{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13362/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13362","id":"gutenberg_13362","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13362","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Notes and Queries","Questions and answers -- Periodicals"],"text":"NOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nA MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,\nGENEALOGISTS, ETC.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"When found, make a note of.\"--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNo. 38.] SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{113}\n\nCONTENTS\n\nNOTES:--\n  Meaning of Delighted as used by Shakspeare, by S. Hickson\n  Authors of \"The Rolliad,\" by Lord Braybrooke\n  Notes on Milton\n  Derivation of Easter, by J. Sansom\n  Folk Lore--Passages of Death, by Dr. Guest--Divination\n    at Marriages\n  Francis Lenton the Poet, by Dr. Rimbault\n  Minor Notes:--Lilburn or Prynne--Peep of Day--Martinet--\n    Guy's Porridge Pot\nQUERIES:--\n  Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding, by John Miland\n  Stukeley's \"Stonehenge,\" by Henry Cunliffe\n  Athelstane's Form of Donation--Meaning of \"Somagia,\"\n    by J. Sansom\n  Minor Queries:--Charade--\"Smoke Money\"--\"Rapido\n    contrarius orbi\"--Lord Richard Christophilus--\n    Fiz gigs--Specimens of Erica in Bloom--Michael\n    Scott the Wizard--Stone Chalices\nREPLIES:--\n  Ulrich von Hutten and the \"Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum\n    Virorum,\" by S.W. Singer\n  Caxton's Printing-office, by J.G. Nichols\n  The New Temple\n  Strangers in the House of Commons\n  Replies to Minor Queries:--Morganatic Marriage--\n    Umbrellas--Bands--Scarf--Jewish Music--North\n    Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated--\"Men are but\n    Children\" &c.--Ventriloquism--Cromwell's Estates\n    --Magor--Vincent Gookin--All-to brake\nMISCELLANEOUS:--\n  Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, Sales, &c.\n  Books and Odd Volumes Wanted\n  Notices to Correspondents\n  Advertisements\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nWHAT IS THE MEANING OF \"DELIGHTED,\" AS SOMETIMES USED BY SHAKSPEARE.\n\nI wish to call attention to the peculiar use of a word, or rather to a\npeculiar word, in Shakspeare, which I do not recollect to have met with\nin any other writer. I say a \"peculiar word,\" because, although the verb\n_To delight_ is well known, and of general use, the word, the same in\nform, to which I refer, is not only of different meaning, but, as I\nconceive, of distinct derivation the non-recognition of which has led to\na misconception of the meaning of one of the finest passages in\nShakspeare. The first passage in which it occurs, that I shall quote, is\nthe well known one from _Measure for Measure_:\n\n  \"Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;\n  To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot,\n  This sensible warm motion to become\n  A kneaded clod; and the _delighted_ spirit\n  To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside\n  In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;\n  To be imprison'd in the viewless winds\n  And blown with restless violence round about\n  The pendant world.\" Act iii. Sc. 1.\n\nNow, if we examine the construction of this passage, we shall find that\nit appears to have been the object of the writer to separate, and place\nin juxtaposition with each other, the conditions of the body and the\nspirit, each being imagined under circumstances to excite repulsion or\nterror in a sentient being. The mind sees the former lying in \"cold\nobstruction,\" rotting, changed from a \"sensible warm motion\" to a\n\"kneaded clod,\" every circumstance leaving the impression of dull, dead\nweight, deprived of force and motion. The spirit, on the other hand, is\nimagined under circumstances that give the most vivid picture\nconceivable of utter powerlessness:\n\n    \"Imprison'd in the viewless winds,\n  And blown with restless violence round about\n  The pendant world.\"\n\nTo call the spirit here \"delighted,\" in our sense of the term, would be\nabsurd; and no explanation of the passage in this sense, however\ningenious, is intelligible. That it is intended to represent the spirit\nsimply as _lightened_, made light, relieved from the weight of matter, I\nam convinced, and this is my view of the meaning of the word in the\npresent instance.\n\n_Delight_ is naturally formed by the participle _de_ and _light_, to\nmake light, in the same way as \"debase,\" to make base, \"defile,\" to make\nfoul. The analogy is not quite so perfect in such words as \"define,\"\n\"defile\" (file), \"deliver,\" \"depart,\" &c.; yet they all may be\nconsidered of the same class. The last of these is used with us only in\nthe sense of _to go away_; in Shakspeare's time (and Shakspeare so uses\nit) it meant also _to part_, or _part with_. A correspondent of Mr.\nKnight's suggests {114} for the word _delight_ in this passage, also, a\nnew derivation; using _de_ as a negation, and _light (lux), delighted_,\nremoved from the regions of light. This is impossible; if we look at the\ncontext we shall see that it not only contemplated no such thing, but\nthat it is distinctly opposed to it.\n\nI am less inclined to entertain any doubt of the view I have taken being\ncorrect, from the confirmation it receives in another passage of\nShakspeare, which runs as follows:\n\n  \"If virtue no _delighted_ beauty lack,\n  Your son-in-law shows far more fair than black.\"\n\n_Othello_, Act i. Sc. 3.\n\nPassing by the cool impertinence of one editor, who asserts that\nShakspeare frequently used the past for the present participle, and the\nalmost equally cool correction of another, who places the explanatory\nnote \"*delightful\" at the bottom of the page, I will merely remark that\nthe two latest editors of Shakspeare, having apparently nothing to say\non the subject, have very wisely said nothing. Yet, as we understand the\nterm \"delighted,\" the passage surely needs explanation. We cannot\nsuppose that Shakspeare used epithets so weakening as \"delighting\" or\n\"delightful.\" The meaning of the passage would appear to be this: If\nvirtue be not wanting in beauty--such beauty as can belong to virtue,\nnot physical, but of a higher kind, and freed from all material\nelements--then your son-in-law, black though he is, shows far more fair\nthan black, possessing, in fact, this _abstract_ kind of beauty to that\ndegree that his colour is forgotten. In short, \"delighted\" here seems to\nmean, _lightened_ of all that is gross or unessential.\n\nThere is yet another instance in Cymbeline, which seems to bear a\nsimilar construction:\n\n  \"Whom best I love, I cross: to make my gifts\n  The more delay'd, _delighted_.\"\n\nAct v. Sc. 4.\n\nThat is, \"the _more_ delighted;\" the longer held back, the better worth\nhaving; lightened of whatever might detract from their value, that is,\nrefined or purified. In making the remark here, that \"delighted\" refers\nnot to the recipient nor to the giver, but to the gifts, I pass by the\nnonsense that the greatest master of the English language did not heed\nthe distinction between the past and the present participles, as not\nworth a second thought.\n\nThe word appears to have had a distinct value of its own, and is not to\nbe explained by any other single word. If this be so, it could hardly\nhave been coined by Shakspeare. Though, possibly, it may never have been\nmuch used, perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to furnish\nother instances from other writers.\n\nSAMUEL HICKSON.\n\nSt. John's Wood.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAUTHORS OF \"THE ROLLIAD.\"\n\nThe subjoined list of the authors of _The Rolliad_, though less complete\nthan I could have wished, is, I believe, substantially correct, and may,\ntherefore, be acceptable to your readers. The names were transcribed by\nme from a copy of the ninth edition of _The Rolliad_ (1791), still in\nthe library at Sunninghill Park, in which they had been recorded on the\nfirst page of the respective papers.\n\nThere seems to be no doubt that they were originally communicated by Mr.\nGeorge Ellis, who has always been considered as one of the most talented\ncontributors to _The Rolliad_. He also resided for many years at\nSunninghill, and was in habits of intimacy with the owners of the Park.\nYour correspondent C. (Vol. ii., p. 43.) may remark that Lord John\nTownshend's name occurs only twice in my list; but his Lordship may have\nwritten some of the papers which are not in the Sunninghill volume, as\nthey appeared only in the editions of the work printed subsequently to\n1791, and are designated as _Political Miscellanies_.\n\n_Names of the Authors of the Rolliad_.\n\nDedication to Kenyon       Dr. Laurence.\nFamily of the Rollos       Tickell, &c.\nExtract from Dedication    General Fitzpatrick.\nCriticisms from the                            No.\n_Rolliad_                  George Ellis        1 & 2.\n----                       Dr. Laurence        3.\n----                       Richardson          4.\n----                       General Fitzpatrick 5.\n----                       Dr. Laurence        6, 7, 8.\n----                       General Fitzpatrick 9.\n----                       Richardson          10 & 11.\n----                       General Fitzpatrick 12.\nCriticisms not in the\n  original, but probably\n  written by               Dr. Laurence        13 & 14.\nCriticisms, &c. Part. ii.  George Ellis        1 & 2.\n----                       Richardson          3 & 4.\n----                       General Fitzpatrick 5.\nCriticisms, not in the\noriginal                   Mr. Reid            6.\n----                       Dr. Laurence        7.\n\n_Political Eclogues_.\n\nRose                       Dr. Laurence.\nThe Liars                  General Fitzpatrick.\nMargaret Nicholson         Mr. Adair.\nCharles Jenkinson          George Ellis.\nJekyl                      Lord John Townshend.\n\n_Probationary Odes_.\n\nAll the Preliminaries      Mr. Tickell.\nIrregular Ode              Mr. Tickell         No. 1.\nOde to the New Year        George Ellis        2.\nOde                        Rev. H. Bate Dudley 3.\n----                       Richardson          4.\nDuan                       John Ellis          5. {115}\nOssianade                  Unknown             6.\nIrregular Ode              Unknown             7.\nOde to the Attorney-\n  General                  Mr. Brummell        8.\nLaureate Ode               Mr. Tickell         9.\nNew Year's Ode             Mr. Pearce          10.\nOde by M.A. Taylor         Mr. Boscawen        11.\n---- by Major Scott        Lord John Towns-\n                           hend                12.\n---- Irregular(Dundas)     Never known to the\n                           Club                13.\n---- by Warton             Bishop of Ossory\n                           (Hon. William\n                           Beresford)          14.\n---- Pindaric              General Fitzpatrick 15.\n---- Irregular             Dr. Laurence        16.\n---- Prettyman             General Burgoyne    17.\n---- Graham                Mr. Reid            18.\nLetter, &c. and Mount-\n  morres                   Richardson          19.\nBirthday Ode               George Ellis        20.\nPindaric Ode               Unmarked            21.\nReal Birthday Ode          T. Warton           22.\nRemaining prose            Richardson.\n\nI am not certain whether Mr. Adair, to whom \"Margaret Nicholson,\" one of\nthe happiest of the Political Eclogues, is attributed, is the present\nSir Robert Adair. If so, as the only survivor amongst his literary\ncolleagues, he might furnish some interesting particulars respecting the\nremarkable work to which I have called your attention.\n\nBRAYBROOKE.\n\nAudley End, July, 1850.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNOTES ON MILTON.\n\n(Continued from Vol. ii., p. 53.)\n\n_Il Penseroso._\n\nOn l. 8 (G.):--\n\n  \"Fantastic swarms of dreams there hover'd,\n  Green, red, and yellow, tawney, black, and blue;\n  They make no noise, but right resemble may\n  Th' unnumber'd moats that in the sun-beams play.\"\n\n_Sylvester's Du Bartas._\n\nC\u00e6lia, in Beaumont and Fletcher's _Humorous Lieutenant_, says,--\n\n  \"My maidenhead to a mote in the sun, he's jealous.\"\n\nAct iv. Sc. 8.\n\nOn l. 35. (G.) Mr. Warton might have found a happier illustration of his\nargument in Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his Humour_, Act i. Sc. 3.:--\n\n  \"Too conceal such real ornaments as these, and shadow\n  their glory, as a milliner's wife does her wrought\n  stomacher, with a smoaky lawn, or a _black cyprus_.\"\n\n--Whalley's edit. vol. i. p. 33.\n\nOn l. 39. (G.) The origin of this uncommon use of the word \"commerce\" is\nfrom Donne:--\n\n  \"If this commerce 'twixt heaven and earth were not\n  embarred.\"\n\n--_Poems_, p. 249. Ed. 4to. 1633.\n\nOn l. 43. (G.):--\n\n  \"That sallow-faced, sad, stooping nymph, whose eye\n  Still on the ground is fixed steadfastly.\"\n\n_Sylvester's Du Bartas_\n\nOn l. 52. (G.):--\n\n  \"Mounted aloft on Contemplation's wings.\"\n\n_G. Wither_, P. 1. vol. i. Ed. 1633.\n\nDrummond has given \"golden wings\" to Fame.\n\nOn l. 88. (G.):--\n\n  Hermes Trismegistus.\n\nOn l. 100. (G.):--\n\n  \"Tyrants' bloody gests\n  Of Thebes, Mycen\u00e6, or proud Ilion.\"\n\n_Sylvester's Du Bartas._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Arcades._\n\nOn l. 23. (G.):--\n\n  \"And without respect of odds,\n  Vye renown with Demy-gods.\"\n\n_Wither's Mistresse of Philarete_, Sig. E. 5. Ed. 1633.\n\nOn l. 27. (G.):--\n\n  \"But yet, whate'er he do or can devise,\n  Disguised glory shineth in his eyes.\"\n\n_Sylvester's Du Bartas._\n\nOn l. 46. (G.):--\n\n  \"An eastern wind commix'd with _noisome airs_,\n  Shall _blast the plants_ and the _young sapplings_.\"\n\n_Span. Trag. Old Plays_, vol. iii. p. 222.\n\nOn l. 65. (G.) Compare Drunmond--speech of Endymion before Charles:--\n\n  \"To tell by me, their herald, coming things,\n  And what each Fate to her stern distaff sings,\" &c.\n\nOn l. 84. (M.):--\n\n  \"And with his beams enamel'd every greene.\"\n\n_Fairfax's Tasso_, b. i. st. 35.\n\nOn l. 97. (G.):--\n\n  \"Those brooks with lilies bravely deck't.\"\n\n_Drayton_, 1447.\n\nOn l. 106. (G.):--\n\n  \"Pan entertains, this coming night,\n  His paramour, the Syrinx bright.\"\n\n_Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess_, Act i.\n\nJ.F.M.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDERIVATION OF EASTER.\n\nSouthey, in his _Book of the Church_, derives our word _Easter_ from a\n_Saxon_ source:--\n\n    \"The worship,\" he says, \"of the goddess _Eostre_ or _Eastre_,\n    which may probably be traced to the Astarte of the Phoenicians,\n    is retained among us in the word _Easter_; her annual festival\n    having been superseded by that sacred day.\"\n\nShould he not rather have given a _British_ origin to the name of our\nChristian holy day? Southey acknowledges that the \"heathenism which the\n{116} Saxons introduced, bears no [very little?] affinity either to that\nof the Britons or the Romans;\" yet it is certain that the Britons\nworshipped Baal and _Ashtaroth_, a relic of whose worship appears to be\nstill retained in Cornwall to this day. The Druids, as Southey tells us,\n\"made the people pass through the fire in honour of Baal.\" But the\n_festival_ in honour of Baal appears to have been in the _autumn_: for\n\n    \"They made the people,\" he informs us, \"at the beginning of\n    _winter_, extinguish all their fires on one day and kindle them\n    again from the sacred fire of the Druids, which would make the\n    house fortunate for the ensuing year; and, if any man came who\n    had not paid his yearly dues, [Easter offerings, &c., date back\n    as far as this!] they refused to give him a spark, neither durst\n    any of his neighbours relieve him, nor might he himself procure\n    fire by any other means, so that he and his family were deprived\n    of it till he had discharged the uttermost of his debt.\"\n\nThe Druidical fires kindled in the _spring_ of the year, on the other\nhand, would appear to be those in honour of _Ashtaroth_, or _Astarte_,\nfrom whom the _British Christians_ may naturally enough have derived the\nname of _Easter_ for their corresponding season. We might go even\nfurther than this, and say that the young ladies who are reported still\nto take the chief part in keeping up the Druidical festivities in\nCornwall, very happily represent the ancient _Estal_ (or _Vestal_)\nvirgins.\n\n    \"In times of Paganism,\" says O'Halloran, \"we find in _Ireland_\n    females devoted to celibacy. There was in Tara a royal\n    foundation of this kind, wherein none were admitted but virgins\n    of the noblest blood. It was called Cluain-Feart, or the place\n    of retirement till death,\" &c ... \"The duty of these virgins was\n    to keep up the fires of Bel, or the sun, and of Sambain, or the\n    moon, which customs they borrowed from their Phoenician\n    ancestors. They both [i.e. the Irish and the Phoenicians] adored\n    Bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. The 'house of\n    _Rimmon_' which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples\n    of Fleachta in Meath, was sacred to the _moon_. The word\n    '_Rimmon_' has by no means been understood by the different\n    commentators; and yet, by recurring to the Irish (a branch of\n    the Phoenician) it becomes very intelligible; for '_Re_' is\n    Irish for the moon, and '_Muadh_' signifies an _image_, and the\n    compound word '_Reamhan_,' signifies _prognosticating by the\n    appearance of the moon_. It appears by the life of our great S.\n    Columba, that the Druid temples were here decorated with figures\n    of the sun, the moon, and stars. The Phoenicians, under the name\n    of _Bel-Samen_, adored the Supreme; and it is pretty remarkable,\n    that to this very day, to wish a friend every happiness this\n    life can afford, we say in Irish, 'The blessings of _Samen_ and\n    _Bel_ be with you!' that is, of the seasons; Bel signifying the\n    sun, and Samhain the moon.\"\n\n--(See O'Halloran's _Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. P. 47.)\n\nJ. SANSOM.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFOLK LORE.\n\n_Presages of Death_.--The Note by Mr. C. FORBES (Vol. ii., p. 84.) on\n\"High Spirits considered a Presage of impending Calamity or Death,\"\nreminded me of a collection of authorities I once made, for academical\npurposes, of a somewhat analogous bearing,--I mean the ancient belief in\nthe existence of a power of prophecy at that period which immediately\nprecedes dissolution.\n\nThe most ancient, as well as the most striking instance, is recorded in\nthe forty-ninth chapter of Genesis:--\n\n    \"And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together\n    _that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last\n    days_.... And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons,\n    he gathered up his feet into his bed, and yielded up the ghost,\n    and was gathered unto his people.\"\n\nHomer affords two instances of a similar kind: thus, Patroclus\nprophesies the death of Hector (Il. [Greek: p] 852.)[1]:--\n\n  [Greek: \"Ou thaen oud autos daeron beae alla toi aedae\n  Agchi parestaeke Thanatos kai Moira krataiae,\n  Chersi dament Achilaeos amnmonos Aiakidao.\"][2]\n\nAgain, Hector in his turn prophesies the death of Achilles by the hand\nof Paris (Il. [Greek: ch.] 358.):--\n\n  [Greek: \"Phrazeo nun, mae toi ti theon maenima genomai\n  Aemati to ote ken se Pharis kai phoibus Apollon,\n  Esthlon eont, olesosin eni Skaiaesi pulaesin.\"][3]\n\nThis was not merely a poetical fancy, or a superstitious faith of the\nignorant, for we find it laid down as a great physical truth by the\ngreatest of the Greek philosophers, the divine Socrates:--\n\n    [Greek: \"To de dae meta touto epithumo humin chraesmodaesai, o\n    katapsaephisamenoi mou kai gar eimi aedae entautha en o malist\n    anthropoi chraesmodousin hotan mellosin apothaneisthai.\"][4]\n\nIn Xenophon, also, the same idea is expressed, and, if possible, in\nlanguage still more definite and precise:--{117}\n\n    [Greek: \"Hae de tou anthropou psuchae tote daepou theiotatae\n    kataphainetai, kai tote ti ton mellonton proora.\"][5]\n\nDiodorus Siculus, again, has produced great authorities on this\nsubject:--\n\n    [Greek: \"Puthagoras ho Samios, kai tines heteroi ton palaion\n    phusikon, apephaenanto tas psuchas ton anthropon uparchein\n    athanatous, akolouthos de to dogmati touto kai progignoskein\n    autas ta mellonta, kath hon an kairon en tae teleutae ton apo\n    tou somatos chorismon poiontai.