Part 2

"The moon had climbed the highest hill, Where eagles big[2] aboon the Dee, And like the looks of a lovely dame, Brought joy to every body's ee."

No poetical reader will require his attention to be directed to the immeasurable superiority of this glorious verse: the high poetic animation, the eagles' visits, the lovely looks of female beauty, the exhilarating gladness and joy affecting the beholder, all manifest the genius of the master bard. I shall receive it as a favour if any of your correspondents will furnish a complete copy of the original poem, and contrast it with what "Low" fancied his "improvements."

JAMES CORNISH.

[Footnote 2: Build.]

_Epitaph at Wood Ditton._--You have recently appropriated a small space in your "medium of intercommunication" to the subject of epitaphs. I can furnish you with one which I have been accustomed to regard as a "grand climacterical absurdity." About thirty years ago, when making a short summer ramble, I entered the churchyard of Wood Ditton, near Newmarket, and my attention was attracted by a headstone, having inlaid into its upper part a piece of iron, measuring about ten inches by six, and hollowed out into the shape of a _dish_. I inquired of a cottager residing on the spot what the thing meant? I was informed that the party whose ashes the grave covered was a man who, during a long life, had a strange taste for sopping a slice of bread in a dripping-pan (a pan over which meat has been roasted), and would relinquish for this all kinds of dishes, sweet or savoury; that in his will he left a request that a dripping-pan should be fixed in his gravestone; that he wrote his own epitaph, an exact copy of which I herewith give you, and which he requested to be engraved on the stone:

"Here lies my corpse, who was the man That loved a sop in the dripping-pan; But now believe me I am dead,-- See here the pan stands at my head. Still for sops till the last I cried, But could not eat, and so I died. My neighbours they perhaps will laugh, When they read my epitaph."

J. H.

Cambridge.

_Pictorial Pun._--In the village of Warbleton, in Sussex, there is an old public-house, which has for its sign a War Bill in a tun of beer, in reference of course to the name of the place. It has, however, the double meaning, of "Axe for Beer."

R. W. B.

* * * * *

Queries.

SIR THOMAS BUTTON'S VOYAGE, 1612.

I am about to print some information, hitherto I believe totally unknown, relative to the voyage of Sir Thomas Button in 1612, for the discovery of the north-west passage.

Of this voyage a journal was kept, which was in existence many years afterwards, being offered by {386} its author to Secretary Dorchester in 1629, then engaged in forwarding the projected voyage of "North-West" Foxe; it is remarkable, however, that no extended account of this voyage, so important in its objects, has ever been published. I am desirous of knowing if this journal is in existence, and where? Also, Lord Dorchester's letter to Button in February, 1629; of any farther information on the subject of the voyage, or of Sir Thomas Button.

What I possess already are, 1. "Motiues inducing a Proiect for the Discouerie of the North Pole terrestriall; the streights of Anian, into the South Sea, and Coasts thereof," anno 1610. 2. Prince Henry's Instructions for the Voyage, together with King James's Letters of Credence, 1612. 3. A Letter from Sir Thomas Button to Secretary Dorchester, dated Cardiff, 16th Feb., 1629 (from the State Paper Office). 4. Sir Dudley Digges' little tract on the N.-W. Passage, written to promote the voyage, and of which there were two distinct impressions in 1611 and 1612. 5. Extracts from the Carleton Correspondence, and from the Hakluyt Society's volume on Voyages to the North-West.

I shall be glad also to learn the date, and any other facts connected with the death of John Davis, the discoverer of the Straits bearing his name.

JOHN PETHERAM.

94. High Holborn.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_The Words "Cash" and "Mob."_--In Moore's _Diary_ I find the following remark. Can any of your numerous readers throw any light on the subject?

"Lord Holland doubted whether the word 'Cash' was a legitimate English word, though, as Irving remarked, it is as old as Ben Jonson, there being a character called Cash in one of his comedies. Lord Holland said Mr. Fox was of opinion that the word 'Mob' was not genuine English."--Moore's _Diary_, vol. iii. p. 247.

CLERICUS RUSTICUS.

