Chapter 3

In v. 3. [Greek: puriô] is the word properly applied to steaming in a vapour-bath; and [Greek: temachos] or [Greek: temachôn] is a slice or cutlet of fish. (See Aristoph. _Nub._ 339.) In v. 4. [Greek: kaminos] must not be rendered "chimney". It is a furnace or oven, and not even a stove or hearth, as Scott and Liddell remark in v. The ancient Greeks, and probably the Romans likewise, were unacquainted with chimneys. (See Beckmann, _Hist. of Inventions_, art. "Chimneys," and Smith's _Dict. of Greek and Rom. Ant._, art. "House".) The meanings of the Latin word _caminus_ are explained by Beckmann (_Ib._, vol. i. p. 301. ed. Bohn). The short poem of [Greek: kaminos ê keramis], attributed to Homer (_Epig._ 14.), illustrates the meaning of the word [Greek: kaminos]. In these verses it is a furnace used for baking pottery.

Crobylus was not earlier than Olymp. 114. B. C. 324. (See Meineke, _Ib._, vol. i. p. 490.)

L.

{466}

* * * * *

ANTIQUITAS SÆCULI JUVENTUS MUNDI.

(Vol. ii., pp. 218. 350. 295.).

The aphorism, "Antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," which occurs in the _Treatise de Augm. Scient._, vol. viii. p. 39., and in the _Advancement of Learning_, vol. ii. p. 46., ed. Montagne, may be safely attributed to Lord Bacon himself, though it is printed in both passages in the form of quotation, between inverted commas.

In the _Novum Organum_, lib. i. aph. 83, the thought appears in this form:

"De antiquitate autem, opinio quam homines di ipsâ fovent. negligens omnino est, et vix verbo ipsi congrua. _Mundi enim senium et grandævitas pro antiquitate vere habenda sunt_; quæ temporibus nostris tribui debent, non juniori ætati mundi, qualis apud antiquos fuit. Illa enim ætas, respectu nostri, antiqua et major; respectu mundi ipsius, nova et minor fuit."

The pointed and aphoristic form of the thought is due to Bacon; the thought itself has, however, been traced by Dr. Whewell to Giordano Bruno.

"It is worthy of remark, that a thought which is often quoted from Francis Bacon, occurs in Bruno's _Cena di Cenere_, published in 1584; I mean the notion, that the later times are more aged than the earlier. In the course of the dialogue, the Pedant, who is one of the interlocutors, says, 'In antiquity is wisdom;' to which the philosophical character replies, 'If you knew what you were talking about, you would see that your principle leads to the opposite result of that which you wish to infer; I mean, that _we_ are older and have lived longer than our predecessors.' He then proceeds to apply this, by tracing the course of astronomy through the earlier astronomers up to Copernicus."--_Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 361.

The _Advancement of Learning_ was published in 1605, twenty-one years after the Treatise of Bruno. Mr. Hallam (_History of Europe_, vol. iv. p. 92.) treats the thought as the original property of Bacon; and although the first trace of it is to be found in Bruno, there is no improbability in supposing that it occurred independently to Bacon about the same time.

L.

_Bacon's Advancement in Learning_ (Vol. ii., p. 396.).--The writer in "NOTES AND QUERIES" speaks of the English text as being original, and the Latin a version of Lord Bacon's _Instauratio Magna_; is he not mistaken? In reality there were two originals of that work, as we learn from Mallet's account prefixed to the folio edition of Bacon's works in 4 vols. London, 1740, p. xvii. et seq. (vol. first). The first edition was in English, London, 1605, and is to be found in the Bodleian. The Latin, published in 1623, is said by Mallet to be the work of Bacon himself, with the assistance of some friends, after he had enlarged and corrected the original; it is from this that Wats' version is made, which is very exact and faithful to its original. The title-page is engraved on copper by Marshall, with this inscription:

"INSTAVR. MAG. P. I. OF THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROFICIENCE OF LEARNING or the PARTITIONS OF SCIENCES, I[=X] Bookes, Written in Latin by the Most Eminent, Illustrious, and Famous LORD FRANCIS BACON, Baron of Verulam, Vicont St. Alban, Counsilour of Estate, and Lord Chancellor of England, Interpreted by GILBERT WATS, OXFORD: Printed by Leon. Lichfield, Printer to the Vniversity, for Rob. Young and Ed. Forrell, CI[C*]I[C*]CXL."

The passage referred to is at p. 36.:

"Indeed, to speak truly, _Antiquitas seculi juventus mundi_, certainly our times are the ancient times, when the world is now ancient, and not those which we count ancient, _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation backward from our own times."

Now this agrees exactly with Bacon's original Latin in Mallet's edition, vol. i. p. 43., except that ordine retrogrado is not in Italics; but in Bacon's English text (Mallet's edition, vol ii. p. 431.), the coincidence in all respects is complete:

"And to speak truly, Antiquitas sacculi, (_sic_) juventus mundi. These times are the ancient times when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation backward from ourselves."

Wats' version is the more exact of the two.

T.

* * * * *

ALBEMARLE, TITLE OF.

(Vol. ii., p. 442.).

In reply to the question of J., I send you some particulars about _Aumerle_ or Albemarle.

The first Earl of this place, which is the name of a small town or territory in Normandy, was Otho, descended from the Earls of Champagne, and nearly related to William the Conqueror, to whom he fled for protection, having killed a great person in that country, and obtained this earldom and the Isle of Holderness, in Yorkshire, for his maintenance. The title remained in the heirs of Otho till the death of William, eighth Earl of Albemarle, 44th Henry III., when it reverted to the Crown, with the lordship of Holderness, and in the 9th of Richard II. he granted them to Thomas of Woodstock, summoned to parliament as "Thomas, Duke of Albemarle, the king's loving uncle."

Without enumerating the different persons upon whom our kings subsequently conferred this title as often as it became extinct or vacant, it will be sufficient for our purpose to show, that at the Restoration the dukedom of Albemarle was given to General Monk, who, according to Banks (_D. and E. Peerage_, vol. iii. p. 37.), had a certain degree of hereditary pretension to the name {467} by which he was ennobled, inasmuch as he was descended from Margaret, eldest daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick and Albemarle; but this is not satisfactorily made out in Banks' table. At all events, the dukedom became again extinct on the death of Christopher Monk, the second Duke of Albemarle, in 1688, S.P.; but the name was once more revived in 1695-6, by William III., in favour of Arnold Joort Van Keppel, Lord of Voorst, who had attended the king in several campaigns, and was his Master of the Robes, and on the 10th of February in that year created "_Earl of Albemarle in Normandy_;" the title having been doubtless selected as one so frequently enjoyed by persons of the highest consideration, and not in any way resting upon an hereditary claim.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Cromwell Poisoned_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.).--Your correspondent P. T. queries if there be any other statement than that which he adduces respecting Cromwell having been poisoned. I would refer him to the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_ of Anthony à Wood, vol. ii. p. 303.,[2] in which it is stated that Dr. George Bate's friends gave him credit for having given a baneful dose to the Protector, to ingratiate himself with Charles II. Amidst all the mutations of those changeful times, and whether Charles I., Cromwell, or Charles II. were in the ascendant, Dr. George Bate always contrived to be the chief state physician. In Whitelock's _Memorials of the English Affairs_ (1732), p. 494, it appears that the Parliament, in 1651, ordered Dr. Bate to go into Scotland to attend the General (Cromwell), and to take care of his health; he being his usual physician in London, and well esteemed by him. He wrote a work styled _Elenchus Motuum nuperorum in Angliâ_. This was severely scrutinised in another, entitled _Elenchus Elenchi; sive Animadversiones in Georgii Batei, Cromwelli Paricidæ, aliquando Protomedici, Elenchi Motuum nuperorum in Angliâ. Autore Robt. Pugh; Parisiis, 1664_.

Dr. Bate, who died 19th April, 1669, was buried at Kingston upon Thames.

§ N.

Nov. 9. 1850.

[Footnote 2: I allude to the old edition, 2 vols. Lond. 1691-2, folio; not having any other at hand.]

"_Never did Cardinal bring Good to England_" (Vol. ii., pp. 424, 450.).--BERUCHINO is right in his suggestion that Dr. Lingard may accidentally have omitted a reference to the place from whence he really derived this saying; for Hall tells us in his _Chronicle_ (ed. 1809, p. 758.), that

"Charles, Duke of Suffolke, seeing the delay, gave a great clappe on the table with his hande and said, 'By the masse, now I see that the olde saied sawe is true, _that there was never Legatt nor Cardinall that did good in Englande_.'"

Whether Charles Brandon was a reader of _Piers Ploughman_, I know not; but the following passage from that poem proves he was giving expression to a feeling which had long been popular in this country. I quote from Mr. Wright's edition, published by Pickering:

"I knew nevere Cardinal That he ne cam fra the Pope; And we clerkes, whan thei come, For hir comunes paieth, For hir pelure and hir palfreyes mete, And pilours that hem folweth.

