Chapter 3

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REPLIES

PUNISHMENT OF DEATH BY BURNING.

Probably some of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" will share in the surprise expressed by E.S.S.W. (Vol. ii., p. 6.), yet many persons now living must remember when spectacles such as he alludes to were by no means uncommon. An examination of the newspapers and other periodicals of the latter half of the eighteenth century would supply numerous instances in which the punishment of strangling and burning was inflicted; as well in cases of petit treason, for the murder of a husband, as more frequently in cases of coining, which, as the law then stood, was one species of high treason. I had collected a pretty long list from the _Historical Chronicle_ in the earlier volumes of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, but thought it scarcely of sufficient importance to merit insertion in "NOTES AND QUERIES." Perhaps, however, the following extracts may possess some interest: one as showing the manner in which executions of this kind were latterly performed in London, and the other as apparently furnishing an instance of later date than that which Mr. Ross considers the last in which this barbarous punishment was inflicted. The first occurs in the 56th vol. of the Magazine, Part 1. P. 524., under the date of the 21st June, 1786--

"This morning, the malefactors already mentioned were all executed according to their sentence. About a quarter of an hour after the platform had dropped, Phoebe Harris, the female convict, was led by two officers to a stake about eleven feet high, fixed in the ground, near the top of which was an inverted curve made of irons, to which one end of a halter was tied. The prisoner stood on a low stool, which, after the ordinary had prayed with her a short time, was taken away, and she hung suspended by the neck, her feet being scarcely more than twelve or fourteen inches from the pavement. Soon after the signs of life had ceased, two cartloads of faggots were placed round her and set on fire; the flames soon burning the halter, she then sunk a few inches, but was supported by an iron chain passed over her chest and affixed to the stake."

The crime for which this woman suffered was coining. Probably the method of execution here related was adopted in consequence of the horrible occurrence narrated by Mr. Ross.

In vol. lix. of the same Magazine, Part 1. p. 272, under the date of the _18th of March_, 1789, is an account of the executions of nine malefactors at Newgate; and amongst them,--

"Christian Murphy, alias Bowman, for coining, was brought out after the rest were turned off, and fixed to a stake, and burnt, being first strangled by the stool being taken from under her."

From the very slight difference in dates, I am inclined to think that this is the same case with that alluded to by Mr. Ross.

OLD BAILEY

June 24, 1850.

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TO GIVE A MAN HORNS. (Vol. i. p. 383.)

Your correspondent L.C. has started a most interesting inquiry, and your readers must, I am sure, join with me in regretting that he should have been so laconic in the third division of his Query; and have failed to refer to, even if he did not quote, the passages from "late Greek," in which "horns" are mentioned as a symbol of a husband's dishonor. The earliest notice of this symbolical use of horns is, I believe, to be found in the _Oneirocritica_ of Artemidorus, who lived during the reign of Hadrian, A.D. 117-138:

[Greek: "Pepi de ippon en to peri agonon logo proeiraeiai. Elege de tis theasameno tini epi kriou kathaemenpo, kai pesonti ex autou ek ton euprosthen, mnaesteuomeno de kai mellonti en autais tais haemerais tous gamous epetelein, proeipein auto hoti hae gunae sou porneusei, kai kata to legomenon, kerata soi poiaesei kai outos apethae, k.t.l."--Artem. _Oneirocritica_, lib. ii, cap. 12.]

See Menage, _Origines de la Langue Françoise_, Paris, 1650, in verb. "Cornard." I have only seen Reiff's edition of Artemidorus, 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1805. His illustrations of the passage (far too numerous to be quoted) seem to be curious, and likely to repay the reader for the trouble of examination. His note commences with a reference to Olaus Borrichius, _Antiqua Urb. Rom. facies_:--

"Alexander Magnus ....successores ejus..... in nummis omnes cornuti quasi Jovii, honore utique manifesto, donee cornuum decus in ludibria uxoriorum vertit somnorum interpres Artimidorus."

On which he observes,--

"Benè. Nam ante Artimidorium nullus, quod sciam, hujus scommatis mentionem fecit. Quod enim Traug. Fred. Benedict. ad Ciceron. _Epist. ad Div._ 7.24. ad voc. 'Cipius' conjecit, id paullo audientus mihi videtur conjecisse."

I have not succeeded in obtaining a sight of this edition of the Epistles. And I should feel much obliged to any one who would quote the "conjecture," and so enable your readers to gauge its "audacity" for themselves. Is it not odd that Reiff should have made no remark on the utter want of connection between the "honor manifestus," and the "ludibria" of Olaus? or on the [Greek: kata to legomenon] of the author that he was illustrating? {91} Artemidorus may certainly have been the first who _recorded_ the _scomma_; but the words [Greek: kata to legomenon] would almost justify us supposing that

"--The horn Was a crest ere he was born."

Menage (referred to above) evidently lays some stress on the following epigram, as an illustration of the question:--

[Greek: "Ostis eso purous katalambanei ouk agorazon, Keinou Amaltheias hae gunae esti keras."]

Parmenon. _Anthol._ lib. ii.

But I confess that I am utterly unable to see its point and therefore cannot, of course, trace its connection with the subject. Falstaff, it is true, speaks of the "horn of abundance," but then he assigns it to the husband, and makes the "lightness of the wife shine through it." (_K. Henry IV._ Act i. Sc. 2., on which see Warburton's note.)

C. FORBES.

Temple, April 25.

L.C. may find the following references of service to him in his inquiry into the origin of this expression:--"Solanus ad Luc. D.M. 1. 2.; Jacobs ad Lucill. Epigr. 9.; Belin. ad Lucian, t. iii. p. 326.; Huschk. _Anal._ p. 168.; Lambec. ad Codin. § 126.; Nodell in _Diario Class._ t. x. p. 157.; Bayl. _Dict._ in Junone, not. E." Boissonade's note in his _Anecdotae_, vol. iii. p. 140.

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College.

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REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES

_Shipster_ (Vol. ii., p. 30.).--If C. B. will consult Dr. Latham's _English Language_, 2nd ed., he will find that the termination _ster_ is not merely a _notion_ of Tyrwhitt's, but a fact. Sempstress has a _double_ feminine termination. _Spinster_ is the only word in the present English which retains the old feminine meaning of the termination _ster_.

E.S. JACKSON.

_Three Dukes_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--I should like a more satisfactory answer to this Query than that I given by C. (Vol. ii., p. 46.). I can give the I names of _two_ of the Dukes (viz. Monmouth and Albermarle); but who was the _third_, and where can a _detailed account_ of the transaction be found? In Wades' _British History chronologically arranged_, 3rd edit. p. 230, is the following paragraph under the date of Feb. 28, 1671 (that is, 1670-1):--

"The Duke of Monmouth, who had contrived the outrage on Coventry, in a drunken frolic with the young Duke of Albemarle and others, deliberately kills a ward-beadle. Charles, to save his son, pardoned all the murderers."

The date given in the _State Poems_ is Sunday morning, Feb. 26th, 1670-71. Mr. Lister, in his _Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon_ (vol. ii. p. 492.), alludes to the affair:--

"The King's illegitimate son Monmouth, in company with the young Duke of Albemarle and others, kills a watchman, who begs for mercy, and the King pardons all the murderers."

C.H. Cooper

Cambridge, June 24, 1850.

_Bishops and their Precedence_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--I believe bishops have their precedence because they are both _temporal_ and _spiritual_ barons. Some I years ago, I took the following note from the _Gentleman's Mag_. for a year between 1790 and 1800; I cannot say positively what year (for I was very young at the time, and unfortunately omitted to "note" it):--

"Every Bishop has a temporal barony annexed to his see. The Bishop of Durham is Earl of Sudbury and Baron Evenwood; and the Bishop of Norwich is Baron of Northwalsham."

Query, where may the accounts of the respective baronies of the bishoprics be found?

HENRY KERSLEY.

_Why Moses represented with Horns_.--Your correspondent H.W. (Vol. i, p. 420.) refers the origin of what he calls the strange practice of making Moses appear horned to a mistranslation in the Vulgate. I send you an extract from Coleridge which suggests something more profound the such an accidental cause; and explains the statement of Rosenmüller (p. 419.), that the Jews attributed horns to Moses "figuratively for power:"--

"When I was at Rome, among many other visits to the tomb of Julius II, I went thither once with a Prussian artist, a man of great genius and vivacity of feeling. As we were gazing on Michael Angelo's Moses, our conversation turned on the horns and beard of that stupendous statue of the necessity of each to support the other; of the superhuman effect of the former, and the necessity if the existence of both to give a harmony and _integrity_ both to the image and the feeling excited by it. Conceive them removed, and the statue would become _un_natural without being _super_natural. We called to mind the horns of the rising sun, and I repeated the noble passage from Taylor's _Holy Dying_. That horns were the emblem of power and sovereignty among the Eastern nations; and are still retained as such in Abyssinia; the Achelous of the ancient Greeks; and the probable ideas and feelings that originally suggested the mixture of the human and the brute form in the figure, by which they realised the idea of their mysterious Pan, as representing intelligence blended with a darker power, deeper, mightier, and more universal than the conscious intellect of man; than intelligence--all these thoughts passed in procession before our minds."--Coleridge's _Biographia Literaria_, vol. ii. p. 127. edit. 1817. {92}

[The noble passage from Taylor's _Holy Dying_, which Coleridge recreated, is subjoined.]

"As when the sun approaches towards the gates of the morning, he first opens a little eye of heaven, and sends away the spirits of darkness, and gives light to a cock, and calls up the lark to matins, and by and bye gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern hills, thrusting out his golden horns like those which decked the brows of Moses, when he was forced to wear a veil, because himself had seen the face of God; and still, while a man tells the story, the sun gets up higher, till he shows a fair face and a full light, and then he shines one whole day, under a cloud often, and sometimes weeping great and little showers, and sets quickly; so is a man's reason and his life."

--Jeremy Taylor's _Holy Dying_.

C.K.

_Leicester and the reputed Poisoners of his Time_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--"The lady who had lost her hair and her nails," an account of whom is requested by your correspondent H.C., was Lady Douglas, daughter of William Lord Howard of Effingham, and widow of John Lord Sheffield. Leicester was married to her after the death of his first wife Anne, daughter and heir of Sir John Robsart, and had by her a son, the celebrated Sir Robert Dudley, whose legitimacy, owing to his father's disowning the marriage with Lady Sheffield, in order to wed Lady Essex, was afterwards the subject of so much contention. On the publication of this latter marriage, Lady Douglas, in order, it is said, to secure herself from any future practices, had, from a dread of being made away with by Leicester, united herself to Sir Edward Stafford, then ambassador in France. Full particulars of this double marriage will be found in Dugdale's _Antiquities of Warwickshire_.

The extract from D'Israeli's _Amenities of Literature_ relates to charges against Leicester, which will be found at large in _Leicester's Commonwealth_, written by Parsons the Jesuit,--a work, however, which must be received with great caution, from the author's well-known enmity to the Earl of Leicester, and his hatred to the Puritans, who were protected by that nobleman's powerful influence.

W.J.

Havre.

_New Edition of Milton_ (Vol. ii., p. 21.).--The Rev. J. Mitford, as I have understood, is employed upon a new edition of Milton's works, both prose and verse, to be published by Mr. Pickering. I may mention, by the way, that the sentence from Strada, "Cupido gloriae, quae etiam sapientibus novissima exuitur," which is quoted by Mr. Mitford on Lycidas, Aldine edition, v. 71. ("Fame, that last infirmity of noble minds"), is borrowed from Tacitus _Hist_. iv. 6. Compare _Athenæus_, xi. 15. § 116. p. 507. d., where Plato is represented as saying:--

"[Greek: Eschaton ton taes doxaes chitona en to thanato auto apoduometha.]"

Will you allow me to add, that the quotation from Seneca in Vol. i., p. 427. Of "NOTES AND QUERIES" is from the _Nat. Quaest. Proef_.

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College, June 8.

_Christian Captives_ (Vol. i., p. 441.).--There is an unfortunate hiatus in the accounts of this parish from 1642 to 1679, which prevents my stating positively the amount of the collection here made; but in 1670, Jan 1., there occurs the following:--

"Item. To Mr. Day for Copying ouer the fower parts that was gathered in the parish for the Reliefe of Slaues in Algiears - - - - 0 2 0"

Mr. Day was curate of Ecclesfield at that time; and in another part of the book there is, in his handwriting, a subscription list, which, though only headed "Colected by hous Row for the ..." is more than probably the copy referred to. From it the totals collected appear to have been,--

_s_. _d_. Ecclesfield 6 7-1/2 Greno Firth 13 6 Southey Soke 10 7 Wadsley 4 6 £1 15 2-1/2

The above are the four byerlaws, or divisions of the parish, and the four churchwardens used separately to collect in their respective byerlaws; and then a fair copy of the whole was made out by the curate or schoolmaster. An ordinary collection in church, upon a brief, averaged 7_s_. 6_d_. at this period.

J. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

_Borrowed Thoughts_ (Vol. i., p. 482.).--The number of "NOTES AND QUERIES" here alluded to has unluckily not reached me; but in Vol. ii., p. 30., I observe that your correspondent C., in correcting one error, has inadvertently committed another. Monsieur de la Palisse is the hero alluded to in the popular song which was written at the commencement of the eighteenth century by Bernard de la Monnoye, upon the old ballad, composed after the battle of Pavia, and commencing,--

"Hélas! La Palice est mort, Il est mort devant Pavie; Hélas! s'il n'estait pas mort, Il serait encore en vie!"

W.J.

Havre.

_North Sides of Churchyards_ (Vol. ii., p. 55.).--A portion of many churchyards is said to have been left unconsecrated, though not to be used as playground for the youth of the parish, but for the burial of excommunicated persons. This was {93} not, however, always on the north side of the church, as is evident from the following extract from the Register of Hart, Durham:--

"Dec. 17. 1596, Ellen Thompson, Fornicatrix (and then excommunicated), was buried of Þe people in Þe chaer at the entrance unto Þe Þeate or stile of Þe churchyard, on the east thereof."

Nor is the north side of the church always the less favourite part for burial. I could name many instances where this is the only part used.

The churchyard now within two hundred yards of me contains about an acre of ground; the larger portion of which lies to the south of the church, but has been very little used for sepulture till of late years, though the churchyard is very ancient. Even now the poor have an objection to bury their friends there. I believe the prejudice is always in favour of the part next the town or village; that on the other side of the church being generally called "the backside."

I find various notices of excommunicated persons being very strangely buried, and in extraordinary places, but I have not as yet met with any act or injunction on the subject. If any of your readers can supply such a document, it would be extremely interesting and useful.

W.H.K.

D.B.

_Monastery, Arrangement of one_ (Vol. i., p. 452.),--A.P.H., who requests any information respecting the extent, arrangement, and uses of a monastic building, has doubtless consulted Fosbroke's _British Monachism_.

W.J.

Havre.

_Churchyards, Epitaphs_ (Vol. ii., p. 56.).--I beg to submit the following observations in answer to the Queries under this head.

Fairs, and also markets, were held in churchyards until put a stop to in 1285 by an enactment in the 13 Edw. I. c. 6:--

"E communde le rey e defend qe feire ne marche ne seient tenuz en cimeter pur honur de seint eglise."

Previous to the passing of this act, the king had forbidden the keeping of Northampton fair in the church or churchyard of All Saints in that town; and Bishop Grostête, following the monarch's example, had sent instructions through the whole diocese of Lincoln, prohibiting fairs to be kept in such sacred places. (See Burn's _Eccl. Law_, tit. "Church," ed. 1788.) Fairs and markets were usually held on Sunday, until the 27 Hen. VI. c. 5. ordered the discontinuing of this custom, with trifling exceptions. Appended to the fourth Report of the Lincolnshire Architectural Society is a paper by Mr. Bloxan on "Churchyard Monuments," from which it appears that in the churchyards of Cumberland and Cornwall, and in those of Wales, are several crosses, considered to be as early as, if not earlier than, the twelfth century: that in the churchyards of the Isle of Man are other crosses of various dates, from the eighth to the twelfth century and that in some of the churchyards in Kent, of which those of Chartham, Godmersham, and Godneston are specified, there are remaining some of the most simple headstone crosses that can be imagined, most of which the writer apprehends to be of the twelfth or thirteenth century, though he adds, "there is no sufficient reason why they should not be of later date." Several other instances between the periods particularised are also given. The Report is not published, but perhaps a copy might be obtained from the printer, W. Edwards, Corn Market, Louth. See further the _Archaeological Journal_, passim, and Mr. Cutt's work on _Sepulchral Crosses and Slabs_. The privilege of sanctuary was taken from churchyards, as well as from all other places, in 1623, by the 21 Jac. I. c. 28., which provides,

"That no sanctuary or privilege of sanctuary shall be hereafter admitted or allowed in any case" (sec. 7.).

ARUN.

_Umbrella_ (Vol. i., p. 415; vol. ii., p. 25.).--Seeing that the Query respecting this useful article of domestic economy has been satisfactorily answered, may I be allowed to mention that umbrellas are described by the ancients as marks of distinction. Pausanias and Hesychius report that at Alea, a city of Arcadia, a feast called Scieria was celebrated in honour of Bacchus, in which the statue of the rosy god was carried in procession, crowned with vine leaves, and placed upon an ornamental litter, in which was seated a young girl carrying an umbrella, to indelicate the majesty of the god. On several bas-reliefs from Persepolis, the king is represented under an umbrella, which a female holds over his head.

W.J.

Havre.

_English Translations of Erasmus' "Encomium Moriae"_ (Vol. i., p. 385.).--Perhaps JARLZBERG, who seems interested in the various translations of this admirable work, might like to know of a French translation, with designs from Holbein, which I purchased some weeks ago at a sale in a provincial French town. It is entitled _L'Eloge de la Folie, composé en forme de Déclaration par Erasme, et traduit par Mr. Guendeville, avec les Notes de Gerard Listre, et les belles Figures de Holbein; le tout sur l'Oiginal de l'Academie de Bâle_. Amsterdam, chez François l'Honore. 1735.

W.J.

Havre.

_Lady Slingsby_ (Vol. ii., p. 71.).--She was a professional actress, who played under the name of _Mrs_. (probably _Miss_) _Mary Lee_, from about 1672 to 1680, after which date she is called _Lady_ {94} _Slingsby_, and she played under this title for about five years, when she seems to have quitted the stage. She survived her husband, for "Dame Mary Slingsby, _widow_, of St. James's parish, was buried at Pancras, 1st of March, 1694."

C.

_Meaning of "Bawn"_ (Vol. i., p. 60.).--The poet Campbell uses the word _bawn_ as follows:--

"And fast and far, before the star Of day-spring, rush'd we through the glade, And saw at dawn the lofty _bawn_ Of Castle-Connor fade."

_O'Connor's Child_.

ROBERT SNOW.

_Chantrey's Sleeping Children_ (Vol. ii., p. 70.)--Your correspondent PLECTRUM is anxious to know on what grounds I attribute to Stothard any part of the design of the monument in Lichfield Cathedral known as Chantrey's "Sleeping Children?" I will endeavour to satisfy him.

The design, suggested, as it were, by the very nature of the commission, was communicated by Chantrey to Stothard with a request that he would make for him two or three sketches of sleeping children, at his usual price. What Stothard did, I have heard my father say, was very like the monument as it now stands. The sketch from which Chantrey wrought was given to me by my father a few months before his death, and is now suspended on the wall of the room in which I write.

It is a pencil-sketch, shaded with Indian ink, and is very Stothard-like and beautiful. It wants, however, a certain sculptural grace, which Chantrey gave with a master feeling; and it wants the snow-drops in the hand of the younger sister,--a touch of poetic beauty suggested by my father.

The carver of the group (the person who copied it in marble) was the late Mr. F.A. Legé, to whom the merit of the whole monument has been foolishly ascribed.

I should be sorry to impress the world with the belief that I mean in any way to detract from the merit of Chantrey in making this statement. I have divulged no secret. I have only endeavoured to explain what till now has been too often misunderstood.

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

The following statement may perhaps give to PLECTRUM the information he requires.

Dining one day alone with Chantrey, in Jan. 1833, our conversation accidentally turned upon some of his monuments, and amongst other things he told me the circumstances connected with the monument at Lichfield to the two children of Mrs. Robinson. As I was leaving Chantrey, I asked him if I might write down what he had told me; his reply was, "Certainly; indeed I rather wish you would." Before I went to bed I wrote down what I now send you; I afterwards showed it to Chantrey, who acknowledged it to be correct. It was hastily written, but I send it as I wrote it at the time, without alteration.