Chapter 3

"_Aver._"--_Hogs not Pigs_ (Vol. ii., p. 461.).--In Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, the thin oat-cake (common in many mountainous parts of England) is called "_aver-cake_," or "_haver-cake_." The Loyal Dales Volunteers were surnamed "The Haver-cake Lads." Previously to seeing the Note of G.M., I imagined the "aver" to be derived from "avena" (Lat.), "avoine" (Fr.). What _dictionary_ defines "aver" (French) as denoting the _annual_ stock or produce of a farm?

D.2.

E.M., in his Note on J. MN.'s remarks on hogs, mentions that the term _aver_, _averium_, is still used in Guernsey. Is not this word closely connected with the _Eber_ of the German Jägers?

E.H.K.

_Pilgarlic_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.).--Sir John Denham spelt this word _Peel_-garlick--it may be found in one of his _Directions to a Painter_--but the passage in which it appears is scarcely fit for quotation. The George of the couplet referred to was Albemarle, who had been wounded during the fight in the part of his person which Hudibras alludes to when he tells us that one wound there

"hurts honour more Than twenty wounds laid on before."

Denham seems to compare Albemarle's wounded buttocks to a peeled onion! The resemblance (to Denham) would account for his use of the word in this instance; but it is pretty evident that the word was not coined by him. We must, at least, give him credit for a witty application of it.

Carlisle.

_Collar of Esses_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.).--With reference to the suggestion in No. 54., to give examples of effigies bearing the collar, I beg to mention those at Northleigh Church, Oxon. The following extract is from the _Guide to Neighbourhood of Oxford_:--

"In Northleigh church, beneath an arch between the chancel and a chapel, is a fine perpendicular tomb, with two recumbent figures in alabaster,--a knight in armour, with the Collar of SS; the lady with a rich turban and reticulated head-dress, and also with the Collar of SS. The figures are Lord and Lady Wilmot; and attached to the monument are two small figures of angels holding shields of arms; on one is a spread eagle, on the other three cockle shells, with an engrailed band."

JASPER.

_Filthy Gingram_ (Vol. ii., p. 467.).--The name "toad-flax" is evidently put by mistake, in Owen's _Dictionary_, for "toad-stool," a fungus, the _Agaricus virosus_ of Linnæus. The common name in the North of England is "poisonous toad-stool." It is a virulent poison. See * 248. 407, 408., in Sowerby's _English Fungi_.

D.2.

Toad-flax, the yellow _Antirrhinum_, certainly does stink.

C.B.

_The Life and Death of Clancie, by E.S._ (Vol. ii., p. 375.).--There is a copy in the Bodleian Library.

J.O.H.

"_Rab. Surdam_" (Vol. ii., p. 493.).--EDINENSIS. gives the above as the inscription on a tomb-stone, and requests an explanation. It is very probable that the stone-cutter made a mistake, and cut "Rab. Surdam" instead of "Rap. Surum," which would be a contraction for "Rapax Suorum," alluding to Death or the Grave. It seems {43} impossible to extract a meaning, from "Rab. Surdam" by any stretch of Latinity.

G.F.G.

Edinburgh.

_"Fronte Capillatâ," &c._ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--The hexameter cited vol. iii., p. 8., and rightly interpreted by E.H.A., is taken (with the slight alteration of _est_ for the original _es_) from "Occasio: Drama, P. Joannis David, Soc. Jesu Sacerd. Antv. MDCV.," appended to that writer's _Occasio, Arrepta, Neglecta_; in which the same implied moral is expressed, with this variation:

"Fronte capillitium gerit, ast glabrum occiput illi."

G.A.S.

This verse is alluded to by Lord Bacon in his Essay on Delays:

"Occasion (as it is in the common verse) turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken; or, at least, turneth the handle of the bottle first to be received, and after the belly, which is hard to clasp."

L.

_Taylor's Holy Living._--I should be obliged by any of your readers kindly informing me whether there is any and what foundation for the statement in the _Morning Chronicle_ of Dec. 27th last, that that excellent work, _Holy Living_, which I have always understood to be Bishop Taylor's, "is now _known_" (so says a constant reader) "not to be the production of that great prelate, but to have been written by a Spanish friar. On this account it is not included in the works of Bishop Taylor, lately printed at the Oxford University Press." I do not possess the Oxford edition here mentioned, so cannot test the accuracy of the assertion in the last sentence but if the first part of the above extract be correct, it is, to say the least, singular that Mr. Bohn, in his recent edition of the work, should be entirely silent on the subject. I should like to know who and what is this "Spanish friar?" has he not "a local habitation and a name?"

