Part 3

The recent observations of your correspondent MR. NOAKE (Vol. vi., p. 531.) on the superstitions of the people of Worcestershire regarding the weather, have called my attention to the present extraordinary wet season, on which subject I have been asked many questions. Although I do not account myself any more weatherwise than my neighbours, yet I may note that, for many years past, I have remarked that whenever we have had any very serious volcanic disturbance in the Mediterranean or its neighbourhood, or at Mount Hecla, we have always had some corresponding atmospheric agitation in this country, either in excessive heat or moisture, or both, and accompanied with very perceptible vibrations, at times so strong as to answer the name of earthquakes; and these vibrating so generally in the direction from north-west to south-east, I have been convinced that underneath us there is a regular steam passage from Mount Hecla in Iceland to Mount Vesuvius in Italy. I have unfortunately mislaid my memoranda on this subject, and have no regular roster of these occasional visitations to refer to, but I think my attention to this effect was first impressed on me by the season which followed the destruction at Lisbon in 1796. I recollect a friend of mine, the late Mr. Empson, of Bouley, while attending some drainage improvements in his carrs within the Level of Ancholme, was aroused by an extraordinary noise, which he thought was occasioned by some "drunken fools," as he called them, racing with their waggons upon the turnpike road above the hill, which was two miles off from where he then was in the carrs. His uphill shepherd, however, told him, when he got home, that there had been no such occurrence as he supposed on the turnpike, as, had such been the case, he must have heard and seen it. The next day, however, added fresh information, and better observers discovered that the noise heard across the carrs was underground; and further intelligence confirmed the suspicion that it was occasioned by a species of earthquake that had been felt at different places with different intensities, through Yorkshire and Lancashire, and amongst the islands west of Scotland; and afterwards came the same kind of intelligence across France, confirming me in my conclusions before noted. And ever since this period of 1796 we have never had any extraordinary alternation of extreme heat or wet, without its being to me the result of some accompanying volcanic agitation in Mount Hecla, or Mount Vesuvius or its neighbourhood; and the recurrence of the violent ebullition that has this year being going on at Mount Etna may therefore be considered as the electric cause not only of the extraordinary heat of our late summer, but also of the floods that have subsequently poured down upon us. It is only of late years that scientific men have paid due attention to these physical phenomena. Sir Humphrey Davy, I think, was the first who laid down their causes; and if we recollect the account given by Sir Stamford Raffles of the appalling effects of the tremendous explosion of Tombora, in Sambowa, one of the islands east of Java, in the year 1815, described as so violent in its immediate neighbourhood as to cause men, and horses, and trees to be taken up into the air like chaff; and of its effects being perceptible in Sumatra, where, nearly at a thousand miles distance from it, they heard its thundering noisy explosions,--thinking of this, we may well accede the comparatively small vibrations that we occasionally feel, as arising from the interchange of civilities passing between our volcanic neighbours Hecla and Vesuvius, or Etna; and glad we may be that we have them in no more inconvenient shape or degree than we have hitherto experienced them. I have some friends in Lancashire who have been a good deal alarmed by the vibrations they have lately experienced; and I must confess that my good wife and myself were, on the morning of the 10th Dec., not a little startled in our bed by a shock that aroused us early to inquire after the cause of it, but for which we cannot account otherwise than that, from its sudden electric character, the Lancashire vibration had reached us. The chief purport, however, of my present communication is, to make inquiry amongst your readers, whether any of them, like myself, have observed and experienced any recurrence of these concomitant and physical obtrusions.

WM. S. HESLEDON.

Barton upon Humber.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Value of MSS._--In the cause of Calvert _v._ Sebright, a question arose as to the sale of a collection of manuscript books by the late Sir John Sebright in the year 1807. In aid of the inquiry before the Master, as to the difference in value of the manuscripts in 1807 and the year 1849, Mr. Rodd made an affidavit, from which I have made the following extract, showing the prices at which five lots were sold in 1807, and the prices at which the same lots were sold at the late Mr. Heber's sale in 1836:

"No. in Catalogue, 1185. Bracton de (Hen.) Consuetudinibus et Legibus Anglicæ. (In pergamena) literis deauratis. Sold in 1807 for 1l. 13s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 6l. 6s.

"Lot 1190. Gul. Malmesburiensis de Gestis Regum Anglorum. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 1l. 7s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 63l.

"Lot 1195. Chronica Gulielmi Thorn. (In membranis.) Sold in 1807 for 12s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 85l.

{10} "Lot 1198. Henrici Archid. Huntindoniensis de Gestis Anglorum et Gyr. Cambriensis expugnatio Hiberniæ. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 1s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 78l. 15s. 6d.

"Lot 1206. Chronica Matt. Parisensis sine Historia Minor cum vitâ authoris, per Doctissimum Virum Rog. Twysden Bar. (In papyro.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 8s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 5l. 15s. 6d. Total produce in 1807, 8l. 1s.: in 1836, 238l. 17s."

In the catalogue of Heber's books, &c., Nos. 447. 1006. 498. 118. and 1016. correspond with the Nos. 1185. 1190. 1195. 1198. 1206.

F. W. J.

_Robert Hill._--I possess a Latin Bible which formerly belonged to this person, and contains many MS. notes in his handwriting. The following is by another hand:

"This book formerly belonged to Mr. Robert Hill, a taylor of Buckingham, and an acquaintance of my cousin John Herbert, surgeon of that town. J. L."

"In literature we find of this profession (_i. e._ that of a taylor) John Speed, a native of Cheshire, whose merit as an historian and antiquary are indisputable--to whom may be added the name of a man who in literature ought to have taken the lead, we mean John Stow. Benjamin Robins, the compiler of _Lord Anson's Voyage_, who united the powers of the sword and the pen, was professionally a taylor of Bath; as was Robert Hill of Buckingham, who, in the midst of poverty and distress, while obliged to labour at his trade for the support of a large family, acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew, and other languages, such as has only been equalled by Magliabecchi, who studied in a cradle curtained by cobwebs and colonised by spiders."--See "Vestiges Revived," No. XX. _European Mag._ for Mar. 1813.

The above choice note is, I presume, an extract from the _Europ. Mag._, and may serve to show that although ordinarily it takes "nine tailors to make a man," it may occasionally require nine men to make such a tailor as R. Hill seems to have been.

B. H. C.

_English Orthography._--The agricultural newspapers and magazines in the United States have generally restored the spelling of _plow_ in place of _plough_, which has crept in since the translation of the Bible into English.

Could not _cloke_, the old spelling, be also restored, in place of _cloak_, which has nothing but _oak_ to keep it in countenance; whilst _cloke_ is in analogy with _smoke_, _poke_, _broke_, &c.?

There are two English words, in pronouncing which not a single letter of them is sounded; namely _ewe_ (yo!) and _aye_ (I!)

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Bookselling in Glasgow in 1735._--The following curious report of a law case appears in Morison's _Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session_, p. 9455. It appears from it that, so late as 1735, the city of Glasgow, now containing a population of nearly 400,000, was considered too limited a sphere for the support of only _two_ booksellers.

"1735, January 15. Stalker against Carmichael. Carmichael and Stalker entered into a co-partnery of bookselling within the City of Glasgow, to continue for three years; and because _the place was judged too narrow for two booksellers at a time_, it was stipulated that after the expiry of three years, either of them refusing to enter into a new contract upon the former terms, should be debarred from any concern in bookselling within the city of Glasgow. In a reduction of the contract, the Lords found the debarring clause in the contract is a lawful practice, and not contrary to the liberty of the subject."

X. Y.

Edinburgh.

_Epitaph on a Sexton._--Epitaph on a sexton, who received a great blow by the clapper of a bell:

"Here lyeth the body of honest John Capper, Who lived by the bell, and died by the clapper."

Answer to the foregoing:

"I am not dead indeed, but have good hope, To live by the bell when you die by the rope."

E.

* * * * *

Queries.

EUSTACHE DE SAINT PIERRE.

With the siege of Calais, and its surrender to Edward III. in 1347, is associated the name of Eustache de St. Pierre, whose loyalty and devotedness have been immortalised by the historian, and commemorated by the artist's pencil. The subject of Queen Philippa's intercessions on behalf of Eustache and his brave companions is, no doubt, familiar to most of your readers: the stern demeanour of the king; the tears and supplicating attitude of the Queen Philippa; and the humiliating position of the burgesses of Calais, &c. But what if Eustache de St. Pierre had been bought over by King Edward? For without going the length of pronouncing the scenes of the worthy citizens, with halters round their necks, to have been a "got up" affair, there is, however, some reason to doubt whether the boasted loyalty of Eustache de St. Pierre was such as is represented, as will appear from the following notes. And however much the statements therein contained may detract from the cherished popular notions regarding Eustache de St. Pierre, yet the seeker after truth is inexorable, or, to use the words of Sir Francis Palgrave (_Hist. of Norm. and Eng._, i. 354.), he is expected "to uncramp or shatter the pedestals supporting the idols which have won the false worship of the multitude; so that they may nod in their niches, or topple down."

In one of the volumes forming part of that valuable collection published by the French {11} government,and commenced, I believe, under the auspices of M. Guizot, namely, the _Documens inédits sur l'Histoire de France_, the following passage attracted my notice:

"Il (M. de Bréquigny) a prouvé par des titres authentiques et inconnus jusqu'à présent, qu'Eustache de St. Pierre, dont on a si fort vanté le dévouement pour les habitans de Calais, fut séduit par Edouard, et qu'il reçut de ce prince des pensions et des possessions fort peu de temps après la prise de cette place, aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'Angleterre."--See _Lettres de Rois, &c._, vol. i. Preface, p. cix.

The above statement is founded on a memoir read before the Académie des Belles-Lettres by M. de Bréquigny, respecting the researches made by him in London (see _Mém. de l'Acad. des Belles-Lettres_, tom. xxxvii.).

Lingard throws a doubt over the matter. He says:

"Froissart has dramatised this incident with considerable effect; but, I fear, with little attention to truth.... Even in Froissart there is nothing to prove that Edward designed to put these men to death. On the contrary, he takes notice that the King's refusal of mercy was accompanied with a wink to his attendants, which, if it meant anything, must have meant that he was not acting seriously."--_Lingard_, 3rd edit. 1825, vol. iv. p. 79., note 85.

Again, in Hume:

"The story of the six burgesses of Calais, like all extraordinary stories, is somewhat to be suspected; and so much the more, as Avesbury, who is particular in his narrative of the surrender of Calais, says nothing of it, and, on the contrary, extols in general the King's generosity and lenity to the inhabitants."--_Hume_, 8vo. 1807, vol. ii., note H.

Both Hume and Lingard mention that Edward expelled the natives of Calais, and repeopled the place with Englishmen; but they say nothing as to Eustache de St. Pierre becoming a pensioner of the King's "aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'Angleterre."

Châteaubriand (_Etudes Hist._, 1831, 8vo., tome iv. p. 104.) gives Froissart's narrative, by which he abides, at the same time complaining of the "esprit de dénigrement" which he says prevailed towards the end of the last century in regard to heroic actions.

Regarding Queen Philippa's share in the transaction above referred to, M. de Bréquigny says:

"La reine, qu'on suppose avoir été si touchée du malheur des six bourgeois dont elle venait de sauver la vie, ne laissa pas d'obtenir, peu de jours après, la confiscation des maisons que Jean d'Acre, l'un d'eux, avait possédées dans Calais."

Miss Strickland (_Lives of Queens_, 1st edit., vol. ii. p. 336.) likewise gives the story as related by Froissart, but mentions the fact of Queen Philippa taking possession of Jean d'Acre's property, and the doubt cast upon Eustache's loyalty; but she would appear to justify him by reason of King Philip's abandoning the brave Calaisiens to their fate. However this may be, documents exist proving that the inhabitants of Calais were indemnified for their losses: and whether or not the family of Eustache de St. Pierre approved his conduct, so much is certain, that, on the death of the latter, the property which had been granted to him by King Edward was confiscated, because they would not acknowledge their allegiance to the English.

I wish to ask whether this new light thrown on the subject, through M. de Bréquigny's labours, has been hitherto noticed, for it would appear the story should be re-written.

PHILIP S. KING.

* * * * *

DEVIZES, ORIGIN OF: A QUESTION FOR THE HERALDS.

I will put the following case as briefly as I can.

Throughout the mediæval ages, the word _devise_ formed the generic term for every species of emblazonment. Thus we have "_Devises Heroiques_, per Claude Paradin, Lyons, 1557;" "_Devises et Emblems d'Amour moralisés_, par Flamen;" "_The Paradise of Dainty Devices_, 1576;" "_Minerva Britannica, or a Garden of Heroical Devices furnished and adorned with Emblems and Impressa's of Sundry Natives_, newly devised, moralised, and published by Henry Peachum, 1612;" and lastly, Henry Estienne's "discourse of hieroglyphs, symbols, gryphs, emblems, enigmas, sentences, parables, reverses of medals, arms, blazons, cimiers, cyphers, and rebus," which learned discourse, be it observed, is entitled _The Art of making Devises_, 1646. As an additional proof that device included the motto, take the following:

"Henry III. commanded to be written by way of device in his chamber at Woodstock, 'Qui non dat quod amat non accipit ille quod optat;'"

quoted by Sir Eger. Brydges. Here I must stop, though I could add many illustrations; and go on to observe, that whereas all the explanations which I have ever met with, of the unique appellation of "Castrum Divisarum," or the castle of Devises, are totally un-historic, if not ridiculous, I crave the attention of all whom it may concern to a new solution of the difficulty.

First, then, in order to clear the way, I would observe, that if, as commonly stated, the name had signified a frontier fort, would it not have been called the castle of the division [singular] rather than the castle of the divided districts? In other words, why make it a plural term?

Secondly. If, as I surmise, the Italian word _divisa_ bore at the time of the Conquest its present meaning of "device," in greater force than the {12} sense of divisions or partitions, is it unreasonable to suppose that Castrum Divisarum implied and constituted, at that early period, the deposit or fountain-head of the blazonry of the Norman leaders?

It was certainly not unsuited for such a species of heralds' college; being central, inland, a royal treasury, and the frequent scene of a court. When in the ensuing age re-edified by Bishop Roger, the monkish historians, without a dissentient voice, proclaimed it the most splendid castle in the realm; and though it may be objected that this observation belongs to a date not to our purpose, yet the pre-existence of the fortress is proved by its having been the temporary prison of Duke Robert. I am aware that such a notion as Devizes having formed the nucleus of the tree heraldic in England is not countenanced, nor even suspected, by any of the popular writers on the art. I may add, that one gentleman, holding an important position therein, has signified his disapproval of so early an origin being assigned to the institution. But over-against this, I beg to parade a passage from a letter written by Thomas Blore in 1806 to Sir Egerton Brydges:

"The heralds," says he, "seem originally not to have been instituted for the manufacturing of armorial ensigns, but for the recording those ensigns which had been borne."--_Censura Literaria_, vol. iii. p. 254.

My case is now stated. I shall be well content that some of your archæological friends should scatter it to the winds, provided they will explain how it is that Devizes, in common with some of the ancient cities of Egypt and Greece, has so long rejoiced in a plural name. To aid this last endeavour, I close with one more statement. The castle stood nearly midway between two other adjoining towns or villæ, also bearing plural names: Potternæ=arum [Posternæ?] and Kaningæ=arum.

J. WAYLEN.

P.S.--I think I may plead the privilege of a postscript for the purpose of recording (what may be taken as) an indication, though perhaps not a proof, that the idea of devices or contrivances was implied in the name so recently as the period of the civil war. The _Mercurius Civicus_, a parliamentary paper, 1644, states that Devizes was being garrisoned for the king, in the following terms:

"Hopton is fortifying amain at the Devises in Wiltshire, but I fear greater fortifyings for the Devices in Oxford."

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Gold Signet Ring._--I possess an ancient gold signet ring, which was dug up a few years since not far from an old entrenchment in the borough of Leominster, in the county of Hereford, the device thereon being a _cock_; it is of very pure metal, and weighs 155 grains. It is in fine preservation: and device is rudely cut, but I beg to inclose an impression from which you may judge. Can any of your antiquarian readers throw any light on the subject to whom this device originally belonged?

In levelling the fortified entrenchment above referred to some half century ago, various utensils of pottery, burnt bones, spear and arrow heads, tesselated tiles, fragments of sculptured stones, and other relics of antiquity, were found.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

_Ecclesia Anglicana._--I observe, in an interesting letter published in the December Number of the _Ecclesiologist_, in an enumeration of Service Books belonging to the English Church before the Reformation, and now existing in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge, the following title:

"No. 1198. Servicium de omni Officio Episcopali consernenta (_sic_) chorum ... secundum usum Ecclesie Anglicane."

Now I am anxious to know from any of your readers, who are better informed on these subjects than I am, or who have access to old libraries, whether _Ecclesia Anglicana_ is a _usual_ designation of the Catholic Church in England before the Reformation.

Service Books according to the use of some particular cathedral church are of course well known, as in this same list to which I have referred we find "secundum usum insignis ecclesie Eboracensis," "ad insignis ecclesiæ Sarisburiensis usum," &c.: but I should be glad to learn, in these days of _ultramontane_ pretensions, whether, even prior to the Reformation, the distinct nationality of the Anglican church was _commonly_ asserted by the use of such a title in her Service Books. I need scarcely observe how many interesting cognate questions might be asked on this subject.

G. R. M.

_Tangiers.--English Army in 1684._--A merchant in 1709 deposed that he knew not how long complainant had been a _soldier_, or beyond the seas before May, 1697, but that he has heretofore seen and knew him at Tomger, before and at the time of the demolishing thereof, being then a _soldier_; and no doubt could prove that he was in England a considerable time next before May, 1697.

Could the place be other than Tangiers, destroyed in 1684?

Was complainant (a younger son of a well-connected family of gentry, but himself probably in poverty), who in deeds, and on his mon. tablet, is described as gent., likely to have been in 1684 (aged twenty-seven) a private, a non-commissioned, or commissioned officer?

If the latter, would he not have been so described?

A. C.

{13}

_Smith._--Of what family was ---- Smith, confessor of Katherine of Braganza, buried in York Minster? and what are the arms on his tomb? Where can information be obtained as to a Judge Smith, supposed to have been of the same family?

A. F. B.

Diss.

_Termination "-itis."_--What is the derivation of the termination "-itis," used principally in medical words, and these signifying inflammation, as Pleuritis, _vulgo_ pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura, &c.?

ADSUM.

_Loak Hen._--In two or more parishes in Norfolk was a custom, or modus, of paying a _loak hen_ in lieu of tythes of fowls and eggs. I shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me what constituted a _loak hen_?

G. J.

_Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors._--I remember reading an account of the traces of the social position of our Saxon ancestors yet remaining in our English customs, which interested me much at the time, and which I would gladly again refer to, as, Captain Cuttle's invaluable maxim not being then extant, I neglected "making a note of it."

It described the Norman derivation of the names of all kinds of _meat_, as beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.; while the corresponding _animals_ still retained their original Saxon appellations, ox, sheep, calf, &c.: and it accounted for this by the fact, that while the animals were under the care of the Saxon thralls and herdsmen, they retained of course their Saxon names; but when served up at the tables of their Norman lords, it became necessary to name them afresh.

I think the word _heronsewes_ (cf. Vol. iii., pp. 450. 207.; Vol. iv., p. 76.) is another example, which are called _harnseys_ at this day in Norfolk; as it is difficult, on any other supposition, to account for an East-Anglian giving a French appellation to so common a bird as the heron.

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Locke's Writings._--In an unpublished manuscript of Paley's _Lectures on Locke's Essay_, it is stated that so great was the antipathy against the writings of this eminent philosopher, at the time they were first issued, that they were "burnt at Oxford by the hands of the common hangman." Is this fact recorded in any Life of Locke; or how may it be ascertained? There is no notice of it, I believe, in either Law's _Life_, or in that of Lord King.

GEORGE MUNFORD.

East Winch.