Chapter 3

_Baron Munchausen_ (Vol. ii., p. 519.).--As it was nearly thirty years since I had seen the _Percy Anecdotes_, I was obliged to speak doubtfully of {306} having derived from that work the statements that the author of _Munchausen_ was a Mr. "M----," and that he was a prisoner in France. Accident has within the last few days thrown in my way the very volume of the _Anecdotes_ in which this is stated (vol. v., _Anecdotes of Captivity_, p. 103.); and I find that I was mistaken only in supposing "M----'s" place of confinement to have been the Bastile, whereas the time is said to have been the Reign of Terror, and therefore of course the Bastile cannot have been the place.

J. C. R.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Tobacco in the East_ (vol. ii., pp. 155. 231.).--M. D. asks for "chapter and verse" of A. C. M.'s reference to Sale's _Koran_ respecting tobacco.

Had A. C. M. recollected that tobacco (_Nicotiana_) is an American plant, he would hardly have asked whether "_tobacco_ is the word in the original" of the tradition mentioned by Sale in his _Preliminary Discourse_, Sec. 5. p. 123. (4to. ed. 1734.) Happily Reland, whom Sale quotes (_Dissert. Miscell._, vol. ii. p. 280.), gives his authority, the learned orientalist, Dr. Sike, who received the Hadeth at Leghorn from Ibn Saleh, a young Muselman. It says, in good Arabic, that in the latter days Moslims, undeserving of the name, shall drink hashish (hemp), and call it tabak; the last words, "_yukal lehn tabaku_," are no doubt a modern addition by those who had heard of _tambako_ (the Romaic [Greek: tanpakon]). As the use of hashish or _hashishah_ (the herb), more completely _hashishata fukara_, i.e. Monk's Wort, a technical term for _hemp_, chewed as a narcotic by fakirs (monks), was not known till A.H. 608 (A.D. 1211), it could not be mentioned in the Koran unless Mohammed were, as Sale observes, "a prophet indeed." _Tabakak_, a plate, dish, or shelf, is now sometimes used by ignorant persons in the East for _tambako_, of which a complete account is given in the _Karabaden_, or great treatise of Materia Medica in Persian. Of that work, there is a beautifully written copy, made, probably, for the late Mr. Colebrooke, by whom it was presented to the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. I shall conclude by another Query: What is the Greek word transformed by Asiatic scribes into _Karabaden_?

ANATOLICUS.

_Captain John Stevens_ (Vol. ii., p. 359.).--This ingenious man, as to whom your correspondent inquires, was one of the hard-working translators in the early part of the last century. The materials for his biography are very scanty. He was a Roman Catholic, and at the Revolution followed the fortunes of his abdicating master, in whose service he accepted a commission, and accompanied him in the wars in Ireland. He was also employed in several other services, and died October 27, 1726. See _Biographia Dramatica_, vol. i. p. 691., edit. 1812. He is not noticed in Chalmers's _Biographical Dictionary_, though as the continuator of Dugdale's _Monasticon_ he unquestionably ought to have been. Watt gives a list (_Bib. Brit._, vol. i. p. 880.) of his books and translations; but it is, as usual, very defective and erroneous. It does not include his translation of _Don Quixote_, of _Dupin_, of _An Evening's Intrigue_ (1707, 8vo.), and a great number of other works; and it ascribes to him the _History of the Wars of Charles XII., King of Sweden_, London, 1715, which was written, as it needs no great sagacity to discover, by Daniel Defoe, though Chalmers and Wilson have not noticed it.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

_MS. Catalogue of Norman Nobility_ (Vol. iii., p. 266.).--The MS. Catalogue of Norman Nobility referred to in No. 75., a document of great value, is or was in the possession of Sir William Betham, having been purchased by him about six years ago, from Mr. Boone, of New Bond Street.

Your correspondent will find that Odardus de Loges was infeoffed by Earl Ranulph the 1st in the barony of Wigton in Cumberland, in which he was confirmed by Henry I. Bigod, whose name was attached to the charter of foundation of St. Werburg's Abbey, is elsewhere, according to Ormerod, called Robert.

M. J. T.

_Illustrations of Chaucer, No. III._ (Vol. iii., p. 258.).--

"_Fro Venus_ VALANUS _might this palais see._" (or) volant ? Might Venus, _volans_ fro this palais, see. (flying)

[Greek: Phos].

_Comets_ (Vol. iii., pp. 223. 253.).--If your correspondent S. P. O. R. wish to go fully into the history of comets, and be not alarmed at the prospect of three thick folios, through which I have gone, I can assure him, with considerable interest, let me recommend to him _Theatrum Cometicum, Auctore Stanislao Lubienietz Lubieniecio Rolitsio_, Amst., in 2 vols. (but generally bound in three) folio. The first contains an immense correspondence, not merely with astronomers, but with poets, critics, physicians, and philosophers, to whom the indefatigable editor wrote for their opinions on the subject of comets. The second vol. gives a history of comets from the Deluge to 1665, and is a repository of everything bearing upon the subject. From this work Bayle derived his learning, when he wrote his most amusing work on comets.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

_Pope Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 265.).--NEMO will find much information on the question, "Whether Pope Joan ever held the keys of St. Peter?" in Alexander Cooke's _Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist; manifestly proving that a Woman_ {307} _called Joane was Pope of Rome: against the surmises and objections made to the contrary by Robert Bellarmini and Caesar Baronius, Cardinals, Florimondus Raemondus, and other Popish Writers, impudently denying the same_, 4to, pp. 128, 1610. The work was dedicated to the Archbishop of York, and was reprinted in 1625 in 4to., and in French, 1633, 8vo. The author, in his address _To the Popish Reader_, says:

"_I offer unto thee here a discourse touching_ POPE JOANE _(if thou darest read it, for fear of falling into thy Pope's curse), whose Popedome I will make good unto thee, not by the testimonies of_ Pantaleon, _and_ Functius, _and_ Sleidan, _and_ Illyricus, _and_ Constantinus Phrygio, _and_ John Bale, _and_ Robert Barnes, _because thou hast condemned their persons, and their books too, to hell; but by the testimonies of thy brethren, the sonnes of thine own mother; because, as one saith_, 'Amici contra amicum, et inimici pro inimico, invincibile testimonium est.'"

E. C. HARINGTON.

The Close, Exeter.

_Abbot Eustacius_ (Vol. iii., p. 141.).--As J. L.'s inquiry after an abbot of that name has hitherto been unsuccessful, perhaps he would like to know that Eustacia was abbess of the monastery at Shaftesbury (founded by King Alfred), tempore incerto, but probably in the time of Stephen. See Willis's _History of Abbeys_, and a _History of the Ancient Town of Shaftesbury_, p. 21.

BLOWEN.

_The Vellum-bound Junius_ (Vol. iii., p. 262.).--In the Minor Queries of your Number 75., you have kindly inserted my notice on the vellum-bound _Junius_. I beg to state further, that the reason of my being so desirous to procure this copy at the Stowe sale was, that it was not only bound in vellum, but was also _printed_ on that article. If any of your correspondents can inform me of another copy _printed_ on vellum, I should be glad.

W. D. HAGGARD.

Bank of England, April 5, 1851.

_Meaning of Waste-Book_ (Vol. iii., pp. 118. 195. 251.).--Among a list of "the books printed for, and are to be sold by John Hancock, at the sign of the Three Bibles in Pope's-head Alley, in Cornhill," I find _The Absolute Accountant, or London Merchant_, containing instructions and directions for the methodical keeping of merchant's accounts, after the most exact and concise way of debtor and creditor; also a _Memorial_, vulgarly called a waste-book, and a cash-book, with a journal and a ledger, &c., 1670. This is the first reference I have seen to the correct designation of the book, which might have received it vulgar name of _waste_ from wast, the second person of _was_--thus the Memorial or the Wast-book.

BLOWEN.

_Cowdray_ (Vol. iii., p. 194.).--There is a misprint here of _Eastbourne_ for _Easebourne_. There is a curious note on Cowdray, and the superstition attached to it, in Croker's _Boswell_, p. 711. 8vo. edit.

C.

_Solemnisation of Matrimony_ (Vol. ii., p. 464.).--A. A. will find, from Blackstone's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 135., that in feudal times a husband had the power of protecting his lands from the wife's claim to dower, by endowing her, _ad ostium Ecclesiae_, with specific estates to the exclusion of others; or, if he had no lands at the time of the marriage, by an endowment in goods, chattels, or money. When special endowments were thus made, the husband, after affiance made and troth plighted, used to declare with what specific lands he meant to endow his wife ("_quod dotat eam de tali manerio_," &c.); and therefore, in the old York ritual (_Seld. Ux. Hebr._ l. ii. c. 27.) there is at this part of the matrimonial service the following rubric--"_Sacerdos interroget dotem mulieris; et si terra ei in dotem detur, tunc dicatur psalmus iste_", &c. When the wife was endowed _generally_, the husband seems to have said "with all my lands and tenements I thee endow," and then they all became liable to her dower. When he endowed her with personalty only, he used to say, "with all my worldly goods (or, as the Salisbury ritual has it, "with all my worldly chattels") I thee endow," which entitled the wife to her thirds, or _pars rationabilis_, of his personal estate, which is provided for by Magna Charta, cap. 26. The meaning, therefore, of the words noticed in A. A.'s Query, if they can be said to have any meaning in the present state of the law, is simply that the wife's dower is to be general, and not specific, or, in other words, that she is to have her _pars rationabilis_ in _all_ her husband's goods.

J. F. M.

_Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke_ (Vol. iii., p. 262.).--Although J. H. M. has concluded that William Browne was not the author of this epitaph, because it is not to be found amongst his _Pastorals_, it would nevertheless appear that the lines are rightly attributed to him, if the following extract may be relied on:

"The well-known epitaph of the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, has been generally ascribed to Ben Jonson. The first stanza is printed in Jonson's poems; but it is found in the manuscript volume of poems by William Browne, the author of _Britannia's Pastorals_, preserved in the Lansdown Collection, British Museum, No. 777., and on this evidence may be fairly appropriated to him, particularly as it is known that he was a great favourite with William, Earl of Pembroke, son of the Countess."--_Relics of Literature_: London, Boys, 1823, p. 60.

ALFRED GATTY.

_Scandal against Queen Elizabeth_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., pp. 11. 151. 197. 225.).--Your correspondents seem to have overlooked the celebrated {308} letter of Queen Mary of Scotland, printed in the _State Trials_, and lately reprinted by Lord Campbell in his _Lives of the Chancellors_, tit. Sir C. Hatton. I may as well add (though I do not believe the fact) that my grandmother (herself a Devereux) repeated to me the tradition of a son of Queen Elizabeth's having been sent to Ireland.

C.

_The Tanthony_ (Vol. III., pp. 105. 229.).--I am obliged to A. for the trouble he has taken in reference to my Query; but perhaps I may be correct in my suggestion, for on looking into the second volume of the _Archaeological Journal_ the other day, I accidentally found an account of the discovery of a figure of St. Anthony at Merthyr, near Truro, in which it is mentioned that

"Under the left arm appears to have passed a staff, and the pig, with _a large bell_ attached to its neck, appears in front of the figure."--P. 202.

I shall be much obliged to anybody who will settle the point satisfactorily. The fair held on old St. Andrew's Day is always called in Kimbolton and the neighbourhood "Tandrew" fair, so why not "Tanthony" for "Saint Anthony?"

ARUN.

_The Hippopotamus_ (Vol. iii., p. 181.).--Your correspondent MR. E. S. TAYLOR will find in Vol. ii, p. 458, an example of the word [Greek: hippopotamos] cited from Lucian, a writer anterior both to Horapollo and Damascius. In the same page is a reference to the story of the wickedness of the hippopotamus in Plutarch; so that Horapollo and Damascius, doubtless, borrowed from a common source, or repeated a current fable, to be found in many writings then extant.

L.

_Tu Autem_ (Vol. iii., p. 265).--The words "Tu autem, Domine, miserere nostri," "But Thou, O Lord! have mercy upon us," were originally a form of prayer used by the preacher at the end of his discourse, as a supplication for pardon for any sinful pride or vainglory, into which he might have been betrayed in addressing his congregation. Hence the words "tu autem," as Pegge properly says, came to denote a hint to the reader to leave off.

The custom is still in constant use among the members of the cathedral church of Durham. At the public dinners given by the canons, in what is there called "hospitality residence," one of the choristers comes in after dinner, dressed in his official costume, and, taking his station behind the canon in residence, reads, in the manner which is now well known as _intoning_, eight verses of the 119th Psalm, first saying, "Here beginneth the ---- part of the 119th Psalm."

When the eight verses are concluded, the canon turns round to the chorister, saying "tu autem," giving him a shilling; to which the chorister replies, "Domine miserere nostri," and retires.

The explanation of the words, as originally employed, is given by Rupertus _De Divinis Officiis_, lib. i. c. xiv.:

DE "TU AUTEM DOMINE."

"Quodque in fine dicit, 'Tu autem Domine miserere nostri,' hoc innuit, ne ipsum quidem bonum officium praedicandi sine alicujus vel levis culpae pulvere possa pagi. Nam, ut ait B. Augustinus, 'Verbum praedicationis securius auditur quam dicitur. Praedicator quippe cum bene dicere se sentit, difficile nimis est ut non quantulumcunque spiritu elationis tangat; et quia quasi per terram ambulat et pedes ejus pulvere sordidantur, idcirco misericordia Dei indiget, ut in hac parte lavetur, etiamsi mundus sit totus.'"

