Part 3

[The charge of simony is loosely noticed by Shaw in his _History of Staffordshire_, vol. i. p. 278. He says, "Edward Chandler was translated from Lichfield and Coventry to Durham in 1730; and it was then _publicly said_ that he gave 9000l. for that opulent see." To this Chalmers, in his _Biog. Dict._, adds, "which is scarcely credible." The Charge by the bishop is in the British Museum: it is entitled, "A Charge delivered to the Grand Jury at the Quarter-Sessions held at Durham, July 16, 1740, concerning engrossing of corn and grain, and the riots that have been occasioned thereby." 4to., Durham.]

_Huggins and Muggins._--Can any of your readers assign the origin of this jocular appellation? I would hazard the conjecture, that it may be corruption of _Hogen Mogen_, High Mightinesses, the style, I believe, of the States-General of Holland; and that it probably became an expression of contempt in the mouths of the Jacobites for the followers of William III., from whence it has passed to a more general application.

F. K.

Bath.

[HUGGER-MUGGER, says Dr. Richardson, is the common way of writing this word, from Udal to the present time. No probable etymology, he adds, has yet been given. Sir John Stoddart (_Ency. Metropolitana_, vol i. p. 120.) has given a long article on this word, which concludes with the following remarks:--"The last etymology that we shall mention is from the Dutch title, {342} _Hoog Moogende_ (High Mightinesses), given to the States-General, and much ridiculed by some of our English writers; as in _Hudibras_:

'But I have sent him for a token To your Low-country, _Hogen Mogen_.'

It has been supposed that _hugger-mugger_, corrupted from _Hogen Mogen_, was meant in derision of the secret transactions of their Mightinesses; but it is probable that the former word was known in English before the latter, and upon the whole it seems most probable that _hugger_ is a mere intensitive form of _hug_, and that _mugger_ is a reduplication of sound with a slight variation, which is so common in cases of this kind."]

_Balderdash._--What is the meaning and the etymology of "balderdash?"

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

[Skinner suggests the following etymology: "BALDERDASH, _potus mixtus_, credo ab A.-S. _bald_, audax, _balder_, audacior vel audacius, et nostro _dash_; _miscere_, q.d. _potus temere mixtus_." Dr. Jamieson explains it as "foolish and noisy talk. Islandic, _bulldur_, stultorum balbuties." Dr. Ogilvie, however, has queried its derivation from the "Spanish _balda_, a trifle, or _baldonar_, to insult with abusive language; Welsh, _baldorz_, to prattle. Mean, senseless prate; a jargon of words; ribaldry; anything jumbled together without judgment."]

_Lovell, Sculptor._--What is known of this artist? That he was in advance of the age he flourished in is evinced by his beautifully executed engravings in _Love's Sacrifice_ (fol. Lond. 1652), which for delicacy of work are far beyond anything of the period.

R.C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

[Is the name Lovell, or Loisell? for we find that Strutt, in his _Dictionary of Engravers_, vol. ii. p. 101., speaks of "P. Loisell having affixed some slight etchings, something in the style of Gaywood (if I mistake not), to Benlowe's _Theophilia_, _or Love's Sacrifice_."]

_St. Werenfrid and Butler's_ "_Lives of the Saints._"--One of your correspondents will perhaps explain the cause of an omission in Butler's _Lives of the Saints_. The life of St. Werenfrid, whose anniversary is the 14th of August, is abstracted, vol. iii. p. 492. His name occurs in the table of contents: and pages 493 and 494, where the life should have appeared, are wanting; still page 495 follows 492 correctly in type, so that the former must have been reprinted _after_ the castration of the leaf. Was the saint deemed unworthy of the place which had been allotted to him?

J. H. M.

[In the best edition of Butler's _Lives_ (12 vols., 1812-13), the life of St. Werenfrid is given on Nov. 7. He is honored in Holland on the 14th of August; and his life appears in _Britannia Sancta_ on that day, but in the Bollandists on the 28th of August.]

* * * * *

Replies.

