Part 4

"Can any of your readers inform me of any traces of the doctrine of the resurrection before the Christian era?" I shall endeavour as briefly as possible to do justice to this important subject by giving extracts from, and references to, various authors, especially Hody in his work _The Resurrection of the (Same) Body Asserted from the Traditions of the Heathens, &c._ The arguments derived from this source are as follow:--

1. "The gross notions of the heathens concerning the soul in its state of separation, that it has all the same parts as the body has."

Confer Farmer on the _Worship of Human Spirits in the Ancient Heathen Nations_, p. 419. _et seq._; _Æschyli Persæ_, v. 616.; and Blomfield's note; _Nicolaus de Sepulchris Hebræorum, &c._, cap. ix. and xiv.

2. "Their opinion concerning the transmigration of souls." Confer Vossii _Idololat._, lib. i. c. x.

3. "Their opinion concerning the duration of the soul as long as the body lasted, and its adherence to the body after death," v. Cicero, _Tuscul. Quæst._, lib. i.; _Lucret._, lib. iii. Concerning the opinion of the Egyptians, v. _Greenham on Embalming_.

4. "The belief that some men have ascended up into heaven in their bodies, there to remain for ever," v. Hody.

5. "That others have done so even after death upon a re-union of their souls and bodies." (H.) "There were not only certain persons under the law and among the Jews who were raised to life; but there were also histories among the Gentiles of several who rose the third day; and Plato mentioneth another who revived the twelfth day after death, _Plato de Rep._, lib. x.; _Plin._ lib. vii. 52., "De his qui elati revixerunt;" _Philostrat._ lib. iii. c. xiii."--_Pearson on the Creed._ There are histories of this description in _Bonifacii Hist. Ludiceæ_, p. 561. _et seq._

6. "The opinion of the Pythagoreans and Platonists, &c., concerning the restitution of our bodies, and of all other things in the world to their former state, after the revolution of many ages, by a new birth or production." On the Platonic year confer Gale's _Court of the Gentiles_, book iii. c. 7.; on the Phoenix cycle of the Egyptians, Rev. Edw. Greswell's _Fasti Catholici and Origines Calendariæ_. By some this restitution is considered as merely astronomical, _v._ Costard's _Hist. of Astronomy_, p. 131. "The opinion of some of the Genethliacal writers, that the soul returns and is united to the same body in the space of 440 years."--_Varro ap Aug. de Civit._ xxii. 28.; Jackson's _Works_, vol. iii. p. 424. "The opinion of the Stoics concerning the reproduction of all the same men, &c., after the general conflagration," v. _Eusebii Praep. Evang._, lib. xv.; _M. Antonin. Imp._, lib. xi. The resurrection was asserted by the Persian Magi, the Indian Brachmans, and other philosophers both oriental and western. "Thus we have demonstrated what evident notices the heathens had of the last conflagration, with the ensuing judgment, and man's immortal state; and all from sacred oracles and traditions."--Gale, _ut suprà_.

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

CAN A CLERGYMAN MARRY HIMSELF?

(Vol. v., p. 370.)

A Query has been put respecting a clergyman marrying himself. Such a thing did once occur in the case of the Rev. J. D. T. M. F----g, curate of the parish of S----n M----t, Somersetshire. The parish register informs us that--

"On three several Sundays, namely, on the 22nd and 29th days of July, and the 5th August in the year 1787, banns of marriage were published in the parish church between J. D. T. M. F----g and H. V. B----t; and after the third publication, no impediment being alleged, the said J. D. T. M. F----g and H. V. B----t were _immediately_ married in the face of the congregation, on the 5th of August, 1787, by J----n F----g curate."

The parties' names are appended to the form "This marriage was solemnised between us;" and then follows, "in the presence of" two witnesses who signed their names, one of them being the "clark," as he spelt the word. The event occurred "on a Sacrament Sunday." An aged parishioner, who was about seventy-four or seventy-five years of age when my informant wrote, perfectly remembered the ceremony; and added, that previously to Mr. F.'s return from the Lord's Table to the reading desk, in order to continue the service, from the Second Lesson, he exchanged a kiss with his blushing bride! It appears that, owing to several persons having disputed the _validity_ of this marriage, the said parties were re-married by the Rev. W. N----s, officiating minister, on the 9th October in the same year.

I have heard that Mr. F. was always regarded as an eccentric man, if not deranged. I think I have heard that the bride was a milk girl, with whom the reverend gentleman fell in love because "she reminded him of his first love!" The marriage was decidedly opposed by his relatives and friends, which led to the above-mentioned singular occurrence. I believe, before performing the ceremony himself, Mr. F. publicly inquired "whether there was any one provided to marry him?" As there was not, he proceeded to the performance of the ceremony himself.

I have heard also of some such case of a clergyman marrying himself in Ireland. But the marriage was, I believe, pronounced null and void, and the clergyman deposed from the ministry.

Connected with this subject, I would relate another circumstance related to me as a fact by a clergyman, now a surrogate, who for very many years was curate of the parish adjoining that in which it occurred. He related it to justify and to explain his own somewhat unusual practice of using the _surnames_ as well as Christian names of the parties throughout the Marriage Service, saying that in the parish of B----y, Gloucestershire, the not doing so led to the _wrong couple being married_, owing to the stupidity of the parties and their friends! The rector, Rev. Mr. M----d, on discovering the mistake, formally pronounced the whole proceeding null and void, and then married the right couple!

A correspondent lately inquired whether a person could be buried in a garden! In N----h, Gloucestershire, such a thing occurred about sixteen years ago. An eccentric old gentleman built a kind of summer-house in his garden, and prepared his own tomb in it, and was there buried according to his directions. I rather think the funeral service was read, under the express sanction of the bishop, by the rector of an adjoining parish, who was a friend of the deceased.

E. W. D.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Algernon Sydney_ (Vol. v., pp. 318. 426.).--I can hardly suppose that MR. H. DIXON can have made any progress in his inquiries as to Algernon Sydney, without having met with the "authorities" mentioned by your correspondent C. E. D.; and yet it is certainly strange that, if MR. DIXON had seen these authorities, he could have called Sydney "an _illustrious patriot_." It may be therefore as well to state that the specific evidence which destroys Sydney's claim to the title not merely of an "_illustrious patriot_," but even of _an honest man_, and shows him to have been a corrupt traitor of the worst class, is to be found in the Appendix to Sir John Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, vol. i. pp. 339. 386. (8vo edit. 1790), where are transcribed the secret despatches of the French ambassador, Barillon, to Louis XIV., detailing the _bribes_ by which he engaged Algernon Sydney to that factious and traitorous opposition which had, for a hundred years prior to Dalrymple's publication, passed off for _patriotism_. I shall be very curious indeed to see what light MR. H. DIXON may be able to throw on this curious and infamous case; of which the best that even Mr. Macaulay can say is, that Barillon's _louis d'ors_ were "a temptation which conquered the virtue and the pride of Algernon Sydney."--_History of England_, vol. i. p. 228.

C.

_Cock-and-Bull Stories_ (Vol. v., p. 414.).--It may be doubted whether Mr. Faber will thank J. R. R. for republishing his absurd blunder. It must not, however, be allowed to gain a settlement in "N. & Q.," or to pass for a real explanation, while it is in reality one of the most unfortunate "cock-and-bull" stories that ever was invented. The truth is, that Reinerius, a writer of the Middle Ages, lays it to the charge of the Waldenses that they did not hold the traditions of the Church and, by way of instance, he specifies that they did _not_ believe (as, he took for granted, all his orthodox readers _did_) that the cock on the church steeple was symbolical of a doctor or teacher. Reinerius did not think of adding a word of explanation about its overlooking the parish from its elevated position, or of its prescriptive right from the days of St. Peter to do a pastor's office by reminding men of the duty of repentance, or of any of the things which writers on symbolism had said, or might say. He nakedly states, "Item, mysticum sensum in divinis scripturis refutant: præcipue in dictis et actis ab Ecclesia traditis: ut quod gallus super campanile significat Doctorem." Mr. Faber, who was somewhat out of his way in dealing with the thoughts and language of mediæval writers, catching a sight of this passage, blundered between a _bell_ and a _belfry_, put _campanum_ for _campanile_, and thus got an idea of a "cock-on-a-bell," and that this symbol meant a doctor. Whereupon it occurred to him to set the world right with the wonderful discovery which J. R. R. has revived for the amusement of your readers.

S. R. MAITLAND.

_Thomas Crawford_ (Vol. v., p. 344.).--In the seventeenth century there were four professors of philosophy in every university in Scotland. Thomas Crawford was one of the professors in the University of Edinburgh from 1640 to 1662.

Thomas Crawford, educated at St. Leonard's College, St. Andrew's, graduated A.M. 1621. Succeeded Mr. Samuel Rutherford as Professor of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh, 1625. Appointed Rector of the High School of Edinburgh in 1630. Elected Professor of Philosophy (or Regent) in the University of Edinburgh, 1640, and continued in that office till his death, in 1662.

He was the author of _A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1582 to 1646_, first printed in 1808; and of _Notes and Observations on G. Buchanan's History of Scotland_: Edinb. 1708, 8vo. pp. 187.

Both these posthumous publications are very meagre.

J. L.

Coll. Edinburgh.

_Longevity_ (Vol. v., pp. 296. 401.).--In the church of Abbey Dore, Herefordshire, is the following inscription on a slab in the floor:--

"In memory of Elizabeth, ye Daughter of Thomas Lewis, who departed this life the 31st day of May, 1715, aged 141 years."

I was assured that the age of the deceased, as here stated, is confirmed by the parish register.

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

_Theological Tract--The Huntyng of the Romish Fox_ (Vol. iii., p. 61.).--Perhaps the following tract is one of those about which S. G. inquires:

"The Huntyng and Fyndyng out of the Romish Fox: whiche more than seven yeares hath bene hyd among the Byshoppes of England, after that the Kynges Hyghnes Henry VIII. had commanded hym to be dryven out of hys Realme. Written by Wyllyam Turner, Doctour of Physicke, and formerly Fellow of Pembroke College in Cambridge. Basyl, 1543."

This tract has just been reprinted, with some curtailments and amendments, and with a short memoir of the author prefixed, by my friend, Robert Potts, Esq., M.A. Trin. Coll., Cam.; and was published by J. W. Parker, London. The copy from which this reprint has been made is in the library of Trinity College.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

_Moke_ (Vol. v., p. 374).--With the Editor of "N. & Q." I think the interpretation of "muck" for the old word used by Wyckliffe is "not satisfactory:" I therefore suggest another, perhaps equally questionable. Every rustic in grazing districts knows, that in the hot season of the year sheep are liable to be fearfully flyblown in their living flesh; and that the maggots thence resulting are called _mokes_, or mawks. Is not the preacher's allusion in the text to certain shepherds, or rather sheep of Christ's flock, who, rather than give one of their _mokes_ to help one of their "needy brethren," will allow themselves to "perish" and "be taken of" these maggots? The term in question is, or was formerly, in provincial use as a metonym for lendiculosity in a figurative sense--a tetchy, whimsical individual, being said to be "maggoty," _vulgo_, _mokey_. Lendix has not, however, in all cases been treated with abhorrence; for one of the elder Wesleys not only printed a book of rhymes with the title of _Maggots_, but prefixed to it his portrait, with one of these _animi impetu concitari_ represented as creeping on the forehead!

D.

_Ground Ice_ (Vol. v., p. 370.).--J. C. E. will find a very elaborate and interesting paper "On the Ice formed, under peculiar Circumstances, at the bottom of Running Waters," by the Rev. J. Farquharson, in the _Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1835_, Part II. p. 329.

J. H.

Hallamshire.

_Nobleman alluded to by Bishop Berkeley_ (Vol. v., p. 345.).--I beg to suggest to your correspondent J. M., that this nobleman was Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington, and fourth Earl of Cork, who had a passion for architecture, and was the architect of numerous buildings in the metropolis and other parts of the kingdom. He repaired Inigo Jones's church of St. Paul, Covent Garden. He built the front of Burlington House in Piccadilly; the dormitory at Westminster School; the Assembly Rooms at York; and several villas and mansions in various parts of the country, besides publishing some architectural works. Bishop Berkeley was introduced to him by Pope about the year 1722, and I believe derived some benefit from his patronage. His architectural pursuits are alluded to by Pope in the epistle on the use of riches, which was addressed to him.

G. R. J.

_House at Welling_ (Vol. v., p. 368.).--Inquiry is made about one of our old English poets, who is said to have lived at the old house in _Welling_, where there is a _high yew hedge_.

I am the owner of the house referred to, and have lived here since 1811. I have never heard the report, but I think that it may have arisen from the fact, that about eighty years ago a Major _Denham_ possessed the house. It is possible that he may have been mistaken for his namesake, _Denham_ the poet.

ESTE.

_Constable of Scotland_ (Vol. v., pp. 297. 350.).--In vol. i. p. 175. of the _Analecta Scotica_ (Edinburgh, 1834) will be found some curious "fragments relative to the office of Great Constable of Scotland," more particularly before it became heritable in the noble family of Erroll.

E. N.

_The Iron Plate in Lewes Castle_ (Vol. v., p. 342.).--In answer to A. W. I beg to say that the iron plate was taken from the ruins of a cottage which was burnt down on the estate of Sir Henry Shiffner some time since; it formed the fire-back of the kitchen: the inscription was turned to the wall, and therefore not visible.

This inscription is a fac-simile of the iron plate placed to the memory of Ann Forster in the church of Crowhurst in Surrey, and it would appear that the founder cast several plates similar to that in Lewes Castle, which are known to exist and be used as fire-backs. See Brayley and Britton's _History of Surrey_, vol. iv. p. 131., and note at foot of the same page.

WILLIAM FIGG.

Lewes.

The monumental (cast iron?) plate in Lewes castle, referred to by A. W., probably came from the church of Crowhurst in Surrey, where there are several monuments to members of the family of Gaynsford, and there were (in Sept. 1847, when I visited the building) more than one iron plate in the pavement with inscriptions of the exact character of that at Lewes, and with the letters similarly inverted and reversed. My impression is that I saw the memorial in question in the church; but I cannot now discover the notes I made on the subject at the time, nor a rubbing which I took of another iron plate of a more ornate though not less rude character. I remember, in passing within sight of the church on the Dover Railway, since 1847, to have noticed scaffolding about the tower; possibly the plate now at Lewes may have been removed at that time.

R. C. H.

The plate was presented to the Antiquarian Museum in Lewes Castle by Sir H. Shiffner, Bart., about two years ago, when he rescued it from a farm-house burnt down on his property near Lewes. It has been traced to a cottage where it previously served the same purpose as at the farm-house, as back to the fire-place; but no further record of its former history can be discovered. It is not unusual, however, to find monumental plates thus desecrated.

E. A. S.

_Chelwoldesbury_ (Vol. v., p. 346.).--Allow me to suggest to your correspondent W. H. K. the possibility that the name in question may originally have been Ceolwoldsburh or Ceolweardesburh, i.e. _the burgh_ or _castle of Ceolwold_ or _Ceolweard_, analogously with Brihthelmstûn, now contracted into _Brighton_. The A.-S. _ce_ has constantly been corrupted into _che_.

D.

"_The King's Booke_" (Vol. v., p. 389.).--The printer's account supplied by MR. BURTT does not relate, except possibly to a very trifling extent, to the _Basilicon Doron_; but it is evidently Robert Barker's bill, mainly in the matter of King James's _Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance_.

R. G.

_Key Experiments_ (Vol v., pp. 152. 293.).--In an edition of _Hudibras_ of 1704 appears the following "annotation" to the line "As Friar Bacon's noddle was:"--

"The tradition of Friar Bacon and the Brazen-head is very commonly known, and considering the times he lived in, is not much more strange than what another great philosopher of his name has since deliver'd of a ring that, being ty'd in a string, and held like a pendulum in the middle of a silver bowl, will vibrate of itself, and tell exactly against the sides of the divining-cup the same thing with, Time is, Time was, &c."

I have tried this experiment with the ring, and find the oscillation takes place as described by AGMOND with the shilling. If, however, the thread is tightly pressed between the finger and thumb, the vibration ceases. This latter circumstance appears to support AGMOND'S idea, that the motive power is due to the pulse, the circulation of the blood ceasing by pressure.

C. N. S.

_Rhymes on Places_ (Vol. v., p. 404.).--The places mentioned in the following lines are all within about four miles of each other in the county of Gloucester, and twenty years ago the adjectives exactly described the condition of the people; but the great civiliser, the steam-engine, has now taken away the force of the description; and although the first and third lines may be as true as ever, the second and fourth are not:--

"Beggarly Bisley, Strutting Stroud, Hampton poor, And Painswick proud."

