Part 3

But to return to the Convocation of York. There is a curious letter, A.D. 1661, from Accepted Frewen, Archbishop of York, to the Convocation, desiring them to send up to London some of their members duly commissioned on their part to sit with the Lower House of Canterbury for the review of the Liturgy. In this letter the archbishop says that himself and the other bishops of the province were sitting _with the bishops of the southern province in their House_. A similar expedient for constituting a _quasi_-national synod seems to have been resorted to upon some earlier occasions; but the Convocation of York still passed in due form by their own separate decree what was so agreed upon. The Articles were thus subscribed by our Convocation in 1571, and the Canons in 1604 and 1640.

Since then the Convocation of York has been regularly summoned, met, adjourned, and been prorogued, without even the dutiful address to the crown, which is regularly discussed and adopted in Canterbury. In the year 1847, a spasmodic attempt at life was manifested in this venerable and ill-used institution. Archbishop Harcourt had consented that an address to the crown should be adopted, and himself procured a draft to be approved by the bishops. His grace however died before the day of meeting. Some difficulty was experienced by the officials, both in York and London, as to the course to be pursued; but a precedent having been pointed out in the reign of James I., when Archbishop Hutton died after summoning the Convocation and before its assembly, a writ was issued from the crown to the dean and chapter at York to elect a _praeses_ for the Convocation during the vacancy of the archbishoprick. They appointed the canon who happened to be in residence; an unusually large attendance was given; the Convocation was opened, the names called over, and then the officials had reached the limit of their experience; according to _their_ precedents we ought all to have been sent away. The address however was called on by the _praeses_, being apparently quite unaware that a _prolocutor_ should be chosen by the clergy before they proceeded to business. Such an officer probably seemed to the dignitary already in the chair like a _second King of Brentford_ "smelling at one rose," and the demand was refused. Further difficulties ensued, of course, the moment the debate was opened; and finally, the _praeses_, determined not to be tempted out of his depth, rose all at once, and read the fatal _formula_ which restored our glorious Chapter House to its silent converse with the ghosts. The Convocation has never since been heard of.

CAN EBOR.

THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND.

(Vol. iv., p. 305.)

If your correspondent A. B. R. will refer to Walpole's _Fugitive Pieces_ he will find a minute inquiry into the person and age of this long-lived lady. This is doubtless the dissertation alluded to by C. (Vol. ii., p. 219.) Pennant has _two_ notices of the countess in his Scotch tours. In that of 1769 (which somewhat strangely follows the one of 1772), he gives at p. 87. the engraving spoken of (Vol. iv., p. 306.), apparently taken from the original at Dupplin Castle. It differs a little from R.'s description of another portrait, as the cloak is strapped over the chest, not held by a button. In 1772 Pennant again describes this portrait in his _Tour in Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 88., and speaks of four others, viz., first, at Devonshire House; second, at the Hon. John Yorke's seat, near Cheltenham; third, at Mr. Scott's, printer; and the fourth, in the Standard Closet, Windsor Castle. At the back of the last is written with a pen "Rembrandt." "A mistake (says P.) as Rembrandt was not fourteen years of age (he was indeed only eight) in 1614, at which time it is certain the countess was not living."

In my copy of the _Fugitive Pieces_ (the Strawberry Hill edition, presented by Walpole to Cole), I find the following manuscript note by Cole; _an amplification of the_ passage from Walpole's letters quoted at p. 306.:--

"Being at Strawberry Hill in April, 1773, I saw there a copy of the picture commonly attributed to the old Countess of Desmond; but Mr. Walpole told me that there is sufficient proof that it is a painter's mother, I think Rembrandt's. However, by a letter from Mr. Lort, April 15, 1774, he assures me that on Mr. Pennant's calling at Strawberry Hill to see this picture, he was much chagrined at having a print of it engraved for his book, till Mr. Lort revived him by carrying him to a garret in Devonshire House, where was a picture of this same countess with her name on it, exactly corresponding to his engraved print. I remember a tolerable good old picture of her at Mr. Dicey's, prebendary of Bristol, at Walton in Bucks."