\"][6]\n\nFrom the ancient writers I yet wish to add one more authority; and I do\nso especially, because the doctrine of the Stagirite is therein\nrecorded. Sextus Empiricus writes,--\n\n    [Greek: \"Hae psuchae, phaesin Aristotelaes, promanteuetai kai\n    proagoreuei ta mellonta--en to kata thanaton chorizesthai ton\n    somaton.\"][7]\n\nWithout encroaching further upon the space of this periodical by\nmultiplying evidence corroborative of the same fact, I will content\nmyself by drawing the attention of the reader to our own great poet and\nphilosopher, Shakspeare, whose subtle genius and intuitive knowledge of\nhuman nature render his opinions on all such subjects of peculiar value.\nThus in _Richard II_., Act ii. sc. 1., the dying Gaunt, alluding to his\nnephew, the young and self-willed king, exclaims,--\n\n  \"Methinks I am a prophet new inspired;\n  And thus, expiring, do foretel of him.\"\n\nAgain, in _Henry IV., Part I._, Act v. sc. 4., the brave Percy, when in\nthe agonies of death, conveys the same idea in the following words:--\n\n               \"O, I could prophesy,\n  But that the earthy and cold hand of death\n  Lies on my tongue.\"\n\nReckoning, therefore, from the time of Jacob, this belief, whether with\nor without foundation, has been maintained upwards of 3500 years. It was\ngrounded on the assumed fact, that the soul became divine in the same\nratio as its connection with the body was loosened or destroyed. In\nsleep, the unity is weakened but not ended: hence, in sleep, the\nmaterial being dead, the immaterial, or divine principle, wanders\nunguided, like a gentle breeze over the unconscious strings of an \u00c6olian\nharp; and according to the health or disease of the body are pleasing\nvisions or horrid phantoms (_\u00e6gri somnia_, as Horace) present to the\nmind of the sleeper. Before death, the soul, or immaterial principle,\nis, as it were, on the confines of two worlds, and may possess at the\nsame moment a power which is both prospective and retrospective. At that\ntime its connection with the body being merely nominal, it partakes of\nthat perfectly pure, ethereal, and exalted nature (_quod multo magis\nfaciet post mortem quum omnino corpore excesserit_) which is designed\nfor it hereafter.\n\nAs the question is an interesting one, I conclude by asking, through the\nmedium of the \"NOTES AND QUERIES,\" if a belief in this power of prophesy\nbefore death be known to exist at the present day?\n\nAUGUSTUS GUEST.\n\nLondon, July 8.\n\n[Footnote 1: For the assistance of the general reader, I have introduced\nhasty translations of the several passages quoted.]\n\n[Footnote 2: (And I moreover tell you, and do you meditate well upon it,\nthat) you yourself are not destined to live long, for even now death is\ndrawing nigh unto you, and a violent fate awaits you,--about to be slain\nin fight by the hands of Achilles, the irreproachable son of Oacus.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Consider now whether I may not be to you the cause of\ndivine anger, in that day when Paris and Phoebus Apollo shall slay you,\nalbeit so mighty, at the Scaean gate.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Wherefore I have an earnest desire to prophesy to you who\nhave condemned me; for I am already arrived at that stage of my\nexistence in which, especially, men utter prophetic sayings, that is,\nwhen they are about to die.]\n\n[Footnote 5: That time, indeed, the soul of man appears to be in a\nmanner divine, for to a certain extent it foresees things which are\nabout to happen.]\n\n[Footnote 6: Pythagoras the Samian, and some others of the ancient\nphilosophers, showed that the souls of men were immortal, and that, when\nthey were on the point of separating from the body, they possessed a\nknowledge of futurity.]\n\n[Footnote 7: The soul, says Aristotle, when on the point of taking its\ndeparture from the body, foretells and prophesies things about to\nhappen.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Divination at Marriages_.--The following practices are very prevalent\nat marriages in these districts; and as I do not find them noticed by\nBrand in the last edition of his _Popular Antiquities_, they may perhaps\nbe thought worthy a place in the \"NOTES AND QUERIES.\"\n\n1. Put a wedding ring into the _posset_, and after serving it out, the\nunmarried person whose cup contains the ring will be the first of the\ncompany to be married.\n\n2. Make a common flat cake of flour, water, currants, &c., and put\ntherein a wedding ring and a sixpence. When the company is about to\nretire on the wedding-day, the cake must be broken and distributed\namongst the unmarried females. She who gets the ring in her portion of\nthe cake will shortly be married, and the one who gets the sixpence will\ndie an old maid.\n\nT.T.W.\n\nBurnley, July 9. 1850.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFRANCIS LENTON THE POET.\n\nIn a MS. obituary of the seventeenth century, preserved at Staunton\nHall, Leicestershire, I found the following:--\n\n    \"May 12. 1642. This day died Francis Lenton, of Lincoln's Inn,\n    Gent.\"\n\nThis entry undoubtedly relates to the author of three very rare poetical\ntracts: 1. _The Young Gallant's Whirligigg_, 1629; 2. _The Innes of\nCourt_, 1634; 3. _Great Brittain's Beauties_, 1638. In the dedication to\nSir Julius C\u00e6sar, prefixed to the first-named work, the writer speaks of\nhaving \"once belonged to the _Innes of Court_,\" and says he was \"no\nusuall poetizer, but, to barre idlenesse, imployed that little talent\nthe Muses conferr'd upon him in this little tract.\" Sir Egerton Brydges\nsupposed the copy of _The Young Gallant's Whirligigg_ preserved in the\nlibrary of Sion College to be _unique_; but this is not the case, as the\nwriter knows of _two_ others,--one at Staunton Hall, and another at\nTixall Priory in Staffordshire. It has been reprinted by Mr. {118}\nHalliwell at the end of a volume containing _The Marriage of Wit and\nWisdom_, published by the Shakspeare Society. In his prefatory remarks\nthat gentleman says,\n\n    \"Besides his printed works, Lenton wrote the _Poetical History\n    of Queene Hester_, with the translation of the 83rd Psalm,\n    reflecting upon the present times. MS. dated 1649.\"\n\nThis date must be incorrect, if our entry in the Staunton obituary\nrelates to the same person; and there is every reason to suppose that it\ndoes. The _autograph_ MS. of Lenton occurred in Heber's sale (Part xi.\nNo. 724.), and is thus described:\n\n    _Hadassiah_, or the _History of Queen Hester_, sung in a sacred\n    and serious poeme, and divided into ten chapters, by F. Lenton,\n    the Queen's Majesties Poet, 1638.\n\nThis is undoubtedly the _correct_ date, as it is in the handwriting of\nthe author. Query. What is the meaning of Lenton's title, \"the Queen's\nMajesties Poet\"?\n\nEdward F. Rimbault.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMinor Notes.\n\n_Lilburn or Prynne?_--I am anxious to suggest in \"Notes and Queries\"\nwhether a character in the Second Canto of Part iii. of _Hudibras_ (line\n421), beginning,\n\n  \"To match this saint, there was another,\n  As busy and perverse a brother,\n  An haberdasher of small wares,\n  In politics and state affairs,\"\n\nHas not been wrongly given by Dr. Grey to Lilburn, and whether Prynne is\nnot rather the person described. Dr. Grey admits in his note that the\napplication of the passage to Lilburn involves an anachronism, Lilburn\nhaving died in 1657, and this passage being a description of one among\n\n  \"The quacks of government who sate\"\n\nto consult for the Restoration, when they saw ruin impending.\n\nCH.\n\n_Peep of Day._--Jacob Grimm, in his _Deutsche Mythologie_, p. 428., ed.\n1., remarks that the ideas of light and sound are sometimes confounded;\nand in support of his observation he quotes passages of Danish and\nGerman poets in which the sun and moon are said to _pipe_ (pfeifen). In\nfurther illustration of this usage, he also cites the words \"the sun\nbegan to peep,\" from a Scotch ballad in Scott's _Border Minstrelsy_,\nvol. ii. p. 430. In p. 431. he explains the words \"par son l'aube,\"\nwhich occur in old French poets, by \"per sonitum auror\u00e6;\" and compares\nthe English expression, \"the peep of day.\"\n\nThe Latin _pipio_ or _pipo_, whence the Italian _pipare_, and the French\n_p\u00e9pier_, is the ultimate origin of the verb _to peep_; which, in old\nEnglish, bore the sense of chirping, and is so used in the authorised\nversion of Isaiah, viii. 19., x. 14. Halliwell, in his _Archaic\nDictionary_, explains \"peep\" as \"a flock of chickens,\" but cites no\nexample. _To peep_, however, in the sense of taking a rapid look at\nanything through a small aperture, is an old use of the word, as is\nproved by the expression _Peeping_ Tom of Coventry. As so used, it\ncorresponds with the German _gucken_. Mr. Richardson remarks that this\nmeaning was probably suggested by the young chick looking out of the\nhalf-broken shell. It is quite certain that the \"peep of day\" has\nnothing to do with sound; but expresses the first appearance of the sun,\nas he just looks over the eastern hills.\n\nL.\n\n_Martinet._--Will the following passage throw any light on the origin of\nthe word _Martinet_?\n\n    Une discipline, devenue encore plus exacte, avait mis dans\n    l'arm\u00e9e un nouvel ordre. Il n'y avait point encore d'inspecteurs\n    de cavalerie et d'infanterie, comme nous en avons vu depuis,\n    mais deux hommes uniques chacun dans leur genre en fesaient les\n    fonctions. _Martinet mettait alors l'infanterie sur le pied de\n    discipline o\u00f9 elle est aujourd'hui._ Le Chevalier de _Fourilles_\n    fesait la m\u00eame change dans la cavalerie. Il y avait un an que\n    _Martinet_ avait mis la baionnette en usage dans quelque\n    r\u00e9gimens, &c.--Voltaire, _Si\u00e8cle de Louis XIV._ c. 10.\n\nC. Forbes.\n\nJuly 2.\n\n_Guy's Porridge Pot._--In the porter's lodge at Warwick Castle are\npreserved some enormous pieces of armour, which, _according to\ntradition_, were worn by the famous champion \"Guy, Earl of Warwick;\" and\nin addition (with other marvellous curiosities) is also exhibited Guy's\nporridge pot, of bell metal, said to weigh 300 lbs., and to contain 120\ngallons. There is also a flesh-fork to ring it.