The same author (art. "Strabane ") makes Sir Claud Hamilton, of Castle Toome, to be a son of the first Lord Paisley; and in describing his descendants he names two brothers, Claud and Archibald; but it is clear that they are different from the Archbishop and his brother, as their father was born in 1604, whilst the Archbishop was aged eighty when he died in 1659. Nevertheless, I presume it is from this similarity of names that the Archbishop has been assumed to descend from Lord Paisley. All these genealogical puzzles must be solved before we make the Archbishop either Irish or Scotch. In accordance with MR. DE MORGAN'S Suggestion, I enclose my name. S. P. V. "THE CHURCH OF OUR FATHERS" (3rd S. v. 297.)-The song, commencing as above, was written by Robert Story, a Conservative poet; some of whose spirited productions were attributed to the late Lord Francis Egerton, the authorship of which was disclaimed by that nobleman in com plimentary terms. Mr. Story was originally parish clerk, and schoolmaster of Gargrave in Craven, Yorkshire; and afterwards, for many years filled an appointment in the Audit Office, Somerset House. He died recently, having a short time previously issued a collected edition of his poems, got up in a costly style, and dedicated to his kind patron the Duke of Northumberland. Keswick. WILLIAM GASPEY. WITTY CLASSICAL QUOTATIONS (3rd S. v. 310.) I think that there are two errors in the article quoted from Blackwood for January, 1864, on "Winchester College and Commoners," by your correspondent, E. H. A. Tom Coriate was not educated at Winchester College, but at Westminster School, and could not have been alive at the time of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the former seminary in 1570, for he was born in 1577, so the anecdote must be assigned to another. He is thus mentioned in the second part of the Complete Angler, by Walton and Cotton: "Viator. Well, if ever I come to London, of which many a man there, if he were in my place, could make a question: : I will sit down and write my Travels, and like Tom Coriate, print them at my own charge. Pray what do you call this bill we come down?"-Major's edition of the Complete Angler, 1824, part II. chap. ii. p. 283. family of Henry Prince of Wales. He travelled almost all over Europe on foot, and in that tour walked nine hundred miles with one pair of shoes, which he got mended at Zurich. Afterwards he visited Turkey, Persia, and the Great Mogul's dominions; proceeding in so frugal a manner, as he tells his mother, in a letter to her, in his ten months' travels between Aleppo and the Mogul's Court, he spent but three pounds sterling, living reasonably well for about two pence sterling a day! He was a redoubted champion for the Christian religion against the Mahometans and Pagans, in the defence whereof he sometimes risqued his life. He died of the flux, occasioned by drinking sack at Surat, in 1617, having, in 1611, published his Travels in a quarto volume, which he called his Crudities," &c.-Pp. 403-404. OXONIENSIS. I beg to inform E. H. A. that the writer of the article on "Winchester College," in Blackwood, January, 1864, is indebted to my William of Wykeham and his Colleges (published in 1852, and quoted by the Public School Commissioners) for the anecdote cited from that Magazine, beside every other important fact in the article, although without acknowledgment, I regret to say. The author, I am told, is no Wykehamist; if so, his many misapprehensions are explained, and the expression "ungrateful of the Wykehamists" goes to prove the belief. MACKENZIE E. C. WALCOTT. BEECH-DROPPINGS: EPIPHEGUS VIRGINIANA (3rd S. v. 297), better known to medical men as Orobanche Virginiana, broomrape, or cancer-root, is an extremely nauseous astringent and bitter tonic, formerly much employed as a remedy for dysentery and as a detergent in chronic ulcerations. It formed the chief ingredient in the famous powder known as Martin's Cancer Powder. Its virtues are mentioned in the Pharmacopoeia Universalis, 1833, and in Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom, but more at large, doubtless, in American works on materia medica. GEO. MOORE. THE LATE ROBERT DILLON BROWN, M.P. (3rd S. iii. 369; v. 270.)-W. D. has fallen into one error at least on the subject; and, as I originated the question relative to my late lamented and gifted friend, Mr. Brown, pray give me space to correct W. D. Error the first is, that W. D. calls a quotation, with which Mr. Brown often finished some of his really fine orations, 66 a song." If W. D. had looked at my note, he could not have fallen into such an absurd mistake. I happen to know something relative to the honour paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary, both in France and Ireland, by Catholics, and can assure W. D. that there is no hymn of the sort he alludes to; so that his Irish Catholic friend must have considered The following interesting and amusing expla-him verdant to credit such a story. The sneer natory note is appended, p. 283: "Like Tom Coriate. This eccentric son of the Rev. George Coriate was born at Odcombe, in Somersetshire, in 1577. He was educated at Westminster School, and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford; after which he went into the O'Connell's "flexible tail," should have come conveyed about Mr. Brown being a joint in under the charitable adage "De mortuis," &c., W. D. had considered what he was writing. if Robert Dillon Brown was a man of superior natural gifts, and one of the best and most ample scholars of his day; but this is not the place for such points. S. REDMOND. Liverpool. CURMUDGEON (3rd S. v. 319.) The derivation I have always heard for this word is cœur méchant. LYTTELTON. JOSEPH ASTON (2nd S. xii. 379.)