Page images
PDF
EPUB

Mediterranean; still lower, one marked W., showing her winter immersement in the Mediterranean; and, lowest of all, a line placed considerably below Plimsoll's, marked W.N.A=Winter North Atlantic. J. F. MANSERGH.

Liverpool.

The upper edge of the horizontal line passing through a disc amidships is the load line of the vessel at sea. The letters L.R., I believe, signify that the mark was placed on the vessel by the Committee of Lloyd's Register, who, since the passing of the Merchant Shipping (Load Line) Act of 1890, have power to assign free-boards to British vessels. The explanation of the other horizontal lines and letters is as follows: F.W. Fresh Water line; I.S. Indian Summer line; S.=immersion in Sea water; W.-Winter line; W.N.A=Winter line North Atlantic. Coasting vessels are required to be marked with only the maximum load line in fresh water; sea-going vessels with such of the horizontal lines as are applicable to their employment. L. L. K.

=

[Other replies are acknowledged.] MISERERE CARVINGS (8th S. i. 413, 481; ii. 9, 113, 214, 335).—At Tilney All Saints' Church, near Lynn, in Marshland, behind a fine perpendicular screen which fills the chancel arch, are stalls and misereres in their original position, returned at the chancel arch in front of the two bays extending east. W. B. GERISH.

I do not know if any one has mentioned St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, as a church where these are to be seen. There are some very quaint carvings of nursery rhymes, including the cat, the fiddle, and the cow jumping over the moon, on the pews in the church at Fawsley, Northamptonshire.

LOUISA M. KNIGHTLEY.

See article (illustrated) on 'The Miserere Shoemaker of Wellingborough,' by T. Tindall Wildridge, in 'Bygone Northamptonshire,' pp. 192-5. JOHN T. PAGE.

Holmby House, Forest Gate.

JACQUES BASIRE, ENGRAVER (7th S. ii. 189, 275, 391, 497; vi. 31).—The annexed excerpt from the Historical Register,' 1722, vol. vii., "Chronological Diary," p. 29, will serve to meet a point raised at the third reference :

"June 2. Dy'd John Basire, Esq; in the 77th Year of his Age, formerly Receiver General for the four Western Counties. He was Son of Isaac Basire, D.D. Prebendary of Durham, Archdeacon of Northumberland, &c. a strenuous Asserter of the Royal Cause in the great Rebellion, during which he was 15 Years in Exile."

17, Hilldrop Crescent, N.

DANIEL HIPWELL.

LONGFELLOW'S 'SONG OF THE SILENT LAND' (8th S. ii. 507).-The inverted torch, with the

ancients, was an emblem of death. It is found on sarcophagi, and, if I remember right, on the Catacombs at Rome; and a more poetic and affecting emblem than our disgusting skeleton with an hourglass. J. CARRICK MOORE.

I have not the original German of this; and if I had I could not read it. But so far as can be judged from a translation, it would seem that the herald is a simple personification of "death as a friend," and the inverted torch the common symbol, so often seen on old-fashioned tombs, of the extinction of life.

There seems, however, to be a question of reading here. J. A. J. writes fate, and so I find it in Routledge's edition, 1860. But Warne's, 1882, has faith. Will some German scholar tell us which it ought to be? Still, one may possibly be a misprint, for I find no other differences. C. F. S. WARREN, M.A.

Longford, Coventry.

HELIGOLAND BEANS (8th S. ii. 409).-Your correspondent uses the word fabaculture. Is it his own coinage; or can authority be given for its use? formation, and ought to be written fabiculture? May I suggest that the word is faulty in its For compound words containing Latin nouns of the first declension, cf. aliferous, baccivorous, lanifical, umbriferous, luniform, &c.

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

"DAME"( "(8th S. ii. 487).-The question as to the identity of the Dame who prudently conserved cast-off weeds "is settled by Wordsworth's note of for the youthful nutter his "proud disguise of 1800 on the "cottage threshold." This dwelling, he says, was "the house at which I was boarded during the time I was at school"—i. e., at Hawkshead (Poetical Works,' ii. 59, ed. Prof. Knight). His landlady, therefore, would be the "frugal dame" of his pious recollection.

Helensburgh, N.B.

THOMAS BAYNE.

[blocks in formation]

strachey" (small s) was a lady of rank or of good
extraction.
WALTER W. SKEAT.

