Chapter 3

with the music to it, set by Hen. Lawes, is printed in a book, entitled _Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues, to sing to the Theorbo Lute, and Bass Viol_, folio. 1675, and in Playfield's _Antidote against Melancholy_, 8vo. 1669, and also in Dr. Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_, vol. ii. p. 350; but in the latter with a mistake in the last line of the third stanza, of the word _Pentarchy_ for _Pentateuch_."

A copy of the _Choice Ayres_, 1675, is now before me, but Henry Lawes's name does not appear to the song in question. Sir John has evidently made a mistake; the air of _Mad Tom_ was composed by John Cooper, alias _Giovanni Coperario_, for one of the Masques perfomed by the Gentlemen of Gray's Inn. (See _The English Dancing Master_, 1651, in the British Museum, and Additional MS. 10,440, in the same repository.) With regard to the ballad itself, there is an early copy (of the latter part of the sixteenth century) {266} preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 7332, fol. 41. It purports to have been

"Written (i.e. transcribed) be Feargod Barebone, who being at many times idle and wanting employment, wrote out certain songs and epigrams, with the idea of mending his hand in writing."

There is another copy among Malone's MSS. in the Bodleian (No. 16. p. 55.), where it is entitled _A new Tom of Bedlam_. But I contend there is no evidence to show that this is the ballad alluded to by Walton; none of the copies having the name of the author. We have two other songs (probably more) bearing the same title of _Tom of Bedlam_; one beginning, "From the top of high Caucasus;" the other commencing, "From the hag and hungry goblin;" either of which are quite as likely to have been intended as that mentioned above.

It still remains a question, I think, which of the two Basses was the author of the ballads mentioned by Walton. But I have already trespassed so long upon your valuable space that I will leave the further consideration of the subject until a future period: in the meantime, perhaps some of your correspondents may be enabled to "illuminate our darkness" upon the various knotty points.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

BEAVER HATS--PISAN.

Allow me to say a few words in reply to your correspondent "GASTROS." His quotation from Fairholt (_Costume in England_), who cites Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_ as the earliest authority for the use of beaver hats in England, is not a satisfactory reply to my query; inasmuch as I am aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by great people in this country some centuries before Stubbes was born. For example, Henry III. possessed "unum capellum de Bevre cum apparatu auri et lapidibus preciosis;" as appears from the "Wardrobe Account," of the 55th year of his reign. I have, therefore, still to ask for the _earliest_ instance of the use of hats or caps of this material in England; such hats, as well as gloves, are mentioned in several English inventories made between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Is there any example earlier than the time of Henry III.?

"GASTROS" has also obligingly replied to my query as to "the meaning of the term _Pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive armour," but he seems to have forgotten that I expressly stated that term had no relation to "the fabrics of Pisa;" at least such is my belief. With regard to the inventory of the arms and armour of Louis le Hutin, taken in 1316, printed in Meyrick's _Ancient Armour_, to which he kindly refers me, it may be observed that the said inventory is so perversely translated in the first edition of that work (just now I have no means of consulting the second), as to be all but useless; indeed it might be termed one of the most extraordinary literary performances of modern times, as the following instance may suffice to show. One of the items of the inventory is, "une cote gamboisée à arbroissiaus d'or broudées à chardonereus;" and it is thus rendered into English, "a gamboised coat with a rough surface (like a thicket;--_note_) of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!" The real signification is "a gamboised coat embroidered in gold, with little bushes (or trees), with gold-finches [on them]." But I am rather wandering from my point: I never could ascertain on what authority Sir Samuel Meyrick asserted that "jazeran armour," as he calls it, was formed of "overlapping plates." The French word _jazeran_ was derived from the Italian _ghiazarino_, or _ghiazzerino_, which signified "a gorget of mail," or what some of our antiquaries have termed "a standard of mail;" in France this word always preserved its relation to mail, and in process of time came to be applied to so lowly an object as a flagon-chain: see Cotgrave's _Fr. Dict._ ed. 1673. Roquefort, indeed, says a "jaserans" was a cuirass, but to my apprehension the passage which he quotes from the _Roman d'Alexandre_--

"Es haubers, _jazerans_, et ès elmes gemez"--

seems to prove that, in that instance at least, a gorget is meant. At any rate, the translation of the passage in the inventory to which "GASTROS" refers should be, "three Pisan collerets of steel mail," not that given by Meyrick. Here we have clearly a fabric of Pisa: whereas the _pisan_, of which I desire to know the meaning, invariable occurs as an independent term, e.g. "_item, unum pisanum_," or "_unum par pisanorum_." Of course I have my own conjecture on the subject, but should be glad to hear other opinions; so I again put the question to your correspondents. In conclusion I would observe to "GASTROS" that they must be _very_ late MSS. indeed in which such a contraction as _pisan_ for _partisan_ can be found. If you have room, and think it worth while, I will from time to time send you some corrections of the more flagrant errors of Meyrick.

