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expresses much more than reliable, though it does not give the exact shade of meaning at all.

In conclusion, I can only say that I think this word has caused a great deal of causeless irritation and stormy language-language showing far worse taste than the use of this word which I have shown before to be only one out of many, and quite as well formed as many words in Latin and English, which have been used at all times by the best writers. J. C. J.

SIR ROBERT GIFFORD. (3rd S. iv. 429.)

In answer to the query of your correspondent as to the politics of this worthy man and sound lawyer, perhaps the following facts, coming from one that knew him, may not be unacceptable:

Sir Robert Gifford, like many other able lawyers, is now forgotten.. His appearance on the trial of Queen Caroline was, although on the unpopular side, remarkably brilliant. It was neither so rhetorical or eloquent as that of his opponent, Brougham, but it was powerful and to the point, and worthy of the position he held as Attorney-General.

He was a Tory from the time of his first appearance, and was never a "rat." He rose from the ranks, and in attaining his ultimate high station, had no aid from political jobbery or aristocratic connections. He early attracted the notice of Lord Eldon for his ability as a lawyer. Latterly, from holding briefs in Scottish cases, he acquired a sound knowledge of the law of that country. Then, as now, the peers had been grumbling at the vast quantities of appeals from the North; and as Lord Eldon, even with the aid of Lord Redesdale, could not master them, it

became a matter of serious consideration how to dispose of them.

Thus it was that Sir Robert was pitched upon by the ministry to abate the evil, and as Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, to hear and decide them. It was at one time thought that Sir Robert should only have a life-rent peerage; but the expediency as well as legality of such a measure was doubted by sound constitutional lawyers. Indeed it was generally rumoured that on the thing being suggested to the proposed liferent nobleman, it was without hesitation declined. He had been raised to the Bench as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas January 8, 1824, and created, January 30, a Peer of the Realm by the style and title of Baron Gifford of St. Leonard's, in the county of Devon. In April he resigned his office as Chief Justice, and was appointed Master of the Rolls. His decisions in Scotch cases gave general satisfaction; and as he was somewhat more rapid in giving judgment

than Lord Eldon was, he very soon disposed of. the greater portion of the arrears. His lordship died prematurely on Sept. 4, 1826, to the great regret of his friends and to the loss of his country, for he was both an able and impartial judge. he was born Feb. 24, 1779, he was therefore in the forty-seventh year of his age.

As

Lord Gifford was a good-looking man; mild in his general demeanour, and courteous to counsel; a kind husband, and an affectionate father. He married as soon as his circumstances would admit, and he was fortunate in the object of his choice, for Lady Gifford was as amiable as she was beautiful. She was, if I mistake not, a clergyman's daughter. His eldest son, and inheritor of his peerage, married a daughter of the Lord Fitzhardinge, a nobleman whose claim to be Baron Berkely by tenure was, we are inclined to think, somewhat hastily disposed of some short time since by a Committee of Privileges. J. M.

MRS. FITZHERBERT.

(3rd S. iv, 411, 522.)

I am quite unable to answer M. F.'s inquiry as to whether Mrs. Fitzherbert had a child either by her first husband, Mr. Weld, or her second, Mr. Fitzherbert; but if not, the child introduced into the caricatures referred to by M. F. is probably an allusion to a piece of scandal current at the time, and which was given to the public in a pamphlet entitled Nemesis, or a Letter to Alfred. By ** There is no date, but there can be little doubt that it was published in 1789, inasmuch as it contains an affidavit by the Rev. Philip Wither, stating that it reached him by the Penny Post; that he was totally ignorant of the author, and that he believed every part of it to be strictly true, except so much of it as related to himself. The affidavit is dated Feb. 11, 1789. account of Mrs. Fitzherbert: The following passage gives Nemesis' scandalous

