Chapter 3

In times when special respect has been shown to the tombs of worthies of bygone times, with the recent recollection also of what has been so well carried out by MR. MARKLAND in regard to the grave of Bishop Ken, shall we not make an effort to preserve from desecration and oblivion the resting-place of one so eminent as Leighton for his learning and piety, so worthy to be held in honoured remembrance for his high principles and his consistent conduct in an evil age?

ALBERT WAY.

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Minor Notes.

_Grammars, &c. for Public Schools._--Would it not be desirable for some correspondents of "N. & Q." to furnish information respecting grammars, classics, and other works which have been written for the various public schools? Such information might be useful to book collectors; and would also serve to reflect credit on the schools whose learned masters have prepared such books. My contribution to the list is small: but I remember a valuable Greek grammar prepared by the Rev. ---- Hook, formerly head master of the College School at Gloucester, for the use of that establishment; as also a peculiar English grammar prepared by the Rev. R. S. Skillern, master of St. Mary de Crypt School, in the same place, for the use of that school. I also possess a copy (1640) of the _Romanae Historiae Anthologia_, for the use of Abingdon School, and _Moses and Aaron, or the Rites and Customs of the Hebrews_ (1641), both by Thos. Godwin, though the latter was written after he ceased to be master of the schools.

P. H. FISHER.

Stroud.

"_To captivate._"--Moore, in his Journal, speaking of the Americans (January 9th, 1819), says:

"They sometimes, I see, use the word _captivate_ thus: 'Five or six ships captivated,' 'Five or six ships captivated.'"

Originally, the words _to captivate_ were synonymous with _to capture_, and the expression was used with reference to warlike operations. To captivate the affections was a secondary use of the phrase. The word is used in the original sense in many old English books. It is not used so now in the United States.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Bohn's Edition of Matthew of Westminster._--Under the year A.D. 782, the translator informs us that "Hirenes and _his_ son Constantine became emperors." Such an emperor is not to be found {9} in the annals of Constantinople. If Mr. Yonge, who shows elsewhere that he has read Gibbon, had referred to him on this occasion, he would probably have found that the Empress Irene, a name dear to the reverencers of images, was the person meant. The original Latin probably gives no clue to the sex; but still this empress, who is considered as a saint by her church, notwithstanding the deposition and blinding of her own son, was not a personage to be so easily forgotten.

J. S. WARDEN.

_French Season Rhymes and Weather Rhymes.--_

"A la Saint-Antoine (17th January) Les jours croissent le repas d'un moine."

"A la Saint-Barnabe (11th June) La faux au pre."

"A la Sainte-Catherine (25th November) Tout bois prend racine."

"Passe la Saint-Clement (23rd November) Ne seme plus froment."

"Si l'hiver va droit son chemin, Vous l'aurez a la Saint-Martin." (12th Nov.)

"S'il n'arreste tant ne quant, Vous l'aurez a la Saint-Clement." (23rd Nov.)

"Et s'il trouve quelqu' encombree, Vous l'aurez a la Saint-Andre." (30th Nov.)

CEYREP.

_Curious Epitaph in Tillingham Church, Essex.--_

"Hic jacet Humfridus Carbo, carbone notandus Non nigro, Creta sed meliora tua. Claruit in clero, nulli pietate secundus. Caelum vi rapuit, vi cape si poteris. Ob^t. 27 Mar. 1624. Aet. 77."

Which has been thus ingeniously paraphrased by a friend of mine:

"Here lies the body of good Humphry Cole, Tho' Black his name, yet spotless is his soul; But yet not black tho' Carbo is the name, Thy chalk is scarcely whiter than his fame. A priest of priests, inferior was to none, Took Heaven by storm when here his race was run. Thus ends the record of this pious man; Go and do likewise, reader, if you can."

C. K. P.

Newport, Essex.

* * * * *

Queries.

DOMESTIC LETTERS OF EDMUND BURKE.

In the curious and able article entitled "The Domestic Life of Edmund Burke," which appeared in the _Athenaeum_ of Dec. 10th and Dec. 17th (and to which I would direct the attention of such readers of "N. & Q." as have not yet seen it), the writer observes:

"There is not in existence, as far as we know, or have a right to infer from the silence of the biographers, one single letter, paper, or document of any kind--except a mysterious fragment of one letter--relating to the domestic life of the Burkes, until long after Edmund Burke became an illustrious and public man; no letters from parents to children, from children to parents, from brother to brother, or brother to sister."

And as Edmund Burke was the last survivor of the family, the inference drawn by the writer, that they were destroyed by him, seems, on the grounds which he advances, a most reasonable one. But my object in writings is to call attention to a source from which, if any such letters exist, they may yet possibly be recovered; I mean the collections of professed collectors of autographs. On the one hand, it is scarcely to be conceived that the destroyer of these materials for the history of the Burkes, be he who he may, can have got _all_ the family correspondence into his possession. On the other, it is far from improbable that in some of the collections to which I have alluded, some letters, notes, or documents may exist, treasured by the possessors as mere autographs; but which might, if given to the world, serve to solve many of those mysteries which envelope the early history of Edmund Burke. The discovery of documents of such a character seems to be the special province of "N. & Q.," and I hope, therefore, although this letter has extended far beyond the limits I originally contemplated, you will insert it, and so permit me to put this Query to autograph collectors, "Have you any documents illustrative of the Burkes?" and to add as a Note, "If so, print them!"

N. O.

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Minor Queries.

_Farrant's Anthem._--From what source did Farrant take the words of his well-known anthem, "Lord, for thy tender mercies' sake?"

C. F. S.

_Ascension Day Custom._--What is the origin of the custom which still obtains in St. Magnus and other city churches, of presenting the clergy with ribbons, cakes, and silk staylaces on Ascension Day?

C. F. S.

_Sawbridge and Knight's Numismatic Collections._--In Snelling's tract on _Pattern Pieces for English Gold and Silver Coins_ (1769), p. 45., it is stated, in the description of a gold Coin of Elizabeth, that it is "unique, formerly in the collection of Thomas Sawbridge, Esq., but at present in the collection of Thomas Knight, Esq., who purchased the whole cabinet."--Can any of your readers inform me who this Mr. Knight was, and whether his collection is still in existence; or if it was dispersed, when, and in what manner? I am not aware of any sale catalogue under his name.

J. B. B.

_"The spire whose silent finger points to heaven."_--I have met with, and sometimes quoted, this line. {10} Who is its author, and in what poem does it occur?

J. W. T.

Dewsbury.

_Lord Fairfax._--In the _Peerage of Scotland_ I find this entry:

"Fairfax, Baron, Charles Snowdon Fairfax, 1627, Baron Fairfax, of Cameron; suc. his grandfather, Thomas, ninth baron, 1846. His lordship resides at Woodburne, in Maryland, United States."

Fairfax is not a Scotch name. And I can find no trace of any person of that family taking a part in Scotch affairs. _Cameron_ is, I suppose, the parish of that name in the east of Fife.

I wish to ask, 1st. For what services, or under what circumstances, the barony was created?

2ndly. When did the family cease to possess land or other property in Scotland, if they ever held any?

3rdly. Is the present peer a citizen or subject of the United States? If so, is he known and addressed as _Lord_ Fairfax, or how?

4thly. Has he, or has any of his ancestors, since the recognition of the United States as a nation, ever used or applied for permission to exercise the functions of a peer of Scotland, _e.g._ in the election of representative peers?

5thly. If he be a subject of the United States, and have taken, expressly or by implication, the oath of citizenship (which pointedly renounces allegiance to our sovereign), how is it that his name is retained on the roll of a body whose first duty it is to guard the throne, and whose existence is a denial of the first proposition in the constitution of his country?

Perhaps UNEDA, W. W., or some other of your Philadelphia correspondents, will be good enough to notice the third of these Queries.

W. H. M.

_Tailless Cats._--A writer in the _New York Literary World_ of Feb. 7, 1852, makes mention of a breed of cats destitute of tails, which are found in the Isle of Man. Perhaps some generous Manx correspondent will say whether this is a fact or a Jonathan.

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

_Saltcellar._--Can any of your readers gainsay that in saltcellar the cellar is a mere corruption of _saliere_? A list of compound words of Saxon and French origin might be curious.

