Part 5

_Parochial Libraries_ (Vol. viii., p. 62.).--There is an extensive, and rather valuable, library attached to St. Mary's Church, Bridgenorth, presented to and for the use of the parishioners, by Dean Stackhouse in 1750. It comprises some eight hundred volumes, chiefly divinity. There are two or three fine MSS. in the collection, one especially worthy of notice. A splendidly illuminated Latin MS., dated about 1460, engrossed upon vellum, and extending to three hundred leaves (C. 62. in the Catalogue). I noticed many fragments of early MSS. bound up with Hebrew and Latin editions of the Bible; and a portion of a remarkably fine missal, forming the dexter cover of a copy of Laertius _de Vita Philosophica_ (4to. 1524). Surely a society may be formed, having for its object the rescuing, transcribing, and printing of those scarcely noticed fragments. MR. HALES' plan appears perfectly feasible. I am convinced much interesting matter would be brought to light, if a little interest was excited on the subject.

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

Over the porch of Nantwich Church is a small room, once the repository of the ecclesiastical records; but latterly (in consequence of the sacrilegious abstraction of those documents by an unknown hand) used for a library of theological works, placed there for the special behoof of the neighbouring clergy. The collection is but a small one; and is, I fear, not often troubled by those for whose use it was designed.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_"Ampers and," &c._ (Vol. viii., p. 173.).--MR. C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY having revived this Query without apparently being aware of the previous discussion and of MR. NICHOLL'S solution, "and _per se_ and," may I be permitted to enter a protest against the latter mixture of English and Latin, though fully concurring in the statement of MR. NICHOLL, that it is a rapidly formed _et_ (&). To the variety of pronunciations already appearing in "N. & Q.," let me add what I believe will be found to be the most general, _empesand_, which I believe to be a corruption from _emm, ess, and_ (MS. and) by the introduction of a _labial_, as in many other instances. But has any one ever seen it _spelt_ till the Query appeared in "N. & Q.," and where?

FRANK HOWARD.

_The Arms of De Sissonne_ (Vol. viii., p. 243.).--There is a copy of _Histoire Généalogique et Chronologique de la Maison Royale de France, par le Père Anselme_, nine vols. folio, Paris, 1726-33, in the library of Sir R. Taylor's Institution, Oxford. The arms of the Seigneurs de Sissonne are not _blazoned_ in it. It is stated by Anselme, that

"Louis, Bâtard de Sarrebruche-Roucy, fils naturel de Jean de Sarrebruche, Comte de Roucy, fut Seigneur de Sissonne, servit sous Jean d'Humières, et est nommé dans plusieurs actes des années 1510, 1515, 1517, et 1518. Il fit un accord devant le prevôt de Paris avec Robert de Sarrebruche, Comte de Roucy, le 28 Mars, 1498, touchant la terre et châtellenie de Sissonne."--Tome viii. p. 537.

The arms of the "Comte de Sarrebruche, Sire de Commercy en Lorraine, Conseiller et Chambellan du Roi, Bouteiller de France," &c., are represented--

"D'azur semé de croix recroisetées au pied fiché d'or, au lion d'argent couronné d'or sur le tout."

The following are also extracts from the _Histoire Généalogique_:

"Louis de Roucy, Comte de Sissonne, élection de Laon, portoit d'or au lion d'azur."...

"Le Nobiliaire de Picardie, in 4º. p. 46., donne à Louis de Roucy, Comte de Sissonne, deux neveux, Charles et Louis de Roucy, Seigneurs d'Origny et de Ste Preuve."--Tome viii. p. 538.

J. MACRAY.

_St. Patrick's Purgatory_ (Vol. vii., p. 552.).--Some degree of doubt appearing to exist, by the statement in p. 178. of the present volume, as to the position of the _real_ St. Patrick's Purgatory, I send the following from Camden:

"The _Liffey_," says he, "near unto his spring head, enlarges his stream and spreads abroad into a _lake_, wherein appears above the water an island, and in it, hard by a little monastery, a very narrow vault within the ground, much spoken of by reason of its religious horrors. Which cave some say was dug by Ulysses when he went down to parley with those in hell.

