Part 3
_A Race for Canterbury._--I have just met with a little volume of sixteen pages entitled _A Race for Canterbury or Lambeth, Ho!_ It is dated 1747, and was evidently written on the death of Archbishop Potter; and describes four aspirants to the see of Canterbury as four rowers on the Thames:
"No sooner Death had seized the seer, Just in the middle of his prayer, But instantly on Thames appear'd Four wherries rowing very hard." &c. &c. &c.
The first is thus introduced:
"Sh----, though old, has got the start, And vigorously plays his part."
The second:
"H---- in order next advances, And full of hopes he strangely fancies, That he by dint of merit shall Get first to land by Lambeth wall."
The third:
"M--s--n moves on a sober pace, And sits and rows with easy grace. No ruffling passion's in him seen, Indifferent if he lose or win."
The fourth:
"Next Codex comes with lab'ring oar, And, envious, sees the three before; Yet luggs and tuggs with every joint, In hopes at length to gain the point."
Having no list of the bishops by me, of the above-mentioned date, to which I can refer, I should be glad if any of your correspondents can tell me who these four bishops are. May I ask likewise, if it is known who was the author of this not very refined or elegant composition?
JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.
Maidstone.
[The four aspirants probably were, 1. Sherlock of Salisbury; 2. Herring of York, the next primate; 3. Mawson of Chichester; 4. Gibson of London.]
_Nose of Wax._--In so famous a public document as the _Nottingham Declaration of the Nobles, Gentry, and Commons_, in November, 1688, against the Papistical inroads of the infatuated King James, I find in the Ninth Resolution that he is accused of "rendering the laws a _nose of wax_," in order to further arbitrary ends. I have often heard the phrase familiarly in my youthful days; may I ask of you to inform me of its origin? Its import is plain enough,--a silly bugbear, of none effect but to be laughed at.
W. J.
[Nares explains it more correctly as a proverbial phrase for anything very mutable and accommodating; chiefly applied to flexibility of faith. He adds, "It should be noticed, however, that the similitude was originally borrowed from the Roman Catholic writers, who applied it to the Holy Scriptures, on account of their being liable to various interpretations."]
"_Praise from Sir Hubert Stanley!_"--I have somewhere heard or read this, or a very similar phrase, ironically expressive of surprise at approbation from an unexpected quarter. I would much like a clue to its source and correct shape.
W. T. M.
Hong Kong.
[This is from Morton's _Cure for the Heart Ache_, Act V. Sc. 2.:--"Approbation from Sir Hubert Stanley is praise indeed."]
_Rosary._--What is the origin of the term _rosary_? Is it derived from the Latin _rogare_?
G. C. C.
[Richardson derives it from Fr. _Rosaire_; Ital. and Sp. _Rosario_; Low Lat. _Rosarium, corona rosacea_, a garland or chaplet of roses. The definition of it by the Abbé Prevost is this:--"It consists," he says, "of fifteen tens, said to be in honour of the fifteen mysteries in which the Blessed Virgin bore a part. _Five_ Joyous, viz. the annunciation, the visit to St. Elizabeth, the birth of our Saviour, the purification, and the disputation of Christ in the temple. _Five_ Sorrowful: our Saviour's agony in the garden, his flagellation, crowning with thorns, bearing his cross, and crucifixion. _Five_ Glorious: his resurrection, ascension, the descent of the Holy Ghost, his glorification in heaven, and the assumption of the Virgin herself."--_Manuel Lexique._ Nares, quoting this passage, adds, "This is good authority; but why each of the fives is multiplied by ten the Abbé does not explain; probably to make the chaplet of a sufficient length."]
* * * * *
Replies.
THE ROD: A POEM.
(Vol. vi., p. 493.)
My copy of this poem bears date 1754, and is not stated to be a second edition. It has "an advertisement" of three pages, deprecatory of the imputation of any personal allusions, or design to encourage school rebellions. It has also a frontispiece ("Jas. Green, sculp., Oxon."), representing two youths, one standing, the other sitting, on a form; and before them the figure of an ass, erect on his hind legs, clothed in a pallium. A birch, doctorial hat, and books, lettered Priscian and {159} Lycophron, form the base; and on a ribbon above is the legend, "An ass in the Greek pallium teaching." In other respects my copy agrees with MR. CROSSLEY'S description of his, except that the argument (p. 7.) commences, "_The great and good_ King Alfred," &c.
