Part 2

Surely it is "devoutly to be wished" that the proposed little work may find "a local habitation and a name," and that the idea may not vanish into thin air "like the baseless fabric of a vision." No doubt several of your correspondents who do not think that "ignorance is bliss," and that it is "folly to be wise," would gladly lend their aid, and the constant "cry" would be "they come." As to the title, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet:" but "somewhat too much of this."

TT.

Minor Notes.

_Cocker's Arithmetic._--I have a copy of Cocker's _Arithmetic_, the 37th edition, 1720, with an engraved portrait of the author; respecting which there is the following manuscript note on the flyleaf:--

"Mr. Douce, of Bath, the literary antiquary and book-collector, showed me a copy of Cocker's _Arithmetic_, with the _frontispiece cut of the author_, which he said was very scarce.

"J. P., April, 1823."

Mr. Douce's copy (the first edition, 1678) is now in the possession of Mr. Rainy, an upholsterer in Bath, and is for sale. He asks 8_l._ 10_s._ for it.

CRANMORE.

_The Duke of Normandy._--The question relative to the late Duke of Normandy being the individual who was Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, and who was said to have died in the Temple, has never been as publicly and satisfactorily settled as it deserves. The high station and unquestionable integrity of the individuals of the Perceval family who instituted the inquiry, and in the most open manner laid the results of that inquiry before the public, constitute an unexceptionable guarantee for its genuineness and authenticity. The acute perception and accurate memory of Madame Tussaud carry great weight with them. She was asked by the writer of this paragraph, if she thought the person calling himself the Duke of Normandy was the same individual she had modelled when a child. Madame Tussaud replied with great emphasis, "I would take my oath of it for he had a peculiar formation on the neck which still remains. Besides something transpired between us, which he referred to, which was never likely to be mentioned to any one." The late Mr. Jeremy, the active and highly intelligent magistrate who presided in the court of Greenwich, and whose long experience adds value to his judgment, was of opinion that there were no traces of the impostor discovered by him during several scrutinising examinations which were held in his office, and that the members of the old French nobility who were present treated him with profound respect. He was supported through unknown channels, was twice shot at, and refused permission by the French government, though it was applied for by legal advocates of the highest standing, to bring the question before the legal tribunals. At first the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, who knew that the Dauphin was alive, opposed the Duke of Wellington's proposal to reinstate Louis XVIII. The Empress Josephine is also said to have been aware, that the Dauphine did not die in the Temple, and is reported to have said "Ah! legitimacy is nearer than you suppose." It is an unsettled historical question worthy the attention of the historian who has time to bestow on it.

ÆGROTUS.

_Anachronisms and Errors of Painters._--Perhaps the commonest of all anachronisms of painters is that of representing St. John Baptist in a Holy Family, himself a child, adoring the infant Saviour, and carrying a slight cross or flag, with the motto "Ecce Agnus Dei." That John knew our Lord as an eminently holy man is clear frown his expostulation, "I have need to be baptized of Thee," &c.; but he himself most distinctly assures us that it was not till he saw the Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove that he knew him as the promised Messiah and Lamb of God.

I have seen an engraving from an old Master (perhaps some of your correspondents may remember the painting itself) in which the mother of Zebedee's children comes forward to beg the boon on their behalf, James and John being represented as boys of seven or eight, one on each side of her. These errors of painters are perhaps excusable when they occurred at a time when the Bible was not in everybody's hands: but what excuse can we make for artist's blunders now? The _Illustrated News_ has lately given us prints from paintings by living artists, in one of which, "Noah's Sacrifice," a couple of fat ducks figure as _clean_ fowl at the foot of the altar; and in the other, the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins have increased into two sevens; neither error being apparently noticed by the editor. It is said that no sea piece, however fine, is admitted to our exhibitions if the rigging is incorrect. Would it not be quite as advisable to exclude Scripture pieces with palpable blunders?

P. P.

_The Ring Finger._--The English Book of Common Prayer orders that the ring should be put "upon the _fourth_ finger of the woman's left hand;" and the spousal manuals of York and Salisbury assign this practical reason for the selection of the said finger:

"Quia in illo digito est quædam vena procedens usque ad cor."--Maskell, _Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England_, 2nd edition, Preface, page clv. note: Lond. 1846.

