Chapter 2

_Hooping-cough._--A small quantity of hair is taken frown the nape of the child's neck, rolled up in a piece of meat, and given to a dog, in the firm belief that the disease thereby becomes transferred to the animal. A friend informs me that the same charm is well known in Gloucestershire.

_Rheumatism._--The right forefoot of a hare, worn constantly in the pocket, is considered a fine amulet against the "rheumatiz."

_West._--In order to be rid of the painful tumour on the eyelid, provincially known as the _west_ or _sty_, it is customary for the sufferer, on the first night of the new moon, to procure the tail of a black cat, and after pulling from it one hair, rub the tip _nine_ times over the pustule. As this has a very cabalistic look, and is moreover frequently attended with sundry severe scratches, a gold ring is found to be a much more harmless substitute; and as it is said to be equally beneficial with the former, it is now more commonly used. This superstition is alluded to by Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mad Lovers_, v. 4.:--

"---- I have a _sty_ here, Chilax.

_Chi._ I have no gold to cure it, not a penny."

_Thorn._--The following word charm is used to prevent a thorn from festering:--

"Our Saviour was of a virgin born, His head was crowned with a crown of thorn; It never canker'd nor fester'd at all, And I hope in Christ Jesus this never shaull [shall]."

This will remind the reader of the one given by Pepys, vol. ii. p. 415.

T. S.

* * * * *

BRASICHELLEN AND SERPILIUS--EXPURGATORY INDEX.

I have a note, and should be glad to put a query, on the subject of a small octavo volume, of which the title is, "Indicis Librorum Expurgandorum, in studiosorum gratiam confecti, tomus primus; in quo quinquaginta auctorum libri prae caeteris desiderati emendantur. Per Fr. Io. Mariam Brasichellensem, sacri Palatii Apostolici Magistrum, in unum corpus redactus, et publicae commoditati editus. Superiorum permissu, Romae, 1607." Speaking of this index, Mendham says:--

"We now advance to perhaps the most extraordinary and scarcest of all this class of publications. It is the first, and last, and incomplete Expurgatory Index, which Rome herself has ventured to present to the world, and which, soon after the deed was done, she condemned and withdrew.... After a selection of some of the rules in the last edition of the Expurgatory Index, the editor in his address informs the reader, that, understanding the expurgation of books to be not the least important part of his office, and wishing to make books more accessible to students than they were without expurgation, he had availed himself of the labours of his predecessors, and, adding his own, issued the present volume, intending that a second, which was in great readiness, should quickly follow; (but, alas! it was not allowed so to do). Dated Rome, from the Apostolic Palace, 1607.... Nothing more remains on the subject of this Index, than to report what is contained in the inaccessible work of Zobelius, _Notitia Indicis_, &c., but repeated from by Struvius or Ingler, his editor, in the _Bibliotheca Hist. Lit._--that Brasichellen or Guanzellus was assisted in the work by Thomas Malvenda, a Dominican; that another edition was printed at Bergomi in 1608; that when a fresh one was in preparation at Antwerp in 1612, it was suppressed; and that, finally, the author, like Montanus, found his place in a future index."

The second volume promised never appeared. The work, however, became exceedingly scarce; which induced Serpilius, a priest of Ratisbon, in 1723, to print an edition so closely resembling the original, as to admit of its being represented as the same. The imposition, however, being detected, another edition was prepared by Hesselius, a printer of Altorf, in 1745; and then the remaining copies of the former threw off their mask, and appeared with a new title-page as a second edition. The original and counterfeit editions of this peculiar work are sufficiently alike to deceive any person, who should not examine them in literal juxtaposition; but upon such examination, the deception is easily apparent. The one, however, may be fairly considered as a {38} fac-simile of the other. (See the Rev. Joseph Mendham's _Literary Policy of the Church of Rome exhibited_, &c., chap. iii. pp. 116-128.) Mendham adds, that "there is a copy of the original edition" of this index "in the Bodleian Library, Oxford," presented to Sir Thomas Bodley by the Earl of Essex, together with the Belgic, Portuguese, Spanish and Neapolitan Indices, all which originally belonged to the library of Jerom Osorius, but had become part of the spoil of the expedition against Cadiz in 1596. I am acquainted with the Bodleian copy of the original edition of this rare work; but I wish to put the Query--Where is a copy of the _counterfeit edition_ of Serpilius to be seen, either with its original title-page, or as it appeared afterwards, when the mask was thrown off? I am not aware that any one of our public libraries (rich as several of them are in such treasures) contains a copy of this curious little impostor.

J. SANSOM.

8. Park Place, Oxford, May 29. 1850.

* * * * *

Queries

SIR GEORGE BUC.

Can any of your readers inform me on what authority Sir George Buc, the poet, and Master of the Revels in the reign of James I., is recorded by his biographers to have been a native of Lincolnshire, and to have died in 1623? In the _Biogr. Britann._, and repeated by Chalmers, it is stated that he was born in Lincolnshire, in the sixteenth century, descended from the Bucs, or Buckes, of West Stanton and Herthill, in Yorkshire, and Melford Hall, in Suffolk, and knighted by James I. the day before his coronation, July 13, 1603. Mr. Collier, in his _Annals of the Stage_, vol. i., p. 374, says, that on the death of Edmund Tylney, in October, 1610, he succeeded him as Master of the Revels, and wrote his Treatise on the Office of the Revels prior to 1615. He also says,--

"In the spring of 1622, Sir George Buc appears to have been so ill and infirm, as to be unable to discharge the duties of his situation, and on the 2nd of May in that year, a patent was made out, appointing Sir John Astley Master of the Revels."--_Biogr. Britann._, p. 419.

Ritson says that he died in 1623. Chalmers supposed his death to have happened soon after 1622, and states that he certainly died before August 1629.

My reason for making these inquiries is, that I have in my possession a 4to. manuscript volume, believed to be in the handwriting of this Sir George Buc, which is quite at variance with these statements in several particulars. The volume which is without a date in any part, and has only the initials of the author, is entitled _The Famous History of Saint George, England's brave Champion. Translated into Verse, and enlarged. The three first Chapters by G. B. His first Edition._ It is extended to nineteen chapters, and comprehends also the histories of the other six champions, as well as that of St. George. It is contained in a thick 4to. volume of 524 closely written pages, in Russia, and was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Roxburghe, whose arms are on the sides; and afterwards in that of Mr. Heber. This MS. is entirely in the handwriting of Sir George Buc, as prepared by him for publication. The initials "G. B." correspond with those of his name, and the handwriting, having been compared, is found to be exactly similar to a MS. inscription, in Sir George Buc's handwriting, prefixed to a copy of his poem ~Daphnis Polustephanos~, 4to., 1605, presented by him to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, and preserved at Bridgewater House; a fac-simile of which is given by Mr. Collier in his privately printed catalogue of that library, p. 41.

The volume commences with a sort of metrical preface, entitled _The Muse's Apologie_, in which he says,--

"Consider that my Muse is aged growne, Whose pilgrimage to _seventy-six is knowne_."

And again:--

"Thy nimble steps to _Norfolk_ none forbeare, I'm confident thou shalt be welcom'd there, Where that thy autor _hee was bred and borne_, Though to Parnassus Girles was never sworne."

The work is dedicated "To the vertuous Lady and his most honoured friend, the Lady Bacon, at Readgrave Hall, in Suffolk, wife to S^r Edmond Bacon, Prime Baronett of England," commencing thus:--

"Faire madam,--Having nothing at present, I thought was fitt (_living at so far distance_) to present to y^r ladyship," &c.

The distance here alluded to was probably caused by the author's residence in London at that time. This is followed by some lines "To the Courteous Reader," beginning,--

"Some certaine Gentlemen did mee ingage To publish forth this work, done in myne age That this, my aged act, it may survive My funerall and keep me still alive."

and by others, entitled "The Autor," signed "Vale, G. B.;" after which are added the following lines:--

"Some Poets they are poore, and so am I, _Except I bee reliev'd in Chancery_; I scorne to begg, my pen nere us'd the trade, This book to please my friends is only made, Which is performed by my aged quill, For to extend my country my good will. Let not my country think I took this paynes In expectation of any gaines."

We know from Mr. Collier's Bridgewater Catalogue, that Sir George Buc had been indebted to Lord Ellesmere for certain favours shown him, {39} probably in some Chancery suit, to which he here seems to allude, as if still suffering in his pocket from its ill consequences.

My first quotation from the poem itself is one of some importance, as serving to show the probable time at which it was written. On the reverse of fol. 9., at the commencement of the poem, an allusion is thus made to the destruction of Troy:--

"And wasted all the buildings of the king, Which unto Priamus did glory bring, Destroy'd his pallaces, the cittie graces, And all the lusters of his royall places, _Just as Noll Cromewell in this iland did, For his reward at Tiburne buried._"

So also, again, on the reverse of fol. 11., in reference to the abuses and profanations committed by Cromwell's soldiery in St. Paul's Cathedral, he says:--

"Pittie it were this faberick should fall Into decay, derives its name from Paul, _But yet of late it suffered vile abuses, Was made a stable for all traytors' uses_, Had better burnt it down for an example, As Herostratus did Diana's temple."

And again, at the commencement of the eighth chapter, fol. 104.:--

"In this discourse, my Muse doth here intend, The honor of Saint Patrick to defend, And speake of his adventrous accidents, Of his brave fortunes, and their brave events, That if her pen were made of _Cromwell's rump_, Yet she should weare it to the very stump."

At the end of the poem he again alludes to his great age, and to the time which had been occupied in writing it, and also promised, if his life should be prolonged, a second part, in continuation, which, however, appears never to have been accomplished:--

"My Muse wants eloquence and retoricke, For to describe it more scollerlike, And doth crave pardon for hir bold adventure, When that upon these subjects she did enter. 'Tis eight months since this first booke was begun, Come, Muse, breake off, high time 'tis to adone. Travell no further in these martiall straines, Till we know what will please us for our paines. I know thy will is forward to performe, What age doth now deny thy quill t' adorne, Whose age is _seventy-sixe, compleat in yeares_, Which in the Regester at large appeares." &c. &c. &c. &c.

Cromwell died Sept. 3. 1658, and was interred in Westminster Abbey; but his bones were not removed and buried at Tyburn till the 30th of January, 1660; very soon after which it is most probable that this poem was written. Now if the author was, as he says, seventy-six at this time, he must have been born about 1583 or 1584, which will rightly correspond with the account given by Chalmers and others; and thus he would be about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age when he wrote his first poem of ~Daphnis Polustephanos~, and twenty-seven when he succeeded to the office of Master of the Revels. There appears to be no reason for supposing, with Ritson, that _The Great Plantagenet_, which was the second edition of that poem, and published in 1635, was done "by some fellow who assumed his name;" but that the variations, which are very considerable, were made by the author himself, and printed in his lifetime. The Dedication to Sir John Finch, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, signed "George Buck," and written exactly in his style; the three sets of commendatory verses addressed to the author by O. Rourke, Robert Codrington, and George Bradley, not in the first edition of the poem "Upon King Henrie the Second, the first Plantagenet of England," &c., added to this impression; all tend to show that the author was then living in 1635. We learn by the above quotations from his MS. poem, that his days were further prolonged till 1660.

Perhaps some of your numerous readers may be able to discover some corroborative proofs of this statement from other sources, and will be kind enough to favour me, through your paper, with any evidence which may occur to then, bearing upon the subject of my inquiries.

THOMAS CORSER.

Stand Rectory.

COSAS DE ESPANA.

The things of Spain are peculiar to a proverb, but they are not so exclusively national but we may find some connection with them in things of our own country. Any information from readers of NOTES AND QUERIES, on a few Spanish things which I have long sought for in vain, would prove most acceptable and useful to me.

1. In _Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum, Angliae et Hiberniae_, &c., under "Library of Westminster Abbey," at p. 29., I find mentioned the following MS.: _Una Resposal del Reverend Padre Thomaso Cranmero_. It is not now in that library--is it in any other? I suppose it may be a translation, made by Francisco Dryander or Enzinas, translator of the Spanish New Testament, 1543, of--"An Answer by the Right Rev. Father in God, Thomas, Abp. of Canterbury, unto a crafty and sophistical cavillation devised by Stephen Gardener," &c. Dryander came to this country with Bucer, recommended to Cranmer by Melancthon, and resided two months in the Archbishop's house before he went to Cambridge to lecture in Greek.

2. Ferdinando de Tereda, a Spanish Protestant, came to this country in 1620. The Lord Keeper Williams took him into his house to learn Spanish of him, in order to treat personally with the Spanish ambassador about the marriage of Prince Charles and the Infanta. At this instance, {40} Tereda translated the English Liturgy into Spanish (1623), and was repaid by presentation to a prebend at Hereford. On the death of James, in 1625, he left, as he says, the Court, before the Court left him, and retired to Hereford. Here he adds: "I composed a large volume _De Monachatu_, in Latin; another _De Contradictionibus Doctrinae Ecclesiae Romanae_, in the same language; and a third, entitled _Carrascon_, also in Latin." In 1631-2 he vacated his prebend, and went, I conjecture, to Holland, where he printed _Carrascon_ in _Spanish_ (1633), being a selection from the Latin. In the preface to this, which recently had been reprinted, he proposed to print the other works which he had prepared, if the Spanish _Carrascon_ brought him "good news." Do his Latin works exist either in print or in manuscript?

3. Juan de Nicholas y Sacharles was another Spanish Protestant, who came to this country in 1618. He translated the _Bouclier de la Foi_, by P. Moulin, into Spanish; he presented it, I conjecture in MS., to Prince Charles about the year 1620. Is such a MS. known to exist in any of our libraries?

4. The recent _History of Spanish Literature_, by George Ticknor, has made us generally acquainted, that the author of the clever "Dialogo de las Lenguas," printed in _Origines de la Lengua Espanola_ by Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, was Juan de Valdes, to whom Italy and Spain herself owed the dawning light of the religious reformation which those countries received. Spaniards well informed in their own literature have of course been long aware of the authorship of the "Dialogo de las Lenguas." But few even of them are aware that Mayans y Siscar could not, even at so late a period, venture to reprint the work, as it was written by Juan de Valdes. He suppressed various passages, for the Inquisition was in his day too jealous and powerful for him to risk offence. Notwithstanding, and as _una cosa de Espana_, he printed a few copies privately, entire. Expurgated books are always unsatisfactory mutilations. Does any _Manuscript_ of the "Dialogo de las Lenguas" exist in this country, in any public or private library?

Wn.

* * * * *

CARTER'S DRAWINGS OF YORK CATHEDRAL.--MEDAL OF STUKELEY.

I shall be glad to ascertain, if possible, through the medium of your columns, who is now the possessor of a volume of elaborate _Drawings of York Cathedral_, which were made by the late John Carter, F. S. A., for Sir Mark M. Sykes, Bart. Mr. Carter was paid a large sum on account of these drawings during the progress of his task, but after the death of the baronet, he demanded such an extravagant price that the executors declined to take the volume. At the sale of the artist's effects it was sold to Sir Gregory Page Turner, Bart., for 315_l._ It again came to the hammer, and was purchased by John Broadley, Esq., at whose sale it was disposed of for 100_l._ I cannot ascertain the purchaser on the last occasion, and am very desirous to learn where the drawings are now to be found.

The same artist also prepared a series of drawings illustrative of English costume from the earliest period. This volume was executed for Thomas Lister Parker, Esq., but, like the former, has passed into the custody of other persons, and I am now ignorant of its possessor.

I have not yet received any reply to my inquiry in Vol. i. p. 122., respecting a large bronze medal of Dr. Stukeley, with a view of Stonehenge on the reverse, evidently executed soon after his decease. I believe it to be unique, but should be glad to know if dies were ever engraved from this design.

J. BRITTON.

Burton Street, June 1. 1850.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_"Imprest" and "Debenture."_--When a person fulfilling any employment under any of the Government Boards has occasion to draw "money on account," an "imprest," addressed to the pay-master under that Board, is issued for the required sum; but when the final payment is made upon the "closing of the account," the "debenture" takes the place of the "imprest." Out of what verbal raw material are these words manufactured? I know of no other use of the word "imprest" as a substantive; and though we see "debenture" often enough in railway reports, I cannot perceive the analogy between its meanings in the two cases.

D. V. S.

Home, May 17.

_Cosin's MSS._--Basire, in his _Brief of the Life, &c. of Bishop Cosin_, appended to his _Funeral Sermon_ (Lond. 1673, p. 69.), after noticing several MS. works of Cosin's, some of which have not yet seen the light, adds, "These remains are earnestly recommended to his pious executor's care for publication."

Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me, who are the lineal representatives of Cosin's pious executor? Basire mentions three "imperfect" works of Bishop Cosin's in manuscript: viz. _Annales Eccles._, _Historia Conciliorum_, _Chronologia Sacra_. Is it known what has become of them? They appear to have fallen, with other MSS., into the hands of his executor.

J. SANSOM.

_Barclay's Argenis._--What are the latest editions of this romance--the best, in Cowper's opinion, ever written, which Coleridge laments as being so little known, and which has been translated, I believe, {41} into all the European languages? What are the principal as well as the latest _English_ translations?

JARTZBERG.

_Clergy sold for Slaves._--Walker, in his _Sufferings of the Clergy_, says, "There was a project on foot to sell some of the most eminent" (of the masters of colleges, doctors in divinity, &c.) "to the Turks for slaves; and a considerable progress was made in that horrid purpose." And, writing of Dr. Ed. Layfield, under the head of "London Cathedrals," Walker again says, that "at last, in the company of others, he was clapt on shipboard under hatches;" and that "they were threatened to be sold slaves to the Algerines, or to some of our own plantations." Again, it is recorded in Bishop Cosin's life, that by his will "he gave towards the redemption of Christian captives at Algiers, 500_l._; towards the relief of the distressed loyal party in England, 800_l._:"--upon which I should be glad to put a Query; viz., Is there sufficient ground for supposing, that any of the loyal party were really sold for slaves during the rebellion? If otherwise, will Cosin's bequest throw any light upon R. W. B.'s Query, vol. i., p. 441.?

J. SANSOM.

_Meaning of Pallet._--About a mile from Hume Castle, on the Scotch border, is a rock hill, which is called Hume _Pallet_.

The only other name of the kind in this district is Kilpallet, in the heart of the Lammermuir hills, on the borders of Berwickshire and East Lothian. There was at this latter place once a religious house of some kind, and a burying ground, now hardly visible.

What is the meaning of the word _Pallet_?

J. S. Q.

_Tobacco in the East._--Can any of your readers inform me whether tobacco is indigenous to any part of Asia? Also, whether the habit of smoking (opium or tobacco), now universal _over the East_, dates there from before the discovery of America? And if not, from what period?

Z. A. Z.

_Stephanus Brulifer._--Can any of your correspondents kindly refer me to a library containing a copy of Stephanus Brulifer, in lib. iv. _Sentent. Seraphici Doctoris Bonaventurae_, 8vo. Basil. 1507?

J. SANSOM.

* * * * *

Replies.

ASINORUM SEPULTURA.

To discover the origin of this phrase, your correspondent (Vol. ii., p. 8-9.) need not go further than to his Bible.

"Sepultura asini sepelietur, putrefactus et projectus extra portas Jerusalem."--_Jerem._ xxii. 19.: cf. xxxvi. 30.

With regard to the extract given by Ducange, at the word "Imblocatus," from a "vetus formula Excommunicationis praeclara," it is evident that the expressions,--

"Sint cadavera eorum in escam volatilibus coeli, et bestiis terrae, et non sint qui sepeliant eos,"

have been derived from S. Jerome's Latin version from the Hebrew of Psal. lxxix. 2, 3.:

"Dederunt cadavera servorum tuorum escam volatilibus coeli; carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terrae. Effuderunt sanguinem eorum quasi aquam in circuitu Hierusalem, et non erat qui sepeliret."--Vide Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis _Quincuplex Psalterium_, fol. 116. b., Paris, 1513; Sabatier, tom. ii. p. 162. Ib. 1751.

R. G.