- MR. CROSSLEY has given an exceedingly interesting note on this Manchester poet and "punctuator." Like many greater geniuses of the same period (among whom might be mentioned Southey, Montgomery, Cobbett, and Burdett) his political life began with revolutionary principles, and ended in conservatism. The object of this note is to say that Aston was a confidential friend of James Montgomery for many years after the French Revolution; and many letters and much information, illustrating the life of Aston, will be found in the earlier volumes of the Life of Montgomery, by Holland and Everett. The interesting anecdote related by MR. CROSSLEY of an eminent author who said, "Mr. Aston, in consequence of your admirable punctuation, I now, for the first time, begin to understand my own book," very probably relates to Montgomery, whom I had the honour to know, and who was full of that species of innocent quiet humour. W. LEE. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. Omitted Chapters of the History of England, from the Death of Charles I. to the Battle of Dunbar. By Andrew Bisset. (Murray.) Some people will find fault with the title of Mr. Bisset's book, and will let him understand that they are surprised to find that the trial of Lilburne, the defeat and death of Montrose, and the Battle of Dunbar, are "omitted chapters of the History of England." Many others will call in question the author's judgments passed upon the characters of the persons with whom his history deals. A large proportion of his readers will doubt whether "the base cur which then sat on the English throne" is a just or gentlemanly description of James I.; whether Cromwell was quite the melo-dramatic villain who is here painted; or whether Charles I. lacked " brains" for the performance of the acts of perfidy, treachery, and breach of trust, which are here stated to have been designed by him? It is not for us to enter upon these questions. Mr. Bisset has written a book which is built upon materials which have been little, if at all, used by preceding writers; and his work will, therefore, assuredly take its place among the historical authorities for the period. He has written also with a free pen, and after great inquiry and consideration. What he has written is fully entitled to consideration, even if critics should ultimately come to the conclusion that he lacks some of the many qualities which are essential to the formation of true and sound historical judgments. His volume is the first instalment of a History of England, from the death of Charles I. to the Restoration of Charles II. Shakspeare's Garden, or the Plants and Flowers named in his Works described and defined. With Notes and Illustrations from the Works of other Writers. By Sidney Beisly. (Longman.) That he who found "Sermons in stones, and good in every thing," had a keen appreciation of the beauty of flowers, and of the powerful grace that in them lies, it were needless to argue. Every one of his matchless dramas gives abundant proof of this; and Mr. Beisly has produced a very pleasing volume by combining, with the instances of Shakspeare's use of flowers, much curious matter illustrative of such use, culled from the writings of his contemporaries. The Chandos Portrait of Shakspeare. (Chapman and The Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery having given special permission to their Secretary, Mr. George Scharf, to make a tracing of the Chandos portrait for the purpose of publication, it has been carefully lithographed; so that the admirers of the poet may now, "With reverence look on his majestic face," with the full confidence that they are looking on a perfect copy of the only picture which has been handed down to us, with satisfactory evidence that it is a portrait of Shakspeare. The print, which is of course of the size of the original, is of great interest, and certainly forms one of the most satisfactory memorials of the great poet which his Tercentenary has called forth. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. CCXXX.- The new Quarterly contains fewer articles than usual, and, as is perhaps natural just now, a large proportion of them are political. These are-"Prospects of the Confederates," "Our Foreign Policy," and "The Privy Council Judgment." The other papers are, a biographical one on "Sir William Napier;" an interesting sketch of "Pompeii;" a good view of the condition, prospects, and resources of "Mexico;" and an ingenious and well-timed paper on Shakspeare and his Sonnets." BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE. Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Book to be sent direct to the gentleman by whom it is required, whose name and address are given for that purpose: NOTES AND QUERIES, First Series. Vols. I. II. and III. Wanted by Mr. W. Winthrop, Malta. Notices to Correspondents. DYCE'S SHAKSPEARE. We have received a note from the Rev. A. Dyce complaining that, in our notice of his third vol. (antè p. 350), he is stated to have altered "even" to" carn" in the passage quoted from All's Well that Ends Well. It certainly is an error, and which a turning back to the text in which "even" is printed, would have prevented; but from the manner in which the note on the passage is printed, and its tone, the writer of the notice may, we think, well be excused for mistaking the "I" of such note for Mr. Dyce, instead of Mr. Williams. F. P. (Seal.) Our space will not allow of our availing ourselves of our Correspondent's kind offer. CANTAB. " Tyro," according to Johnson and Webster. EIN FRAGER. "Multiplepoinding" is explained in Bell's Dictionary of the Law of Scotland, as meaning "Double poinding or doubledistress and gives name to an action which may be brought by a person possessed of money or effects which are claimed by different persons pretending rights thereto," &c. *** Cases for binding the volumes of "N. & Q." may be had of the Publisher, and of all Booksellers and Newsmen. "NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, and is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS. The Subscription for STAMPED COPIES for Six Months forwarded direct from the Publisher (including the Halfyearly INDEX) is 11s. 4d., which may be paid by Post Office Order, payable at the Strand Post Office, in favour of WILLIAM G. SMITH, 32, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, W.C., to whom all COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EDITOR should be addressed. "NOTES & QUERIES" is registered for transmission abroad. QUERIES:- Ballad Queries-Burnett and other Family Lands in Hampshire - Engraving by Bartolozzi - Esquire Wortley Montague John Molesworth, Esq. "Play -Sutton Coldfield: "Henry IV., Part I."-St. Andrew's, REPLIES: The Newton Stone, 380-Meschines, 382- Notes. BISHOP ANDREW KNOX OF RAPHOE. He was a younger son of John Knox of Ranfurly, or Griff Castle, in Renfrewshire, an ancient Scotish family, which had been settled there since the thirteenth century, and from which the celebrated Reformer John Knox was also descended. Educated at the University of Glasgow, where Andrew Melville was then Principal, and was "laureated" there in 1579 as "Andreas Knox' [Annales Fac. Art. Glasguen]; his birth may, therefore, be placed about the year 1560, as the usual age of entering college was then fifteen, and the course of academical studies occupied four years, 1574-1579. 1639), passed through the intermediate orders of deacon and priest. On the restoration of episcopal government by King James VI., in Act of Parliament of July 9, 1606, the "Parson of Paisley," was nominated to the long vacant see of "The Isles," having been already designated bishop in the preceding year, and by letters patent under the Privy Seal of April 2, 1606, he was also made Abbot of Icolmkill or Hy, on the same day, according to Keith [Scottish Bishops, p. 308]; but this ancient Cluniacensian monastery was annexed to the bishopric of Argyll in 1617. In March, 1608, he was appointed one of the commissioners for settling affairs in the Western Isles, which were comprised in his remote diocese ; and, on his measures having been approved of by the Privy Council of Scotland, he was sent to London in June to report to the King; and he was again summoned to the English court early in 1609, returning to Edinburgh in June of that year. In July he held a court on the island of Iona, where the "Statutes of Icolmkill" were enacted for the government of the isles on August 23, 1609, and received the royal approval June 28, 1610. In July following the bishop was created "Steward and Justice of all the North and West Isles of Scotland" (except Orkney and Zetland), and also "Constable of the Castle of Dunyreg, in Isla," in August of the same year, 1610. His consecration appears to have taken place on February 24, 1611, in the parish church of Leith (together with that of John Campbell, Bishop elect of Argyll); the officiating prelate having been his metropolitan, the Abp. of Glasgow, assisted by the Bishops of Galloway and Brechin. By patent of June 26, 1611, he was nominated to the bishopric of Raphoe, in Ireland (then vacant by the resignation of another Scotish Bishop, George Montgomery); but he was certainly nonresident for several years subsequently, and as he remained in Scotland, must have continued to retain both sees. The reason of his translation to an Irish bishopric is said to have been because Having entered the ministry, his first ecclesias-"King James considered him to be a very fit tical preferment was the parish of Lochevinnoch, person to undertake the charge of a diocese in in his native county of Renfrew, and diocese of Ulster at this time." Glasgow, to which he was appointed about 1586. In a few years afterwards he was translated to the more important charge of the town and abbey church of Paisley, in the same county and diocese, 159-; but he does not seem ever to have had more than Presbyterian ordination, for the necessity of receiving that rite from the hands of a duly consecrated bishop was not then deemed absolutely requisite or expedient, when episcopal ordination could not be obtained conveniently, and consequently none of the Scotish prelates, of what was called the "Spottiswoode Succession" (1610 In April, 1614, the Castle of Dunyveg, which had been garrisoned by him for the government for upwards of three years, was surprised by a hostile chief, and the bishop proceeded from Edinburgh to attempt its recovery in September; but he fell into a trap, and was obliged to leave as hostages his son Thomas and nephew John Knox, of Ranfarlie, on which he was allowed to depart. The hostages were subsequently liberated in November following, on conditions never fulfilled, and the castle stormed on February 3, 1615. By a statute of the Scotish parliament in June, 1617, a new chapter was established for the See of the Isles, as the ancient writs of the bishopric had been lost, and a new foundation was consequently necessary. It must have been shortly after this that Bishop Knox finally resigned his connection with his island diocese, as he received "Letters of denization" in Ireland, on Sept. 22, 1619 [Rot. Pat.]; and about the same time was called into the Privy Council of Ireland. He had a pension of 100l. a year from King James, which was withdrawn in May, 1620, “on the eve of his removal to Raphoe." [Rym. Fœd. vol. viii. part 3, p. 147.] Keith states, that "he was translated in the year 1622," and "died the 7th of November, 1632;" but both these dates are incorrect, as shown above. His episcopal residence as Bishop of Raphoe was at Ramullen, near LoughSwilly, which he preferred to Raphoe, as there was a garrisoned castle there. When the Royal Visitation of the Province of Armagh was made in 1622, the bishop was resident in his diocese, and laid many grievances before the commission; among others, the entire loss of the diocesan records there, and the want of a cathedral, of which the walls only were standing, though a new roof, which had been two years in preparation, "was to be set up this summer at the bishop's and parishioners' charge." As might be expected from his antecedents, he was extremely lax in ordaining clergymen, allowing many irregularities, and giving "a free entry into the ministry" to Presbyterian candidates for benefices in his diocese. In short, Bishop Knox's character was more that of a politician than a churchman, as exemplified by his proceedings in the Western Isles; and though he is stated to have been "a good man, who did much within his diocese by propagating religion," yet we must have regard to the whole tenor of his career, and, if unwilling to give entire credence to the accusations of intolerance and persecution brought against him for his treatment of the Romanists in Ulster by the historians of that body, there is sufficient evidence of his having been anything but a mild or tolerant prelate, or a faithful member of his own church. Bishop Knox died on March 17, 1633, when he had attained the age of about seventy-three, and in the twenty-third of his episcopate, dating from his consecration in 1611, and, according to Ware's Bishops, "in the twenty-second year after his translation." Place of death and interment not recorded; but the former was probably at Ramullen Castle. The authorities for the above sketch are Ware's Bishops, edit. Harris; Cotton's Fasti, iii. 351, where the date of the bishop's death is "March 17, 162," a clerical error apparently for 163; but it is not corrected in vol. v. of Illustrations, &c. Mant's History of the Church of Ireland; Keith's Scottish Bishops, edit. Russell; Grub's Ecclesia tical History of Scotland; Lawson's Epis. Church of Scotland; Gregory's Hist. of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland; Mc Crie's Life of Andrew Melville; Booke of the Universall Kirke of Scotland; Brenan, O'Sullivan, Porter, and Hibernia | Dominic., &c. A. S. A. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FOREIGN BALLAD LITERATURE. BY JAMES HENRY DIXON. The Birth of Merlin, an Ancient Popular Ballad of the Armoric, and may be seen in various Breton The original of this curious production is in chap-books, also in— "Barzaz-Breiz, Chants populaires de la Bretagne, recueillis et publiés avec une Traduction Française, une introduction, &c., et les melodies originales.” Paris, 1861. Didier & Co. Also in "Myrdhinn, ou l'enchanteur Merlin, son histoire, ses œuvres, et son influence." Paris, 1862. Idem. Both works are the erudite and interesting compilations of the Viscount Hersart de la Villemarqué, Member of the Institute of France, &c. So much has been written about Ambrosius Merlin*, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon the subject. The ballad is believed to be very ancient, and I see no reason to doubt it. The Viscount says: "Le voici dans sa rusticité et la simplicité primitives tel que les nourrices, ces conservatrices de la poésie populaire de toutes les nations le répètent pour endormir les enfants." His "traduction" is in prose. In my translation I have endeavoured to preserve such rusticity and simplicity. I have adopted the two-line stanza of the original, and have made very trifling deviation from the phraseology. Indeed, such deviation has only been where the idiom of our language rendered it absolutely necessary. The burden is repeated after each "Such the spell of the soothing lay, Tinging with splendour the mountain peak; And a little Duz 'twas who own'd the spot.* "The grot was nigh to a fairy spring; And the tiny waves aye were murmuring: And cowslip and violet odours shed. And he flapp'd his wings 'gainst the diamond wall. "He tapp'd at the portal crystalline; Alas, my poor heart! that I let him in: "Round he flew, as if seeking rest; He perch'd on my shoulder, and kiss'd my breast; "Three times kiss'd he my cheeks so red; Then away and away to the greenwood fled.† "He merrily coo'd, and he seem'd right glad,I curs'd my fate, for my heart was sad. "And my tears flow'd fast by night and day, While my infant's cradle I rock'd alway. "I wish'd his sire in the icy cell, 'Mid chilling snows, where the dark sprites dwell.‡ The Duz or Duzik (vide "Barzaz Breiz ") was a gnome, dwarf, or fairy, who presided over springs and grottos. Some archæologists argue that he is identical with the frolicsome domestic spirit called by the different names of Lutin, Puck, Hob, Wilfrey, Pam, &c. &c. One thing, however, is quite certain-we moderns have not forgotten him, and occasionally ask him to take obnoxious individuals! As the Duz had the power to assume various forms, animate and inanimate, the Bretons argue that he was the turtle dove of the ballad. †The "greenwood " is in the original. No terms are more universal in European ballad literature than "greenwood" and "greenwood tree." The Celtic tribes believed in a species of purgatory, but the place was amidst ribs of ice, and in caverns of eternal snow. This pagan superstition has been engrafted on Christianity. The Rev. S. W. King, in his most interesting and valuable work, The Italian Valleys of the Pennine Alps (London, Murray), says, in his account of the Val di Bours, "A singular superstition is current The chilling snows, where the dark sprites dwell. "Mother! my father dwells afar, Between the moon and the morning star. "And the light of the sun and the moon is dim To the glorious lustre surrounding him. "Heaven! preserve him from the cell,From chilling snows where the dark sprites dwell.* "It is he who succours the heart opprest It is he who gives to the weary rest. "Bless the hour that gave me birth; For my country's weal was I sent on earth. "All mystic things shall to me be known, And my fame shall over the world be blown. "And the spirits that rule the air and sea Shall own my power, and my subjects be.' "Then round her neck were his small arms slung (Tale more wond'rous has ne'er been sung.) And the descant flow'd from the infant's tongue, 'Hun eta, va mabik, va mabik! Hun eta! toutouik lalla!'"† Florence, Italy, Dec. 31, 1863. with regard to the wild glaciers which wreathe round the bases of these icy summits. Strange wails and mournful cries are often heard issuing from their awful fissures, which are believed to be the moans of lost souls, condemned to expiate their sins in the bowels of ice. So fixed is the belief, that often many persons in a year have been known to make a weary and dangerous pilgrimage on the lonely glacier; where on their bare knees, they have offered long and earnest prayers for the liberation of the unhappy souls, and also for their own deliverance from such a fate; imagining that either in life, or after death, they must expiate their sins by visiting these dread regions." The Val di Bours is a portion of Celtic Piedmont, and the belief has no doubt been handed down traditionally. But such an idea is not confined to a Roman Catholic valley-it prevails in the Protestant Canton de Vaud, Switzerland, and the awful fissures on the glaciers of the Dent de Morcles called the "glaciers of Plan-nêve," are believed to be inhabited by lost souls. As the Vaudois peasant does not believe in Purgatory, he regards the icy caverns of his canton as a place of punishment where sinners are confined without hope of relief. The Canton de Vaud is a portion of Celtic Switzerland. As connected with this subject, Wordsworth's "Marble belt Of central earth, where tortured spirits pine For grace and goodness lost;' and Moore's "Ere condemn'd we go To freeze 'mid Hecla's snow," will occur to the poetical reader. *The expression rendered "dark sprites" is in the original "black sprites." For the better understanding of the ballad, we may observe that it is a nursery song, sung by a Breton nurse to her child. The nurse uses the first person, and assumes the character of Merlin's mother, until the last verse, which is sung by the nurse in propriâ personâ. |