Chapter 3

[We have also received a reply to MR. CORNEY'S Query from MR. ASHER of Berlin, who refers for particulars of this interesting collection to Tieck's Preface to his _Alt-Deutsche Theater_. We propose shortly returning to the curious fact of English comedians performing in Germany at the close of the sixteenth and commencement of the seventeenth centuries: a subject which has several times been discussed and illustrated in the columns of our valuable contemporary _The Athenæum_.]

* * * * *

ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE. (Vol. ii., p. 154.)

This paradox, whilst one of the oldest on record (being attributed by Aristotle to Zeus Eleates, B.C. 500), is one of the most perplexing, upon first presentation to the mind, that can be selected {186} from the most ample list. Its professed object was to disprove the phenomenon of motion; but its real one, to embarrass an opponent. It has always attracted the attention of logicians; and even to them it has often proved embarrassing enough. The difficulty does not lie in proving that the conclusion is absurd, but in _showing where the fallacy lies_. From not knowing the precise kind of information required by [Greek: Idiotaes], I am unwilling to trespass on your valuable space by any irrelevant discussion, and confine myself to copying a very judicious note from Dr. Whateley's _Logic_, 9th edit. p. 373.

"This is one of the sophistical puzzles noticed by Aldrich, but he is not happy in his attempt at a solution. He proposes to remove the difficulty by demonstrating that in a certain given time, Achilles _would_ overtake the tortoise; as if any one had ever doubted _that_. The very problem proposed, is to surmount the difficulty of a seeming demonstration of a thing palpably impossible; to show that _it is_ palpably impossible, is no solution of the problem.

"I have heard the present example adduced as a proof that the pretensions of logic are futile, since (it was said) the most perfect logical demonstration may lead from true premises to an absurd conclusion. The reverse is the truth; the example before us furnishes a confirmation of the utility of an acquaintance with the syllogistic form, _in which form the pretended demonstration in question cannot be exhibited_. An attempt to do so will evince the utter want of connection between the premises and the conclusion."

What the Archbishop says is true, and it disposes of the question as one of "Formal Logic:" but yet the form of the sophism is so plausible, that it imposes with equal force on the "common sense" of all those who repose their conclusions upon the operations of that faculty. With them a different procedure is necessary; and I suspect that if any one of the most obstinate advocates of the sufficiency of common sense for the "balancing of evidence" were to attempt the explanation of a hundred fallacies that could be presented to him, he would be compelled to admit that a more powerful and a more accurate machine would be of advantage to him in accomplishing his task. This machine the syllogism supplies.

The discussion of Gregory St. Vincent will be found at pages 101-3. of his _Opus Geometricum_, Antw., 1647 fol. The principle is the same as that which Aldrich afterwards gave, as above referred to by Dr. Whateley. I can only speak from memory of the discussion of Leibnitz, not having his works at hand; but I am clear in this, that his principle again is the same. [Greek: Idiotaes] is in error, however, in calling St. Vincent's "a geometrical treatment" of it. He indeed uses lines to represent the spaces passed over; and their discussion occurs in a chapter on what is universally (but very absurdly) called "geometrical proportion." It is yet no more _geometrical_ than our school-day problem of the basket and the hundred eggs in Francis Walkinghame. Mere names do not bestow character, however much _philosophers as well as legislators_ may think so. All attempts of the kind have been, and must be, purely numerical.

T.S.D.

Shooter's Hill, August 3.

_Achilles and the Tortoise._--Your correspondent will find references in the article "Zeno (of Elea)" in the _Penny Cyclopædia_. For Gregory St. Vincent's treatment of the problem, see his _Quadratara Circuli_, Antwerp, 1647, folio, p. 101., or let it alone. I suspect that the second is the better reference. Zeno's paradox is best stated, without either Achilles or tortoise, as follows:--No one can go a mile; for he must go over the first half, then over half the remaining half, then over half the remaining quarter; and so on _for ever_. Many books of logic, and many of algebra, give the answer to those who cannot find it.

M.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES

"_Barum_" and "_Sarum_" (Vol. ii., p. 21.)--The formation of the first of these words has not yet been accounted for. I must premise my attempt to supply an explanation by admitting that I was not aware it was in common use as a contraction for Barnstaple. I think it will be found that the contracted form of that name is more usually "Berdest," "Barnst". In trying further to contract the word, the two last letters would be omitted, and it would then be "Barñ", with the circumflex showing the omission of several letters. Having reduced it to this state, an illiterate clerk would easily misread the circumflex for the plain stroke "-," expressing merely the omission of the letter "m", and, perhaps ignorant of the name intended, think it as well to write at full length "Barum."

J. Br.

_Countess of Desmond_ (Vol. ii., p. 153.)--It is stated in Turner's _Sacred History_, vol. iii. p. 283., that the Countess of Desmond died in 1612, aged 145. This is, I presume, the correct date of her decease, and not 1626 as mentioned by your querist K.; for in Lord Bacon's _History of Life and Death_, originally published in 1623, her death is thus alluded to:--

"The Irish, especially the Wild Irish, even at this day, live very long. Certainly they report that within these few years the Countess of Desmond lived to a hundred and forty years of age, and bred teeth three times."

The manner of her death is recorded by Mr. Crofton Croker, in his agreeable volume of _Researches in the South of Ireland_, 4to. London, 1824. {187} Speaking of Drumana, on the Blackwater, a little above Youghall, as the "reputed birth-place of the long-lived Countess of Desmond," he says,--

"In this part of the country, her death is attributed to a fall whilst in the act of picking an apple from a tree in an orchard at Drumana."

In the _Olla Podrida_, a volume of miscellanies, printed for private distribution, by Mr. Sainthill of Cork, there is a portrait of the "old countess," from an etching made by Mr. Crofton Croker (if I mistake not) in his early days.

J.M.B.

_Michael Servetus, alias Reves._--The manuscript, the character and fate of which S.H. (Vol. ii., p. 153.) is anxious to investigate, contained books iii.-vii., inclusive, of the work of Servetus _De Trinitate_; and as these fragments differed somewhat from the printed text, they were probably the first, or an early, draft (not necessarily in the author's handwriting) of part of the _Christianismi Restitutio_. The purchaser of this MS., at the sale of Du Fay's library in Paris in the year 1725, was the Count de Hoym, ambassador to France from Poland. I beg to refer your correspondent to pp. 214-18. of the _Historia Michaelis Serveti_, by Henr. ab Allwoerden, published with Mosheim's approbation, Helmstad 1728.

Both a "Note" and a "Query" might be founded on a memorable passage in the fifth book _De Trinitate_, in which Servetus, long before Harvey, explains the circulation of the blood.

R.G.

_Caxton's Printing-office_ (Vol. ii., pp. 99. 122. 142.).--It is a pity MR. NICHOLS did not take the trouble to see, and, having seen, to notice in his first communication, that Abbot Islip was mentioned in the passage from Stow's _Survey_ cited by MR. RIMBAULT. As that gentleman quotes from, I believe, the second edition of the _Survey_, I may be allowed to doubt, until it is clearly shown, that "Islip's name has been introduced by the error of some subsequent writer." But supposing this to be so, it would in no way affect the only question which is material, Who was Caxton's patron? nor touch the accuracy of the _Life of Caxton_, which MR. NICHOLS seems desirous of impeaching. I am anxious to point this out, because I feel it right to vindicate to the utmost, where they deserve it, useful works, which, like the little volume I am writing of, are published at a price that ensures for them a circulation of almost unlimited extent.

ARUN.

_Somagia_ (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--This is the plural of "somagium," "summagium," and means "horse-loads." It is a word frequently found in documents relating to agrarian matters, and may signify the load packed upon the horse's back (whence the name "sumpter-horse"), or in a cart drawn by a horse. MR. SANSOM will find a full explanation of the derivatives of its root, "sagma," at p. 50., vol. vii., of Ducange.

J.BT.

_Various Modes of Interment among the Ancients_ (Vol ii., pp. 8, 9. 22. 41. 78.).--In modes of interment some nations have been distinguished by an idiosyncrasy almost incredible from their inhumanity.

"Barcæi, populi inter Colchos et Iberos morbo absumptos igni comburebant, sed qui in bello fortiter occubuissent, honoris gratia vulturibus devorandos objiciebant."--.AElian. _Hist. Anim._ lib. x. "In Hyrcania (refert Cicero in _Tusc. Quæst._ lib. i. 45.) ali canes solitos fuisse, a quibus delaniarentur mortui, eamque optimam Hyrcanos censuisse sepulturam."--Kirchmannus _de Funer. Romanorum._

The appendix to this work may be consulted for this, and yet greater violations of the law of nature and nations.

"Apud saniores barbaros ab animalibus discerpi cadavera foedum semper ac miserabile creditum fuit. Foetus abortivi feris alitibutsque exponebantur in montibus aut locis aliis inaccessis, quin et ipsi infantes, &c. Fuit hæc Asinina sepultura _poena_ Tyrannorum ac perduellium. (Spondan. _de Coemet. S._ pp. 367. 387. et seqq.) Quam et victorum insolentia odiumque vulgi implacabile in hostes non raro exercuit."--Ursinus _Arbor. Biblicum._

Hyde accounts for the Persians who embraced the religion of the Magi not having adopted the two contrivances of corporal dissolution prevalent among civilised nations--cremation or burning, and simple inhumation--by the superstitious reverence with which they regarded the four elements. Sir T. Browne remarks that similar superstitions may have had the same effect among other nations.

Of the post-mortem _punishments_ described by Ducange, the former was the customary sepulture of the Trogloditæ; the latter corresponds with the rite of some of the Scythians recorded by Statius:

"At gente in Scythica suffixa cadavera truncis, Lenta dies sepelit putri liquentia tabo."

I shall be obliged if you or a correspondent disposed "not only to teach but to communicate," will kindly throw light on a passage, relating to the Troloditæ, in Strabo, book xvi., where he relates, "Capræ cornu mortuis saxorum cumulo coopertis fuisse superimpositum."

T.J.

_Guy's Porridge-pot_ (Vol. ii., p. 55.).--Your correspondent is quite correct, when he says "neither the armour nor pot belonged to the noble Guy." He would have been a _guy_ if he _had_ worn the armour, seeing that it was made for a horse, and not for a man.

What the stout old lady who showed us the "relics of old Guy" in 1847 called "Guy's breastplate," and sometimes his helmet! is the "croupe" of a suit of horse armour, and "another breastplate" a "poitrel." His porridge-pot is a garrison {188} crock of the sixteenth century, used to prepare "sunkits" for the retainers; and the fork a military fork temp. Hen. VIII.

The so called "Roman swords" are "anelaces," and a couteau de chasse of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The "British weapon" is a hammer at arms temp. Hen. VIII., and "the halbert" a black bill temp. Hen. VII. The only weapons correctly described are the Spanish rapiers.

The shield with the "sight" is very curious; it weighs thirty pounds, and is of the temp. of Henry VIII.

It is impossible to describe the horror of the old lady at our doubting her version; she seemed to wonder the earth did not open and swallow us for our heresy.

NASO.

"_Welcome the coming, speed the parting Guest_" (Vol. ii., p. 134.).--

"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest,"

is from Pope (_Imitations of Horace_, book ii. sat. ii.).

Pope's distich, whence the line is taken, runs,--

"For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, speed the _going_ guest."

Query. Where is "sage Homer's rule" to be found?

RUSTICUS.

[The following additional reply furnishes a solution of the Query of RUSTICUS:--

"True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd, Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest."

These lines are from Pope's _Homer_, the Odyssey, Book xv., lines 83 and 84.

E.H.]

"_A Chrysostom to smoothe his Band in_" (Vol. ii., p. 126.).--This Query by Rev. ALFRED GATTY is answered by referring him to the _Happy Life of a Country Parson_, by Swift, beginning with--

"Parson, these things in thy possessing, Are worthy of a bishop's blessing."

And enumerating amongst them

"A large Concordance bound long since, Sermons to Charles the First when prince, A chronicle of ancient standing, A chrysostom to smoothe thy band in; The polyglott--three parts--my text, Howbeit--likewise--to my next."

T.H.Q.

[C.I.R. (to whom we are indebted for a similar reference) adds the concluding line--

"And shake his head at Doctor Swift."

which would show that the verses were written not earlier than 1701, as Swift, the author, took his D.D. degree in that year.]

_William of Wykeham_ (Vol. ii., p. 89.).--

"Historica descriptio compleetens vitam ac res gestas beatissimi viri Guilmi Wicanii quondam Vintoniensis episcopi et Angliæ Cancellarii et fundatoris duorum collegiorum Oxoniæ et Vintoniæ."

is the title of a biography of William of Wykeham attributed to Thomas Martin, published in 4to. Oxford, 1597.

There is also a little work which may come under the head of biographies, viz.:

"Uvedale (Robert) Examination of Lowth's objections to the account given by Leland of the parentage of William of Wykeham," 8vo. 1801.

_Vide_ Oettinger's _Bibliographie Biographique_.

S.W.

_Dutch Language_ (Vol. ii., p. 77.).--H.B.C. recommends, among other works, Hendrik Conscience's novels. These are in Flemish, not Dutch. The difference may not be great between the two; but one would hardly recommend to a learner of English, Burns's _Poems_ as a reading-book. In 1829 Dr. Bowring wrote an article, being a sketch of Dutch literature, in the _Foreign Quarterly Review_; which article was reprinted in Amsterdam in the form of an 18mo. volume, and which I believe is still to be got, and is a very useful guide to Dutch literature.

S.W.

"_A frog he would_" &c. (Vol. ii., p. 45. and elsewhere).--I remember, when a boy, to have heard an old aunt repeatedly sing this song; but the chorus was very strange.

"A frog he would a-wooing ride, With a rigdum bullydimy kymy; With sword and buckler by his side, With a rigdum bullydimy kymy. Kymyary kelta cary kymyary kymy, Strimstram paradiddle larrabona ringting, Rigdum bullydimy kymy."

A.

_City Sanitary Laws_ (Vol. ii., p. 99.).--The act of Parliament prohibiting the slaughter of cattle within the city, referred to in the passage from _Arnold's Chronicle_, extracted by your correspondent T.S.D. is the 4 Hen. VII. c. 3., which enacts that--

"No butcher shall kill any flesh within his scalding-house, or within the walls of London, in pain to forfeit for every ox so killed 12d. and for every other beast 8d., to be divided between the king and the prosecutor."--Bohun's _Privilegia Londini_ 1723, p. 480.

Brydall, in his _Camera Regis_ (Lond. 1666, p. 114.), quotes the statute of 11 Hen. VII. c. 21, as the authority for the "singularity" attaching to the city, that "butchers shall kill no beasts in London." I believe, however, Bohun's reference will be found to be the correct one. The statute in question has, I think, never been repealed; but in the absence of abbatoirs, or other proper provision for the slaughtering of cattle without the walls of the city, it seems doubtful whether the {189} pains and penalties to which the "contrary doers" were liable, were at any time strictly enforced.

JAMES T. HAMMACK.

_Sanitary Laws of other Days_ (Vol. ii., p. 99.).--The statute referred to by T.S.D. in his article, by which "it is ordeigned y't no such slaughter of best shuld be used or had within this cite," was no doubt 4 & 5 Henry VII. c. 3., intituled "An Act that no Butcher slea any Manner of Beast within the walls of London." The penalty is only twelvepence for an ox or a cow, and eightpence for any smaller animal. The act itself seems unrepealed, but the penalties are too small at the present day to abate the nuisance.

C.R. SOC.

_Michael Scott, the Wizard_ (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--I have now lying before me a small duodecimo, Lugdini, 1584, entitled--

"Alberti Magni de Secretis Mulierum libellus, scholiis auctus et a mendis repurgatus,"

to which is appended a work of the wizard's "ob materiæ similitudinem,"

"Michaelis Scoti philosophi De Secretis Naturæ Opusculum."

E.S.T.

_Clerical Costume_ (Vol. ii., p. 22.).--Possibly the answer to this Query may be found in the passage from Bacon's _History of Life and Death_, in the third part of the _Instauratio Magna_, which I copy below from Craik's _Bacon and his Writings_, vol. iii. p. 45.:--

"Some report that they have found great benefit in the conservation of their health by wearing scarlet waistcoats next their skin and under their shirts, as well down to their nether parts as on the upper."

From the quantity of serge bought, as well as from the nature of the material, I think it likely it might be required for the purpose here noticed by Bacon, and not for an outer waistcoat.

ARUN.

_The Curfew_ (Vol. ii., p. 103.).--As NABOC can, I imagine, only get a perfect list of the places where the curfew is still rung by the contributions of scattered correspondents, I will furnish my mite by informing him that a very short time ago it was rung at Sturminster Newton in Dorsetshire.

J. BT.

_Welsh Language; Armenian Language_ (Vol. ii., p. 136.).--JARLTZBERG will find no Welsh dictionary with the part reversed. I possess a dictionary in Welsh and English, in two volumes, by Pugh, published in 1832, which is one of the best. The one in two volumes by Walters is in English and Welsh, and is also one of the best. The four volumes would make a good dictionary. The best grammar is, I think, Pugh's. See the Welsh bookseller in Holywell Street: I believe his name is Williams.

Father Chamick compiled the _History of Armenia_ from the historical works of several authors, which was published at Venice in 1786; and in 1811 an abridgment thereof, which was translated by Mr. Acdall, of Calcutta, in 1827. See Messrs. Allen and Co.'s _Catalogue of Oriental Works_, at whose house these, and translations of other works (particularly the _History of Vartan_ and the _Memoirs of Artemi_), may be procured. I think JARLTZBERG will find a dictionary in Armenian and French. I saw a notice of one a short time since. (See Bernard Quaritch.) In 1841, Peterman published at Berlin, _Porta Ling. Orient., sive Elementa Ling. Syr., Chald., Arab._, &c. &c., which I think contains an Armenian grammar. See Williams and Norgate; also a list of Klaproth's works.

AREDJID KOOEZ.

_Armenian Language_ (Vol. ii., p. 136.).--In reply to JARLTZBERG, I can answer that Lord Byron did not compose the English part of Aucher's _Armenian and English Grammar_. A very learned friend of mine was at St. Lazero, in Venice, and knew both Aucher and Lord Byron. Lord Byron was taking lessons in Armenian, and a few of his exercises were introduced into Aucher's _Grammar_, which was written for Armenians to learn English, with which language Aucher was quite familiar, having resided four years in London. But a new _Armenian and English Grammar_ has recently been published. There is one, very rare, in Armenian and Latin, and another in Armenian, modern Greek, and Italian. I have just seen John Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ in _vulgar_ Armenian, with plates, published at Smyrna; and the _Prayers of St. Nierses_, in twenty-four languages, Venice, 1837, of which Armenian is one. Several works in Armenian have been published at Calcutta.

HENRY WILKINSON.

Brompton.

_North Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated_ (Vol. ii., p. 55.).--The strong preference given to the south side of the churchyard is traceable to two principal causes; first and chiefly, because the churchyard cross was always placed here; secondly, because this is the sunny side of the churchyard. The cross, the emblem of all the Christian's hopes, the bright sun shining on the holy ground, figurative of the sun of righteousness, could not fail to bring to mind the comforting assurance that they who slept around would one day rise again. And as the greater part of the congregation entered the church by the south and principal door, another cause of the preference was the hope that the sight of the resting places of those of their friends and neighbours who had died in the communion of the church, might remind the survivors each time they repaired to the house of prayer to remember them in their supplications. {190} There is not, however, I believe, the slightest reason for considering that the north side of the churchyard was left unconsecrated, nor do I think it possible that such could ever be the case, inasmuch as all consecrated ground was required to be fenced off from that which was unhallowed. But the north side has always been considered inferior to the south. For example;--excommunicated persons were at one time buried outside the precincts of the churchyard, which, of course, would not have been necessary if any part had been left unconsecrated, nor are instances of this practice wanting since the Reformation.[1] And when discipline began to be relaxed, and murderers were interred even within the church itself, it was still on the north side.[2] It is very usual in small country parishes to find the north side of the churchyard without a single grave, nor is it generally resorted to until the south side is fully occupied. It would be difficult to mention another instance of a prejudice so universal, existing so long after the causes of it have mainly passed away.

I cannot conclude without expressing the extreme interest which, though he seems not to be aware of it, attaches to the statement of your correspondent, to the effect that he had on two occasions, namely, on the Revel Sunday, and on another festival, observed the game of football in a churchyard in the West of England. It is, indeed, interesting to find that relics of a custom which, however repugnant to our notions, was sanctioned by the highest authority in the best days of our church, still linger in some of our rural districts; thus amply bearing out the mention made by Bishop Peirs more than two centuries ago, of the attachment of the people of the west to, and "how very much they desired the continuance of," these ancient celebrations. For the letter of the prelate, which was addressed to Archbishop Laud, and for many valuable details with respect to dedication festivals, and the observance of Sundays in former times, I would refer those who take an interest in the matter to the _Hierurgia Anglicanæ_.

ARUN.