Notes and Queries, Number 191, June 25, 1853

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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.

{613}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

* * * * *

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

* * * * *

No. 191.]
Saturday, June 25, 1853.
[Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page

Witchcraft in Somersetshire 613

"Emblemata Horatiana," by Weld Taylor 614

Shakspeare Criticism, by Thomas Keightley 615

Red Hair a Reproach, by T. Hughes 616

Extracts from Newspapers, 1714, by E. G. Ballard 616

MINOR NOTES:--Last Suicide buried at a Cross Road.
--Andrew's Edition of Freund's Latin Lexicon--
Slang Expressions--"Quem Deus vult perdere"--
White Roses 617

QUERIES:--

"Merk Lands" and "Ures:" Norwegian Antiquities 618

The Leigh Peerage, and Stoneley Estates, Warwickshire 619

MINOR QUERIES:--Phillips Family--Engine-a-verge
--Garrick's Funeral Epigram--The Rosicrucians--
Passage in Schiller--Sir John Vanbrugh--Historical
Engraving--Hall-close, Silverstone, Northamptonshire
--Junius's Letters to Wilkes--The Reformer's
Elm--How to take Paint off old Oak 619

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Cadenus and Vanessa
--Boom--"A Letter to a Member of Parliament"
--Ancient Chessmen--Guthryisms 620

REPLIES:--

Correspondence of Cranmer and Calvin, by Henry Walter 621

"Populus vult decipi," by Robert Gibbings, &c. 621

Latin: Latiner 622

Jack 622

Passage in St. James, by T. J. Buckton, &c. 623

Faithfull Teate 624

Parvise 624

The Coenaculum of Lionardo da Vinci 624

Font Inscriptions, by F. B. Relton, &c. 625

Burn at Croydon 626

Christian Names, by William Bates, &c. 626

Weather Rules 627

Rococo, by Henry H. Breen 627

Descendants of John of Gaunt, by J. S. Warden 628

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem 628

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Anticipatory Worship
of the Cross--Ennui--"Qui facit per alium, facit per
se," &c.--Vincent Family--Judge Smith--"Dimidiation"
in Impalements--Worth--"Elementa sex,"
&c.--"A Diasii 'Salve,'" &c.--Meaning of "Claret"
--"The Temple of Truth"--Wellborne Family
--Devonianisms--Humbug--George Miller, D.D.
--"A Letter to a Convocation Man"--Sheriffs
of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire--Ferdinand
Mendez Pinto--"Other-some" and "Unneath"
--Willow Pattern--Cross and Pile--Old Fogie
--Another odd Mistake--Spontaneous Combustion
--Erroneous Forms of Speech--Ecclesia Anglicana--
Gloves at Fairs--The Sparrows at Lindholme, &c. 629

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 634

Notices to Correspondents 634

Advertisements 634

* * * * *

Notes.

WITCHCRAFT IN SOMERSETSHIRE.

Perhaps the following account of superstitions now entertained in some
parts of Somersetshire, will be interesting to the inquirers into the
history of witchcraft. I was lately informed by a member of my congregation
that two children living near his house were bewitched. I made inquiries
into the matter, and found that witchcraft is by far less uncommon than I
had imagined. I can hardly adduce the two children as an authenticated
case, because the medical gentleman who attended them pronounced their
illness to be a kind of ague: but I leave the two following cases on record
in "N. & Q." as memorable instances of witchcraft in the nineteenth
century.

A cottager, who does not live five minutes' walk from my house, found his
pig seized with a strange and unaccountable disorder. He, being a sensible
man, instead of asking the advice of a veterinary surgeon, immediately went
to the white witch (a gentleman who drives a flourishing trade in this
neighbourhood). He received his directions, and went home and implicitly
followed them. In perfect silence, he went to the pigsty; and lancing each
foot and both ears of the pig, he allowed the blood to run into a piece of
common dowlas. Then taking two large pins, he pierced the dowlas in
opposite directions; and still keeping silence, entered his cottage, locked
the door, placed the bloody rag upon the fire, heaped up some turf over it,
and reading a few verses of the Bible, waited till the dowlas was burned.
As soon as this was done, he returned to the pigsty; found his pig
perfectly restored to health, and, _mirabile dictu!_ as the white witch had
predicted, the old woman, who it was supposed had bewitched the pig, came
to inquire after the pig's health. The animal never suffered a day's
illness afterwards. My informant was the owner of the pig himself.

