Chapter 2

"Thomas Cornish, in 1421-2, was made Suffragan Bishop to Rich. Fox, Bp of Bath and Wells, under ye title of 'Episcopus Tynensis,' by wh I suppose is meant Tyne, ye last island belonging to ye republick of Venice in ye Archipelago. See more of him in 'Athenæ Oxoniens,' vol. i. p. 555."

VII. Note by T. Park, in a copy of the third edition of an "Essay on Human Life," by the author of the "Essay on Man," 1736. (Printed for J. Witford.)

"By Lord Pagett. 1st edn 1734. 4to. says Lord Orford. An edn in 8vo. was printed in 1736 'for Fletcher Gyles against Grays Inn in Holbourn,' and was called (as this is) the _third_; but it gave no delusive intimation in the title that Pope was the author, honestly assigning it to the Right Hon. Lord Pagett. To the preface was added a short postscript."

On another page he has written:

"This is perhaps the most successful imitation of Pope's ethic poem which has been produced. Lord Paget has had the credit of composing it."

In another handwriting there is written:

"From Mr. Newton, a valuable present, June 25. 1760."

Under which Mr. Park has added:

"Qu. from Newton to Cowper, whose handwriting resembles the above."

VIII. I have a little book entitled, "The Original History of Old Robin Gray; with the adventures of Jenny and Sandy: a Scotch Tale;" n.d. printed for H. Turpin. A prose narrative, apparently intended for children, but which Mr. Haslewood has enriched with a number of newspaper cuttings and other illustrations, and has added the following note:--

"Auld Robin Gray; a ballad by the Right Honourable Lady Anne Barnard, born Lady Anne Lindsay of Balcarras; Edin. printed by James Ballantyne and Co. 1825, qto. This is the first authentic edition of this beautiful Scottish ballad, and forms one of the publications by Sir Walter Scott as a member of the Bannatyne Club. The publication gives an interesting account of the authoress--of the origin of the ballad--the ballad--continuation of Auld Robin Gray, all from the same hand; it is to be regretted it is not published for wider circulation. It will, it may be expected, find a vent for the publick at some future period, and some of the gatherings in this volume swell a note or two, if not a page.--See 'Cens. Lib.' vol. ix. p. 323. for another ballad called, 'Continuation of Auld Robin Gray.' Auld Robin gray's Ghaist begins 'Right sweetly sang the nightingale,' among my Scotch songs. The sequel to Auld Robin Gray begins, 'Full five long years' in do."

J.F.M.

* * * * *

OPINIONS ON ENGLISH HISTORIANS.

II. _Lord Clarendon._

"This great historian is always too free with his judgments. But the piety is more eminent than the superstition in this great man's foibles."--Bishop Warburton, note, last edition, vol. vii. p. 590.

"It is to be hoped no more chancellors will write our story, till they can divest themselves of that habit of their profession, apologising for a bad cause."--H. Walpole, Note in _Historic Doubts_.

"Clarendon was unquestionably a lover of truth, and a sincere friend to the free constitution of his country. He defended that constitution in Parliament, with zeal and energy, against the encroachments of prerogative, and concurred in the establishment of new securities for its protection."--Lord Grenville, Note in _Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 113.

"We suffer ourselves to be delighted by the keenness of Clarendon's observations, and by the sober majesty of his style, till we forget the oppressor and the bigot in the historian."--Macaulay, _Essays_, vol. ii. p. 281.

"There is no historian, ancient or modern, with whose writings it so much behoves an Englishman to be thoroughly conversant, as Lord Clarendon."--Southey, _Life of Cromwell_.

"The genuine text of the history has only been published in 1826," says Mr. Hallam, who speaks of "inaccuracy as habitual to him;" and further, "as no one, who regards with attachment the present system of the English constitution, can look upon Lord Clarendon as an excellent minister, or a friend to the soundest principles of civil and religious liberty, so no man whatever can avoid considering his incessant deviations from the great duties of an historian as a moral blemish on his character. He dares very frequently to say what is not true, and what he must have known to be otherwise; he does not dare to say what is true, and it is almost an aggravation of this reproach, that he aimed to deceive posterity, and poisoned at the fountain a stream from which another generation was to drink. No defence has ever been set up for the fidelity of Clarendon's history; nor can men, who have sifted the authentic material, entertain much difference of judgment in this respect; though, as a monument of powerful ability and impressive eloquence, it will always be read with that delight which we receive from many great historians, especially the ancient, independent of any confidence in their veracity."--Hallam, _Constitutional History_, 8vo. vol. ii. p.502.

