NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When Found, make a note of."—Captain Cuttle.
No. 7.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1849. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
CONTENTS.
- NOTES:—
- Marriage Contract of Mary Queen of Scots
- Bill of Fare of 1626, by Rev. L.B. Larking
- Moneta Sanctae Helenae, by T. Hudson Turner
- Translations of Gray's Elegy
- On Authors and Books, No. 2, by Bolton Corney
- Minor Notes:—Quotations from Pope—Angels' Visits —Extract from Register of North Runcton—The Norman Crusader—Lady Jane of Westmoreland
- Notes in answer to Queries:—Lobster in Medal of Pretender—Straw Necklaces
- Answers to Minor Queries:—Ancient Motto—Political Maxim—Annus Trabeationis—Betterton's Duties of a Player—Betterton's Essay—Incumbents of Church Livings—Mare de Saham—Reinerius—Whelps— Cowley or Cowleas
- QUERIES:—
- Berkeley's Theory of Vision
- Dr. Johnson and Professor de Morgan
- Caracciolli's Life of Lord Clive
- Suppressed Passages in Cartwright's Poems
- MINOR QUERIES:—
- Christencat—Hexameter Verses in the Scriptures
- MISCELLANEOUS:—
- Notes on Books, Catalogues, Sales, &c.
- Books and Odd Volumes wanted
- Notices to Correspondents
- Advertisements
MARRIAGE CONTRACT OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND THE EARL OF BOTHWELL.
[Among the curious documents which have been produced from time to time before the House of Lords in support of peerage claims, there have been few of greater historical interest than the one which we now reprint from the Fourth Part of the Evidence taken before the Committee of Privileges on the Claim of W. Constable Maxwell, Esquire, to the title of Lord Herries of Terregles. It is a copy of the Contract of Marriage between Queen Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, which, although it is said to have been printed by Carmichael, in his Various Tracts relating to the Peerage of Scotland, extracted from the Public Records, has not been referred to by Robertson, or other historians of Scotland, not even by the most recent of them, Mr. Tytler.
Mr. Tytler tells us that on the 12th of May, 1567, Bothwell was created Duke of Orkney, "the Queen with her own hands placing the coronet on his head," and that the marriage took place on the 15th of May, at four o'clock in the morning in the presence-chamber at Holyrood; and that on the following morning a paper, with this ominous verse, was fixed on the palace gate:—
"Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait."
The Contract, which is dated on the fourteenth of May, is preserved in the Register of Deeds in the Court of Session (Vol. IX. p. 86.), and as the copy produced before the House is authenticated—and consequently it may be presumed a more strictly accurate one than that which Carmichael has given—it seems well deserving of being transferred to our columns, and so made more available to the purposes of the historian, than it has been found to be in Carmichael's Tract, or is likely to be when buried in a Parliamentary Blue Book.]
"Decimo quarto Maij anno domini ts. lxvij, "Sederunt dni sessionis clericus regri.
"In pns of ye lordis of counsale comperit personale ane ry't excellent ry't heicht and michte princes Marie be ye grace of God queene of Scottis douieier of France on that ane pairt and ane ry't noble and potent prince James duk of Orkney erl Bothule lord Hales crychtoun and Liddisdeall great admiral of the realm of Scotland on y't vy'r p't and gaif in yis contract and appointnament following subscriuit w't y'r handis and desyrit ye samen to be insert in ye bukis of counsale to haif ye strenth force and effect of y'r act and decreit thereupoun the q'lk desyre ye saidis lordis thocht reasonable and y'rfor hes decernit and decernis ye said contract and appointnament to be insert and registret in ye said bukis to haif ye strenth force and effect of y'r act and decreit in tyme to cum et ad perpetuam rei memoriam and hes interponit and interponis y'r autoritie y'rto and ordenis y'r autentik extract of the samen to be deliuerit to the foirsaid partiis and the principale to remane apud registrum Off ye q'lk contract ye tennor followis At Edinburgh ye xiiii. day of May the year of God I'mv'c thrie score sevin yeris it is appointit aggreit contractit and finale concordit betwix ye r't excellent ry't
(Signed) MARIE Rx.
JAMES DUKE OF ORKNAY.
BILL OF FARE OF 1626.
If an actual bill of fare in a gentleman's house, anno 1626, be worth your acceptance, as a pendant to the one prescribed in your fourth number, you are welcome to the following extract from the account book of Sir Edward Dering, Knt. and Bart.:—
"A Dinner att London, made when my Lady Richardson, my sister E Ashbornham, and Kate Ashb,—my brother John Ashb, my cosen Walldron and her sister, and S'r John Skeffington, were with me att Aldersgate streete, December 23, 1626. My sister Fr Ashb and cosen Mary Hill did fayle of coming.
Wine 3s. 10d.
Stourgeon 7s.
a joll of brawne 5s.
pickled oystres a barrell 1s. 6d.
viniger 3d.
Rabbets a couple—larkes a dozen—plovers 3 and
snikes 4 7s.
Carrowaye and comfites 6d.
a Banquet and 2 dozen and a half of glass plates to
sett it out in 1l. 3s.
Half a doe—which in y'e fee and charge of bringing
itt out of Northampton 8s.
a warden py that the cooke made—we finding y'e
wardens 2s. 4d.
ffor a venison pasty, we finding y'e venison 4s.
ffor 2 minct pyes 2s. 6d.
a breast of veale 2s. 4d.
a legg of mutton 2s.
——————
Sum totall expended 3l. 10s. 3d.
——————
The dinner was at y'e first course—
a peece of Brawne.
a boiled ducke in white broathe.
a boiled haunch of powdered venison.
2 minct pyes.
a boyled legge of mutton.
a venison pasty.
a roast ducke.
a powdered goose roasted.
a breast of veale.
a cold Capon py.
Second course—
a couple of rabbitts.
3 plovers.
12 larks.
4 snikes.
pickled oysters—2 dishes.
a cold warden py.
a joull of Sturgeon.
Complement—
Apples and Carrawayes.
wardens bakt and cold.
A Cake and
Cheese.A banquett ready in y'e next room.
Mem'd—we had out of y'e country y'e goose, y'e duckes, y'e capon py, y'e Cake and wardens, and y'e venison; but that is allways p'd for, though given."
The above seems to have been a family dinner. Sir Edward married, for his second wife, a daughter of Sir Ashbornham, as appears by the following entry:—
"1. January 1624/5, beeing Saturday, at sixe of y'e clocke att night, atte Whitehall, in y'e Duke of Buckingham's lodgings, I married Anne Ashbornham, third dâ of Sir Ashbornham, late of Ashbornham, Kt."
In another entry we have—
"... Dec. 1626, being thursday, Elizabeth Lady Ashbornham widor of S'r Jno Ashbornham, was married in S't Giles his Church in y'e feildes, nere London, to S'r Thomas Richardson, K't, then Lo. cheife Justice of y'e common pleas."
The day of the month is torn out. It would almost seem as if this was the wedding dinner, on the occasion of the marriage of the Chief Justice with Lady Dering's mother; at all events the reunion of the family in London was caused by that event.
Banquet was the name given to a dessert, and it was usually set out in another room.
The large baking pear is still called warden in many counties.
Appended to the above is a bill of the items of the "banquet," with the cost of hire for the glass plates; but it is so hopelessly illegible that I will not venture to give it. Many of the items, as far as I can read them, are not to be found in "the books," and are quite new to me.
Having had no small experience in deciphering hopeless scribblings, I think I may pronounce this to be better left alone than given in its present confused state.
LAMBERT B. LARKING
Ryarsh Vicarage.
MONETA SANCTÆ HELENÆ.
As a subscriber to your valuable publication, allow me to suggest that it might, from time to time, be open to contributions explaining obscure passages or words, which often occur in the works of mediæval writers, and more especially in early English records. So far as English usages and customs are concerned, the Glossary of Du Cange is of comparatively little value to the English student; many terms, indeed, being wrongly interpreted in all editions of that work. Take, for example, the word "tricesima," the explanation of which is truly ridiculous; under "berefellarii," the commentary is positively comic; and many other instances might be cited. At the same time, it would be presumptuous to speak otherwise than in terms of the highest respect and admiration of Du Cange and his labours. The errors to which I allude were the natural consequences of a foreigner's imperfect knowledge of English law and English customs; still it is to be lamented that they should have remained uncorrected in the later editions of the Glossary; and I take it to be our duty to collect and publish, where feasible, materials for an English dictionary of mediæval Latin. It is in your power materially to advance such a work, and under that impression I venture to send the present "Note."
In the Wardrobe Account of the 55th year of Henry the Third, it is stated that among the valuables in the charge of the keeper of the royal wardrobe, there was a silken purse, containing "monetam Sancte Helene." It is well known that, during the middle ages, many and various objects were supposed to possess talismanic virtues. Of this class were the coins attributed to the mother of Constantine, the authenticity of which is questioned by Du Cange, in his treatise "de Inferioris ævi numismatibus." He observes, also, that the same name was given, vulgarly, to almost all the coins of the Byzantine emperors, not only to those bearing the effigies of St. Helena, but indeed to all marked with a cross, which were commonly worn suspended from the neck as phylacteries; "hence," he subjoins, "we find that these coins are generally perforated." It was quite in accordance with the superstitious character of Henry the Third that coins of St. Helena should be preserved in his wardrobe, among numerous other amulets and relics. But what was the peculiar virtue attributed to such coins? Du Cange, in the
This mention of the sultan Amurath carrying these coins about his person as a precaution against a disease to which he was subject, and indeed the whole passage shows a belief in their efficacy was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, when Bozius wrote. It only remains to add, that Du Cange, in his Glossary, does not enumerate the "money of St. Helena" under the word "moneta;" nor does he allude to the coins of St. Louis, which, according to Bozius, were endowed with similar properties.
Having sent you a "Note," permit me to make two or three "Queries." 1. What is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in England? 2. What is the precise meaning of the term "pisan," so often used, in old records, for some part of defensive armour, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? It does not bear any relation to the fabrics of Pisa.
T. HUDSON TURNER.
TRANSLATIONS OF GRAY'S ELEGY.
Sir,—My best apology for troubling you with such a lengthened Query is, that it will serve, to some extent, as a Note. Will any of your correspondents inform me of any additions to the following list of translations of Gray's Elegy? It may possibly be more incomplete than I am aware of, as it is drawn up, with two exceptions, from copies in my own library only.
Greek:
1. By Professor Cooke, printed with his edition of Aristotle's Poetics, Cantab. 1775. It begins:—
[Greek: "Nux pelei, oud an agros pura kaietai, oud ana komas."]
2. By Dr. Norbury. 4to. Eton. 1793:—
[Greek: "Atgellei kodon barus aeelion katadunta."]
3. By Dr. Sparke, Bishop of Ely. 4to. Lond. 1794:—
[Greek: "Kodon aematos oichomenoio baruktupos aechei."]
4. By Dr. Coote. 4to. Lond. 1794:—
[Greek: "Kodon daeta, phaous tekmor apiontos, epaechei."]
5. By Stephen Weston. 4to. London, 1794:—
[Greek: "Aematos oichomenoio boai chalkos baruaechaes."]
6. By Edward Tew. 4to. Lond. 1795:—
[Greek: "Tael' aechei kodon neon aematos anomenoio."]
