Part 1
[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been standardized. Old English-style letters have been marked with braces, as in {j}; characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as in [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has been added at the end.]
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION
FOR
LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. V.--No. 131. SATURDAY, MAY 1. 1852.
Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5_d._
CONTENTS.
Page
NOTES:--
Sterne at Sutton on the Forest, by the Rev. A. Gatty 409
Readings in Shakspeare, No. IV. 410
Presentiment 411
Curious Bill of Fare, and Storm, in 1739, by Edward Hawkins 412
Peculiar Attributes of the Seventh Son 412
Folk Lore:--Game-feathers protracting the Agony of Death--Charm for Ague--Old Shoes thrown for Luck--Folk Lore of the Kacouss People 413
Burials in Woollen, by the Rev. E. S. Taylor 414
Minor Notes:--Unacknowledged Quotations from the Scriptures--Latin Hexameters on the Bible--Epigram on La Bruyère--Cock And Bull Story--Mary Queen of Scots; her Monument and Head 414
QUERIES:--
The Book of Jasher 415
Minor Queries:--Old China--Pagoda, Joss House, Fetiche--"And Eva stood and wept alone"--Hearne's Confirmation; Baxter's Heavy Shove; Old Ballad--Gunpowder Mills--Macfarlane of that Ilk--Armorial Bearings --Scologlandis and Scologi--Ednowain ap Bradwen--Mummy Wheat--The Trusty Servant at Winchester--Anecdote--St. Augustine--Ghost, Evidence of one not received--Roman and Saxon Cambridge--Queries on the Mistletoe--Portrait of Mesmer 415
MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Saint Richard--"Coming Events cast their Shadows before"--St. Christopher--Cuddy, the Ass--Toady--Mother Shipton 418
REPLIES:--
Ralph Winterton 419
Meaning and Origin of "Era," by S. W. Singer 420
Lady Arabella Stuart, by A. Grayan 421
Newton, Cicero, and Gravitation 422
Deferred Executions, by Ambrose Florence, &c. 422
Duchess of Lancaster 423
Surnames 424
Replies to Minor Queries:--Dyson's Collection of Proclamations--"Up, Guards, and at them!"--Bawderich, and Bells--Algernon Sydney--"History is Philosophy teaching by Examples"--On a Passage in Pope--Plague Stones--"Archæologia Cambrensis, Vol. I., 2nd Edit."--Town halls--Emaciated Monumental Elegies--Coleridge's "Friend"--Enigma on the Letter "I"--Mother Carey's Chickens--Burnomania--Cagots--Chantrey's Sleeping Children--Topography of Ashbourne--Arkwright--Pilgrimages to the Holy Land--"Merchant Adventurers" 425
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 430
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 430
Notices to Correspondents 431
Advertisements 431
Notes.
STERNE AT SUTTON ON THE FOREST.
The following extracts from the Register Book of the parish of Sutton on the Forest, Yorkshire, which are in the handwriting of Lawrence Sterne, have come into my possession through the kindness of my friend Archdeacon Creyke (of York), and I beg to offer them for insertion in "N. & Q."
"Lawrence Sterne, A. B., was inducted into ye Vicarage of Sutton August ye 25th, 1738.
"Lawrence Sterne created Master of Arts at Cambridge, July, 1740.
"L. Sterne, A. M., made Prebendary of York (Givendale) by Lancelot Arch-bishop in January, 1740; and in Jan. 1741 prefer'd by his Lords'p to the Prebend of N. Newbald.
"Mem'd. That the Cherry Trees and Espalier Apple Hedge were planted in ye Gardens October ye 9, 1742. Nectarines and Peaches planted the same day. The Pails set up two months before.
"I laid out in the Garden, in ye year 1742, the sum of 8_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._
"L. Sterne."
"Laid out in enclosing the Orchard, and in Apple Trees, &c., in ye year 1743, 5_l._
"The Apple Trees, Pear and Plumb Trees, planted in ye Orchard ye 28th day of October, 1743, by
"L. Sterne."
"Laid out in Sushing[1] the House, 12_l._, A. Dom. 1741.
