Part XI

. of the _Bibliotheca Heberiana_ it is thus described:--

"The first part of this volume was obviously collected by a Scotchman, and it includes pieces by Ben Jonson, Wither, Dr. Donne, &c. It must have been made in the latter part of the reign of Charles I. The second portion of the volume is a later production; a humourous poem, called a _Whig's Supplication_, by {54} S. C., in which there is a remarkable notice of Cleveland, Donne, and 'Bass Divine.' The latter name somebody has ignorantly altered, not knowing, probably, who 'Bass Divine' was. The poem is in imitation of Hudibras, both in style and metre."

It is somewhat singular that the writer of this notice never suspected that the _author_ of the second part, and the _collector_ of the first part of the volume, was Samuel Colvil, whose celebrated poem, _The Whigg's Supplication, or the Scotch Hudibras_, went through so many editions, from 1667 to 1796. This "mock poem", as the author terms it, turns upon the insurrection of the Covenanters in Scotland in the reign of Charles the Second. An interesting notice of it, and other imitations of Hudibras, will be found in the _Retrospective Review_, vol. iii. pp. 317-335.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

Queries.

HUBERT LE SOEUR'S SIX BRASS STATUES.

In a curious MS. Diary of the early part of the seventeenth century, lately come into my possession, I find the following entry concerning the sculptor, Hubert le Soeur:--

"March 7. 1628. Had an interview with y^e famous and justly renowned artiste H. le Sueur, who, being late come to this countrie, I had never seene before. He showed me several famous statues in brasse."

This is probably the earliest notice of the celebrated pupil of John of Bologna after his settlement in England. Dallaway, in his _Anecdotes of the Arts in England_ (p. 395.), after stating that Hubert le Soeur arrived here about the year 1630, says,--

"If he was associated with Pierre Tacca, who finished the horse in the equestrian statue of Henry IV. in 1610, left incomplete on the death of his master, John of Bologna, two years preceding, he must have been far advanced in life. Three only of his works in bronze are now known with certainty to exist: the equestrian statue of Charles I. [at Charing Cross], a bust of the same monarch with a casque in the Roman style [now at Stourhead], and a statue in armour of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Lord High Chamberlain and Chancellor of Oxford. The last was given to the University by T., Earl of Pembroke, about the time of the restoration."

The "several famous statues in brasse" alluded to by the writer of the Diary above quoted, were probably those which afterwards ornamented the gardens of St. James's Palace. Peacham, in his _Complete Gentleman_ (2nd edit., 4to. 1634), having spoken of the collection of statues at Arundell House, says:--

"King Charles also, ever since his coming to the Crown, hath amply testified a royal liking of ancient Statues, by causing a whole army of foreign Emperors, Captains, and Senators, all at once to land on his coasts, to come and do him homage and attend him in his Palaces of Saint James and Somerset House. A great part of these belonged to the great Duke of Mantua; and some of the old Greek marble bases, columns, and altars were brought from the ruins of Apollo's temple at Delos, by that noble and absolutely complete gentleman, Sir Kenelm Digby, Kn^t. In the garden of St. James, there are also _half a dozen brass statues_, rare ones, cast by Hubert le Sueur, his Majesty's servant, now dwelling in St. Bartholomew's, London; the most industrious and excellent statuary, in all materials, that ever this country enjoyed. The best of them is the Gladiator, moulded from that in Cardinal Borghesi's Villa, by the procurement and industry of ingenious Master Gage. And at this present, the said Master Sueur hath divers other admirable moulds to cast in brass for his Majesty, and among the rest, that famous Diana of Ephesus. But the great Horse with his Majesty upon it, twice as great as the life, and now well nigh finished, will compare with that of the New Bridge at Paris, or those others at Florence and Madrid, though made by Sueur, his master John de Bologna, that rare workman, who not long since lived at Florence."

The bronze statue of the Gladiator originally stood (according to Ned Ward's _London Spy_) in the Parade facing the Horse Guards. Dodsley (_Environs_, iii. 741.) says it was removed by Queen Anne to Hampton Court, and from thence, by George the Fourth, to the private grounds of Windsor Castle, where it now is. Query, What has become of the other five "famous statues in brass?"

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

BISHOP JEWELL'S LIBRARY.

What became of Bishop Jewell's library? Cassan mentions (_Lives of Bishops of Salisbury_, vol. ii. p. 55.) that

"He had collected an excellent library of books of all sorts, not excepting the most impertinent of the Popish authors, and here it was that he spent the greatest and the best part of his time," &c.

Bishop Jewell died Sept. 22. 1571.

In the Account Books of Magdalen College, Oxford, I find the following items:--

"A. D. 1572. Solut. D^{no} Præsidi equitanti Sarisbur. pro libris per billam, iij^{li} xvi^s.

"Solut. pro libris D^{ni}, episcopi Sar., c^{li}.

"A. D. 1574. Solut per Dom. Præsidem pro libris M^{ri} Jewell, xx^{li}."

Whether these books were a portion only, or the whole of the library of Bishop Jewell, I am unable to discover; nor am I aware at present whether Bishop Jewell's autograph is in any of the books of Magdalen College Library. The president was Lawrence Humphrey, author of a Life of Jewell.

MAGDALENENSIS.

{55}

* * * * *

THE LOW WINDOW.

The low windows in the chancel of so many of our ancient churches have proved a fruitful source of discussion among archæologists, and numerous theories have been advanced respecting their use. Perhaps the words of the chameleon in the fable might be addressed to many who have attempted to account for their existence, "You all are right and all are wrong"--right in your supposition that they were thus used; but wrong in maintaining that this was the exclusive purpose. Some example, in fact, may be adduced irreconcileable with any particular conjecture, and sufficient to overturn every theory which may be set up. One object assigned is, the distribution of alms; and it is surely reasonable to imagine that money collected at the offertory should have been given to paupers from the chancel through this convenient aperture. The following passage from the _Ecclesiologist_, quoted in page 441. of "NOTES AND QUERIES," has induced me to bring this subject forward:--

"In them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to God, nor are doles distributed to his poor."