There is also a Greek version of the epitaph only, by J. Plumptre, printed with his Greek version of Pope's Messiah. 4to. 1795. In a biographical notice of Dr. Sparke, it is stated that he was among the thirteen candidates when the competition took place for the best translation of Gray's Elegy into Greek. Query, what was this competition, and were any of the other versions published?
Latin:
1. By Lloyd. Query, when and where originally published? My copy, which is among some collections of the late Mr. Haselwood, appears to have been cut out of a Dublin edition. It begins:—
"Audistin! quam lenta sonans campana per agros."
2. By Signor Gio. Costa. 12mo. In Eblana, 1776:—
"Æs triste ingeminat cedentis signa diei."
3. By Gilbert Wakefield, in his "Poemata partim scripta, partim reddita." Cambridge, 1776:—
"Vesper adest, lugubre sonat Campanula; tardis."
4. By C.A. et W.H.R. [C. Anstey and W.H. Roberts.] 4to. London, 1778:—
"Ingeminat signum occiduæ Campana diei."
5. The last-mentioned version originally appeared anonymously in a somewhat different form (4to. Cantab. 1762), the first line being:—
"Audin' ut occiduæ signum Campana diei."
6. An anonymous version, "by a member of the University of Cambridge," printed with the French translation of M. Guedon de Berchere, mentioned below. I have no copy, and do not know the opening line.
7. By S.N.E. 4to. London, 1824. Query, the name of the author. It may perhaps appear on the title-page, which is wanting in my copy:—
"Triste sonans, lentè tinnit campana per agros."
8. By the Rev. J. H. Macauley, in the "Arundines Cami:"—
"Funebris insonuit morituræ nænia lucis."
Italian:
1. By Cesarotti. 8vo. In Padova, 1772:—
"Parte languido il giorno: odine il segno."
2. By Crocchi. Query, when and where originally published? My copy is from the same source as the Latin version by Lloyd:—
"Il Bronzo vespertin con flebil rombo."
3. By Gennari, printed on the same pages with the Latin version by Costa:—
"Nunzio del dì che parte intorno suona."
4. By Giannini. 2nd ed. 4to. London, 1782:—
"Piange la squilla 'l giorno, che si muore."
5. By Torelli. 8vo. Cambridge, 1782:—
"Segna la squilla il dì che già vien manco."
The Latin version by Costa, and the Italian by Cesarotti and Torelli, were reprinted by Bodoni in 1793, in 4to., as a supplement to his edition of Gray.
French:
1. By Mons. P. Guedon de Berchere. I have no copy, and do not know the opening line. Perhaps you will oblige me by inserting it in your list of books wanted to purchase. It is entitled "Elégie composée dans un Cimetière de Campagne." 8vo. Hookham, &c. 1778.
2. By L.D. 8vo. Chatham, 1806. Query, what name is represented by these initials?—
"le Rappel a marqué le jour en son déclin."
3. Prose version. Anonymous. 8vo. A Paris. An vi.:—
"La Cloche du couvre-feu tinte le clas du jour qui expire."
German:
A translation appeared in the Kaleidoscope, a weekly paper published in Liverpool, in May, 1823. It was communicated by a correspondent who had obtained a copy from the writer in Germany:—
"Des Dorfes Glocke schallt den Moor entlang."
I must frankly avow that I have no present object in seeking information beyond the gratification of curiosity; but I would venture to throw out a hint that an edition of this Elegy, exhibiting all the known translations, arranged in double columns, might be made a noble monument to the memory of Gray. The plan would involve the necessity for a folio size, affording scope for pictorial illustration, on a scale capable of doing justice to "the most finished poem in the English language."
J.F.M.
ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. 2
To revive the memory of estimable authors, or of estimable books, is a pursuit to which a man of leisure may devote himself under the certainty that he can neither want materials to proceed with, not miss the reward of commendation.
