Chapter 5

_Annueller_ (Vol. vii., pp. 358. 391.).--Bishop Ergham founded St. Anne's College in Wells, for the maintenance of Societas (xiv.) Presbyterorum annuellarum Novae Aulae Wellensis. The _annuellar_ was a secular conduct, receiving a yearly stipend. These priests, probably, served his chantry at Wells.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

_Reverend Richard Midgley, Vicar of Rochdale_ (Vol. vii., p. 380).--The collection of the lives of pious persons to which Dr. Whitaker refers, as containing a very interesting account of Midgley, will undoubtedly be Samuel Clarke's _Lives of Thirty-two English Divines_. The passage, which will scarcely be new to your correspondent, is at p. 68. of the life of "Master Richard Rothwell" (Clarkes's _Lives_, edit. 1677, fol.), and a very pleasing passage it is, and one that I might almost {439} be justified in extracting. Dr. Whitaker and Brook (_Lives of the Puritans_, vol. ii. p. 163.) seem to be at variance with regard to the Midgleys, the former mentioning only one, and the latter two, vicars of the family.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Nose of Wax_ (Vol. vii., p. 158.).--Allow me to refer to a passage in "Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks," by Lodowick Barry (which is reprinted in the fifth volume of Dodsley's _Old Plays_), illustrative of this term. In Act I. Sc. 1., _Dash_ describes the law as

"The kingdom's eye, by which she sees The acts and thoughts of men."

Whereupon _Throate_ observes:

"The kingdom's eye! I tell thee, fool, it is the kingdom's nose, By which she smells out all these rich transgressors; Nor is't of flesh, but merely made of _wax_, And 'tis within the power of us lawyers, To wrest this _nose of wax_ which way we please."

This illustration was overlooked by Nares, to whose _Glossary_ you refer.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge.

_Canongate Marriages_ (Vol. v., p. 320.; Vol. vii., p. 67.).--The correspondent who expressed his surprise some time ago at his Query on this subject not having called forth any remark from your Scotch friends, will perhaps find the explanation of this result in the fact, that in Scotland we are guided by the civil or Roman law on the subject of marriage; and consequently, with us marriage is altogether a civil contract; and we need the intervention neither of clergyman, Gretna blacksmith, or the equally disreputable Canongate coupler. The services of the last two individuals are only sought for by you deluded southerns. All we require here is the agreement or consent of the parties ("_consensus non_ concubitus facit matrimonium"); and the legal questions which arise have reference chiefly to the evidence of this consent. The agreement may be made verbally, or in writing, before witnesses or not, as the parties choose. Or a marriage may be constituted and proved merely by habit and repute, _i. e._ by the parties living together as man and wife, and the man allowing the woman to be addressed as his wife. A promise of marriage, followed by _copula_, also constitutes a marriage. But it would be out of place here to enter into all the arcana of the Scotch law of marriage: suffice it to say, that it prevails equally at John o' Groat's House and Aberdeen, as in the Canongate or at Gretna Green. A _regular_ marriage requires certain formalities, such as the publication of banns, &c. An _irregular_ one is equally good in law, and may be contracted in various ways, as above explained.

This law, though _at first sight_ likely to lead to great abuses, really works well in practice; and prevents the occurrence of those distressing cases, which not unfrequently happen in England, of seduction under promise of marriage, and subsequent desertion.

SCOTUS.

_Smock Marriages_ (Vol. vii., p. 191.).--According to Scotch law, the marriage of the father and mother legitimises all children _previously_ born, however old they may be. This is called legitimisation _per subsequens matrimonium_, and is not unfrequently taken advantage of by elderly gentlemen, who, after having passed the heyday of youth, wish to give their children a position, and a legal right to inherit their property. Like the rule as to marriage above explained, it is derived from the Roman or civil law. There are very few, I should rather say _no_, legal fictions in the Scotch law of the nature alluded to by your correspondent.

SCOTUS.

_Sculptured Emaciated Figures_ (Vol. v., p 497.; Vol. vi. _passim_).--In Dickinson's _Antiquities of Nottinghamshire_, vol. i. p. 171., is a notice with an engraving of a tomb in Holme Church, near Southwell, bearing a sculptured emaciated figure of a youth evidently in the last stage of consumption, round which is this inscription: "Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei, quia manus Domini tetigit me."

