Chapter 2

Now, was an _Ultagh_ an Irish usurer or money-lender? Your correspondent at page 332. requests information respecting Roger Outlaw. Sir William Betham, in a note to the "Proceedings against Dame Alice Ugteler," the famous pseudo-Kilkenny witch, remarks that "the family of Utlagh were seated in Dublin, and filled several situations in the corporation." Utlagh and Outlaw are the same surnames. The named Utlagh also occurs in the Calendar of Printed Irish Patent Rolls. William Utlagh, or Outlaw, was a _banker_ and _money-lender_ in Kilkenny, in the days of Edward I. He was the first husband of the witch, and brother of Friar Roger Outlaw. In favour of the latter, who was Prior of Kilmainham, near Dublin, a mandamus, dated 10 Edw. II., was issued for arrears due to him since he was "justice and chancellor, and even lieutenant of the justiciary, as well in the late king's time as of the present king's." He was appointed Lord Justice, or deputy to the Lord Lieutenant, by patent dated Mar. 15, 9 Edw. III.

Many of the Irish records having been lost, your correspondent will do an obliging service in pointing out the repository of the discovered roll. Perhaps steps might be taken for its restoration.

H.

[The following communication from our valued correspondent, the REV. H. T. ELLACOMBE, affords at once a satisfactory reply to H's Query, and a proof of the utility of "N. & Q."]

_Roger Outlawe_ (Vol. vii., p. 559.).--Thanks to ANON. and others for their information.

As for "in viiij mense," I cannot understand it: I copied it as it was sent to me. B. Etii was an error of the press for R. Etii, but I purposely avoided noticing it, because my very first communication on the subject to "N. & Q.," under my own name and address, opened a very pleasing correspondence, which has since led to the restoration of these Irish documents to their congeners among the public records in Dublin; a gentleman having set out most chivalrously from that city at his own cost to recover them, and I am happy to say he has succeeded; and in the _English Quarterly Magazine_ there will soon appear, I believe, an account of the documents in question. It would not, therefore, become me to give in this place the explanation which has been kindly communicated to me as to the meaning of the last conquest of Ireland; but I have no doubt it will be explained in the _English Quarterly_.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Burial in an erect Posture._--In the north transept of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxon, the burial-place of the Harcourt family, is a circular slab of blue marble in the pavement, in which is inlaid a shield of brass bearing the arms of Harcourt,--two bars, dimidiated with those of Beke; the latter, when entire, forming a cros ancree. The brass is not engraved, but forms the outline of the shield and arms. It is supposed to be the monument of Sir John, son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke, who died 1330. (See extracts from Lord Harcourt's "Account," in the _Oxford Architectural Guide_, p. 178.) Tradition relates, if my memory does not mislead me, that the knight was buried beneath this stone in an erect posture, but assigns no reason for this peculiarity. Is the probability of this being the case supported by any, and what instances? Or does the legend merely owe its existence to the circular form of the stone? {6} I think that its diameter is about two feet. If MR. FRASER has not met with the information already, he may be interested, with reference to his Query on "Dimidiation" (Vol. vii., p. 548.), in learning that the above mentioned Margaret was daughter and coheiress of John Lord Beke of Eresby, who by his will, made the 29th of Edw. I., devised the remainder of his arms to be divided between Sir Robert de Willoughby and Sir John de Harcourt. And this may lead to the farther Query, whether dimidiation was originally or universally resorted to in the case of coheiresses?

CHEVERELLS.

_The Archbishop of Armagh's Cure for the Gout_, 1571.--Extracted from a letter from Thomas Lancaster, Archbishop of Armagh, to Lord Burghley, dated from Dublin, March 25, 1571:--

"I am sorofull for that yo^r honor is greved w^{th} the goute, from the w^{ch} I beseche Almighty God deliver you, and send you health; and yf (it) shall please y^r honor to prove a medicen for the same w^{ch} I brought owt of Duchland, and have eased many w^{th} it, I trust in God it shall also do you good, and this it is. Take ij spaniel whelpes of ij dayes olde, scald them, and cause the entrells betaken out, but wash them not. Take 4 ounces brymstone, 4 ounces torpentyn, 1 ounce parmacete, a handfull nettells, and a quantyte of oyle of balme, and putt all the aforesayd in them stamped, and sowe them up and rost them, and take the dropes and anoynt you wheare your grefe is, and by God's grace yo^r honor shall fynd helpe."--_From the Original in the State Paper Office._

SPES.

