Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE SECOND EDITION IN ITALIAN OF THE LIFE OF ST. LABRE.-The "Vita del servo di Dio Bento Giuseppe Labre Francese, scritta dal suo medesimo confessore, Venezia, MDCCLXXXIV, Presso Simone Occhi con licenza dei superiori, e privilegio," is the second edition of Marconi's most interesting and curious account of this poor martyr. This volume, of which the Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, Provincia di Rimini, possesses a copy, is so rare that it is not even mentioned in what professes to be a complete Labresque bibliography at the end of "Cenni Storici sulla vita del santo Pellegrino Benedetto Giuseppe Labre, scritti da Vincenzo Sardi, canonico teologo della cattedrale di Solmona. Roma, 1891." Are any copies of this precious edition known to exist in England? The Bibliothèque Nationale

here hath it not. Paris.

PALAMEDES.

STEINFELD. I have had in my possession an old book of plain chant, printed at Verdun, in France, for the use of Premonstratensian churches. This is the title :

Processionale ad usum sacri et canonici ordinis Præ

monstratensis moderno cantui accomodatum in rubricis quibusdam elucidatum, &c.

Jussu Reverend in Christo patris, Ag. D.D. Claudii Honorati Lucas præmonstrati Abbatis et Generalis, sua fungentis et Capituli Generalis authoritate.

Verduni apud Claudium Vigneulle MDCCXXVII. At the end of it there are some Latin hymns in handwriting :

1. Deus æterne in cujus potestate humana conditio consistit animas omnium Fidelium Defunctorum quæsumus ab omnibus absolve peccatis, &c. 2. O quam digne est colenda

Quam devote reverenda

Martyrum memoria, &c.

signs, wonders, and instances of Divine providence which were noted in England during the years 1661-2. The titles of the different parts are: Eviavros TepaσTios, Mirabilis Annus,' &c., 4to., 88 pp., with frontispiece, 1661; 'Mirabilis Annus Secundus,' 4to., 84 pp., 1662; 'Mirabilis Annus Secundus; or, the Second Part of the Second Year's Prodigies,' 4to., 54 pp., 1662. They were evidently written by fanatic Nonconformists. Has this pamphlet been noticed by any writer on such matters; utilized by Calamy or other Nonconformist historian? Is it rare? SOMERSETENSIS.

LEMGO. This town, in Lippe-Detmold, is said to have been founded in the twelfth century. What is the origin of the name, and from what language is it derived ? Blackheath.

Beylies.

W. T. LYNN.

THE POETS LAUREATE OF ENGLAND. (8th S. ii. 385, 535.)

[ocr errors]

Reference has recently been made in 'N. & Q.' to a book of mine with this title, published in MR. 1879, which has long been out of print. COLEMAN has also mentioned a paper I read before the Royal Historical Society, on the Origin of the Office of Poet Laureate.' This paper is also difficult to obtain; and as there is at present so much discussion afloat as to the next possible holder of the office, it may be interesting to recall what were the duties and emoluments connected with it. In N. & Q.,' 8th S. i. 254, a list of the Poets Laureate was given, but without dates or other details. At that time Lord Tennyson was

3. Ad sancti Hermanni...... [The word rhyming with alive, and no question had arisen as to his suc

"cumulum " is illegible.]

Miraculorum cumulum, &c.

4. O lilium beatum Divæ pergratum Rosæ, &c. 5. Lucer natanti luminis prædari facta

nominis nequivit, &c.

6. Potentine præpotens coli sacer, &c. And on the front page an inscription, also in handwriting, stating that the book belonged to the Abbey of Steinfeld, "Ecclesiæ comparat Steinfeldensi, 1738."

I have been told that there were in Germany two places called Steinfeld, one in the Eiffel district, in Westphalia, and another in the Aix-laChapelle district, near Eupen, and I should like to get some further information with regard to both localities, but more especially respecting the latter, as the book was given me by Frau Aloys Pütz, of Heinsberg, a small town in the Aix-la-Chapelle

district.

