Chapter 6

"in their pilgrimage until they arrived to Rome, where C. B. offered his life to ransom me, and both of them entered into captivity for the love which they bore to my life."

His _Narrative_ (strictly speaking) contains no further information, but that at the bottom of the tenth page it is dated and signed,

"Written in Rome Prison of Madmen. JOHN."

The remaining six pages of the pamphlet consist of a letter from Charles Baylie, giving an account of his pilgrimage with Jane Stokes, from Dover to Calais, Paris, Marseilles, Genoa, until

"Arriving," he says, "safe at Rome, we were drawn in our lives directly to the place where the dearly beloved J. P. was, and coming to the prison door, I enquired for him, and having answer of his being there, I desired for to speak with him, but it would not be permitted us; So it was said in me, _Write unto him_, which I did, the which he answered us in the fulness of love, which refreshed us after our weary steps; For our souls were refreshed one in another, though one another's faces we had never seen to the outward, and then we being kept in a holy fear not to do nor act one way nor other, but as we were moved of the Lord, least we should add to his bonds,--I say, being thus kept, we were delivered out of the snare of the fowler, who secretly lay in wait to betray our innocency; And after a little time the Lord showed me I should go to the inquisition, which I did, and enquired for the Inquisitor, as I was showed of the Lord I should do; and when I spoke to him I told him _I was come from England for to see my brother J. P._; to which he answered, _I should see him_, and appointed me to come to a certain place called _Minerva_, and there, saith he, _I will procure you the liberty of the Cardinalls to see him_; he had me also to the Inquisition office, where he asked many questions of me concerning our religion, to which I answered in the simplicity of my heart in the fear of the Lord; and at the appointed time I came to the place aforesaid, and there I was showed what further I should do, which was to tender my body for my brother; and so from that time I hardly missed opportunity to speak to them as often as they met: for their manner was thus to meet twice a-week, the one time at _Minerva_, and the other time at _Monte-Cavallo_, where the Pope's own dwelling is, where I also did the like, more than once, which stirred them up against me, in great enmity," &c.

I am afraid I am trespassing on your overfilled columns; but--omitting his account of his going to the Jews' synagogue, and of the command which he received to fast twenty days as a testimony against those who falsely stated that John Luffe had fasted nineteen days and died on the twentieth--omitting this, I must give one more extract. Having been detained in one of his visits to the _Minerva_, he says:

"From thence I was carried to the Inquisition, where I was shut up close, and after I had been there 3 dayes the Lord said to me, _Thou must go to the Pazzarella_, which was the Prison or Hospital of mad men, where our dear brother was prisoner; and it was also said unto me, _Thou shalt also speak to the Pope_; And at the 17 dayes end, I was led from the Inquisition towards the other prison, and by the way I met the Pope carried in great pomp; as it was the good will of the Lord that I should speak unto him, men could not prevent it, for I met him towards the foot of a bridge, where I was something nigh him, and when he came against me, the people being on their knees on each side of him, I cried to him with a loud voice in the Italian tongue, _To do the thing that was Just, and to release the Innocent_; and whilest I was speaking, the man which led me had not power to take me away until I had done, and then he had me to prison where my endeared brother was, where I fasted about 20 dayes as a witness against that bloody generation," &c.

As to how they got out, he only says:

"Soon after my fast, the Lord, by an outstretched arm, wrought our deliverance, being condemned to perpetual galley-slavery, if ever we returned again unto Rome."

It appears, however, that though thus prevented from exercising his office of a missionary in Rome, Charles Baylie did not relinquish it. In the letter just quoted he informs his correspondent (who this was does not appear), that since he had seen his face, he had been several times (as he was while {336} writing) shut up in strong prisons; and the letter is dated

"The third of the sixth month, 1661. _From the Common Gaol in_ Burkdou, _in_ France, _about thirty leagues from_ Dover, _where I am a sufferer for speaking the Word of the Lord to two Priests, saying_, All Idols, all Idolatries, and all Idol Priests must perish."