Walpole could not dismiss Pennant without a disparaging remark. He is "a superficial man, and knows little of history or antiquity; but he has a violent rage for being an author." Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones: Pennant would not have displayed the ignorance which Walpole exhibits in the instance before us. In an inscription, which the latter gives, on a Countess of Desmond buried at Sligo, occurs the following contraction: "Desmoniae _Noie_ Elizabetha." Walpole says (_Fugitive Pieces_, p. 204.), "This word I can make no sense of, but _sic originale_; I take it to be redundancy of the carver. It seems to be a repetition of the last three syllables of Desmoniae!"

The sarcastic observations which Walpole passes on the Society of Antiquaries, its members, and its publications, are so frequent and so bitter, that they must have been founded on some offence not to be pardoned. Were the remarks on the "Historic Doubts" by the president, Dean Milles, and by the Rev. Robert Masters (printed in the first two volumes of the _Archaeologia_), regarded as satisfactorily confuting Walpole's arguments; or did he aim, but unsuccessfully, at the president's chair?

J. H. M.

Bath.

COINS OF VABALATHUS.

(Vol. iv., p. 255.)

There have been many attempts to explain the puzzling VCRIMDR, on the supposition that a Latin sentence was concealed under these letters. Pinkerton suggested "Voluntate Caesaris Romani Imperatoris Maximi Domini, Rex." I hope to offer a better solution, which, although not new, has been passed over, I believe, by all subsequent writers. The Rev. George North, in the _Museum Meadianum_, p. 97., gives the following note: "Apud Arabes accepi verbum Karama significare Honoravit, a quo Ucrima, et Ucrim; quo sensu respondet hoc Arabicum [Greek: To Sebasto] apud Graecos." On applying to a well-known scholar and linguist here, I found that from the verb _Karama_ there was derived the adjective _Kar[=i]mat_ (nobilis), from which again the superlative _Akram_ comes. There can, I think, be little doubt that the word VCRIMDR is originally derived from this verb _Karama_, and that it is most probably equivalent to _Nobilissimus_, a title so common shortly afterwards, as applied to the heirs to the empire.[3]

[Footnote 3: "_Nobilissimus_, in the Byzantine historians, is synonymous with Caesar."--_Niebuhr._]

The word [Greek: SROIAS] or [Greek: SRIAS], which appears on the Alexandrian coins of this prince, is of more difficult explanation. Some think it a praenomen, some a Syriac or other Eastern title, perhaps corresponding to VCRIMDR. Pellerin thought so. I hope some Oriental scholar will direct his attention to this point. These coins are very often ill struck, so that the part of the legend below the head, where the word in question is found, is indistinct, for which reason I suppose MR. TAYLOR has followed the erroneous reading of Banduri, [Greek: HERMIAS] (properly [Greek: HERMIAS], with lunate epsilon) for [Greek: SROIAS], which has been corrected by Eckhel. Of three specimens which I possess, one only reads clearly [Greek: SROIAS], from the above-mentioned cause, but it is unquestionably the correct reading on all. The best arrangement of the legend, from analogy with those forms used by the Romans, is as follows:

[Greek: AUTokrator . SROIAS . OUABALLATHOS . ATHENOdorou . Huios.]

The existence of coins, of which I possess a specimen also, reading

[Greek: A . SRIAS . OUABALLATHOS . ATHEN . U.]

shows that we must not read [Greek: ATHENOU] as one word, but must divide it as above. I think MR. TAYLOR will find his specimen to read as the last-mentioned coin, the [Greek: ER] (properly [Greek: ER]) being [Greek: SR], and the [Greek: AU] in like manner [Greek: AS]. My coin gives the whole legend distinctly, and I can vouch for the exactitude of the above legend.

I believe there appeared some years ago, in the _Revue de Numismatique_, an article on the coins of the Zenobian family, but I do not remember when it was published, nor the conclusions to which the writer came. That is, however, the most recent investigation of the subject, and to it I must refer MR. TAYLOR, as I have not access to that periodical here.

Sir Gardner Wilkinson has published in the _Numismatic Chronicle_, vol. vii. or viii., an inscription containing the names of Zenobia and Vabalathus. After the name of Vabalathus, who has the title of Autocrator, is the word [Greek: ATHENODOROU], which justifies the reading [Greek: Athenodorou Huios] on the coins. Vabalathus is thus probably the son of Zenobia by a former husband, Athenodorus, while bearing himself the same name, as Vabalathus (better Vaballathus, as on the Alexandrian coins) is said to be equivalent to Athenodorus, Gift of Pallas.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

MARRIAGE OF ECCLESIASTICS.

(Vol. iv., pp. 57, 125, 193, 196, 298.)

I entirely agree with you that your pages are not a fit battle-ground for theological controversy. Still, since the question of the translation of Heb. xiii. 4. has been mooted, I beg with much deference to suggest that it will not be quite right to let it fall to the ground unsettled, especially since CEPHAS has thought fit to charge those of our Reformers who translated the Scriptures with mistranslating advisedly, and with propagating new doctrines.

CEPHAS'S version of the passage is right, and our English version is wrong; but the fault lies in the ignorance of our translators, an ignorance which they shared with all the scholars of their day, and many not bad scholars of our own, of the effect produced on the force of the article by the relation in which it stands to the other words in the clause, in point of order. [Greek: ho timios gamos] is "the honourable marriage;" [Greek: ho timios gamos esti] is "the honourable marriage is;" [Greek: ho gamos timios] is untranslateable, unless you supply [Greek: esti], and then it means "the marriage" (or, marriage in general, in the abstract) "is honourable." But [Greek: esto] might be supplied, as it is in Heb. xiii. 4., when it will mean, "let marriage be honourable:" and [Greek: timios ho gamos] has just the same meaning, with perhaps this difference, that the emphasis falls more distinctly on [Greek: timios]. The circumstance that the mere assertion that marriage is honourable in all (men or things), true as it is in itself, ill accords with the tenor of the passage of which it forms a part, which is hortatory, not assertive, is a good reason why CEPHAS'S version should be preferred. But when we find afterwards the words [Greek: kai he koite amiantos], it is impossible to deny this hortatory force to the sentence; for those words cannot mean "the undefiled bed:" and to translate them "the (or their) bed is undefiled"--which is the only version which they will here bear, but one--would give but a feeble sense. That sole remaining sense is, "the bed (let it) be undefiled;" subaudite [Greek: esto] in the verse is, "Let marriage be honourable in all" (men or things), "and the bed be undefiled; but (or for) whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Had our translators known that [Greek: he koite amiantos] could not mean "the bed undefiled," they would at once have been driven to see that the verse is a commandment: and the commandment that marriage should be held honourable in all men (or in all respects), would have served the purpose of their doctrines quite as well as the affirmative form which they have given to their present version. I say, it would have served their purpose; but I say more: they heeded not what did or would serve their purpose. They looked only for the truth and disregarded all else in their pursuit of it. With regard to the controversy about [Greek: en pasi], it is immaterial which version be adopted. MR. WALTER is right in the rule which he enunciates, if he means that in those cases of adjectives in which the masculine and neuter forms are the same, "man" or "men," not "thing" or "things," must be understood: but it is not always observed, even in classical writers, either in Latin or in Greek. There is no reason why it should be broken here; and I do not believe it is broken. It must have been only by a slip of CEPHAS'S pen that he called [Greek: pasi] a feminine adjective. It undoubtedly refers to both sexes. I wish E. A. D. had given the Greek of the passages from Chrysostom and Augustine, of which he has communicated the Oxford translation, which is as likely to err, perhaps, as any other. Jerome's Latin, like the Vulgate, though the words are not precisely the same, gives a literal version of the Greek, without supplying any verb at all, either _est_ or _sit_, and, since the Latin has not that expressive power in cases like this which the article gives to the Greek, leaves the passage obscure and undecided.

THEOPHYLACT.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_"Crowns have their Compass," &c._ (Vol. iv., p. 294.).--The lines alluded to by your correspondent MR. ABSALON form a inscription on a portrait of King James I. in the Cracherode Collection. (Vide Beloe's _Anecdotes_, vol. i. p. 210.)

"Crownes have their compasse, length of dayes their date, Triumphes their tombes, felicitie her fate; Of more than earth can earth make none partaker, But knowledge makes the king most like his Maker."

I am aware that this reference does not go to the "root of the matter," if MR. ABSALON wishes to ascertain the author's name; but it may serve as a clue to further discovery.

MARGARET GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

It is quite obvious what lines your correspondent alludes to, though the above quotation which he gives as the commencement of them is not quite correct, nor were they written with the object he supposes.

I send a correct copy of them below, taken from Mr. Payne Collier's very interesting _Life of Shakspeare_, to whom they have always been attributed; and, it is said, with every show of reason. It is supposed they were written by him in the shape of a complimentary allusion to King James I., in grateful acknowledgment of the patronage bestowed by that monarch upon the stage. The subject is fully discussed at pp. 202, 203. of Mr. Knight's volume, whence, indeed, the above information is derived; and he publishes the lines, as follows, stating then to be copied from a coeval manuscript in his possession:--

"SHAKSPEARE ON THE KING.

"Crowns have their compass--length of days their date-- Triumphs their tomb--felicity, her fate-- Of nought but earth can earth make us partaker, But knowledge makes a king most like his Maker."

Some one, to make the allusion more complete, that is, to over-do it, changed "_a_ king" into "_the_ king" in a subsequent publication of the lines. But this, as Mr. Payne Collier very justly feels, completely spoils the whole complexion of the epigram, and perverts a fine allusion into a raw personality.

J. J. A.

_The Rev. Richard Farmer_ (Vol. iv., pp. 379.[4] 407.).--The observations of BOLTON CORNEY upon my incidental mention of Dr. Farmer, are, I think, wholly unwarranted, both in substance and manner, especially as he himself furnishes ample confirmation of its truth.

[Footnote 4: At page 379., second column, fifth line from bottom, for "thrice" read "twice."]

Taking his quotations in due order--

1. The certificate of Dr. Farmer's character for learning and ability is unnecessary, because neither was impugned; nor does an allegation of atrocity in taste and judgment necessarily imply deficiency in mere book-learning.

2. As for Isaac Reed's opinion in favour of Farmer's Essay, it might be met by many of directly opposite tendency, and of at least equal weight.

3. In the only point really in question, BOLTON CORNEY "cannot deny that Farmer related the anecdote of the _wool-man_" (that being the reputed trade of Shakspeare's father); but to what end was it related, if not to suggest an application of which Steevens was only the interpreter?

But BOLTON CORNEY thinks the character of the witness suspicious; he forgets that only just before he had stated that the anecdote and its application had been repeated in three editions, extending over thirteen years, all within the lifetime of Dr. Farmer!

A. E. B.

Leeds.

_Earwig_ (Vol. iv., pp. 274. 411.).--The correspondent who asserts the _curious fact_ that Johnson, Richardson, and Webster do not notice the word _earwig_ must have consulted some expurgated editions of the works of those celebrated lexicographers--or else we must consider his assertion as a _curious fact_ in the history of literary oversights.

BOLTON CORNEY.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Although there are few books which have proved of greater utility to inquirers into the more recent history of England than Beatson's _Political Index_, yet it is also true that there are few which have more frequently or more justly caused the reader to feel the want of a new and improved edition. A very short examination, however, of Mr. Haydn's recently published Beatson's _Political Index Modernised, The Book of Dignities, containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Judicial, Military, Naval, and Municipal, &c._, will satisfy the reader that such want has at length been supplied in a manner the most ample and the most satisfactory. For though we have referred to Beatson's well-known work for the purpose of furnishing a better idea of the _Book of Dignities_, we are bound to acknowledge that Mr. Haydn is justified in stating, that in the work in question he owes little more than the plan to Beatson. Mr. Haydn's volume not only contains many lists (among them the "Administrations of England, and the Judges of the Ecclesiastical Courts") not to be found in the _Political Index_, but the author has had the advantage of being permitted to search the various official records with the view of enabling him to give complete and accurate information. The result, of course, is obvious; namely, that just in the same proportion that our author surpasses Beatson in the extent and accuracy of his various lists, does the _Book of Dignities_ exceed its predecessor in usefulness to the official man, the historian, and the scholar.

Mr. Hunt's experience as a public lecturer at the various literary and scientific institutions of the country, having convinced him that for the majority of the members of those institutions most of the existing works on natural philosophy are of too abstruse and technical a character--are, in short, sealed books,--he has been led to publish a small volume which we have no doubt will soon become extremely popular. It is entitled _Elementary Physics, an Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy_; and, as its object is to teach physical science so far as to render all the great deductions from observation and experiment satisfactorily clear, without encountering the difficulty of mathematics,--and no one is better able to do this, and throw a charm over such a subject, than the author of the _Poetry of Science_,--the work, which is illustrated with upwards of two hundred woodcuts, will be found eminently useful; not only to those who have neither time nor opportunity to carry their studies beyond its pages, but especially as a "first book" to those in whom it may awaken the desire for a more perfect knowledge of the beautiful and important truths of which it treats.

The nature of the _Hand Atlas of Physical Geography, consisting of a Series of Maps and Illustrations, showing the Geographical Distribution of Natural Phenomena, embracing the Divisions of Geology, Hydrography, Meteorology, Natural History: from the Physikalischer Atlas of Berghaus, and the Maps of the Erdkunde, drawn by and under the immediate Superintendence of Drs. Ritter and Kiepert, Oetzel, Grimm, &c., by the Editor of the University Atlas of the Middle Ages_, is sufficiently described by its ample title-page; which shows, moreover, that the work is not a mere copy or reduction of the great atlas of Berghaus, on which it is founded. As a companion to the works of Humboldt, Mrs. Somerville, and other writers on physical geography, it will be found most useful; while its convenient size, and moderate price, place it within the reach of almost all classes of readers.

CATALOGUES RECEIVED.--Nattali and Bond's (23. Bedford Street) Catalogue Part II. of Ancient and Modern Books; Adam Holden's (60. High Street, Exeter) Catalogue Part XXXIII. of Second-hand Books in Excellent Condition; B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 37. of Books in Oriental Literature; J. Russell Smith's (4. Old Compton Street, Soho) Catalogue Part VII. of an Extensive Collection of Choice, Useful, and Curious Books.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

HUNTER'S DEANERY OF DONCASTER. Vol. I. Large or small paper.

CLARE'S RURAL MUSE.

CHRISTIAN PIETY FREED FROM THE DELUSIONS OF MODERN ENTHUSIASTS. A.D. 1756 or 1757.

AN ANSWER TO FATHER HUDDLESTONE'S SHORT AND PLAIN WAY TO THE FAITH AND CHURCH. By Samuel Grascombe. London, 1703. 8vo.

REASONS FOR ABROGATING THE TEST IMPOSED UPON ALL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. By Samuel Parker, Lord Bishop of Oxon. 1688. 4to.

LEWIS'S LIFE OF CAXTON. 8vo. 1737.

CATALOGUE OF JOSEPH AMES'S LIBRARY. 8vo. 1760.

TRAPP'S COMMENTARY. Folio. Vol. I.

WHITLAY'S PARAPHRASE ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. Folio. Vol. I. 1706.

LONG'S ASTRONOMY. 4to. 1742.

MAD. D'ARBLAY'S DIARY. Vol. II 1842.

ADAMS' MORAL TALES.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DR. JOHNSON. 1805.

[Star symbol] Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

Notices to Correspondents.

J. NORTH _will find his Query respecting the_ Zollverein _answered in our_ 3rd Vol. p. 451. _His others shall appear shortly._

LOVELACE'S POEMS. D. H. M. C. _is informed that these were reprinted in 1817, under the editorship of our valued correspondent_ MR. SINGER.

J. RAYNER, _who asks for names of present reigning sovereigns, of presidents of the United States for the last thirty years, and of the governors-general of India, is referred to Mr. Haydn's_ Book of Dignities _(noticed in our present number), where he will find all the information of which he is in search._

W. S. W. _Many thanks for your kind reminder. The article is in type, although omitted this week from want of room._

J. S. B. _is thanked. Such a list would be most useful._

REPLIES RECEIVED.--_Pope's Honest Factor--Serpent with Human Head--Marriage of Ecclesiastics--Hobbes's Leviathan--Definition of Truth--Wearing Gloves before Royalty--Derivation of Earwig--Dictionary of Hackneyed Quotations--Passage in Campbell--"'Tis Twopence now"--Cozens the Painter--"Acu tinali meridi"--Nightingale and Thorn, &c.--Theodolite--Temple of AEgina--Ashen Fagots--Cause of Transparency--Praed's Charade--Marriages in ruined Churches--Age of Trees--Joceline's Legacy--St. Bene't Fink--Bristol Tables--"A little Bird told me"--Lycian Inscriptions--Tuden Aled._

_Copies of our_ Prospectus, _according to the suggestion of_ T. E. H., _will be forwarded to any correspondent willing to assist us by circulating them._