Chapter 1

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+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: Italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline charcters_. Greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildas~. Diacritical marks over | | characters are bracketed: [=mt] indicates a macron over the | | letters mt, [(y] indicates a breve over the y, etc. Archaic | | spellings such as Ffurther and pseudonymes have been | | retained. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

{325} NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

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No. 179.] SATURDAY, APRIL 2. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page Jack, by John Jackson 325 Mythe _versus_ Myth, by Thomas Keightley 326 Witchcraft in 1638 326 St. Augustin and Baxter, by E. Smirke 327 FOLK LORE:--Subterranean Bells--Welsh Legend of the Redbreast 328 Johnsoniana 328 MINOR NOTES:--White Roses--Fifeshire Pronunciation --Original Letter--Erroneous Forms of Speech 329

QUERIES:-- Eustache de Saint Pierre, by Henry H. Breen 329 Passage in Coleridge 330 MINOR QUERIES:--Cann Family--Landholders in Lonsdale South of the Sands--Rotation of the Earth --Nelson and Wellington--Are White Cats deaf?-- Arms in Dugdale's "Warwickshire," &c.--Tombstone in Churchyard--Argot and Slang--Priests' Surplices--John, Brother German to David II.-- Scott, Nelson's Secretary--The Axe which beheaded Anne Boleyn--Roger Outlawe--"Berte au Grand Pied"--Lying by the Walls--Constables of France-- St. John's Church, Shoreditch 330 MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Sir John Thompson --Ring, the Marriage--Amusive--Belfry Towers separate from the Body of the Church--An Easter-day Sun 332

REPLIES:-- Hamilton Queries, by Lord Braybrooke, &c. 333 The Wood of the Cross 334 Edmund Chaloner, by T. Hughes 334 "Anywhen" and "Seldom-when:" unobserved Instances of Shakespeare's Use of the latter, S. W. Singer 335 Chichester: Lavant, by W. L. Nichols 335 Scarfs worn by Clergymen, by Rev. John Jebb, &c. 337 Inscriptions in Books, by Russell Gole, George S. Master, &c. 337 PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Head-rests-- Sir W. Newton's Explanations of his Process--Talc for Collodion Pictures 338 REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Portrait of the Duke of Gloucester--Key to Dibdin's "Bibliomania"--High Spirits a Presage of Evil--Hogarth's Works--Town Plough--Shoreditch Cross and the painted Window in Shoreditch Church--Race for Canterbury--Lady High Sheriff--Burial of an unclaimed Corpse--Surname of Allan--The Patronymic Mac--Cibber's "Lives of the Poets"--Parallel Passages, No. 2.: Stars and Flowers--Schomberg's Epitaph--Pilgrimages to the Holy Land--Album--Gesmas and Desmas--"Quod fuit esse"--Straw Bail--Pearl--Sermons by Parliamentary Chaplains, &c. 338

MISCELLANEOUS:-- Notes on Books, &c. 345 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 346 Notices to Correspondents 346 Advertisements 346

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NOTES.

JACK.

I wish to note, and to suggest to students in ethnology, the Query, how it comes to pass that John Bull has a peculiar propensity to call things by his own name, his familiar appellative of _Jack_?

Of all the long list of abbreviations and familiar names with which times past and present have supplied us, that which honest Falstaff found most pleasing to his ears, "_Jack_ with my familiars!" is the household word with which ours are most conversant. Were not _Jack_ the Giant-killer, _Jack_ and the Bean-stalk, and Little _Jack_, the intimates of our earliest days? when we were lulled to sleep by ditties that told of _Jack_ Sprat and his accommodating wife (an instance of the harmony in which those of opposite tastes may live in the bonds of wedlock); of _Jack_, the bachelor who lived harmoniously with his fiddle, and had a soul above the advice of his utilitarian friend; of _Jack_ who, like Caliban, was to have a new master; of _Jack_[1] the brother of Gill; and of the _Jack_ who was only remarkable for having a brother, whose name, as a younger son, is not thought worthy of mention. And were not our waking hours solaced by songs, celebrating the good Jack[2], little _Jack_ Horner, and holding up to obloquy the bad Jack, naughty _Jacky_ Green, and his treachery to the innocent cat? Who does not remember the time when he played at _jack_-straws, fished for _jack_-sharps, and delighted in a skip-_jack_, or _jack_-a-jumper, when _jack_-in-a-box came back from the fair (where we had listened not unmoved to the temptations of that eloquent vagabond cheap-_Jack_) and popped up his nose before we could say _Jack_ {326} Robinson; and when _Jack_-in-the-green ushered in May-day? While a halo of charmed recollections encircles the memory of _Jack_-pudding, dear to the Englishman as Jack Pottage and Jack Sausage (Jean Potage and Hans Wurst) are to Frenchman and German.

