksgiving-book?

About the above period, continual payments are made for the destruction of hedgehogs, which seem to be valued at sixpence a-piece, in some cases fourpence; and to have been allowed in the parish accounts.

A Churchwarden.

History of the Jesuits.—Who was the author of A History of the Jesuits; to which is prefixed a Reply to Mr. Dallas's Defence of that Order. It was published in two volumes 8vo., London, 1816, by Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, Paternoster Row.

H. R. L.

Trin. Coll.

Mind your P's and Q's.—What is the origin of this phrase? I have heard one solution of it, but wish to ascertain whether there is any other?

R. D. H.

Mode of hiring Domestic Servants in Holderness—Sittings—Fest.—It is customary once a year for men and women servants out of place to assemble in the market places of Hedon and Patrington, the two chief towns in Holderness, and there to await being hired. This very ancient custom is called Hedon Sittings or Statutes. What is the name derived from? A small sum of money given to each servant hired, is supposed to legalise the contract, and is called the Fest. From what is the word derived?

F. R. R.

Home-made Wines.—It is stated in The Times of this morning (Feb. 17) that—

"We know from old chronicles that most of the wine drank by Englishmen, under the Plantagenets, was of home production."

Can any, and if so what, authority be shown for this statement?

J. Sn.

Inscription on a Clock.—Under the curious clock in Exeter Cathedral are inscribed these words:

"PEREUNT ET IMPUTANTUR, sc. horæ."

I have been told that they are the concluding words of a longer inscription on some foreign clock. Can any of your readers tell me if they be so?

J. W. Hewett.

Inscription on the Tomb of Peter the Hermit.—At Huy, on the Meuse, is shown the tomb where Peter the Hermit was buried: it is in the shape of an obelisk, and has an inscription on each of the four sides. Of this inscription, which is curious, and which I copied when I was there, I have lost the greater part: can one of your correspondents supply it for me, or tell where the lines are originally to be found, as I fancy they are adapted to, and not made for, the monument.

The part of the inscription which I have runs as follows:

(INSCRIPTION.)"Soldat du Pape Urbain, aux cris de 'Dieu le veut,'Il a précipité l'Europe sur l'Asie;Le péril arrivé, sa sainte frenesieN'a plus trouvé qu'un cri arrive 'Sauve qui peut.'Dieu,L'intolérant l'outrage, insulte à sa grandeur,Tel masque qu'il affecte, il n'est qu'une imposteur."

Another two-lined motto is headed "Les Illusions;" and a third, "La Liberté;" but neither these, nor a longer one (which I fancy introduces the names of Molière, Rousseau, and Fénélon), am I able to quote.

H. A. B.

Wife of James Torre.-James Torre, the Yorkshire antiquary, married for his first wife Elizabeth Lincolne (see Ducatus Leod., p. 119. Whitaker's ed.); can any one inform me who was that lady's father, and if there is any pedigree known of the family?

I have little doubt that the Rev. William Lincolne, rector of Halton, Lincolnshire, mentioned by Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, b. ii. p. 295., was of the same family.

Edward Peacock, Jun.

Bottesford Moors.

"The Bear's Bible."—In the library of Queen's College, Oxon, is a copy of the Spanish version of the Bible, by Cassiod. Reyna (1569), with the following inscription:—

Ampliss. Antistiti. ac Dño Rmo D. Edmundo Grindalo, archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, et totius Angliæ primati digniss. Ob erepta hujus Hispanicæ versionis sacrorum librorum Scripta ex hostium manibus Cassiodorus Reinius ejusdem versionis author gratitudinis ergo et in perpetuæ observantiæ pignus D.D.D."

What are the circumstances here alluded to?

H. H. W.

Harris, Painter in Water-Colours.—Some friends of mine have a large paper copy of the edition of the Bible, published in 1802, by Messrs. Nicoll, of Pall-Mall, and known as "Reeves' Bible," which is adorned with a large number of small original drawings in water-colour by "J. Harris, of Walworth, Surrey." I should be obliged if any of your correspondents can give me any information respecting Mr. Harris, and can tell me whether he is still living. The drawings were made before the year 1819.

T. C. W.

University Hoods.—The Scotch universities of Aberdeen, St. Andrew's, and Glasgow had, before the Reformation, or before the Revolution rather, hoods for the several degrees of M.A., D.D., LL.D., and D.C.L. What these were, is a question which it is now very difficult to determine; but this much is known, that the hoods of Aberdeen were identical with those of Paris, those of St. Andrew's with those of Louvain, and those of Glasgow with those of Bologna. The Revolution, however, has done much to obliterate the traces of even the Parisian hoods, and the M.A. hood of Paris is all that has hitherto rewarded the researches of the university antiquary. Can any of your readers assist in the somewhat interesting investigation by endeavouring to discover, or informing us if they already know, what were the hoods of the universities of Paris, Louvain, and Bologna, for the several degrees I have enumerated.

G. A. J.

"Nullis Fraus tuta latebris."—Can any of your correspondents favour me with a reference to the above motto?

S. S.

Voltaire, where situated?—The "terre," hamlet, or other property of Voltaire, from which the French poet took the addition to his paternal name of Arouet,—where situated? That there is, or at least was, in Voltaire's time, such an estate, Condorcet's statement (vide Voltaire) makes apparent. But the locality is not pointed out. Can any of your correspondents help me to it?

V.

Table of Prohibited Degrees, 1563.—By the 99th canon of the Church of England the "table of prohibited degrees" set forth by authority in 1563 is ordered to "be in every church publicly set up and fixed at the charge of the parish." Is this usually done now? and if not, why is it omitted to be done?

What is the authority for the insertion of the Canons, or the Articles, or the table of the prohibited degrees found in the Book of Common Prayer?

J. O. M.

Launcelot Lyttleton.—I shall be greatly obliged to any genealogist who can tell me who was that Launcelot Lyttleton, a Lichfield gentleman, whose eldest laughter, Mary, married the Hon. Francis Roper, and became the mother of the fourteenth Lord Teynham. Was this Launcelot a descendant of Sir Edward Lyttleton, temp. Eliz., who married a daughter of Sir William Devereux?

I could answer my own question by an inspection of the "Roper Roll;" but unfortunately that is in Ireland, and I may not soon discover the address of its possessor.

H. G. R. C.

Erechtheum.

The Antediluvians.—Can you or any of your learned correspondents inform me of any work likely to assist me in my researches into the antediluvian history of our race? The curious treatise of Reimmanus, and the erudite essay of J. Joachimus Maderus, I have now before me; but it occurs to me that, besides these and the more patent sources of information, such as Bruckerus and Josephus, there must be other, and perhaps more modern, works which may be more practically useful. Perhaps the author of the elegant essay on the subject in Eruvin may be able to refer to such a a work.

G. A. J.

Minor Queries Answered

Wither's Haleluiah.—Mr. R. A. Willmott, in his Lives of Sacred Poets, has done himself credit by doing justice to George Wither, and vindicating his claims as poet, whom it has long been the fashion to underrate, but who Southey said "had the heart and soul of a poet in him."—(Life, iii. 126.)

In the Life, Mr. Willmott says:

"In 1641 appeared the Haleluiah, or Britain's Second Remembrancer … which book, now as scarce as the first Remembrancer is common, I have not seen."

It is therefore very probable that the work is seldom to be met with. I have a copy, but it is unfortunately imperfect; wanting a few leaves (only a few I imagine) at the end. There is no index, nor table of contents, by which I might ascertain the extent of the deficiency. The last page is 478, and contains a portion of Hymn 60, part iii. If any reader of "Notes and Queries" would kindly inform me what is the number of pages of the work, and where a copy may be seen, he will oblige

S. S. S.

[The work consists of 487 pages, with an index of twelve more. A copy of it in in the Library of the British Museum.]

Voltaire's Henriade.—Is it known who is the author of the English translation of this poem into blank verse, published in 1732. The preface and the notes create a desire to know the author. In one of the notes (17) he speaks of something as being "proved at large in my History of Christianity now ready for the press." I am not aware that any such work exists. Was it ever published? If not what became of the manuscript?

S. T. D.

[Voltaire's Henriade was translated by John Lockman, a gentleman of great literary industry, who died Feb. 2, 1771. See Nichols's Bowyer, and Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary. A list of his published works will be found in Watt's Bibliotheca Britan.]