Now it must be admitted that relief could scarcely be given to a crowd of importunate claimants without the interposition of some barrier; and where could a more appropriate place be found than the low window? Can any of your readers, therefore, oblige me with some information upon these points? Where were the alms bestowed, if not here? An almonry is described in some recent works as "a building near the church." What authority is there for such an assertion, and do any examples of such structures remain? What evidence is there that this business was transacted in the churchyard, in the porch, or in any particular part of the edifice?

Although these mysterious openings are probably, with one or two exceptions in Normandy, peculiar to this country, it is desirable to ascertain where the poor on the Continent usually receive such charitable donations. In an interior of a Flemish cathedral, by an artist of the sixteenth century, a man is represented in the act of delivering bread to a number of eager beggars, from a sort of pew; showing, at least, as above remarked, that some such protection was requisite.

There is another Query connected with this subject, which I beg to submit. Some ancient frescoes were lately discovered in the chapel of Eton College, with a compartment containing (according to a letter in the _Ecclesiologist_) a bishop administering the Holy Communion to a converted Jew, through a low window. Can any one, from recollection or the inspection of drawings, (for the original has disappeared,) assure me that he does not hold in his hand a piece of money, or a portion of bread, for the supply of his bodily wants?

T.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_North Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated._--In the West of England I have found an opinion to prevail in rural parishes, that the north side of our churchyards was left unconsecrated very commonly, in order that the youth of the village might have the use of it as a playground. And, in one parish, some few years ago, I had occasion to interrupt the game of football in a churchyard on the "revel" Sunday, and again on another festival. I also found some reluctance in the people to have their friends buried north of the church.

Is there any ground for believing that our churchyards were ever thus consecrated on the south side of the church to the exclusion of the north?

J. SANSOM.

_Hatfield--Consecration of Chapel there._--Le Neve, in his _Lives of Protestant Bishops_ (ii. 144.), states, that Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, went to Hatfield, 6th May, 1615, to consecrate the chapel in the house there lately built by Robert, Earl of Salisbury. I have applied to the Registrar of Lincoln diocese, in which Hatfield was (until recently) locally situated, for a copy of the notarial act of consecration; but it appears that the register of Bishop Neile was taken away or destroyed in the Great Rebellion, and that, consequently, no record of his episcopality now exists at Lincoln.

Le Neve says he had the most part of his account of Bishop Neile from Thomas Baker, B.D. of St. John's College, Cambridge, who had it from a grandson of the Bishop's. He quotes also Featley's MS. Collections.

Can any of your readers inform me whether Bishop Neile's episcopal register for Lincoln is in existence, or whether any transcript of it is known? or if any evidence, confirmatory of Le Neve's statement of the fact and date of the consecration of the chapel of Hatfield, is known to exist?

WILLIAM H. COPE.

P.S. I have examined Dr. Matthew Hutton's transcripts of the Lincoln registers, in the Harleian MSS., but they do not come down to within a century of Bishop Neile's episcopate.

_Ulrich von Hutten_ (Vol. i., p. 336.).--In one of the _Quarterly Reviews_ is an account of Ulrich von Hutten and the _Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum_. Will S. W. S., or any one who takes interest in Ulrich, tell me where it is? A meagre article in the _Retrospective Review_, vol. v. p. 56., mentions only one edition of the _Epstolæ_, Francfurti ad Mainum, 1643. Is there any recent edition with notes? Mine, Lond. 1710, is without, and remarkable only for its dedication to Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq., and the curious mistake which Isaac made when he acknowledged it in _The Tatler_, of supposing the letters genuine. Is it known to what {56} scholar we are indebted for so neat an edition of a book then so little known in England, and so little in accordance with English taste at that time?

H. B. C.

University Club, May 29.

_Simon of Ghent._--Can any of your correspondents give me any information concerning Simon, Bishop of Salisbury in 1297-1315, further than what is said of him in _Godwini de Præsulibus Angliæ_, and in Wanley's Catalogue, where he is mentioned as the author of _Regulæ Sanctimonialium Ordinis Sti Jacobi_? Why is he called "Gandavensis," or "De Gandavo," seeing that he is said to have been born in London?

J. MORTON.

_Boetius' Consolations of Philosophy._--Alfred the Great translated this work into Anglo-Saxon; Chaucer, Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Preston into English.

_Has Queen Elizabeth's work_ (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) _been printed?_ Richard Viscount Preston's appeared first, I believe, in 1712, in 12mo. _How often has it been reprinted?_ What other English translations have been made, and what are the latest?

JARTZBERG.

_Gloucestershire Gospel Tree._--Mary Roberts, in her _Ruins and Old Trees associated with Historical Events_, gives a very pretty account of a certain _Gospel Tree_. Can any kind correspondent inform me where in Gloucestershire it is situated? Although a native of the county, I never heard of it.

W. H. B.

_Churchyards--Epitaphs._--Up to the time of the Norman Conquest, churchyards appear to have been considered almost as sacred as churches; but soon after that period, though regarded as places of sanctuary, they were often used for profane purposes. I recollect reading of fairs and rustic sports being held in them as early as John's reign, but unfortunately I have not been an observer of your motto, and know not now where to refer for such instances. I shall therefore feel obliged to any of your readers who will specify a few instances of the profanation of churchyards at different periods, or refer me to works where such may be found. Churchyards appear to have been used in special cases for sepulture from the year 750, but not commonly so used till the end of the fourteenth century. Are there any instances of sepulchral monuments, between the above dates, now existing in churchyards?

Stone crosses, evidently of Saxon or very early Roman structure, are found in churchyards, but I am not aware of any sepulchral monuments detached from the church of the same date. I shall be glad of any notices of early monuments or remarkable epitaphs in churchyards. When did churchyards cease to be places of sanctuary? What is the exact meaning of the word "yard?" and was not "God's acre" applied to Christian cemeteries before sepulture was admitted in churches or churchyards?

W. H. K.

Drayton Beauchamp, June 10.

_Anthony Warton._--Who was Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore, in Hampshire, and author of _Refinement of Zion_, London, 1657? Another Anthony Warton was matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, 2nd Nov., 1665, at sixteen, as son of Francis Warton, of Breamore, Hants, plebeian. He remained clerk till 1671; chaplain from 1671 to 1674; instituted vicar of Godalming, Surrey, in 1682; obiit 15th March, 1714-15. He was father of Thomas Warton, Demy and Fellow of Magdalen College, vicar of Basingstoke, Hants, and of Cobham, Surrey, Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford, 1718-28; who was father of the more celebrated Thomas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and of Joseph Warton, Head Master of Winchester School.

Manning says (_History of Surrey_, vol. i. p. 648.) that Anthony Warton, vicar of Breamore, Hants, was younger brother of Michael Warton, Esq., of Beverley, but originally of Warton Hall in Lancashire. Both Wood and Manning seem to have confounded the first Anthony with the clerk, &c. of Magdalen. Was the former brother of Francis?

MAGDALENENSIS.

_Cardinal's Hat._--O'Halloran mentions the cardinal's hat--"birede"--"biretrum"--as the hat anciently worn by the Irish doctors. What is its history?

J. SANSOM.

_Maps of London._--I should be grateful to any of your correspondents who could inform me whether there are any maps of London before that of Aggas? what they are? and where they are to be found? The date of Aggas's map is supposed to be about 1560, and must have been after 1548, as the site of Essex House in the Strand is there called "Paget Place." There is a MS. map by Anthony Van Den Wyngerde in the Sutherland Collection in the Bodleian, the date of which would be about 1559.

EDWARD FOSS.

_Griffith of Penrhyn._--Can any of your correspondents refer me to a good pedigree of GRIFFITH OF PENRHYN AND CARNARVON?

WILLIAM D'OYLY BAYLEY.

Coatham, near Redcar.

_The Mariner's Compass._--What is the origin of the _fleur-de-lis_ with which the northern radius of the compass-card is always ornamented?

NAUTILUS.

_Pontefract on the Thames._--Permit me to ask, through the medium of your useful publication, where Pontefract _on the Thames_ was situate in {57} the fourteenth century? Several documents of Edw. II. are dated from Shene (Richmond); in 1318, one from Mortelak; in 1322, one from Istelworth; and several are dated _Pountfrcyt_, or _Pontem fractum super Thamis_. (See Rymer's _Foedera_). It is very clear that this Pountfrcyt on the Thames must have been at no great distance from Shene, Mortlake, and Isleworth, also upon the Thames; and this is further corroborated by the dates following, from the places alluded to, so closely.

<pointing hand> N.

June 14. 1850.

* * * * *

Replies.

ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE STUDY OF GEOMETRY IN LANCASHIRE.

The extensive study of geometry in Lancashire and the northern counties generally is a fact which has forced itself upon the attention of several observers; but none of these have attempted to assign any reasons for so singular an occurrence. Indeed, the origin and progress of the study of any

## particular branch of science, notwithstanding their attractive features,

have but rarely engaged the attention of those best qualified for the undertaking. Fully satisfied with pursuing their ordinary courses of investigation, they have scarcely ever stopped to inquire _who_ first started the subject of their contemplations; nor have they evinced much more assiduity to ascertain the _how_, the _when_, or in _what_ favoured locality he had his existence: and hence the innumerable misappropriations of particular discoveries, the unconscious traversing of already exhausted fields of research, and many of the bickerings which have taken place amongst the rival claimants for the honour of priority.

Mr. Halliwell's _Letters on the Progress of Science_ sufficiently show that the study of geometry was almost a nonentity in England previously to the commencement of the eighteenth century. Before this period Dr. Dee, the celebrated author of the preliminary discourse to Billingsley's _Euclid_, had indeed resided at Manchester (1595), but his residence here could effect little in flavour of geometry, seeing, as is observed by a writer in the _Penny Cyclopædia_--

"The character of the lectures on Euclid was in those days extremely different from that of our own time ... the propositions of Euclid being then taken as so many pegs to hang a speech upon."

Similar remarks evidently apply to Horrocks and Crabtree (1641); for although _both_ were natives of Lancashire, and the latter a resident in the vicinity of Manchester, their early death would prevent the exertion of any considerable influence; nor does it appear that they ever paid any attention to the study of the ancient geometry. Richard Towneley, Esq., of Towneley (1671), is known to have been an ardent cultivator of science, but his residence was principally in London. It may, however, be mentioned to his honour, _that he was the first to discover what is usually known as "Marriotte's Law"_ for the expansion of gases. At a later period (1728-1763), the name of "John Hampson, of Leigh, in Lancashire," appears as a correspondent to the _Lady's Diary_; but since he mostly confined his speculations to subjects relating to the Diophantine Analysis, he cannot be considered as the originator of the revival in that branch of study now under consideration. Such being the case, we are led to conclude that the "Oldham Mathematical Society" was really the great promoter of the study of the ancient geometry in Lancashire; for during the latter half of the last century, and almost up to the present date, it has numbered amongst its members several of the most distinguished geometers of modern times. A cursory glance at some of the mathematical periodicals of that date will readily furnish the names of Ainsworth, whose elegant productions in pure geometry adorn the pages of the _Gentleman's_ and _Burrow's Diaries_; Taylor, the distinguished tutor of Wolfenden; Fletcher, whose investigations in the _Gentleman's Diary_ and the _Mathematical Companion_ entitle him to the highest praise; Wolfenden, acknowledged by all as one of the most profound mathematicians of the last century; Hilton, afterwards the talented editor of that "work of rare merit" the _Liverpool Student_; and last, though not least, the distinguished Butterworth, whose elegant and extensive correspondence occupies so conspicuous a place in the _Student_, the _Mathematical Repository_, the _Companion_, the _Enquirer_, the _Leeds Correspondent_, and the _York Courant_. Besides these, we find the names of Mabbot, Wood, Holt (Mancuniensis), Clarke (Salfordoniiensis), as then resident at Manchester and in constant communication with, if not actually members of the society; nor can it be doubted from the evidence of existing documents that the predilection for the study of the ancient geometry evinced by various members of this Lancashire School, exercised considerable influence upon the minds of such distinguished proficients as Cunliffe, Campbell, Lowry, Whitley, and Swale.

Hence it would seem that _many_, and by no means improbable, reasons may be assigned for "the very remarkable circumstance of the geometrical analysis of the ancients having been cultivated with eminent success in the northern counties of England, and particularly in Lancashire." Mr. Harvey, at the York meeting of the British Association in 1831, eloquently announced "that when Playfair, in one of his admirable papers in the _Edinburgh Review_, expressed a fear that the increasing taste for analytical science would at length drive the {58} ancient geometry from its favoured retreat in the British Isles; the Professor seemed not to be aware that there existed a devoted band of men in the north, resolutely bound to the pure and ancient forms of geometry, who in the midst of the tumult of steam engines, cultivated it with unyielding ardour, preserving the sacred fire under circumstances which would seem from their nature most calculated to extinguish it." Mr. Harvey, however, admitted his inability clearly to trace the "true cause of this remarkable phenomenon," but at the same time suggested that "a taste for pure geometry, something like that for entomology among the weavers of Spitalfields, may have been transmitted from father to son; but who was the distinguished individual _first_ to create it, in the peculiar race of men here adverted to, seems not to be known." However, as "the two great restorers of ancient geometry, Matthew Stewart and Robert Simson, it may be observed, lived in Scotland," he asks the important questions:--"Did their proximity encourage the growth of this spirit? Or were their writings cultivated by some teacher of a village school, who communicated by a method, which genius of a transcendental order knows so well how to employ, a taste for these sublime inquiries, so that at length they gradually worked their way to the anvil and the loom?"

An attentive consideration of these questions in all their bearings has produced in the mind of the writer a full conviction that we must look to other sources for the revival of the study of the ancient geometry than either the writings of Stewart or Simson. It has been well observed by the most eminent geometer of our own times, Professor Davies--whose signature of PEN-AND-INK (Vol. ii., p. 8.) affords but a flimsy disguise for his well-known _propria persona_--that "it was a great mistake for these authors to have written their principal works in the Latin language, as it has done more than anything else to prevent their study among the only geometers of the eighteenth century who were competent to understand and value them;" and it is no less singular than true, as the same writer elsewhere observes, "that whilst Dr. Stewart's writings were of a kind calculated to render them peculiarly attractive to the non-academic school of English geometers, they remain to this day less generally known than the writings of any geometer of these kingdoms." The same remarks, in a slightly qualified form, may be applied to most of the writings of Simson; for although his edition of Euclid is now the almost universally adopted text-book of geometry in England, at the time of its first appearance in 1756 it did not differ so much from existing translations as to attract

## particular attention by the novelty of its contents. Moreover, at this time

the impulse had already been given and was silently exerting its influence upon a class of students of whose existence Dr. Simson appears to have been completely ignorant. In one of his letters to Nourse (_Phil. Mag._, Sept. 1848, p. 204.) he regrets that "the taste for the ancient geometry, or indeed any geometry, seems to be quite worn out;" but had he instituted an examination of those contemporary periodicals either wholly or partially devoted to mathematics, he would have been furnished with ample reasons for entertaining a different opinion.

We have every reason to believe that the publication of Newton's _Principia_ had a powerful effect in diffusing a semi-geometrical taste amongst the academical class of students in this country, and it is equally certain that this diffusion became much more general, when Motte, in 1729, published his translation of that admirable work. The nature of the contents of the _Principia_, however, precluded the possibility of its being adapted to form the taste of novices in the study of geometry; it served rather to exhibit the _ne plus ultra_ of the science, and produced its effect by inducing the student to master the rudimentary treatises thoroughly, in order to qualify himself for understanding its demonstrations, rather than by providing a series of models for his imitation. A powerful inducement to the study of pure geometry was therefore created by the publication of Motte's translation: ordinary students had here a desirable object to obtain by its careful cultivation, which hitherto had not existed, and hence when Professor Simpson, of Woolwich, published his _Algebra_ and the _Elements of Geometry_ in 1745 and 1747, a select reading public had been formed which hailed these excellent works as valuable accessions to the then scanty means of study. Nor must the labours of Simpson's talented associates, Rollinson and Turner, be forgotten when sketching the progress of this revival. The pages of the _Ladies' Diary_, the _Mathematician_, and the _Mathematical Exercises_, of which these gentlemen were severally editors and contributors, soon began to exhibit a goodly array of geometrical exercises, whilst their lists of correspondents evince a gradual increase in numbers and ability. The publication of Stewart's _General Theorems_ and Simson's edition of _Euclid_, in 1746 and 1756, probably to some extent assisted the movement; but the most active elements at work were undoubtedly the mathematical periodicals of the time, aided by such powerful auxiliaries as Simpson's _Select Exercises_ (1752) and his other treatises previously mentioned. It may further be observed that up to this period the mere English reader had few, if any means of obtaining access to the elegant remains of the ancient geometers. Dr. Halley had indeed given his restoration of Apollonius's _De Sectione Rationis_ and _Sectione Spatii_ in 1706. Dr. Simson had also issued his edition of the _Locis Planis_ in 1749; but unfortunately the very language in which these valuable works were written, precluded the possibility of {59} these unlettered students being able to derive any material advantages from their publication: and hence arises another weighty reason why Simpson's writings were so eagerly studied, seeing they contained the leading propositions of some of the most interesting researches of the Alexandrian School.

After the death of Simpson, the Rev. John Lawson, who appears to have inherited no small portion of the spirit of his predecessors, began to take the lead in geometrical speculations; and having himself carefully studied the principal writings of the ancient geometers, now formed the happy project of unfolding these treasures of antiquity to the general reader, by presenting him with English translations of most of these valuable remains. With this view he published a translation of Vieta's restoration of _Apollonius on Tangencies_, in 1764, and to this, in the second edition of 1771, was added the _Treatise on Spherical Tangencies_, by Fermat, which has since been reprinted in the _Appendix to the Ladies' Diary_ for 1840. In 1767 appeared Emerson's _Treatise on Conic Sections_; a work which, notwithstanding its manifest defects, contributed not a little to aid the student in his approaches to the higher geometry, but whose publication would probably have been rendered unnecessary, had Dr. Simson so far loosened himself from the trammels of the age, as to have written his own admirable treatise in the English language. The frequency, however, with which Mr. Emerson's treatise has been quoted, almost up to the present date, would appear to justify the propriety of including _it_ amongst the means by which the study of geometry was promoted during the last generation. The success which attended Mr. Lawson's first experiment induced him to proceed in his career of usefulness by the publication, in 1772, of the _Treatise on Determinate Section_; to which was appended an amended restoration of the same work by Mr. William Wales, the well-known geometer, who attended Captain Cook as astronomer, in one of his earlier voyages. In 1773 appeared the _Synopsis of Data for the Construction of Triangles_, which was followed in 1774 by his valuable _Dissertations on the Geometrical Analysis of the Ancients_; and although the author used an unjustifiable freedom with the writings of others, Dr. Stewart's more especially, it is nevertheless a work which probably did more to advance the study of the ancient geometry than any other separate treatise which could be named. As these publications became distributed amongst mathematicians, the _Magazines_, the _Diaries_, and various other periodicals, began to show the results of the activity which had thus been created; geometrical questions became much more abundant, and a numerous list of contributions appeared which afford ample proof that their able authors had entered deeply into the spirit of the ancient geometry. During the year 1777 Mr. Lawson issued the first portion of Dr. Simson's restoration of _Euclid's Porisms_, translated from the _Opera Reliqua_ of that distinguished geometer; and though the work was not continued, sufficient had already been done to furnish the generality of students with a clue to the real nature of this celebrated enigma of antiquity. The last of these worthy benefactors to the non-academic geometers of the last century was Mr. Reuben Burrow, who by publishing in 1779 his _Restitution of Apollonius Pergæus on Inclinations_ gave publicity to a valuable relic which would otherwise have remained buried in the Latin obscurity of Dr. Horsley's more elaborate production.

During the greater portion of the time just reviewed, Mr. Jeremiah Ainsworth was resident in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and so early as 1761 was in correspondence with the editors of the _Mathematical Magazine_. He subsequently associated with Mr. George Taylor, a gentleman of kindred habits, then resident in the immediate vicinity, and these worthy veterans of science, as time wore on, collected around them a goodly array of pupils and admirers, and hence may truly be said not only to have laid the foundation of the "Oldham Society," but also to have been the fathers of the Lancashire school of geometers. Such then was the state of affairs in the mathematical world at the period of which we are speaking; all the works just enumerated were attracting the attention of all classes of students by their novelty or elegance; Dr. Hutton and the Rev. Charles Wildbore had the management of the _Diaries_, each vieing with the other in offering inducements for geometrical research; whilst both, in this respect, for a time, had to contend against the successful competition of Reuben Burrow, the talented editor of Carnan's _Diary_: correspondents consequently became numerous and widely extended, each collecting around him his own select circle of ardent inquirers; and thus it was, to use the words of Mr. Harvey, and answer the questions proposed, that inquiries which had hitherto been "locked up in the deep, and to them unapproachable recesses of Plato, Pappus, Apollonius and Euclid * * porisms and loci, sections of ratio and of space, inclinations and tangencies,--subjects confined among the ancients to the very greatest minds, (became) familiar to men whose condition in life was, to say the least, most unpropitious for the successful prosecution of such elevated and profound pursuits."

The preceding sketch is respectfully submitted as an attempt to answer the queries of PEN-AND-INK, so far as Lancashire is concerned. It is not improbable that other reasons, equally cogent, or perhaps corrective of several of the preceding, may be advanced by some of your more learned correspondents, whose experience and means of reference are superior to my own. Should any such {60} be induced to offer additions or corrections to what is here attempted, and to extend the inquiry into other localities, your pages will afford a most desirable medium through which to compare _notes_ on a very imperfectly understood but most important subject of inquiry.

T. T. WILKINSON.

Burnley, Lancashire, June 5. 1850.

* * * * *

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 8.

Passing over various queries of early date, on which it has been my intention to offer some suggestions, I have _endeuoyred me_, as Master Caxton expresses it, to illustrate three subjects recently mooted.

_Trianon_ (No. 27.).--The origin of this name is thus stated by M. Dolort, in his excellent work entitled _Mes voyages aux environs de Paris_, ii. 88.

"_Le grand Trianon._--Appelé au 13^e siècle _Triarmun_, nom d'une ancienne paroisse, qui était divisée en trois villages dépendant du diocèse de Chartres. Cette terre, qui appartenait aux moines de Sainte-Geneviève, fut achetée par Louis XIV. pour agrandir le parc de Versailles, et plus tard il y fit coustruire le château."

_Wood paper_ (No. 32.).--At the close of the last century a patent was granted to Matthias Koops for the manufacture of paper from _straw_, _wood_, &c. In September 1800, he dedicated to the king a _Historical account of the substances which have been used to describe events_, in small folio. The volume is chiefly printed on paper _made from straw_; the appendix is on _paper made from wood alone_. Both descriptions of paper have borne the test of time extremely well. Murray, in his _Practical remarks on modern paper_, speaks of Koops and his inventions with much ignorance and unfairness.

_Tobacco in the East_ (No. 33.).--Relying on the testimony of Juan Fragoso, physician to Felipe II. of Spain, I venture to assert that tobacco is not indigenous to the East. To the same effect writes Monardes. Nevertheless, it was cultivated in Java as early as the year 1603. Edmund Scott, factor for the East India Company at Bantam, thus describes the luxuries of the Javans:--

"They are very great eaters--and they haue a certaine hearbe called _bettaile_ which they vsually have carryed with them wheresoeuer they goe, in boxes, or wrapped vp in cloath like a suger loafe: and also a nutt called _pinange_, which are both in operation very hott, and they eate them continually to warme them within, and keepe them from the fluxe. They doe likewise take much _tabacco_, and also _opium_."--_An exact discovrse_ etc. _of the East Indians_, London, 1606. 4^o. Sig. N. 2.

BOLTON CORNEY.

* * * * *

MEANING OF "BAWN."

_Bawn_ (Vol. i, p. 440.) has been explained as "the outer fortification, inclosing the court-yard of an Irish castle or mansion, and was generally composed of a wall with palisadoes, and sometimes flankers."

The word _bawn_ or _bane_ (the _a_ pronounced as in the English word _hat_) is still applied in the south of Ireland to the spot of ground used as a place for milking the cows of a farm, which, for obvious reasons, is generally close to the farm-house. Before the practice of housing cattle became general, every country gentleman's house had its _bawn_ or _bane_. The necessity for having such a place well fenced, and indeed fortified, in a country and period when cattle formed the chief wealth of all parties, and when the country was infested by Creaghadores and Rapparees, is obvious; and hence the care taken in compelling the "undertakers in Ulster" to have at least "a good bawn after the Irish fashion." In Munster the word _bane_ or _bawn_ is used to express land that has been long in grass; _tholluff bawn_ being used to signify grass land about to be brought into cultivation; and _tholluff breagh_, or _red land_, land which has been recently turned. To _redden land_ is still used to express either to plough land, or, more generally, to turn land with the spade.

Now the _milking field_ was, and is always kept in grass, and necessarily receiving a good deal of manure, would usually be _white_ from the growth of daisies and white clover. Hence such a field would be called the _white_ field: and from this to the general application of the phrase to grass land the transition is easy and natural. It may be proper to add, that in Kerry,

## particularly, the word is pronounced _bawn_, in speaking _Irish_; but the

same person will call it _bane_, if mentioning such land in English. The _a_ in the latter word is, as I said before, pronounced like the _a_ in hat.

The Irish for a _cow_ being _bo_, the phrase may have had its origin therefrom. On this matter, as on all relating to Irish antiquities, the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" may be glad to have a sure person to refer to; and they cannot refer to a more accomplished Irish scholar and antiquarian than "Eugene Curry". His address is, "Royal Irish Academy, Grafton Street, Dublin."

KERRIENSIS.

* * * * *

Replies To Minor Queries.

_Births, Marriages, &c., Taxes on_ (Vol. ii., p. 10.).--The first instance, that I am aware of, of a tax on marriages in this country, occurs in the 5 of Wm. and Mary, c. 21. The war in which William engaged soon rendered it necessary to tax other incidents of humanity; and accordingly the 6 & 7 Wm. III. c. 6. was passed, granting to his Majesty certain {61} rates and duties upon marriages, births, deaths, and burials, and upon bachelors and widowers (a widely-spread net), for the term of five years, "for carrying on the war against France with vigour." The taxes on births, marriages, and burials were continued indefinitely by the 7 & 8 Wm. III. c. 35. I know not when this act was repealed; but by the 23 George III. c. 67., taxes were again imposed on burials, births, marriages, and christenings; and by 25 George III. c. 75. these taxes were extended to Dissenters. By the 34 George III. c. 11., the taxes were repealed, and they ceased on October 1st, 1794. The entries in the parish register noticed by ARUN, refer to these taxes. Query, Were our ancestors justified in boasting that they were "free-born" Englishmen as long as one of these taxes existed?

C. ROSS.

_M._ or _N._ (Vol. i., p. 415.).--These must, I think, be the initials of some words, and not originating in a corruption of nom, as suggested. We have in the marriage service:--

"'I publish the banns of marriage between M. of ---- and N. of ----.' "The curate shall say unto the man, "M. 'Wilt thou have this woman,' &c. "The priest shall say unto the woman, "N. 'Wilt thou have this man,' &c. "The man says: 'I, M. take thee N. to my wedded wife,' &c. "The woman says: 'I, N. take thee M. to my wedded husband,'" &c. Again, "Forasmuch as M. and N. have consented together," &c.

All these passages would go to show that the letters are initials either of some word by which the sex was denoted, or of some very common Christian names of each sex, which were formerly in use.

I grant that, in the baptismal service, N. may possibly stand for nomen.

THOS. COX.

Preston.

_Arabic Numerals._--I am not entitled to question either the learning or the "acumen" of the Bishop of Rochester; but I am entitled to question the _interpretation_ which E. S. T. tells us (Vol. ii., p.27.) he puts upon the Castleacre inscription. My title to do so is this:--that in the year of grace 1084 the Arabic numerals were not only of necessity unknown to the "plaisterers" of those walls, but even (as far as evidence has been yet adduced) to the most learned of England's learned men.

As to the regular order in crossing himself, that will entirely depend upon whether the plaister was considered to be a knight's shield, and the figures the blazonry, or not. Is it not, indeed, stated in one of your former numbers, that this very inscription was to be read 1408, and not 1048? I have already hinted at the necessity of _caution_ in such cases; and Mr. Wilkinson of Burnley has given, in a recent number of your work, two exemplifications. The Bishop of Rochester certainly adds another; though, of course, undesignedly.

T. S. D.

Shooter's Hill, June 7.

_Comment. in Apocalypsin_ (Vol. i., p. 452.).--There was a copy of this volume in the library of the Duke of Brunswick; and in the hope that Sir F. Madden may succeed in obtaining extracts, or a sight of it, I intimate just as much, though not in this kingdom. (See Von der Hardt's _Autographa Lutheri et Coætaneorum_, tom. iii. 171.) You do not seem to have any copy whatever brought to your notice. This collection was, it appears from the _Centifolium Lutheranum_ of Fabricius (p. 484.), bequeathed by the Duke to the library at Helmstad.

NOVUS.

_Robert Deverell_ (Vol. i., p. 469.).--If my information is too scanty to deserve a place among the Replies, you may treat it as a supplement to Dr. Rimbault's Query. Mr. Deverell also published (according to Lowndes) _A New View of the Classics and Ancient Arts, tending to show the invariable Connexion with the Sciences_, 4to. Lond. 1806; and _Discoveries in Hieroglyphics and other Antiquities_, 6 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1813,--which was suppressed by the author after a few copies had been sold. I have the second and third volumes, being all that relates to Shakspeare. They consist of an edition of Hamlet, Lear, Othello, Merchant of Venice, and the third satire of Horace, copiously illustrated with notes and woodcuts, intended to prove that in the works in question, in common with "all the classics and the different specimens of the arts which have come down to us from the ancients, no part of them is to be understood without supposing that they were mere vehicles of knowledge, not intended to meet the eye or the understanding on the first inspection or perusal;" in short, that all the phrases, characters, and incidents are merely allusions to the appearances of the moon! a representation of which, and of Shakspearian characters, &c., bearing supposed resemblance to its lights and shadows, form the staple of the illustrations. I collect from passages in these volumes, that the first was devoted to a similar illustration of Hudibras. The whole affair seems to afford indications of insanity. In the _Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors_, 8vo., Lond. 1816, I find that in 1802 he was returned to Parliament by the borough of Saltash, in Cornwall: and from the same authority it also appears that, in addition to the works above noticed, he was the author of _A Guide to the Knowledge of the Ancients_, 1803, and _A letter to Mr. Whitbread on two Bills pending in Parliament_, 8vo. 1807.

J. F. M.

{62} _The Hippopotamus._--_The Scotch Kilt._--I was on the point of addressing a Minor Query to you, when No. 33. arrived, and therein I saw a Major Query from L. (p.36.), which prompts an immediate answer. He asks, "Has there been a live hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus?" To be sure there has, and Capitolinus would have set him right. A goodly assemblage of animals of all sorts was collected by Gordianus Pius, but used by the elder Philip, for the celebration of the secular games on the 1000th anniversary of the building of Rome, or A.D. 248. Among them were 32 elephants, 10 tigers, 10 elks, 60 lions, 30 leopards, 10 hyænas, 1 hippopotamus, 1 rhinoceros, 40 wild horses, 20 wild asses, and 10 giraffes, with a vast quantity of deer, goats, antelopes, and other beasts. "And," it is added in Captain Smyth's Roman Catalogue, "still further to increase the public _hilarity_, 2000 gladiators were matched in mortal affray."

The portrait of the hippopotamus exhibited on that splendid occasion is well represented upon the large brass medals of Otacilia Severa, Philip's wife, and on those of their son, Philip Junior. That of Otacilia is described at length in Captain Smyth's work.

Now for my Minor Query. Can you, Sir, or any of your intelligent correspondents, oblige me by saying who introduced the kilt into Scotland and when? However it may wound local prejudice, I fear our northern brethren will find its use to be much more recent than they seem willing to be aware of. At present I will not put a rider on the question, by asking, whether an Englishman first gave it them: but perhaps you, Sir, will sift it thoroughly, even although a whole corps of rabid MacNicolls should enter the field against you.

[Sigma]

_Ashes to Ashes_ (Vol. ii., p. 22.).--The word is taken from Genesis, xviii. 27.:

"I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes."

It is plain that this has nothing to do with the treatment of the corpse; but that whatever the exact meaning of the word in Hebrew may be, it is synonymous with dust. As to dust, this is perfectly plain in Genesis, iii. 19.:

"Till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Here burial seems to be distinctly meant.

The Latin word _cinis_, which denotes ashes produced by burning, is derived from the Greek, which denotes natural dust, I forget whether burnt ashes also.

C. B.

_Dr. Maginn's Miscellanies_ (Vol. i., p. 470.).--Mr. Tucker Hunt (brother of Mr. F. Knight Hunt, author of _The Fourth Estate, a History of Newspapers, &c. &c._) showed me some years since a collections of these papers from various sources, which he proposed to publish, and which I was very glad to learn, as I had always regretted that Dr. Maginn had left no memorial of his splendid talents in a seperate publication, but frittered away his genius in periodicals. As "J. M. B." appears very anxious to obtain an authentic reference to any article contributed by the Dr., I think if he could communicate with Mr. Tucker Hunt, it might be of great assistance. I have not the latter's address, but probably a note to the care of his brother's publisher, "D. Bogue, Fleet Street", might lead to a communication.

W. H. LAMMIN.

Fulham, June 5. 1850

_Living Dog better than a dead Lion_.--For an answer to my Query at Vol. i., pp. 352. 371., where I asked for the authority upon which Baunez gave _Homer_ credit for the expression (which is evidently none of his), "quod leoni mortuo etiam lepores insultant," a friend has referred me to _Antholog. Græc._. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1794, tom. iv. p. 112.; out of which you may, perhaps, think it not too late to insert the following Epigr. xi.

[Greek: "Hôs apo Hektoros titrôskomenou hupo Hellênôn,] [Greek: Ballete nun meta potmon emon demas. hotti kai autai] [Greek: Nekrou sôma leontos ephubrizousi lagôoi."]

J. SANSOM.

_Gaol Chaplains_ (Vol. ii., p. 22.) were made universal by act of parliament in the fourth year of George IV. Before that they may have existed in some places. In Gloucestershire from 1786.

C. B.

_Rome Ancient and Modern_ (Vol. ii., p. 21.)--Such a map as your correspondent A. B. M. describes, was at Rome in 1827. It was by Vasi. I got it, but never saw it in England.

C. B.

_Trianon_ (Vol. ii., p. 47.).--In justice to myself, and in reply to your correspondent C., who believes I have "not the slightest authority" for my explanation of the word _Trianon_, I beg to refer him to the French dictionaries, in some of which, at all events, he will find it thus written: _Trianon_, subst. masc., _a pavilion_.

J. K. R. W.

* * * * *

Miscellanies

_Aboriginal Chambers near Tilbury_ (Vol. i., p. 462.).--Mr. Cook, of Abeley, Essex, having seen this Query, which had been kindly quoted into _The Athenæum_ of the 25th ultimo, communicated to that journal on Saturday, June 1st, the following information respecting two of these caves, the result of a personal examination of them:--

"The shafts are five in number; and are situated at {63} the edge of Hanging Wood, in the parish of Chadwell, about three miles from Grays Pier. I descended two of them in 1847, by means of a rope and pulley fixed to the branch of a neighbouring tree,--taking the precaution to have a lighted lanthorn swinging a few yards beneath me. They were between eighty and ninety feet in depth,--their diameter at the top six feet, gradually diminishing to three feet at the bottom. There was a great deal of drift sand at the bottom of the shaft, extending a considerable way up, which nearly blocked up the entrance to the chambers. By treading down the sand I soon gained an entrance, and found five chambers communicating with the shaft--three on one side and two on the other. In form they were nearly semicircular. Their dimensions were small, not exceeding thirty feet in length by fifteen in width, but very lofty; they were quite dry and free from foul air. The chambers in both shafts corresponded exactly with each other in size, form, and number. I trust this brief account may be of some service to those gentlemen who intend to explore them, and should be most happy to afford any assistance in my power."

_Mistake in Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul._--In the splendid and learned _Life of St. Paul_, now publishing by Messrs. Longmans, there occurs in a note a broad assertion, but quite erroneous, which may mislead those who would be inclined to take it without examination, induced by the general accuracy and learning of the work. At page 35, note 1., the writer says, "It is remarkable that the Sadducees are mentioned in no other books of the New Testament, except St. Matthew and the Acts." I mentioned this as a _fact_ to a friend, who immediately remembered a passage in St. Luke, chap. xx. v. 27.: "Then came to him certain of the Sadducees," &c. I then turned out Sadducees in Cruden, and there found only Matthew and Acts referred to. On looking at the passage of St. Mark parallel to the abovementioned of St. Luke, I read, "Then came unto him the Sadducees," &c. (xii. 18.) The note, therefore, should end, "except the first three Gospels and the Acts."

E. S. JACKSON.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC.

The Rev. W. Haslam, the author of _Perran Zabuloe_, has just issued a little volume entitled _The Cross and the Serpent, being a brief History of the Triumph of the Cross through a long Series of Ages in Prophecy, Types, and Fulfilments_. Though the present work belongs to one of the two classes which, for obvious reasons, we do not undertake to notice in our columns, there is so much of curious matter illustrative of Folk Lore, early remains, and old-world customs, in the third part of it, as to justify our directing the attention of our antiquarian readers to the archæology of the volume. The Druidic Beltein or Midsummer Fire still burns brightly, it appears, in Cornwall. We shall endeavour to transfer to our Folk Lore columns some passages on this and other cognate subjects.

Mr. Russell Smith announces a series of _Critical and Historical Tracts_ on the subject of, I. _Agincourt_; II. _First Colonists of New England_ (this is already issued); and III. Milton, a _Sheaf of Gleanings after his Biographers and Annotators_. The name of Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., which figures upon their title-pages, is a sufficient warrant that they will deserve the attention of the historical student.

Mr. M. A. Denham, the author of the interesting _Collection of Proverbs and Popular Sayings relating to the Seasons, Weather, &c._, published by the Percy Society, also intends to issue some Tracts (limited to fifty copies of each) illustrative of the antiquities of the northern parts of the kingdom. The first is to be on _The Slogans or Slughorns of the North of England_; the second, on _"Some of the Manners and Customs"_ of the North.

We have received the following Catalogues:--Joseph Lilly's (7. Pall Mall) Catalogue of a Choice and Valuable Collection of Rare, Curious, and Useful Books; William Andrews' (7. Corn Street, Bristol) Catalogue,