OATHS
The very remarkable distinction between the manner in which English and Welsh witnesses take the book at the time when they are sworn, has often struck me. An English witness always takes the book with his fingers under, and his thumb at the top of the book. A Welsh witness, on the contrary, takes it with his fingers at the top, and his thumb under the book. How has this singular difference arisen? I am inclined to suggest that originally the oath was taken by merely laying the hand on the top of the book, without kissing it. Lord Coke (3 Inst. 165.) says, "It is called a corporal oath, because he toucheth with his hand some part of the Holy Scripture." And Jacob (L. D., "Oath"), says it is so called "because the witness, when he swears, lays his right hand upon, and toucheth the Holy Evangelists." And Lord Hale (2 H. P. C. 279.) says, "The regular oath, as is allowed by the laws of England, is 'Tactis sacrosanctis Dei Evangeliis'," and in case of a Jew, "Tacto libro legis Mosaicæ:" and, if I rightly remember, the oath as administered in the Latin form at Oxford concludes: "Ita te Deus adjuvet, tactis sacrosanctis Christi Evangeliis." In none of these instances does kissing the book appear to be essential. Whereas the present form used in the Courts is, "So help you God, kiss the book;" but still the witness is always required to touch the book with his hand, and he is never permitted to hold the book with his hand in a glove. When then did the practice of kissing the book originate? And how happens it that the Welsh and English take the book in the hand in the different manners I have described?
C. S. G.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
Powerful as this extraordinary agent has become, and incalculably useful as its operation is now found to be, it would appear that the principle of the electric telegraph and its modus operandi, almost identically as at present, were known and described upwards of a century ago. On the occasion of a late visit to Robert Baird, Esq., of Auchmeddan, at his residence, Cadder House, near Glasgow, my attention was called by that gentleman to a letter initialed C. M., dated Renfrew, Feb. 15, 1753, and published that year in the Scots Magazine, vol. xv. p. 73., where the writer not only suggests electricity as a medium for conveying messages and signals, but details with singular minuteness the method of opening and maintaining lingual communication between remote points, a method which, with only few improvements, has now been so eminently successful. It is usual to attribute this wonderful discovery to the united labours of Mr. W. F. Cooke and Professor Wheatstone, but has any one acknowledged the contribution of C. M., and can any of the learned correspondents of "N. & Q." inform me who he was?
Inquirendo.
Glasgow.
Minor Queries
Queries relating to the Porter Family.—Above the inscription on the tablet erected by a devoted friend to the memory of this highly-gifted family in Bristol Cathedral, is a medallion of a portcullis surrounded by the word AGINCOURT, and surmounted by the date 1415.—What connexion is there between Agincourt2 and the Porter family?
Did Sir R. K. Porter write on account of Sir John Moore's campaign in the Peninsula?—What is the title of the book, and where can it be procured?3
Who was Charles Lempriere Porter (who died Feb. 14, 1831, aged thirty-one), mentioned on the Porter tombstone in St. Paul's churchyard at Bristol?—Who was Phœbe, wife of Dr. Porter, who died Feb. 20, 1845, aged seventy-nine, and whose name also occurs on this stone?
Did this family (which is now supposed to be extinct) claim descent from Endymion Porter, the loyal and devoted adherent of King Charles the Martyr?
D. Y. N.
Lord Ball of Bagshot.—Coryat, in his Crudities, vol. ii. p. 471., edit. 1776, tells us that at St. Gewere, near Ober-Wesel—
"There hangeth an yron collar fastened in the wall, with one linke fit to be put upon a man's neck, without any manner of hurt to the party that weareth it.
"This collar doth every stranger and freshman, the first time that he passeth that way, put upon his neck, which he must weare so long standing till he hath redeemed himself with a competent measure of wine."
Coryat submitted himself to the collar "for novelty sake," and he adds:
"This custome doth carry some kinde of affinity with certain sociable ceremonies that wee have in a place of England, which are performed by that most reuerend Lord Ball of Bagshot, in Hampshire, who doth with many, and indeed more solemne, rites inuest his brothers of his vnhallowed chappell of Basingstone (Basingstoke?) (as all our men of the westerne parts of England do know by deare experience to the smart of their purses), to these merry burgomaisters of Saint Gewere vse to do."
Will any of your readers state whether the custom is remembered in Hampshire, and afford explanation as to the most Rev. Lord Ball? The writers that I have referred to are silent, and I do not find mention of the custom in the pages of Mr. Urban.
J. H. M.
Marcarnes.—In Guillim's Display of Heraldry (6th edit., London, 1724), sect. 2. chap. v. p. 32., occurs the following description of a coat of arms: "Marcarnes, vaire, a pale, sable."
There is no reference to a Heralds' Visitation, or to the locality in which resided the family bearing this name and coat. It is only mentioned as an instance among many others of the pale in heraldry. I have searched many heraldic books, as well as copies of Heralds' Visitations, but cannot find the name elsewhere. Will any herald advise me how to proceed farther in tracing it?
G. R. M.
The Claymore.—What is the original weapon to which belongs the name of claymore (claidh mhor)? Is it the two-handed sword, or the basket-hilted two-edged sword now bearing the appellation? Is the latter kind of sword peculiar to Scotland? They are frequently to be met with in this part of the country. One was found a few years since plunged up to the hilt in the earth on the Cotswold Hills. It was somewhat longer than the Highland broadsword, but exactly similar to a weapon which I have seen, and which belonged to a Lowland Whig gentleman slain at Bothwell Bridge. If these swords be exclusively Scottish, may they not be relics of the unhappy defeat at Worcester?
Francis John Scott.
Tewkesbury.
Sir William Chester, Kt.—It is said of this gentleman in all the Baronetages, that "he was a great benefactor to the city of London in the time of Edward VI., and that he became so strictly religious, that for a considerable time before his death he retired from all business, entered himself a fellow-commoner at Cambridge, lived there some years' and was reputed a learned man." Did he take any degree at Cambridge, and to what college or hall did he belong? Must there not be some records in the University which will yield this information? I observe the "Graduati Cantabrigienses" only commence in 1659 in the printed list; but there must be older lists than this at Cambridge. Collins mentions that he was so conspicuous in his zeal for the Reformed religion, that he ran great risk of his life in Queen Mary's reign, and that one of his servants was burnt in Smithfield. Can any one inform me of his authority for this statement?
Tewars.
Canning on the Treaty of 1824 between the Netherlands and Great Britain.—When and under what circumstances did Canning use the following words?—
"The results of this treaty [of 1824 between England and Holland, to regulate their respective interests in the East Indies] were an admission of the principles of free trade. A line of demarcation was drawn, separating our territories from theirs, and ridding them of their settlements on the Indian continent. All these objects are now attained. We have obtained Sincapore, we have got a free trade, and in return we have given up Bencoolen."
Where are these words to be found, and what is the title of the English paper called by the French Courier du Commerce?—From the Navorscher.
L. D. S.
Ireland a bastinadoed Elephant.—"And Ireland, like a bastinadoed elephant, kneeled to receive her rider." This sentence is ascribed by Lord Byron to the Irish orator Curran. Diligent search through his speeches, as published in the United States, has been unsuccessful in finding it. Can any of your readers "locate it," as we say in the backwoods of America? A bastinado properly is a punishment inflicted by beating the soles of the feet: such a flagellation could not very conveniently be administered to an elephant. The figure, if used by Curran, has about it the character of an elephantine bull.
Philadelphia.
Memorial Lines by Thomas Aquinas.—
"Thomas Aquinas summed up, in a quaint tetrastic, twelve causes which might found sentences of nullity, of repudiation, or of the two kinds of divorce; to which some other, as monkish as himself, added two more lines, increasing the causes to fourteen, and to these were afterwards added two more. The former are [here transcribed from] the note:
'Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen,
Cultûs disparitas, vis, ordo, ligamen, honestas,
Si sis affinis, si forte cöire nequibis,
Si parochi, et duplicis desit præsentia testis,
Raptave si mulier, parti nec reddita tutæ;
Hæc facienda vetant connubia, facta retractant.'"
—From Essay on Scripture Doctrines of Adultery andDivorce, by H. V. Tabbs, 8vo.: Lond. 1822.
The subject was proposed, and a prize of fifty pounds awarded to this essay, by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Diocese of St. David's in 1821. This appears to me to have been a curious application of its funds by such a society. Can any of your readers explain it?
Balliolensis.
"Johnson's turgid style"—"What does not fade?"—Can any of your readers tell me where to find the following lines?
"I own I like not Johnson's turgid style,
That gives an inch th' importance of a mile,"
&c. &c.
And
"What does not fade? The tower which long has stood
The crash of tempests, and the warring winds,
Shook by the sure but slow destroyer, Time,
Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base,"
&c. &c.A. F. B.
Meaning of "Lane," &c.—By what process of development could the Anglo-Saxon laen (i. e. the English word lane, and the Scottish loaning) have obtained its present meaning, which answers to that of the limes of the Roman agrimensores?
What is considered to be the English measurement of the Roman juger, and the authorities for such measurement?
What is the measurement of the Anglo-Saxon hyde, and the authorities for such measurement?
H.
Theobald le Botiller.—What Theobald le Botiller did Rose de Vernon marry? See Vernon, in Burke's Extinct Peerage; Butler, in Lynch's Feudal Dignities; and the 2nd Butler (Ormond), in Lodge's Peerage.
Y. S. M.
William, fifth Lord Harrington.—Did William, fifth Lord Harrington, marry Margaret Neville (see Burke's Extinct Peerage) or Lady Catherine Courtenay? The latter is given in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, in Sir John Harrington's pedigree.
Y. S. M.
Singular Discovery of a Cannon-ball.—A heavy cannon-shot, I should presume a thirty-two pound ball, was found embedded in a large tree, cut down some years since on the estate of J. W. Martin, Esq., at Showborough, in the parish of Twyning, Gloucestershire. There was never till quite lately any house of importance on the spot, nor is there any trace of intrenchments to be discovered. The tree stood at some distance from the banks of the Avon, and on the other side of that river runs the road from Tewkesbury through Bredon to Pershore. The ball in question is marked with the broad arrow. From whence and at what period was the shot fired?
Francis John Scott.
Tewkesbury.
Scottish Castles.—It is a popular belief, and quoted frequently in the Statistical Account of Scotland, and other works referring to Scottish affairs, that the fortresses of Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Dumbarton Castle, Blackness Castle, were appointed by the Articles of Union between England and Scotland to be kept in repair and garrisoned. Can any of your readers refer to the foundation for this statement? for no reference in to be found to the subject in the Articles of Union.
Scrymzeour.
Edinburgh.
Sneezing.—Concerning sneezing, it is a curious circumstance that if any one should sneeze in company in North Germany, those present will say, "Your good health;" in Vienna, gentlemen in a café will take off their hats, and say, "God be with you" and in Ireland Paddy will say, "God bless your honour," or "Long life to your honour." I understand that in Italy and Spain similar expressions are used and I think I remember hearing, that in Bengal the natives make a "salam" on these occasions.
There is also, I believe, a popular idea among some of sneezing having some connexion with Satanic agency; and I lately met with a case where a peculiar odour was invariably distinguishable by two sisters, on a certain individual violently sneezing.
I shall be very much obliged if any of your readers can furnish me with any facts, theories, or popular ideas upon this subject.
Medicus.
Spenser's "Fairy Queen."—Allow me to employ an interval of leisure, after a visit to the remains of Kilcolman Castle, in inquiring whether any of your Irish readers can afford information respecting the existence of the long missing books of the Fairy Queen? Mrs. Hall, in her work on Ireland (vol. i. pp. 93, 94.), says that—
"More than mere rumour exists for believing that the lost books have been preserved, and that the MS. was in the possession of a Captain Garrett Nagle within the last forty years."
W. L. N.
Buttevant, co. Cork.
Poema del Cid.—Is there any edition of the Poema del Cid besides the one published by Sanchez (Poesias Castellanas anteriores al siglo XV.), and reprinted by Ochoa, and appended likewise to an edition of Ochoa's Tesoro de los Romanceros, &c., published at Barcelona in 1840? I shall feel obliged by being referred to an edition in a detached form, with glossary and notes, if such there be.
J. M. B.
The Brazen Head.—As upon two former occasions, through the useful and interesting pages of "N. & Q.," have been enabled to obtain information which I could procure in no other way, I am glad to have an opportunity of recording the obligations I myself, like many more, am under to "N. & Q.," and to some of your talented and kindly correspondents. Being anxious still farther to trespass upon your space, I take this opportunity of alike thanking you and them.—Could any reader of "N. & Q." inform me whether more than two numbers of The Brazen Head were ever published? Through the great courtesy of talented correspondent of "N. & Q." from Worcester, I have the first two; but I am anxious, for a literary purpose, to ascertain whether the publication was continued after.
A. F. A. W.
Minor Queries with Answers
"The Basilics."—What is the manuscript called the "Basilics" in the following passage, which occurs in a cotemporary MS., "Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. John Lord Scudamore, Viscount Sligo in Ireland," in the library of P. Howard, Esq., at Corby Castle? Is it known where it is now preserved?
Have these memoirs been printed? Lord S. was born in 1600, and was ambassador to France when this circumstance occurred.
"There having been intelligence given to his Excellence by that renowned person, and his then great acquaintance, Mons. Grotius, lieger in Paris for the crown of Sweden, of a very valuable manuscript of many volumes, being the body of the civil law in Greek, commonly called the 'Basilics,' in the hands of the heirs of the famous lawyer lately deceased, Petrus Faber,—desirous to enrich his country with this treasure, he transacted and agreed with the possessors for the price of it, which was no less than 500l. But when it should have been delivered, and the money was ready to be paid down, Cardinal Richelieu (the great French minister of state at that time) having notice of the transaction interposed, and forbad the going on upon the contract, as thinking it would have been a diminution to their nation to permit such a prize to come into the hands of strangers, and by their charge and labour be communicated to the world."
W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.
[Basilica is a name given to a digest of laws commenced by the Emperor Basilius in the year 867, and completed by his son Leo the philosopher in the year 880, the former having carried the work as far as forty books, and the latter having added twenty more, in which state it was published. The complete edition of Charles Annibal Fabrot, which appeared at Paris in 1647, proved of great service to the study of ancient jurisprudence. It is contained in seven volumes folio, and accompanied with Latin version of the text, as well as of the Greek scholia subjoined. See a valuable article on the Greek texts of the Roman law, in the Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. vii. p. 461.—The MS. "Memoirs of the Hon. John Lord Scudamore" seem to have been used by Matthew Gibson in his View of the Ancient and Present State of the Churches of Door, Horne-Lacy, and Hempsted, with Memoirs of the Scudamore Family, 4to., 1727, as the substance of the passage quoted by our correspondent is given at p. 95. of that work.]
Fire at Honiton.—I am solicitous to learn the particulars of a fire which occurred at Honiton, in Devonshire, in the year 1765, when the chapel and school-house were burned down, and the former thereupon rebuilt by collections under a brief.
In a review of Mr. Digby Wyatt's "Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century" (in the Athenæum for June 18th of the current year), reference is made by Mrs. Treadwin of Exeter to "a book mentioning two great fires which occurred in 1756 and 1767 in Honiton," but it is not stated who was the author of that book.
Can you or any of your readers furnish me with the title of the book intended, or direct me to any other sources of information on the subject of the Honiton fires?
S. T.
[Notices of fires at Honiton occur in the following works:—The Wisdom and Righteousness of Divine Providence. A sermon preached at Honiton on occasion of a dreadful fire, 21st August, 1765, which consumed 140 houses, a chapel, and a meeting-house. By R. Harrison, 4to. 1765.—Shaw, in his Tour to the West of England, p. 444., mentions a dreadful fire, 19th July, 1747, which reduced three parts of the town to ashes.—Lysons' Devonshire, p. 281., states that Honiton has been visited by the destructive calamity of fire in 1672, 1747, 1754, and 1765. The last-mentioned happened on the 21st August, and was the most calamitous; 115 houses were burnt down, and the steeple of Allhallows Chapel, with the school, were destroyed. The damage was estimated at above 10,500l.]
Michaelmas Goose.—The following little inconsistency in a commonly-received tradition has led me, at the request of a large party of well-read and literary friends, to request your solution of the difficulty in an early Number of your paper.
It is currently reported, and nine men in ten will tell you, if you ask them the reason why goose is always eaten on the 29th Sept., Michaelmas Day, that Queen Elizabeth was eating goose when the news of the destruction of the Invincible Armada was brought, and she immediately put down her knife and fork, and said, "From this day forth let all British-born subjects eat goose on this day."
Now in Creasy's Battles it is stated that the Spanish fleet was destroyed in the month of July. How could it then be the 29th of Sept. when the news of its defeat reached her majesty? If any of your readers can solve this seeming improbability be will greatly oblige
Michaelmas Day.
[Although it may be difficult to show how it is that the custom of eating goose has in this country been transferred to Michaelmas Day, while on the Continent it is observed at Martinmas, from which practice the goose is often called St. Martin's bird, it is very easy to prove that there is no foundation for the tradition referred to by our correspondent. For the following extract from Stow's Annales (ed. Howes), p. 749., will show that, so far from the news of the defeat of the Armada not reaching Elizabeth until the 29th of September, public thanksgivings for the victory had been offered on the 20th of the preceding month:
"On the 20th of August, M. Nowell, Deane of Paules, preached at Paules Crosse, in presence of the lord Maior and Aldermen, and the companies in their best liveries, moving them to give laud and praise unto Almightie God, for the great victorie by him given to our English nation, by the overthrowe of the Spanish fleete."]