Chapter 3

"The persons now privileged to wear the ancient golden collar of SS. are the _equites aurati_, or knights (chevaliers) in the British monarchy, a body which includes all the hereditary order of baronets in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with such of their eldest sons, being of age, as choose to claim inauguration as knights."

Here we have a full confession of a large part of the faith of the Baronets' Committee,--a committee of which the greater number of those who lent their names to it are probably by this time heartily ashamed. It is the doctrine held forth in several works on the Baronetage compiled by a person calling himself "Sir Richard Broun," of whom we read in Dodd's _Baronetage_, that "previous to succeeding his father, he demanded inauguration as a knight, in the capacity of a baronet's eldest son; but the Lord Chamberlain having refused to present him to the Queen for that purpose, he assumed the title of 'Sir,' and the addition of 'Eques Auratus,' in June, 1842." So we see that ARMIGER and the Lord Chamberlain are at variance as to part of the law above cited; and so, it might be added, have been other legal authorities, to the privileges asserted by the mouthpiece of the said committee. But that is a long story, on which I do not intend here to enter. I had not forgotten that in one of the publications of Sir Richard Broun the armorial coat of the premier baronet of each division is represented encircled with a Collar of Esses; but I should never have thought of alluding to this freak, except as an amusing instance of fantastic assumption. I will now confine myself to what has appeared in the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" and, more particularly, to the unfounded assertion of ARMIGER in p. 194., "that the golden Collar of SS. was the undoubted badge or mark of a knight, _eques auratus_;" which he follows up by the dictum already quoted, that "the persons now privileged to wear the ancient golden Collar of SS. are the _equites aurati_." I believe it is generally admitted that knights were _equites aurati_ because they wore golden or gilt spurs; certainly it was not because they wore golden collars, as ARMIGER seems to wish us to believe; and the best proof that the Collar of Esses was not the badge of a knight, as such, at the time when such collars were most worn, in the fifteenth century, is this--that the monumental effigies and sepulchral brasses of many knights at that time are still extant which have no Collar of Esses; whilst the Collar of Esses appears only on the figures of a limited number, who were undoubtedly such as wished to profess their especial adherence to the royal House of Lancaster.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

* * * * *

SIR GREGORY NORTON, BART.

(Vol. ii., p. 216.)

The creation of the baronetcy of _Norton_, of Rotherfield, in East Tysted, co. Hants, took place in the person of Sir Richard Norton, of Rotherfield, Kt., 23d May, 1622, and _expired_ with him on his death without male issue in 1652.

The style of Baronet, in the case of _Sir Gregory Norton_, the _regicide_, was an assumption not uncommon in those days; as in the case of _Prettyman_ of Lodington, and others.

The regicide in his will styles himself "Sir Richard Norton, of Paul's, Covent Garden, in the county of Middlesex, Bart." It bears date 12th March, 1651, and was proved by his relict, Dame Martha Norton, 24th Sept., 1652. He states that his land at Penn, in the county of Bucks, was _mortgaged_, and mentions his "disobedient son, Henrie Norton;" and desires his burial-place may be at Richmond, co. Surrey.

The descent of Gregory Norton is not known. There is no evidence of his connexion with the Rotherfield or Southwick Nortons. His assumption of the title was not under any claim he could have had, real or imaginary, connected with the Rotherfield patent; for he uses the title at the same time with Sir Richard of Rotherfield, whose will is dated 26th July, 1652, and not proved till 5th Oct, 1652, when Sir Gregory was dead; and, what is singular, the will of Sir Richard was proved by his brother, John Norton, by the style of _Baronet_, to which he could have had no pretension, as Sir Richard died without male issue, and there was no limitation of the patent of 1622 on failure of heirs male of the body of the grantee.

G.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S WORD "DELIGHTED."

That the Shakspearian word _delighted_ might, as far as its form goes, mean "endowed with delight," "full of delight," I should readily concede; but this meaning would suit neither the passage in _Measure for Measure_,--"the delighted spirit,"--nor (satisfactorily) that in _Othello_,--"delighted beauty." Whether, therefore, _delighted_ be derived from the Latin _delectus_ or not, I still believe that it means "refined," "dainty," "delicate;" a sense which is curiously adapted to each of the three places. This will not be questioned with respect to the second and third passages cited by {251} MR. HICKSON: and the following citations will, I think, prove the point as effectually for the passage of _Measure for Measure_:

1. "_Fine_ apparition".--_Tempest_, Act i. sc. 2.