"His style is a little long-winded; but, on the other hand, his characters may match those of the ancient historians; and one thinks they would know the very men if you were to meet them in society. Few English writers have the same precision, either in describing the actors in great scenes, or the deeds which they performed; he was himself deeply engaged in the scenes which he depicts, and therefore colours them with the individual feeling, and sometimes, doubtless, with the partiality of a partisan. Yet, I think he is, on the whole, a fair writer; for though he always endeavours to excuse King Charles, yet he points out his mistakes and errors, which certainly were neither few nor of slight importance."--Scott, _Life by Lockhart_, vol. v. p. 146.

Other opinions as to the noble writer will be found in the _Life of Calamy_, and in Lord Dover's _Essay_; but I have perhaps trespassed too much on your space.

M.

* * * * *

MISCELLANIES.

_Books by the Yard_.--Many of your readers have heard of books bought and sold by weight,--in fact it is questionable whether the _number_ of books sold in that way is not greater than those sold "over the counter,"--but few have probably heard of books sold "by the yard." Having purchased at St. Petersburg, the library left by an old Russian nobleman of high rank, I was quite astonished to find a copy of _Oeuvres de Frederic II_. originally published in 15 vols., divided into 60, to each of which a new title had been printed; and several hundred volumes lettered outside _Oeuvres de Miss Burney, Oeuvres de Swift,_ &c., but containing, in fact, all sorts of French waste paper books. These, as well as three editions of _Oeuvres de Voltaire_, were all very neatly bound in calf, gilt and with red morrocco backs. My curiosity being roused, I inquired into the origin of these circumstances, and learnt that during the reign of Catherine, every courtier who had hopes of being honoured by a visit from the Empress, was expected to have a library, the greater or smaller extent of which was to be regulated by the fortune of its possessor, and that, after Voltaire had won the favour of the Autocrat by his servile flattery, one or two copies of his works were considered indispensable. Every courtier was thus forced to have rooms filled with books, by far the greater number of which he never read or even opened. A bookseller of the name of Klostermann, who, being of an athletic stature, was one of the innumerable favourites of the lady, "who loved all things save her lord," was usually employed, not to select a library, but to fill a certain given space of so many yards with books, at so much per volume, and Mr. Klostermann, the "Libraire de la Cour Imperiale," died worth a plum, having sold many thousand yards of books (among which I understood there were several hundred copies of Voltaire), at from 50 to 100 roubles a yard, "according to the binding."

A. ASHER. Berlin. Dec. 1849.

_Thistle of Scotland_.--R.L. will find the thistle first introduced on coins during the reign of James V., although the motto "Nemo me impune lacessit" was not adopted until two reigns later.--See Lindsay's _Coinage of Scotland_, Longman, 1845.

B.N.

_Miry-Land Town_. In the _Athenaeum_, in an article on the tradition respecting Sir Hugh of Lincoln, the Bishop of Dromore's version of the affair is thus given:--

"The rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune, Sae dois it doune the Pa'; Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune. Quhan they play at the Ba'."

In explanation of part of this stanza, Dr. Percy is stated to have considered "Mirry-land toune" to be "_probably_ a corruption of Milan (called by the Dutch Meylandt) town," and that the Pa' was "_evidently_ the River Po, though the Adige, not the Po, runs through Milan;" and it is observed that it could not have occasioned Dr. Jamieson _much trouble_ to conjecture as he did that "Mirry-land toune" was a corruption of "Merry Lincolne," and that, in fact, in 1783, Pinkerton commenced his version of the ballad thus--

"The bonnie boys o' merry Lincoln;"

and it is added, very truly, that with all his haste and petulance, Pinkerton's critical acumen was far from inconsiderable. Now, there appears to me to have been a very simple solution of the above words, so simple that perhaps it was beneath the critical acumen of the said commentators. My note on the subject is, that Mirry-land toune means nothing more than Miry-, Muddy-land Town, a designation that its situation certainly entitles it to; and Pa' is certainly not the Po, but an abbreviated form of Pall, i.e. a place to play Ba' or ball in, of which we have a well-known instance in Pall Mall.

Since writing the above, I recollect that Romsey, in Hampshire, has been designated "Romsey-in-the-Mud."

J.R.F.

_Richard Greene of Lichfield_.--H.T.E. is informed that there is a medal or token (not difficult to obtain) of this zealous antiquary. Obv. his bust, in the costume of the period; legend, "Richard Greene, collector of the Lichfield Museum, died June 4, 1793, aged 77." Rev. a Gothic _window_, apparently; legend, "West Porch of Lichfield Cathedral, 1800."

B.N.

_The Lobster in the Medal of the Pretender_.--The "Notes" by your correspondents, Mr. Edward Hawkins and Mr. J.B. Yates, relative to this medal, are very curious and interesting, and render it probable that the device of the Lobster has a religious rather than a political allusion. But it strikes us that the _double_ introduction of this remarkable emblem has a more important signification than the mere insidious and creeping characteristics of Jesuitism. The lines beneath the curious print in Brandt's _Stultifera Nuvis_ throw no light on the meaning of the Lobster. We think the difficulty yet remains unsolved.

B.N.

_Marescautia_.--Your correspondent "D.S." who asks (in No. 6.) for information upon the word "Marescautia," may consult Du Cange with advantage, _s. v._ "Marescallus;" the "u," which perhaps was your correspondent's difficulty, being often written for "l," upon phonotypic principles. It was anciently the practice to apportion the revenues of royal and great monastic establishments to some specific branch of the expenditure; and as the profits of certain manors, &c., are often described as belonging to the "Infirmaria," the "Camera Abbatis," &c., so, in the instance referred to by "D.S." the lands at Cumpton and Little Ongar were apportioned to the support of the royal stable and farriery.

J.B.

_Macaulay's "Young Levite_.--The following is an additional illustration of Mr. Macaulay's sketch, from Bishop Hall's _Byting Satyres_, 1599:--

"A gentle squire would gladly entertaine Into his house some _Trencher-chapelaine_; Some willing man, that might instruct his sons, And that would stand to good conditions. First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed, While his young master lieth o'er his head; Second, that he do, upon no default, Never to sit above the salt; Third, that he never change his trencher twise; Fourth, that he use all common courtesies, Sit bare at meales, and one half rise and wait; Last, that he never his young master beat, But he must aske his mother to define How manie jerks she would his breech should line; All these observ'd, he could contented be, To give five markes, and winter liverie."

R.

_Travelling in England._--I forward you a note on this subject, extracted, some years ago, from a very quaintly-written _History of England_, without title-page, but apparently written in the early part of the reign of George the First. It is among the remarkable events of the reign of James the First:--

"A.D. 1621, July the 17th, Bernart Calvert of Andover, rode from St. George's Church in Southwark to Dover, from thence passed by Barge to Callais in France, and from thence returned back to Saint George's Church the same day. This his journey he performed betwixt the hours of three in the morning and eight in the afternoon."

This appears to me such a surprising feat, that I think some of your correspondents may be interested in it; and also may be able to append farther information.

DAVID STEVENS.

_Warning to Watchmen._--The following _Warning_, addressed to the Watchmen of London on the occasion of a great fire, which destroyed nearly 100 houses in the neighbourhood of Exchange Alley, Birchin Lane, the back of George Yard, &c., among which were Garraway's, The Jerusalem Coffee House, George and Vulture, Tom's, &c. &c., is extracted from the _London Magazine_ for 1748, and is very characteristic of the then state of the police of the metropolis:--

"Mr. Touchit's _Warning to the Watchmen of London_. From the _Westminster Journal_, April 2nd, No. 331. (1748).

"Whereas it has been represented to me, _Thomas Touchit_, Watchman Extraordinary of the City of _Westminster_, that the Watchmen of _London_ were very remiss during the dreadful Fire on _Friday_ morning, _March_ 25, in not giving timely Notice of that Calamity over their several _Beats_, whereby the Friends of many of the unhappy Sufferers, who would have flown to their Assistance, were ignorant of their Distress till it was too late to do them Service; and also that most of the said Watchmen, on other Occasions, are very negligent, whence it happens that many Robberies, Burglaries, and other Offences, which their Care might prevent, are committed; and that even some of them are in Fee with common Harlots and Streetwalkers, whom they suffer at unseasonable Hours, unmolested to prey on the Virtue, Health and Property of His Majesty's Liege Subjects: Be it known to the said Watchmen, and their Masters, that, having taken the Premises into Consideration, I intend whenever I set out from _Spring Gardens_ with my _invisible Cap_, my _irradiating Lanthorn_, and my _Oken Staff_ of correction, to take the City of _London_, under Leave of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, into my Rounds, and to detect, expose, and punish all Defaulters in the several Stands and Beats: Whereof this fair Warning is given, that none may be surprized in Neglect of Duty, I being determined to shew no Favour to such Offenders."

Euston Square, 12th Dec. 1849.

_Aelfric's Colloquy_.--Permit me to correct a singular error into which the great Anglo-Saxon scholars, Messrs. Lye and B. Thorpe, have been betrayed by some careless transcriber of the curious _Monastic Colloquy_ by the celebrated Aelfric. This production of the middle ages is very distinctly written, both in the Saxon and Latin portions, in the Cotton MS. (Tiberius, A 3, fol. 58_b_.) Mr. Lye frequently cites it, in his _Saxon Dictionary_, as "_Coll. Mon._," and Mr. Thorpe gives it entire in his _Analecta Anglo-Saxonica_. The former loosely explains _higdifatu_, which occurs in the reply of the shoewright (_sceowyrhta_), thus--"Ca_l_idilia, sc. vasa _quoedam.--Coll. Mon._"--and Mr. Thorpe prints both _higdifatu_ and _ca_l_idilia_. _Higdifatu_ is manifestly vessels of hides, such as skin and leather bottles and buckets. The _ig_ is either a clerical error of the monkish scribe for _y_, or the _g_ is a silent letter producing the quantity of the vowel. "I buy hides and fells," says the workman, "and with my craft I make of them shoes of different kinds; leathern hose, flasks, and _higdifatu_." The Latin word in this MS. is _casidilia_, written with the long straight _s_. Du Cange explains _capsilis_ to be a vessel of leather, and quotes Matt. Westmon.: "Portans _cassidile_ toxicum mellitum."--_Gloss_. tom. ii. col. 387. The root _caps_, or _cas_, does not appear to have any Teutonic correspondent, and may merit a philological investigation.

R.T. Hampson.

_Humble Pie_.--the proverbial expression of "eating humble pie," explained by A.G., will be found also explained in the same manner in the Appendix to Forby's _Vocabulary_, where it is suggested that the correct orthography would be "umble pie," without the aspirate. Bailey, in his valuable old _Dictionary_, traces the word properly to _umbilicus_, the region of the intestines, and acknowledges in his time the perquisite of the game-keeper.

J.I.

Oxford.

_By Hook or by Crook_.--You have noted the origin of Humble Pie. May I add a note of a saying, in my opinion also derived from forest customs, viz. "By hook or by crook?" Persons entitled to fuel wood in the king's forest, were only authorised to take it of the dead wood or branches of trees in the forest, "with a cart, a hook, and a crook."

The answer to the query respecting the meaning of "per serjantiam Marescautiae," is the Serjeantry of Farriery, i.e. shoeing of the king's horses. In Maddox, vol. i. p. 43. you will find a very full account of the office of Marescallus.

J.R.F.

THE ORIGIN OF GROG.

"Written on board the Berwick, a few days before Admiral Parker's engagement with the Dutch fleet, on the 5th of August, 1781. By DR. TROTTER.

"'Tis sung on proud Olympus' hill The Muses bear record, Ere half the gods had drank their fill The sacred nectar sour'd.

"At Neptune's toast the bumper stood, Britannia crown'd the cup; A thousand Nereids from the flood Attend to serve it up.

"'This nauseous juice,' the monarch cries, 'Thou darling child of fame, Tho' it each earthly clime denies, Shall never bathe thy name.

"'Ye azure tribes that rule the sea, And rise at my command, Bid _Vernon_ mix a draught for me To toast his native land.'

"Swift o'er the waves the Nereids flew, Where _Vernon's_ flag appear'd; Around the shores they sung 'True Blue,' And Britain's hero cheer'd.

"A mighty bowl on deck he drew, And filled it to the brink; Such drank the Burford's[2] gallant crew, And such the gods shall drink.

"The sacred robe which Vernon wore Was drenched within the same; And hence his virtues guard our shore, And _Grog_ derives its name."

W.H.S.

[The gallant correspondent to whom we are indebted for the foregoing satisfactory, because early and documentary, evidence of the etymology of the now familiar term GROG, informs us that there is a still earlier ballad on the subject. We trust that he will be enabled to recover that also, and put it on record in our columns.]

_Barnacles_.--In a _Chorographical Description of West, or Il-Jar Connaught_, by Rhoderic O'Flaherty, Esq., 1684, published by the Irish Archaeological Society in 1846, the bernacle goose is thus mentioned:--

"There is the bird engendered by the sea out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call them _clakes_, and _soland geese_, and some puffins; others _bernacles_, because they resemble them. We call them _girrinn_."

Martin, in his _Western Isles of Scotland_, says:--

"There are also the _cleek geese_. The shells in which this fowl is said to be produced, are found in several isles sticking to trees by the bill; of this kind I have seen many,--the fowl was covered by a shell, and the head stuck to the tree by the bill,--but never saw any of them with life in them upon the tree; but the natives told me that they had observed them to move with the heat of the sun."--See also Gratianus, Lucius, Ware's _Antiquities_, &c.

Eating sea-birds on fast days is a very ancient custom. Socrates mentions it in the 5th century: "Some along with fish eat also birds, saying, that according to Moses, birds like fish were created out of the waters." Mention is made in Martin's _Western Isles_, of a similar reason for eating _seals_ in Lent. _Cormorants_, "as feeding only on fish," were allowable food on fast days, as also were _otters_.

CEREDWYN.

_Vondel's Lucifer_.--I cannot inform your correspondent F. (No. 9 p. 142.), whether Vondel's _Lucifer_ has ever been translated into English, but he will find reasons for its not being worth translating, in the _Foreign Quarterly Review_ for April, 1829, where the following passage occurs:--

"Compare with him Milton, for his _Lucifer_ gives the fairest means of comparison. How weak are his highest flights compared with those of the bard of Paradise! and how much does Vondel sink beneath him in his failures! Now and then the same thought may be found in both, but the points of resemblance are not in passages which do Milton's reputation the highest honour."

The scene of this strange drama is laid in Heaven, and the _dramatis personæ_ are as follows:--

Beelzebub } Belial } Disobedient Officers. Apollion } Gabriel (Interpreter of God's secrets). Troop of Angels. Lucifer. Luciferists (Rebellious Spirits). Michael (Commander-in-chief). Rafael (Guardian Angel). Uriel (Michael's Esquire). Act I. Scene 1. Beelzebub, Belial, Apollion, &c.

I give this from the original Dutch now before me. HERMES.

_Dutch Version of Dr. Faustus_.--Can any of your correspondents give me information as to the author of a Dutch _History of Dr. Faustus_, without either author's name or date, and illustrated by very rude engravings? There is no mention of where it was printed, but at the bottom of the title-page is the following notice:--

"Compared with the high Dutch copy, and corrected in many places, and ornamented with beautiful copper plates."[3]

There is also a promise of a Latin copy soon to follow.

HERMES.

[The first German chap-book upon _Faust_ appeared in 1587. A translation of it into Dutch was published as early as 1592, at Emmerich. It was again printed at Delft in 1607; and there have been several editions since that date. The curious history of this romance has been well investigated by H. Düntzer, _Die Sage von Doctor Johannes Faust_, in the 5th volume of _Das Kloster_; and even more fully by the Freiherr v. Reichlien Meldegg, in the 11th volume of the same work.]

_To Fettle_.--Your correspondent L.C.R. (p. 142) is referred to the late Mr. Roger Wilbraham's _Cheshire Glossary_, or (as he modestly termed it) _An Attempt_, &c. This work, privately printed in 1820, is the republication, but with _very considerable additions_, of a paper in the _Archaeologia_, vol. xix.

The explanation of the present word is an instance of this expansion.