T. HUDSON TURNER.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Norman Pedigrees_. In reference to your correspondent "B.'s" inquiries, he will find much information in the Publications de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie. Under their auspices, M. Estancelin published in 1828 a full history of the Earls of Eu. I am not aware of any full collection of pedigrees of the companions of William the Conqueror: the names of several of the lands from which they took their designations yet remain.

W. DURRANT COOPER.

{267}

_Norman Pedigrees._--In answer to "B.'s" query (No. 14. p. 214.), an excellent Gazetteer was published in Paris, 1831, entitled _Dictionnaire Complet Géographique, Statistique, et Commercial de la France et de ses Colonies; par M. Briand-de-Verzé_, pp. 856. Many of the names of the Conqueror's Norman companions will be found in that work; as, for instance, Geoffrey de "_Mandeville_, village. Calvados arrondissement, 31½ O.N.O. de Bayeaux," &c.

Norman de _Beauchamp_: three Beauchamps are mentioned; that 51. from Avranches will be the one in question.

C.I.R.

Oxford, Feb. 19. 1850.

_Norman Pedigrees._--Your correspondent "B." (No. 14. p. 214.) would probably find part of the information he seeks in _Domesday Book, seu Censualis Willelmi Primi Regis Angliæ_. But query? Is "B." right in supposing the prefix "De" to be _French_? Does it not rather originate in the _Latin_?

"Domesday" is written in Latin throughout; and the "de," denoting the place, is there occasionally followed by what seems to be the Latin ablative case. I copy an example:--

"Canonici de Hansone ten. l. hida de Sansone," (i.e. loc. in co. Stafford.)

Then of the person it is said--

"Sanson ten. de rege, &c.... iii. hid. træ in Hargedone," &c.

J.S.

_Translation of Ælian._--In answer to the query of "G.M." in No. 15. p. 232., I beg to state that in Lowndes's _Manual_, vol. i. p. 13., is the following notice under the head of "Ælianus Claudius:"--

"Various Histories translated by T. Stanley, London, 1665, 8vo. 5s. This translation is by the son of the learned editor of Æschylus, and was reprinted 1670. 1677."

C.I.R.

_Ave Trici and Gheeze Ysenoudi._--I regret that I cannot give "H.L.B." any further information about these ladies than the colophon I transcribed affords. To me, however, it is quite clear that they were sisters of some convent in Flanders or Holland; the name of their spiritual father, Nicolas Wyt, and the names of the ladies, clearly indicate this.

S.W.S.

_Daysman_ (No. 12. p. 188.)-- It seems to me that a preferable etymology may be found to that given by Nares and Jacob. The arbiter or judge might formerly have occupied a _dais_ or _lit de justice_, or he might have been selected from those entitled to sit on the raised parts of the courts of law, i.e. jurisconsulti, or barristers as we call them. I have heard another etymology, which however I do not favour, that the arbiter, chosen from men of the same rank as the disputants, should be paid for loss of his day's work.

GEORGE OLIVER.

Perhaps the following may be of some use in clearing up this point. In the _Graphic Illustrator_, a literary and antiquarian miscellany edited by E.W. Brayley, London, 1834, at p. 14, towards the end of an article on the Tudor Style of Architecture, signed T.M. is the following:--

"This room (talking of the great halls in old manor-houses) was in every manor-house a necessary appendage for holding 'the court,' the services belonging to which are equally denominated 'the homage,' with those of the king's palace. The _dais_, or raised part of the _upper end_ of the hall, _was so called_, from the administration of justice. A _dais-man_ is still a popular term for an arbitrator in the North, and _Domesday-Book_ (with the name of which I suppose every one to be familiar) is known to be a list of manor-houses."

C.D. LAMONT.

Greenock.

[Our correspondents will probably find some confirmation of their ingenious suggestion in the following passage from _The Vision of Piers Ploughman_:--

"And at the day of dome At the heighe deys sitte."

Ll. 4898-9. ed. Wright.]

