Part 1
# Notes and Queries, Number 178, March 26, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. ### By Various
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NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
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No. 178.] SATURDAY, MARCH 26. 1853 [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.
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CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
Napoleon a Poet, by Henry H. Breen 301
Smith's "Dictionary of Antiquities" and "Dictionary of Biography and Mythology," by P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A. 302
St. Columba's Cross 302
MINOR NOTES:--The "Ball at Brussels," June, 1815: Historical Parallel of April, 1605--Drawing an Inference--Edmund Spenser--The Mint, Southwark 303
QUERIES:--
The Spectre Horsemen of Southerfell 304
MINOR QUERIES:--Passage in Bacon--Lamech killing Cain--Lord Chief Justice Popham--"Her face was like the milky way," &c.--Nelson Rings--Books wanted--Mr. Cromlin--Dr. Fletcher and Lady Baker--Jeremy Taylor and Christopher Lord Hatton--"Pylades and Corinna"-- The Left Hand: its Etymology--The Parthenon 305
REPLIES:--
Mediæval or Middle Ages 306
Consecrators of English Bishops 306
"Grindle" 307
Mummies of Ecclesiastics, by William Bates 308
Vicars-Apostolic in England 308
Banbury Zeal, &c. 310
Dr. South _versus_ Goldsmith, Talleyrand, &c., by Henry H. Breen 311
Irish Rhymes, by Henry H. Breen and Cuthbert Bede, B.A. 312
Count Gondomar 313
Door-head Inscriptions 314
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Photographic Gun-Cotton--Sealing-wax for Baths--Developing Chamber--The Black Tints on Photographic Positives 314
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Contested Elections--Suicide at Marseilles--Acts xv. 23.--Serpent's Tongue--Croxton or Crostin--Robert Dodsley--Lord Goring--Chaplains to Noblemen--The Duke of Wellington Maréchal de France--Lord North--Mediæval Parchment--"I hear a lion," &c.--Fercett--Old Satchells--Curtseys and Bows--The Rev. Joshua Marsden--Sidney as a Christian Name--The Whetstone--Surname of Allen--Belatucadrus-- Pot-guns--Graves Family--Portrait Painters--Plum Pudding--Muffs worn by Gentlemen--The Burial Service by Heart--Burrow--"Coming home to men's business"-- Heuristic--"Cob" and "Conners"--Lady High Sheriff-- Death of Nelson--Editions of the Prayer-Book prior to 1662--Passage in Juvenal--Tennyson--Capital Punishment 316
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 322
Notices to Correspondents 322
Advertisements 322
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Notes.
NAPOLEON A POET.
In a work entitled _Littérature Française Contemporaine_, vol. ii. p. 268., there is a notice of the Bonaparte family, in their connexion with literature, in which it is stated that Napoleon, at the age of thirteen, wrote the following fable:--
"_Le Chien, le Lapin, et le Chasseur._ César, chien d'arrêt renommé, Mais trop enflé de son mérite, Tenait arrêté dans son gîte Un malheureux lapin de peur inanimé. --Rends-toi, lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonnerre, Qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois: Je suis César, connu par ses exploits, Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre. A ce grand nom, Jeannot lapin, Recommandant à Dieu son âme pénitente, Demande, d'une voix tremblante: --Très sérénissime mâtin, Si je me rends, quel sera mon destin? --Tu mourras.--Je mourrai! dit la bête innocente. Et si je fuis?--Ton trépas est certain. --Quoi? dit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym; Des deux côtés je dois perdre la vie! Que votre auguste seigneurie Veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il faut mourir, Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir. Il dit, et fuit en héros de garenne. Caton l'aurait blâmé: je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort: Car le chasseur le voit à peine, Qu'il l'ajuste, le tire--et le chien tombe mort. Que dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine? Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera: J'approuve fort cette méthode-là."
The writer of the notice (M. Quérard) says this "fable" was composed by Napoleon in 1782; and he thus explains the circumstances under which he obtained a knowledge of it:
"Cette fable a été imprimée dans un ouvrage dont nous ne pouvons donner le titre, parce que nous n'avons que le seul feuillet qui la contient. Nous ne savons aux soin de quel éditeur on doit de nous l'avoir fait connaître. Nous lisons au recto du feuillet en question, que, 'sans lui (l'éditeur), cette fable serait encore {302} perdue peut-être parmi les accidens ignorés de cette contrée rocailleuse (de la Corse).' Cet apologue n'étant que peu ou point connu, nous croyons faire plaisir en le reproduisant."