INGULPH'S 'CROYLAND CHRONICLE' (8th S. ii. 467).—The question of the genuineness or otherwise of this chronicle came into notice in 'N. & Q.,' 4th S. ii. 80, 142, 482. At the last reference, the contributor remarks that there is an exhaustive article upon the subject in the Archæological Journal for March, 1862. ED. MARSHALL.

"The Chronicle of Croyland Abbey by Ingulph' was printed by Mr. Birch in 1883. For further information I would advise ANON. to consult the 'Dict. of Nat. Biog.,' s.n. "Ingulf."

G. F. R. B. ANON. will be able to get all the information he wishes for from the translation in Bohn's wellknown "Antiquarian Series." LE MANS.

sists of eight stanzas, and it is included in Mr.
Locker-Lampson's 'Lyra Elegantiarum,' ed. 1891,
p. 336.
JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

URBAN may be glad to know that some verses
about this young lady, with a portrait of her,
appeared in the magazine called London Society,
soon after her early death; and Mr. H. S. Leigh,
in his 'Carols of Cockayne,' has written (after the
manner of E. A. Poe) on the same fair subject, in
a poem entitled 'Chateaux d'Espagne.'
EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

[blocks in formation]

L. L. K. A JESUIT PLAYWRIGHT (8th S. ii. 486).-genuine Spanish, being a corruption of Latin MANILA (8th S. ii. 406). — The word Manila is Adverting to the editorial query, I further ask, manicula, with a dozen meanings, somewhat allied Is it not the universal practice of the members of to our word manacle. It appears certain that the the Society of Jesus to write the plays that are acted by their pupils? L. L. K. town was founded in 1571 by Legaspi, the Spanish commandant. This applies to what is now called old Manila, meaning the fort or garrison town. The suburb, called Binondo, may represent an older native settlement, being nearer to the river and the busy part. A. HALL.

Is not "W. C. H.," W. C. Hazlitt, grandson, not son, of the essayist? C. C. B.

GRAY'S 'BARD' (8th S. ii. 485).—

This

Cold is Cadwallo's tongue That hushed the stormy main, &c. I know nothing about the origin of this word; passage is evidently imitative of what had but a Spanish friend of mine used always to prolong before become a commonplace of the poets.nounce it Man-isle aye. What could he have done The idea of actual magic is not necessary, but would rather detract from the praise of the bards. If Orpheus, merely by his lute, could make

trees

And the mountain tops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing;

if a nameless mermaid could utter

Such dulcet and harmonious breath That the rude sea grew civil at her song, why should not Modred (whoever he may have been), or Cadwallo, or Urien, have done the like by the same means? Whatever a Greek could do in this line, we may be sure that any one of the old Welsh bards could " go one better"-at least, in his own estimation. Celtic romance abounds with such stories. Thus, for instance, Taliesin, in the Mabinogion,' by his song alone, raises a storm that shakes to its foundations the castle of Maelgwyn Gwynedd. It is true that these bards were frequently magicians too; but then everything was more or less magical in those days; witness the harp of Teirtu, which if desired would play of itself. C. C. B.

·

NELLY MOORE (8th S. ii. 408, 457).-The late Henry S. Leigh, the author of 'Carols of Cockayne,' &c., wrote a clever parody of Edgar Poe's 'Raven,' of which this young lady is the heroine. It con

this for? Was it to suit our supposed pronuncia-
tion of i before a single ? If he had kept to his
own Spanish he would have been nearer to the
English sound.
C. A. WARD.

Chingford Hatch, E.

FIRE BY RUBBING STICKS (8th S. ii. 47, 114, 231, 314, 432)-The following extract from 'The Western Pacific and New Guinea,' by Hugh Hastings Romilly, second edition, London, 1887, may be of interest :

"When I was last in England I found very few people who would believe in the possibility of making fire with two sticks. I might perhaps have convinced them of its practicability, as it is not a very difficult thing to do."Pp. 12, 13.

Edinburgh.

C. N. B. M.

For the possibility of civilized men getting a light with fire-sticks, and a good deal of trouble, reference should be made to that very entertaining work 'The Art of Travel,' by Mr. Francis Galton, pp. 25-27. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. Hastings.

"IT FAIR SHEDS "(8th S. ii. 429).-Halliwell has as one meaning of shed, and that a Lancashire one, "to surpass.' "It fair sheds" therefore, as HERMENTRUDE states, means it quite surpasses"

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

GEORGE ISHAM, OF LONDON, CITIZEN AND IRONMONGER (8th S. i. 467).-Twenty references to the Isham family, of Northampton, will be found in the four volumes of the Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, some of which are of a date anterior to those given by your correspondent, and may be of service to him. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

'A DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN' (8th S. ii. 407, 478). I do not wonder C. C. B. should doubt whether young Mr. Tennyson ever wrote :—

One drew a sharp knife through my tender throat,
Touch'd, &c.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

which, as Huckleberry Finn said of something
else,
"states the case ; but in the 'Dream' of
1833 the lines stand :-

One drew a sharp knife through my tender throat,
Slowly-and nothing more.

Whereupon, the wicked Edinburgh reviewer
inquired what more-her throat being cut-the
lady wanted.
W. F. WALLER.

My copy of Tennyson's 'Poems' (date 1851), p. 153, has

One drew a sharp knife thro' my tender throat
Slowly, and nothing more.

Will this satisfy your correspondents?
THOMAS BARKER.

66

ac

ST. JAMES'S SQUARE (8th S. ii. 267, 310, 339, 368, 436).-MR. DASENT says that a pedestal was "undoubtedly" set up in the centre of the square as early as 1727. Cunningham says it was tually erected in 1734," and cites New Remarks on London,' p. 264. This matters little. What, however, is curious is that no fewer than one hundred and eleven years should have elapsed between the date of the order for setting up the statue of "Great Nassau" in these parts and the actual erection of such an effigy. On Thursday, Dec. 9, 1697, Mr. Luttrell says-but Narcissus had better be allowed to say it in his own way: "The king's statue in brasse is ordered to be sett up in St.

[blocks in formation]

The frontispiece to the fifty-fourth volume (July to December, 1808) of the European Magazine consists of an engraving representing the Equestrian Statue in Bronze of King William the Third, now Erecting in St. James's Square." The engraving is by S. Rawle, and at the top of the pedestal of the monument appears "J. Bacon Jun Sculptor." We are told

Travers, Esq., who lived in the reign of King William " "This statue is executed pursuant to the will of Samuel (p. 37).

The will, being disputed, "was thrown into Chancery, and was not confirmed for nearly a century"; hence the delay in the erection of the statue.

Liverpool.

J. F. MANSergh.

WILDE JÄGER (8th S. ii. 128, 218, 413, 475).— It ought not to be forgotten that this legend is mentioned by Dousterswivel to Sir Arthur Wardour in their search for treasure in the ruins of St. Ruth :

"Den you should hear horns winded dat all de ruins ring-mire wort, they should play fine hunting piece, as good as him you call'd Fischer with his oboi: vary well -den comes one herald, as we call Ernhold, winding his horn-and den come de great Peolphan, called de mighty Hunter of de North, mounted on hims black steed. But you would not care to see all this?'

666

Why, I am not afraid,' answered the poor Baronet, 'if that is-does anything-any great mischiefs happen on such occasions?'

"Bah! mischiefs? no-sometimes if de circle be no quite just, or de beholder be de frightened coward, and not hold de sword firm and straight toward him, de Great Hunter will take his advantage, and drag him exorcist out of de circle and throttle him. Dat does happens.'' -The Antiquary,' chap. xxi.

Note F appended says that much of a similar kind is to be found in Scott's 'Discovery of Witchcraft,' published in London, 1584. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

TITHE-BARNS (8th S. ii. 246, 330, 397, 475).— Tithe-barns, or their remains, are not uncommon. But your readers ought not to be without a reference to one of great present perfection at Littleton, near Evesham. It is one hundred and fifty feet long, cruciform, with large pointed doorways and cross-bearing gables. There is an engraving of it in May's 'History of Evesham,' 1845, p. 238.

W. C. B.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

SHAKSPEARE AND THE COMMENTATORS (8th S. ii. 488). The exact text is: "If we wish to know the force of human genius we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.' The author of this great epigrammatic truth was William Hazlitt. As a tax to the ingenuity of the readers of 'N. & Q.,' I leave some other of them to point out where he said it. R. R. Boston, Lincolnshire.

LORD BACON "BAUGH" AND "MAY" (8th S. ii. 362). Your correspondent is scarcely correct in stating that the lines quoted by him have remained "untouched by any of the various editors of the book save one, viz., Archbishop Whately." Dr. Aldis Wright, in his edition of Bacon's Essays,' 1874, has in a note, p. 332, "Mr. Daniel has suggested to me that the 'Baugh' is probably the Bass Rock, and the 'May' the Isle of May in the Frith of Forth."

To the quotations given by your correspondent may be added the following lines from Sir David Lindsay's The Complaynt to the King,' vol. i. p. 61, ed. 1871 :

Quhen the Basse and the Yle of Maye
Beis sett upon the Mont Senaye;
Quhen the Lowmound, besyde Falkland,
Beis lyftit to Northumberland;
Quhen kirkmen yairnis no dignitie,
Nor wyffis no soveranitie;
Wynter but frost, snaw, wynd, or rane;
Than sall I geve thy gold agane.

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

"COALS TO NEWCASTLE " (8th S. ii. 484).-The noting by MR. F. ADAMS of the examples of this proverb, and the dates thereof, leads me to call attention to the fact that, at a still earlier period than the years he gives, there was another interpretation put upon "carrying coals" other than that inferred by the useless process of carrying coals to Newcastle or salt to Dysart. To carry coals-whether to Newcastle or elsewhere-was, indeed, equivalent to what we nowadays mean to express when we say a man will "stand anything," or that another is so poor a spirited creature that any treatment is good enough for him. Thus, in 'Have with you to Saffron Walden' (1595), Nash says, "We will bear no coals, I warrant you"; in Every Man out of His Humour,' Ben Jonson makes a character say contemptuously of another, "Here comes one that will carry coals, ergo will hold my dog"; in 'Antonio and Melida' (1602), a character is made by Marston to exclaim, "He has had wrong, but if I were he I would bear no coles"; and Shakespeare opens 'Romeo and Juliet' by making Sampson remark that he and Gregory will not carry coals; while in 'Henry V.' the boy gives his masters Nym, Bardolph, and Pistol a true character, and enumerates, amongst their other virtues, that "in Calais they stole a fire

[ocr errors]

shovel; I know, by that piece of service, the men would carry coals."

It seems to me, therefore, worthy of note that the suggestion of "carrying coals" had in past times no fewer than three interpretations attached to it. When they were supposed to be carried to Newcastle, the saying exemplified people who did useless things; and when the coals were simply spoken of as being carried, it typified either helpless, weak creatures, or such bullies and cowards as the above-named estimable adventurers. JNO. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.

Barnes Common.

SLAUGHTER FAMILY (8th S. ii. 467).—Any investigations into the history of a family of this name will, I imagine, involve one into that of the Sclaters. Burke (Landed Gentry') says the name Sclater was originally spelt Slauter, and derived from a place so called in Gloucestershire. And the name seems to have been so pronounced long after it was differently spelt; for in several instances I have come across it, in cases where it has been written down phonetically, in the form of Slauter and Slaughter, even in the eighteenth century. W. C. W.

'DE GESTIS TANCREDI' (8th S. ii. 487).—A great deal of information about Tancred is to be found in Godeffroy of Bouloyne,' of which Dr. Mary Noyes Colvin is preparing an edition for the Early English Text Society. There will, no doubt, be much information added by Dr. Colvin in her notes and introduction. H. H. S.

CROSSBOWS (8th S. ii. 147, 273, 377).—The following appears in Rapin's History of England': notice, that this Prince [Richard I.], who restored the

"It is remarked as a thing deserving particular Use of the Cross- Bow, received his Death's Wound from that Instrument, as if Heaven intended to punish him for reviving that diabolical Invention. But I question whether this Remark is built on a good Foundation. We have observed the English made use of the Cross

Bow in the Conquest of Ireland, in the Reign of Henry II., and it is not likely they should discontinue it, in the few Years that were since passed."-Ed. 1732, vol. i. p. 257.

Liverpool.

J. F. MANSERGH.

[blocks in formation]

attract attention. One of our local historians remarks of the Drapers' Company:

"From this date [1518], in most instances, the parties subscribe their name or marks; both of which are wretched scrawls, and show the low state of education at this period. The most respectable citizens only made their mark."

I have sometimes found a variation, people signing in a plain hand here, will make a mark elsewhere. I fancy there was some dread of "consequences" at bottom of this assumed incapacity.

The same historian, "Herbert," records, under date 1509, the feat of a boy aged twelve transcribing the ordinances of the Fishmongers' Company in a clear, ornate hand. His name was "rychard felde." A. HALL.

13, Paternoster Row.

·

Herbert, Librarian to the Corporation of London, in his History of the Twelve Livery Companies,' gives the names of the Company of Yrenmongers from the record in the Chapter House, Westminster, about the year 1537; the Masters and Wardens from 1700 to 1817; the members of the Company who were Lord Mayor from 1410 to 1715; and the names of the benefactors, most of whom were probably members thereof, from 1500 to 1703. Similar lists are given for the remaining eleven great Livery Companies of London.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

GLOVES AND KISSES (8th S. ii. 508).-See 'Gloves: their Annals and Associations,' by J. W. Beck, 1883, p. 234, where may be found several curious references to the custom, supported by good authority. A. L. HUMPHREYS.

The claim of gloves by ladies, as a reward, when they have stolen a kiss from a sleeping man, is alluded to by Gay (1688-1732):—

Cicely, brisk maid, steps forth before the rout,
And kiss'd with smacking lips the snoring lout;
For custom says, "Whoe'er this venture proves,
For such a kiss demands a pair of gloves.
In chap. v. of the Fair Maid of Perth,' by Sir
Walter Scott, Catherine leaves her chamber on St.
Valentine's morning, and finding Henry Smith
asleep, gives him a kiss. The glover says to
him :-

"Come into the booth with me, my son, and I will furnish

thee with a fitting theme. Thou knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a sleeping man wins of him a pair

of gloves."

[blocks in formation]

and are now at Westminster. Many of these are
annotated in MS. by Sedgwick. Sedgwick's MSS.
(about 3,000) are still in my possession. When
mounted they will also be deposited in the Church
House Library.
JNO. JULIAN.

Wincobank Vicarage.

His learning, and his assistance in the compilation of The Book of Praise,' are mentioned in appreciative terms in the preface to that volume ; but not Lord Selborne's generous return for that EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. assistance.

When dressed in his best old Daniel was hardly of the disreputable appearance assigned to him by the writer of the article in the Manchester Evening News, nor was he, I fancy, a shoemaker, his trade (other than that of bookselling) being something in the cabinet-making line. Probably Mr. Harper, bookseller, Tabernacle Street, E.C., could give Q. V. much more information about the His enthusiasm in life of this interesting man. his favourite study made him decidedly interesting, though he rarely seemed to lose sight of the £. s. d. aspect of it. I. C. GOULD.

'SELECT HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS' (8th S. ii. there is, as there surely ought to be, a reference to 440, 491).-MR. MARSHALL says that "probably this volume [Stubbs's 'Select Charters'] in its latest form in the preface" of Mr. Henderson's Select Historical Documents.' It is only justice to the latter excellent volume to say that Mr. Henderson has not only acknowledged the work of his learned predecessor in the introduction (pp. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6), but also on pp. 7, 11, 16, 20, 135, 148, and 151.

While on this matter, may I draw your readers' attention to the early notice of tarring and feathering" on p. 135? It occurs in the Laws of Richard I. concerning Crusaders who were to go by Sea,' and runs thus:

[ocr errors]

"A robber, moreover, convicted of theft, shall be

shorn like a hired fighter, and boiling tar shall be be shaken out over his head-so that he may be pubpoured over his head, and feathers from a cushion shall licly known; and at the first land where the ships put in he shall be cast on shore."

ARTHUR MONTEFIORE.

these are given by Hegesippus, Epiphanius, and JEWISH SECTS (8th S. ii. 508).-Early lists of Justin Martyr, and MR. WARD will find the names which they mention brought together_in the "Classified Table" at the beginning of Dr. Blunt's 'Dictionary of Sects and Heresies.' But in the article "Jewish Sects," in the body of that work (which was written by my late father, a wellread man in early Church history), reasons are given for supposing that many of these are really only different names for the same bodies, and that the number may, therefore, be a good deal reduced. C. F. S. WARREN, M.A.

« EelmineJätka »