Chapter 1

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NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

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No. 20.] SATURDAY, MARCH 16. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page Alfred's Geography of Europe, by S.W. Singer 313 The First Coffee Houses in England, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 314 True Tragedy of Richard III. 315 Folk-Lore--Merry Lwyd--Deathbed Superstition 315 Passage in L'Allegro--Milton's Minor Poems 315 Doctor Dobbs--Golden Age of Magazines 316 Use of Beaver Hats in England, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 317 Extracts from Old Records, by R. Cole 317

QUERIES:-- Queries on Outline 318 Christ's Hospital--Old Songs once popular there 318 Watching the Sepulchre, &c. 318 Minor Queries:--Conrad of Salisbury--Peruse or Pervise--Cromlech--Meaning of Grummett--Vertue's MSS.--Loscop--Ormonde House--As Morse caught the Mare--Dustpot, Forthlot--Tracts attributed to Eachard--Queen of Hearts--Guildhalls--Vox Populi--Use of Coffins--Rococo--Howlet the Engraver--The Bear, &c. 319

REPLIES:-- Letter attributed to Sir R. Walpole 321 College Salting 321 Junius 322 White Hart Inn, Scole 323 Parkership, Porkership, Pokership 323 Replies to Minor Queries:--Coleridge's Christabel-- Sir William Rider--God tempers the Wind-- Complutensian Polyglot--Tickhill--Bishop Blaise-- Sangred--Judas Bell--La Mer des Histoires 324

MISCELLANIES:-- Tale of a Tub--A Genius--Dedications 326

MISCELLANEOUS:-- Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 326 Notices to Correspondents 326 Advertisements 327

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KING ALFRED'S GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

There is no other printed copy of the A.-S. _Orosius_ than the very imperfect edition of Daines Barrington, which is perhaps the most striking example of incompetent editorship which could be adduced. The text was printed from a transcript of a transcript, without much pains bestowed on collation, as he tells us himself. How much it is to be lamented that the materials for a more complete edition are diminished by the disappearance of the _Lauderdale MS._, which, I believe, when Mr. Kemble wished to consult it, could not be found in the Library at Ham.

Perhaps no more important illustration of the Geography of the Middle Ages exists than Alfred's very interesting description of the _Geography of Europe_, and the _Voyages of Othere and Wulfstan_; and this portion of the _Hormesta_ has received considerable attention from continental scholars, of which it appears Mr. Hampson is not aware. As long since as 1815 Erasmus Rask (to whom, after Jacob Grimm, Anglo-Saxon students are most deeply indebted) published in the _Journal of the Scandinavian Literary Society_ (ii. 106. sq.) the Anglo-Saxon Text, with a Danish translation, introduction, and notes, in which many of the errors of Barrington and Forster are pointed out and corrected. This was reprinted by Rask's son in the _Collection_ he gave of his father's _Dissertation_, in 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1834.

Mr. Thorpe, in the 2nd edit. of his _Analecta_, has given "Alfred's Geography," &c., no doubt accurately printed from the Cotton MS., and has rightly explained _Apdrede_ and _Wylte_ in his Glossary, but does not mention _Æfeldan_; and Dr. Leo, in his _Sprachproben_, has given a small portion from Rask, with a few geographical notes. Dr. Ingram says: "I hope on some future occasion to publish the whole of 'Alfred's Geography,' accompanied with accurate maps."

Rask has anticipated Mr. Hampson's correction respecting the _Wilti_, and thus translates the passage: "men norden for Oldsakserne er Obotriternes Land, og i Nordost Vilterne, som man kalder Æfelder." The mistake of Barrington and Dr. Ingram is the more extraordinary when it is recollected that no people are so frequently mentioned in the chronicles of the Middle Ages as this Sclavonic tribe: citations might be given out of number, in which their contests with their neighbours the Obotriti, _Abodriti_, or _Apdrede_ of Alfred are noticed. Why the Wilti were sometimes called _Æfeldi_ or _Heveldi_, will appear from their location, as pointed out by Ubbo Emmius: "_Wilsos_, Henetorum gentem, ad _Havelam_ trans Albim sedes habentem." (Rer. Fris. Hist. l. iv. p. 67.) Schaffarik remarks, "Die Stoderaner und _Havelaner_ waren ein und derselbe, nur durch zwei namen interscheiden zweige des _Weleten_ stammes;" and Albinus says: "Es sein aber die riehten _Wilzen_ Wender sonderlich an der _Havel_ wonhaft." They were frequently designated by the name of _Lutici_, {314} as appears from Adam of Bremen, Helmond, and others, and the Sclavonic word _liuti_ signified _wild, fierce_, &c. Being a _wild_ and contentious people, not easily brought under the gentle yoke of Christianity, they figure in some of the old Russian sagas, much as the Jutes do in those of Scandinavia; and it is remarkable that the names of both should have signified giants or monsters. Notker, in his Teutonic paraphrase of Martianus Capella, speaking of other Anthropophagi, relates that the _Wilti_ were not ashamed to say that they had more right to eat their parents than the worms.[1] Mone wrote a Dissertation upon the Weleti, which is printed in the _Anzeigen für Kunde des Mittelalters_, 1834, but with very inconclusive and erroneous results; some remarks on these Sclavonic people, and a map, will be found in Count Ossolinski's _Vincent Kadlubek_, Warsaw, 1822; and in Count Potocki's _Fragments Histor. sur la Scythie, la Sarmatie, et les Slaves_, Brunsw., 1796, &c. 4 vols. 4to.; who has also printed Wulfstan's _Voyage_, with a French translation. The recent works of Zeuss, of Schaffarik, and above all the _Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache_, of Jacob Grimm, throw much light on the subject.

On the names _Horithi_ and _Mægtha Land_ Rask has a long note, in which he states the different opinions that have been advanced; his own conclusions differ from Mr. Hampson's suggestion. He assigns reasons for thinking that the initial _H_ in _Horithi_ should be _P_, and that we should read _Porithi_ for _Porizzi_, the old name for _Prussians_. Some imagined that _Mægtha Land_ was identical with _Cwen Land_, with reference to the fabulous Northern Amazons; but Alfred has placed Cwenland in another locality; and Rask conjectures that _Mægth_ signifies here _provincia, natio gens_, and that it stood for _Gardariki_, of which it appears to be a direct translation.

It appears to me that the _Horiti_ of Alfred are undoubtedly the _Croati_, or _Chrowati_, of Pomerania, who still pronounce their name _Horuati_, the _H_ supplying, as in numerous other instances, the place of the aspirate _Ch_. Nor does it seem unreasonable to presume that the _Harudes_ of Cæsar (_De Bell. Gall._ b. i. 31. 37. 51.) were also _Croats_; for they must have been a numerous and widely spread race, and are all called _Ch_arudes, [Greek: Aroudes]. The following passage from the _Annales Fuldensis_, A. 852., will strengthen this supposition:--"Inde transiens per Angros, _Harudos_, Suabos, et Hosingos ... Thuringiam ingreditur."

Mr. Kemble[2], with his wonted acumen, has not failed to perceive that our _Coritavi_ derived their name in the same manner; but his derivation of the word from Hor, _lutum_, Horilit, _lutosus_, is singularly at issue with Herr Leo's, who derives it from the Bohemian Hora, a mountain, Horet a mountaineer, and he places the _Horiti_ in the Ober Lanbitz and part of the Silesian mountains.

Schaffarik again, says that _Mægtha Land_ is, according to its proper signification, unknown; but that as Adam of Bremen places Amazons on the Baltic coast, probably from mistaking of the _Mazovians_? it is possible that _Mægthaland_ has thus arisen. In 1822 Dahlmann (_Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte_, t. i. 422.) gave a German version of King Alfred's narration, where the passage is also correctly translated; but as regards the illustration of the names of the people of Sclavonic race, much yet remains to be done.

It is to be hoped that some competent northern scholar among us may still remove, what I must consider to be a national reproach--the want of a correct and well illustrated edition of the _Hormesta_, or at any rate of this singularly interesting and valuable portion of it.

S.W. SINGER.

Feb. 21. 1850.

[Footnote 1: "Aber _Welitabi_, die in Germania sizzent, tie wir _Wilze_ heizen, die ni scáment sih niche ze chedenne, daz sih iro parentes mit mêrem réhte ézen súlin danne die wurme." Albinus, in his _Meissnische Chronicle_, says they had their name from their _wolfish_ nature.]

[Footnote 2: _The Saxons in England_, vol. i. p. 9. note.]

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THE FIRST COFFEE-HOUSES IN ENGLAND.

As a Supplement to your "NOTES ON COFFEE," I send you the following extracts.

Aubrey, in his account of Sir Henry Blount, (MS. in the Bodleian Library), says of this worthy knight,

"When coffee first came in he was a great upholder of it, and hath ever since been a constant frequenter of coffee-houses, especially Mr. Farres at the Rainbowe, by Inner Temple Gate, and lately John's Coffee-house, in Fuller's Rents. The first coffee-house in London was in St. Michael's Alley, in Cornhill, opposite to the church, which was set up by one ---- Bowman (coachman to Mr. Hodges, a Turkey merchant, who putt him upon it) in or about the yeare 1652. 'Twas about 4 yeares before any other was sett up, and that was by Mr. Farr. Jonathan Paynter, over against to St. Michael's Church, was the first apprentice to the trade, viz. to Bowman.--Mem. The Bagneo, in Newgate Street, was built and first opened in Decemb. 1679: built by ... Turkish merchants."

Of this James Farr, Edward Hatton, in his _New View of London_, 1708, (vol. i. p. 30) says:--

"I find it recorded that one James Farr, a barber, who kept the coffee-house which is now the Rainbow, by the Inner Temple Gate, (one of the first in England), was in the year 1657, prosecuted by the inquest of St. Dunstan's in the West, for making and selling a sort of liquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice to the neighbourhood, &c., and who would then have thought London would ever have had near three thousand such nuisances, and that coffee would have been, as now, so much drank by the best of quality and physicians." {315}

Howel, in noticing Sir Henry Blount's _Organon Salutis_, 1659, observes that--

"This coffe-drink hath caused a great sobriety among all nations: formerly apprentices, clerks, &c., used to take their morning draughts in ale, beer, or wine, which often made them unfit for business. Now they play the good-fellows in this wakeful and civil drink. The worthy gentleman, Sir James Muddiford, who introduced the practice hereof first in London, deserves much respect of the whole nation."

From these extracts it appears that the use of this berry was introduced by other Turkey merchants besides Edwards and his servant Pasqua.

Anthony Wood in his _Diary_, records, under the year 1654, that--

"Coffey, which had been drank by some persons in Oxon. 1650, was this yeare publickly sold at or neare the Angel, within the Easte Gate of Oxon., as also chocolate, by an outlander or Jew."

And in another place he says--

"This yeere Jacob a Jew opened a Coffey-house at the Angel, in the parish of St. Peter in the East, Oxon., and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank. When he left Oxon. he sold it in Old Southampton Buildings in Holborne, near London, and was living there 1671."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

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TRUE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III.

In _The True Tragedy of Richard the Third_, the following passage--

"His treacherous father hath neglect his word, And done imparshall past by dint of sword."

is considered by Mr. Baron Field as unintelligible. It seems to me that the correction of it is obvious, and the explanation probable, though not exactly fitting what had been said before, which is merely that Lord Stanley had refused to come to Richard, not that he had actually joined Richmond, much less fought for him. I read--

"And dome imparshall;"

_i.e._ and _doom impartial_, and interpret, "pass'd upon himself impartial judgment," or rather on his son, as is said just before:--

"The father's fact condemns the son to die."

It is possible that doom by dint of sword may mean, to be executed by dint of sword; that is, on the son. The _doom_ in the Scotch court, in the _Heart of Mid Lothian_, is not the verdict, but the punishment.

Immediately before, we have this passage, also described as unintelligible:--

"_King._ Did not your selves, in presence, see the bondes sealde and assignde?

"_Lo._ What tho my lord, the _vardits own_, the titles doth resign.

"_King._ The bond is broke, and I will sue the fine."

I see no emendation for this but the _vardits own_ to mean, "the party who has the verdict in his favour," and the speech to be a question. The King tries to persuade himself that there is, _ipso facto_, no room for forgiveness. Lovel answers, upon the principle of the rule of law, "Qui vis potest renunciare juri pro se introducto."

C.B.

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FOLK LORE.

_Merry-Lwyd._--My attention has been called to an inquiry in No. 11. p. 173., as to the origin and etymology of the Merry-Lwyd, still kept up in Wales.

I believe that all these mummings may be traced to the disguisings which formed so popular an amusement in the Middle Ages, and that the name applied in Wales to this remnant of our ancient pastimes is nothing more than a compound of our English adjective "merry" and a corruption of the Latin word "Ludi," which these masquings were formerly termed.

Strutt, in his _Sports and Pastimes_, Book iii. chap. 13., speaks of Christmas Spectacles in the time of Edward III., as known by the name of Ludi; and in Warton's _History of English Poetry_, it is said of these representations that "by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the Vizors, and by the singularity and splendour of the dresses, every thing was out of nature and propriety." In Strutt's 16th Plate, specimens will be found of the whimsical habit and attire in which the mummers were wont to appear.

My impression that the Merry-Lwyd was by no means a diversion exclusively Welsh is corroborated by the fact noticed in your Number of the 23rd of Feb., of its being found to exist in Cheshire. And we know that many ancient customs lingered in the principality long after they fell into disuse in England.

GWYNN AB NUDD.

Glamorganshire, March 1. 1850.

_Death-bed Superstition._--When a curate in Exeter I met with the following superstition, which I do not remember to have seen noticed before. I had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful disease, and was daily expecting his death. Upon calling one morning to see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would have died during the night, and consequently she and her friends unfastened _every lock in the house_. On my inquiring the reason, I was told that any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to, and hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the approach of death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked. Can any of your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general superstition amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the West of England?

R.H. {316}

[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of the _Athenæum_ (No. 990.) of 17th Oct. 1846: in a comment upon which it is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the likeness of a bird."]

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PASSAGE IN L'ALLEGRO--NOTES ON MILTON'S MINOR POEMS.

The suggestion of your correspondent B.H.K. (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Mr. Warton, who, in his 1st edition of _Milton's Poems_, notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the suggestion of an unknown correspondent. In the 2nd edition this correspondent is mentioned to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor discusses the point in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with parallel passages, and an analysis of the context. As the book is one of ready access, I need not trouble you with a quotation; but I may mention that Mr. Gilchrist has added, in a MS. note in my copy, that "Among the poems appended to those of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same measure as those of Milton, nor is it unlike in its subject: the following lines may throw some light on the present inquiry (p. 200. ed. 1717):--

'On hills then shewe the ewe and lambe And every young one with his damme; Then lovers walke and _tell their tale_ Both of their bliss and of their bale.'"

[The passage is at p. 57. of the 1st vol. of Dr. Nott's edition.]

I am glad of the present opportunity of mentioning, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that my copy of the 1st edition of Warton's _Milton_ is enriched with numerous notes and parallel passages by Mr. Gilchrist; and a copy of the 2nd edition has been similarly, but less copiously, illustrated by Mr. Dunston. I shall be glad if my mention of them should lead to their being made useful--or, if you wish it, I shall be happy to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in your Journal.

May I be allowed to suggest that similar notifications _to_ intending editors would have some tendency to do the same good results which may be expected from the announcements _by_ intending editors suggested by your correspondent R.R. at p. 243? There must be hundreds of volumes enriched by the notes of scholars, such as those I have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed in private libraries, and might, by means of similar announcements, be made available to the cause of literature.

J.F.M.

[We are much indebted to our valued correspondent for the offer he has so kindly made us of the MS. Notes in question, which we shall gladly receive; and also for his extremely useful suggestion of the advantage of such notifications to intending editors, as he describes.]

_Milton's L'Allegro._--Your correspondent (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Headley, who suggested, long ago, that the word _tale_ here implied the _numbering_ sheep. When Handel composed his beautiful air, "Let me wander not unseen," he plainly regarded this word in the more poetical sense. The song breathes the shepherd's tale of _love_ (perhaps addressed to "the milkmaid singing blithe") far more than it conveys a dull computation of the _number_ of "his fleecy care." Despite of that excellent commentator, Tom Warton, who adopted Headley's suggestion, it is to be hoped that readers will continue, though it may be in error, to understand the line as your correspondent _used_ to do: an amatory _tête-à-tête_ is surely better suited to "the hawthorn in the dale," than either mental arithmetic, or the study of Cocker.

J.H.M.

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DOCTOR DANIEL DOVE OF DONCASTER AND HIS HORSE NOBS--GOLDEN AGE OF MAGAZINES.

It appears from the preface to the last edition of _The Doctor, &c._ that the story of Dr. Daniel Dove and his horse was one well known in Southey's domestic circle.

A letter is there quoted from Mrs. Southey (then Miss Caroline Bowles), in which she says:--

"There is a story of Dr. D.D. of D. and of his horse Nobs, which has I believe been made into a Hawker's Book. Coleridge used to tell it, and the humour lay in making it as long-winded as possible; it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, and I was frequently called upon for it by those who enjoyed it, and sometimes I volunteered it, when Coleridge protested against its being told."

While upon the subject of _The Doctor_, may I direct your attention to the following passage on p. 269. of the one volume edition, which you will admit in many respects accurately describes your "NOTES AND QUERIES"?

"Our Doctor flourished in the golden age of magazines, when their pages were filled with voluntary contributions from men who never aimed at dazzling the public, but each came with his scrap of information or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his attempt in verse.

"In those days A was an antiquary, and wrote articles upon altars and abbeys, and architecture. B made a blunder, which C corrected. D demonstrated that E was in error, and that F was wrong in philology, and neither philosopher nor physician, though he affected to be both. G was a genealogist. H was an herald who helped him. I was an inquisitive inquirer who found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit. M was a mathematician. N noted the weather. O observed the stars. P was a poet who peddled in pastorals, {317} and prayed Mr. Urban to print them. Q came in the corner of the page with his query. R arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one who differed from him. S sighed and sued in song. T told an old tale, and when he was wrong, U used to set him right. V was a virtuoso. W warred against Warburton. X excelled in algebra. Y yearned for immortality in rhyme, and Z in his zeal was always in a puzzle."

Surely, Sir, you have revived the Golden Age of magazines, and long may you flourish.

Q.D.

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THE USE OF BEAVER HATS IN ENGLAND.

The notice from Fairholt's _Costume in England_, concerning the earliest use of a beaver hat in England, is not very satisfactory. Beaver hats were certainly used in this country long before Stubbes's time. They were originally, like many other articles of dress, manufactured abroad, and imported here. Indeed, this was a great source of complaint by the English artizan until a comparatively late period. The author of _A Brief Discourse of English Poesy_, n.d. (temp. Eliz.) says:--

"I merveil no man taketh heed to it, what number of trifles come hither from beyond the seas, that we might clean spare, or else make them within our realme. For the which we either pay inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial wares and necessaries for them, for the which we might receive great treasure."

"The _beaver_ or felt hats (says J.H. Burn, in his interesting _History of the Foreign Refugees_, p. 257.) worn in the reign of Edward III., and for a long time afterwards, were made in Flanders. The refugees in Norfolk introduced the manufacture of felts and thrummed hats into that country; and by a statute of 5 and 6 Edward VI., that trade was confined to Norwich, and all other corporate and market towns in the country."