Chapter 3

In Chambers's _Edinburgh Journal_, No. 359., New Series, may be found an account of this family, written by myself; I hope to be excused when I say that it is the most accurate hitherto published. It gave me great pleasure to find that so distinguished an antiquary as DR. RIMBAULT mainly corroborates the article alluded to; but I regret that I feel bound to notice a serious error into which that gentleman has fallen. DR. R. states that "Old John Tradescant died in the year 1652;" and in another place he states that-- {394}

"It was not the _youngest_ John Tradescant that died in 1652, but the _oldest_, the _grandfather_, the first of that name that settled in England."

The conflicting accounts and confusion in the history of the Tradescants, have no doubt arisen from the three, "grandsire, father, and son," having been all named John; consequently, for the sake of perspicuity, I shall adopt the plan of our worthy editor, and designate the Tradescant who first settled in England, No. 1.; his son, who published the _Musæum Tradescantianum_, No. 2.; and the son of the latter, who "died in his spring," No. 3. Now, to prove that it was the youngest of the Tradescants, No. 3., who died in 1652, we have only to refer to the preface of the _Musæum Tradescantianum_, which was published in 1656. There we find that Tradescant No. 2. says that--

"About three years agoe (by the perswasion of some friends) I was resolved to take a catalogue of those rarities and curiosities, which my father had sedulously collected, and myself with continued diligence have augmented and hitherto preserved together."

He then proceeds to account for the delay in the publication of the work in these words:

"Presently thereupon my _onely son_ died, one of my friends fell sick," &c.

Again, in Ashmole's _Diary_ we find the following entry:

"_Sept._ 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died."

And, further on, Ashmole states that

"He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard."

The word _by_, in the quotation, meaning, _by the side of_, _close by_ his grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives the date of the interment, Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's _Diary_, as quoted by DR. RIMBAULT, and the burial register also, give the date of the death of Tradescant No. 2., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct.

Ashmole, who became acquainted with the Tradescants in 1650, never mentions the grandfather (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the burial registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as I have read, has always been set down as uncertain. There are other parish records, however, than burial registers; and I was well repaid for my search by finding, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the following entries:

"1634. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of John Tradeskin, 12s."

"1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, 5s. 4d."

This last entry, in all probability, marks the date of the death of the first Tradescant. Assuming that it does, and as the engraving by Hollar represents him as far advanced in years, his age did not exclude him from having been in the service of Queen Elizabeth, so much so as it would if he had died in 1652. I read the line on the tombstone,--

"Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen"--

as signifying that one of the Tradescants had been gardener to Elizabeth, the Rose Queen, and the other to Henrietta, the Lily Queen. However, as that is little more than a matter of opinion, not of historical fact, it need not be further alluded to at present.

I am happy to say, that I have every reason to believe that I am on the trace of new, curious, and indisputably authentic information respecting the Tradescants. If successful, and if the editor will spare me a corner, I shall be proud to communicate it to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, where Ashmole lived, previous to his taking possession of Tradescant's house, after Mrs. Tradescant's death (see Ashmole's _Diary_), are still standing, though they have undergone many alterations. Even there, the name of Tradescant seems forgotten: the venerable building is only known by a _nick-name_, derived most probably from its antique chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages before I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen the interior, but am aware that there are some traces of Ashmole in the house, but none whatever of Tradescant in either house or garden. I had a conversation with the gardener of the gentleman who now occupies it: he appeared to have an indistinct idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there, for he observed that, "If old What's-his-name were alive now, the potato disease could soon be cured." Oh! what we antiquaries meet with! He further gave me to understand that "_furriners_ sometimes came there wishing to see the place, but that I was the only Englishman, that he recollected, who expressed any curiosity about it."

The _restorers_ of the tomb of the Tradescants merely took away the old leger stone, on which were cut the words quoted by A. W. H. (Vol. iii., p. 207.), and replaced it by a new stone bearing the lines quoted by DR. RIMBAULT, which were not on the original stone (see Aubrey's _Surrey_), and the words--

"Erected 1662. Repaired by Subscription, 1773."

But although the name of the childless, persecuted widow, Hester Tradescant, is not now on the tomb which she piously erected to the memories of her husband and son; still, on the west end of it, can be traced the form of a hydra tearing a human skull--fit emblem of the foul and vulture-like rapacity of Elias Ashmole.

WILLIAM PINKERTON.

Dalmeny Cottage, Ham, Surrey.

{395}

* * * * *

POPE JOAN.

(Vol. iii., p. 265.)

In reply to your correspondent NEMO'S Query, whether any such personage as Pope Joan ever held the keys of St. Peter, and wore the tiara? and if so, at what period, and for what time, and what is known of her personal history? I would remark that the story runs thus: that between the pontificates of Leo IV., who died in the year 855, and of Benedict III., who died in 858, a female of the name of Joan found means to cause herself to be elected Pope, which post she held for a term of upwards of two years, under the title of Joannes VII., according to Sabellicus, or, according to Platina, of Joannes VIII. She is generally said to have been an Englishwoman, the daughter of a priest, who in her youth became acquainted with an English monk belonging to the Abbey of Fulda, with whom she travelled, habited as a man, to many universities, but finally settled at Athens, where she remained until the death of her companion, and attained to a great proficiency in the learning common to the time. After this she proceeded to Rome, and having by the talent she displayed in several disputes obtained the reputation of a learned divine, was, on the death of Leo IV., elected to fill the pontifical chair. This position she held for upwards of two years, but soon after the expiration of that time was delivered of a child (but died during parturition), while proceeding in a procession between the Coliseum and the Church of St. Clemente.

The first mention of this story appears to have been made by Marianus Scotus, who compiled a chronicle at Mayence, about two hundred years after the event is said to have occurred, viz. about 1083. He was followed by Sigebert de Gemblours, who wrote about 1112; and also by Martino di Cistello, or Polonus, who wrote about 1277; since when the story has been repeated by numberless authors, all of whom have, more or less, made some absurd additions.

After the satisfactory proofs of the fictitious character of the story, which have been produced by the most eminent writers, both Catholic and Protestant, it may appear a work of supererogation to add anything on the point; yet it may perhaps be permitted to observe, that in the most ancient and esteemed manuscripts of the works of the authors above quoted, no mention whatever is made of the Papissa Giovanna, and its introduction must therefore have been the work of some later copyist.

The contemporary writers, moreover, some of whom were ocular witnesses of the elections both of Leo IV. and Benedict III., make no mention whatever of the circumstance; and it is well known that at Athens, where she is stated to have studied, no such school as the one alluded to existed in the ninth century.

The fact will not, I think, be denied that it was the practice of the chroniclers of the early ages to note down the greater portion of what they heard, without examining critically as to the credibility of the report; and the mention of a fact once made, was amply sufficient for all succeeding authors to copy the statement, and make such additions thereto as best suited their respective fancies, without making any examination as to the truth or probability of the original statement. And this appears to have been the case with the point in question: Marianus Scotus first stated, or rather some later copyist stated for him, the fact of a female Pope; and subsequent writers added, at a later period, the additional facts which now render the tale so evidently an invention.

R. R. M.

_Pope Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 265.).--You have referred to Sir Thomas Browne, and might have added the opinion of his able editor (_Works_, iii. 360.), who says, "Her very existence itself seems now to be universally rejected by the best authorities as a fabrication from beginning to end." On the other hand, old Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (vol. ii. p. 443.), has the boldness to speak with "certainty of her birth at a particular place,--viz. at Mentz." Mosheim tells us (vol. ii. p. 300.) that during the five centuries succeeding 855, "the event was generally believed." He quotes some distinguished names, as well among those who maintained the truth of the story as amongst those who rejected it as a fable. Bayle may be included amongst the latter, who, in the third volume of his Dictionary (Article PAPESSE), has gone deeply into the question. Mosheim himself seems to leave it where Sir Roger de Coverley would have done,--"much may be said on both sides."

J. H. M.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries

_Robert Burton, his Birth-place_ (Vol. iii., pp. 106. 157.).--A friend who has just been reading the _Anatomy of Melancholy_, has referred me to the following passage, which seems to give conclusive testimony respecting the birth-place of Burton:--

"Such high places are infinite ... and two amongst the rest, which I may not omit for vicinities sake, Oldbury in the confines of Warwickshire, where I have often looked about me with great delight, at the foot of which hill I was born; and Hanbury in Staffordshire, contiguous to which is Falde, a pleasant village, and an ancient patrimony belonging to our family, now in the possession of mine elder brother, William Burton, Esquire." [Note on words "_I was born._" At Lindley in Lecestershire, the possession and dwelling place of Ralph Burton, Esquire, my late {396} deceased father.]--_Anatomy of Melancholy_, Part ii. Sec 2. Mem. 3. ad fin.

I knew of the following, but as it merely mentions Lindley as the _residence_ of the family, it would not have answered DR. RIMBAULT'S Query.

"Being in the country in the vacation time, not many years since, at Lindly in Lecestershire, my father's house," &c.--_Ibid._ Part ii. Sec. 5. Mem. 1. subs. 5.

C. FORBES.

_Barlaam and Josaphat_ (Vol. iii., pp. 135. 278.).--I do not know of any English translation of this work. If any Middle Age version exists, it should be published immediately. A new and excellent _German_ one (by Felix Liebrecht, Münster, 1847) has lately appeared, written, however, for Romish purposes, as much as from admiration of the work itself. It would be well if some member of our own pure branch of the Church Catholic would turn his attention to this noble work, and give us a faithful but fresh and easy translation, with a literary introduction descriptive of all the known versions, &c.; and a chapter on the meaning and limits of the asceticism preached in the original. In this case, and if published _cheap_, as it ought to be, it would be a golden present for our youth, and would soon become once more a _folk-book_. The beautiful free _Old Norwegian_ version (written by King Hákon Sverresson, about A.D. 1200) mentioned in my last has now been published in Christiania, edited by the well-known scholars R. Keyser and C. R. Unger, and illustrated by an introduction, notes, glossary, fac-simile, &c. (_Barlaams ok Josaphats Saga._ 8vo. Christiania, 1851.) The editors re-adopt the formerly received opinion, that the Greek original (now printed in Boissonade's _Anecdota Græca_, vol. iv.) is not older than the eighth century, and was composed by Johannes Damascenus. But this must be decided by future criticism.

GEORGE STEPHENS.

Stockholm.

_Witte van Haemstede_ (Vol. iii., p. 209).--It may be of use to the editors of the "NAVORSCHER" to know that _Adrianus Hamstedius_ became pastor of the Dutch church in Austin Friars, London, in the year 1559. He succeeded Walterus Delaenus, and resigned his office, one year after his appointment, in favour of Petrus Delaenus, probably a son of the before-named Walterus.

I cannot answer the question as to whether there still exist any descendants of _Witte van Haemstede_; but as late as 1740, _Hendrik van Haemstede_ was appointed pastor to the Dutch congregation in London. He held the office until the year 1751, when Henricus Putman succeeded him.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_The Dutch Church in Norwich_ (Vol. iii., p. 209.).--The editors of the "NAVORSCHER" will find the early history of this church in Strype's _Annals of the Reformation_; Blomefield's _History of Norwich_; and in Burn's _History of the Foreign Refugees_. Dr. Hendrik Gehle, the pastor of the Dutch church in Austin Friars, who is also the occasional minister of the Dutch church at Norwich, would be the most likely person to furnish information as to its present state.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Fest Sittings_ (Vol. iii., p. 328.).--_Festing_ is, I presume, without doubt, a Saxon word. A "Festing-man," among the Saxons, was a person who stood as a surety or pledge for another. "Festing-penny" was the money given as an earnest or token to servants when hired.

In the word _sittings_ there _might_ be some reference to the _statute-sessions_, which were courts or tribunals designed for the settlement of disputes between masters and servants.

R. VINCENT.

_Quakers' Attempt to convert the Pope_ (Vol. iii., p. 302.).--I beg to refer B. S. S. to the _Correspondance inédite de Mabíllon et de Montfaucon avec l'Italie_ ... edited by M. Valéry, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 112. In a letter from the Benedictine Claude Estiennot to Dom. Bulteau, dated Rome, September 30, 1687, he will read:

"Ce qu'on a dit ici des quakers d'Angleterre n'est ni tout-à-fait vrai ni tout-à-fait faux. Il est certain qu'il en est venu _un_ qui a fort pressé pour avoir une audience de Sa Sainteté et se promettait de le pouvoir convertir à sa religion; ou l'a voulu mettre an PASSARELLI; monseigneur le Cardinal Howard l'a fait enfermer au couvent de saint-Jean et Paul et le fera sauver sans bruit pour l'honneur de la nation."

C. P. PH****.

_The Anti-Jacobin_ (Vol. iii., p. 348.).--As you have so many articles in the _Anti-Jacobin_ owned, I may mention that No. 14, was written by Mr. Bragge, afterwards Bathurst.

When I was at Oxford, 1807 or 1808, it was supposed that the simile in _New Morality_, "So thine own Oak," was written by Mr. Pitt.

C. B.

_Mistletoe_ (Vol. iii., p. 192.).--

"In a paper of Tho. Willisel's he names these following trees on which he found misseltoe growing, viz. oak, ash, lime-tree, elm, hazel, willow, white beam, purging thorn, quicken-tree, apple-tree, crab-tree, white-thorn." Vide p. 351. _Philosophical Letters between the late learned Mr. Ray and several of his Ingenious Correspondents, &c._: Lond. 1718, 8vo.

R. WILBRAHAM FALCONER, M.D.

Bath.

_Verbum Græcum._--The lines in Vol. i., p. 415., where this word occurs, are in a doggrel journal of his American travels, written by Moore, and published in his _Epistles, Odes, and other Poems_. They are introduced apropos to the cacophony of the names of the places which he visited.

D. X.

{397}

"_Après moi le Déluge_" (Vol. iii, p. 299.).--This sentiment is to be found in verse of a Greek tragedian, cited in Sueton. _Nero_, c. 38.:

"[Greek: Emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri.]"

Suetonius says that some one, at a convivial party, having quoted this line, Nero outdid him by adding, _Immo_ [Greek: emou zôntos]. Nero was not contented that the conflagration of the world should occur after his death; he wished that it should take place during his lifetime.

Dio Cassius (lviii. 23.) attributes this verse, not to Nero, but to Tiberius, who, he says, used frequently to repeat it. See Prov. (app. ii. 56.), where other allusions to this verse are cited in the note of Leutsch.

L.

[We are indebted for a similar reply to C. B., who quotes the line from Euripides, _Fragm. Inc._ B. xxvii.]

"_Après moi_," or "_après nous le Déluge_" sounds like a modernisation of the ancient verse,--

"[Greek: Emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri,]"

the use of which has been imputed to the emperor Nero. The spirit of Madame de Pompadour's saying breathes the same selfish levity; and it amounts to the same thing. But it merits remark that the words of Metternich were of an entirely distinct signification. They did not imply that he _cared_ only for himself and the affairs of his own life; but that he anticipated the inability of future ministers to avert revolution, and _foreboded_ the worst. Two persons may use the same words, and yet their sayings be as different as the first line of Homer from the first of Virgil. The omission of the French verb disguises the fact, that the one was said in the optative, and the other in the future indicative.

A. N.

_Eisell_, the meaning of which has been much discussed in the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES," is a word which seems to have been once the common term for vinegar. The _Festival_ in the sermon for St. Michael's day employs this term thus:

"And other angellis with h[=i] (St. Michael) shall brynge al the Instrum[=e]tis of our lordis passyon, the crosse; the crowne; spere; nayles; hamer; sponge; _eyseel_; gall, scourges [=t] all other thynges y^t w[=e] atte cristis passyon."--Rouen, A.D. 1499, _fo._ cl. b.

D. ROCK.

"_To-day we purpose_" (Vol. iii., p. 302).--The verse for which your correspondent G. N. inquires, is taken from _Isabella, or the Pot of Basil_, an exquisitely beautiful poem by Keats, founded on one of Boccaccio's tales.

E. J. M.

_Modern Paper_ (Vol. iii., p. 181.).--Cordially do I agree with every word of your correspondent LAUDATOR TEMPORIS ACTI, and especially as to the prayer-books for churches and chapels, printed by the Universities. _Experto crede_, no solicitude can preserve their "flimsy, brittle, and cottony" leaves, as he justly entitles them, from rapid destruction. Might not the delegates of the University presses be persuaded to give us an edition with the morning and evening services printed on vellum, instead of the miserable fabric they now afford us?

C. W. B.

_St. Pancras_ (Vol. iii., p. 285.).--In Breviar. Rom. sub die XII Maii, is the following brief notice of this youthful saint, whose martyrdom was also commemorated (Sir H. Nicolas' _Chron. of Hist._) on April 3 and July 21:

"Pancratius, in Phrygia nobili genere natus, puer quatordecim annorum Roman venit Diocletiano et Maximiano Imperatoribus: ubi à Pontifice Romano baptizatus, et in fide christiana eruditus, ob eamdem paulò post comprehensus, cùm diis sacrificare constanter renuisset, virili fortitudine datis cervicibus, illustrem martyrii coronam consecutus est; cujus corpus Octavilla matrona noctu sustulit, et unguentis delibutum via Aurelia sepelivit."

Amongst the reliques in the church of St. John of Laterane, in the "the glorious mother-city of Rome," Onuphrius (de VII. Urbis Ecclesiis) and Serranus (de Ecclesiis Urbis Rom.), as quoted by Wm. Crashaw (temp. James I.), enumerate:

"Item. caput Zachariæ Prophetæ, et caput Sancti Pancratii de quo sanguis emanavit ad tres dies quum Ecclesia Lateranensis combusta fuit."

COWGILL.

_Joseph Nicolson's Family_ (Vol. iii., p. 243.).--A. N. C. is justly corrected as to the insertion of the letter _h_ in Dr. Wm. Nicolson's name, though it has been adopted by some of his family since. The mother of Dr. Wm. and Joseph Nicolson was Mary Brisco, of Crofton; not Mary Miser.

I find from _Nichols' Correspondence of Dr. Wm. Nicolson_, that his brother Joseph was master of the Apothecaries' Company in London. He died in May, 1724. He lived in Salisbury Court, where it would appear the Bishop resided at least on one occasion that he was in London.

MONKSTOWN.

_Demosthenes and New Testament_ (Vol. iii., p. 350.).--The quotations from Demosthenes, and many others more or less pointed, are to be found, as might be expected, in the well-known, very learned, and standard edition of the new Testament by Wetstein.

C. B.

_Crossing Rivers on Skins_ (Vol. iii., p. 3.).--To the _Latin_ authors cited by JANUS DOUSA illustrating this practice, allow me to add the following from the Greek. Xenophon, in his _Anabasis_, lib. iii. cap. v., so clearly exhibits the _modus operandi_, that I shall give a translation of the passage:

"And while they were at a loss what to do, a certain Rhodian came up and said, 'I am ready to ferry you over, O men! by 4000 heavy armed men at a {398} time, if you furnish me with what I want, and will give me a talent as a reward.' And being asked of what he stood in need:--'I shall want,' said he, '2000 leathern bags; and I see here many sheep, and goats, and oxen, and asses; which, being flayed, and (their skins) inflated, would readily furnish a means of transport. And I shall require also the girths, which you use for the beasts of burden. And on these,' said he, 'having bound the leathern bags, and fastened them one to another, and affixing stones, and letting them down like anchors, and binding them on either side, I will lay on wood, and put earth over them. And that you will not then sink, you shall presently very clearly perceive; for each leathern bag will support two men from sinking, and the wood and earth will keep them from slipping."

Skins, or tent coverings, stuffed with hay, appear also to have been very generally used for this purpose (Vid. Id., lib. i. cap. v.). Arrian relates (lib. v. Exped. cap. 12.) that Alexander used this contrivance for crossing the Hydaspes:

"[Greek: Autos de (Alexandros)--agôn epi tên nêson kai tên akran, enthen diabainein ên egnôsmenon. Kai entautha eplêrounto tês nuktos hai diphtherai tês karphês ek pollou êdê parenênegmenai, kai katerrhaptonto es akribeian.]"

E. S. TAYLOR.

Martham, Norfolk.

_Curious Facts in Natural History_ (Vol. iii., p. 166.).--There is a parallel to the curious fact contributed by your Brazilian correspondent in the "vegetable caterpillar" of New Zealand. This natural rarity is described in Angas's _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, vol. i. p. 291.:--