"The inhabitants," he continues, "term it in these days _Ellan n' Frugadory_, that is, _The Isle of Purgatory_, or _St. Patrick's Purgatory_. For some persons devoutly credulous affirm that St. Patrick, the Irishmen's apostle, or else some abbot of the same name, obtained by most earnest prayer at the hands of God, that the punishments and torments which the wicked are to suffer after this life, might _here_ be presented to the eye; that so he might the more easily root out the sins and heathenish errors which stuck so fast to his countrymen the _Irish_."

G. W.

Stansted, Montfichet.

_Sir George Carr_ (Vol. vii., pp. 512. 558.).--Since W. ST. and GULIELMUS replied to my Query, I have discovered more particular information regarding him. In a MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, I find the following:

"Sir George Carr of Southerhall, Yorkshire, married, on Jan. 15, 1637, Grissell, daughter of Sir Robert Meredith, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland; their son, William Carr, born Jan. 11, 1639, married {328} on August 29, 1665, Elizabeth, daughter of Francis (Edward) Synge, Bishop of Cork. There were two children of this marriage: Edward, born Oct. 7, 1671 (who died unmarried); and Barbara, born May 12, 1672; she married John Cliffe, Esq., of Mulrankin, co. Wexford, and had several children, of whom the eldest, John, was grandfather of the present Anthony Cliffe of Bellevue, co. Wexford, Esq."

Edward Synge was Bishop of Cork from Dec. 1663 to his death in 1678.

Sir George Carr appears to be the son of William Carr, the eldest son of James Carr of Yorkshire: see Harl. MS. 1487, 451.

Sir Robert Meredith, father of Lady Carr, married Anne, daughter of Sir William Upton, Clerk of the Council in Ireland.

Could any of your correspondents give any account of the family of either of them?

Y. S. M.

_Gravestone Inscription_ (Vol. viii., p. 268.).--The gravestone inscription communicated by JULIA R. BOCKETT consists of the last four lines of the ballad of "Death and the Lady" (see Dixon's _Ballads_, by the Percy Society). They should be:

"The grave's the market-place where all men meet, Both rich and poor, as well as small and great: If life were merchandise that gold could buy, The rich would live, the poor alone would die."

In the introduction to Smith's edition of Holbein's _Dance of Death_, the editor says:

"The concluding lines have been converted into an epitaph, _to be found in most of our village churchyards_."

Of the truth of which assertion the churchyard of Milton-next-Gravesend, in Kent, furnishes an illustration, as I copied the lines from a stone there some years ago. Being generally, I imagine, quoted from memory, they do not appear to be exactly similar in any two instances.

S. SINGLETON.

Greenwich.

"_A Tub to the Whale_" (Vol. viii., pp. 220. 304.).--I observe that a Querist, PIMLICO, asks the origin of the phrase to "throw a tub to the whale." I think an explanation of this will be found in the introduction to Swift's _Tale of the Tub_. I cannot lay my hand on the passage, but it is to the effect that sailors engaged in the Greenland fisheries make it a practice to throw over-board a _tub_ to a wounded whale, to divert his attention from the boat which contains his assailants.

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

_Hour-glasses in Pulpits_ (Vol. vii., p. 489.; Vol. viii., pp. 82. 209.).--Whilst turning over the pages of Macaulay's _History_, I accidentally stumbled upon the following passage, which forms an interesting addition to the Notes already collected in your pages. Speaking of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, he says:

"He was often interrupted by the deep hum of his audience; and when, after preaching out the hour-glass, which in those days was part of the furniture of the pulpit, he held it in his hand, the congregation clamorously encouraged him to go on till the sand had run off once more."--Macaulay's _History_, vol. ii. p. 177. edit. 8., with a reference in a foot-note to Speaker Onslow's Note on _Burnet_, i. 596.; Johnson's _Life of Sprat_.