Our childhood past, _Jack_ still haunts us at every turn and phase of our existence. The smoke-_jack_ and bottle-_jack_, those revolutionary instruments that threw the turnspit out of employment (and have well-nigh banished him from the face of the earth), cook the _Jack_ hare, which we bring in in the pocket of our shooting-_jacket_. We wear _jack_-boots, and draw them off with boot-_jacks_; prop up our houses with _jack_-screws; wipe our hands on _jack_-towels; drink out of black-_jacks_, and wear them on our backs too, at least our ancestors did; while flap-_jacks_[3] gave a relish to their Lenten diet, _jack_-of-the-clock[4] told them the hour; _Jack_ priests held rule over them; and gentle exercise at the _jack_, at bowls, helped them to digest their dinners. We ride upon _jack_-asses; _jacks_ flourish in our fish-ponds; _jack_-a-lanterns and _jack_-snipes flit over our bogs, the one scarcely less difficult to capture than the other; _jack_-daws multiply in our steeples, and _jack_-herons still linger about our baronial halls.

The four _jack_ knaves, _jack_-a-lents, _jack_-a-dandies, _jack_-a-nasties, and _jacks_-in-office (_jack_-an-apeses every man _jack_ of them), with that name fraught with mysterious terror, _Jack_ Ketch, are the scape-graces of this numerous family; and, at every _Jack_ who would be the gentleman, at a saucy _Jack_ who attempts to play the _jack_ with us, our indignation rises, like that of Juliet's nurse. But, on the whole, _Jack_ is an honest fellow, who does his work in this life, though he has been reproached with Tom's helping him to do nothing; but let the house that Jack built vindicate him from this calumny. _Jack_, we repeat, is an honest fellow, and is so more especially, when as _Jack_-tar (Heaven protect him from _Jack_-sharks both on sea and shore!) he has old Ocean beneath, and the union-_jack_ above him. Of black and yellow _jack_, who are foreigners, we make no mention; neither of _Jack_-Spaniards, nor of _Jacko_ the monkey, whom we detest; but, go where we will, _Jack_ meets us, and is master of all trades, for that we hold to be the right, though, we are aware, not the usual version of the saying. In short, with Merry _Andrews_, _Jerry_ Sneaks, _Tom_ Noddies, and Silly _Simons_, we may all have a casual acquaintance; but _Jack_, sweet _Jack_, kind _Jack_, honest _Jack_, _Jack_ still is our familiar.

JOHN JACKSON.

[Footnote 1: Jack and Gill were measures. "Wherefore," says Grumio, "be the Jacks fair within and the Gills fair without," meaning the leathern jacks clean within, and the metal gills polished without.]

[Footnote 2: His character has suffered by antiquarian research, which tells us that the song was made on a Colonel Horner, intrusted by the last Abbot of Wells with a pie, containing the title-deeds of the abbey, which he was to deliver to Henry VIII., and that he abstracted one for his own purposes, whereupon the abbot was hanged.]

[Footnote 3: The old name for pancakes. Slap-_jacks_ is their present name in America.]

[Footnote 4: The figure which struck the hour, as on the old clocks of St. Dunstan's, and of Carfax in Oxford.]

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MYTHE VERSUS MYTH.

When I first began to write on Mythology, I followed the Germans in using _mythus_ for the Greek ~mythos~. I afterwards thought it would be better to Anglicise it, and, strange to say, I actually found that there was a rule in the English language without an exception. It was this: Words formed from Greek disyllables in ~os~, whether the penultimate vowel be long or short, are monosyllables made long by _e_ final. Thus, not only does ~bôlos~ make _bole_, but ~polos~ _pole_, ~poros~ _pore_, ~skopos~ _scope_, ~tonos~ _tone_, &c.; so also ~gyros~, _gyre_; ~thymos~, _thyme_; ~stylos~, _style_; ~kybos~, _cube_, &c.: I therefore, without hesitation, made an English word _m[=y]the_. Mr. Grote, in his _History of Greece_, has done the very same thing, and probably on the same principles, quite independently of me; for, as I am informed, he has never condescended to read my _Mythology of Greece and Italy_, perhaps because it was not written in German. We have had no followers, as far as I am aware, but Miss Lynn, in her classical novels, and Mr. J. E. Taylor, in his translation of the _Pentamerone_, &c.

