Chapter 2

In _Songs and other Poems_, by Alex. Brome, Gent. Lond. 12mo. 1661, there is (at p. 123.) a ballad upon a sign-post set up by one Mr. Pecke, at Skoale in Norfolk. It appears from this ballad, that the sign in question had figures of Bacchus, Diana, Justice, and Prudence, "a fellow that's small, with a quadrant discerning the wind," Temperance, Fortitude, Time, Charon and Cerberus. This sign is noticed in the _Journal_ of Mr. E. Browne (Sir Thomas Browne's Works, ed. Wilkin, i. 53.). Under date of 4th March, 1663-64, he says:--"About three mile further I came to Scoale, where is very handsome inne, and the noblest sighne post in England, about and upon which are carved a great many stories, as of Charon and Cerberus, of Actæon and Diana, and many other; the sighne it self is the white harte, which hangs downe carved in a stately wreath." Blomefield, in his _History of Norfolk_ (8vo. edit. i. 130.), speaking of Osmundestone or Scole, has the following passage:--

"Here are two very good inns for the entertainment of travellers; the _White Hart_ is much noted in these parts, being called, by way of distinction, _Scole Inn_; the house is a large brick building, adorned with imagery and carved work in several places, as big as the life. It was built in 1655, by _John Peck_, Esq., whose arms impaling his wife's, are over the porch door. The sign is very large, beautified all over with a great number of images of large stature carved in wood, and was the work of one _Fairchild_; the arms about it are those of the chief towns and gentlemen in the county, viz. _Norwich, Yarmouth, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Yarmouth, Bacon of Garboldisham, Hobart, Conwaleis_, impaling _Bukton, Teye, Thurston, Castleton_, and many others; _Peck's_ arms are _arg_. on a chevron ingrailed, _gul_. three croslets pattee of the field; his wife's are _arg_., a fess between two crescents in chief, a lion rampant in base _gul_., which coat I think is borne by the name of _Jetheston_. Here was lately a very round large bed, big enough to hold fifteen or twenty couple, in imitation (I suppose) of the remarkable great bed at _Ware_. The house was in all things accommodated, at first, for large business; but the road not supporting it, it is in much decay at present; though there is a good bowling-green and a pretty large garden, with land sufficient for passengers' horses. The business of these two inns is much supported by the annual cock-matches that are here fought."

In Cruttwell's _Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain_ (Lond. 12mo. 1801), vol. v. 208., is the following:--

"Osmondeston, or Schole. The inn here was once remarkable for a pompous sign, with ridiculous ornaments, and is said to have cost a thousand pounds; long since decayed."

I shall be glad to be referred to any other notices of this sign, and am desirous of knowing if any drawing or engraving of it be extant.

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, 21st Jan. 1850.

* * * * *

PASSAGES FROM POPE.

In addition to the query of "P.C.S.S." (No. 13. p. 201.), in which I take great interest, I would beg leave to ask what evidence there is that Quarles had a _pension?_ He had, indeed, a small _place_ in the household of James the First's queen, Anne; and if he had a _pension_ on her death, it would have been from James, not from Charles.

I would also, in reference to Pope, beg leave to propound another query.

In the "Imitation of the 2nd Sat. Book I. of Horace," only to be found in modern editions, but attributed, I fear, too justly to Pope, there is an allusion to "poor E----s," who suffered by "_the fatal steel_," for an intrigue with a royal mistress. E----s is no doubt _John Ellis_, and the royal mistress the _Duchess of Cleveland_. (See Lord Dover's Introduction to the "Ellis Correspondence," and "Anecdotes of the Ellis Family," _Gent. Mag_. 1769. p. 328.) But I cannot discover any trace of the circumstances alluded to by Pope. Yet Ellis was a considerable man in his day;--he had been Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in the reign of Charles II., and was Under-Secretary of State under William III.; he is said to have afterwards sunk into the humbler character {246} of a "London magistrate," and to have "died in 1788, at 93 or 95, immensely rich." I should be glad of any clue to Pope's allusion.

J.W.C.

Feb 12. 1850.

* * * * * "Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather and prunello."

_Essay on Man_, Epistle IV. 203.

