Part 2

3. The parish church of Winwick, Lancashire, stands near that miracle-working spot where St. Oswald, king of the Northumbrians, was killed. The founder had destined a different site for it, but his intention was overruled by a singular personage, whose will he never dreamed of consulting. It must here be noticed that Winwick had then not even received its name; the church, as not uncommon in those days, being one of the earliest erections in the parish. The foundation of the church, then, was laid where the founder had directed, and the close of the first day's labour showed the workmen had not been idle, by the progress made in the building. But the approach of night brought to pass an event which utterly destroyed the repose of the few inhabitants around the spot. A pig was seen running hastily to the site of the new church; and as he ran he was heard to cry or scream aloud "We-ee-wick, We-ee-wick, We-ee-wick!" Then, taking up a stone in his mouth, he carried it to the spot sanctified by the death of St. Oswald, and thus employing himself through the whole night, succeeded in removing all the stones which had been laid by the builders. The founder, feeling himself justly reproved for not having chosen that sacred spot for the site of his church, unhesitatingly yielded to the wise counsel of the pig. Thus the pig not only decided the site of the church, but gave a name to the parish.

In support of this tradition, there is the figure of a pig sculptured on the tower of the church, just above the western entrance; and also the following Latin doggerel:

"Hic locus, Oswalde, quondam placuit tibi valde; Northanhumbrorum fueras Rex, nuncque Polorum Regna tenes, loco passus Marcelde vocato."

May not the phrase "Please the pigs" have originated in the above tradition, since the founder of Winwick Church was obliged to succumb to the pleasure of his porkish majesty?

Instances of equally marvellous changes in the sites of buildings are recorded in Bede, and other monkish writers. Perhaps it would not be difficult to unravel the mystery of such changes.

W. H. K.

_Burning the Bush._--While in Herefordshire last spring, I noticed a singular custom in the agricultural districts. When the wheat is just springing out of the ground, the farmer's servants rise before daybreak, and cut a branch of thorn of a particular kind. They then make a large fire in the field, in which they burn a portion of it; the remaining part is afterwards hung up in the house. They do this to prevent the smut, or mildew, affecting the wheat.

J. B. ROBINSON.

Belper.

_Essex Superstition._--An uncle of mine, who has a large farm near Ilford, tells me, that observing a horse-shoe nailed to the door of one of his cow-houses, he asked the cow-keeper why he had fixed it there. The lad gravely replied, "Why, to keep the wild-horse away, to be sure." This is, to me, a new reason for the practice.

I have learned that the superstition about the bees deserting their hives on the death of one of their owner's family, is common in the same county. A lady tells me, that calling upon some poor people who lived at Hyde Green, near Ingatestone, she inquired after the bees. The old woman of the house replied, "They have all gone away since the death of poor Dick; for we forgot to knock at the hives, and tell them he was gone dead."

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

OLD SONG, "NOT LONG AGO I DRANK A FULL POT."

I send another old song; and, as in the case of the "Cuckold's Cap," I would ask is it known?

Not long ago I drank a full pot, Full of sack up to the brim, I drank to my friend, and he drank his pot, Thus we put about the whim. Six bottles at a draught he pour'd down his throat; But what are such puny sips as these? I laid me all along, with my mouth unto the bung, And I drank up a hogshead to the lees.

I have heard of one who drank whole tankards, And styl'd himself the Prince of Sots; But what are such poor puny drunkards? Melt their tankards, break their pots. My friend and I did join for a cellar full of wine, We drank the vintner out of door, We drank it ev'ry drop, one morning at the tap, And we greedily star'd about for more.

My friend then to me made this motion, Don't let's part thus with dry lips; With that we sail'd upon the ocean, Where we met with a fleet of ships; All laden with wine which was superfine, The merchants they had ten thousand tun, We drank it all at sea, before they reach'd the quay, And the merchants swore they were all undone.

My friend not having quench'd his thirst, Said, to the vineyard let us haste; There we seized the canary first, That yielded to us but a taste: From thence unto the Rhine, where we drank up all their wine; Till Bacchus cried "Hold, hold! 'ere I die!" He swore he never found, in the universe around, Two such thirsty souls as my friend and I.

