Chapter 5

The earliest specimen of an English album, and perhaps the most elegant one that this or any other country ever produced, may be seen in the British Museum (_Cotton MSS._, Domitian VII.). It is the Album, or Book of Life, of the monastery of Durham. Nor need we add that this album affords a relief to the eye wearied with looking over the pages of a modern album, and to the mind sick of the endless but monotonous repetition of imaginary ruins, love sonnets, and moss roses.

CEYREP.

_Gesmas and Desmas_ (Vol. vii., p. 238.).--For the information of your correspondent A. B. R., I copy the passage referred to by you in the disputed Gospel of Nicodemus, formerly called the Acts of Pontius Pilate. The extract is from an English version, printed for William Hone, Ludgate Hill, 1820:

"But one of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, whose name was _Gestas_, said to Jesus, If thou art the Christ, deliver thyself and us."--vii. 10.

"But the thief who was crucified on his right hand, whose name was _Dimas_, answering, rebuked him, and said, Dost not thou fear God, who art condemned to this punishment? We indeed receive rightly and justly the demerit of our actions; but this Jesus, what evil hath he done?"--vi. 11.

"After this, groaning, he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."--vi. 12.

It thus appears the names have been differently received: here they appear GESTAS the _im_penitent, and DIMAS the penitent.

I have a fine old engraving, nineteen inches by fourteen, bearing date "Greg. Huret, Lugd. inv. et sculp. 1664;" published in Paris, _cum priv. Regis_.

The three crosses, with their inscriptions (each in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), appear.

The Latin on the cross of the thief on the right hand of our Lord (and, from the expression of countenance, confessed the penitent) is _DISMAS_ LATRO: the other is _GESTAS_ LATRO.

W. C. H.

Chelsea.

"_Quod fuit esse_" (Vol. vii., p. 235.).--Allow me to suggest the following meaning of the epitaph in Lavenham churchyard, which is the subject of A. B. R.'s Query. The word _est_ has evidently been omitted in the third line: with this restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexameters:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse; Esse quod (est), non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

And the literal meaning, will be: "What was existence, is that which lies here; that which was not existence, is that which is existence; to be what is now, is not to be; that which is now, is not existence, but will be hereafter."

This, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original: but the following lines will render the meaning plainer, though it is difficult to preserve the brevity of the Latin in an English version:

All that I really was lies here in dust; That which was death before is life, I trust. To be what _is_, is not, I ween, to _be_; _Is_ not, but _will be_ in eternity.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

I think your correspondent A. B. R. is not quite correct in his version of the epitaph of which he inquires the sense. It is evidently intended for two hexameter verses, and, as I have heard it, runs thus:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse; Esse quod est, non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

I inclose a similar epitaph in another churchyard (the _locale_ of which I do not know), which may serve to elucidate its meaning:

"That which a Being was, what is it? show: That being which it was, it is not now. To be what 'tis is not to be, you see; That which now is not shall a Being be."

Q. S.

_Straw Bail_ (Vol. vii., p. 85.).--In connexion with, though not as a reply to, MR. CURTIS'S Query touching the origin of the expression "A man of straw," I beg to bring under notice a phrase I heard for the first time a few days ago, but which may nevertheless be well known to others. A seaman, talking to me of a strike for wages among the crew of a ship, said that the captain, as the rate of wages had not been raised, had manned his ship with a "lot of straw-yarders." On my asking the meaning of the expression, I was told that a "straw-yarder" was a man about the docks who had never been to sea, and knew little or nothing of the duties of a seaman.

BRUTONIENSIS.

_Pearl_ (Vol. vi., p. 578.; Vol. vii., pp. 18. 166.).--In the Old German, _merikrioz_ is pearl; and in the Ang.-Sax. it is _meregreot_,--the latter from _mere_, sea, and _greot_, grit, sand, or _grot_, an {343} atom. These are so similar to the Greek _margaritas_, and the _margarita_ of the sister language (Latin), that we may be excused believing they have a common origin; more especially as we find the first syllable (at least?) in almost all the cognate Indo-Germanic or Indo-European languages: Latin, _mare_; Celt., _mor_; Gothic, _marei_; Sax., _mære_ or _mere_; Old Germ., _meri_; Slavon., _more_ and _morze_; Swed., _mar_; Iceland, _mar_; Esthon., _merri_; Lett., _marrios_.