Christ-Crosse A.—In Tatham's Fancie's Theater, 12mo., 1640, is a poem in praise of sack, wherein the following lines occur:

"The very children, ere they scarce can sayTheir Pater Noster, or their Christ-crosse A,Will to their Parents prattle, and desireTo taste that Drinke which Gods doe so admire."

Can any of your readers inform me the meaning of "Christ-Crosse A" here mentioned? Does it allude to some alphabet then in use?

Cato.

[The alphabet was so designated, because in the old primers a cross was prefixed to it. Nares tells us that in French it was called Croix de par Dieu; and upon reference to Cotgrave for an expression of that term we find, "The Christ's-cross-row; or the hornbook wherein a child learns it."]

Apple-pie Order.—Spick and Span new.—My wife very much grudges my spending threepence a week for the "Notes and Queries", and threatens me with stopping the allowance unless I obtain from some of your correspondents answers to the two following Queries:—

1. What is the origin of the phrase "Apple-pie order?"

2. Ditto—of "Spick and span new?"

Jerry Sneak.

[We leave to some of our friends the task of answering the first of the Queries which our correspondent has put to us by desire of his "better-half."

There is much curious illustration of the phrase Spick and Span in Todd's Johnson, s. v. Spick: and Nares in his Glossary says, "Span-newe is found in Chaucer:

'This tale was aie span-newe to begin.'—Troil. and Cres., iii. 1671.

It is therefore of good antiquity in the language, and not having been taken from the French may best be referred to the Saxon, in which spannan means to stretch. Hence span-new is fresh from the stretchers, or frames, alluding to cloth, a very old manufacture of the country; and spick and span is fresh from the spike, or tenter, and frames. This is Johnson's derivation, and I cannot but think it preferable to any other."

A very early instance of the expression, not quoted by Todd, may be found in the Romance of Alexander:

"Richelich he doth him schrede

In spon-neowe knightis weode."—L. 4054-5.

And Weber, in his Glossary (or rather, Mr. Douce, for the "D" appended to the note shows it to have proceeded from that accomplished antiquary), explains it, "Spon-neowe, span-new, newly spun. This is probably the true explanation of spick and span new. Ihre renders sping-spang, plane novus, in voce fick fack." The learned Jamieson, in his Dictionary, s. v. Split-new (which corresponds to the German Splitter neu, i. e. as new as a splinter or chip from the block), shows, at greater length than we can quote, that split and span equally denote a splinter or chip; and in his Supplement, s. v. Spang-new, after pointing out the connexion between spinga (assula) and spaungha (lamina), shows that, if this be the original, the allusion must be to metal newly wrought, that has, as it were, the gloss from the fire on it: in short, that the epithet is the same as one equally familiar to us, i. e. fire-new, Germ. vier-neu. We will bring this note to a close by a reference to Sewell's Dutch Dictionary, where Spikspëlder nieuw is rendered "Spick and span new."]

Theory of the Earth's Form.—Have any objections to the received theory of the earth's spherical form, or any revival of the old "plane" doctrine, been recently noticed and controverted by scientific men of known standing?

Bruno.

[The old theory has been advanced, and even lectured on, within these two years; but no notice has been taken of it by scientific men.]

Carolus Lawson.—Who was "Carolus Lawson," of whom I have a good print, engraved by Heath. He is called "Scholæ Mancuniensis Archididascalus," 1797. "Pietas alumnorum" is inscribed underneath, and on the back is written, probably by some grateful pupil—

"Cari propinqui, cari liberi, cari parentes, sed omnes omnium caritates Archididascalus noster comprehendit."—Cicero (verbis quibusdam mutatis).

Nemo.

[Mr. Charles Lawson was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was presented by the president, Dr. Randolph, in 1749, to the place of Second Master of Manchester Grammar School; upon the death of Mr. Purnell, in 1764, he succeeded him as Head Master. The colleges of St. John, in Cambridge, and of Brazenose, in Oxford, can bear witness to the success with which he laboured for more than half a century in his profession, having received from the Manchester school, whilst under his direction, a very considerable number of well-grounded classical scholars. He died at Manchester on April 19, 1807, aged seventy-nine. Some further particulars respecting him may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxvii. part i. p. 583.]

