Chapter 2

The use of gloves must be of very high antiquity. In the Middle Ages the priest who celebrated mass always, I believe, wore them during that ceremony; but it was just the contrary in courts of justice, where the presiding judge, as well as the criminal, was not allowed to cover his hands. It was anciently a popular saying, that three kingdoms must contribute to the formation of a good glove:--Spain to prepare the leather, France to cut them out, and England to sow them.

I think the etymology of the word _glove_ is in far from a satisfactory state. It is a good subject for some of your learned philological correspondents, to whom I beg leave to recommend its elucidation.

S.W. Singer.

Mickleham, July 26. 1850.

_Punishment of Death by Burning_ (Vol. ii., pp. 6, 50, 90.).--Your correspondent E.S.S.W. gives an account of a woman burnt for the murder of her husband in 1783, and asks whether there is any other instance of the kind in the latter part of the last century. I cannot positively answer this Query, but I will state a circumstance that occurred to myself about the year 1788. Passing in a hackney-coach up the Old Bailey to West Smithfield, I saw the unquenched embers of a fire opposite Newgate; on my alighting I asked the coachman "What was that fire in the Old Bailey, over which the wheel of your coach passed?" "Oh, sir," he replied, "they have been burning a woman for murdering her husband." Whether he spoke the truth or not I do not know, but I received it at the time as truth, and remember the impression it made on me.

It is, perhaps, as well to state that there were some fifteen to twenty persons standing around the smouldering embers at the time I passed.

Senex.

_India Rubber_ is now so cheap and common, that it seems worth while to make a note of the following passage in the _Monthly Review_ for Feb. 1772. It occurs at p. 71., in the article on "A familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective, by Joseph Priestly, LL.D. F.R.S., 8vo. 5s., boards. Johnson."

"Our readers, perhaps, who employ themselves in the art of drawing, will be pleased with a transcript of the following advertisement:--'I have seen, says Dr. Priestly, a substance, excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the marks of a black lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of singular use to those who practise drawing. It is sold by Mr. Nairne, mathematical instrument-maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He sells a cubical piece, of about half an inch, for three shillings; and, he says, it will last several years.'"

N.B.

* * * * *{166}

QUERIES

THE "BAR" OF MICHAEL ANGELO.

In that delightful volume, _In Memoriam_, in which Mr. Tenyson has so nobly and pathetically enshrined the memory of his friend, Arthur Hallam, the following passage occurs, pp. 126, 127.:--

"To these conclusions, when we saw The God within him light his face, And seem to lift the form, and glow In azure orbits heavenly-wise; And over those ethereal eyes _The bar of Michael Angelo_."

To what does this allude? In the fine profile portrait by Julio Bonasoni, Michael Angelo appears to have had a protuberant brow; and Condivi says, in his very interesting and detailed account of his person, that his forehead was square, and that, seen in profile ("quasi avanza il naso"), it projected almost beyond the nose. It is remarkable that the same spirit pervades these verses which we find in the Platonic breathings of the _Rime_ of the great artist; but we are most forcibly reminded of the poet of Vaucluse. The grief of the poet for the loss of his friend has however had a happier effect on his mind than the more impassioned nature of that of the lover of Laura produced: yet a kindred feeling, of spiritual communion with the lost one, pervades both poets; and this might have been the motto of Mr. Tenyson's volume:--

"Levommi il mio pensiero in parte ov' era Quello eh' io cerco, e non ritrovo in terra; ... in questa spera Sarai ancor meco, s' el desir non erra."

Foscolo has remarked that "when a great poet describes his own heart, his picture of _Love_ will draw tears from the eyes of every sensitive mortal in every age." And no one can read these effusions of deepfelt virtuous affection without emotions of a happy tendency.

S.W. SINGER.

* * * * *

ANNOTATED COPIES OF BISHOP ANDREWES' WORKS.

Acting on a suggestion given in previous number, I beg to state that I shall be much obliged by the use of any annotated copies of the following works of Bp. Andrewes, which I am engaged in taking through the press:--_Tortura Torti; Responsio ad Apolog. Cordius Bellarmini; Opuscula Posthuma; Two Answers to Cardinal Perron, &c.; Preces Privitæ_.

JAMES BLISS.

Ogburne St. Andrew, near Marlborough.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Robert Innes, a Grub Street Poet._--Is there anything known respecting a strange "madcap," one Robert Innes, who, according to a printed broadside now before me, was a pauper in St. Peter's Hospital, 1787? He was in the habit of penning doggrel ballads and hawking them about for sale. Some of them have a degree of humour, and are, to a certain extent, valuable at the present time for their notices of passing events. In one of these now rare effusions, he styles himself "R. Innes, O.P.," and in explanation gives the following lines:--

"Some put unto their name A.M., And others put a D. and D., If 'tis no harm to mimick them, I adds unto my name O.P.

"Master of Arts, sure I am not, No Doctor, no Divine I be But OAKUM PICKING is my lot, Of the same clay are we all three."

The "works" of this "rogue and vagabond," now in my possession, were given me by the late Mr. Catnach of Seven Dials.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_The Sicilian Vespers._--In what English work can a full and correct narrative of this event be found?

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, July 29. 1850.

_One Bell._--Can any of your readers favour me with a reference to some authority for the following, which may be found in Southey's _Book of the Church_ (vol. ii. p. 121.)?

"Somerset pretended that one bell in a steeple was sufficient for summoning the people to prayer; and the country was thus in danger of losing its best music."

What follows is so beautiful and appropriate, that I may perhaps be excused for lengthening my quotation:

"--a music, hallowed by all circumstances, which, according equally with social exultation and with solitary pensiveness, though it falls upon many an unheeding ear, never fails to find some hearts which it exhilarates, and some which it softens."

It is a curious fact, that in many towers there may be often found a solitary _black-letter Bell_ (if I may so call it), evidently of ante-Reformation date, making one of the peal.

H.T.E.

_Treasure Trove._--The prejudicial effect which the law of _Treasure Trove_, as it now exists in this country, has been found to exercise upon the preservation of objects of archaeological interest, especially if such articles happen to be formed of either of the precious metals, is just now exciting the attention of the antiquarian world. Any notes upon the state of this law upon the Continent, any references to instances of valuable "finds" which have been lost to archaeological investigation through the operation of this law, or to cases in which the decisions of the courts have been given upon questions of this law; in short, any hints {167} or information upon any points connected with the subject of _Treasure Trove_ will be thankfully received by,

EFFESSA.

_Poeta Anglicus._--The gloss on the Prooemium to the _Constitutions of Clement V._, col. iv. "Corp. Jur. Can." t. iii. Lugd. 1671, has the following remark:--

"Et dicitur a _Papæ_, quod est, interjectio admirantis, et vere admirabilis: quia vices Dei in terris gerit. Inde dixit ille Anglicus in poetria nova: _Papa stupor mundi._ Et circa fin., _Qui maxima rerum, nec Deus es nec homo, quasi neuter es inter utrumque_."

Who is the Anglicus Poeta? What is the name of his poem?

J.B.

_Hornbooks._--Can either of your numerous intelligent readers give me an account of the hornbooks from which our ancestors learned their letters? If so, I shall feel especially obliged for the information.

JOHN TIMBS.

_Ben Jonson, or Ben Johnson._--Among some papers I possess of the Digby family, I have an autograph poem on _The Picture of the Minde of the Lady Venetia Digby_, by Ben "Johnson." Is this the same as Ben "Jonson?" and if so, how comes it the "h" has been dropped from his name? Or was there some other Ben "Johnson," a poet of that period?

N.A.B.

_MS. Book of Prayers belonging to Queen Catherine Parr._--In vol. ix. of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ is a description of a MS. book of prayers, bound in silver, which probably belonged to Queen Catherine Parr. Can you or any of your numerous readers inform me in whose possession the volume is _now_?

J.L.W.

_Waltheof--De Combre Family--Ilda._--In _Waltheof, or the Siege of York_, an historical drama published at York, 1832, one of the _dramatis personæ_, Judith, the niece of the Conqueror, and daughter of the Countess of Albemarle, is made to say,--

"When gallant _Waltheof, as his country's champion_, On bus'ness of high import and high matters, _Oft at my royal uncle's court appeared_,

...

"We married privately. Two years and more have passed since this has happened, And one sweet pledge of love has crowned our vows."

Now I am anxious to know,

1. Whether there be any historical authority for Waltheof being sent as envoy to William? and, if so, on what mission?

2. Is it not the more correct account, that the Conqueror gave his niece Judith in marriage to Waltheof _after_ the surrender of the city, [at the same time that he conferred other honours upon him, out of respect for his brave defence of the city; creating him, first, Earl of Northhampton and Huntingdon, and afterwards Earl of Northumberland, A.D. 1070.] And if so, as Waltheof could certainly not have had any "pledge of love" _before_ the siege of York; so neither is it probable that he had any issue at all by Judith, as in the same year, 1070, he was beheaded by William, for supposed participation in a conspiracy at York.

The above drama is said to be "by a descendant of one of the _dramatis personæ_," viz. of "De Combre, one of William's generals;" being written by Rev. Thomas Comber, of Oswaldkirk, Yorkshire. This De Combre is represented as having married _Ilda_, a daughter of King Harold, and sister of _Edgar_. Can any of your correspondents furnish me with information as to the origin and antiquity of this family of Comber? I learn from the present representatives of this family, that they have no recorded pedigree which goes higher than the reign of Henry VI., but that the family tradition has always been, that their ancestor came over from Normandy with William, and married Ilda, daughter of Harold. It seems that the name of Ilda is at this very day borne by one of the family. In the _Memoirs of Dr. Thomas Comber, Dean of Durham_, this De Combre is said to have had the manor of Barkham, in Sussex, given to him by the Conqueror. What family had King Harold II.? Had he any daughter Ilda? and, if so, is there any record or mention of her husband's name?

T.E.L.L.

19th July, 1850.

_"De male quæsitis," &c._--Spelman's striking argument, that spoliated church property is seldom enjoyed for more than three generations, seems but a special application of a general principle,--

"De male quæsitis gaudet non tertius hæraes."

Can any of your readers tell me who is the author of the above verse? I find it quoted as "an adage" by John Gadsbury, in his work _On the Doctrine of Nativities_, 1658.

R.P.

_Westminster Abbey._--The late Sir Harry Englefield is known to have had access to some of the original fabric accounts of this venerable structure. Can any of your readers inform me whether he published the information he may have obtained from those documents; and, if so, where it may be found?

J.BT.

_Haberdasher--Martinet._--Can any of your correspondents suggest an etymology for the word _haberdasher_? I ought, perhaps, to say that I am acquainted with the derivations propounded by Mr. Richardson, but consider them all unsatisfactory. While on the subject, I would also ask if Mr. Richardson's _Dictionary_ is considered the best {168} source extant of information on English etymology, because I cannot help thinking that it has very many faults and deficiencies. The very word, for instance, on the derivation of which your valuable correspondent MR. FORBES offered a suggestion in No. 38., viz. _Martinet_, I had in vain sought for in Mr. Richardson's _Dictionary_, at least in his quarto edition, 1887.

PRISCIAN.

* * * * *

"_Querela Cantabrigiensis_."--Is anything known of the authorship of the _Querela Cantabrigiensis: or, a Remonstrance by way of Apologie for the banished Members of the late flourishing University of Cambridge. By some of the said Sufferers. Anno Dom. 1647_? This seems a favourable time for inserting this Query, as there is a chance of _a second series of "The Universities' Complaint"_ making its appearance before the year is out.

J.M.B.

* * * * *

_Long Lonkin._--Can any of your readers give me a clue to the personality of Long Lonkin, the hero of a moss-trooping ballad popular in Cumberland, which commences--

"The Lord said to his ladie, As he mounted his horse, Beware of Long Lonkin That lies in the moss."

And goes on to tell how Long Lonkin crept in at "one little window" which was left unfastened, and was counselled by the wicked maiden to--

"Prick the babe in the cradle"

as the only means of bringing down the poor mother, whom he wished to kill.

Are there any other traditions of him, and can he have any connection with the name bestowed by children on the middle finger, in the following elegant rhyme?--

"Tom Thumbkin, Will Wilkins, Long Lonkin," &c.?

This I had always supposed merely to refer to the length of the finger, but the coincidence of names is curious.

SELEUCUS.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION.

I can now inform you that the MS. _Treatise of Equivocation_, about which J.M. inquired (Vol. i., p. 263.), is preserved in the Bodleian Library (Laud, _Miscellaneous MSS. 655_.). Dodd, in his _Church History_ (vol. ii. pp. 381. 428.), under the names Blackwell and Francis Tresham, mentions the work by its second title, _A Treatise against Lying and fraudulent Dissimulation_, and states that the MS. is in the Bodleian. Through the kindness of Dr. Baudinel, I have seen the tract; and as there is a certain historical interest attached to it, some information on the subject may be acceptable to your readers. But it may be as well first to give the account of its production at the trial of Guy Fawkes and the conspirators, Jan. 27, 1606. (See _State Trials_, vol. ii. col. 180.) After Coke had introduced under the seventh head of his speech, as the fourth means for carrying on the plot, "their perfidious and perjurious equivocating," there follows:--

"And here was showed a Book, written not long before the Queen's death, at what time Thomas Winter was employed into Spain, entituled, 'A Treatise of Equivocation,' which book being seen and allowed by Garnet, the superior of the Jesuits, and Blackwell, the Archpriest of England, in the beginning thereof Garnet with his own hand put out those words in the title of 'Equivocation,' and made it thus; 'A Treatise against Lying and fraudulent Dissimulation.' ... And in the end thereof, Blackwell besprinkles it with his blessing, saying, 'Tractatus iste valde doctus, et vere pius et Catholicus est. Certe S. Scripturarum, patrum, doctorum, scholasticorum, canonistarum, et optimarum rationum præsidiis plenissime firmat æquitatem æquivocationis; ideoque dignissimus est qui typis propagetur, ad consolationem afflictorum Catholicorum, et omnium piorum instructionem.'"

Coke referred to it again at Garnet's trial, March 28, 1606 (_State Trials_, vol. ii. p. 234.); and the importance attached to the discovery of the work may be judged of by Morton's _Full Satisfaction_, 1606: a very large part of which is occupied in discussing it.

The copy in the Bodleian is the one which was produced at the trial. It is a small quarto in a vellum cover, on the outside of which is written, on the front side, in a later hand, "Blackwell de Equivocatione, &c.;" on the other side, in Sir E. Coke's hand, "Equivocations." It consists of sixty-six pages in all; i.e. two leaves at the beginning originally left blank, and not numbered; sixty-one pages numbered continuously, and fifty-nine of them written on: p. 61., that is, the fly-leaf at the end, contains Blackwell's imprimatur as described by Coke. On the first fly-leaf, at the beginning, is the following memorandum:--

"This booke, contening 61 pages, I founde in a chamber in the Inner Temple, wherein Sr Thomas Tresham used to lye, and whiche he obteyned for his two younger sonnes. This 5 of December, 1605." EDW. COKE.

"Os quod mentitur occidit animam."

It may be enough to remind the reader, that after Nov. 5, 1605, Coke, being Attorney-General, was engaged in prosecuting the discovery of the plot and seeking for evidence. Francis Tresham, to whom the authorship is attributed by Dodd (vol. ii. p. 427, 428.), was a son of Sir Thomas Tresham; his connection with Garnet and the plot is well known. Sir T. Tresham died Sept. 11, 1605. (Dodd, vol. ii. p. 58.) Francis had been committed {169} to prison, and died Nov. 20, 1605; and Coke found this in searching his chambers a fortnight after. The title originally stood thus:--

"A TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION, _wherein is largely discussed the question_, whether a Catholicke or any other person before a Magistrate being demaunded uppon his oath whether a Prieste were in such a place, may (notwithstanding his perfect knowledge to the contrary), without Perjury, and securely in conscience answere, No: with this secreat meaning reserved in his minde, That he was not there so that any man is bound to detect it."

The words in small capitals and Italics occupying the first two lines are crossed out, and "whe-," the first syllable of whether, re-written at the beginning of line 3. At the end of this title, interlined by another hand, follow the words "_newly, overseer ... ignorants_;" but these words are also struck through and re-written on the preceding leaf, on which, written by the same hand by which the interlineation was made (Garnet's, as it would seem), the title stands,--

"A Treatise _of_ against Lying and fraudulent Dissimulation. Newly overseen by the Authour, and published for the defence of Innocency and for the Instruction of Ignorants."

The "_of_", in Italics, is struck out. The MS. has other corrections throughout in the same (Garnet's) hand; and was evidently prepared for the press, as Blackwell's imprimatur implies.

I have to apologise for some incorrect dates in my last communication.

J.B.

* * * * *

BOETHIUS' CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY.

The celebrated treatise _De Consolatione Philosophiæ_, was translated into English verse by John Walton, otherwise called Johannes Capellanus, in the year 1410. A beautiful manuscript on parchment, of this translation, is preserved in the British Museum (_Harl. MS._ 43.). Other copies are amongst the archives of Lincoln Cathedral, Baliol College, &c. It was printed in the Monastery of Tavestok in 1525, a copy of which impression is of the utmost rarity. There is an English prose translation by "George Colvil, alias Coldewell," printed by John Cawood, 4to. 1556. And again, _Boethius' Five Bookes of Philosophicall Comfort_, translated by J.T., and printed at London in 12mo., 1609.

Viscount Preston's translation was _first_ printed in 8vo., 1695. The edition of 1712, mentioned by your correspondent, was the _second_. Boethius was again translated by W. Causton in 1730, and with notes and illustrations, by the Rev. P. Ridpath, 8vo., 1785. The latter is, I believe, an excellent translation; it is accompanied by a Life of Boethius, drawn up with great care and accuracy. In 1789 a translation by R. Duncan appeared at Edinburgh; and in 1792, an anonymous translation was printed in London. The latter is said to be a miserable performance.

King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version, with an English translation and notes, by J.S. Cardale, was printed at London, in 8vo., 1829.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Queen Elizabeth's Translation of Boethius_ (Vol. ii., p. 56.).--One of JARLTZBERG'S inquiries is, "Has Queen Elizabeth's work (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) been printed?" Certainly not: if it had been, it would have been well known. May we venture to anticipate an affirmative reply to another parallel question--Does Queen Elizabeth's translation of _Boethius_ exist in manuscript? But where did JARLTZBERG learn that it was "executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne?" We know that she made such a translation when she was sixty years of age, that is, in October and November, 1593, (see Nichols's _Progresses, &c., of Queen Elizabeth_, vol. iii. p. 564., and the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February last, p. 143.), and it is a very interesting proof of the continuance of her learned studies at that advanced period of her life; and, as the curious document which records this fact is unnoticed in the last edition of _Royal and Noble Authors_ by Mr. Park, it is probably a misapprehension that the same task had engaged some of the hours of her captivity; or rather is it not one of those dove-tailing conjectures in which some of our most popular lady-biographers have recently exhibited such extravagant and misplaced ingenuity?

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

_Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy_ (Vol. ii., p. 56.).--JARLTZBERG is wrong in supposing that Richard Viscount Preston's translation appeared _first_ in 1712. I have now before me an edition in 8vo. "London: printed by J.D. for Awnsham and John Churchill, at the Black Swan, in Paternoster row; and Francis Hildyard, bookseller in York, MDCXCV." Horace Walpole, in his _Royal and Noble Authors_, states that the publication in 1712 was the "_second_ edition corrected;" and Mr. Park says in a note, that the first edition was in 1695, 8vo.

C.H. COOPER

Cambridge, June 24. 1850.

* * * * *

ETYMOLOGICAL QUERIES ANSWERED.

J. MN. (Vol. ii., p. 153.) has propounded a dozen of most recondite and puzzling archaisms, upon which I have to offer a few notes.

"_Rykelot_, a magpie?"--The popular and provincial names of animals deserve more careful notice than they have received from glossarists. I need scarcely observe how frequently personal names were derived from those of birds. In the {170} Hundred Rolls we find a "Richard Rikelot" in Huntingdonshire (vol. ii. p. 626.). I know not what has led to the supposition that this name denotes the magpie. It may possibly be traced to the same root as that of a cognate species, the _cornix frugivora; Roeck_, Germ., according to Gesner; Friesic, _roek_; Ang.-S. _hroc_, the rook: but I am at a loss to discover anything similar in old French to explain the occurrence of the termination, which seems to be a popular or familiar diminutive, a Gallicism, analogous to _partlot_.