It is by the extensive circulation of biographical dictionaries, and the re-productive agency of the press, that the fame of authors and their works is chiefly perpetuated. General biographers, however, relying too much on the intelligence and tact of their precursors, are frequently the dupes of
A remedy happily presents itself. As it appears, a short note is sufficient to raise inquiry; and inquiry may lead to new fact, or advance critical equity. It may rescue a meritorious author from oblivion, and restore him to his true position on the roll of fame.
It is near a century and a half since Ant. Wood printed a notice of the reverend Thomas Powell, and more than a century since the inquisitive Oldys devoted eighteen pages to an abstract of his Human industry;—yet we search in vain for the name of Powell in the dictionaries of Aikin, Watkins, Chalmers, Gorton, &c.—It is even omitted in the Cambrian biogarphy of his countryman William Owen, F.S.A.
An exact transcript of the title of the work, and of the manuscript notes which enrich my own copy of it, may therefore be acceptable:—
"Humane industry; or, a history of most manual arts, deducing the original, progress, and improvement of them. Furnished with variety of instances and examples, shewing forth the excellency of humane wit. [Anonymous.] London, for Henry Herringman, 1661." 8º.
[On the title.] "E libris rarioribus Joannis Brand, Coll. Line. Oxon. 1777."
[On a fly-leaf.] "This book is ascribed by Wood to Dr. Tho'm. Powell, canon of St. David's, who was, says he, 'an able philosopher, a curious critic, and well versed in various languages.' See an abstract of this scarce book in Oldys's British librarian, p. 42."
"N.B.—The above is the hand-writing of the Rev'd. M'r. Granger, author of the biographical history.— I bought it of Mr. Prince, at Oxford, who purchased his books." [John Brand.]
I have now only to consign the learned Powell to future biographers, and to recommend the volume as one which deserves a place in every choice collection of English books.
BOLTON CORNEY.
MINOR NOTES.
Quotations from Pope.
D***N**R. (p. 38.), gives, as an instance of misquotation, a passage from Pope, as it appeared in the Times, and adds a correction of it. As my memory suggested a version different from both that of the Times, and the correction of your correspondent, I turned to Pope (Bowles edition, 1806), and found the passage there, precisely as it is given from the Times. Has your correspondent any authority for his reading? No various reading of the lines is given by Bowles.
While on the subject of Pope, I will make a note (as I have not seen it noticed by his commentators), that the well-known line,
"The proper study of mankind is man,"
is literally from Charron (De la Sagesse, I. i. ch. 1.)—
"La vraye science et le vray etude de l'homme c'est l'homme."
F.F.B.
[We may add, that in the Aldine edition of Pope, which was produced under the editorial superintendence of the Rev. A. Dyce, the lines are given as quoted from the Times, and without any various reading. See vol. ii. p. 55.]
Angels' Visits.
Campbell's famous line,
"Like angels visits, few and far between,"
has been clearly shown by a correspondent in another paper, to be all but copied from Blair:—
—— "like an ill-used ghost Not to return;—or if it did, its visits Like those of angels, short and far between."
Blair's Grave.
But the same phrase, though put differently, occurs in a religious poem of Norris of Bemerton, who died in 1711:—
"But those who soonest take their flight, Are the most exquisite and strong, Like angels visits, short and bright, Mortality's too weak to bear them long."
WICCAMECUS.
Extract from Parish Register of North Runcton, Norfolk.
Sir,—As a pendant to the extracts from the register of East Peckham, Kent, in your third number, I send the following, which I copied some time ago from one of the register books of the parish of North Runcton, Norfolk, and which may prove interesting to some of your readers.
C.W.G
"Jun. 12. 1660.
"Reader,—Lest whatever pseudography (as there is much thereof) occurring to thy intentionall or accidentall view of the following pages in this book should prove offensive to thee, I thought good to give thee an account of what hath occasioned the same, viz. In the woful days of the late usurper, the registring of births, not baptisms, was injoyned and required, to give a liberty to all the adversaries of Pedobaptisme, &c., and, besides some circumstances, too unhandsome for the calling and person of a minister, were then allso annexed to him that was to keep a register of all, &c.; and so it came to passe, that persons of no learning, for many places, were chosen by y'e parish, and ministers declined the office.
