Minor Notes
Lemon-juice administered in Gout and Rheumatism.—At a time when lemon-juice seems to be frequently administered in gout and rheumatism, as though it were an entirely new remedy, I have been somewhat amused at the following passage, which may also interest some of your readers; it occurs in Scelta di Lettere Familiari degli Autori più celebri ad uso degli studiosi della lingua Italiana, p. 36., in a letter "Di Don Francesco a Teodoro Villa":
"Io non posso star meglio di quel che sto, e forse perchè uso di spesso il bagno freddo, e beo limonata a pranzo e a cena da molti mesi. Questa è la mia quotidiana bevanda, e dacche mi ci sono messo, m' ha fatto un bene che non si puo dire. Di quelle doglie di capo, che un tempo mi sconquassavano le tempie, non ne sento più una. Le vertigini, che un tratto mi favorivano sì di spesso, se ne sono ite. Sino un reumatismo, che m' aveva afferrato per un braccio, s' e dileguato, così ch'io farei ora alla lotta col più valente marinaro calabrese che sia. L' appetito mio pizzica del vorace. Che buona cosa il sugo d' un limone spremato nell' acqua, e indolciato con un po' di zucchero! Fa di provarlo, Teodoro. Chi sa che non assesti il capo e lo stomaco auche a te."
S. G. C.
Weather Proverbs.—Are these proverbs worth recording?
"Rain before seven, fine before eleven."
"A mackerel sky and mare's tails,
Make lofty ships carry low sails."
"If the rain comes before the wind,
Lower your topsails and take them in:
If the wind comes before the rain,
Lower your topsails and hoist them again."
The expressions in the latter two are maritime, and the rhymes not very choice; but they hold equally in terrestrial matters, and I have seldom found them wrong.
Rubi.
Dog Latin.—The answer of one of your late correspondents (E. M. B., Vol. vii., p. 622.) on the subject of "Latin—Latiner," has revived a Query in your First Volume (p. 230.) as to the origin of this expression which does not appear to have been answered. I do not remember having seen any explanation of the term, but I have arrived at one for myself, and present it to your readers for what it is worth. Nothing, it must be admitted, can be more inconsistent with the usual forms of language than the Latin of mediæval periods; it is often, in fact, not Latin at all, but merely a Latin form given to simple English or other words, and admitting of the greatest variety. Now of all animals the distinctions of breed are perhaps more numerous in the canine race than any other. The word "mongrel," originally applied to one of these quadruped combinations of variety, has long been used to signify anything in which mixture of class existed, especially of a debasing kind, to which such mixture generally tends. Nothing could be more appropriate than the application of the term to the "infima latinitas" of the Middle Ages; and from "mongrel" the transition to the name of the genus from that of the degenerate species appears to me to be very easy, though fanciful.
J. B—t.
Thomas Wright of Durham.—In the Philosophical Magazine for April, 1848, I gave an account of the "Original Theory or new Hypothesis of the Universe" of Thomas Wright, whose anticipations of modern speculation on the milky way, the central sun, and some other points, make him one of the most remarkable astronomical thinkers of his day. In the biography in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1793, he is described as struggling for a livelihood when a young man, and no account is given of the manner in which he obtained the handsome competence with which he emerges in 1756, or thereabouts. A few days after my account was published, I was informed (by Captain James, R.E.) that a large four-foot orrery, constructed by Wright for the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, was still in that town; and that by the title of "J. Harrises Use of the Globes" it appears that he (Wright) kept his shop at the Orrery, near Water Lane, Fleet Street (No. 136), under the title of instrument-maker to his Majesty. In an edition of Harris (the 8th, 1767), which I lately met with, the above is described as "late the shop of Thomas Wright," &c. By the advertisements which this work contains, Wright must have had an extensive business as a philosophical instrument-maker. The omission in the biography is a strange one. Possibly some farther information may fall in the way of some of your readers.
A. De Morgan.
A Funeral Custom.—At Broadwas, Worcestershire, in the valley of the Teame, it is the custom at funerals, on reaching "the Church Walk," for the bearers to set down the coffin, and, as they stand around, to bow to it.
Cuthbert Bede, B. A.
Queries
LITTLECOTT—SIR JOHN POPHAM
Every one knows the tradition attached to the manor of Littlecott in Wiltshire, and the alleged means by which Chief Justice Sir John Popham acquired its possession. It is told by Aubrey, Sir Walter Scott, and many others, and is too notorious to be here repeated. Let me ask you or your learned correspondents whether there exists any refutation of a charge so seriously detrimental to the character of any judge, and so inconsistent with the reputation which Chief Justice Popham enjoyed among his cotemporaries? See Lord Ellesmere's notice of him in the case of the Postnati (State Trials, ii. 669.), and Sir Edward Coke's flattering picture of him at the end of Sir Drew Drury's case (Reports, vi. 75.). Are there any records showing that a Darell was ever in fact arraigned on a charge of murder, and the name of the judge who presided at the trial? Is the date known of the death of the last Darell who possessed the estate, or that of Sir John Popham's acquisition of it? The discovery of these might throw great light on the subject, and possibly afford a complete contradiction.
Sir Francis Bacon, in his argument against Sir John Hollis and others for traducing public justice, states that—
"Popham, a great judge in his time, was complained of by petition to Queen Elizabeth; it was committed to four privy councillors, but the same was found to be slanderous, and the parties punished in the court."—State Trials, vol. ii. p. 1029.
If this petition could be discovered, and it should turn out that the slander complained of in it had reference to this story, the investigation which it then underwent by the four privy councillors, and the chief justice's enjoyment of his high office for so many subsequent years, would go far to prove the utter falsehood of the charge. This is a "consummation devoutly to be wished" by every one who feels an interest in the purity of the bench, and particularly by the present possessors of the estate, who must be anxious for their ancestor's fame.
Your useful publication has acted the part of the "detective police" in the elucidation of many points of history less interesting than this, and I trust you will consider the case curious enough to justify a close examination.
Edward Foss.
EARLY EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
I should be greatly obliged if I could obtain through "N. & Q." when, where, and by whom an imperfect black-letter copy of the New Testament, lately come into my possession, was printed, and also who was the translator of it.
It is bound in boards, has three thongs round which the sheets are stitched, seems never to have been covered with cloth, leather, or other material like our modern books, has had clasps, and is four inches long and two inches thick.
The chapters are divided generally into four or five parts by means of the first letters of the alphabet. The letters are neither placed equidistant, nor do they always mark a fresh paragraph.
It is not divided into verses. There are a few marginal references, and the chapter and letter of the parallel passages are given.
Crosses are placed at the heads of most chapters, and also throughout the text, without much apparent regularity. It contains a few rude cuts of the Apostles, &c. The Epistles of St. Peter and St. John are placed before that to the Hebrews.
Letters are frequently omitted in the spelling, and this is indicated by a dash placed over the one preceding the omitted letter. A slanting mark (/) is the most frequent stop used. I will transcribe a few lines exactly as they occur, only not using the black-letter.
"B. As some spake of the temple/ howe yt was garnesshed with goodly stones and iewels he sayde. The dayes will come/ when of these thyngis which ye se shall not be lefte stone upon stone/ that shall not be throwen doune. And they asked hym sayinge/ Master whē shall these thynges be? And what sygnes wil there be/ when suche thynges shal come to passe."—St. Luke, ch. xxi.
Land is spelt londe; saints, sainctis; authority, auctorite, &c.
A. Boardman.
P.S. It commences at the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, and seems perfect to the 21st chapter of Revelation.
Minor Queries
Ravilliac.—I have read that a pyramid was erected at Paris upon the murder of Henry IV. by Ravilliac, and that the inscription represented the Jesuits as men—
"Maleficæ superstitonis, quorum instinctu peculiaris adolescens (Ravilliac) dirum facinus instituerat."—Thesaur. Hist., tom. iv. lib. 95, ad ann. 1598.
We are also informed that he confessed that it was the book of Mariana the Jesuit, and the traitorous positions maintained in it, which induced him to murder the king, for which cause the book (condemned by the parliament and the Sorbonne) was publicly burnt in Paris. Is the pyramid still remaining? If not, when was it taken down or destroyed, and by whom or by whose authority?
Clericus (D).
Emblem on a Chimney-piece.—In the committee room of the Church Missionary Society, Nos. 16. and 17. Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, a curious emblem-picture is carved on the centre of the white marble chimney-piece. An angel or winged youth is sleeping in a recumbent posture; one arm embraces a sleeping lion, in the other hand he holds a number of bell flowers. In the opposite angle the sun shines brightly; a lizard is biting the heel of the sleeping youth. I shall not offer my own conjectures in explanation of this allegorical sculpture, unless your correspondents fail to give a more satisfactory solution.
Ath Celiath.
"To know ourselves diseased," &c.—
"To know ourselves diseased, is half the cure."
Whence?
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
"Pætus and Arria."—Can you inform me who is the author of Pætus and Arria, a Tragedy, 8vo., 1809?
In Genest's Account of the English Stage, this play is said to be written by a gentleman of the University of Cambridge. Can you tell me whether this is likely to be W. Smyth, the late Professor of Modern History in that university, who died in June, 1849?
Gw.
Heraldic Query.—A. was killed in open rebellion. His son B. lived in retirement under a fictitious name. The grandson C. retained the assumed name, and obtained new arms. Query, Can the descendants of C. resume the arms of A.? If so, must they substitute them for the arms of C., or bear them quarterly, and in which quarters?
Francis P.
Lord Chancellor Steele.—Is any pedigree of William Steele, Esq., Lord Chancellor of Ireland temp. Commonwealth, extant; and do any of his descendants exist?
It is believed he was nearly related to Captain Steel, governor of Beeston Castle, who suffered death by military execution in 1643 on a charge of cowardice.
Statfold.
"A Tub to the Whale."—What is the origin of this phrase?
Pimlico.
Legitimation (Scotland).—Perhaps some of your Scotch readers "learned in the law" would obligingly answer the subjoined Queries, referring to some decisions.
1. Will entail property go to a bastard, legitimated before the Union under the great seal (by the law of Scotland)?
2. Will titles and dignities descend?
3. Will armorial bearings?
M. M.
Inner Temple.
"Vaut mieux," &c.—The proverb "Vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu'à ses saints" has a Latin origin. What is it?
M.
Shakspeare First Folio.—Is there any obtainable edition of Shakspeare which follows, or fully contains, the first folio?
M.
The Staffordshire Knot.—Can any of your readers give the history of the Staffordshire knot, traced on the carriages and trucks of the North Staffordshire Railway Company?
T. P.
Sir Thomas Elyot.—I shall be extremely obliged by a reference to any sources of information respecting Sir Thomas Elyot, Knight, living in the time of Henry VIII., son of Sir Richard Elyot, Knight, of Suffolk.
I shall be glad also to know whether a short work (among others of his in my possession) entitled The Defence of good Women, printed in London by Thomas Berthelet, 1545, is at all a rare book?
H. C. K.
"Celsior exsurgens pluviis," &c.—
"Celsior exsurgens pluviis, nimbosque cadentes,
Sub pedibus cernens, et cæca tonitrua calcans."
Can you oblige me by stating where the above lines are to be found? They appear to me to form an appropriate motto for a balloon.
J. P. A.
The Bargain Cup.—Can the old English custom of drinking together upon the completion of a bargain, be traced back farther than the Norman era? Did a similar custom exist in the earlier ages? Danl. Dyke, in his Mysteries (London, 1634), says:
"The Jews being forbidden to make couenants with the Gentiles, they also abstained from drinking with them; because that was a ceremonie vsed in striking of couenants."
This is the only notice I can find among old writers touching this custom, which is certainly one of considerable antiquity: though I should like confirmation of Dyke's words, before I can recognise an ancestry so remote.
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.
School-Libraries.—I am desirous of ascertaining whether any of our public schools possess any libraries for the general reading of the scholars, in which I do not include mere school-books of Latin, Greek, &c., which, I presume, they all possess, but such as travels, biographies, &c.
Boys fresh from these schools appear generally to know nothing of general reading, and from the slight information I have, I fear there is nothing in the way of a library in any of them. If not, it is, I should think, a very melancholy fact, and one that deserves a little attention: but if any of your obliging correspondents can tell me what public school possesses such a thing, and the facilities allowed for reading in the school, I shall take it as a favour.
Weld Taylor.
Bayswater.
Queen Elizabeth and her "true" Looking-glass.—An anecdote is current of Queen Elizabeth having in her later days, if not during her last illness, called for a true looking-glass, having for a long time previously made use of one that was in some manner purposely falsified.
What is the original source of the story? or at least what is the authority to which its circulation is mainly due? An answer from some of your correspondents to one or other of these questions would greatly oblige
Veronica.
Bishop Thomas Wilson.—In Thoresby's Diary, A.D. 1720, April 17 (vol. ii. p. 289.), is the following entry:
"Easter Sunday … after evening prayers supped at cousin Wilson's with the Bishop of Man's son."
Was there any relationship, and what, between this "cousin Wilson," and the bishop's son, Dr. Thomas Wilson? I should be glad of any information bearing on any or on all these subjects.
William Denton.
Bishop Wilson's Works.—The Rev. John Keble, Hursley, near Winchester, being engaged in writing the life and editing the works of Bishop Wilson (Sodor and Man), would feel obliged by the communication of any letters, sermons, or other writings of the bishop, or by reference to any incidents not to be found in printed accounts of his life.
Hobbes, Portrait of.—In the Memoirs of T. Hobbes, it is stated that a portrait of him was painted in 1669 for Cosmo de Medici.
I have a fine half-length portrait of him, on the back of which is the following inscription:
"Thomas Hobbes, æt. 81. 1669.
Jos. Wick Wrilps, Londiensis, Pictor Caroli 2di. R.
pinxt."
Is this painter the same as John Wycke, who died in 1702, but who is not, I think, known as a portrait painter?
Can any of your readers inform me whether a portrait of Hobbes is now in the galleries at Florence, and, if so, by whom it was painted? It is possible that mine is a duplicate of the picture which was painted for the Grand Duke.
W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.