51, Sale Street, Darby.

CHARLES BURION.

PAMPHLET.-There is in my possession a pamphlet containing accounts of various prodigies,

cessor. As, on political grounds, the two greatest poets of the day are debarred from taking the office, it is to be hoped, for the credit of our national poetry, that no more laurelled and pensioned bards may be appointed.

The office of Poet Laureate may be traced back to the appointment of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1368. He was succeeded in the office for more than two hundred years by various poets, who have usually been described as volunteer laureates. The first to hold the office and pension by royal letters patent was Ben Jonson; and from his appointment until the death of Tennyson the roll of the Laureates has continued almost unbroken. The first letters patent granted to Ben Jonson bore date at Westminster "the first day of February in the thirteenth year of the reign of King James." The pension then granted was a hundred marks of lawful money per annum; but soon after the accession of Charles I. Jonson petitioned for an increase, which was granted in new letters patent, dated March, 1630, his pension

[ocr errors]

being raised to a hundred pounds per annum, with
one terse of Canary Spanish wine yearly." The
emoluments remained nominally the same until,
in 1685, James II. deprived Dryden of the annual
butt of sack or canary. In the case of Henry
James Pye, an annual allowance of 271. was made
in lieu of the wine, and this has been continued
until now.
In 1714 the office of Poet Laureate
was placed in the gift of the Lord Chamberlain,
as it still is. During the lifetime of the late Lord
Tennyson he drew 721. per annum from the Lord
Chamberlain's Department, in the second class of
the Civil List, as Laureate. He also received from
the Lord Steward's Department annually the sum
of 271. for a "butt of sack." These figures are
taken from official documents. For many years
Lord Tennyson received another grant from the
Government, but this was not in relation to his
office as Laureate.

Our Poets Laureate have never been solemnly crowned in public, nor have any examinations been held to inquire into the fitness of candidates for the post.

Political feeling has more frequently influenced the selection than poetical merit; and although the appointment has in most cases been held for

Geoffrey Chaucer...
Sir John Gower

life, Dryden was displaced on the accession of William III., and Nahum Tate lost the office on the death of Queen Anne, being succeeded by Rowe, who was in favour with George I.

Until the appointment of Thomas Shadwell by King William III. there were no official duties attached to the office, but he commenced to perform a certain duty by composing an ode to the sovereign on his birthday, and another on New Year's Day, and such odes were regularly written by all his successors down to the year 1813, when, on the death of H. J. Pye, the custom fell into disuse. The laureate odes were sung to music, composed by the Court musician, before the king and court. During the mental illnesses of George III. these customs fell into abeyance, and Pye was the last Laureate to compose official odes at regular periods.

This, in a very condensed form, is an outline of a few of the principal features in the history of an office which must always possess an interest for every reading man, and the table given below may be useful for reference.

In conclusion, mention may be made that the Graphic of Jan. 7 contains excellent portraits of twelve of our English Poets Laureate.

A TABLE OF THE POETS LAUREATE OF ENGLAND.
VOLUNTEER LAUREATES.

Date and Place of
Birth.

London, 1328..
1320.....

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

THE FOLLOWING WERE
London, June 11, 1573
Oxford, Feb., 1605
Aldwincle, Aug. 9, 1631
Norfolk, 1640.
Dublin, 1652

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

shire, Aug. 6, 1809

1522 or 1523
June 21, 1529

About 1535
Oct. 31, 1566
Jan. 16, 1599
Oct. 13, 1619

Feb., 1590...
1598
BY ROYAL LETTERS PATENT,
Feb.1,1615/6
Dec. 13, 1638
Aug. 18, 1670
1688
1692

Aug. 6, 1637...
April 7, 1668
May 1, 1700...
Dec. 6, 1692...
Aug. 1, 1715...

Dec. 6, 1718...
Sept. 27, 1730
Dec. 12, 1757

Place of Burial. Westm. Abbey St. Mary Overy, Southwark

St. Margaret's,
Westminster

Westm. Abbey
Beckington

Westm. Abbey
Westm. Abbey
Westm. Abbey
Chelsea Church
St. George's
Southwark.
Westm. Abbey
Coningsby
Danish Church,

London.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

St. John's, Camb....
Trinity Coll., Camb.

Oct. 4, 1813
April 6, 1843
Nov. 19, 1850

Aug. 11, 1813
Mar. 21, 1843
April 23, 1850

Chapel. Trinity College, Oxford Pinner Church Crosthwaite

Oct. 6, 1892...

Magd. Coll., Oxford
Balliol Coll., Oxford

Grasmere

Westm. Abbey

During the Commonwealth the office of Laureate was in abeyance, but Thomas May, a poet, who held the office of Parliamentary Historiographer, aspired to the post.

WALTER HAMILTON.

JOHN HALL, OF BASINGSTOKE (8th S. ii. 249, 414, 430, 515, 536).-There were Halls in Basingstoke before 1595. G. W. M.'s William Hall, whose will was registered in that year and who was buried in the Holy Ghost Chapel at Basingstoke, was the second son of Richard Hall, Bayliff of Basingstoke, who died 1604/5, and grandson of Richard, first Warden of the Holy Ghost, who died 1558. These Halls had no arms, for at the Visitation of 1622-34 the fact that John Hall (William's brother) was then bayliff is recorded, but there is no entry of arms. I can trace no connexion between these Halls and the "John Hall, gent.," whose children were baptized at Basingstoke 1715-7. The tomb of John's son Charles in the cloisters at Westminster bears no arms; that of his son John, in St. Peter's, Oxford, is covered by matting, if not buried under the H. HALL.

organ.

23, Cedars Road, Beckenham. John Hall, Bishop of Bristol (1691-1710) came of an old Worcestershire family; they were clothiers, and carried on a business that might well suffice to enrich them for several generations. Thus, Richard Hall was minister of St. Helen's, Worcester, in 1553; Richard Hall, clothier, was Chamberlain of Worcester in 1578; Johr, the bishop, was born in Worcester 1632/3, a son of the vicar of Bromsgrove. Burke quotes several Hall coats of the "talbot heads and crusily," three being apportioned to Worcester. Our mayors and aldermen in London have had to bear coat armour for many centuries. Why should not these Halls be armigerous? The patronymic seems to have come to the surface in the reign of Edward IV.; the Wars of the Roses having broken up many feudal holdings, a new resident, settling in a country parish, would build a new mansion and call it "a Hall "; his son, abandoning an old family name, becomes so-and-so at the Hall, whence the full-blown name. Thus, a scion of the Norman Fitzwilliams, or Saxon if you like, became Simon at the Hall, and from this Greatford family many claim descent. It appears to me that the "three talbots' heads" are an intentional variation of the Fitzwilliams' leopards' heads, and the addition of cross-crosslets" in the bishop's coat is a sufficient distinction. A. HALL.

66

"The Hall" of John Hall is at Salisbury, and is now used, I believe, as a china warehouse. I possess an engraving of the interior of this "Hall," size 8 in. by 5 in., which A. H. is welcome to if he will send an addressed envelope to

GEO. F. TUDOR SHERWOOD. Petersham House, Walham Green, S.W. MISTAKEN DERIVATION (8th S. iii. 46).-Although ASTARTE had not heard, before reading Miss Clerke, of the absurd derivation of elf and goblin from Guelf and Ghibelline, it is men

tioned in Johnson (under "Goblin"), who was, of course, aware that the words in question were much older than the factions. Derivations of this kind were probably, in the first instance, given as a sort of joke or play upon the words, which people in ancient and mediæval times were usually much fonder of than we are. W. T. LYNN. Blackheath,

and Ghibelline has often been given. Heylin The derivation of elf and goblin from Guelf (Cosmography,' 1670, p. 130) says, "Some are of opinion, that the fiction of Elfs and Goblins, derived from Guelphs and Gibbelines." Skinner's whereby we used to fright young children, was Old Etymology of the English Tongue' gives this derivation, sub voce "Goblins."

[ocr errors]

Norwich,

JAMES HOOPer.

HERALDIC (8th S. iii. 28, 57).—The exact blazon of the coat of arms, Gu., a fess engrailed between three estoiles arg., is not given in Papworth, but by reference to p. 751 of that book possibly a clue may be had, for there are several coats of arms mentioned very similar to this one, and differing only as regards the tinctures or partition lines. If the fess had not been engrailed it would refer to the arms of the families of Esterham, Everard, or Harold. A.

In the usual books of reference there are no

such arms given, but the following: Gu., a fess nebuly between three estoiles arg., for Everard, of counties Essex, Northampton, and Norfolk.

J. A.

[merged small][ocr errors]

INGULPH'S 'CROYLAND CHRONICLE' (8th S. ii. 467; iii. 15).—The evidence on which Ingulf's 'History and Charters' are proved to be forgeries is marshalled with his usual ability by Mr. Henry Thomas Riley in the Archæological Journal of 1862. Mr. Riley gives good reason for his theory and 1415, and that Prior Richard of Croyland and that the forgery took place between July 7, 1393, Serjeant William Ludyngton, his counsel, concocted the plot between them. It was, Mr. Riley suggests, to support the case of the convent against the people of Spalding and their supporters, who encroached upon the rights of Croyland, so the convent maintained. Abbot Thomas Overton was blind, and prior Richard Upton managed the business in London, where he spent two years and the very large sum, in those days, of five hundred pounds. As Judge Ludyngton, as he had then

become, was one of the two umpires who settled
the matter finally, it does not seem improbable
that Mr. Riley has hit on the very men who at
least were aiders and abettors in the forgery.
The above is only a summary of the conclusions in
the second of the two articles of the Archæological
Journal.
THOMAS WILLIAMS.

"HE THAT RUNS MAY READ" (8th S. ii. 529). Is not this a quotation from Cowper's Tirocinium; or, a Review of Schools,' which poem was dedicated to the Rev. W. C. Unwin on November 6, 1784, consequently of an earlier date than the two quotations given by MR.

TERRY?—

But truths, on which depends our main concern,
That 'tis our hame and misery not to learn,
Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre, he that runs may read.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

[ocr errors]

'IMITATION OF CHRIST' (8th S. iii. 9).-Enclosed is a copy of the title-page of the Imitation of Christ,' published in Belfast (not Dublin) in 1846, as given in 'N. & Q.' by S. H.:

"The Imitation of Christ in | four books | with | Practical Reflections | and | Prayers at the end of each | chapter translated from the French By R. M. P. K. | Belfast | Simms & M'Intyre, Donegall Street. | 1846." The copy I possess was purchased from the Cistercian monks at St. Bernard's Abbey, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, in August, 1850. am told the book is now out of print.

Torquay.

W. J. CHAMBERLAYNE, General.

I

ANA: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL (8th S. ii. 224, 517).— Your correspondent Q. V. rightly gives as an English title ending in "-ana earlier than any that Dr. Murray has," the 'Baconiana' of 1679. Two correspondents, eager to correct Q. V., have given as earlier uses of the termination -ana, the one, "Thuana, Scaligerana, Perroniana," the other "Perroniana et Thuana" (Col. Agrip., 1669), but the -ana they cite are not English, but French (and in the case of the 'Scaligerana' with an intermixture of Latin). The 'Baconiana' of 1679 is, I think, the earliest use of an English title ending in -ana, for though Lowndes cites an edition of the 'Baconiana' of 1674, 4to., Mr. Spedding makes mention of no edition earlier than that published by Dr. Tenison in 1679.

des Hommes savans tirez de l'Histoire de Mr. de Thou,' printed at Berlin. Teissier obtained it from M. la Croze, who professed to have copied it from the original manuscript, entitled Pithoeana, sive excerpta ex ore Francisci Pithæi, anno 1616,' and according to Des Maizeaux, in his edition of the 'Scaligerana' and other -ana (Amsterdam, 1740), La Croze wrote at the foot of his copy, "Tout ceci a été copié sur l'Original qui est à Paris dans la Bibliothèque de Mr. Desmarets, écrit de la propre main de François Pithou, neveu de Pierre et de François Pithou."

A list of ana will be found in Peignot's Répertoire de Bibliographies Spéciales' (Paris, 1810), pp. 211-268. The author quotes "Melanchthoniana (à Jo. Manlio), Basileæ, 1562, in 8vo.," but adds "Nous ne connaissons cet Ana que par le titre." I have failed to find any book with this title, and doubt its existence. Io. Manlius (Mennel)-according to Jöcher, "Jacob"-is cited by Strobel, in his edition of Camerarius 'De Vita Philippi Melanchthonis Narratio' (Halæ, 1777), as the author or compiler of 'Locorum Communium Collectanea ex lectionibus Melanchthoni,' Basil., 1563; and I imagine this to be the book referred to by Peignot. R. C. CHRISTIE.

A FRENCH STONEHENGE (8th S. ii. 508).—Upon almost any wild common in the west of France one finds Celtic remains, but they are more numerous on the west coast (Département du Morbihan). The wonderful display at Carnac and the enormous granitic obelisks of Locmariaquer are bigger than any single block at Stonehenge, but a little broken. These remains are of many kinds, called

1. Peulvens, pillars of stone. The best of them can be seen at Carnac.

The largest, above 42 ft. in height, is at Plouarzel. 2. Menhirs (Ir. min-sul), long stone of the sun. Those at Locmariaquer, lying upon the ground and broken, have been above 60 ft. high.

3. Kistvaen. The finest is on the island of Gavre Innès, near Locmariaquer.

4. The Dolmans (taal maen), table men in stone. In English, cromlechs; in French, allées From 60 to 90 ft. long.

couvertes.

These Celtic remains are not confined to the

5. The Galgats, a kind of cairn. The largest is the Butte de Tumiac, on the Morbihan beach. west of France, although more numerous there The earliest printed of the innumerable French than elsewhere. They are always in flat open ana, is the 'Scaligerana' of 1668. If, however, places, like Salisbury Plain, Dartmoor, &c. See Des Maizeaux is correct, the term had been used Les derniers Bretons'; Daru, History'; VilleFréminville's 'Finistère et Morbihan'; Souvestre, nearly half a century earlier by François Pithou the younger, in the manuscript of his notes of marqué, 'Chansons populaires'; Merimée, 'Sur the table-talk of his uncle François Pithou the les Monumens de l'Ouest de la France.' BETHELL X. elder, which, however, was not printed until 1704, when it appeared, under the title of 'Pithoeana,' The French Stonehenge, of which Gilpin speaks, in Teissier's 'Nouvelles Additions aux Eloges is near Carnac, in the Department of Morbihan,

in Brittany. The stones are said to be about four day, and several Fridays. Boston has no dwellers thousand in number, and, according to M. Cam-whose names are like those of the days of the week. bry's 'Monuments Celtiques,' some of the stones which he measured are from 21 to 22 French feet in height, without reckoning the part embedded in the soil. J. CARRICK MOORE.

[blocks in formation]

George Borrow, in his entrancing book, 'The Bible in Spain,' describes a Druidical cromlech in Portugal. Though not what your correspondent requires, the account may be interesting to him.

"Whilst toiling along these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it. It was a Druidical altar, and the most perfect and beautiful one of the kind which I had ever seen. It was circular, and consisted of

stones immensely large and heavy at the bottom, which towards the top became thinner and thinner, having been fashioned by the hand of art to something of the shape of scollop shells. These were surmounted by a very large flat stone, which slanted down towards the south, where was a door. Three or four individuals might have taken shelter within the interior, in which was growing a small thorn-tree."-Chap. vii.

Dublin.

W. A. HENDERSON.

THE "NEW LONDON TAVERN" (8th S. i. 188, 284; ii. 312).—Surely many of your readers must well remember the famous "London Tavern" of modern times (where so many dinners were enjoyed and important meetings held), which stood on the site in Bishopsgate Street Within now occupied by the noble counting-house of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Its successor is located at the corner of Mark Lane and Fenchurch Street, and is a remarkably good specimen of architectare. Queen Elizabeth is said to have honoured the tavern which formerly stood on the latter site with her presence in returning from the Tower. D. HARRISON. PERSSE FAMILY (8th S. iii. 7).-There is a book. plate of a "Robert Parsons Persse," presumably of Moyode, in the plain Victorian style, bearing arms, Quarterly 1 and 4, Az., five fusils conjoined in fess arg.; 2 and 3, Arg., a lion ramp. (tincture not marked). Crest, On a cap of maintenance a lion pass. ( tinctures). Motto, "Esperance en Dieu." This seems to be the only book-plate of this family. A. VICARS.

Baltimore has two Fridays. Philadelphia has two Mondays and several Fridays. Brooklyn has five Mondays and seven Fridays. This compilation does not take into account the German forms, such as Sonntag, Freitag, &c., which are of frequent to have possessed any owner of such names. occurrence. The regular army does not appear

Brooklyn, U.S.

JOHN E. NORCROSS.

LUCE (8th S. ii. 328, 353, 391, 435, 511).—It is so unusual for PROF. SKEAT to be inaccurate that I venture upon a question. On reference to Guillim's 'Heraldry,' 1660, iv. ii. 273, also to Edmondson's' Heraldry,' "Honour Civil," p. 168, I see that in both the description is substantially the same. The latter has:

porated in the first of King Richard II. "The Company of Skinners were [cor. was] incorTheir coat armour is Ermyn, on a chief gules three crowns or, with caps thereunto of the first."

In both the above works the ornaments of the crown are the usual strawberry leaves, nor are there any traces of crosses or fleurs-de-lys. What is the actual grant? Is there mention in it of these ornaments of the crown; or have they become insertions or alterations ? ED. MARSHALL.

Hazlitt, in his essay on 'Definition of Wit,' says:

Compagnons du lys may mean either the companions of the order of the flower-de-luce, or the companions of Ulysses-who were transformed into swine-according as you lay the emphasis. The French wits, at the restoration of Louis XVIII., with admirable point and truth, applied it in this latter sense."

Swallowfield, Reading.

CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

TENNYSON AND 'THE GEM' (8th S. iii. 8, 57). -There seems to be some mistake about this matter in the American edition referred to by MR. DAVIES. All three poems-No More,'' Anacreontics,' and 'A Fragment-appear in my copy MR. HENDERSON'S copy must, therefore, be imof 'The Gem' for 1831, the last being on pp. 242-3. perfect, unless there were two distinct editions of the annual that year. The poem is well worth preserving, and contains several fine and character

istic lines. The close

Old Memphis hath gone down: The Pharaohs are no more: somewhere in death They sleep with staring eyes and gilded lips, Wrapped round with spiced cerements in old grots Rockhewn and sealed for ever.

NAMES OF THE MONTHS AND DAYS AS SURNAMES (8th S. i. 209, 227, 519).-The Chicago-would almost seem to have become adopted as a 'Directory' contains the names of John and William Sunday, of Joseph Monday, several persons named Friday, and Joseph Saturday. In New York, there are Frederick, Joseph, and Lewis Sunday, Henry Monday, and four others, Philip Thurs

"familiar quotation" now. I have no note as to when 'The Gem' ceased to appear, but it must have become extinct long before 1861.

Salisbury.

GEO. E. DARTNELL.

« EelmineJätka »