_The last known Survivor of General Wolfe's Army in Canada._--In a recent number of the _Montreal Herald_, mention is made of more than twenty persons whose ages exceed one hundred years. The editor remarks that--

"The most venerable patriarch now in Canada is Abraham Miller, who resides in the township of Grey, and is 115 years old. In 1758 he scaled the cliffs of Quebec with General Wolfe, so that his residence in Canada is coincident with British rule in the province. He is attached to the Indians, and lives in all respects like them."

W. W.

Malta.

_National Methods of Applauding._--Clapping with the hands is going out of use in the United States, and stamping with the feet is taking its place. When Mr. Combe was lecturing on phrenology at the Museum building in Philadelphia twelve or thirteen years ago, he and his auditors were much annoyed by the _pedal_ applause of a company in the room above, who were listening to the concerts of a negro band. Complaint was made to the authorities of the Museum Society; but the answer was, that nothing could be done, as stamping of the feet was "the national method of applauding."

The crying of "hear him! hear him!" during the delivery of a speech, is not in use in the United States, as an English gentleman discovered who settled here a few years ago. He attended a meeting of the members of the church to which he had attached himself, and hearing something said that pleased him, he cried out "hear him! hear him!" Upon which the sexton came over to him, and told him that, unless he kept himself quiet, he would be under the necessity of turning him out of church.

M. E.

Philadelphia.

_Curious Posthumous Occurrence._--If the following be true, though in ever so limited a manner, it deserves investigation. Notwithstanding his twenty-three years' experience, the worthy grave-digger must have been mistaken, unless there is something peculiar in the bodies of Bath people! But if the face turns down in any instance, as asserted, it would be right to ascertain the cause, and why this change is not general. It is now above twenty years since the paragraph appeared in the London papers:--

"A correspondent in the _Bath Herald_ states the following singular circumstance:--'Having occasion last week to inspect a grave in one of the parishes of this city, in which two or three members of a family had been buried some years since, and which lay in very wet ground, I observed that the upper part of the coffin was rotted away, and had left the head and bones of the skull exposed to view. On inquiring of the grave-digger how it came to pass that I did not observe the usual sockets of the eyes in the skull, he replied that what I saw was the hind part of the head (termed the _occiput_, I believe, by anatomists), and that the face was turned, as usual, to the earth!!--Not exactly understanding his phrase 'as usual,' I inquired if the body had been buried with the face upwards, as in the ordinary way; to which he replied to my astonishment, in the affirmative, adding, that in the course of decomposition the face of every individual turns to the earth!! and that, in the experience of three-and-twenty years in his situation, he had never known more than one instance to the contrary.'"

A. B. C.

* * * * *

Queries.

DID CAPTAIN COOK FIRST DISCOVER THE SANDWICH ISLANDS?

In a French atlas, dated 1762, in my possession, amongst the numerous non-existing islands laid down in the map of the Pacific, and the still more numerous cases of omission inevitable at so early a period of Polynesian discovery, there is inserted an island styled "I. St. Francois," or "I. S. Francisco," which lies in {7} about 20deg N. and 224deg E. from the meridian of Ferro, and, of course, almost exactly in the situation of Owhyhee. That this large and lofty group may have been seen by some other voyager long before, is far from improbable; but, beyond a question, Cooke was the first to visit, describe, and lay them down correctly in our maps. Professor Meyen, however, as quoted in Johnston's _Physical Atlas_, mentions these islands in terms which would almost lead one to suppose that he, the Professor, considered them to have been known to the Spaniards in Anson's time or earlier, and that they had been regular calling places for the galleons in those days! It is difficult to conceive such a man capable of such a mistake; but if he did not suppose them to have been discovered before Cook's voyage in 1778, his words are singularly calculated to deceive the reader on that point.

