Chapter 2

_Boozy Grass._--What is the derivation of "boozy grass," which an outgoing tenant claims for his cattle? Johnson has, "Boose, a stall for a cow or ox (Saxon)."

A.C.

_Gradely._--What is the meaning, origin, and usage of this word? I remember once hearing it used in Yorkshire by a man, who, speaking of a neighbour recently dead, said in a tone which implied esteem: "Aye, he was a very _gradely_ fellow."

A.W.H.

_Hats worn by Females._--Were not the hats worn by the _females_, as represented on the Myddelton Brass, peculiar to Wales? An engraving is given in Pennant's _Tour_, 2 vols., where also may be seen the hat worn by Sir John Wynne, about 1500, apparently similar to that on the Bacon Monument, and to that worn by Bankes. A MS. copy of a similar one (made in 1635, and then called "very auntient") may be seen in the Harleian MS. No. 1971. (_Rosindale Pedigree_), though apparently not older than Elizabeth's time. With a coat of arms it was "wrought in backside work"--the meaning of which is doubtful. What is that of the motto, "Oderpi du pariver?"

A.C.

_Feltham's Works, Queries respecting._--

"He that is courtly or gentle, is among them _like_ a merlin after Michaelmas in the field with crows."--_A Brief Character of the Low Countries_, by Owen Feltham. Folio, London, 1661.

What is the meaning of this proverb?

As a confirmation of the opinion of some of your correspondents, that monosyllables give force and nature to language, the same author says, page 59., of the Dutch tongue,--

"Stevin of Bruges reckons up 2170 monosillables, which being compounded, how richly do they grace a tongue."

Will any of your correspondents kindly inform me of the titles of Owen Feltham's works. I have his _Resolves_, and a thin folio volume, 1661, printed for Anne Seile, 102 pages, containing _Lusoria, or Occasional Pieces; A Brief Character of the Low Countries_; and some _Letters_. Are these all he wrote? The poem mentioned by Mr. Kersley, beginning--

"When, dearest, I but think of thee,"

is printed among those in the volume I have, with the same remark, that it had been printed as Sir John Suckling's.

E.N.W. {134}

_Eikon Basilice._--

"[Greek: EIKON BASILIKAE], or, _The True Pourtraiture of His Sacred Majestæ Charles the II_. In Three Books. Beginning from his Birth, 1630, unto this present year, 1660: wherein is interwoven a compleat History of the High-born Dukes of _York_ and _Glocester_. By R.F., Esq., an eye-witness.

"Quo nihil majus meliusve terris Fata donavere, borique divi Nee dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum Tempora priscum."

_Horat_.

"[Greek: Otan tin' Euraes Eupathounta ton kakon ginske touton to telei taeroumenon]."

_G. Naz Carm_.

"----more than conqueror."

"London, printed for H. Brome and H. March, at the Gun, in Ivy Lane, and at the Princes' Arms, in Chancery Lane, neer Fleet Street, 1660."

The cover has "C.R." under a crown. What is the history of this volume. Is it scarce, or worth nothing?

A.C.

"_Welcome the coming, speed the parting Guest?_"

--Whence comes the sentence--

"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest?"

E.N.W.

_Carpets and Room-paper._--Carpets were in Edward III.'s reign used in the palace. What is the exact date of their introduction? When did they come into general use, and when were rushes, &c., last used? Room-paper, when was it introduced?

JARLTZBERG.

_Cotton of Finchley._--Can some one of your readers give me any particulars concerning the family of Cotton, which was settled at Finchley, Middlesex, about the middle of the sixteenth century?

C.F.

_Wood Carving in Snow Hill._--Can any one explain the wood carving over the door of a house at the corner of Snow Hill and Skinner Street. It is worth rescuing from the ruin impending it.

A.C.

_Walrond Family._--Can any of your readers inform me what was the maiden name of _Grace_, the wife of Col. Humphry Walrond, of Sea, in the county of Somerset, a distinguished loyalist, some time Lieutenant-Governor of Bridgewater, and Governor of the island of Barbadoes in 1660. She was living in 1635 and 1668. Also the names of his _ten_ children, or, at all events, his three youngest. I have reason to believe the seven elder were George, Humphry, Henry, John, Thomas, Bridget, and Grace.

W. DOWNING BRUCE.

_Translations._--What English translations have appeared of the famous _Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum_?

Has _La Chiave del Gabinetto del Signor Borri_ (by Joseph Francis Borri, the Rosicrucian) ever been translated into English? I make the same Query as to _Le Compte de Gabalis_, which the Abbé de Rillan founded on Borri's work?

JARLTZBERG.

_Bonny Dundee--Graham of Claverhouse._--Can any of your correspondents tell me the origin of the term "Bonny Dundee?" Does it refer to the fair and flourishing town at the mouth of the Tay, or to the remarkable John Graham of Claverhouse, who was created Viscount of Dundee, after the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, and whose person is admitted to have been eminently beautiful, whatever disputes may exist as to his character and conduct?

2. Can reference be made to the date of his birth, or, in other words, to his age when he was killed at Killycrankie, on the 27th of July, 1689. All the biographies which I have seem are silent upon the point.

W.L.M.

_Franz von Sickingen._--Perusing a few of your back numbers, in a reply of S.W.S. to R.G. (Vol. i., p. 336.), I read:

"I had long sought for a representation of Sickingen, and at length found a medal represented in the _Sylloge Numismatum Elegantiorum of Luckius_," &c.

I now hope that in S.W.S. I have found the man who is to solve an obstinate doubt that has long possessed my mind: Is the figure of the knight in Durer's well-known print of "The Knight, Death, and the Devil," a portrait? If it be a portrait, is it a portrait of Franz von Sickingen, as Kugler supposes? The print is said to bear the date 1513. I have it, but have failed to discover any date at all.

H.J.H.

Sheffield.

_Blackguard._--When did this word Come into use, and from what?

Beaumont and Fletcher, in the _Elder Brother_, use it thus:--

"It is a Faith That we will die in, since from the _blackguard_ To the grim sir in office, there are few Hold other tenets."

Thomas Hobbes, in his _Microcosmus_, says,--

"Since my lady's decay I am degraded from a cook and I fear the devil himself will entertain me but for one of his _blackguard_, and he shall be sure to have his roast burnt."

JARLTZBERG.

_Meaning of "Pension."_--The following announcement appeared lately in the London newspapers:--

"GRAY'S INN.--At a _Pension_ of the Hon. Society of Gray's Inn, holden this day, Henry Wm. Vincent, Esq., her Majesty's Remembrancer in the Court of Exchequer, was called to the degree of Barrister at Law." {135}

I have inquired of one of the oldest benchers of Gray's Inn, now resident in the city from which I write, for an explanation of the origin or meaning of the phrase "pension," neither of which was he acquainted with; informing me at the same time that the Query had often been a subject discussed among the learned on the dais, but that no definite solution had been elicited.

Had the celebrated etymologist and antiquary, Mr. Ritson, formerly a member of the Society, been living, he might have solved the difficulty. But I have little doubt that there are many of the erudite, and, I am delighted to find, willing readers of your valuable publication who will be able to furnish a solution.

J.M.G.

Worcester.

_Stars and Stripes of the American Arms._--What is the origin of the American arms, viz. stars and stripes?

JARLTZBERG.

_Passages from Shakspeare._--May I beg for an interpretation of the two following passages from Shakspeare:--

"_Isab._ Else let my brother die, If not a feodary, but only he, Owe, and succeed thy weakness."

_Measure for Measure,_ Act ii. Sc. 4.

"_Imogen._ Some jay of Italy, Whose mother was her painting, hath betrayed him."

_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 4.

TREBOR.

King's College, London.

_Nursery Rhyme._--What is the date of the nursery rhyme:--

"Come when you're called, Do what you're bid, Shut the door after you, Never be chid?"--Ed. 1754.

In Howell's _Letters_ (book i. sect. v. letter 18. p. 211. ed. 1754) I find--

He will come when you call him, go when you bid him, and shut the door after him.

J.E.B. MAYOR.

_"George" worn by Charles I._--I should be glad if any of your correspondents could give me information as to who is the present possessor of the "George" worn by Charles I. It was, I believe, in the possession of the late Marquis Wellesley, but since his death it has been lost sight of. Such a relic must be interesting to either antiquaries or royalists.

SPERANS.

_Family of Manning of Norfolk._--Can any of your readers supply me with an extract from, or the name of a work on heraldry or genealogy, containing an account of the family of _Manning_ of _Norfolk_. Such a work was seen by a relative of mine about fifty years since. It related that a Count Manning, of Manning in Saxony, having been banished from thence, became king in Friesland, and that his descendants came over to England, and settled in Kent and _Norfolk_. Pedigrees of the Kentish branch exist: but that of Norfolk was distinct. Guillim refers to some of the name in Friesland.