John Perrot seems to have considered that his mission extended over all the world. While in Rome Prison of Madmen, he wrote an address "To all people upon the face of the Earth," which he "sent thence the 8th of the 10th month, 1660;" and he was, no doubt, the author of the tract which follows it (and precedes the narrative) in my volume, entitled "Blessed openings of a day of good things to the Turks. Written to the Heads, Rulers, Ancients, and Elders of their Land, and whomsoever else it may concern," though it is only signed "JOHN." To him also, I suppose, we must ascribe another tract, _Discoveries of the Day-dawning to the Jewes. Whereby they may know in what state they shall inherit the riches and glory of Promise_. "J. P." is all that is given for the author's name on the title-page, but the tract is signed [Hebrew: JWHN], that is, John. He too, I presume, was the author of another of the tracts, _An Epistle to the Greeks, especially to those in and about Corinth and Athens, &c. Written in Egripo in the Island of Negroponte, by a Servant of the Lord: J. P._ He seems to have been at Athens on the 27th day of the 7th month, in the year accounted 1657, being the first day of the week, the day of Greek solemn worship, and to have been "conversant" with Carlo Dessio and Gumeno Stephaci, "called Greek doctors."

S. R. M.

Gloucester.

* * * * *

SNAIL-EATING.

(Vol. iii., p. 221.)

Snail-eating is by no means uncommon. When I was a youth I took a dozen snails every morning to a lady who was of a delicate constitution, and to whom they were recommended as wholesome food. They were boiled, and mixed up with milk. They were the common snail, usually found about old garden walls. A friend of mine, in walking round his garden, was in the habit of picking the snails off his fruit-trees and eating them raw. He was somewhat fastidious, for I have seen him take a snail, put it to his tongue, and reject it as not of a good flavour, and select another more agreeable to his taste. We are strange creatures of habit, especially in our feeding. I am fond of oysters, muscles, and cockles; but I do not think anything could induce me to taste a snail, a periwinkle, or a limpet.

B. H.

_Snail-eating._--This practice is very general in Italy. While residing near Florence, my attention was often attracted by a heap of fifty or one hundred very clean, empty, snail-shells, in a ditch, or under a bush; and I indulged in many vain speculations, before I could account for so strange a phenomenon.

One day, however, I happened to meet the _contadina_ coming out of my garden with a basket on her arm; and from her shy, conscious manner, and an evident wish to avoid my seeing the contents, I rather suspected she had been making free with my peaches. To my surprise, however, I found that she was laden with the delicious _frutta-di-terra_ (sometimes so called, as the Echinus, so common along the Italian coast, is called _frutta-di-mare_); and thinking that she had been collecting them simply from regard to my fruit and vegetables, I thanked her for her kind services. But she understood me ironically, and, with a good deal of confusion, offered to carry them to the kitchen, apologising most elaborately, and assuring me that she would on no account have taken them, had not our cook told her that we despised them, and that she would no doubt be welcome. I asked her what in the world she intended to do with them? and, with a look of amazement at my question, even surpassing mine at her reply, she informed me that her brother and his wife had come to pay them a visit, and that, with my kind permission, she would thus treat them to "_una bellissima cena_." She had collected about three quarts, during a search of two hours. The large brown kind only are eaten. Among the poor they are generally esteemed a delicacy, and reputed to be marvellously nutritious.

NOCAB.

* * * * *

SIR JOHN DAVIES, DAVIS, OR DAVYS.

(Vol. iii., p. 82.)

The following additional particulars of this eminent lawyer and poet may be deemed interesting. In a letter from Mr. Pary to the Rev. Josiah Mead, of the 26th November, 1626, it is stated:

"Tomorrow, it is said Sergeant Richardson shall be Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Sir John Davis nominated to the King's Bench, because he hath written a book in defence of the legality of this new Loan."

In another letter of the 9th December, 1626, it is stated:

"I heard last night that Sergeant Davis, who it is said looked to be Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, in place of Sir Randal Crew, was found dead in his bed."

And, again, in a letter from the Rev. Josiah Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville, of the 16th Dec., 1626:

"This of the death of Sir John Davis, for aught I {337} can hear, holds true. It is added, that he was at supper with my Lord Keeper that evening before I was told by him that he should be Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench; but he lived not to see the morning. My Lord of Huntingdon rode up, upon this news, for he is his heir."

Ferdinando Lord Hastings, eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, married Lucy, daughter and heiress of Sir John Davis, and in 1613 succeeded his father as Earl of Huntingdon.

Sir John Davis married Lady Eleanor, only daughter of the Earl of Castlehaven, and sister of the infamous Earl. She remarried Sir Archibald Douglas, and died in 1652. She was the lady of the anagram celebrity, "Reveal, oh, Daniel," and "Never so mad a lady." There is no doubt that she and her brother were as mad as could well be.

In a letter from Mr. Edward Rossingham to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated 4th January, 1636, it is stated:

"Sunday before Christmas the Bishop, Dean, and Chapter of Lichfield sent up a complaint against the Lady Eleanor Davis. It seems the cathedral church in Lichfield is lately very beautifully set out with hangings of arras behind the altar, the Communion table handsomely railed in, and the table itself set out in the best manner, and the Bishop's seat fairly built. This Lady came one Communion day, in the morning, with a kettle in one hand and a brush in the other, to sprinkle some of her holy water (as she called that in the kettle) upon these hangings and the Bishop's seat, which was only a composition of tar, pitch, sink-puddle water, &c., and such kind of nasty ingredients, which she did sprinkle upon the aforesaid things. This being the act of a mad woman, the Lords, to prevent further mischief, have given out two warrants, the one to bring the Lady to Bethlehem, the other to the keeper of Bethlehem to receive her. There are messengers gone into Staffordshire to bring her up."

It appeared afterwards she was so poor, that it became a question at the Council who should maintain her. She seems to have been wholly neglected by her second husband.

Sir John Davis and his lady are buried in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, and the following are their epitaphs, from Strype's _Stow_, book vi. p. 72.:

"D. O. M. S. Johannes Davys, Equestris ordinis quondam Attornati Regis Generalis amplissima Provincia in regno Hib. functus. Inde in Patriam revocatus inter Servientes Domini Regis ad Legem primum locum sustinuit. Ob. 1626."

"Acc[=u]bat dignissimo marito incomparabilis Uxor, &c., 1652."

"_Note._--She was the Lady Eleanora, the only daughter of the Earl of Castlehaven, Baron Audley."

W. H. LAMMIN.

Fulham, April 15. 1851.

* * * * *

LOCKE MSS.

(Vol. ii., p. 413.)

In reference to an inquiry after MSS. relating to Locke, I enclose particulars of a small 4to. MS. volume in my possession.

THOMAS KERSLAKE.

"_MANUSCRIPT._--LOCKE'S (John, _an Attorney living at Publow, and father of the illustrious Metaphysician of the same name_) Common-Place Book, containing Matters (relating to the Hundreds of Chew, Chewton, Kainsham, Brewton, Catsashe, Norton Ferris, Horethorne, Froome, Wellowe, Whitstone, Wells Forum, Portbury, Bathe Forum, Winterstoke, Bempstone, Kilmersdon, Brent, Hartliffe and Bedminster, Hampton and Claverton, and Phillips Norton Liberties, Glaston, Queene Camell, &c.) of daily use to him as Court Keeper to Col. Alex. Popham, a Magistrate and Leader of Parliamentary Forces in Somersetsh., _variously dated from 1629 to 1655, all in the handwriting of the elder John Locke_,--also many entries by other hands of other matters, in the remaining leaves of the same volume, many of which are probably in the handwriting of the afterwards distinguished younger John Locke, _4to. original vellum wrapper, 12l. 12s._

Contains:--

Entries of Bailments and Bindings over of Prosecutors in cases of Felony which occurred in the neighbourhood of Pensford, for the Assizes at Bath, Taunton, Bridgewater, and Wells, 1630-31.

Appointment at Bathe of Overseers of Woollen Cloth, 1631, for Chew, Dundry, Chewstoke, Ubley, Mids. Norton, Kainsham, Publow, Kelston, Mounton Coombe, Bathford, Bathwicke, Freshford, Weston, Froome, Rode, Beckington, Lullington, Berkley, Chew, Mells, and Leigh, Colsford, Hampton et Claverton, Batheaston, Charterhouse Hinton, with the names of the Overseers.

Scotch Postures (Humorous).

Names of the Tithings in the Hundreds of Chew, Chewton, and Kainsham.

Abp. Usher on the Liturgie and Episcopall Government, 1640.

The Sums of the Payment of each Tithing of the above hundreds of the 1st of 15th and 10th of the Subsidy of 3-15ths and 10ths to K. James, to declare war against Spain, 1623-4.

The Yearlie Proportion of the Severall Hundreds of the Easterne Division of the Countie towarde the releife of the Hospitall, 1632.--Ditto, Westerne Division.

The Yearlie Rate for the Maymed Soldiers of every Hundred and Libertie within this County of Somerset.

The Rate of Kainsham Hundred, with the amount of each Parish.

A Rate devised at Hinton in 1601, for the raising of 100 men for Ireland, with consent of the Bath Magistrates, and their names.

The number and proportion of Shipping within Englande and Wales, to be made readie against Mar. 1, 1635.

Hundred of Kainsham, Quarterlie Payment of each tithing to the Hospitalls and Maymed Soldiers.

A Rate made at Pensford 23rd Sept., 1635, for the raising of 160l. {338}

The Assizes holden at Bathe, 24th July, 1637, before the Right Honble. S. Fynch,--the Names of the Justices (among whom are John Stowell, Ralph Hopton, John Horner, Rob. Hopton, John Harington, &c.), and the Names of the Grand Jury.

Subsidie 17th Charles:--A Particular how each Tithing within the Hundreds of Chew, Chewton, and Kainsham stands chardged, for the Reliefe of his Maties Army and the Northerne parte of the Kingdom, Thomas Hunt of Dundry, Collector.

The Protestation by Order of Parliament, 5^o Maij, 1641,--with Jo. Locke's acceptance of the Protestation in the Parish Church of Publoe, 3rd Apr., 1642.

Kainsham:--The "Purblinde, Partiall, and Innovated Rate" of this Hund., 24th Sept., 1649.

Kainsham Hund.--A Rate for Ship-money--with the Particulars of every Tithing, Parish, and Particular Person chardged--contains the name of every rateable person in the parishes of Burnet, Preston, Stanton Drew, Stanton Prior, Salford, Publoe, Marksbury, Chelworth, Shrubwell, Belluton, Compton Dando, Farmborrow, Chewton, Whitchurch, Charlton, Brislington, and Kainsham, with the amount of this celebrated tax assessed to each person.

The Names of the Lords Lieutenants nominated by the Howse of Comons, 1641.

The Muster Roll of the Collonell Sir Rawfe Hopton, Knight, his Band of 200 foote Soldiers, within the Eastern Division, and Regiment of the Countie of Somerset.--Bathe, xxi^o xxij^{do} Maij, 1639.--(Contains, a List of the Officers, "William Tynte," &c.--a list of bearers of Pikes, with the Names of the Soldiers and of the gentlemen or tithings for whom they serve,--also a similar list of the bearers of "Shott.")

A list of Parishes in the Deaneries of Froome and Bedminster, with the name of the Clergyman of each, the arms supplied by him, and the Names of the men who bore them.

A Rate for raising L41-00-03 per mensem, in the hund. of Kainsham, for Generall Fairfax Army, 1648.

Several Papers relating to Differences concerning Rates between the In Hundred and Out Hundred of Kainsham.

Particulars and Value of Feer's Tenement, in Belluton, now in the possession of Henry Stickland, given in by him this day, 24 Dec., 1655.

Rente to my Landlord, Coll. Alex. Popham, out of the 3 Tenements I hold in Publoe, and the Lives thereon at the time of their obtaining, 1650.

A Receipt for his Rente at Publoe, 3. 8bris & 11 Dec., 1638.

_The above are in the handwriting of Jo. Locke, the elder; in another hand, on blank covers, left by the former, are_--Propositions on

Philosophy:--Phisicke, Ethike, and Dialectike. De Providentia Dei et ad genus. De Praedestinatione. Propositiones Catholicae.

N.B. One of the later chapters of the Essay on the Human Understanding is treated under propositions nearly identical with the leaf of the MS. which is described in the preceding four lines.

Copia Actus locationis Mensae Dominicae in Ecclesia S. Gregorij Civitatis London. Character of Drunkenness (_Rhyme_), &c. &c.

At the end, in several hands, are various receipts: one in the elder Locke's handwriting, 'The Weapon Salve, and the use thereof, as it was sent unto mee as a most excellent and rare secret from my Cosin Alderman John Locke[5], of Bristoll, in his Letter, dat. 5^o Apr. 1650,'--also 'To make Shineing Inke', signed 'J L: Ox:'

On the last leaf is a record of the Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Locke Family, from 1603 to 1624, including that of John Locke, the father, 29 April, 1606."

[Footnote 5: High Sheriff of Bristol in 1626, and the Mayor of Bristol in 1641 who refused admittance to the royal forces. See Barrett and Seyer.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Defoe's Anticipations_ (Vol. iii., p. 287.).--Defoe had probably seen the English translation, or rather abridgment, of Father Dos Santos's _Ethiopia Oriental_, in Purchas's _Pilgrimes_ (vol. ii. 1544, fol. ed.), in which some hints are given of the great lake (nyassi, _i. e._ sea) Maravi, which lies nearly parallel with the eastern coast, and was known to D'Anville, in whose map _Massi_ is misengraved for Niassi. A very careful examination of the Portuguese expeditions across the continent of Africa has been given by Mr. Cooley, in the _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_ (vol. xv. p. 185.; xvi. p. 138.), and he has ascertained, approximately, the extent and position of that great lake, which, from distrust of D'Anville, one of the most exact geographers, had been expunged from all modern maps. It is considerably to the N. and E. of the Nyami lately determined, and of much greater extent.

ANATOL.

_Epitaph in Hall's Discovery_ (Vol. iii., p. 242.).--The work entitled _Discovery of a New World, or a Description of the South Indies, hitherto unknown, by an English Mercury, imprinted by E. Blount_, no date, 12mo., is not, as our correspondent supposes, very rare, nor is it by Bishop Hall. It is a free translation, or rather paraphrase, and an excellent one in its way, by John Healey, of Bishop Hall's very entertaining _Mundus Alter et Idem_, first published in 12mo., Francof., without date, afterwards reprinted with Campanella's _Civitas Solis_ and Bacon's _Atlantis_ at Utrecht, 1643, 24mo., and subsequently included in the edition of Bishop Hall's works by Pratt, 10 vols., Lond., 1808, 8vo. The epitaph quoted is not a satire upon any statesman of the time. The writer is describing the Land of Changeableness, or, as it is called in the Latin original, "Variana vel Moronia Mobilis," and gives in the course of his description this epitaph on Andreas Vortunius (a vertendo), or, as he is styled in the English {339} translation, "Andrew Turncoate." The epitaph occurs in p. 132. of the Latin edition of 1643, and is evidently, as indicated by the marginal notes, an imitation or parody of the famous one on AEelia Laelia Crispis, which has exercised the ingenuity of so many writers, and of which our own countryman, Richard White, of Basingstoke, the historian, has given three different interpretations. See his _AElia Laelia Crispis, Epitaphium Antiquum quod in Agro Bononiensi adhuc videtur, a diversis interpretatum varie, novissime autem a Richardo Vito explicatum_, Padua, 1568, 4to. An article on this epitaph and its various interpreters, of whom I have collected about forty, might be made a very interesting one.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

[We wish MR. CROSSLEY--than whom no one is more competent--would favour us with such an article. The following communication from MR. FORBES is only one of several we have received, showing that the interest in this enigma is not abated.]

_Epitaph in Hall's Discovery_ (Vol. iii., p. 242.).--When this epitaph is assigned to its right owner, it may perhaps throw some light on its twin-brother--the epitaph on "AElia Laelia Crispis"--"_about which many of the learned have puzzled their heads_." (See _Encyc. Brit._, article "AEnigma.") I enclose a copy of this epitaph, which you can use or not, as you please. If you think that it might help to "unearth" Mister Andrew Turnecoate, you may perhaps like to lay it before your readers; if, on the other hand, that it would but increase the difficulty of the operation by distracting attention needlessly, you can hand it over to "the Editor's best friend"--the fire.

"D. M.

AElia Laelia Crispis, Nec vir, nec mulier, Nec androgyna Nec puella, nec juvenis, Nec anus; Nec casta, nec meretrix, Nec pudica; Sed omnia; Sublata Neque fame, neque ferro, Neque veneno; Sed omnibus: Nec coelo, nec terris, Nec aquis, Sed ubique jacet. Lucius Agatho Priscius, Nec maritus, nec amator, Nec necessarius; Neque moerens, neque gaudens, Neque flens; Hanc, Nec molem, nec pyramidem, Nec sepulchrum, Sed omnia, Scit et nescit, cui posuerit."

C. FORBES.

_Saint Thomas of Lancaster._--The following passage in Fuller's _Worthies_ (of Yorkshire) does not seem to have been noticed by either of your correspondents who replied to MR. R. M. MILNES' Query in Vol. i., p. 181.: