Chapter 2

_Richard III._ (Vol. iii., pp. 206-7.).--The statement by MR. HARRISON, that Richard was not a "hunchback," is curiously "backed" by an ingenious conjecture of that very remarkable man, Doctor John Wallis of Oxford, in his _Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae_, first published in 1653. The passage occurs in the 2d section of chapter 14, "De Etymologia." Wallis is treating of the words _crook_, _crouch_, _cross_, &c., and says:

"Hinc item _croisado_ de militibus dicebatur ad bellum (quod vocant) sanctum conscriptis (pro recuperanda terra sancta) qui a tergo gestabant formam Crucis; et _Richardus_ olim Rex Angliae dicebatur _crouch-backed_, non quod dorso fucrit incurvato, sed quod a tergo gestare gestiebat formam Crucis."

G. F. G.

Edinburgh.

_Lines by Pope._--On the back of a letter in my possession, written by the poet Gray, are the following lines in the handwriting of his friend Mason:--

"_By Mr. Pope._

"Tom Wood of Chiswick, deep divine, To Painter Kent gave all this coin. 'Tis the first coin, I'm bold to say, That ever Churchman gave to Lay."

"Wrote in Evelyn's book of coins given by Mr. Wood to Kent: he had objected against the word _pio_ in Mr. Pope's father's epitaph."

If these lines are not already in print, perhaps you will insert them amongst your "NOTES" as a contribution from

ROBERT HOTCHKIN.

Thimbleby Rectory, March 13. 1851.

_Origin of St. Andrew's Cross in connexion with Scotland._--John Lesley, bishop of Ross, reports, that in the night before the battle between Athelstan, king of England, and Hungus, king of the Picts, a bright cross, like that whereon St. Andrew suffered, appeared to Hungus, who, having obtained the victory, ever after bore that figure. This happened in 819. Vide _Gent. Mag._ for Nov. 1732.

E. S. T.

_Snail-eating_ (Vol. iii., p. 207.).--Your correspondent C. W. B. does not seem to be aware that "a ragout of boror (snails)" is a regular dish with English _gypsies_. Vide Borrow's _Zincali_, part i. c. v.

He has clearly not read Mr. Borrow's remarks on the subject:

"Know then, O Gentile, whether thou be from the land of Gorgios (England), or the Busne (Spain), that the very gypsies, who consider a ragout of snails a delicious dish, will not touch an eel because it bears a resemblance to a snake; and that those who will feast on a roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel!"

Having tasted of roasted hotchiwitchu (hedgehog) myself among the "gentle Rommanys," I can bear witness to its delicate fatness; and though a ragout of snails was never offered for my acceptance, I do not think that those who consider (as most "Gorgios" do) stewed eels a delicacy ought to be too sever on "Limacotrophists!"

HERMES.

_Snail-eating._--Perhaps you will permit me to remark, in reference to the communication of C. W. B., that snails are taken medicinally occasionally, and are supposed to be extremely strengthening. I have known them eagerly sought after for the meal of a consumptive patient. As a matter of taste, too, they are by {222} some considered quite epicurean. A gentleman whom I used to know, was in the constant habit as he passed through the fields, of picking up the white slugs that lay in his way, and swallowing them with more relish than he would have done had they been oysters.

That snails make a no inconsiderable item in the bill of fare of gypsies, and other wanderers, I proved while at Oxford, some time ago; for passing up Shotover Hill, in the parish of Headington, I unexpectedly came upon a camp of gypsies who were seated round a wood fire enjoying their Sunday's dinner: this consisted of a considerable number of large snails roasted on the embers, and potatoes similarly cooked. On inquiry, I was told by those who were enjoying their repast, that they were extremely good, and were much liked by people of their class, who made a constant practice of eating them. I need hardly say that I received a most hospitable invitation to join in the feast, which I certainly declined.

L. J.

* * * * *

Queries.

HENRY SMITH.

In Marsden's _History of the Early Puritans_ (a work recently published, which will well repay perusal) there occurs (pp. 178, 179.) the following notice of Henry Smith:--

"Henry Smith was a person of good family, and well connected; but having some scruples, he declined preferment, and aspired to nothing higher than the weekly Lectureship of St. Clement Danes. On a complaint made by Bishop Aylmer, Whitgift suspended him, and silenced for a while probably the most eloquent preacher in Europe. His contemporaries named him the Chrysostom of England. His church was crowded to excess; and amongst his hearers, persons of the highest rank, and those of the most cultivated and fastidious judgment, were content to stand in the throng of citizens. His sermons and treatises were soon to be found in the hands of every person of taste and piety: they passed through numberless editions. Some of them were carried abroad, and translated into Latin. They were still admired and read at the close of nearly a century, when Fuller collected and republished them. Probably the prose writing of this, the richest period of genuine English literature, contains nothing finer than some of his sermons. They are free, to an astonishing degree, from the besetting vices of his age--vulgarity, and quaintness, and affected learning; and he was one of the first English preachers who, without submitting to the trammels of a pedantic logic, conveyed in language nervous, pure, and beautiful, the most convincing arguments in the most lucid order, and made them the ground-work of fervent and impassioned addresses to the conscience."

Would it not be desirable, as well in a literary as a theological point of view, that any extant sermons of so renowned a divine should be made accessible to general readers? At present they are too rare and expensive to be largely useful. A brief _Narrative of the Life and Death of Mr. Henry Smith_ (as it is for substance related by Mr. Thomas Fuller in his _Church History_), which is prefixed to an old edition (1643) of his sermons in my possession, concludes in these words:--

"The wonder of this excellent man's worth is increased by the consideration of his tender age, he dying very young (of a consumption as it is conceived) above fifty years since, about Anno 1600."

THOS. M^CCALMONT.

Highfield, Southampton.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Owen Glendower._--Some of your Cambrian correspondents might, through your columns, supply a curious and interesting desideratum in historical genealogy, by contributing a pedigree, authenticated as far as practicable by dates and authorities, and including collaterals, of OWEN GLENDOWER, from his ancestor Griffith Maelor, Lord of Bromfield, son of Madoc, last Prince of Powys, to the extinction of Owen's male line.

All Cambrian authorities are, I believe, agreed in attributing to Owen the lineal male representation of the sovereigns of Powys; but I am not aware that there is any printed pedigree establishing in detail, on authentic date, his descent, and that of the collaterals of his line; while uncertainty would seem to exist as to one of the links in the chain of deduction, as to the fate of his sons and their descendants, if any, as well as to the marriages and representatives of more than one of his daughters.

I have in vain looked for the particulars I have indicated in Yorke's _Royal Tribes of Wales_; in the _Welsh Heraldic Visitation Pedigrees_, lately published by the Welsh MSS. Society, under the learned editorship of the late Sir Samuel Meyrick; and in the valuable contributions to the genealogy of the Principality to be found in the _Landed Gentry_ and the _Peerage and Baronetage_ of Mr. Burke,--a pedigree, in other respects admirable, in the _Landed Gentry_ of a branch of the dynasty of Powys, omitting the intermediate descents in question.

S. M.

_Meaning of Gig-Hill._--Can any of your readers favour me with an explanation of the following matter in local topography? There are two places in the neighbourhood of Kingston-on-Thames distinguished by the name of _Gig-Hill_[3], although there is no indication of anything in the land to warrant the name.

{223}

Are there any instances to be met with where the place of punishment by the stocks or pillory in olden times, was known by that name?

There was a king of Brittany who resigned his crown, and obtained the honours of canonisation as Saint Giguel, in the seventh century. St. Giles, who died about the sixth century, might, perhaps, have had some connexion with those who are traditionally believed to have been punished on the spot; that is, if we judge by his clients, who locate themselves under the sanctity of his name as a "Guild" or fraternity in London.

There is, however, a curious use by Shakspeare of the word gig. It occurs in _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act V. Sc. I.:

Holofernes says,

"What is the figure?"

_Moth._ Horns.

_Holofernes._ Thou disputest like an infant. Go, whip thy gig."

I submit this matter, as local names have often their origin in religious associations or in proverbial philosophy.

It has been suggested that _giggle_, as a mark of the derision to which the culprit was exposed, might so become corrupted.

If the term be connected with the punishment, it would be, doubtless, one of general application. The smallest contribution will be thankfully received.

K.

[Footnote 3: [One of these places, namely, that on the road from Kingston to Ditton, is, we believe, known as Gig's Hill.--ED.]]

_Sir John Vaughan._--In the patent under which the barony of Hamilton of Hackallen, in the county of Meath, was granted on the 20th of October, in the second year of the reign of George I., to Gustavus Hamilton, he is described as son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, Knt., by Sidney, daughter and heiress of Sir John Vaughan, Knt.; and that the said Dame Sidney Hamilton was descended from an honourable line of ancestors, one of whom, Sir Will Sidney, was Chamberlain to Henry II., another of the same name Comptroller of the Household to Henry VIII., &c., &c.

Can any of your genealogical friends inform me who the above-named Sir John Vaughan married, and in what way she was connected with the Sidneys of Penshurst, as the pedigree given by Collins contains no mention of any such marriage?

The arms of Sir John Vaughan, which appear quartered with those of Hamilton and Arran in the margin of the grant, are,--Argent, a chevron sable between three infants' heads coupled at the shoulders, each entwined round the neck with a snake, all proper, thereby intimating his descent from the Vaughans of Porthaml Tretower, &c., in the county of Brecon.

J. P. O.

_Quebecca and his Epitaph._--

"Here lies the body of John Quebecca, precentor to my Lord the King. When his spirit shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Almighty will say to the Angelic Choir, 'Silence, ye calves! and let me hear John Quebecca, precentor to my Lord the King.'"

Can any of your correspondents inform me who John Quebecca was, and where the epitaph may be found?

E. HAILSTURE.

_A Monumental Inscription._--Near the chancel door of the parish-church of Wath-upon-Dearne, in Yorkshire, is an upright slab inscribed to the memory of William Burroughs. After stating that he was of Masbro', gentleman, and that he died in the year 1722, the monument contains the two following hexameters:--

"Burgus in hoc tumulo nunc, Orthodoxus Itermus, Deposuit cineres, animam revocabit Olympus."

The meaning of all which is obvious, except of the words "Orthodoxus Itermus:" and I should be glad to have this unscanning doggrel translated. It has been conjectured that _Itermus_ must be derived from _iter_, and hence that Burroughs may have been a _traveller_, or possibly _an orthodox itinerant preacher_: surely there can be no punning reference to _a journeyman_! The lines have been submitted, in vain, to some high literati in Oxford.

A. G.

Ecclesfield.

_Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs of Charles I._ (Vol. iii., p. 157.).--My friend, who is in possession of the original MS. of this work, is desirous of ascertaining whether the volume published in 1702 be a complete and exact copy of it. I will transcribe the commencing and concluding passages of the MS., and shall be obliged if MR. BOLTON CORNEY will compare them with the book in his possession, and tell me the result.

"S^r,

"By your's of the 22d of August last, I find you have receaved my former letters of the first and thirteenth of May, 1678; and seeing 'tis your further desire," &c.

"This briefe narrative shall conclude with the king's owne excellent expression: _Crowns and kingdoms are not so valuable as my honour and reputation--those must have a period with my life; but these survive to a glorious kind of immortality when I am dead and gone: a good name being the embalming of princes, and a sweet consecrating of them to an eternity of love and gratitude amongst posterity._"

The present owner of the MS. has an idea that an incorrect copy was fraudulently obtained and published about 1813. Is there any foundation for this supposition?

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

_Comets._--Where may a correct list of the several comets and eclipses, visible in France or England, which appeared, or took place, between the years 1066 and 1600, be obtained?

S. P. O. R.

{224}

_Natural Daughter of James II._--James II., in _Souverains du Monde_ (4 vols. 1722), is stated to have had a natural daughter, who in 1706 was married to the Duke of Buckingham.

Can any of your readers inform me the name of this daughter, and of her mother? Also the dates of her birth and death, and the name of her husband, and of any children?

F. B. RELTON.

_Going the Whole Hog._--What is the origin of the expression "going the whole hog?" Did it take its rise from Cowper's fable, _the Love of the World reproved_, in which it is shown how "Mahometans eat up the hog?"

[Sigma].

_Innocent Convicts._--Can any of your readers furnish a tolerably complete list of persons convicted and executed in England, for crimes of which it afterwards appeared they were innocent?

[Sigma].

_The San Grail._--Can any one learned in ecclesiastical story say what are the authorities for the story that King Arthur sent his knights through many lands in quest of the _sacred vessel_ used by our Blessed Lord at His "Last Supper," and explain why this chalice was called the "Holy Grail" or "Grayle?" Tennyson has a short poem on the knightly search after it, called "Sir Galahad." And in Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, book ii. cant. x. 53., allusion is made to the legend that "Joseph of Arimathy brought it to Britain."

W. M. K.

_Meaning of "Slums."_--In Dr. Wiseman's _Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People_, we find the word "slums" made use of with respect to the purlieus of Westminster Abbey. Warren, in a note of his letter on "The Queen or the Pope?" asks "What are 'slums?' And where is the word to be found explained? Is it Roman or Spanish? There is none such in our language, at least used by gentlemen."

I would ask, may not the word be derived from _asylum_, seeing that the precincts of abbeys, &c. used to be an asylum or place of refuge in ancient times for robbers and murderers?

W. M. W.

Stokesley.

_Bartolus' "Learned Man Defended and Reformed."_--Can any one inform the applicant in what modern author this excellent (and he believes rare) book in his possession, translated from the Italian of Daniel Bartolus, G. J., by (Sir) Thomas Salusbury, 1660, is spoken of in terms of high approval? The passage passed before him not long ago, but having _made no note_, he is unable to recover it.--Query, Is it in Mr. Hallam's _Literary History_, which he has not at hand?

U. Q.

_Odour from the Rainbow._--What English poet is it that embodies the idea contained in the following passage of Bacon's _Sylva_? I had noted it on a loose scrap of paper which I left in my copy of the _Sylva_, but have lost it:--

"It hath been observed by the Ancients, that when a Raine Bow seemeth to hang over or to touch, there breaketh forth a sweet smell. The cause is, for that this happenth but in certain matters which have in themselves some sweetnesse, which the Gentle Dew of the Raine Bow doth draw forth. And the like doe soft showers; for they also make the ground sweet. But none are so delicate as the Dew of the Raine Bow, where it falleth. It may be also that the water itself hath some sweetnesse: for the Raine Bow consisteth of a glomeration of small drops which cannot possibly fall but from the Aire that is very low. And therefore may hold giving sweetnesse of the herbs and flowers, as a distilled water," &c.--Bacon's _Sylva_, by Rawley, 6th ed. 1651, p. 176.

JARLTZBERG.

_Tradesmen's Signs._--A CITIZEN wishes to be informed in what year or reign the signs that used to hang over the tradesmen's shop-doors were abolished, and whether it was accomplished by "act of parliament," or only "by the authority of the Lord Mayor." Also, whether there is any law now in existence that prevents the tradesmen putting the signs up again, if they were so disposed.

* * * * *

Minor Queries Answered.

_Supporters borne by Commoners._--Can any of your readers state why some commoners bear supporters, and whether the representatives of Bannerets are entitled to do so? I find in Burke's _Dictionary of Landed Gentry_, that several gentlemen in England, Scotland, and Ireland continue to use them. See Fulford, p. 452.; Wyse, p. 1661.; Hay-Newton, p. 552., &c. &c.

The late Mr. Portman, father of Lord Portman, used supporters, as do Sir W. Carew, Bart., and some other baronets.

GUINEGATE.

[Baronets are not entitled, _as such_, to bear supporters, which are the privilege of the peerage and the knights of the orders.

There are many baronets who by virtue of especial warrants from the sovereign have, as acts of grace and favour, in consideration of services rendered to the state, received such grants; and in these instances they are limited to descend with the dignity only. No doubt there are some private families who assume and improperly bear supporters, but whose right to do so, even under their own statements as to origin and descent, has no legal foundation. "NOTES AND QUERIES" afford neither space nor place for the discussion of such questions, or for the remarks upon a correction of statements in the works quoted.]

_Answer to Fisher's Relation._--I have a work published at London by Adam Islip, an. 1620, the title-page of which bears--

"An Answere to Mr. Fisher's Relation of a Third {225} Conference betweene a certaine B. (as he stiles him) and himselfe. The conference was very private till Mr. Fisher spread certaine papers of it, which in many respects deserved an Answere. Which is here given by R. B., Chapleine to the B. that was employed in the conference."

Pray, who _was_ the chaplain? I have heard he was the after-famous Archbishop Laud.

I pray your assistance in the resolution of this Query.

J. M.

Liverpool.

[This famous conference was the _third_ held by divines of the Church of England with the Jesuit Fisher (or Perse, as his name really was: see Dodd's _Church History_, vol. iii. p. 394.). The first two were conducted by Dr. Francis White: the latter by Bishop Laud, was held in May, 1622, and the account of it published by R. B. (_i.e._ Dr. Richard Baylie, who married Laud's niece, and was at that time his chaplain, and afterwards president of St. John's College, Oxford). Should J. M. possess a copy printed in 1620, it would be a literary curiosity. Laud says himself, that "his _Discourse_ was not printed till April, 1624."]

_Drink up Eisell_ (Vol. iii., p. 119.).--Here is a passage in _Troilus and Cressida_, in which _drink up_ occurs (Act IV. Sc. 1.):

"He, like a puling cuckold, would _drink up_ The lees and _dregs_ of a flat-tamed piece."

The meaning is plainly here _avaler_, not _boire_.

Here is another, which does not perhaps illustrate the passage in _Hamlet_, but resembles it (Act III. Sc. 2.):

"When we vow to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers, thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough, than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed."

C. B.

[We are warned by several correspondents that this subject is becoming as bitter as wormwood to them. Before we dismiss it, however, we must record in our pages the opinion of one of the most distinguished commentators of the day, Mr. Hunter, who in his _New Illustrations_, vol. ii. p. 263., after quoting "potions of eysell" from the sonnet, says, "This shows it was not any river so called, but some desperate drink. The word occurs often in a sense in which _acetum_ is the best representative, associated with verjuice and vinegar. It is the term used for one ingredient of the bitter potion given to our Saviour on the cross, about the composition of which the commentators are greatly divided. Thus the eighth prayer of the Fifteen Oos in the _Salisbury Primer_, 1555, begins thus: 'O Blessed Jesu, sweetness of heart and ghostly pleasure of souls, I beseech thee for the bitterness of the _aysell_ and gall that thou tasted and suffered for me in thy passion,' &c."

Since the above was written, we have received a communication from _An English Mother_ with the words and _music_ of the nursery song, showing that the music does not admit the expressions "eat _up_," and "drink _up_;" quoting from Haldorson's _Icelandic Lexicon_, Eysill, m. Haustrum en Ose allsa; and asking what if Shakspeare meant either a pump or a bucket? We have also received a Note from G. F. G. showing that _eisel_ in Dutch, German, and Anglo-Saxon, &c., meant _vinegar_, and stating, that during his residence in Florence in 1817, 1818, and 1819, he had often met with wormwood wine at the table of the Italians, a weak white wine of Tuscany, in which wormwood had been infused, which was handed round by the servants immediately after the soup, and was believed to promote digestion.]

_Saxon Coin struck at Derby._--In the reign of Athelstan there was a royal mint at Derby, and a coinage was struck, having on the obverse merely the name of the town, Deoraby, and on the other side the legend "HEGENREDES MO . ON . DEORABY." What is the meaning of this inscription?

R. C. P.

Derby, Feb. 26. 1851.

[If HEGENREDES is rightly written, it is the name of a moneyer. MO . ON . DEORABY signifies _Monetarius_ (or Moneyer) _in Derby_. Coins are known with MEGENFRED and MEGNEREDTES, and our correspondent may have read his coin wrongly.]

* * * * *

Replies.

SCANDAL AGAINST QUEEN ELIZABETH.

(Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., pp. 11. 151. 197.)

The Marquis of Ormonde having been informed that certain statements, little complimentary to the reputation of Queen Elizabeth, and equally discreditable to the name of his ancestor, Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, have appeared in "NOTES AND QUERIES," wherein it is stated "that the Ormonde family possess documents which afford proof of this," begs to assure the editor of the journal in question, that the Ormonde collection of papers, &c. contains nothing that bears the slightest reference to the very calumnious attack on the character of good Queen Bess.

Hampton Court, March 17. 1851.