_"History of Jesus Christ."_--G. L. S. will feel obliged by any correspondent of "N. & Q." stating who is the author of the following work?--

"The History of the Incarnation, Life, Doctrine and Miracles, the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In Seven Books; illustrated with Notes, and interspersed with Dissertations, theological, historical, geographical and critical.

"To which are added the Lives, Actions, and Sufferings of the Twelve Apostles; also of Saint Paul, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, and Saint Barnabas. Together with a Chronological Table from the beginning of the reign of Herod the Great to the end of the Apostolic Age. By a Divine of the Church of England.

"London: printed for T. Cooper, at the Globe, in Paternoster Row, 1737."

This work is in one folio volume, and all I can ascertain of its authorship is that it was _not_ written by Bishop Gibson, of "Preservative" fame.

_Quantity of the Latin Termination -anus._--Proper names having the termination _-anus_ are always long in Latin and short in Greek; thus, the Claudi[=a]nus, Luci[=a]nus, &c. of the Latins are [Greek: Klaudianos] and [Greek: Loukianos] in Greek. What is to be said of the word [Greek: Christianos]? Is it long or short, admitting it to be long in the Latin tongue?

While on the subject of quantities, let me ask, where is the authority for that of the name of the queen of the Ethiopians, Candace, to be found? We always pronounce it long, but all books of authority mark it as short.

ANTI-BARBARUS.

_Webb and Walker Families._--Perhaps you or some of your numerous readers could inform me if the Christian names of Daniel and Roger were used 160 or 180 years ago by any of the numerous families of _Webb_ or _Webbe_, resident in Wilts or elsewhere; and if so, in what family of that name? And is there any pedigree of them extant? and where is it to be found?

Was the Rev. Geo. Walker, the defender of Derry, connected with the Webbs? and if so, how, and with what family?

Is there any Webb mentioned in history at the siege of Derry? and if so, to what family of that name did he belong?

GULIELMUS.

_Cawdrey's "Treasure of Similes."_--I stumbled lately at a book-stall on a very curious old book entitled _A Treasurie or Store-house of Similes both pleasant, delightfull, and profitable_. The title-page is gone; but in an old hand on the cover it is stated to have been written by a certain "Cawdrey," and to have been printed in 1609, where I cannot discover. Can any of your correspondents oblige me with some information concerning him? The book is marked "scarce."

J. H. S.

_Point of Etiquette._--Will some of your numerous correspondents kindly inform me as to the rule in such a case as the following: when an elder brother has lost both his daughters in his old age, does the eldest daughter of the younger brother take the style of _Miss_ Smith, Jones, Brown, or Robinson, as the case may be?

F. D., M.R.C.S.

_Napoleon's Spelling._--Macaulay, in his _History of England_, chap. vii., quotes, in a foot-note, a passage from a letter of William III., written in French to his ambassador at Paris, and then makes this remark, "The spelling is bad, but not worse than Napoleon's." {387}

Can you refer me to some authentic proof of the fact that Napoleon was unable to spell correctly? It is well known that he affected to put his thoughts upon paper with great rapidity; and the consequence of this practice was, that in almost every word some letters were dropped, or their places indicated by dashes. But this was only one of those numerous contrivances, to which he was in the habit of resorting, in order to impress those around him with an idea of his greatness.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Trench on Proverbs._--Mr. Trench, in this excellent little work, states that the usual translation of Psalm cxxvii. 2. is incorrect:

"Let me remind you of such [proverbs] also as the following, often quoted or alluded to by Greek and Latin authors: _The net of the sleeping (fisherman) takes_[3]; a proverb the more interesting, that we have in the words of the Psalmist (Ps. cxxvii. 2.), were they accurately translated, a beautiful and perfect parallel; 'He giveth his beloved' (not 'sleep,' but) 'in their sleep;' his gifts gliding into their bosoms, they knowing not how, and as little expecting as leaving laboured for them."

The Hebrew is [Hebrew: YTN LYDYDW SHN'], the literal translation of which, "He giveth (or, He will give) to his beloved sleep," seems to me to be correct.

As Mr. Trench is a reader of "N. & Q.," perhaps he would have the kindness to mention in its pages the ground he has for his proposed translation.

E. M. B.

[Footnote 3: "[Greek: Heudonti kurtos hairei]. Dormienti rete trahit."]

_Rings formerly worn by Ecclesiastics._--In describing the finger-ring found in the grave of the Venerable Bede, the writer of _A brief Account of Durham Cathedral_ adds,--

"No priest, during the reign of Catholicity, was buried or enshrined without his ring."--P. 81.

I have seen a similar statement elsewhere, and wish to ask, 1st, Were priests formerly buried with the ring? 2ndly, If so, was it a mere custom, or was it ordered or authorised by any rubric or canon of our old English Church?

I am very strongly of opinion that such never was the custom, and that the statement above quoted has its origin in the confounding priests with bishops. Martene says, when speaking of the manner of burying bishops,--

"Episcopus debet habere annulum, quia sponsus est. Caeteri sacerdotes non, quia sponsi non sunt, sed amici sponsi vel vicarii."--_De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus_, lib. III. cap. xii. n. 11.

CEYREP.

_Butler's "Lives of the Saints."_--Can any of your correspondents supply a correct list of the various editions of this popular work? The notices in Watt and Lowndes are very unsatisfactory.

J. YEOWELL.

_Marriage of Cousins._--It was asserted to me the other day that marriage with a _second_ cousin is, by the laws of England, illegal, and that succession to property has been lately barred to the issue of such marriage, though the union of _first_ cousins entails no such consequences. Is there any foundation for this statement?

J. P.

_Castle Thorpe_[4], _Bucks._--A traditional rhyme is current at this place which says that--

"If it hadn't been for Cobb-bush Hill, Thorpe Castle would have stood there still."

or the last line, according to another version,--

"There would have been a castle at Thorpe still."

Now it appears from Lipscomb's _History_ of the county, that the castle was demolished by Fulke de Brent about 1215; how then can this tradition be explained?

Cobb-bush Hill, I am told, is more than half a mile from the village.

H. THOS. WAKE.

[Footnote 4: Pronounced _Thrup_.]

_Where was Edward II. killed?_--Hume and Lingard state that this monarch was murdered at Berkeley Castle. Echard and Rapin are silent, both as to the event and as to the locality. But an earlier authority, viz. Martyn, in his _Historie and Lives of Twentie Kings_, 1615, says:

"He was committed to the Castle of Killingworth, and Prince Edward was crowned king. And not long after, the king being removed to the Castle of Corff, was wickedly assayled by his keepers, who, through a horne which they put in his," &c.

What authority had Martyn for these statements?

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_Encore._--Perhaps some correspondent of "N. & Q." can assign a reason why we use this French word in our theatres and concert rooms, to express our desire for the repetition of favourite songs, &c. I should also like to know at what period it was introduced.

A. A.

_Amcotts' Pedigree._--Can any of your correspondents supply me with a full pedigree of Amcotts of Astrop, co. Lincolnshire? I do not refer to the Visitations, but to the later descents of the family. The last heir male was, I believe, Vincent Amcotts, Esq., great-grandfather to the present Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, Bart. Elizabeth Amcotts, who married, 19th July, 1684, John Toller, Esq., of Billingborough Hall in Lincolnshire, was one of this family, and I suppose aunt to Vincent Amcotts. I may mention, the calendars {388} of the Will Office at Lincoln have no entries of the name of Amcotts between 1670 and 1753.

TEWARS.

_Blue Bell--Blue Anchor._--A bell painted blue is a common tavern sign in this country (United States); and the blue anchor is also to be met with in many places. As these signs evidently had their origin in England, and one of them is alluded to in the old Scotch ballad "The Blue Bell of Scotland," it seems to me that the best method to apply for information upon the subject is to ask "N. & Q." Are these signs of inns heraldic survivors of old time; are they corruptions of some other emblem, such as that which in London transformed _La Belle Sauvage_ into the _Bell Savage_, pictorialised by an Indian ringing a hand-bell; or is the choice of such improper colour as blue for a bell and an anchor a species of symbolism the meaning of which is not generally known?

[Old English W].

Philadelphia.

_"We've parted for the longest time."_--Would you insert these lines in your paper, the author of which I seek to know, as well as the remaining verses?

"We've parted for the longest time, we ever yet did part, And I have felt the last wild throb of that enduring heart: Thy cold and tear-wet cheek has lain for the last time to mine, And I have pressed in agony those trembling lips of thine."

R. JERMYN COOPER.

The Rectory, Chiltington Hunt, Sussex.

_Matthew Lewis._--Allow me to solicit information, through the medium of "N. & Q.," where I can see a pedigree of Matthew Lewis, Esq., Deputy Secretary of War for many years under the Right Hon. William Windham, then M.P. for Norwich, and other Secretaries-at-War. I rather think Mr. Lewis married a daughter of Sir Thomas Sewell, Kt., Master of the Rolls from 1764 to 1784; and had a son, Matthew Gregory Lewis, known as _Monk_ Lewis, who was M.P. for Hindon at the close of the last century: a very clever but eccentric young man. I also believe Lieut.-Gen. John Whitelocke, and Gen. Sir Thos. Brownrigg, G.C.B., who died in 1838, were connected by marriage with the Sewell or Lewis families.

C. H. F.

_Paradise Lost._--In _A Treatise on the Dramatic Literature of the Greeks_, by the Rev. J. R. Darley, I read the following remark:

"In our own literature also, the efforts of our early dramatists were directed to subjects derived from religion; even the _Paradise Lost_ is composed of a series of minor pieces, originally cast in dramatic form, of which the creation and fall of man, and the several episodes which were introduced subordinately to these grand events, were the subject-matter."

This statement being at variance with the received opinion, that Milton, from his early youth, had meditated the composition of an epic poem, I would inquire whether there is any evidence to support Mr. Darley's view? Milton has been charged with having borrowed the design of _Paradise Lost_ from some Italian author; and this allegation, coupled with that made by Mr. Darley, would, if founded, reduce our great national epic to what Hazlitt has described as "patchwork and plagiarism, the beggarly copiousness of borrowed wealth."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Colonel Hyde Seymour._--Who was "Colonel Hyde Seymour?" I find his name written in a book, _The Life of William the Third_, 1703.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

_Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire._--In Speed's plan of Richmond, in Yorkshire, is represented the mouth of a "vault that goeth under the river, and ascendeth up into the Castell." Was there ever such a vault, and how came it to be destroyed or lost sight of? One who knows Richmond well tells me that he never heard of it.

O. L. R. G.

_Poems published at Manchester._--Can any contributor to "N. & Q." inform me who was the author of a volume of _Poems on Several Occasions_, published by subscription at Manchester; printed for the author by R. Whitworth, in the year 1733? It is an 8vo. of 138 pages; has on the title-page a line from Ovid:

"Jure, tibi grates, candide lector, ago,"

and begins with an "Address to all my Subscribers;" after which follow several pages of subscribers' names, which consist chiefly of Staffordshire and Cheshire gentry. My copy (for the possession of which I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Bliss, the Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford) was formerly in the library of Mr. Heber, who has thus noted its purchase on the fly-leaf, "Feb. 1811, Ford, Manchester, 7s. 6d." Dr. Bliss has added, on the same fly-leaf, "Heber's fourth sale, No. 1908, not in the Bodleian Catalogue." The first poem in the book is "A Pastoral to the Memory of Sir Thomas Delves, Baronet." It is probably a scarce book; but possibly some of your book-learned correspondents may help me to the author's name.

W. SNEYD.

Denton.

_Handel's Dettingen Te Deum._--Any information as to the circumstances under which Handel composed this celebrated _Te Deum_, and the place {389} and occasion of its first public performance, will be welcome to

PHILO-HANDEL.

_Edmund Spenser and Sir Hans Sloane, Bart._--As I believe myself (morally speaking) to be _lineally_ descended from the former of these celebrated men, and _collaterally_ from the latter, may I request that information may be forwarded me, either through your columns or by correspondence, regarding the descendants of the great poet and his ancestry; and also whether, among the many thousand volumes bequeathed by Sir Hans to the nation, some record does not exist tending to prove his genealogical descent? At present I know of no other pedigree than that Mr. Burke has given of him in his _Extinct Baronetage_. I shall feel exceedingly gratified if any assistance can be given me relating to these two families.

W. SLOANE SLOANE-EVANS.

Cornworthy Vicarage, Totnes.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_The Ligurian Sage._--In Gifford's _Maeviad_, lines 313-316, I read,--

"Together we explored the stoic page Of the Ligurian, stern tho' beardless sage! Or trac'd the Aquinian thro' the Latin road, And trembled at the lashes he bestow'd."

The Aquinian is of course Juvenal; but I must confess me at fault with respect to the Ligurian.

W. T. M.

[The Ligurian sage is no doubt Aulus Persius Flaccus, who, according to ancient authors, was born at Volaterrae in Etruria; but some modern writers conclude that he was born at Lunae Portus in Liguria, from the following lines (Sat. VI. 6.), which seem to relate to the place of his residence:

"Mihi nunc Ligus ora Intepet, hybernatque _meum_ mare, qua latus ingens Dant scopuli, et multa littus se valle receptat. _Lunai portum_ est operae cognoscere, cives."

When approaching the verge of manhood, Persius became the pupil of Cornutus the Stoic, and his death took place before he had completed his twenty-eighth year.]

_Gresebrok in Yorkshire._--Can you or any of your correspondents give me any information as to what part of Yorkshire the manor of Gresebrok lies in? In Shaw's _History of Staffordshire_ (2 vols. folio), there is a "Bartholomew de Gresebrok" mentioned as witness to a deed of Henry III.'s times made between Robert de Grendon, Lord of Shenston, and Jno. de Baggenhall; which family of Gresebrok, it is said, "probably took their name from a _manor so called in Yorkshire_, and had property and residence in Shenstone, from this early period to the beginning of the century, many of whom are recorded in the registers from 1590 to 1722."

The above is quoted by Shaw from Sanders's _History of Shenstone_, p. 98., and perhaps some of your correspondents may possess that work, and will oblige me by transcribing the necessary information.

Any particulars of the above family will much oblige your constant reader

[Greek: Heraldikos.]

[According to Sanders, the family of Greisbrook was formerly of some note at Shenstone. He says that "Greisbrook, whence the family had their name, is a manor in Yorkshire, which, in the reign of Henry III., was in the great House of Mowbray, of whom the Greisbrooks held their lands. Roger de Greisbrook (temp. Henry II.) is mentioned as holding of the fee of Alice, Countess of Augie, or Ewe, daughter of William de Albiney, Earl of Arundel, by Queen Alice, relict of Henry I." Then follow some particulars of various branches of the family, from the year 1580 to the death of Robert Greisbrook in 1718. Sanders's History is included in vol. ix. of _Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica_.]

_Stillingfleet's Library._--The extensive and valuable library of Edward Stillingfleet, the learned Bishop of Worcester, who died in 1699, is said to be contained in the library of Primate Marsh, St. Patrick's, Dublin. Can any of your correspondents state how it came there? Was it bequeathed by the bishop, or sold by his descendants? He died at Westminster, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

[Bishop Stillingfleet's library was purchased by Archbishop Marsh for his public library in Dublin. A few years since Robert Travers, Esq., M.D., of Dundrum near Dublin, was engaged in preparing for publication a catalogue of Stillingfleet's printed books, amounting to near 10,000 volumes. The bishop's MSS. were bought by the late Earl of Oxford, and are now in the Harleian Collection. See _The Life of Bishop Stillingfleet_, 8vo., 1735, p. 135., and _Biog. Brit._ s. v.]

_The whole System of Law._--On December 26, 1651, the Long Parliament, stimulated by Cromwell to various important reforms in civil matters, resolved,--

"That it be referred to persons out of the House to take into consideration what inconveniences there are in the law, and how the mischiefs that grow from the delays, the chargeableness, and the irregularities in the proceedings of the law, may be prevented; and the speediest way to reform the same."

The commission thus appointed consisted twenty-one persons, among whom were Sir Mathew Hale, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and John Rushworth. They seem to have set to work with great vigour, and submitted a variety of important measures to Parliament, many of which were {390} adopted. They also prepared a document "containing the whole system of the law," which was read to the House on January 20 and 21, 1652; and it was resolved "That three hundred copies of the said book be forthwith printed, to be delivered to members of the Parliament only."

Is anything known of this work at the present day?

A LEGULEIAN.