Vol. IV.—No. 99. NOTES AND QUERIES: A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

VOL. IV.—No. 99.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20. 1851.

Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes.

VENERABLE BEDE'S MENTAL ALMANAC.

If our own ancient British sage, the Venerable Bede, could rise up from the dust of eleven centuries, he might find us, notwithstanding all our astounding improvements, in a worse position, in one respect at least, than when he left us; and as the subject would be one in which he was well versed, it would indubitably attract his attention.

He might then set about teaching us from his own writings a mental resource, far superior to any similar device practised by ourselves, by which the day of the week belonging to any day of the month, in any year of the Christian era, might easily and speedily be found.

And when the few, who would give themselves the trouble of thoroughly understanding it, came to perceive its easiness of acquirement, its simplicity in practice, and its firm hold upon the memory, they might well marvel how so admirable a facility should have been so entirely forgotten, or by what perversion of judgment it could have been superseded by the comparatively clumsy and impracticable method of the Dominical letters.

Let us hear his description of it in his own words:

"QUÆ SIT FERIA IN CALENDIS.

"Simile autem huic tradunt argumentum ad inveniendam diem Calendarum promptissimum.

"Habet ergo regulares Januarius II, Februarius V, Martius V, Apriles I, Maius III, Junius VI, Julius I, Augustus IIII, September VII, October II, November V, December VII. Qui videlicet regulares hoc specialiter indicant, quota sit feria per Calendas, eo anno quo septem concurrentes adscripti sunt dies: cæteris vero annis addes concurrentes quotquot in præsenti fuerunt adnotati

ad regulares mensium singulorum, et ita diem calendarum sine errore semper invenies. Hoc tantum memor esto, ut cum imminente anno bisextili unus concurrentium intermittendus est dies, eo tamen numero quem intermissurus es in Januario Februarioque utaris: ac in calendis primum Martiis per illum qui circulo centinetur solis computare incipias. Cum ergo diem calendarum, verbi gratia, Januarium, quærere vis; dicis Januarius II, adde concurrentes septimanæ dies qui fuerunt anno quo computas, utpote III, fiunt quinque; quinta feria intrant calendæ Januariæ. Item anno qui sex habet concurrentes, sume v regulares mensis Martii, adde concurrentes sex, fiunt undecim, tolle septem, remanent quatuor, quarta feria sunt Calendæ Martiæ."—Bedæ Venerabilis, De Temporum Ratione, caput xxi.

The meaning of this may be expressed as follows:—Attached to the twelve months of the year are certain fixed numbers called regulars, ranging from I to VII, denoting the days of the week in their usual order. These regulars, in any year whereof the concurrent, or solar epact, is 0 or 7, express, of themselves, the commencing day of each month: but in other years, whatever the solar epact of the year may be, that epact must be added to the regular of any month to indicate, in a similar manner, the commencing day of that month.

It follows, therefore, that the only burthen the memory need be charged with is the distribution of the regulars among the several months; because the other element, the solar epact (which also ranges from 1 to 7), may either be obtained from a short mental calculation, or, should the system come into general use, it would soon become a matter of public notoriety during the continuance of each current year.

Now, these solar epacts have several practical advantages over the Dominical letters. 1. They are numerical in themselves, and therefore they are found at once, and used directly, without the complication of converting figures into letters and letters into figures. 2. They increase progressively in every year; whereas the Dominical letters have a crab-like retrogressive progress, which impedes facility of practice. 3. The rationale of the solar epacts is more easily explained and more readily understood: they are the accumulated odd days short of a complete week; consequently the accumulation must increase by 1 in every year, except in leap years, when it increases by 2; because in leap years there are 2 odd days over 52 complete weeks. But this irregularity in the epact of leap year does not come into operation until the additional day has actually been added to the year; that is, not until after the 29th of February. Or, as Bede describes it, "in leap years one of the concurrent days is intermitted, but the number so intermitted must be used for January and February; after which, the epact obtained from cyclical tables (or from calculation) must be used for the remaining months." By which he means, that the epacts increase in arithmetical succession, except in leap years, when the series is interrupted by one number being passed over; the number so passed over being used for January and February only. Thus, 2 being the epact of 1851, 3 would be its natural successor for 1852; but, in consequence of this latter being leap year, 3 is intermitted (except for January and February), and 4 becomes the real epact, as obtained from calculation.

To calculate the solar epact for any year, Bede in another place gives the following rule:

"Si vis scire concurrentes septimanæ dies, sume annos Domini et eorum quartum partem adjice: his quoque quatuor adde, (quia) quinque concurrentes fuerunt anno Nativitatis Domini: hos partire per septem et remanent Epactæ Solis."

That is: take the given year, add to it its fourth part, and also the constant number 4 (which was the epact preceding the first year of the Christian era), divide the sum by 7, and what remains is the solar epact. (If there be no remainder, the epact may be called either 0 or 7.)

This is an excellent rule; the same, I believe, that is to this day prescribed for arriving at the Dominical letter of the Old Style. Let it be applied, for example, to find upon what day of the week the battle of Agincourt was fought (Oct. 25, 1415). Here we have 1415, and its fourth 353, and the constant 4, which together make 1772, divided by 7 leaves 1 as the solar epact; and this, added to 2, the regular for the month of October, informs us that 3, or Tuesday, was the first day of that month; consequently it was the 22nd, and Friday, the 25th, was Saint Crispin's day.

But this rule of Bede's, in consequence of the addition, since his time, of a thousand years to the number to be operated upon, is no longer so convenient as a mental resource.

It may be greatly simplified by separating the centuries from the odd years, by which the operation is reduced to two places of figures instead of four. Such a method, moreover, has the very great advantage of assimilating the operation of finding the solar epact, in both styles, the Old and the New; the only remaining difference between them being in the rules for finding the constant number to be added in each century. These rules are as follow:—

For the Old Style.—In any date, divide the number of centuries by 7, and deduct the remainder from 4 (or 11); the result is the constant for that century.

For the New Style.—In any date, divide the number of centuries by 4, double the remainder, and deduct it from 6: the result is the constant for that century.

For the Solar Epact, in either Style.—To the odd years of any date (rejecting the centuries) add their fourth part, and also the constant number found by the preceding rules; divide the sum by 7, and what remains is the solar epact.

As an example of these rules in Old Style, let the former example be repeated, viz. A.D. 1415:

First, since the centuries (14), divided by 7, leave no remainder, 4 is the constant number. Therefore 15, and 3 (the fourth), and 4 (the constant), amount to 22, from which eliminating the sevens, remains 1 as the solar epact.

For an example in New Style, let the present year be taken. In the first place, 18 divided by 4 leaves 2, which doubled is 4, deducted from 6 results 2, the constant number for the present century. Therefore 51, and 12 (the fourth), and 2 (the constant), together make 65, from which the sevens being eliminated, remains 2, the solar epact for this year.

But in appreciating the practical facility of this method, we must bear in mind that the constant, when once ascertained for any century, remains unchanged throughout the whole of that century; and that the solar epact, when once ascertained for any year, can scarcely require recalculation during the remainder of that year: furthermore, that although the rule for calculating the epact, as just recited, is so extremely simple, yet even that slight mental exertion may be spared to the mass of those who might benefit by its application to current purposes; because it might become an object of general notoriety in each current year. And I am not without hope that "NOTES AND QUERIES" will next year set the example to other publications, by making the current solar epact for 1852 a portion of its "heading," and by suffering it to remain, incorporated with the date of each impression, throughout the year.

Let us now recur to the allotment of the regulars at the beginning of Bede's description. Placed in succession their order is as follows:—

April and July

class="tdright">I, or Sunday January and October II, or Monday May III, or Tuesday August IIII, or Wednesday March, Feb., and November V, or Thursday June VI, or Friday September and December VII, or Saturday

There is no great difficulty in retaining this in the memory; but should uncertainty arise at any time, it may be immediately corrected by a mental reference to the following lines, the alliterative jingle of which is designed to house them as securely in the brain as the immortal and never-failing, "Thirty days hath September." The order of the allotment is preserved by appropriating as nearly as possible a line to each day of the week; while the absolute connexion here and there of certain days, by name, with certain months, forms a sort of interweaving that renders mistake or misplacement almost impossible.

Now, since we have ascertained, from the short calculation before recited, that the solar epact of this present year of 1851 is 2, and since the regular of October is also 2, we have but to add them together to obtain 4 (or Wednesday) as the commencing day of this next coming month of October. And, if we wish to know the day of the month belonging to any other day of the week in October, we have but to subtract the commencing day, which is 4, from 8, and to the result add the required day. Let the latter, for example, be Sunday; then 4 from 8 leaves 4, which added to 1 (or Sunday), shows that Sunday, in the month of October 1851, is either 5th, 12th, 19th, or 26th.

This additional application is here introduced merely to illustrate the great facilities afforded by the purely numerical form of Bede's "argumentum,"—such as must gradually present themselves to any person who will take the trouble to become thoroughly and practically familiar with it.

A. E. B.

Leeds, September, 1851.

HYPHENISM, HYPHENIC, HYPHENIZATION.

Where our ancestors wanted words, they made them, or imported them ready made. But we are become so particular about the etymological force of newly coined words, that we can never please ourselves, but rather choose to do without than to tolerate anything exceptionable. We have to learn again that a word cannot be like Burleigh's nod, but must be content to indicate the whole by the expression of some prominent part, or of some convenient part, prominent or not.

Among the uses to which the "NOTES AND QUERIES" might be put, is the suggestion of words. It very often happens that one who is apt at finding the want is not equally good for the remedy, and vice versâ. By the aid of this journal the blade might find a handle, or the handle a blade, as wanted, with the advantage of criticism at the formation; while an author who coins a word, must commit himself before he can have much advice.

The above remarks were immediately suggested by my happening to think of a word for a thing which gives much trouble, and requires more attention than it has received, but not more than it may receive if it can be fitly designated by a single word. A clause of a sentence, both by etymology and usage, means any part of it of which the component words cannot be separated, but must all go together, or all remain together: it is then a component of the sentence which has a finished meaning in itself. The proper mode of indicating the clauses takes its name from the means, and not from the end: we say punctuation, not clausification. This may have been a misfortune, for it is possible that punctuation might have been better studied, if its name had imported its object. But there is another and a greater misfortune, arising from the total want of a name. In a sentence, not only do collections of words form minor sentences, but they also form compound words: sometimes eight or ten words are really only one. When two words are thus compounded, we use a hyphen: but those who have attempted to use more than one hyphen have been laughed out of the field; though perspicuity, logic, and algebra were all on their side. The Morning Post adopted this practice in former days; and Horace Smith (or James, as the case may be,) ridiculed them in a parody which speaks of "the not-a-bit-the-less-on-that-account-to-be-universally-detested monster Buonaparte." It is, I think, much to be regretted that the use of the hyphen is so restricted: for though, like the comma, it might be abused, yet the abuse would rather tend to clearness.

But, without introducing a further use of the hyphen, it would be desirable to have a distinct name for a combination of words; which, without being such a recognised and permanent compound as apple-tree or man in the moon, is nevertheless one word in the particular sentence in hand. And the name is easily found. The word hyphen being Greek (ὑφ' ἕν), and being made a substantive, we might join Greek suffixes to it, and speak of hyphenisms and hyphenic phrases. For example, the following I should call a hyphenic error. When the British Museum recently published A Short Guide to that Portion of the Library of printed Books now open to the Public, a review pronounced the title a misnomer; because the books are not open to the public, but are in locked glass cases. The reviewer read it "library of printed-books-now-open-to-the-public," instead of "library-of-printed-books now open to the public." And though in this case the reviewer was very palpably wrong, yet there are many cases in which a real ambiguity exists.

A neglect of mental hyphenization often leads to mistake as to an author's meaning, particularly in this age of morbid implication. For instance, a person writes something about "a Sunday or other day-for-which-there-is-a-special-service;" and is taken as meaning "a Sunday-or-other-day for which," &c. The odds are that some readers will suppose him, by speaking of Sundays with special service, to imply that some are without.

M.

GRAY AND COWLEY.

Some spirited publisher would confer a serious obligation on the classical world by bringing out an edition of Gray's Poems, with the parallel passages annexed. "Taking him for all in all," he is one of our most perfect poets: and though Collins might have rivalled him (under circumstances equally auspicious), he could have been surpassed by Milton alone. In 1786, Gilbert Wakefield attempted to do for Gray what Newton and Warton had done for Milton (and, for one, I thank him for it); but his illustrations, though almost all good and to the point, are generally from books which every ordinary reader knows off by heart. Besides, Wakefield

is so very egotistical, and at times so very puerile, that he is too much for most people. However, his volume, The Poems of Mr. Gray, with Notes, by Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge: London, 1786, would furnish a good substratum for the volume I am now recommending.

Not to speak of Milton's English poems and the great masterpieces of ancient times, with which so learned a scholar as Gray was, of course, familiar, he draws largely from the Greek anthology, from Nonnus, from Milton's Latin poems, from Cowley, and I had almost said from the prose works of Bishop Jeremy Taylor. His admiration of the great "Shakspeare of Divinity" is proved from a portion of one of his letters to Mason; and some other day I may furnish an illustration or two. Indeed, were any publisher to undertake the generous office I mention, I dare say that many a secret treasure would be unlocked, and many an "orient pearl at random strung" be forthcoming for his use. Let me first mention Gray's opinion of Cowley, and then add in confirmation one or two passages out of many. He says in a note to his "Ode on the Progress of Poesy:"

"We have had in our language not other odes of the sublime kind than that of Dryden 'On St. Cecilia's Day:' for Cowley (who had his merit) yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony for such a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a man."

We must submit to Gray's oracular sentence, for he himself was pre-eminently gifted in the three great qualities in which he declares the deficiency of Cowley (at least if we are to judge from his English poems; for the prosody of his Latin efforts seems sadly deficient). At times Cowley's "harmony" is not first-rate, and his "style" is deeply impregnated with the fantastic conceits of the day; but he is still a poet, and a great one too. And I think that in some of his writings Gray had Cowley evidently in mind; e.g. in the epitaph to his "Elegy in a Country Churchyard:"

Cowley had previously written:

Again—

Again:

I do not mean that Gray may not have had other poets in his mind when writing these lines (for there is nothing new or uncommon about them); but rather a careful going over of Cowley's poems convinces me that Gray was sensible of his "merits," and often corrects his want of "judgment" by his own refined and most exquisite taste. I must give one more instance; and I think that Bishop Hall's allusion to his life at Emmanuel College, and Bishop Ridley's "Farewell to Pembroke Hall," must every one fall into the background before Cowley. Gray's poem ought to be too well known to require quoting:

Cowley was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; and if I rightly remember Bonney's Life of Bishop Middleton, his affecting allusions to Cambridge had the highest praise of that accomplished scholar and divine:

RT.

Warmington, Sept. 8. 1851.

Minor Notes.

H y p ô p i a z ô.]">Ὑπωπιάζω.

—I "keep under my body," &c. 1 Cor. ix. 27. One can scarcely allude to this passage without remembering the sarcastic observations of Dr. South upon a too literal interpretation of it. (Sermons, vol. i. p. 12. Dublin, 1720.) And yet deeper and more spiritual writers by no means pass the literal interpretation by with indifference. Bishop Andrewes distinctly mentions ὑπωπιασμός, or suggillatio, amongst the "circumstantiæ orationis;" as also ἐκδίκησις, vindicta, or revenge, 2 Cor. vii. II. (Preces Privatæ, pag. 14. Londini, 1828.) Bishop J. Taylor is equally explicit in a well-known and remarkable passage:

"If the lust be upon us, and sharply tempting, by inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest passion by the most violent pain, we shall find great ease for the present, and the resolution and apt sufferance against the future danger; and this was St. Paul's remedy: 'I bring my body under;' he used some rudeness towards it."—Holy Living, sect. iii. Of Chastity. Remedies against Uncleanness, 4.

The word ὑπώπια occurs only once in the LXX, but that seems in a peculiarly apposite way: "ὑπώπια καὶ συντρίμματα συναντᾷ κακοῖς, πληγαὶ δὲ εἰς ταμιεῖα κοιλίας." As our English version translates it: "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil (or, is a purging medicine against evil, margin), so do stripes the inward parts of the belly." (Proverbs xx. 30.) If it were not absolute presumption to differ from the great Dr. Jackson, one would feel inclined to question, or at least to require further proof of some observations of his. He says, in treating of our present passage:

"The very literal importance of those three words in the original—ὑποπιάζω, κηρῦξας, and ἀδόκιμος—cannot be so well learned from any Dictionary or Lexicon, as from such as write of the Olympic Games, or of that kind of tryal of masteries, which in his time or before was in use. The word ὑποπιάζω is proper (I take it) unto wrestlers, whose practice it was to keep under other men's bodies, not their own, or to keep their antagonists from all advantage of hold, either gotten or aimed at. But our apostle did imitate their practice upon his own body, not on any others; for his own body was his chief antagonist."—Works, vol. ii. p. 644. Lond. 1673.

Suidas makes some remarks upon the word, but they are not very much to our purpose.

RT.

Warmington.

Meaning of Whitsunday.

—I long ago suggested in your pages that Whitsun Day, or, as it was anciently written, Witson Day, meant Wisdom Day, or the day of the outpouring of Divine wisdom; and I requested the attention of your learned correspondents to this subject. I cannot refrain from thanking C. H. for his fourth quotation from Richard Rolle (Vol. iv., p. 50.) in confirmation of this view.

H. T. G.

Anagrammatic Pun by William Oldys.

—Your correspondent's Query concerning Oldys's Account of London Libraries (Vol. iv., p. 176.), reminded me of the following punning anagram on the name of that celebrated bibliographer, which may claim a place among the first productions of its class. It was Oldys himself, and is attached to one of his own transcripts in the British Museum:

BLOWEN.

Ballad of Chevy Chase: Ovid.

—Addison, in his critique on the ballad of "Chevy Chase," after quoting the stanza—

says that "the thought" in that stanza "was never touched by any other poet, and is such a one as would have shined in Homer or Virgil." It is perhaps true that there is no passage in any other writer exactly resembling this, but it is not quite true that the thought has not been touched; for there is something approaching to it in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where the slaughter of Niobe's children by the arrows of Apollo is described:

The author of this ballad would appear, from the passages cited by Addison, to have been well read in the Latin poets. Had Addison recollected the above passage of Ovid, he would doubtless have adduced it.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

Horace Walpole at Eton.

—The following anecdote of Horace Walpole while at Eton was related by the learned Jacob Bryant, one of his school-fellows, and has not, I believe, been printed; it is at all events very much at your service.

In those days the Etonians were in the habit of acting plays, and amongst others Tamerlane was selected for representation. The cast of parts has unluckily not been preserved, but it is sufficient for us to know that the lower boys were put into requisition to personate the mutes. After the performance the wine, which had been provided for the actors, had disappeared, and a strong suspicion arose that the lower boys behind the scenes had made free with it, and Horace Walpole exclaimed, "The mutes have swallowed the liquids!"

BRAYBROOKE.

Queries.

CONTINENTAL WATCHMEN AND THEIR SONGS.

The inquiries I made in Vol. iii., p. 324., respecting the Bellman and his Songs, have been answered by most interesting information (pp. 377. 451. 485.); and the references made by the Editor to V. Bourne's translation was most acceptable. The interest of this subject is increased by finding that the Custos Nocturnus exists at the present day in other countries, resembling very much in duties, costume, and chants the Westminster Bellman. I venture to send you extracts from W. Hurton's Voyage from Leith to Lapland, and Dr. Forbes's Physician's Holiday.

"During the past year of 1849 it has been my lot to reside at four of the most remarkable capitals of Europe, and successively to experience what spring is in London, what summer is in Paris, what autumn is in Edinburgh, and what winter is in Copenhagen. Vividly, indeed, can I dwell on the marvellous contrast of the night aspect of each: but one of the most interesting

peculiarities I have noticed in any of them, is that presented by the watchmen of the last-named. When I first looked on these guardians of the night, I involuntarily thought of Shakspeare's Dogberry and Verges. The sturdy watchers are muffled in uniform great coats, and also wear fur caps. In their hand they carry a staff of office, on which they screw, when occasion requires, that fearful weapon the 'morning star.' They also sometimes may be seen with a lanthorn at their belt: the candle contained in the lanthorn they place at the top of their staff, to relight any street-lamps which require trimming. In case of fire, the watchmen give signals from the church towers, by striking a number of strokes, varying with the quarter of the city in which the fire occurs; and they also put from the tower flags and lights pointed in the direction where the destructive element is raging. From eight o'clock in the evening, until four (Query, until five) o'clock in the morning, all the year round, they chant a fresh verse at the expiration of each hour, as they go their rounds. The cadence is generally deep and guttural, but with a peculiar emphasis and tone; and from a distance it floats on the still night air with a pleasing and impressive effect, especially to the ear of a stranger. The verses in question are of great antiquity, and were written, I am told, by one of the Danish bishops. They are printed on a large sheet of paper, with an emblematical border, rudely engraved in the old style; and in the centre is a large engraving exactly representing one of the ancient watchmen, in the now obsolete costume, with his staff and 'morning star' in hand, a lanthorn at his belt, and his dog at his feet.

"A copy of the broadside has been procured me, and my friend Mr. Charles Beckwith has expressly made for me a verbatim translation of the verses; and his version I will now give at length. I am induced to do this, because, not only are the chants most interesting in themselves, as a fine old relic of Scandinavian customs, but there seems to me a powerful poetical spirit pervading them. At the top of the sheet are the lines which in the translation are—

"In large letters over the engraving of the watchman are the words (translated):

"I will now give the literal version, printed exactly in the same arrangement of lines, letters, and punctuation, as the original: