Minor Queries with Answers
"Diary of a Self-Observer."—
"Augustine's Confessions may be in some degree compared with the Private Diary of a Self-Observer (Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner selbst) which has in our own days been read with so great eagerness and sympathy. Not as if the celebrated author of the latter work did not in many ways deserve a preference above the African bishop," &c.—Schröckh's Kirchengeschichte, xv. 376.: Leipzig, 1790.
What is the book here meant, and by whom was it written?
J. C. R.
[This Diary is by the celebrated John Caspar Lavater, author of Essays on Physiognomy. In 1769 he commenced it under the title of Secret Journal of a Self-Observer. In the following year it fell into the hands of a stranger, and from him it was transmitted to Zollikofer, with such alterations, however, as to conceal the real author. Zollikofer, thinking that it contained much useful matter, had it printed; and among others, sent a copy of it to his friend Lavater, who was beyond measure astonished at the sight. However, as it was now before the world in a somewhat disfigured state, Lavater edited it with the necessary alterations, and with an additional volume: Leipsic, 1771 and 1773. In 1795, the German original was translated into English by the Rev. Peter Will, of the Reformed German Chapel in the Savoy, in two vols. 8vo. Prefixed to the second volume is a letter from Lavater to the editor, with the editor's reply. See Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, s. v., and Heisch's Memoirs of John Caspar Lavater, pp. 58-60.]
Jockey.—Mr. Borrow, in his Introduction to The Gypsies of Spain, says:
"The English gypsies are constant attendants at the race-course. What jockey is not? Perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even racing, at least in England. Jockeyism properly implies the management of a whip; and the word jockey is neither more nor less than the term, slightly modified, by which they designate the formidable whip which they usually carry, at present in general use amongst horse-traffickers under the title of jockey-whips."
Can any of your correspondents give the derivation of jockey?
Q. Q.
[Most etymologists derive it from Jackey, a diminutive of the Scotch term Jock, or Jack, John: primarily, a boy that rides horses.]
Boyle Lectures.—In that valuable and well-executed work, now publishing by Darling of Great Queen Street, called the Cyclopædia Bibliographica, a list of the preachers of the Boyle Lecture is given. The list is very nearly complete, the preachers during the following years only being marked "Unknown:"—1729, 1733-5, 1746, 1753-5, 1764-5. With these few omissions, the names of preachers from 1692 to 1807 are given without exception. Will some of your correspondents kindly supply the hiatus above referred to? Possibly the lectures for those years were not printed, as was the case very frequently (see columns 405. 406. Cyc. Bibl.)—so there may be some slight difficulty in identifying the preachers.
W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A.
[The same omissions occur in the Oxford Catalogue, 1837, so that it is a probable conjecture they were never printed.]
Replies
THE DISCOVERY AND RECOVERY OF MSS
(Vol. iii., pp. 161. 261. 340.; Vol. iv., p. 282.; Vol. vii., p. 354.)
I am glad to see that a subject to which I have at various times attempted to turn public attention, has at least been responded to by one voice. When the "N. & Q." was first established, I felt that there was now at least one place where it was possible to print historical documents of various kinds, and no one can deny that at various times very interesting and important papers have been made publicly available, which might otherwise have escaped notice. I may instance a very interesting account of the inquest on Chatterton, which I have myself, in a sketch of that ill-fated youth's fate, been the first to make use of for biographical purposes.
It is still my conviction that at some time or other an association for such purposes will be formed, and I must attain earnestly entreat those persons whose position would command assistance, and whose learning and opportunities would aid the cause I am advocating, to give some sign of their favourable intention toward such a scheme. I must once more place this very important matter before the eyes of the public; I trust that my appeal may not be in vain.
See how in other cases, when something offers itself promising amusement and instruction, societies can be formed and spring into life and activity at once. For instance, I might adduce the beautiful and useful processes of photography; within the short space of a few months the art has been brought to a high decree of excellence: a Photographical Institute is, I believe, now in active working, there is a photographical journal, besides the continued and unwearying co-operation of "N. & Q." itself. Why may not historical documents have something of the same sort? For a slight sum (but a few shillings a year), if the reading public were willing, such a society might be founded, and many invaluable documents of every description placed where they would be available for the historian, for the archæologist, for the editor, and for the general inquirer.
Let me hope that something may be proposed; I have myself hunted through dusty MS. folios, quartos, duodecimos innumerable, and my investigations have not been wholly useless.
If there be any who look with a favourable eye upon these hints, I shall be glad to hear from them.
Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.
68. Mortimer Street.
"THE WHIPPIAD."
(Vol. vii., pp. 393. 417.)
Perhaps a few lines from a fellow-collegian of Reginald Heber, during his last years of residence at Brazenoze College, may throw light on this discussion.
My contemporary MS. copy of The Whippiad contains Heber's own notes, additional ones by myself, explanatory of places and persons mentioned, autographs of the latter, and Blackwood's printed copy (the subject of inquiry), No. 333., July, 1843.
The notes subjoined to Blackwood's printed copy are Heber's notes, varying only from my MS. copy in immaterial points.
As to the epigram mentioned in p. 417., the two first stanzas were by Heber, and written (as I think) after his election to All Souls. The third was attributed to Mr. Wilson, the learned High Master of Clithero School.
Very many jeux d'esprit by Heber, relative to convivialities and passing events in Brazenoze and All Souls, live in the memory and MSS. of his surviving friends; but their amiable author would doubtless have wished them to be forgotten, with the subjects to which they related. The forbearance of Mr. Halliwell made him vainly anxious for the suppression of The Whippiad.
I subjoin from Heber's autograph a Song for a Bow Meeting, near St. Asaph, in or about 1808. It has an airy freshness, and is (as I believe) unpublished.
Lancastriensis.
I
The Soldier loves the laurel bright,
The Bard the myrtle bough,
And smooth shillalas yield delight
To many an Irish brow.
The Fisher trims the hazel wand,
The Crab may tame a shrew,
The Birch becomes the pedant's hand,
But Bows are made of yew.
CHORUS
The yew, the yew, the hardy yew!
Still greenly may it grow,
And health and fun
Have everyone
That loves the British Bow.
II
'Tis sweet to sit by Beauty's side
Beneath the hawthorn shade;
But Beauty is more beautiful
In green and buff array'd.
More radiant are her laughing eyes,
Her cheeks of ruddier glow,
As, hoping for the envied prize,
She twangs the Cambrian bow.
The yew, the yew, &c.
III
The Fop may curl his Brutus wig,
And sandy whiskers stain,
And fold his cravat broad and big;
But all his arts are vain.
His nankeen trowsers we despise,
Unfit for rain or dew,
And, pinch'd in stays, he vainly tries
His strength against the yew.
The yew, the yew, &c.
IV
The heiress, once, of Bowdale Hall,
A lovely lass, I knew—
A Dandy paid his morning call,
All dizen'd out to woo.
I heard his suit the Coxcomb ply;
I heard her answer—"No;"
A true love knot he ne'er could tie,
Who could not bend a bow.
The yew, the yew, &c.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
(Vol. vii., p. 286.)
Leaving the philosophy of this question for the savans, I beg to add the following to the alleged cases already referred to. Dr. Lindsley has compiled a table of nineteen instances, from the Dictionnaire de Médecine,—not, however, of spontaneous combustion exactly, but of something akin to it; namely, the rapid ignition of the human body (which per se is not combustible) by contact with flame, as a consequence of the saturation of its tissues by alcohol:
The following case is related, on the authority of Dr. Schofield, Upper Canada, in the Journal of the American Temperance Union for March, 1837:—A young man, aged twenty-five, had been an habitual drunkard for many years. One evening at about eleven o'clock he went to a blacksmith's shop: he was then full of liquor, though not thoroughly drunk. The blacksmith, who had just crossed the road, was suddenly alarmed by the breaking forth of a brilliant conflagration in his shop. He rushed across, and threw open the door, and there stood the man, erect, in the midst of a widely-extended silver-coloured flame, bearing, as he described it, exactly the appearance of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own flame. He seized him by the shoulder, and jerked him to the door, and the flame was instantly extinguished. There was no fire in the shop, and no articles likely to cause combustion within reach of the individual. In the course of a short time a general sloughing came on, and the flesh was almost wholly removed in the dressing, leaving the bones and a few of the large blood-vessels standing. The blood nevertheless rallied round the heart, and life continued to the thirteenth day, when he died, a loathsome, ill-featured, and disgusting object. His shrieks and cries were described as truly horrible.
Some information will be found in Nos. 44. and 56. of an old magazine called The Hive,—a book which may be found in the British Museum. Two cases have occurred recently, one in 1851 at Paris, and one last year somewhere in the north. Both may be found by reference to the newspapers.
Shirley Hibberd.
MAJOR GENERAL LAMBERT
(Vol. vii., p. 269.)
Lord Braybrooke speaks of a tradition of Major-General Lambert's having been imprisoned in Cornet Castle, in the island of Guernsey, after the Restoration. The following documents, copies of which exist in Guernsey, will prove that he really was kept as a prisoner in that island:
Charles R
Upon suite made unto us by Mrs. Lambert, for liberty for herself and children to goe to and remaine wth her husband Collonell Lambert yor prisoner, Wee, graciously inclyninge to gratifye her in that request, have thought fitt to signify our royall pleasure to you in that particular, willing and requiring you, upon sight hereof, to suffer the said Mrs. Lambert, her three children, and three maid-servants, to goe and remaine wth the said Mr. Lambert, under the same confinement he himselfe is, untill or further pleasure be knowne. And for soe doinge this shalbe yr warrant. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 17th day Febr., 1661/2.
By his Mats Comand,
Edw. Nicholas
To our right trusty and welbeloved Counsellor Sr Hugh Pollard, Knt and Bart, Governor of our Island of Guernsey and Castle there, or to other our Governor for ye tyme beinge, and in his absence to his Deputy Governor.
This is a true copie of his Mat's Warrant.
(Signed) Hugh Pollarde
[In dorso.]
The King's order for Lambert's children
In 1662, Christopher Lord Hatton was appointed Governor of Guernsey, upon which the following warrant was issued:
Charles R
Our will and pleasure is, That you take into your custody the person of John Lambert, commonly called Collonell Lambert, and keepe him close prisoner, as a condemned traytor, untill further order from us, for which this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at Hampton Court, this 25th day of July, 1662.
By his Maty's Comand,
Edw. Nicholas
To our trusty and welbeloved Councellor ye Lord Hatton, Governor of our Island of Guernsey, and to the Lieutenant Governor thereof or his Deputy.
Lambert to Guernsey
Four months later the following order was issued:
Charles R
Our will and pleasure is, That from sight hereof you give such liberty and indulgence to Collonell John Lambert your prisoner, within the precincts of that our island, as will consist with the security of his person, and as in your discretion you shall think fitt; and that this favour be continued to him till you receive our order to the contrary, allwayes understood, that he the sayd Collonell Lambert show himself worthy thereof in his comportment, and entertaine noe correspondencyes to the prejudice of our service, for which this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at Whitehall, November the eighteenth, one thousand six hundred sixty-two,
By his Mats command,
Henrye Bennet
To our trusty and well-beloved Counsellor the Lord Hatton, our governr of our Island of Guernsey, to his Leiftenant Governour, or other officer commanding in chief there.
Liberty of the Island to Mr. Lambert
[In dorso.]
The King's order for Mr. Lambert's liberty
In Rees's Cyclopædia, art. Amaryllis, sect. 27., A. Sarniensis, Guernsey lily, I find the following statement: "It was cultivated at Wimbledon, in England, by General Lambert, in 1659." As Guernsey, during the civil wars, sided with the Parliament, it is probable that Lambert procured the roots from some friend in the island.
The exact date of his arrival as a prisoner in Guernsey is fixed by a sort of journal kept by Pierre Le Roy, schoolmaster and parish clerk of St. Martin de la Bellouse in that island, who says:
"Le 17e de 9vembre, 1661, est arrivé au Château Cornet, Jean Lambert, générall des rebelles sectères en Angleterre, ennemy du roy, et y est constitué prisonnier pour sa vie."
There is no tradition in the island of his having died there. I remember to have read, but cannot at present remember where, that he died a Roman Catholic.
Edgar MacCulloch.
Guernsey.
[Lambert was removed to the island of St. Nicholas, at the entrance of Plymouth Harbour, in 1667, where his death took place during the hard winter at the close of 1682 or commencement of 1683.—See "N. & Q"., Vol. iv., p 340. Probably some of our readers in that neighbourhood might, by a reference to the parish registers, be enabled to ascertain the precise date of that event.]
THE "SALT-PETER-MAN."
(Vol. vii., p. 377.)
Your correspondent J. O. asks for information to No. 4. of his notes respecting the "salt-peter-man," so quaintly described by Lord Coke as a troublesome person. Before the discovery and importation of rough nitre from the East Indies, the supply of that very important ingredient in the manufactory of gunpowder was very inadequate to the quantity required; and this country having in the early part of the seventeenth century to depend almost entirely upon its own resources. Charles I. issued a proclamation in 1627, which set forth that the saltpetre makers were never able to furnish the realm with a third part of the saltpetre required, especially in time of war. The proclamation had reference to a patent that had been granted in 1625 to Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russel, for making saltpetre by a new invention, which gave them power to collect the animal fluids (ordered by the same proclamation to be preserved by families for this purpose), once in twenty-four hours in summer, and in forty-eight hours in winter. This royal proclamation was very obnoxious and inconvenient to the good people of England, increased as it was by the power granted to the saltpetre makers to dig up the floors of all dove-houses, stables, cellars, &c., for the purpose of carrying away the earth, the proprietors being at the same time prohibited from laying such floors with anything but "mellow earth," that greater facility might be given them. This power, in the hands of men likely to be appointed to fulfil such duties, was no doubt subject to much abuse for the purposes of extortion, making, as Lord Coke states, "simple people believe that Lee (the salt-peter-man) will, without their leave, breake up the floore of their dwelling-house, unless they will compound with him to the contrary." The new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed to answer the purpose for which the patent was granted, an act was passed in 1656, forbidding the saltpetre makers to dig in houses or lands without leave of the owner: and this is the point to which the learned commentator of the law, in his Discouerie of the Abuses and Corruption of Officers, alludes, when "any such fellowe if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to understand his office." In England, up to about the period when these curious acts of parliament were passed, the right of all soil impregnated with animal matter was claimed by the crown for this peculiar purpose; and in France the rubbish of old houses, earth from stables, slaughter-houses, and all refuse places, was considered to belong to the Government, till 1778, when a similar edict, to relieve the people from the annoyances of the saltpetre makers, was made.
J. Deck.
Cambridge.