Part 3

_Play of "The Spaniards in Peru."--John Heywood._--Who was the author of _The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, expresst by Instrumentall and Vocall Musick, and by Art of Perspective in Scenes_, &c., said to have been represented in the Cock Pit, in Drury Lane, at three in the afternoon punctually, 1658? Thus it stands in Jacob, but is not mentioned by Langbaine. The author of the _British Theatre_, however, mentions a remarkable circumstance in regard to it, which is, that Oliver Cromwell, who had prohibited all theatrical representations, not only allowed this piece to be performed, but even himself actually read and approved of it.

Also, what are the exact dates of the birth and death of John Heywood, in Henry VIII.'s time?

JAMES F. HASKINS.

[Sir William Davenant was the author of _The Spaniards in Peru_, which was subsequently incorporated in his piece, _Playhouse to be Let_. See his _Works_, fol. 1673, p. 103.; also Genest's _Account of the English Stage_, vol. i. p. 38.]

_Selion._--I have frequently met with the word "selion" in deeds relating to property in various parts of the Isle of Axholme, co. Lincoln. The term is used in the description of property; for instance, "All that _selion_ piece or parcel of land situate, &c." It does not signify any particular quantity, for I have known it applied to fields of all sizes, from five acres down to a quarter of an acre. Will some of your numerous correspondents furnish an explanation of the word, and from whence derived?

L. L. L.

North Lincolnshire.

[Selion of land, or _selio terræ_, is derived from the French _seillon_, a ridge of land, or ground arising between two furrows, and contains no certain quantity, but sometimes more or less. Therefore Crompton says, that a selion of land cannot be in demand, because it is a thing uncertain.]

Replies.

PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS.

(Vol. iv., pp. 86. 140.)

Mr. H. C. DE ST. CROIX may be assured that the first edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not only in the National Library, but in several others, both in Paris and elsewhere. It is now, however, very rare, though until lately little valued; for at the Duc de la Vallière's sale, in 1783, it produced no more than seven livres ten sols,--not quite seven shillings. De Bure makes no mention of it: nor was it in the library of M. Gaignat, or various other collectors; so little sought for was it then. Printed at Lyons "chès Macé Bonhomme, M:D:L:V.," it thus closes--"Achevé d'imprimer le iiii iour de Mai, M.D.L.V." It is a small octavo of 46 leaves, as we learn from Brunet, and was republished the following year at Avignon, still limited to four centuries; nor was a complete edition, which extended to ten centuries, with two imperfect ones, published till 1568, at Troyes (en Champagne), in 8vo. Numerous editions succeeded, in which it is well known that every intervenient occurrence of moment was sure to be introduced, always preceded by the date of impression, so as to establish the claim of prophecy. I have before me that of J. Janson, Amsterdam, 1668, 12mo., which is usually associated with the Elzevir collection of works, though not proceeding from the family's press either in Leyden or Amsterdam. Several attempts at elucidating these pretended prophecies have been made, such as _Commentaires sur les Centuries de Nostradamus_, par Charigny, 1596, 8vo.; _La Clef de Nostradamus_, 1710, 12mo.; and one so late as 1806, by Théodore Bouys, 8vo. The distich "Nostra damus," &c. was the playful composition, according to La Monnoye, of the celebrated Genevan reformer Théodore de Béze. By others it is attributed to the poet Jodelle: but the author is still uncertain. Nostradamus, born in Provence, died in July, 1566, aged sixty-eight. His second son published the Lives of the Poets of his native province in 1575, 8vo.

Among those impositions on public credulity, one of the most famous is that referred to by Bacon, in his twenty-fifth Essay, and which he, as was then the prevalent belief, attributed to the astronomer John Müller, usually known as Regiomontanus, of the fifteenth century, and so denominated by Bacon. Its first application was to the irruption of the French king, Charles VIII., into Naples, in 1488, when the impetuosity of the invasion was characterised by the epithet, ever since so well sustained, of "La Furia Francese." Again, in 1588 it was interpreted as predictive of the Spanish attack on England by the misnomed "Invincible Armada;" and the English Revolution of 1688 was similarly presumed to have been foretold by it, which always referred to the special year _eighty-eight_ of each succeeding century; while the line expressive of the century was correspondingly adjusted in the text. It was thus made applicable to the great French Revolution, of which the unmistakeable elements were laid in 1788, by the royal edict convoking the States-General for the ensuing year, when it burst forth with dread explosion. Its prediction, with the sole alteration of the century from the original lines, was then thus expressed:--

"Post mille expletos a partu Virginis annos, Et septingentos rursus ab orbe datos Octogessimus octavus mirabilis annus Ingruet: is secum tristia fata trahet.

"Si non hoc anno totus malus occidet orbis Si non in nihilum terra fretumque ruant, Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque deorsum Imperia; et luctus undique grandis erit."

Though long ascribed to Regiomontanus, whose death preceded its first appearance, and therefore made its application to posterior events appear prophetic, the real author, according to the astronomer Delambre, was a German named Bruschius, of the sixteenth century, who pretended to have discovered it on a tomb (we may suppose that of Regiomontanus) in Bohemia, that learned man's country. Many other similar prophecies have deluded the world, of which the most celebrated were those of the Englishman Merlin. An early edition, printed in 1528, fetched sixteen guineas in 1812 at the Roxburgh sale, though preceded by three or four. It is in French, and at Gaignat's sale, in 1769, brought only thirty-one livres. It was No. 2239. of the Catalogue.

J. R.

Cork, Sept. 17.

BOROUGH-ENGLISH.

(Vol. iv., p. 133.)

Since my former communication I have collected the following list of places where this custom prevails:--

In Surrey:

Battersea.--Lysons' _Environs_, vol. i. p. 30.

Wimbledon (Archbishop of Canterbury's Manor).--Lysons' _Environs_, vol. i. p. 523.

Streatham (Manor of Leigham Court).--Lysons' _Environs_, vol. i. p. 481.

Richmond, Ham, Peterham.--Lysons' _Environs_.

Croydon (Archbishop of Canterbury's Manor).--Clement _v._ Scudamore, 6 _Mod. Rep._ 102.; Steinman's _Croydon_, p. 9.

In Essex:

Maldon.--_Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith.

In Suffolk:

Lavenham.--_Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith.

In Gloucestershire:

The county of the city of Gloucester.--_1st Report of Real Property Commissioners_, 1839, app. 98.

In Middlesex:

Islington (Manor of St. John of Jerusalem).--Nelson's _Islington_.

Isleworth.--Lysons' _Environs_, vol. iii. p. 96.

In Cornwall:

Clymesloud.--_Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith, p. 407.

In Nottinghamshire:

Southwell.--_Comp. Cop._ 506.; _Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith.

In Northamptonshire:

Brigstock.--_Beauties of England and Wales_, vol. ii. p. 201.

In Warwickshire:

Balshall.--_Pat. 20 R. 2. m. 2._; _Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith, p. 629.

In Lincolnshire:

Stamford.--_Camd. Brit._ tit. _Lincolnshire_; _Blount's Tenures_ by Beckwith, p. 416.

There are some variances in the custom in these several places; the particulars would be too long for an article in "NOTES AND QUERIES;" but the principle of descent to the youngest son prevails in all.

It would be very desirable to complete this list as far as can be done, and I hope some others of your correspondents will give their aid to do it.

The origin of this custom, so contrary to the general law of descent by the common law, is also a subject worthy of more investigation than it has yet received. What is stated on the subject in the law books is very unsatisfactory. It might tend to throw some light on this point if any of your correspondents would communicate information as to any nations or tribes where the law of descent to the youngest son prevails, or did prevail, according to ancient or still existing custom.

I have also received the following list of places where the custom of Borough-English prevails, from Charles Sandys, Esq., F.S.A., of Canterbury. It is taken from notes to the third edition of Robinson's valuable work on Gavelkind, p. 391. note _a._, and p. 393. n. _c._ This list had escaped me, as my edition of Robinson is an old one.

"It appears by communications from the stewards to the late Mr. Sawkins, that in the following manors, lands are descendible after the custom of Borough-English:--

"Middlesex.

St. John of Jerusalem, in Islington Sutton Court

"Surrey.

Weston Gumshall, in Albury Colley, in Reigate Sutton next Woking, in Woking Little Bookham, in Little Bookham and Effingham Wotton, Abinger, Paddington, Paddington Pembroke: in the parishes of Wotton, Abinger, Ewhurst, and Cranley Gumshall Tower Hill, Gumshall Netley; Shere Vachery, and Cranley; Shere Eborum: in the parishes of Shere Ewhurst and Cranley Dunsford, in the parish of Wandsworth Compton Westbury Brockham, in Betchworth

"Essex.

Boxted Hall

"Sussex.

Battell, a small part of the freehold and copyhold lands in Robertsbridge Somersham, with the Soke, the copyhold lands in Alconbury, with Weston Huntingdonshire.

"It appears by the communications from the stewards of the late Mr. Sawkins, that his customary descent is extended to younger brothers in the manors of--

"Surrey.

Dorking, in Dorking and Capel-Milton and Westcott, in the parishes of Dorking Capel and Ockley

"To all collateral males in the manors of--

"Middlesex.

Isleworth Syon Ealing, otherwise Zealing Acton

"To females, as well as males, lineal and collateral, in the manors of--

"Middlesex.

Fulham Wimbledon, including Putney, Mortlake, Rochampton, and Sheen

"Surrey.

Battersea and Wandsworth Downe Barnes Richmond

"Nottinghamshire.

Southwell

"Hertfordshire.

Much Hadham."

G. R. C.

Southwark, Sept. 24, 1851.

The accompanying extract is from the History of the borough of Stafford, in White's _Directory and Gazetteer of Staffordshire_, which is just published:--

"The ancient custom of _Borough-English_ formerly prevailed here, by which the youngest son succeeded to property, as heir-at-law, in preference to the elder children. The origin of this part of our common law is not very well ascertained, but it is generally supposed to have arisen from the ancient system of _vassalage_, which gave the lord of the manor certain rights over his _vassal's bride_, and thus rendered the legitimacy of the eldest born uncertain; or perhaps it may have originated in the natural presumption, that the youngest child was least capable of providing for itself."

F. J. M.

PASSAGE IN VIRGIL.

(Vol. iv., pp. 24. 88.)

Permit me to make a few remarks on the passage of Virgil, "Viridesque secant," &c., and its attempted elucidation, Vol. iv., pp. 88, 89.

It is stated that the translation is not correct, and also that Servius was a very illiterate, ignorant, and narrow-minded man, &c.

In the short notice of Servius and his works in the _Penny Cyclopædia_, we have a very different character of him. Which is to be believed, for both cannot be right?

Harles, in his _Introd. in Notitiam Lit. Rom._, speaks thus of the _Commentaries of Servius_:

"Quæ in libris Virgilii sub nomine Servii circumferuntur Scholia, eorum minima pars pertinet ad illum; sed farrago est ex antiquioribus commentariis Cornuti, Donati, &c., et aliorum; immo vero ex recentioris ætatis interpretibus multa adjecta sunt et interpolata."

Thus condemning the interpolations, but leaving intact the matter really belonging to Servius.

For a refutation of the impertinent comparison with a Yorkshire hedge schoolmaster, and the erroneous appreciation of the _Commentaries_, I must refer to the above-mentioned notice in the _Penny Cyclopædia_.

In the next place, with respect to the meaning of the passage:--the word _seco_, when applied to the movements of ships, is usually rendered by "sulco;" _e.g._:

"Jamque fretum Minyæ Pegasæâ puppe secabant."

Ovid, _Met._ vii. 1.

See also lib. xi. 479. "Travel along" would be insufficient to express the meaning in these instances; and _sulco_ agrees with the modern phrase, "ploughing the deep," &c.

Moreover, I submit that the interpretation of _seco_ is governed by the context, inasmuch as its application to both land and water travelling demands a different construction in the two cases. If this be allowed, then comparison cannot be made between the line in question and "viam secat ad naves;" for this refers to Æneas's leaving the infernals, after his visit there; or "secuit sub nubibus arcum," which refers to cleaving the air. Heyne's note is "secuit ... arcum; secando aerem fecit arcum; incessit per arcum."

The clearness or muddiness of the river has no connexion with the translation; for the words "placido æquore" clearly and definitely express the state of the _surface_ of the river, and it is such as is required to favour the reflection of the trees, through whose images the ships ploughed their way; and, to make the sense perfect, the words "variis teguntur arboribus" are all that is required as showing the position of the trees with respect to the river.

P.S. I have not alluded to the special meaning of active verbs with accusative (Qy. objective) cases after them, &c.

[Hebrew: A. T.]

The Query of your correspondent ERYX has elicited two conflicting opinions as to the meaning of the words "Viridesque secant placido æquore silvas." Perhaps the following suggestion may help to set the matter at rest.

If by these words is meant the cleaving of the shadows on the water, how could they, with any propriety, be applied to a voyage that was prosecuted during the darkness of the night as well as by the light of day?

"Olli remigio _noctemque_ diemque fatigant."

W. B. R.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Ell-rake_ (Vol. iv., p. 192.).--VASHTI inquires the derivation of _ell-rake_ or _hell-rake_. In this district (the Cotswolds) we generally suppose the derivation to be from the rake being an ell in width. In the vale, however (_i.e._ about Tewkesbury), they are called _heel-rakes_, from their being drawn at the heel of the person using them, instead of being used in front, as rakes ordinarily are.

C. H. N.

Cirencester.

_Heel-rake_, _Ell-rake_, or _Hell-rake_, is a large rake, which upon being drawn along the ground the teeth run close to the heels of the person drawing it. This has given it the name of _heel-rake_, its right name. In Shropshire (and probably in other counties also) this has become contracted into _ell-rake_.

SALOPIAN.

_Freedom from Serpents_ (Vol. iii., p. 490.).--Ireland is not the only country supposed to be inimical to reptiles. I may perhaps be allowed to add to the "Note" of your correspondent as to Ireland, that the Maltese declare that St. Paul after his shipwreck cursed all the venomous reptiles of the island, and banished them for ever, just as St. Patrick is said to have afterwards treated those of his favourite isle. Whatever be the cause of it, the fact is alleged by travellers to be certain, that there are _no venomous animals in Malta_. "They assured us" (says Brydone in his _Tour through Sicily and Malta_, vol. ii. p. 35.) "that vipers have been brought from Sicily, and died almost immediately on their arrival."

Although perhaps more strictly coming under the head of folk lore, I may here advert to the traditions found in several parts of England, that venomous reptiles were banished by saints who came to live there. I have read that Keynsham--the hermitage of Keynes, a Cambrian lady, A.D. 490--was infested with serpents, which were converted by her prayers into the "Serpent-stones"--the _Cornua Ammonis_--that now cover the land. A similar story is told at Whitby, where these fine fossils of the Lias are called "St. Hilda's Serpent-stones;" and so, too, St. Godric, the famous hermit of Finchale, near Durham, is said to have destroyed the native race of serpents.

W. S. G.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

_Nao, for Naw, for Ship_ (Vol. iv., pp. 28. 214.).--I am obliged to GOMER for his reference to Davies. In the cited passages from Taliesin and Meigant, _heb naw_ means without being able to swim. The word _nawv_ drops its final letter in order to furnish the rhyme. That appears, not only from the rejection of the word by all lexicographers, but from one of the manuscripts of Meigant, which actually writes it _nawv_. I esteem Davies's translation to be Daviesian.

By way of a gentle pull at the torques, I will observe, that I am not in the habit of proving that people "did _not_ possess" a thing, but of inquiring for the evidence that they did. And when I find that tattooed and nearly naked people used coracles, and do not find that they used anything grander, I am led to suspect they did not.

My answer to the Query, whether it be probable that British warriors went over to Gaul in coracles is, "Yes, highly so." Rude canoes of various sorts convey the expeditions of savage islanders in all seas. And the coracle rendered the Scots of Erin formidable to the Roman shores of Gaul and Britain. I do not see that the Dorsetshire folk being "water-dwellers" (if so be they were such) proved them to have used proper ships, any more than their being "water-drinkers" would prove them to have used glasses or silver tankards.

No doubt the name [Greek: naus] is of the remotest heroic antiquity, and the first osier bark covered with hides, or even the first excavated alder trunk, may have been so termed; in connexion with the verbal form _nao_, contract. _no_, _nas_, pret. _navi_, to float or swim. But to "advance that opinion" as to Britain, because two revolted Roman subjects in this province used the word in the sixth and seventh centuries after Christ, would be late and tardy proof of the fact; even supposing that the two bards in question had made use of such a noun, which I dispute.

A. N.

[This communication should have preceded that in No. 99., p. 214.]

_De Grammont_ (Vol. iv., p. 233.).--On the united authority of messieurs Auger and Renouard, editors of the works of le comte Antoine Hamilton, it may be affirmed that there is no edition of the _Mémoires du comte de Grammont_ anterior to that of 1713. M. Renouard thus expresses himself: "En 1713 parurent les _Mémoires_, sans nom d'auteur, en un vol. in-12, imprimé en Hollande sous la date de Cologne."

BOLTON CORNEY.

_The Termination "-ship"_ (Vol. iv., p. 153.).--The termination "-ship" is the Anglo-Saxon _scipe_, _scype_, from verb _scipan_, to create, form; and hence as a termination of nouns denotes _form_, _condition_, _office_, _dignity_.

THOS. LAURENCE.

Ashbey de la Zouch.

_The Five Fingers_ (Vol. iv., pp. 150. 193.).--With something like compunction for lavishing on Macrobius and his prosy compeers so many precious hours of a life that is waning fast, permit me to refer you to his _Saturnalia_, vii. 13., ed. Gryph. 1560, p. 722., for the nursery names of the five fingers. They nearly coincide with those still denoting those useful implements in one of the Low-Norman isles, to wit, _Gros det_, _ari det (hari det?)_, _longuedon_ or _mousqueton_, _Jean des sceas_, _courtelas_. The said _Jean des sceas_ is, of course, "John of the Seals," the "annularis" or ring-finger of Macrobius and the Anglican Office-Book. Among the Hebrews [Hebrew: etsba elohim], "the finger of God," denoted His power; and it was the forefinger, among the gods of Greece and Italy, which wore the ring, the emblem of divine supremacy.

G. M.

_Marriages within ruined Churches_ (Vol. iv., p. 231.).--The beautiful old church of St. John in the Wilderness, near Exmouth, is in ruins. Having in 1850 asked the old man who points out its battered beauties, why there were still books in the reading desks, he informed me that marriages and funeral services were still performed there. This, however, is my only authority on the subject.

SELEUCUS.

_Death of Cervantes_ (Vol. iv., p. 116.).--No doubt now exists that the death of Cervantes occurred on the 23rd of April, 1616, and not the 20th of that month, which Smollett represents as the received date. In the Spanish Academy's edition, the magnificent one of 1780, as well as in that of 1797, it is so affirmed. In the former we read that on the 18th he received the sacrament of extreme unction with great calmness of spirit. It then adds:

"Igual serenidad mantuvo haste el último punto de la vida. Otorgó testamento dexando por albaceas á su muger Doña Catalina de Salazar, y al Licenciado Francisco Nuñez, que vivia en la misma casa: mandó que le sepultasen en las Monjas Trinitarias; y murió á 23 del expresado mes de Abril, de edad de 68 años, 6 meses, y 14 dias."

The coincidence, however, of the renowned Spaniard's death with that of our Shakspeare, who certainly died apparently on the same day, the 23rd of April, 1616, on which, at a singularity, Mr. Frere, with others, dwells, wholly fails; for, in fact, that day in Spain corresponded not with the 23rd, but the 13th, in England. It is forgotten that the Gregorian or Reformed Calendar was then adopted in Spain, and that between it and the unreformed style of England a difference in that century existed of ten days:--thus, the execution of Charles I., in our writers, and in the Book of Common Prayer, is always dated on the 30th of January, while on the continent it is represented as on the 9th of February. The Reformed Calendar was adopted and promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, while rejected by England, though acknowledged to be correct, until 1751, because coming from Rome. This disgraceful submission to prejudice in repudiation of a demonstrated scientific truth, practically sanctioned by a Napier, a Newton, a Halley, &c., is still pursued in the Greek church and Russian empire, where the present day, the 17th of September, is the 5th.

J. R.

Cork, Sept. 17.

_Story referred to by Jeremy Taylor_ (Vol. iv., p. 208.).--Although unable to point out the source whence Jeremy Taylor derived the story to which A. TR. alludes, I may be excused for referring your correspondent to _Don Quixote_, Part II. book III. chap. xiii., where the story, somewhat amplified, is given; but with this difference, that the staff is not broken by the injured person, but by Signor Don Sancho Panza, Governor of Barataria, before whom the case is brought for adjudication. That the story was founded on an older one may be well inferred, from its being stated that "Sancho had heard such a story told by the curate of his village; and his memory was so tenacious, in retaining everything he wanted to remember, that there was not such another in the whole island."

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Sept. 20. 1851.

_Gray's Obligations to Jeremy Taylor_ (Vol. iv., p. 204.).--I perfectly agree with RT. in his admiration for Gray; but, to my shame be it spoken, am not very well read in Jeremy Taylor. RT. would oblige me, as well as other admirers of "the sweet Lyrist of Peter-house," by furnishing an example or two of the latter's obligations to the bishop.