Replies

HAYBANDS IN SEALS

(Vol. iii., pp. 186. 248. 291.)

I am sorry that in referring to a peculiarity in ancient seals under this title, Mr. Lower should have pinned to his notice a theory which I feel persuaded is quite untenable. It is surely something new to those who have directed their attention to the numerous devices upon seals to find that the husbandman had so low an opinion of his own social status as to reject the use of any emblematical sign upon his seal, when Thomas the smith, Roger the carpenter, and William the farrier, bore the elements of their respective crafts as proudly as the knight did his chevron or fess. But the question is one of facts. The following examples of the use of the "hayband" are now before me:—

6 June, 7 Henry IV. Grant by John Dursley, citizen and armorer of London, to William Serjaunt Taverner, of Stanes, and another, of a messuage, &c. in Westminster. Seal of dark red was, about 1½ inch in diameter; a hay-stalk twisted and pressed into the wax while hot, inclosing a space as large as a shilling, in which is a poor impression of a badly engraved seal; the whole very clumsy and rough.

26 November, 24 Henry VI. Grant by Maurice Brune, Knight, Robert Darcy, John Doreward, Henry Clovill, Esquire, John Grene, and Henry Stampe, to Richard Hill and others, of lands, &c., in Sprinfield, &c., in Essex. Each seal is round and thick, and has the impression of a small armorial bearing. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th seals have a small plaited coil of hay pressed into the wax, and inclosing the impression.

26 Henry VI. Receipt by Jane Grene for 10l. paid her by the Earl of Ormond. Seal of diminutive size, and the impression nearly defaced. Round the extreme edge is a "diminutive hayband."

2 January, 34 Henry VI. Grant by Thomas Tudenham, Knight, John Leventhorp, Esquire, and Thomas Radclyff, of the reversion of the manor of Newhall to John Neell and others. All the seals, which are large and thick and more than two inches in diameter, have the impression of a signet ring inclosed with a "hayband" of parchment pressed into them. One of these coils being loose shows itself to be a thin strip of the label itself brought through the wax.

10 February, 14 Edward IV. Lease by Sir Thomas Urswyk, Knight, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and Thomas Lovell, to John Morton and others, of the manor of Newhall, Essex, and other lands, &c. The seal of Lovell has his armorial bearings and legend; that of the Lord Chief Baron is the impression of a signet ring, being a classical bust. The seal itself is a thick ball of wax about two inches across, pressed into the face of which is a "hayband" or twisted coil of thin parchment inclosing the impression.

I am sure that I have seen many examples much earlier and later, but those given are merely in reference to the theory of your Lewes correspondent. Even they are surely inconsistent with the idea of the practice being peculiar to any locality or distinctive of any class. My recollection would lead me to assign the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries as the period of its use. But still the question remains—Has it any, and what signification? I have always considered it to have been a contrivance to strengthen the substance of the seal itself. The earliest instances I have seen were "appliqué" seals, such as the royal privy seals, and with these it would seem to have originated. Their frail nature suggested the use of some substance to protect the thin layer of wax from damage by the crumpling of the parchment on which they were impressed. For some time its use was confined to this kind of seal; and fashion may perhaps have extended the practice to pendent seals, where, however, it was often efficacious in neutralising the bad quality of the wax so general in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The plaiting of the hay or straw sometimes assumed a fanciful shape. Although the impressions of seals of the time of Henry VII. are often very bad, there are generally traces of their existence; these may perhaps be discovered in Mr. Lower's seals if he looks more to the enclosure than to the substance forming it.

Joseph Burtt.

Haybands in Seals.—M. A. Lower thinks that Mr. T. Hudson Turner has misapplied his description of the seals in his possession. The seals are not impressed upon haybands, neither do "some ends of the hay or straw protrude from the surface." The little fillet or wreath of hay, about equal in diameter to a shilling, is inlaid upon the pendent lump of wax, and forms the ornament or device of the seal, rather than an integral portion of it, like that in the specimens referred to by Mr. Turner.