\n\nMr. Nichols, in his _History of Leicestershire_, Part ii. vol. iii.,\nremarks,\n\n    \"A turnpike road from Ashby to Whitwick, passes through Talbot\n    Lane. Of this lane and the famous large pot at Warwick Castle,\n    we have an old traditionary couplet:\n\n      \"'There's nothing left of Talbot's name,\n      But Talbot's Pot and Talbot's Lane.'\n\n    \"Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, died in 1439. His eldest\n    daughter, Margaret, was married to John Talbot Earl of\n    Shrewsbury, by whom she had one son, John Viscount Lisle, from\n    whom the Dudleys descended, Viscount Lisle and Earl of Warwick.\"\n\nIt would therefore appear that neither the armour nor the pot belonged\nto the \"noble Guy\"--the armour being comparatively of modern\nmanufacture, and the pot, it appears, descended from the Talbots to the\nWarwick family: which pot is generally filled with punch on the birth of\na male heir to that noble family.\n\nW. Reader.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{119}\n\n\nQUERIES.\n\nNICHOLAS FERRAR OF LITTLE GIDDING.\n\nDr. Peckard, in his Preface to the _Life of Nicholas Ferrar of Little\nGidding_, says the memoir he published was edited or compiled by him\nfrom \"the original MS. still in my possession\" (p. xi.); and in the\nAppendix adds, that \"Mr. John Ferrar,\" the elder brother of Nicholas,\nwas the author of it (p. 279.).\n\nHow he compiled or edited \"the original MS.\" he states with much candour\nin his Preface (p. xv.):\n\n    \"The editor's intention,\" in altering the narrative, \"was to\n    give what is not observed in the original, a regular series of\n    facts; and through the whole a sort of evenness and simplicity\n    of stile equally free from meanness and affectation. In short,\n    to make the old and the new, as far as he could, uniform; that\n    he might not appear to have sewed a piece of new cloth to an old\n    garment, and made its condition worse by his endeavours to mend\n    it.\"\n\nAgain, at page 308., he says,\n\n    \"There is an antient MS. in folio, giving an account of Mr. N.\n    Ferrar, which at length, from Gidding, came into the hands of\n    Mr. Ed. Ferrar of Huntingdon, and is now in the possession of\n    the editor. Mr. Peck had the use of this MS. as appears by\n    several marginal notes in his handwriting; from this and some\n    loose and unconnected papers of Mr. Peck.... the editor, as well\n    as he was able, has made out the foregoing memoirs.\"\n\nCan any of your numerous correspondents inform me if this \"antient MS.\"\nis still in existence, and in whose possession?\n\nPeckard was related to the Ferrars, and was Master of Magdalen Coll.,\nCambridge.\n\nIn \"A Catalogue of MSS. (once) at Gidding,\" Peckard, p. 306., the third\narticle is \"Lives, Characters, Histories, and Tales for moral and\nreligious Instruction, in five volumes folio, neatly bound and gilt, by\nMary Collet.\" This work, with five others, \"undoubtedly were all written\nby N. Ferrar, Sen.,\" says Dr. Peckard; and in the Memoir, at page 191.,\nhe gives a list of these \"short histories,\" ninety-eight in number,\n\"which are still remaining in my possession;\" and adds further, at p.\n194.,\n\n    \"These lives, characters, and moral essays would, I think, fill\n    two or three volumes in 8vo., but _they are written in so\n    minute_ a character, that I cannot form any conjecture to be\n    depended upon.\"\n\nI have been thus particular in describing these \"histories\", because the\nsubjects of them are identical with those in Fuller's _Holy and Profane\nState_, the first edition of which was published at Cambridge, in 1642.\n\"The characters I have conformed,\" says Fuller in his Preface, \"to the\nthen standing laws of the realm (a twelvemonth ago were they sent to the\npress), since which time the wisdom of the King and state hath\" altered\nmany things. Nicholas Ferrar died December 2, 1637, and the Query I wish\nto ask is, Did Fuller compose them (for that he was really the author of\nthem can hardly be doubted) at the suggestion and for the benefit of the\ncommunity at Gidding, some years before he published them; and is it\npossible to ascertain and determine if the MS. is in the handwriting of\nFerrar or Fuller?\n\nIs there any print or view in existence of the \"Nunnery,\" at Little\nGidding?\n\nIn the _Life of Dr. Thomas Fuller_, published anonymously in 1661, it is\nstated, that at his funeral a customary sermon was preached by Dr.\nHardy, Dean of Rochester, \"which hath not yet (though it is hoped and\nmuch desired may) passe the presse,\" p. 63.\n\nQuery. Was this sermon ever published? and secondly, who was the author\nof the _Life_ from which the above passage is quoted?\n\nJohn Miland.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSTUKELEY'S \"STONEHENGE.\"\n\nMay I request a space in your periodical for the following Queries,\ndrawn from Dr. Stukeley's _Stonehenge and Abury_, p. 31.?\n\n    1st. \"But eternally to be lamented is the loss of that tablet of\n    tin, which was found at this place (Stonehenge) in the time of\n    King Henry VIII., inscribed with many letters, but in so strange\n    a character that neither Sir Thomas Elliott, a learned\n    antiquary, nor Mr. Lilly, master of St. Paul's school, could\n    make any thing out of it. Mr. Sammes may be right, who judges it\n    to have been _Punic_. I imagine if we call it Irish we shall not\n    err much. No doubt but what it was a memorial of the founders,\n    wrote by the Druids and had it been preserved till now, would\n    have been an invaluable curiosity.\"\n\nCan you or any of your contributors give me any further information\nabout this inscription?\n\n2. The Doctor continues,\n\n    \"To make the reader some amends for such a loss I have given a\n    specimen of supposed Druid writing, out of Lambecius' account of\n    the Emperor's library at Vienna. 'Tis wrote on a very thin plate\n    of gold with a sharp-pointed instrument. It was in an urn found\n    at Vienna, rolled up in several cases of other metal, together\n    with funeral exuvi\u00e6. It was thought by the curious, one of those\n    epistles which the Celtic people were wont to send to their\n    friends in the other world. The reader may divert himself with\n    trying to explain it.\"\n\nHas this inscription ever been explained, and how? Stukeley's book is by\nno means a rare one; therefore I have not trusted myself to copy the\ninscription: and such as feel disposed to help me in my difficulty would\ndoubtless prefer seeing the Doctor's own illustration at p. 31.\n\nHenry Cunliffe.\n\nHyde Park Street.{120}\n\nATHELSTANE'S FORM OF DONATION.--MEANING OF \"SOMAGIA.\"\n\nTristram Risdon, in his quaint _Survey of the Co. of Devon_, after\nmentioning the foundation of the church of High Bickington by King\nAthelstane,\n\n    \"Who,\" he says, \"gave to God and it one hide of land, as\n    appeareth by the donation, a copy whereof, for the antiquity\n    thereof, I will here insert: 'Iche Athelstane king, grome of\n    this home, geve and graunt to the preist of this chirch, one\n    yoke of mye land frelith to holde, woode in my holt house to\n    buyld, bitt grass for all hys beasts, fuel for hys hearth,\n    pannage for hys sowe and piggs, world without end,'\"--\n\nadds presently afterwards, that\n\n    \"Sir John Willington gave _Weeksland_ in this tything, unto\n    Robert Tolla, _cum 40 somagia annuatim capiend in Buckenholt_\n    (so be the words of the grant) in the time of K. Edw. I.\"\n\nThe Willingtons were lords of the manor of Umberleigh, where\nAthelstane's palace stood, with its chapel dedicated to the Holy\nTrinity, formerly rich in ancient monuments, and having a chantry near\nto it. Some of the monuments from this chapel are still preserved in the\nneighbouring church of Atherington.\n\nMy Queries upon this Note are:\n\n1. Whence did Risdon derive his copy of King Athelstane's form of\ndonation? 2. What is the precise meaning of the word _Somagia_?\n\nIn _Ducange_ (ed. Par. 1726, tom. vi. col. 589.) I find:\n\n    \"_Somegia_. Pr\u00e6statio, ut videtur _ex summis_, v. gr. bladi,\n    frumenti. Charta Philippi Reg. Franc. an. 1210. Idem etiam\n    Savaricus detinet sibi census suos, et venditiones, et quosdam\n    reditus, qui _Somegi\u00e6_ vocantur, et avenam, et _captagia_\n    hominum et foeminarum suarum, qui reditus cum una Somegiarum in\n    festo B. Remigii persolverentur; deinde secunda Somegia in\n    vicesima die Natalis Domini, et tertia in Octabis Resurrectionis\n    Dominic\u00e6, ei similiter persolventur; caponum etiam suorum in\n    crastino Natalis Domini percipiet solutionem: unaqu\u00e6que vero\n    somegiarum quatuor denarios bon\u00e6 monet\u00e6 valet.\"\n\nDucange refers also to some kindred words; but, instead of clearing up\nmy difficulty in the word _somagia_, he presents me with another in\n_captagia_, the meaning of which I do not clearly understand. Perhaps\nsome of your more learned contributors will obligingly help me to the\ntrue import of these words?\n\nJ. Sansom.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMinor Queries.\n\n_Charade_.--Can any one tell who is the author of the following charade?\nNo doubt, the lines are well known to many of your readers, although I\nhave never seen them in print. It has been said that Dr. Robinson, a\nphysician, wrote them. It strikes me that the real author, whoever he\nbe, richly deserves to be named in \"Notes and Queries.\"\n\n  \"Me, the contented man desires,\n  The poor man has, the rich requires;\n  The miser gives, the spendthrift saves,\n  And all must carry to their graves.\"\n\nIt can scarcely be necessary to add that the answer is, _nothing_.\n\nAlfred Gatty.\n\nJuly 1. 1850.\n\n\n\"_Smoke Money_.\"--Under this name is collected every year at Battle, in\nSussex, by the Constable, one penny from every householder, and paid to\nthe Lord of the Manor. What is its origin and meaning?\n\nB.\n\n\"_Rapido contrarius orbi_.\"--What divine of the seventeenth century\nadopted these words as his motto? They are part of a line in one of\nOwen's epigrams.\n\nN.B.\n\n_Lord Richard Christophilus_.--Can any of your readers give any account\nof Lord Richard Christophilus, a Turk converted to Christianity, to\nwhom, immediately after the Restoration, in July, 1660, the Privy\nCouncil appointed a pension of 50l. a-year, and an additional allowance\nof 2l. a-week.\n\nCH.\n\n_Fiz-gigs_.--In those excellent poems, Sandys's _Paraphrases on Job and\nother Books of the Bible_, there is a word of a most destructive\ncharacter to the effect. Speaking of leviathan, he asks,\n\n    \"Canst thou with _fiz-gigs_ pierce him to the quick?\"\n\nIt may be an ignorant question, but I do not know what fiz-gigs are.\n\nC.B.\n\n_Specimens of Erica in Bloom_.--Can any of your correspondents oblige me\nby the information where I can procure specimens in bloom of the\nfollowing plants, viz. Erica crescenta, Erica paperina, E. purpurea, E.\nflammea, and at what season they come into blossom in England? If\nspecimens are not procurable without much expense and trouble, can you\nsupply me with the name of a work in which these plants are figured?\n\nE.S.\n\nDover.\n\n_Michael Scott, the Wizard_.--What works by Michael Scott, the reputed\nwizard, (Sir Walter's _Deus ex Machina_ in _The Lay of the Last\nMinstrel_), have been printed?\n\nX.Y.A.\n\n_Stone Chalices_.--Can any of the readers of \"Notes and Queries\" inform\nme whether the use of _stone chalices_ was authorised by the ancient\nconstitutions of the Church; and, if so, at what period, and where the\nsaid constitutions were enacted?\n\nX.Y.A.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{121}\n\n\nREPLIES.\n\nULRICH VON HUTTEN AND THE \"EPISTOL\u00c6 OBSCURORUM VIRONUM.\"\n\n(Vol. ii., p. 55.)\n\nI have never seen the article in the _Quarterly Review_ to which your\ncorrespondent H.B.C. alludes: he will probably find it by reference to\nthe index, which is not just now within my reach. The neat London\nedition, 1710, of the _Epistol\u00e6_ was given by Michael Mattaire. There\nare several subsequent reimpressions, but none worth notice except that\nby Henr. Guil. Rotermund, Hanover, 1827, 8vo.; and again, with\nimprovements, \"cum nova pr\u00e6fatione, nec non illustratione historica\ncirca originem earum, atque notitia de vita et scriptis virorum in\nEpistolis occurentium aucta,\" 1830, both in 8vo.\n\nThe best edition, however, is that given by Dr. Ernst M\u00fcnch, Leipsic,\n1827, 8vo., with the following title:\n\n    \"Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum Virorum aliaque \u00c6vi Decimi sexti Monimenta\n    Rarissima. Die Briefe der Finsterlinge an Magister Ortuinus von\n    Deventer, nebst andern sehr seltenen Beitr\u00e4gen zur\n    Literatur-Sitten-und-Kirchengeschichte des xvi'n Jahrhunderts.\"\n\nThis contains many important additions, and a copious historical\nintroduction. Both the editors write in German.\n\nThat this admirable satire produced an immense effect at the period of\nits publication, there can be no doubt; but that it has ever been\nthoroughly understood and relished among us may be doubted. Mr. Hallam,\nin his _Literature of Europe_, vol. i., seems to have been disgusted\nwith the monkish dog-Latin and bald jokes, not recollecting that this\nwas a necessary and essential part of the design. Nor is it strange that\nSteele, who was perhaps not very well acquainted with the history of\nliterature, should have misconceived the nature of the publication, when\nwe learn from an epistle of Sir Thomas More to Erasmus, that some of the\nstupid theologasters themselves, who were held up to ridicule, received\nit with approbation as a serious work:\n\n    \"_Epist. Obs. Viror_. oper\u00e6 pretium est videre quantopere\n    placeant omnibus, et doctis joco, et indoctis serio, qui dum\n    ridemus, putant rideri stylum tantum, quem illi non defendunt,\n    sed gravitate sententiarum dicunt compensatum, et latere sub\n    rudi vagina pulcherrimum gladium. Utinam fuisset inditus libello\n    alius titulus! Profecto intra centum annos homines studio\n    stupidi non sensissent nasum, quamquam rhinocerotico\n    longiorem.\"[8]\n\nErasmus evidently enjoyed the witty contrivance, though he affects to\ndisapprove it as an anonymous libel. Simler, in his life of Bullinger,\nrelates that on the first reading Erasmus fell into such a fit of\nlaughter as to burst an abscess in his face with which he was at that\ntime troubled, and which prevented the necessity of a surgical\noperation.\n\nThe literary history of the _Epistol\u00e6_ and the _Dialogue_ is involved in\nobscurity. That Ulrich von Hutten had a large share in their concoction\nthere can be no doubt; and that he was assisted by Crotus Rubianus and\nHermann von Busch, if not by others, seems highly probable. The\nauthorship of _Lamentationes Obscurorum Virorum_ is a paradox which has\nnot yet been solved. They are a parody, but a poor one, of the\n_Epistol\u00e6_, and in the second edition are attributed to Ortuinus\nGratius. If they are by him, he must have been a dull dog indeed; but by\nsome it has been thought that they are the work of a Reuchlinist, to\nmystify the monks of Cologne, and render them still more ridiculous;\nyet, as the Pope's bull against the _Epistol\u00e6_, and Erasmus's\ndisapproving letter, find a prominent place, and some other\nwell-grounded inculpations occur, it appears to me that some\nslender-witted advocate of the enemies of learning has here shown his\nwant of skill in handling the weapons of the adversary.\n\nHow much Sir Thomas More was pleased with the writings of Hutten we may\ngather from the opening of a letter which Erasmus addressed to Hutten,\ngiving an interesting account of his illustrious friend, in August,\n1519:\n\n    \"Quod Thom\u00e6 Mori ingenium sic deamas, ac pen\u00e8 dixerim deperis,\n    nimirum scriptis illius inflammatus, quibus (ut ver\u00e8 scribis)\n    nihil esse potest neque doctius neque festivius; istue mibi\n    crede, clarissime Huttene tibi cum multis commune est, cum Moro\n    mutuum etiam. Nam is vicissim ade\u00f2 scriptorum tuorum genio\n    delectatur, ut ipse tibi plopemodum invideam.\"\n\nThe Dialogue (Mire Festivus), which in the edition of 1710 occurs\nbetween the first and second parts of the _Epistol\u00e6_, bears especial\nmarks of Hutten's manner, and is doubtless by him. The interlocutors are\nthree of the illustrious obscure, Magisters Ortuinus, Lupoldus, and\nGingolphus, and the first act of the comedy consists in their\nobservations upon the promoters of learning, Reuchlin, Erasmus, and\nFaber Stapulensis, who afterwards make their appearance, and the\ndiscussion becomes general, but no impression can be made upon the\nstupid and prejudiced monks. The theme is, of course, the inutility of\nthe new learning, Hebrew and Greek and correct Latinity. One short\npassage seems to me admirable:{122}\n\n    \"_M. Ging_. Et Sanctus Ambrosius, Sanctus Augustinus, et alii\n    omnes zelossimi doctores non sciebant ipsi bene tot, sicut iste\n    Ribaldi? _M. Ort_. Ipsi deberent interponere suis. _M. Lup_. Non\n    bene indigemus de suo Gr\u00e6co. _M. Ging_. Videtur eis, qui sciunt\n    dicere _tou, tou, logos, monsotiros, legoim, taff, hagiotatos_,\n    quod ipse sciunt plus quam Deus. _M. Ort_. Magister noster\n    Lupolde, creditis, quod Deus curat multum de iste Gr\u00e6co? _M.\n    Lup_. Certe non, Magister noster Ortuine, ego credo, quod Deus\n    non curat multum.\"\n\nRanke, in his _History of the Reformation_, has very justly estimated\nthe merits and character of these remarkable productions:\n\n    \"We must not look for the delicate apprehension and tact, which\n    can only be formed in a highly polished state of society, nor\n    for the indignation of insulted morality expressed by the\n    ancients: it is altogether a caricature, not of finished\n    individual portraits, but of a single type;--a clownish sensual\n    German priest, his intellect narrowed by stupid wonder and\n    fanatical hatred, who relates with silly _na\u00efvet\u00e9_ and gossiping\n    confidence the various absurd and scandalous situations into\n    which he falls. These letters are not the work of a high\n    poetical genius, but they have truth, coarse strong features of\n    resemblance, and vivid colouring.\"\n\nRanke mentions another satire, which appeared in March, 1520, directed\nagainst John Eck, the opponent of Luther, the latter being regarded in\nthe light of a successor of Reuchlin, under the title of _Abgehobelte\nEck_, or _Eccius dedolatus_, \"which, for fantastic invention, striking\nand crushing truth, and Aristophanic wit, far exceeded the _Liter\u00e6 Obsc.\nV._, which it somewhat resembled.\" I have not yet been able to meet with\nthis; but such high praise, from so judicious a critic, makes me very\ndesirous to see and peruse it.\n\nS.W. Singer.\n\nMickleham, July 3. 1850.\n\n[Footnote 8: \"Ubi primum exissent _Ep. Ob. V._ miro Monachorum applausu\nexcept\u00e6 sunt apud Britannos a Franciscanis ac Dominicanis, qui sibi\npersuadebant, eas in Reuchlini contumeliam, et Monachorum favorem, serio\nproditus: quamque quidam egregie doctus, sed nasutissimus, fingeret se\nnonnihil offendi stylo, consulati sunt hominem.\"--_Erasm. Epist._ 979.]\n\n_Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum Virorum_.--Your Querist H.B.C. (Vol. ii., pp.\n55-57.) will find, in the 53rd vol. _Edinb. Rev._ p. 180., a long\narticle on these celebrated letters, containing much of the information\nrequired. It is worthy of remark, that in page 195. we are told\n\n    \"In 1710 there was printed in London the _most elegant_ edition\n    that has ever appeared of these letters, which the editor, Mich.\n    Mattaire, gravely represents as the productions of their\n    ostensible authors.\"\n\nNow this edition, though neat, has no claim to be termed most elegant,\nwhich is hardly to be reconciled with what the reviewer says in a note,\np. 210., \"that the text of this ed. of 1710 is of no authority, and\nswarms with typographical blunders.\"\n\nThe work on its first appearance produced great excitement, and was\ncondemned by Pope Leo X. See _Dict. des Livres Condamn\u00e9s, &c._, par\nPeignot, tom. ii. p. 218.\n\nMany amusing anecdotes and notices are to be found in Bayle's _Dict_.\nSee particularly sub nomine Erasmus. Burton, in his _Anatomy of Mel._\npt. i. sec. 2. Mem 3 sub 6. citing Jovius in Elogiis, says,\n\n    \"Hostratus cucullatus adeo graviter ob Reuchlini librum qui\n    inscribitur, Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum Virorum dolore simul et pudore\n    sauciatus, et scipsum interfecerit.\"\n\nSee also _Nouv. Diction. Historique_ in the account of Gratius, O.\n\nThere is also a good article on these letters in a very excellent work\nentitled _Analectabiblion_, or _Extraits Critique de divers Livres\nrares, &c., tir\u00e9z du Cabinet du Marq. D. R. (oure)_. Paris, 1836. 2\ntomes 8vo.\n\nF.R.A.\n\n_Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum Virorum_.--The article inquired for by H.B.C. (Vol.\nii, p. 55) is probably one in the _Edinburgh Review_, vol. liii. p.\n180., attributed to Sir William Hamilton, the distinguished Professor of\nLogic in the university of Edinburgh.\n\nCH.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCAXTON'S PRINTING-OFFICE.\n\n(Vol. ii., p. 99.)\n\nMr. Rimbault is wrong in giving to Abbot Milling the honour of being the\npatron of Caxton, which is due to Abbot Esteney. Mr. C. Knight in his\n_Life of Caxton_, which appropriately formed the first work of his\nseries of _Weekly Volumes_, has the following remarks upon the passage\nfrom Stow, quoted by Mr. Rimbault:\n\n    \"The careful historians of London here committed one error; John\n    Islip did not become abbot of Westminster till 1500. John\n    Esteney was made abbot in 1474, and remained such until his\n    death in 1498. His predecessor was Thomas Milling. In Dugdale's\n    _Monasticon_ we find, speaking of Esteney, 'It was in this\n    abbot's time, and not in that of Milling, or in that of Abbot\n    Islip, that Caxton exercised the art of printing at\n    Westminster.'\"--p. 140. #/\n\nI have no work at hand to which I can refer for the date of Milling's\ndeath, but if 1492 be correct, perhaps he may have been promoted to a\nbishoprick.\n\nWith reference to Mr. Rimbault's remark, that Caxton first mentions the\nplace of his printing in 1477, so that he must have printed some time\nwithout informing us where, I may be allowed to observe that it seems\nhighly probable he printed, and indeed learned the art, at Cologne. At\nthe end of the third book of his translation of the _Recuyell of the\nHistoryes of Troye_, Caxton says:\n\n    \"Thus end I this book which I have translated after mine author,\n    as nigh as God hath given me cunning, to whom be given the laud\n    and praises ... I have practised and learned, at my great charge\n    and dispense, to ordain this said book in print, after the\n    manner and form as you may here see.\"{123}\n\nAnd on the title-page he informs us:\n\n    \"Whyche sayd translacion and werke was begonne in Brugis in\n    1468, and ended in the holy cyte of Colen, 19 Sept. 1471.\"\n\nThis may refer to the translation only; but as Caxton was both\ntranslator and printer, it does not seem unreasonable to regard it as\nindicating when his entire labour upon the work was brought to a close.\nI might support the view that Caxton printed at Cologne by other\narguments which would make the matter tolerably certain (see _Life of\nCaxton_, p. 125., &c.); but as the excellent little work to which I am\nindebted for these particulars is so well known, and so easily\naccessible, I should not be justified in occupying more of your space,\nand I will therefore conclude with noting that the parochial library at\nShipdham, in Norfolk, is said to contain books printed by Caxton and\nother early printers. Perhaps some one of your correspondents would\nrecord, for the general benefit, of what they consist.\n\nArun.\n\nDr. Rimbault has evidently not seen a short article on Caxton's printing\nat Westminster, which I inserted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for\nApril, 1846, nor the reference made to it in the magazine for June last,\np. 630., or he would have admitted that his objections to Dr. Dibdin's\nconjectures on this point had been already stated; moreover, I think he\nwould have seen that the difficulty had been actually cleared up. In\ntruth, the popular misapprehension on this subject has not been\noccasioned by any obscurity in the colophons of the great printer, or in\nthe survey of Stow, but merely by the erroneous constricted sense into\nwhich the word abbey has passed in this country. Caxton himself tells us\nhe printed his books in \"th' abbay of Westminstre,\" but he does not say\nin the church of the abbey. Stow distinctly says it was in the almonry\nof the abbey; and the handbill Dr. Rimbault refers to confirms that\nfact. The almonry was not merely \"within the precincts of the abbey,\" it\nwas actually a part of the abbey. Dr. Rimbault aims at the conclusion\nthat \"the old chapel of St. Anne was doubtless the place where the first\nprinting-office was erected in England.\" But why so? Did not the chapel\ncontinue a chapel until the Reformation, if not later? And Caxton would\nno more set up his press in a chapel than in the abbey-church itself.\nStow says it was erected in the almonry. The almonry was one of the\ncourts of the abbey, (situated directly west of the abbey-church, and\nnot east, as Dr. Dibdin surmised); it contained a chapel dedicated to\nSt. Anne, and latterly an almshouse erected by the Lady Margaret. The\nlatter probably replaced other offices or lodgings of greater antiquity,\nconnected with the duties of the almoner, or the reception and relief of\nthe poor; and there need be no doubt that it was one of these buildings\nthat the Abbot of Westminster placed at the disposal of our\nproto-typographer. There was nothing very extraordinary in his so doing\nif we view the circumstance in its true light; for the _scriptoria_ of\nthe monasteries had ever been the principal manufactories of books. A\nsingle press was now to do the work of many pens. The experiment was\nsuccessful; \"after which time,\" as Stow goes on to say, \"the like was\npractised in the Abbeys of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, St. Alban's,\nand other monasteries.\" The monks became printers instead of scribes;\nbut they would not ordinarily convert their churches or chapels into\nprinting-houses. The workmen, it is true, term the meetings held for\nconsultation on their common interests or pleasures, their _chapels_;\nand whether this may have arisen from any particular instance in which a\nchapel was converted into a printing-house, I cannot say. In order to\nascertain the origin of this term these Queries may be proposed:--Is it\npeculiar to printers and to this country? Or is it used also in other\ntrades and on the Continent?\n\nJohn Gough Nichols.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE NEW TEMPLE.\n\nAlthough I am unable to give a satisfactory reply to Mr. Foss's\ninquiries, such information as I have is freely at his service. It may,\nat all events, serve as a finger-post to the road.\n\nMy survey gives a most minute extent, of 35 preceptories, 23 \"camer\u00e6\" of\nthe Hospitallers, 13 preceptories formerly commandries of the Templars,\n74 limbs, and 70 granges, impropriations, &c., and, among them all, not\na single one of the valuation of the New Temple itself. _Reprises_ of\nthat establishment are entered, but no _receipts_.\n\nThe former are as follows:\n\n    \"In emendationem et sustentationem ecclesie Novi Templi, London,\n    et in vino, cera, et oleo, et ornamentis ejusdem ... x m.\n\n    \"In uno fratri [_sic_] Capellano et octo Capellanis secularibus,\n    deservientibus ecclesiam quondam Templariorum apud London,\n    vocatam Novum Templum, prout ordinatum est per totum consilium\n    totius regni, pro animabus fundatorum dicti Novi Templi et alia\n    [_sic_] possessionum alibi ... lv m.\n\n    \"Videlicet, frati Capellano, pro se et ecclesia, xv m., et\n    cuilibet Capellano, v m., ubi solebant esse, tempore\n    Templariorum, unus Prior ecclesie et xij Capellani seculares.\n\n    \"Item in diversis pensionibus solvendis diversis personis per\n    annum, tam in Curia domini Regis, quam Justiciariis Clericis,\n    Officiariis, et aliis ministris, in diversis Curiis suis, ac\n    etiam aliis familiaribus magnatum, tam pro terris tenementis,\n    redditibus, et libertatibus hospitalis, quam Templariorum, et\n    maxime pro terris Templariorum manutenendis, videlicet,\n    Baronibus in Scaccario domini Regis Domino Roberto de Sadyngton,\n    militi, Capitali baroni de Scaccario, xl.\" &c. &c.{124}\n\nenumerating pensions to the judges, clerks, &c., in all the courts, to\nthe amount of above 60l. per annum. To\n\n    \"Magnatibus, secretariis, et familiaribus domini Regis et\n    aliorum;\"\n\nthe pensions enumerated amount to about 440_l._ per annum.\n\nThen, to the treasurer, barons, clerks, &c., of the Exchequer (140\npersons):\n\n    \"Bis in anno, videlicet, tempore yemali, pilliola furrata\n    pellura minuti varii et bogeti, et quedam non furrata; et\n    tempore estivali totidem pilliola lineata de sindone, et quedam\n    non lineata, unicuique de Curia Scaccarii predicti, tam\n    minoribus quam majoribus, secundum gradus, statum, et officium\n    personarum predictarum, que expense se extendunt annuatim ad ...\n    x ii.\"\n\n    \"Item sunt alie expense facte in Curiis Regis annuatim pro\n    officio generalis procuratoris in diversis Curiis Regis, que de\n    necessitate fieri oportet, pro brevibus Regis, et Cartis\n    impetendis, et aliis, negociis in eisdem Curiis expediendis, que\n    ad minus ascendunt per annum, prout evidencius apparet, per\n    compotum et memoranda dicti fratris de Scaccario qui per\n    capitulum ad illud officium oneratur ... lx m.\"\n\n    \"Item in donis dandis in Curiis domini Regis et aliorum magnatum\n    _pro favore habendo_ et pro placitis defendendis, et expensis\n    parlialmentorum, ad minus bis per annum ... cc m.\"\n\nI have made these extracts somewhat more at length than may, perhaps, be\nto the point in question, because they contain much that is highly\ninteresting as to the apparently questionable mode in which the\nHospitallers obtained the protection of the courts (and probably they\nwere not singular in their proceedings); annual pensions to judges,\nbesides other largesses, and much of this \"pro favore habendo,\"\ncontrasts painfully with the \"spotless purity of the ermine\" which\ndignifies our present age.\n\nIn the \"extent\" we have occasionally a grange held rent free for life by\na judge. Chief Justice Geffrey de Scrop so held that of Penhull in\nNorthumberland.\n\nPutting all these facts together, and bearing in mind that, throughout\nthis elaborate \"extent,\" there are neither profits nor rent entered, as\nfor the Temple itself, so that it seems to have then been neither in the\npossession nor occupation of the Hospitallers, is it not possible that\nthey had alienated it to the lawyers, as a discharge for these heavy\nannual incumbrances,--_prospectively_, perhaps, because by the entry of\nthese charges among the \"reprise,\" the life interests, at all events,\nwere still paid; or perhaps the alienation was itself made to them \"pro\nfavore habendo\" in some transaction that the Hospitallers wished to have\ncarried by the Courts; or it may have been made as a _bon\u00e2 fide_ bribe\nfor future protection. At all events, when we see such extensive\npayments made annually to the lawyers, their ultimate possession of the\nfee simple is no unnatural result. But, as I am altogether ignorant of\nthe history of the New Temple, I must refrain from suggestions, giving\nthe simple facts as I find them, and leaving the rest to the learning\nand investigation of your correspondent.\n\nL.B.L.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSTRANGERS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.\n\n(Vol. ii., pp. 17. 83.)\n\nMr. Ross is right in saying that \"no alteration has taken place in the\n_practice_ of the House of Commons with respect to the admission of\nstrangers.\" The practice was at variance with the old sessional order:\nit is consistent with the new standing order of 1845. I do not\nunderstand how any one can read these words of the new standing order,\n\"that the sergeant-at-arms ... do take into his custody any stranger\nwhom he may see ... in any part of the house or gallery appropriated to\nthe members of the House: and also any stranger _who, having been\nadmitted into any other part of the house or gallery_,\" &c., and say\nthat the House of Commons does not now recognise the presence of\nstrangers; nor can I understand how Mr. Ross can doubt that the old\nsessional order absolutely prohibited their presence. It did not keep\nthem out certainly, for they were admitted in the teeth of it; but so\nlong as that sessional order was in force, prohibition to strangers was\nthe theory.\n\nMr. Ross refers to publication of speeches. Publication is still\nprohibited in theory. Mr. Ross perhaps is not aware that the prohibition\nof publication of speeches rests on a foundation independent of the old\nsessional order against the presence of strangers,--on a series of\nresolutions declaring publication to be a breach of the privileges of\nParliament, to be found in the Journals of 1642, 1694, 1695, 1697, 1703,\n1722, and 1724.\n\nWe unfortunately cannot settle in your columns whether, as Mr. Ross\nasserts, \"if a member in debate should inadvertently allude to the\npossibility of his observations being heard by a stranger, the Speaker\nwould immediately call him to order;\" but my strong belief is, that he\nwould not: and I hope, if there are any members of the House of Commons\nwho have time to read \"Notes and Queries,\" that one of them may be\ninduced to take a suitable opportunity of obtaining the Speaker's\njudgment.\n\n\"Yet at other times,\" Mr. Ross goes on to say, \"the right honourable\ngentlemen will listen complacently to discussions arising out of the\ncomplaints of members that strangers will not publish to the world all\nthat they hear pass in debate.\" If this be so, I suppose the Speaker\nsees nothing disorderly in a complaint, that what has been spoken in\nParliament has _not_ been published: but I read frequently in my\nnewspaper that the Speaker interrupts {125} members who speak of\nspeeches having been published. \"This is one of the inconsistencies,\"\nMr. Ross proceeds, \"resulting from the determination of the House not\nexpressly to recognise the presence of strangers.\" Inconsistency there\ncertainly is,--the inconsistency of making publication a breach of\nprivilege, and allowing it to go on daily.\n\nAs strangers may be admitted into the House to hear debates, and not\nallowed to publish what they hear, so they may he admitted, subject to\nexclusion at certain times, or when the House chooses. And this is the\ncase. The House, of course, retains the power of excluding them at any\nmoment. They are always made to withdraw before the House goes to a\ndivision. This is a matter of practice, founded probably on some\nsupposed reasons of convenience. Again, on any member desiring strangers\nto be excluded, the Speaker desires them to withdraw, without allowing\nany discussion.\n\nI have only to notice one other observation of Mr. Ross's, which is the\nfollowing:\n\n    \"When I speak of strangers being admitted, it must not be\n    supposed that this was done by order of the House. No,\n    everything relating to the admission of strangers to, and their\n    accommodation in the House of Commons, is effected by some\n    mysterious agency, for which no one is directly responsible. Mr.\n    Barry has built galleries for strangers in the new house; but if\n    the matter were made a subject of inquiry, it probably would\n    puzzle him to state under what authority he has acted.\"\n\nI do not think there is anything mysterious as regards admission. I am\nfond of hearing the debates, and my parliamentary friends are very kind\nto me. Sometimes I content myself with an order from a member, which\ntakes me into the hinder seats of the non-reporting strangers' gallery;\nsometimes, when I know beforehand of an interesting debate, I get one of\nmy friends to put my name on the \"Speaker's list,\" and I then take my\nseat on one of the two front rows of the strangers' gallery; sometimes,\nagain, I go down on the chance, while the House is sitting; and if I am\nfortunate enough to find any one of any friends there, he generally\nbrings me, in a few moments, an order from the Sergeant-at-arms, which\ntakes me also to the front row of the strangers' gallery. Some benches\nunder the strangers' gallery are reserved for peers, ambassadors, and\npeers' eldest sons. The Speaker and the Sergeant-at-arms give permission\ngenerally to foreigners, and sometimes to some other persons, to sit in\nthese benches. I do not know which officer of the House of Commons\nsuperintends the admission of reporters. Ladies are admitted to the\nBlack Hole assigned to them, by orders from the Sergeant-at-arms. I have\nno doubt that the Speaker and Sergeant-at-arms are responsible to the\nHouse for everything relating to the admission of strangers, and without\ntaking upon myself to say what is the authority under which Mr. Barry\nhas acted, I have no doubt that, in building galleries for strangers in\nthe new house, he has done what is consistent not only with the long\nestablished practice, but, under the new order of 1845, with the theory\nof the House of Commons.\n\nAs regards the passage quoted by Mr. Jackson from the _Edinburgh\nReview_, the reviewer would probably allow that he had overlooked the\nnew standing order of 1845; and Mr. Jackson will perceive that the\nrecognition of the presence of strangers does not legalise the\npublication of speeches. The supposed difficulty in the way of\nlegalising publication is, that the House of Commons would then make\nitself morally responsible for the publication of any libellous matter\nin speeches. I do not see the force of this difficulty. But the\nexpediency of the existing rule is not a proper subject for discussion\nin your columns.\n\nCH.\n\nWhatever the present practice of the House of Commons with respect to\nstrangers may be, it does not seem probable that it will soon undergo\nalteration. In the session of 1849 a Select Committee, composed of\nfifteen members, and including the leading men of all parties, was\nappointed \"to consider the present practice of this House in respect of\nthe exclusion of strangers.\" The following is the Report of the\nCommittee _in extenso_ (_Parl. Pap._, No. 498. Sess. 1849):\n\n    \"That the existing usage of excluding strangers during a\n    division, and upon the notice by an individual Member that\n    strangers are present, has prevailed from a very early period of\n    parliamentary history; that the instances in which the power of\n    an individual Member to exclude has been exercised have been\n    very rare: and that it is the unanimous opinion of your\n    committee, that there is no sufficient ground for making any\n    alteration in the existing practice with regard to the admission\n    or exclusion of strangers.\"\n\nThis Report confirms the statement of Mr. Ross (p. 83., _ant\u00e8_), that\nwithin his experience of thirty-one years no change has been made in the\npresent rule of the House upon this matter, which, it would seem, dates\nvery far back. The Speaker was the only witness examined before the\nCommittee, and his evidence is not printed.\n\nArun.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nREPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.\n\n_Morganatic Marriage_ (Vol. ii., p. 72.).--According to M., Ducange has\nconnected this expression with _morgingab_; but I have looked in vain\nfor such connection in my edition of the _Glossary_ (Paris, 1733). The\ntruth most probably is, that _morganatic_, in the phrase \"matrimonium ad\nmorganaticam,\" {126} was akin to the Gothic _maurgjan_, signifying, \"to\nprocrastinate,\" \"to bring to an end,\" \"to shorten,\" \"to limit.\" This\napplication of the word would naturally rise out of the restrictions\nimposed upon the wife and children of a morganatic marriage.\n\nC.H.\n\n_Umbrellas_ (Vol. i., p. 415. 436.; ii. 25.).--In Swift's description of\na city shower (_Tatler_, No. 238., October 17. 1710), umbrellas are\nmentioned as in common use by women:\n\n  \"Now in contiguous drops the flood comes down,\n  Threatening with deluge the devoted town;\n  To shops, in crowds, the daggled females fly,\n  Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy;\n  The Templar spruce, while every spout's abroach,\n  Stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a coach;\n  The tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides,\n  While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides.\"\n\nH.B.C.\n\nU.U. Club, July 2.\n\n_Bands_ (Vol. ii., pp. 23. 76.)--_Scarf_.--I was glad to read Arun's\nexplanation of the origin of the bands now worn by the clergy; which,\nhowever, seems merely to amount to their being an adoption of a Genevan\nportion of clerical costume. That they are the descendants of the ruff,\nthere can be no doubt, just as wrist-bands have more recently succeeded\nto ruffles.\n\nI cannot resist mentioning that an ingenious friend suggested to me,\nthat the broad, stiff, laid-down collar, alluded to in the former part\nof Arun's communication, possibly gave rise to the modern band in the\nfollowing manner:--When the scarf, still in use, was drawn over the\nshoulders and hung down in front, that part of the broad collar which\nwas left visible, being divided up the middle, presented a shape and\nappearance exactly like our common bands. Hence, it was imagined, this\nsmall separate article of dress might have originated.\n\nIs it Butler, Swift, or who, that says,\n\n  \"A Chrysostom to smoothe his band in\"?\n\nWhenever this was written, it must have referred to our modern bands.\n\nWho amongst the clergy are _entitled_ to wear a scarf? Is it the badge\nof a chaplain only? or what circumstances justify its being worn?\n\nAlfred Gatty.\n\nJuly 1. 1850.\n\n_Bands_ (Vol. ii., p. 76.).--An early example of the collar, approaching\nto the form of our modern bands, may be seen in the portrait of Cardinal\nBeatoun, who was assassinated in 1546. The original is in Holyrood\nPalace, and an engraving in Mr. Lodge's _Portraits_. The artist is\nunknown, but from the age of the face one may infer that it was painted\nabout 1540.\n\nC.H.\n\n_Jewish Music_ (Vol. ii., p. 88.).--See a host of authorities on the\nsubject of Hebrew music and musical instruments in Winer's\n_Realw\u00f6rterbuch_ vol. ii., pp. 120. _seq._, 3d edit. There is a good\nabstract respecting them in Jahn's _Hebrew Antiquities_, sect. 92-96.\n\nC.H.\n\n_North Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated_ (Vol. ii., p. 55.).--In\nillustration of, not in answer to, Mr. Sansom's inquiry, I beg to offer\nthe following statement. During a long series of years an average of\nabout 150 corpses has been annually deposited in Ecclesfield churchyard,\nwhich has rendered it an extremely crowded cemetery. But,\nnotwithstanding these frequent interments, my late sexton told me that\nhe remembered when there was scarcely one grave to the north of the\nchurch, it being popularly considered that only suicides, unbaptised\npersons, and still-born children ought to be buried there. However, when\na vicar died about twenty-seven years ago, unlike his predecessors, who\nhad generally been buried in the chancel, he was laid in a tomb on the\nnorth side of the churchyard, adjoining the vicarage. From this time\nforward the situation lost all its evil reputation amongst the richer\ninhabitants of the parish, who have almost entirely occupied it with\nfamily vaults.\n\nWhether the prejudice against the north side of our churchyard arose\nfrom an idea that it was unconsecrated, I cannot tell but I suspect\nthat, from inherited dislike, the poor are still indisposed towards it.\nWhen the women of the village have to come to the vicarage after\nnightfall, they generally manage to bring a companion, and hurry past\nthe gloomy end of the north transept as if they knew\n\n  \"that close behind\n  Some frightful fiend did tread.\"\n\nI cannot help fancying that the objection is attributable to a notion\nthat evil spirits haunt the spot in which, possibly from very early\ntimes, such interments took place as my sexton described. As a\nsuggestion towards a full solution of this popular superstition, I would\nask whether persons who formerly underwent ecclesiastical\nexcommunication were customarily buried on the north side of\nchurchyards?\n\nAlfred Gatty.\n\nEcclesfield, June 28. 1850.\n\nI can only give from recollection a statement of a tradition, that when\nJesus Christ died he turned his head towards the south; and so, ever\nsince, the south side of a church has the pre-eminence. There generally\nis the bishop's throne, and the south aisle of ancient basilicas was\nappropriated to men. Simple observation shows that the supposed sanctity\nextends to the churchyard,--for there the tombstones lie thickest.\n\nI find that my source of information for the {127} tradition was\nCockerell's last lecture on Architecture, _Athen\u00e6um_ for 1843, p. 187.\ncol. 3.\n\nA.J.H.\n\n\"_Men are but Children_,\" &c.--R.G. (Vol. ii., p. 22.) will find the\nline about which he inquires in Dryden's _All for Love; or, The World\nwell Lost_, Act iv. Sc. 1.\n\n  Dolabella (_loq._):\n  \"Men are but children of a larger growth,\n  Our appetites as apt to change as theirs,\n  And full as craving too, and full as vain.\"\n\nJ.R.M.\n\nKing's College, London, July 12. 1850.\n\n_Ventriloquism_ (Vol. ii., p. 88.).--Mr. SANSOM will find some curious\ninformation touching the words [Hebrew: 'or], [Greek: eggastrimuthos],\n&c., in Dr. Maitland's recent _Illustrations and Enquiries relating to\nMesmerism_, pp. 55. 81. The Lexicons of Drs. Lee and Gesenius may also\nbe consulted, under the word [Hebrew: 'or]. The former of these\nlexicographers would rank the Pythian priestess with \"our modern\nconjurers.\"\n\nC.H.\n\nSt. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.\n\n_Cromwell's Estates--Magor_ (Vol. i., p. 277. 389.).--As the South Wales\nline is now open as far as Chepstow, it may not be uninteresting to V.\nto know, that it diverges from the coast between Chepstow and Newport,\nin order to pass Bishopston and _Magor_, the last of which he rightly\nplaced in Monmouthshire.\n\nSELEUCUS.\n\n_Vincent Gookin_ (Vol. i., pp. 385. 473. 492.; Vol. ii. p. 44.) is\ndescribed in a _Narrative of the late Parliament_ (Cromwell's\nParliament, d. 1656), in the _Harleian Miscellany_, as\n\n    \"One of the letters of land in Ireland, receiving three hundred\n    pounds per annum.\"\n\nHe and three other Irish members, Colonel Jephson, Ralph King, and Bice,\nare classed together in this tract, which is hostile to Cromwell, as\n\n    \"Persons not thought meet to be in command, though they much\n    desire it, and are of such poor principles and so unfit to make\n    rulers of as they would not have been set with the dogs of the\n    flock, if the army and others who once pretended to be honest\n    had kept close to their former good and honest principles.\"\n\nVincent Gookin voted for the clause in the \"Petition and Advice\" giving\nthe title of \"King\" to Cromwell.\n\nCH.\n\n_All-to brake_ (Vol. i., p. 395.).--The interpretation given is\nincorrect. \"All-to\" is very commonly used by early writers for\n\"altogether:\" e.g., \"all-to behacked,\" Calfhill's _Answer to Martiall's\nTreatise of the Cross_, Parker Society's edition, p. 3.; \"all-to\nbecrossed,\" _ibid._ p. 91.; \"all-to bebatted,\" _ibid._ p. 133., &c. &c.\nThe Parker Society reprints will supply innumerable examples of the use\nof the expression.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS.\n\nNOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.\n\nThe two of Mr. Hunter's _Critical and Historical Tracts_, which we have\nhad the opportunity of examining, justify to the fullest the\nexpectations we had formed of them. The first, _Agincourt; a\nContribution towards an authentic List of the Commanders of the English\nHost, in King Henry the Fifth's Expedition, in the Third Year of his\nReign_, Mr. Hunter describes as \"an instalment,\" we venture to add \"a\nvery valuable instalment,\" from evidence which has been buried for\ncenturies in the unknown masses of national records, towards a complete\nlist of the English Commanders who served with the King in that\nexpedition, with, in most cases, the number of the retinue which each\nCommander undertook to bring into the field, and, in some instances,\nnotices of events happening to the contingents. The value of a work\nbased upon such materials, our historical readers will instantly\nrecognise. The lovers of our poetry will regard with equal interest, and\nperuse with equal satisfaction, Mr. Hunter's brochure entitled _Milton;\na Sheaf of Gleanings after his Biographers and Annotators_, and admit\nthat he has bound up the new biographical illustrations and critical\ncomments, which he has gathered in that pleasant field of literary\ninquiry, the life and writings of Milton, into a goodly and a pleasant\nsheaf.\n\nMessrs. Sotheby and Co. will commence on Monday, the 29th of this month,\na three days' Sale of Greek Roman, and English Coins, English and\nForeign Medals, Cabinets, &c., the property of a Gentleman leaving\nEngland.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES\n\nWANTED TO PURCHASE.\n\n(In continuation of Lists in former Nos.)\n\n_Odd Volumes._\n\nMOULTRIE'S POEMS. Vol. I.\n\nLetters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be\nsent to Mr. BELL, Publisher of \"NOTES AND QUERIES,\" 186. 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One\nobject of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the\nHistory of our National Folk-Lore; and especially some of the more\nstriking Illustrations of the subject to be found in the Writings of\nJacob Grimm and other Continental Antiquaries.\n\nCommunications of inedited Legends, Notices of remarkable Customs and\nPopular Observances, Rhyming Charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and\nwill be thankfully acknowledged by the Editor. They may be addressed to\nthe care of Mr. BELL, Office of \"NOTES AND QUERIES,\" 186. Fleet Street.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nVols. I. and II. 8vo., price 28s. cloth.\n\nTHE JUDGES OF ENGLAND; from the TIME of the CONQUEST. By EDWARD FOSS,\nF.S.A.\n\n\"A work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated\nwith the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which Mr. Foss\nhas brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many\nerrors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it\nsuccessfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation,\nand such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion\nrequires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to\nhis work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical\nhistory.\"--_Gent. Mag._\n\nLondon: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrinted by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New\nStreet Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and\npublished by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St.\nDunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet\nStreet aforesaid.--Saturday, July 20. 1850.","title":"Notes and Queries, Number 38, July 20, 1850","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":13829}