Perhaps, when I heard this story, there may have been a lurking expression
of doubt upon my face, so that my friend thought it necessary to give me
farther proof. Some time ago a lane in this town began to be looked upon
with a mysterious awe, for every evening a strange white rabbit {614} would
appear in it, and, running up and down, would mysteriously disappear. Dogs
were frequently put on the scent, but all to no purpose, the white rabbit
could not be caught; and rumours soon began to assert pretty confidently,
that the white rabbit was nothing more nor less than a witch. The man whose
pig had been bewitched was all the more confident; as every evening when
the rabbit appeared, he had noticed the bed-room window of his old enemy's
house open! At last a large party of bold-hearted men one evening were
successful enough to find the white rabbit in a garden, the only egress
from which is through a narrow passage between two cottages, all the rest
of the garden being securely surrounded by brick-walls. They placed a
strong guard in this entry to let nothing pass, while the remainder
advanced as skirmishers among the cabbages: one of these was successful,
and caught the white rabbit by the ears, and, not without some trepidation,
carried it towards the reserve in the entry. But, as he came nearer to his
friends, his courage grew; and gradually all the wrongs his poor pig had
suffered, took form and vigour in a powerful kick at the poor little
rabbit! No sooner had he done this than, he cannot tell how, the rabbit was
out of his grasp; the people in the entry saw it come, but could not stop
it; through them all it went, and has never been seen again. But now to the
proof of the witchcraft. The old woman, whom all suspected, was laid up in
her bed for three days afterwards, unable to walk about: all in consequence
of the kick she had received in the shape of a white rabbit!

S. A. S.

Bridgewater.

* * * * *

"EMBLEMATA HORATIANA."

Whatever may be proposed as to republishing works of English emblems, the
work published in Holland with the above title at all events deserves to be
better known. All the English works on the subject I ever saw, are poor
indeed compared with the above: indeed, I think most books of emblems are
either grounded or compiled from this interesting work; which is to the
artist a work of the deepest interest, since all the designs are by Otho
Venius, the master of Rubens. Not only are the morals conveyed lofty and
sound, but the figures are first-rate specimens of drawing. I believe it is
this work that Malone says Sir Joshua Reynolds learned to draw from: and if
he really did, he could have had nothing better, whatever age he might be.
"His principal fund of imitation," says Malone, "was Jacob Cat's book of
emblems, which his great-grandmother, by his father's side, who was a Dutch
woman, had brought with her from Holland." There is a small copy I think
published in England, but a very poor one: the original work, of which I
possess a portion only, is large, and engraved with great care. And I have
often thought it a pity such an admirable work should be so scarce and
little known. Whoever did it, it must have occupied many years, in those
slow days, to make the designs and engrave them. At the present day
lithography, or some of the easy modes of engraving, would soon multiply
it. The size of the engravings are rather more than seven inches. Many of
the figures have been used repeatedly by Rubens, and also some of the
compositions. And though he is certainly a better painter, he falls far
short in originality compared with his master; and, I may add, in richness
of material. I should say his chief works are to be found in that book. One
of my leaves is numbered 195: so I should judge the work to be very large,
and to embrace a variety of subjects. Some of the figures are worthy of
Raffaelle. I may instance one called the "Balance of Friendship." Two young
men have a balance between them; one side is filled with feathers, and the
other with weightier offerings: the meaning being, we should not allow
favours and gifts to come all from one side. The figures have their hands
joined, and appear to be in argument: their ample drapery is worthy of a
study for apostles.

"Undertake nothing beyond your Strength" is emblemised by the giants
scaling the heavens: one very fine figure, full of action, in the centre,
is most admirably drawn.

"Education and Habit" is another, full of meaning. Two dogs are running:
one after game, and another to a porringer. Some one has translated the
verses at the bottom on the back of the print as follows. This has a fine
group of figures in it:

"When taught by man, the hound pursues
The panting stag o'er hill and fell,
With steadfast eyes he keeps in view
The noble game he loves so well.
A mongrel coward slinks away,
The buck, the chase, ne'er warms his soul;
No huntsman's cheer can make him stay,
He runs to nothing, but his porridge bowl.

Throughout the race of men, 'tis still the same,
And all pursue a different kind of game.
Taverns and wine will form the tastes of some,
Others success in maids or wives undone.
To solid good, the wise pursues his way;
Nor for low pleasure ever deigns to stay.
Though in thy chamber all the live-long day,
In studious mood, you pass the hours away;
Or though you pace the noisy streets alone,
And silent watch day's burning orb go down;
_Nature_ to thee displays her honest page:
Read there--and see the follies of an age."

The taste for emblemata appears to have passed by, but a good selection
would be I think received with favour; particularly if access could be
obtained to a good collection. And I should like to {615} see any addition
to the REV. J. CORSER's list in the Number of the 14th of May.

WELD TAYLOR.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE CRITICISM.

When I entered on the game of criticism in "N. & Q.," I deemed that it was
to be played with good humour, in the spirit of courtesy and urbanity, and
that, consequently, though there might be much worthless criticism and
conjecture, the result would on the whole be profitable. Finding that such
is not to be the case, I retire from the field, and will trouble "N. & Q."
with no more of my lucubrations.

I have been led to this resolution by the language employed by MR.
ARROWSMITH in No. 189., where, with little modesty, and less courtesy, he
styles the commentators on Shakspeare--naming in particular, KNIGHT,
COLLIER, and DYCE, and including SINGER and all of the present
day--_criticasters_ who "stumble and bungle in sentences of that simplicity
and grammatical clearness as not to tax the powers of a third-form
schoolboy to explain." In order to bring _me_ "within his danger," he
actually transposes two lines of Shakspeare; and so, to the unwary, makes
me appear to be a very shallow person indeed.

"It was gravely," says Mr. A., "almost magisterially, proposed by one
of the disputants [MR. SINGER] to corrupt the concluding lines by
altering _their_ the pronoun into _there_ the adverb, because (shade of
Murray!) the commentator could not discover of what noun _their_ could
possibly be the pronoun, in these lines following:

'When great things labouring perish in their birth,
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;'

and it was left to MR. KEIGHTLEY to bless the world with the
information that it was _things_."

In all the modern editions that I have been able to consult, these lines
are thus printed and punctuated:

"Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;
When great things labouring perish in the birth:"

and _their_ is referred to _contents_. I certainly seem to have been the
first to refer it to _things_.

Allow me, as it is my last, to give once more the whole passage as it is in
the folios, unaltered by MR. COLLIER's Magnus Apollo, and with my own
punctuation:

"That sport best pleases, that doth least know how,
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
Dyes in the zeal of that which it presents.
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth,
When great things labouring perish in the birth."
_Love's Labour's Lost_, Act V. Sc. 2.

My interpretation, it will be seen, beside referring _their_ to _things_,
makes _dyes in_ signify _tinges_, _imbues with_; of which use of the
expression I now offer the following instances:

"And the grey ocean _into purple dye_."
_Faery Queene_, ii. 10. 48.

"Are deck'd with blossoms _dyed in white and red_."
_Ib._., ii. 12. 12.

"_Dyed in_ the dying _slaughter_ of their foes."
_King John_, Act II. Sc. 2.

"And it was _dyed in mummy_."
_Othello_, Act III. Sc. 4.

"O truant Muse! what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth _in beauty dyed_?"
Sonn. 101.

For the use of this figure I may quote from the Shakspeare of France:

"Mais pour moi, qui, cache sous une autre aventure,
D'une ame plus commune ai pris quelque _teinture_."
_Heraclius_, Act III. Sc. 1.

"The house ought to _dye_ all the surrounding country with a strength
of colouring, and to an extent proportioned to its own
importance."--_Life of Wordsworth_, i. 355.

Another place on which I had offered a conjecture, and which MR. A. takes
under his patronage, is "Clamor your tongues" (_Winter's Tale_, Act IV. Sc.
4.) and in proof of _clamor_ being the right word, he quotes passages from
a book printed in 1542, in which are _chaumbreed_ and _chaumbre_, in the
sense of restraining. I see little resemblance here to _clamor_, and he
does not say that he would substitute _chaumbre_. He says, "Most
judiciously does Nares reject Gifford's corruption of this word into
_charm_ [it was Grey not Gifford]; nor will the suffrage of the 'clever'
old commentator," &c. It is very curious, only that we _criticasters_ are
so apt to overrun our game, that the only place where "charm your tongue"
really occurs, seems to have escaped MR. COLLIER. In _Othello_, Act V. Sc.
2., Iago says to his wife, "Go to, charm your tongue;" and she replies, "I
will not charm my tongue." My conjecture was that _clamor_ was _clam_, or,
as it was usually spelt, _clem_, to press or restrain; and to this I still
adhere.

"When my entrails
Were _clemmed_ with keeping a perpetual fast."
Massinger, _Rom. Actor._, Act II. Sc. 1.

"I cannot eat stones and turfs: say, what will he _clem_ me and my
followers?"--Jonson, _Poetaster_, Act I. Sc. 2.

"Hard is the choice when the valiant must eat their arms or _clem_."
Id., _Every Man Out of his Humour_ Act III. Sc. 6.

In these places of Jonson, _clem_ is usually rendered _starve_; but it
appears to me, from the kindred of the term, that it is used elliptically.
Perhaps, instead of "Till famine _cling_ thee" (_Macbeth_, Act V. Sc. 5.),
Shakspeare wrote "Till {616} famine _clem_ thee." While in the region of
conjecture, I will add that _coasting_, in _Troilus and Cressida_ (Act IV.
Sc. 5.), is, in my opinion, simply accosting, lopped in the usual way by
aphaeresis; and that "the still-peering air" in _All's Well that Ends Well_
(Act III. Sc. 2.), is, by the same figure, "the still-appearing air,"
_i. e._ the air that appears still and silent, but that yet "_sings_ with
piercing."

One conjecture more, and I have done. I do not like altering the text
without absolute necessity; but there was always a puzzle to me in this
passage:

"Where I find him, were it
At home, upon my brother's guard, even there,
Against the hospitable canon, would I
Wash my fierce hand in 's blood."
_Coriol._, Act I. Sc. 10.

Why should Aufidius speak thus of a brother who is not mentioned anywhere
else in the play or in Plutarch? It struck me one day that Shakspeare
_might_ have written, "Upon my household hearth;" and on looking into
North's _Plutarch_, I found that when Coriolanus went to the house of
Aufidius, "he got him up straight to _the chimney-hearth_, and sate him
downe." The poet who adhered so faithfully to his _Plutarch_ may have
wished to preserve this image, and, _chimney_ not being a very poetic word,
may have substituted _household_, or some equivalent term. Again I say this
is all but conjecture.

THOMAS KEIGHTLEY.

P.S.--It is really very annoying to have to reply to unhandsome and unjust
accusations. The REV. MR. ARROWSMITH first transposes two lines of
Shakspeare, and then, by notes of admiration, holds me up as a mere
simpleton; and then A. E. B. charges me with having pirated from him my
explanation of a passage in _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act V. Sc. 2. Let any
one compare his (in "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 297.) with mine (Vol. vii., p.
136.), and he will see the utter falseness of the assertion. _He_ makes
_contents_ the nom. to _dies_, taken in its ordinary sense (rather an
unusual concord). _I_ take _dyes_ in the sense of tinges, imbues with, and
make it governed of _zeal_. But perhaps it is to the full-stop at
_presents_ that the "that's my thunder!" applies. I answer, that that was a
necessary consequence of the sense in which I had taken _dies_, and that
_their_ must then refer to _things_ maugre MR. ARROWSMITH. And when he says
that I "do him the honour of requoting the line with which he had supported
it," I merely observe that it is the line immediately following, and that I
have eyes and senses as well as A. E. B.

A. E. B. deceives himself, if he thinks that literary fame is to be
acquired in this way. I do not much approve either of the manner in which,
at least to my apprehension, in his opening paragraph, he seems to
insinuate a charge of forgery against MR. COLLIER. Finally, I can tell him
that he need not crow and clap his wings so much at his emendation of the
passage in _Lear_, for, if I mistake not, few indeed will receive it. It
may be nuts to him and MR. ARROWSMITH to know that they have succeeded in
driving my name out of the "N. & Q."

* * * * *

RED HAIR A REPROACH.

I do not know the why or the wherefore, but in every part of England I have
visited, there appears to be a deep-rooted prejudice in the eyes of the
million against people with red hair. Tradition, whether truly or not must
remain a mystery, assigns to Absalom's hair a reddish tinge; and Judas, the
traitorous disciple, is ever painted with locks of the same unhappy colour.
Shakspeare, too, seems to have been embued with the like morbid feeling of
distrust for those on whose hapless heads the invidious mark appeared. In
his play of _As You Like It_, he makes Rosalind (who is pettishly
complaining of her lover's tardiness coming to her) say to Celia:

"_Ros._ His very hair is of the dissembling colour.
_Celia._ Something browner than Judas'."

It will be apparent from this quotation, that in England, at any rate, the
prejudice spoken of is not of very recent development; and that it has not
yet vanished before the intellectual progress of our race, will, I think,
be painfully evident to many a bearer of this unenviable distinction. It
seems to be generally supposed, by those who harbour the doctrine, that
red-headed people are dissemblers, deceitful, and, in fact, not to be
trusted like others whose hair is of a different colour; and I may add,
that I myself know persons who, on that account alone, never admit into
their service any whose hair is thus objectionable. In Wales, _pen coch_
(red head) is a term of reproach universally applied to all who come under
the category; and if such a wight should by any chance involve himself in a
scrape, it is the signal at once for a regular tirade against all who have
the misfortune to possess hair of the same fiery colour.

I cannot bring myself to believe that there is any really valid foundation
for this prejudice; and certainly, if not, it were indeed a pity that the
superstitious feeling thus engendered is not at once and for ever banished
from the memory.

T. HUGHES.

* * * * *

EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS, 1714.

_Daily Courant_, Jan. 9, 1714:

"Rome, Dec. 16.--The famous painter, Carlo Maratta, died some days ago,
in the ninetieth year of his age."

_The Post Boy_, Jan. 12-14, 1714.--_Old MSS. relating to Winchester._--In
the _Post Boy_, Jan. {617} 12-14, 1714, appears the following curious
advertisement:

"_Winchester Antiquities_, written by Mr. Trussell, Dr. Bettes, and Mr.
Butler of St. Edmund's Bury, in one of which manuscripts is the
_Original of Cities_; which manuscripts were never published. If the
person who hath either of them, and will communicate, or permit the
same to be copied or perused, he is earnestly desired to give notice
thereof to Mr. Mathew Imber, one of the aldermen of the city of
Winchester, in the county of Southampton, who is compleating the idea
or description of the ancient and present state of that ancient city,
to be speedily printed; together with a faithful collection of all the
memorable and useful things relating to the same city."

Gough, in his _Topography_, vol. i. p. 387., thus notices these MSS.:

"Wood says (_Ath. Ox._, vol. i. p. 448.) that Trussell the historian,
who was alderman of Winchester, continued to Bishop Curll's time, 1632,
an old MS. history of the see and bishops in the Cathedral library. He
also wrote _A Description of the City of Winchester; with an Historical
Relation of divers memorable Occurrences touching the same_, and
prefixed to it _A Preamble of the Original of Cities in general_. In a
catalogue of the famous Robert Smith's books, sold by auction, 1682,
No. 24. among the MSS. has this identical title, by J. Trussell, fol.,
and was purchased for twelve shillings by a Mr. Rothwell, a frequent
purchaser at this sale. The _Description_, &c., written by Trussell
about 1620, is now in the hands of John Duthy, Esq.; and from it large
extracts were made in _The History and Antiquities of Winchester_,
1773. Bishop Nicolson guesses that it was too voluminous, and Bishop
Kennett that it was too imperfect to be published.

"The former mentions something on the same subject by Dr. Bettes, whose
book is still in MS.

"Dr. Butler, of St. Edmund's Bury, made observations on the ancient
monuments of this city under the Romans."

E. G. BALLARD.

[Trussell's MSS. are now in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps.--ED.]

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Last Suicide buried at a Cross Road._--I have reason to believe that the
_last_ person subjected to this barbarous ceremony was the wretched
parricide and suicide Griffiths, who was buried at the cross road formed by
Eaton Street, Grosvenor Place, and the King's Road, as late as June, 1823.
I subjoin the following account from the _Chronicle_:

"The extreme privacy which the officers observed, as to the hour and
place of interment, increased in a great degree the anxiety of those
that were waiting, and it being suspected that the body would have been
privately carried away, through the back part of the workhouse (St.
George's) into Farm Street Mews, and from thence to its final
destination, different parties stationed themselves at the several
passages through which it must unavoidably pass, in order to prevent
disappointment. All anxiety however, on this account, was ultimately
removed, by preparations being made for the removal of the body through
the principal entry of the workhouse leading into Mount Street, and
about half-past one o'clock the body was brought out in a shell
supported on the shoulders of four men, and followed by a party of
constables and watchmen. The solitary procession, which increased in
numbers as it went along, proceeded up Mount Street, down South Audley
Street into Stanhope Street, from thence into Park Lane through Hyde
Park Corner, and along Grosvenor Place, until its final arrival at the
cross road formed by Eaton Street, Grosvenor Place, and the King's
Road. When the procession arrived at the grave, which had been
previously dug, the constables arranged themselves around it to keep
the crowd off, upon which the shell was laid on the ground, and the
body of the unfortunate deceased taken out. It had on a winding-sheet,
drawers, and stockings, and a quantity of blood was clotted about the
head, and the lining of the shell entirely stained. The body was then
wrapped in a piece of Russia matting, tied round with some cord, and
then instantly dropped into the hole, which was about five feet in
depth: it was then immediately filled up, and it was gratifying to see
that that disgusting part of the ceremony of throwing lime over the
body, and driving a stake through it, was on this occasion dispensed
with. The surrounding spectators, consisting of about two hundred
persons, amongst whom were several persons of respectable appearance,
were much disgusted at this horrid ceremony."

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