"Pooh!" says one, "what a beast he makes himself, He can neither stand nor go!" "Sir," said I, "that's a grand mistake of yours, For when did you ever know a beast drink so? 'Tis when we drink the least, we drink the most like beasts; 'Tis when we carouse with six in hand; 'Tis then and only then, we drink about like men, When we drink 'till we neither can go nor stand."

J. R. R.

Minor Notes.

_Boston and Bunker's Hill._--In the plan of Boston, among the maps of the Useful Knowledge Society, is to be found, near Charleston, and on Breed's Hill (the real site of the battle usually misnamed as of Bunker's Hill), the following notice, "Defeat of the British, 1775." My first idea was, that, _Liberal_ though the Society might be, it was being rather too liberal to give away in this manner a victory which, however bloody and fruitless, was indubitably ours: but, on second thoughts, it seemed that the whole fault arose from copying too implicitly an American map. Now I am well aware that a very large part of the Americans, from continually vaunting (and with good reason) the valour they displayed, and the honour they acquired, on that occasion, have gradually worked themselves into the belief that they were the victors, even though their own historians tell a different tale; and they have even placed inscriptions on the monuments standing on the site of the intrenchments from which they were forced by the British; which inscriptions also assert a similar claim. This would be of no great consequence had it been confined to themselves; but its being transferred to an English publication not only tends to mislead many persons on this side, but enables the Americans to refer with confidence to it, as an admission of _their_ victory on the part of the British; and no one who remembers the use they made, on the Oregon Question, of a similarly occasioned error in one of the Society's globes, can doubt that our Transatlantic friends would make the most of this trifling affair in confirmation of their claims to the victory.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Snooks._--This name, so generally associated with vulgarity, is only a corruption, or rather a contraction, of the more dignified name of _Sevenoaks_. This town is generally called _Se'noaks_ in Kent; and the further contraction, coupled with the phonetic spelling of former days, easily passed into _S'nooks_. This is no imaginary conclusion, for I am told by a trustworthy friend that Messrs. Sharp and Harrison, solicitors, Southampton, have recently had in their possession a series of deeds in which all the modes of spelling occur from _Sevenokes_ down to _S'nokes_, in connexion with a family now known as _Snooks_.

G. W. J.

_Last Slave sold in England._--Can any of your correspondents tell me the date of the last public slave sale in England? Till the establishment of Granville Sharpe's great principle, in 1772, announcements of these are by no means uncommon. The following, from the _Public Ledger_ of Dec. 31, 1761, grates harshly upon the feelings of the present generation:--

"FOR SALE:

"A healthy negro girl, aged about fifteen years; speaks good English, works at her needle, washes well, does household work, and has had the small-pox."

SAXONICUS.

_Hoax on Sir Walter Scott._--The following passage occurs in one of Sir W. Scott's letters to Southey, written in September, 1810:

"A witty rogue, the other day, who sent me a letter subscribed 'Detector,' proved me guilty of stealing a passage from one of Vida's Latin poems, which I had never seen or heard of; yet there was so strong a general resemblance as fairly to authorise 'Detector's' suspicion."

Lockhart remarks thereupon:

"The lines of Vida which 'Detector' had enclosed to Scott, as the obvious original of the address to 'Woman' in _Marmion_, closing with--

"'When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou!'

"end as follows: and it must be owned that if Vida had really written them, a more extraordinary example of casual coincidence could never have been pointed out.

"'Cum dolor atque supercilio gravis imminet angor, Fungeris angelico sola ministerio.'

"'Detector's' reference is Vida _ad Eranen_, El. ii. v. 21.; but it is almost needless to add there are no such lines, and no piece bearing such a title in Vida's works. 'Detector' was, no doubt, some young college wag; for his letter has a Cambridge post-mark."

It may interest to know that the author of this clever hoax was Henry I. T. Drury, then, I think, of King's College, Cambridge, and afterwards one of the Masters at Harrow. The lines will be found in the _Arundines Cami_.

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

Queries.

IRISH QUERIES.

1. O'Donovan, in his edition of the _Post-Invasion Annals of the IV. Masters_, vol. iii. p. 2091. note, says that he "intends to publish a review of Spenser's _View of the State of Ireland_, in which he will give him full credit for his discernment of abuses, and expose all his intentional figments." Query, Has this review since appeared in any Irish periodical, or other publication?

2. What is the relationship (or may it possibly be the _identity_?) between Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who married a daughter of William, Earl Marshal, the famous Protector, during Henry III.'s minority, and Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who married a daughter of King Edward I.?

3. The inquirer will consider himself extremely indebted to any one who will inform him of the existence of a set of Middle-Age Maps of the countries of Europe, of 8vo. or small 4to. size, published in England, _France_, or _Germany_, in print, or easily to be had second-hand, _more or less accurate_.

Koch's _Révolutions de l'Europe_, tome iii., Paris, 1814, gives seven maps of the whole continent and its adjacent islands, at the following periods of Middle-Age history:

(1.) Avant l'Invasion des Barbares; (2.) Vers la Fin du Ve Siècle; (3.) Sous l'Empire de Charlemagne; (4.) Vers la Fin du IXe Siecle; (5.) Vers 1074; (6.) Vers 1300: (7.) A l'An 1453;

which contain, of course, but few names of places. Were Europe divided into five unequal parts, say, 1. The Northern Countries; 2. The British Isles; 3. The Germanic Countries, Hungary, &c.; 4. France and Spain; 5. Italy, Turkey, &c.; and maps of these five parts given, the Northern Countries at three periods, the British Isles at four ditto, and the others at seven periods, as above, we should require twenty-eight maps (not too great a number, as the King's College _Modern Atlas_, of a convenient size, has twenty-five), which if they contained names of places as closely packed as the King's College _Atlas_, and laid down from Spruner, or some other trustworthy authority, would soon, it may be said without much foresight, be in the hands of so many readers of history, as to answer thoroughly to any bookseller undertaking to bring them out.

4. A copy of O'Brien's _Irish-English Dictionary_, _first_ edition, 4to., old, half-calf, margins a little water-stained, otherwise perfect and clean, lately priced at 25_s._, to be exchanged for a clean copy of the edition of 1832 (inferior in value but more portable), and a clean copy of Thady Connellan's elementary _Irish Dictionary_, published by Wall, Temple Bar; Hatchard, and Rivingtons: or the latter will be purchased at a moderate price, without exchange.

Any one desiring to report the books wanted, to be so kind as to do so in "N. & Q."

MAC AN BHAIRD.

Minor Queries.

_The Azores._--In a note in _Our Village_ (vol. v.), Miss Mitford says that this name was given to these islands collectively, on account of the number of hawks and falcons found on them. Is the name Spanish; and does the Natural History of the islands at the present time confirm the assertion?

J. O'G.

_Johnny Crapaud._--In one of Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe books is the following entry of a trinket, devised at the period of the Duke of Alençon's courting her Majesty:

"Item, one little Flower of gold, with a _Frog_ thereon; and therein mounseer his physnomie, and a little Pearl pendant."

"'Query,' says Miss Strickland (_Queens_, vol. vi. p. 471., 1st edit.), 'was this whimsical conceit a love-token, from the Duke of Alençon to his royal _belle amie_, and the frog designed, not as a ridiculous, but a sentimental allusion to his country?'"

To which Query I would add another: When was the term of _Johnny Crapaud_ first applied to the French people, and on what occasion? I am aware of the notion of its being on account of their said partiality for eating frogs; which, by the bye, having tasted, I can pronounce to be very good: _mais chacun à son goût_. Is the frog introduced in the arms of Anjou or Alençon?

PHILIP S. KING.

_Poems in the "Spectator."_--The fine moral poems which first appeared in the _Spectator_, e.g. that commencing "When all thy mercies, O my God;" the version of the Twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord my pasture shall prepare;" "The spacious firmament on high," &c., are, as most of our readers are aware, commonly ascribed to Addison. In a recent collection of poetical pieces, however, I have seen them attributed to Andrew Marvell. Can any of your readers certify either of these contradictory assertions?

J. G. F.

_Old John Harries, "Bishop of Wales."_--I have "An Elegy to the Memory of the late worthy and pious Mr. John Harries of Amleston, in Pembrokeshire, Preacher of the Gospel;" from which it appears that, after devoting himself to preaching for forty-six years, through both North and South Wales, and more particularly in "Roose, Castlemartin, Pembroke, Haverfordwest, Narberth, Woodstockslop, and Amleston," he died at Newport on the 7th of March, 1788. Will you allow me to ask your numerous correspondents whether any of them can assist me in tracing his pedigree? One of his sons, a minor canon of Bristol, bore the arms of Owen Gwynedd, viz. "vert, three eagles displayed on a fesse, or," on his book-plate. He was often called the "Bishop of Wales," from the large district through which he _overlooked_ the progress of the Gospel.

I. J. H. H.

St. Asaph.

_University Hood._--What is the origin of wearing hoods to indicate a man's University degree; and how old is the practice?

J. G. F.

_Black Rood in Scotland--Cross Neytz._--Observing that in Vol. ii. of "N. & Q." pp. 308. 409., and in Vol. iii., p. 104., there is a discussion about the "Black Rood of Scotland," which does not seem to be very satisfactorily concluded, I am tempted to send you a passage from Madox's _Baronia Anglica_, p. 268., &c., which seems to bear upon the point in question, but I am not competent to say how far it may serve to throw any light upon the obscurities of the case.

It there appears that 13th Oct. 1306, James Steward of Scotland swore fealty to King Edw. I.:

"By his corporal oath, taken upon the consecrated body of Christ; and upon _the two holy crosses_, to wit, the _cross Neytz_, and the _Blakerode Descoce_, and other holy reliques."

"In the priory of Lanrecost, in the diocese of Carlisle, before W. Bp. of Lichfield and Coventry, the King's Chancellor; and in the presence of Adomar de Valence."

I perceive in one of your communications, there is mention of the _English Cross, the Cross Nigth_, which in Madox is called "the Cross Neytz." Perhaps some of your antiquarian correspondents will favour us with some explanation of this cross.

I should wish moreover to elicit some further particulars of _Thomas Madox, the Historiographer Royal_, who has so well deserved of all lovers of ancient English history by the four books in folio which he has left us: especially his _Formulare Anglicanum_, and that work of prodigious industry and research, his _History of the Exchequer_. There is some account in Nichols' _Lit. Anecdotes_, but I should wish to see some more particulars of his life and studies, and a more exact critique upon his several works.

J. T. A.

_Crown Jewels once kept at Holt Castle._--I remember reading many years since (I have forgotten both the title and the subject of the work) that the _crown jewels_ were once deposited in Holt Castle, about five miles from Worcester, for greater safety. Can any of your kind correspondents inform me when and upon what turbulent occasion it was thought necessary to forward them to the above stronghold on the banks of the Severn, and who resided there at the time?

J. B. WHITBORNE.

_"Cane Decane," &c._--I should like to know, if you can inform me, where the following couplet is to be found, upon an ecclesiastic singing a hunting song:

"Cane Decane canis; sed ne cane, cane Decane, De cane, de canis, cane Decane, cane."

Which may be thus freely translated:

"Hoary Deacon, sing; but then, Not of dogs, but hoary men."

W. W. E. T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

_Rev. John Meekins, D.D._--Are there any letters of the Rev. Jno. Meekins, D.D., Oxon., chaplain to George, Prince of Denmark, the royal consort of Queen Anne, extant? and in what year did he die?

MICOENIS.

_Finsbury Manor._--Will some of your correspondents kindly inform me where I can meet with an authority to prove the Lord Mayor of London is styled _mayor_ by virtue of crown charters, and lord as _lord_ of the manor of Finsbury? I have seen such a statement, but cannot bring to mind the work in which it occurred.

AMANUENSIS.

_Frebord._--I want information on this matter, and consider "N. & Q." peculiarly the place wherein to seek it, because it is a matter mainly dependent on local custom. All the notice of Frebord that I have been able to discover in books is derived from Dugdale. For instance, in Jacob's _Law Dictionary_, ed. 1807, I read--

"Frebord, _Franchordus_, ground claimed in some places more or less, beyond, or without the fence. It is said to contain two foot and a half."

_Mon. Ang._, tom. ii. p. 141.

I heard, the other day, of a Warwickshire gentleman who claimed ten or twelve feet; but the immediate reason for my Query is a claim at present under the notice of a friend of mine is for sixty-six feet freebord! Is not such a claim preposterous?

P. M. M.

_The Stature of Queen Elizabeth._--In a book entitled _Physico-Theology_, being the substance of sixteen sermons preached in St. Mary-le-Bone Church, London, at the Honourable Mr. Boyle's lectures in 1711 and 1712, with notes, &c., by the Rev. W. Derham (a _second edition_, with additions, published in 1714), the authors, in treating of the stature and size of man's body, says there is great reason to think the size of man was always the same from the Creation; and in a note at page 330., after quoting Dr. Hakewill's _Apolog._ and other authorities, concludes with these words:--

"Nay, besides all this probable, we have some more certain evidence. Augustus was five foot nine inches high, which was the just measure of our famous Queen Elizabeth, who exceeded his height two inches, if proper allowance be made for the difference between the Roman and our foot."--Vide Hakewill, _Apolog._, p. 215.

Probably some of your learned correspondents may give additional information on this interesting subject.

J. F. ALLEN.

Macclesfield.

_Portrait of Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough._--Can any of your readers inform me if there exists an original picture of Charles Mordaunt, the famous Earl of Peterborough, and where such can be seen?

A TRAVELLER.

_Inscription by Luther._--In looking at some of the old books in the library of the British Museum, I observed, on the fly-leaf of an old Bible, an inscription by Martin Luther, the meaning of which was the following:--

"Elijah the prophet said, the world had existed 2000 years before the law (from Adam to Moses); would exist 2000 years under the Mosaic dispensation (from Moses to Christ), and 2000 years under the Christian dispensation; and then the world would be burnt."

The manuscript was in German and very much effaced, so that I am not able to remember the words, though I very well remember the meaning.

Could any reader inform me in what part of the Bible this prophecy of Elijah's is to be found? for I have searched for it in vain.

C. H. M.

_"O Juvenis frustra," &c._--I should be glad to be informed, through your publication, where I may find this line,--

"O Juvenis frustra est tua Doctrina Plebs amat Remedia."

J. W. V.

_All-fours._--In Macaulay's essay on Southey's edition of _The Pilgrim's Progress_ (Longman & Co., p. 184.) occurs a curious use of this expression:

"The types are often inconsistent with each other; and sometimes the allegorical disguise is altogether thrown off.... It is not easy to make a simile go on all-fours. But we believe that no human ingenuity could produce such a centipede as a long allegory in which the correspondence between the outward sign and the thing signified should be exactly preserved. Certainly no writer ancient or modern has achieved the adventure."

This meaning I cannot find in Bailey's _Dictionary_, and it has escaped the curious vigilance of Blakie's compilers. The saying, however, is a very old one. Sir Edward Coke employs it (_Coke upon Littleton_, lib. i. c. 1. sect. 1. p. 3. _a._):

"But no simile holds in everything; according to the ancient saying, _Nullum simile quatuor pedibus currit_."

There is a marginal reference here to 1 Hen. VII. 16.

Perhaps some of your philological correspondents can throw some light on the origin of the phrase, or at least give me some other examples of its use. Is the expression "To be on all-fours with" good English?

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

_Richard, second Son of the Conqueror_, is said by Hume, and by some minor writers after him, to have been killed by a stag in the New Forest; but William of Malmesbury and Roger of Wendover both say that he died of fever, consequent on malaria, which struck him while hunting there. This is well known to be of frequent occurrence in the neighbourhood of desolated human dwellings; and thus seems to involve even a more striking instance of retributive justice than the fate which Hume assigns to him. The fatality attending most of this name in our history is singular. Of nine princes (three of them kings) who have borne the name of Richard, seven, or, if Hume is right, eight, have died violent deaths, including four successive generations of the House of York.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Francis Walkinghame._--Your correspondent's mention of my _Arithmetical Books_ (Vol. v., p. 392.) reminds me of a Query which I made in it, and which has never obtained the slightest answer--Who was Francis Walkinghame, and when was his work on arithmetic first published? The earliest edition I know of is the twenty-third, in 1787; but I am told, on good authority, that Mr. Douce had the sixteenth edition of 1779.

A. DE MORGAN.