Chapter 1

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NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 16.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page Daniel Defoe and his Ghost Stories 241 Pet Names, by Rev. B.H. Kennedy 242 Lacedæmonian Black Broth 243 A Hint to Intending Editors 243 Notes on Cunningham's London, by E.F. Rimbault 244 Folk Lore--Easter Eggs--Buns--Gloucestershire Custom--Curious Custom 244

QUERIES:-- White Hart Inn, Scole, by C.H. Cooper 245 On Passages in Pope 245 Belvoir Castle 246 Minor Queries:--Dr. Hugh Todd's MSS.--French Leave--Portugal--Tureen--Military Execution-- Change of Name--Symbolism of Fir Cone--Kentish Ballad--Monumental Brass--A Tickhill Man-- Bishop Blaize--Vox et præterea Nihil--Cromwell Relics--Lines on Woman's Will 246

REPLIES:-- Ælfric's Colloquy, by S.W. Singer and C.W.G. 248 Antony Alsop 249 Replies to Minor Queries:--Origin of Snob--Bishop Burnet--Circulation of the Blood--Genealogy of European Sovereigns--Sir Stephen Fox--French Maxim--Shipster--Spars--Cosmopolis--Complutensian Polyglot--Christmas Hymn--Sir J. Wyattville-- Peruse--Autograph Mottoes--Boduc--Annus Trabeationis 250

MISCELLANIES:-- Pursuits of Literature--Dr. Dobbs--Translation from V. Bourne--St. Evona's Choice--Muffins and Crumpets--Dulcarnon--Bishop Barnaby--Barnacles --Ancient Alms Dish, &c. 253

MISCELLANEOUS:-- Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 254 Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 255 Notices to Correspondents 255 Advertisements 256

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DANIEL DE FOE AND HIS GHOST STORIES.

I feel obliged by your intelligent correspondent "D.S." having ascertained that De Foe was the author of the _Tour through Great Britain_. Perhaps he may also be enabled to throw some light on a subject of much curiosity connected with De Foe, that appears to me well worth the inquiry.

Mrs. Bray, in her General Preface prefixed to the first volume of the reprint, in series, of her _Novels and Romances_, when giving an account of the circumstances on which she founded her very graphic and interesting romance of _Trelawny of Trelawne_, says--

"In Gilbert's _History of Cornwall_, I saw a brief but striking account, written by a Doctor Ruddell, a clergyman of Launceston, respecting a ghost which (in the year 1665) he has seen and laid to rest, that in the first instance had haunted a poor lad, the son of a Mr. Bligh, in his way to school, in a place called the 'Higher Broom Field.' This grave relation showed, I thought, the credulity of the times in which the author of it lived; and so I determined to have doctor, boy, and ghost in my story. But whereas, in the worthy divine's account of the transaction, the ghost appears to come on earth for no purpose whatever (unless it be to frighten the poor boy), I resolved to give the spirit something to do in such _post-mortem_ visitations, and that the object of them should be of import to the tale. Accordingly I made boy, doctor, and the woman (who is said after her death to have appeared to the lad) into characters, invented a story for them, and gave them adventures."

Mrs. Bray adds--

"Soon after the publication of _Trelawny_, my much esteemed friend, the Rev. F.V.T. Arundell[1], informed me, that, whilst engaged in his antiquarian researches in Cornwall, he found among some old and original papers the manuscript account, in Dr. Ruddell's own hand-writing, of his encounter with the ghost in question. This he lent Gilbert, who inserted it in his _History of Cornwall_; and there I first saw it, as stated above. A few months ago, I purchased some of the reprinted volumes of the _Works of Daniel De Foe_. Among these was the _Life of Mr. Duncan Campbell_, a fortune-teller. To my great surprise, I found inserted in the Appendix (after verses to Mr. Duncan Campbell), without either name of the author, reference, or introduction, under the heading, 'A remarkable Passage of an Apparition, 1665,' no other than Dr. Ruddell's account of meeting the ghost which had haunted the boy, so much the same as that I had read in Gilbert, that it scarcely seemed to differ from it in a word. The name of Mr. Bligh, the father of the boy, was, however, omitted; and Dr. Ruddell could only be known as the author of the account by the lad's father calling the narrator Mr. Ruddell, in their discourse about the youth. The account is so strangely inserted in the Appendix to the volume, without comment or reference, that, had I not previously known the circumstances above names by Mr. Arundell, I should have fancied it a fiction of De Foe himself, like the story {242} of the ghost of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to _Drelincourt on Death_.

"Aware that Mr. Arundell had no idea that Ruddell's ghost story was to be found in any work previous to Gilbert's, I lost no time in communicating to that gentleman what I could not but deem a very curious discovery. He assured me there could be no mistake as to the genuineness of the ghost document he had found, as he had compared the manuscript with Ruddell's hand-writing in other papers, and saw it was one and the same. Soon after, Mr. Arundell favoured me with some further information on the subject, which I here give, as it adds still more to the interest of the story:--'Looking into Gilbert's _History of Cornwall_, in the parish of South Petherwin, there is said to be in the old mansion of Botathan five portraits of the Bligh family; one of them is the likeness of the boy, whose intimacy with the ghost of Dorothy Durant has been spoken of in his first volume, where she is erroneously called Dingley. If this be a fact, it is very interesting; for it is strange that both Mr. Ruddell, the narrator (whose manuscript I lent to Gilbert), and De Foe, should have called her Dingley. I have no doubt it was a fictitious name, for I never heard of it Launceston or the neighbourhood; whereas Durant is the name of an ancient Cornish family: and I remember a tall, respectable man of that name in Launceston, who died at a very advanced age; very probably a connexion of the Ghost Lady. He must have been born about 1730. Durant was probably too respectable a name to be published, and hence the fictitious one.' Mr. Arundell likewise says, 'In Launceston Church is a monument to Charles Bligh and Judith his wife, who died, one in 1716, and the other in 1717. He is said to have been sixty years old, and was probably the brother of Samuel, the hero of Dorothy Dingley. Sarah, the wife of the Rev. John Ruddell, died in 1667. Mr. Ruddell was Vicar of Aternon in 1684. He was the minister of Launceston in 1665, when he saw the ghost who haunted the boy.'"

Such is Mrs. Bray's account of these very curious circumstances. The ghost story inserted in Gilbert, as mentioned above, is altogether so much in the style of De Foe, that a doubt remains whether, after all, he may not have been the author of it. Can "D.S.," or any of your readers, throw further light on the subject?

D.S.Y.

[Footnote 1: Of Landulph, Cornwall, the author of _Discoveries in Asia Minor_, and the well-known _Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia_. Mr. Arundell is now dead.]

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PET-NAMES.

"Mary" is informed that "Polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or pet-names, in which our language abounds. Most are mere abbreviations, as Will, Nat, Pat, Bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning, sometimes from the end of the name. The ending _y_ or _ie_ is often added, as a more endearing form: as Annie, Willy, Amy, Charlie, &c. Many have letter-changes, most of which imitate the pronunciation of infants. _L_ is lisped for _r_. A central consonant is doubled. _O_ between _m_ and _l_ is more easily sounded than _a_. An infant forms _p_ with its lips sooner than _m_; papa before mamma. The order of change is: Mary, Maly, Mally, Molly, Polly. Let me illustrate this; _l_ for _r_ appears in Sally, Dolly, Hal _P_ for _m_ in Patty, Peggy; vowel-change in Harry, Jim, Meg, Kitty, &c; and in several of these the double consonant. To pursue the subject: re-duplication is used; as in Nannie, Nell, Dandie; and (by substitution) in Bob. Ded would be of ill omen; therefore we have, for Edward, Ned or Ted, _n_ and _t_ being coheir to _d_; for Rick, Dick, perhaps on account of the final _d_ in Richard. Letters are dropped for softness: as Fanny for Franny, Bab for Barb, Wat for Walt. Maud is Norman for Mald, from Mathild, as Bauduin for Baldwin. Argidius becomes Giles, our nursery friend Gill, who accompanied Jack in his disastrous expedition "up the hill." Elizabeth gives birth to Elspeth, Eliza (Eloisa?), Lisa, Lizzie, Bet, Betty, Betsy, Bessie, Bess; Alexander (_x_=_cs_) to Allick and Sandie. What are we to say of Jack for John? It seems to be from Jacques, which is the French for our James? How came the confusion? I do not remember to have met with the name James in early English history; and it seems to have reached us from Scotland. Perhaps, as Jean and Jaques were among the commonest French names, John came into use as a baptismal name, and Jaques or Jack entered by its side as a familiar term. But this is a mere guess; and I solicit further information. John answers to the German Johann or Jehann, the Sclavonic Ivan, the Italian Giovanni (all these languages using a strengthening consonant to begin the second syllable): the French Jean, the Spanish Juan, James to the German Jacob, the Italian Giacomo, the French Jacques, the Spanish Jago. It is observable that of these, James and Giacomo alone have the _m_. Is James derived from Giacomo? How came the name into Scotland?

Of German pet-names some are formed by abbreviation; some also add _s_, as Fritz for Frieds from Friedrich, Hanns for Hann from Johann. (To this answers our _s_ or _c_ in the forms Betsy, Nancy, Elsie, &c.) Some take _chen_ (our _kin_, as _mannikin_) as Franschen, Hannchen. Thus Catskin in the nursery ballad which appears in Mr. Halliwell's Collection, is a corruption of Kätchen Kitty. Most of our softened words are due to the smooth-tongued Normans. The harsh Saxon Schrobbesbyrigschire, or Shropshire, was by them softened into le Comté de Salop, and both names are still used.

BENJ. H. KENNEDY.

Shrewsbury, Feb. 2. 1850.

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LACEDÆMONIAN BLACK BROTH.

If your readers are not already as much disgusted with Spartan Black Broth as Dionysius was {243} with the first mouthful, I beg leave to submit a few supplementary words to the copious indications of your correspondents "R.O." and "W."

Selden says:--

"It was an excellent question of Lady Cotton, when Sir Robert Cotton was magnifying of a shoe, which was Moses's or Noah's, and wondering at the strange shape and fashion of it: 'But, Mr. Cotton,' says she, '_are you sure it is a shoe?_'"

Now, from the following passage in Manso's _Sparta_, it would seem that a similar question might be put on the present occasion: _Are you sure that it was broth?_ Speaking of the _pheiditia_, Manso says:--

"Each person at table had as much barley-bread as he could eat; swine's-flesh, or some other meat, to eat with it, with which the famous black-sauce[2] (whose composition, without any loss to culinary art, is evidently a mystery for us) was given round, and to close the meal, olives, figs, and cheese."

In a note he continues:--

"Some imagined that the receipt of its composition was to be found in Plutarch (_De Tuendâ Sanitate_, t. vi. p. 487.), but apparently it was only imagination. That [Greek: zomos] signified not broth, as it has been usually translated, but _sauce_, is apparent from the connection in which Athenæus used the word. To judge from Hesychius, it appears to have borne the name [Greek: bapha] among the Spartans. How little it pleased the Sicilian Dionysius is well known from Plutarch (_Inst. Lacon._ t. v. 880.) and from others."

Sir Walter Trevelyan's question is soon answered, for I presume the celebrity of Spartan Black Broth is chiefly owing to the anecdote of Dionysius related by Plutarch, in his very popular and amusing _Laconic Apophthegms_, which Stobæus and Cicero evidently followed; this, and what is to be gathered from Athenæus and Julius Pollux, with a few words in Hesychius and the _Etymologicon Magnum_, is the whole amount of our information. Writers since the revival of letters have mostly copied each other, from Coelius Rhodiginus down to Gesner, who derives his conjecture from Turnebus, whose notion is derived from Julius Pollux,--and so we move in a circle. We sadly want a Greek Apicius, and then we might resolve the knotty question. I fear we must give up the notion of cuttle-fish stewed in their own ink, though some former travellers have not spoken so favourable of this Greek dish. Apicius, _De Arte Coquinariâ_, among his fish-sauces has three Alexandrian receipts, one of which will give some notion of the incongruous materials admissible in the Greek kitchen of later times:--

"JUS ALEXANDRINUM IN PISCE ASSO.