The hour-glass stand at St. Alban's, Wood Street, appears to be a remarkable example: see Sperling's _Church Walks in Middlesex_, p. 155., and Allen's _Lambeth_. And in the report of the meeting of the Archæological Association at Rochester, in the _Illustrated London News_ of the 6th August, 1853, it is noted that in the church at Cliff, "the pulpit has an hour-glass stand dated 1636:" the date gives an additional interest to this example.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

_Slow-worm Superstition_ (Vol. viii., p. 33.).--The slow-worm superstition, about which TOWER inquires, and to whom I believe no answer has been returned, is quite common in the North of England. One of the many uses of "N. & Q." is the abundant proof that supposed localisms are in fact common to all England. I learn from the same Number, p. 44., that in Devonshire a slater is called a _hellier_. _To hill_, that is to cover, "hill me up," _i. e._ cover me up, is as common in Lancashire as in Wicliff's Bible. We have not, however, _hellier_ or _hillier_ for one whose business it is to cover in a house.

P. P.

_Sincere_ (Vol. viii., p. 195.).--I should be glad if MR. INGLEBY would point out any authority for the practice of the Roman potters to which he refers. The only passage I can call to mind as countenancing his derivation is Hor. _Ep._ i. 2. 54.:

"Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis, acescit."

in which there is no reason why _sincerum_ should not be simply _sine cera_, _sine fuco_, i. e. pure as honey, free or freed from the wax, thence anything pure. This derivation is supported also by Donatus, ad Ter. _Eun._ i. 2. 97., and Noltenius, _Lex. Antibar_. Cicero also, who chose his expressions with great accuracy, employs _sincerus_ as directly opposed to _fucatus_ in his _Dialogus de Amicit._ 25.:

"Secernere omnis fucata et simulata a sinceris atque veris."

In the absence of positive proof on the side, I am inclined to think MR. TRENCH right.

H. B.

_Books chained to Desks in Churches--Seven Candlesticks_ (Vol. viii., pp. 94. 206.).--In Mr. Sperling's _Church Walks in Middlesex_, it is noted {329} in the account of the church at Whitchurch (_alias_ Little Stanmore), that--

"Many of the prayer books, given by the duke [of Chandos], still remain chained to the pues for the use of the poorer parishioners."--P. 104.

At p. 138. a curious ornament of some of the London churches is referred to:

"We find several altar-pieces in which seven wooden candlesticks, with wooden candles, are introduced, viz. St. Mary-at-Hill; St. Ethelburgs, Bishopsgate; Hammersmith, &c.: these are merely typical of the seven golden candlesticks of the Apocalypse."--Rev. i. 20.

This portion of ecclesiastical furniture appears to me sufficiently unusual to be worth noting in your pages: is it to be found elsewhere than in churches in and near London? If not, a list of these churches in which it is now to be seen would be acceptable to ecclesiologists.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

Oxford.

_D. Ferrand; French Patois_ (Vol. viii., p. 243.).--The full title of Ferrand's work, referred to by your correspondent MR. B. SNOW of Birmingham, is as follows:

"Inventaire Général de la Muse Normande, divisée en XXVIII parties où sont descrites plusieurs batailles, assauts, prises de villes, guerres etrangères, victoires de la France, histoires comiques, Esmotions populaires, grabuges et choses remarquables arrivées à Rouen depuis quarante années, in 8o. et se vendent à Rouen, chez l'arthevr, rue du Bac, à l'Enseigne de l'imprimerie, M.DC.LV., pages 484."

There is also another publication by Ferrand with the title of--

"Les Adieux de la Muse Normande aux Palinots, et quelques autres pièces, pages 28."

The author was a printer at Rouen, and the patois in which his productions are written is the Norman. The _Biographie Universelle_ says they are the best known of all that are composed in that dialect.

J. MACRAY.

_Wood of the Cross_ (Vol. vii., pp. 177. 334. 437. 488.).--Is it an old belief that the cross was composed of four different kinds of wood? Boys, in a note on Ephesians iii. 18. (_Works_, p. 495.), says, "Other have discoursed of the foure woods, and dimensions in the materiall crosse of Christ, more subtilly than soundly," and refers in the margin to Anselm and Aquinas, but without giving the reference to the exact passages. Can any of your readers supply this deficiency?

R. J. ALLEN.

_Ladies' Arms in a Lozenge_ (Vol. viii., pp. 37. 83.).--BROCTUNA has a theory that ladies bear their arms in a lozenge, because hatchments are of that shape; and it is probably that widows in old time "would vie with each other in these displays of the insignia of mourning." It has, however, escaped his memory, that maids with living fathers also use the lozenge, and that in a man's hatchment it is the _frame_ only, and not the shield at all, which has the lozenge shape. The man's arms in the hatchment not being on a lozenge, it is scarcely possible his widow could thence have adopted it. He suggests that the shape was adopted for hatchments as being the most convenient for admitting the arms of the sixteen ancestors.

I wish to insert a Query, as to whether the sixteen quarters _ever were_ made use of this way in English heraldry? Perhaps your readers will be willing to allow that the lozenge is surely a fitting emblem for the _sweeter_ sex; but is not the routine reason the true one after all? The lozenge has a supposed resemblance to the distaff, the emblem of the woman. We have spinster from the same idea; and, though I cannot now turn to the passage, I am sure I have seen the Salic law described as forbidding "the holder of the distaff to grasp the sceptre."

P. P.

_Burial in unconsecrated Ground_ (Vol. vi., p. 448.; Vol. viii., p. 43.).--The late elegant and accomplished Sir W. Temple, though he laid not his whole body in his garden, deposited the better part of it (his heart) there; "and if my executors will gratify me in what I have desired, I wish my corpse may be interred as I have bespoke them; not at all out of singularity, or for want of a dormitory (of which there is an ample one annexed to the parish church), but for other reasons not necessary here to trouble the reader with, what I have said in general being sufficient. However, let them order as they think fit, so it be not _in the church or chancel_." (Evelyn's _Sylva_, book iv.)

"In the north aisle of the chancel [of Wotton Church] is the burying-place of the Evelyns (within which is lately made, under a decent arched chapel, a vault). In the chancel on the north side is a tomb, about three feet high, of freestone, shaped like a coffin; on the top, on white marble, is this inscription:

'Here lies the Body of JOHN EVELYN, Esq.'"[8]

This inscription commemorates the author of _Sylva_, and evinces how unobsequiously obsequies are sometimes solemnised.

Evelyn mentions Sumner _On Garden Burial_, probably "not circulated."

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

[Footnote 8: Aubrey's _Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey_, vol. iv.]

_Table-turning_ (Vol. viii., p. 57.).--Without going the length of asserting, with La Bruyère, that "tout est dit," or believing, with Dutens, that there is no modern discovery that was not known, in some shape or other, to the ancients, it seems {330} not unreasonable to suppose that table-turning, the principle of which lies so near the surface of social life, was practised in former ages.

This reminds one of the expression, so familiar among controversialists, of "turning the tables" upon an adversary. What is the origin of the latter phrase? It is time some explanation of it were offered, if only to caution the etymologists of a future age against confounding it with our "table-turning."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_"Well's a fret"_ (Vol. viii., p. 197.).--I beg leave to suggest to DEVONIENSIS the following as a probable explanation of the use of this phrase; the rhyme that follows being superadded, for the sake of the jingle and the truism, in the best style of rustic humour.

Well! is often used in conversation as an expletive, even by educated people, a slight pause ensuing after the ejaculation, as if to collect the thoughts before the reply is given. Is it not therefore called a _fret_, or stop, in the Devon vernacular, figuratively, like the fret or stop in a musical instrument, the cross bars or protuberance in a stringed, and a peg in a wind instrument?

Hamlet says, in taunting Rosencrantz for his treasonable attempts to worm himself into his confidence,--

"Call me what instrument you will; though you can _fret_ me, you cannot play upon me."

Taken in this other sense in which we use the word _fret_, is it not probable that it has passed into a proverb; and that the lines, as given by DEVONIENSIS, are a corruption of

"Well! don't fret; He who dies for love will never be hang'd for debt."

--the invention of some Damon to comfort Strephon in his loneliness.

M. (2)

_Tenet for Tenent_ (Vol. viii., p. 258.).--The note of your correspondent BALLIOLENSIS does not address itself to the Query put by Y. B. N. J. in Vol. vii., p. 205., When did the use of _tenent_ give way to _tenet_?

You will find that Burton, in the _Anatomy of Melancholy_, which was published in 1621, uses uniformly _tenent_ (vide vol. i. pp. 1. 317. 408. 430. 446. &c.)

But Sir Thomas Browne in 1646, twenty-four years later, printed the first edition of his _Vulgar Errors_ under the title of _Pseudodoxia epidemica, or Enquiries into very many received Tenets and commonly presumed Truths_.

I cannot find that Burton in any passage respects the grammatical distinction suggested by both your correspondents, that _tenet_ should denote the opinion of an individual, and _tenent_ those of a sect. He applies the latter indifferently, both as regards the plural and singular. Thus, "Aponensis thinks it proceeds," but "Laurentius condemns _his tenent_" (part i. sect. iii. mem. 3.). And again, "they are furious, impatient in discourse, stiff and irrefragable in _their tenents_" (ib. p. i. s. iv. mem. 1. sub. 3.).

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

NICEPHORUS CATENA ON THE PENTATEUCH.

PROCOPIUS GAZÆUS.

WATT'S BIBLIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. Parts V. and VI.

MAXWELL'S DIGEST OF THE LAW OF INTESTATES.

CARLYLE'S CHARTISM. Crown 8vo. 2nd Edition.

THE BUILDER, No. 520.

OSWALLI CROLLII OPERA. 12mo. Geneva, 1635.

GAFFARELL'S UNHEARD-OF CURIOSITIES. Translated by Chelmead. London. 12mo. 1650.

BEAUMONT'S PSYCHE. 2nd Edit. folio. Camb., 1702.

THE MONTHLY ARMY LIST from 1797 to 1800 inclusive. Published by Hookham and Carpenter, Bond Street. Square 12mo.

JER. COLLIER'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Folio Edition. Vol. II.

LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE LONDON GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PRESCOTT'S HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 3 Vols. London. Vol. III.

MRS. ELLIS'S SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. Tallis's Edition. Vols. II. and III. 8vo.

PAMPHLETS.

JUNIUS DISCOVERED. By P. T. Published about 1789.

REASONS FOR REJECTING THE EVIDENCE OF MR. ALMON, &c. 1807.

ANOTHER GUESS AT JUNIUS. Hookham. 1809.

THE AUTHOR OF JUNIUS DISCOVERED. Longmans. 1821.

THE CLAIMS OF SIR P. FRANCIS REFUTED. Longmans. 1822.

WHO WAS JUNIUS? Glynn. 1837.

SOME NEW FACTS, &c., by Sir F. Dwarris. 1850.

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* * * * *

Notices to Correspondents.

OUR SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.--_We have been assured that our observations under this head have been understood by some readers as being directed especially against the gentleman whose contribution called forth the letter from_ ICON, _on which we were commenting. Although we are satisfied that there is nothing in them to warrant such a supposition, we can have no objection to assure_ A. E. B., _and his friends, that they were intended to be of general, and not of individual, application. We may add, to prevent any misconception on this point, that that gentleman was not the writer of the unfounded argument against the genuineness of the_ Notes and Emendations _referred to in the same remarks._

_The communications sent to us for_ H. C. K. _and the_ REV. W. SISSON _have been forwarded; as have also the_ Letters from The Times _to_ ARAN _from two Correspondents._

S. C. P. _will find Landsborough's_ Popular History of British Seaweeds, _published by Reeve and Co., price 10s. 6d., a small but comprehensive work._

J. S. (Islington). _Any letter sent to us shall be forwarded to_ CUTHBERT BEDE.

BRIAN O'LINN _will find his Query as to_ Cold Harbour _discussed in our_ 1st _and_ 2nd Vols.

HENLEY. _Nothing preserves the Collodion pictures so well as the_ amber varnish _originally recommended in_ "N. & Q.", (_see_ No. 188.), _and which may now be had at most of the Photographic Chemists._

_Answers to other Correspondents next week._

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

* * * * *

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