W.R.M.

[A fraud was practised on the memory of Bishop Jeremy Taylor soon after his death, in ascribing to him a work entitled _Contemplations of the State of Man in this Life, and in that which is to come_, and which Archdeacon Churton, in _A Letter to Joshua Watson, Esq._, has shown, with great acuteness and learning, was in reality a compilation from a work written by a Spanish Jesuit, named John Eusebius Nieremberg. The treatise _Holy Living and Dying_ is unquestionably Bishop Taylor's, and forms Vol. III. of his works, now in the course of publication under the editorship the Rev. Charles Page Eden.]

_Portrait of Bishop Henchman_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--Your correspondent Y.Y. is informed, that there is in the collection of the Earl of Clarendon, at the Grove, a full-length portrait of Bishop Henchman, by Sir Peter Lely. This picture, doubtless, belonged to the Chancellor Clarendon. Lord Clarendon, in his _History of the Rebellion_, b. xiii. (vol. vi. p. 540. ed. Oxford, 1826), describes the share which Dr. Henchman, then a prebendary of Salisbury, had in facilitating the escape of Charles II., after the battle of Worcester. Dr. Henchman conducted the king to a place called Heale, near Salisbury, then belonging to Serjeant Hyde, afterwards made chief justice of the King's Bench by his cousin the chancellor.

L.

_Lines attributed to Charles Yorke_ (Vol. ii., p. 7.).--The editor of Bishop Warburton's _Literary Remains_ is informed, that the lines transcribed by him, "Stript to the naked soul," &c., have been printed lately in a work entitled _The Sussex Garland_, published by James Taylor, formerly an eminent bookseller at Brighton, but now removed to Newick, Sussex. The lines appear to have been written on Mrs. Grace Butler, who died at Rowdel, in Sussex, in the 86th year of her age, by Alexander Pope, but, according to Taylor, not inserted in any edition of Pope's works. The lines will be found in the 9th and 10th Nos. of _The Sussex Garland_, p. 285., under "Warminghurst."

W.S.

Richmond, Surrey.

_Rodolph Gualter_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--

"Rodolph Gualter naquit à Zurich en 1519, et y mourut en 1586. Il fit ses études dans sa ville natale, à Lausanne, à Marbourg, et en Angleterre. Rodolph, son fils, mort en 1577, avait fait de très bonnes études à Genève, en Allemagne, et à l'université d'Oxford."

The above I have extracted from the account of him given in the _Biographie Universelle_, which refers as authority to "J.B. Huldrici Gualtherus redivivus seu de vita et morte Rod. Gualtheri oratio, 1723," in the Biblioth. Bremens., viii. p. 635. In this memoir I find it stated:

"quod Gualtherus noster unà cum Nicolao Partrigio Anglo in Angliam iter suscepit. Quatuor illud mensibus et aliquot diebus finitum est, inciditque in annum seculi trigesimum."

But neither in this, nor in the account of his life by Melchior Adam, nor in that contained in Rose's _Biographical Dictionary_, can I find any trace of the opinion that he was a Scotchman; and as Huldricus was himself a professor in the Athenæum at Zurich, he would probably be correctly informed on the subject.

TYRO.

Dublin.

_"Annoy" used as a Noun_ (Vol. ii., p. 139.).--Your correspondent CH. will find three good instances of the use of the word _annoy_ as a noun (in addition to the lines cited by him from Wordsworth) by Queen Elizabeth, George Gascoigne, and Mr. Keble:

"The doubt of future woes exiles my present joy, And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine _annoy_." See Ellis' _Specimens of Early English Poets_, ii. p. 136.

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"And as they more esteeme that merth Than dread the night's _annoy_, So must we deeme our dayes on erth But hell to heauenly joye." _Good morrowe_; see Farr's _Select Poetry, &c._, p. 38.

"High heaven, in mercy to your sad _annoy_, Still greets you with glad tidings of immortal joy." _Christian year_, "Christmas Day."

H.G.T.

_Culprit, Origin of the Word_ (Vol. ii., p. 475.).--See Stephen's _Commentaries on the Laws of England_, iv. 408. note (_p_).

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Dec. 14. 1850.