"The first time the Prince saw Mrs. Fitzherbert was in Lady Sefton's box at the Opera, and the novelty of her face, more than the brilliancy of her charms, had the usual effect of enamouring the Prince, But he had not to do with a raw, unpractised girl. An experienced dame, who had been twice a widow, was not likely to surrender upon common terms. She looked forwards towards a more brilliant prospect which her ambition of an amorous young Prince. She adopted the stale artimight artfully suggest, founded upon the feeble character fice of absenting herself for some months, and went to Plombiers, in Lorrain, where she contracted an intimacy with the Marquis de Bellevoye,* with whom she withdrew for some time, and lived in the greatest familiarity. The consequence of this intercourse was a necessity of

* Reputed the handsomest man in France before he was shot in the face, but that accident cooled Mrs. Fitzher

bert's passion.-Note in Original.

retiring to Paris, where, by means of her two Scotch Toad-eaters, the scandalous transaction was industriously concealed.

"Lest the matter should come to the ears of the Prince, it was thought right to come to England immediately, and by Mr. Bouverie and Mr. Errington's assiduity, the marriage was concluded. Whether in Grafton Street or Cleveland Square shall be fully disclosed. Her relations, particularly her uncle, Mr. Farmer and Mr. Throgmorton, were first proud of the event; but since the publication of your book, they have been very shy upon the subject.

"The Marquis came over last winter, and became known to the Prince. Mrs. Fitzherbert, fearing a discovery, spoke of him as a man unworthy the Prince's acquaintance. The Marquis, piqued, demanded the two thousand pounds she had borrowed from him; she refused to pay him unless he gave up her letters, with her notes of hand, which he refused. She then sent Anthony St. Leger and Weltje to negociate; and after much debate, by means of the Abbé Lechamp, the matter was compromised for the sum of two hundred pounds; but the letters were not given up, and may hereafter be published to the disgrace of a P who stands in so eminent a relation with respect to this country. Her brother Wat Smith, whom she had ill-treated, divulged many of the secrets, but he has been lately silenced by a large sum of money. Immense sums have been lavished in trinkets, and much is due to Gray and Castlefranc on her account. The expenses of puffing paragraphs in her favour, and of suppressing others against her, have amounted to large sums, which must come out of the public purse

"She has correspondence in France through the Gros Abbé, the Duke of Orleans's bastard brother, and through Abbé Taylor, and some Irish Friars in many parts of Italy," &c.

A charge so gross could not pass unnoticed by the lady. The Rev. Philip Wither, who styled himself" Chaplain to Lady Dowager Hereford," and was a writer of political and polemical tracts, was indicted for libel, found guilty, sentenced to imprisonment in Newgate, and died there before the term of his imprisonment had expired.

ST. PATRICK AND THE SHAMROCK. (3rd S. v. 40.)

T. S.

Though no one is bound to believe the tradition of St. Patrick and the Shamrock, it is not to be summarily disposed of as attempted in the article referred to above. This is the first time I have heard that any one considered the subject as a weak invention of the enemy; though this correspondent declares that he has always so considered it. I am perfectly at a loss to conceive why he should so consider it. It is a very respectable tradition, very widely received, very firmly believed, very respectably defended, and very warmly cherished by a whole nation, and many

Does the author design to insinuate that Plombiere was unable to furnish a midwife, and the other accommodation necessary for a lady obedient to the divine command-increase and multiply?—Note in Original.

others for many centuries. What could any enemy to Christianity have hoped to gain by inventing such a story? We may perhaps guess what MR. PINKERTON would assign for his motives, as he seems to consider the tradition untenable, because St. Patrick was too much of "a Christian, a man of common sense, and ordinary ability," to have recourse to such an expedient. Now I should maintain exactly the reverse, and contend that it was precisely because the saint was such a man, that he was most likely to employ the Shamrock as he is believed to have done.

