Notes and Queries, Number 181, April 16, 1853

Minor Queries

Canute's Reproof to his Courtiers.—Opposite the Southampton Docks, in the Canute Road, is the Canute Hotel, with this inscription in front: "Near this spot, A.D. 1028, Canute reproved his courtiers." The building is of very recent date.

Query, Is there any and what authority for the statement?

Salopian.

The Sign of the Cross in the Greek Church.—The members of the Greek Church sign themselves with the sign of the cross in a different manner from those of the Western Church. What is the difference?

J. C. B.

Reverend Richard Midgley, Vicar of Rochdale, temp. Eliz.—Dr. T. D. Whitaker mentions, in a note in his Life of Sir George Radcliffe, Knt., p. 4., 4to. 1810, that at an obscure inn in North Wales he once met with a very interesting account of Midgley in a collection of lives of pious persons, made about the time of Charles I.; but adds, that he had forgotten the title, and had never since been able to obtain the book. Can any reader of "N. & Q." identify this "collection," or furnish any particulars of Midgley not recorded by Brook, Calamy, or Hunter?

F. R. R.

Huet's Navigations of Solomon.—Can you or any of your readers inform me if the treatise referred to in the accompanying extract was ever published? and, if so, what was the result as to the assertions there made?

The History of the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients. Written in French by Monsieur Huet, Bishop of Avranches. Made English from the Paris Edition. London: Printed for B. Lintot, between the Temple Gates, in Fleet Street, and Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple Bar. 1717.

"2dly. It is here we must lay down the most important remark, in point of commerce; and I shall undeniably establish the truth of it in a treatise which I have begun concerning the navigations of Solomon, that the Cape of Good Hope was known, often frequented, and doubled in Solomon's time, and so it was likewise for many years after; and that the Portuguese, to whom the glory of this discovery has been attributed, were not the first that found out this place, but mere secondary discoverers."—P. 20.

Edina.

Edinburgh.

Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1781.—Will any one of your correspondents inform me who was sheriff of Worcestershire in the year 1781², and give his arms, stating the source of his knowledge on these points, to much oblige

Y.

Tree of the Thousand Images.—Father Huc, in his journey to Thibet, gives an account of a singular tree, bearing this title, and of which the peculiarity is that its leaves and bark are covered with well-defined characters of the Thibetian alphabet. The tree seen by MM. Huc and Gabet appeared to them to be of great age, and is said by the inhabitants to be the only one of its kind known in the country. According to the account given by these travellers, the letters would appear to be formed by the veins of the leaves; the resemblance to Thibetian characters was such as to strike them with astonishment, and they were inclined at first to suspect fraud, but, after repeated observations, arrived at the conclusion that none existed. Do botanists know or conjecture anything about this tree?

C. W. G.

De Burgh Family.—I shall feel much obliged for references to the early seals of the English branch of the family of De Burgh, descended from Harlowen De Burgh, and Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror, especially of that English branch whose armorial bearings were—Or a cross gules: also for information whether the practice, in reference to the spelling of names, was such as to render Barow, of the latter part of the fifteenth century, Aborough some fifty years afterwards.

E. D. B.

Witchcraft Sermons at Huntingdon.—In an article on Witchcraft in the Retrospective Review (vol. v. p. 121.), it is stated that, in 1593—

"An old man, his wife and daughter, were accused of bewitching the five children of a Mr. Throgmorton, several servants, the lady of Sir Samuel Cromwell, and other persons.... They were executed, and their goods, which were of the value of forty pounds, being escheated to Sir S. Cromwell, as lord of the manor, he gave the amount to the mayor and aldermen of Huntingdon, for a rent-charge of forty shillings yearly, to be paid out of their town lands, for an annual lecture upon the subject of witchcraft, to be preached at their town every Lady-Day, by a doctor or bachelor of divinity, of Queen's College, Cambridge."

Is this sum yet paid, and the sermon still preached, or has it fallen into disuse now that it is unpopular to believe in witchcraft and diabolic possession? Have any of the sermons been published?

Edward Peacock, Junior.

Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey.

Consort.—A former correspondent applied for a notice of Mons. Consort, said to have been a mystical impostor similar to the famous Cagliostro. I beg to renew the same inquiry.

A. N.

Creole.—This word is variously represented in my Lexicons. Bailey says, "The descendant of an European, born in America," and with him agree the rest, with the exception of the Metropolitana; that Encyclopædia gives the meaning, "The descendant of an European and an American Indian." A friend advocating the first meaning derives the word from the Spanish. Another friend, in favour of the second meaning, derives it originally from κεραννυμι, to mix; which word is fetched, perhaps far-fetched, from κερας, the horn in which liquors are mixed. Light on this word would be acceptable.

Gilbert N. Smith.

Shearman Family.—Is there a family named Shearman or Sherman in Yorkshire, or in the city of York? What are their arms? Is there any record of any of that family settling in Ireland, in the county or city of Kilkenny, about the middle of the seventeenth century, or at an earlier period in Cork? Are there any genealogical records of them? Was Robert Shearman, warden of the hospital of St. Cross in Winchester, of that family? Was Roger Shearman, who signed the Declaration of American Independence, a member of same? Is there any record of three brothers, Robert, Oliver, and Francis Shearman, coming to England in the army of William the Conqueror?

John F. Shearman.

Kilkenny.

Traitors' Ford.—There is a place called Traitors' Ford on the borders of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, near the source of the little river Stour, about two miles from the village of Whichford, in the former county. What is the origin of the name? There is no notice of it in Dugdale's Warwickshire, nor is it mentioned in the older maps of the county of Warwick. The vicinity to the field of Edge-Hill would lead one to suppose it may be connected with some event of the period of the Civil Wars.

Spes.

"Your most obedient humble Servant."—In Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. ii. p. 93., mention is made of a poem entitled The Historie of Edward the Second, surnamed Carnarvon. The author, Sir Francis Hubert, in 1629, when closing the dedication of this poem to his brother, Mr. Richard Hubert, thus remarks:

"And so, humbly desiring the Almighty to blesse you both in soule, body, and estate, I rest not your servant, according to the new, and fine, but false phrase of the time, but in honest old English, your loving brother and true friend for ever."

Query, At what time, and with whom did this very common and most unmeaning term in English correspondence have its origin?

W. W.

Malta.

Version of a Proverb.—What, and where to be found, is the true version of "Qui facit per alium, facit per se?"

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Ellis Walker.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." give any information as to Ellis Walker, who made a Poetical Paraphrase of the Enchiridion of Epictetus? He dedicates it to "his honoured uncle, Mr. Samuel Walker of York," and speaks of having taken Epictetus for his companion when he fled from the "present troubles in Ireland." My edition is printed in London, 1716, but of what edition is not mentioned; but I presume the work to have been of earlier date, probably in 1690-1, as indeed I find it to have been, by inserted addresses to the author, of date in the latter year. Any information as to the translator will oblige.

A. B. R.

Belmont.

"The Northerne Castle."—Pepys, in his Diary, 14th September, 1667, says, "To the King's playhouse, to see The Northerne Castle, which I think I never did see before." Is anything known of this play and its authorship? or was it The Northern Lass, by Richard Brome, first published in 1632? Perhaps Pepys has quoted the second title of some play.

J. Y.

Prayer-Book in French.—Can any of your readers give some satisfactory information respecting the earliest translations of the English Prayer-Book into French? By whom, when, for whom, were they first made? Does any copy still exist of one (which I have seen somewhere alluded to) published before Dean Durel's editions? By what authority have they been put forth? Is there any information to be found collected by any writer on this subject?

O. W. J.

"Navita Erythræum," &c.—Running the risk of being smiled at for my ignorance, I wish to have a reference to the following lines:

 
"Navita Erythræum pavidus qui navigat æquor,
In proræ et puppis summo resonantia pendet
Tintinnabula; eo sonitu prægrandia Cete,
Balenas, et monstra marina a navibus arcet."
 

H. T. Ellacombe.

Edmund Burke.—Can any of your correspondents tell me when and where he was married?

B. E. B.

Plan of London.—Is there any good plan of London, showing its present extent? The answer is, None. What is more, there never was a decent plan of this vast metropolis. There is published occasionally, on a small sheet of paper, a wretched and disgraceful pretence to one, bedaubed with paint. Can you explain the cause of this? Every other capital in Europe has handsome plans, easy to be obtained: nay more, almost every provincial town, whether in this country or on the Continent, possesses better engraved and more accurate plans than this great capital can pretend to. Try and use your influence to get this defect supplied.

L. S. W.

Minchin.—Could any of your Irish correspondents give me any information with regard to the sons of Col. Thomas Walcot (c. 1683), or the families of Minchin and Fitzgerald, co. Tipperary, he would much oblige

M.

Minor Queries with Answers

Leapor's "Unhappy Father."—Can you tell me where the scene of this play, a tragedy by Mary Leapor, is laid, and the names of the dramatis personæ? It is to be found in the second volume of Poems, by Mary Leapor, 8vo. 1751. This authoress was the daughter of a gardener in Northamptonshire, and the only education she received consisted in being taught reading and writing. She was born in 1722, and died in 1746, at the early age of twenty-four. Her poetical merit is commemorated in the Rev. John Duncombe's poem of the Feminead.

A. Z.

[The scene, a gentleman's country house. The dramatis personæ: Dycarbas, the unhappy father; Lycander and Polonius, sons of Dycarbas, in love with Terentia; Eustathius, nephew of Dycarbas, and husband of Emilia; Leonardo, cousin of Eustathius; Paulus, servant of Dycarbas; Plynus, servant to Eustathius; Timnus, servant to Polonius; Emilia, daughter of Dycarbas; Terentia, a young lady under the guardianship of Dycarbas; Claudia, servant to Terentia.]

Meaning of "The Litten" or "Litton."—This name is given to a small piece of land, now pasture, inclosed within the moat of the ancient manor of Marwell, formerly Merewelle, in Hants, once the property of the see of Winchester. It does not appear to have been ever covered by buildings. What is the meaning or derivation of the term? Does the name exist in any other place, as applied to a piece of land situated as the above-described piece? I have spelt it as pronounced by the bailiff of the farm.

W. H. G.

Winchester.

[Junius and Ray derive it from the Anglo-Saxon lictun, cœmiterium, a burying-place. Our correspondent, however, will find its etymology discussed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxviii. pp. 216. 303. and 319.]

St. James' Market House.—In a biography of Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, about 1671:

"Mr. Baxter came up to London, and was one of the Tuesday lecturers at Pinner's Hall, and a Friday lecturer at Fetter Lane; but on Sundays he for some time preached only occasionally, and afterwards more statedly in St. James's Market House."

Where was the Market House situate?

P. T.

[Cunningham, in his Handbook of London, under the head of St. James' Market, Jermyn Street, St. James', tells us that "here, in a room over the Market House, preached Richard Baxter, the celebrated Nonconformist. On the occasion of his first Sermon, the main beam of the building cracked beneath the weight of the congregation." We recollect the old market and Market House, which must have stood on the ground now occupied by Waterloo Place.]

Replies

GRUB STREET JOURNAL

(Vol. vii., pp. 108. 268.)

Reginensis has been referred by F. R. A. to Drake's Essays for an account of this journal. Drake's account is, however, very incorrect. The Grub Street Journal did not terminate, as he states, on the 24th August, 1732, but was continued in the original folio size to the 29th Dec., 1737; the last No. being 418., instead of 138., as he incorrectly gives it. He appears to have supposed that the 12mo. abridgment in two volumes contained all the essays in the paper; whereas it did not comprise more than a third of them. He mentions as the principal writers Dr. Richard Russel and Dr. John Martyn. Budgell, however, in The Bee (February, 1733) says, "The person thought to be at the head of the paper is Mr. R—l (Russel), a nonjuring clergyman, Mr. P—e (Pope), and some other gentlemen." Whether Pope wrote in it or not, it seems to have been used as a vehicle by his friends for their attacks upon his foes, and the war against the Dunces is carried on with great wit and spirit in its pages. It is by far the most entertaining of the old newspapers, and throws no small light upon the literary history of the time. I have a complete series of the journal in folio, as well as of the continuation, in a large 4to. form, under the title of The Literary Courier of Grub Street, which commenced January 5, 1738, and appears to have terminated at the 30th No., on the 27th July, 1738. I never saw another complete copy. The Grub Street Journal would afford materials for many curious and amusing extracts. One very entertaining part of it is the "Domestic News," under which head it gives the various and often contradictory accounts of the daily newspapers, with a most humorous running commentary.

James Crossley.

STONE PILLAR WORSHIP

(Vol. v., p. 122.)

Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his learned and curious Note on stone worship in Ireland, desires information as to the present existence of worship of stone pillars in Orkney. When he says it continued till a late period, I suppose he must allude to the standing stone at Stenness, perforated by a hole, with the sanctity attached to promises confirmed by the junction of hands through the hole, called the promise of Odin. Dr. Daniel Wilson enters into this fully in Præhistoric Annals of Scotland, pp. 99, 100, 101. It has been told myself that if a lad and lass promised marriage with joined hands through the hole, the promise was held to be binding. Whence the sanctity attached to such a promise I could not ascertain to be known, and I did not hear of any other superstition connected with this stone, which was destroyed in 1814. In the remote island of North Ronaldshay is another standing stone, perforated by a hole, but there is no superstition of this nature attached to it. At the Yule time the inhabitants danced about it, and when there were yule dancings in neighbouring houses, they began the dancing at the stone, and danced from the stone all the road to what was called to me the dancing-house. The sword dance, with a great deal of intricate crossing, and its peculiar simple tune, still exists in Orkney, but is not danced with swords, though I heard of clubs or sticks having been substituted. There are found in these islands the two circles of stones at Stenness, and single standing stones. One of these, at Swannay in Birsay, is said by tradition to have been raised to mark the spot where the procession rested when carrying the body of St. Magnus after his murder in Egilshay in 1110, from that island to Christ's Kirk in Birsay, where it was first interred. Here is a date and a purpose. The single standing stones, in accordance with Sir James's opinion, and to use nearly his expressions, are said to mark the burial-places of distinguished men, to commemorate battles and great events, and to denote boundaries; and these, and still more the circles, are objects of respect as belonging to ages gone by, but principally with the educated classes, and there is no superstition remaining with any. Such a thing as the swathing stone of South Inchkea is not known to have existed. The stones in the two circles, and the single standing stones, are all plain; but there was found lately a stone of the sculptured symbolical class, inserted to form the base of a window in St. Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldshay, and another of the same class in the island of Bressay, in Zetland. The first is now in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries in Edinburgh; and the Zetland stone, understood to be very curious, is either there or in Newcastle, and both are forming the subject of antiquarian inquiry.

W. H. F.