Part 3

[Fuller's amusing account of Dame Hester Temple will be found in his _Worthies of Buckinghamshire_, vol. i. p. 210. edit. 1840. He says: "Dame Hester Temple, daughter to Miles Sands, Esq., was born at Latmos in this county, and was married to Sir Thomas Temple, of Stow, Baronet. She had four sons and nine daughters, which lived to be married, and so exceedingly multiplied, that this lady saw seven hundred extracted from her body. Reader, I speak within compass, and have left myself a reserve, having bought the truth hereof by a wager I lost. Besides, there was a new generation of marriageable females just at her death; so that this aged vine may be said to wither, even when it had many young boughs ready to knit.

"Had I been one of her relations, and as well enabled as most of them be, I would have erected a monument for her--thus designed. A fair tree should have been erected, the said lady and her husband lying at the bottom or root thereof; the heir of the family should have ascended both the middle and top bough thereof. On the right hand hereof her younger sons, {469} on the left her daughters, should, as so many boughs, be spread forth. Her grandchildren should have their names inscribed on the branches of those boughs; the great-grandchildren on the twigs of those branches; and the great-great-grandchildren on the leaves of those twigs. Such as survived her death should be done in a lively green, the rest (as blasted) in a pale and yellow fading colour.

"Pliny, lib. vii. cap. 13. (who reports it as a wonder worthy the chronicle, that Chrispinus Hilarus, _prælatâ pompâ_, 'with open ostentation,' sacrificed in the capitol seventy-four of his children and children's children attending on him,) would more admire, if admitted to this spectacle.

"Vives telleth us of village in Spain, of about an hundred houses, whereof all the inhabitants were issued from one certain old man who lived, when as that village was so peopled, so as the name of propinquity, how the youngest of the children should call him, could not be given.[1] 'Lingua enim nostra supra abavum non ascendit;' ('Our language,' saith he, meaning the Spanish, 'affords not a name above the great-grandfather's father'). But, had the offspring of this lady been contracted into one place, they were enough to have peopled a city of a competent proportion though her issue was not so long in succession, as broad in extent.

"I confess very many of her descendants died before her death; in which respect she was far surpassed by a Roman matron, on which the poet thus epitapheth it, in her own person[2]:

'_Viginti atque novem, genitrici Callicrateæ,_ _Nullius sexus mors mihi visa fuit._ _Sed centum et quinque explevi bene messibus annos,_ _In tremulam baculo non subeunte manum._'

'Twenty-nine births Callicrate I told, And of both sexes saw none sent to grave, I was an hundred and five winters old, Yet stay from staff my hand did never crave.'

Thus, in all ages, God bestoweth personal felicities on some far above the proportion of others. The Lady Temple died A.D. 1656."]

[Footnote 1: In Comment upon 8th chapter of lib. xv. de Civitate Dei.]

[Footnote 2: Ausonius, Epitaph. Heröum, num. 34.]

_Samuel White._--In Bishop Horsley's _Biblical Criticism_, he refers several times to a Samuel White, whom he speaks of in terms of contempt, and calls him, in one place, "that contemptible ape of Grotius;" and in another, "so dull a man." Query, who was this Mr. White, and what work did he publish?

I. R. R.

[Samuel White, M.A., was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Earl of Portland. His work, so severely criticised by Bishop Horsley, is entitled _A Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, wherein the literal Sense of his Prophecies is briefly explained_: London, 4to., 1709. In his Dedication he says: "I have endeavoured to set in a true light one of the most difficult parts of Holy Scripture, following the footsteps of the learned Grotius as far as I find him in the right; but taking the liberty to leave him where I think him wide of the prophet's meaning."]

_Heralds' College._--Are the books in the Heralds' College open to the public on payment of reasonable fees?

Y. S. M.

[The fee for a search is 5s.; that for copying of pedigrees is 6s. 8d. for the first, and 5s. for every other generation. A general search is 2l. 2s. The hours of attendance are from ten till four.]

_Pope._--Where, in Pope's Works, does the passage occur which is referred to as follows by Richter in his _Grönlandische Prozesse_, vol. i.?

"Pope vom Menschen (eigentlich vom Manne) sagt, 'Er tritt auf, um sich einmal umzusehen, und zu sterben.'"

A. E.

Aberdeen.

["Awake my St. John! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply _Than just to look about us, and to die_) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man."--_Essay on Man_, Epist. i. l. 1-5.]

* * * * *

Replies.

BLANCO WHITE'S SONNET.

(Vol. vii., pp. 404. 486.)

This sonnet first appeared in _The Bijou_, an annual published by Pickering in 1828. It is entitled:

"NIGHT AND DEATH.

_A Sonnet: dedicated to S. T. Coleridge, Esq._ _by his sincere friend Joseph Blanco White._

Mysterious night, when the first man but knew Thee by report, unseen, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus, with the host of heaven came, And lo! creation widen'd on his view. Who could have thought what darkness lay concealed Within thy beams, O Sun? Or who could find, Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, That to such endless orbs thou mad'st us blind? Weak man! Why to shun death this anxious strife? If _light_ can thus deceive, wherefore not _life_?"

In a letter from Coleridge to White, dated Nov. 28, 1827, he thus speaks of it:

"I have now before me two fragments of letters _begun_, the one in acknowledgment of the finest and most graceful sonnet in our language (at least it is only in Milton's and Wordsworth's sonnets that I {470} recollect any rival, and this is not my judgment alone, but that of the man [Greek: kat' exochên philokalon], John Hookham Frere), the second on the receipt of your 'Letter to Charles Butler,'" &c.

In a subsequent letter, without date, Coleridge thus again reverts to the circumstance of its having been published without his or White's sanction:

"But first of your sonnet. On reading the sentences in your letter respecting it, I stood staring vacantly on the paper, in a state of feeling not unlike that which I have too often experienced in a dream: when I have found myself in chains, or in rags, shunned, or passed by, with looks of horror blended with sadness, by friends and acquaintance; and convinced that, in some alienation of mind, I must have perpetrated some crime, which I strove in vain to recollect. I then ran down to Mrs. Gillman, to learn whether she or Mr. Gillman could throw any light on the subject. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Gillman could account for it. I have repeated the sonnet often, but, to the best of my recollection, never either gave a copy to any one, or permitted any one to transcribe it; and as to publishing it without your consent, you must allow me to say the truth: I had felt myself so much flattered by your having addressed it to me, that I should have been half afraid that it would appear to be asking to have my vanity tickled, if I had thought of applying to you for permission to publish it. Where and when did it appear? If you will be so good as to inform me, I may perhaps trace it out: for it annoys me to imagine myself capable of such a breach of confidence and of delicacy."

In his Journal, October 16 [1838?], Blanco White says:

"In copying out my 'Sonnet on Night and Death' for a friend, I have made some corrections. It is now as follows:

'Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the Host of Heaven came, And lo! creation widen'd in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find, Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind! Why do we then shun death, with anxious strife? If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life?'"

S. W. SINGER.

* * * * *

GOLOSHES.

(Vol. ix., p. 304.)

This word, SELEUCUS says, "is of course of American derivation." By no means: it is found in German, _gallosche_ or _gallusche_; and in French, _galoche_ or _galloche_. The word itself most likely comes to us from the French. The dictionaries refer to Spenser as using it under the form _galage_; and it occurs written _galege_, _galosh_, _calosh_, &c. The French borrowed the term from the Latin _Gallicæ_; but the Romans first derived the idea and the thing itself from Gaul, _Gallicæ_ denoting Gallic or Gaulish shoes. Cicero speaks of the _Gallicæ_ with contempt.--"Cum calceis et toga, nullis nec _gallicis_ nec lacerna;" and again, "Cum _gallicis_ et lacerna cucurristi" (_Philip._ ii. 30.). Blount, in his _Law Dictionary_ (1670), gives the following, which refers to one very early use of the term in this country:

"GALEGE (_galiciæ_), from the French _galloches_, which signified of old a certain shoe worn by the Gauls in foul weather, _as at present the signification with us does not much differ_. It is mentioned 4 Edw. IV. cap. 7., and 14 & 15 Hen. VIII. cap. 9."

Therefore the thing itself and the word were known among us before America was discovered. As it regards the Latin word _Gallicæ_, I only know of its use by Cicero, Tertullian, and A. Gellius. The last-named, in the _Noctes Atticæ_, gives the following anecdote and observations relating to this word. T. Castricius, a teacher of rhetoric at Rome, observing that some of his pupils were, on a holiday, as he deemed, unsuitably attired, and shod (_soleati_) with _gallicæ_ (_galloches_, _sabots_, wooden shoes or clogs), he expressed in strong terms his disapprobation. He stated it to be unworthy of their rank, and referred to the above-cited passage from Cicero. Some of his hearers inquired why he called those _soleati_ who wore goloshes (_gallicæ_) and not shoes (_soleæ_). The expression is justified by a statement which sufficiently describes the goloshes, viz., that they call _soleæ_ (shoes) all those which cover only the lower portions of the foot, and are fastened with straps. The author adds:

"I think that _gallicæ_ is a new word, which was begun to be used not long before Cicero's time, therefore used by him in the Second of the _Antonians_. 'Cum gallicis,' says he, 'et lacerna cucurristi.' Nor do I read it in any other writer of authority, but other words are employed."

The Romans named shoes after persons and places as we do: for examples, see Dr. W. Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_, sub voc. "Calceus."

B. H. C.

Poplar.

This word is not of American derivation. In the _Promptorium Parvulorum_ we find,--

"GALACHE or GALOCHE, undersolynge of manny's fote."

Mr. Way says in his note:

"The galache was a sort of patten, fastened to the foot by cross latchets, and worn by men as early as the {471} time of Edward III. Allusion is made to it by Chaucer,

'Ne were worthy to unbocle his galoche.'--_Squires Tale_, 10,869."

Among many other quotations Mr. Way gives the following:

"To geten hym gilte spores, Or galoches y-couped."--_Piers Ploughman_, 12,099.

And in the _Wardrobe Book of Prince Henry_, A.D. 1607, are mentioned--

"1 pair of golossians, 6s.; 16 gold buckles with pendants and toungs to buckle a pair of golosses."--_Archæol._ xi. 93.

Nares says:

"GALAGE. A clown's coarse shoe from _galloche_, a shoe with a wooden sole, old French, which itself is supposed to be from _gallica_, a kind of shoe mentioned by Cicero, _Philip._ ii. 30., and A. Gellius, xiii. 21. If so, the word has returned to the country whence it was first taken, but I doubt much of that derivation; by the passages referred to in the above authors, it seems more likely that the _gallica_ was a luxurious covering, than one so very coarse as the galloche. Perhaps the _caliga_, or military strong boot of the Romans, from which Caligula was named, may be a better origin for it. The word _galloche_ is now naturalised among us for a kind of clog, worn over the shoes."

See also Richardson's _Dictionary_, s. v. "Galoche."

ZEUS.

SELEUCUS need not have gone quite so far as to "the tribe of North American Indians, the Goloshes," or to America at all, for his derivation. If he will look in his French dictionary he will find,--

"_Galoche_ (espèce de mule que l'on porte par dessus les souliers), galoshoe."

I quote from Boyer's _Dictionnaire Royal_, edit. 1753.

Cole, in his English dictionary, 1724, has--

"_Galeges_, _galages_, _galloches_, _galloshoes_, Fr., wooden shoes all of a piece. With us outward shoes or cases for dirty weather, &c."

C. DE D.

* * * * *

CONSONANTS IN WELSH.

(Vol. ix., p. 271.)

For the gratification of your correspondent J. M., I give you the result of an enumeration of the _letters_ and _sounds_ in three versions of the Hundredth Psalm in Welsh, and three corresponding versions of it in English.

1. From the authorised translations of the Bible, Welsh and English.

2. The metrical version of Tate and Brady, and that of Archdeacon Prys.

3. Dr. Watts's metrical version and a Welsh imitation of it.

_Letters in three Welsh Versions._

_Bible._ _Prys._ _Watts._ Consonants 185 205 241 Vowels 148 165 159 --- --- --- Apparent excess of } consonants in Welsh } 37 40 82

_Letters in three English Versions._

_Bible._ _Tate & Brady._ _Watts._ Consonants 220 271 275 Vowels 134 163 170 --- --- --- Apparent excess of } consonants in English } 86 108 105

_Sounds in three Welsh Versions._

_Bible._ _Prys._ _Watts._ Consonants 150 173 200 Vowels 148 165 159 --- --- --- Real excess of consonants} in Welsh } 2 8 41

_Sounds in three English Versions._

_Bible._ _Tate & Brady._ _Watts._ Consonants 195 241 240 Vowels 122 149 159 --- --- --- Real excess of consonants} in English } 73 92 81

From this analysis it appears that the excess of consonant _letters_ over vowels is, in English, 299; and in Welsh, 159, a little more than one-half. The excess of consonant _sounds_ is, in English, 246; in Welsh, 51, considerably less than one-fourth.

This result might readily have been anticipated by anybody familiar with the following facts:

1. On examining lists of the elementary sounds of both languages, it will be found that the Welsh has a greater number of vowels than the English, and the English a greater number of consonants than the Welsh.

2. Welsh diphthongs are much more numerous than English.

3. In English, _three_ vowels only constitute words in themselves (_a_, article; _I_, pronoun; _O_, interjection), and each is used only in one sense. In Welsh, _five_ of the vowels (_a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _y_) are words; and they are used in at least a dozen different significations. _A_, besides being an affirmative and interrogative adverb, answers to the English _and_, _as_, _with_, _will go_.

4. Diphthongs forming distinct words are much more numerous in Welsh than in English. The following occur: _ai_, _a'i_ (=_a ei_), _a'u_, _ei_, _eu_, _ia_, _ïe_, _i'w_, _o'i_, _o'u_, _ow_, _[^w]y_, _yw_.

5. In Welsh there are no such clusters of consonants as occur in the English words _arched_ {472} (pronounced _artsht_), _parched_, _scorched_, _marched_, _hinged_ (_hindzhd_), _singed_, _cringed_, _fringed_, _purged_ (_purdzhd_), _charged_ (_tshardzhd_), _scratched_, &c. &c. From the difficulty encountered in pronouncing some of these combinations, arise the vulgar errors heard in some parts of the country: _burstis_ for _bursts_, _castis_ for _casts_. Three consonants are very rarely thus crushed together in Welsh,--four, never.

6. The Welsh, to avoid an unpleasant hiatus, often introduce a consonant. Hence we have _y_ or _yr_, the; _a_ or _ac_, and; _a_ or _ag_, as; _na_ or _nac_, not; _na_ or _nag_, than; _sy_ or _sydd_, is; _o_, from, becomes _odd_; _i_, to, becomes _idd_. I cannot call to mind more than one similar example in English, _a_ or _an_; and its existence is attributable to the superfluity of consonants, _n_ being _dropped_ in _a_, not _added_ in _an_.

The mystery of the consonants in the swearing Welshman's mouth (humorously described by Messrs. Chambers) is difficult of explanation. The words usual in Welsh oaths afford no clue to its solution; for the name of the Deity has two consonants and one vowel in English, while it has two vowels and one consonant in Welsh. Another name invoked on these occasions has three consonants and two vowels in English, and one of the vowels is usually elided; in Welsh it has three vowels and three consonants, and colloquially the middle consonant is dropped. The Welsh borrow a few imprecatory words from the English, and in appropriating them they _append the vowel termination_ o _or_ io. Prejudice or imagination, therefore, seems to have had something to do in describing poor Taffy's profanities.

In conclusion, I may add that the Hundredth Psalm was chosen for analysis without a previous knowledge that it would present a greater excess of consonants (letters or sounds) in English than in Welsh. I do not believe two chapters from the Bible can be produced, which will show an opposite result.

GWILYM GLAN TYWI.

There is no _k_ in the Welsh alphabet, a circumstance which reduces the consonants to twenty; while a farther reduction is made by the fact that _w_ and _y_ are _always_ vowels in Welsh, instead of being only occasionally so, as in English. J. M. will therefore find that the Welsh alphabet contains but eighteen consonants and seven vowels, twenty-five letters in all.

This, however, I imagine, is not the point on which he wishes for information. If a stranger glances at a page of Welsh without being aware that _y_ and _w_ are, strictly speaking, vowels, he will of course naturally conclude that he sees an over proportion of consonants. Hence, probably, has arisen the very general idea on the subject, which is perhaps strengthened by the frequent occurrence of the double consonants _Ll_ and _Dd_, the first of which is but a sign, standing for a peculiar softening of the letter; and the latter for _Th_ of the English language.

Such an idea might perhaps be conveyed by the following instances, taken at random: _Dywyll_, _Dydd_, _Gwyddna_, _Llwyn_, _Gwyrliw_, &c. But it will be dispelled by an orthography adapted to the pronunciation; thus _Dou-ill_[3], _Deeth_, _Goo-eeth-na_, _Lloo-een_, _Gueer-leeoo_.

J. M. will be interested to know that the Welsh language can furnish almost unexampled instances of an accumulation of vowels, such as that furnished by the word _ieuainc_, young men, &c.; but above all by the often-quoted _englyn_ or stanza on the spider or silkworm, which, in its four lines, _does not contain a single consonant_:

"O'i wi[^w] wy i weu ê â,--a'i weau O'i wyau e weua: E weua ei [^w]e aia, A'i weau yw ieuau iâ."

SELEUCUS.

In reply to J. M. I beg to ask who ever before heard that consonants "cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded?" and how could the writer in Chambers's _Repository_ possibly know that the drunken Welshman cursed and swore in _consonants_? There is scarcely a more harshly-sounding word in the Welsh language--admitted by a clever and satirical author to have "the softness and harmony of the Italian, with the majesty and expression of the Greek"--than the term _crack_, adopted from the Dutch. There is no Welsh monosyllable that contains, like the Saxon _strength_, seven consonants with only one vowel. There is no Welsh proper name, like Rentzsch, the watchmaker of Regent Street, that contains six consonants in succession in one syllable; and yet the Welsh have never accused their _younger_ sister with the use of consonants which "cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded." But if the Welsh language, with "its variety, copiousness, and even harmony, to be equalled by few, perhaps excelled by none," has no instance of six consonants in succession, it has one of six vowels in succession, _Gwaewawr_, every one of which requires, according to the peculiarity of its pronunciation, a separate inflection of the voice.

J. M. may be assured that the remark of the writer in question is only one of those pitiful "cracks" which flippant authors utter in plain ignorance of Cymru, Cymraeg, and Cymry.

CYMRO.

Marlbro.

I think the following _englyn_ or epigram on a silkworm, which is composed entirely of vowels, will satisfy your correspondent. I have seen it in some book, the name of which I forget. It {473} must be borne in mind that _w_ is a vowel in Welsh, and is sounded like _oo_ in _boot_.

"O'i wiw [^w]y i weu ê â a'i weau O'i wyau e weua; E' weua ei [^w]e aia'. A'i weau yw ieuau iâ."

"I perish by my art; dig my own grave; I spin my thread of life; my death I weave."

THOMAS O'COFFEY.

[Footnote 3: The _Dou_ to be pronounced as in _Douglass_.]

* * * * *

SONGS of DEGREES (ASCENTS).

(Vol. ix., pp. 121. 376.)

The analysis of the word [Hebrew: HAMA`ALWOT] (_the steps_), confining ourselves to sensible objects, shows, first, the preposition [Hebrew: `AL], _over_ (=_up_ + _on_); and, secondly, [Hebrew: MA`ALAH], the _chamber-over_. (Neh. ix. 4., xii. 37.; Jos. x. 10.; 1 Sam. ix. 11.; Am. ix. 6.; Ps. civ. 13.) The translators of the authorised version, in using the word "degrees," intended probably to convey the notion of _rank_; but the modern mixed-mathematical ideas lead us of this day rather to think of geographical, barometrical, &c. degrees. That _steps_ is the word most accordant with the ancient notions is evident from the concurrence of the Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, as also from the Chaldee Targum, alluded to by J. R. G., which has the inscription [Chaldee: SHYR' D'T'MR `AL MASWQIYN DTCHWOMA'], "a song called 'over the _steps_ of the deep'" (Deut. viii. 7.; Ex. xv. 8.). The root of this moral is [Hebrew: `LCH], in the Hebrew and its cognates, and the primitive notion is _to ascend_; from which is formed in Arabic [(ARABIC)], _adscendit in tectum_; in Syriac [(SYRIAC)], _contignatio superior, coenaculum_ (Jud. iii. 23-25.; Luc. xxii. 12.); and the Chaldee [Chaldee: `ALIYT], _pars domus superior, cubiculum, sive coenaculum superius_, Græc. [Greek: huperôon] (Dan. vi. 11.). See Shaw's _Itinerary_, pp. 360-365.

The [Hebrew: M] prefixed is the _participial_ form of the verb, equivalent to the termination _ing_ in English; and converts the verb also into a verbal noun, conveying the generalised idea of a class of _actions_; and thereby the steps, [Hebrew: HM`LWT], _the steppings upward_, literally, which means "the ascents," or "the ascendings."