He laboured to convert a rude, illiterate nation of Pagans to the belief of the sublime truths of Christianity. What more natural, when he inculcated the belief in the great, fundamental doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, than to employ an object calculated to facilitate in some degree to their uncultured minds the belief of the mysterious Trinity? As a "Christian," he would be anxious to gain their souls to Christ, and gladly take up a simple plant to help to illustrate his divinity. As a "man of common sense," he would see that the easiest way to enlighten their rude minds would be to adopt some very simple image, which their capacity could readily take in; and as a man of "ordinary ability," he would employ that ability in choosing an illustration most likely to produce knows that no material substance can be comthe effect which he desired. Certainly every one pared to the divine mystery of the Trinity; but this St. Patrick never attempted. He used the shamrock, not in comparison with the mystery, but as some sort of illustration, however feeble and imperfect, to soften the difficulty for the poor Pagans, which it was well calculated to do. For myself, I am free to own, that being a "Christian," and I hope "a man of common sense" to boot, were I engaged to preach Christianity now to a nation of heathens, I should readily make use of any such illustration; and am confident that it would greatly facilitate their belief in the divine mystery of the Blessed Trinity.

The well-known name of Herb Trinity given to the Anemone hepatica, on account of the three lobes of its leaf, shows that other Christians and men of common sense, besides St. Patrick, have found plants with similar leaves, in some degree symbolical of the adorable Trinity.

F. C. H.

I send you these few lines merely with the view of informing MR. W. PINKERTON that I really see no reason why he should express his surprise on finding "that CANON DALTON takes up the subject in a serious manner."

What was the subject? I sent a Query, to know on what foundation rested the ancient tradition, that St. Patrick made use of the Shamrock to illustrate the Blessed Trinity? F. C. H.

3rd S. V. JAN. 16, '64.]

answered, with his usual kindness, to the effect that, though the tradition was ancient and venerable, there seemed to be no historical foundation for it.

MR. PINKERTON now comes forth, and calls the tradition an "absurd, if not egregiously irreverent story." Why, I cannot understand, except that he appears, in his first paragraph, to have made a very strange mistake: these are his words:

"For, surely, it must be evident to the meanest capacity, that neither as a symbol, argument, nor illustration, can any material substance, natural or artificial, be compared to the Divine Mystery of the Trinity in Unity."

Thus your correspondent supposes that St. Patrick compared the Shamrock to the mystery of the Trinity! Surely there must be some mistake. Is there not a great difference between comparing the Shamrock to the Blessed Trinity, and making use of it merely as a faint illustration of Three distinct Persons united in one Divine Person? This latter is all that the tradition affirms; hence, I cannot see the least absurdity in supposing the Saint to have made use of the Shamrock for this purpose.

MR. PINKERTON refers to the well-known treatise of St. Augustine De Trinitate. There the Saint makes use of an illustration to explain, in an imperfect manner, the teaching of the Church on the adorable Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. He mentions that, as there are three Persons in one God, so the three distinct powers of the Soulthe Will, the Memory, and the Understandingis an emblem or illustration of the Trinity. Now, I maintain that these two different illustrations, made use of by St. Patrick and St. Augustine, are far from being absurd or "egregiously irre

verent."

J. DALTON.

Without interfering in the discussion as to St.
Patrick and the Shamrock, which I am content
to leave in CANON DALTON's hands, I beg to point
out to MR. PINKERTON that the appearance of the
fleur-de-lys on the mariner's compass has no
His words are these
his case.
bearing at all upon
(p. 41): -

"It" (the fleur-de-lys)" also appears on the mariner's
compass and the pack of playing cards; two things
which, however essentially different, are still the two
things that civilisation has most widely extended over
the habitable globe."

I will not pause to examine the exactness of the assertions contained in this extract. My only object in this reply is to mention the facts which concern the fleur-de-lys.

The fleur-de-lys appears on the mariner's compass, because Gioia invented, or perfected, it. Moreri says:

"Gioia (Jean) natif d'Amalphi dans le Royaume de Naples, ayant ouï parler de la vertu de la pierre d'Aimant,

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d'experiences, il inventa et perfectionna la Boussole.
s'en servit dans ses navigations, et, peu à peu, à forces
Pour marquer que cet instrument avoit été inventé par
un sujet des Rois de Naples, qui etoient alors Cadets de
la Maison de France de la Branche des Comtes d'Anjou,
été suivy par toutes les nations."
il marqua le Septentrion avec une Fleur-de-lys, ce qui a

.

Moreri gives no date to Gioia. But the Tablettes Chronologiques of the Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy Du Fresnoy says, "Il paroit par Guyot de Proplace him under the year 1302. It is true that vins, Poeta François de la fin du xii siècle, que la Boussole etoit dès-lors en usage en France." But, if that statement is true, it only carries the fleur-de-lys to the place from which Anjou and And if, as is usually supNaples obtained it. posed, playing cards "were extended over the habitable globe" from France, the appearance of the fleur-de-lys upon them is taken back to the same source, and the value of both these instances will be determined by the value of the French fleur-de-lys itself as an instance.

The introduction of the well-known incident in the life of St. Augustine does not seem very apposite, and not a sufficient excuse for the expressions "absurd, if not egregiously irreverent," which I D. P. regret to see in the pages of "N. & Q.," as used Stuarts Lodge, Malvern Wells. by MR. PINKERTON.

"AUT TU MORUS ES," ETC. (3rd S. QUOTATION : iv. 515.)-J. W. M. will find the required quotation in Dr. King's "Supplement to the Life of Ayscough's Cat. Sir Thomas More" (printed in extenso in Faulkner's Chelsea, vol. i. p. 113MSS. Brit. Mus. No. 4455" is the reference given in the foot note.)

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The passage at length is as follows:

"Sir Thomas being one day at my lord mayor's table, who was a foreigner, inquired for his lordship (he being word was brought him, that there was a gentleman, then Lord Chancellor); they having nearly dined, the Lord Mayor ordered one of his officers to take the gentleman into his care, and give him what he best liked. The officer took Erasmus into the lord mayor's cellar, where he chose to eat oysters and drink wine (as the fashion was then) drawn into leathern jacks and poured into a silver cup. As soon as Erasmus had well refreshed himself, he was introduced to Sir Thomas More. At his first coming in to him, he saluted him in Latin.

Sir Thomas asked him, Unde venis?
Erasmus. Ex inferis.

Sir Thomas. Quid ibi agitur?

Erasmus. Vivis vescuntur et bibunt ex ocreis.
Sir Thomas. An noscis?

Erasmus. Aut tu es Morus aut nullus.

Sir Thomas. Et tu es aut deus, aut dæmon, aut meus Erasmus." WALTER RYE.

King's Road, Chelsea.

The words " Aut tu es Morus aut nullus," are those of Erasmus; and the retort "Aut tu es

Erasmus aut diabolus" are those of Sir Thomas More.

Amongst his other eminent acquaintance, he (More) was particularly attached to Erasmus. They had long corresponded before they were personally known to each other. Erasmus came to England for the purpose of seeing his friend; and it was contrived that they should meet at the Lord Mayor's table before they were introduced to each other. At dinner they engaged in argument. Erasmus felt the keenness of his antagonist's wit; and when hard pressed, exclaimed, "You are More, or nobody," the reply was, "You are Erasmus, or the devil." (Gallery of Portraits, L. U. K. ii. 27.) T. J. BUCKTON.

STORQUE (3rd S. iv. 475.)-Does not Ogygius, in calling his victim "my stork" taunt him with the excess of σTopy he has displayed?

In the copy of Randolph's posthumous Poems, 1638, in the British Museum, the following anagram of the name of Richard, Lord Weston, Chancellor of the Exchequer, created Earl of Portland in 1632, is written on a flyleaf:

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HERALDIC VISITATIONS PRINTED (3rd S. iv. 433.) The Visitation of London, taken by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux, 1568, has recently been edited from MS. Harl. 1463, by MR. J. J. HOWARD and MR. J. G. NICHOLS.

JOB J. BARDWELL WORKARD, M.A. CLERK OF THE CHEQUE (3rd S. iv. 43, 417) is an officer in the King's Court, so called because he hath the check and controlment of the yeomen of the guard, and all other ordinary yeomen belonging either to the king, queen, or prince; giving leave, or allowing their absence in attendance, or diminishing their wages for the same: he also, by himself or deputy, takes the view of those that are to watch in the court, and hath the setting of the watch. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 12. Also there is an officer of the same name in the king's navy at Plymouth, Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, &c. 19 Car. II. c. 1. (Jacob's Law Dictionary, 1772, sub voce.) W. I. S. HORTON.

QUOTATIONS Wanted (3rd S. iv. 474, 498, &c.) The lines commencing —

"Few the words that I have spoken

are by the Rev. J. Moultrie, Rector of Rugby, and appear in the volume of Poems published by him.

In Bishop Alley's Commentary on St. Peter's Epistles, the lines —

"Hoc est nescire, sine Christo plurima scire; Christum si bene scis, satis est, si cætera nescis " are thus rendered:

"To know much without Christ is nothing expedient; But well to know Christ is onely sufficient." The original source of the thought I am unable to indicate.

What authority has J. L. for calling the couplet C. J. R. an epitaph ?

"God and the doctor," &c. The following lines by Quarles convey the same sentiment:

"Our God and soldier we alike adore,
Ev'n at the brink of ruin, not before;
After deliv'rance both alike requited,

Our God's forgotten, and our soldier's slighted."
I have heard the lines as quoted by T. C. B., but
fancy they are only a version of the above.
W. I. S. HORTON.

VIXEN FIXEN (3rd S. iv. 389, 463.)—In looking through Gammer Gurton's Needle (printed 1575, or, according to Oldys, as quoted by Hawkins, 1551) in Dodsley's Old Plays, I have discovered the word "fixen " twice used

"That false fixen, that same dame Chat," &c. Act III. Sc. 2. "Ah, Hodge, Hodge, where was thy help, when fixen had me down?"-Act III. Sc. 3.

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JOHN ADDIS.

ROB. BURNS (3rd S. iv. 497.)-Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica is far from an immaculate work, and I venture to think the Caledonian Musical Museum of 1809, there ascribed to the younger Burns, is among the compiler's errors of commission. A book under that title is mentioned by Lowndes under Songs," with a portrait of Burns; this, with the probability that it is (in common with a host of books, under the titles Caledonian Musical Repository, Edinburgh Musical Museum, &c. &c.), full of the lyrics of the Ayrshire bard, is, I presume, its only connection with the name of Burns.

That Robert Burns, Jun., in early life had an inclination for his father's divine art, we know; but Chambers-one of the latest of the poets' biographers, tells us that although he wrote a few songs and some pieces of miscellaneous poetry of considerable merit, his removal in 1804 to London repressed his literary aspirations, which

were ultimately crushed out by a long life of routine drudgery at the Stamp Office. J. O.

BRETTINGHAM (3rd S. iv. 458.) - Thanks to MESSRS. COOPER for the dates of the death, &c. of this architect and of his son. Can they furnish the date of death and place of burial of Robert Furze Brettingham, also an architect, and supposed to have been a nephew of the father above named, and whom he appears to have succeeded in the art? The latest date of him given in the professional account in the Dictionary of Architecture, is that of 1805, when he resigned his official post in the Board of Works, but was probably in practice much later, as he was then only about fortyfive years of age. WYATT PAPWORTH.

SHAKSPEARE AND PLATO (3rd S. iv. 473.)— “It is truly singular," says Coleridge, "that Plato, genuine prophet and anticipator as he was of the Protestant Christian Era, should have given, in Kis Dialogue of the Banquet, a justification of our Shakspeare; for he relates that, when all the other guests had either dispersed or fallen asleep, Socrates only, together with Aristophanes and Agathon, remained awake; and that, while he continued to drink with them out of a large

goblet, he compelled them, though most reluctantly, to admit that it was the business of one and the same genius to excel in tragic and comic poetry, or that the tragic poet ought, at the same time, to contain within himself the powers of comedy."-Remains, vol. xi. p. 12.

LAUREL WATER (3rd S. v. 11.)

C.

"In the observations on Donellan's case contained in Mr. Townsend's Life of Justice Buller (Lives of English Judges, p. 14), the following statement is made:-'In his (Donellan's) library there happened to be a single number of the Philosophical Transactions; and of this single number the leaves had been cut only in one place, and this place happened to contain an account of the making of laurel water by distillation.' Nothing is said of this in the reports of the trial. It is something like the evidence in Palmer's case about the note on strychnine in the book, although much stronger." Stephen's General View of the Criminal Law of England, 1863, p. 348 n.

Wallsend, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

R. R. DEES.

I have a copy of the Toilet of Flora, which I procured through a notice of "Books Wanted in "N. & Q." There is no mention in it of laurel water; but in a work published nearly half a century prior to that-namely, the Supplement to Mr. Chambers's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 1753, the poisonous quality of laurel water is noticed under the article "Lauro-Cerasus," the author there observes: "This was discovered in Dublin by the accident of two women dying suddenly after drinking some the distilled laurel water." Several experiments were then made by Drs. Madden and Mortimer, and communicated to the Royal Society. See Phil. Trans. Nos. 418, SEPTIMUS PIESSE, F.C.S.

420.

Chiswick.

I possess a small 8vo, printed for J. Murray, 32, Fleet Street, and W. Nicoll, St. Paul's Churchyard, 1779, entitled The Toilet of Flora. I am afraid AN INQUIRER will not obtain the information he expects from the book. The only mention of laurel water is at p. 1, in the following terms :"An Aromatic Bath.-Boil for the space of two or three minutes in a sufficient quantity of river water, one or more of the following plants-viz. laurel, thyme, rosemary, wild thyme, &c., &c. ; or any other herbs that have an agreeable scent. Having strained off the liquor from the herbs, add to it a little brandy or camphorated spirits of wine. This is an excellent bath to strengthen the limbs; it removes pains proceeding from cold, and promotes perspiration." A. F. B.

PHOLEY (3rd S. v. 12.) The Pholeys, better known as Foulahs, are well described in Mungo Park's first Travels in Africa. He speaks of them in several parts of his book as he happened to come among them. They are found near the Gambia, and in all the kingdoms of the windward coast of Africa. They are of a tawny complexion, with silky hair and pleasing features. They are of a mild disposition, and retain their own language, though most of them have some knowledge of Arabic. They are employed in husbandry; have large herds and flocks, and use milk chiefly as their diet, but not till it is quite sour. They make butter, but not cheese. They also possess excellent horses, the breed of which seems to be a mixture of the Arabian with the original African. See Mungo Park's Travels in Africa in 1795-6-7, chapters ii. iv. xiv.

F. C. H.

--

PENNY LOAVES AT FUNERALS (3rd S. v. 35.) — Whether the custom of distributing penny loaves at funerals still exists at Gainsborough, I do not know; but the other question of ROBERT KEMPT is very readily answered. He asks what was the origin of this custom. It was the pious practice of our ancestors to direct in their wills that doles of bread or other alms should be given to the poor at their funerals, whereby they performed a double act of charity, relieving the corporal wants of the poor, and securing their prayers for the repose of their own souls. This custom not only prevailed in England till the change of religion in the sixteenth century, but has been kept up among Catholics ever since. I could point out many recent instances where sums of large amount have been distributed in loaves of bread to the poor at the funerals of wealthy Catholics. There is a remnant of this ancient practice. can be no doubt that the custom at Gainsborough F. C. H.

TRADE AND IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND (3rd S. v. 35.) — Arthur Dobbs published a second part of his Essay on the Trade and Improvement of Ireland in 1731, 8vo. There is no account of him in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, but your correspondent may find a short notice of

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