Meantime the English language had got another form of ~mythos~, namely, _m[)y]th_, which I believe made its first appearance in Mr. Cooley's _Maritime and Inland Discovery_, and so has the claim of priority, if not of correctness. This form has been so generally adopted, that it seems likely ere long to become a mere slang term. It is used for every kind of fiction whatever; indeed, I have seen it employed where the proper word would be _hoax_. Nay, to make matters worse, it is actually used of persons. Mrs. Harris, for instance, has been termed a _myth_, as also was Robin Hood, not long since, even in "N. & Q."! I wonder how Apolodorus would have looked, if he had heard Orion or Polyphemus called a ~mythos~!

Do I then expect the people of England to surrender their glorious privilege of going wrong without let or hindrance, in matters of grammar and etymology? Far from me be such folly and presumption. All I venture to expect is, that men of learning and good sense will, when they are speaking or writing about those venerable fictions which once commanded the assent of polished nations, use the more dignified term _m[=y]the_, and the adjective _mythic_, instead of the hybrid _mythical_, leaving the poor unhappy little _m[)y]th_ to be bandied about at the popular will and pleasure.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

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WITCHCRAFT IN 1638.

I inclose you an extract from an old document in my possession, which appears to be the examination of two witnesses against one Mary Shepherd for witchcraft. The nature of the offence is not {327} specified. Perhaps it may be interesting to some of your readers.

_The Exa[=m] of Jone Coward of Wareham, taken upon Oath the 28 March, 1638._

Who sayth, y't about Midsomer last past one Mary Sheapheard of Wareham did pull of one of this Ex[=mt]'s stockings, and within 2 howers after this Ex[=nt] was taken in all her limbs that she could not stur hand or foot, where upon this Ex[=nt] considered that the fors'd Mary Sheapheard had done her that hurt, and forth w'th cryed out upon the sayd Mary Shep. (though the sayd M. Shep. was not present), where upon this Ex[=mt]'s mother went unto the house of M. Shep. to perswaed her to come downe to this Ex[=nt]; but the sayd M. Shep. would not. Whereupon this Ex[=nt]'s mother went unto the Mayor of the Town, who co[=m]anded the s'd M. Shep. to goe to this Exa[=nt]. At length the s'd Ma. Shep. accordingly did (and being co[=e]), she did wring this Ex[=nt] by the hande, and p'esently this Ex[=nt] recouered. Ffurther, the Ex[=nt] sayth, y't about ye 24 of July _next followinge_, this Ex[=nt] was taken in ye like manner ye second time, w'th her hands and feet wrested about, and so sent for the s'd M. Shep., who instantly pulled the Ex[=nt] by the hands, and p'esently the Ex[=nt] recovered again.

JONE COWARD.

Joane Coward de Warh[=a], spinster £xx,

To appear and give evidence at the next assizes ag[=nt] Ma. Sheapheard.

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_The Ex[=am] of Ann Trew, single woman, of Wareham, taken upon Oath as afors'd._

Who sayth, y't on ye 16th of March last past she saw Mary Shep. come into ye house of Joh. Gillingame, and likewise saw Ed. Gillingame come down bare-footed very well, without any lamnesse or sickness at all, and p'esently after ye sayd Mary Shep. had pulled on the legginge upon the legge of ye s'd Ed. Gill., he fell instantly both lame and sick. Further, the Ex[=nt] asked the s'd Ed. Gill. (in the time of his sickness) what Ma. Shep. did unto him, who answered, she did put her hand upon his thigh.

ANN TREW.

Anne Trew de Warh[=a], spinster £xx,

To appear and give evidence at next assizes ag[=nt] M. Shepheard.

I should like to know if the effect of her supposed sorcery could be attributed to mesmerism. The document in my possession appears to be original, as Jone Coward's signature is in a different hand to that of the examination.

J. C. M.

Spetisbury.

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ST. AUGUSTIN AND BAXTER.

I am not aware that any author has pointed out a remarkable coincidence in the Confessions of St. Augustin and of Baxter:

"Divers sins I was addicted to, and oft committed against my conscience, which, for the warning of others, I will here confess to my shame. I was much addicted to the excessive and gluttonous eating of apples and pears, which, I think, laid the foundation of the imbecility and flatulency of my stomach.... To this end, and to concur with naughty boys that gloried in evil, I have oft gone into other men's orchards and stolen the fruit, when I had enough at home.... These were my sins in my childhood, as to which conscience troubled me for a great while before they were overcome."

Sir W. Scott cites the above passages in his _Life of Dryden_, with sharp comments on the rigid scruples of the Puritans:

"How is it possible," he says, "to forgive Baxter for the affectation with which he records the enormities of his childhood?... Can any one read this confession without thinking of Tartuffe, who subjected himself to penance for killing a flea with too much anger?..."

It probably did not occur to the biographer, that no less illustrious a saint than Augustin, to whom Puritanism can hardly be imputed, had made a parallel confession of like early depravity many centuries before. Enlarging on his own puerile delinquencies, and indeed on the wickedness of children in general, he confesses that, in company with other "naughty boys" ("nequissimi adolescentuli"), he not only stole apples, but stole them for the mere pleasure of the thing, and when he "had enough at home":

"Id furatus sum quod mihi abundabat, et multo melius. Nec eâ re volebam frui quam furto appetebam; sed ipso furto et peccato. Arbor erat pirus in viciniâ vineæ nostræ pomis onusta, nec formâ nec sapore illecebrosis. Ad hanc excutiendam atque asportandam, nequissimi adolescentuli perreximus nocte intempestâ; et abstulimus inde onera ingentia, non ad nostras epulas, sed vel projicienda porcis, etiamsi aliquid inde comedimus.... Ecce cor meum, Deus meus, ecce cor meum, quod miseratus es in imo abyssi!"--_Confessionum_, lib. ii. cap. iv.

In comparing the two cases, the balance of juvenile depravity is very much against the great Doctor of Grace. He does not seem to have had even a fondness for fruit to plead in extenuation of his larceny. He robbed orchards by wholesale of apples, which, by his own admission, had no attractions either of form or flavour to tempt him. Yet the two anecdotes are so much alike, that one would be inclined to suspect one story of being a mere recoction of the other if it were possible to doubt the veracity of Richard Baxter.

{328} The incident, however, is one too familiar in schoolboy life to make the repetition of the story a matter of surprise. The property in an apple growing within the reach of a boy's hand has from time immemorial been in peril, and the law itself has not always regarded it as an object of scrupulous protection. The old laws of the Rheingau, and (if I mistake not) of some other states, warranted a wayfaring man in picking apples from any tree, provided he did not exceed the number of three.

E. SMIRKE.

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FOLK LORE.

_Subterranean Bells_ (Vol. vii., pp. 128. 200.).--In answer to J. J. S.'s inquiry, I beg to state, that at Crosmere, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, where there is one of a number of pretty lakes scattered throughout that district, there is a tradition of a chapel having formerly stood on the banks of the lake. And it is said that the belief once was, that whenever the waters were ruffled by wind, the chapel bells might be heard as singing beneath the surface. This, though bearing on the subject of "submarine" or "subaqueous," rather than "subterranean" bells, illustrates, I think, the tradition to which J. J. S. refers.

J. W. M.

Hordley, Ellesmere.

_Welsh Legend of the Redbreast._--According to my old nurse (a Carmarthenshire woman), the redbreast, like Prometheus, is the victim ~philanthrôpou tropou~. Not only the babes in the wood, but mankind at large, are indebted to these deserving favourites. How could any child help regarding with grateful veneration the little bird with bosom red, when assured--

"That far, far, far away is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of evil, and _fire_. Day by day does the little bird bear in his bill a drop of water to quench the flame. So near to the burning stream does he fly, that his dear little feathers are _scorched_: and hence he is named Bron-_rhuddyn_.[5] To serve little children, the robin dares approach the Infernal Pit. No good child will hurt the devoted benefactor of man. The robin returns from the land of _fire_, and therefore he feels the _cold_ of winter far more than his brother birds. He shivers in the brumal blast; hungry, he chirps before your door. Oh! my child, then, in gratitude throw a few crumbs to poor red-breast."

Why, a Pythagorean would have eaten a peacock sooner than one of us would have injured a robin.

R. P.

[Footnote 5: Bron-rhuddyn = "breast-burnt," or "breast-scorched."]

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JOHNSONIANA.

I inclose you a transcript of a letter of Boswell's which I think worthy of being permanently recorded, and am not aware of its having been before in print.

Edinburgh, 11th April, 1774.

Dear Sir,