Among modern languages, we have,--Span., _margarita_; Ital., _margarita_ and _maugherita_; Fr., _marguerite_, but used only in the proverb, "Il ne faut pas jeter les marguerites devant les pourceaux." Johnson, Webster, and Halliwell give _margarite_ as an English word. Probably all derived from the Latin.

At the same time, although not occurring (as far as I am aware) in either Greek or Latin, the word _pearl_ is found in some shape in most of the same Indo-Germanic languages: thus, Ital. and Span., _perla_; Low. Lat., _perla_; French, _perle_; Eng., _pearl_; Dan., _paarl_; Swed., _perla_ or _p[)a]rla_; Bohem., _perle_; Ang.-Sax., _pearl_ and _pærl_; Low. Sax., _berel_. Webster says the word _pearl_ may be radically the same as _beryl_. In the Celtic we find, Irish, _pearla_, and Welsh _perlyn_.

The Germans derive _pearl_ from _beer_, a berry, making thus _berle_ or _beerlein_; as in Latin _bacca_ also means a pearl.

Some of your correspondents can, no doubt, inform us whether any analogous words to _pearl_ and _margarita_ exist in the Sanscrit?

A. C. M.

Exeter.

_Sermons by Parliamentary Chaplains_ (Vol. vii., p. 34.).--On the day of Thanksgiving, 19th July, 1648, Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick was ordered to preach before the House, and his sermon to be printed. Where can a copy of it be seen?

JOSEPH RIX.

St. Neot's.

_Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors_ (Vol. vii., pp. 13, 14.).--Your correspondent may find the passage to which he wishes to refer again, in one of the back volumes of Dickens's _Household Words_, in an article with the title of "History in Words."

Another correspondent, in the succeeding page of the same Number, will obtain the information he requires by consulting Dunlop's _History of Fiction_.

W. L. N.

_Tuebeuf_ (Vol. vii., p. 207.).--J. E. J. will find Tuboeuf is a town in France, in the department of Mayenne. On May 9, 1194, Richard I. sailed from England on his expedition against Philip II. of France; and he was accompanied by Master Eustace, Dean of Salisbury, for the purpose of his conducting such business of the Great Seal as might be necessary while the king remained abroad. The Doncaster Charter appears to have been sealed on the 22nd of the same month of May, and I shall feel obliged if J. E. J. will give me a copy of Eustace's title, and the date and place, as they appear on the document. The addition to his name in other charters is "tunc gerentis vices cancellarii." He himself became Chancellor and Bishop of Ely on the death of Longchamp.

EDWARD FOSS.

Street-End House, near Canterbury.

"_Goe, soule, the bodies guest_" (Vol. vii., p. 175.).--Your correspondent is mistaken in thinking that his "additions" are a new discovery. Both stanzas were printed, with slight variations from this copy, by Sir H. Nicolas, at the end of his edition of Davison's _Poetical Rhapsody_, 1826, pp. 413--415.; and both are mentioned by Mr. Hannah, when he says (p. 103.):

"In E (the mark by which Mr. H. designates that copy in Nicolas), one stanza is interpolated after line 36, and a second at the end."

As I entirely agree with Sir H. Nicolas that the lines in question are "a wanton interpolation," I think Mr. Hannah was perfectly justified in contenting himself with this acknowledgment of their existence.

R.

_Bells versus Storms_ (Vol. vi., p. 508.).--While returning my acknowledgments to your correspondents the REV. H. T. ELLACOMBE and W. S. G., I would briefly refer to the subject again, which may be of interest to some of our readers.

Dr. Fuller says:

"That bells are no effectual charm against lightning. The frequent firing of abbey churches by lightning confuteth the proud motto commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each intitled itself to a six-fold efficacy.

'Men's death I tell, by doleful knell, Lightning and thunder, I break asunder, On Sabbath all, to church I call, The sleepy head, I raise from bed, The winds so fierce, I do disperse, Men's cruel rage, I do assuage.'"

"It has anciently been reported," observes Lord Bacon, "and is still received, that extreme applauses and shouting of people assembled in multitudes, have so rarefied and broken the air, that birds flying over have fallen down, the air not being able to support them; and it is believed by some that great ringing of bells in populous cities hath chased away thunder, and also dissipated pestilent air. All which may be also from the concussion of the air, and not from the sound."

W. W.

Malta.

The following note in connexion with the baptism of bells may be interesting, as it shows the manner of working, at that time.

{344} Among the _Centum Gravamina_ offered to Pope Adrian in 1521 by the Princes of Germany, as given in Herbert's _Henry VIII._, p. 139., this is the 51st:

"That suffragans used to baptize bels under pretence of driving away divels and tempests; and for this purpose did invite many rich godfathers, who were to touch the rope while the bell was exorcised, and its name invoked (unto which all the people must answer). And that a banquet was used to be made thereupon, at the cost of the layicks, amounting in little towns to a hundred florins, whither the godfathers were to come, and bring great gifts, &c., whereas they desired that the said bels might be baptized not onely by suffragans, but by any priest, with holy water, salt, herbs, without such costs."

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

Will MR. GOLE oblige me and your readers with a reference to the _Golden Legend_, from which he has sent a quotation bearing on bells and storms.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

_Exercise Day_ (Vol. vii., p. 205.).--The extract from the borough chamberlain's accounts, referred to by your correspondent LEICESTRIENSIS, relates rather to a religious assembly or meeting established by authority in the reign of Elizabeth, and designed as a check on the growing tendency towards Puritanism, which marked that period. In this diocese (at that time the diocese of Chester) Bishop Downham instituted a "monthly exercise," which was confirmed by his successor Dr. Chadderton, in an injunction bearing date Sept. 1, 1585. (See Appendix to Strype's _Annals_, vol. i.) It is there decreed that all parsons, vicars, curates, and schoolmasters shall resort to this exercise, there either to speak or write; and certain penalties are enforced on any neglect of its observance. In the churchwardens' accounts of this parish is an entry of similar import to that quoted by LEICESTRIENSIS: "1656, Pd. for minister diner at the exercise day, 00.00.06," the only perceptible difference being in the degree of hospitality extended to the clergy by their entertainers.

JOHN BOOKER.

Prestwich.

_The Iron Mask_ (Vol. v., p. 474.; Vol. vii., p. 234.).--Your correspondent A. S. A. asks with much complacency, "What authority MR. JAMES CORNISH has for asserting (Vol. v., p. 474.) that the mysterious secret of the _Masque de fer_ has ever been satisfactorily explained?" MR. JAMES CORNISH does not make statements of historical facts without authority: he therefore begs to refer A. S. A. to Delort, _Histoire de l'Homme au Masque de fer_, Paris, 1825; and to _The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called "The Iron Mask," &c._, by the Hon. George Agar Ellis: London, 1826.

I repeat "my sanguine" expectations that "Junius" will yet be "unearthed." "Matthias" made an equal boast with the "mighty shade," that he would be for ever unknown.

Your Journal "N. & Q." has left no doubt about the author of _The Pursuits of Literature_.

JAMES CORNISH.

_Shakspeare's Use of the Word "Delighted"_ (Vol. ii., pp. 113. 139. 200. &c.).--The following passage from Douce's _Illustrations_ has not been referred to by any of your contributors on this point; to some it may be unknown:

"With respect to the much contested and obscure expression of _bathing the delighted spirit in fiery floods_, Milton appears to have felt less difficulty in its consideration than we do at present; for he certainly remembered it when he made Comus say:

"' ... one sip of this Will _bathe_ the drooping _spirits in delight_ Beyond the bliss of dreams.'"

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_Samuel Daniel_ (Vol. vi., p. 603.).--A copy of an original letter of Samuel Daniel, sent to Lord Keeper Egerton with a present of his _Works newly augmented_, 1601, is printed in _Censura Literaria_, ed. 1808, vol. vi. p. 391.

John Daniel, who published _Songs for the Lute, Viol, and Voice_, 1606, is supposed to have been the brother of the poet, and the publisher of his works in 1623. He was of Christ Church, Oxford; and took his degree of Bachelor of Music in 1604. At the commencement of the reign of Charles I., he was one of the court musicians, and his name occurs among the "Musicians for the Lutes and Voices," in a privy seal, dated Dec. 20, 1625, exempting the musicians belonging to the court from the payment of subsidies.

John Daniel's _Songs_ were "printed by T. E. for Thomas Adams, at the Signe of the White Lyon, Paule's Church Yard, folio, 1606." They are dedicated, in rhyme, to "Mrs. Anne Greene, the worthy Daughter to Sir William Greene, of Milton, Knight."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_English Bishops deprived by Queen Elizabeth_, 1559 (Vol. vi., pp. 100. 203.; Vol. vii., p. 260.).--I regret that I am unable to furnish A. S. A. with any additional information respecting the Marian bishops. None of the authorities I used give the dates he requires. Possibly, Mr. Charles Butler's _Historical Memoires of the English, Irish, and Scottish Catholics_, 4 vols. 8vo., 1822, might answer his Queries.

I have ascertained from Calamy's _Life and Times_ (vol. i. p. 409.), that Thomas White, the {345} deprived Bishop of Peterborough, died in London, May 30, 1698; and that Robert Frampton, the deprived Bishop of Gloucester, died May 25, 1708 (vol. ii. p. 119.).

JOHN I. DREDGE.

"_Jenny's Bawbee_" (Vol. vii., p. 207.).--This is a very old song, a fragment of which (all we have) appeared in David Herd's _Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs_, 2 vols. 12mo., Edinb. 1776. As it is very short, I quote it:

"An' a' that e'er my Jenny had, My Jenny had, my Jenny had, A' that e'er my Jenny had, Was ae bawbee.

"There's your plack, and my plack, An' your plack, an' my plack, An' my plack, an' your plack, An' Jenny's bawbee.

"We'll put it a' in the pint-stoup, The pint-stoup, the pint-stoup, We'll put it in the pint-stoup, And birle't a' three."

There is a capital song founded upon this rude fragment, by the late Sir Alexander Boswell. It was published anonymously in 1803, and commences thus:

"I met four chaps yon birks amang, Wi hinging lugs and faces lang; I spier'd at neebour Bauldy Strang, Wha's they I see?

"Quo' he, Ilk cream-fac'd pawky chiel Thought he was cunning as the diel, And here they cam' awa to steal Jenny's bawbee."

Copies of this latter song may be seen in Johnson's _Scottish Musical Museum_, edit. 1839, vol. v. p. 435.; and in Graham's _Songs of Scotland_, 1848, vol. ii. p. 48.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

The old Scotch ballad with the above title, on which Sir Alexander Boswell, Bart., founded his humorous song, with the same name, may be found in _The Book of Scottish Songs_, recently published in _The Illustrated London Library_, p. 229.

J. K. R. W.

_Irish Convocation_ (Vol. vi., p. 317.).--I am unable to answer W. FRASER'S Queries as to when the Irish Convocation last met, and where their deliberations are recorded; but that gentleman will find some account of its nature and constitution in a recently published pamphlet, entitled _The Jerusalem Chamber_, by the Rev. H. Caswall, M.A., pp. 39, 40.

J. C. B.

_Spontaneous Combustion_ (Vol. vii., p. 286.).--Is there such a thing; meaning, I presume, of the _human body_? One of the latest and best authenticated cases is given in _The Abstainer's Journal_ (Glasgow), No. III., March, 1853, p. 54. In the narrative is included the official medical report from the _Journal of Medical Science_, Dec. 1852.

W. C. TREVELYAN.

_Do the Sun's Rays put out the Fire?_ (Vol. vii., p. 285.).--

"Why does the sun, shining, on a fire, make it dull, and often put it out?

"1st. Because the air (being rarefied by the sunshine) flows more slowly to the fire; and

"2ndly. The chemical action of the sun's rays is detrimental to combustion.

"The sun's rays are composed of three parts; lighting, heating, and actinic or chemical rays. These latter interfere with the process of combustion."

The above is an extract from Rev. Dr. Brewer's _Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar_, 6th edition, p. 50., which may perhaps prove interesting to C. W. B. At p. 58. of the same book, H. A. B. will find, I think, an answer in the affirmative to his Query (Vol. vii., p. 286.): "Is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion?"

C---- S. T. P.

W---- Rectory.

_Dover Castle_ (Vol. vii., p. 254.).--The "j cenovectorum cum j rota ferro ligata" was a wheel-barrow. In the _Promptorum Parvulorum_ occurs (p. 25.) "barowe cenovectorum."

E. G. R.

_Quotations wanted_ (Vol. vii., p. 40.).--"And if he read little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not." From Lord Bacon.--_Bacon's Essays: Of Studies_, p. 218. 12mo., 1819.

[Greek: Omega].

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MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

If any of the readers of Mr. Hudson Turner's volume on Domestic Architecture have been under the apprehension that the death of that able antiquary would necessarily lead, if not to the abandonment of that work, to its being completed in a more imperfect manner than Mr. Turner would have completed it, we can assure them that such apprehension is entirely groundless. We have now before us the second part, entitled _Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England from Edward I. to Richard II., with Notices of Foreign Examples, and numerous Illustrations of existing Remains from original Drawings. By the Editor of the Glossary of Architecture._ The editing of the work is indeed most creditable to Mr. Parker, who, though he modestly confesses that if he had not known that he could safely calculate upon much valuable assistance from others more competent than himself, he would never have ventured to undertake it at all, had already given proof of his fitness for the task by the _Glossary of Architecture_ with which his name has been so long and so honourably connected. The work, which supplies a deficiency which the architectural student has {346} long felt, is produced in the same handsome style, and with the same profuseness of illustration, as its predecessor, and will be found valuable not only to archæologists who study history in brick and stone, but also to those who search in the memorials of bygone ages for illustrations of manners and customs, and of that greater subject than all, the history of our social progress.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles_, 1713--1783, by Lord Mahon, vol. ii. 1720--1740. This second volume of the new and cheaper edition of Lord Mahon's work extends from the accession of Walpole and Townshend to office in 1720, to the Declaration of War against Spain in 1739, and contains a valuable appendix of original papers.--_The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, from_ A.D. 732 _to_ A.D. 1201, _translated from the Latin, with Notes and Illustrations_, by Henry T. Riley. Vol. I. A.D. 732 to A.D. 1180, is a new volume of the valuable series of Translations of Early English Chronicles, which is to give so important a character to Bohn's _Antiquarian Library_.--_Thomas à Becket and other Poems_, by Patrick Scott. Notices of new poems scarcely fall within our vocation, but Mr. Scott is a true poet, and we cannot refuse to praise the present volume, and more especially the little poem which owes its origin to the notice of the opening of the coffin of Lady Audrey Leigh in our 156th Number.--_The Family Shakspeare, &c._, by Thomas Bowdler, Vol. V. This fifth volume contains Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, Julius Cæsar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Cymbeline.

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BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES.

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

DISSERTATION ON ISAIAH, CHAPTER XVIII., IN A LETTER TO EDWARD KING, &C., by SAMUEL HORSELY, Lord Bishop of Rochester. 1799. First Edition, in 4to.

BISHOP FALL'S Edition of CYPRIAN, containing BISHOP PEARSON'S ANNALES CYPRIANIA.

ATHENÆUM JOURNAL, 1847 to 1851 inclusive.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE ROYAL GARDENS AT RICHMOND IN SURRY. In a Letter to a Society of Gentlemen. Pp. 32. 8vo. With a Plan and Eight Plates. No date, circa annum 1770?

MEMOIRS OF THE ROSE, by MR. JOHN HOLLAND. 1 Vol. 12mo. London, 1824.

PSYCHE AND OTHER POEMS, by MRS. MARY TIGHE. Portrait. 8vo. 1811.

GMELIN'S HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY. Inorganic Part.

ARCHÆOLOGIA. Vols. III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., X., XXVII., XXVIII., unbound.

THE HISTORY OF SHENSTONE, by the REV. H. SAUNDERS. 4to. London, 1794.

LUBBOCK'S ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON THE TIDES.

*** _Correspondents sending Lists of Books Wanted are requested to send their names._

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

_We hope next week, in addition to many other interesting articles, to lay before our readers a copy of a remarkable and inedited Proclamation of Henry VIII. on the subject of the Translation of the Scriptures; and some specimens of the_ Rigby Correspondence.

HERCULES. _The custom (which we hope does not very generally obtain) of sending green ribbons, called willows, tied round bridal cards, to rejected suitors of the bride, is no doubt derived from that alluded to by Shakspeare and Herrick, and especially Fuller, who tell us the willow "is a sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love make their mourning garments."_

ROBIN HOOD. _A Subscriber would be obliged by_ H. K. (Vol. vi., p. 597.) _giving a precise reference to the Act of the Scotch Parliament prohibiting "the plays and personages of Robin Hood." &c._

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY _will find the proverb "When Our Lord falls in Our Lady's lap," &c., in our Number for the_ 12th Feb., p. 157.

VIATOR. _The imprecatory Epitaph referred to has already appeared in our columns._

W. A. C. _is thanked. The rhymes have, however, been already frequently printed by Brockett, Brand, &c._