SIR W. HANKFORD-GASCOIGNE'S TOMB.

(Vol. viii., p. 278.)

On reading MR. SANSOM'S letter, it occurred to me that I had seen a different account of the master being shot by his park-keeper; and on search I found the following in 1 Hale's _P. C._ p. 40., which I send, as it may tend to clear up the question:

"In the case of Sir William Hawksworth, related by Baker in his _Chronicle of the Time of Edward IV._, p. 223. (_sub anno_ 1471), he being weary of his life, and willing to be rid of it by another's hand, blamed his parker for suffering his deer to be destroyed; and commanded him that he should shoot the next man that he met in his park that would not stand or speak. The knight himself came in the night into the park, and being met by the keeper, refused to stand or speak. The keeper shot and killed him, not knowing him to be his master. This seems to be no felony, but excusable by the statute of _Malefactores in Parcis_."

This account varies from Ritson's in the name "Hawksworth" instead of "Hankford," and the date 1471 instead of 1422. It seems plain that Lord Hale had no idea that the person shot was a judge: and possibly the truth may be, that it was a descendant of the judge that was shot. Even if Hankford's death were in 1422, as stated by Risdon, the traditional account that he caused his own death "in doubt of his safety" does not seem very probable, as Henry V. came to the throne in 1412-13. Probably some of your readers may be able to clear up the matter.

I was at Harewood the other day, and examined a tomb there alleged to be that of the C.-J. Gascoigne. In the centre of the west end of the tomb is a shield: first and fourth, five fleurs-de-lys (France); second and third, three lions passant gardant (England).--May I ask how these arms happen to be on this tomb?

There are several other shields on the tomb, but all are now undistinguishable except one; which appears to be a bend impaling a saltire, as far as I can make it out: the colours are wholly obliterated. The head of the figure has not a coif on it, as I should have anticipated; but a cap fitting very close, and a bag is suspended from the left arm.--Is it known for certain that this is C.-J. Gascoigne's tomb?

S. G. C.

Harrogate.

* * * * *

MR. SANSOM need not have been very much surprised that I should have omitted noticing a tradition concerning Sir William Hankford, when I was merely rectifying an error with reference to Sir William Gascoigne. That I have not overlooked entirely "the Devonshire tradition, which represents Sir William Hankford to be the judge {343} who committed Prince Henry," may be seen in _The Judges of England_, vol. iv. p. 324., wherein I show the total improbability of the tale. And my disbelief in the story of Hankford's death, and its more probable application to Sir Robert Danby, is already noticed in "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 93.

EDWARD FOSS.

* * * * *

TRANSLATION OF THE PRAYER BOOK INTO FRENCH.

(Vol. vii., p. 382.)

In answer to some of the questions proposed by O. W. J. respecting the Prayer Book translated into French, I am able to give this information.

A copy of a French Prayer Book is to be found in the Bodleian Library (Douce Coll.), which is very probably the first edition of the translation. A general account of this book may be gained from Strype's _Mem. Eccl. K. Ed. VI._ (vol. iii. p. 208. ed. 1816); also Strype's _Mem. Abp. Cranmer_ (b. ii. c. 22. sub fin. and c. 33., and App. 54. and 261.); also Collier's _Eccl. Hist._, vol. ii. p. 321.

From these sources we may conclude that a translation of the first book of _K. Ed. VI._ was begun very soon after its publication in England, at the instigation of Pawlet (at that time governor of Calais), with the sanction of the king and the archbishop "for the use of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, and of the town and dependencies of Calais;" but it does not seem to have been completed before the publication of the second book took place, and so the alterations were incorporated into this edition.

The translator was "Francoys Philippe, a servant of the Lord Chancellor" (Thos. Goodrick, Bishop of Ely), as he styles himself. The printer's name is Gaultier. It was put forth in 1553.

There is still extant an "Order in Council" for the island of Jersey, dated April 15, 1550, commanding to "observe and use the service, and other orders appertaining to the same, and to the ministration of the sacraments, set forth in the booke sent to you presentlye." It is uncertain what the book here referred to was, whether a translation or a copy of the English liturgy.

There are copies extant of another liturgy put forth in 1616, purporting to be "newly translated at the command of the king." The printer's name is Jehan Bill, of London. The name of John Bill appears also as king's printer in the English authorised edition of 1662.

Another was published in 1667, by Jean Dunmore and Octavien Pulleyn.

The edition of 1695, published by _Erringham_ (Everingham) and R. Bentley, has the sanction of K. Charles II. appended to it.

Numerous editions have since been published, varying in many important points (even of doctrine) from one another, and from their English original. There is now no authorised edition fit for general use; the older translations having become too antiquated by the variations in the French language to be read in the churches.

M. A. W. C.

* * * * *

PRAYING TO THE WEST.

(Vol. viii., p. 208.)

Although going over old ground, yet, if it be permitted, I would note a curious coincidence connected with this far-spread veneration for the West.

As mentioned by G. W., the Puranas point to the "Sacred Isles of the West" as the elysium of the ancient Hindus, "The White Islands of the West." The Celtae of the European continent believed that their souls were transported to England, or some islands adjacent. (See _Encyclopedie Methodique_, art. "Antiquites," vol. i. p. 704.) The Celtic elysium, "Flath-Innis," a remote island of the West, is mentioned by Logan in his _Celtic Gael_, vol. ii. p. 342., who no doubt drew his information from the same source as Professor Rafinesque, whose observations on this subject I transcribe, viz.:

"It is strange but true, that, throughout the earth, the place of departed souls, the land of spirits, was supposed to be in the West, or at the setting sun. This happens everywhere, and in the most opposite religions, from China to Lybia, and also from Alaska to Chili in America. The instances of an eastern paradise were few, and referred to the eastern celestial abode of yore, rather than the future abode of souls. The Ashinists, or Essenians, the best sect of Jews, placed Paradise in the Western Ocean; and the Id. Alishe, or Elisha of the Prophets, the happy land. Jezkal (our Ezekiel) mentions that island; the Phoenicians called it Alizut, and some deem Madeira was meant, but it had neither men nor spirits! From this the Greeks made their Elysium and Tartarus placed near together, at first in Epirus, then Italy, next Spain, lastly in the ocean, as the settlers travelled west. The sacred and blessed islands of the Hindus and Lybians were in this ocean; Wilford thought they meant the British Islands. Pushcara, the farthest off, he says, was Iceland, but may have meant North America.

"The Lybians called their blessed islands 'Aimones;' they were the Canaries, it is said, but likely the Atlantides, since the Atlantes dwelt in the Aimones," &c.

And farther he says, the Gauls had their Cocagne, the Saxons their Cockaign, Cocana of the Lusitanians,--

"A land of delight and plenty, _which is proverbial to this day_! By the Celts it was called 'Dunna feadhuigh,' a fairy land, &c. But all these notions have earlier foundations, since the English Druids put their paradise in a remote island in the west, called {344} 'Flath-Innis,' the flat island", &c.--_American Nations_, vol. ii. p. 245. _et infra_.

The coincidence then is this. The same veneration for the West prevails among many of our Indian tribes, who place their Paradise in an island beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far toward the setting sun. There, good Indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new skins, and live in warm new lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous gales; but the bad Indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the strand in all directions.

I cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with futurity. The above idea of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though prevalent, is not general; for instance, the Minnetarees and Mandans believed that to reach Paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good Indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (See Long's _Expedition to the Rocky Mountains_, vol. i. p. 259.)

The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake (see Long's _Expedition to St. Peter's River_, vol. i. p. 154.); and in the same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or Sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully.

Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just the Alsirat of the Mahomedans; I think it will be found in the _Bibliotheque Orientale_ of D'Herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to Sale's _Koran_. Sale thinks Mahomet borrowed the idea from the Magians, who teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "Pul Chinavad" or "Chinavar," _i.e._ "The Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of the "Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a thread. According to M. Hommaire de Hell, the Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the wicked attempt to pass along this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (_Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian, &c._, p. 252.)

Having already trespassed most unconscionably, I forbear farther remark on these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that so remote as to have allowed time for diverging dialects to have become, as it were, distinct languages.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

* * * * *

JACOB BOBART.

(Vol. viii., p. 37.)

The completion of a laborious literary work has taken my attention away from the "N. & Q." for some weeks past, otherwise I should sooner have given MR. BOBART the following information.

The engraving of old Jacob Bobart by W. Richardson is _not_ of any value, being a copy from an older print. Query if it is not a copy of the very rare engraving by Loggan and Burghers?

The original print of the "founder of the physick garden," "D. Loggan del., M. Burghers sculp., 1675," which Mr. Bobart wishes to procure, may be purchased of A. E. Evans, 403. Strand, for 2l. 12s. 6d. I also learn from Mr. Evans' invaluable _Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits_ (an octavo of 431 pages, lately published), that there exists a portrait of Bobart, "the classical alma mater coachman of Oxford," whole length, by Dighton, 1808. The same catalogue also contains other portraits of the Bobarts.

Since my last communication on the present subject, I find the following memorandums in one of my note-books, which possibly may be unknown to your correspondent; they relate to MSS. in the British Museum.

Add. MS. 5290. contains 227 folio drawings of various rare plants, the names of which are added in the autograph of Jacob Bobart the elder.

Sloane MS. 4038. contains some letters from Jacob Bobart to Sir Hans Sloane, 1685-1716; also one from Anne Bobart, dated 1701.

Sloane MS. 3343. contains a catalogue of plants and seeds saved at Oxford, by Mr. Bobart, 1695-6.

Sloane MS. 3321., consisting of scientific letters addressed to Mr. Petiver, contains one from Jacob Bobart, and another from Tilleman Bobart. The latter has a letter dated "Blenheim, Feb. 5, 1711-12," to some person unknown, in Sloane MS. 4253.

_Tilleman_ Bobart appears to have been employed in laying out the park and gardens at the Duke of Marlborough's magnificent seat at Blenheim. A member of his original papers and receipts were lately disposed of by auction at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's. (See the sale catalogue of July 22, 1853, lot 1529.)

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

EARLY USE OF TIN.--DERIVATION OF THE NAME OF BRITAIN.

(Vol. viii., p. 290.)

Many questions are proposed by G.W., to which it is extremely improbable that any but a conjectural answer can ever be given. That tin was in common use 2800 years ago, is certain. Probably evidence may be obtained, if it have not been so {345} already, of its use at a still earlier period; but it is unlikely that we shall ever know who first brought it from Cornwall to Asia, and used it to harden copper. It is, however, a matter of interest to trace the mention of this metal in the ancient inscriptions, Egyptian and Assyrian, which have of late years been so successfully interpreted. Mistakes have been made from time to time, which subsequent researches have rectified. It was thought for a long time that a substance, mentioned in the hieroglyphical inscriptions very frequently, and in one instance said to have been procured from Babylon, was _tin_. This has now been ascertained to be a mistake. Mr. Birch has proved that it was _Lapis lazuli_, and that what was brought from Babylon was an artificial blue-stone in imitation of the genuine one. I am not aware whether the true hieroglyphic term for _tin_ has been discovered. Mention was again supposed to have been made of _tin_ in the annals of Sargon. A tribute paid to him in his seventh year by Pirhu (Pharaoh, as Col. Rawlinson rightly identifies the name; not Pihor, Boccharis, as I at one time supposed), king of Egypt, Tsamtsi, queen of Arabia, and Idhu, ruler of the Isabeans, was supposed to have contained tin as well as gold, horses, and camels. This, however, was in itself an improbable supposition. It is much more likely that incense or spices should have been yielded by the countries named than tin. At any rate, I have recently identified a totally different word with the name of tin. It reads _anna_; and I supposed it, till very lately, to mean "rings." I find, however, that it signifies a metal, and that a different word has the signification "rings." When Assur-yuchura-bal, the founder of the north-western palace at Nimrud, conquered the people who lived on the banks of the Orontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, he obtained from them twenty talents of silver, half a talent of gold, one hundred talents of _anna_ (tin), one hundred talents of iron, &c. His successor received from the same people all these metals, and also copper.

It is already highly probable, and farther discoveries may soon convert this probability to certainty, that the people just referred to (whom I incline strongly to identify with the _Shirutana_ of the Egyptian inscriptions) were the merchants of the world before Tyre was called into existence; their port being what the Greeks called Seleucia, when they attempted to revive its ancient greatness. It is probably to them that the discovery of Britain is to be attributed; and it was probably from them that it received its name.

In G. W.'s communication, a derivation of the name from _barat-anac_, "the land of tin," is suggested. He does not say by whom, but he seems to disclaim it as his own. I do not recollect to have met with it before; but it appears to me, even as it stands, a far more plausible one than _bruit-tan_, "the land of tin:" the former term being supposed to be Celtic for _tin_, and the latter a termination with the sense of _land_: or than _brit-daoine_, "the painted (or separated) people."

I am, however, disposed to think that the name is not of Phoenician origin, but was given by their northern neighbours, whom I have mentioned as their predecessors in commerce. These were evidently of kindred origin, and spoke a language of the same class; and I think it all but certain, that in the Assyrian name for tin (_anna_) we have the name given to it by this people, from whom the Assyrians obtained it. "The land of tin" would be in their language _barat_ (or probably _barit_) _anna_, from which the transition to Britannia presents no difficulty. I assume here that _b-r-t_, without expressed vowels, is a Phoenician term for "land of." I assume it on the authority of the person, whoever he may be, that first gave the derivation that G. W. quotes. I have no Phoenician authority within reach: but I can readily believe the statement, knowing that _banit_ would be the Assyrian word used in such a compound, and that _n_, _r_, and _b_ are perpetually interchanged in the Semitic languages, and notoriously so in this very root. _Ummi banitiya_, "of the mother who produced me," is pure Assyrian; and so would _banit-anna_, "the producer of tin," be; all names of lands being feminine in Assyrian.

It would be curious if the true derivation of the world-renowned name of Britain should be ascertained for the first time through an Assyrian medium.

EDW. HINCKS.

Killyleagh, Down.

* * * * *

As there are several Queries in the Note of G. W. which the Celtic language is capable of elucidating, I beg to offer a few derivations from that language.

Britain is derived from _briot_, painted, and _tan_, a country--_i. e._ "the country of the painted people." It is a matter of history, that the people of Britain dyed their bodies with various colours.

_Tin_ is from the Celtic _tin_, to melt readily, to dissolve. It is also called _stan_: Latin, _stannum_.

Hercules is from the Phoenician or Celtic, _Earr-aclaide_, pronounced _Er-aclaie,_ i. e. the noble leader or hero.

Melkarthus is derived from _Mal-catair_, pronounced _Mal-cahir_, i. e. the champion or king of the city (of Tyre).

Moloch cannot be identical with the Tyrian Hercules, as Moloch was the god of fire: probably a name for the sun, from the Celtic _molc_, i. e. fire.

FRAS. CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

{346}

YEW-TREES IN CHURCHYARDS.

(Vol. viii., p. 244.)

Whilst offering a solution to the Query of R. C. WARDE, as to the placing yew-trees in churchyards, I am obliged to differ from him _toto coelo_, by considering the derivation of the name of the plant itself, though I must candidly confess that the solution of the Query and the derivation of the word are my own.

_Yew_ is ancient British, and signifies _existent_ and enduring, having the same root as _Jehovah_; and _yew_ is Welsh for _it is_, being one of the forms of the third person present indicative of the auxiliary verb _bod_, to be. Hence the yew-tree was planted in churchyards, not to indicate _death_, despair, but _life_, hope and assurance. It is one of our few evergreens, and is the most enduring of all, and clearly points out the Christian's hope in the immortality of the soul: _Resurgam_.