2. "Spirit, _fine_ spirit."--Ditto.

3. "_Delicate_ Ariel."--Ditto.

4. "And, for thou wast a spirit too _delicate_, To act her _earthy_ and abhorred commands." Ditto.

5. "_Fine_ Ariel."--Ditto.

6. "My _delicate_ Ariel."--Ditto. Act iv. sc. 1.

7. "Why that's my _dainty_ Ariel."--Ditto. Act v. sc. 1.

I do not know the precise nature of the "old authorities" which MR. SINGER opposes to my conjecture: but may we not demur to the conclusiveness of any "old authorities" on such a point? Etymology seems to be one of the developing sciences, in which we know more, and better, than our forefathers, as our descendants will know more, and better, than we do.

To end with a brace of queries. Are not _delicioe_, _delicatus_, more probably from _deligere_ than from _delicere_? And whence comes the word _dainty_? I cannot believe in the derivation from _dens_, "a tooth."

B.H. KENNEDY.

* * * * *

AÀROSTATION.

Your correspondent C.B.M. (Vol. ii., p 199.) will find a long article on _AÎrostation_ in Rees' _CyclopÊdia_; but his inquiry reminds me of a conversation I had with the late Sir Anthony Carlisle, about a year before his death. He wished to consult me on the subject of flying by mechanical means, and that I should assist him in some of his arrangements. He had devoted many years of his life to the consideration of this subject, and made numerous experiments at great cost, which induced him to believe in the possibility of enabling man to fly by means of artificial wings. However visionary this idea might be, he had collected innumerable and extremely interesting data, having examined the anatomical structure of almost every winged thing in the creation, and compared the weight of the body with the area of the wings when expanded in the act of volitation as well as the natural habits of birds, insects, bats, and fishes, with reference to their powers of flying and duration of flight.

These notes would form a valuable addition to natural history, whatever might be thought of the purpose for which they were collected, during a period of thirty years; and it is much to be regretted they were never published. His own opinion was, that the publication, during his life would injure his practice as a physician. It would be impossible without the aid of diagrams, and I do not remember sufficient, to explain his mechanical contrivances; but the general principle was, to suspend the man under a kind of flat parachute of extremely thin _feather-edge_ boards, with a power of adjusting the angle at which it was placed, and allowing the man the full use of his arms and legs to work any machinery placed beneath; the area of the parachute being proportioned, as in birds to the weight of the man, who was to start from the top of a high tower, or some elevated position, flying against the wind.

HENRY WILKINSON.

Brompton.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Long Lonkin_ (Vol. ii., p. 168.).--If SELEUCUS will refer to Mr. Chamber's _Collection of Scottish Ballads_, he will find there the whole story under the name of Lammilsin, of which Lonkin appears to me to be a corruption. In the 6th verse it is rendered:

"He said to his ladye fair, Before he gaed abuird, Beware, beware o, Lammilsin! For he lyeth in the wudde."

Then the story goes on to state that Lammilsin crept in at a little shot window, and after some conversation with the "fause nourrice" they decide to

"Stab the babe, and make it cry, And that will bring her down."

Which being done, they murder the unhappy lady. Shortly after, Lord Weirie comes home, and has the "fause nourrice" burnt at the stake. From the circumstance that the name of the husband of the murdered lady was Weirie, it is conjectured that this tragedy took place at Balwearie Castle, in Fife, and the old people about there constantly affirm that it really occurred. I am not aware that there exists any connection between the hero of this story and the _nursery rhyme_; for, as I before stated, I think Lonkin a corruption of Lammilsin.

H.H.C.

_Rowley Powley_ (Vol. ii., p. 74.).--Andre Valladier, who died about the middle of the sixteenth century, was a popular preacher and the king's almoner. He gained great applause for his funeral oration on Henry IV. In his sermon for the second Sunday in Lent (Rouen, 1628), he says;--

"Le paon est gentil et miste, bien que par la parfaite beautÈ de sa houppe, par la raretÈ et noblesse de sa teste, par la gentilesse et nettetÈ de son cou, par l'ornement de ses pennes et par la majestÈ de tout le reste de son corps, il ravit tous ceux qui le contemplent attentivement; toutefois au rencontre de sa femelle, pour l'attirer ‡ son amour, il dÈploye sa pompe, fait montrer et parade de son plumage bizarrÈ, et RIOLL… PIOLL… se presente ‡ elle avec piafe, et luy donne la plus belle visÈe de sa roue. De mesme ce Dieu admirable, amoreux des hommes, pour nous ravir d'amour ‡ soy, desploye le lustre de ses plus accomplies beautez, et comme un amant transportÈ de sa bienaimÈe se {252} montre pour nous allecher ‡ cetter transformation de nous en luy, de nostre misËre en sa gloire."--Ap. _Predicatoriuna_ p. 132-3: Dijon, 1841.

H.B.C.

_Guy's Armour_ (Vol. ii., pp. 55. 187.).--With respect to the armour said to have belonged to Guy, Earl of Warwick, your correspondent NASO is referred to Grose's _Military Antiquities_, vol. ii. pl. 42., where he will find an engraving of a bascinet of the fourteenth century, much dilapidated, but having still a fragment of the moveable vizor adhering to the pivot on which it worked. Whether this interesting relic is still at Warwick Castle or not, I cannot pretend to say, as I was unfortunately prevented joining the British ArchÊological Association at the Warwick congress in 1847, and have never visited that part of the country; but the bascinet which was there in Grose's time was at least of the date of Guido de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, the builder of Guy's Tower, who died in 1315, and who has always been confounded with the fabulous Guy: and if it has disappeared, we have to regret the loss of the only specimen of an English bascinet of that period that I am aware of in this country.

J.R. PLANCH

_Alarm_ (Vol. ii., pp. 151. 183.).--The origin of this word appears to be the Italian cry, _all'arme; gridare all'arme_ is to give the alarm. Hence the French _alarme_, and from the French is borrowed the English word. _Alarum_ for _alarm_, is merely a corruption produced by mispronunciation. The letters _l_ and _r_ before _m_ are difficult to pronounce; and they are in general, according to the refined standard of our pronunciation, so far softened as only to lengthen the preceding vowel. In provincial pronunciation, however, the force of the former letter is often preserved, and the pronunciation is facilitated by the insertion of a vowel before the final _m_. The Irish, in particular, adopt this mode of pronouncing; even in public speaking they say _callum_, _firrum_, _farrum_, for _calm_, _firm_, _farm_. The old word _chrisom_ for _chrism_, is an analogous change: the Italians have in like manner lengthened _chrisma_ into _cresima_; the French have softened it into _chrÍme_.

L.

_Alarm._--It is in favour of the derivation _‡ l'arme_ that the Italian is _allarme_; some dictionaries even have _dare all'arme_, with the apostrophe, for to give alarm. It is against it that the German word _L‰rm_ is used precisely as the English _alarm_. Your correspondent CH. thinks the French derivation suspiciously ingenious: here I must differ; I think it suspiciously obvious. I will give him a suggestion which I think really suspiciously ingenious: in fact, had not the opportunity occurred for illustrating ingenuity, I should not have ventured it. May it not be that _alarme_ and _allarme_ is formed in the obvious way, as _to arms_; while _alarum_ and _L‰rm_ wholly unconnected with them? May it not sometimes happen that, by coincidence, the same sounds and meanings go together in different languages without community of origin? Is it not possible that _larum_ and _L‰rm_ are imitations of the stroke and subsequent resonance of a large bell? Denoting the continued sound of _m_ by _m-m-m_, I think that _lrm-m-m-lrm-m-m-lrm-m-m_ &c., is as good an imitation of a large bell at some distance as letters can make. And in the old English use of the word, the alarum refers more often to a bell than to any thing else.

The introduction of the military word into English can be traced, as to time, with a certain probability. In 1579, Thomas Digges published his _Arithmeticall Militare Treatise named Stratioticos_, which he informs us is mainly the writing of his father, Leonard Digges. At page 170. the father seems to finish with "and so I mean to finishe this treatise:" while the son, as we must suppose, adds p. 171. and what follows. In the father's part the word _alarm_ is not mentioned, that I can find. If it occurred anywhere, it would be in describing the duties of the _scout-master_; but here we have nothing but _warning_ and _surprise_, never _alarm_. But in the son's appendix, the word _alarme_ does occur twice in one page (173.). It also occurs in the body of the _second_ edition of the book, when of course it is the son who inserts it. We may say then, that, in all probability, the military technical term was introduced in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. This, I suspect, is too late to allow us to suppose that the vernacular force which Shakspeare takes it to have, could have been gained for it by the time he wrote.

The second edition was published in 1590; about this time the spelling of the English language made a very rapid approach to its present form. This is seen to a remarkable extent in the two editions of the _Stratioticos_; in the first, the commanding officer of a regiment is always _corronel_, in the second _collonel_. But the most striking instance I now remember, is the following. In the first edition of Robert Recorde's _Castle of Knowledge_ (1556) occurs the following tetrastich:--

"If reasons reache transcende the skye, Why shoulde it then to earthe be bounde? The witte is wronged and leadde awrye, If mynde be maried to the grounde."

In the second edition (1596) the above is spelt as we should now do it, except in having _skie_ and _awrie_.

M.

_Prelates of France_ (Vol. ii., p. 182.).--In answer to a Minor Query of P.C.S.S., I can inform him that I have in my possession, if it be of any use to him, a manuscript entitled _Tableau de l'Ordre religieux en France, avant et depuis l'Edit de 1768_, {253} containing the houses, number of religions, and revenues, and the several dioceses in which they were to be found.

M.

Midgham House, Newbury, Berks.

_Haberdasher_ (Vol. ii., p. 167.).--

"Haberdasher, a retailer of goods, a dealer in small wares; T. _haubvertauscher_, from _haab_; B. _have_; It. _haveri_, _haberi_, goods, wares; and _tauscher_, _vertauscher_, a dealer, an exchanger; G. _tuiskar_; D. _tusker_; B. _tuischer_."

This derivation of the term _haberdasher_ is from _Thomson's Etymons_, and seems to be satisfactory.

_Haberdascher_ was the name of a trade at least as early as the reign of Edward III.; but it is not easy to decide what was the sort of trade or business then carried on under that name. Any elucidation of that point would be very acceptable.

D.

"_Rapido contrarius orbi_" (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--No answer having appeared to the inquiry of N.B., it may be stated that, in Hartshorne's _Book-Rarities of Cambridge_, mention is made of a painting, in Emanuel College, of "Abp. Sancroft, sitting at a writing-table with arms, and motto, _Rapido contrarius orbi_. P.P. Lens, F.L."

Brayley, in his _Concise Account of Lambeth Palace_, describes a portrait, in the vestry, of "A young man in a clerical habit, or rather that of a student, with a motto beneath, 'Rapido contrarium orbo'" (whether the motto, as thus given, is the printer's or the painter's error does not appear), "supposed to be Abp. Sancroft when young.--Date 1650."

G.A.S.

_Robertson of Muirtown_ (Vol. ii., p. 135.).--C.R.M. will find a pedigree of the family of Robertson of _Muirton_ in a small duodecimo entitled:

"The History and Martial Atchievements of the Robertsons of Strowan. Edinburgh: printed for and by Alex. Robertson in _Morison's_ Close; where Subscribers may call for their copies."

The date of publication is not given; I think, however, it must have been printed soon after 1st January 1771, which is the latest date in the body of the work.

The greater portion of the volume is occupied with the poems of Alexander Robertson of Strowan who died in 1749.

A.R.X.

Paisley.

"_Noli me tangere_" (Vol. ii., p. 153.)--The following list of some of the painters of this subject may assist B.R.:--

_Timoteo delle Vite_--for St. Angelo at Cogli.

_Titian_--formerly in the Orleans collection, and engraved by N. Tardieu, in the Crozat Gallery.

_Ippolito Scarsella_ (Lo Scarsellino)--for St. Nicolo Ferrara.

_Cristoforo Roncalli_ (Il Cav. delle Pomarance)--for the Eremitani at St. Severino.

_Lucio Massari_--for the Celestini, Bologna.

_Francesco Boni_ (Il Gobbino)--for the Dominicani, Faenza.

I.Z.P.

_Clergy sold for Slaves_ (Vol. ii., p. 51.),--MR. SANSOM will find in the _Cromwellian Diary of Thomas Burton_, iv. 255. 273. 301-305., ample material for an answer to his question respecting the sale of any of the loyal party for slaves during the rebellion.

There is no evidence of any _clergymen_ having been sold as slaves to Algiers or Barbadoes. Drs. Beale, Martin, and Sterne, heads of colleges, were threatened with this outrage (see _Querela Cantabrigiensis_ appended to the _Mercurius Rusticus_ p. 184). In the life of Dr. John Barwick, one of the authors of the _Querela_ (in the Eng. transl. p. 42.), the story is thus told:

"The rebels at that time threatened some of their greatest men and most learned heads (such as Dr William Beale, Dr. Edward Martin, and Dr. Richard Sterne) transportation into the isles of America, or even to the barbarian Turks: for these great men, and several other very eminent divines, were kept close prisoners in a ship on the Thames, under the hatches, almost killed with stench, hunger, and watching; and treated by the senseless mariners with more insolence than if they had been the vilest slaves, or had been confined there for some infamous robbery or murder. Nay, one Rigby, a scoundrel of the very dregs of the parliament rebels, did at that time expose these venerable persons to sale, and _would actually have sold them for slaves, if any one would have bought them_."

In a note, it is added that Rigby moved twice in the Long Parliament,

"That those lords and gentlemen who were prisoners, should be sold as slaves to Argiere, or sent to the new plantations in the West Indies, because he had contracted with two merchants for that purpose."

Col. Rigby, so justly denounced by Barwick, sat in the Long Parliament for the borough of Wigan, and in the Parliarment of 1658-9 represented Lancashire. He was a native of Preston, was bred to the law, and held a colonel's rank in the parliamentary army. He was one of the committee of sequestrators for Lancashire, served at the siege of Latham House, and in 1649 was created Baron of the Exchequer, but was superseded by Cromwell.

Calamy, the historian and chaplain of the Nonconformists, treated Walker's statement quoted by MR. SANSOM as a fiction, and advised him to expunge the passage. See his _Church and Dissenters compared as to Persecution_, 1719, pp. 40, 41.

A.B.R.

_North Side of Churchyards_ (Vol. ii., pp. 55. 189).--One of your writers has recently endeavoured to explain the popular dislike to burial on the north side of the church, by reference to the place of the churchyard cross, the sunniness, and the greater resort of the people to the south. {254} These are not only meagre reasons, but they are incorrect.

The doctrine of regions was coeval with the death of Our Lord. The east was the realm of the oracles; the especial Throne of God. The west was the domain of the people; the Galilee of all nations was there. The south, the land of the mid-day, was sacred to things heavenly and divine. The north was the devoted region of Satan and his hosts; the lair of demons, and their haunt. In some of our ancient churches, over against the font, and in the northern walls, there was a devil's door.

It was thrown open at every baptism for the escape of the fiend, and at all other seasons carefully closed. Hence came the old dislike to sepulture at the north.

R.S. HAWKER.

Morwenstow, Cornwall.

_Sir John Perrot_ (Vol. ii., p. 217.).--This Query surprises me. Sir John Perrot was not governor of Ireland _in the reign of Henry VIII._, and your correspondent E.N.W. is mistaken in his belief that Sir John was _beheaded_ in the reign of Elizabeth. He was convicted of treason 16th June, 1592, and died in the Tower in September following. In the _British Plutarch_, 3rd edit., 1791, vol. i. p. 121., is _The Life of Sir John Perrot_. The authorities given are Cox's _History of Ireland; Life of Sir John Perrot_, 8vo., 1728; _Biographia Britannica_; Salmon's _Chronological History_; to which I may add the following references:--

Howell's _State Trials_, i. 1315; Camden's _Annals_; Naunton's _Fragmenta Regalia_; Lloyd's _State Worthies_; Nash's _Worcestershire_; Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, iii. 297.; Strype's _Annals_, iii. 337, 398-404.; _Stradling Letters_, 48-50.; Nare's _Life of Lord Burghley_, iii. 407.; _Fourth Report of Deputy Keeper of Public Records_, Appendix, ii. 281. Dean Swift, in his _Introduction to Polite Conversation_, says,--

"Sir John Perrot was the first man of quality whom I find upon the record to have sworn by _God's wounds_. He lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was supposed to be a natural son of Henry VIII., who might also have been his instructor."

C.H. COOPER

Cambridge, August 31. 1850.