My own conviction is, that the greatest "fable" of all is the ascription to Napoleon, at the age of thirteen, of a poem which would do no discredit to an older and more practised hand. In his maturer years he wrote the _Mémoire sur la Culture du Mûrier_, the _Lettre à M. Matteo Buttafuoco_, the _Souper de Beaucaire_, and the _Discours_ upon a subject proposed by Abbé Regnal to the Academy of Lyons; and these productions are confessedly "au-dessous du médiocre." With what show of reason, then, can we accept him as the author of a poetical effusion which, considering the age at which it is alleged to have been written, would throw into the shade the vaunted precocity of such professed poets as Cowley, Pope, Chatterton, and Louis Racine?
But whatever may be the origin of this fable, the assigning of it to Napoleon is in itself a singular circumstance. The dog César, who holds the rabbit a prisoner in his "gîte," and who summons him to surrender; and the unfortunate rabbit who prefers making his escape, "en héros de garenne," are so obviously applicable to the personal history of Napoleon, that it is impossible to conceive how the French (except on the score of their infatuation in everything that relates to that great man) could represent him as the author of such a satire upon himself.
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia.
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SMITH'S "DICTIONARY OF ANTIQUITIES" AND "DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY."
As one of the objects of your publication professes to be (Vol. i., p. 18.) the correction of errors in _standard works_, I beg leave to forward you a few instances of _errata_ in the references, &c. occurring in _The Dictionary of Antiquities_ (2nd edit.) and _Dictionary of Biography and Mythology_ of Dr. Smith.
_Dictionary of Antiquities._
Page 2. a, ABOLLA (bis), _for_ "Juv. iv. 75.," _read_ "Juv. iii. 75."
Page 163. b, ASTRONOMIA, _for_ "Ov. Trist. i. 1. 13.," _read_ "i. 11. 13."
Page 163. b, ASTRONOMIA, _for_ "4th Nov.," _read_ "6th Octob."
Page 230. b, CALENDARIUM, _for_ "Liv. xi. 46.," _read_ "ix. 46."
Page 526. a, FENUS, _for_ "25 per cent.," _read_ "22½."
Page 663. b, JUSTITIUM, _for_ "Har. Resp. 36.," _read_ "26."
Page 666. a, LAMPADEPHORIA, _for_ "Herod. viii. 9.," _read_ "viii. 98."
Page 642. b, INTERDICTUM, _for_ "give full satisfaction," _read_ "get," &c.
Page 795. b, NEOCORI, _for_ "Plat. vi. 759.," _read_ "Plat. Legg. vi. 759."
Page 827. b, OLLA, _for_ "[Greek: puristatês]," _read_ "[Greek: puristatês]."
Page 887. b, PERIOECI, _for_ "Thucyd. viii. 61.," _read_ "viii. 6."
Page 1087. a, SYNOIKIA, _for_ "Thucyd. iii. 15.," _read_ "ii. 15."
Index.
Page 1256., _for_ "[Greek: phroos]," _read_ "[Greek: phoros]."
Page 1256., _for_ "[Greek: phrmoos]," _read_ "[Greek: phormos]."
Page 1259., AUGURALE, _for_ "233., a." _read_ "253. a."
Page 1279., TRANSVECTIO, _for_ "437. a," _read_ "473. a."
_Dictionary of Biography and Mythology._
Vol. I.
Page 452. a, BACIS, _for_ "Pax 1009.," _read_ "1071."
Page 452. a, BACIS, _for_ "Av. 907.," _read_ "962."
Page 689. a, CHARMIDES, _for_ "Acad. Quæst. iv. 6.," _read_ "ii. 6."
Vol. II.
Page 221. b, GALLIO, _for_ "Acts viii. 12.," _read_ "xviii. 12."
Page 519. a, HORATIUS, _for_ "Sat. i. 71. 5.," _read_ "i. 6. 71."
Page 519. b, HORATIUS, _for_ "Epist. xi. 1. 71.," _read_ "ii. 1. 71."
Page 528. b, HORTALUS, _for_ "Aug. 41.," _read_ "Tib. 47."
Page 788. b, LITYERSES, _for_ "Athen. 615.," _read_ "415."
Page 931. a, MARCELLUS, _for_ "297. b.," _read_ "927. b."
Page 1124. a, MUS, _for_ "ii. 19.," _read_ "De Fin. ii. 19."
Page 1206. a, NOBILIOR, _for_ "de Orat. iii. 63.," _read_ "ii. 63."
Vol. III.
Page 175. b, PELAGIUS, _for_ "218.," _read_ "418."
Page 514. a, POTITIA GENS, _for_ "Liv. ix. 39.," _read_ "29."
N.B.--a, b, refer respectively to the first and second columns in the pages.
