Chapter 3

J.Z.P. will find a fully satisfactory answer to his Query, in regard to the real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff, on referring to the article headed "Crozier," in the _Glossary of Architecture_. It is there stated, that "the crozier of an archbishop is surmounted by a cross; but it was only at a comparatively late time, about the 12th century, that the archbishop laid aside the pastoral staff, to assume the cross as an appropriate portion of his personal insignia." From which it may be inferred, that the only existent real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff is, that the former is surmounted by a cross, and the latter is as it was before the 12th century, viz., surmounted by "a head curled round something in the manner of a shepherd's crook;" and the difference in regard to their use, that the crozier pertains to the archbishops, and the pastoral staff to the bishops.

R.W. ELLIOT

Cheltenham, Sept. 16. 1850.

* * * * *

PARSONS, THE STAFFORDSHIRE GIANT.

(Vol. ii., p. 135.)

Harwood's note in Erdeswick's _Staffordshire_, quoted by your correspondent C.H.B., is incorrect, inasmuch as the writer has confused the biographies of two distinct "giants"--WALTER PARSONS, porter to King James I., and WILLIAM EVANS, who filled the same office in the succeeding reign.

The best account of these two "worthies" is that found in Fuller, and which I extract from the original edition now before me:--

WALTER PARSONS, born in this county [Staffordshire], was first apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. He afterwards was porter to King _James_; seeing as gates generally are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that the porter should be taller than other persons. He was proportionable in all parts, and had strength equal to height, valour to his strength, temper to his valour, so that he disdained to do an injury to any single person. He would make nothing to take two of the tallest _yeomen_ of the _guard_ (like the _Gizard_ and _Liver_) under his arms at once, and order them as he pleased.

"Yet were his parents (for aught I do understand to the contrary) but of an ordinary stature, whereat none will wonder who have read what _St. Augustine_ (_De Civitate Dei_, lib. xv. cap. 23.) reports of a woman which came to _Rome_ (a little before the sacking thereof by the _Goths_), of so giant-like a height, that she was far above all who saw her, though infinite troopes came to behold the spectacle. And yet he addeth, _Et hoc erat maximæ admirationis, quod ambo parentes ejus, &c_. This made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary stature. This _Parsons_ is produced for proof, that all ages afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no general decay of mankind in their _dimensions_, which, if there were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than _Pigmyes_, not to instance in a lesse proportion. This _Parsons_ died Anno Dom. 1620."--Fuller's _History of the Worthies of England_, 1662 (_Staffordshire_), p. 48.

"WILLIAM EVANS was born in this county [Monmouthshire], and may justly be accounted the _Giant_ of our age for his stature, being, full two yards and a half in height. He was porter to King _Charles I._, succeeding, _Walter Persons_ [sic] in his place, and exceeding him two inches in height, but far beneath him in an equal proportion of body; for he was not onely what the _Latines_ call _compernis_, knocking his knees together, and going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little; yet made a shift to dance in an antimask at court, where he drew little Jeffrey, the dwarf, out of his pocket, first to the wonder, then to the laughter, of the beholders. He dyed _Anno Dom_. 1630." _Ibid. (Monmouthshire)_, p. 54.

From these extracts it will be seen that the Christian name of Parsons was _Walter_, not William, as stated by Harwood. _William_ was the Christian name of Evans, Parsons' successor. The bas-relief mentioned by the same writer represents William Evans and Jeffrey Hudson, his diminutive fellow-servant. It is over the entrance of _Bull-head Court_, Newgate Street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. On the stone these words are cut: "The King's Porter, and the Dwarf," with the date 1660. This bas-relief is engraved in Pennant.

There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the Royal Collections.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * * {315}

EISELL AND WORMWOOD WINE.

(Vol. ii., p. 249.)

If Pepys' friends actually did _drink up_ the two quarts of _wormwood wine_ which he gave them, it must, as LORD BRAYBROOKE suggests, have been rendered more palatable than the _propoma_ which was in use in Shakspeare's time. I have been furnished by a distinguished friend with the following, among other Notes, corroborative of my explanation of _eisell_:

"I have found no better recipe for making wormwood wine than that given by old Langham in his _Garden of Health_; and as he directs its use to be confined to 'Streine out a _little_ spoonful, and drinke it with a draught of ale or wine,' I think it must have been so atrociously unpalatable, that to _drink it up_, as Hamlet challenged Laertes to do, would have been as strong an argumentum ad stomachum as to digest a crocodile, even when appetised by a slice of the loaf."

It is evident, therefore, that but small doses of this nauseously bitter medicament were taken at once, and to take a large draught, _to drink up_ a quantity, "would be an extreme pass of amorous demonstration sufficient, one would think, to have satisfied even Hamlet." Our ancestors seem to have been partial to medicated wines; and it is most probable that the wormwood wine Pepys gave his friends had only a slight infusion of the bitter principle; for we can hardly conceive that such "pottle draughts" as two quarts could be taken as a treat, of such a nostrum as the _Absinthites_, or wormwood wine, mentioned by Stuckius, or that prescribed by the worthy Langham.

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, Sept. 30. 1850.

_Eisell_ (Vol. ii., p. 242.).--The attempt of your very learned correspondent, MR. SINGER, to show that "eisell" was _wormwood_, is, I fear, more ingenious than satisfactory. It is quite true that wormwood wine and beer were ordinary beverages, as wormwood bitters are now; but Hamlet would have done little in challenging Laertes to a draught of wormwood. As to "eisell," we have the following account of it in the "Via Recta ad Vitam longam, or a Plaine Philosophical Discourse of the Nature, Faculties, and Effects of all such Things as by way of Nourishments, and Dieteticale Observations make for the Preservation of Health, &c. &c. By Jo. Venner, Doctor of Physicke at Bathe in the Spring and Fall, and at other Times in the Burrough of North-Petherton, neere to the Ancient Haven Towne of Bridgewater in Somersetshire. London, 1620."

"Eisell, or the vinegar which is made of cyder, is also a good sauce, it is of a very penetrating nature and is like to verjuice in operation, but it is not so astringent, nor altogether so cold," p. 97.

J.R.N.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Feltham's Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 133.).--In addition to the works enumerated by E.N.W., Feltham wrote _A Discourse upon Ecclesiastes_ ii. 11.; _A Discourse upon St. Luke_ xiv. 20.; and _A Form of Prayer composed for the Family of the Right Honourable the Countess of Thomond_. These two lists, I believe, comprise the whole of his writings. The meaning of the passage in his _Remarks on the Low Countries_, appears to be this, that a person "courtly or gentle" would receive as little kindness from the inhabitants, and show as great a contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble"), among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for their beauty nor their politeness. The words "after Michaelmas" are used because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October." _Bewick's British Birds_, vol. i. p. 43.

T.H. KERSLEY.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

_Harefinder_ (Vol. ii., p. 216.).--The following lines from Drayton's _Polyolbion_, Song 23., sufficiently illustrates this term:--

"The man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sport The _Finder_ sendeth out, to seeke out nimble _Wat_,-- Which crosseth in the field, each furlong every flat, Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found: Then viewing for the course which is the fairest ground, The greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing then in case, And, choycely in the slip, one leading forth a brace; The Finder puts her up, and gives her coursers' law," &c.

In the margin, at the second line, are the words, _The Harefinder_. What other instances are there of _Wat_, as a name of the hare? It does not occur in the very curious list in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, i. 133.

K.

_Fool or a Physician--Rising and Setting Sun_ (Vol. i., p. 157.).--The inquiry of your correspondent C. FORBES, respecting the authorship of the two well-known sayings on these subjects, seems to have received no reply. He thinks that we owe them both to that "imperial Macchiavel, Tiberius." He is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. The saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from Tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to Pompey.

Tacitus says of Tiberius, that he was "solitus eludere medicorum artes, atque eos qui post tricesimum ætatis annum ad internoscenda corpori {316} suo utilia vel noxia alieni consilia indigerent." _Annal_. vi. 46. Suetonius says: "Valetudine prosperrimâ usus est,--quamvis a tricesimo ætatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjumento consiliove medicorum." _Tib._ c. 68. And Plutarch, in his precepts _de Valetudine tuendâ_, c. 49., says--

[Greek: "Aekousa Tiberion pote Kaisara eipein, hos anaer huper hexaekonta [sic vulgò, sed bene corrigit Lipsius ad Tac. loc. cit. triakonta] gegonos etae, kai proteinon iatro cheira, katagelastos estin."]

These passages sufficiently indicate the origin of the saying; but who first gave it the pointed form in which we now have it, by coupling _fool_ with _physician_, I am not able to tell.

The authority for giving the other saying to Pompey, is Plutarch, who says that when Pompey, after his return from Africa, applied to the senate for the honour of a triumph, he was opposed by Sylla, to whom he observed, [Greek: "Oti ton aelion anatellonta pleiones ae duomenon proskunousin,"] that more worship the rising than the setting sun--intimating that his own power was increasing, and that of Sylla verging to its fall. (_Vit. Pomp_. c. 22.)

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

_Papers of Perjury_ (Vol. ii., p. 182.).--In the absence of a "graphic account," it may interest your correspondent S.R. to be referred to the two following instances of "perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime." In _Machyn's Diary_, edited by the accomplished antiquary, John Gough Nichols, Esq., and published by the Camden Society, at p. 104. occurs the following:--

"A.D. 1556, April 28th.... The sam day was sett on the pelere in Chepe iij. [men; two] was for the preuerment of wyllfull perjure, the iij. was for wyllfull perjure, with _paper sett over their hedes_."

In the same works at p. 250., we have also this additional illustration:

"A.D. 1560--I. The xij. day of Feybruary xj. men of the North was of a quest; because they gayff a wrong evyde [nee, and] thay ware paper _a-pon their hedes_ for perjure."

J. GOODWIN.

Birmingham.

_Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury._--Being acquainted with the road to which your correspondent S.H. (Vol. ii., p. 237.) alludes, he will, perhaps, allow me to say, that in the neighbourhood of Kemsing a tradition is current, that a certain line of road, which may be traced from Otford to Wrotham, was the pilgrims' road from _Winchester_ to Canterbury. How far this may be correct I know not.

I have not been able to discover any road in the neighbourhood of this city which goes by the name of the _pilgrims'_ road.

If any of your correspondents would furnish any particulars respecting this road, I shall feel much obliged.

R.V.

Winchester.

_Capture of Henry VI._ (Vol. ii., p. 228.).--In his correction of your correspondent, CLERICUS CRAVENSIS, MR. NICHOLS states:--

"Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington of Brierley, near Barnesley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received 100 marks reward; but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of 100l."

In this statement appears entirely to have been overlooked the grant of lands made by King Edward IV. to Sir James Harrington--

"For his services in taking prisoner, and withholding as such in diligence and valour, his enemy Henry, lately called King Henry VI."

This grant, which was confirmed in Parliament, embraced the castle, manor, and domain of Thurland; a park, called Fayzet Whayte Park, with lands, &c. in six townships in the county of Lancaster; lands at Burton in Lonsdale, co. York; and Holme, in Kendal, co. Westmoreland, the forfeited lands of Sir Richard Tunstell, and other "rebels." So considerable a recognition of the services of Sir James Harrington would seem to demand something more than the second-rate position given to them by your correspondent. The order to give Sir James Harrington possession of the lands under his grant will be found in Rymer. The grant itself is printed in the _Nugæ Antiquæ_, by Henry Harrington, 1775 (vol. ii. p. 121.), and will, I believe, be found in Baines' _Lancashire_. Mr. Henry Harrington observes that the lands were afterwards lost to his family by the misfortune of Sir James and his brother being on the wrong side at Bosworth Field; after which they were both attainted for serving Richard III. and Edward IV., "and commanding the party which seized Henry VI. and conducted him to the Tower."

H.K.S.C.

Brixton.

_Andrew Becket_ (Vol. ii., p. 266.), about whom A.W. HAMMOND inquires, when I knew him, about twelve years ago, was a strange whimsical old gentleman, full of "odd crotchets," and abounding in theatrical anecdote and the "gossip of the green-room." But as to his ever having been "a _profound_ commentator on the dramatic works of Shakspeare," I must beg leave to express my doubts. At one period he filled the post of sublibrarian to the Prince Regent; and that he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature" cannot be a question.

His published works, as far as I can learn, are as follows:-- {317}

1. A Trip to Holland, 1801.

2. Socrates, a dramatic poem, 8vo. 1806.

3. Lucianus Redivivus, or Dialogues concerning Men, Manners, and Opinions, 8vo. 1812.

4. Shakspeare's Himself, or the Language of the Poet asserted; being a full but dispassionate Examin of the Readings and Interpretations of the several Editors, 2 vols. 8vo. 1815.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Passage in Vida_ (Vol. i., p. 384.).--Your correspondent A.W. asks for some light on the lines of Vida, _Christiad_, i. 67.:

"Quin age, te incolumi potius.... ... Perficias quodcumque tibi nunc instat agendum."

He cannot construe "te incolumi." No wonder. Will not all be set right by reading, "Quin age, et incolumi," &c.?

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

"_Quem Deus vult perdere_" (Vol. i., p. 347., &c.).--To the illustrations of the saying "_Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_," which have been given, may be added the following from the _Fragments of Constantinus Manasses_ (edited with _Nicet. Eugen_., by Boissonade. Paris, 1819), book viii. line 40.:--

[Greek: "Ho gar theos aptomenos anthropou dianoias Haenika to dusdaimoni kirnaesi penthous poma, Ouden pollakis sugchorei bouleusasthai sumpheron."]

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College.

_Countess of Desmond_ (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 186.).--R. is referred to Smith's _History of Cork_, and _European Magazine_, vol. viii., for particulars respecting the Countess of Desmond. They show her picture at Knowle House, Kent, or Penshurst (I forget which); and tell the story of the fall from the cherry (or plum) tree, adding that she cut three sets of teeth!

WEDSECNARF.

_Confession_ (Vol. ii., p. 296.).--The name asked for by U.J.B. of the Catholic priest, who, sooner than break the seal of confession, suffered death, is John of Nepomuc, Canon of Prague. By order of the Emperor Wenceslas, he was thrown off a bridge into the Muldaw, because he would not tell that profligate prince the confession of his religious empress. This holy man is honoured as St. John Nepomucen on the 16th of May, in the kalendar of Saints.

D. ROCK.

[U.J.B., if desirous of further particulars respecting St. John Nepomuc, may consult Mrs. Jameson's interesting _Legends of the Monastic Orders_, pp. 214. 217.--ED.]

_Cavell, meaning of_ (Vol. i., p. 473.).--I concur entirely with the etymology of the word _cavell_ given at p. 473. A lake having been drained in my country, the land is still divided into _Kavelingen_; as lots of land were formerly measured by strings of cord, _kavel_, _kabel_, _cable_. Vide Tuinman _Trakkel_, d. n. t. p. 165. _Kavelloten_ is to receive a cavell by _lot._ cf. _Idem, Verrolg_, p. 97.

JANUS DOUSA.

_Lord Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico._--Has Lord Kingsborough's splendid work on Mexican hieroglyphics ever been completed or not?

J.A. GILES.

[This magnificent work has been recently completed by the publication of the eighth volume, which may, we believe, be procured from Mr. Henry Bohn.--ED.]

_Aërostation_ (Vol. ii., p. 199.).--The article BALLOON, in the _Penny Cyclopædia_, would give C.B.M. a good many references. The early works there mentioned are those of Faujas de St. Fond, Bourgeois, and Cavallo; to which I add the following: Thomas Baldwin, _Airopaidia, containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion from Chester, Sept_. 8. 1785. Chester, 1786, 8vo. (pp. 360.).

Vincent Lunardi published the account of his voyage (the first made in England) in a series of letters to a friend. The title is torn out in my copy. The first page begins, "An Account of the First Aërial Voyage in England. Letter I. London, July 15. 1784." (8vo. pp. 66 + ii. with a plate.) It ends with a poetical epistle to Lunardi by "a gentleman well known in the literary world" (query, the same who is thus cited in our day?) from which the following extracts are taken as a specimen of the original balloon jokes:--

"The multitude scarcely believed that a man, With his senses about him could form such a plan, And thought that as Bedlam was so very nigh, You had better been there than turned loose in the sky.

* * * * *

"In their own way of thinking, all felt and all reasoned, Greedy aldermen judged that your flight was ill-seasoned, That you'd better have taken a good dinner first, Nor have pinched your poor stomach by hunger or thirst.

"In perfect indifference the beau yawned a blessing, And feared before night that your hair would want dressing; But the ladies, all zeal, sent their wishes in air, For a man of such spirit is ever their care.

"Attornies were puzzled how now they could sue you, Underwriters, what premium they'd now take to do you; While the sallow-faced Jew, of his monies so fond, Thanked Moses he never had taken your bond."

Mr. Baldwin ascended in Lunardi's balloon, the latter being present at the start, though not taking part in the voyage.

M.

_Concolinel_ (Vol. ii., p. 217.).--I have been many years engaged in researches connected with {318} the _original_ music of Shakspeare's Plays, but it has not been my good fortune to meet with the air of _Concolinel_. The communication of your correspondent R. is of the greatest interest, and I should be for ever grateful if he would allow me to see the manuscript in question, in order that I might test the _genuineness_ of the air "stated, in a recent hand, to be the tune of _Concolinel_ mentioned by Shakspeare."

This air has double claims on our attention, as its existence, in any shape, is placed amongst the "doubtful" points by the following note extracted from the Rev. J. Hunter's _New Illustrations of Shakspeare_, vol. i. p. 268.:--

"Concolinel. In the absence of any thing like sufficient explanation or justification of this word, if word it is, I will venture to suggest the possibility that it is a corruption of a stage direction, _Cantat Ital._, for _Cantat Italicé_; meaning that here Moth sings an Italian song. It is quite evident, from what Armado says, when the song was ended, 'Sweet air!' that a song of some sort was sung, and one which Shakespeare was pleased with, and meant to praise. If Moth's song had been an English song, it would have been found in its place as the other songs are."

I, for one, cannot subscribe to Mr. Hunter's suggestion that our great poet intended an _Italian_ song to be sung in his play and for this reason, that Italian music for a _single voice_ was almost unknown in this country in 1597, at which date we know _Love's Labour's Lost_ was in existence. Surely _Concolinel_ is just as likely to be the burden of a song as _Calen o Custure me_, mentioned in _Henry the Fifth_ (Act iv. sc. 4.), of which there is now no doubt.

I may just mention, in passing, that I have discovered the air of _Calen o Custure me_ in a manuscript that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and have ample proof that it was an especial favourite with her maiden majesty. The commentators were at fault when they pointed out the more modern tune of the same name in Playford's _Musical Companion_, 1667.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

S. Augustus Square, Regent's Park.

_Andrewes's Tortura Torti_ (Vol. ii., p. 295.).--On what forms Mr. Bliss's third quotation, which _does_ appear in some shape in Bernard, _De Consid. ad Eugen._, iii. 4. 18., the _Bibliotheca Juridica_, &c., of Ferraris observes, under the head of _Dispensatio_: "Hinc dispensatio sine justa causa non dispensatio sed dissipatio dicitur communiter a doctoribus, ut observant et tenent Sperell;" then referring to several Romish canonists, &c., the last being Reiffenstuel, lib. i., _Decretal_, tit. 2., n. 450., of which I give the full reference, his volumes being accessible in the British Museum, if not elsewhere.

NOVUS.

_Swords worn in Public_ (Vol. ii., p. 218.)--A very respected and old friend of mine, now deceased, used to relate that he had often seen the celebrated Wilkes, of political notoriety, walking in the public streets, dressed in what is usually termed court dress, wearing his sword. Wilkes died in 1797. In connexion with this subject it may be interesting to your readers to know that in 1701 it was found necessary to prohibit footmen wearing swords. An order was issued by the Earl Marshal in that year, declaring that--