Book iii
. chap. 13., speaks of Christmas Spectacles in the time of Edward III., as known by the name of Ludi; and in Warton's _History of English Poetry_, it is said of these representations that "by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the Vizors, and by the singularity and splendour of the dresses, every thing was out of nature and propriety." In Strutt's 16th Plate, specimens will be found of the whimsical habit and attire in which the mummers were wont to appear.
My impression that the Merry-Lwyd was by no means a diversion exclusively Welsh is corroborated by the fact noticed in your Number of the 23rd of Feb., of its being found to exist in Cheshire. And we know that many ancient customs lingered in the principality long after they fell into disuse in England.
GWYNN AB NUDD.
Glamorganshire, March 1. 1850.
_Death-bed Superstition._--When a curate in Exeter I met with the following superstition, which I do not remember to have seen noticed before. I had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful disease, and was daily expecting his death. Upon calling one morning to see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would have died during the night, and consequently she and her friends unfastened _every lock in the house_. On my inquiring the reason, I was told that any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to, and hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the approach of death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked. Can any of your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general superstition amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the West of England?
R.H. {316}
[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of the _Athenæum_ (No. 990.) of 17th Oct. 1846: in a comment upon which it is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the likeness of a bird."]
* * * * *
PASSAGE IN L'ALLEGRO--NOTES ON MILTON'S MINOR POEMS.
The suggestion of your correspondent B.H.K. (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Mr. Warton, who, in his 1st edition of _Milton's Poems_, notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the suggestion of an unknown correspondent. In the 2nd edition this correspondent is mentioned to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor discusses the point in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with parallel passages, and an analysis of the context. As the book is one of ready access, I need not trouble you with a quotation; but I may mention that Mr. Gilchrist has added, in a MS. note in my copy, that "Among the poems appended to those of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same measure as those of Milton, nor is it unlike in its subject: the following lines may throw some light on the present inquiry (p. 200. ed. 1717):--
'On hills then shewe the ewe and lambe And every young one with his damme; Then lovers walke and _tell their tale_ Both of their bliss and of their bale.'"
[The passage is at p. 57. of the 1st vol. of Dr. Nott's edition.]
I am glad of the present opportunity of mentioning, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that my copy of the 1st edition of Warton's _Milton_ is enriched with numerous notes and parallel passages by Mr. Gilchrist; and a copy of the 2nd edition has been similarly, but less copiously, illustrated by Mr. Dunston. I shall be glad if my mention of them should lead to their being made useful--or, if you wish it, I shall be happy to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in your Journal.
May I be allowed to suggest that similar notifications _to_ intending editors would have some tendency to do the same good results which may be expected from the announcements _by_ intending editors suggested by your correspondent R.R. at p. 243? There must be hundreds of volumes enriched by the notes of scholars, such as those I have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed in private libraries, and might, by means of similar announcements, be made available to the cause of literature.
J.F.M.
[We are much indebted to our valued correspondent for the offer he has so kindly made us of the MS. Notes in question, which we shall gladly receive; and also for his extremely useful suggestion of the advantage of such notifications to intending editors, as he describes.]
_Milton's L'Allegro._--Your correspondent (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Headley, who suggested, long ago, that the word _tale_ here implied the _numbering_ sheep. When Handel composed his beautiful air, "Let me wander not unseen," he plainly regarded this word in the more poetical sense. The song breathes the shepherd's tale of _love_ (perhaps addressed to "the milkmaid singing blithe") far more than it conveys a dull computation of the _number_ of "his fleecy care." Despite of that excellent commentator, Tom Warton, who adopted Headley's suggestion, it is to be hoped that readers will continue, though it may be in error, to understand the line as your correspondent _used_ to do: an amatory _tête-à-tête_ is surely better suited to "the hawthorn in the dale," than either mental arithmetic, or the study of Cocker.
J.H.M.
* * * * *
DOCTOR DANIEL DOVE OF DONCASTER AND HIS HORSE NOBS--GOLDEN AGE OF MAGAZINES.
It appears from the preface to the last edition of _The Doctor, &c._ that the story of Dr. Daniel Dove and his horse was one well known in Southey's domestic circle.
A letter is there quoted from Mrs. Southey (then Miss Caroline Bowles), in which she says:--
"There is a story of Dr. D.D. of D. and of his horse Nobs, which has I believe been made into a Hawker's Book. Coleridge used to tell it, and the humour lay in making it as long-winded as possible; it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, and I was frequently called upon for it by those who enjoyed it, and sometimes I volunteered it, when Coleridge protested against its being told."
While upon the subject of _The Doctor_, may I direct your attention to the following passage on p. 269. of the one volume edition, which you will admit in many respects accurately describes your "NOTES AND QUERIES"?
"Our Doctor flourished in the golden age of magazines, when their pages were filled with voluntary contributions from men who never aimed at dazzling the public, but each came with his scrap of information or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his attempt in verse.
"In those days A was an antiquary, and wrote articles upon altars and abbeys, and architecture. B made a blunder, which C corrected. D demonstrated that E was in error, and that F was wrong in philology, and neither philosopher nor physician, though he affected to be both. G was a genealogist. H was an herald who helped him. I was an inquisitive inquirer who found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit. M was a mathematician. N noted the weather. O observed the stars. P was a poet who peddled in pastorals, {317} and prayed Mr. Urban to print them. Q came in the corner of the page with his query. R arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one who differed from him. S sighed and sued in song. T told an old tale, and when he was wrong, U used to set him right. V was a virtuoso. W warred against Warburton. X excelled in algebra. Y yearned for immortality in rhyme, and Z in his zeal was always in a puzzle."
Surely, Sir, you have revived the Golden Age of magazines, and long may you flourish.
Q.D.
* * * * *
THE USE OF BEAVER HATS IN ENGLAND.
The notice from Fairholt's _Costume in England_, concerning the earliest use of a beaver hat in England, is not very satisfactory. Beaver hats were certainly used in this country long before Stubbes's time. They were originally, like many other articles of dress, manufactured abroad, and imported here. Indeed, this was a great source of complaint by the English artizan until a comparatively late period. The author of _A Brief Discourse of English Poesy_, n.d. (temp. Eliz.) says:--
"I merveil no man taketh heed to it, what number of trifles come hither from beyond the seas, that we might clean spare, or else make them within our realme. For the which we either pay inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial wares and necessaries for them, for the which we might receive great treasure."
"The _beaver_ or felt hats (says J.H. Burn, in his interesting _History of the Foreign Refugees_, p. 257.) worn in the reign of Edward III., and for a long time afterwards, were made in Flanders. The refugees in Norfolk introduced the manufacture of felts and thrummed hats into that country; and by a statute of 5 and 6 Edward VI., that trade was confined to Norwich, and all other corporate and market towns in the country."
"About that time (says a _History of Trade_, published in 1702) we suffered a great herd of French tradesmen to come in, and
## particularly hat-makers, who brought with them the fashion of
making a slight, coarse, mean commodity, viz. felt hats, now called _Carolinas_; a very inferior article to beavers and demicastors, the former of which then sold at from 24s. to 48s. a piece."
In the _Privy-Purse Expenses of Henry VIII._, we read, under the date 1532:--
"Item the xxiij day [October] paied for a hatte and a plume for the King in Boleyn [_i.e._ Boulogue] ... xvs."
And again--
"Item the same day paied for the garnisshing of ij bonetts, and for the said hatte ... xxiijs. iiijd."
These entries are curious, as the purchase of the hat was made in a foreign country. It was probably something that took the King's fancy, as we can hardly suppose that his majesty had neglected to provide himself with this necessary appendage before he left England.
Several interesting notices concerning hats, and apparel generally, may be seen in Roger Ascham's _Schoolmaster_, 1570, which I do not remember to have seen quoted; but the literature of this period abounds in illustration of costume which has been but imperfectly gleaned.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
EXTRACTS FROM OLD RECORDS.
If you think the insertion of scraps from the mutilated Exchequer records useful, I shall be most happy, from time to time, to contribute a few. The following are extracted from fragments of a book of entries, temp. Charles I.: the book appears to have been a large folio, and each leaf torn into at least four pieces. It is much to be regretted that the work of selection and mutilation was not assigned to more competent persons than the ignorant porters who I am told were entrusted with it.
ROBERT COLE.
_Fragment dated 1640._
John de Critz, Serjeant Painter, p't of 2158. 13, for a debt in the great wardrobe 60 0 0 { 200 0 0 S'r James Palmer, Kn't, for the Tapestrie { 362 10 0 makers and painters at Mortlach { 300 0 0 { 262 10 0 { 300 0 0
_Fragment dated 1637._
..........hony Vandike Kn't p't of 1200_li._ for......... 300 0 0
..........le Seur Sculpter p't of 720_li._ .................Statues and Images 300 0 0
_Fragment dated 1640._
..........in satisfaction for his greate Losses by his greate and extraordinary disbursem'ts vpon assignem'ts and other charges 4000 0 0
S'r Job Harby and S'r John Nulles, Kn'ts, for soe much paid to the King of Denmke for redempion of a greate Jewell, and to liquidate the accompts betwixt his Ma'ty and the said King 25000 0 0
Hubrecht le Seur in full of 340_li._ for } 2 statues in brasse, the one of his late } 100 0 0 Ma'ty, and the other of our now } 70 0 3 Souerainge lo: King Charles[3] }
More to him 60_li._, in p't of 120li. for a bust of brasse of his late Ma'ty, and 40_li._ for carrying and erecting 2 figures at Winchester 100 0 0
Richard Delamair for making divers } Mathematicall Instruments, and } 100 0 0 other services } 68 0 0
[Footnote 3: Qy. the statue now at Charing Cross.]
* * * * *{318}
QUERIES.
QUERIES ON OUTLINE.
The boundary between a surface represented and its background received two different treatments in the hands of artists who have the highest claims on our respect. Some, following the older painters as they were followed by Raphael and Albert Durer, bring the surface of the figure abruptly against its background. Others, like Murillo and Titian, melt the one into the other, so that no pencil could trace the absolute limit of either. Curiously enough, though for very obvious reasons, the Daguerreotype seems to favour one method, the Calotype the other. Yet, two Calotypes, in which the outlines are quite undefined, coalesce in the Stereoscope, giving a sharp outline; and as soon as the mind has been thus taught to expect a relievo, either eye will see it.
But if you look at your face in the glass, you cannot at once (say at three feet distance) see the outlines of the eye and cheek. They disappear every where, except in the focus common to both eyes. Then nothing is seen absolutely at rest. The act of breathing imparts perpetual motion to the artist and the model. The aspen leaf is trembling in the stillest air. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to Turner's use or abuse of his great faculties, no one will doubt that he has never been excelled in the art of giving space and relative distance to all parts of his canvas. Certainly no one ever carried confusion of outline in every part not supposed to be in the focus of the eye so far.
On the other hand, every portion of a large picture, however severe its execution, acquires this morbid outline wherever the eye quits one detail for another. Is, then, the law governing small and large surface different? Do these instances imply that a definite boundary, a modern German style, is indefensible? or only indefensible in miniature? Or, is such a picture as the Van Eyh in the National Gallery a vindication of the practice in small works?
I can answer that it is not; and this last question I merely ask to avoid all answers on the score of authority. No doubt that strange work is one of the most realising pictures ever painted,--more so than any neighbouring Rembrandt,--whose masses of light and shade were used as a "creative power." I want to know whether there is a right and wrong in the case, apart from every thing men call taste. Whether, whenever a work of art passes from suggestion to imitation, _some_ liberty must not be given at the lines whence the rays are supposed to diverge to the two eyes from two different surfaces. Every advance in art and science removes something from the realms of opinion, and this appears to be a question on which science must some day legislate for art.
J.O.W.H.
* * * * *
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL--OLD SONGS ONCE POPULAR THERE.
Amongst the numerous correspondents and readers of your very interesting little work, there may yet be living some who were scholars in the above institution during the last ten or fifteen years of the last century, coevals, or nearly so, with Richards, afterwards of Oriel College, author of a prize poem, _Aboriginal Britons_, and one of the Bampton Lecturers; Middleton, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta; Trollope, afterwards Master of the Grammar School; Barnes, afterwards connected with the _Times_; Stevens, Scott (poor Scott!), Coleridge, Lamb, Allen, White, Leigh Hunt, the two brothers Le G. Favell, Thompson, Franklin, &c., pupils of old James Boyer, of flogging celebrity.
If so, can any of them furnish me with the words of an old song, then current in the school, relating to the execution of the Earl of Derwentwater in the rebellion of 1715, of which the four following lines are all that I remember:
"There's fifty pounds in my right pocket, To be given to the poor; There's fifty pounds in my left pocket, To be given from door to door."
Of another song, equally popular, less pathetic, but of more spirit-stirring character, can any one supply the remainder?
"As our king lay musing on his bed, He bethought himself once on a time Of a tribute that was due from France, That had not been paid for so long a time.
"Oh! then he called his trusty page, His trusty page then called he, Saying, 'You must go to the king of France, To the king of France right speedily.'"
NEMO.
* * * * *
WATCHING THE SEPULCHRE--DOMINUS FACTOTUM--ROBERT PASSELLEW.
Allow me to offer a query or two respecting which I shall be glad of any information your numerous correspondents may be able to furnish.
1. In Fuller's _History of Waltham Abbey_, pp. 269. 274., Nichol's edition, 1840, we have the following entries from the churchwarden's accounts:
"Anno 1542, the thirty-fourth of Henry viii. _Imprimis_. For watching the sepulchre, a groat."
"_Item_, for watching the sepulchre, eight pence."
The last entry occurs in "Anno 1554, Mariæ primo," but Fuller adds, "though what meant thereby, I know not." Can any satisfactory information be furnished which will explain the custom here alluded to? {319}
2. In the same work, page 278., a passage occurs, which not only explains the meaning of the term _factotum_, but furnishes matter for another query. The passage is this; speaking of "eminent persons buried" at Waltham Abbey, he says: "we spoil all, if we forget Robert Passellew, who was _dominus fac totum_ in the middle--and _fac nihil_ towards the end--of the reign of Henry III." Some parasites extolled him by allusion to his name, _pass-le-eau_, (that is "passing the pure water,") the wits of those days thus descanting upon him:
"Est aqua lenis, et est aqua dulcis, et est aqua clara, Tu præcellis aquam, nam leni lenior es tu, Dulci dulcior es tu, clara clarior es tu; Mente quidem lenis, re dulcis, sanguine clarus." _Camden's MSS._ Cott. Lib.
The learned Dr. Whitaker, in his _History of Whalley_, says, that "the word Paslew was of Norman origin (Pass-le-eau), and afforded a subject for some rhyming monkish verses, not devoid of ingenuity, which the curious reader may find in Weever's _Funeral Monuments_, p. 645;" and a question now arises whether the _Passellew_ mentioned by Fuller belongs to the same family as the "Paslews of Wiswall," alluded to by Dr. Whitaker, one of whom, "John, Abbot of Whalley" was executed for the part he took in the "Pilgrimage of Grace." when it is stated that the Paslews of Wiswall bore "Argent a fess between three mullets Sable pierced of the field, a crescent for difference," probably some of your readers will be able to give some particulars respecting "Robert Passelew," and also identify the families if possible.
T.W.
Burnley, Lancashire, Feb. 23, 1850.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_Conrad of Salisbury's Descritio utriusque Britanniæ._--A good many years since I had a communication from the Baron de Penhouet, a Breton Antiquary, respecting a work which I have never yet been able to discover. I may ascertain, through the medium of your very useful publication, whether there exists a work under the title of a "Descriptio utriusque Britanniæ," by Conrad of Salisbury, from a MS. of the time of Henry I. I should feel much obliged to any one who would favour me with this information.
JAMES LOGAN.
_Peruse or Pervise--Passage in Frith's Works._--Your correspondent T.J. rightly conjectured that the _peruse_ of a modern reprint of Frith was an error. I have been able since to consult two black-letter editions, and have found, as I suspected, "pervise" and "pervyse."
If your same correspondent, or any other, can help me to correct, or to understand another erroneous clause in Russell's edit. of Frith, vol. iii. p. 227., I shall be still further obliged.
It is probably meant for some old rule in logic, but is printed there, "Ab inferiori ad suis superius confuse distribue." Foxe, however, has "suum" instead of "suis."
H.W.
_Cromlech._--I shall feel much obliged if any of your readers will kindly refer me to any authority for the use of the word _Cromlech_, prior to the sixteenth century, whether in the Welsh or English language.
JAS. H. TODD.
Trin. Coll. Dublin, Jan. 31, 1850.
_Meaning of "Grummett."_--A Constant Reader is desirous of addressing such of your correspondents as are well versed in maritime history,--Mr. Bolton Corney to wit,--on the following subject. In the early ages of our Navy there was a distinct rating, called "Grummett," on board each man-of-war, and he was generally, as may be seen in the Cottonian MSS., placed after the "maryners and gonners." Now, the reader will be highly obliged to any one who will trace the designation to its source, and give information as to what were the special duties of the Grummett, or Gromet.
[Greek: Sigma].
_Vertue's Manuscripts._--Steevens and Malone, in fixing the dates of Shakspeare's Dramas, frequently quote from _Vertue's_ MSS. George Chalmers, in his _Supplemental Apology_, says, "On making some inquiries, by a friend, what manuscript of _Vertue's_ it were, which I saw so often quoted about scenic matters, Mr. Steevens was so obliging as to say, 'The books, from which those extracts were made, with several others lost, belonged to Secretary Pepys, and afterwards to Dr. Rawlinson, who lent them to Mr. Vertue.' When the said MSS. were consulted by the two commentators, they were, I believe, in the possession of Garrick." Chalmers adds, "Much is it to be lamented, that any MS. or book, which furnished an illustration of Shakespeare, and having once been seen, should ever disappear." Every true lover of our great poet will heartily agree with this remark.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Loscop._--The Patent Roll, 1 Edw. III.