Aulus Gellius tells us--

"Veteres Græcos annulum habuisse in digito accepimus sinistræ manus, qui minimo est proximus. Romanos quoque homines aiunt, sic plerumque annulis usitatos. Causam esse hujus rei Appianus in libris Ægyptiacis hanc dicit: quod insectis apertisque humanis corporibus, ut mos in Ægypto fuit, quas Graeci [Greek: anatomas] appellant, repertum est, _nervum quendam tenuissimum ab eo uno digito, de quo diximus, ad cor hominis pergere ac pervenire_. Propterea non inscitum visum esse, eum potissimum digitum tali honore decorandum, qui continens et quasi connexus esse cum principatu cordis videretur."--_Noctes Atticæ_, lib. x. cap. 10.

Other reasons are assigned by Macrobius; and the author of the _Vulgar Errors_ (book iv. ch. 4.) has entirely overthrown the anatomical fiction mentioned above. Can any one give me any further information than that contained in L'Estrange or Wheatly, or in the authors to which they refer? The fourth finger of the left hand is certainly "the least active finger of the hand least used, upon which, therefore, the ring may be always in view, and least subject to be worn out:" but this is a very unromantic and utilitarian idea.

RT.

Warmington, Aug. 9. 1851.

_The Od Force._--As considerable interest appertains to the earlier manifestations of what is now termed Mesmerism, the following Note may not be altogether unworthy of a place.

The experiment, upon which a subjective proof of the agency of the power of Od is founded, as described by Dr. Herbert Mayo in the supplementary chapter to the last edition of _Letters on the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions_, and alluded to by R. D. H. (Vol. iii., p. 517.), is another instance of there being "nothing new under the sun." In the _Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords_, first published at Paris in 1582, in the chapter "Des faux Sorciers et de leur Impostures" occurs the following passage, which I copy _verbatim et literatim_:--

"Autres ont une ruse, qu'ils semblent d'attacher un anneau d'or ou d'argent à un petit filet, qu'on suspend dans un verre à demy plain d'eaue, et puis l'ayant trempé pair trois fois, disent bellement ce verset du Psalme, autant de fois, 'Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti, incerta et occulta sapientiæ tuæ manifestasti mihi.' L'anneau bat contre le verre, et sonne autant d'heures qu'il en peut estre."

W. PINKERTON.

Ham.

_New Costume for Ladies._--The following paragraph, extracted from a London paper (November, 1794) would lead to the conclusion that the agitation regarding costume now going on in America, is not entirely novel; the Turkish fashion having been introduced unsuccessfully into this metropolis in the last century:--

"The young ladies of _haut ton_, who have invented _Turkish_ fashions, will not be surprised if their _husbands_ should follow their example, and adopt the _Turkish taste for variety_.--No man of sense can be _long_ attached to such _absurdity_!"

G. R.

Thanet Place, Temple Bar, Aug. 20.

Queries.

JUDGES STYLED REVEREND, ETC.

I read a Query not long ago as to the time when the title "Very Reverend" was first given to Deans. I would also offer a Query, When did the Judges lose the title of "Reverend" and "Very Reverend," and obtain that of "Honorable?" In the second volume of _The Year Books_ the approbation of the twelve judges to the publication of the reports is headed, "By the approbation of the _Reverend Judges_;" and the following is copied from the title-page: "_Le Premier Part de les Reports del Cases en Ley, que furent argués en le Temps de le très Haut et Puissant Prince, Roy Edward le Tierce. Ore nouvelment Imprimés, Corrigés et Amendés, avec les Notations and References de l' très Reverend et trés Sage Juges de cest Royaulme, Brook et Fitzherbert. Printed, 1679._"

In the title-page of the sixth volume we find "_Avec les Notations de le très Reverend Juges, Brook et Fitzherbert_."

Was this title, "Reverend," derived from the address given to judges when ecclesiastics filled judicial offices, or is it simply a title of respect applied to all persons to whom, on account of their position in society, respectful address is due; of which we have an example in Othello's address to the Venetian senators:

"Most potent, grave, and reverend seniors."

When did the address, "The Honorable," now given to the judges, come into use?

How comes it that in Court the Puisne Judges are addressed by the title of "Lord," whereas the Master of the Rolls, who ranks before them, receives the title of "Your Honor?"

The use of the title "Honorable" to the House of Commons, and to members within its walls, is familiar to us all.

The worthiness and antiquity of the title is proved by its being given to one of the Persons of the Eternal Trinity in the Te Deum.

F. W. J.

Minor Queries.

93. _Frederick Egmont; Peter (Egmont?)._--They appear as booksellers merely and only, so far as I can make out, because the _promptorius puerorum_, or _medulla grammaticæ_, printed by Pynson, in 1499, is said, in the colophon, to be at their expense. Neither Ames nor Dibdin gives any further evidence. The following is therefore worth a Note. It is from the _ad lectorem_ (or rather, the _adolescentibus studiosis_) of the _Multorum Vocabulorum equivocorum interpretatio Magistri Johannes de garlandia_: Paris, 1502, 4to.

"Sed nihil tam arduum tamque difficile fuit quod labor improbus non vicerit. Ut videlicet mei amicissimo Fredericho Egmont morem gererem optatissimus: qui cum in vestra excellentissima anglie patria. Et librorum sit fidelissimus mercator et amicorum suorum amantissimus, nullum unque librum ex officina sua nisi perquam castigatus emittet."

Query, was F. Egmont a printer as well as a bookseller? Granting that _officina_ means a shop, how can a mere bookseller sell none but correctly printed works? The writer of the above was himself a bookseller (Joh. Ant. Venetus).

Of Peter above-mentioned, or rather of his name, the following is the history:--The colophon of the _promptorius_, of which there is a copy in the Grenville Library, runs as follows "... in expensis virtuosorum virorum Frederici Egmont et Petri post pascha, anno domini MCCCC nonagessimo nono, decima v'a die mensis Maii." Hence Hain and others have entered Peter post Pascha as an English bookseller, presuming that the words _post pascha_ cannot belong to the date, because the more definite day, "May 15," follows. But surely, among the varieties of the time when every man did what seemed good in his own eyes as to titles, colophons, &c., it may easily have happened that a double description of a part of the date may have occurred, one description containing more than the other. Query, Can any other instance be produced of this hypertautology?[6] At any rate, such a thing is more likely than that a bookseller should have been called _Peter After-Easter_. At the same time such whimsical things were done in the Latinization of names, both by their owners and by others for them, that no certain conclusion can be drawn. For example, more atrocious changes have been made than would be that of Easterby into _post pascha_.

M.

[Footnote 6: [We are glad to supply our correspondent with another instance of hypertautology, and from a work in great demand during this part of the year. On the cover of Bradshaw's _Railway Guide_ we read, "Eighth Month (August) 1st, 1851."]]

94. _Unlucky for pregnant Women to take an Oath._--In a police case, reported in _The Times_ of the 28th of May, a woman was called as a witness who, however, upon the book being tendered to her, positively refused to be sworn, with the remark, that it must be evident to the magistrate that she could not take an oath. The usher of the court said that the woman was pregnant, and that low women who were in that situation, entertained an absurd belief that it was unlucky to take an oath. What is the origin of this superstition? Is it common amongst the uneducated classes of society?

COWGILL.

95. _Cockroach_ (Vol. i., p. 194.).--Having seen in "NOTES AND QUERIES" some interesting particulars on the subject of beetle mythology, I am induced to put a Query as to the derivation of the word "cockroach." The common appellation for this insect in the French islands is _ravet_, but the more correct one is _kakerlaque_. Does the affinity in sound between this latter term and "cockroach," slight though it be, warrant the supposition that the one may be derived from the other?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, May, 1851.

96. _Felton._--What has become of the letter said to have been found in Felton's hat when he stabbed the Duke of Buckingham? Upcott once had it, but it did not appear in the sale catalogue of his collection.

??

97. _Date of a Charter._--Having been in the habit of making frequent consultations to the MSS. in the British Museum respecting the county of Wilts, I found a charter temp. Henry III., the date of which is given as "_Thursday next after the day whereon the King sent his daughter into Sicily_!"

It is now three years since I last saw the original, and having mislaid my transcript, I quote from memory; but I believe I am correct in my rendering from the Latin.

Can you, through the medium of your valuable publication, fix with accuracy this date, as I have not been able to do so.

J. T. HAND.

29. Threadneedle Street, Aug. 13. 1851.

98. _Thomas Tusser the "Husbandman."_--Has any new evidence been discovered to prove the correct dates of the birth and decease of this "old English worthy?" On his own authority we learn that Rivenhall, near Witham in Essex, was the place of his nativity, and his remains were interred (about 1580?) in St. Mildred's church in the Poultry. Are any particulars known of Sir Richard Southwell, one of Tusser's patrons?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

99. _Godfrey Higgins' Works._--Have the works of Godfrey Higgins (the _Celtic Druids_ and the _Anacalypsis_) ever been reviewed, and where? if not, can any of your readers inform me what is the opinion generally entertained of these productions?

OUTIS.

100. _Noctes Templariæ._--In turning over yesterday a MS. volume in the University Library, I met with a tract of 8 pp., with the title, _Noctes Templariæ: a Briefe Chronicle of the darke Raigne of the bright Prince of burning Love_. Stradilan is the name of the principal character in this most mad composition. As to the author, I shall be glad to receive information from those better acquainted with the fugitive literature of the seventeenth century than

W. R. C.

Cambridge.

101. _Commissioners on Officers of Justice in England._--On July 27th, 1733, commissioners were appointed to survey the officers of justice in England and Wales, and to inquire into their fees. Will any of your learned readers inform me whether these commissioners made any report of the returns of fees which they received in pursuance of their commission, and where is such report or returns deposited? This inquiry may lead to some important results.

INQUIRER.

102. _Marcus Ælius Antoninus._--Can you or any of your correspondents inform me what writer is concealed under the pseudonyme of Marcus Ælius Antoninus, in the following title?

"De scripto quodam cleri secundarii et leguleorum cololiensium planè detestabili, adversus Evangelii doctrinam et ordines Imperii nuper edito Querela Marci Ælii Antonini Imperatoris, qui Philosophus à bonis literis magna laude cognominatus est. 1543."

TYRO.

Dublin.

103. _Derivation of Pic-nic._--Can any of your subscribers inform me of the derivation of the word "Pic-nic?"

A. F. S.

Nottingham, Aug. 12.

104. _Sir Thomas More's Knighthood._--I should, be glad of the date when the honour of knighthood was conferred on this eminent man and also the date of his admission into the privy council. If I am rightly informed, the records of the privy council are preserved only since 1540.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT

105. _Portrait of Mandeville, author of the Fable of "The Bees."_--Could any of your numerous readers inform me whether there is in existence any authenticated portrait of Dr. Bernard de Mandeville, author of the fable of "The Bees?" I have made a fruitless search for several years past.

B. G.

106. _Dingle, early History of._--Any references to works, MS. or printed, containing notices of the early history of Dingle and its neighbourhood, in the county of Kerry, Ireland, will much oblige.

R. H.

107. _Ancient Egypt, Language of._--What are the best standard works on the study of the language of ancient Egypt, as preserved in its monuments? What are the best works on its chronology? What translations exist of its "Ritual of the Dead?" I am acquainted with Lepsius Todtenbuch. What MSS. of it, _if any_, are preserved in British museums or libraries? have they been collated? I am acquainted with that in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, formerly in possession of the late Lord Kingsborough, which, I believe, has never been even lithographed; though among the members of that university are a Hincks, a Wall, and a Butcher.

S. P. H. T.

108. _Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe._--None of the biographers of the famous Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, the controversial writer, and founder of Chelsea College, state where he was born, or where interred. Faulkner, in his _History of Chelsea_, observes that he was probably a native of Devonshire; but there appears to be some ground for considering that he was of a family settled at Mayroyd, in the parish of Halifax in Yorkshire. In a conveyance of the estate, dated 29th January, 1581, the grantor is Matthew Sutcliffe, "Doctor of Civil Law, dwelling in London." He was of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Doctor of Civil Law: he died in 1629. In his will he desires to be buried in Exeter Cathedral. Probably the inscription on his tombstone, if still existing, might settle this uncertainty. I shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who can throw any light on the subject.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

109. _Names first given to Parishes._--Is there any means of ascertaining the time at which names were first given to parishes? and can any reason be given for the recurrence of one termination in a particular locality? Thus between Caistor and Brigg in Lincolnshire, a distance of about nine miles, there are, I understand, the several parishes or hamlets of _Clixby_, _Fonaby_, _Grassby_, _Ownby_, _Searby_, _Bigby_, _Barnetby_, _Wrawby_, and there are many others in the neighbourhood. Of course, I know the meaning of _by_, as a termination; but I wish to know why it occurs so often in one locality, when perhaps a few miles off you have as many _hams_ or _thorpes_.

Can you suggest any probable derivation of _Swinhop_?

F. B.

Leamington.

110. _German Testament._--What is the most literal German translation of the New Testament? Is the translation published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1844 to be depended on?

A. G.

111. _The Man of Law._--Who was the author of the following lines quoted by Mr. Serjeant Byles a short time since?--

"The man of law, who never saw, The way to buy or sell, Shall never rise, by merchandise, Or ever speed him well."

They may not be quite correct, as I write from memory.

W. W. KING.

112. _The Termination "Ship."_--What is the origin of the termination _ship_, in such words as consul_ship_, prætor_ship_, lord_ship_, and others?

A. W. H.

113. _Nullus and Nemo._--I have two old quarto tracts, of eight pages each, printed, as seems both by the type and by an allusion contained in one of them, between 1520 and 1530, or thereabouts. They are part of a satirical controversy, the subject of which is very obscure, between _Nemo_ of Wittemberg, and _Nullus_ of Leipsic. Though printed, we must suppose, at the two places, the opponents have evidently clubbed for a woodcut to be common to the two title-pages.

In this cut an unfortunate householder stands in an attitude of despair, surrounded by what are as much in our day as in his the doings of _nobody_, as broken crockery, hardware, &c. In the distance his kitchen is visible, in which two nobodies are busy with his meat and wine. A young woman is carrying an infant to the priest to be baptized; and from the way in which the worthy man holds up his finger, we may fear she has just confessed that it is nobody's child. Can any of your readers give any information?

M.

114. _The noblest Object of the Work of Art._--Can any of your readers discover the answer to the adjoining riddles which I have met with, though I neither know its author nor answer?--

"The noblest object of the work of art, The brightest gem that nature can impart, The point essential in the tenant's lease, The well-known signal in the time of peace, The farmer's comfort when he holds the plough, The soldier's duty and the lover's vow, The planet seen between the earth and sun, The prize that merit never yet hath won, The miser's idol and the badge of Jews, The wife's ambition and the parson's dues. If now your noble spirit can divine, A corresponding word for every line, By the first letters plainly will be shown, An ancient city of no small renown."

A. W. H.

115. _Poulster._--Can any one inform me if I am right in supposing that this word, used in the reign of George I. as an addition expressing trade, is the same as our _upholsterer_?

D. X.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Reverend Cæsar de Missy._--Can you furnish me with any particulars respecting the Rev. Cæsar de Missy? Bishop Middleton, in his work on the Greek article, quotes once or twice some MS. notes of his, now in the British Museum; and a rare edition of the Septuagint (Basil, 1545), now in my possession, contains his autograph under date Londini, 1745. I have not met with his name in any biographical work, and should therefore be obliged by any information respecting his life and works.

QUIDAM.

[Cæsar de Missy, a learned Prussian divine, was born at Berlin, 1703. Having settled in England, he was appointed in 1762 to be one of the French chaplains to George III., and died 1773. His valuable library, which was sold by Baker and Leigh in 1778, consisted of many books enriched with his MS. notes, some of which were purchased for his Majesty's library, some for the British Museum, and some by Dr. Hunter, who also bought several of his manuscripts. A biographical account of De Missy will be found in Chalmers's _Biographical Dictionary_, under _De Missy_ and a list of his works in Watt's _Bibliotheca Britannica_, art. _Missy_.]