"The comune _clamat cotidie_ Ech a man til oother, _The contree is the corseder_ _That Cardinals comme inne_; And ther thei ligge and lenge moost, Lecherie there regneth."

L. 13789--13800.

Mr. Wright observes in a note upon this passage, that "the contributions levied upon the clergy for the support of the Pope's messengers and agents was a frequent subject of complaint in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."

THETAS.

_Gloves not worn in the Presence of Royalty_ (Vol. i., p. 366.).--

"This week the Lord Coke, with his gloves on, touched and kissed the King's hand; but whether to be confirmed a counsellor, or cashiered, I cannot yet learn."--Letter in _Court and Times of Charles I._, dated April, 1625.

W. DN.

_Nonjurors' Oratories in London_ (Vol. ii., p. 354.).--

"Nothing, my lord, appears so dreadful to me, as the account I have of the barefaced impudence of your Jacobite congregations in London. The marching of the King's forces to and fro through the most factious parts of the kingdom, must (in time) put an end to our little country squabbles; but your _fifty churches_ of nonjurors could never be thus daring, were they not sure of the protection of some high ally."--Letter from Bishop Nicholson to Archbishop Wake, dated Rose, Sept. 20. 1716. in Ellis's _Letters_, Series iii.

W. DN.

_"Filthy Gingran"_ (Vol. ii., p. 335).--I have found the following clue to the solution of my Query on this point:--

"Gingroen (gin-croen) _s. f._, the toad-flax, a kind of stinking mushroom."--Owen's _Welsh Dictionary_.

There is, however, some mistake (a high authority informs me) in the explanation given in the dictionary. Toad-flax is certainly not a "mushroom," neither does it "stink." Is the Welsh word applied to both equivocally as distinct {468} objects? In Withering's _Arrangement of British Plants_, 7th edit., vol. iii., p. 734., 1830, the Welsh name of _Antirrhinum Sinaria_, or common yellow toad-flax, is stated to be _Gingroen fechan_.

I must still invite further explanation.

A. T.

_Michael Scott_ (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--A correspondent wishes to know what works of Michael Scott's have ever been printed. In John Chapman's Catalogue for June, 1850, I see advertised

"Michael Scott's Physionomia, Venet. 1532. -------- Chyromantia del Tricasso da Ceresari, 2 vols. in 1, 1532."

H. A. B.

_The Widow of the Wood_ (Vol. ii., p. 406.).--Your correspondent is referred to Lowndes's _Bibliographical Manual_, vol. iii. p. 1868, for some mention of this work. It is there stated that the late eminent conveyancer, Francis Hargreave, the step-son of the lady, "bought up and destroyed every copy of this work that he could procure."

J. H. M.

Bath.

_The Widow of the Wood_, 1775, 12mo., pp. vi. and 208. (Inquired after at Vol. ii, p. 406.)--I have this book. It appears to be a Narrative of Complaint of the widow of "John Wh--y, Esq.," of "Great H-y-w--d" (Great Heywood, near Stafford), against Sir W--m W--y in the same neighbourhood.

THOMAS KERSLAKE.

Bristol.

_Modum Promissionis_ (Vol. ii., pp 279. 347.).--Your correspondent C. H. has not solved my difficulty as to _modum promissionis_. In the hope that he, or others, will still kindly endeavour to do so, I subjoin the context in which it stands:--

"Noluit Jethro legem posteris figere: sed, quoad quietam stationem adeptus esset populus, remedium præsentibus incommodis, atque (ut vulgo loquitur) modum promissionis ostendit."

An old French translation renders it:--

"Il n'a point donc voulu mettre loy pour la posterité: mais seulement remedier aux incommoditez presentes _par maniére de provision_ (comme on dit)," &c.

The general import of the passage is, that Jethro's counsel to Moses, as to the appointment of rulers over the people, was not intended to apply to Canaan, but only to their sojourn in the wilderness.

I do not see how the "formula professionis monasticæ" helps us; unless, indeed, "modus promissionis" were a kind of temporary and conditional vow, which does not appear in Ducange.

C. W. B.

_End of Easter_ (Vol. ii., p. 9).--Should not the end of Easter be considered its octave--Low Sunday?

