Chapter 3

_Harrison's Chronology._--William Harrison, a native of London, chaplain to Sir William Brooke, Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, composed a _Description of Britain and of England_; and likewise translated Hector Boethius's _Description of Scotland_, from the Scottish version of John Bellenden. Both these pieces are printed in Holinshed's _Chronicles_, 2 vols. fol. 1587. In the prefaces Harrison speaks of a work on _Chronology_, "which I have yet in hand." Has that work ever been printed? I discovered the manuscript of it last year, in the Diocesan Library of Derry, in Ireland; but did not ascertain _who_ was its author (though it bears the name of Harrison), until a few days ago.

H. COTTON.

Thurles, Ireland, Dec. 21. 1850.

_Aristophanes on the Modern Stage._--Can any of your valuable correspondents inform me whether any of the plays of Aristophanes have been produced upon the stage in a modern version; and if so, when, and by whom?

I am inclined to think that some at least of the comedies in the hands of a skilful author might be made entertaining and popular.

The _Acharnians_ and _Peace_, or perhaps even the _Birds_, might form the groundwork of an amusing piece. Should you be able to spare a corner in your valuable periodical for this Query, you would greatly oblige

C. J. R. (2.)

Burton Crescent.

_Drachmarus._--Can any of your readers kindly inform me, under what name "Drachmarus," one of the Schoolmen, is commonly known?

J. SANSOM.

_Strutt's Queen Hoo Hall._--Some years back I purchased of a son of the late Joseph Strutt, a copy of _Queen Hoo Hall_, containing manuscript {106} memoranda by that son relating to his father and to Walter Scott. Amongst other matters it states, that the original manuscript of that romance was submitted to Mr. Scott before it was published, and that he retained it a long time before he published his _Waverley Novels_. Mr. Strutt, jun., accuses him of taking hints and facts from his parent's work. He also stated that the story of the Illuminator in _Queen Hoo Hall_ is mainly an account of the life of his father. The three volumes I gave to my friend and patron, Mr. John Broadly, whose very fine and choice library was sold by auction after his death, with the copy of the work referred to. I am desirous of ascertaining in whose possession these volumes are? I have a beautiful miniature portrait of Joseph Strutt.

J. BRITTON.

17. Burton Street, Jan. 21. 1851.

_Cardinal's Monument_.--Passing into the church of St. Saviour, Southwark, yesterday by the centre door on the south, I observed on a pillar to the right, a sculpture of a cardinal's hat with the usual cord and tassels properly coloured, beneath which was a coat of arms, quartering alternately three lions and three fleur-de-lis. There is no name or date upon it. It would be interesting to know to whom it refers.

J. D. A.

_Names Bacon and Fagan_.--The very curious and interesting information which has come to light in the replies to my Query about the origin of the patronymic BACON, emboldens me to put another question upon the subject.

I have long suspected, but have been unable to prove, that the names Bacon and Fagan were originally one and the same. Bacon, it appears, is a Saxon word, meaning "of the beech tree." Fagan, I presume, is as undoubtedly from the Latin "de fago," "of the beech tree."

The approximation of sound in these names is sufficiently evident. That the letters C and G have been commonly convertible between the Latin and Saxon is without doubt. Query: Have B and F been at all used convertibly? Or can any of your readers, by any other means, strengthen the probability, or prove the truth, of my conjecture?

NOCAB.

_Blunder_.--What is the origin of this word? In Woolston's _First Discourse on Miracles_ (Lond. 1729), at p 28., I find this passage:--

"In another place he intimates what are meant by oxen and sheep, viz., the literal sense of the Scriptures. And if the literal sense be irrational and nonsensical, the metaphor we must allow to be proper, inasmuch as nowadays dull and foolish and absurd stuff we call _Bulls_, _Fatlings_, and _Blunders_."

This would seem to imply that in Woolston's days _blunder_ was the name of some animal; but in no dictionary have I been able to find such a signification attributed to it. The Germans use the words _bock_ and _pudel_ in the same sense as our word _blunder_.

C. W. G.

_Prince of Wales' Feathers._--The establishment of "DE NAVORSCHER" is a matter of great importance to all students of our early history, and the liberal mention of its projectors, to bring under the notice of their countrymen all Queries likely to be answered by them, is one calculated to clear up many obscure points in our early history. Sir H. Nicolas concludes his valuable papers on the Badge and Mottoes of the Prince of Wales (_Archæologia_, vol. xxxi. p. 372.) by expressing his belief that both the former, namely, _the Feathers_, and the mottoes, "_Ich Dien_" and "_Houmout_," were derived from the House of Hainault, possibly from the Comté of Ostrevant, which formed the appanage of the eldest sons of the Counts of that province. Perhaps I may be allowed, through your columns, to invite the attention of the correspondents of "DE NAVORSCHER" to this point.

EFFESSA.

_Portrait of Ben Jonson._--Ritson, the well-known antiquary, possessed an original painting of Ben Jonson. It was afterwards purchased by W. Fillingham, Esq., of the Inner Temple, a gentleman well known for his love of the early drama; and whilst in his possession it was engraved by Ridley in 8vo. What has become of the painting? Can any of your readers point out its locality at the present time?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Robert Burton_, otherwise _Democritus Junior_, the author of that glorious book _The Anatomy of Melancholy_, is stated by Wood to have been born at Lindley, in Leicestershire. Plot, however, in his _Natural History of Staffordshire_, 1686, p.276., gives the place of his birth, Fald, in the latter county; and, furthermore, says he was shown the very house of his nativity. Can any of your correspondents throw any light upon this subject?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Blowen, Origin of the Name._--You have fallen into a very general error in spelling my name (pp. 71. 76.) with the terminal r, "Blower," instead of "Blowen." Perhaps some one of your genealogical readers can inform me of the origin and descendants of the family with this scarce name, thus spelt, "Blowen." Are we a branch of the Blowers (as you appear to think we must be), that useful family of alarmists, whose services in early times were so necessary? or are we the descendants of the Flanders "Boleyns," Anglicanized "Bloyen?"

Query, Did Anna Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII., ever spell her name so? I need not to be reminded that some lexicographers define "Blowen" to be a rude woman. Query, origin of that appellation, so used?

We have been citizens and liverymen of London from Richard Blowen, who married, at {107} the close of the seventeenth century, the sister of Dr. Hugh Boulter (who became chaplain to George I., and afterwards Lord Archbishop of Armagh).

BLOWEN.

* * * * *

Replies.

TOUCHSTONE'S DIAL.

(Vol. ii., p. 405.; vol. iii., p. 52.)

How is it that Mr. Knight, who so well and so judiciously exposes the absurdness of attempting to measure out a poet's imaginings by rule-and-compass probability, should himself endeavour to embody and identify Touchstone's dial--an ideal image--a mere peg on which to hang the fool's sapient moralizing.

Surely, whether it was a real moving animated pocket watch, that was present to the poet's mind, or a thumb ring dial, is an inquiry quite as bootless as the geographical existence of a sea-coast in Bohemia, or of lions and serpents in the forest of Ardennes.

When Thaliard engages to take away the life of Pericles if he can get him within his "pistol's length," are we seriously to inquire whether the weapon was an Italian dagger or an English firearm? or are we to debate which of the interpretations would be the lesser anachronism?

But your correspondents (Vol. ii., p. 405. and vol. iii., p. 52.) approve of, and confirm Mr. Knight's suggestion of a ring dial, as though it were so self-evident as to admit of no denial. Nevertheless, neither he nor they have shown any good reason for its adoption: even its superior antiquity over the portable time-piece is mere surmise on their parts, unaccompanied as yet by any direct proof. In point of fact, the sole argument advanced by Mr. Knight why Touchstone's dial should be a ring dial is, that "_it was not likely that the fool would have a pocket watch_." Well, but it might belong to Celia, carried away with the "jewels and wealth" she speaks of, and, on account of the unwieldy size of watches in those days, intrusted to the porterage of the able-bodied fool.

When Touchstone said, so very wisely, "_It is ten o'clock_," he used a phrase which, according to Orlando in the same play, could only properly apply to a mechanical time-piece. Rosalind asks Orlando, "I pray you what is it _a clock?_" to which he replies, "You should ask me what time _o' day_; there's no clock in the forest." Again, when Jacques declares that he did laugh "an hour by his dial," do we not immediately recall Falstaff's similar phrase, "an hour by Shrewsbury clock?"

If it shall be said that the word "dial" is more used in reference to a natural than to a mechanical indicator of time, I should point, in reply, to Hotspur's allusion:

"Tho' life did ride upon a dial's point Still ending with the arrival of an hour"

The "dial's point," so referred to, must be _in motion_, and is therefore the hand or _pointer_ of a mechanical clock.

A further confirmation that the Shakspearian "dial" was a piece of mechanism may be seen in Lafeu's reply to Bertram, when he exclaims,

"Then my dial goes not true,"

using it as a metaphor to imply that his judgment must have been deceived.

These are some of the considerations that would induce me to reject Mr. Knight's interpretation, and, _were it necessary to realize the scene between Jacques and Touchstone at all_, I should prefer doing so by imagining some old turnip-faced atrocity in clock-making presented to the fool's lack-lustre eye, than the nice astronomical observation supposed by Mr. Knight.

The ring-dial, as described by him, and by your correspondents, is likewise described in most of the encyclopædias. It is available for the latitude of construction only, and was no doubt common enough a hundred years ago; but it is scarcely an object as yet for deposit in the British Museum.

A. E. B.

Leeds, Jan. 28. 1851.

The Ring Dial, perhaps the most elegant in principle of all the forms of sun dial, has not, I think, fallen into greater disuse than have sun dials of other constructions. To describe, in this place, a modern ring dial, and the method of using it, would be useless: because it is an instrument which may be so readily inspected in the shops of most of the London opticians. Messrs. Troughton and Simms, of Fleet Street, make ring dials to a pattern of about six inches in diameter, costing, in a case, 2_l_. 5_s_. They are, in truth, elegant and instructive astronomical toys, to say the least of them; and indicate the solar time to the accuracy of about two minutes, when the sun is pretty high.

Formerly, ring dials were made of a larger diameter, with much costly graduation bestowed upon them; too heavy to be portable, and too expensive for the occasion. For example, at the apartments of the Royal Astronomical Society, at Somerset House, a ring dial, eighteen inches in diameter, may be seen, constructed by Abraham Sharp, contemporary and correspondent of Newton and Flamstead; one similar to which, hazarding a guess, I should say, could not be made under 100_l_. At the same place also may be seen, belonging to Mr. Williams, the assistant-secretary of the society, a very handsome oriental astrolabe, about four inches in diameter, richly chased with Arabic characters and symbols; to which instrument, as well as to modern ring dials, the ring dials described in "NOTES AND QUERIES" (Vol. iii., p. 52.) seem to bear relation. If I recollect right, in one of the tales of the _Arabian Nights_, the barber goes out, leaving his customer half shaved, {108} to take an observation with his astrolabe, to ascertain if he were operating in a lucky _hour_. By his astrolabe, therefore, the barber could find the _time_ of day; _this_, however, I confess I could not pretend to find with the astrolabe in question. Ring dials, as I am informed, are in demand to go out to India, where they are in use among surveyors and military men; and, no doubt, such instruments as the astrolabe above-mentioned, which, though pretty old, does not pretend to be an antique, are in use among the educated of the natives all over the East.

ROBERT SNOW.

I send you the particulars of two brass ring dials, seeing they are claiming some notice from your learned correspondents, and having recently bought them of a dealer in old metals.

7-16ths of an inch wide, 1 and 7-16ths over,

3-8ths wide, and 1½ over,

J. CLARKE.

Easton, Jan. 27. 1851.

* * * * *

WINIFREDA.

(Vol. ii., p. 519. Vol. iii., p. 27.)

Subjoined is a brief notice of the various printed forms in which the old song called "Winifreda" has, from time to time, been brought before the public. I am indebted for these particulars to a kind friend in the British Museum, but we have hitherto failed in discovering the author.

1. The song first occurs as a translation from the ancient British language in D. Lewis's _Collection of Miscellaneous Poems_, 8vo. 1726, vol. i., p. 53., pointed out by your correspondent, MR. HICKSON. (Vol. ii., p. 519.)

2ndly. In Watts' _Musical Miscellany_, vol. vi., p. 198. Lond. 1731; it is with the tune, "Eveillez vous ma belle Endormie," and is called "Winifreda, from the ancient language."

3dly. As an engraved song entitled "Colin's Address;" the words by the Earl of Chesterfield, set by W. Yates, 1752. The air begins "Away, &c."

4thly. In 1755, 8vo., appeared _Letters concerning Taste_, anonymously, but by John Gilbert Cooper; in Letter XIV. pp. 95, 96, he says,--

"It was not in my power then to amuse you with any poetry of my own composition, I shall now take the liberty to send you, without any apology, an old song wrote above a hundred years ago by the happy bridegroom himself."

Cooper then praises the poem, and prints it at length.

5thly. In 1765, Dr. Percy first published his _Reliques_, with the song, as copied from Lewis.

6thly. We find an engraved song, entitled "Winifreda, an Address to Conjugal Love," translated from the ancient British language; set to music by Signor Giordani, 1780. The air begins, "Away, &c."

7thly. In Ritson's printed Songs as by Gilbert Cooper, Park's edition, 1813, vol. i., p. 281., with a note by the editor referring to Aikin's _Vocal Biography_, p. 152.; and mentioning that in the _Edinburgh Review_, vol. xi., p. 37. "Winifreda" is attributed to the late Mr. Stephens, meaning George Steevens.

8thly. In Campbell's _British Poems_, 1819, vol. vi., p. 93., with a Life of John Gilbert Cooper, to whom Campbell attributes the authorship, stating that he was born in 1723, and died in 1769; he was, consequently, only three years old when the poem was printed, which would settle the question, even if his disclaimer had been merely a trick to deceive his friend.

Lord Chesterfield's claim is hardly worth notice; his name seems to have been used to promote the sale of the "Engraven old Song;" and no one can doubt that he would gladly have avowed a production which would have added to his literary fame.

Whether the problem will ever be solved, seems very doubtful; but I am disposed to think that the song belongs to a much earlier period, and that it should be looked for amongst the works of those poets of whom Izaak Walton has left us such agreeable reminiscences; and whose simplicity and moral tone are in keeping with those sentiments of good feeling to which "Winifreda" owes its principal attraction.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End.

_Winifreda_ (Vol. iii., p. 27.).--LORD BRAYBROOKE has revived a Query which I instituted above forty years ago (see _Gent.'s Magazine_ for 1808, vol. lxxviii., Part I. p. 129.). The correspondent, C. K., who replied to my letter in the same magazine, mentioned the appearance of this song in Dodsley's _Letters on Taste_ (3rd edition, 1757.) These letters, being edited by John Gilbert Cooper, doubtless led Aikin, in his collection of songs, and Park, in his edition of Ritson's _English Songs_, to ascribe it to Cooper. That writer speaks of it as an "old song," and with such warm praise, that we may fairly suppose it was not his own production. C. K. adds, from his own knowledge, that about the middle of the eighteenth century, he well remembered a Welsh clergyman repeating the lines with spirit and pathos, and asserting that they were written by a native of Wales. The name of Winifreda gives countenance to this; and the publication by David Lewis, in 1726, referred to by Bishop Percy, as that in which it first {109} appeared, also connects the song with the principality. An Edinburgh reviewer (vol. xi. p. 37.) says that it is "one of the love songs" by Stephens (meaning George Steevens), a strange mistake, as the poem appeared in print ten years before Steevens was born.

I notice this error for the purpose of asking your readers whether many poems by this clever, witty, and mischievous writer exist, although not, to use the words of the reviewer, "in a substantive or collective form?" "The Frantic Lover," referred to in the _Edinburgh Review_, and considered by his biographer as "superior to any similar production in the English language," and the verses on Elinor Rummin, are the only two poems of George Steevens which now occur to me; but two or three others are noticed in Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_ as his productions.

J. H. M.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Did St. Paul's Clock strike Thirteen?_ (Vol. iii., p. 40.).--MR. CAMPKIN will find some notice of the popular tradition to which he refers, in the _Antiquarian Repertory_, originally published in 1775, and republished in 1807; but I doubt whether it will satisfactorily answer his inquiries.

I. H. M.

_By the bye_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--As no one of your correspondents has answered the Query of J. R. N., as to the etymology and meaning of _by the bye_ and _by and by_, I send you the following exposition; which I have collected from Richardson's _Dictionary_, and the authorities there referred to.

