Notes and Queries, Number 12, January 19, 1850

Now, I shall be much obliged for information on the following points:—

Is any thing known, beyond what I have stated, as to the communications with Rome on the subject of his canonization, or as to the means by which he was permitted by the English church to become a fit object for invocation and veneration?

What are the chief historical grounds that endeared his memory to the Church or the people? The compassion for his signal fall can hardly account for this, although a similar motive was sufficient to bring to the tomb of Edward II., in Gloucester Cathedral, an amount of offerings that added considerably to the splendour of the edifice.

Are any anecdotes or circumstances recorded, respecting the worship of this saint in later times, than I have referred to?

What is the historic probability that the stone coffin, discovered in 1822, contained the remains of this remarkable man?

I have no doubt that much curious and valuable matter might be discovered, by pursuing into the remote receptacles of historical knowledge the lives and characters of persons who have become, in Catholic times, the unauthorised objects of popular religious reverence after death.

RICH. MONCKTON MILNES.

26. Pall Mall, Jan. 12th.

[To this interesting communication we may add that "The Office of St. Thomas of Lancaster," which begins,

 
"Gaude Thoma, ducum decus, lucerna Lancastriæ,"
 

is printed in the volume of "Political Songs" edited by Mr. Wright for the Camden Society, from a Royal MS. in the British Museum.—MS. Reg. 12.]

SHIELD OF THE BLACK PRINCE—SWORD OF CHARLES I

In Bolton's Elements of Armories, 1610, p. 67., is an engraving of a very interesting shield, of the kind called "Pavoise," which at that period hung over the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, at Canterbury, in addition to the shield still remaining there. Bolton says, "The sayd victorious Princes tombe is in the goodly Cathedral Church erected to the honour of Christ, in Canterburie; there (beside his quilted coat-armour, with half-sleeves, Taberd fashion, and his triangular shield, both of them painted with the royall armories of our kings, and differenced with silver labels) hangs this kind of Pavis or Target, curiously (for those times) embost and painted, and the Scutcheon in the bosse being worne out, and the Armes (which, it seemes, were the same with his coate armour, and not any particular devise) defaced, and is altogether of the same kinde with that upon which (Froissard reports) the dead body of the Lord Robert of Dvras, and nephew to the Cardinall of Pierregoort, was laid, and sent unto that Cardinale, from the Battell of Poictiers, where the Blacke Prince obtained a Victorie, the renowne whereof is immortale."

Can any of your correspondents inform me when this most interesting relic disappeared? Sandford, whose Genealogical History was published some sixty or seventy years later, says, "On an iron barr over the Tombe are placed the Healme and Crest, Coat of Maile, and Gantlets, and, on a pillar near thereunto, his shield of Armes, richly diapred with gold, all which he is said to have used in Battel;" but he neither mentions the missing "Pavoise," engraved in Bolton, or the scabbard of the sword which yet remains, the sword itself having been taken away, according to report, by Oliver Cromwell. Did that unscrupulous Protector(?) take away the "Pavoise" at the same time, or order his Ironsides to "remove that bauble?"—and how came he to spare the helmet, jupon, gauntlets, shield, and scabbard? I have strong doubts of his being the purloiner of the sword. The late Mr. Stothard, who mentions the report, does not quote his authority. I will add another query, on a similar subject:—When did the real sword of Charles the First's time, which, but a few years back, hung at the side of that monarch's equestrian figure at Charing Cross, disappear?—and what has become of it? The question was put, at my suggestion, to the official authorities, by the secretary of the British Archæological Association; but no information could be obtained on the subject. That the sword was a real one of that period, I state upon the authority of my lamented friend, the late Sir Samuel Meyrick, who had ascertained the fact, and pointed out to me its loss.

J.R. PLANCHÉ.

FRATERNITYE OF VAGABONDES—REV. MR. GENESSE—RED MAIDS

[We have for some time past been obliged, by want of space, to omit all the kind expressions towards ourselves, in which friendly correspondents are apt to indulge; but there is something so unusual in the way in which the following letter begins, that we have done violence to our modesty, in order to admit the comments of our kind-hearted correspondent. We have no doubt that all his questions will be answered in due course.]

Never, during my life (more than half a century), do I remember hailing the appearance of any new publication with such unfeigned delight. I had hugged myself on having the friendship of a certain "BOOKWORM," possessing a curious library, of some three or four thousand volumes; how much must I have rejoiced, therefore, at finding that, through the medium of your invaluable journal, my literary friends were likely to be increased one hundred-fold; and that, for the small sum of three pence weekly, I could command the cordial co-operation, when at a loss, of all the first scholars, antiquaries, and literary men of the country; that without the trouble of attending meetings, &c., I could freely become a member of the "Society of Societies;" that the four thousand volumes, to which I had, previously, access, were increased more than ten thousand-fold. It is one of the peculiar advantages of literary accumulation, that it is only by diffusing the knowledge of the materials amassed, and the information gained, that their value is felt. Unlike the miser, the scholar and antiquary, by expending, add to the value of their riches.

Permit me to avail myself of the "good the bounteous gods have sent me," and make one or two inquiries through the medium of your columns. In the first place, can any of your readers inform me by whom a pamphlet, of the Elizabethan period, noticed in the Censura Literaria, and entitled The Fraternitye of Vagabondes, was reprinted, some years since?—Was it by Machelle Stace, of Scotland Yard, who died a brother of the Charter-House?

In the second place, can any of your clerical readers tell me where I can find any account of the late Rev. Mr. Genesse, of Bath, author of a History of the Stage, in ten volumes, one of the most elaborate and entertaining works ever published, which must have been a labour of love, and the labour of a life?

And, in the third and last place, I find, in the Bristol Gazette of the early part of last month, the following paragraph:—"THE RED MAIDS, 120 in number, enjoyed their annual dinner in honour of the birthday of their great benefactor, Alderman Whitson. The dinner consisted of joints of veal (which they only have on this occasion), and some dozens of plum puddings. The mayor and Mayoress attended, and were much pleased to witness the happy faces of the girls, to whom the Mayoress distributed one shilling each."

Can any of your curious contributors give me any account of these Red Maids?—why they are so called, &c., &c.?—and, in fact, of the charity in general?

It will not be one of the least of many benefits of your publication, that, in noticing from time to time the real intention of many ancient charitable bequests, the purposes of the original benevolent founder may be restored to their integrity, and the charity devoted to the use of those for whom it was intended, and who will receive it as a charity, and not, as is too often the case, be swallowed up as a mere place,—or worse, a sinecure.

ARTHUR GRIFFINHOOF, JUN.

THE NAME OF SHYLOCK

Dr. Farmer has stated that Shakspere took the name which he has given to one of the leading characters in the Merchant of Venice from a pamphlet entitled Caleb Shilloche, or the Jew's Prediction. The date of the pamphlet, however, being some years posterior to that of the play, renders this origin impossible. Mr. C. Knight, who points out this error, adds—"Scialac was the name of a Marionite of Mount Libanus."

But "query," Was not Shylock a proper name among the Jews, derived from the designation employed by the patriarch Jacob in predicting the advent of the Messiah—"until Shiloh come"? (Gen. xlix. 10.) The objection, which might be urged, that so sacred a name would not have been applied by an ancient Jew to his child, has not much weight, when we recollect that some Christians have not shrunk from the blasphemous imposition of the name Emanuel ("God with us") upon their offspring. St. Jerome manifestly reads SHILOACH, for he translates it by Qui mittendus est. (Lond. Encyc. in voc. "Shiloh.") Now the difference between Shiloach and Shylock is very trivial indeed. I shall be very glad to have the opinion of some of your numerous and able contributors on this point.

But, after all, Shylock may have been a family name familiar to the great dramatist. In all my researches on the subject of English surnames, however, I have but once met with it as a generic distinction. In the Battel Abbey Deeds (penes Sir T. Phillipps, Bart.) occurs a power of attorney from John Pesemershe, Esq., to Richard Shylok, of Hoo, co. Sussex, and others, to deliver seizin of all his lands in Sussex to certain persons therein named. The date of this document is July 4, 1435.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS

I should be obliged if any of your readers would give me the reason for the transposition of certain letters, chiefly, but not exclusively, in proper names, which has been effected in the course of time.

The name of our Queen Bertha was, in the seventh century, written Beorhte.

The Duke Brythnoth's name was frequently written Byrthnoth, in the tenth century.

In Eardweard, we have dropped the a; in Ealdredesgate, the e. In Aedwini, we have dropped the first letter (or have sometimes transposed it), although, I think, we are wrong; for the given name Adwin has existed in my own family for several centuries.

John was always written Jhon till about the end of the sixteenth century; and in Chaucer's time, the word third, as every body knows, was written thridde, or thrydde. I believe that the h in Jhon was introduced, as it was in other words in German, to give force to the following vowel. Certain letters were formerly used in old French in like manner, which were dropped upon the introduction of the accents.

B. WILLIAMS.

Hillingdon, Jan. 5.