Chapter 2

"Her gown should be goodliness Well ribbon'd with renown, _Purfil'd_ with pleasure in ilk place Furr'd with fine fashioun."

Robert Henryson's _Garment of Good Ladies_. See Ellis' _Spec. of Early Eng. Poets_, i. 362.

J.F.M.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_High Spirits considered a Sign of impending Calamity or Death_ (Vol. ii., p. 84.).--

"_Westmoreland_. Health to my lord, and gentile cousin, Mowbray.

_Mowbray_. You wish me health in very happy season; For I am, on the sudden, something ill.

_Archbishop of York_. Against ill chances, men are ever merry; But heaviness foreruns the good event.

_West_. Therefore be merry, cos; since sudden sorrow Serves to say thus,--Some good thing comes to-morrow.

_Arch_. Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.

_Mow_. So much the worse, if your own rule be true."

Second Part of _King Henry IV._, Act iv. Sc. 2.

In the last act of _Romeo and Juliet_, Sc. 1, Romeo comes on, saying,--

"If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep, My dreams presage some joyful news at hand: My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne; And, all this day, an unacustom'd spirit Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts."

Immediately a messenger comes in to announce Juliet's death.

In Act iii. Sc. 2., of _King Richard III._, Hastings is represented as rising in the morning in unusually high spirits. This idea runs through the whole scene, which is too long for extraction. Before dinner-time he is beheaded.

X.Z.

_Norfolk Popular Rhymes_.--On looking over an old newspaper, I stumbled on the following rhymes, which are there stated to be prevalent in the district in which these parishes are situated, viz. between Norwich and Yarmouth:--

"Halvergate hares, Reedham rats, Southwood swine, and Cantley cats; Acle asses, Moulton mules, Beighton bears, and Freethorpe fools."

They seem to proceed simply on the alliterative principle mentioned by J.M.B. (Vol. i., p. 475.) as common to many popular proverbs, &c. Two others I subjoin from my own recollection, which differ in this particular:--

"Blickling flats, Aylsham fliers, Marsham peewits, and Hevingham liars."

These are four villages on the road between Norwich and Cromer. A third couplet alludes merely to the situation of a group of villages near the sea-coast,--

"Gimingham, Trimingham, Knapton, and Trunch, Northrepps and Southrepps, hang all in a bunch."

E.S.T.

_Throwing Salt over the Shoulder_.--This custom I have frequently observed, of taking a pinch of salt without any remark, and flinging it over the shoulder. I should be glad to know its origin.

E.S.T.

_Charming for Warts_.--In Vol. i., p. 19., a correspondent asks if the custom of "charming for warts" prevails in England.

A year or two ago I was staying in Somersetshire, and having a wart myself, was persuaded to have it "charmed." The village-charmer was summoned; he first cut off a slip of elder-tree, and made a notch in it for every wart. He then rubbed the elder against each, strictly enjoining me to think no more about it, as if I looked often at the warts the charm would fail.

In about a week the warts had altogether disappeared, to the delight of the operator.

N.A.B.

* * * * *

NOTES ON COLLEGE SALTING; TURKISH SPY; DR. DEE; FROM "LETTERS FROM THE BODLEIAN, &c." 2 VOLS. 1813.

Having been lately reading through this interesting collection, I have "noted" some references to subjects which have been discussed in your columns.

1. _College Salting. Salt at Eton Montem_ (Vol. i., pp. 261. 306. 321. 384. 390. 492.).--I am not quite clear as to the connection between these two subjects: but an identity of origin is not improbable. A letter from Mr. Byrom to Aubrey, "On the Custom of Salting at Eton," Nov. 15. 1693, is in vol. ii. p. 167.: {151}

"I could send you a long answer to your queries, but have not the confidence to do it; for all that I can say was only heard from others when I was at school at Eton, and if I should depend upon that, perhaps I should make too bold with truth. 'Twas then commonly said that the college held some lands by the custom of salting; but having never since examined it, I know not how to account for it. One would think, at first view, considering the foundation was designed for a nursery of the Christian religion, and has not been in being much above 250 years, that it is not likely any remains of the Gentiles, relating to their sacrifices, should in so public a manner be suffered in it; however, I cannot but own with those that understand anything of antiquity, that the Christians very early assumed some rites of the heathens; and probably it might be done with this design,--that the nations, seeing a religion which in its outward shape was something like their own, might be the sooner pursuaded to embrace it. To be free, sir, with you, I am apt to believe, for the honour of that society of which I was once an unworthy member, that the annual custom of salting alludes to that saying of our Saviour to His disciples, '_Ye are the salt of the earth_;' for as salt draws up all that matter that tends to putrefaction, so it is a symbol of our doing the like in a spiritual state, by taking away all natural corruption.... If this will not please, why may it not denote that wit and knowledge by which boys dedicated to learning ought to distinguish themselves. You know what _sal_ sometimes signifies among the best Roman authors: _Publius Scipio omnes sale facetiisque superabat_, Cic.; and Terent, _Qui habet salem qui in te est_."

The Editor has a note on this letter:--

"There have been various conjectures relative to the origin of this custom. Some have supposed that it arose from an ancient practice among the friars of selling consecrated salt and others, with more probability, from the ceremony of the _bairn_ or _boy_-bishop, as it is said to have been formerly a part of the Montem-celebration for prayers to be read by a boy dressed in the clerical habit."

A letter from Dr. Tanner to Mr. Hearne on _Barne_ or _Boy-bishops_, is in vol. i., p. 302.

2. _The Turkish Spy_ (Vol. i., p. 324.; vol. ii., p. 12.).--The letter or the authorship of this work quoted by DR. RIMBAULT from the Bodleian MSS., is printed in vol. i. p. 233.; and I observe that DR. R. has incorporated in his communication the Editor's note on the passage.

3. _Dr. Dee_ (Vol. i., pp. 216. 284.).--A letter about Dr. Dee from Mr. Ballard to T. Hearne occurs in vol. ii. p. 89. It does not throw light on the question of why Dr. Dee left Manchester College? There are also notes for a life of Dee among Aubrey's _Lives_, appended to these _Letters_ (vol. ii. p. 310.) Both letters and notes refer to original sources of information for Dee's Life.

CH.

* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.

_Alarm_.--A man is indicted for striking at the Queen, with intent (among other things) to _alarm_ her Majesty. It turns out that the very judge has forgotten the legal (which is also the military) meaning of the word. An alarm is originally the signal to arm: Query, Is it not formed from the cry _à l'arme_, which in modern times is _aux armes_? The judge said that from the courage of her family, most likely the Queen was not alarmed, meaning, not frightened. But the illegal intent to alarm merely means the intent to make another think that it is necessary to take measures of defence or protection. When an _alarm_ is sounded, the soldier who is _not_ alarmed is the one who would be held to be frightened.

M.

_Taking a Wife on Trial_.--The following note was made upon reading _The Historical and Genealogical Account of the Clan of Maclean_, by a Seneachie, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1838. It may be thought worthy of a corner amongst the Notes on Folk Lore, which form so curious and entertaining a portion of the "NOTES AND QUERIES."

In the beginning of the year 1608 a commission, consisting of the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of the Isles (Andrew Knox), Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, and Sir James Hay of Kingask, proceeded to the Isles with power to summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose of intimating to them the measures in contemplation by the government. A meeting for this purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the seats of Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses attended.

The regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, _on trial_!

The following are two examples recorded of this singular custom.

John Mac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird of Ardgour, had _handfasted_ (as it was called) with a daughter of Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, whom he had taken on a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. At the expiration of two years he sent her home to her father; but his son by her, the gallant John of Invorscaddel, a son of Maclean of Ardgour, celebrated in the history of the Isles, was held to be an illegitimate offspring by virtue of the "handfast ceremony."

Another instance is recorded of a Macneil of Borra having for several years enjoyed the society of a lady of the name of Maclean on the same principle; but his offspring by her were deprived {152} of their inheritance by the issue of his subsequent marriage with a lady of the Clanrannald family.

These decisions no doubt tended to the abolition of a custom or principle so subversive of marriage and of the legitimacy of offspring.

J.M.G.

Worcester, July 19.

_Russian Language_.--A friend of mine, about to go to Russia, wrote to me some time since, to ask if he could get a _Russian grammar in English, or any English books bearing on the language_. I told him I did not think there were any; but would make inquiry. Dr. Bowring, in his _Russian Anthology_, states as a remarkable fact, that the first Russian grammar ever published was published in England. It was entitled _H.W. Ludolfi Grammatica Russica quæ continet et Manuductionem quandum ad Grammaticam Slavonicam_. Oxon. 1696. The Russian grammar next to this, but published in its own language, was written by the great Lomonosov, the father of Russian poetry, and the renovator of his mother tongue: I know not the year, but it was about the middle of the last century. I have a German translation of this grammar "Von Johann Lorenz Stuvenhagen: St. Petersburgh, 1764." Grotsch, Jappe, Adelung, &c., have written on the Russian language. Jappe's grammar, Dr. Bowring says, is the best he ever met with. I must make a query here with regard to Dr. Bowring's delightful and highly interesting _Anthologies_. I have his Russian, Dutch, and Spanish _Anthologies_: _Did he ever publish any others_? I have not met with them. I know he contemplated writing translations from Polish, Servian, Hungarian, Finnish, Lithonian, and other poets.

Jarltzberg.

_Pistol and Bardolph_.--I am glad to be able to transfer to your pages a Shakspearian note, which I met with in a periodical now defunct. It appears from an old MS. in the British Museum, that amongst canoniers serving in Normandy in 1436, were "Wm. Pistail--R. Bardolf." Query, Were these common English names, or did these identical canoniers transmit a traditional fame, good or bad, to the time of Shakspeare, in song or story?

If this is a well-known Query, I should be glad to be referred to a solution of it, if not, I leave it for inquiry.

G.H.B.

EPIGRAM FROM BUCHANAN.

Doletus writes verses and wonders--ahem--When there's nothing in _him_, that there's nothing in _them_.

J.O.W.H.

* * * * *

QUERIES.

CALVIN AND SERVETUS.

The fate of Servetus has always excited the deepest commiseration. His death was a judicial crime, the rank offence of religious pride, personal hatred, and religious fanaticism. It borrowed from superstition its worst features, and offered necessity the tyrant's plea for its excuse. Every detail of such events is of great interest. For by that immortality of mind which exists for ever as History, or through the agency of those successive causes which still link us to it by their effects, we are never separated from the Past. There is also an eloquence in immaterial things which appeals to the heart through all ages. Is there a man who would enter unmoved the room in which Shakspeare was born, in which Dante dwelt, or see with indifference the desk at which Luther wrote, the porch beneath which Milton sat, or Sir Isaac Newton's study? So also the possession of a book once their own, still more of the MS. of a work by which great men won enduring fame, written in a great cause, for which they struggled and for which they suffered, seems to efface the lapse of centuries. We feel present before them. They are before us as living witnesses. Thus we see Servetus as, alone and on foot, he arrived at Geneva in 1553; the lake and the little inn, the "Auberge de la Rose," at which he stopped, reappear pictured by the influence of local memory and imagination. From his confinement in the old prison near St. Peter's, to the court where he was accused, during the long and cruel trial, until the fatal eminence of Champel, every event arises before us, and the air is peopled with thick coming visions of the actors and sufferer in the dreadful scene. Who that has read the account of his death has not heard, or seemed to hear, that shriek, so high, so wild, alike for mercy and of dread despair, which when the fire was kindled burst above through smoke and flame,--"that the crowd fell back with a shudder!" Now it strikes me, an original MS. of the work for which he was condemned still exists; and I, thinking that others may feel the interest I have tried to sketch in its existence, will now state the facts of the case, and lay my authorities before your readers.

"We condemn you, said the council, Michael Servetus, to be bound and led to Champel, where you are to be fastened to a stake, and burnt alive together with your book, as well the printed as the MS."

"About midday he was led to the stake. An iron chain encompassed his body; on his head was placed a crown of plaited straw and leaves strewed with sulphur, to assist in suffocating him. At his girdle were suspended his printed books; and the MS. he had sent to Calvin."

This MS. had been completed in 1546, and sent to Geneva for his opinion. Calvin, in a letter to Farel says:

"Servetus wrote to me lately, and accompanied his letter with a long volume _of his insanities_."

This long volume was the MS. of the "Restitutio Christianismi," now ready for the press. We {153} have seen that it was sent to Calvin. It was never returned, but produced in evidence, and burnt with him at the stake. Nevertheless, he either possessed another copy or took the pains of writing it afresh, and thus the work was secretly printed at Vienna, at the press of Balshazar Arnoullet in 1553. Of this edition, those at Frankfort were burnt at the instance of Calvin; at Geneva, Robert Stephens sacrificed all the copies which had come into his hands; so that of an edition of one thousand, it is said only six copies were preserved. These facts I owe to the excellent Life of Calvin by Mr. T.H. Dyer, recently published by Mr. Murray. Now does the following MS. bear relation to that described as recopied by Servetus, from which Arnoullet printed? or is it the first rough sketch? Can any of your readers say into what collection it passed?

The extract is from the Catalogue of the Library of Cisternay Dufay, by Gabriel Martin, Paris, 8vo. 1725, being lot 764., p. 98., and was sold for 176 livres.

"Librorum Serveti de Trinitate Codex MS. autographus. In fronte libri apparet note quæ sequitur, manu ipsius defuncti D. du Fay exarata.

"Forsan ipsius auctoris autographus Codex hic MS. qui fuit percelebris Bibliopolæ Basiliensis Coelii Horatii Curionis. Videtur prima conceptio (vulgò l'Esquisse, en termes de Peinture) Libri valdè famigerati Mich. Serveti, a Joanne Calvino cum ipso Serveto combusti, cui Titulus, _Christianismi Restitutio, hoc est totius Ecclesiæ Apostolicæ ad sua limina Vocatio_, &c. &c., typis mandati anno 1554, Viennæ Allobrogum, 8vo. pagg. 734," concluding with an anecdote of the rarity of the volume.

There may be some to whom these "Notes" may be of use, others to whom a reply to the "Queries" may have interest, and so I send them to you. Such MSS. are of great historical importance.

S.H.

Athenæum, July 26.

* * * * *

ETYMOLOGICAL QUERIES.

Any remarks on the meaning and derivation of the following words, will be thankfully received.

_Rykelot_.--A magpie?

_Berebarde_.--"In the fever or the _Berebarde_."

_Wrusum_, or _Wursum_.--"My wounds that were healed gather new _wrusum_, and begin to corrupt."

_Deale_.--Placed always between two sentences without any apparent connection with either of them. Is it an abbreviation of "Dieu le sait?"

_Sabraz_.--"He drinks bitter _sabraz_ to recover his health."

_Heteneste_.--"Inclosed _hetenest_ in a stone coffin or tomb."

_Schunche_.--"Schunche away."

_I-menbred_.--"A girdle _i-menbred_."

_Blodbendes_ of silk.

_Hesmel_.--"Let their _hesmel_ be high _istiled_, al without broach."

_Irspille_.--"Wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor _irspilles_ felles."

J. Mn.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES

_Countess of Desmond_.--I should be much obliged if any of your readers would inform me of the manner of the death of Catherine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond, commonly called the "old Countess of Desmond," who died in 1626, aged above 140 years,--some say, 162 years. I think I remember reading, some years since, that she died from a fall from a cherry-tree, at the age of 144 years. If so, where can the account be found?

K.

Cheetham Hill.

_Noli me tangere_.--Can any of your readers refer me to pictures upon the subject of _Noli me tangere_. I want to know what artists have treated the subject, and where their pictures exist.

B.R.

_Line in Milton's "Penseroso."_--In those somewhat hacknied lines,

"And may my due feet never fail," &c.,

I am somewhat puzzled to understand the expression,

"With antique pillars massy _proof_."

Now what is "proof,"--a substantive or adjective? If the latter, no edition is rightly stopped; for, of course, there should be a comma after "massy;" and then I somewhat doubt the propriety of "proof" for "proved," unless joined with another word, as "star-proof," "rain-proof."

If "proof" is a substantive, "massy proof" is in apposition to "antique pillars," and is very meaningless. Can any of your readers suggest an explanation?

H.A.B.