"In Stukbing[2] and Bricking £ _s._ _d._ the Hall 4 16 0 In Building the Chair House 5 0 0 In Building the Par'r Chimney 3 0 0 Little House 2 3 0
"L. Sterne, Vicar.
"Spent in shapeing the Rooms, plastering, Underdrawing, and Jobbing--God knows what."
[Footnotes 1, 2: There are two words in Sterne's own memoranda which may puzzle other readers besides me; _Sushing_ and _Stukbing_. I have thought they might mean _sashing_, _i.e._ for windows, and _stuccoing_ the walls. Perhaps some contributor to "N. & Q." will kindly interpret them.]
* * * * *
"In May, 1745--
"A dismal Storm of Hail fell upon this Town, and some other adjacent ones, w'ch did considerable damage both to the Windows and Corn. Many of the stones measured six inches in circumference. It broke almost all the South and West Windows both of this House and my Vicarage House at Stillington.
"L. Sterne."
"In the year 1741--
"Hail fell in the midst of Summer as big as a Pidgeon's egg, w'ch unusual occurrence I thought fit to attest under my hand.
"L. STERNE."
These two accounts of hailstorms are supposed to be only quizzes upon prodigious entries of the same sort made by Vicar Walker in 1698. And that this latter is so is evident, from the concluding words being the same as in Walker's memorandum.
Sterne is characteristically exhibited in the subjoined account by the successor of the "reverend joker":
"In the year 1764, during the Incumbency of Mr. Lawrence Sterne, the Vicarage House was burnt down. Tho' frequently admonished and required to rebuild the Vicarage House, he found means to evade the performance of it. He continued Vicar till he died, in March, 1768. Andrew Cheap was appointed his successor, and was advised to accept a composition for Dilapidations from the Widow. A Suit was instituted for Dilapidations, but after a time (the Widow being in indigent circumstances) sixty pounds were accepted.
"In April, 1770, the New House was begun, and finished in May, 1771.
"Total amount of Suit and Building the House, 576_l._ 13_s._ 5_d._
"ANDREW CHEAP, Vicar."
ALFRED GATTY.
READINGS IN SHAKSPEARE, NO. IV.
"Of government the properties to unfold, Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse; Since I am put to know, that your own science Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice My strength can give you: Then, no more remains: But that, to your sufficiency as your worth, is able; And let them work. The nature of our people, Our city's institutions, and the terms For common justice, you are as pregnant in, As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember: There is our commission, From which we would not have you warp."
Opening of _Measure for Measure_.
In Mr. Knight's edition, from which the foregoing passage is printed and pointed, the following note is appended to it:
"We encounter at the onset one of the obscure passages for which this play is remarkable. The text is usually pointed thus:--
"'Then no more remains But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able, And let them work.'
"It is certainly difficult to extract a clear meaning from this; and so Theobald and Hanmer assume that a line has dropped out, which they kindly restore to us, each in his own way."
After relating Steevens' attempt at elucidation, Mr. Knight proceeds to explain the passage by a running interpretation parenthetically applied to each expression; but I doubt very much whether any person would feel much enlightened by it; or whether, amongst so many explanations, any one of them could be pointed out less obscure than the rest.
Let us try, then, what a total change of interpretation will do.
In the sixth line of the Duke's speech, as quoted at the commencement, we find the demonstrative pronoun _that_, which must have _some_ object. Mr. Knight supposes that object to be "your science." I, on the contrary, am of opinion that it refers to _the commission_ which the Duke holds in his hand, and which he is in the act of presenting to Escalus:
"Then no more remains, But--that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able, And let them work."
By transposition, this sentence becomes "Then, as your worth is able, no more remains, to your sufficiency, but _that_."
But _what_?
Your COMMISSION!
Have we not here the _mot_ to the enigma, the clue to the mystery? When the Duke takes up the commission, he addresses Escalus to the following effect:
"It would be affectation in me to lecture you upon the art of government, since I must needs know that your own science exceeds, in that, the limits of all I could teach you. Therefore, since your worth is able, no more remains to your sufficiency, but--_that_, and let them work."
The _sufficiency_ here spoken of is twofold, ability to direct, and _authority to enforce_. The first was personal to Escalus, consisting of his own skill and knowledge; the second was conferred upon him _by commission_: when both were united, he was to "let them work!"
Reading the passage in this way, there is no necessity for the alteration of a single letter; and yet I will put it to any person of sense and candour, whether the passage be not thereby relieved from all real obscurity?
It must be borne in mind, that the presentation of the commission is the _main object_ of the Duke's address: the presentation therefore is not a _single act_, but rather a protracted action during the whole speech, finally consummated with the concluding words--"there is our commission."
This is so plain, that it scarcely needs confirmation; but, if it did so, it would receive it, by analogy, in the similarly protracted presentation to Angelo when it becomes his turn to receive _his_ commission. In that case the act of presentation commences with the word "hold:"
"Hold--therefore, Angelo!"
And finishes six lines lower down with:
"Take thy commission."
And it is not a little singular, that this word "hold," having been at first similarly misinterpreted, proved as great a stumbling block to Tyrwhitt and others, who seemed to grope about in sheer perverseness, catching at any meaning for it rather than the right, and certainly the obvious one.
A. E. B.
Leeds.
PRESENTIMENT.
Seeing, in some of the former Numbers of the "N. & Q.", a collection of instances of sudden _high spirits_ immediately preceding some great calamity, it occurred to me that it would be not uninteresting to throw together a few instances of sudden _low spirits_, or _illness_, attended with a similar result. Here our only embarrassment is that of riches.
The first example I have selected is taken from the _Relation de la Mort de MM. le Duc et le Cardinal de Guise_, by the Sieur Miron, physician to King Henry III. He first narrates the preparations for the Duke's assassination, and then proceeds as follows:--
Et peu après que le Duc de Guise fut assis au conseil, 'J'ai froid, dit-il, le coeur me fait mal: que l'on fasse de feu,' et s'adressant au Sieur de Morfontaine, tresorier de l'épargne, 'Monsieur de Morfontaine, je vous prie de dire à M. de St Prix, premier valet de chambre de roy, que je le prie de me donner des raisins de Darnas ou de la conserve de roses.' ... Le Duc de Guise met des prunes dans son drageoir, jette le demeurant sur le tapis. 'Messieurs, dit-il, qui en veut?'--et se lève. Mais ainsi qu'il est à deux pas près de la porte de vieux cabinet, prend sa barbe avec la main droite, et tourne le corps et le feu à demi pour regarder ceux qui le suivoient, fut tout soudain saisi au bras par le Sieur de Montsery l'ainé, qui étoit près de la cheminée, sur l'opinion qu'il ait, que le duc voulut se reculer pour se mettre en défense."
The Sieurs des Effranats, de Saint Malines, and de Loignac hasten to take part in this goodly piece of work, which the Sieur de Montsery the elder has so gallantly begun. Having the Sieur des Effranats hanging on his knees, the Sieur de Montsery the elder clinging to his arm, the Sieur de Saint Malines' dagger sticking in his chest close to his throat, and the Sieur de Loignac's sword run through his reins, the Duke for some time drags them all four up and down the chamber; at last he falls exhausted on the King's bed. Upon this the King--
"Etant en son cabinet, leur ayant demandé s'ils avoient fait, en sortit et donna un coup de pied par le visage à ce pauvre mort."
Surely it was not without good cause that the Duke, a few minutes before, felt "a chill at his heart."--
In the next instance I shall cite, the sudden illness forbodes, not any calamity to the person affected by it, but to the companion of his journey. It is taken from "Arden of Feversham, his true and lamentable Tragedy," author unknown, 1592. Arden and his friend Franklin are travelling by night to Arden's house at Feversham. Franklin is beguiling the tediousness of the way with a tale. The rest the dramatist shall relate in his own words:
"_Arden._ Come, Master Franklin, onward with your tale. _Frank._ I'll assure you, Sir, you task me much: A heavy blood is gathered at my heart; And on the sudden is my wind so short, As hindereth the passage of my speech: So fierce a qualm ne'er yet assailed me. _Arden._ Come, Master Franklin, let us go on softly: The annoyance of the dust, or else some meat You ate at dinner, cannot brook with you. I have been often so, and soon amended. _Frank._ Do you remember where my tale did leave? _Arden._ Ay, where the gentleman did check his wife. _Frank._ She, being reprehended for the fact, Witness produced, that took her with the deed, Her glove brought in, which there she left behind, And many other assured arguments, Her husband asked her whether it were not so-- _Arden._ Her answer then? I wonder how she looked, Having foresworn it with such vehement oaths, And at the instant so approved upon her. _Frank._ First she did cast her eyes down on the earth, Watching the drops that fell amain from thence: Then softly draws she out her handkercher, And modestly she wipes her tear stain'd face. Then hemm'd she out, to clear her voice it should seem, And with a majesty addrest herself To encounter all their accusations-- Pardon me, Master Arden, I can no more; This fighting at my heart makes short my wind. _Arden._ Come, we are almost now at Raynham Down; Your pretty tale beguiles the weary way: I would you were in ease to tell it out."
Here they are set upon by ruffians, hired by Arden's wife and her paramour. Arden is killed.--
In the two preceding instances an affection of the heart is the herald of misfortune. In _Titus Andronicus_ (Act II., Sc. 4.), Quintus and Martius are afflicted with a sudden _dulness of sight_, which seems at once to be an omen of impending danger, and to facilitate their succumbing to it.
"SCENE. _A desert part of the forest._ _Enter_ AARON THE MOOR, _with_ QUINTUS _and_ MARTIUS.
_Aaron._ Come on, my lords, the better foot before: Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit, Where I espied the panther fast asleep.
_Quin._ My sight is very dull, whate'er it bodes.
_Mart._ And mine, I promise you: wer't not for shame, Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile.
[MARTIUS _falls into the pit_.]"
It is unnecessary to give in detail the horrors that ensue.
X. Z.
CURIOUS BILL OF FARE, AND STORM, IN 1739.
I send you two morsels, copied from a small MS. volume of a very miscellaneous character, consisting of poetical extracts, epigrams, receipts, and family memoranda of the ancestors of the gentleman who has kindly permitted me to send you the inclosed.
"_A Bill of ffare at the Christning of Mr. Constable's Child, Rector of Cockley Cley in Norfolk, Jan. 2, 1682._
"1. A whole hog's head, souc'd, with carrotts in the mouth and pendants in the ears, with guilded oranges thick sett.
2. 2 ox.'s cheekes stewed, with 6 marrow bones.
3. A leg of veal larded, with 6 pullets.
4. A leg of mutton, with 6 rabbits.
5. A chine of bief, chine of venison, chine of mutton, chine of veal, chine of pork, supported by 4 men.
6. A venison pasty.
7. A great minced pye, with 12 small ones about it.
8. A gelt fat turkey, with 6 capons.
9. A bustard, with 6 pluver.
10. A pheasant, with 6 woodcocks.
11. A great dish of tarts made all of sweetmeats.
12. A Westphalia hamm, with 6 tongues.
13. A jowle of sturgeon.
14. A great charg'r of all sorts of sweetmeats, with wine and all sorts of liquors answerable.
"The child, a girle; godfather, Mr. Green, a clergyman; godmothers, Mis Beddingfield of Sherson, and a sister-in-law of Mr. Constable's.
"The guests, Mr. Green, Mr. Bagg and his daughter, and the godmothers.
"The parish'rs entertained at another house with rost and boil'd bief, geese, and turkeys. Soon after the child dy'd, and the funerall expenses came to 6_d._"
"1739. Dec. 28, Friday, began a frost. Satterday and Sunday with the most severe sharp wind that ever was known. Monday and Tuesday fell a great deal of snow, w'ch continued upon the ground, with the most severe frost ever known, without intermission till Friday, Feb. 1st, then thaw'd in the day. Sharp frost at night. Thaw'd Satterday and Sunday, with rain and sleet of snow, cold air with frost, and continued till Sunday ye 10, when it thaw'd very fast with smal rain and wind: continued till Monday, when it changed into severe frost and a fall of snow, w'ch held till Sunday, then thaw'd, wind west, in the most gentle manner, insensibly wasting, no flood: extream dry, cold weather till ye 21 of April: y't day a little rain, and on the 22 fell a great deal of snow with a severe north and north-east wind: a little wet and cold wind continued till the 5th of May, when there was hail and snow a foot thick in many places. Continued cold till ye 9th. Wheat 6_s._ 6_d._ a strike; barley 3_s._ 6_d._; mutton, in London, 5-1/2_d._ and 6_d._ p'd, beife 5_d._; 3-1/2_d._ mutton in the country, beife 3_d._
"No rain from the 21 April till the 7th of June, but continued cold east and north-east wind, with a frost. June 3d, bread cost at London, ye first sort at 11_s._ 8_d._ a strick, a little while. On the 7th of June, wind south-south-west, a charming rain fell every where, w'ch lowered ye exesive prises: after y't, a drought succeeding, corn kept a high price, wheat 6_s._, barley 4, till near harvest, and exportation stoped: grass burnt up all summer: very little hay: butter and cheese very dear: everything continued so. Ye 7 of Nov. fell a great snow and rain w'ch made a flood: ye 10 begun a hard frost, w'ch continued with great severity, the ground covered with snow till ye 22: the 21 fell a great deal of snow, w'ch went away with some rain, and was a very great flood. During this frost the Thames was frose, and great calamitys feared from the want of hay and straw, w'ch the happy thaw prevented."
EDW. HAWKINS.
PECULIAR ATTRIBUTES OF THE SEVENTH SON.
Allow me to offer a Note on that part of MR. COOPER'S communication (Vol. iii., pp. 148, 149.) which relates to the alleged power of the "seventh son" to cure the "king's evil". This superstition is still extant in this part of Cornwall. I have recently been told of three _seventh_ sons, and of one _ninth_ son, who has been in the habit of touching (or, as it is here called, "_striking_," which seems to mean nothing more than _stroking_) persons suffering from the disease above referred to.
The _striker_ thrice gently stokes the part affected by the disorder, and thrice blows on it, using some form of words. One of my informants, who had been so "struck" when a child, has a charm, or rather an amulet, which has just, for the first time, been opened at my instigation. It is a small bag of black silk, and is found to contain an old worn shilling of William III., bored and stitched through in a piece of canvas. This was presented to the patient at the time of the operation, and was to be kept carefully as a preservative against the malady.
In Bristol, about forty years ago, there lived a respectable tradesman who was habitually known as _Dr._ Peter P----, with no better title to his degree than that he was the seventh son of a seventh son.
Those who have read Mr. Carleton's tragic tale, _The Black Prophet_, will remember that, in Ireland, the seventh son of the seventh son is supposed to be--
"Endued With gifts and knowledge, per'lous shrewd!"
And in Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_ (p. 411. _note_, ed. 1850) are given some tradition of that gifted Welsh family, the "Jones' of Muddfi," whose forefather had married the "Spirit of the Van Pool."
"She left her children behind her, who became famous as doctors. Jones was their name, and they lived at a place called Muddfi. In them was said to have originated the tradition of the seventh son, or Septimus, being born for the healing art; as for many generations seven sons were regularly born in each family, the seventh of whom became the doctor, and wonderful in his profession. It is said, even now, that the Jones' of Muddfi are, or were until very recently, clever doctors."
I have heard this tradition of the Jones' of Muddfi corroborated by a Welsh friend.
H. G. T.
Launceston.
FOLK LORE.
_Game-feathers protracting the Agony of Death._--In a recent Number this singular superstition was stated to be prevalent in Sussex. In the adjoining county of Surrey the notion appears to be deeply rooted in the minds of the lower classes. A friend, residing in my parish (Betchworth), has given me several examples, which have fallen under his notice during the past winter.
"I was calling, a few weeks since, upon an old man whom I had left the previous day apparently in a dying state. At the door I met an old neighhour, and inquired if he was still living. 'Yes Sir,' she said; 'we think he must change his bed.' 'Change his bed!' I replied. 'What do you mean?' 'Why, Sir, we think he can't pass away while he lies in that bed. The neighbours think there must be game-feathers in the bed.' 'Game-feathers! What do you mean?' 'Why, Sir, it is always thought a poor soul can't pass away if he is lying on game-feathers.' 'Oh,' I said, 'there is nothing in that; that is not the reason of his lingering on.' 'No, Sir,' she replied, 'I think so too, for I know the bed well. I was at the making of it, and the feathers were well picked over.'