W. H. BAXTER.

_Old Scots March, &c._ (Vol. v., pp. 280. 331.).--I have to thank both MR. CROSSLEY and DR. RIMBAULT for their information regarding the _Ports_, of which I have willingly availed myself by consulting the various works to which they refer; and I have been fortunate enough to see a _translation_ of the greater portion of the Straloch lute-book. Hitherto, however, I have failed in my endeavours to discover two of the _ports_ mentioned by MR. TYTLER namely, Port _Gordon_ and Port _Seton_, both of which I am anxious to obtain.

E. N.

_Ecclesiastical Geography_ (Vol. v., p. 276.).--Allow me to add to the list of books on this subject, _Atlas sacer sive ecclesiasticus_, Wiltsch, published at Gotha in 1843.

W. S.

"_Please the Pigs_" (Vol. v., p. 13.).--I am inclined to think that this phrase has more to do with the animate than the inanimate. It is a common saying in Devonshire "please the _pixies_," or _fairies_, and this reference is much more likely; as our ancestors were most particular in their superstitious attentions to the requirements of this most mischievous fraternity.

C. R.

_The Word Shunt_ (Vol. v., p. 352.) is quite common in the North of England; in Lancashire it is perhaps especially so. It signifies to shift, to move, to give way: as, speaking of a thing, a wall or foundation, which has moved from its position, we should say, "it has shunted;" or of a thing which requires moving, "Shunt it a little that way," "Shunt it at the other end." _Shunt_, to move, to slip, to give way; _shuntu_, they move; _shuntut_, they moved.--See Bamford's _Lancashire Dialect_: Smith, Soho Square.

The word _grin_, in the same county, signifies a noose to catch hares or other game, as well as the act of grinning with the teeth. The word _gin_ is seldom used, except to express a horse gin-wheel, or the _blue-ruin_ of the Pandemoniums.

P. D.

_Plato's Lines in "Antho. Palat."_ (Vol. v., p. 317.).--

"Star of my soul! thine ardent eyes are bent On the bright orbs that gem the firmament: Would that I were the heaven, that I might be All full of love-lit eyes to gaze on thee."

"You look upon the stars, my star! would I might be Yon heaven, to look with many eyes on thee."

V.

_Abigail_ (Vol. iv., p. 424.; Vol. v., pp. 38. 94.).--As your correspondents have not thrown much light upon this subject, I will here mention that the use of this name in the sense alluded to has probably originated from a "waiting gentlewoman" who figures in Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy of _The Scornful Lady_. As this play appears from Pepys's _Diary_ to have been a great favourite after the Restoration, it was then most probably that the term came into use.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Nuremberg Token, or Counter_ (Vol. v., pp. 201. 260.).--G. H. K. appears to consider the object of H. C. K.'s Query a tradesman's token. This is by no means the case. It is a jetton, or counter, such as was formerly much in use for casting accounts, on a principle very similar to that of the abacus. They are found in vast numbers in England, but were principally manufactured at Nuremberg, where a large trade in them must have been carried on. The greatest manufacturers of the "Rechenpfennige" were the members of the families of Schultz, Laufer, and Krauwinckel. Of the three Krauwinckels, the productions of Hans are most numerous. Many of them have legends of a moral or religious character, as "Gottes Segen macht reich," God's blessing maketh rich; "Gott allein die Ehre sey," To God alone be the glory; "Heut rodt, Morgen todt," To-day _red_, to-morrow dead, &c. The date 1601 occurs on several of those of Hans K., with mythological devices.--See Snelling's _Treatise on Jettons, or Counters_.

J. E.

The legend on the counter described signifies

"John Kravwinckel in Nuremberg." Rx "God's kingdom remains always."

I know not the signification of the solitary E. Snelling (_Treatise on Abbey Pieces, &c._) has engraved and described many of these counters, and to him I must refer H. C. K. Hans means John, and has no reference to the Hanseatic League.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

_Meaning of Lode_ (Vol. v., p. 345.).--_Lode_ and _load_, in Cornwall, is the name given to the vein that _leads_ in the mine; or, the _leading_ vein. The word _lode_ is also in common use in Cambridgeshire, having similar reference to the watercourses by which the fens are drained.

_Lodestar._ The pole-star; the _leading_ star, by which mariners are guided. The magnet is _load-stone_, that is, leading, or guiding stone. (Nares' _Glossary_.)

"O, happy fair! Your eyes are _lode_-stars----."

_Midsummer Night's Dream._

WM. YARRELL.

Rider Street.