J. S. WARDEN.

* * * * *

SUPERSTITION OF THE CORNISH MINERS.

MR. KINGSLEY records a superstition of the Cornish miners, which I have not seen noted elsewhere. In reply to the question, "What are the _Knockers_?" Tregarva answers:

"They are _the ghosts_, the miners hold, _of the Old Jews that crucified our Lord, and were sent for slaves by the Roman emperors to work the mines_: and we find their old smelting-houses, which we call _Jews' houses_, and their blocks of the bottom of the great bogs, which we call _Jews' tin_: and then, a town among us, too, which we call _Market Jew_, but the old name was _Marazion_, that means the Bitterness of Zion, they tell me; and bitter work it was for them no doubt, poor souls! We used to break into the old shafts and adits which they had made, and find old stags-horn pickaxes, that crumbled to pieces when we brought them to grass. And they say that if a man will listen of a still night about those old shafts, he may hear the ghosts of them at working, knocking, and picking, as clear as if there was a man at work in the next level."--_Yeast; a Problem_: Lond. 1851, p. 255.

Miners, as a class, are peculiarly susceptible of impressions of the unseen world, and the superstitions entertained by them in different parts of the world would form a curious volume. Is there any work on Cornish folk lore which alludes to this superstition respecting the Jews? It would be useless, I dare say, to consult Carew, or Borlase; besides, I have not them by me.

Apropos to Cornish matters, a dictionary with a very tempting title was advertised for publication two or three years ago:

"Geslevar Cernewac, a Dictionary of the Cornish Dialect of the Cymraeg or ancient British Language, in which the words are elucidated by numerous examples from the Cornish works now remaining, with translations in English: and the synonyms in Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, so as to form a Celtic Lexicon. By the Rev. Robert Williams, M.A., Oxon., to be published in one vol. 4to. price 31s. 6d."

When shall we see this desirable lexicon? I was reminded of it the other day by hearing of the subscriptions on foot for the publication of the great Irish dictionary, which the eminent Irish scholars Messrs. O'Donovan and Curry have had in hand for many years.

EIRIONNACH.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Clerical Duel._--I shall be obliged to any correspondent who will supply the name of the courtier referred to in the following anecdote, which is to be found in Burckhardt's _Kirchen-Geschichte der Deutschen Gemeinden in London_, Tub. 1798, p. 77.

Anton Wilhelm Boehme, who came over as chaplain with Prince George of Denmark, officiated at the German Chapel, St. James's, from the year 1705 to 1722. He was a favourite of Queen Anne, and a friend of Isaac Watts. On one occasion he preached against adultery in a way which gave great offence to one of the courtiers present, who conceived that a personal attack on himself was intended. He accordingly sent a challenge to the preacher, which was without hesitation accepted; and at the time and place appointed the chaplain made his appearance in full canonicals, with his Bible in his hand, and gave the challenger a lecture which led to their reconciliation and friendship.

I should like also to know whether there is any other authority for the story than that which I leave quoted.

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester

_Pistol._--What is the date of the original introduction of this word into our vocabulary in either of the senses in which it is equivocally used by Falstaff in 1 _Henry IV._, Act. V. Sc. 3.? In the sense of fire-arms, pistols seem to have been unknown by that name as late as the year 1541; for the stat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6., after reciting the murders, &c. committed "with cross-bows, little short hand-guns, and little hagbuts," prohibits the possession of "any hand-gun other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of one whole yard, or any hagbut or demihake other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of three quarters of one yard." But throughout the act there is no mention of the word "pistol."

J. F. M.

_Council of Laodicca, Canon 35._--Can any of your readers inform me whether, in any early work on the Councils, the word _angelos_ is in the text, without having _angulos_ in the margin? If so, oblige me by stating the editions.

CLERICUS (D).

{8}

_Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth._--The Bath and West of England Agricultural Society held their recent annual meeting here. Will any of your correspondents oblige me with the derivation of this remarkable word?

R. H. B.

_Park the Antiquary._--In a note to the third volume (p. lxxiii.) of the _Grenville Correspondence_ the following passage: "Barker has printed a second note, which Junius is supposed to have written to Garrick, upon the authority of Park the antiquary, _who states_ that he found it in a _cotemporary newspaper_," &c. This is not strictly correct. Barker says (p. 190.), "The letter was found in a copy of Junius belonging to [Query, which _had_ belonged to?] T. Park, &c. He had [Query, it is presumed?] cut it out of a newspaper; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish the date of the newspaper." [Query, How then known to be cotemporary?] The difference is important; but where is the copy containing this letter? By whom has it been seen? By whom and when first discovered? Where did Barker find the story recorded? When and where first printed?

P. T. A.

_Honorary D.C.L.'s._--It was mentioned in a report of proceedings at the late Installation, that the two _royal personages_ honoured with degrees, having been doctored by diploma, would be entitled to vote in Convocation,--a privilege not possessed by the common tribe of honorary D.C.L.'s.

Can you inform me whether Dr. Johnson had, or ever exercised, the right referred to in virtue of his M.A. degree (conferred on the publication of the _Dictionary_), or of the higher academical dignity to which his name has given such a world-wide celebrity?

CANTABRIGIENSIS.

_Battle of Villers en Couche._--Some of your correspondents, better versed than myself in military matters, will doubtless render me assistance by replying to this Query. Where can I find a copious and accurate account of the battle, or perhaps I should rather say skirmish, of Villers en Couche? If I am rightly informed, it must be one of the most remarkable actions on record, when the comparative numbers of the troops engaged are taken into consideration. We have, as an heirloom in our family, a medal won by an officer on that occasion: it is suspended from a red and white ribbon, and is inscribed thus:

"FORTITUDINE VILLERS EN COUCHE. 24th APRIL, 1794."

I do not remember to have read any account of the battle; but, as I have heard from the lips of one who gained his information from the officer before alluded to, the particulars were these:--General Mansell, with a force consisting of two squadrons of the 15th Hussars, and one squadron of the German Legion, _two hundred and seventy-two_ in all, charged a body of the French army, _ten thousand_ strong. The French were formed in a hollow square: but five times, as I am informed, did our gallant troops charge into and out of the square, till the French, struck with a sudden panic, retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. I am desirous of authenticating this almost incredible account, and shall be thankful for such information as may guide me to an authoritative record of the action in question.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

_Dr. Misaubin._--Will any of your numerous correspondents give me any information, or refer me to any work where I can find it, respecting Dr. Misaubin, who appears to have practised in London during the first half of the last century? What was the peculiarity of his practice?

GRIFFIN.

_Kemble, Willet, and Forbes._--What are the two concluding lines of an epigram published ten or twelve years ago, beginning,--

"The case of Kemble, Willet, and Forbes, Much of the Chancellor's time absorbs; If I were the Chancellor I should tremble At the mention of Willet, Forbes, and Kemble"?

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Piccalyly._--The ornament, somewhat between a hood, a scarf, and an armlet, worn hanging over the right shoulder of judges and serjeants at law, is called a _piccalyly_. What is the origin of this peculiarity of judicial costume, what are the earliest examples of it, and what its etymology?

NO JUDGE.

_Post-Office about 1770._--Mr. Smith, in the notes prefixed to the _Grenville Correspondence_, says several of Junius's letters appear to have been sent from the same post-office "as the post-mark is '_peny_ post payd,'"--a peculiarity of spelling not likely to occur often. Have any of your correspondents letters of that date with a like post-mark? and, if so, can they tell us _where_ posted?

P. A. O.

"_Carefully examined and well-authenticated._"--I agree with MR. CRAMP (Vol. vii., p. 569.) that "the undecided question of the authorship of Junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence." I take leave, therefore, to remind him that my question (Vol. iii., p. 262.) remains unanswered; that I am anxious that he should authenticate his statement (p. 63.), and name some of the "many" {9} persons in whose libraries vellum-bound copies of Junius have been found.

V. B.

_Sir Heister Ryley._--Who was the author of the _Visions of Sir Heister Ryley_, and whence did it derive its name? It was published in 1710, and consists of papers periodically published on serious subjects. It was one of the many short-lived periodicals that sprung up in imitation of the _Tatler_, and appears to have died a natural death at the end of the so-called first volume.

H. T. RILEY.

_Effigies with folded Hands._--On the south side of Llangathen Church, Carmarthenshire, is a huge monument (of the style well designated as bedstead) for Dr. Anthony Rudd, Bishop of St. David's, and Anne Dalton, his wife, 1616, with their recumbent effigies, and those of four sons kneeling at their head and feet. From all these figures the iconoclasts had smitten the hands upraised in prayer, and they have been replaced by plaister hands folded on the bosom. The effect is singular. Is there any other instance of such restoration?

E. D.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Passage in Bishop Horsley._--In the Introduction to _Utrum Horum_, a rather curious work by Henry Care, being a comparison of the Thirty-nine Articles with the doctrines of Presbyterians on the one hand, and the tenets of the Church of Rome on the other, is an extract from Dr. Hakewill's _Answer_ (1616) _to Dr. Carier_, "an apostate to Popery." In it occurs the following passage: "And so, through Calvin's sides, you strike at the throat and heart of our religion." Will you allow me to ask if a similar expression is not used by Bishop Horsley in some one of his Charges?

S. S. S.

[The following passage occurs in the bishop's Charge to the clergy of St. Asaph in 1806, p. 26. "Take especial care, before you aim your shafts at Calvinism, that you know what is Calvinism, and what is not: that in that mass of doctrine, which it is of late become the fashion to abuse under the name of Calvinism, you can distinguish with certainty that part of it which is nothing better than Calvinism, and that which belongs to our common Christianity, and the general faith of the Reformed Churches; _lest, when you mean only to fall foul of Calvinism, you should unwarily attack something more sacred and of higher origin_."]

"_Marry come up!_"--What is the origin of this expression, found in the old novelists? It perhaps originates in an adjuration of the Virgin Mary. If so, how did it gain its present form?

H. T. RILEY.

[Halliwell explains it as an interjection equivalent to indeed! _Marry on us, marry come up, Marry come out_, interjections given by Brockett. _Marry and shall_, that I will! _Marry come up, my dirty cousin_, a saying addressed to any one who affects excessive delicacy.]

_Dover Court._--What is the origin of the expression of a "_Dover Court_, where all are talkers and none are hearers?" There is a place called by this name in the vicinity of Harwich?

H. T. RILEY.

[There is a legend, that Dover-Court Church in Essex once possessed a miraculous cross which spoke, thus noticed in the _Collier of Croydon_:

"And how the rood of _Dovercot_ did speak, Confirming his opinions to be true."

So that it is possible, as Nares suggests, that this church was the scene of confusion alluded to in the proverb: "Dover Court, all speakers and no hearers." Fox, in his _Martyrology_, vol. ii. p. 302., states, that "a rumour was spread that no man could shut the door, which therefore stood open night and day; and that the resort of people to it was much and very great."]

_Porter._--In what book is the word _porter_, meaning the malt liquor so called, first found? I have an impression that the earliest use of it that I have seen is in Nicholas Amherst's _Terrae Filius_, about 1726.

H. T. RILEY.

[We doubt whether an earlier use of this word, as descriptive of a malt liquor, will be found than the one noticed by our correspondent; for it was only about 1722 that Harwood, a London brewer, commenced brewing this liquor, which he called "entire," or "entire butt," implying that it was drawn from one cask or butt. It subsequently obtained the name of _porter_, from its consumption by porters and labourers.]

_Dr. Whitaker's Ingenious Earl._--