Chapter 1

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+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: Italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. Greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. Hebrew transliterations appear | | like #this#. | | Archaic spellings have been retained. | | Some hyphenation inconsistencies retained. | | Superscript contractions indicated as S^r | | Page numbers have been retained. Indicated as {Page} | +---------------------------------------------------------------+

{33}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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"WHEN FOUND, MAKE A NOTE OF."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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NO. 33.]

SATURDAY, JUNE 15. 1850.

{Price Threepence. {Stamped Edition, 4d.

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CONTENTS. Page

NOTES:--

Dr. Whichcote and Lord Shaftesbury, by S. W. Singer 33 The Rebel 34 Notes on the Hippopotamus 35 Folk Lore:--Northamptonshire Charms for Wens, Cramp, Tooth-ache, West or Sty, &c. 36 Brasichellen and Serpilius, by J. Sansom 37

QUERIES:--

Sir George Buc, by Rev. T. Corser 38 Cosas de Espana 39 Carter's Drawings of York Cathedral, by J. Britton 40 Minor Queries:--"Imprest" and "Debenture"--Cosen's MSS.--Barclay's Argenis--Clergy sold for Slaves-- Meaning of Pallet--Tobacco in the East--Stephanus Brulifer 40

REPLIES:--

Asinorum Sepultura 41 Pope Felix 42 Replies to Numismatic Queries 42 "As Lazy as Ludlum's Dog" 42 Replies to Minor Queries:--Lord John Townshend--When Easter ends--Holdsworth and Fuller--Gookin--"Brozier"--Symbols of Four Evangelists--Catacombs and Bone-houses--Tace Latin for Candle--Members for Durham--"A Frog he would," &c.--Cavell--To endeavour ourselves--Three Dukes--Christabel--Derivation of "Trianon" 43

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Catalogues, Sales, &c. 47 Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 47 Notices to Correspondents 47 Advertisements 48

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Notes.

DR. WHICHCOTE, MICHAEL AYNSWORTH, AND LORD SHAFTESBURY.

Not less remarkable and interesting than the publication of Dr. Whichcote's Sermons by the noble author of the _Characteristics_, is a posthumous volume (though never designed for the press) under the following title:--

"Several Letters written by a Noble Lord to a Young Man at the University.

"Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu.--_Hor. Epist._ ii. 1.

"Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane, 1716. 8vo."

The young man was Michael Aynsworth, of University College, Oxford, afterwards vicar of Cornhampton, in Hampshire, and master of the Free School there. He was a native of Dorsetshire; his father, who was in narrow circumstances, living near Wimborne St. Giles's, the seat of Lord Shaftesbury, by whom the son seems to have been nobly patronised, on account of his inclination to learning and virtuous disposition.

The published letters are only _ten_ in number; but I have an accurate manuscript transcript of _fifteen_, made from the originals by R. Flexman (who had been a pupil of Aynsworth) in 1768. The transcriber's account is as follows:--

"After Mr. Aynsworth's death, these letters remained in the possession of his daughter, and at her decease passed into the the hands of the Rev. Mr. Upton, the then vicar of Cornhampton; by him they were lent to my brother John Baker, of Grove Place, in Hampshire, who lent them to me. It will be perceived that the ten printed letters are not given as they were written, every thing of a private nature being omitted, and passages only given of other letters, just as the editor judged proper."

R. Flexman has made some remarks illustrative of the letters at the end of his transcript, and added some particulars relating to Lord Shaftesbury. He justly says,--

"I think these letters will show his lordship in a more favourable light with respect to the Christian religion than his _Characteristics_, which, though they may be condemned on that account, will ever remain a lasting monument of the genius of the noble writer. It is certain, too, the friends of Christianity are obliged to him for the publication of one of the best volumes of sermons that ever appeared in the English language. They are twelve in number, by Dr. Benjamin Whichcote. These sermons (as well as the preface, which is admirable) breathe such a noble spirit of Christianity, as I think will efface every notion that his lordship was an enemy to the Christian religion. In this preface he calls Dr. Whichcote (from his pleading in defence of natural goodness) the 'preacher of good nature.'"

What follows will, I think, be acceptable to your correspondents C H. and C. R. S.

"I have heard that the way in which Lord Shaftesbury got possession of the manuscript sermons was this:--Going one day to visit his grandmother, the Countess Dowager, widow of the first Earl, he found her reading a manuscript; on inquiring what she was reading, she replied, that it was a sermon. His {34} lordship expressed his surprise that she should take so much trouble as to read a manuscript sermon when there were such numbers in print. She said, she could find none so good as those she had in manuscript. Lord Shaftesbury then requested the favour of being allowed to peruse it, and having done so, he inquired of the Countess if she had any more, as he should like to read them all if she had. Having received and read them, he was so much pleased, that he resolved to print them; and having them prepared for the press, he published them with a preface recommending the sermons and highly praising the author."

It appears that the sermons were prepared for the press, at Lord Shaftesbury's instance, by the Rev. William Stephens, rector of Sutton, in Surrey; but the fact of the preface being by himself rests on the undoubted evidence of his sister, Lady Betty Harris (wife of James Harris of Salisbury, the author of _Hermes_), who mentioned having written it from her brother's dictation, he being at that time too ill to write himself.

The letters to Michael Aynsworth are very interesting, from their benevolent, earnest, and truly pious spirit, and might even now be read with advantage by a young student of theology: but, being very severe in many places upon the greater part of the body of the clergy _called_ the Church of England, could have been by no means palatable to the High Church party,--

"Who no more esteem themselves a Protestant Church, or in union with those of Protestant communion, though they pretend to the name of Christian, and would have us judge of the spirit of Christianity from theirs; which God prevent! lest men should in time forsake Christianity through their means."

The eleventh letter in the MS. is important on account of the observations it contains on the consequences which must inevitably arise from Locke's doctrine respecting innate ideas. Locke had been tutor both to Lord Shaftesbury and his father:--

"Mr. Locke, much as I honour him, and well as I know him, and can answer for his sincerity as a most zealous Christian believer, has espoused those principles which Mr. Hobbes set on foot in the last century, and has been followed by the Tindals and all the other free authors of our time. 'Twas Mr. Locke that struck the home blow, (for Hobbes' character and base slavish principles of government took off the poison of his philosophy), struck at all fundamentals, threw all _order_ and _virtue_ out of the world, and made the very _ideas_ of these (which are the same as those of God), unnatural and without foundation in our minds."

It is remarkable that the volume of Whichcote's Sermons printed by Lord Shaftesbury should have been republished at Edinburgh in 1742, with a recommendatory epistle, by a Presbyterian divine, Dr. Wishart, principal of the College of Edinburgh. In the very neat reprint of the collected sermons given by Dr. Campbell and Dr. Gerard, in 4 vols., 8vo., Aberdeen, 1751, prefixed to the third volume, we also find Lord Shaftesbury's preface.

S. W. SINGER.

Mickleham, June 4. 1850.

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THE REBEL.

Sir,--The printed copy of a song which I inclose is believed, by those who are the best judges, to be the only copy, either printed or in manuscript, now in existence. That circumstance may, perhaps, render it acceptable to you: and I am not collector of curiosities, and I beg you would do what you please with it. The verses are plainly more modern than the motto: for there are, I think, two allusions to different plays of the immortal bard of Stratford-on-Avon. But perhaps you will think that he copied from it, as it is said he sometimes did from things not so good as his own. I do not believe, for my own part, that it was written till after the Great Rebellion. Bishop Christopherson, I take it, was a Roman Catholic, but resident in England, and we see that he wrote in English. The paper, you will observe, is foreign by the texture, as well as by the water-mark, which I cannot very well make out; but it seems to be a bust of somebody; while the type looks quite English, and therefore it is no proof that it was printed abroad.

As I give you my real name, I hope you will not consider me as holding, or wishing to recommend, such opinions as are contained in the verses: and by way of protest, you will allow me to subscribe myself, your obedient servant,

PACIFICUS.

"THE REBEL.

"A New Song, or Balade, shewing the naughty conceits of Traytours; that all loial and true-hearted men may know and eschew the same.

"_They counte Peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh men hodipekes and cowardes._"--Bp. Christopherson, _Exh. ag. Rebel._ 1554.

"Tell me no more of Peace-- 'Tis cowardice disguised; The child of Fear and heartless Ease, A thing to be despised.

"Let daffodills entwine The seely Shepherd's brow, A nobler wreath I'll win for mine, The Lawrel's manly bough.

"May-garlands fitter shew On swains who dream of Love; And all their cherisance bestow Upon the whining dove--

"I'll have no doves--not I-- Their softness is disgrace; I love the Eagle's lightning eye, That stares in Phaebus' face.

"I mark'd that noble thing {35} Bound on his upward flight, Scatter the clouds with mighty wing, And breast the tide of light--

"And scorn'd the things that creep Prone-visaged on the Earth; To eat it's fruits, to play, to sleep, The purpose of their birth.

"Such softlings take delight In Cynthia's sickly beam-- Give me a heav'n of coal black night Slash'd with the watch-fire gleam.

"They doat upon the lute, The cittern and the lyre-- Such sounds mine eare do little sute, They match not my desire.

"The trumpet-blast--let it come In shrieks on the fitful gale, The charger's hoof beat time to the drum, And the clank of the rider's mail.

"Not for the heaps untold That swell the Miser's hoard, I claim the birthright of the bold, The dowry of the Sword--

"Nor yet the gilded gem That coronets the slave-- I clutch the spectre-diadem That marshals on the brave.

"For that--be Sin and Woe-- All priests and women tell-- Be Fire and Sword--I pass not tho' This Earth be made a Hell.

"Above the rest to shine Is all in all to me-- It is, unto a soul like mine, To be or not to be.

"Printed with Permission of Superiours: And are to be had of the Printer, at his House hard by the sign of the Squirrel, over-against the way that leadeth to the Quay."

P.S. Query, What is a "hodipeke?" Is it a "hypocrite?" and should not "Phaebus," in the fourth verse, be "Phoebus?"

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THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

The earliest mention of the hippopotamus is in Herodotus, who in ii. 71. gives a detailed description of this inhabitant of the Nile. He is stated by Porphyry to have borrowed this description from his predecessor Hecataeus (Frag. 292. ap. _Hist. Gr. Fragm._, vol. i. ed. Didot). Herodotus, however, had doubtless obtained his account of the hippopotamus during his visit to Egypt. Cuvier (_Trad. de Pline_, par Grandsagne, tom. vi. p. 444.) remarks that the description is only accurate as to the teeth and the skin; but that it is erroneous as to the size, the feet, the tail and mane, and the nose. He wonders, therefore, that it should have been repeated, with few corrections or additions, by Aristotle (_Hist. An._, ii. 1. and 7.; viii. 24.) and Diodorus (i. 35.). Compare Camus, _Notes sur l'Histoire des Animaux d'Aristote_, p. 418.

None of the Greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus; nor is there any account of a live animal of this species having been brought to Greece, like the live tiger which Seleucus sent to Athens. According to Pliny (_H. N._, viii. 40.) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xxii. 15.), the Romans first saw this animal in the celebrated edileship of AEmilius Scaurus, 58 B.C., when a hippopotamus and five crocodiles were exhibited at the games, in a temporary canal. Dio Cassius, however, states that Augustus Caesar first exhibited a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus to the Roman people in the year 29 B.C. (li. 22.) Some crocodiles and hippopotami, together with other exotic animals, were afterwards exhibited in the games at Rome in the time of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-80. See Jul. Capitolin. in _Anton. Pio_, c. 10.) and Commodus, against his various exploits of animal warfare in the amphitheatre, slew as many as five hippopotami (A.D. 180-92. See Dio Cass. lxxii. 10. and 19.; and Gibbon, c. 4.). Firmus, an Egyptian pretender to the empire in the time of Aurelian, 273 A.D., once rode on the back of a hippopotamus (Flav. Vopiscus, in _Firmo_, c. 6.): but this feat was probably performed at Alexandria.

The hippopotamus being an inhabitant of the Upper Nile, was imperfectly known to the ancients. Fabulous anecdotes of its habits are recounted by Pliny, _H. N._, viii. 39, 40., and by AElian, _De Nat. An._, v. 53. vii. 19. Achilles Tatius, who wrote as late as the latter half of the fifth century of our era, says that it breathes fire and smoke (iv. 2.); while Damascius, who was nearly his contemporary says that the hippopotamus is an unjust animal, and represents Injustice in the hieroglyphic writing; because it first kills its father and then violates its mother (ap. Phot. _Bibl._ cod. 242., p. 322., b. 36. ed. Bekker.).

Strabo (xv. 1.) and Arrian (_Ind._, c. 6.) say that the products of the Indian rivers are similar to those of Ethiopia and Egypt, with the exception of the hippopotamus. They add, however, that according to Onesicritus, even this exception did not exist: for that the hippopotamus was found in the rivers of India. The report of Onesicritus was doubtless erroneous.

Herodotus, Aristotle, and the other Greek writers constantly call this animal ~hippos potamios~. The Latin writers use the improper compound _hippo-potamus_; which, according to the ordinary rule of Greek composition, means, not a _river-horse_, but a _horse-river_. The only Greek writer in whom I have found the compound word ~hippopotamos~ is Damascius, who wrote in the sixth century. Achilles Tatius, who lived about the same time, calls the animal ~hippos tou Neilou~, which is, he says, its Egyptian name. It seems probable that the word _hippopotamus_ is a Roman corruption of the Greek substantive and adjective, and {36} is not a proper Greek word. Why this animal was called a horse is not evident. In shape and appearance it resembles a gigantic hog. Buffon says that its name was derived from its _neighing_ like a horse (_Quad._, tom. v., p. 165.). But query whether this is the fact?

Bochart (_Hierozoicon_, P. ii., lib. v., c. 15, 16.) identifies the "behemoth" of Job (c. 40.) with the hippopotamus, and the "leviathan" with the crocodile. This view seems to be generally adopted by modern commentators. (See Winer, _Bibl. Real-Woerterbuch_, art. "Nilpferd.")

A _Historia Hippopotami veterum Critica_, by J. G. Schneider, is appended to his edition of _Artedi Synonymia Piscium_, p. 247.

The accounts of the hippopotamus since the revival of letters, beginning with that published by Federigo Zerenghi, a Neapolitan surgeon, in 1603 (see Buffon), appear to have been all derived from dead specimens, or from the reports of travellers in Africa. Query, Has there been a live hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus, with the exception of the young animal now in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park?

L.

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FOLK LORE.

_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._

_Charming._--There are few villages in this district which are not able to boast a professor of the healing art, in the person of an old woman who pretends to the power of curing diseases by "charming;" and at the present day, in spite of coroners' inquests and parish officers, a belief in the efficacy of these remedies appears to be undiminished. Two preliminaries are given, as necessary to be strictly observed, in order to ensure a perfect cure. First, that the person to be operated upon comes with a full and earnest belief that a cure _will_ be effected; and, secondly, that the phrases "please" and "thank you" do not occur during the transaction. The established formula consists in the charmer's crossing the part affected, and whispering over it certain mysterious words--doubtless varied according to the disorder, but the import of which I have never been able to learn; for as there is a very prevalent notion that, if once disclosed, they would immediately lose their virtue, the possessors are generally proof against persuasion or bribery. In some cases it is customary for the charmer to "bless" or hallow cords, or leathern thongs, which are given to the invalids to be worn round the neck. An old woman living at a village near Brackley has acquired a more than ordinary renown for the cure of agues by this means. According to her own account, she received the secret from the dying lips of her mother; who, in her turn, is said to have received it from her's. As this old dame is upwards of ninety, and still refuses to part with her charm, the probability of it perishing with her, forms a constant theme of lamentation among her gossips. It must not be imagined that these ignorant people make a trade of their supposed art. On the contrary, it is believed that any offer of pecuniary remuneration would at once break the spell, and render the charm of no avail; and though it must be admitted that the influence and position naturally accruing to the possessor of such attributes, affords a sufficient motive for imposture, yet I think, for the most part, they may be said to be the dupes of their own credulity, and as fully convinced of their own infallibility as can be the most credulous of their admirers.

The following are a few of the more common traditionary charms (used without having recourse to the charmer) at present current among the rural population of this district.

_Warts._--Take one of the large black snails, which are to be found during summer in every hedgerow, rub it over the wart, and then hang it on a thorn. This must be done nine nights successively, at the end of which times the wart will completely disappear. For as the snail, exposed to such cruel treatment, will gradually wither away, so it is believed the wart, being impregnated with its matter, will slowly do the same.

_Wens._--After a criminal is dead, but still hanging, his hand must be rubbed thrice over the wen. (Vide _Brand_, vol iii. p. 153.) Many persons are still living who in their younger days have undergone the ceremony, always, they say, attended with complete success. On execution days at Northampton, numbers of sufferers used to congregate round the gallows, in order to receive the "dead-stroke," as it is termed. At the last execution which took place in that town, a very few only were operated upon, not so much in consequence of decrease of faith, as from the higher fee demanded by the hangman.

_Epistaxis._--For stopping or preventing bleeding at the nose, a toad is killed by transfixing it with some sharp pointed instrument, after which it is inclosed in a little bag and suspended round the neck. The same charm is also occasionally used in cases of fever. The following passage From Sir K. Digby's _Discourse on Sympathy_ (Lond. 1658) may enlighten us as to the principle:--

"In time of common contagion, they use to carry about them the powder of a toad, and sometimes a living toad or spider shut up in a box; or else they carry arsnick, or some other venemous substance, which _draws unto it the contagious air_, which otherwise would infect the party." p. 77.

_Another for the Same._--If it be a man who suffers, he asks a female to buy him a lace, (if a female she asks a man), without either giving money, saying what it is wanted for, or returning thanks when {37} received. The lace so obtained must be worn round the neck for the space of nine days; at the expiration of which, it is said, the patient will experience no return of the disorder.

_Cramp._--We still retain such a high sense of the efficacy of the form of the cross, that in case of spasms, or that painful state of the feet in which they are said to "sleep," it is commonly used, under the impression that it mitigates, if not entirely allays, the pain. Warts are also charmed away by crossing them with elder sticks: and a very common charm for the cramp consists in the sufferer's always taking care, when he pulls off his shoes and stockings, to place them in such a position as to form a resemblance to the "holy sign."

Another and very common charm resorted to for the cure of this painful disorder, consists in the wearing about the person the patella of a sheep or lamb, here known as the "cramp-bone." This is worn as near the skin as possible, and at night is laid under the pillow. One instance of a _human_ patella being thus used has come under my notice, but I believe this to be by no means common.

_Toothache._--Few ailments have more charms for its cure than this. In point of efficacy none are reckoned better than a tooth taken from the mouth of a corpse, which is often enveloped in a little bag, and hung round the neck. A double nut is also sometimes worn in the pocket for the same purpose.