P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.
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ST. COLUMBA'S CROSS.
In 1584 Sir John Perrot, lord-deputy of Ireland, writes to Sir Francis Walsingham, the secretary of state:
"For a token I have sent you holie Columkill's crosse, a god of great veneration with Surleboy {303} (McDonnell) and all Ulster; for so great was his grace, as happy he thought himself that could gett a kisse of the said crosse. I send him unto you, that when you have made some sacrifice to him, according to the disposition you beare to idolatrie, you maie if you please bestowe him upon my good Lady Walsingham, or my Lady Sidney, to weare as a jewell of weight and bignesse, and not of price and goodness, upon some solempne feaste or triumphe daie at the Courte."
Walsingham's daughter was married to the celebrated Sir Philip Sidney; and afterwards to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; and, thirdly, to Richard De Burgh, Earl of Clanricard, when she embraced the Roman Catholic religion, that of her last husband, and may perhaps have regarded St. Columba's cross with more veneration than did the rugged old Perrot.
It may be possible to trace out this ancient relique to its present repository, if it be still in existence.
H.
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Minor Notes.
_The "Ball at Brussels," June, 1815._--_Historical Parallel of April, 1605._--
"The archduke received the English ambassador (Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford) with all honour and state; but whilest _they were feasting and merry at Brusselles_, Prince Maurice had an enterprize upon Antwerp, so that Spinola, Velasco, Van de Bergh, Busquoy, with many commanders, were forced to packe away speedily for the defence of the country."--Grimeston's _History of the Netherlands_, 1608, p. 1346.
W. M. R. E.
_Drawing an Inference._--The following is an amusing instance of false inference, drawn through ignorance of the original. William Rae Wilson is the innocent offender, in his _Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land_ (London, Longmans, 1824, 2nd edition). The author remarks (p. 105.):
"This I am inclined to believe was not the track which was taken by the Apostle Paul, when he went up to Jerusalem from the coast, as he appears to have travelled in some _conveyance moved on wheels_; for it is so far from being in any degree possible to draw one along, that, on the contrary, a great exertion is necessary for travellers to get forward their mules."
On referring to his authority for such an unapostolic mode of locomotion, we find (Acts xxi. 15.) these words:
"And after those days we took up our _carriages_, and went up to Jerusalem."
"[Greek: Meta de tas hêmeras tautas aposkeuasamenoi anebainomen eis Hierousalêm.]"
The word "carriages" conveyed to the mind of our traveller the idea of a "conveyance moved on wheels;" whereas our translators intended the term to signify _anything carried_. Professor Scholefield, in his _Hints for an improved Translation of the New Testament_, renders the passage, "We put up our baggage." In fact, _carriage_, _luggage_, and _baggage_ may be termed synonymes; for carriage = that which _is_ carried; luggage = that which _is_ lugged; and baggage = that which _is_ bagged. The word "carriage" is used in this sense, Judges xviii. 21., and again 1 Sam. xvii. 22.
R. PRICE.
_Edmund Spenser._--The subjoined paragraph from _The Times_ newspaper, the readers of "N. & Q." may perhaps wish to find in a less voluminous journal, but by biographers of Spenser more likely to be consulted.
"_Edmund Spenser._--The literary world will be glad to learn that the locality of the illustrious author of _The Faëry Queen_ has been ascertained. Mr. F. F. Spenser, of Halifax, in making some researches into the ancient residence of his own family, has been fortunate in identifying it with that of the great Elizabethan bard, and, we are informed, is about to lay the particulars before the public. The little rural village of Hurstwood, near Burnley, in Lancashire, is the honoured locality; and in the romantic Alpine scenery of that neighbourhood it is probable Spenser took refuge when he was driven by academical disappointments 'to his relations in the north of England.' The family of that great poet appear to have resided at Hurstwood about four hundred years, that is, from the early part of the reign of Edward II. to the year 1690."--_The Times_, Wednesday, June 16, 1841.
W. P.
_The Mint, Southwark._--In the year 1723, an act was passed to relieve all those debtors under 50l., who had taken sanctuary there from their creditors. The following curious account of the exodus of these unfortunates, is given in the _Weekly Journal_ of Saturday, July 20, 1723:
"On Tuesday last some thousands of the Minters went out of the Land of Bondage, _alias_ The Mint, to be cleared at the Quarter Sessions at Guildford, according to the late Act of Parliament. The road was covered with them, insomuch that they looked like one of the Jewish tribes going out of Egypt: the cavalcade consisting of caravans, carts, and waggons, besides numbers on horses, asses, and on foot. The drawer of the two fighting-cocks was seen to lead an ass loaded with geneva, to support the spirits of the ladies upon the journey. 'Tis said, that several heathen Bailiffs lay in ambuscade in ditches upon the road, to surprise some of them, if possible, on their march, if they should straggle from the main body; but they proceeded with so much order and discipline, that they did not lose a man upon this expedition."