_Saveguard_.--"BURIENSIS" (No. 13. p. 202.) is informed that a _saveguard_ was an article of dress worn by women, some fifty or sixty years ago, over the skirts of their gowns when riding on horseback, chiefly when they sat on pillions, on a _double horse_, as it was called.

It was a sort of outside petticoat, usually made of serge, linsey-wolsey, or some other strong material: and its use was to _guard_ the gown from injury by the dirt of the (then very dirty) roads. It was succeeded by the well-known riding-habit; though I have seen it used on a side-siddle by a rider who did not possess the more modern dress.

P.H.F.

Amongst the bequests to the Clothworkers' Company of London is one by Barbara Burnell, by will dated 27th June, 1630, wherein she directs the company to bestow 4l. 6s. yearly in woollen cloth to make six waistcoats and six _safeguards_ for six poor women.[17]

Also we find that John Skepworth, by will dated 17th Oct. 1678, gave two closes of land to the parish of Louth, to the intent that the churchwardens and overseers of the poor there should apply the rents and profits of the same in providing so much coarse woollen cloth as would make ten suits yearly to be given to ten poor people of Louth, the men to have coats and breeches, and the women to have waistcoats and _safeguards_.[18] {268}

If "BURIENSIS" has a friend belonging to the Clothworkers' Company, it is probable that he will acquire much information on this subject from their old records.

H. EDWARDS.

[17] Reports from the Commissioners of Charities b. 235. 32nd part 4.--696.

[18] Ibid.

_Derivation of "Calamity"_ (No. 14. p. 215.)--"Calamity" is from the Latin _calamitas_, from _calamus_ a straw or stalk of corn, signifying, 1st, the agricultural misfortune of the corn being beaten down or laid by a storm; and thence, any other trouble or disaster:--

"Ipsa egreditur nostri fundi _calamitas_."

Ter. _Eun_. i. 1.

Upon which the commentator in the Delph. ed. has this note:--

"_Calamitas_ est grando et tempestas, quæ calamos segetum prosternit et conterit. Unde Cicero Verrem vocat '_calamitosam tempestatem_.'"

Ainsworth, quoting the above passage from Terence, adds:--

"Ubi Donatus. Proprie _calamitatem_ rustici vocant quod comminuat _calamum_; h.e. culmen et segetem."

The etymology of its synonym, "_disaster_," is more direct--[Greek: dhus hasthaer], a star of evil influence, or, as we say, "born under an ill planet."

[Greek: Philologos]

Forcellini, _s.v. Calamitas_, says:--

"Proprie significat imminutionem clademque calamorum segetis, quæ grandine vel impetuoso aliquo turbine aut alia quapiam de causa fit."

He then quotes Servius, _Ad Georg_, i. 151:--

"Robigo genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur."

Then follows the note of Donatus on Ter. _Eun_. i. 1. 34.

It appears to me, if "_calamitas_" were derived from _calamus_, it would mean something very different from what it does.

Another suggestion is, that the first syllable is the same as the root of _cad-o_, to fall; _l_ and _d_, everybody knows, are easily interchangeable: as Odysseus, Ulixes: [Greek: dakruon], _lacrima_, _tear_, &c. &c. If so, _calamitas_ is a corrupted form of _cadamitas_. Mar. Victorinus, _De Orthogr_. p. 2456., says:--

"Gueius Pompeius Magnus et scribebat et dicebat _Kadamitatem_ pro _Kalamitatem_."--(Quoted from Bothe's _Poetæ_," _Scenici Latinorum_, vol. v. p. 21.)

But how is the -_amitas_ to be explained? I may as well add, that Döderlein, with his usual felicity, derives it from [Greek: kolouo].

EDWARD S. JACKSON.

I beg to refer MR. F.S. MARTIN (No. 14. p. 215.), for the derivation of "Calamity," to the _Etymologicon Linguæ Latinæ_ of Gerard Vossius, or to the _Totius Latinitatis Lexicon_ of Facciolatus and Forcellinus. He will there find that the word _calamitas_ was first used with reference to the storms which destroyed the stalks (_calami_) of corn, and afterwards came to signify metaphorically, any severe misfortune. The terrific hail-storm of the summer of 1843, which destroyed the crops of corn through several of the eastern and midland counties of this kingdom, was a _calamity_ in the original sense of the word.

"W.P.P." has also kindly replied to this query by furnishing a part of the Article on _Calamitas_ in Vossius; and "J.F.M." adds, _Calamitas_ means--

"The spindling of the corn, which with us is rare, but in hotter countries common: insomuch as the word _calamitas_ was first derived from _calamus_, when the corn could not get out of the stalk."--Bacon, _Nat. Hist_. sect. 669.

_Derivation of "Zero"_ (No. 14. p. 215.).--_Zero_ Ital.; Fr. _un chiffre_, _un rien_, a cipher in arithmetic, a nought; whence the proverb _avere nel zero, mépriser souverainement_, to value at nothing, to have a sovereign contempt for. I do not know what the etymology of the word may be; but the application is obvious to that point in the scale of the thermometer below the numbered degrees to which, in ordinary temperatures, the mercury does not sink.

[Greek: Philologos]

Deanery of Gloucester, Feb. 7. 1850.

"_Zero_" (No. 14. p. 215.)--_Zero_, as is well known, is an Italian word signifying the arithmetical figure of nought (0). It has been conjectured that it is derived from the transposition from the Hebrew word _ezor_, a girdle, the zero assuming that form. (See Furetière, vol. iii.) Prof. le Moine, of Leyden (quoted by Ménage), claims for it also an Eastern origin, and thinks we have received it from the Arabians, together with their method of reckoning ciphers. He suggests that it may be a corruption from the Hebrew [Hebrew: rphs], _safara_, to number.

_Complutensian Polyglot_.--I cannot pretend to reply to "MR. JEBB'S" inquiry under this head in No. 12. p. 213.; but perhaps it may assist him in his researches, should he not have seen the pamphlet, to refer to Bishop Smallridge's "Enquiry into the Authority of the Primitive Complutensian Edition of the New Testament, as principally founded on the most ancient Vatican MS., together with some research after that MS. In order to decide the dispute about 1 John v. 7. In a letter to Dr. Bentley. 8vo. London, 1722."

J.M.

Oxford, Feb. 5.

_Sir William Rider_.--In reply to the queries of "H.F.," No. 12. p. 186., respecting Sir William Rider, I beg to say that among the many MS. notes which I have collected relating to the Rider family, {269} &c., I find the following from the _Visitation of Surry_, 1623, and from a MS. book of _Pedigrees of Peers_ in the Herald's College, with additions.

"Thomas Rider married a daughter of ---- Poole of Stafforde, by whom he had Sir William Rider, born at Muchalstone, co. Stafforde, Sheriff of London, 1591, Citizen and Haberdasher, Lord Mayor, 1600. Will dated 1 Nov., and proved 9 Nov. 1610, 8 Jas. I. (94 Wood); buried at Low Layton, Essex, &c. Sir William married Elizabeth, da. of R. Stone, of Helme, co. Norfolk; by whom he had, besides other children and descendants, Mary daughter and coheiress, who married Sir Thomas Lake, of Canons, Middlesex, from whose issue descended Viscount Lake."

S.S.

_Pokership_ (No. 12. p. 185., and No. 14. p. 218.).--It is to be regretted that no information has been supplied respecting the meaning of this remarkable word, either from local sources or from the surveys of crown lands in the Exchequer or Land Revenue offices. In one or the other of these quarters we should surely find something which would dispense with further conjecture. In the meantime the following facts, obtained from records easily accessible, will probably be sufficient to dispose of the explanations hitherto suggested, and to show that the _poker_ of Bringwood forest was neither a _parker_ nor a _purser_.

The offices conveyed to Sir R. Harley by James I. had been, before his reign, the subject of crown grants, after the honor of Wigmore had become vested in the crown by the merger of the earldom of March in the crown. Hence, I find that in the act 13 Edward IV. (A.D. 1473), for the resumption of royal grants, there is a saving of a prior grant of the "office of keeper of oure forest or chace of Boryngwode," and of the fees for the "kepyng of the Dikes within oure counte of Hereford, parcelles of oure seid forest." (6 _Rot. Parl._ p. 94.)

In a similar act of resumption, 1 Henry VII., there is a like saving in favour of Thomas Grove, to whom had been granted the keepership of Boryngwood chase in "Wigmoresland," and "the _pokershipp_ and keping of the diche of the same." The _parkership_ of Wigmore Park is saved in the same act. (6 _Rot. Parl._ p. 353 and 383.)

In the first year of Henry VIII. there is a Receiver's Account of Wigmore, in which I observe the following deductions claimed in respect of the fees and salaries of officers:-

"In feodo Thomæ Grove, forestarii de Bringewod, 6l. 1s. 6d. -- ejusdem Thomæ, fossat'de Prestwode dych, 18d. -- Edm. Sharp, parcarii parci de Wiggemour, 6l. 1s. 6d. -- Thomæ Grove, pocar' omnium boscorum in Wiggemourslonde 30s. 4d."

There is another like account rendered in 23 & 24 Hen. VII. These, and no doubt many other accounts and documents respecting the honor of Wigmore and its appartenances, are among the Exchequer records, and we are entitled to infer from them, firstly, that a _parcarius_ and a _pocarius_ are two different offices; secondly, that, whether the duty of the latter was performed on the dikes or in the woods of Boringwood chase, the theory of Mr. Bolton Corney (pace cl. viri dixerim) is very deficient in probability. If the above authorities had not fallen under my notice, I should have confidently adopted the conjecture of the noble Querist, who first drew attention to the word, and, so far from considering the substitution of "poker" for "parker" an improbable blunder of the copyist, I should have pronounced it fortunate for the house of Harley that their founder had not been converted into a porcarius or pig-driver.

E. SMIRKE.

_Pokership_.--I had flattered myself that _Parkership_ was the real interpretation of the above word, but I have once more doubts on the subject. I this morning accidentally stumbled upon the word "Porcellagium," which is interpreted in Ducange's _Glossary_, "Tributum ex porcis seu porcellis."

_Porcarius_ also occurs as _Porcorum custos_, and mention is made of "Porcorum servitium quo quis porcos domini sui pascentes servare tenetur."

Now, considering how much value was formerly attached to the right of turning out swine in wooded wastes, during the acorn season, it seems probable that Sir R. Harley might be the king's "Porcarius," or receiver of the money paid for an annual license to depasture hogs in the royal forests; and, after all, _Porkership_ is as like to _Pokership_ as _Parkership_, and one mistake would be as easily made as the other.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End, Feb. 16.

[We are enabled to confirm the accuracy of Lord Braybrooke's conjecture as to _Pokership_ being the office conferred upon Sir Robert Harley, inasmuch as we are in expectation of receiving an account of the various forms of its name from a gentleman who has not only the ability, but also peculiar facilities for illustrating this and similar obscure terms.]

_Havior--Heavier or Hever_.-Supposed etymology of _Havior, Heavier_, and _Hever_, as applied by park-keepers to an emasculated male deer.--"NOTES AND QUERIES," (No. 15. p. 230.)

Pennant, in his _British Zoology_, 8vo. edition, 1776, vol. i. p. 38., and 8vo. edition, 1812, vol. i. p. 45., under the article, "Goat" says:--

"The meat of a castrated goat of six or seven years old, (which is called _Hyfr_,) is reckoned the best; being generally very sweet and fat. This makes an excellent pasty, goes under the name of rock venison, and is little inferior to that of the deer."

As Pennant was a Welchman, a scholar and a {270} naturalist, he will probably be considered good authority; and _Hyfr_, the most likely origin of the altered terms of the deer park-keepers.

The word occurs twice in page 61. vol. ii. of the _Sportsman's Cabinet_, in the article on the Stag or Red Deer, where it is printed _Heavier_; and it will be found also as _Hever_, in Mr. Jesse's _Scenes and Tales of Country Life_, at page 349.

WM. YARRELL.

Ryder Street, St. James, Feb. 11. 1850.

Mr. Halliwell gives the words _haver_ and _havering_, in the same sense as _havior_. Are not these words identical with _aver, averium_, in the sense of cattle, tame beasts? _Averium_, from the old French, _aveir_, i.e. _avoir_, originally meant any personal property; but like _catalla_, chattels, it came to signify more particularly the most important part of a peasant's possessions--namely, his live stock. Thus, in the laws of William the Conqueror (Thorpe's _Ancient Laws_, vol. ii. p. 469.), we find:--

"Si præpositus hundredi equos aut boves aut oves aut porcos vel cujuscumque generis averia vagancia restare fecerit," &c.

The word may naturally enough have been applied to deer reduced to the state of tame and domesticated cattle.

C.W.G.

[TREBOR furnishes us with a reference to _Pegge's Anonymiana_, who endeavours to show that the proper term is "halfer;" on the same principle that an entire horse is spoken of, the word being pronounced "hâver" by those who call half "hâfe," while those who pronounce half with the open _a_ say "hauver:" while J. Westby Gibson suggests that Havior is _Evir_, from the Latin "_Eviro, Eviratus, Eviratio_," but admits that he can give no authority for the use of _Evir_.]