"Piper, cepam siccam, ligusticum, cuminum, orignum, apii semen, pruna damascena enucleata; passum, liquamen, defrutum, oleum, et coques."

This question Vexata it seems had not escaped the notice of German antiquaries. In Boettiger's _Kleine Shriften_, vol. iii., Sillig has printed for the first time a Dissertation, in answer to a question which might have graced your pages: "Wherewith did the Ancients spoon" [their food]? Which opens thus:--

"Though about the composition and preparation of Spartan Black Sauce we may have only so many doubts, yet still it remains certain that it was a _jus_--boiled flesh prepared with pig's blood, salt, and vinegar, a _brodo_; and, when it was to a certain degree thickened by boiling, though not like a _Polenta_ or other dough-like mass (_maza offa_), eaten with the fingers. Here, then, arises a gastronomic question, of importance in archæology; what table furniture or implements did the Spartans make use of to carry this sauce to their months? A spoon, or some substitute for a spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this Schwarzsauer."

It is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the Spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell, may have served the purpose. Those who are desirous of knowing more about the Table-Supellectile of the ancients, may consult Casaubon's _Notes on Athenæus_, iv. 13. p. 241.; "Barufaldo de Armis Convivialibus," in Sallengre's _Thesaurus_, iii. 741.: or Boettiger's _Dissertation_ above referred to. How little ground the passage in Plutarch, _De Sanitate Tuendâ_, afforded for the composition will appear from the passage, which I subjoin, having found some difficulty in referring to it:

[Greek: Oi Lakones uxos kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa keleuouso en to iereio setein.]

This only expresses the simplicity of Spartan cookery in general.

To revert to the original question propounded, however, I think we must come to the conclusion that _coffee_ formed no part of the [Greek: melas zomos.]

S.W.S.

[Footnote 2: Manso's word is _Tunke._]

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A HINT TO INTENDING EDITORS.

Allow me to suggest, as an addition to the sphere of usefulness of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," that persons preparing new editions of old writers should give an early intimation of the work on which they are engaged to the public, through your paper. Very many miscellaneous readers are in the habit of making notes in the margins of their books, without any intention of using them themselves for publication, and would be glad to give the benefit of them to any body to whom they would be welcome; but as matters are now arranged, one has no opportunity of hearing of an intended new edition until it is advertised as being in the press, when it is probably too late to send notes or suggestions; and one is also deterred from communicating with the editor from doubts {244} whether he will not think it an intrusion: doubts which any editor who _did_ wish for communications might dispel by making such an announcement as I have suggested.

R.R.

Lincoln's Inn.

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NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HAND-BOOK OF LONDON.

_St. Giles's Pound_.--The exact site of this Pound, which occupied a space of thirty feet, was the broad space where St. Giles's High Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Oxford Street meet. The vicinity of this spot was proverbial for its profligacy; thus in an old song:--

"At Newgate steps Jack Chance was found, And bred up near _St. Giles's Pound_."

_Dudley Court, St. Giles's_.--This spot was once the residence of Alice Duchess of Dudley, in the reign of Charles the Second; and afterwards of the celebrated Lord Wharton. The mansion and gardens were of considerable extent.

_St. Giles's Hospital_.--The celebrated Dr. Andrew Boorde rented for many years the Master's house. He is mentioned as its occupant in the deed of transfer between Lord Lisle to Sir Wymonde Carewe, dated in the last year of Henry the Eighth's reign.

_Gray's Inn Lane_.--Anciently called _Portpoole_. See the commission granted to the Master of the Hospital of St. Giles's, &c. to levy tolls upon all cattle, merchandize, &c., dated 1346, in Rymer's _Foedera_.

_Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn_.--Lord Herbert of Cherbury was one of the first inhabitants of this street, residing at the south side, near the east corner of Wild (or more properly _Weld_) Street, where he died in 1648. The house is still standing, and is one of fifteen built in the third year of James the First. _Powlet_ and _Conway_ houses, also still standing, are among the said number. The celebrated Dr. Mead (D. 1754) resided in this street.