H. F. B.

_Arms and Motto granted to Col. William Carlos._--Can any reader of "N. & Q." give the _date_ of the grant of arms to Col. William Carlos (who assisted Charles II. to conceal himself in the "Royal Oak," after the battle of Worcester), and specify the exact terms of the grant?

[mu].

_Naval Atrocities._--In the article on "Wounds," in the _Encyc. Brit._, 4th edition, published 1810, the author, after mentioning the necessity of a surgeon's being cautious in pronouncing on the character of any wound, adds that "this is particularly necessary on board ship, where, as soon as any man is pronounced by the surgeon to be mortally wounded, he is forthwith, while still living and conscious, thrown overboard," or words to this effect, as I quote from memory. That such horrid barbarity was not practised in 1810, it is needless to say; and if it had been usual at any previous period, Smollett and other writers who have exposed with unsparing hand all the defects in the naval system of their day, would have scarcely left this unnoticed when they attack much slighter abuses. If such a thing ever occurred, even in the worst of times, it must have been an isolated case. I have not met elsewhere with any allusion to this passage, or the atrocity recorded in it, and would be glad of more information on the subject.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Turlehydes._--During the great famine in Ireland land in 1331, it is said that--

"The people in their distress met with an unexpected and providential relief. For about the 24th June, a prodigious number of large sea fish, called turlehydes, were brought into the bay of Dublin, and cast on shore at the mouth of the river Dodder. They were from thirty to forty feet long, and so bulky that two tall men placed one on each side of the fish could not see one another."--_The History and Antiquities of the City of Dublin from the Earliest Accounts_, by Walter Harris, 1766, p. 265.

This account is compiled from several records of the time, some of which still exist. As the term _turlehydes_ is not known to Irish scholars, can any of the readers of "N. & Q." say what precise animal is meant by it, or give any derivation or reference for the term?

U. U.

Dublin.

_Foreign Orders--Queen of Bohemia._--It is well known that in some foreign Orders the decorations thereof are conferred upon ladies. Can any of your correspondents inform me whether the Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia, formerly the Order of the Ducal House of Savoy, at any time conferred its decorations upon ladies; and whether the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia, ever had the decoration of any foreign order conferred upon her? In a portrait of her she is represented with a star or badge upon the upper part of the left arm.

S. E. G.

_Pickard Family._--Is the _Pickard_, or _Picard_, family, a branch of which is located in Yorkshire, of Norman origin? If so, who were the _first settlers_ in England; and also in what county are they most numerous?

ONE OF THE FAMILY.

Bradford.

{11}

_Irish Chieftains._--Some account of the following, _Historical Reminiscences of O'Byrnes, O'Tooles, O'Kavanaghs, and other Irish Chieftains_, privately printed, 1843, is requested by

JOHN MARTIN.

Woburn Abbey.

_General Braddock._--Can any of your readers furnish me with information relative to this officer? His disastrous expedition against Fort Du Quesne, and its details, are well known; but I should like to know something more of his previous history. Walpole gives an anecdote or two of him, and mentions that he had been Governor of Gibraltar. I think too he was of Irish extraction. Is there no portrait or engraving of Braddock in existence?

SERVIENS.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Lawless Court, Rochford, Essex._--A most extraordinary custom exists, in a manor at Rochford, in the tenants holding under what is called the "Lawless Court." This court is held at midnight, by torch-light, in the centre of a field, on the first Friday after the 29th Sept., and is presided over by the steward of the manor, who, however, appoints a deputy to fulfil this part of his duty. The tenants of the manor are obliged to attend to answer to their names, when called upon, under pain of a heavy fine, or at all events have some one there to respond for them. All the proceedings are carried on in a whisper, no one speaking above that tone of voice; and the informations as to deaths, names, &c. are entered in a book by the president with a piece of charcoal. I may add, the business is not commenced until a cock has crowed three times, and as it is sometimes a difficult matter to get Chanticleer to do his duty, a man is employed to crow, whose fee therefor is 5s.

Now Morant, in his _History of Essex_, merely cursorily mentions this most singular custom, and has nothing as to its antiquity or origin; I should therefore feel much obliged for any information concerning it.

RUSSELL GOLE.

[The singular custom at Rochford is of uncertain origin: in old authors it is spoken of as belonging to the manor of Rayleigh. The following account of "The Lawless Court," at that place, is printed by Hearne from the Dodsworth MSS. in the Bodleian, vol. cxxv.:--"The manor of Raylie, in Essex, hath a custome court kept yearly, the Wednesday nexte after Michael's day. The court is kept in the night, and without light, but as the skye gives, att a little hill without the towne, called the King's Hill, where the steward writes only with coals, and not with inke. And many men and mannors of greate worth hold of the same, and do suite unto this strange court, where the steward calls them with as low a voice as possibly he may; giving no notice when he goes to the hill to keepe the same court, and he that attends not is deepely amerced, if the steward will. The title and entry of the same court is as followeth, viz.:

'Curia de domino rege, Dicta _sine lege_, Tenta est ibidem, Per ejusdem consuetudinem, Ante ortum solis, Luceat nisi polus, Seneschallus solus, Scribit nisi colis. Clamat clam pro rege In curia _sine lege_: Et qui non cito venerit Citius poenitebit: Si venerit cum lumine Errat in regimine. Et dum sine lumine Capti sunt in crimine, Curia sine cura Jurata de injuria Tenta est die Mercuriae prox. post festum S. Michaelis.'"

Weever, who mentions this custom, says, that he was informed that "this servile attendance was imposed, at the first, upon certaine tenants of divers mannors hereabouts, for conspiring in this place, at such an unseasonable time, to raise a commotion."]

_Motto on old Damask._--Can your correspondents furnish an explanation of the motto herewith sent? It is taken from some damask table napkins which were bought many years back at Brussels; not at a shop in the ordinary way, but privately, from the family to whom they belonged. I presume the larger characters, if put together, will indicate the date of the event, whatever that may be, which is referred to in the motto itself.

The motto is woven in the pattern of the damask, and consists of the following words in uncials, the letters of unequal size, as subjoined:

"SIGNUM PACIS DATUR LORICAE."

the larger letters being IUMCIDULIC. If the U's are taken as two V's, and written thus X, it gives the date MDCCLXIII. Perhaps this can be explained.

H.

[The chronogram above, which means "The signal of peace is given to the warrior," relates to the peace proclaimed between England and France in the year 1763. This event is noticed in the _Annual Register_, and in most of our popular histories. Keightley says, "The overtures of France for peace were readily listened to; and both parties being in earnest, the preliminaries were readily settled at Fontainebleau (Nov. 3rd). In spite of the declamation of Mr. Pitt and his party, they were approved of by large majorities in both Houses of Parliament, and a treaty was finally signed in Paris, Feb. 18, 1763." The napkins were probably a gift, on the occasion, to some public functionary. For the custom of noting the date of a great event by chronograms, see "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 585.]

{12}

_Explanation of the Word "Miser."_--Can any of your readers explain how and when _miser_ came to get the meaning of an avaricious hoarding man? In Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, II. l. 8., it is used in its nearly primary sense of "wretch:"

"Vouchsafe to stay your steed for humble _miser's_ sake."

Again, _Faerie Queene_, II. 3. 8.:

"The _miser_ threw himself, as an offall, Straight at his foot in base humility."

In Milton's _Comus_, which was written about fifty years after the first three books of the _Faerie Queene,_ the present signification of the word is complete:

"You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps Of _miser's_ treasure by an outlaw's den, And tell me it is safe, as bid one hope Danger will sink on opportunity," &c.

J. D. GARDNER.

Bottisham.

[The modern restricted use of the word _miser_ is subsequent to Shakspeare's time for in Part I. _King Henry VI._, Act V. Sc. 4.,

"Decrepit _miser_! base ignoble wretch!"

Steevens says has no relation to avarice, but simply means a _miserable_ creature. So in the interlude of _Jacob and Esau_, 1568:

"But as for these _misers_ within my father's tent."

Again, in Lord Stirling's tragedy of _Croesus_, 1604:

"Or think'st thou me of judgement too remiss, A _miser_ that in miserie remains."

Otway, however, in his _Orphan_, published in 1680, uses it for a covetous person:

"Though she be dearer to my soul than rest To weary pilgrims, or to _misers_ gold, Rather than wrong Castalio, I'd forget thee."

So also does Pope:

"No silver saints by dying _misers_ given, Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heaven."

_"Acis and Galatea."_--Is there any good evidence in support of the commonly received opinion that the words to Handel's _Acis and Galatea_ were written by Gay? Hawkins merely states that they "are said to have been written by Mr. Gay." I have no copy of Burney at hand to refer to; but I find the same statement repeated by various other musical historians, without, however, any authority being given for it. The words in question are not to be found among the _Poems on several Occasions_, by Mr. John Gay, published in 1767 by Tonson and others. Have they ever been included in any collective edition of his works?

G. T.

Reading.

[In the musical catalogue of the British Museum, compiled by Thomas Oliphant, Esq., it is stated that the words to _Acis and Galatea_ "are said to be written, but apparently partly compiled, by John Gay." This serenata is included among Gay's _Poems_ in Dr. Johnson's edition of the _English Poets_, 1790, as well as in Chalmers's edition of 1810, and in the complete edition of _British Poets_, Edinburgh, 1794.]

_Birm-bank._--The bank of a canal opposite to the towing-path is called the _birm-bank_. What is the derivation of this?

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

[The word _birm_ seems to have the same meaning as berme (Fr. _berme_), which, in Fortification, denotes a piece of ground of three, four, or five feet in width, left between the rampart and the moat or foss, designed to receive the ruins of the rampart, and prevent the earth from filling the foss. Sometimes it is palisaded, and in Holland is generally planted with quickset hedge.]

_General Thomas Gage._--This officer commanded at Boston at the breaking out of the Revolution, and served under General Braddock. Where can I find any details of the remainder of his history?

SERVIENS.

[An interesting biographical account of General Gage is given in the _Georgian Aera_, vol. ii. p. 67.]

* * * * *

Replies.

RAPPING NO NOVELTY.

(Vol. viii., pp. 512. 632.)

The story referred to is certainly a very curious one, and I should like to know whether it is exactly as it was told by Baxter, especially as there seems to be reason for believing that De Foe (whom on other grounds one would not trust in such a matter) did not take it from the work which he quotes. Perhaps if you can find room for the statement, some correspondent would be so good as to state whether it has the sanction of Baxter:

"Mr. Baxter, in his _Historical Discourse of Apparitions_, writes thus: 'There is now in London an understanding, sober, pious man, oft one of my hearers, who has an elder brother, a gentleman of considerable rank, who having formerly seemed pious, of late years does often fall into the sin of drunkenness; he often lodges long together here in his brother's house, and whensoever he is drunk and has slept himself sober, something knocks at his bed's head, as if one knocked on a wainscot. When they remove his bed it follows him. Besides other loud noises on other parts where he is, that all the house hears, they have often watched him, and kept his hands lest he should do it himself. His brother has often told it me, and brought his wife, a discreet woman, to attest it, who avers moreover, that as she watched him, she has seen his shoes under the bed taken up, and nothing visible to touch them. They brought the man himself to me, and when we asked {13} him how he dare sin again after such a warning, he had no excuse. But being persons of quality, for some special reason of worldly interest I must not name him.'"--De Foe's _Life of Duncan Campbell_, 2nd ed. p. 107.

After this story, De Foe says:

"Another relation of this kind was sent to Dr. Beaumont (whom I myself personally knew, and which he has inserted in his account of genii, or familiar spirits) in a letter by an ingenious and learned clergyman of Wiltshire," &c.

But he does not say that the story which he has already quoted as from Baxter stands just as he has given it, and with a reference to Baxter, in Beaumont's _Historical, Physiological, and Theological Treatise of Spirits_, p. 182. Of course one does not attach any weight to De Foe's saying that he knew Dr. Beaumont "personally," but does anybody know anything of him? Nearly four years ago you inserted somewhat similar inquiry about this Duncan Campbell, but I believe it has not yet been answered.

S. R. MAITLAND.

* * * * *

OCCASIONAL FORMS OF PRAYER.

(Vol. viii., p. 535.)