Chapter 2

It is only by minute local knowledge that many places can be verified, and with the view of eliciting from others the result of their investigations, I send you my humble contribution of corrections of places known to myself.

Bemtún, 940. Bampton, Oxon. Bleódon, 587, 1182. Bleadon, Somerset. Bóclond, 1050. Buckland, Berks. Brixges stán, 813. Brixton, Surrey. Ceomina lacu, 714. Chimney, Oxon. Ceommenige, 940. Idem. Cingestún, 1268, 1276, 1277. Kingston Bagpuxe, Berks. Cingtuninga gemære, 1221. Idem. Colmenora, 1283. Cumnor, Berks. Crócgelád, 1305. Cricklade, Wilts. Dúnnestreátún, 136. Dunster, Somerset. Esstune, 940. Aston-in-Bampton, Oxon. Fifhidan, 546, 1206. Fyfield, Berks. Hearge, 220. Harrow-on-the-Hill. Hengestesige, 556. Hinksey, Berks. Leoie, 1255. Bessil's-leigh, Berks. Monninghæma díc, 645. Monnington, Herefordshire. Osulfe's Lea, 404, is in Suffolk, or near it. Pipmynster, 774, &c., probably Pippingminster, Somerset. Scypford, 714. Shifford, Oxon. Scuccanhláu, 161, is in Berks. Tubbanford, 1141, 1255. Tubney, Berks. Whétindún, 363. Whatindon, Surrey. Wenbeorg, 1053. Wenbury, Devon. Wænríc 775, and Wenrise, 556, is the River Windrush. Wícham (Wítham), 116, 214, 775. Witham, Berks. Wyttanig, 556. Witney, Oxon. Wurðe, Wyrðe, Weorthe, Weorthig, 208, 1171, 1212, 1221. Longworth, Berks. Worth, Wurthige, 743, 1121. Worth, Hants.

The following are omitted:

Hanlee, 310. Helig, 465. Pendyfig, 427. Stanford, 1301. Stanford, Kent. Stánlége, 1255. Standlake, Oxon. Ðestinctun, 805. Welingaford, 1154. Wallingford, Berks. Wanhæminga, 1135.

B. WILLIAMS.

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INEDITED LETTER.

August 24th, 1690, Qu. Coll. Oxon.

Dear S^r,

I heartily thank you for the favour of your letter, and to shew itt will not fail to write as often as anything does occurr worth sending, if you think the accountt I give not troublesome. Dr. Adams, Dr. Rudston, and Delaune have promis'd to write this post: we remembred you both before and after your letters came w^{th} S^r John Matthews, who staid here 3 nights this weeke. Our militia is gone home cloath'd in Blew coates but many coxcombs of this city have refused to pay their quota towards the buying of them, railing against my L^d Abington, who has smooth'd the mob by giving a brace of Bucks last Friday in Port Meed. J. M. has bin expected here this fortnight: the Lady that calls herselfe by his nane has bin a good while at Astrop, and has discover'd her displeasure there, that her husband as shee calls him keeps the coach so long from her at Oxford: upon hearing of w^{ch} S^r W. H. in a blunt way gave her the old name, w^{ch} caus'd some dissatisfaction and left her smal acquaintance: I heare that the understanding between our Friend and his uncle is not so good as formerly, but I do not think it will end in Abdication. Mr. Painter is admitted Rector of Exeter. The _Naked Gospel_[3] was burnt on y^e 19th in the Scholes Quadrangle. The Regents first drew up a Petition to have it censured; then some others more busy than wise tooke upon them to gett it subscribed, and went to coffee houses and taverns as well as colleges for that purpose: these proceedings being ag^{st} statute, and reflecting upon the vice ch., gave great offence; at last he call'd a meeting of y^e {474} heads of houses, who deputed 6 to examine it: they pick'd several Proposit. w^{ch} were read. The sentence was in this form: Propositions &^c tanqu[=a] falsas et impias in Chris. Relig. et in Ecc. præcipue Anglican[=a] contumeliosas damnamus, plerasq; insuper hæreticas esse decernimus et declaramus, &^c. This was first subscribed by all y^e heads of Coll. and then condemn'd unanimously in a full convocation. The Decree is printed, but is too large to send. The Author of y^e Booke has sent about a soft vindication of himselfe, that he is unwilling to be accounted a Socinian, &c. If I can gett a sight of it I will send you the contents. I do not know how far you are in the right about guessing at a Bursar: Tim. seems resolv'd to act according to y^e song; but I to shew good nature even w^{th}out a tree have promis'd to make him a Dial: and when that's done I will doe y^e like at Astrop. I am

Your very humble serv^t, W. R.

If you see Coll. Byerly, give my service to him.

Directed thus: These to George Clark, Esq., Secretary of War in Ireland.

By y^e way of London.

Indorsed: W. Rooke, Rec^d at Tipperary, Sept. 7th.

[Footnote 3: [For some account of this work, by Arthur Bury, and the controversy respecting it, see Wood's _Athenæ_, edit. Bliss, vol. i. p. 483. William Rooke, the Writer of the letter, was of Queen's College; made B.A., May 16, 1674; M.A., Oct. 30, 1677; B.D., April 12, 1690.--ED.]]

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A SHAKSPERIAN BOOK.

"There exists," says Mr. John Wilson, "as it were a talismanic influence in regard to the most trivial circumstances connected with Shakspeare," and yet this enthusiast has not, in his _Shaksperiana_, alluded to the dramatic works of Mary Hornby, written under, and dated from, the _dear_ old roof at Stratford-upon-Avon!

It was my late good fortune, after filling my pockets from the twopenny boxes of the suburban bookstalls, to find, on turning out the heterogeneous contents, that I had accidentally become possessed of _The Broken Vow_, a comedy by the aforesaid lady, who waits to be enrolled in that much wanted book, a new edition of the _Biographia Dramatica_. This _Broken Bow_ which looks like a re-cooking of the _Merry Miller_ of Thomas Sadler, 1766, bears to be "printed at Stratford-upon-Avon, for the Author, by W. Barnacle, 1820." Mary Hornby, following the example of the _preoccupier of the butcher's shop_, tries her hand at both tragedy and comedy; in the first line she stands charged with the perpetration of _The Battle of Waterloo_, which, I doubt not, rivalled its original enactment in its _sanguinary_ character. I have not been lucky enough to fall in with this, which was a _hit_; our fair authoress, in her preface to the comedy under notice, modestly attributing its great success more to the kindness of her friends than to its literary merit.

Mrs. Hornby sustains the dignity of the drama by adhering to her five acts, with prologue and epilogue according to prescription. Looking to the prologue for the _who_, the _why_, and the _wherefore_, I am sorry to say I find no materials for the concoction of a biographical note; upon the second point, the _why_, she tells us:

"When women teem, be it with bad or good, They must bring forth--forsooth 'tis right they should, But to produce a bantling of the brain, Hard is the task, and oft the labour vain."

That her literary _accouchement_ should not be a failure, she further says:

"Lord, how I've bother'd all the gods and graces, Who patronize _some_ mortals, in such cases."

I take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate her predecessor, the ancient occupier of the tenement, who certainly was a _protégé_ of the said parties.

Mrs. Hornby then goes on to relate how that during her _gestation_ she invoked Apollo, Thalia, and Erato:

"Soon they arrived, with Hermes at their side, By Jove commission'd, as their friend and guide. But when the mirth-inspiring dames stepp'd o'er The sacred threshold of _great Shakspeare's door_, The heav'nly guests, _who came to laugh with me_, Oppress'd with grief, wept with _Melpomene_; Bow'd pensive o'er the Bard of Nature's tomb, Dropt a sad tear, then left me to my doom!"

I leave the reader to judge for himself whether the Muses really "came to laugh" with Mary Hornby, or whether, under the belief of the immortality of our Bard, they did not rather expect a pleasant _soirée_ with Gentle Will, and naturally enough went off in a huff when they found themselves inveigled into a tea-party at Mrs. Hornby's.

Mr. Wilson, in the work above quoted, does condescend to notice Mrs. Hornby,--

"Who rented the butcher's shop under the chamber in which the poet was born, and kept the _Shaksperian Album_, an interesting record of the visitors to that shrine. Some of the subscribers having given vent to original stanzas suggested by the scene, those effusions," continues the lofty bookseller, "_the female in question_ caused to be inscribed and printed in a small pamphlet, which she sells to strangers."

Not a word, you will see, about the poet's mantle having descended upon the shoulders of our Mary,--which was unpolite of him, seeing that both the tragedy and comedy had the precedence of his book by some years. Not having before me the later history of Shakspeare's house, I am unable to say whether our subject deserved more consideration and gallant treatment at the hands of MR. COLLIER, when he and his colleagues came into possession.

J. O.

{475}

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Shakspeare's Monument._--When I was a young man, some thirty or forty years ago, I visited the monument of Shakspeare, in the beautiful church of Stratford-upon-Avon, and there copied, from the Album which is kept for the names of visitors, the following lines:

"Stranger! to whom this monument is shown, Invoke the poet's curse upon Malone! Whose meddling zeal his barbarous taste displays, And smears his tombstone, as he marr'd his plays. R. F. Oct. 2, 1810."

This has just now been brought to my mind by reading, in page 155. of the second volume of Moore's Journal, the following account of a conversation at Bowood:

"Talked of Malone--a dull man--his whitewashing the statue of Shakspeare, at Leamington or Stratford (?), and General Fitzpatrick's (Lord L.'s uncle) epigram on the subject--very good--

'And smears his statue as he mars his lays.'"

I cannot but observe that the doubt expressed in the Diary of Moore--whether Shakspeare's monument is "at Leamington or Stratford (?)"--is curious, and I conceive my version of the last line, besides being more correct, is also more pithy. It is incorrect, moreover, to call it a _statue_, as it is a three-quarters bust in a niche in the wall.

The extract from _Moore's Diary_, however, satisfactorily explains the initials "R. F.," which have hitherto puzzled me.

SENEX.

_Archbishop Leighton and Pope: Curious Coincidence of Thought and Expression._--

"Were the true visage of sin seen at a full light, undressed and unpainted, it were impossible, while it so appeared, that any one soul could be in love with it, but would rather flee from it as hideous and abominable."--Leighton's _Works_, vol. i. p. 121.

Vice is a monster of such hideous mien, As to be hated, needs but to be seen."--_Pope._

JAMES CORNISH.

_Grant of Slaves._--I send you a copy of a grant of a slave with his children, by William, the Lion King of Scotland, to the monks of Dunfermline, taken from the _Cart. de Dunfermline_, fol. 13., printed by the Bannatyne Club from a MS. in the Advocates' Library here, which you may, perhaps, think curious enough to insert in "N. & Q."

"De Servis.

"Willielmus Dei gracia Rex Scottorum. Omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre me, clericis et laicis, salutem: Sciant presentis et futuri me dedisse et concessisse et hac carta mea confirmasse, Deo et ecclesie Sancte Trinitatis de Dunfermlene et Abbati et Monachis ibidem, Deo servientibus in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam, Gillandream Macsuthen et ejus liberos et illos eis quietos clamasse, de me, et heredibus meis, in perpetuum. Testibus Waltero de Bid, Cancellario; Willielmo filio Alani, Dapifero; Roberto Aveneli Gillexio Rennerio, Willielmo Thoraldo, apud Strivelin."

G. H. S.

Edinburgh.

_Sealing-wax._--The most careful persons will occasionally drop melting sealing-wax on their fingers. The first impulse of every one is to pull it off, which is followed by a blister. The proper course is to let the wax cool on the finger; the pain is much less, and there is no blister.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

* * * * *

Queries.

WALMER CASTLE.

In Hasted's _History of Kent_, vol. iv. p. 172., folio edition, we have as follows:

"Walmer, probably so called _quasi vallum maris_, i. e. the wall or fortification made against the sea, was expressed to have been a member of the port of Sandwich time out of mind," &c.

Again, p. 165., note _m_, we find:

"Before these three castles were built, there were, between Deal and Walmer Castle, two eminences of earth, called 'The Great and Little Bulwark;' and another, between the north end of Deal and Sandwich Castle (all of which are now remaining): and there was probably one about the middle of the town, and others on the spots where the castles were erected. They had embrasures for guns, and together formed a defensive line of batteries along that part of the coast," &c.

To the new building of these castles Leland alludes, in his _Cygnea Cantio_:

"Jactat Dela novas celebris arces Notus Cæsareis locus trophæis."--Ver. 565.

There are clear remains of a Roman entrenchment close to Walmer Castle. (See _Hasted_, vol. iv. p. 162., notes.)

Any of your correspondents who could give me any information tending to show that an old fortification had existed on the site of Walmer Castle, previous to the erection of the present edifice--or even _almost_ upon the same site--would do me a very great kindness if he would communicate it, through the columns of "N. & Q.," or by a private letter sent to the Editor.

C. WAYMOR.

* * * * *

SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.

Can any of your readers throw any light on this passage in Dr. Johnson's _Life of Sir John Denham_?

"He [Sir John Denham] now resided in France, as one of the followers of the exiled king; and, to divert {476} the melancholy of their condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional verses; one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the Embassy to Poland, by which he and Lord Crofts procured a contribution of ten thousand pounds from the Scotch, that wandered over that kingdom. Poland was at that time very much frequented by itinerant traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent, where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want, and very troublesome to fetch. I have formerly read, without much reflection, of the multitude of Scotchmen that travelled with their wares in Poland; and that their numbers were not small, the success of this negociation gives sufficient evidence."

The title of Denham's poem is "On my Lord Crofts' and my journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000l. for his Majesty by the decimation of his Scottish subjects there."

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

* * * * *

BISHOP JUXON AND WALTON'S POLYGLOTT BIBLE.

In the library at this island, which formerly belonged to the Knights of Malta, there is an edition of Walton's Polyglott Bible, which was published in London in 1657. This work is in a most perfect state of preservation.

On the title-page of the first of the eleven volumes, there is written, in a bold and perfectly legible manner, the following words:

"Liber Coll. Di Joannis Bapt^a Oxon Ex dono Reverendiss. in Xt^o Patris Gvil^i Jvxon Archiep. Cantvariensis. A^o D^{ni} 1663."

Just below, but on the right of the above, there is written in a clear hand as follows:

"Ex Libris domus Abbatialis S. Antonij Viennensis, Catalogo Inscript an. 1740. No. 11."

That the question which I shall ask at the end of this Note may be the more easily answered, it will perhaps be necessary for me to state, that in the year 1777, Rohan, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, succeeded in annexing the property belonging to the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna to that of Malta. In accepting of these estates, which were situated in France and Savoy, Rohan bound himself to pay the many mortgages and debts with which they were encumbered; and so large an amount had to be thus defrayed, that for a hundred years the convent would not be reimbursed for its advances, and receive the 120,000 livres, at which sum their annual rental would then be valued. Of the foundation of this Order a recent writer (Thornton) thus remarks:

"In 1095 some nobles of Dauphiny united for the relief of sufferers from a kind of leprosy called St. Anthony's fire, which society, in 1218, was erected into a religious body of Hospitallers, having a grand master for chief. This order, after many changes in its constitution, having been left the option between extinction and secularisation, or union with another order, accepted the latter alternative, and selected that of St. John of Jerusalem."

Among the moveable effects which came to the Knights of Malta by this arrangement, was a small and well-selected library, and in it this edition of Walton's Bible.

Without, therefore, writing more at length on this subject, which might take up too much space in "N. & Q.," I would simply add, that my attention was called to this work by the Rev. Mr. Howe, chaplain of H.B.M. ship "Britannia," and for the purpose of asking, At what time, by whom, and in what manner, were these volumes removed from St. John's College at Oxford, and transferred to the library of the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna in France?

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Was Andrew Marvell poisoned?_--I have just been reading the three ponderous quarto volumes comprising _The Works_ of Andrew Marvell, as collected and edited by his townsman, Capt. Edward Thompson of Hull. In the "Life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot died on Aug. 16, 1678, "and by poison for he was healthful and vigorous to the moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." And again, in a summary of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot virtues were insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical machinations of the _state_; for what vice and bribery could not influence, was perpetrated by poison." This heinous crime, so formally averred against the enemies of Marvell, may have been committed by "some person or persons unknown;" but, as not a tittle of evidence is adduced or indicated by the zealous biographer in support of the charge--Query, had it any foundation in fact? In the court, and out of the court, the anti-popish, anti-prelatical Puritan had enemies numerous and bitter enough; but is there really any other ground for the abominable imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond his actually sudden death? Is the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date of Marvell's demise? If so, was there any official inquiry--any "crowner's quest?" Surely his admiring compatriots on the banks of the Humber did not at once quietly sit down with the conviction, that _thus_ "fell one of the first characters of this kingdom or of any other."

H.

_Anonymous Pamphlet by Dr. Wallis_ (Vol. vii., p. 403.).--Will MR. CROSSLEY have the kindness to give the title of the anonymous pamphlet which, he informs us, was published by Dr. John Wallis {477} in defence of the Oxford decree of 1695, on the subject of the Trinity?

TYRO.

Dublin.

_Mrs. Cobb's Diary._--Can any of your readers give me any information as to the following book, _Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb_: London, printed by C. and R. Baldwin, 1805, 8vo., pp. 324.; said to be _privately printed_?

JOHN MARTIN.

Roxfield, Bedfordshire.

_Compass Flower._--

"Look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from the meadow-- See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet; It is the compass flower, that the finger of God has suspended Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's journey Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert." _Evangeline_, Part II. IV. line 140., &c.

Where can I find a description of this flower, and what is its scientific name?

In Abercrombie's _Intellectual Powers_, p. 49. edit. 1846, I find the following passage:

"The American hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by attention to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate to him the points of the compass."

Can any one tell me what these "minute appearances" are?

A. H. BATTIER.

East Sheen, Surrey.

_Nuns of the Hotel Dieu._--What is the religions habit of the nuns at the hospital of the Hotel Dieu in Paris at the present day?

M. L.

_Purlieu._--Some of your correspondents seem afraid that an attempt to repair the deficiencies of our English dictionaries, by research into disputed etymologies in "N. & Q.," would tend to produce too much and too tedious discussion, and fill its space too much. Could _this_, at least, not be done without much objection? Could we not co-operate in finding the earliest known mention of words, and thus perhaps trace the occasion and manner of their introduction?

At any rate, this word _purlieu_ is certainly in want of some examination. Johnson has adopted the wretched etymology of _pur_, Fr. for pure, and _lieu_, Fr. for place; and he defines it as a place on the outskirts of a forest free of wood.

The earliest record in which this word occurs, so far as I have seen, is in an act of Edward III., quoted by Manwood, and it is there spelt _puraley_; and it relates to the disafforested parts which several preceding kings permitted to be detached from their royal forests.

Might I ask if any of your correspondents find an earlier use of the word; and can it be gifted with a probable paternity?

The tracing of the earliest known mention of disputed words is a task capable of being finished, and might perhaps be attended, in many cases, with happy results. It would rid us probably of many puerilities which degrade our current dictionaries.

M. C. E.

_Jennings Family._--Some time since I requested as a great favour that your correspondent PERCURIOSUS would kindly inform me where I could get a sight of the Spoure MSS. I repeat that I should feel greatly obliged if he would do so: and as this is of no public interest, I send postage envelope, in the event of PERCURIOSUS obliging me with the desired information.

J. JENNINGS-G.

_Latimer's Brothers-in-Law._--In Bishop Latimer's first sermon, preached before King Edward VI., we find the quaint martyr-bishop magnifying the paternal prudence for having suitably "married his sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles, apiece;" but neither the editors of the sermon, nor the writers of several biographical notices of Latimer consulted by me, and in which the extract appears, give any account of the fortunate gentlemen whom the generous parent thus doubly blessed with his twofold treasure.

Can you, or any of your readers, oblige by furnishing the _names_ of Bishop Latimer's brothers-in-law, or by giving some references or brief account of them?

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