From this explanation it is plain, that the Monk of St. Albans, writing to the abbot--

"Si vis, veniam; Sin autem, tu autem,"

would be understood to express--

"If you wish, I will come; but if otherwise, there is an end of the matter."

T. C.

Durham, April 8. 1851.

_Places called Purgatory_ (Vol. iii., p. 241.).--There is a farm-house still called "Purgatory," about two miles south of Durham, east of the London road, and close to the left bank of the river Wear. The farm is part of the estate of a highly respectable family, which has, I believe, always been Roman Catholic. No reason for the name is known in the neighbourhood.

T. C.

Durham, April 8. 1851.

_Swearing by Swans, &c._ (Vol. ii., p. 392.; Vol. iii., pp. 70. 192.).--In addition to what has already appeared on this subject, the following extract from Tyrwhitt's _Glossary to Chaucer_ will, I hope, be acceptable.

"Ale and Bred. This oath of Sire Thopas on ale and bred was perhaps intended to ridicule the solemn vows, which were frequently made in the days of chivalrie, to a peacock, a pheasant, or some other _noble bird_."--See M. de Sainte Palaye, _Sur l'anc. Cheval._, Mem. iii^{me}.

This practice is alluded to in "Dunbar's Wish that the King were Johne Thomsonnis man" (MS. Maitland, st. v.):

"I would gif all that ever I have To that condition, so God me saif, That ye had VOWIT TO THE SWAN Ane yeir to be John Thomsonnis man."

And so in the _Prol. to the Contin. of the Canterb. T._, ver. 452., the Hosteler says:

"I MAKE A VOWE TO THE PECOCK, ther shall wake a foule mist."

The instance given in Vol. iii., p. 192., is recorded by Monstrelet, _Hist. de France, Charles VII._

T. J.

_Edmund Prideaux and the Post-office_ (Vol. iii., pp. 186. 266.).--In a MS. on parchment, now {309} before me, are contained entries of the dates of the various letters patent and grants connected with the post-office, to the latter end of the reign of Charles I., and the names of the persons to whom the grants were made. The earliest date is the 37th of Henry VIII., and the last the 13th of Charles I. If an extract from the MS., which gives a similar index to the appointments in the Courts of Law, the Customs, the Forests, and a great variety of other offices, will assist your correspondent, I shall be happy to supply it. I may notice, what seems to have been overlooked by your two correspondents who have replied to the inquiry, that some account of Prideaux is given by Wood (Vid. _Fast._ vol. i. p. 424., edit. Bliss), from which it appears that he was M.A. of Cambridge, Member of the Inner Temple, Member of Parliament for Lyme in Dorsetshire, and Recorder of Exeter; and that his death took place on the 19th Aug., 1659 (misprinted 1569 in this edit.), and that--

"From his employments gaining a vast estate, he left at the time of his death an incredible mass of gold (as the credible report then went), besides lands of very great demesnes."

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Small Words and "Low" Words_ (Vol. ii., pp. 305. 349. 377.).--Apropos to Pope's use of "low words," in the sense of _short_ words, conf. Boileau, satire iv. 97. 8.

"Lui faisant voir ses vers et sans force et sans graces, Montes sur deux grands mots, comme sur deux echasses."

On which one of his commentators makes the following note:

"Boileau, pour se moquer des mots gigantesques, citoit ordinairement ce vers de Chapelain:

'De ce sourcilleux roc l'inebranlable cime.'

Et il disposoit ce vers comme il est ici a cote. Dans cette disposition il semble que le mot 'roc' soit monte sur deux echasses.'

I commend to [Phi].'s attention this instance of a "low" word supported on two "high" ones.

K. I. P. B. T.

_Lord Howard of Effingham_ (Vol. iii., pp. 185. 244.).--It has been supposed that the Earl of Nottingham was a Catholic, and having held office in the reign of Queen Mary, he probably was so at that time; but he certainly was a Protestant during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in the beginning of James I. was at the head of a commission to discover and expel all Catholic priests. (Vide _Memorials of the Howard Family_.)

R. R. M.

_Obeahism.--Ventriloquism_ (Vol. iii., pp. 59. 149.).--T. H. will find, in the authorities given below, that Obeahism is not only a rite, but a religion, or rather superstition, viz. _Serpent-worship_. _Modern Universal History_, fol. vol. vi. p. 600.; 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 411.; which is indebted for its information to the works of De Marchais, Barbot, Atkyns, and Bosman: the last of which may be seen in Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol. xvi., and a review of it in _Acta Eruditor._, Lips. 1705, p. 265., under the form of an "Essay on Guinea." In Astely's _Collection of Voyages_, there is an account compiled from every authority then known, and a very interesting description of the rites and ceremonies connected with this superstition. According to the same authors, the influence of the Obeist does not depend on the exercise of any art or natural magic, but on the apprehensions of evil infused into his victim's mind. See also Lewis's _Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies_.

The following references will furnish a reply at once to two Queries; to that here noticed, and to that on "Ventriloquism" (Vol. ii., p. 88.).

The name of the sacred serpent, which in the ancient language of Canaan was variously pronounced, was derived from "ob" (inflare), perhaps from his peculiarity of inflation when irritated. See Bryant's _Analysis_, vol. i.; Deane's _Worship of the Serpent_, p. 80. From a notion of the mysterious inflation produced by the presence of the divine spirit, those who had the spirit of Ob, or Python, received the names of Ob, or Pythia; according to the not unusual custom for the priest or priestess of any god to take the name of the deity they served. See Selden, _De Dis Syris_, Synt. 1. c. 2. It is a curious coincidence, that as the Witch of Endor is called "Oub," and the African sorceress "Obi," from the serpent-deity _Oub_, so the old English name of a witch, "hag," bears apparent relationship to the word _hak_, the ancient British name of a species of snake. In Yorkshire, according to Stukeley, they call snakes "hags" and "hag-worms," (Abury, p. 32.).

In the Breton language, _Belech_ is "Priest," and may similarly indicate a priest of Bel-the-Dragon.

From the Hebrew _Ob_, the Greek [Greek: ophis] was probably derived; for the same word, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, which denotes "divination" denotes a "serpent." "Nachash,"[4] "ilahat,"[5] "[Greek: oionizesthai],"[6] have the same double signification as if the serpent were recognised as the grand inspirer of the heathen prophets. See Faber's _Horae Mosaicae_, vol. i. p. 98.

The word "Ob" was translated by the LXX. [Greek: engastrimuthos], "a ventriloquist," in {310} accommodation to the received opinions respecting the Pythian priestess. See the Notes to Creech's _Lucretius_, book v.; Jones's (of Nayland) _Physiolog. Disquis._ p. 290. The deception practised by the Witch of Endor, and by the damsel mentioned in Acts xvi. 16., was of this description. See Wierus de _Praestig. Daemon._ p. 203.; and Reginald Scot's _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, p. 148.

The serpent, which with heathen mythologists had various acceptations (see Vossius, _Theologia Gent. et Physiologia Christ._), was also understood as a natural symbol or hieroglyphic of the air. Can any of your learned correspondents furnish materials illustrative of this figurative relation between the serpent and the elements?

T. J.

[Footnote 4: See Parkhurst.]

[Footnote 5: Dickinson's _Delphi Phoenic._, p. 10.]

[Footnote 6: Stillingfleet's _Orig. Sacrae_, book iii. c. iii. s. 18.]

_Meaning of Peep_ (Vol. ii., p. 118.).--You have already told us the meaning of the word _peep_ in the phrase "Wizards that _peep_ and that mutter;" in confirmation I may add that the noise made by the queen bee in the hive previous to swarming is in Devonshire called _peeping_.

J. M. (4.)

_Venwell or Venville_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--_Venwell_ or _Venville_ appears to me to be a corruption of the word _fengfield_; and the meaning of it seems to be, that custom of delivering possession of land to a purchaser by cutting a piece of turf from the field bought, and delivering it into his hands.

I well remember, when a boy, accompanying my father to receive possession of an outlying field, distant from the main estate which he had bought; the seller's agent, I think, came with us and cut a small piece of turf from the ground, and delivered it into my father's hands, saying (if I recollect right), "By this turf I deliver this field into your possession." By this means my father "_fenged_" (took) the "_field_" into his own hands, and became the legal proprietor of it.

P.

_Venville._--The peat or black earth of Dartmoor is still called _ven_ or _fen_. Is it not more probable that the adjoining parishes (or parts of them) are said to be in Venville or fengfield, from their being within the peat district, than that an abbreviation of a legal term, _fines villarum_--_fin. vil._, should become naturalised among the peasantry, as is the case with the word Venville?

The second part of the word seems akin to the Scottish _fail_, "a turf, or that clod covered with grass cut off from the rest of the sward." (Jamieson.)

K.