J. W. H.

_First Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 325.).--There was, in the burying-ground of Kilkenny-West, some thirty-five years or more ago, an old tombstone belonging to the Dillon Family, on which was traced the genealogy of the Roscommon branch from one of the sons of the first earl (if I remember right, the third or fourth), down to a Thomas, who had, I have heard my father say, a son called Garrett, who had issue two sons, Patrick and Thomas. Patrick was always, in that part of the country, _considered the heir_ to this title. Patrick and Thomas had issue, (living or dead I know not), but should imagine dead; as, had they been living, they would no doubt have come forward when the late earl claimed the title, as he claimed it as being descended from the youngest son of the first earl, whereas Patrick and Thomas were certainly the descendants of one of the elder sons of the first earl; and therefore, had the sons of either Patrick or Thomas come forward, it would no doubt have been decided in their favour. On this account, it was several years before the late earl's claim was fully confirmed, as it was thought that some of the descendants of the elder branches might come forward. This would have attracted my attention earlier had I not been abroad.

AN HIBERNIAN.

Mivart's Hotel, London.

_Dryden's "Absolom and Achitophel"_ (Vol. ii. p. 423.).--The passage in _Absolom and Achitophel_ is taken from Fuller's _Profane State_, speaking of Alva:

"He was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it;"

and from Carew, p. 71.,

"The purest soul that ere was sent Into a clayey tenement."

C. B.

_Cabalistic Author_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--"W. C. or twice five hundred." The meaning is very evident. V. signifies five, and C. one hundred. W. is two V's, therefore W. C. twice five hundred.

TERRA MARTIS.

\[ [Another correspondent points out that W. C., the author, may probably be _William_ Cooper the printer.] \]

_Twickenham--Did Elizabeth visit Bacon there?_ (Vol. ii., p. 408.).--

"At Twickenham Park, either in this [1592] or the following year, through the immediate interest of his steady patron, the Earl of Essex, Mr. Francis Bacon had the honour of entertaining Queen Elizabeth, where he presented her with the sonnet in honour of that generous nobleman."--Nichols's _Progresses of Queen Eliz._, 2d ed. iii. p. 190.

J. I. D.

_Legend of a Saint and Crozier_ (Vol. ii., p. 267.)--The incident is related of St. Patrick and one of the kings of Cashel, and formed the subject of the first picture exhibited by James Barry. In the {469} _Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties_, London, 1831, (art. Barry, p. 159.) it is stated that:

"The picture was painted in his twentieth or twenty-first year, on the baptism by St. Patrick of one of the kings of Cashel, who stands unmoved while the ceremony is performed, amidst a crowd of wondering spectators; although the saint, in setting down his crosier, has, without perceiving it, struck its iron point through the royal foot."

ESTE.

_Becket_ (Vol. ii., pp. 106. 270. 364.).--It so happens that, before seeing, MR. VENABLES' communication, with his quotations from the _Monasticon_ (Vol. ii., p. 364), I had taken an opportunity of looking into a friend's copy of that work, and had there found what seems to be a key to the origin of the designation "_St. Thomas of Acon_ or _Acres_." It is stated, in a quotation from Bp. Tanner, that

"The hospital [in Cheapside] consisted of a master and several brethren, professing the rule of St. Austin, but were of a particular order, which was about this time instituted in the Holy Land, viz. _Militiæ Hospitales S. Thomæ Martyris Cantuariensis de Acon_, being a branch of the Templars."--_Monast._ vi. 646.

and the same title occurs in the charter of Edward III. (_ibid._) Now it appears to me that the words _de Acon_ here relate, not to the saint, but to the order which took its name from him; and this view is confirmed by the passage which Mr. VENABLES quotes from _Matthew of Westminster_, as to the foundation of a chapel in honour of St. Thomas, at Acre, in Syria, A. D. 1190. It is easy to suppose that in course of time, especially when the origin of the designation had been cast into the shade by the cessation of the Crusades, and the ruin of the great order to which the brethren of St. Thomas were at first attached, the patron himself may have come to be styled _de Acon_ or _of Acres_: and this seems to be the case in the Act of 23 Hen. VI. (_Monast._ vi. 247.)

Allow me to ask a question as to another point in the history of Becket. Among his preferments is said to have been the parish of "St. Mary _Littory_ or _ad Litters_," which is commonly supposed to mean St. Mary-le-Strand.[3] My friend Mr. Foss, in his elaborate work on _The Judges of England_, contradicts this, on the ground that there was then no parish of that name; and he supposes St. Mary-at-Hill to be intended. Now the words _ad Litters_ would be alike applicable as a description in either case but it appears to me that, if the city church were meant, it would be styled, as it usually is, _ad Montem_, and that _ad Litters_ is Latin for _le Strand_. Was there not then an ancient church so called, until the demolitions of Protector Somerset in that quarter? And is not the common belief as to Becket's parish correct? I ask in great ignorance, but not without having vainly searched some books from which information might have been expected.