Will your correspondent "P.C.S.S." (No. 13), evidently a critical reader of Pope, and probably rich in the possession of various editions of his works, kindly inform me whether any commentator on the poet has traced the well-known lines that I have quoted to the "Corcillum est, quod homines facit, cætera quisquilia omnia" of Petronius Arbiter, cap. 75.? Pope had certainly both read and admired the _Satyricon_, for he says:--

"Fancy and art in gay Petronius please, The scholar's learning with the courtier's ease."

_Essay on Criticism_, sect. 3

I find no note on the lines either in the edition of Warton, 9 vols. 8vo., London, 1797, or in Cary's royal 8vo., London, 1839; but the similarity strikes me as curious, and deserving further examination.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

* * * * *

BELVOIR CASTLE.

In Nichol's _History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester_, vol. ii., part i., containing the Framland Hundred, p. 45 of the folio ed. 1795, occurs the following quotation, in reference to the rebuilding of Belvoir castle by Henry, second Earl of Rutland, in 1555:--

"That part of the more ancient building, which was left by both unaltered, is included in the following concise description by an ingenious writer, who visited it in 1722:--

'Ædes in culmine montis sitæ, scilicet, [Greek: aipeia kolonen En pedio apaneuthe, peridromos entha kai entha]'

aditu difficilis circa montem; cujus latera omnia horti 50 acrarum circumeunt, nisi versus Aquilonem, quò ascenditur ad ostium ædium ubi etiam antiqua jauna arcuato lapide. Versus Occidentem 8 fenestræ et 3 in sacello; et ulterior pars vetusta. Versus Aquilonem 10 fenestræ. Facies Australis et Turris de _Staunton_, in qui archiva familiæ reponuntur, extructa ante annos circa 400. Pars restat kernellata," &c. &c. &c.

The description goes on for a few more lines; but it matters not to continue them. I should be much obliged by any of your readers giving an account of who this "ingenious writer" was, and on what authority he founded the foregoing observations, as it is a subject of much interest to me and others at the present time.

ALYTHES.

Jan. 28. 1850.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_MSS. formerly belonging to Dr. Hugh Todd_.--I shall feel most grateful to any of your correspondents who can afford me any information, however imperfect, respecting the MSS. of Dr. Hugh Todd, Vicar of Penrith, and Prebendary of Carlisle, in the beginning of the last century. In the _Cat. MSS. Angliæ_, &c., 1697, is a catalogue of nineteen MSS, then in his possession, five of which are especially the subject of the present inquiry. One is a Chartulary of the Abbey of Fountains, in 4to; another is an Act Book of the Consistory Court of York, in the fifteenth century, in folio; the third is the Chapter Book of the Collegiate Church of Ripon, from 1452 to 1506; the fourth contains Extracts and Manuscripts from Records relating to the Church of Ripon; and the last is apparently a Book of the Acts of the Benefactors to that foundation. In a letter to Humphrey Lawley, dated in 1713, Dr. Todd says he was engaged in a work relating to the province of York, and the greater part of the MSS. in the catalogue above mentioned appear to have been collected as the materials.

JOHN RICHARD WALBRAN.

Falcroft, Ripon, Jan 31. 1850.

_French Leave_--In No. 5. I perceive several answers to the query respecting _Flemish Account_, which I presume to be the same as _Dutch Account_. Can you inform me how the very common expression _French Leave_ originated?

W.G.B.

_Portugal_.--Can any of your geographical readers inform me if a Gazetteer of Portugal has been published within these twenty years? If there has been one, in what language, and where published? Information of the title of any good modern works on Portugal, giving an account of the minor places, would be acceptable.

NORTHMAN.

_Tureen_--How and whence is the term "tureen" derived?--and when was it introduced?

"At the top there was tripe in a swinging tureen."

Goldsmith's _Haunch of Venison_.

G.W.

_Military Execution_.--I am very anxious to be referred to the authority for the following anecdote, and remark made on it:--

"Some officer, or state prisoner, on being led out to be shot, refused either to listen to a confessor, or to cover his eyes with a handkerchief."

The remark was, that "he refused a bandage for either mind or body." It smacks somewhat of Voltaire.

MELANION.

_Change of Name_.--If, as it appears by a recent decision, based, perhaps, on a former one by Lord Tenterden, that a man may alter his name {247} as he pleases _without the royal license_, I wish to know what then, is the use of the royal license?

B.

_The Symbolism of the Fir-Cone_. What does the "fir-cone" in the Ninevite sculptures mean? Layard does not explain it. Is it there as the emblem of fecundity, as the pomegranate of Persia and Syria? Has it altogether the same character as the latter fruit? Then--was it carried into Hindostan _viâ_ Cashmir? When? By the first wave of population which broke through the passes of the Parapamisus?

B.C.

_Kentish Ballad_.--When I was a boy, I can remember hearing a song sung in Kent, in praise of that country, which I never could find in print, and of which I am now glad to recollect the following stanza:--

"When Harold was invaded, And falling lost his crown, And Norman William waded Through gore to pull him down; When countries round With fear profound, To help their sad condition, And lands to save, Base homage gave, Bold Kent made no submission."

Can any reader furnish the remainder, and state who is the author?

F.B.

_Curious Monumental Brass_.--I have a rubbing of a Brass, presenting some peculiarities which have hitherto puzzled me, but which probably some of your more experienced correspondents can clear up.

The Brass, from which the rubbing is taken (and which was formerly in the Abbey church of St. Albans, but when I saw it was detached and lying at the Rectory), is broken off a little below the waist; it represents an abbot, or bishop, clad in an ornamented chasuble, tunic, stole, and alb, with a maniple and pastoral staff. So far all is plain; but at the back (i.e. on the surface hidden when the Brass lay upon the floor) is engraved a dog with a collar and bells, apparently as carefully executed as any other part. Can you tell me the meaning of this? I can find no mention of the subject either in Boutell or any other authority. The fragment is about 18 inches long, and the dog about 6, more or less.

RAHERE.

Jan. 26, 1850.

_Tickhill, God help me_.--Can any one tell why A Tickhill man, when asked where he comes from, says, "Tickhill, God help me." Is it because the people at Tickhill are famed for misery, as the neighbouring town of Blythe seems to have been so called from its jolly citizens?

R.F. JOHNSON.

_Bishop Blaize_.--I should be much obliged by any reference to information respecting Bishop Blaize, the Santo Biagio of Agrigentum, and patron saint of Ragusa. Butler says little but that he was bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, the proximity of which place to Colchis appears to me suspicious. Wonderful and horrible tales are told of him; but I suspect his patronage of wool-combers is founded on much more ancient legends. His establishment at Agrigentum must have been previous to Christianity. I have a vague remembrance of some mention of him in Higgins's _Anacalypsis_, but I have not now access to that work. I wish some learned person would do for other countries what Blunt has partly done for Italy and Sicily; that is, show the connection between heathen and Christian customs, &c.

F.C.B.

_Vox et præterea nihil._--Whence come these oft-quoted words? Burton, in _The Anatomy of Melancholy_ (not having the book by me, I am unable to give a reference), quotes them as addressed by some one to the nightingale. Wordsworth addresses the cuckoo similarly, vol. ii. p. 81.:--

"O, cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering voice?"

C.W.G.

_Cromwell Relics_.--In Noble's _Memorials of the Protectorate House of Cromwell_ it is stated, in the Proofs and Illustrations, Letter N, that in 1784, there were dispersed in St. Ives a great number of swords, bearing the initials of the Protector upon them; and, further, that a large barn, which Oliver built there, was still standing, and went by the name of Cromwell's Barn; and that the farmer then renting the farm occupied by the Protector circa 1630-36, marked his sheep with the identical marking-irons which Oliver used, and which had O.C. upon them.

Can any of your correspondents inform me if any of these relics are still in existence, and, if so, where?

A.D.M.

_Lines on "Woman's Will_."--Many of your readers will have heard quoted the following stanza, or something like it:--

"The man's a fool who strives by force or skill To stem the torrent of a woman's will; For if she will, she will you may depend on't, And if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't."

I have heard these lines confidently attributed to Shakspeare, Byron, &c. by persons unable to verify the quotation, when challenged so to do. I can point out where the first two lines may be found with some variation. In _The Adventures of Five Hours_, a comedy translated from the Spanish of Calderon, by Samuel Tuke, and {248} printed in the 12th volume of Dodsley's _Old Plays_ (edit. 1827), in the 5th act (p. 113.), the lines run thus:--

"He is a fool, who thinks by force or skill To turn the current of a woman's will."

I should be glad if any one could inform me by whom the latter lines were added, and where they may be found in print.

C.W.G.

_Pity is akin to Love_.--Where are the following words to be met with?--

"For Pity is akin to Love."

I have found very similar expressions, but never the exact words as above.

H.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

AELFRIC'S COLLOQUY, AND THE A.-S. WORD ÆGYPE IN THE A.-S. PSALTER.

In reference to MR. THORPE'S note (No. 15. p. 232.), I beg leave, with all possible respect and deference, to suggest that his joke is not quite _ad rem_.--What would do for a _beefsteak_ does not help his _mistake_; for it is quite evident that _sprote_ applies to fish-_swimming_ and not to fish-_catching_; and I presume that "useful and sagacious" auxiliary, Dr. Kitchener himself, would hardly have ventured to deny that _fish_ may _swim quickly_?

Now let us try how MR. THORPE'S proposed _salice=wicker_, or _sallow_, with or without the _basket_, will suit the context. The fisherman is asked, "Quales pisces capias? = What fish do you take?" The answer is Anguillos &c. &c. et qualescunque in amne natant salu = Eels &c. &c., and every sort whatever that in water swimmeth [wicker/sallow] basket! Let it be remembered that the question here is not, "_How_ dost thou take fish?" which had been put and _answered before_, but "_What_ fish dost thou take?" and then let common sense decide; for the fisherman having already mentioned that he cast _nets_ and _hooks_, and [_spyrian_/spartas], i.e. _baskets_, now only replies as to the _fish_ he takes.

MR. THORPE calls the A.-S. dialogue a _Gloss_; is it not rather an _interlineary version_? like those in use, in later times, of Corderius, and used for the same purpose.

I have no doubt that upon more mature consideration MR. THORPE will see that it could not be a substantive that was intended; and, as he admits my conjecture to be _specious_, that he will, in the course of his very useful labours, ultimately find it not only specious but correct. Meanwhile, I submit to his consideration, that beside the analogy of the Gothic _sprauto_, we have in Icelandic _spretta_, imperf. _spratt_, "subito movere, repente salire, emicare;" and _sprettr_, "cursus citatus," and I do think these analogies warrant my conclusion.

I embrace this opportunity of submitting another _conjecture_ respecting a word in MR. THORPE'S edition of the _Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Psalms_. It occurs in Ps. cvi. ver. 10., "Quid exacerbaverunt eloquium Domini," &c., which is rendered: "Forthon hidydan Drihtnes spræce ægwaes _ægype_." In a note MR. THORPE says: "_ægype_, non intelligo," and gives a reason for deeming the passage corrupt. To me it seems to express the generally accepted sense of _exacerbaverunt_: and here a cognate language will show us the way. Icelandic _geip_, futilis exaggeratio; _atgeipa_, exaggerare, effutire: _ægype_, then, means to _mock_, to _deride_, and is allied to _gabban_, to gibe, to jape. In the Psalter published by Spelman it is rendered: hi _gremedon_ spræce godes. In Notker it is _widersprachen_, and in the two old Teutonic interlinear version of the Psalms, published by Graff, _verbitterten_ and _gebittert_. Let us hear our own interesting old satirist, Piers Plouhman [Whitaker's ed. p. 365.]:

And God wol nat be gyled, quoth Gobelyn, ne be _japed_.

But I cease, lest your readers should exclaim, Res non verba. When I have more leisure for _word-catching_, should you have space, I may furnish a few more.

S.W. SINGER.

Feb. 11. 1850.

_Ælfric's Colloquy_.--I have my doubts whether MR. SINGER'S ingenious suggestions for explaining the mysterious word _sprote_ can be sustained. The Latin sentence appears clearly to end with the word _natant_, as is not only the case in the St. John's MS., mentioned in MR. THORPE'S note, but in fact, also in the Cottonian MS. There is a point after _natant_, and then follows the word _Saliu_ (not _salu_) with a capital _S_. Any person who examines the handwriting of this MS. will see that the word, whatever the transcriber may have understood by it, was intended by him to stand alone. He must, however, have written it without knowing what it meant; and then comes the difficulty of explaining how it got into the MS. from which he copied. It has always appeared to me probable that the name of some fish, having been first interlined, was afterwards inserted at random in the text, and mis-spelt by a transcriber who did not know its meaning. A word of common occurrence he would have been less likely to mistake. Can _saliu_ be a mistake for _salar_, and _sprote_ the Anglo-Saxon form of the corresponding modern word _sprod_, i.e. the salmon of the second year? The _salar_ is mentioned by Ausonius in describing the river Moselle and its products (_Idyll_. 10, l. 128.). {249}

"Teque inter species geminas neutrumque et utrumque, Qui necdum salmo, nec jam salar, ambiguusque Amborum medio fario intercepte sub ævo."

I throw out this conjecture to take its chance of refutation or acceptance. Valeat quantum!

C.W.G.

* * * * *

ANTONY ALSOP.

"R.H." (No. 14, p. 215.) will find all, I believe, that is known respecting Antony Alsop, in that rich storehouse of materials for the literary history of the last century, Nichols's _Anecdotes_, or in Chalmers (_Biog. Dict._), who has merely transcribed from it. The volume of _Latin Odes_ your correspondent mentions, was published by Sir Francis Bernard, and printed by Bowyer. Some notice of Sir Francis Bernard will also be found in Nichols.

The _Odes_ were long circulated in MS.; and I have a copy that once belonged to Thomas Warton, which seems to have been written by G. Crochly, of Christchurch College, in 1736. It contains, however, nothing that is not to be found in the printed volume. The Dedication to the Duke of Newcastle was written by Bernard, who had intended to have given a preface and copious notes, as appears by the prospectus he published: but, to our great regret, he was dissuaded from his purpose.

Alsop was a favourite with that worthy man and elegant scholar Dean Aldrich, at whose instance he published his pleasing little volume, _Fabularum Æsopicarum Delectus_, Oxon. 1698. In the preface Bentley is thus designated--"Richardum quendam Bentleium Virum in volvendis Lexicus satis diligentem:" and there is a severe attack upon him in one of the fables, which was not forgotten by the great scholar, who affects to speak of Tony Alsop the fabulist with great contempt.

I have never seen the volume of _Latin and English Poems_ published in 1738; but, notwithstanding the designation, "a gentleman of Trinity College," it may be at least partly by Alsop, though he undoubtedly was of Christchurch. There are English poems by him, published both in Dodsley's and Pearch's collection, and several in the early volumes of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. I have the authority of a competent judge for saying, that the very witty, but not quite decent verses in that miscellany, vol. v. p. 216--"Ad Hypodidasculum quendam plagosum, alterum orbilium, ut uxorem duceret, Epistola hortativa." Subscribed "Kent, Lady-day, 1835"--are Alsop's. He took the degree of M.A. in 1696, and of B.D. in 1706, and, by favour of the Bishop of Winchester, got a prebend in his cathedral, and the rectory of Brightwell, Berks. He was accidentally drowned in a ditch leading to his garden gate, in 1726. There is good reason to believe that a MS. life of him is to be found among the Rawlinson MSS., which it may be worth while to consult.

It will be remembered that Christchurch was the head-quarters of the phalanx of wits opposed to Bentley.

"Nor wert thou, Isis, wanting to the day, [Tho' Christchurch long kept prudishly away,"]

is Pope's ironical banter; and he has not failed to mention Alsop and Freind in Bentley's speech:--

"Let Freind affect to speak as Terence spoke, And Alsop never but like Horace joke,"

where the note says, "Dr. Antony Alsop, a happy imitator of the Horatian style."

Indeed, Alsop seems to have been duly esteemed and appreciated by his contemporaries; and every tasteful scholar will concur in the opinion that his truly elegant Sapphics deserve a place among the few volumes of modern Latin verse, which he would place near Cowper's more extensively known favourite, Vinny Bourne.

S.W.S.

Antony Alsop, respecting whom a query appears in No. 14. p. 215., was of Christchurch, under the famous Dr. Aldrich, by whom the practice of smoking was so much enjoyed and encouraged. The celebrated Sapphic ode, addressed by Alsop to Sir John Dolben, professes to have been written with a pipe in his mouth:--

"Dum tubum, ut mos est meus, ore versans, Martiis pensans quid agam calendas, Pone stat Sappho monitisque miscet Blanda severis."

Ant. Alsop took his degree of M.A. March 23. 1696, B.D. Dec. 1706. He died June 10, 1726; and the following notice of his death appears in the _Historical Register_ for that year:--

"Dy'd Mr. Antony Alsop, Prebendary of Winchester, and Rector of Brightwell, in the county of Berks. He was killed by falling into a ditch that led to his garden door, the path being narrow, and part of it foundering under his feet."

I believe Alsop was not the author of a volume by a gentleman of Trinity College, and that he never was a member of that society; but that doubt is easily removed by reference to the entry of his matriculation at Oxford.

W.H.C.

Temple.