Part 1

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item.

* * * * *

{125}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

* * * * *

No. 171.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5. 1853 [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page

Jacob Grimm on the Genius and Vocation of the English Language 125

Preservation of valuable Papers from Damp; Drying Closets 126

Position of the Clergy in the Seventeenth Century, by J. Lewelyn Curtis 126

General Wolfe 127

Inscriptions in Books 127

FOLK LORE:--Baptismal Custom--Subterranean Bells-- Leicestershire Custom--Hooping Cough: Hedera Helix 128

MINOR NOTES:--The Aught And Forty Daugh--Alliterative Pasquinade--The Names "Bonaparte" and "Napoleon"--A Parish Kettle--Pepys's Diary; Battle of St. Gothard-- First Folio Shakspeare--An ancient Tombstone 128

QUERIES:--

Excessive Rainfall, by Robert Rawlinson 130

Baptist Vincent Lavall, by William Duane 130

Graves of Mickleton, co. Gloucester, by James Graves 130

Searson's Poems 131

MINOR QUERIES:--Haberdon or Habyrdon--Holles Family--"To lie at the Catch"--Names of Planets: Spade--Arms in painted Glass--The sign of "The Two Chances"-- Consecrators of English Bishops--A nunting Table--John Pictones--Gospel Place--York Mint--Chipchase of Chipchase--Newspapers--On alleged historical Facts-- Costume of Spanish Physicians--Genoveva--Quotation-- "God and the World"--"Solid Men of Boston"--Lost MS. by Alexander Pennecuik--"The Percy Anecdotes"--Norman Song--God's Marks--The Bronze Statue of Charles I., Charing Cross 132

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Hutter's Polyglott--Ethnology of England--Pitt of Pimperne--"The Bottle Department" of the Beer-trade 134

REPLIES:--

Bishop Pursglove (Suffragan) of Hull, by John I. Dredge, &c. 135

The Gregorian Tones by Dr. E. F. Rimbault 136

Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. 2., by Thos. Keightley 136

Niágara or Niagára, by Robert Wright 137

Drengage, by Wm. Sidney Gibson 137

Chatterton 138

Literary Frauds of Modern Times 139

Sir H. Wotton's Letter to Milton 140

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Sir W. Newton's Process--Collodion Film on Copper Plates--Treatment of the Paper Positive after fixing 140

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Essay for a New Translation of the Bible--Touchstone--Early Edition of Solinus--Straw Bail--Doctor Young--Scarfs worn by Clergymen--Cibber's Lives of the Poets--"Letters on Prejudice"--Statue of St. Peter, &c. 142

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 146

Notices to Correspondents 146

Advertisements 146

* * * * *

Notes.

JACOB GRIMM ON THE GENIUS AND VOCATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

I send you a very eloquent tribute to the genius and power of the English language by Jacob Grimm, extracted from a paper entitled "Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache," read before the Royal Academy of Berlin, January 9, 1851, and contained in the _Transactions_ of that Society, "Section of Philology and History for 1851," p. 135.: Berlin, 4to., 1852:--

"Jacob Grimm _Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache_. Abhandlungen der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1851.

"Keine, unter allen neueren Sprachen, hat gerade durch das Aufgeben und Zerrütten alter Lautgesetze, durch den Wegfall beinahe sämmtlicher Flexionen, eine grössere Kraft und Stärke empfangen, als die Englische, und von ihrer nicht einmal _lehrbaren_, nur _lernbaren_ Fülle freier Mitteltöne ist eine wesentliche Gewalt des Ausdrucks abhängig geworden, wie sie vielleicht noch nie einer andern menschlichen Zunge zu Gebote stand. Ihre ganze überaus geistige, wunderbar geglückte Anlage und Durchbildung war hervorgeganen aus einer überraschenden Vermählung der beiden edelsten Sprachen des späteren Europas, der Germanischen und Romanischen, und bekannt ist, wie im Englischen sich beide zu einander verhalten, indem jene bei weitem die sinnliche Grundlage hergab, diese die geistigen Begriffe zuführte. Ja, die Englische Sprache, von der nicht umsonst auch der grösste und überlegenste Dichter der neuen Zeit im Gegensatz zur classischen alten Poesie, ich kann natürlich nur Shakespeare meinen, gezeugt und getragen worden ist, sie darf mit vollem Recht eine Weltsprache heissen, und scheint gleich dem Englischen Volke ausersehn künftig noch in höherem Masse an allen Enden der Erde zu walten. Denn an Reichthum, Vernunft und gedrängter Füge lässt sich keine aller noch lebenden Sprachen ihr an die Seite setzen, auch unsere Deutsche nicht, die zerrissen ist, wie wir selbst zerrissen sind, und erst manche Gebrechen von sich abschütteln müsste, ehe sie kühn mit in die Laufbahn träte."

(_Translation._)

Of all modern languages, not one has acquired such great strength and vigour as the English. It has accomplished this by simply freeing itself from the ancient phonetic laws, and casting off almost all {126} inflections; whilst, from its abundance of intermediate sounds [_Mitteltöne_[1]], tones not even to be taught, but only to be learned, it has derived a characteristic power of expression such as perhaps was never yet the property of any other human tongue. Its highly spiritual genius, and wonderfully happy development, have proceeded from a surprisingly intimate alliance of the two oldest languages of modern Europe--the Germanic and Romanesque.[2] It is well known in what relation these stand to one another in the English language. The former supplies the material groundwork, the latter the higher mental conceptions. Indeed, the English language, which has not in vain produced and supported the greatest, the most prominent of all modern poets (I allude, of course, to Shakspeare), in contradistinction to the ancient classical poetry, may be called justly a LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD: and seems, like the English nation, to be destined to reign in future with still more extensive sway over all parts of the globe. For none of all the living languages can be compared with it as to richness, rationality, and close construction [Vernunft und gedrängter Füge], not even the German--which has many discrepancies like our nation, and from which it would be first obliged to free itself, before it could boldly enter the lists with the English.

I transmit the text, as many of your readers may prefer the extract--as most "foreign extracts" are preferred--"neat as imported:" although, owing to the kindness of a friend, it is fairly represented in the translation. It is however very difficult to find words which precisely express the meaning of German scientific terms.

S. H.

[Footnote 1: _Mitteltöne_ are those sounds which stand between the three fundamental vowels, _a_, _i_, _u_, as pronounced by the continental nations.]

[Footnote 2: _Romanesque._ Those languages which have descended from the Latin, as the Spanish, Frank, or French, &c.]

* * * * *

PRESERVATION OF VALUABLE PAPERS FROM DAMP; DRYING CLOSETS.

The desiccative powers of lime are familiar to chemists, and, I believe, to many practical men; but I do not know of lime having been used for the above purpose.

A strong chest, in my possession, containing important papers (title-deeds, marriage certificates, &c.), gradually became damp, and subjected its contents to a slow process of decay. This arose, I found, from a defect in its construction, wood having been improperly introduced into the latter, and concealed; so that some singular chemical compounds would appear to have been formed. The papers were gradually injured to an extent enforcing attention; and the process continued in them after their removal into a well-constructed chest, giving me the impression of a process resembling the action of a ferment. Several attempts were made to dry them by fires, the rays of the sun, &c.; but the damp was always renewed.

They were thoroughly dried in a very few days, and permanently kept dry, by placing and keeping in the chest a box containing a little quicklime.

At a later period, a large closet, so damp as to render articles mouldy, was thoroughly dried, and kept dry, by a box containing lime.

The chest was about 2 feet 6 inches, by 2 feet 1 inch, and 1 foot 8 inches; and the box placed in it for several months was about 1 foot 2½ inches, by 8½ inches, and 3 inches. After about a year, although no very perceptible damp was discovered, yet, in consequence of the value of the papers, and the beauty of some of them as manuscripts, I introduced two such boxes. These proportions were selected to enable the boxes to stand conveniently on a shelf with account-books and packages of papers.

The closet is about 11 feet 4 inches, by 2, irregular dimensions, which I estimate at about 6 feet, and 2 feet 4 inches. The box used in this case is 1 foot 4 inches, by 11 inches, and 7 inches.

The lime should be in pieces of a suitable size. For the chest, I prefer pieces about the size of a large English walnut; for the closet, of an orange.

It is necessary either that the box should be strongly made, or be formed of tin, or other metal, on account of the lateral expansive force of the lime. Room for expansion upwards is not sufficient protection. The same expansion renders it necessary that the box should not be more than two-fifths filled with fresh lime.

I leave the tops open. If covered, they must be so disposed that the air within the boxes shall freely communicate with that of the chest or closet.

I have used these boxes several years, and only changed the lime once a year.

B. H. C.

Philadelphia.

* * * * *

POSITION OF THE CLERGY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

The _Proceedings and Papers_ of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Session IV., 1851-2, include a paper contributed by Thomas Dorning Hibbert, of the Middle Temple, Esq., being the second of a series of "Letters relating to Lancashire and Cheshire, temp. James I., Charles I., and Charles II."

One of these letters, written in or about the year 1605, by the Rev. William Batemanne, from Ludgarsall (Ludgar's Hall), "a parish which lies in the counties of Oxford and Bucks," and addressed "to his louinge father Ihon Batemanne, alderman at Maxfelde" (Macclesfield), contains, as the learned contributor remarks, "strong confirmation of Mr. Macaulay's controverted statement, that the country clergy occupied a very humble position in the sixteenth and seventeenth {127} centuries." He adds, that "no clergyman could now be found who would think of sending his sister to an inn to learn household matters."

The Rev. William Batemanne, "who appears to have been educated at Oxford," writes thus:

"... My sister Katren is placed in a verie good house in Bissiter [Bicester], wher shea shall learne to doe all manner of thinges that belonge to a good huswyfe. It is a vitailinge house greatlie occupied. Shea shall not learne onelie to dresse meate and drinke excellent well, but allso bruinge, bakinge, winnowinge, with all other thinges theirunto appertaininge, for they are verie rich folkes, and verie sharpe and quicke both of them. The cause why my Ant received her not, as shea answered us, was because all this winter shea intendeth to have but one servant woman, and shea thought my sister was not able to doe all her worke, because shea imagined her to be verie raw in theire countrey worke, w^{ch} thinge trewlie shea that hath her now did thinke, and theirefore her wage is the slenderer, but xvj^s [16s.], w^{ch} in this place is counted nothinge in effecte for such a strong woman as shea is; but I bringinge her to Bissiter uppon Wednesday, beinng Michaelmas even, told her dame the wage was verie small, and said I trusted shea would mend it if shea proved a good girle, as I had good hope shea would. Quoth I, it will scarce bye her hose and shooes. Nay, saith shea, I will warrant her have so much given her before the yeare be expyred, and by God's helpe that w^{ch} wants I myselfe will fill upp as much as I am able...."

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

* * * * *

GENERAL WOLFE.

I copy the following interesting Note from the _London Chronicle_, August 19, 1788:

It is a circumstance not generally known, but believed by the army which served under General Wolfe, that his death-wound was not received by the common chance of war, but given by a deserter from his own regiment. The circumstances are thus related:--The General perceived one of the sergeants of his regiment strike a man under arms (an act against which he had given particular orders), and knowing the man to be a good soldier, reprehended the aggressor with much warmth, and threatened to reduce him to the ranks. This so far incensed the sergeant, that he took the first opportunity of deserting to the enemy, where he meditated the means of destroying the General, which he effected by being placed in the enemy's left wing, which was directly opposite the right of the British line, where Wolfe commanded in person, and where he was marked out by the miscreant, who was provided with a rifle piece, and, unfortunately for this country, effected his purpose. After the defeat of the French army, the deserters were all removed to Crown Point, which being afterwards suddenly invested and taken by the British army, the whole of the garrison fell into the hands of the captors; when the sergeant of whom we have been speaking was hanged for desertion, but before the execution of his sentence confessed the facts above recited."[3]

In Smith's _Marylebone_, p. 272., is a notice of Lieutenant McCulloch, according to whose plan Wolfe attacked Quebec. McCulloch became destitute, and died in Marylebone workhouse in 1793. A letter from Wolfe to Admiral Saunders is in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1801; and one addressed by him to Barré was sold by Puttick and Simpson about three years since.

A portrait of Wolfe by Sir Joshua Reynolds is in possession of Mr. Cole of Worcester.

Since my last notice, I have heard that Mr. Henry George, proprietor of the _Westerham Journal_, made some collections towards a life of Wolfe: if so, it is not improbable that Mr. Streatfield obtained them at his sale in 1844. In conclusion, I beg to inquire, whence come the lines quoted by the Marquis of Lansdowne?--

"Enough for him That Chatham's language was his mother-tongue, And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own."

H. G. D.

Knightsbridge.

[Footnote 3: [The incident related above has been preserved by Sir William Musgrave, in his _Biographical Adversaria_ (Additional MSS., No. 5723., British Museum), who has added the following note:--"This account was had from a gentleman who heard the confession." For some further notices of Mrs. Henrietta Wolfe, the mother of the General, relative to her death and the disposal of her property, see the Addit. MSS., No. 5832., p. 78.--ED.]]

* * * * *

INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS.

It occurs to me that an interesting collection might be formed of the various forms and methods by which the ownership of books is sometimes found to be asserted on their fly-leaves. _Borrowers_ are exhorted to faithful restitution; and consequences are threatened to those who misuse, or fail to return, or absolutely steal the valued literary treasure.

I forward a few such Notes as have fallen in my way, thinking they may interest your readers, and shall be obliged by any additions. The first is an admonition to borrowers, by no means a superfluous one, as I know to my cost. It is _printed_ on a small paper, about the size of an ordinary book-plate, with blank for the owner's name, to be filled up in manuscript:

"THIS BOOK Belongs to . . . . . .

"If thou art borrowed by a friend, Right welcome shall he be To read, to study--not to lend, But to return to me.

{128} "Not that imparted knowledge doth Diminish learning's store; But books, I find, if often lent, Return to me no more.

. . . . . .

"Give your attention as you read, And frequent pauses take; Think seriously; and take good heed That you no _dog's-ears_ make.

"Don't wet the fingers, as you turn The pages, one by one. Never _touch_ prints, _observe_: and learn Each idle gait to shun."

On the fly-leaf of a Bible I find the following, which, however, is taken from _The Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome_, vol. ii. p. 198. No 15., dated Friday, Dec. 26, 1679:

"Sancte Liber! venerande Liber! Liber optime, salve! O Animæ nostræ, Biblia dimidium!"

A very common formula, in works of a devotional nature, is as follows:

"This is Giles Wilkinson his book. God give him grace therein to look."

We now come to some of a menacing description:

"Si quis hunc furto rapiet libellum, Reddat:--aut collo dabitur capistrum, Carnifex ejus tunicas habebit, Terra cadaver."

And again:

"Si quis hunc librum rapiat scelestus, Atque furtivis manibus prehendat, Pergat ad tetras Acherontis undas Non rediturus."

These last partake somewhat of the character of the diræ and anathemas which are sometimes found at the end of old MSS., and were prompted, doubtless, by the great scarcity and consequent value of books before the invention of printing.

BALLIOLENSIS.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Baptismal Custom._--In many country parishes the child is invariably called by the name of the saint on whose day he happens to have been born.

I know one called _Valentine_, because he appeared in the world upon the 14th of February; and lately baptized a child myself by the name of Benjamin _Simon Jude_. Subsequently, on expressing some surprise at the strange conjunction, I was informed that he was born on the festival of SS. Simon and Jude, and that it was always _very unlucky to take the day from a child_.

RT.

Warmington.

_Subterranean Bells._--Hone, in his _Year-Book_, gives a letter from a correspondent in relation to a tradition in Raleigh, Nottinghamshire, which states that many centuries since the church and a whole village were swallowed up by an earthquake. Many villages and towns have certainly shared a similar fate, and we have never heard of them more.

"The times have been When the brains were out the man would die, That there an end."

But at Raleigh, they say, the old church-bells still ring at Christmas time, deep, deep in earth; and that it was a Christmas-morning custom for the people to go out into the valley, and put their ears to the ground to listen to the mysterious chimes of the subterranean temple. Is this a tradition peculiar to this locality? I fancy not, and seem to have a faint remembrance of a similar belief in other parts. Can any of your correspondents favour "N. & Q." with information hereon?

J. J. S.

_Leicestershire Custom._--A custom exists in the town of Leicester, of rather a singular nature. The first time a new-born child pays a visit, it is presented with an egg, a pound of salt, and a bundle of matches. Can any of your correspondents explain this custom?

W. A.

_Hooping Cough: Hedera Helix._--In addition to my former communications on this subject, I beg to forward the following:--

Drinking-cups made from the wood of the common ivy, and used by children affected with this complaint, for taking therefrom all they require to drink, is current in the county of Salop as an infallible remedy; and I once knew an old gentleman (now no more) who being fond of turning as an amusement, was accustomed to supply his neighbours with them, and whose brother always supplied him with the wood, cut from his own plantations. It is necessary, in order to be effective, that the ivy from which the cups are made should be cut at some particular change of the moon, or hour of the night, &c., which I am now unable to ascertain: but perhaps some of your readers could give you the exact period.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_The Aught and Forty Daugh._--The lordship of Strathbogie, now the property of his Grace the Duke of Richmond, was anciently known by this name. It is one of the toasts always drunk at the meetings of agricultural associations, the anniversary of his Grace's birthday, &c., in the district. The meaning has often puzzled newspaper readers at a distance. It was the original estate of the powerful family of Gordon in the north of Scotland. A _daugh_, or _davach_, contains 32 oxgates of 13 acres each, or 416 acres of arable land. At {129} this rate, the whole lordship was anciently estimated at 20,000 acres of arable land, and comprehends 120 square miles in whole.

KIRKWALLENSIS.

_Alliterative Pasquinade._--The following alliterative pasquinade on Convocation, which I have cut from one of the newspapers, is, I think, sufficiently clever to deserve preservation in the pages of "N. & Q.:"

"The Earl of Shaftesbury has given notice that he will call the attention of the House to the subject of Convocation after the recess. The exact terms of his lordship's motion have not as yet been announced; but it is understood that it will be in the form of an abstract resolution, somewhat to the following effect:--

"'That this House, considering the consanguinity and concordant consociation of Gog and Magog to be concludent to, and confirmatory of, a consimilar connatural conjunction and concatenation between Convocation and Confession with its concomitant contaminations, and conceiving the congregating, confabulating, and consulting of Convocation to be conducive to controversy and contention, and consequent conflicts, confusion and convulsion, concurs in the conviction that to convene, and to continue Convocation, is a contumacious contravention of the Constitution, and a contrivance for constraint of conscience, and that the contemptible conspiracy, concocted for concerting the constituting and conserving of the continuous concorporal consession and conciliar conference of Convocation, is to be contumeliously conculcated by the consentient and condign condemnation of this House.'"

AGRIPPA.

_The Names "Bonaparte" and "Napoleon."_--Among the many fabulous tales that have been published respecting the origin of the name of _Bonaparte_, there in one which, from its ingeniousness and romantic character, seems deserving of notice.