NATH ROWLES."
The Norman Crusader.
"The Norman Crusader," in the horse-armoury in the Tower of London, or a part of it, came from Green's Museum. He obtained the hauberk from Tong Castle. At the dispersion of the Museum, the hauberk was purchased by Bullock, of Liverpool (afterwards of the Egyptian Hall), in whose catalogue for 1808 it appears as a standing figure, holding a brown bill in the right hand, and resting the left upon a heater shield.
Bullock at this time added the chauses.—In 1810, the "London Museum" was opened at the "Egyptian Temple" (Hall), the figure as before; but, in the catalogue for 1813, we have the man and horse standing in front of the gallery, and named "The Norman Crusader."
At the "decline and fall" of Bullock's Museum, Mr. Gwennap purchased the Crusader for, it is said, 200 guineas; and after being put in thorough repair, it was placed in the "Aplotheca," Brook Street, Mr. Gwennap, jun. adding the sword.
During its repair, it was discovered that the armour was not originally made for a horse, but for an elephant; and, on inquiry, it appeared that Bullock had purchased it, together with other curiosities, of a sailor, had taken it to pieces, and formed the armour for the horse.
At the sale of Gwennap's collection, "The Norman Crusader" was knocked down by Geo. Robins to a Mr. Bentley, for 30l., and he being unable to polish it, as he had intended, sold it to the authorities at the Tower for one hundred guineas, where it is exhibited as "The Norman Crusader."
NASO.
Lady Jane of Westmoreland.
Sir,—On page 206. of Mr. Collier's second volume of Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, the following entry occurs:— "1585-6. Cold and uncoth blowes, of the lady Jane of Westmorland." And on page 211., "A songe of Lady Jane of Westmorland." Mr. Collier considers these entries to refer to the same production.
The name of Lady Jane of Westmoreland does not occur in Park's edition of Royal and Noble Authors; but it would clearly be entitled to a place there, if we can ascertain who she was.
I have little doubt she was Jane, daughter of Thomas Manvers, first Earl of Rutland, and first wife of Henry Nevill, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom she was mother of Charles, Earl of Westmoreland, one of the chiefs of the northern rebellion.
Collins, under the title "Rutland," states that Anne, daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Rutland, married Henry, Earl of Westmoreland; but under the title "Abergavenny" he states that the same Henry, Earl of Westmoreland, married Jane, daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Rutland. The last statement I presume to be the correct one.
I can find no
Q.D.
NOTES IN ANSWER TO QUERIES.
The Lobster in the Medal of the Pretender.
Your correspondent, Mr. B. NIGHTINGALE, desires an answer to his Query (in your No. 4), Why is the figure of a Lobster introduced into the impression upon the rare medal struck 20th June, 1688, in contempt or ridicule of Prince James Edward, the newly-born son of King James II.?
A reference to the two following works will, perhaps, supply the answer:—
1st. In Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History (a great authority at the time) this passage occurs in book ix. cap. 30.:—
"Lobsters, so long as they are secure of any fear and danger, go directly straight, letting down their hornes at length along their sides;... but if they be in any fear, up go their hornes straight—and then they creep byas and go sidelong."
And in the next chapter (31.):—
"Crabs" (which were often confounded with lobsters) "when they will be afraid, will recule backward, as fast as they went forward."
2nd. In the celebrated work of Sebastian Brandt, entitled Stultifera Naxis (which went through many editions after its first appearance in 1494), is an engraving of a fool, wearing cap and bells, seated astride on the back of a lobster, with a broken reed in his hand, and a pigeon flying past him as he stares vacantly at it with open mouth. The following lines are attached:—