J. F. M.
Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke (Vol. iii., p. 262.).—Although J. H. M. has concluded that William Browne was not the author of this epitaph, because it is not to be found amongst his Pastorals, it would nevertheless appear that the lines are rightly attributed to him, if the following extract may be relied on:
"The well-known epitaph of the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, has been generally ascribed to Ben Jonson. The first stanza is printed in Jonson's poems; but it is found in the manuscript volume of poems by William Browne, the author of Britannia's Pastorals, preserved in the Lansdown Collection, British Museum, No. 777., and on this evidence may be fairly appropriated to him, particularly as it is known that he was a great favourite with William, Earl of Pembroke, son of the Countess."—Relics of Literature: London, Boys, 1823, p. 60.
Alfred Gatty.
Scandal against Queen Elizabeth (Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., pp. 11. 151. 197. 225.).—Your correspondents seem to have overlooked the celebrated letter of Queen Mary of Scotland, printed in the State Trials, and lately reprinted by Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Chancellors, tit. Sir C. Hatton. I may as well add (though I do not believe the fact) that my grandmother (herself a Devereux) repeated to me the tradition of a son of Queen Elizabeth's having been sent to Ireland.
C.
The Tanthony (Vol. III., pp. 105. 229.).—I am obliged to A. for the trouble he has taken in reference to my Query; but perhaps I may be correct in my suggestion, for on looking into the second volume of the Archæological Journal the other day, I accidentally found an account of the discovery of a figure of St. Anthony at Merthyr, near Truro, in which it is mentioned that
"Under the left arm appears to have passed a staff, and the pig, with a large bell attached to its neck, appears in front of the figure."—P. 202.
I shall be much obliged to anybody who will settle the point satisfactorily. The fair held on old St. Andrew's Day is always called in Kimbolton and the neighbourhood "Tandrew" fair, so why not "Tanthony" for "Saint Anthony?"
Arun.
The Hippopotamus (Vol. iii., p. 181.).—Your correspondent Mr. E. S. Taylor will find in Vol. ii, p. 458, an example of the word ἱπποπόταμος cited from Lucian, a writer anterior both to Horapollo and Damascius. In the same page is a reference to the story of the wickedness of the hippopotamus in Plutarch; so that Horapollo and Damascius, doubtless, borrowed from a common source, or repeated a current fable, to be found in many writings then extant.
L.
Tu Autem (Vol. iii., p. 265).—The words "Tu autem, Domine, miserere nostri," "But Thou, O Lord! have mercy upon us," were originally a form of prayer used by the preacher at the end of his discourse, as a supplication for pardon for any sinful pride or vainglory, into which he might have been betrayed in addressing his congregation. Hence the words "tu autem," as Pegge properly says, came to denote a hint to the reader to leave off.
The custom is still in constant use among the members of the cathedral church of Durham. At the public dinners given by the canons, in what is there called "hospitality residence," one of the choristers comes in after dinner, dressed in his official costume, and, taking his station behind the canon in residence, reads, in the manner which is now well known as intoning, eight verses of the 119th Psalm, first saying, "Here beginneth the – part of the 119th Psalm."
When the eight verses are concluded, the canon turns round to the chorister, saying "tu autem," giving him a shilling; to which the chorister replies, "Domine miserere nostri," and retires.
The explanation of the words, as originally employed, is given by Rupertus De Divinis Officiis, lib. i. c. xiv.:
DE "TU AUTEM DOMINE."
"Quodque in fine dicit, 'Tu autem Domine miserere nostri,' hoc innuit, ne ipsum quidem bonum officium prædicandi sine alicujus vel levis culpæ pulvere possa pagi. Nam, ut ait B. Augustinus, 'Verbum prædicationis securiùs auditur quàm dicitur. Prædicator quippe cùm benè dicere se sentit, difficile nimis est ut non quantulumcunque spiritu elationis tangat; et quia quasi per terram ambulat et pedes ejus pulvere sordidantur, idcirco misericordiâ Dei indiget, ut in hâc parte lavetur, etiamsi mundus sit totus.'"
From this explanation it is plain, that the Monk of St. Albans, writing to the abbot—
"Si vis, veniam; Sin autem, tu autem,"
would be understood to express—
"If you wish, I will come; but if otherwise, there is an end of the matter."
T. C.
Durham, April 8. 1851.
Places called Purgatory (Vol. iii., p. 241.).—There is a farm-house still called "Purgatory," about two miles south of Durham, east of the London road, and close to the left bank of the river Wear. The farm is part of the estate of a highly respectable family, which has, I believe, always been Roman Catholic. No reason for the name is known in the neighbourhood.
T. C.
Durham, April 8. 1851.
Swearing by Swans, &c. (Vol. ii., p. 392.; Vol. iii., pp. 70. 192.).—In addition to what has already appeared on this subject, the following extract from Tyrwhitt's Glossary to Chaucer will, I hope, be acceptable.
"Ale and Bred. This oath of Sire Thopas on ale and bred was perhaps intended to ridicule the solemn vows, which were frequently made in the days of chivalrie, to a peacock, a pheasant, or some other noble bird."—See M. de Sainte Palaye, Sur l'anc. Cheval., Mem. iiime.
This practice is alluded to in "Dunbar's Wish that the King were Johne Thomsonnis man" (MS. Maitland, st. v.):
"I would gif all that ever I have
To that condition, so God me saif,
That ye had VOWIT TO THE SWAN
Ane yeir to be John Thomsonnis man."
And so in the Prol. to the Contin. of the Canterb. T., ver. 452., the Hosteler says:
"I make a vowe to the pecock, ther shall wake a foule mist."
The instance given in Vol. iii., p. 192., is recorded by Monstrelet, Hist. de France, Charles VII.
T. J.
Edmund Prideaux and the Post-office (Vol. iii., pp. 186. 266.).—In a MS. on parchment, now before me, are contained entries of the dates of the various letters patent and grants connected with the post-office, to the latter end of the reign of Charles I., and the names of the persons to whom the grants were made. The earliest date is the 37th of Henry VIII., and the last the 13th of Charles I. If an extract from the MS., which gives a similar index to the appointments in the Courts of Law, the Customs, the Forests, and a great variety of other offices, will assist your correspondent, I shall be happy to supply it. I may notice, what seems to have been overlooked by your two correspondents who have replied to the inquiry, that some account of Prideaux is given by Wood (Vid. Fast. vol. i. p. 424., edit. Bliss), from which it appears that he was M.A. of Cambridge, Member of the Inner Temple, Member of Parliament for Lyme in Dorsetshire, and Recorder of Exeter; and that his death took place on the 19th Aug., 1659 (misprinted 1569 in this edit.), and that—
"From his employments gaining a vast estate, he left at the time of his death an incredible mass of gold (as the credible report then went), besides lands of very great demesnes."
Jas. Crossley.
Small Words and "Low" Words (Vol. ii., pp. 305. 349. 377.).—Apropos to Pope's use of "low words," in the sense of short words, conf. Boileau, satire iv. 97. 8.
"Lui faisant voir ses vers et sans force et sans graces,
Montés sur deux grands mots, comme sur deux échasses."
On which one of his commentators makes the following note:
"Boileau, pour se moquer des mots gigantesques, citoit ordinairement ce vers de Chapelain:
'De ce sourcilleux roc l'inébranlable cime.'
Et il disposoit ce vers comme il est ici à côté. Dans cette disposition il semble que le mot 'roc' soit monté sur deux échasses.'
I commend to Φ.'s attention this instance of a "low" word supported on two "high" ones.
K. I. P. B. T.
Lord Howard of Effingham (Vol. iii., pp. 185. 244.).—It has been supposed that the Earl of Nottingham was a Catholic, and having held office in the reign of Queen Mary, he probably was so at that time; but he certainly was a Protestant during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in the beginning of James I. was at the head of a commission to discover and expel all Catholic priests. (Vide Memorials of the Howard Family.)
R. R. M.
Obeahism.—Ventriloquism (Vol. iii., pp. 59. 149.).—T. H. will find, in the authorities given below, that Obeahism is not only a rite, but a religion, or rather superstition, viz. Serpent-worship. Modern Universal History, fol. vol. vi. p. 600.; 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 411.; which is indebted for its information to the works of De Marchais, Barbot, Atkyns, and Bosman: the last of which may be seen in Pinkerton's Collection, vol. xvi., and a review of it in Acta Eruditor., Lips. 1705, p. 265., under the form of an "Essay on Guinea." In Astely's Collection of Voyages, there is an account compiled from every authority then known, and a very interesting description of the rites and ceremonies connected with this superstition. According to the same authors, the influence of the Obeist does not depend on the exercise of any art or natural magic, but on the apprehensions of evil infused into his victim's mind. See also Lewis's Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies.
The following references will furnish a reply at once to two Queries; to that here noticed, and to that on "Ventriloquism" (Vol. ii., p. 88.).
The name of the sacred serpent, which in the ancient language of Canaan was variously pronounced, was derived from "ob" (inflare), perhaps from his peculiarity of inflation when irritated. See Bryant's Analysis, vol. i.; Deane's Worship of the Serpent, p. 80. From a notion of the mysterious inflation produced by the presence of the divine spirit, those who had the spirit of Ob, or Python, received the names of Ob, or Pythia; according to the not unusual custom for the priest or priestess of any god to take the name of the deity they served. See Selden, De Dis Syris, Synt. 1. c. 2. It is a curious coincidence, that as the Witch of Endor is called "Oub," and the African sorceress "Obi," from the serpent-deity Oub, so the old English name of a witch, "hag," bears apparent relationship to the word hak, the ancient British name of a species of snake. In Yorkshire, according to Stukeley, they call snakes "hags" and "hag-worms," (Abury, p. 32.).
In the Breton language, Belech is "Priest," and may similarly indicate a priest of Bel-the-Dragon.
From the Hebrew Ob, the Greek ὄφις was probably derived; for the same word, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, which denotes "divination" denotes a "serpent." "Nachash,"4 "ilahat,"5 "οἰωνίζεσθαι,"6 have the same double signification as if the serpent were recognised as the grand inspirer of the heathen prophets. See Faber's Horæ Mosaicæ, vol. i. p. 98.
The word "Ob" was translated by the LXX. ἐγγαστριμύθος, "a ventriloquist," in accommodation to the received opinions respecting the Pythian priestess. See the Notes to Creech's Lucretius, book v.; Jones's (of Nayland) Physiolog. Disquis. p. 290. The deception practised by the Witch of Endor, and by the damsel mentioned in Acts xvi. 16., was of this description. See Wierus de Præstig. Dæmon. p. 203.; and Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 148.
The serpent, which with heathen mythologists had various acceptations (see Vossius, Theologia Gent. et Physiologia Christ.), was also understood as a natural symbol or hieroglyphic of the air. Can any of your learned correspondents furnish materials illustrative of this figurative relation between the serpent and the elements?
T. J.
Meaning of Peep (Vol. ii., p. 118.).—You have already told us the meaning of the word peep in the phrase "Wizards that peep and that mutter;" in confirmation I may add that the noise made by the queen bee in the hive previous to swarming is in Devonshire called peeping.
J. M. (4.)
Venwell or Venville (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—Venwell or Venville appears to me to be a corruption of the word fengfield; and the meaning of it seems to be, that custom of delivering possession of land to a purchaser by cutting a piece of turf from the field bought, and delivering it into his hands.
I well remember, when a boy, accompanying my father to receive possession of an outlying field, distant from the main estate which he had bought; the seller's agent, I think, came with us and cut a small piece of turf from the ground, and delivered it into my father's hands, saying (if I recollect right), "By this turf I deliver this field into your possession." By this means my father "fenged" (took) the "field" into his own hands, and became the legal proprietor of it.
P.
Venville.—The peat or black earth of Dartmoor is still called ven or fen. Is it not more probable that the adjoining parishes (or parts of them) are said to be in Venville or fengfield, from their being within the peat district, than that an abbreviation of a legal term, fines villarum—fin. vil., should become naturalised among the peasantry, as is the case with the word Venville?
The second part of the word seems akin to the Scottish fail, "a turf, or that clod covered with grass cut off from the rest of the sward." (Jamieson.)
K.
Hand-bells at Funerals (Vol. ii., p. 478.).—In the Testamenta Eboracensia, p. 163., Johannes Esten de Scardeburgh, le Ankersymth, bequeaths 2d.—
"Clerico ecclesiæ pro pulsacione campanarum, et le belman portand' campanam per villam excitandum populum ad orandum."
A hand-bell (as I am informed by a Roman Catholic gentleman) often precedes the Host, when carried in procession to the sick, &c., in order to clear the way, and remind passengers of the usual reverence paid at such times.
B.
Lincoln.
Shillings and Sixpences of George III. (Vol. iii., p. 275.).—R. W. C. has fallen into a misconception in supposing that these coins present an erroneous spelling of the Latinized style of the monarch, whilst the contemporary crowns and half-crowns have the correct orthography. The spelling of the legend on the sixpences and shillings was intentional, and with a meaning, being inscribed in an abridged form—GEOR: III. D: G: BRITT: REX F: D:—the reduplication of the T was designed, after classical precedent, to represent the plural Britanniarum, i.e., Great Britain and Ireland.
N.
Odour from the Rainbow (Vol. iii., p. 224.).—I hope that I have found Jarltzberg's note in the following lines:
"Like to that smell which oft our sense descries
Within a field which long unploughëd lies,
Somewhat before the setting of the sun;