Part 3

Woolverton now belongs to James Henning, Esq. There is some fine carving in the house, though it is not the ceiling that is markworthy; and it is thought by some to be the work of a foreign hand. At Woolverton House were founded the high fortunes of the House of Bedford. Sir Thomas Trenchard, feeling the need of an interpreter with their Spanish Majesties, happily bethought himself of a John Russell, Esq., of Berwick, who had lived some years in Spain, and spoke Castilian; and invited him, as a Spanish-English mouth, to his house: and it is said he accompanied the king and queen to London, where he was recommended to the favour of Hen. VII.; and after rising to high office, received from Hen. VIII. a share of the monastic lands.

See Hutchins's _History of Dorset_.

W. BARNES.

Dorchester.

_"Felix quem faciunt," &c._ (Vol. iii., pp. 373. 431.).--The passage cited by C. H. P. as assigned to Plautus, and which he says he cannot find in that author, occurs in one of the interpolated scenes in the _Mercator_, which are placed in some of the old editions between the 5th and 6th Scenes of Act IV. In the edition by Pareus, printed at Neustadt (Neapolis Nemetum) in 1619, 4to., it stands thus:

"Verum id dictum est: Feliciter is sapit, qui periculo alieno sapit."

I was wrong in attributing it to Plautus, and should rather have called it _Plautine_. By a strange slip of the pen or the press, pericu_lum_ is put instead of pericu_lo_ in my note. Niebuhr has a very interesting essay on the interpolated scenes in Plautus, in the first volume of his _Kleine Historische und Philologische Schriften_, which will show why these scenes and passages, marked as supposititious in some editions, are now omitted. It appears that they were made in the fifteenth century by Hermolaus Barbarus. See a letter from him to the Bishop of Segni, in _Angeli Politiani Epistolæ_, lib. xii. epist. 25.

To the parallel thoughts already cited may be added the following:

"Ii qui sciunt, quid aliis acciderit, facile ex aliorum eventu, suis rationibus possunt providere."

_Rhetoric. ad Herennium_, L. 4. c. 9.

"I' presi esempio de' lor stati rei, Facendomi profitto l' altrui male In consolar i casi e dolor miei."

Petrarca, _Trionfo della Castità_.

"Ben' è felice quel, donne mie care, Ch' essere accorto all' altrui spese impare."

Ariosto, _Orl. Fur._, canto X.

S. W. SINGER.

_The Saint Graal_ (Vol. iii., p. 413.).--I see that MR. G. STEPHENS states, that Mons. Roquefort's nine columns are decisive of Saint Graal being derived from Sancta Cratera. I am unacquainted with the word _cratera_, unless in Ducange, as meaning a basket. But _crater_, a goblet, is the word meant by Roquefort.

How should _graal_ or _greal_ come from _crater_? I cannot see common sense in it. Surely that ancient writer, nearly, or quite, contemporary with the publication of the romance, Helinandus Frigidimontanus, may be trusted for the fact that _graal_ was French for "gradalis or gradale," which meant "scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda in quâ preciosæ dapes cum suo jure divitibus solent apponi." (Vide Helinand. ap. Vincentium Bellovacensem, _Speculum Historiale_, lib. 43. cap. 147.) Can there be a more apparent and palpable etymology of any word, than that _graal_ is _gradale_? See Ducange in _Gradale_, No. 3, and in _Gradalis_, and the three authorities (of which Helinand is not one) cited by him.

A. N.

_Skeletons at Egyptian Banquet_ (Vol. iii., p. 424.).--The _interpretation_ of this is probably from Jer. Taylor's own head. See, for the history of the association in his mind, his sermon on the "Marriage Ring."

"It is fit that I should infuse a bunch of myrrh into the festival goblet, and, after the Egyptian manner, serve up a dead man's bones as a feast."

Q. Q.

_Sewell_ (Vol. iii., p. 391.).--Allow me to refer H. C. K. to a passage in the _Letters on the Suppression of the Monasteries_, published by the Camden Society, p. 71., for an example of the word _sewelles_. It is there said to be equivalent to _blawnsherres_. The scattered pages of Duns Scotus were put to this use, after he was banished from Oxford by the Royal Commissioners.

The word is perhaps akin to the low Latin _suellium_, threshing-floor, or to the Norman French _swele_, threshold: in which case the original meaning would be _bounds_ or _limits_.

C. H.

St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.

_Col-fabias_ (Vol. iii., p. 390.).--This word is a Latinised form of the Irish words Cul-{f}eabu{s} (cul-feabus), _i. e._ "a closet of decency" or "for the sake of decency."

FRA. CROSSLEY.

_Poem from the Digby MS._ (Vol. iii., p. 367.).--Your correspondent H. A. B. will find the lines in his MS. beginning

"You worms, my rivals," &c.,

printed, with very slight variations, amongst Beaumont's poems, in Moxon's edition of the Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1840. They are the concluding lines of "An Elegy on the Lady Markham."

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

_Umbrella_ (Vol. iii., pp. 37. 126.).--I find the following passage in the fourth edition of Blount's _Glossographia_, published as far back as 1674.

"_Umbrello_ (Ital. _Ombrella_), a fashion of round and broad Fans, wherewith the _Indians_ (and from them our great ones) preserve themselves from the heat of the sun or fire; and hence any little shadow, Fan, or other thing, wherewith the women guard their faces from the sun."

In Kersey's _Dictionarium Anglo-Britannicum_, 1708, it is thus noticed--

"_Umbrella_, or _Umbrello_, a kind of broad Fan or Skreen, commonly us'd by women to shelter them from Rain: also a Wooden Frame cover'd with cloth to keep off the sun from a window."

"_Parasol (F.)_, a small sort of canopy or umbrello, which women carry over their heads."

And in Phillips's _New World of Words_, 7th ed., 1720--

"_Umbrella_ or _Umbrello_, a kind of broad Fan or Skreen, which in hot countries People hold over their heads to keep off the Heat of the Sun; or such as are here commonly us'd by women to shelter them from Rain: Also, a wooden Frame cover'd with cloth or stuff, to keep off the sun from a window."

"_Parasol (Fr.)_, a small sort of canopy or umbrello, which women carry over their Heads, to shelter themselves from Rain," &c.

T. C. T.

_The Curse of Scotland_ (Vol. iii., p. 22.).--Your correspondent L. says, the true explanation of the circumstance of the nine of diamonds being called the curse of Scotland is to be found in the game of Pope Joan; but with all due deference to him, I must beg entirely to dissent from this opinion, and to adhere to the notion of its origin being traceable to the heraldic bearing of the family of Dalrymple, which are or, on a saltire azure, _nine lozenges of the field_.

There can be no doubt that John Dalrymple, 2nd Viscount and 1st Earl of Stair, justly merited the appellation of the "Curse of Scotland," from the part which he took in the horrible massacre of Glencoe, and from the utter detestation in which he was held in consequence, and which compelled him to resign the secretaryship in 1695. After a deliberate inquiry by the commissioners had declared _him_ to be guilty of the massacre, we cannot wonder that the man should be held up to scorn by the most popular means which presented themselves; and the nine diamonds in his shield would very naturally, being the insignia of his family, be the best and most easily understood mode of perpetuating that detestation in the minds of the people.

L. J.

_Bawn_ (Vol. i., p. 440.; Vol. ii., pp. 27. 60. 94.).--Your correspondents will find some information on this word in Ledwich's _Antiquities of Ireland_, 2nd edit. p. 279.; and in Wakeman's _Handbook of Irish Antiquities_, p. 141. Ledwich seems to derive the word from the Teutonic _Bawen_, to construct and secure with branches of trees.

R. H.

_Catacombs and Bone-houses_ (Vol. i., p. 171.).--MR. GATTY will find a vivid description of the bone-house at Hythe, in Mr. Borrow's _Lavengro_, vol. i. I have no reference to the exact page.

C. P. PH***.

_Bacon and Fagan_ (Vol. iii., p. 106.).--The letters B and F are doubtless convertible, as they are both labial letters, and can be changed as _b_ and _p_ are so frequently.

1. The word "batten" is used by Milton in the same sense as the word "fatten."

2. The Latin word "flo" is in English "to blow."

3. The word "flush" means much the same as "blush."

4. The Greek word βρέμω is in the Latin changed to "fremo."

5. The Greek word βορὰ = in English "forage."

6. _Herod._ vii. 73. Βίλιππος for Φίλιππος; Βρύγες for Φρύγες.

7. Φάλαινα in Greek = "balæna" in Latin = "balène" in French.

8. Φέρω in Greek = "to bear" in English.

9. "Frater" in Latin = "brother" in English.

Many other instances could probably be found.

I think that we may fairly imply that the labials _p_, _b_, _f_, _v_, may be interchanged, in the same way as the dental letters _d_ and _t_ are constantly; and I see no reason left to doubt that the word Bacon is the same as the word Fagan.

Φιλόλογος.

_To learn by Heart_ (Vol. iii., p. 425.).--When A SUBSCRIBER TO YOUR JOURNAL asks for some account of the origin of the phrase "to learn by Heart," may he not find it in St. Luke i. 66, ii. 19. 51.?

"To learn by _memory_" (or by "_rote_") conveys to my own mind a very different notion from what I conceive to be expressed by the words "To learn by _heart_." Just as there is an evident difference between a _gentleman in heart and feeling_, and a _gentleman in manners and education only_; so there is a like difference (as I conceive) between learning by heart and learning by rote; namely, the difference between a _moral_, and a merely _intellectual_, operation of the mind. To learn by _memory_ is to learn by _rote_, as a parrot: to learn by _heart_ is to learn _morally--practically_. Thus, we say, we give our hearts to our pursuits: we "love God with all our hearts," pray to Him "with the spirit, and with the understanding," and "with the heart believe unto righteousness:" we "ponder in our hearts," "muse in our hearts," and "keep things in our hearts," i. e. "_learn by heart_."

J. E.

_Auriga_ (Vol. iii., p. 188.).--Claudius Minois, in his Commentaries on the _Emblemata_ of Alciatus, gives the following etymology of "Auriga:"--

"Auriga non dicitur ab auro, sed ab aureis: sunt enim aureæ lora sive fræni, qui equis ad aures alligantur; sicut oreæ, quibus ora coercentur."--_Alciati Emblemata_, Emb. iv. p. 262.

W. R.

Hospitio Chelhamensi.

_Vineyards in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.; Vol. iii., p. 341.).--Add to the others _Wynyard_, so far north as Durham.

C.

_Barker_ (Vol. iii., p. 406.).--Mr. Barker lived in West Square, St. George's Fields, a square directly opposite the Philanthropic Society's chapel.

G.

_Barker, the original Panorama Painter._--MR. CUNNINGHAM is quite correct in stating Robert Barker to be the originator of the Panorama. His first work of the kind was a view of Edinburgh, of which city, I believe, he was a native.

On his death, in 1806, he was succeeded by his son, Mr. Henry Aston Barker, the Mr. Barker referred to by A. G. This gentleman and his wife (one of the daughters of the late Admiral Bligh) are both living, and reside at Bitton, a village lying midway between this city and Bath.

A SUBSCRIBER.

Bristol, June 2, 1851.

_The Tanthony_ (Vol. iii., pp. 105. 229. 308.).--ARUN's Query is fully answered by a reference to Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, vol. ii. p. 379., where the bell is shown to be emblematic of the saint's power to exorcise evil spirits, and reference is made to several paintings (and an engraving given of one) in which it is represented. The phrase "A Tantony Pig" is also explained, for which see further Halliwell's _Dict. of Arch. and Prov. Words_, s.v. Anthony.

C. P. PH***.

_Essay on the Irony of Sophocles, &c._ (Vol. iii., p. 389.).--Three Queries by NEMO: 1. The Rev. Connop Thirlwall, now Bishop of St. David's, is the author of the essay in question. 2. Cicero, _Tusc. Disp._, i. 15. 39.:--_Errare_ mehercule _malo cum Platone ... quam cum istis vera sentire_; (again), Cicero, _ad Attic._, l. viii. ep. 7.:--_Malle_, quod dixerim, me _cum Pompeio vinci, quam cum istis vincere_. 3. The remark is Aristotle's; but the same had been said of Homer by Plato himself:

"Aristot. [_Eth. Nicom._ l. i. cap. 6. § 1. ed. Oxon.] is reluctant to criticise Plato's doctrine of _Ideas_, διὰ τὸ φίλους ἄνδρας εἰσαγάγειν τὰ εἴδη: but, he adds, the truth must nevertheless be spoken:--ἀμφοῖν γὰρ ὄντοιν φίλοιν, ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.]

"Plato [_de Repub._, X. cap. 1. p. 595 b.]:--Φιλία τίς με καὶ αἰδὼς ἐκ παιδὸς ἔχουσα περὶ Ὁμήρου ἀποκωλύει λέγειν ... ἀλλ' οὐ γὰρ πρό γε τῆς ἀλήθειας τιμητέος ἄνηρ.]"

C. P. PH***.

_Achilles and the Tortoise_ (Vol. ii., p. 154.).--S. T. Coleridge has explained this paradox in _The Friend_, vol. iii. p. 88. ed. 1850: a note is subjoined regarding Aristotle's attempted solution, with a quotation from Mr. de Quincey, in _Tate's Mag._, Sept. 1834, p. 514. The passage in _Leibnitz_ which Ἰδιώτης requires, is probably "_Opera_, i. p. 115. ed. Erdmann."

C. P. PH***.

_Early Rain called "Pride of the Morning"_ (Vol. ii., p. 309.).--In connexion with this I would quote an expression in Keble's _Christian Year_, "On the Rainbow," (25th Sun. after Trin.):

"_Pride of the_ dewy _Morning_! The swain's experienced eye From thee takes timely warning, Nor trusts else the gorgeous sky."

C. P. PH***.

_The Lost Tribes_ (Vol. ii., p. 130.).--JARLTZBERG will find one theory on this subject in Dr. Asahel Grant's book, _The Nestorians; or, the Lost Tribes_, published by Murray; 12mo.

C. P. PH***.

"_Noli me Tangere_" (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 253. 379.).--There is an exquisite criticism upon the treatment of this subject by various painters, accompanied by an etching from Titian, in that delightful book, Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, vol. i. pp 354. 360.; and to the list of painters who have illustrated this subject, add _Holbein_, in the Hampton Court Gallery. (See Mrs. Jameson's _Handbook to the Public Galleries_, pp. 172. 353., 1845.)

C. P. PH***.

"_The Sicilian Vespers_" (Vol. ii., p. 166.).--Your correspondent is referred to _The War of the Sicilian Vespers_, by Amari, translated by the Earl of Ellesmere, published very lately by Murray.

C. P. PH***.

_Antiquity of Smoking_ (Vol ii., pp. 216. 521.)--C. B. says, alluding to JARLTZBERG's references, "there is nothing in Solinus;" I read, however, in Solinus, cap. xv. (fol. 70. ed. Ald. 1518), under the heading, "Thracum mores, etc.":

"Uterque sexus epulantes focos ambiunt, herbarum quas habent semine ignibus superjecto. Cujus nidore perculsi pro lætitiâ habent imitari ebrietatem sensibus sauciatis."

JARLTZBERG's reference to Herod. i. 36. supplies nothing to the point: Herod. iv. 2. mentions the use of bone pipes, φυσητῆρας ὀστεΐνους by the Scythians, _in milking_; but Herodotus (iv. 73. 75.) describes the orgies of the Scythians, who produced intoxicating fumes by strewing hemp-seed upon red-hot stones, as the leaves and seed of the Hasisha al fokara, or hemp-plant, are smoked in the East at the present day. (See De Sacy, _Chrestom. Arabe_, vol. ii. p. 155.) Compare also Plutarch de Fluviis (_de Hebro_, fr. 3.), who speaks of a plant resembling Origanum, from which the Thracians procured a stupefying vapour, by burning the stalks:

"Ἐπιτιθέασι πυρὶ ... καὶ τὴν ἀναφερομένην ἀναθυμίασιν δεχόμενοι ταῖς ἀναπνοίαις, καροῦνται, καὶ εἰς βαθὺν ὕπνον καταφέρονται.] [Opera Varia, vol. vi. p. 444. ed. Tauchn.]"

C. P. PH***.

_Milton and the Calves-Head Club_ (Vol. iii., p. 390).--Dr. Todd, in his edition of Milton's _Works_, in 1809, p. 158., mentions the rumour, without expressing any opinion of its truth. I think he omits all mention of it in his subsequent edition in 1826, and therefore hope he has adopted the prevailing opinion that it is a contemptible libel. In a note to the former edition is a reference to Kennett's _Register_, p. 38., and to _"Private forms of Prayer fitted for the late sad times," &c._, 12mo., Lond., 1660, attributed to Dr. Hammond. An anonymous author, quoting the verbal assurance of "a certain active Whigg," would be entitled to little credit in attacking the character of the living, and ought surely to be scouted when assailing the memory of the dead. In Lowndes' _Bib. Man._ it is stated that

"This miserable trash has been attributed to the author of Hudibras."

J. F. M.

_Voltaire's Henriade_ (Vol. iii., p. 388.).--I have two translations of this poem in English verse, in addition to that mentioned at p. 330., viz., one in 4to., Anon., London, 1797; and one by Daniel French, 8vo., London, 1807. The former, which, as I collect from the preface, was written by a lady and a foreigner, alludes to two previous translations, one in blank verse (probably Lockman's), and the other in rhyme.

J. F. M.

_Petworth Register_ (Vol. iii., p. 449.).--Your correspondent C. H. appears to give me too much credit for diligence, in having "searched" after this document; for in truth I did nothing beyond writing to the rector of the parish, the Rev. Thomas Sockett. All that I can positively say as to my letter, is, that it was intended to be courteous; that it stated my reason for the inquiry; that it contained an apology for the liberty taken in applying to a stranger; and that Mr. Sockett did not honour me with any answer. I believe, however, that I asked whether the register still existed; if so, what was its nature, and over what period it extended; and whether it had been printed or described in any antiquarian or topographical book.

Perhaps some reader may have the means of giving information on these points; and if he will do so through the medium of your periodical, he will oblige both C. H. and myself. Or perhaps C. H. may be able to inquire through some more private channel, in which case I should feel myself greatly indebted to him if he would have the goodness to let me know the result.

J. C. ROBERTSON.

Beakesbourne.

_Apple-pie Order_ (Vol. iii., p. 330.).--The solution of J. H. M. to MR. SNEAK's inquiry is not satisfactory. "Alternate layers of sliced pippins and mutton steaks" might indeed make a pie, but not an apple-pie, therefore this puzzling phrase must have had some other origin. An ingenious friend of mine has suggested that it may perhaps be derived from that expression which we meet with in one of the scenes of _Hamlet_, "Cap à pied;" where it means perfectly appointed. The transition from _cap à pied_, or "cap à pie," to _apple-pie_, has rather a rugged appearance, orthographically, I admit; but the ear soon becomes accustomed to it in pronunciation.

A. N.

[MR. ROBERT SNOW and several other correspondents have also suggested that the origin of the phrase "apple-pie order" is to be found in the once familiar "cap à pied."]

_Durham Sword that killed the Dragon_ (Vol. iii., p. 425.).--For details of the tradition, and an engraving of the sword, see Surtees' _History of Durham_, vol. iii. pp. 243, 244.

W. C. TREVELYAN.

_Malentour_ (Vol. iii., p. 449.)--Your correspondent F. E. M. will find the word _Malentour_, or _Malæntour_, given in Edmondson's _Complete Body of Heraldry_ as the motto of the family of Patten alias Wansfleet (_sic_) of Newington, Middlesex: it is said to be borne on a scroll over the crest, which is a Tower in flames.

In the "Book of Mottoes" the motto ascribed to the name of Patten is _Mal au Tour_, and the double meaning is suggested, "Misfortune to the Tower," and "Unskilled in artifice."

The arms that accompany it in Edmondson are nearly the same as those of William Pattyn alias Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor temp. Hen. VI.--the founder of Magdalen College, Oxford.

F. C. M.

_The Bellman and his History_ (Vol. iii., pp. 324. 377.).--Since my former communication on this subject I have been referred to the cut of the Bellman and his _Dog_ in Collier's _Roxburghe Ballads_, p. 59., taken from the first edition of Dekker's _Belman of London_, printed in 1608.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, May 17, 1851.

"_Geographers on Afric's Downs_" (Vol. iii., p. 372.).--Is your correspondent A. S. correct in his quotation? In a poem of Swift's, "On Poetry, a Rhapsody," are these lines:--

"So geographers, in Afric maps With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er unhabitable downs Place elephants for want of towns."

_Swift's Works, with Notes by Dr. Hawksworth_, 1767, vol. vii. p, 214.

C. DE D.

"_Trepidation talk'd_" (Vol. iii., p. 450.).--The words attributed to Milton are--

"That crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved."

Paterson's comment, quoted by your correspondent, is exquisite: he evidently thinks there were two trepidations, one _talked_, the other _first moved_.

The _trepidation_ (not a tremulous, but a turning or oscillating motion) is a well-known hypothesis added by the Arab astronomers to Ptolemy, in explanation of the precession of the equinoxes. This precession they imagined would continue retrograde for a long period, after which it would be direct for another long period, then retrograde again, and so on. They, or their European followers, I forget which, invented the _crystal_ heaven, an apparatus outside of the _starry_ heaven (these cast-off phrases of astronomy have entered into the service of poetry, and the _empyreal_ heaven with them), to cause this slow turning, or trepidation, in the starry heaven. Some used _two_ crystal heavens, and I suspect that Paterson, having some confused idea of this, fancied he found them both in Milton's text. I need not say that your correspondent is quite right in referring the words _first moved_ to the _primum mobile_.

Again, _balance_ in Milton never _weighs_. _Scale_ is his word (iv. 997. x. 676.) for a weighing apparatus. Where he says of Satan's army (i. 349.),

"In even balance down they light On the firm brimstone,"

he appears to mean that they were in regular order, with a right wing to balance the left wing. The direct motion of the crystal heaven, following and compensating the retrograde one, is the "balance" which "_was_ the trepidation _called_;" and this I suspect to be the true reading. The past tense would be quite accurate, for all the Ptolemaists of Milton's time had abandoned the _trepidation_. As the text stands it is nonsense; even if Milton did _dictate_ it, we know that he never _saw_ it; and there are several passages of which the obscurity may be due to his having had to rely on others. Witness the lines in book iv. 995-1002.

M.

_Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches_ (Vol. iii., p. 370.).--I forward extracts from the Registers of the parish of Saint Benedict in this town relating to the baptism of Dissenters. (Mr. Hussey, mentioned in several of the entries, was Joseph Hussey, minister of a Dissenting congregation here from 1691 to 1720. His meeting-house on Hog Hill (now St. Andrew's Hill) in this town was pillaged by a Jacobite mob, 29th May, 1716. He died in London in 1726, and was the author of several works, which are now very scarce.)

"1697. October 14th. William the Son of Richard Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife was baptiz'd in a Private Congregation by Mr. Hussey in ye name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.

"Witnesses, Robert Wilson, Richard Jardine.

"1698. Henery the Son of John and Sarah Shipp was baptized in a Private Congregation by Mr. Hussey December 1. Elisabeth the Daughter of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine was born ye twenty-first day of January and baptized the second day of February 1698/99 in a Private Congregation.

"1700. Walter the Son of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine born July 23 and said to be baptized in a Separate Congregation by Mr. Hussey Aug. 20.