Perhaps the following lines (though I doubt their having been written at the age of thirteen) may be received as germane to the subject:
THE BIRCH: A POEM. _Written by a Youth of thirteen._
Though the _Oak_ be the prince and the pride of the grove, The emblem of power and the fav'rite of Jove; Though Phoebus his temples with _Laurel_ has bound, And with chaplets of _Poplar_ Alcides is crown'd; Though Pallas the _Olive_ has graced with her choice, And old mother Cybel in _Pines_ may rejoice, Yet the Muses declare, after diligent search, That no tree can be found to compare with the _Birch_. The Birch, they affirm, is the true tree of knowledge, Revered at each school and remember'd at college. Though Virgil's famed tree might produce, as its fruit, A crop of vain dreams, and strange whims on each shoot, Yet the Birch on each bough, on the top of each switch, Bears the essence of grammar and eight parts of speech. 'Mongst the leaves are conceal'd more than mem'ry can mention, All cases, all genders, all forms of declension. Nine branches, when cropp'd by the hands of the Nine, And duly arranged in a parallel line, Tied up in nine folds of a mystical string, And soak'd for nine days in cold Helicon spring, Form a sceptre composed for a pedagogue's hand, Like the Fasces of Rome, a true badge of command. The sceptre thus finish'd, like Moses's rod, From flints could draw tears, and give life to a clod. Should darkness Egyptian, or ignorance, spread Their clouds o'er the mind, or envelope the head, The rod, thrice applied, puts the darkness to flight, Disperses the clouds, and restores us to light. Like the Virga Divina, 'twill find out the vein Where lurks the rich metal, the ore of the brain. Should Genius a captive in sloth be confined, Or the witchcraft of Pleasure prevail o'er the mind, The magical wand but apply--with a stroke The spell is dissolved, the enchantment is broke. Like Hermes' caduceus, these switches inspire Rhetorical thunder, poetical fire: And if Morpheus our temples in Lethe should steep, Their touch will untie all the fetters of sleep. Here dwells strong conviction--of Logic the glory, When applied with precision _à posteriori_. I've known a short lecture most strangely prevail, When duly convey'd to the head through the tail; Like an electrical shock, in an instant 'tis spread, And flies with a jerk from the tail to the head; Promotes circulation, and thrills through each vein, The faculties quickens, and purges the brain. By sympathy thus, and consent of the parts, We are taught, _fundamentally_, classics and arts. The Birch, _à priori_, applied to the palm, Can settle disputes and a passion becalm. Whatever disorders prevail in the blood The birch can correct them, like guaiacum wood: It sweetens the juices, corrects our ill humours, Bad habits removes, and disperses foul tumours. When applied to the hand it can cure with a switch, Like the salve of old Molyneux, used in the itch! As the famed rod of Circe to brutes could turn men, So the twigs of the Birch can unbrute them again. Like the wand of the Sybil, that branch of pure gold, These sprays can the gates of Elysium unfold-- The Elysium of learning, where pleasures abound, Those sweets that still flourish on classical ground. Prometheus's rod, which, mythologists say, Fetch'd fire from the sun to give life to his clay, Was a rod well applied his men to inspire With a taste for the arts, and their genius to fire. This bundle of rods may suggest one reflection, That the arts with each other maintain a connexion. Another good moral this bundle of switches Points out to our notice and silently teaches; Of peace and good fellowship these are a token, For the twigs, well united, can scarcely be broken. Then, if such are its virtues, we'll bow to the tree, And THE BIRCH, like the Muses, immortal shall be.
I copy from a MS. extract-book, and shall be glad of a reference to any place in which these lines have appeared in print.
BALLIOLENSIS.
* * * * *
THE DUTCH EAST-INDIA COMPANY.
(Vol. vi., p. 316.)
These folio volumes appeared in 1646, without name or place of either author or printer, under the title--
"Begin ende Voortgang van de Vereenighde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie, vervattende de voornaemste Reysen, by de inwoonderen derselver provincien derwaerts gedaen, alles nevens de {160} beschryvinghen der Rycken, Eylanden, Hovenen, Rivieren, Stroomen, Rheden, winden, diepten, ondiepten, mitsgaders religien, manieren, aerdt, politie, ende regeeringhe der volckeren, oock mede haerder Specerÿen, drooghen, geldt ende andere koopmanschappen; met veele discoursen verryckt, nevens eenighe koopere platen verciert. Nut ende dienstig alle curieuse ende andere zee-varende. Met dry besondere tafels ofte registers; in twee Delen verdeelt, waer het eerste begrypt veerttien voyagien den meerendeelen voor desen noyt in 't licht geweest. Gedrukt in den jaere 1646."
(_Translation._)
Commencement and progress of the United Dutch Chartered East-India Company, containing the principal travels made among the inhabitants of the provinces there, together with a description of the kingdoms, courts, islands, rivers, roadsteads, winds, deeps, shallows, as well as religions, manners, character, police, and governments of the people; also their spices, drugs, money, and other merchandise, enriched with many discourses, and adorned with copperplates. Useful and profitable to all curious and seafaring virtuosi. With three separate tables or registers; divided into two parts, of which the first contains fourteen voyages, the most part never before published. Printed in the year 1646.
The compiler, however, goes too far in asserting that the greatest part of these voyages had never been printed. The contrary appears when we open the folio catalogue of the Leyden Library, containing a fine collection of these early voyages of our ancestors.
These voyages were printed consecutively in small folio before 1646; as also the _Oost Indische en West Indische Voyagien_, Amsterdam, by Michel Colyn, boekverkooper (_East Indian and West Indian Voyages_, Amsterdam, by Michel Colyn, bookseller), anno 1619, one volume, in the same form and thickness as those of 1646: some of the plates also in this volume are similar to those of 1646.
This work was dedicated, 28th February, 1619, to the Heeren Gecommitteerde Raden ter Admiraliteit residerende te Amsterdam (Advising Committee to the Admiralty residing at Amsterdam), and begins with the _Reis naar Nova Sembla_ (_Voyage to Nova Zembla_), printed at Enkhuizen in 1617, by Jacob Lenaertsz Meijn, at the Vergulde Schryfboek (Gilt Writing-book), so that it is not improbable that the whole work was printed at Enkhuizen. Michel Colyn also published other Dutch voyages in 1622.
Concerning Cornelis Claesz (_i.q._ son of Nicholas), printer at Amsterdam, I have to observe that he died before 1610, but that the late Lucas Jansz. Wagenaer had bought all his plates, maps, privileges, &c.
By a notarial act passed 16th August, 1610, at Enkhuizen, Tryn Haickesdr., widow of the above-named Wagenaer, declared that the widow of Cornelis Claesz might make over to Jacob Lenaertsz all the above-mentioned maps, privileges, &c. See a resolution of the States-General of 13th September, 1610, in Dodt's _Kerkelÿk en Wereldlÿk Archief_, p. 23. (_Ecclesiastical and Civil Archives_).--_From the Navorscher._
ELSEVIER.
Leyden.
J. A. de Chalmot, in his _Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands_, vol. vii. p. 251., names as author, or rather as compiler of this work, Isaak Commelin, born at Amsterdam 19th October, 1598, died 3rd Jan. 1676, and quotes Kasp. Commelin's _Description of Amsterdam_, which I have not at hand to refer to. The work was printed at Amsterdam without printer's name: each _voyagie_ or description is separately paged; some places have a French text. In the second volume is a _Generale beschryvinghe van Indien, &c._, naer de copÿe ghedruckt tot Batavia in de druckerÿe van Gansenpen, anno 1638 (_General Description of India, &c._, according to the copy printed at Batavia at the office of the _Goose Quill_). Whether any other pieces which Commelin compiled had been earlier printed, I have not been able to discover.--_From the Navorscher._
J. C. K.
* * * * *
"ITS."
(Vol. vi., p. 509.)
The following are earlier instances of the employment of _its_ by the poets, than any that your correspondent seems to have met with:
"How sometimes nature will betray _its_ folly, _Its_ tenderness, and makes itself a pastime To harder bosoms! _Winter's Tale_, Act I. Sc. 2.
"Each following day Became the next day's master, till the last Made former wonders _its_." _Henry VIII._, Act I. Sc. 1.
"On the green banks which that fair stream in-bound, Flowers and odours sweetly smiled and smell'd, Which, reaching out _its_ stretched arms around, All the large desert in _its_ bosom held." Fairefax, _Godfrey of Bulloigne_, xviii. 20., 1600.
I doubt if there are any earlier instances among the poets. I have had no opportunity of examining the prose writers of the sixteenth century, but think they must have employed _its_ earlier than the poets. As we may see in the version of the Bible, and other works of the time, the English, like the Anglo-Saxon, long continued to use the genitive _his_ for neuters as well as for masculines; and _thereof_ for our present _of it_, _its_.
_Its_ leads me to reflect how ignorant people were of the old languages in the last century. If ever there was a palpable forgery, it is the Poems of Rowley: yet, if my memory does not deceive me, {161} Tyrwhitt regarded them as genuine; and Malone authoritatively affirmed that "no one except the nicest judges of English poetry, from Chaucer to Pope, was competent to test their genuineness." Why, this little word _its_ might have tested it. You see we have not been able to trace it in poetry higher up than the end of the sixteenth century; and I am quite sure that it is not to be found in either Chaucer or Spenser: and yet, in the very first page of Rowley, we meet with the following instances of it:
"The whyche in _yttes_ felle use doe make moke dere."
"The thynge _yttes_ (_ytte is?_) moste bee _yttes_ owne defense."
But there is a still surer test. We can hardly read a line of Chaucer, Gower, or any other poet of the time, without meeting with what the French term the feminine _e_, and which must be pronounced as a syllable to make the metre. From one end to the other of the Poems of Rowley, there is not a single instance of it!
THOS. KEIGHTLEY.
* * * * *
COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR.
(Vol. vi., p. 563.)
It may be of service to the inquirer as to the commencement of the year, to call his attention to the note appended to the "Table of moveable Feasts" in editions prior to 1752. As given by Keeling, from the editions antecedent and subsequent to the last review, in 1662, they are as follows:
"_Note._--That the supputation of the year of our Lord in the Church of England beginneth the xxvth day of March, the same day supposed to be the first day upon which the world was created, and the day when Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary" [1604].
"_Note._--That the supputation of the year of our Lord in the Church of England beginneth the xxvth day of March" [1662].
Of course, after the act for alteration of the style (24 Geo. II. c. 23.) was passed, this note was omitted. But up to that date the old supputation was authoritative and legal. Reference to Hampson's _Medii Ævi Kalendarium_ might further illustrate the point.
To this Note allow me to append a Query. After the collect for St. Stephen's Day follows this rubric:
"Then shall follow the collect of the Nativity, which shall be said continually until New Year's Eve."
Query, Was this collect to be repeated from December 25 to March 24? for, according to the above supputation, that would be New Year's Eve.
The following note, from the preface to Granger's _Biographical History_, may not be out of place:
"The following absurdities, among many others, were occasioned by these different computations. In 1667 there were two Easters, the first on the 25th of April, and the second on the 22nd of March following; and there were three different denominations of the Year of our Lord affixed to three state papers which were published in one week, viz. his Majesty's Speech, dated 1732-3; the Address of the House of Lords, 1732; the Address of the House of Commons, 1733."--Page xxiii., edit. 1824.
BALLIOLENSIS.
* * * * *
"PENARDO AND LAISSA."
(Vol. vii., p. 84.)
Your correspondent E. D. is fortunate in the possession of a rare book, worth a "jew's eye" in the good old days of the Bibliomania. It formed a part of the Heber Collection, where (see Part iv. p. 111.) it figures under the following quaint title:
"The First Booke of the Famous Historye of Penardo and Laissa, other-ways called the Warres of Love and Ambitione, wherein is described Penardo his most admirable deeds of Arms, his ambition of glore, his contempt of love, with loves mighte assalts and ammorous temptations, Laissa's feareful inchantment, hir relief, hir travells, and lastly, loves admirabel force in hir releiving Penardo from the fire. Doone in Heroik Verse by Patrik Gordon.
Printed at Dort by George Waters, 1615."
This copy, which was originally John Pinkerton's, cost Mr. Heber 21l., and was resold at his sale for 12l. 5s., for the library of Mr. Miller, of Craigentenny; another is in the possession of Dr. Keith, Edinburgh. Pinkerton, in his _Ancient Scottish Poems_, London, 1792, thus describes _Penardo and Laissa_:
"Rare to excess; nor can more than two copies be discovered, one in the editor's possession, another in that of an anonymous correspondent in Scotland. The author was probably so ashamed of it as to quash the edition, for it is the most puerile mixture of all times, manners, and religions that ever was published; for instance, the Christian religion is put as that of Ancient Greece."
Of the author, Patrick Gordon, little or nothing seems to be known beyond the fact of his styling himself "gentleman," probably the only ground for Pinkerton calling him "a man of property." The fame of Gordon, however, rests upon a better foundation than the above work, he having also "doone in heroik verse _The Famous Historie of the Renouned and Valiant Prince Robert, surnamed the Bruce, King of Scotland_," "a tolerable poem," says the same critic, "but not worth reprinting, although it had that compliment twice paid to it." {162}
The "Bruce" of our author is a concoction from Barbour and a certain _Book of Virgin Parchment_, upon the same subject, by Peter Fenton, known only to Gordon, and, like _Penardo_, sets propriety at defiance, "Christ and Jupiter being with matchless indecorum grouped together:"[4] it, too, came originally from the press of Dort, 1615; again from that of James Watson, Edinburgh, 1718; and a third time, Glasgow, by Hall, 1753.
J. O.
[Footnote 4: Irving's _Scottish Poets_.]
* * * * *
ROBIN HOOD.
(Vol. vi., p. 597.)
Ireland, too, is associated with the fame of this renowned wood-ranger. This "_pen_-ultima Thule," which received and protected the refugees of Roman oppression and the victims of Saxon extermination, was looked to in later times as a sanctuary where crime might evade punishment; and in the _Annals of Robin Hood_ this national commiseration was evinced.
"In the year 1189," writes Holinshed, "there ranged three robbers and outlaws in England, among which 'Robert' Hood and Little John were chieftains, of all thieves doubtless the most courteous. Robert, being betrayed at a nunnery in Scotland, called Bricklies, the remnant of the 'crue' was scattered, and every man forced to shift for himself; whereupon Little John was fain _to flee the realm_ by sailing into Ireland, where he sojourned for a few days at Dublin. The citizens being 'doone' to understand the wandering outcast to be an excellent archer, requested him heartily to try how far he could shoot at random, who, yielding to their behest, stood on the bridge of Dublin and shot to a hillock in Oxmantown (thereafter called Little John's shot), leaving behind him a monument, rather by posterity to be wondered than possibly by any man living to be counterscored."--_Description of Ireland_, fol., p. 24.
The danger, however, of being taken drove Little John thence to Scotland, where, adds the annalist, "he died at a town or village called Moravie."
JOHN D'ALTON.
I may perhaps be allowed to subscribe to the opinion expressed by H. K., that "though men of the name of Robin Hood may have existed in England, that of itself could afford no ground for inferring that some one of them was the Robin Hood of romantic tradition;" and at the same time to express my dissent from the conclusion, that "any pretence for such a supposition is taken away by the strong evidence, both Scotch and French," which H. K. has "adduced in support of the opposite view."
The inferences which I draw from the facts adduced by H. K. are, that the fame of the hero of English ballads probably extended to France and Scotland, and that the people of Scotland probably sympathised with this disturber of the peace of the kingdom of their "aulde ennemies."
I must, however, confess that I have not met with any portion of "the discussion about the nature of Robin Hood," excepting that contained in Ritson's Notes and Hunter's Tract, and that the evidence adduced in the latter publication, in support of the tradition handed down to us in the ballad entitled _A Lyttel Geste of Robyn Hode_, seems to me to satisfactorily show that "the Robin Hood of romantic tradition really existed in England in the time of Edward II."
J. LEWELYN CURTIS.
* * * * *
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.
_Originator of Collodion Process_ (Vol. vii., pp. 47. 92. 116.).--The fairest way of deciding M. Le Gray's claims would be, to quote what he really says.
Willat's pamphlet, published in 1850, entitled _A Practical Treatise, &c._, by Gustave Le Gray, translated by Thomas Cousins, ends with an appendix, which runs thus: