Part 5

At the time of her marriage, her servants (as was believed by orders from their mistress) _persevered_ in chiming the only _two_ bells of the parish church, to the hazard and annoyance of the vicar's wife, just confined of her first child in a room hardly a stone's throw from it. His pupils were so indignant, that they drove away the offenders and took the clappers out of the bells: and the son of a near neighbour, then a member of St. John's College, Cambridge (Thos. Foster, A.B., 1792), made it the subject of a mock-heroic poem of some merit, called the _Brunoniad_ (London, 1790, printed by Kearsley). So few copies were printed, that the queen and princesses could not procure one; and a lady employed at Court requested a young friend of hers, resident at Stamford, to make a transcript of it for their use. This your present note-writer can aver, as the transcriber was a sister of

ANAT.

_Hero of the "Spanish Lady's Love"_ (Vol. ix., p. 305.).--Concerning the origin of this interesting old ballad, the following communication appeared in _The Times_ of May 1, 1846. It is dated from Coldrey, Hants, and signed Charles Lee:

"The hero of this beautiful ballad was my ancestor, Sir John Bolle of Thorpe Hall, Lincolnshire, of most ancient and loyal family, and father of that Colonel Bolle who fell in Alton Church, whilst fighting against the rebels in December, 1643. Of the truth of this I am prepared to give the curious in these matters the most abundant evidence, but the space which the subject would occupy would necessarily exclude it from your columns.

"The writer of the paper in the _Edinburgh_ says:--'Had the necklace been still extant, the preference would have been due to Littlecot.' The necklace is still extant, in the possession of a member of my family, and in the house whence I write. In Illingworth's _Topographical Account of Scampton, with Anecdotes of the Family of Bolles_, it is stated: 'The portrait of Sir John, drawn in 1596, at the age of thirty-six years, having on the gold chain given him by the Spanish Lady, &c., is still in the possession of his descendant, Capt. Birch.'

"That portrait is now in the possession of Capt. Birch's successor, Thomas Bosvile Bosvile, Esq., of Ravensfield Park, Yorkshire, my brother, and may be seen by any one. I will only add another extract from Illingworth's _Scampton_:--'On Sir John Bolle's departure from Cadiz, the Spanish Lady sent as presents to his wife, a profusion of jewels and other valuables, amongst which was her portrait drawn in green; plate, money, and other treasure. Some articles are still in possession of the family; though her picture was unfortunately, and by accident, disposed of about half a century since. This portrait being drawn in green, gave occasion to her being called, in the neighbourhood of Thorpe Hall, the Green Lady; where, to this day, there is a traditionary superstition among the vulgar, that Thorpe Hall was haunted by the Green Lady, who used nightly to take her seat in a particular tree near the mansion.' In Illingworth there is a long and full account of the Spanish Lady, and the ballad is given at length."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Niagara_ (Vol. vii., pp. 50. 137.).--Let me add one other authority of comparatively recent date on Goldsmith's side of the _vexata quæstio_, about the pronunciation of this name:

"And we'd take verses out to Demerara, To New South Wales, and up to Niagara." Proëme to _The Monks and the Giants_, by William and Robert Whistlecraft, _i. e._ John Hookham Frere.

BALLIOLENSIS.

_Hymn attributed to Handel_ (Vol. ix., p. 303.).--I do not understand whether MR. STORER'S Query refers to the _words_ or _music_ of this hymn. If to the former, it is most assuredly not Handel's. It is strange that the church does not possess one _genuine_ psalm or hymn tune of this mighty master, although he certainly composed several. The popular melody called _Hanover_, usually attributed to Handel, was printed in the _Supplement to the New Version of Psalms_ (a collection of tunes) in 1703. Handel did not arrive in England till 1710. It is improbable, from many circumstances, that he composed this grand melody. It was probably the work of Dr. Croft.

D'Almaine, the eminent music-seller of Soho Square, published some years back--

"Three Hymns, the Words by the late Rev. Charles Wesley, A.M., of Christ Church College, Oxon; and set to music by George Frederick Handel, faithfully transcribed from his autography in the Library of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, by Samuel Wesley, and now very respectfully presented to the Wesleyan Society at large."

Among my musical autographs is one which, as it relates to the foregoing publication, I transcribe:

"The late comedian Rich, who was the most celebrated harlequin of his time, was also the proprietor of Covent Garden Theatre, during the period that Handel conducted his oratorios at that house. He married a person who became a serious character, after having formerly been a very contrary one; and who requested Handel to set to music the _Three Hymns_ which I transcribed in the Fitzwilliam Library from the autography, and published them in consequence.

S. WESLEY. Monday, March 30, 1829."

The first lines of the hymns are as follows: 1. Sinners, obey the Gospel Word. 2. O Love divine, how sweet thou art! 3. Rejoice! the Lord is King.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

{574}

_Marquis of Granby_ (Vol. ix., pp. 127. 360.).--In a critique which appeared in the _Quarterly Review_ for January or April, 1838, on Dickens's earlier works, it is stated that Sumpter, a discharged soldier of the royal regiment of Horse Guards, opened a public-house at Hounslow, having as its sign "The Marquis of Granby," which was the first occasion of the marquis's name appearing on the sign-board of a public-house. This note appeared in reference to the public-house kept at Dorking by Mrs. Weller, the "second wentur" of Tony Weller, father of the immortal Samivel, of that ilk.

John, Marquis of Granby, was colonel of the royal regiment of Horse Guards from May 13, 1758, to his decease, which occurred Oct. 19, 1770, and was justly considered the soldier's friend. (See Captain Packer's _History of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards_, p. 95.) Mr. Dickens, in his description of the sign-board at Dorking, has arrayed the marquis in the uniform, not of the regiment, but of a general officer: he states,--

"On the opposite side of the road was a sign-board representing the head and shoulders of a gentleman with an apoplectic countenance, in a red coat, with deep blue facings, and a touch of the same over his three-cornered hat for a sky. Over that, again, were a pair of flags, and beneath the last button of his coat were a couple of cannon; and the whole formed an expressive and undoubted likeness of the Marquis of Granby of glorious memory."

Witty, I admit, but that "touch of the same" (blue _facings_?) for a sky is ambiguous. _Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio._

The uniform of the royal regiment of Horse Guards, from 1758 to 1770, consisted of a dark blue coatee, with red facings, red breeches, jacked boots, and three-cornered hats bound with gold lace.

G. L. S.

_Convocation and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel_ (Vol. viii., p. 100.).--The Archdeacon of Stafford, in his last visitation charge, at Stafford, May 23, 1854, said of Convocation:

"He was not aware that the two venerable societies, The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, owed their existence to it."

Atterbury, writing to Bishop Trelawny, March 15, 1700-1, says:

"We appointed another committee, for considering the methods of Propagating the Christian Religion in Foreign Parts, who sat the first time this afternoon in the Chapter House of St. Paul's"--Atterbury's _Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 88.

Though the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts does not owe, strictly speaking, its _existence_ to Convocation, yet it certainly is indebted to it, both for the general outline of its operations, and also for its name.

WM. FRASER, B.C.L.

_Cassie_ (Vol. ix., p. 396.).--With regard to W. T. M. about _cassie_, he will find an approximation to that word as used for _causeway_, in the old editions of Ludlow's _Memoirs_, and others, where causeway is always spelt _causey_.

A. (1)

_"Three cats sat," &c._ (Vol. ix., p.173.).--I am delighted to say that a long course of laborious research among the antiquities of nurserydom have enabled me to supply JULIA R. BOCKETT (I dare not venture on any prefix to the name, for fear of doing grievous wrong in my ignorance of the lady's civil status) with the missing canto the poem her ancient friend is so desirous of completing. It will be seen to convey a charming lesson of amiable sociality--admirably adapted _d'ailleurs_ to the pages of a work which seeks to encourage "intercommunications." It runs thus:

"Said one little cat, To the other little cat, If you don't speak, I must; I must. If you don't speak, I must."

JULIA R. BOCKETT will doubtless feel with me, that though the antithesis requires that the "I" should be strongly emphasised in the first case, the sentiment expressed imperatively demands an intense force to be given to the "must" in the second repetition.

T. A. T.

Florence.

P. S.--By-the-bye, talking of cats, there is a story current, that a certain archbishop, who sits neither at Canterbury nor York, having once, in unbending mood, demanded of one of his clergy if he could decline "cat," corrected the reverend catechumen, when, having arrived at the vocative case, he gave it, "Vocative, O cat!" and declared such declension to be wrong, and that the vocative of "cat" was "_puss_." Of course, it will be henceforth considered so in the diocese presided over by the prelate in question, as the gender of "carrosse" was changed throughout _la belle France_, by a blunder of the _grand monarque_. But surely the archbishop was as palpably wrong as the king was. At least, if he was not, we have only the alternative of considering Shakspeare to have blundered. For, have we not Stefano's address to poor Caliban:

"Open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, _cat_."

And again, does not Lysander, somewhat ungallantly, thus apostrophise Hermia:

"Hang off, thou _cat_, thou burr!"

Moreover, will not the pages of our nursery literature furnish on the other hand abundance of {575} instances _passim_ of _puss_ used in every one of the oblique cases, as well as in the nominative?

_Tailless Cats_ (Vol. ix., pp. 10. 111.).--It may be interesting to your correspondent SHIRLEY HIBBERD to know, that the Burmese breed of cats is, like that of the Isle of Man, tailless; or, if not exactly without tails, the tails they have are so short as to be called so merely by the extremest courtesy. This is the only respect, however, in which they differ from other cats.

S. B.

Lucknow.

_Francklyn Household Book_ (Vol. ix., p. 422.).--

_Bay-salt to stop the barrels._--Before heading down a cask of salted meat, the vacant spaces are filled up with salt.

_Giggs and scourge-sticks._--Whip-tops, and whips for spinning them.

_Jumballs._--A kind of gingerbread.

JOHN P. STILWELL.

Dorking.

_"Violet-crowned" Athens_ (Vol. ix., p. 496.).--I have always understood that the adoption of the _violet_ as the heraldic flower of old Athens involved, as heraldry so often does, a pun. As you well know, the Greek for violet is [Greek: Ion], and thence its adoption as the symbolical flower of the chief city in Europe of the _Ion_ian race.

CANTAB.

_Smith of Nevis and St. Kitt's_ (Vol. ix., p. 222.).--I find by some curious letters from an old lady, by birth a Miss Williams of Antigua, and widow of the son of the Lieut.-Governor of Nevis, now in the possession of a friend of mine connected with the West Indies, that the arms of that family were--Gules, on a chevron between three bezants or, three cross crosslets sable. And the crest, from a ducal coronet or, an Indian goat's head argent.

This may facilitate the search of your correspondent for the affiliation of that family to the United Kingdom.

B.

_Hydropathy_ (Vol. ix., p. 395.).--"John Smith, C.M." (_i. e._ clock-maker), of the parish of St. Augustin, London, was the author of several pamphlets. He published in the year 1723 a treatise in recommendation of the medicinal use of water as "a universal remedy," as well by drinking as by applying it externally to the body. In the British Museum there is a French translation of it, which appeared in Paris, A.D. 1725. This is a proof of the notoriety which the treatise obtained. The tenth edition, dated "Edinburgh, 1740," contains additions communicated by Mr. Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., and others. In the year 1695 he published a short treatise entitled _A designed End to the Socinian Controversy; or, a rational and plain Discourse to prove, that no other Person but the Father of Christ is God Most High_. This attracted the notice of the civil power, and by order of parliament it was burnt, and the author prosecuted. (See Wallace's _Anti-Trinitarian Biography_, vol. iii. p. 398., London, 1850.)

N. W. S.

_Leslie and Dr. Middleton_ (Vol. ix., p. 324.).--

"Middleton was one of the men who sought for twenty years some historical facts that might conform to Leslie's four conditions, and yet evade Leslie's logic."--_Blackwood's Magazine_, July, 1842, p. 5.

J. O. B.

_Lord Brougham and Horne Tooke_ (Vol. ix., p. 398.).--I have not Lord Brougham's book before me, but I have no doubt but that Q. has missed the meaning of his lordship. The reference would probably be to Horne Tooke's anticipation of the strange immoral reveries of Emerson and others, that _truth_ is entirely subjective; because the word bears etymological relation to "to trow," to think, or believe: and so _truth_ has no objective existence, but is merely what a man troweth. If that be an argument, Lord Brougham would say then the law of libel would be unjust, merely because "libel" means primarily a little book; he might have added that, according to Horne Tooke and Mr. Emerson, if a man had been killed by falling against a post at Charing Cross, a jury might deny the fact of the violent death, because "post" means a place for depositing letters, and he had not been near St. Martin's-le-grand. The remark of Lord Brougham is not as to a fact, but is a _reductio ad absurdum_.

W. DENTON.

It is suggested to Q. (Bloomsbury), that Lord Brougham meant not to say that Horne Tooke _had ever held_ or _maintained_ this strange doctrine, "that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because libel means a little book," but that he _would_ have done so, or might have done so consistently with his etymological theory, namely, that the _present_ sense of words is to be sought in their primitive signification: _e.g._, in the _Diversions of Purley_, vol. ii. p. 403., Horne Tooke says,--

"_True_, as we now write it, or _trew_, as it was formerly written, means simply and merely that which is _trowed_; and, instead of its being a rare commodity upon earth, except only in words, there is nothing but truth in the world."

If we ought _now_ to use the word truth only in this sense, then, _pari ratione_, we ought to mean only a little book when we use the word libel.

J. O. B.

Thorpe.

_Irish Rhymes_ (Vol. viii., p. 250.).--A. B. C. asks, "Will any one say it was through ignorance {576} that he (Swift) did not sound the _g_ in dressing?" Now I cannot tell whether or not I shall raise a nest of hornets about my ears, but my private impression is that in doing so Swift meant to be "more _English_ and less nice." I think it invariably strikes an Irishman as one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the English people, the almost constant omission of that letter from every word ending (I should have said, if I was an Englishman, "endin'") with it. The fair sex, I fear I must add, are, of the two, rather more decided in clippin' (_g_) the Queen's English.

Y. S. M.

_Cabbages_ (Vol. ix., p. 424.).--I was aware of the passage in Evelyn's _Acetaria_, and am anxious to know whether there is any confirmation of that statement. Is there any other information extant as to the first introduction of cabbages into England?

C. H.

_Sir William "Usher," not "Upton"_ (Vol. viii., p. 328.), was appointed Clerk of the Council in Ireland, March 22, 1593. He was knighted by Sir George Carey, Law Deputy, on St. James' Day, 1603; and died in 16--, having married Isabella Loftus, eldest daughter of Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin. Of what family was he?

Y. S. M.

"_Buckle_" (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 304. 526.).--An awkward person, working incautiously with a saw, will probably, to use a carpenter's phrase, _buckle_ it; that is, give it a bend or twist which will injure its working.

Y. S. M.

_Cornwall Family_ (Vol. ix., p. 304.).--John Cornwall, Esq., a director of the Bank of England, 1769, bore the arms and crest of the ancient family of that name of Burford, in Shropshire, of which he was a member. A full account of this distinguished family is now preparing under their sanction.

E. D.

_John of Gaunt_ (Vol. ix., p. 432.).--Perhaps the best method of explaining to Y. S. M. the unmistakeable nose of the descendants of John of Gaunt, will be to refer him to the complete series of portraits at Badminton, concluding with the late Duke of Beaufort. He will then comprehend what is difficult to describe in the physiognomy of

"That mighty line, whose sires of old Sprang from Britain's royal blood; All its sons were wise and bold, All its daughters fair and good!"

E. D.

_"Wellesley" or "Wesley"_ (Vol. viii., pp. 173. 255.).--Your readers will find, in Lynch's _Feudal Dignities_, the name spelt _Wellesley_ in Ireland, so long ago as the year 1230, and continued so for several centuries at least subsequent to that date. The Public Records also bear evidence of the high position and great influence of the Wellesleys, not _Wesleys_, for a lengthened period in Irish history.

Y. S. M.

_Mantel-piece_ (Vol. ix., pp. 302. 385.).--In old farm-houses, where the broad, open fireplace and hearth still exist, a small curtain, or rather valance, is often suspended from below the mantle-shelf, the object apparently being the exclusion of draughts and smoke. May not the use of this sort of _mantel_ have caused the part of the fireplace from which it hangs to be called the mantel-piece?

EDGAR MACCULLOCH.

Guernsey.

"MANTEL, _n. s._ (_mantel_, old French, or rather the German word _mantel_, 'Germanis _mantel_ non pallium modo significat, sed etiam id omne quod aliud circumdat: hinc murus arcis, atque structura quæ focum invertit, _mantel_ ipsis dicitur.' V. Ducange in v. Mantum). Work raised before a chimney to conceal it, whence the name, which originally signifies a cloak."--Todd's _Johnson_.

Richardson gives the two following quotations from Wotton:

From them (Italians) we may better learn, both how to raise fair _mantles_ within the rooms, and how to disguise gracefully the shafts of chimneys abroad (as they use) in sundry forms."--_Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_, p. 37.

"The Italians apply it (plastick) to the _mantling_ of chimneys with great figures, a cheap piece of magnificence."--Id. p. 63.

ZEUS.

_"Perturbabantur," &c._ (Vol. ix., p. 452.).--When I first learned to scan verses, somewhere about thirty years ago, the lines produced by your correspondent P. were in every child's mouth, with this story attached to them. It was said that Oxford had received from Cambridge the first line of the distich, with a challenge to produce a corresponding line consisting of two words only. To this challenge Oxford replied by sending back the second line, pointing out, at the same time, the false quantity in the word "Constantin[)o]politani."

J. SANSOM.

The story connected with these lines current at Cambridge in my time was, that the University of Oxford challenged the sister university to match the first line; to which challenge the second line was promptly returned from Cambridge by way of reply. At Oxford, I believe, the story is reversed, as neither university is willing to own to the false quantity in "Constantin[)o]politani."

J. EASTWOOD, M.A.

The classic legend attached to these two lines (and there are only two in the legend) is that the Oxonians sent a challenge to the Cantabs to make {577} a binomial pentameter corresponding to "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani." The Cantabs immediately returned the challenge by sending "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus." Perhaps it is worthy of remark, though not evident except to a Greek scholar, that the first line contains at least _one_ false quantity, for "Constantinopol[)i]tani" must have the antepenultima long, as being derived from [Greek: politês]. The lengthening of the fourth syllable may perhaps have been considered as a compensation, though rather a _præ-posterous_ one.

CHARLES DE LA PRYME.

I remember to have heard that the history of these two lines is as follows:--The head of one of our public schools having a talent for composing extraordinary verses, sent the first line, "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani," to a friend of his, who was at the time the captain of another public school, asking him at the same time whether he could compose anything like it. The answer returned was the second line, "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus,"--a line, in my opinion, much superior to the former, as well for other reasons as that it is free from any false quantity; while, as any Greek scholar will at once find out, the antepenultimate syllable of "Constantinopolitani" must be long, being derived from the Greek word [Greek: politês].

I never heard of any more lines of the same description.

P. A. H.

I have always understood that once upon a time the Eton boys, or those of some other public school, sent the hexameter verse, "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani," to the Winchester boys, challenging them to produce a pentameter verse consisting of only two words, and making sense. The Winchester boys added, "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus."

WICCAMICUS.

_Edition of "Othello"_ (Vol. ix., p. 375.).--The work inquired for, with the astrological (the editor would have called them hieroglyphic) notes, forms part of the third volume of the lunatic production of Mr. Robert Deverell, which I described in "N. & Q.," Vol. ii., p. 61., entitled _Discoveries in Hieroglyphics and other Antiquities_, 6 vols. 8vo., Lond. 1813.

J. F. M.

In case it would be of any use to M. A., Mr. Cole, the late lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin, is now reader of plays (I think) to Mr. Kean at the Princesses Theatre; at all events he is connected with that establishment.

L. M. N.

Dublin.