Passage in Bishop Butler (Vol. ii., p. 464.).--The "peculiar term" referred to by Bishop Butler is evidently the verb "to Blackguard." It is for this reason that he inserts the condition, "when the person it respects is present." We may abuse, revile, vituperate an absent person; but we can only "blackguard" a man when he is present. The word "blackguard" is not recognised by Johnson. Richardson inserts it as a noun, but not as a verb.

L.

_Wat the Hare_ (Vol. ii., p. 315.).--Your correspondent K. asks what other instances there are of _Wat_ as the name of a _hare_? I know of one. On the market-house at Watton the spandrils of an Elizabethan doorway have been placed, taken from some old building in the town. This has a _hare_ on one side, a _ton_ on the other,--a rebus of the town name Watton.

H.H.

_The Letter Yogh_ (Vol. ii., p. 492.).--_Yerl_ for _Earl_, and _yirth_ for _earth_, &c., are, to this day, quite common in Scottish orthoëpy among many of the lower classes.

G.F.G.

_Did Elizabeth visit Bacon at Twickenham Park?_ (Vol. ii., pp. 408. 468.).--To this question your correspondent J.I.D. replies with a quotation from Nicols (edition of 1823), who dates her visit in 1592 or 1593. I had looked into Nichols's first edition (1788) without finding the subject mentioned; and I am now inclined to think, as at first, that it is altogether a misapprehension. Sir Francis Bacon, in _His Apologie in Certaine Imputations concerning the late Earl of Essex, written to the Right Hon. his very Good Lord the Earle of Devonshire, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland_. Lond. 1604, in 16mo. pp. 74., says, at p. 32.:--

"A little before that time, being about the middle of Michaelmas terme, her Maiestie had a purpose to dine at my Lodge at Twickna[m] Parke, at which time I had (though I professe not to be a poet) prepared a Sonnet, directly tending and alluding to draw on her Maiesties reconciliation to my Lord," &c. &c.

This I conceive to have reference to an intention of Elizabeth, rather than to an accomplished fact.

At p. 14. of this work, Bacon says he had sold Twickenham park some time ago to Reynold Nicholas. I consider Lysons to have been the first author who mentions the subject and at _Environs_, vol. iii. (1795), p. 565., there is a note: "From the information of the Earl of Orford." And I therefore conclude it to have been some mistake of Lord Orford's.

YOUR FORMER CORRESPONDENT.

Dec. 27. 1850.

_Mock-Beggar_ (Vol. ii., p. 478.).--The origin of this term was discussed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1840. Two localities so called were cited (vol. xiv. p. 114.), with the opinion of Sir William Burrell, that some buildings so named at Brighton had been "a mendicant priory." Another writer (p. 331.) suggested that the term was applied to country houses when deserted or unoccupied; or to rocks, as one near Bakewell, where the semblance of a ham might attract a wayfarer from the high road, only to deceive his expectations of relief.

J.G.N.

_Cardinal Chalmers_ (Vol. ii., p. 493.).--The insignia mentioned by your correspondent S.P., in No. 60, are very common among Roman Catholic ecclesiastics on the Continent, and are frequently to be seen on tombs. The hat and tassels are appropriated to Notaries Apostolic of the Holy Roman See, as well as to Cardinals and the dignity having some privileges attached to it, it is sought after by ecclesiastics of standing.

HYDE CLARKE.

_Binsey, God help me!_ (Vol. i., p. 247.).--I remember the _same_ words respecting the village of Binsey, half-way between Oxford and Godstow. During the winter and spring months it was nearly all under water, like Port Meadow, on the opposite side of the river: so if you asked a Binseyite in winter where he came from, the answer was as above; if in summer, "Binsey, where else?"

CHAS. PASLAM.

_Midwives Licensed_ (Vol. ii., p. 408.).--On this subject I would refer S.P.H.T. to Burn's _Ecclesiastical Law_, under the head of "Midwives," which is all nearly that can be ascertained at present on that head. Among other things it says in the oath taken of them,--

"You shall not in anywise use or exercise any manner of witchcraft, charm, or sorcery, invocation, or other prayers, than may stand with God's law and the king's."

M.C.R.

_Dr. Timothy Thruscross_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.)--There are frequent notices of Dr. Thristcross, or Thruscross, in Dr. Worthington's correspondence. (See Vol. i. of same, edited for the Chetham Society. Index, voc. "Thristcross.") Dr. Worthington observes, p. 219., "I did love to talk with worthy Mr. Thirstcross, who knew Mr. Ferrar and Little Gidding."

JAS. CROSSLEY.

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_History of Bohemian Persecution_ (Vol. ii., p. 358.).--See note to Worthington's _Diary and Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 154., for a notice of this work of Comenius, and his other publications relating to the Bohemian church.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

"_Earth has no Rage_" (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--

"Earth has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, And hell no fury like a woman scorn'd."

These are the concluding lines of Act III. of Congreve's _Mourning Bride_. They stand, however, thus, in the edition to which I have referred:

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorn'd."

JAS. CROSSLEY.

Manchester, 11. Jan. 1851.

_Couplet in De Foe_ (vol. ii., p. 310.).

"Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, And good men wicked liberties despise."

The couplet is altered from the following couplet in De Foe's _True Born Englishman_:--

"Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, But Englishmen do all restraint despise."

See collection of his writings, vol. i. p. 20., edit. 1703.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Private memoirs of Queen Elizabeth_ (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--"_The Secret History of the most renowned Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex_. In two parts. By a person of Quality. Cologne: printed for Will with the Wisp, at the Sign of the Moon in the Ecliptick. M.D.CLXXXI."--is the title of a small volume in my possession, containing some curious hints corroborative of the first part of Mr. Ives' MS. note mentioned in "NOTES AND QUERIES" (Vol. iii. p. 11.). If this be the book to which your correspondent, J.E.C., refers in your last number, he is perfectly welcome to the perusal of my copy.

WILLIAM J.D. ROPER.

Vane House, Hampstead, Jan. 18. 1851.

_Abbot's House at Buckden_ (Vol. ii., p. 494.).--MR. C.H. COOPER asks, "will M.C.R. explain his allusion to the Abbot's House at Buckden?" Being only an occasional visitor there, I can give no other explanation than it is universally called so by the inhabitants of the place. The house is very low-roomed, and only one story high; it has been compoed over, so that there is nothing very ancient in the look of the brickwork, excepting the chimneys, which form a cluster in the centre. The door I mentioned, evidently is an ancient one. A good deal of iron about it, and in square compartments.

When I was there recently, I was informed of a discovery in a public-house _formerly_ called the Lion--now, the _Lamb_. A gentleman in the place came into possession of some pamphlets respecting Buckden; in one of which it is said, that this house was originally the hostel where the visitors and domestics used to go when the bishop had not room at the palace for them, and that it would be found there was an "Agnus Dei" in the ceiling of one of the lower rooms. The consequence was, search was made for it: and what seemed a plain boss, where two beams crossed each other, on being cleansed and scraped, turned out to be as the book said, and which I saw only last week. The clergyman has the pamphlet above alluded to. Whether this, and the abbot's house, belonged to the palace I cannot say. The road now runs between them.

The "Agnus Dei" is seven or eight inches in diameter; the lamb, &c., in the centre, and the words "Ecce Agnus Dei" in a circular border round it.

This is all the information I can now give.

M.C.R.

_Bab in the Bowster_ (Vol. ii., p. 518.).--In your valuable periodical your correspondent "MAC." makes an observation regarding "Bab in the Bowster," which is not correct so far as regards this part of the country at least. He says "it is now danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion," whereas the fact is I have never seen it danced but with a pillow, as its name "Bab in the Bowster (Anglice bolster)" would seem to denote. The manner of dancing it is, the company having formed itself into a circle, one, either male or female, goes into the centre, carrying a pillow, and dances round the circle with a sort of shuffling quick step, while the others sing,--

"Wha learn'd you to dance, you to dance, you to dance, Wha learn'd you to dance, Bab in the Bowster brawly?"

To which the dancer replies:

"Mother learn'd me to dance, me to dance, me to dance, Mother learn'd me to dance, Bab in the Bowster brawly."

He or she then lays down the pillow before one of the opposite sex, when they both kneel on it and kiss; the person to whom the pillow has been presented going over the above again, &c, till the company tires.

I may add that the above is a favourite dance here, particularly among young people, and at children's parties in particular it is never omitted. If your correspondent wishes the air to which it is danced, I shall be glad to send it to him.

GLENIFFER.

Paisley.

_Sir Cloudesley Shovel_ (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--"H.J." will find a "Note" in Cunningham's _Lives of Eminent Englishmen_ (vol. iv. p. 47.), of the circumstances attendant upon Sir Cloudesley's death, as preserved in the family of the Earl of Romney, detailing the fact of his murder, and the mode of {46} its discovery. I shall be happy to supply your correspondent with an extract, if he has not the above work at hand.

J.B. COLMAR.

_Noli me tangere_ (Vol. ii., p. 153.).--In addition to the painters already enumerated as having treated this subject, the artist Le Sueur, commonly called the Raphael of France, may be mentioned. In his picture, the figures are somewhat above half nature.

W.J. MERCER.

_Cad_ (Vol. i., p.250.).--Jamieson derives this word, or rather its Scotch diminutive, "cadie," from the French, _cadet_. I have heard it fancifully traced to the Latin "cauda."

W.J. MERCER.

* * * * *

MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Mr. Disraeli's work, entitled _Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the First_, has been pronounced by one of the great critical authorities of our own days, "the most important work" on the subject that modern times have produced. Those who differ from Mr. Disraeli's view of the character of the king and the part he played in the great drama of his age may, in some degree, dissent from this eulogy. None will, however, deny that the work, looking to its anecdotical character, and the great use made in it of sources of information hitherto unemployed, is one of the most amusing as well as interesting histories of that eventful period. While those who share with the editor, Mr. B. Disraeli, and many reflecting men, the opinion that in the great questions which are now agitating the public mind, history is only repeating itself; and that the "chapters _on the Genius of the Papacy; on the Critical Position of our earlier Protestant Sovereigns with regard to their Roman Catholic Subjects_, from the consequences of the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy; _on the Study of Polemical Divinity prevalent at the commencement of the Seventeenth Century_, and kindred themes, are, in fact, the history of the events, the thoughts, the passions, and the perplexities of the present agitated epoch," will agree that the republication of the work at this moment is at once opportune and acceptable.

We have received a copy of Dr. Rimbault's _Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: a Collection of Old Ballad Tunes, chiefly from rare MSS. and Early printed Books, deciphered from the obsolete Notation, and harmonized and arranged according to Modern Usage_. If any thing could add to the extensive popularity which Percy's work has continued to enjoy ever since its first appearance, (for have we not Washbourne's handsome reprint of it, published within this year or two?) it must be the quaint and racy melodies, the "old antique strains," to which these fine old ballads were anciently sung. Dr. Rimbault, who combines great musical acquirements with a rich store of antiquarian knowledge, in giving us these, has produced a work as carefully executed as it is original in its character; one which can only be exceeded in interest by the _Musical Illustrations of Shakspeare's Plays_, which we are glad to see promised from the same competent authority.

We are at length enabled to announce that _The Treatise on Equivocation_, so often referred to in our columns, is about to be published under the editorship of Mr. Jardine, whose attention has long been directed to it from its connexion with the Gunpowder Conspiracy; and whose intimate acquaintance with that subject, as shown in his _Criminal Trials_, is a sufficient pledge for his ability to do justice to this curious and important historical document.

We regret to learn, from the _Catalogue of the Museum of Mediæval Art, collected by the late Mr. Cottingham_, which has been very carefully drawn up, with a preface by Mr. Shaw, that, if the Family are disappointed in disposing of the Museum to the Government, or by private contract, it will be submitted to Public Sale in April next, and a Collection of the most ample and varied examples of Mediæval Architecture ever brought together, which has been formed at a vast outlay both of labour and cost, will be dispersed, and be thereby rendered inaccessible and valueless to the architectural student.

The Rev. W.H. Kelke has published some _Notices of Sepulchral Monuments in English Churches_, a work which is not intended for professed antiquaries, but for that large class of persons who, although they have some taste for the subject of which it treats, have neither time nor inclination to enter deeply into it, and as will, we have no doubt, be very acceptable to those to whom it is immediately addressed.

We regret to announce the death of one of our earliest and most valued contributors, Professor T.S. Davies of Woolwich. "Probably few men in England," says the _Athenæum_, "were better versed in the methods of the old geometers, or possessed a more critical appreciation of their relative merits." His death is a great loss to geometrical science, as well as to a large circle of friends.

We have received the following Catalogues:--Stacey and Co. (19. Southampton Street, Strand) Catalogue of Books chiefly relating to History, Commerce, and Legislation; G. Bumstead's (205. High Holborn) Catalogue of Interesting and Rare Books on the Occult Sciences, America, Asia, &c.

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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.