J. P., JUN.

_Do the Sun's Rays put out the Fire_ (Vol. vii., p. 285.).--It is known that solar light contains three distinct kinds of rays, which, when decomposed by a prism, form as many spectra, varying in properties as well as in position, viz. luminous, heating or calorific, and chemical or actinic rays.

The greater part of the rays of heat are even less refrangible than the least refrangible rays of light, while the chemical rays are more refrangible than either. The latter are so called from their power of inducing many chemical changes, such as the decomposition of water by chlorine, and the reactions upon which photographic processes depend.

The relative quantities of these several kinds of rays in sun-light varies with the time of day, the season, and the latitude of any spot. In general, where the luminous and heating rays are most abundant, the proportion of chemical rays is least; and, in fact, the two seem antagonistic to each other. Thus, near the equator, the luminous and calorific rays being most powerful, the chemical are feeble, as is shown by the length of time required for the production of photographic pictures. Hence, also, June and July are the worst months for the practice of photography, and better results are obtained before noon than after.

It is precisely for a similar reason that the combustion of an ordinary fire, being strictly a chemical change, is retarded whenever the sun's heating and luminous rays are most powerful, as during bright {440} sunshine, and that observe our fires to burn more briskly in summer than winter; in fact, that apparently "the sun's rays put out the fire."

A. W. W.

Univ. Coll., London.

_Spontaneous Combustion_ (Vol. vii., p. 286.).--A most interesting discussion of this question is to be found in Liebig's _Familiar Letters upon Chemistry_.

That chemist proves conclusively:--1. That of the cases adduced none is well authenticated, while in most it is admitted that the victims were drunkards, and that generally a candle or lamp was in the room, and after the alleged combustion was found turned over. 2. That spontaneous combustion is absolutely impossible, the human frame containing 75 or 80 per cent. of water; and since flesh, when saturated with alcohol, is not consumed upon the application of a light, the alcohol burning off first, the causes assigned to account for the spontaneous ignition are _a priori_ extremely improbable.

A. W. WILLS.

Univ. Coll., London.

_Ecclesia Anglicana_ (Vol. vii., p. 12.).--This has always been the appellation of the Church of England, just as much before the Reformation as after. I copy for G. R. M. one rather forcible sentence from the articles of a provincial synod, holden A.D. 1257:

"Et super istis articulis praenotatis fecit Bonifacius, Cant. Arch. suorum suffraganeorum sibi subditorum universorum, praelatorum pariter et cleri procuratorum, convocationem isto anno apud Londonias semel et secundo, propter gravamina et oppressiones, de die in diem per summum pontificem et D. Henricum Regem _Ecclesiae Anglicanae_ irrogatas."--Wilkin's _Concilia Mag. Brit. et Hib._, vol. i. p. 726.

For other examples of the ante-reformational use of _Ecclesia Anglicana_, I can give him so large a reference as to Wilkins' book, _passim_; to the Writs for Parliament and Mandates for Convocation contained in the Appendix to Wake's _State of the Church and Clergy_; and to the extracts from _The Annals of Waverley_, and other old chronicles, quoted in Hody's _History of English Councils and Convocations_.

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_Wyle Cop_ (Vol. iv., pp. 116. 243. 509.; Vol. v., p. 44.; Vol. vi., p. 65.).--The summit of a steep hill in the town of Shrewsbury bears the name of _The Wyle Cop_. I think that these are two Welsh words, _Gwyl Cop_, meaning watch mound, slightly altered. _Gop_, near Newmarket in Flintshire, has a longer Welsh name, which is written by English people _Coperleni_. This, when correctly written, means, the mound of the light or fire-beacon. _Mole Cop_, the name of a lofty hill near Congleton, appears to be a slight corruption of the Welsh words _Moel y Cop_, the mountain of the mound. There is another lofty hill in Staffordshire called _Stiles Cop_. It seems probable that on both of these hills mounds may have been made in ancient times for the erection of fire-beacons. It would appear that Dr. Plot did not understand the Welsh language, as he has stated that he thought, in these instances, the word _Cop_ meant a mountain.

N. W. S. (2.)

_Chaucer_ (Vol. vii., p. 356).--No foreign original has ever been found for Chaucer's "House of Fame." Warton fancied that it had been translated or paraphrased from the Provencal, but could adduce no proof that it had. Old Geoffrey may have found the groundwork somewhere, in the course of his multifarious reading; but the main portion of the structure is evidently the work of his own hands, as the number of personal details and circumstances would tend to indicate. The forty lines comprising the "Lai of Marie," which Chaucer has worked up into the "Nonnes Preestes Tale" of some seven hundred lines, are printed in Tyrwhitt's Introductory Discourse to the _Canterbury Tales_, and will be sufficient to show what use he made of the raw material at his disposal. We may fairly presume that Emerson never took the trouble to investigate the matter, but contented himself with snatching up his materials from the nearest quarry, and then tumbling them out to the public.

J. M. B.

Tunbridge Wells.

_Campvere, Privileges of_ (Vol. vii., p. 262.).--J. D. S. asks, "What were these privileges, and whence was the term Campvere derived?"

In Scotland there exists an ancient institution called "The Convention of Royal Burghs," which still meets annually in Edinburgh, under the fixed presidency of the Lord Provost of that city. It is a representative body, consisting of delegates elected by the town councils of the royal burghs (not _boroughs_) of Scotland; and their business is to attend to such public measures as may affect the general interests of their constituents. In former times, however their powers and duties were of far more importance than they are now. The Convention seems to have exercised a general superintendence of the foreign trade of the kingdom. With a view to the promotion of that trade, they used to enter into commercial treaties, or _staple contracts_ as they were called, with the commercial cities of the Continent; and I have now before me one of these staple contracts, made with the city of Antwerp in 1540; and another with the city of Middleburg, in Zeeland, in 1541; but latterly they seem to have confined themselves to the town of _Campvere_, in Zeeland (island of Walcheren). In all these contracts it was stipulated {441} that the Scottish traders should enjoy certain privileges, which were considered of such importance that the crown appointed a _conservator_ of them. The last of these staple contracts was made with Campvere in the year 1747; but soon afterwards the increasing prosperity of Scotland, and the participation of its burgesses in the foreign trade of England, rendered such partial arrangements useless, and the contracts and the privileges have long since been reckoned among the things that were. The office of conservator degenerated into a sinecure. It was held for some time by the _Rev._ John Home, author of the tragedy of _Douglas_, who died in 1808; and afterwards by a Sir Alex. Lenier, whose name is found in the _Edinburgh Almanack_ as "Conservator at Campvere" till 1847, when the office and the officer seem to have expired together.

J. L.

_Sir Gilbert Gerard_ (Vol. v., pp. 511. 571.).--In addition to the information I formerly sent you in answer to MR. SPEDDING'S inquiry, I am now enabled to state two facts, which greatly reduce the period within which the date of Sir Gilbert Gerard's death may be fixed. Among the records in Carlton Ride, is an enrolment of his account as _Custos Domus Conversorum_ from January 29, 34 Eliz. (1592) to January 29, 35 Eliz. (1593). And a search in Doctors' Commons has resulted in the discovery, that Sir Gilbert's will was proved, not, as Dugdale states, in April, 1592, but on April 6, 1593. He died therefore between January 29 and April 6, 1593.

Dugdale mentions that there is no epitaph on his monument.

EDWARD FOSS.

_Mistletoe_ (Vol. vii., p. 270.).--I wish to mention that the mistletoe has been tried at the Botanic Gardens belonging to Trinity College, Dublin; and, after flourishing for some years, it died away. Indeed, I think it has been repeatedly tried there, but without eventual success.

Y. S. M.

Dublin.

_Wild Plants and their Names_ (Vol. vii., p. 233.).--_Cowslip_, "Palsy Wort." Culpepper says:

"Because they strengthen the brain and nerves, and remedy palsies, the Greeks gave them the name _paralysis_." "The flowers preserved, or conserved, and the quantity of a nutmeg taken every morning, is a sufficient dose for inward disorders."

For the ointment he gives the following receipt:

"Bruise the _flowers_; and to two handfuls of these, add a pound of hog's grease dried. Put it in a stone pot, covered with paper, and set it in the sun or a warm place three or four days to melt. Take it out and boil it a little; strain it out when hot; pressing it out very hard in a press. To this grease add as many herbs as before, and repeat the whole process, if you wish the ointment strong.--Yet this I tell you, the fuller of juice the herbs are, the sooner will your ointment be strong; the last time you boil it, boil it so long till your herbs be crisp, and the juice consumed; then strain it, pressing it hard in a press; and to every pound of ointment, add two ounces of turpentine, and as much wax."

CERIDWEN.

_Coninger or Coningry, Coneygar or Conygre_ (Vol. vii., pp. 182. 241. 368.).--There are many fields in the midland counties which bear the name of _conigree_. In some instances they are in the vicinity of manor-houses. The British name of a rabbit is _cwningen_, plural _cwning_. That of a rabbit warren is _cwning-gaer_, that is, literally, rabbits' camp. The term _coneygar_ is so like this, that it may be supposed to have been derived from it.

N. W. S. (2)

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

It would be difficult to find a book better calculated to prove the good service which the Camden Society is rendering to historical literature, than the one which has just been circulated among its members. The work, which is entitled _Letters and Papers of the Verney Family down to the end of the year 1639. Printed from the original MSS. in the possession of Sir Harry Verney, Bart., edited by_ John Bruce, Esq., Treas. S. A., is of direct historical value, although at the first glance it would seem rather to illustrate the fortunes of the Verneys than the history of the country. For, as the editor well observes--

"The most valuable materials, even for general history, are to be found among the records of private and personal experience. More true knowledge of the spirit of an age, more real acquaintance with the feelings and actual circumstances of a people, may be gleaned from a delineation of the affairs of a single family, than from studied historical composition. The one is the expression of cotemporary and spontaneous feeling, and, although limited, is unquestionably genuine; the other is a deduction from knowledge, imperfect even when most extensive, and too frequently coloured by the feelings and prejudices of a subsequent and altered period."

But, valuable as are the materials which the liberality of Sir Harry Verney has placed at the disposal of the Society, it is obvious that they are of a nature which a publisher might hesitate to produce, even if their owner, which is very doubtful, had thought fit to place them in the hands of one for that purpose. Hence the utility of a society which has influence to draw from the muniment rooms of our old families, such materials as those found in the present volume, and which, strung together with the agreeable and instructive narrative with which Mr. Bruce has accompanied them, will secure for the _Verney Papers_ the character of being one of the very best, as well as of the most amusing books, which the Camden Society has given to the world. {442}

Having had an opportunity of being present at the private view of Messrs. De la Motte and Cundall's _Photographic Institution_, in New Bond Street, we were highly pleased with the interesting specimens of the art there collected, which in our opinion far exceed any similar productions which have come before the public. We strongly advise our readers to visit this exhibition, that they may see the rapid progress which the art is making, and how applicable it is to their archaeological pursuits.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_The Vale Royal of England, or the County Palatine of Chester Illustrated. Abridged and revised, &c._, by Thomas Hughes. The title-page of this little volume puts forth its claim to the attention of Cheshire antiquaries.--_The Family Shakspeare_, by Thomas Bowdler, Vol. VI. This volume completes this handsome reprint of an edition of Shakspeare, which fathers and brothers, who may scruple at bringing before their daughters and sisters the blemishes which the character of the age has left in Shakspeare's writings, may safely present to them; as in it nothing is added to the original text, from which only those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

TILLOTSON. Vols. I., II., IV., V., XI. 12mo. Tonson, London, 1748.

LIVY. Vol I. 12mo. Maittaire, London, 1722.

ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. Vols. I., II., III., IV., V., XIX., XX. 5s. each. The above in Parts or Monthly Numbers will do.

THE AVIARY, OR MAGAZINE OF BRITISH MELODY.

A COLLECTION OF DIVERTING SONGS, AIRS, &c.: Both published about the middle of last century.

CHURCHMAN'S SHEET ALMANAC: all the Years.

GRETTON'S INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLATION, &c. Part II.

VIEWS OF ARUNDEL HOUSE IN THE STRAND, 1646. London, published by T. Thane, Rupert Street, Haymarket. 1792.

PARKER'S GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURE. 2nd Edition.

PICKERING'S STATUTES AT LARGE. 8vo. Edit. Camb. From 46 Geo. III. cap. 144. (Vol. XLVI. Part I.) to 1 Wm. IV.

EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. Nos. for May, 1817; January, February, May, June, 1818; April, June, July, October, and December, 1819.

STANHOPE'S PARAPHRASE OF EPISTLES AND GOSPELS. London, 1732. Vols. III. and IV.

THE LAWYER AND MAGISTRATE'S MAGAZINE, complete, or single Volumes, _circa_ 1805-1810.

TODD'S CYCLOPAEDIA OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

PHELPS' HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF SOMERSETSHIRE. Part 4., and Parts 9. to end.

BAYLE'S DICTIONARY. English Version, by DE MAIZEAUX. London, 1738. Vols. I. and II.

SWIFT'S (DEAN) WORKS. Dublin: G. Faulkner. 19 volumes 1768. Vol. I.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Vol. I. and II.

ARCHAEOLOGIA. Vols. III., IV., V., VII. Boards.

MARTYN'S PLANTAE CANTABRIGIENSES. 12mo. London, 1763.

*** _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.

* * * * *

Notices to Correspondents.

_Owing to a necessity for going to press this week at an unusually early period, that the present Number might be included in the Monthly Part, we are compelled to omit replies to many Correspondents._

L. A. M. (Great Yarmouth) _will find several Notes respecting the means of discovering the bodies of the drowned in our_ 4th Vol., pp. 148. 251. 297.

H. O. N. (Brighton). _In our own practice we have never obtained pictures with the agreeable colour which is produced by the iodide of silver, when iodide of ammonium has been used. The flaking of the collodion would indicate an excess of iodide, and is often cured by the addition of about twenty drops of alcohol to an ounce of collodion. The feathery appearance is difficult to comprehend, without seeing a specimen. If you are using glass which has been previously used, the most minute remains of iron would cause a discoloration. Muriatic acid is the most effectual remedy for cleaning glass so used. It may be procured at_ 21/2d. _per lb., and should be diluted with three parts of water._

AN AMATEUR (Oxford). _We are not of opinion that Mr. Talbot could restrain any one from taking collodion portraits, as patentee of the Talbotype process. It is done in many parts of London daily without any permission.--See _Times'_ Advertisements, &c._

C. E. F. _We think you use too strong a solution of the ammonio-nitrate of silver: thirty grains to the ounce of water, and then redissolved with the strong liq. ammon., give to us most satisfactory result,--the paper being prepared before with chloride of barium, chloride of sodium, and chloride of ammonia, of each half a drachm to the quart of water, in which half an ounce of mannite, or sugar of milk, has been previously dissolved. When sufficiently printed, put it into the hypo. sulph. solution, without previous immersion._

H. L. L. _We shall be happy to render you the best assistance we can, if you will communicate with us again. For iodized paper we may safely refer you to our advertising columns._

_A few complete sets of_ "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vols. i. _to_ vi., _price Three Guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._

"NOTES AND QUERIES" _is published at noon on Friday, so that the Country Booksellers may receive Copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their Subscribers on the Saturday._

* * * * *

NEW ACHROMATIC MICROSCOPES on MR. PRITCHARD'S construction, Micrometers, Polarizing Apparatus, Object glasses, and Eye-pieces. S. STRAKER supplies any of the above of the first quality, and will forward by post free a new priced List of Microscopes and Apparatus.

162. FLEET STREET, LONDON.

* * * * *

PURE NERVOUS or MIND COMPLAINTS.--if the readers of NOTES AND QUERIES, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, REV. DR. WILLIS MOSELEY, who, out of above 22,000 applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--At home from 11 to 3.

18. BLOOMSBURY STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE.

* * * * *