Queries
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES
(Continued from Vol. iii., p. 87.)
(39.) Does any one now feel inclined to vindicate for Inchofer, Scioppius, Bariac, or Contarini, the authorship of the Monarchia Solipsorum? Notwithstanding the testimony of the Venice edition of 1652, as well as the very abundant evidence of successive witnesses, in favour of the first-named writer, (whose claim has been recognised so lately as the year 1790, by the Indice Ultimo of Madrid), can there be the smallest doubt that the veritable inventor of this satire upon the Jesuits was their former associate, Jules-Clement Scotti? For the interpretation of his pseudonyme, "Lucius Cornelius Europæus," see Niceron, Mém. xxxix. 70-1.
(40.) Mr. Cureton (Ant. Syr. vers. of Ep. of S. Ignat. Preface, p. ii., Lond. 1845) has asserted that—
"The first Epistles published, bearing the name of St. Ignatius—one to the Holy Virgin, and two to the Apostle St. John, in Latin,—were printed in the year 1495. Three years later there appeared an edition of eleven Epistles, also in Latin, attributed to the same holy Martyr. But nearly seventy years more elapsed before any edition of these Epistles in Greek was printed. In 1557, Val. Paceus published twelve," &c.
Two connected Queries may be founded upon this statement:—(1.) Is not Mr. Cureton undoubtedly in error with respect to the year 1495? for, if we may believe Orlandi, Maittaire, Fabricius (B. G.), and Ceillier, the three Latin Epistles above named had been set forth previously at Cologne, in 1478. (2.) By what mysterious species of arithmetic can it be demonstrated that "nearly seventy years" elapsed between 1498 and 1557? The process must be a somewhat similar one to that by which "A.D. 360" is made equivalent to "five-and-twenty years after the Council of Nice." (Pref., p. xxxiv.) In the former instance "seventy" is hardly a literal translation of Bishop Pearson's "sexaginta:" but whether these miscalculations have been already adverted to, and subsequently amended, or not, I cannot tell.
(41.) In the same Preface (p. xxiv.) a very strange argument was put forward, which, as we may learn from the last Quarterly Review, p. 79., where it is satisfactorily refuted, has been since repeated by Mr. Cureton. He maintains that the Syriac text of the Ignatian Epistles cannot be an epitome, because that "we know of no instances of such abridgment in any Christian writer." To commence with the West,—is not Mr. Cureton acquainted with the manner in which Rufinus dealt with the History of Eusebius? Have we here no specimens of abbreviation; no allusion in the prologue to "omissis quæ videbantur superflua?" Has Mr. C. never looked into that memorable combination of the independent works of three contemporaries, entitled Historia Tripartita? and, not to wander from the strictest bounds of bibliography, will any one presume to boast of having a copy of this book printed prior to that now near me, (a spectacle which De Bure could never get a sight of), "per Iohannem Schüszler regie vrbis Augustensis ciuem," anno 1472? But let us go to the East in search of compendiums. Did not Theodorus Lector, early in the sixth century, reduce into a harmony the compositions of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret? How does Assemani speak of the first two parts of the Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor, supposed to have been written in Syriac, about the year 540? "Prima est epitome Socratis, altera Theodoreti." (Biblioth. Orient., tom. ii. cap. vii.) On this occasion, manifestly, ancient records are encountered in an abridged Syriac form; a circumstance which will not strengthen the Curetonian theory relative to the text of the Ignatian Epistles. Again, bearing in mind the resemblance that exists between passages in the interpolated Epistles and in the Apostolic Constitutions, with the latter of which the Didascalia of Ignatius seems to have been commingled, let us inquire, Did not Dr. Grabe, in his Essay upon the Doctrine of the Apostles, published in 1711, unanswerably prove that the Syriac copy of this Didascalia was much more contracted than the Arabic one, or than the Greek Constitutions of the Apostles? Is it not true that extracted portions of these Constitutions are found in some old MS. collections of Canons? Has not Cotelier furnished us with an "Epitome," compiled by Metaphrastes from Clementine counterfeits, concerning the life of S. Peter? And, to descend from the tenth to the sixteenth century, are we not indebted to Carolus Capellius for an "Epitome Apostolicarum Constitutionum, in Creta insula repertarum," 4to., Ingolstad. 1546?
(42.) When Mr Merryweather (Vol. iii., p. 60.) was seeking for monastic notices of extreme longevity, did he always find it feasible to meet with Ingulphus's History of Croyland Abbey "apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra, 613?" and if it be not enough to have read an account of an ecclesiastic who is said to have attained to the delectable age of 168 years, is it not questionable that anything will suffice except it be the narrative of the Seven Sleepers? The third "Lectio" relating to these Champions of Christendom, as it is given in a Vatican MS., makes the period of their slumber to have been about 370 years. Who was the author of that finely-printed and illustrated quarto volume, the Sanctorum Septem Dormientium Historia, ex Ectypis Musei Victorii expressa, published, with the full approbation of the Censors, Romæ, 1741? "Obscurus esse gestio" is his declaration about himself (p. 63.). Has he remained incognito?
R. G.
SHAKSPEARE'S "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA."
The first scene of the third act of Shakspeare's play of "Antony and Cleopatra," at first sight, appears to be totally unconnected with what goes before and what follows. It may be observed that the dramas founded on the Roman history are much more regular in their construction than those founded on the English history. Indeed, with respect to the drama in question, I am not aware of any scene, with the exception of that I have mentioned, which does not bear more or less on the fortunes of the personages from whom the play derives its name. Hence I am led to conjecture that the dramatist here alludes to some event of the day, which was well known to his audience. The speech of Ventidius seems to point to something of the kind:
"O Silius, Silius!
I have done enough: a lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: for learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away," &c.
Some of your numerous readers will doubtless be able to inform me whether there is any instance in the annals of that age of an inferior officer outshining his superior, and being cashiered or neglected in consequence.
Malone assigns to the play the date of 1608.
X. Z.
GREENE'S "GROATSWORTH OF WITTE."
The interesting article by the Hermit of Holyport, on the early German translation of Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier, will, I am sure, be read with attention by all lovers of our early literature. My object in addressing you on the subject is to draw the attention of your foreign correspondents, and perhaps the notice of your new contemporary, to the great importance of discovering whether the Groatsworth of Witte was also translated into German. The earliest edition I have seen is that of 1617, but it was printed as early as 1592; and I have long been curious to ascertain whether the remarkable passage respecting Shakspeare has descended to us in its genuine state. In the absence of the English edition of 1592, this information might be obtained from a translation published before 1617. Perhaps, however, some of your readers may be able to point out the existence of an earlier edition. I have sought for that of 1592 for several years without any success.
J. O. Halliwell.
Minor Queries
Fronte Capillatâ.—The following lines recurred to my memory after reading in your last number the translation of the epigram by Pasidippus in the article on "Fronte capillatâ," &c.; it is many years since I read them, but have forgotten where. Can you or any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of them?
"Oh! who art thou so fast proceeding,
Ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame?
Known but to few, through earth I'm speeding,
And Opportunity's my name.
"What form is that, that scowls beside thee?
Repentance is the form you see;
Learn then the fate may yet betide thee,
She seizes them, who seize not me."
Henry M. Burt.
Gibson Square, Feb. 4. 1851.
Prayer of Bishop of Nantes.—In Allison's History of the French Revolution, ed. 1849, at page 432. vol. i., there occurs the following passage:
"The Bishop of Nancy commenced, as customary, with the prayer: 'Receive, O God, the homage of the Clergy, the respects of the Noblesse, and the humble supplications of the Tiers Etat.'"
This formula was, the historian tells us, received with a storm of disapprobation by the third order. Will any of your contributors be so obliging as to inform me where the form of prayer spoken of as customary is to be found?
J. M.
Liverpool.
Advantage of a Bad Ear.—Can any of your readers supply the name of the man of mark in English history, who says "he encouraged in himself a bad ear, because it enabled him to enjoy music he would not have enjoyed without?"
I have looked through the lives of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Hampden, Hobbes, Andrew Marvell, and Fletcher of Saltoun, without finding it; though it is possible it may be in some of these after all. The list given will point to the kind of personage in question.
Tn.
Imputed Letters of Sullustius or Sallustius (Vol. iii., p. 62.).—I am sorry to say that the printer has completely spoiled my Query, by printing Sullustius instead of Sallustius throughout the whole article. I subjoin a few more particulars concerning them. In the edition printed at Cambridge (4to. 1710), and published under the auspices of the learned Wasse, they are included. They are there entitled Orationes ad C. Cæsarem, de Republica Ordinanda. Cortius rejects them, and De Brosses accepts them. Douza, Crispinus, Perizonius, Clericus, &c., all speak in favour of their authenticity. Allen does not mention them, and Anthon rejects them entirely. With these additional hints I doubt not but that some of your obliging correspondents will be able to give me a reply.
Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.
Rev. W. Adams.—When did Mr. Adams, the accomplished author of the Sacred Allegories, die? This is unaccountably omitted in the "Memoir" prefixed to the collected edition of his Allegories (London, Rivingtons, 1849). Can any characteristic anecdote be related of him, suitable for giving point to a sketch of his life for foreign readers?
George Stephens.
Stockholm.
Mr. Beard, Vicar of Greenwich.—Any information relating to "Mr. Beard, Vicar of Greenwich," who, in the year 1563, was recommended by Loftus, Archbishop of Armagh, and Brady, Bishop of Meath, as a proper person to be preferred to the bishopric of Kildare, will be very acceptable to—
Spes.
Goddard's History of Lynn.—It has been always understood that Mr. Guybon Goddard (who was Recorder of this borough in 1651 or thereabouts) collected a quantity of materials for a history of Lynn, and that in 1677 or 1678 an offer to purchase them was made by the corporation to his son, Thomas Goddard, but it seems without success. The fact of such materials having been collected is recognised by Goddard's brother-in-law, Sir Wm. Dugdale (who refers to it in some part of his works), as also by Parkin, in his History of Freebridge and King's Lynn, p. 293., where he is called a curious collector of antiquities. My Query is, Can any of your correspondents inform me where this collection can be met with?
John Nurse Chadwick.
Sir Andrew Chadwick.—It is stated that on the 18th Jan. 1709-10, Sir Andrew Chadwick, of St. James's, Westminster, was knighted by Queen Anne for some service done to her, it is supposed for rescuing her when thrown from her horse. Can any of your correspondents inform me if such was the fact, and from what source they derive their information?
John Nurse Chadwick.
King's Lynn.
Sangaree.—Your periodical having been the means of eliciting some interesting particulars respecting the origin of the word grog, perhaps you will allow me to claim a similar distinction for the word sangaree. You are aware that this word is applied, in the West Indies, to a beverage composed of Madeira wine, syrup, water, and nutmeg. The French call it sangris, in allusion, it is supposed, to the colour of the beverage, which when mixed has the appearance, as it were, of grey blood (sang gris): but as there is reason to believe that the English were the first to introduce the use of the thing, they having been the first to introduce its principal ingredient, Madeira wine, I am disposed to look upon sangaree as the original word, and sangris as nothing more than a corruption of it. Can any of your readers (among whom I trust there are many retired West India planters) give the etymology of this word?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia, Dec. 1850.
King John at Lincoln.—Matthew Paris, under the year 1200, gives an account of King John's visiting Lincoln to meet William, king of Scots, and to receive his homage:
"Ubi Rex Johannes, [he says] contra consilium multorum, intravit civitatem intrepidus, quod nullus antecessorum suorum attentare ausus fuerat."
My Query is, What were they afraid of?
C. W. B.
Canes lesi.—May I also put a question with respect to an ancient tenure in Dorsetshire, recorded by Blount, edit. 1679, p. 46.:
"Juliana, &c., tenuit dimidiam hidam terræ, &c., per serjantiam custodiendi Canes Domini Regis lesos, si qui fuerint, quotiescunque Dominus Rex fugaverit in Forestâ suâ de Blakemore: et ad dandum unum denarium ad clancturam Parci Domini Regis de Gillingham."
Blount's explanation of Canes lesos, is "leash hounds or park hounds, such as draw after a hurt deer in a leash, or liam;" but is there any reason why we should not adopt the more simple rendering of "hurt hounds;" and suppose that Dame Juliana was matron of the Royal Dorset Dog Hospital?
Ducange gives no such word as lesus; neither does he nor any authority, to which I have access, help me to understand the word clanctura. I trust, however, that some of your correspondents will.
C. W. B.
Headings of Chapters in English Bibles.—The arguments or contents which are prefixed to each chapter of our English Bibles seem occasionally to vary; some being more full and comprehensive than others. When and by whom were they compiled? what authority do they possess? and where can we meet with any account of them?
Liturgicus.
Abbot Eustacius and Angodus de Lindsei.—Can any of your learned readers inform me in what reign an Abbot Eustacius flourished? He is witness to a charter of Ricardus de Lindsei, on his granting twelve denarii to St. Mary of Greenfeld, in Lincolnshire: there being no date, I am anxious to ascertain its antiquity. He is there designated "Eustacius Abbe Flamoei." Also witnessed by Willo' decano de Hoggestap, Roberto de Wells, Eudene de Bavent, Radulpho de Neuilla, &c. The latter appears in the Doomsday Book. The charter is to be found among Ascough's Col., B. M.
I should also be glad to know whether the Christian name Angodus be German, Norman, or Saxon. Angodus de Lindsei grants a carrucate of land in Hedreshille to St. Albans, in the time of the Conqueror. If this person assumed the name of Lindsei previous to the Doomsday inquisition, ought not his name to have appeared in the Doomsday Book,—he who could afford to make a grant of 100 acres of land to the Abbey of St. Albans?
J. L.
Oration against Demosthenes.—Mr. Harris of Alexandria made a discovery, some years ago, of a fragment of an oration against Demosthenes. Can you, or any of your kind correspondents, favour me with an account of it? I cannot recall the particulars of the discovery, but I believe the oration, with a fac-simile, was privately printed.
Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.
Pun.—C. H. KENYON (Vol. iii., p. 37.) asks if Milton could have seriously perpetrated the pun "each tome a tomb." I doubt whether he intended it for a pun. But his Query induces me to put another. Whence and when did the aversion to, and contempt for, a pun arise? Is it an offshoot from the Reformation? Our Catholic fellow-countrymen surely felt no such aversion; for the claim which they make of supremacy for their church is based upon a pun, and that a very sorry one.
A. R.
Sonnet (query by Milton?) (Vol. iii., p. 37.).—May I inquire from your correspondent whether he possesses the book, A Collection of Recente and Witty Pieces by Several Eminente Hands, London, 1628, from which this sonnet is stated to be extracted. The lines look suspiciously modern, and I should, before making any further observations upon them, be glad to be assured of their authenticity through the medium of your pages.
Jas. Crossley.
Medal given to Howard.—Hepworth Dixon, in his Life of Howard, mentions a Russian General Bulgarhow, who was presented by his countrymen with a gold medal, as "one who had deserved well of his country." The General's reply stated that his services to mankind reached his own country only; but there was a man whose extraordinary philanthropy took in all the world,—who had already, with infinite toil and peril, extended his humanity to all nations,—and who was therefore alone worthy of such a distinction; to him, his master in benevolence, he should send the medal! And he did so. Can any of your readers inform me who now possesses this medal, and where it is to be found?
W. A.
Withers' Devil at Sarum.—Where is Withers' Devil at Sarum, mentioned in Hudibras, to be met with? It is not in any of his collected works that I have seen.
James Waylen.
Election of a Pope.—I have read somewhere that some cardinals assembled in a water-closet in order to elect a pope. Can any of your readers refer me to any book where such a fact is mentioned?
T.
Battle in Wiltshire.—A pamphlet dated (in MS.) Dec. 12. 1642, describes an engagement as taking place in Wiltshire between Rupert and Skippon. If this be so, how comes it to pass that not only the general histories are silent as to the event, but that even the newspapers omit it? We know that Rupert was at the sack of Cirencester, in February, 1642-3; and Cirencester is on the borders of Wiltshire: but is there any authority for the first-mentioned visit to this county, during the period from the affair at Brentford to the taking of Cirencester?
James Waylen.
Colonel Fell.—Can you inform me who are the representatives or descendants of Lieut.-Colonel Robert Edward Fell, of St. Martin's in the Fields, London, where he was living in the year 1770? He was the great-grandson of Thomas Fell, of Swarthmore Hall, co. Lancaster, Esq., Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster during the Commonwealth, whose widow married George Fox, founder of the Quakers.
De H.
Tennyson's "In Memoriam."—Perhaps some of your readers may be able to explain the reference in the following verse, the first in this beautiful series of poems:
"I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things."
The following stanza, also in the poem numbered 87., much needs interpretation:
"Or cooled within the glooming wave,—
And last, returning from afar,
Before the crimson-circled star
Had fallen into her father's grave."
W. B. H.
Manchester.
Magnum Sedile.—Can any of your correspondents throw light on the singular arched recesses, sometimes (though rarely) to be found on the south side of chancels, west of the sedilia. The name of magnum sedile has been given to them, I know not on what authority; but if they were intended to be used as stalls of dignity for special occasions, they would hardly have been made so wide and low as they are generally found. A good example occurs at Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire,—certainly not monumental; and another (but more like a tomb) at Merton, near Oxford, engraved in the Glossary of Architecture. Why should they not have been intended for the holy sepulchre at Easter? as I am not aware that these were necessarily restricted to the north side. Is there any instance of a recess of this kind on the south side, and an Easter sepulchre on the north, in the same church?
C. R. M.
Ace of Diamonds—the Earl of Cork.—In addition to the soubriquets bestowed upon the nine of diamonds of "the Curse of Scotland," and that of "the Grace Card," given to the six of hearts (Vol. i., pp. 90. 119.), there is yet another, attached to the ace of diamonds, which is everywhere in Ireland denominated "the Earl of Cork," the origin of which I should be glad to know.
E. S. T.
Closing of Rooms on account of Death.—In the Spectator, No. 110., July, 1711, one of Addison's papers on Sir Roger de Coverley, the following passage occurs:
"My friend, Sir Roger, has often told me with a good deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate he found three parts of his house altogether useless; that the best room in it had the reputation of being haunted, and by that means was locked up; that noises had been heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a servant to enter it after eight o'clock at night; that the door of one of his chambers was nailed up, because there went a story in the family that a butler had formerly hanged himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a son, or daughter had died. The knight seeing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised by his chaplain, who lay in every room one after another, and by that means dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in the family."
The practice of shutting up rooms in which members of the family had died was retained up to the end of the last century. I learn from a friend that, in a country house in the south of England, his mother's apartment, consisting of a sitting-room, bed-room, and dressing-room, was closed at her death in 1775. The room in which his grandfather had died in 1760 was likewise closed. These four rooms were kept locked up, with the shutters shut, till the year 1793, when the next owner came into possession, who opened them, and caused them to be again used. Probably other cases of the same sort may be known to your correspondents, as having occurred in the last century; but the custom appears to be now extinct.
L.
Standfast's Cordial Comforts.—I have lately procured a copy of an interesting book, entitled
"A Little Handful of Cordial Comforts: scattered throughout several Answers to Sixteen Questions and Objections following. By Richard Standfast, M.A., Rector of Christ Church in Bristol, and Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles II. Sixth Edition. Bristol, 1764. 18mo. pp. 94."
Can any of your readers give me further particulars of Mr. Standfast, or tell me where to find them? In what year was the work first published? It was reprinted in Bristol in 1764, "for Mr. Standfast Smith, apothecary, great-grandson of the author." Has any later edition appeared?
Abhba.
"Predeceased" and "Designed."—J. Dennistoun, in his Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, ii. p. 239., says—
"His friend the cardinal had lately predeceased him."
Can any of your readers give me an instance from any one of our standard classical authors of a verb active "to decease"?
The same author uses the word designed several times in the sense of designated. I should be glad of a few authorities for the use of the word in this sense.
W. A.
Lady Fights at Atherton.—A poem, published in 1643, in honour of the King's successes in the West, has the following reference to a circumstance connected with Fairfax's retreat at Atherton Moor:
"When none but lady staid to fight."
I should be glad to learn to what this refers, and whether or not the real story formed the basis of De Foe's account of the fighting lady at Thame, laid about the same period, viz. the early part of the year 1643.
James Waylen
Sketches of Civil War Garrisons, &c.—During the civil war, sketches and drawings were, no doubt, made of the lines drawn about divers garrisons. Some few of these have from time to time appeared as woodcuts: but I have a suspicion that several remain only in MS. still. If any of your readers can direct me to any collection of them in the British Museum or Oxford, they would shorten a search that has long been made in vain.
James Waylen.
"Jurat? crede minus:" Epigram.—Can any of your learned readers inform me by whom the following epigram was written? I lately heard it applied, in conversation, to the Jesuits, but I think it is of some antiquity:—
"Jurat? crede minus: non jurat? credere noli:
Jurat, non jurat? hostis ab hoste cave."
F. R. R.
Meaning of Gulls.—What is the origin of the word "gulls," as applied in Wensleydale (North York) to hasty-pudding, which is a mixture of oatmeal and milk or water boiled?
D. 2.
The Family of Don.—Can any of your correspondents furnish me with information regarding the family of Don, of Pitfichie, near Monymusk, Aberdeenshire; or trace how they were connected with the Dons of Newton Don, Roxburghshire?
A. A.
Abridge.
Wages in the last Century.—I should like to have any particulars of the price of labour at various periods in the last century, especially the wages of domestic servants. May I be permitted to mention that I am collecting anecdotes of the manners and customs, social and domestic, of our grandfathers, and should be much obliged for any curious particulars of their ways of living, their modes of travelling, or any peculiarities of their daily life? I am anxious to form a museum of the characteristic curiosities of the century; its superstitions, its habits, and its diversions.
A. A.
Abridge.
Woman, Lines on.—Can any of your correspondents inform me who was the author of the following lines:—
"She was –
But words would fail to tell her worth: think
What a woman ought to be,
And she was that."
They are to be found on several tombstones throughout the country.
Scrutator.