Part 2

I cannot agree with DR. KENNEDY that _deliciae_, _delicatus_ come from _deligere_ rather than _delicere_; since, if my memory does not deceive me, the former is as often, if not oftener, used by good writers to express to drive away, to upset, to remove from, or detach--as to select or choose--which is the only meaning the word has akin to _deliciae_; whereas _delicere_ is actually used by one of the earlier Latin poets for to delight.

The word _dainty_, I may inform DR. KENNEDY, is from the obsolete French _dein_ or _dain_, delicate; which probably came from the still older Teut. _deinin_, _minuta_ (vid. Schilter).

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Epitaph from Stalbridge._--The following epitaph from the churchyard of Stalbridge, Dorsetshire, may perhaps be thought worthy of preservation, if it be not a hackneyed one:

"So fond, so young, so gentle, so sincere, So loved, so early lost, may claim a tear: Yet mourn not, if the life, resumed by heaven, Was spent to ev'ry end for which 'twas given. Could he too soon escape this world of sin? Or could eternal life too soon begin? Then cease his death too fondly to deplore, What could the longest life have added more?"

C. W. B.

_Curious Extracts.--Dean Nowell--Bottled Beer._--I was somewhat hasty in assuming (see Vol. vii., p. 135.) that bottled beer was an unknown department in early times, as the following extract will show. It is from Fuller's _Worthies of England_, under "LANCASHIRE," the subject of the notice being no less a person than the grave divine Alexander Nowell, dean of St. Paul's, author of the Catechism, whose fondness for angling is also commemorated by Izaak Walton. Fuller, having noticed the narrow escape which Nowell had from arrest by some of Bishop Bonner's emissaries in Queen Mary's reign, having had a hint to fly whilst fishing in the Thames, "whilst Nowell was catching of fishes, Bonner was catching of Nowell," proceeds to say,--

"Without offence it may be remembered that, leaving a bottle of ale, when fishing, in the grass, he found it some days after no bottle, but a gun, such the sound at the opening thereof: and this is believed (casualty is the mother of more inventions than industry[1]) the original of bottled ale in England."--Nuttall's edit., vol. ii. p. 205.

BALLIOLENSIS.

[Footnote 1: Fuller might have quoted the Greek proverb, [Greek: Tuche technes esterxe kai techne tuches.]]

_A Collection of Sentences out of some of the Writings of the Lord Bacon_ (i. 422. edit. Montagu), with the ensuing exceptions, is taken out of the _Essays_, and in regular order:

No. 1. p. 33. of the same volume.

No. 2. p. 21.

No. 3. p. 5.

No. 4. p. 8.

No. 51. My reference is illegible: the words are,--"Men seem neither well to understand their riches nor their strength: of the former they believe greater things than they should; and of the latter, much less. And from hence, certain fatal pillars have bounded the progress of learning."

No. 68. pp. 173. 272. 321.

No. 69. p. 185.

No. 70. p. 176.

No. 71. Vol. vi., p. 172. The Charge of Owen, &c.

Nos. 72, 73. Vol. vii., p. 261. The Speech before the Summer Circuits, 1617.

S. Z. Z. S.

_Law and Usage._--In _The Times_ of September 1, the Turkish correspondent writes as follows:

"Mahmoud Pasha declared in the Divan of the 17th that 'he would divorce his wife, but would not advise a dishonourable peace with Russia.' This is an expression of the strongest kind in use amongst the Turks."

It is worth a Note that, in spite of polygamy and divorce, a common proverb is monogamic, and divorce is spoken of as the greatest of unlikelihoods.

M.

_Manichaean Games._--Take any game played by two persons, such as draughts, and let the play be as follows: each plays his best for himself, and follows it by playing the worst he can for the other. Thus, when it is the turn of the white to play, he first plays the white as well as he can; and then the black as badly (for the other player) as he can. The black then does the best he can with the black, and follows it by the worst he can {290} do for the white. Of course, by separating the good and evil principles, four persons might play.

M.

_Bohn's Hoveden._--By way of expressing my sense of obligation to Mr. Bohn and his editors for the _Antiquarian Library_, perhaps you will suffer me to point out what appears to be an inaccuracy in the translation of Roger de Hoveden's _Annals_? At p. 123. of vol. ii., the word _Suuelle_ (as it appears to stand in the original text) is translated into _Swale_: but surely no other place is here meant than the church of St. Mary's at _Southwell_[2] (or _Suthwell_, _Sudwell_, _Suwell_, or _Suell_, as variously spelt, but never _Swale_), in Nottinghamshire.

I would also notice a trifling error (perhaps only a misprint) at p. 125.; where we are informed in a note, that the Galilee of Durham Cathedral is at the _east_ end, whereas its real position is at the _west_.

J. SANSOM.

Oxford.

[Footnote 2: The seal of the vicars of Southwell, ann. 1262, had in its circumference the words "Commune sigillum Vicariorum Suuell."--Vid. Thoroton's _Nottinghamshire, North Muskham_, ed. 1796, vol. iii. p. 156.]

_Milton at Eyford House, Gloster._--In the British Museum (says Wilson in his description of Christ's College, Cambridge) is the original proclamation for Milton's appearance after the Restoration. Where was he secreted? I find this note in my book:--At Eyford House, Gloucestershire, within two miles of Stow-on-the-Wold, on the road to Cheltenham, a spring of beautiful water is called "Milton's Well," running into a tributary of the Thames. The old house, &c., at the time would be out of the way of common information.

P. J.

* * * * *

Queries.

EARL OF LEICESTER'S PORTRAIT, 1585.

There is at Penshurst, among many other interesting memorials of the Dudleys, an original portrait of Elizabeth's Earl of Leicester, with the following painted upon it: "Robert, E. of Leicester, Stadtholder of Holland, A.D. 1585." After this comes the ragged staff, but without its usual accompaniment, the bear. Under the staff follow these enigmatical lines, which I request any of your correspondents to translate and explain. I send you a translation in rhyme; I should thank them the more if they would do the same: as to explanation, the longer the better.

"Principis hic Baculus, patriae columenque, decusque, Hoc uno, ingratos quo beet, ipse miser."

This ragged staff by Leicester's potent hand, Brought succour, safety, to this threaten'd land: One thing alone embitters every thought, He to ungrateful men these blessings brought.

Now for a word of commentary: and first as to "Stadtholder of Holland, A.D. 1585." The good woman who showed the picture informed us that it was painted by order of the stadtholder, and presented to Leicester; if so, there would have been a _jussu provinciarum foederatarum depictus_, or something of that sort; but no such compliment was to be expected from the Dutch, for they hated him, complained of his conduct, memorialised the queen against him: see the pamphlets in the British Museum, 4to. 1587, C. 32. a. 2. But though it was most unlikely that the Dutch or their stadtholder should have presented this picture to Leicester, it well accorded with Leicester's vanity and presumption, and still more with that vanity and presumption as displayed in his conduct as commander-in-chief of the forces in Holland, to call himself _The Stadtholder_, and to order his painter to put that title under his portrait.

The verses may now be referred to in support of this view of the subject. Leicester therein represents himself as unhappy, because he had bestowed blessings on the ungrateful Dutch.

In conclusion, take the following full-length portrait of Leicester's indignation (_Leicester, a Belgis vituperatus, loquitur_):

"This ragged staff my resolution shows, To save my Queen and Holland from their foes: Still deeply seated in my heart remains One cause, one fruitful cause, of all my pains; 'Tis base ingratitude--'tis Holland's hate. My presence sav'd that country, chang'd its fate. But the base pedlars gain'd my sov'reign's ear, And at my counsels and my courage sneer; They call me tyrant, breaker of my word, Fond of a warrior's garb without his sword. A servile courtier, saucy cavalier, Bold as a lion when no danger's near, They say I seek their country for myself, To fill my bursting bags with plunder'd pelf; They say with goose's, not with eagle's wing, I wish to soar, and make myself a king. Dutchmen! to you I came, I saw, I sav'd: Where'er my staff, my bear, my banner wav'd, The daunted Spaniard fled without a blow, And bloodless chaplets crown'd my conquering brow. Dutchmen! with minds more stagnant than your pools, (But in reproachful words more knaves than fools), You will not see, nor own the debt you owe To him who conquers a retreating foe. Such base ingratitude as this alloys My triumph's glory, and my bosom's joys."

V. T.

Tunbridge Wells.

* * * * *

{291}

EARLY USE OF TIN.

