Chapter 7

"Thomas Plantagenet. Before I proceed, I must confess myself formerly at a great loss to understand a passage in an honourable author, speaking of the counterfeit reliques detected and destroyed at the Reformation: 'The Bell of Saint Guthlac, and the _Felt_ of Saint Thomas of Lancaster, both remedies for the headache.' (Vice Lord Herbert's _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 431.) But I could recover no Saint _Thomas_ (saving him of _Canterbury_) in any English Martyrology, till since, on enquiry, I find him to be this _Thomas Plantagenet_. He was Earl of Derby, Lancaster, Leicester, and (in the right of Alice his wife) of Lincoln. A popular person, and great enemy to the two Spencers, minions to King Edward II, who being hated as devils for their pride, no wonder if this Thomas was honored as a Saint and Martyr by the common sort.[6] Indeed he must be a very good chymist who can extract _martyr_ out of _malefactor_; and our chronicles generally behold him put to death for treason against King Edward II. But let him pass for a saint in this shire, though never solemnly canonised, it being true of such local saints, what Servius Honoratus observeth of topical gods, '_ad alias regiones nunquam transibant_,' they travelled not so far as to be honored in other countries. His beheading, _alias_ his martyrdom, happened at Pomfret A.D. 1322."

It would appear from the foregoing extract that Thomas of Lancaster was never admitted into the Romish calendar of saints; though his memory was locally revered, especially for his opposition to the two Spencers, or Despensers, as they are called by Hume. This historian had no respect for "the turbulent Lancaster;" but the quaint old Fuller seems to have thought well of him.

As a _bell-man_ I am more interested in the virtues of the bell of Saint Guthlac, than in the hat of Saint Thomas, and I take this opportunity of asking assistance from the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" towards a collection of curious anecdotes and information about bells, which I am endeavouring to make. Any contributions will be thankfully received by me.

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

[Footnote 6: "_In sanctorum numerum retulit vulgus._--Camden's _Brit._ in Yorkshire. Amongst other profits received by the abbey of Leicester, in 1348, from oblations at the church of St. Martin in that town, occurs, _pes Thomae Lancastriae respondebat, 6l. 10s._"--_History of Leicestershire_, vol. i. p. 591.]

_Francis Moore_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--That such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt. Bromley (in _Engraved Portraits, &c._) gives 1657 as the date of his birth, and says that there was a portrait of him by Drapentier _ad vivum_. Lysons mentions him as one of the {340} remarkable men who, at different periods, resided at Lambeth, and says that his house was in Calcott's Alley, High Street, then called Back Lane, where he seems to have enlightened his generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster.

J. C. B.

Lambeth.

"_Tickhill, God help me_" (Vol. i., p. 247.; Vol. ii., p. 452.).--Although I am full late with my pendent, I am tempted to add the instance of "Kyme God Knows," well known to all explorers of the Fens. The adjunct, "God knows," is supposed to be part of the following verse:

"It's Kyme, God knows, Where no corn grows, And very little hay; And if there come a wet time, It _weshes_ all away."

If I misquote, perhaps some Fen man will set me right.

As to the "Lincoln-heath where should 'un?" instanced by your correspondent H. C. ST. CROIX, in the No. for April 27, 1850, it is quite unknown in this neighbourhood, and I believe must belong to some other locale.

B.

Lincoln.

_Meaning of Tye_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--On or contiguous to the South Downs, in Sussex, there are several portions of land bearing this designation, as Berwick Tye, Alfriston Tye, Telscombe Tye, &c. They are all contiguous to the villages from which they derive their names. These lands were formerly held in common by the tenants of the respective manors, and I think the origin of the expression may be traced to the tethering or _tying_-up of cows, horses, &c., for the double purpose of preventing their straying, and of preserving the fences of the neighbouring tenements. I offer this conjecture with some diffidence, because the word is very often found in _composition_ with proper names of places, as Lavortye, Brambletye, Holtye, Puxtye, Ollantigh. The vulgar notion, that it means a space which originally measured ten acres, is, I think, untenable.

M. A. LOWER.

Lewes.

_Dutch Church in Norwich_ (Vol. iii., p. 209.).--Some interesting details connected with the establishment of the Dutch Church in Norwich, as well as the first settlement of the Walloons in that city, will be found in Blomefield's _History of Norfolk_, vol. iii. p. 282. et seq., edit. 1806.

J. Y.

_The Dutch Church, Norwich._--Some account of this church may be seen in Burn's _History of the Foreign Refugees_, 1846. It is to be regretted, however, that the registers and acts of vestry are missing. The _seal_ of the church has lately been discovered.

J. S. B.

_Lost Manuscripts_ (Vol. iii., pp. 161. 261.)--In pursuance of MR. MACKENZIE'S suggestions respecting the search for lost manuscripts, permit me to ask, if all hope must be considered as given up of decyphering any more of those discovered at Herculaneum, or of resuming the excavations there, that have been so long discontinued? Perhaps the improved chemical processes of recent days might be found more successful in facilitating the unrolling of the MSS., than the means resorted to so long ago by Sir H. Davy. Can any of your correspondents state whether anything has been done lately with the Herculaneum MSS.?

Eustace says that--

"As a very small part of Herculaneum has hitherto been explored, it is highly probable that if a general excavation were made, ten times the number of MSS. above mentioned (1800) might be discovered, and among them, perhaps, or very probably, some of the first works of antiquity, the loss of which has been so long lamented."--_Classical Tour_, vol. i. 4to., p.585.

J. M.

Oxford.

_The Circulation of the Blood_ (Vol. iii., p.252.).--In a paraphrase on Ecclesiastes xii. 1-6., entitled, _King Solomon's Portraiture of Old Age_, by John Smith, M.D., London, 1676, 8vo., 1752, 12mo., the author attributes the discovery of the circulation of the blood to King Solomon. Mede also finds the same anticipation of science in "the pitcher broken at the fountain." Who was the first to suggest the transfusion of blood?

T. J.

_Alliteration_ (Vol. iii., p. 165.)--Your correspondent H. A. B., in quoting the seventh stanza from Phineas Fletcher's _Purple Island_, observes, that the second line,

"A life that lives by love, and loves by light,"

is "noticeable" for its _alliteration_. But the best specimen that I have met with in English--after having read much verse, and published a volume, which my partial friends call poetry--will be found in Quarles' _Divine Emblems_, book ii. emblem ii. Beyond all question, Quarles was a poet that needed not "apt alliteration's artful aid" to add to the vigour of his verse, or lend liquidity to his lines. Quarles is often queer, quaint, and querulous, but never prolix, prosey, or puling.

"We sack, we ransack to the utmost sands Of native kingdoms, and of foreign lands: _We travel sea and soil; we pry, we prowl,_ _We progress, and we prog from pole to pole_."

Verily, old Francis must have had a prophetic peep at the effects of _free trade_, and the growing greatness of Great Britain, in the gathering of the Nations under a huge GLASS CASE in Hyde Park, in the present year 1851!

C. G.

Edinburgh.

{341}

_Vineyards in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--The Lincoln "Vine Closes" may as well be added to the rest. They were given to the church here by Henry I. See the charter, entitled _Carta Hen. I. de Vinea sua Linc._, in Dugdale (Caley's) vol. vi. p. 1272. Their site is a rather steep slope, facing the south, and immediately east of the city. The southern aspect of our hill was celebrated long ago by some poet, as quoted by H. Huntingdon:

"Urbs in colle sita est, et collis vergit ad austrum".

N.B. One of the Abbey fields at Bullington, a few miles east of Lincoln, is known as the Hopyard. The plant has never been cultivated in these parts within memory, or the range of the faintest tradition, but the character of the soil is clayey, and perhaps not unsuitable. Were hopyards often attached to monasteries? The house at Bullington was of the order of Sempringham.

B.

Lincoln.

_Countess of Desmond_ (Vol. iii., p. 250.).--If your correspondents on this subject should be wandering to the south-east of London, they may be interested in knowing that there are two very striking portraits of this lady in Kent, one at Knowle, near Seven Oaks; the other, which is the more remarkable picture of the two, at Bedgebury, near Cranbrook, the seat of Viscount Beresford.

E. H. Y.

_St. John's Bridge Fair_ (Vol. iii., pp. 88. 287.).--I cannot agree with the conjecture that this was Peterborough Bridge Fair. On the confines of Gloucestershire and Berkshire, at the distance of about 77 miles from London, near Lechlade, and on the road to Farringdon, is a St. John's Bridge, near which was a priory or hospital. It is at this place that the Thames first becomes navigable. (Leland's _Itinerary_, vol. ii. fo. 21, 22, 23; vol. iv. fo. 48; Bowles's _Post Chaise Companion_, 1782, pl. 28; Lysons' _Berkshire_, vol. i. p. 193., and map of county prefixed; _Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica_, vol. i. p. 320.; _Parliamentary Gazetteer_, art. "Lechlade.") Whether there is or ever was a fair at this place is more than I can state; but perhaps some of your correspondents dwelling in those parts can give information on this point.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, April 14. 1851.

_Paring the Nails unlucky on Sundays_ (Vol. ii., p. 511.; Vol. iii, p. 55.).--Compare Sir Thomas Browne's _Vulgar Errors_, lib. v. cap. xxi. Sec. x.

ACHE.

_Errata in Braithwait's Latin Drinking-song_ (Vol. iii., p. 297.).--It is well for us that honest Barnaby is not alive to visit upon us the scandalous "negligences and ignorances" with which our transcript of his song abounds; and it is no excuse perhaps to say, that _the errors almost all of them exist in the MS. from whence the transcript was made_. Sensitive as he has shown himself "upon the errata's," _he_ would not have accepted the apology from us which he makes for himself. "Good reader, if this impression have errors in it, excuse it. _The copy was obscure_; neither was the _editor_, by reason of his distance, and employments of higher consequence, made acquainted with the publishing of it."

"His Patavinus _erravit prelis_, Authorem suis lacerando telis."

The following corrections, which are necessary to the sense, have been pointed out, and have no doubt been already silently made by many of our readers.

_Sic in MS._ _forsan._

Stanza 3. hoc _te_ amoenum hoc amoenum reparare reperire

Stanza 4. m_e_mento m_o_mento gustabi_t_ gustabi_s_

Stanza 5. solv_e_t solv_i_t pot_i_s pot_u_s

Stanza 6. friges_t_is friges_c_is

Stanza 8. succed_a_nt succed_u_nt

Omit the comma between _Domum_ and _feram_, and disregard the erroneous punctuation generally.

There may be other errors; for, as it stands at present, the song is inferior to the other known productions of the pleasant author of the ITINERARIUM. We can only hope that its publication, in even this imperfect form, may lead to the discovery of a better text; and we must be content if the lines of the author are applied to our blunders:

"Delirans iste _Sapiens Gottam_, Reddit _Coetum_ propter _Cotem_." ------ "Quid si breves fiant longi? Si vocales sint dipthongi? Quid si graves sint acuti? Si accentus fiant muti? Quid si placide, plene, plane, FREGI FRONTEM PRISCIANI?

Quid si sedem muto sede? Quid si carmen claudo pede? Quid si noctem sensi diem? Quid si veprem esse viam? Sat est, Verbum declinavi, Titubo--titubas--titubavi."

In the last line of the extract from "Phyllis and Flora," _hinc_ is printed for _huic_; _inpares_, in the preceding line, is the correct reading for _impares_. "_Impar_ richtiger Inpar" (Scheller).

S. W. S.

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When noticing, a few weeks since, one of Captain Knox's interesting volumes, we spoke of the undying popularity of White's _Selborne_. A proof at once of this popularity, and a means of increasing it, will be found in a new edition of this delightful book just issued as one of the volumes of _Bohn's Illustrated Library_. It is entitled to its place in this series on account of forty admirable woodcuts by which it is illustrated; and to a place on the bookshelves of every Naturalist, for the sake of the additional notes of Sir W. Jardine, and its present editor, Mr. Jesse.

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X. Y. Z. _The custom of_ "Swearing on the Horns at Highgate" _is very ably treated by Hone_, Every-Day Book, vol. ii. p. 79 _et seq. It probably arose from the graziers who put up at the Gate-house on their way to Smithfield, and were accustomed, as a means of keeping strangers out of their company, to bring an ox to the door as a test: those who did not like to be sworn of their fraternity, and kiss its horns, not being deemed fit members of their society._

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