Part 2
It was a dry, sharp night, in the month of November, and darkness had set in long before Davy left Mount Hanover, two miles distant from his home. At length he started forward, and had already reached the bridge of the Maudlins, when he stopped to rest; for besides his tools he carried a bundle of wheaten straw, which he intended for a more than usually comfortable "shake-down" for his dear rib Winny. The moon had by this time ascended above the horizon, and by its silvery radiance depicted in delicate outline the hills rising in the distance, while the tender rays mixing with, and faintly illumining the gloom of the intermediate valleys, formed a mass of light and shade so exquisitely blended as to appear the work of enchantment. As Davy leaned on the parapet of the bridge, a thrill of alarm involuntarily disturbed his feelings: he was about to depart when he heard a clamorous sound, as of voices, proceeding from that part of the valley on which he still gazed. Curiosity now tempted him to listen still longer, when suddenly he saw a group of dwarfish beings emerging from the gloom, and coming rapidly towards him, along the green marsh that borders the Maudlin stream. Poor Davy was terror-stricken at this unusual sight; in vain he attempted to escape: he was, as it were, spellbound. Instantly the whole company gained the road beside him, and after a moment's consultation they simultaneously cried out, "Where is my horse? give me my horse!" &c. In the twinkling of an eye they were all mounted. Davy's feelings may be more easily imagined than described, and in a fit of unconsciousness his tongue, as it were mechanically, articulated "Where is my horse?" Immediately he found himself astride on a rude piece of timber, somewhat in shape of a plough-beam, by which he was raised aloft in the air. Away he went, as he himself related, at the rate of nine knots an hour, gliding smoothly through the liquid air. No aeronaut ever performed his expedition with more intrepidity; and after about two hours' journeying the whole cavalcade alighted in the midst of a large city, just as
"The iron tongue of midnight had told twelve."
One of the party, who appeared to be a leader, conducted them from door to door, Davy following in the rear; and at the first door he passed them the word, "We cannot enter, the dust of the floor lies not behind the door."[1] Other impediments prevented their ingress to the next two or three doors.
At length, having come to a door which was not guarded by any of these insuperable sentinels which defy the force of fairy assault, he joyfully cried out "We can enter here:" and immediately, as if by enchantment, the door flew open, the party entered, and Davy, much astonished, found himself within the walls of a spacious wine-store. Instantly the heads of wine vessels were broken; bungs flew out; the carousing commenced; each boon companion pledged his friend, as he bedewed his whiskers in the sparkling beverage; and the wassail sounds float round the walls and hollow roof. Davy, not yet recovered from his surprise, stood looking on, but could not contrive to come at a drop: at length he asked a rather agreeable fairy who was close to him to help him to some. "When I shall have done," said the fairy, "I will give you this goblet, and you can drink." Very {62} soon after he handed the goblet to Davy, who was about to drink, when the leader gave the word of command:
"Away, away, my good fairies, away! Let's revel in moonlight, and shun the dull day."
The horses were ready, the party mounted, and Davy was carried back to the Maudlin bridge, bearing in his hand the silver goblet, as witness of his exploit. Half dead he made his way home to Winny, who anxiously awaited him; got to bed about four in the morning, to which he was confined by illness for months afterwards. And as Davy "lived from hand to mouth," his means were soon exhausted. Winny took the goblet and pledged it with Mr. Alexander Whitney, the watchmaker, for five shillings. In a few days after a gentleman who lived not twenty miles from Creywell Cremony came in to Mr. Whitney's, saw the goblet, and recognised it as being once in his possession, and marked with the initials "M. R.," and on examining it found it to be the identical one which he had bestowed, some years before, on a Spanish merchant. Davy, when able to get out, deposed on oath before the Mayor of Ross (who is still living) to the facts narrated above. The Spanish gentleman was written to, and in reply corroborated Davy's statement, saying that on a certain night his wine-store was broken open, vessels much injured, and his wine spilled and drunk, and the silver goblet stolen. Davy was exonerated from any imputation of guilt in the affair, and was careful, during his life, never again to rest at night on the Maudlin bridge.
PATRICK CODY.
Mullinavat, county of Kilkenny.
[Footnote 1: Every good housewife is supposed to sweep the kitchen floor previously to her going to bed; and the old women who are best skilled in "fairy lore" affirm, that if, through any inadvertence, she should leave the dust thus collected behind the door at night, this dust or sweepings will have the power of opening the door to the fairies, should they come the way. It is also believed that, if the broom should be left behind the door, without being placed standing on its handle, it will possess the power of admitting the fairies. Should the water in which the family had washed their feet, before going to bed, be left in the vessel, on the kitchen floor, without having a coal of fire put into it, if not thrown out in the yard, it will act as porter to the fairies or good people.]
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Minor Notes.
_The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Ney. Parallel Passage in the Life of Washington and Major André._--J. R. of Cork (Vol. vi., p. 480.) tells how Wellington was in his youth smitten with the charms of a lady, who, in after-life having appealed to him to save the life of Ney, was not simply unsuccessful in her object but was ordered to quit Paris forthwith. J. B. Burke, in the _Patrician_, vol. vi. p. 372., tells how Washington endeavoured to win the love of Mary Phillipse, and how he failed: how years rolled on, and the rejected lover as Commander-in-Chief of the American forces was supplicated by the same Mary, then the wife of Roger Morris, to spare the life of Andre. The appeal failed, and one of the General's aides was ordered to conduct the lady beyond the lines.
ST. JOHNS.
_St. Bernard versus Fulke Greville._--On lately reading over the fine philosophical poem _Of Humane Learning_, by Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, I was struck at finding that the 144th stanza was a literal transcript from St. Bernard. Some of your readers may possibly be amused or interested by the discovery:
"Yet some seeke knowledge, meerely to be knowne, And idle curiositie that is; Some but to sell, not freely to bestow, These gaine and spend both time and health amisse; Embasing arts, by basely deeming so, Some to build others, which is charity, But those to build themselves, who wise men be." _Workes_, p. 50.: Lond. 1633, 8vo.
"Sunt namque qui scire volunt eo fine tantum, ut sciant: et turpis curiositas est. Et sunt item qui scire volunt, ut scientiam suam vendant, verbi causa pro pecunia, pro honoribus: et turpis quæstus est. Sed sunt quoque qui scire volunt, ut ædificentur: et prudentia est."--S. Bernardi _In Cantica Serm._ xxxvi. Sect 3. _Opp._, vol. i. p. 1404. Parisiis, 1719, fol.
It is no mean eulogy upon Lord Brooke's poem just referred to, to say that it stood high in the estimation of the late Rev. Hugh James Rose, and was quoted approvingly by him in his lectures before the Durham University. My acquaintance with it was first derived from that source, and I am confident that many others of your readers sympathise with the wishes of MR. CROSSLEY, for "a collected edition of the works of the two noble Grevilles" ("N. & Q.," Vol. iv., p. 139.). The facts upon which the tragedy of _Mustapha_ is founded are graphically summed up by Knolles in his _Historie of the Turkes_, pp. 757-65.: London, 1633, fol.
RT.
Warmington.
_St. Munoki's Day._--Professor Craik, in his _Romance of the Peerage_, vol. ii. p. 337., with reference to the date of the death of Margaret Tudor, Queen Dowager of Scotland, gives two authorities, namely, 24th November, 1541, from the _Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents_, and _St. Munoki's_ Day, from the _Chronicle of Perth_, and then says: "I find no saint with a name resembling _Munok_ in the common lists." Now this Note of mine has originated in the belief that I _have found_ such a name in the _Calendar of Saints_, or at any rate one very closely resembling it, if not the identical _Munok_. "St. Marnok, B. patron of Killmarnock in Scotland, honoured on the 25th October in the Scots Calendar." Now "Marnok" is most probably _Munok_, the latter, perhaps, misspelt by a careless scribe in the _Chronicle of Perth_. There is a discrepancy of a month certainly in these two dates, 25th October and 24th November; but that is not very wonderful, as a doubt of the exact day of Queen Margaret's decease evidently exists among historians, for Pinkerton (vol. ii. p. 371.) conjectures June. The above extract regarding St. Marnok is from a {63} curious old work in my possession, published in 1761 in London, and entitled _A Memorial of Ancient British Piety, or a British Martyrology_. It gives also the names of St. Moroc, C., Nov. 8; St. Munnu, Ab., Oct. 21, both saints in the Scottish calendar.
A. S. A.
Punjaub.
_Epitaph in Chesham Churchyard._--
"As an Encouragement to Regularity, Integrity, and good Conduct, This Stone was erected at the general Expense of the Inhabitants of this Town and Parish to perpetuate the Memory of MATTHEW ARCHER, who served the Office of Clerk with the utmost Punctuality and Decorum for upwards of Thirty Years. He died 15th December, 1793."
F. B. RELTON.
_Gentlemen Pensioners._--
"On Saturday last, the Secretary to the Band of Gentleman Pensioners did, by order of the Duke of Montague their Captain, dispatch circular letters to the said gentlemen, signifying his Grace's pleasure to revive the ancient rules and orders that were practised at the time of the first institution of the Band in the reign of King Henry VII., viz. that five of the said Gentleman Pensioners shall attend constantly every day in the antechamber of the palace where His Majesty shall be resident, from ten in the forenoon till three in the afternoon, the usual time of His Majesty's retiring to go to dinner; and on every Drawing Room night from eight to twelve."--_Weekly Journal_, Jan. 4, 1735.
E.
_Marlborough; Curious Case of Municipal Opposition to County Magistracy._--Shortly after the invasion of the elder Pretender, the corporation of Marlborough so far defied the royal authority as to drive the quarterly county sessions from the town; and high legal opinions were not wanting to fortify the position thus assumed by the borough, on the ground, namely, of its municipal charter, which secured to the town a court of its own.
Now, we all know that in early times a borough's court-leet exempted the burgesses from the jurisdiction of the sheriff's "tourn," and that up till the period of the Municipal Reform bill, many charters still existed, verbally sustaining such right of exemption; but the Queries which I wish to put are the following. First, Though the crown's representative had no jurisdiction, had he not a right to enter, and sit on cases foreign to the borough? Secondly, What are the earliest instances of county quarter sessions sitting in independent boroughs? Thirdly, Were the cases numerous of similar acts of resistance at the period alluded to, viz. the reign of George I.?
I take this occasion to state that I am drawing to conclusion a history of Silkely Hundred, which includes Marlborough and Lord Ailesbury's seat; and shall feel grateful for any information relating to the Pretender's influence in that district. That it must have been considerable may be argued from the Ailesbury alliance by marriage with the young Pretender.
J. WAYLEN.
Devizes.
_Wet Season in 1348._--Accidentally looking into Holinshed a few days ago, I found that our present unusually wet season is not without a parellel, indeed much exceeded; as on that occasion the harvest must have been a complete failure, and dearth and disease consequently ensued. Providence, however, has kindly blessed us with an average harvest; and, exclusive of the disasters attendant upon storms and floods, I trust we shall escape any further visitation. I annex an extract of the passage in Holinshed:
"In this 22 yeare [of Edward III., A.D. 1348], from Midsummer to Christmasse, for the more part it continuallie rained, so that there was not one day and night drie togither, by reason whereof great flouds insued, and the ground therewith was sore corrupted, and manie inconueniences insued, as great sickenes, and other, insomuch that in the yeare following, in France, the people died wonderfullie in diverse places. In Italie also, and in manie other countries, as well in the lands of the infidels as in Christendome, this grieuous mortalitie reigned, to the great destruction of people. About the end of August, the like dearth began in diuerse places of England, and especiallie in London, continuing so for the space of twelue moneths following. And vpon that insued great barrennesse, as well of the sea as the land, neither of them yielding such plentie of things as before they had done. Wherevpon vittels and corne became scant and hard to come by."--_The Chronicles of Raphaell Holinshed_, fol., vol. iii. p. 378 (black letter).
[Phi].
_General Wolfe._--It may interest many of your readers to know that a portrait of General Wolfe, by Ramsay, 1758, is to be sold by Messrs. Christie and Manson, at their rooms, 8. King Street, St. James's Square, on Saturday, February 12.
The picture is marked No. 300 in the catalogue of the first two days' sale. It formed part of the collection of a gentleman lately deceased, whom I had the pleasure of knowing.
C. FORBES.
Temple.
{64}
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Queries.
POPE AND THE MARQUIS MAFFEI.
I would beg the insertion of the following Note, which occurs at p. 338. of Walker's _Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy_; with a view to ascertaining whether any light has been thrown on the subject since the publication of the work in question. I fear there is little chance of such being the case, but still I would be glad to learn from any of your correspondents, whether there is other evidence than the passage given from the Marquis's letter to Voltaire, to prove that Pope was actually engaged in the translation of his tragedy; or whether there is any allusion in the cotemporary literature of the day, to such a work having been undertaken by the bard of Twickenham.
"It seems to have escaped the notice of all Pope's biographers, that when the Marquis Maffei visited Twickenham, in company with Lord Burlington and Dr. Mead, he found the English bard employed on a translation of his _Merope_: yet the public have been in possession of this anecdote about fifty years. The Marquis, in his answer to the celebrated letter addressed to him by Voltaire, says: 'Avendomi Mylord Conte di Burlington, e il Sig. Dottore Mead, l'uno e l'altro talenti rari, ed à quali quant' io debba non posso dire, condotto alla villa del Sig. Pope, ch' è il Voltaire dell Inghilterra, come voi siete il Pope della Francia, quel bravo Poeta mi fece vedere, che lavorava alla versione della mia Tragedia in versi Inglesi: se la terminasse, e che ne sia divenuto, non so.'--_La Merope_, ver. 1745, p. 180. With the fate of this version we are, and probably shall ever remain, unacquainted: it may, however, be safely presumed, that it was never finished to the satisfaction of the translator, and therefore committed to the flames."
T. C. S.
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THE CHURCH CATECHISM.
Allow me to make the following inquiries through the pages of "N. & Q.," which may possibly elicit valuable information from some of your many correspondents. In the Archbishop of York's questions put to candidates for Holy Orders, Feb. 1850, occurred this Query: "The Church Catechism ... by whom was the latter part added and put into its present form; and whence is it chiefly derived?" The former part of this is readily answered; being, as any one at all read in the history of the Prayer-Book well knows, added at the Hampton Court Conference, 1603; and was drawn up by Bishop Overall, at that time Dean of St. Paul's: but _whence is it chiefly derived?_ That is the question for which I have hitherto sought in vain a satisfactory solution, and fear his grace, or his examining chaplain, must have looked in vain for a correct reply from any of his _quasi_ clergymen, college education though they may have had. It is a point which seems to be passed over entirely unnoticed by all of our liturgical writers and church historians, as I have been at no little pains in searching works at all likely to clear it up, but, hitherto, without success. It may be conjectured that the part referred to, viz., on the Sacraments, was taken from Dean Nowell's Catechism; or, at all events, that Overall borrowed some of the expressions while he changed its meaning, as Nowell's was purely Calvinistic in tendency. He may have had before him the fourth part of Peter Lombard's _Liber Sententiarum_, or some such work. But all this is mere supposition; and what I want to arrive at, is some correct data or authoritative statement which would settle the point. Another interesting matter upon which I am desirous of information, is, as to the protestation after the rubrics at the end of the Communion Service. In our _present_ Prayer-Book it is in marks of quotation, which we do not find in the second book of King Edward VI., where it originally appears--and the expressions there admit the real presence. It was altogether left out in Elizabeth's Prayer-Book, but again inserted in the last review in 1661, when the inverted commas first appear: the sense being somewhat different, allowing the spiritual but not the actual or bodily presence of Christ. Why are the _commas_ or marks of quotation, if such they be, then inserted? I have written to a well-known Archdeacon, eminent for his works on the Sacraments, but his answer does not convey what is sought by
C. J. ARMISTEAD.
Springfield Mount, Leeds.
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A COUNTESS OF SOUTHAMPTON.
I have just been reading, in the _Revue des deux Mondes_, an interesting article upon the recently-published _Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Koenigsmark_, in which I meet with the following passage:
"Ce fut à Venise que Charles-Jean de Koenigsmark rencontra la belle Comtesse de Southampton, cette vaillante amoureuse qui, plantant la fortune et famille, le suivit désormais par le monde déguisée en page: romanesque anecdote que la princesse Palatine a consignée dans ses mémoires avec cette brusque rondeur de style qui ne marchande pas les expressions. 'Il doit être assez dans le caractère de quelques dames anglaises de suivre leurs amans. J'ai connu un Comte de Koenigsmark qu'une dame anglaise avait suivi en habit de page. Elle était avec lui à Chambord, et comme, faute de place, il ne pouvait loger au Château, il avait fait dresser dans la forêt une tente où il logeât. Il me raconta son aventure à la Masse; j'eu la curiosité de voir le soi-disant page. Je n'ai jamais rien vu de plus beau que cette figure: les plus beaux yeux du monde, une bouche charmante, une prodigieuse quantité de cheveux du plus beau brun, qui tombèrent en grosses boucles sur ses épaules. Elle sourit en me voyant, se doutant bien que je savais son secret. {65} Lorsqu'il partit de Chambord pour l'Italie, le Comte Koenigsmark se trouva dans une auberge, et en sortit le matin pour faire un tour de promenade. L'hotesse de cette maison courut après lui et lui cria: 'Montez vite là-haut, Monsieur, votre page accouche!' Le page accoucha en effet d'une fille: on mit la mère et l'enfant dans un couvent à Paris."
He afterwards went to England, where--
"Les frères, cousins, et petits cousins de lady Southampton l'attendaient, et les duels se mirent à lui pleuvoir dessus. Comme son épée aimait assez à luire au soleil, il la tira volontiers, et avec une chance telle que ses ennemis, ne pouvant le vaincre par le fer, jugèrent à propos d'essayer du poison. Dégouté de perdre son temps à de pareilles misères, &c. &c. Tant que le comte a vecu il en a eu grand soin; mais il mourut en Morée, et le page fidèle ne lui survécut pas long-temps. Elle est morte comme une sainte."
Can you, or any of your correspondents, say _who_ this interesting _Countess of Southampton_ was? She lived at the end of the seventeenth century. In addition to these particulars, which are so nicely told that I would not venture to alter them, as Orsino asks Viola, "What was her history?"
W. R.
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Minor Queries.
_Hardening Steel Bars._--Can any of your readers inform me how thin, flat, steel bars (say three feet long) can be prevented from "running" crooked when hardened in water?
J. H. A.
_Pierrepont._--Who was John Pierrepont of Wadworth, near Doncaster, who died July, 1653, aged 75.
A. F. B.
Diss.
_Ceylon._--I should be much obliged to SIR JAMES TENNENT, if he would kindly inform me where the best map of Ceylon is to be got? such as are to be found in the atlases within my reach are only good enough to try a man's temper, and no more.
May I also take the liberty of asking how soon we may expect the appearance of SIR JAMES TENNENT'S book on the history, &c. of Ceylon? a work which will be a great work indeed, if we have at all a fair specimen of its author's learning and powers in the _Christianity in Ceylon_.
AJAX.
_Flemish and Dutch Schools of Painting._--Would any of your correspondents direct me to some work giving me some information about the painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, their biographers, their peculiarities, chefs-d'oeuvre, &c.?
AJAX.
"_To talk like a Dutch Uncle._"--In some parts of America, when a person has determined to give another a regular lecture, he will often be heard to say, "I will talk to him like a Dutch uncle;" that is, he shall not escape this time.
As the emigrants to America from different countries have brought their national sayings with them, and as the one I am now writing about was doubtless introduced by the Knickerbockers, may I ask if a similar expression is now known or used in Holland?
W. W.
Malta.
_Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Belgium_.--I want some work on this subject: can any one tell me of one?
N.B.--A big book does not frighten me.
AJAX.
_Charter of Waterford._--I have a copy of the English translation of this charter, published in Kilkenny, with the following note, written in an old hand, on the title-page:
"This was first translated by William Cunningham Cunningham (_sic_), a native of Carrick-on-Suir, born on Ballyrichard Road: his father and brother were blacksmiths; his grand-nephew Cunningham lives now a cowper (_sic_) in New Street in do. town."
I wish to know if this note is worth anything, and if the statement contained in it is true?
R. H.