_Turnstile Lane, Holborn_.--Richard Pendrell, the preserver of Charles the Second, resided here in 1668. It is supposed that Pendrell, after the Restoration, followed the king to town, and settled in the parish of St. Giles, as being near the court. Certain it is that one of Pendrell's name occurs in 1702 as overseer, which leads to the conclusion that Richard's descendants continued in the same locality for many years. A great-granddaughter of this Richard was living in 1818 in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. Richard Pendrell died in 1674, and had a monument erected to his memory on the south-east side of the old church of St. Giles. The raising of the churchyard, subsequently, had so far buried the monument as to render it necessary to form a new one to preserve the memory of this celebrated man. The black marble slab of the old tomb at present forms the base of the new one.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Mrs. Cornelly's_ is stated, in vol. ii. p. 753., _to be_ "the corner of Sutton Street," Soho Square, "_now D'Almaines's_." Mrs. Cornelly's _was_ at the corner of Sutton Street, but has long been pulled down: the Catholic chapel _in_ Sutton Street was Mrs. Cornelly's concert, ball, and masquerade-room; and the arched entrance below the chapel, and now a wheelwright's, was the entrance for "chairs." D'Almaine's is two doors north of Sutton Street, and was built by Earl (?) Tilney, the builder of Wanstead House? The House in Soho Square has a very fine banqueting-room, the ceiling said to have been painted by Angelica Kauffmann. Tilney was fond of giving magnificent dinners, and here was always to be found "the flesh of beeves, with Turkie and other small Larks!"

_Cock Lane_.--The house in Cock Lane famous for its "Ghost" _is still_ standing, and the back room, where "scratching Fanny" lay surrounded by princes and peers, is converted into a gas meter manufactory.

NASO.

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FOLK LORE.

_Easter Eggs_.--The custom of presenting eggs at Easter is too well known to need description; but perhaps few are aware that, like many other customs of the early Church, it had its origin in paganism.

Sir R.K. Porter (_Travels_, vol. i. p. 316.) mentions that at a period of the year corresponding to Easter, "the Feast of nooroose, or of the waters," is held, and seems to have had its origin prior to Mahometanism. It lasts for _six_ days, and is supposed to be kept in commemoration of the Creation and the Deluge--events constantly synchronised and confounded in pagan cosmogonies. At this feast eggs are presented to friends, in obvious allusion to the Mundane egg, for which Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things.

When the many identities which existed between Druidism and Magianism are considered, we can hardly doubt that this Persian commemoration of the Creation originated our Easter-eggs.

G.J.

_Buns_.--It has been suggested by Bryant, though, I believe, not noticed by any writer on popular customs, that the Good Friday cakes, called _Buns_, may have originated in the cakes used in idolatrous worship, and impressed with the figure of an ox, whence they were called [Greek: boun]. The cow or bull was likewise, as Coleridge (_Lit. Rem_. vol. ii. p. 252.) has justly remarked, the {245} symbol of the _Cosmos_, the prolific or generative powers of nature.

G.J.

_Gloucestershire Custom_.--It is a custom in Gloucestershire, and may be so in other counties, to place loose _straw_ before the door of any man who beats his wife. Is this a general custom?--and if so, what is its origin and meaning?

B.

_Curious Custom_.--The custom spoken of by "PWCCA" (No. 11 p. 173.) was also commonly practised in one or two places in Lancashire some ten or twelve years back, but is now, I believe, obsolete. The horse was played in a similar way, but the performer was then called "Old Balls." It is no doubt a vestige of the old "hobby-horse,"--as the Norwich "Snap," who kept his place in the procession of the mayor of that good city till the days of municipal reform, was the last representative of his companion the dragon.

J.T.

[Nathan also informs us "that it is very common in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where a ram's head often takes the place of the horse's skull. Has it not an obvious connection with the 'hobby-horse' of the middle ages, and such mock pageants as the one described in Scott's _Abbot_, vol. i. chap. 14.; the whole being a remnant of the Saturnalia of the ancients?"]

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QUERIES.

WHITE HART INN, SCOLE.