Mr. Layard, in his work upon Nineveh and Babylon, in reference to the articles of bronze from Assyria now in the British Museum, states, that the _tin_ used in the composition was probably obtained from Phoenicia; and, consequently, that _that_ used in the Assyrian bronze may actually have been _exported_ nearly _three thousand_ years ago from the British Isles.

The Assyrians appear to have made an extensive use of this metal; and the degree of perfection which the making of bronze had then reached, clearly shows that they must have been long experienced in the use of it. _They_ appear to have received what they used from the Phoenicians. _When_ and _by whom_ was tin first discovered in our island? Were the _Celtic tribes_ acquainted with it _previously_ to the arrival of the Phoenicians upon our shores?

It is said that the Phoenicians were indebted to the Tyrian Hercules for their trade in tin; and that this island owed them its name of _Baratanac_, or Britain, the land of tin. Was the _Tyrian Hercules_, or, as he was afterwards known and worshipped, as the Melkart of Tyre, and the Moloch of the Bible, was _he_ the _merchant-leader_ of the first band of Phoenicians who visited this island? _When_ did _he_ live?

G. W.

Stansted, Montfichet.

* * * * *

ST. PATRICK--MAUNE AND MAN.

Amongst the many strange derivations given of the name of Mona or Man (the island), I find one in an old unpublished MS. by an unknown author, of the date about 1658, noticed by Feltham (_Tour through the Isle of Man_, p. 8.), on which I venture to ground a Query. The name of the island is there said to have been derived from Maune, the name of the great apostle of the Mann, before he received that of Patricius from Pope Celestine.

Now if St. Patrick ever had the name Maune, he could not have given it to the island, which was called Mona, Monabia, and Menavia, as far back as the days of Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny. I have not access to any life of St. Patrick in which the name Maune occurs; but in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_, under the head "Patrick," I find it said, "According to Nennius, St. Patrick's original name was Maur," and I find the same stated in Rose's _Biographical Dictionary_. But the article in the latter is evidently taken from the former, and I suspect the Mau_r_ may in both be a misprint for Mau_n_.[3] Can "N. & Q." set me right, or give me any information likely to solve the difficulty?

I may as well notice here that amongst the many ways in which the name of this island has been pronounced and spelt, that of _Maun_ seems to have prevailed at the period of the Norwegian occupation. On a Runic monument at Kirk Michael, we have it very distinctly so spelt.

With regard to the name Mona, applied both to Man and Anglesea, I have little doubt we may find its root in the Sanscrit _man_, to know, worship, &c., whence we have Manu the son of Brahma, Menu, Menes, Minos, Moonshee, and Monk. The name Mona would seem to have been applied to both islands, as being specially the habitation of the Druids, whose name probably came either from the Celtic _Trow-wys_, wisemen, or the Saxon _dru_, a soothsayer, very close in signification to the Sanscrit _mooni_, a holy sage, learned person. As connected with this idea I may ground another Query: Might not these two Monas, the abode of piety and wisdom, be the true, [Greek: makaron nesoi], the _Fortunatae Insulae_ of the ancients?

J. G. CUMMING.

Castletown.

[Footnote 3: In _Monumenta Historica Britannica_ the passage reads "Quia _Maun_ prius vocabatur." In a note from another MS. the word is spelt _Mauun_.--ED.]

* * * * *

PASSAGE IN BINGHAM.

MR. RICHARD BINGHAM, whose new and improved edition of his ancestor's works is now printing at the Oxford University Press, would feel sincerely obliged to any literary friend who should become instrumental in discovering the following passage from one of the sermons of Augustine:

"Non mirari debetis, fratres carissimi, quod inter ipsa mysteria de mysteriis nihil diximus, quod non statim ea, quae tradidimus, interpretati sumus. Adhibuimus enim tam sanctis rebus atque divinis honorem silentii."

Joseph Bingham (b. x. ch. v. s. 11.) cites those words as from "Serm. I., inter 40. a Sirmondo editos," which corresponds with Serm. V. according to the Benedictine edition, Paris, 1689--1700, tom. v. p. 28.; but no such words occur in that sermon. The passage is daggered by Grishovius, who first gave the citations at length; neither has MR. R. BINGHAM hitherto been able to meet with it, though a great many similar desiderata in former editions he has discovered and corrected.

An answer through "N. & Q." will oblige; still more so if sent direct to his present address, 57. Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London.

MR. BINGHAM would also be glad to be informed where Athanasius uses the term [Greek: diakonos], generally for any minister of the church, whether deacon, presbyter, or bishop? Joseph Bingham (b. ii. ch. xx. s. 1.) cites the tract _Contra Gentes_, but the expression is not there.

{292}

The earlier a reply comes the more acceptable will it be.

57. Gloucester Place, Portman Square.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_"Terrae filius."_--When was the last "Terrae filius" spoken at Oxford; and what was the origin of the name?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_Daughter pronounced Dafter._--In the Verney Papers lately printed by the Camden Society is a letter from a Mistress Wiseman, in which she spells _daughter_ "daftere." It is evident that she pronounced the _-augh_ as we do in laughter. Is this pronunciation known to prevail anywhere at the present day?

C. W. G.

_Administration of the Holy Communion._--Which side, _north_ or _south_, is the more correct for the priest to commence administering the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper? Give the authority or reasons in support of your opinion. I cannot find any allusion in Hook's _Church Dictionary_, or in Wheatly's _Common Prayer_; and I have seen some clergymen begin one end, some the other.

CLERICUS (A.).

_Love Charm from a Foal's Forehead._--I have searched some time, but in vain, in order to find out what the _lump_ or _love charm_, taken out of a foal's forehead, was called. Virgil mentions it in _AEneid_, lib. iv. 515., where Dido is preparing her funeral pile, &c.:

"Quaeritur et nascentis equi de fronte revulsus, Et matri praereptus, _amor_."

Tacitus also makes mention of it continually. I have no doubt but that through your interesting and learned columns I shall obtain an answer. It was not _philtrum_.

H. P.

_A Scrape._--What is the origin of the expression "Getting into a scrape?"

Y. B. N. J.

_"Plus occidit Gula," &c._--Can any of your correspondents direct me where the following passage is to be found?--

"Plus occidit gula, quam gladius."

T.

_Anecdote of Napoleon._--I remember to have heard of a young lady, one of the _detenus_ in France after the Peace of Amiens, having obtained her liberation through a very affecting copy of verses of her composition, which, by some means, came under the notice of Napoleon. The Emperor was so struck with the strain of this lament, that he forwarded passports, with an order for the immediate liberation of the fair writer. Can any of your correspondents verify this anecdote, and supply a copy of the verses?

BALLIOLENSIS.

_Canonisation in the Greek Church._--Does the Greek Church ever now canonise, or add the names of the saints to the Calendar?

If so, by whom is the ceremony performed?

ANTONY CLOSE.

Woodhouse Eaves.

_Binometrical Verses._--Who made the following verse?--

"Quando nigrescit nox, rem latro patrat atrox."

It is either hexameter or pentameter, according to the scansion?

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_Dictionary of English Phrases._--Is there in English any good dictionary of phrases similar to the excellent _Frasologia Italiana_ of P. Daniele?

G. K.

_Lines on Woman._--W. V. will be glad to know if any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." can tell where the following lines are to be found?--

"Not she with traitrous kiss her master stung, Not she denied him with unfaithful tongue; _She_, when apostles fled, could danger brave, Last at his cross, and earliest at his grave."

_Collections for Poor Slaves._--I have met with the following memorandum in a parish register, and have seen notices of similar entries in others:

"1680. Collected for the redemption of poor slaves in Turkey, the sum of 2s. 8d."

Can you refer me to the king's letter authorising such collections to be made?

W. S.

Northiam.

[Some information upon this point will be found in "N. & Q.," Vol. i., p. 441.; Vol. ii., p 12.]

_The Earl of Oxford and the Creation of Peers._--Where will be found the answer made by the Earl of Oxford when impeached in the reign of Queen Anne for creating in one day twelve peers?

S. N.

_"Like one who wakes," &c._--Can any of your readers supply the authorship and connexion of the following lines?--

"Like one who wakes from pleasant sleep, Unto the cares of morning."

C. W. B.

_Bells at Berwick-upon-Tweed._--Can any one favour me with a parallel or similar case, in respect to bells, to what I recently met with at Berwick-upon-Tweed? The parish church, which is the only one in the town, and a mean structure of Cromwell's time, is without either tower or {293} bell; and the people are summoned to divine service from the belfry of the town-hall, which has a very respectable steeple. Indeed, so much more ecclesiastical in appearance is the town-hall than the Church, that (as I was told) a regiment of soldiers, on the first Sunday after their arrival at Berwick, marched to the former building for divine service, although the church stood opposite the barrack gate. My kind informant also told me that he found a strange clergyman one Sunday morning trying the town-hall door, and rating the absent sexton; having undertaken to preach a missionary sermon, and become involved in the same mistake as the soldiers.

But more curious still was the news that there is a meeting-house in Berwick belonging to the anti-burghers, who are dissenters from the Church of Scotland, which has a bell, for the ringing of which, as a summons to worship, Barrington, Bishop of Durham, granted a licence, which still exists. I was not aware that bishops either had, or exercised, the power of licensing bells; but my informant will, I doubt not, on reading this, either verify or correct the statement. At the time when the bell was licensed, the congregation were in communion with the Church of Scotland.

ALFRED GATTY.

_The Keate Family, of the Hoo, Herts._--I shall be obliged to any of your readers for information respecting the _Sir Jonathan Keate, Bart._, of the Hoo, Hertfordshire, who was living in the year 1683; also for any particulars respecting his family? I especially desire to know what were his relations to the religious parties of the time, as I have in my possession the journal of a nonconformist minister, who was his domestic chaplain from 1683 to 1688.

G. B. B.

Cambridge.

_Divining-rod._--Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." supply instances of the use of the divining-rod for finding water? I know several circumstances which might incline one, in these table-turning days, to inquire seriously whether there be any truth in the popular notion.

G. W. SKYRING.

_Medal and Relic of Mary Queen of Scots._--I have in my possession a medal, the size of a crown piece, of base metal, with perhaps some admixture of silver. On one side of this are the arms of Scotland with two thistles, and the legend--

MARIA ET HENRICUS DEI GRATIA R: ET R: SCOTORUM,

and the reverse, a yew-tree with a motto of three words, of which the last seems to be VIRES, the date 1566, and the legend--

EXURGAT DEUS ET DISSIPANTUR INIMICI.

Associated with this for a very considerable period has been a small wooden cross, which is said to have been made from the yew-tree under which Mary and Darnley had been accustomed to meet.

I have been told that there is some farther tradition or superstition connected with these relics: if there be, I shall be glad to be informed of it, or of any other particulars concerning them.

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_Bulstrode's Portrait._--Prefixed to a copy in my possession of _Essays upon the following Subjects: 1. Generosity, &c._, by Whitelock Bulstrode, Esq., 8vo. Lond. 1724, there is a portrait of the author, bearing this note in MS.: "This scarce portrait has sold for 7l." It is engraved by Cole from a picture by Kneller, in oval with armorial bearings below, and is subscribed "Anno Salutis 1723, aetatis 72." I am at a loss to suppose it ever could have fetched the price assigned to my impression by its previous owner, and should feel obliged if any of your correspondents would state whether, from any peculiar circumstances, it may have become rare, and so acquired an adventitious value. It does not appear to have been known to Granger.

While the two names are before me, I venture to inquire how the remarkable interchange occurred between that of _Whitelock Bulstrode_ the Essayist, and _Bulstrode Whitelock_ the Memorialist, of the parliamentary period. Was there any family connexion?

BALLIOLENSIS.

_The Assembly House, Kentish Town._--Can any of your antiquarian correspondents give me a clue as to the date, or probable date, of the erection of this well-known roadside public-house (I beg pardon, tavern), which is now being pulled down? I am desirous of obtaining some slight account of the old building, having just completed an etching, from a sketch taken as it appeared in its dismantled state. Possibly some anecdotes may be current regarding it. I learn from a rare little tome, entitled _Some Account of Kentish Town_, published at that place in 1821, and written, I believe, by a Mr. Elliot, that the Assembly House was formerly called the Black Bull. The writer of this Query asked "one of the oldest inhabitants," who was seated on a door-step opposite the house, _his_ opinion concerning its age: considering a little, the old gentleman seriously said he thought it might be two or three _thousand_ years at least! This opinion I am afraid to accept as correct, and I would therefore seek, through the medium of "N. & Q.," some information which may be more depended upon.

W. B. R.

Camden New Town.