Spelman informs us, that in Norfolk there were in his time thirteen villages with names ending in _by:_ this _By_ being a Danish word, signifying "villa." That a _bye_-law, Dan. _by-lage_, is a law _peculiar_ to a villa. And thus we have the general application of _bye_ to any thing; peculiar, private, indirect, as distinguished from the direct or main: as, _bye-ways_, _bye-talk_, &c. &c. In the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, _State Trials_, James I., 1603, are these words:--

"You are fools; you are on the _bye_, Raleigh and I are on the _main_. We mean to take away the king and his cubs."

Here the contradistinction is manifest. Lord Bacon and B. Jonson write, _on_ the _by_; as if, on the way, in passing, indirectly:--

"'There is, _upon_ the _by_, to be noted.'--'Those who have seluted poetry _on_ the _by_'--such being a collateral, and not the main object of pursuit."

This I think is clear and satisfactory.

_By and by_ is quite a different matter. Mr. Tyrwhitt, upon the line in Chaucer,--

"These were his words _by and by_."--_R. R._ 4581.

interprets "separately, distinctly;" and there are various other instances in Chaucer admitting the same interpretation:--

"Two yonge knightes ligging, _by and by_."--_Kn. T._, v. 1016.

"His doughter had a bed all _by_ hireselve, Right in the same chambre _by and by_."--_The Reves T._, v. 4441.

So also in the "Floure and the Leafe," stanzas 9 and 24. The latter I will quote, as it is much to the purpose:--

"The semes (of the surcote) echon, As it were a maner garnishing, Was set with emerauds, _one and one_, _By and by_."

But there are more ancient usages, e.g. in R. Brunne, bearing also the same interpretation. "The chartre was read ilk poynt _bi and bi_:" William had taken the homage of barons "_bi_ and _bi_." He assayed (_i.e._ tried) "tham (the horses) _bi and bi_."

Richardson's conception is, that there is a _subaudition_ in all these expressions; and that the meaning is, by point and by point; by baron and by baron; by horse and by horse: _one and one_, as Chaucer writes; each _one_ separately, by _him_ or _it_-self. And thus, that _by and by_ may be explained, _by_ one and _by_ one; distinctly, both in space or time. Our modern usage is restricted to _time_, as, "I will do so _by and by_:" where _by and by_ is equivalent to _anon_, _i.e._ in one (moment, instant, &c.). And so--

GOOD B'YE.

Bloomsbury.

_Clement's Inn_ (Vol. iii., p. 84.).--This inn was neither "a court of law" nor "an inn of court," but "an inn of chancery;" according to the distinction drawn by Sir John Fortescue, in his _De Laudibus Legum Angliæ_, chap. xlix., written between 1460 and 1470.

The evidence of its antiquity is traced back to an earlier date than 1486; for, according to Dugdale (_Orig._, p. 187.), in a _Record of Michaelmas_, 19 _Edward IV_., 1479, it is spoken of as then, and _diu ante_, an Inn "hominum Curiæ Legis temporalis, necnon hominum Consiliariorum ejusdem Legis."

The early history of the Inns of Court and Chancery is involved in the greatest obscurity; and it is difficult to account for the original difference between the two denominations.

Any facts which your correspondents may be able to communicate on this subject, or in reference to what were the _ten_ Inns of Chancery existing in Fortescue's time, but not named by him, or relating to the history of either of the Inns, whether of Court or Chancery, will be most gratefully received by me, and be of important service at the present time, when I am preparing {110} for the press my two next volumes of _The Judges of England_.

EDWARD FOSS.

Street-End House, near Canterbury.

_Words are men's daughters_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--I take this to be a proverbial sentence. In the _Gnomologia_ of Fuller we have "Words are for women; actions for men"--but there is a nearer approach to it in a letter written by Sir Thomas Bodley to his librarian about the year 1604. He says,

"Sir John Parker hath promised more than you have signified: but words are women, and deeds are men."

It was no doubt an adoption of the worthy knight, and I shall leave it to others to trace out the true author--hoping it may never be ascribed to an ancestor of

BOLTON CORNEY.

_Passage in St. Mark_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--Irenæus is considered the best (if not the only) commentator among the very early Fathers upon those words in Mark xiii. 32. "[Greek: oude ho huios?]" and though I cannot refer CALMET further than to the author's works, he can trust the general accuracy of the following translation:--