_"Mooney's Goose."_--As a pendant to "Ludlam's dog," I beg to insert the proverb of "Full of fun and _fooster_, like Mooney's goose," with the hope that your acute and ingenious correspondent D.V.S. may be able to throw some light upon "Mooney." Let me add that D.V.S. has perhaps somewhat misconceived my brief comment on Ludlam, which my regard for conciseness has left some deal obscure; and it does not appear worth while to go over the ground again. I repeatedly heard "Dick's hat-band" quoted by Lancashire friends exactly as given by Southey. Does not the variation "cobbler's dog" tend to prove the alliterative principle for which I had been contending?

J.M.B.

_Translation of the Philobiblon_.--Where can I procure a translation of Robert de Bury's _Philobiblon_?

L.S.{154}

_Achilles and the Tortoise_.--Where is the paradox of "Achilles and the Tortoise" to be found? Leibnitz is said to have given it solution in some part of his works.

There is also a geometrical treatment of the subject by Gregoire de S. Vincent. Will some reading man oblige me with information or reference concerning it.

[Greek: Idiotaes.]

_Dominicals_.--I am desirous of obtaining information on a subject of much interest to Exeter.

An ancient payment is made to the rectors of each parish within the city of Exeter, called "Dominicals," amounting to 1d. per week from every householder within the parish. Payments of a similar nature are made in London, Canterbury, and I believe Worcester. Can any of your numerous readers state the origin of Dominicals, and give any information respecting them.

W.R.C.

_Yorkshire Dales_.--A Pedestrian would be much obliged by being informed if there is any map, guide, or description published, that would serve as a hand-book to the Dales in the West Riding of Yorkshire, between Lancashire and Westmoreland.

* * * * *

REPLIES

TOBACCO IN THE EAST.

In the _Edinburgh Cabinet Library_, vol. iii. p. 383., art. "China," it is stated that three species of tobacco have been found in India and in China, under circumstances which can leave no doubt of their being native plants.

Dr. Bigelow (_American Botany_, 4to., vol. ii. p. 171.) tells us that _Nicot. fructicosa_ is said to have been cultivated in the East prior to the discovery of America. Linnæus sets down the same as a native of China and the Cape of Good Hope. Sir G. Staunton says that there is no traditional account of the introduction of tobacco into China; nor is there any account of its introduction into India[2]; though, according to Barrow, the time when the cotton plant was introduced into the southern provinces of China is noted in their annals. Bell of Antermony, who was in China in 1721, says,

"It is reported the Chinese have had the use of tobacco for many ages," &c.--_Travels_, vol. ii. p. 73., Lond. ed. 4to. 1763.

Ledyard says, the Tartars have smoked from remote antiquity (_Travels_, 326.). Du Halde speaks of tobacco as one of the natural productions of Formosa, whence it was largely imported by the Chinese (p. 173. Lond. ed. 8vo. 1741).

The prevalence of the practice of smoking at an early period among the Chinese is appealed to by Pallas as one evidence that in Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World. (See _Asiat. Journ_., vol. xxii. p. 137.)

The Koreans say they received tobacco from Japan, as also instructions for its cultivation, about the latter end of the sixteenth century. (Authority, I think, Hamel's _Travels, Pink. Coll._, vii. 532.) Loureiro states that in Cochin China tobacco is indigenous, and has its proper vernacular name.

Java is said to have possessed it before 1496. Dr. Ruschenberg says,

"We are informed the Portuguese met with it on their first visit to Java."--_Voy. of U.S.S. Peacock_, vol. ii. p. 456, Lond. ed. 8vo. 1838.

Crauford dates its introduction into Java, 1601, but admits that the natives had traditions of having possessed it long before. (_Indian Archipelago_, vol. i. pp. 104. 409, 410. 8vo.) Rumphius, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, found it universal even where the Portuguese and Spaniards had never been.

Savary, in his _Parfait Négociant_, states that the Persians have used tobacco 400 years, and probably received it from Egypt. (See _Med. Chir. Review_, 1840, p. 335.)

Olearius found it fully established in Persia, 1637, only about fifty years after its arrival in England. (Lond. 1662, in fol. p. 322.) Chardin states, the Persians smoked long before the discovery of America, and had cultivated tobacco time immemorial.

"Coffee without tobacco is meat without salt."--Persian Proverb, Sale's _Koran_, Preliminary Discourse, 169. ed. 8vo.

In 1634 Olearius found the Russians so addicted to tobacco that they would spend their money on it rather than bread. (See edit. above quoted, lib. iii. p. 83.)