T.S. LAWRENCE.

_Salingen a Sword Cutler._--A sword in my possession, with inlaid basket guard, perhaps of the early part of the seventeenth century, is inscribed on the blade "Salingen me fecit." If this is the name of a sword cutler, who was he, and when and where did he live?

T.S. LAWRENCE.

_Billingsgate._--May I again solicit a reference to any _early_ drawing of Belins gate? That of 1543 kindly referred by C.S. was already in my possession. I am also obliged to Vox for his Note.

W.W.

_"Speak the Tongue that Shakspeare spoke."_--Can you inform me of the author's name who says,--

"They speak the tongue that Shakspeare spoke, The faith and morals hold that Milton held," &c.?

and was it applied to the early settlers of New England?

X.

_Genealogical Queries._--Can any of your genealogical readers oblige me with replies to the following Queries?

1. To what family do the following arms belong? They are given in Blomfield's _Norfolk_ (ix. 413.) as impaled with the coat of William Donne, Esq., of Letheringsett, Norfolk, on his tomb in the church there. He died in 1684.

On a chevron engrailed, two lioncels rampant, between as many crescents.

Not having seen the stone, I cannot say whether Blomfield has blazoned it correctly; but it seems possible he may have _meant_ to say,--

On a chevron engrailed, between two crescents, as many lioncels rampant.

2. _Which_ Sir Philip Courtenay, of Powderham, was the father of Margaret Courtenay, who, in the fifteenth century, married Sir Robert Carey, Knt.? and who was her mother?

3. Where can I find a pedigree of the family of Robertson of _Muirtown_, said to be descended from _John_, second son of Alexander Robertson, of _Strowan_, by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of John, Earl of Athol, brother of King James II.? which John is omitted in the pedigree of the Strowan family, in Burke's _Landed Gentry_.

C.R.M.

_Parson, the Staffordshire Giant._--Harwood, in a note to his edition of Erdeswick's _Staffordshire_, p. 289., says,--

"This place [Westbromwich] gave birth to _William_ Parsons, [query Walter,] the gigantic porter of King {136} James I., _whose picture was at Whitehall_; and a bas-relief of him, with Jeffry Hudson the dwarf, was fixed in the front of a house near the end of a bagnio court, Newgate-street, probably as a sign."

Plot, in his _Natural History of Staffordshire_, gives some instances of the great strength of Parsons.

I shall feel much obliged if you or your readers will inform me, 1. Whether there is any mention of Parsons in contemporary, or other works? 2. Whether the portrait is in existence? if so, where? Has it been engraved?

C.H.B.

Westbromwich.

_Unicorn in the Royal Arms._--When and why was the fabulous animal called the unicorn first used as a supporter for the royal arms of England?

E.C.

_The Frog and the Crow of Ennow._--I should be glad to get an answer to the following Query from some one of your readers:--I remember some few old lines of a song I used to hear sung many years ago, and wish to learn anything as regards its date, authorship,--indeed, any particulars, and where I shall be likely to find it at length. What I remember is,--

"There was a little frog, lived in the river swim-o, And there was an old crow lived in the wood of Ennow, Come on shore, come on shore, said the crow to the frog again-o; Thank you, sir, thank you, sir, said the frog to the crow of Ennow,

...

But there is sweet music under yonder green willow, And there are the dancers, the dancers, in yellow."

M.

"_She ne'er with treacherous Kiss_."--Can any of your readers inform me where the following lines are to be found?

"She ne'er with treacherous kiss her Saviour stung, Nor e'er denied Him with unholy tongue; She, when Apostles shrank, could danger brave-- Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave!"

C.A.H.

"_Incidit in Scyllam_" (Vol. ii., p. 85.).--

"Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim; Sie morbum fugiens, incidit in medicos."

Has any of your readers met with, or heard of the second short line, appendant and appurtenant to the first? I think it was Lord Grenville who quoted them as found somewhere together.

FORTUNATUS DWARRIS.

_Nicholas Brigham's Works._--Nicholas Brigham, who erected the costly tomb in Poets' Corner to the memory of Geoffrey Chaucer (which it is now proposed to repair by a subscription of five shillings from the admirers of the poet), is said to have written, besides certain miscellaneous poems, _Memoirs by way of Diary_, in twelve Books; and a treatise _De Venationibus Rerum Memorabilium_. Can any of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" state whether any of these, the titles of which are certainly calculated to excite our curiosity, are known to be in existence, and, if so, where? It is presumed that they have never been printed.

PHILO-CHAUCER.

_Ciric-Sceat, or Church-scot._--Can any of your readers explain the following passage from Canute's Letter to the Archbishops, &c. of England, A.D. 1031. (_Wilkins Conc._ t. i. p. 298):--

"Et in festivitate Sancti Martini primitæ seminum ad ecclesiam, sub cujus parochia quisque degit, quæ Anglice _Cure scet_ nominatur."

J.B.

[If our correspondent refers to the glossary in the second vol. of Mr. Thorpe's admirable edition of the _Anglo-Saxon Laws_, which he edited for the Record Commission under the title of _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_, he will find s.v. "_Ciric-Sceat--Primitiæ Seminum_ church-scot or shot, an ecclesiastical due payable on the day of St. Martin, consisting chiefly of corn;" a satisfactory answer to his Query, and a reference to this very passage from Canute.]

_Welsh Language._--Perhaps some of your correspondents would favour me with a list of the best books treating on the Welsh literature and language; specifying the best grammar and dictionary.

JARLTZBERG.

_Armenian Language._--This copious and widely-circulated language is known to but few in this country. If this meets the eye of one who is acquainted with it, will he kindly direct me whither I may find notices of it and its literature? Father Aucher's _Grammar, Armenian and English_ (Venice, 1819), is rather meagre in its details. I have heard it stated, I know not on what authority, that Lord Byron composed the English part of this grammar. This grammar contains the two Apocryphal Epistles found in the Armenian Bible, of the Corinthians to St. Paul, and St. Paul to the Corinthians. Like the Greek and German, "the different modes of producing compound epithets and words are the treasure and ornament of the Armenian language; a thousand varieties of compounded words may be made in this tongue," p. 10. I believe we have no other grammar of this language in English.

JARLTZBERG

* * * * *

REPLIES

A TREATISE ON EQUIVOCATION.

My attention has recently been drawn to the inquiry of J.M. (Vol. i., p. 260.) respecting the work bearing this name. He inquires, "Was the book ever extant in MS. or print? What is its size, date, and extent?" These questions may in part be answered by the following extracts from Parsons's _Treatise tending to Mitigation_, 1607, to {137} which J.M. refers as containing, "perhaps, all the substance of the Roman equivocation," &c. It appears from these extracts that the treatise was circulated in MS.; that it consisted of ten chapters, and was on eight or nine sheets of paper. If Parsons' statements are true, he, who was then at Douay, or elsewhere out of England, had not seen it till three years after it was referred to publicly by Sir E. Coke, in 1604. Should the description aid in discovering the tract in any library, it may in answering J.M.'s second Query, "Is it now extant, and where?"

(Cap. i. § iii. p. 440.):--

"To hasten then to the matter, I am first to admonish the reader, that whereas this minister doth take upon him to confute a certain Catholicke manuscript Treatise, made in defence of Equivocation, and intercepted (as it seemeth) by them, I could never yet come to the sight therof, and therfore must admit," &c.

And (p 44):--

"This Catholicke Treatise, which I have hope to see ere it be long, and if it come in time, I may chance by some appendix, to give you more notice of the particulars."

In the conclusion (cap. xiii. §ix. p. 553.):--

"And now at this very instant having written hitherto, cometh to my handes the Catholicke Treatise itselfe of _Equivocation_ before meneyoned," &c.... "Albeit the whole Treatise itselfe be not large, nor conteyneth above 8 or 9 sheetes of written paper."

And (§ xi. p. 554.):--

"Of ten chapters he omitteth three without mention."

I.B.

* * * * *

FURTHER NOTES ON THE DERIVATION OF THE WORD "NEWS."

I have too much respect for the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to consider it necessary to point out _seriatim_ the false conclusions arrived at by MR. HICKSON, at page 81.

The origin of "news" may now be safely left to itself, one thing at least being certain--that the original purpose of introducing the subject, that of disproving its alleged derivation from the points of the compass, is fully attained. No person has come forward to defend _that_ derivation, and therefore I hope that the credit of expunging such a fallacy from books of reference will hereafter be due to "NOTES AND QUERIES".

I cannot avoid, however, calling Mr. Hickson's attention to one or two of the most glaring of his _non-sequiturs_.

I quoted the Cardinal of York to show that in his day the word "newes" was considered plural. MR. HICKSON quotes _me_ to show that in the present day it is used in the singular; therefore, he thinks that the Cardinal of York was wrong: but he must pardon me if I still consider the Cardinal an unexceptional authority as to the usage of his own time.

MR. HICKSON asserts that "odds" is not an English word; he classifies it as belonging to a language known by the term "slang," of which he declares his utter disuse. And he thinks that when used at all, the word is but an ellipsis for "_odd chances_." This was not the opinion of the great English lexicographer, who describes the word as--

"Odds; a noun substantive, from the adjective odd."

and he defines its meaning as "inequality," or incommensurateness. He cites many examples of its use in its various significations, with any of which MR. HICKSON's substitution would play strange pranks; here is one from Milton:--

"I chiefly who enjoy So far the happier lot, enjoying thee Pre-eminent by so much odds."

Then with respect to "noise," MR. HICKSON scouts the idea of its being the same word with the French "noise." Here again he is at odds with Doctor Johnson, although I doubt very much that he has the odds of him. MR. HICKSON rejects altogether the _quasi_ mode of derivation, nor will he allow that the same word may (even in different languages) deviate from its original meaning. But, most unfortunately for MR. HICKSON, the obsolete French signification of "noise" was precisely the present English one! A French writer thus refers to it:--

"A une époque plus reculée ce mot avait un sens différent: il signifiait _bruit, cries de joie_, &c. Joinville dit dans son _Histoire de Louis IX_.,--'La noise que ils (les Sarrazins) menoient de leurs cors sarrazinnoiz estoit espouvantable à escouter.' Les Anglais nous ont emprunté cette expression et l'emploient _dans sa première acception_."

MR. HICKSON also lays great stress upon the absence, in English, of "the new" as a singular of "the news." In the French, however, "_la nouvelle_" is common enough in the exact sense of news. Will he allow nothing for the caprice of idiom?

A.E.B.

Leeds, July 8. 1850.

_News, Noise_ (Vol. ii., p. 82.).--I think it will be found that MR. HICKSON is misinformed as to the fact of the employment of the Norman French word _noise_, in the French sense, in England.

_Noyse_, _noixe_, _noas_, or _noase_, (for I have met with each form), meant then quarrel, dispute, or, as a school-boy would say, a row. It was derived from _noxia_. Several authorities agree in these points. In the _Histoire de Foulques Fitz-warin_, Fouque asks "Quei fust _la noyse_ qe fust devaunt le roi en la sale?" which with regard to the context can only be fairly translated by "What is going on in {138} the King's hall?" For his respondent recounts to him the history of a quarrel, concerning which messengers had just arrived with a challenge.

Whether the Norman word _noas_ acquired in time a wider range of signification, and became the English _news_, I cannot say but stranger changes have occurred. Under our Norman kings _bacons_ signified dried wood, and _hosebaunde_ a husbandman, then a term of contempt.

B.W.

* * * * *

"NEWS," "NOISE," AND "PARLIAMENT."

1. _News._--I regret that MR. HICKSON perseveres in his extravagant notion about _news_, and that the learning and ingenuity which your correspondent P.C.S.S., I have no doubt justly, gives him credit for, should be so unworthily employed.

Does MR. HICKSON really "very much doubt whether our word _news_ contains the idea of _new_ at all?" What then has it got to do with _neues_?

Does MR. HICKSON'S mind, "in its ordinary mechanical action," really think that the entry of "old newes, or stale newes" in an old dictionary is any proof of _news_ having nothing to do with _new_? Does he then separate _health_ from _heal_ and _hale_, because we speak of "bad health" and "ill health"?

Will MR. HICKSON explain why _news_ may not be treated as an elliptical expression for _new things_, as well as _greens_ for _green vegetables_, and _odds_ for _odd chances_?

When MR. HICKSON says _dogmaticè_, "For the adoption of words we have no rule, and we act just as our convenience or necessity dictates; but in their formation we _must strictly_ conform to the laws we find established,"--does he deliberately mean to say that there are no exceptions and anomalies in the formation of language, except importations of foreign words? If he means this, I should like to hear some reasons for this wonderful simplification of grammar.

Why may not "convenience or necessity" sometimes lead us to swerve from the ordinary rules of the formulation of language, as well as to import words bodily, and, according to MR. HICKSON'S views of the origin of _news_, without reference to context, meaning, part of speech, or anything else?