J. C. R.

[Footnote 3: We have in the name of this church an answer to A. E. B.'s Query, Vol. ii., p. 396., as to whether the Strand was ever known as _Le Strand_,--the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand.--ED.]

_Aërostation_ (Vol. ii., pp. 199. 317. 380.).--I happen to remember a few old verses of a squib on Lunardi, which may be enough seasoned with the dust of oblivion to interest some of your readers.

"Good folks, can you believe your eyes? Vincenzo di Lunardi Has made a voyage to the skies, That foreigner foolhardy!

"He went up in a round baloon (For moon is luna, Latin), To pay a visit to the moon; A basket-boat he sat in.

"And side by side the moon, he cried 'How do, fair cousin moon? eh!' Through telescopes they were espied, Baloon--Lunardi--Luna.

* * * * *

"When weary on the wing, to perch Once more, and air abandon, Quite apropos he swooped in search Of solid earth to 'Stand-on.'[4]

* * * * *

"Now after all remains to tell How learned Mr. Baker, Set up a _moonstone_ where he fell, And called the field 'wise-acre.'

Perhaps some of your correspondents could supply the remaining stanzas. I fancy there were several more. As far as I can remember, they chiefly related to M. Lunardi's conversation with the moon, which, involving some political allusions, did not so much hit my youthful imagination at the time. When a boy, I have frequently heard my father repeat the lines.

C. J. F.

[Footnote 4: Standon, Herts, where he alighted.]

_Aërostation, Works on_ (Vol. ii., pp. 317. 380.).--If your correspondent who inquires respecting works on aërostation will look into the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ for October 15, he will find an article on that subject, detailing the various attempts made from the time of Montgolfier down to a very recent period.

A still later communication has been made to the world in the French newspaper, _La Presse_, of yesterday's date (Nov. 7th), relating, in terms of exultation, a successful experiment made in Paris by Messrs. Julien and Arnault to steer a machine _against the wind_, in which hitherto impracticable attempt they are said to have completely succeeded at repeated times, and the mechanical {470} means by which they attained their object are detailed.

J.M.

Oxford, Nov. 8.

_Kilt_ (Vol. ii., p. 62.).--Your correspondent [Sigma]. will find some information regarding the introduction of the _kilt_ into Scotland in a volume entitled _Notes to assist the Memory in various Sciences_, 2d edition, London, Murray, 1827. I quote the passage, p. 297.:

"_The Pheliebeg._ Thomas Rawlinson, an iron-smelter and an Englishman, was the person who, about or prior to A. D. 1728, introduced the pheliebeg, or short kilt, worn in the Highlands. This fact, very little known, is established in a letter from Ewan Baillie, of Oberiachan, inserted in the _Edinburgh Magazine_ for 1785, and also by the Culloden Papers."

The writer of that work, and of that _daring_ statement, was, I have been informed, a Scottish military gentleman of the name of Hamilton. This origin of the kilt is also mentioned by Mr. Robert Chambers in his _Life of Duncan Forbes, of Culloden_. See his _Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen_.

SCOTUS SECUNDUS.

Edinburgh, Nov. 22.

_Bacon Family_ (Vol. ii., p. 247.).--The origin, of this surname is to be found, I conceive, in the word _Beacon_. The man who had the care of the _Beacon_ would be called _John_ or _Roger of the Beacon. Beacon Hill_, near Newark, is pronounced in that locality as if spelt _Bacon Hill_.

W. G. S.

_Mariner's Compass_ (Vol. ii., p. 56.).--The "fleur de lis" was made the ornament of the northern radius of the mariner's compass in compliment to Charles of Anjou (whose device it was), the reigning king of Sicily, at the time when Flavio Gioja, the Neapolitan, first employed that instrument in navigation.

O. P. Q.

_Arabic Numerals, Brugsch_ (Vol. ii., pp. 294. 424.).--_Brugsch, Numerorum apud Veteres Ægyptos demoticorum Doctrina. Ex Papyris et Inscriptionibus nunc primum illustrata_. 4to., with five plates of facsimiles, &c., is published in this country by Williams and Norgate, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, where J. W. H. may see it, or whence he may get any information he may require respecting it.

W.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.