Part 2
When there was a movement for an augmentation of the poor stipends of the Scots Clergy in 1750, there came out a pamphlet under the title of _The Presbyterian Clergy seasonably detected_, 1751, which exceeds in scurrility, if possible, the famous or infamous, _Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed_; both author and printer, however, had so much sense as to remain in the background, and the _thing_ purported to be "Printed for Mess John in Fleet Street." Under the title of _The Comical History of the Marriage betwixt Heptarchus and Fergusia_, 1706[1], the Scots figured the union of the Lord Heptarchus, or England, with the independent, but coerced, damsel Fergusia, or Scotland; the discontented church of the latter {144} finding that the former broke faith with her, could not help giving way to occasional murmurings, and these found vent in (among others) a poetical Presbyterian tract, entitled _Melancholy Sonnets, or Fergusia's Complaint upon Heptarchus_, in which the author reduced to rhyme the aforesaid _Comical History_, adding thereto all the evils this ill-starred union had entailed upon the land after thirty-five years' experience. This curious production was "Printed at Elguze? for Pedaneous, and sold by Circumferaneous, below the Zenith, 1741."[2] Charles II., when crowned at Scone, took the solemn league and covenant; but not finding it convenient to carry out that part of his coronation oath, left the Presbyterians at the Restoration in the lands of their enemies. To mark their sense of this breach of faith, there was published a little book[3] describing the inauguration of the _young profligate_, which expressively purports to be "Printed at Edinburgh in the Year of Covenant-breaking." The Scots folk had such a horror of anything of a deistical tendency, that John Goldie had to publish his _Essays, or an Attempt to distinguish true from false Religion_ (popularly called "Goldie's Bible"), at Glasgow, "Printed for the Author, and sold by him at Kilmarnock, 1779;" neither printer nor bookseller would, apparently, be identified with the _unclean thing_. Both churchmen and dissenters convey their exultations, or denouncements, upon political changes, through the medium of imprints; and your correspondents who have been discussing that matter, will see in some of these that the "Good Old Cause" may be "all round the compass," as Captain Cuttle would say, depending wholly upon the party spectacles through which you view it. _Legal Fundamental Liberty_, in an epistle from Selburne to Lenthal, is "Reprinted in the Year of Hypocritical and Abominable Dissimulation, 1649;" on the other hand, _The Little Bible_ of that militant soldier Captain Butler is "Printed in the First Year of England's Liberty, 1649." _The Last Will and Testament of Sir John Presbyter_ is "Printed in the Year of Jubilee, 1647." _A New Meeting of Ghosts at Tyburn_, in which Oliver, Bradshaw, and Peters figure, exhibits its royal tendency, being "Printed in the Year of the Rebellious Phanatick's Downfall, 1660." "Printed at N., with Licence," is the cautious imprint of a republication of _Doleman's Conference_ in 1681. _A proper Project to Startle Fools_ is "Printed in a Land where Self's cry'd up, and Zeal's cry'd down, 1699." _The Impartial Accountant, wherein it is demonstratively made known how to pay the National Debt, and that without a New Tax, or any Inconveniency to the People_, is "Printed for a Proper Person," and, I may add, can be had of a _certain person_, if Mr. Gladstone will come down with an adequate consideration for the secret! These accountants are all mysterious,--you would think they were plotting to empty the treasury rather than to fill it; another says his _Essay Upon National Credit_ is "Printed by A. R. in Bond's Stables!" Thomas Scott, the English minister at Utrecht, published, among other oddities, _Vox Coelis; or Newes from Heaven, being Imaginary Conversations there between Henry VIII.(!), Edward VI, Prince Henrie, and others_, "Printed in Elysium, 1624." Edward Raban, an Englishman, who set up a press in the far north, published an edition of Lady Culros' _Godlie Dreame_, and finding that no title commanded such respect among the canny Scots as that of _Laird_, announced the book to be "Imprinted at Aberdene, by E. R., Laird of Letters, 1644." _The Instructive Library_, containing a list of apocryphal books, and a satire upon some theological authors of that day, is "Printed for the Man in the Moon, 1710." _The Oxford Sermon Versified_, by Jacob Gingle, Esq., is "Printed by Tim. Atkins at Dr. Sacheverell's Head, near St. Paul's, 1729." "Printed, and to be had at the Pamphlett Shops of London and Westminster," was a common way of circulating productions of questionable morals or loyalty. The Chapmen, or Flying-Stationers, had many curious dodges of this kind to give a relish to their literary wares: _The Secret History of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex_ derived additional interest in the eyes of their country customers by its being "Printed at Cologne for Will-with-the-Wisp, at the Sign of the Moon in the Ecliptic, 1767." The Poems of that hard-headed Jacobite, Alexander Robertson of Struan, are "Printed at Edinburgh for Charles Alexander, and sold at his house in Geddes Close, where Subscribers may call for their Copies, circa 1750."[4] _The New Dialogues of the Dead_ are "Printed for D. Y., at the foot of Parnassus Hill, 1684." Professor Tenant's poem of _Papistry Stormed_ imitates the old typographers, it being "Imprentit at Edinbrogh be Oliver and Boyd, anno 1827." A rare old book is Goddard's {145} _Mastiffe Whelpe_, "Imprinted amongst the Antipodes, and are to be sould where they are to be bought." Another, by the same author, is a _Satirical Dialogue_, "Imprinted in the Low Countreyes for all such Gentlemen as are not altogether idle, nor yet well occupyed." These were both, I believe, libels upon the fair sex. John Stewart, otherwise _Walking Stewart_, was in the habit of dating his extraordinary publications "In the year of Man's Retrospective Knowledge, by Astronomical Calculation, 5000;" "In the 7000 year of Astronomical History in the Chinese Tables;" and "In the Fifth Year of Intellectual Existence." "Mulberry Hill, Printed at Crazy Castle," is an imprint of J. H. Stevenson. _The Button Makers' Jests_, by Geo. King. of St. James', is "Printed for Henry Frederick, near St. James' Square;" a coarse squib upon royalty. One Fisher entitled his play _Thou shall not Steal; the School of Ingratitude_. Thinking the managers of Drury Lane had communicated his performance, under the latter name, to Reynolds the dramatist, and then rejected it, he published it thus: "Printed for the curious and literary--shall we say? Coincidence! refused by the Managers, and made use of in the Farce of 'Good Living,'" published by Reynolds in 1797. _Harlequin Premier, as it is daily acted_, is a hit at the ministry of the period, "Printed at Brentafordia, Capital of Barataria, and sold by all the Booksellers in the Province, 1769." "Printed Merrily, and may be read Unhappily, betwixt Hawke and Buzzard, 1641," is the _satisfactory_ imprint of _The Downefall of temporising Poets, unlicensed Printers, upstart Booksellers, tooting Mercuries, and bawling Hawkers_. Books have sometimes been published for behoof of particular individuals; old Daniel Rodgers, in his _Matrimonial Honour_, announces "A Part of the Impression to be vended for the use and benefit of Ed. Minsheu, Gent., 1650." How full of interest is the following, "Printed at Sheffield by James Montgomery, in the Hart's Head, 1795!" A poor man, by name J. R. Adam, meeting with reverses, enlisted, and after serving abroad for a period, returned but to exchange the barrack-room for the Glasgow Lunatic Asylum. Possessing a poetical vein, he indulged it here in soothing his own and his companions' misery, by circulating his verses on detached scraps, printed by himself. These on his enlargement he collected together, and gave to the world in 1845, under the title of the _Gartnavel Minstrel_, a neat little square volume of 104 pages, exceedingly well executed, and bearing the imprint "Glasgow, composed, printed, and published by J. R. Adam;" under any circumstances a most creditable specimen, but under those I have described "a _rara avis_ in literature and art."
The list might be spun out, but I fear I have exceeded limits already with my dry subject.
J. O.
[Footnote 1: G. Chalmers ascribed this to one "Balantyne." In Lockhart's _Memoirs_, Lond. 1714, Mr. John Balantyne, the minister of Lanark, is noticed as the most uncompromising opponent of the Union. I shall therefore assign the _Comical History_ to him until I find a better claimant.]
[Footnote 2: This resembles in its doggrel style _Scotland's Glory and her Shame_, and _A Poem on the Burgess Oath_. Can any of your correspondents, familiar with Scottish typographical curiosities, tell me who was the author, or authors, of these?]
[Footnote 3: _A Phoenix, or the Solemn League and Covenant, &c._, 12mo. pp. 168, with a frontispiece representing Charles burning the book of the Solemn League and Covenant, above the flames from which hovers a phoenix.]
[Footnote 4: I have not met with the name of such a bookseller elsewhere, and would like to hear the history of this book; it was again published with the addition of _The Martial Achievements of the Robertsons of Struan_, and in imitation of the original is printed at Edinburgh by and for Alexander Robertson, in Morison's Close, where subscribers may call for their copies (1785?).]
* * * * *
LEGENDS OF THE CO. CLARE.
In the west of Clare, for many miles the country seems to consist of nothing but fields of grey limestone flags, which gives it an appearance of the greatest desolation: Cromwell is reported to have said of it, "that there was neither wood in it to hang a man, nor water to drown him, nor earth to bury him!" The soil is not, however, by any means as barren as it looks; and the following legend is related of the way in which an ancestor of one of the most extensive landed proprietors in the county obtained his estates.
'Twas on a dismal evening in the depth of winter, that one of Cromwell's officers was passing through this part of the country; his courage and gallantry in the "good cause" had obtained for him a large grant of land in Clare, and he was now on his journey to it. Picturing to himself a land flowing with milk and honey, his disappointment may therefore be imagined when, at the close of a weary day's journey, he found himself bewildered amid such a scene of desolation. From the inquiries he had made at the last inhabited place he had passed, he was led to conclude that he could not be far distant from the "land of promise," where he might turn his sword into a pruning-hook, and rest from all his toils and dangers. Could this be the place of which his imagination had formed so fair a vision? Hours had elapsed since he had seen a human being; and, as the solitude added to the dismal appearance of the road, bitterly did the veteran curse the folly that had enticed him into the land of bogs and "Papistrie." Troublous therefore as the times were, the tramp of an approaching steed sent a thrill of pleasure through the heart of the Puritan. The rider soon joined him, and as he seemed peaceably disposed, they entered into conversation; and the stranger soon became acquainted with the old soldier's errand, and the disappointment he had experienced. Artfully taking advantage of the occasion, the stranger, who professed an acquaintance with the country, used every means to aggravate the disgust of his fellow-traveller, till the heart of the Cromwellian, already half overcome by fatigue and hunger, sank within him; and at last he agreed that the land should be transferred to the stranger for a butt of Claret and the horse on which he rode. As soon as this important matter was settled, the stranger conducted his new friend to a house of entertainment in a neighbouring hamlet, whose ruins are still called the Claret House of K----. A plentiful, though coarse, entertainment soon smoked on the board; and as the eye of the Puritan wandered over the "creature comforts," his heart rose, and he forgot his disappointment and his fatigue. It is even said that he dispensed with nearly ten of the twenty minutes which he usually bestowed on the benediction; {146} but be this as it may, ere he retired to his couch--"vino ciboque gravatus"--the articles were signed, and the courteous stranger became possessed of one of the finest estates in the county!
FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES.
* * * * *
CANTING ARMS.
In the introduction to a work entitled _A Collection of Coats of Arms borne by the Nobility and Gentry of the County of Gloucester_, London, J. Good, 159. New Bond Street, 1792, and which I believe was written by Sir George Nayler, it is asserted that--
"_Armes parlantes_, or canting arms, were not common till the commencement of the seventeenth century, when they prevailed under the auspices of King James."
Now doubtless they were _more_ common in the seventeenth century, but I am of opinion that there are many instances of them _centuries_ previous to the reign of King James; as, for example, in a roll of arms of the time of Edward II. (A.D. 1308-14), published by Sir Harris Nicolas from a manuscript in the British Museum, there are the following:
"Sire Peres Corbet, d'or, à un _corbyn_ de sable.
Sire Johan le Fauconer, d'argent, à iii _faucouns_ de goules.
Sire Johan Heroun, d'azure, à iii _herouns_ d'argent.
Sire Richard de Cokfeld, d'azure, à une crois e iiii _coks_ d'or.
Sire Richard de Barlingham, de goules, à iii ours (_bears_) d'argent.
Sire Johan de Swyneford, d'argent, à un cheveroun de sable, à iii testes de _cenglers_ (_swines' heads_) d'or."
Sire Ammon de Lucy bore three _luces_; Sire William Bernak a fers between three barnacles, &c. There are many other examples in the same work, but as I think I have made my communication quite long enough, I forbear giving them.
CID.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Selleridge._--The story of the author who was charged by his publisher for _selleridge_, and thought it for selling his books, whereas it was storing them in a cellar, is given by Thomas Moore in his _Diary_, lately published, upon the authority of Coleridge. It is to be found, much better told, in Coleridge's _Biographia Literaria_.
UNEDA.
Philadelphia.
_Tombs of Bishops._--The following bishops, whose bodies were interred elsewhere, had or have tombs in the several cathedrals in which their hearts were buried:--William de Longchamp, William de Kilkenny, Cardinal Louis de Luxembourg, at Ely; Peter de Aquâ Blancâ, at Aquablanca, in Savoy; Thomas Cantilupe, at Ashridge, Bucks (Hereford); Ethelmar (Winton), at Winchester; Thomas Savage (York), at Macclesfield; Robert Stichelles (Durham), at Durham.
MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.
Durham.
_Lines on visiting the Portico of Beau Nash's Palace, Bath._--
And here he liv'd, and here he reign'd, And hither oft shall strangers stray; To muse with joy on native worth, And mourn those pleasures fled for aye.
Alas! that he, whose days were spent In catering for the public weal, Should, in the eventide of life, Be destin'd sad distress to feel.
An ever open heart and hand, With ear ne'er closed to sorrow's tale, Exalts the man, and o'er his faults Draws the impenetrable veil.
L. M. THORNTON.
Bath.
_Acrostic in Ash Church, Kent._--The following acrostic is from a brass in Ash Church, Kent. It is perhaps curious only from the fact of its being unusual to inscribe this kind of verse on sepulchral monuments. The capital letters at the commencement of each line are given as in the original:
"J John Brooke of the parish of Ashe O Only he is nowe gone. H His days are past, his corps is layd N Now under this marble stone.
B Brookstrete he was the honor of, R Robd now it is of name, O Only because he had no sede O Or children to have the same; K Knowing that all must passe away, E Even when God will, none can denay.
"He passed to God in the yere of Grace One thousand fyve hundredth ffower score and two it was, The sixteenthe daye of January, I tell now playne, The five-and-twentieth yere of Elizabeth rayne."
FRAS. BRENT.
Sandgate.
_A Hint to Publishers._--The present period is remarkable for its numerous reprints of our poets and standard writers. However excellent these may be, there is often a great drawback, viz. that one must purchase an author's entire works, and cannot get a favourite poem or treatise separately.
What I would suggest is, that a separate title-page be prefixed to every poem or treatise in an {147} author's works, and that they be sold collectively or separately at the purchaser's option. Thus few would encumber themselves with the entire works of Dryden, but many would gladly purchase some of his poems if they could be had separately.
These remarks are still more applicable to encyclopædias. The _Encycl. Metropol._ was a step in the right direction; and henceforth we may hope to have each article sold separately in _octavo_ volumes. Is there no chance, amid all these reprints, of our seeing Heywood, Crashaw, Southwell, Habington, Daniel, or Drummond of Hawthornden?
MARICONDA.
_Uhland, the German Poet._--Mr. Mitchell, in his speech at New York, is said to have stated that Uhland, the German poet, had become an exile, and was now in Ohio. This is a mistake; for Uhland is now living in his native Würtemberg, and is reported in the papers to have quite recently declined a civic honour proposed to be conferred on him by the King of Prussia at the suggestion of Baron Humboldt.
J. M.
Oxford.
_Virgilian Inscription for an Infant School._--
"... Auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens, Infantumque animæ flentes, in limine primo." _Æn._ VI. 426.
ANON.
* * * * *
Queries.
THE SHIPPEN FAMILY--JOHN WHITE.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania having requested me to edit certain MSS., I should be very much indebted to any one for information, either through your columns, or addressed to me directly, concerning the following persons or their ancestry.
Edward Shippen, son of William, born in Yorkshire, near Pontefract or Wakefield, as supposed, 1639; emigrated to Boston 1670, was a member of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, afterwards turned Quaker, was publicly whipt for his faith (see Thomas Story's _Journal_, quoted in Southey's _Common-Place Book_), removed to Philadelphia, elected Speaker 1695, first mayor 1701, &c., died 1712. His son's family Bible entries (now in possession of Colonel Jno. Hare Powel) say that his (the son's) relations in England were his "uncle William's children," viz. Robert Shippen, Doctor of Divinity; William Shippen, Doctor of Laws and a parliament man; Edward, a physician; John, a Spanish merchant.
The uncle William thus mentioned is conjectured to have been the Rector of Stockport, and the "parliament man" to have been his son, "downright Shippen" (Lord Mahon's _Hist. Eng._, three vols.)--a conjecture strengthened by another mem., "John, son of the Rector of St. Mary's parish, Stockport, was baptized July 5, A.D. 1678.
Edward Shippen's daughter, Margaret, married John Jekyll, collector of the port of Boston, said to have been a younger brother of Sir Joseph; and a descendant, daughter of Chief Justice Shippen, married General Benedict Arnold, then a distinguished officer in the American army.
Mr. Shippen lived in great style (Watson's _Annals_, &c.), and among his descendants were, and are, many persons of consequence and distinction.
Besides information as to Mr. Shippen's ancestors, I should be glad to learn something of his kinsfolk, and of the Jekyll and Arnold branches. Sabine's (_Loyalists_) account of the latter is imperfect, and perhaps not very just.
John White, Chief Justice Shippen, whilst a law student in London, writes, 1748-50, as though Mr. White was socially a man of dignified position. He was a man of large fortune; his sister married San. Swift, who emigrated to this state. His portrait, by Reynolds, represents a gentleman past middle age, whose costume and appearance are those of a person of refined and elegant education. His letters were destroyed by fire some years since. The China and silver ware, which belonged to him, have the following arms: "Gules, a border sable, charged with seven or eight estoiles gold; on a canton ermines a lion rampant sable. Crest, a bird, either a stork, a heron, or an ostrich." The copy inclosed is taken from the arms on the china; but our Heralds' College (_i.e._ an intelligent engraver, who gave me the foregoing description) says, that on the silver the crest is "a stork close."
THOS. BALCH.
Philadelphia.
* * * * *
BOOKS ISSUED IN PARTS AND NOT COMPLETED.
From time to time various productions, many valuable, others the reverse, have issued from the press in parts or numbers; some have been completed, while others have only reached a few numbers. It would be desirable to ascertain what works have been finished, and what have not. I have therefore transmitted a note as to several that have fallen in my way, and should be happy for any information about them:
"1. John Bull Magazine, 8vo., London, 1824. Of this I possess four numbers. A friend of mine has also the four numbers, and, like myself, attaches great value to them, from the ability of many of the articles. One article, entitled "Instructions to Missionaries," is equal to any thing from the pen of T. Hood. May it not have been written by him? {148}
2. Portraits of the Worthies of Westminster Hall, with their Autographs, being Fac-Similes of Original Sketches found in the Note-Book of a Briefless Barrister. London: Thomas and William Boone, 480. Strand. Small 8vo.
Part I. Price Twenty Shillings. Twenty Sketches (very clever).
3. Dictionary of Terms employed by the French in Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, &c., by Shirley Palmer, M.D. 8vo., 1834. Birmingham: Barlow. London: Longman & Co. Two Parts. Stops at the letter H.
4. Quarterly Biographical Magazine, No. I., May, 1838. 8vo. London: Hunt & Hart.
5. Complete Illustrations of the British Fresh-water Fishes. London: W. Wood. 8vo. Three Numbers.
6. New and Compendious History of the County of Warwick, &c. By William Smith, F.R.S.A. 4to. Birmingham: W. Evans. London: J. T. Hinton, 4. Warwick Square. 1829. Ten Numbers, to be completed in Twelve. On my copy there is written, "Never finished." Is this the case?
7. Fishes of Ceylon. By John Whitchurch Bennet, Esq., F.H.S. London: Longman & Co. 1828. 4to. Two Numbers. A Guinea each.
J. M.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
"_Hovd Maet of Laet._"--Will you kindly give me a translation of the above, which is in the corner of an old Dutch panel painting in the style of Ostade and Teniers, jun., in my possession?
READING.
_Hand in Church_ (Vol. viii., p. 454.).--What is the hand projecting under chancel arch, Brighton old church?
A. C.
_Egger Moths._--What is the derivation of the word "egger," as applied to several species of moths?
MOUNTJOY.
_The Yorkshire Dales_ (Vol. ii., p. 220.).--Is the Guide to the above by J. H. Dixon published?
R. W. D.
_Ciss, Cissle, &c._--Can any of your readers give me any authority for a written usage of these words, or any one of them: _ciss_, _siss_, _cissle_ or _cizzle_? They are often heard, but I have never seen them written, nor can I find them in any dictionary.
A.