E. G. B.
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Queries.
THE SPECTRE HORSEMEN OF SOUTHERFELL.
On this mountain, which I believe is in the barony of Greystoke, Cumberland, a remarkable phenomenon is said to have been witnessed more than a century ago, circumstances of which appear to have been these:--In 1743 one Daniel Stricket, then servant to John Wren, of Wilton Hill, a shepherd, was sitting one evening after supper (the month is not mentioned) at the door with his master, when they saw a man with a dog pursuing some horses on Southerfell-side, a place so steep that a horse can scarcely travel on it at all; and they seemed to run at an amazing pace, and to disappear at the low end of the fell. Master and man resolved to go next morning to the steep side of the mountain, on which they expected to find that the horses had lost their shoes from the rate at which they galloped, and the man his life. They went, but to their surprise they found no vestige of horses having passed that way. They said nothing about their vision for some time, fearing the ridicule of their neighbours, and this they did not fail to receive when they at length ventured to relate their story. On the 23rd June (the eve of St. John's Day) in the following year (1744), Stricket, who was then servant to a Mr. Lancaster of Blakehills, the next house to Wilton Hill, was walking a little above the house in the evening, about half-past seven, when on looking towards Southerfell he saw a troop of men on horseback, riding on the mountain side in pretty close ranks, and at the speed of a brisk walk. He looked earnestly at this appearance for some time before he ventured to acquaint any one with what he saw, remembering the ridicule he had brought on himself by relating his former vision. At length satisfied of its reality, he went into the house and told his master he had something curious to show him. The master said he supposed Stricket wanted him to look at a bonfire (it being the custom for the shepherds on the eve of St. John to vie with each other for the largest bonfire); however, they went out together, and before Stricket spoke of or pointed to the phenomenon, Mr. Lancaster himself observed it, and when they found they both saw alike, they summoned the rest of the family, who all came, and all saw the visionary horsemen. There were many troops, and they seemed to come from the lower part of the fell, becoming first visible at a place called Knott; they then moved in regular order in a curvilinear path along the side of the fell, until they came opposite to Blakehills, when they went over the mountain and disappeared. The last, or last but one, in every troop, galloped to the front, and then took the swift walking pace of the rest. The spectators saw all alike these changes in relative position, and at the same time, as they found on questioning each other when any change took place. The phenomenon was also seen by every person at every cottage within a mile; and from the time that Stricket first observed it, the appearance lasted two hours and a half, viz. from half-past seven until night prevented any further view. Blakehills lay only half a mile from the place of this extraordinary appearance. Such are the circumstances as related in Clarke's _Survey of the Lakes_ (fol. 1789), and he professes to give this account in the words of Mr. Lancaster, by whom it was related to him, and on whose testimony he fully relied; and he subjoins a declaration of its truth signed by the eye-witnesses, William Lancaster and Daniel Stricket (who then lived under Skiddaw, and followed the business of an auctioneer), dated 21st July, 1785. Mr. Clarke remarks that the country abounds in fables of apparitions, but that they are never said to have been seen by more than one or two persons at a time, and then only for moment; and remembering that Speed mentions some similar appearance to have preceded a civil war, he hazards the supposition that the vision might prefigure the tumults of the rebellion of the following year.
My Query is, Whether any subsequent appearance of the same kind is recorded to have been observed on this haunted mountain, and whether any attempt to account for it on principles of optical science, as applied to a supposed state of the atmosphere, has ever been published?
One is reminded of the apparition said to have been witnessed above Vallambrosa early in the fourteenth century. Rogers, after mentioning in the canto on "Florence and Pisa," in his _Italy_, that Petrarch, when an infant of seven months old (A.D. 1305), narrowly escaped drowning in a flood of the Arno, on the way from Florence to Ancisa, whither his mother was retiring with him, says:
"A most extraordinary deluge, accompanied by signs and prodigies, happened a few years afterwards. 'On that night,' says Giovanni Villani (xi. 2.), 'a hermit, being at prayer in his hermitage above Vallambrosa, heard a furious trampling as of many horses; and crossing himself and hurrying to the wicket, saw a multitude of infernal horsemen, all black and terrible, riding by at full speed. When, in the name of God, he demanded their purpose, one replied, We are going, if it be His pleasure, to drown the city of Florence for its wickedness. This account,' he adds, 'was given me by the Abbot of Vallambrosa, who had questioned the holy man himself.'"
This vision, however, without doubting the holy man's veracity, may, I presume, be considered wholly subjective.
W. S. G.
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
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Minor Queries.
_Passage in Bacon._--What is the meaning of this saying of Bacon "Poetry doth raise and erect the mind by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind?"
RECNAC.
_Lamech killing Cain._--In the church of St. Neot, Cornwall, are some very interesting ancient painted windows, representing various legendary and scriptural subjects. In one of them, descriptive of antediluvial history, is a painting of Lamech shooting Cain with a bow and arrow. Are any of your readers acquainted with a similar subject? Is there any tradition to this effect? and does it throw any light on that difficult passage, Gen. iv. 23, 24.?
"And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice: ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
"If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold."
J. W. M.
Hordley Ellesmere.
_Lord Chief Justice Popham._--C. GONVILLE says (Vol. vii., p. 259.) that Raleigh Gilbert "emigrated with Lord Chief Justice Popham in 1606" to Plymouth in Virginia. As this is a fact in the history of that learned judge with which I am unacquainted, I shall be obliged to your correspondent to favour me with some particulars. According to Anthony Wood he died on June 10, 1607, and was buried at Wellington in Somersetshire; and Sir Edward Coke (6 _Reports_, p. 75.) notices the last judgment he pronounced in the previous Easter Term.
EDWARD FOSS.
_"Her face was like the milky way," &c._--Where is the subjoined quotation taken from, and what is the context? I cannot be quite certain as to its verbal accuracy.
"Her face was like the milky way i' the sky, A meeting of gentle lights without a name."
VIA LACTEA.
_Nelson Rings._--I am in possession of a ring, which in place of a stone has a metal basso-relievo representation of Nelson (half-bust). The inscription inside the ring is as follows:
"A Gift to T. Moon from G. L. Stoppleburg 1815."
The late Mr. Thomas Moon was an eminent merchant of Leeds, Yorkshire, and the writer has always understood that the ring referred to is one of three or half-a-dozen, which were made subsequently to Nelson's death, the metal (blackish in appearance) forming the basso-relievo set in them, being in reality portions of the ball which gave the late lamented and immortal admiral his fatal wound at Trafalgar.
Can any of your readers furnish me with the means of authenticating this supposition? likewise I should be glad to know if other similar rings are at present in existence, and by whom owned.
R. NICHOLS.
Pelsall, Staffordshire.
_Books Wanted._--
_Life of Thomas Bonnell, Mayor of Norwich_, published by Curl.
Samuel Hayne, _Abstract of the Statutes relating to Aliens trading_, 1690.[1]
Lalley's _Churches and Chapels in London_.
Can any of your readers tell me where I shall find these books? I do not see them in the British Museum.
J. S. B.
[Footnote 1: [Hayne's _Abstract_, edit. 1685, will be found in the British Museum. See the new Catalogue _s. v._, Press-mark 8245. b.--ED.]]
_Mr. Cromlin._--In Smith's _History of Waterford_ (1746) are noticed "the thanks of the House of Commons given to Mr. Cromlin, a French gentleman naturalised in the kingdom, then actually sitting in the house," and the present to him of 10,000l. for establishing a linen manufactory at Waterford. Where shall I find the particulars of this grant recorded?
J. S. B.
_Dr. Fletcher and Lady Baker._--Dr. Fletcher, Bishop of London, married a handsome widow, the Lady Baker, sister of George Gifford the Pensioner, at which marriage Queen Elizabeth being much displeased, the bishop is said to have died "discontentedly by immoderate taking of tobacco." (_Athenæ._) Who was the Lady Baker's first husband? Who was George Gifford? Was she a Roman Catholic previous to her second marriage?
W. S.
_Jeremy Taylor and Christopher Lord Hatton._--Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his dedication of the _Great Exemplar_ to Christopher Lord Hatton, entreats his lordship to "account him in the number of his relatives." Was Jeremy Taylor in any way connected with Lord Hatton by marriage? His first wife was a Mrs. Joanna Bridges of Mandinam, in the parish of Languedor, co. Carmarthen, and supposed to be a natural daughter of Charles I., to whom she bore a striking resemblance. Do any of your readers know of any relationship between this lady and Lord Hatton, or any other circumstance likely to account for the passage above mentioned?
CLARENCE HOPPER.
"_Pylades and Corinna._"--Can anybody tell who was the author? Could it be De Foe?
P. R.
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_The Left Hand; its Etymology._--I have read with much pleasure Trench's _Study of Words_. The following passage occurs at p. 185: