Vol. V.—No. 114. NOTES AND QUERIES: A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

VOL. V.—No. 114.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

OUR FIFTH VOLUME.

Although We cannot commence our Fifth Volume, and the First of our enlarged Series, without some reference to so important an event in the history of "NOTES AND QUERIES," our address shall be as "brief as the posey of a ring." We heartily and earnestly express our thanks

to all our friends, whether Contributors or Readers, for the favour they have shown us, and the encouragement and support which have rendered the enlargement of our paper necessary. We entered upon our course with the support of many distinguished friends, whose varied acquirements stamped an immediate value on "NOTES AND QUERIES," and gave it a character which raised it to its present position among the periodicals of the country. The present number bears witness for us, that whilst we have retained our old friends, which we acknowledge with pride and thankfulness, we have added to the number many new ones. We have striven, and shall ever continue to strive, to unite them together into one goodly band, feeling assured that by that union we bring into the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES" the learning, kindliness, aptitude, and diversity of talent and subject, which are necessary to ensure its usefulness, and therefore its success. To all our Friends and Contributors, both old and new, we offer in their several degrees the tribute of our grateful thanks, and our heartiest wishes that we may pass together MANY HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Notes.

STOPS, WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED.

In casually looking into a little work entitled The Tablet of Memory, I found an entry which informed me that "stops in literature were introduced in 1520: the colon, 1580; semicolon, 1599."

Upon what authority the dates here quoted may have been supposed to rest, I have no notion.

The comma, beyond question I believe, has been derived from the short oblique line which, both in manuscripts and in early printed books, is continually seen to divide portions of sentences.

The colon is of very old date, derived from the κωλον of the Greeks, the part of a period. In printing, we find it in the Mazarine Bible soon after 1450; and in the block books, believed to be of still earlier date.

Herbert, in his edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities, p. 512., notices the first semicolon he had met with in an edition of Myles Coverdale's New Testament, printed in 1538 by Richard Grafton. It was in the Dedication, and, he says, a solitary instance in the book. The only semicolon he subsequently met with, was in a book printed by Thomas Marshe in 1568, on Chess. Ibid. p. 358.

Herbert says, both seem to have been used accidentally.

Puttenham, in his Arte of English Poesie, 4to., 1589, in his chapter of "Cesure," says:—

"The ancient reformers of language invented these names of pauses, one of lesse leasure than another, and such several intermissions of sound, to serve (besides easement to the breath) for a treble distinction of sentences or parts of speech, as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sense. The shortest pause, or intermission, they called comma, as who would say a piece of a speech cut off. The second they called colon, not a piece, but as it were a member, for his larger length, because it occupied twice an much time as the comma. The third they called periodus, for a complement or full pause, and as a resting place and perfection of so much former speech as had been uttered, and from whence they needed not to passe any further, unless it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale."

The "three pauses, comma, colon, and periode," with the interrogative point, appear to have been all which were known to Puttenham.

Puttenham's Arte of Poesie has been already mentioned as printed in 1589. In the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, printed by W. Ponsonby in the very next year, 1590, the semicolon may be seen in the first page.

A book printed at Edinburgh in 1594 has not the semicolon; the use of it had not, apparently, arrived in Scotland.

That an earlier use of the semicolon had been made upon the Continent is probable. It occurs in the Sermone di Beato Leone Papa, 4to., Flor. 1485, the last point in the book.

The interrogative point, or note of interrogation, probably derived from the Greek, occurs frequently in Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique, 4to., 1553.

Some reader of your "NOTES AND QUERIES," better informed than myself, may possibly throw further light upon the English adoption of stops in literature.

HENRY ELLIS.

PREACHING FROM TEXTS IN CORNWALL.

Your correspondents have already pointed out the very early prevalence of this usage, but the inquiry has brought to my recollection an instance which incidentally affords some curious information respecting the several languages formerly current in the western parts of this island. It was lately published, among numerous other extracts, from the registers of the see of Exeter, in the valuable Monasticon Diœcesis Exoniensis of Dr. Oliver, pp. 11, 12.

In 1336, Grandison, then Bishop of Exeter, made a visitation of his diocese. At the western extremity of it, is situate the deanery or collegiate church of St. Burian, which has always claimed to be exempt from episcopal visitation, or at least from ordinary jurisdiction. It is probable that, on one occasion of this disputed exemption, the parishioners of this remote district at the Land's End had given offence to the Bishop or his functionaries.

In company with the Lords Mortimer, D'Awney, and Bloyhon (probably an ancestor of your correspondent BLOWEN), and a large staff of archdeacons, chancellors, canons, chaplains, and familiars, the Bishop visited the church of St. Burian, and obtained from the parishioners a solemn promise of future obedience to his spiritual authority. The promise was made by the greater parishioners in English and French, and by the rest in Cornish, which the rector of St. Just (a parish which has lately obtained some celebrity by the Gorham controversy) interpreted to his lordship. Having absolved them, he then preached a long sermon on the text, "Eratis sicut oves errantes conversi ad pastorem episcopum animarum vestrarum," which the rector of St. Just there interpreted in Cornish.

It is not stated in the record what language was used by the Bishop in his sermon; but if he preached, as one of his successors, Bishop Lacy, is known to have done, in the language of his text, the business of explanation must have been rather troublesome. As he is said to have "successively" preached this sermon there,—"successivè ibidem publicè prædicavit supra sumpto themate,"—it is possible that he had to repeat his sermon in more languages than one. It is at all events certain, that three languages at least were employed, and that the Bishop did not understand Cornish, nor the Cornish men the Bishop. The names of the "major parishioners," that is, of the gentlemen of the district, are appended to the document, and are all (except perhaps one) genuine Cornish families, including the Boscawens and Vyvyans of the present day. They gave in their adhesion to the Bishop in English and French, and must therefore have understood one or both of those languages. Of the Bishop's chaplains, only one has a Cornish name; and the interpreter and rector of the adjacent parish of St. Just, Henry Marseley, was also probably not a Cornubian.

I may mention that the penitent parishioners very prudently reserved the king's rights. As the king claimed the deanery of St. Burian as a royal peculiar exempt

from ordinary jurisdiction, and eventually made good his claim, it is plain that neither the promises of the parishioners nor the polyglot sermon of the Bishop, could have had any lasting effect. The patronage was soon after conferred on the Black Prince, and through him transmitted to the present Duke of Cornwall, by whose spontaneous act this obnoxious exemption from episcopal control was wholly and for ever renounced within the last two years. The successor of Grandison may now, therefore, visit the churches of the deanery, excommunicate the ministers and parishioners, and interrogate presentees, without let or hindrance; and, since the language of Cornwall died with old Dolly Pentreath, his lordship will not require the hermeneutic services either of the present or the late incumbent of St. Just.

E. SMIRKE.

ON THE EXPRESSION "RICHLY DESERVED."

I was a few days ago induced to consider whence the common expression "richly deserved" could be derived. It is used by Addison and his contemporaries, but I have not been able to find it in writers of an earlier period. Possibly the reading of some of your contributors may supply instances of its occurrence which may prove more precisely its origin and history.

The phrase, in its literal sense, is anomalous and unmeaning. We may properly say that a reward or punishment has been "fully deserved" or, by a common mode of exaggeration, we may say that a thing has been "abundantly deserved:" but "richly deserved" seems a false figure of speech, and presents to the mind an obvious incongruity of ideas. Dr. Johnson cites a passage from Addison, in which chastisement is said to have been "richly deserved," and says that it is used ironically to signify "truly" or "abundantly."

Of the meaning of the expression—now by usage become trivial—there can, of course, be no doubt; but how came so inappropriate a thought as wealth to be applied to desert? The inaptitude of the expression suggests the presumption that it is a corruption of some more correct phrase; and I venture to throw out a conjecture, for confirmation or refutation by the more extensive reading of some of your philological contributors, that it is corrupted through the medium of oral pronunciation from "righteously deserved."

In one of the prayers of the Litany, in our Book of Common Prayer, is the expression, "Turn from us all those evils which we most righteously have deserved." "Righteously" is itself a barbarous corruption of an excellent English word, "rightwisely," which is used by Bishop Fisher and other old writers. Our ancient kings were said to be "rightwise" kings of England, and to hold their prerogatives and titles "rightwisely;" and in the Liturgies of Edward VI. the word "rightwisely" is found, instead of "righteously," in the prayer of the Litany above-mentioned. Now "rightwisely deserved" is an expression as strictly logical and correct, as "richly deserved" is the contrary; and as "righteously" is clearly a corruption of "rightwisely," may not "richly," when applied to desert, be corrupted immediately from "righteously," and ultimately from "rightwisely?"

D. JARDINE.

THE CAXTON COFFER.

If I were to print the explanation which follows without also producing evidence that it had escaped the notice of those to whose works all students in early English bibliography have recourse, it would seem like advancing a claim to discovery on very slight grounds. I must therefore quote Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin.

"The history of Lombardy, translated from the Latin [by William Caxton], is mentioned by Pitts."—J. AMES, 1749.

"I take this History of Lombardy to be no other than 'the gestis of the Lombardes and of Machomet wyth other cronycles,' added to the life of St. Pelagyen in the Golden legend, and printed separately for the use of the commonality [sic], who could not purchase so large a folio."—W. HERBERT, 1785; T. F. DIBDIN, 1810.

Both Bale and Pits ascribe to Caxton the translation of a work entitled Historia Lumbardica. Ames, as we have seen, states the fact with regard to Pits, but had met with no such work; Herbert, by way of explanation, assumes the existence of a publication of which no one had before heard; and Dibdin, who had far superior means of information, repeats the observations of Herbert without the addition of one word expressive of assent or dissent. May we not infer their inability to solve the problem?

The conjecture of Herbert is very plausible. One fact, however, is worth a score of conjectures; and the fact, in this case, is that in the earlier editions of the Latin legend the title is Legenda sanctorum sive historia Longobardica. Jacques de Voragine, the author of the work in question, was a Lombard by birth, and archbishop of Genoa. Now Lombardi and Longobardi were synonymous terms—as we see in Du Fresne; and so were their derivatives. With this explanation, it must be admitted that the Historia Lumbardica of Bale and Pits is no other than the Golden legend!

BOLTON CORNEY.

Since my last communication, I have ascertained that "Caxton," in Cambridgeshire was also designated "Causton."

In the Abbrev. Rot. Origin., 41 E. 3., Rot. 42., we have—

"Cantabr. Johēs Freville dat viginti marcas [p=] liē feoffandi Johēm de Carleton et Johēm de Selv̅le de man'io de Causton," &c.

And in Cal. Inq., p. m., 4 R. 2., No. 23., we have—

"Elena uxor Johēs Frevill Chr̅. Caxton maner 3a pars—Cantabr."

We have, then, in Cambridgeshire "Causton" and "Caxton" used indifferently for the same manor. There need be no difficulty, therefore, in identifying the name of "Caxton" with "Causton" manor in Hadlow.

We have advanced, then, one step further in our investigation, and the case at present stands thus: Caxton says of himself that he was born in the Weald of Kent. Fuller, as cited by MR. BOLTON CORNEY, says, "William Caxton was born in that town [sc. Caxton]."

In the Weald of Kent is a manor called Causton (to which we may now add) alias Caxton, which manor was owned in the middle of the fourteenth century by a family of the same name (from whom it had passed a century later), and held of the honour of Clare, the lords of which honour, in the fifteenth century, were that ducal and royal house, by which William Caxton was warmly patronised.

From these data we will hope that some of your correspondents may deduce materials for satisfactorily fixing the place of Caxton's birth. Is there upon record any note of armorial bearings, or of any badge used by Caxton? Should there be, and we find such to be at all connected with the bearings of the lords of Causton, it will be additional evidence in our favour.

LAMBERT B. LARKING.

In the body of St. Alphege Church, Canterbury, is the following monumental inscription:

life of October the 12 day

And Isabel his second wiff

Passed to blisse where is no strife

The xijt day to tell the trowth

Of the same moneth as our Lord knoweth

In the yeare of our Lord God a thousand fower hundred fowerscore and five."

What relation (if any) was the above to the typographer? They must have been co-existent, and the "Note" may perhaps be a step in the right direction for arriving at the true "stock" of the Caxton Coffer.

FRANCISCUS.

ADMONITION TO THE PARLIAMENT.

I never had the good fortune to see a copy of the book called An Admonition to the Parliament, but I find a full description of it in Herbert's Ames, iii. 1631., under the date of 1572, from which I gather that it had been printed four times anterior to that year. It was written by two puritanical divines, Field and Wilcox, and contained such an attack upon the bishops, that they did their utmost to suppress it; but Whitgift, nevertheless, gave it additional notoriety by publishing an answer to it, which came out originally in 1571, and was reprinted in 1572 and 1573 (Herbert's Ames, ii. 934.). I have not Strype at hand to see what he says about the Admonition, and the reply to it; but some time ago I met with a letter among the Lansdown MSS. (No. 27.) which relates to the Admonition, and shows that Thomas Woodcock, a well known stationer, had been confined in Newgate by the Bishop of London (Aylmer) for selling it. It is dated 9th Dec. 1578, and is subscribed by five of the most distinguished and respectable printers and publishers of that day, soliciting Lord Burghley (to whom it is addressed) to interfere on behalf of the poor prisoner. It runs precisely in the following form:

"Our humble duties unto your good L. premised. May it please the same to be advertised, that one Thomas Woodcock, an honest young man, and one of our Company, hathe bin imprisoned in Newgate by the L. Bishopp of London theis six dayes, for sellinge of certaine bookes called the Admonition to the Parliament. Dyvers of the poore mans frendes have bin earnest suitors unto the Bishopp of London for his libertie: his L. aunswere unto them is, that he neither can nor will do any thinge without your L. consent, signified by your letters or warrant. It may therfore please your honor, in consideration of the premisses and our humble request, either to direct your L. warrant for his enlargement, or els to signifie your pleasure unto the L. Bishopp of London to take order herein accordingly, the said poore man first puttinge in sufficient bond to appeare at all tymes when he shalbe called, and readdy to aunswere to any matters whatsoever shalbe objected against him. Thus prayinge, accordinge to our duties, for your good L. long and prosperous health with encrease of honor, we commyt the same for this tyme to the protection of the Almightie. At London, 9o Decemb. 1578.

"Your L. most humble at Command the Mr. and Wardens with others of the Company of Stationers,

"RYCHARDE TOTTYLL, JOHN HARYSON,
GEORGE BYSSHOP, WILLM. SERES,
JOHN DAYE."

From the above we may perhaps conclude, that an edition of the Admonition to Parliament had been printed not long before the date of Thomas Woodcock's imprisonment for selling it; but I do not find that any historian or bibliographer mentions such an edition. Excepting in the letter of the five stationers, Tottyll, Bysshop, Haryson, Seres, and Daye, there seems to be no authority for connecting Woodcock with the publication, and his confinement did not take place until Dec. 6, 1578; whereas Neal, in his History of the Puritans, as cited by Herbert, informs us that Field and Wilcox, on presenting the Admonition to the House of Commons in 1572, were immediately committed to Newgate.

Unless there were two puritanical ministers of the name of Field, he, who was imprisoned with Wilcox, was the John Field, who, I apprehend, was the father of Nathaniel Field, the actor in Shakspeare's plays, and the Theophilus Field, who (in spite of his father's hostility to the church and bishops, and in spite of his brother's devotion to the stage,) was afterwards Bishop of Llandaff from 1619 to 1627, Bishop of St. David's from 1627 to 1635, and Bishop of Hereford from 1635 to 1636, when he died.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

FOLK LORE.

New Year's Rain—Saxon Spell.

—I have just read a good-natured notice[1] in The Athenæum of December 6th, in which your contemporary suggests that communications on the subject of Folk Lore should be addressed to you. The perusal of it has reminded me of two Queries upon the subject, which I had originally intended to address to the editor of that paper, as they refer to articles which appeared in his own pages. On his hint, however, I will transfer them to your columns; and avail myself of the opportunity of thanking the editor of The Athenæum for having for so long a period and so effectually directed the attention of the readers of that influential journal to a subject of great interest to many, and of considerable historical value. The first relates to a song sung by the children in South Wales on New Year's morning, when carrying a jug full of water newly drawn from the well. It is given in The Athenæum, No. 1058., for the 5th Feb., 1848, and there several references will be found to cognate superstitions. My object is to ask if the song is known elsewhere; and if so, whether with any such varieties of readings as would clear some of the obscurities of the present version:—

The second is from The Athenæum's very able review of Mr. Kemble's Saxons in England,—a work of learning and genius not yet nearly so well known as it deserves. The reviewer says:

"In one of the Saxon spells, which Mr. Kemble has inserted in his appendix, we at once recognized a rhyme which we have heard an old woman in our childhood use—and in which many Saxon words, unintelligible to her, were probably retained."

If my communication should meet the eye of the gentleman who wrote this, I hope he will let the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" become acquainted with the rhyme in question. For it is obvious that among them will be found many who agree with him that "a very

curious and useful compilation might be made of the various spells in use in different parts of England, classed according to their localities,—more especially if the collectors would give them verbatim," and who would therefore be willing to assist towards its formation.

A FOLK-LORIST.

[1] We should not be doing justice either to our own feelings or to the kindness and liberality of our able and most influential contemporary, if we did not take this opportunity of acknowledging not only his kindness upon the present occasion, but also the encouragement which The Athenæum has taken every opportunity of affording to "NOTES AND QUERIES."—ED. N. & Q.

Fishermen's superstitions.

—A friend recently informed me that at Preston Pans the two following superstitious observances exist among the fishermen of that place. If, on their way to their boats, they meet a pig, they at once turn back and defer their embarkation. The event is an omen that bodes ill for their fishery.

It is a favourite custom to set sail on the Sunday for the fishing grounds. A clergyman of the town is said to pray against their sabbath-breaking; and to prevent any injury accruing from his prayers, the fishermen make a small image of rags, and burn it on the top of their chimneys.

U.

THE AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS AT LUDLOW CASTLE.

So little is known of Butler,—his life, as his biographers have given it to us, is made up of so very few anecdotes and dates,—that I have thought any Note which contained a fact about him, would be an acceptable addition to "N. & Q." (I shall value your space, you see, in future contributions). The following entries are copied from Lord Carbery's Account of the Expense incurred in making Ludlow Castle habitable after Clarendon's "Great Rebellion" (query, Civil War); and the entries are valuable as specifying the period of Butler's services as steward of Ludlow Castle, and the nature of the services performed by the great wit:—

I was at Ludlow Castle last autumn, and thought (of course) of Comus and Hudibras. I bought at the same time the three parts of my friend Mr. Wright's excellent History of Ludlow Castle, and paid in advance for the concluding part. Pray let me ask Mr. Wright (through "N. & Q.") by what time (I am a hungry antiquary) we may hope the concluding part will be published? I will gladly show Mr. Wright Lord Carbery's Account.

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

DR. FRANKLIN'S TRACT ON LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.

In Dr. Franklin's Autobiography, he mentions as his first work a pamphlet printed in London in 1725 on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. It was written by him when he was eighteen years of age, and partly in answer to Wollaston's Religion of Nature. The object was to prove, from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world; and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing. He printed, he says, only a hundred copies, of which he gave a few to his friends; and afterwards disliking the piece, as conceiving it might have an ill tendency, he burnt the rest except one copy. This tract, most curious as the first publication of this extraordinary man, seems to have eluded hitherto every search. In Jared Sparks's elaborate edition of Dr. Franklin's Works in 10 vols., it is of course not to be found. In a note (vol. viii., p. 405.), the editor observes, "No copy of this tract is now known to be in existence." Nor do I find that any writer on the subject of Franklin, or the history of metaphysics, or moral philosophy, appears to have seen it. Sir Jas. Mackintosh was long in search of it, but was compelled ultimately to give it up in despair.

I am happy to inform those who may take an interest in Dr. Franklin's first performance—and what is there in literary history more attractive than to compare the earliest works of great men with their maturer efforts?—that I fortunately possess a copy of this tract. It is bound up in a volume of tracts, and came from the library of the Rev. S. Harper. The title is, "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, in a Letter to a Friend:

It is addressed to Mr. J(ames) R(alph), and commences: "Sir, I have here, according to your request, given you my present thoughts on the general state of things in the universe;" and concludes, "Truth will be truth, though it sometimes proves mortifying and distasteful." The pamphlet contains sixteen very closely printed pages in octavo; and the author proceeds by laying down his propositions, and then enlarging upon them, so as to form, in his opinion, a regular chain of consequences. It displays, as might be anticipated, considerable acuteness, though the reasonings, as he admits in his Autobiography, were such as to his maturer intellect appeared inconclusive. He subsequently wrote another pamphlet, in which he took the other side of the question; but it was never published, and I suppose is not now in existence.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

EARLY FLEMISH ILLUSTRATIONS OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

The commencement of a new volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" affords a favourable opportunity for "tapping" (to use an expressive phrase of Horace Walpole's) a subject, on which it is reasonable to suppose much light may be thrown by some of your learned correspondents. I allude to the connection which formerly subsisted between the literature of England, and that of the Low

Countries. Fortunate, indeed, would it be if any communication to "NOTES AND QUERIES" might be the means of drawing some illustration from one qualified beyond all others to treat every branch of this most interesting subject. Those of your readers who had the pleasure of hearing the admirable speech of a distinguished diplomatist at the Centenary Dinner of the Society of Antiquaries, will probably understand to whom I refer.

Reserving for a future occasion some observations on the manner in which our English antiquaries have hitherto overlooked the materials illustrative of our popular literature, our popular superstitions, our early drama, our legends, and our traditions, which may be had for the gathering, from the popular literature, the popular superstitions, the early drama, the legends and traditions of the Low Countries—those Low Countries from which Chaucer married his wife—those Low Countries from which Caxton brought us his printing-press, and its long train of blessings—those Low Countries, in which, as I believe, and hope one day to prove, Shakspeare himself added to his vast stores of knowledge—I shall for the present content myself with one example, and that shall be a seasonable one, namely, of the similarity between the old Flemish carols, and those with which, at this happy season, the nights were whilom blest here in Old England.

Hoffman von Fallersleben, in the second part of his Horæ Belgicæ, that great storehouse of materials for illustrating the early literature of the Netherlands (and which second part, by the bye, was separately published under the title of Holländische Volkslieder), after showing that the sacred songs of the Low Countries are, like our own, separable into Christmas carols, Easter hymns, songs in praise of the Virgin, and songs of Christian doctrine, proceeds to characterise the former in terms in which one might well describe many of those which were formerly most popular in our country. "The carols," he remarks, "are especially deserving of our attention. In them is most clearly shown the child-like religious spirit of the olden times, when men were not content merely to relate in the simple ballad form the story of Our Saviour's birth as recorded in Holy Scripture, but sought, by the introduction of little touches drawn from social and country life, to make that story more attractive and more instructive, and so to bring it home more directly to the hearts of their pious hearers." How truly applicable these remarks are to many of our own carols, must be obvious to all who know Mr. Sandys' valuable Collection; and the following instances, which Hoffman adduces in support of his views, will, I trust, satisfy your readers that I am right in maintaining the great resemblance between the carols of Old Flanders and those of Old England.

"Many of the descriptions in these carols," he remarks, "bear a strong resemblance to some of the Bible pictures of the old masters;" and he gives, as an instance, the following simple picture of the Infant Jesus in the bath: