Various - Notes and Queries, Number 20, March 16, 1850
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Various >> Notes and Queries, Number 20, March 16, 1850
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
EXTRACTS FROM OLD RECORDS.
If you think the insertion of scraps from the mutilated Exchequer
records useful, I shall be most happy, from time to time, to contribute
a few. The following are extracted from fragments of a book of entries,
temp. Charles I.: the book appears to have been a large folio, and each
leaf torn into at least four pieces. It is much to be regretted that the
work of selection and mutilation was not assigned to more competent
persons than the ignorant porters who I am told were entrusted with it.
ROBERT COLE.
_Fragment dated 1640._
John de Critz, Serjeant Painter, p't of
2158. 13, for a debt in the great
wardrobe 60 0 0
{ 200 0 0
S'r James Palmer, Kn't, for the Tapestrie { 362 10 0
makers and painters at Mortlach { 300 0 0
{ 262 10 0
{ 300 0 0
_Fragment dated 1637._
..........hony Vandike Kn't p't of 1200_li._
for......... 300 0 0
..........le Seur Sculpter p't of 720_li._
.................Statues and Images 300 0 0
_Fragment dated 1640._
..........in satisfaction for his greate
Losses by his greate and extraordinary
disbursem'ts vpon assignem'ts and
other charges 4000 0 0
S'r Job Harby and S'r John Nulles,
Kn'ts, for soe much paid to the King
of Denmke for redempion of a greate
Jewell, and to liquidate the accompts
betwixt his Ma'ty and the said King 25000 0 0
Hubrecht le Seur in full of 340_li._ for }
2 statues in brasse, the one of his late } 100 0 0
Ma'ty, and the other of our now } 70 0 3
Souerainge lo: King Charles[3] }
More to him 60_li._, in p't of 120li. for a
bust of brasse of his late Ma'ty, and
40_li._ for carrying and erecting 2
figures at Winchester 100 0 0
Richard Delamair for making divers }
Mathematicall Instruments, and } 100 0 0
other services } 68 0 0
[Footnote 3: Qy. the statue now at Charing Cross.]
* * * * *{318}
QUERIES.
QUERIES ON OUTLINE.
The boundary between a surface represented and its background received
two different treatments in the hands of artists who have the highest
claims on our respect. Some, following the older painters as they were
followed by Raphael and Albert Durer, bring the surface of the figure
abruptly against its background. Others, like Murillo and Titian, melt
the one into the other, so that no pencil could trace the absolute limit
of either. Curiously enough, though for very obvious reasons, the
Daguerreotype seems to favour one method, the Calotype the other. Yet,
two Calotypes, in which the outlines are quite undefined, coalesce in
the Stereoscope, giving a sharp outline; and as soon as the mind has
been thus taught to expect a relievo, either eye will see it.
But if you look at your face in the glass, you cannot at once (say at
three feet distance) see the outlines of the eye and cheek. They
disappear every where, except in the focus common to both eyes. Then
nothing is seen absolutely at rest. The act of breathing imparts
perpetual motion to the artist and the model. The aspen leaf is
trembling in the stillest air. Whatever difference of opinion may exist
as to Turner's use or abuse of his great faculties, no one will doubt
that he has never been excelled in the art of giving space and relative
distance to all parts of his canvas. Certainly no one ever carried
confusion of outline in every part not supposed to be in the focus of
the eye so far.
On the other hand, every portion of a large picture, however severe its
execution, acquires this morbid outline wherever the eye quits one
detail for another. Is, then, the law governing small and large surface
different? Do these instances imply that a definite boundary, a modern
German style, is indefensible? or only indefensible in miniature? Or, is
such a picture as the Van Eyh in the National Gallery a vindication of
the practice in small works?
I can answer that it is not; and this last question I merely ask to
avoid all answers on the score of authority. No doubt that strange work
is one of the most realising pictures ever painted,--more so than any
neighbouring Rembrandt,--whose masses of light and shade were used as a
"creative power." I want to know whether there is a right and wrong in
the case, apart from every thing men call taste. Whether, whenever a
work of art passes from suggestion to imitation, _some_ liberty must not
be given at the lines whence the rays are supposed to diverge to the two
eyes from two different surfaces. Every advance in art and science
removes something from the realms of opinion, and this appears to be a
question on which science must some day legislate for art.
J.O.W.H.
* * * * *
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL--OLD SONGS ONCE POPULAR THERE.
Amongst the numerous correspondents and readers of your very interesting
little work, there may yet be living some who were scholars in the above
institution during the last ten or fifteen years of the last century,
coevals, or nearly so, with Richards, afterwards of Oriel College,
author of a prize poem, _Aboriginal Britons_, and one of the Bampton
Lecturers; Middleton, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta; Trollope,
afterwards Master of the Grammar School; Barnes, afterwards connected
with the _Times_; Stevens, Scott (poor Scott!), Coleridge, Lamb, Allen,
White, Leigh Hunt, the two brothers Le G. Favell, Thompson, Franklin,
&c., pupils of old James Boyer, of flogging celebrity.
If so, can any of them furnish me with the words of an old song, then
current in the school, relating to the execution of the Earl of
Derwentwater in the rebellion of 1715, of which the four following lines
are all that I remember:
"There's fifty pounds in my right pocket,
To be given to the poor;
There's fifty pounds in my left pocket,
To be given from door to door."
Of another song, equally popular, less pathetic, but of more
spirit-stirring character, can any one supply the remainder?
"As our king lay musing on his bed,
He bethought himself once on a time
Of a tribute that was due from France,
That had not been paid for so long a time.
"Oh! then he called his trusty page,
His trusty page then called he,
Saying, 'You must go to the king of France,
To the king of France right speedily.'"
NEMO.
* * * * *
WATCHING THE SEPULCHRE--DOMINUS FACTOTUM--ROBERT PASSELLEW.
Allow me to offer a query or two respecting which I shall be glad of any
information your numerous correspondents may be able to furnish.
1. In Fuller's _History of Waltham Abbey_, pp. 269. 274., Nichol's
edition, 1840, we have the following entries from the churchwarden's
accounts:
"Anno 1542, the thirty-fourth of Henry viii. _Imprimis_. For
watching the sepulchre, a groat."
"_Item_, for watching the sepulchre, eight pence."
The last entry occurs in "Anno 1554, Mariae primo," but Fuller adds,
"though what meant thereby, I know not." Can any satisfactory
information be furnished which will explain the custom here alluded to?
{319}
2. In the same work, page 278., a passage occurs, which not only
explains the meaning of the term _factotum_, but furnishes matter for
another query. The passage is this; speaking of "eminent persons buried"
at Waltham Abbey, he says: "we spoil all, if we forget Robert Passellew,
who was _dominus fac totum_ in the middle--and _fac nihil_ towards the
end--of the reign of Henry III." Some parasites extolled him by allusion
to his name, _pass-le-eau_, (that is "passing the pure water,") the wits
of those days thus descanting upon him:
"Est aqua lenis, et est aqua dulcis, et est aqua clara,
Tu praecellis aquam, nam leni lenior es tu,
Dulci dulcior es tu, clara clarior es tu;
Mente quidem lenis, re dulcis, sanguine clarus."
_Camden's MSS._ Cott. Lib.
The learned Dr. Whitaker, in his _History of Whalley_, says, that "the
word Paslew was of Norman origin (Pass-le-eau), and afforded a subject
for some rhyming monkish verses, not devoid of ingenuity, which the
curious reader may find in Weever's _Funeral Monuments_, p. 645;" and a
question now arises whether the _Passellew_ mentioned by Fuller belongs
to the same family as the "Paslews of Wiswall," alluded to by Dr.
Whitaker, one of whom, "John, Abbot of Whalley" was executed for the
part he took in the "Pilgrimage of Grace." when it is stated that the
Paslews of Wiswall bore "Argent a fess between three mullets Sable
pierced of the field, a crescent for difference," probably some of your
readers will be able to give some particulars respecting "Robert
Passelew," and also identify the families if possible.
T.W.
Burnley, Lancashire, Feb. 23, 1850.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_Conrad of Salisbury's Descritio utriusque Britanniae._--A good many
years since I had a communication from the Baron de Penhouet, a Breton
Antiquary, respecting a work which I have never yet been able to
discover. I may ascertain, through the medium of your very useful
publication, whether there exists a work under the title of a
"Descriptio utriusque Britanniae," by Conrad of Salisbury, from a MS. of
the time of Henry I. I should feel much obliged to any one who would
favour me with this information.
JAMES LOGAN.
_Peruse or Pervise--Passage in Frith's Works._--Your correspondent T.J.
rightly conjectured that the _peruse_ of a modern reprint of Frith was
an error. I have been able since to consult two black-letter editions,
and have found, as I suspected, "pervise" and "pervyse."
If your same correspondent, or any other, can help me to correct, or to
understand another erroneous clause in Russell's edit. of Frith, vol.
iii. p. 227., I shall be still further obliged.
It is probably meant for some old rule in logic, but is printed there,
"Ab inferiori ad suis superius confuse distribue." Foxe, however, has
"suum" instead of "suis."
H.W.
_Cromlech._--I shall feel much obliged if any of your readers will
kindly refer me to any authority for the use of the word _Cromlech_,
prior to the sixteenth century, whether in the Welsh or English
language.
JAS. H. TODD.
Trin. Coll. Dublin, Jan. 31, 1850.
_Meaning of "Grummett."_--A Constant Reader is desirous of addressing
such of your correspondents as are well versed in maritime history,--Mr.
Bolton Corney to wit,--on the following subject. In the early ages of
our Navy there was a distinct rating, called "Grummett," on board each
man-of-war, and he was generally, as may be seen in the Cottonian MSS.,
placed after the "maryners and gonners." Now, the reader will be highly
obliged to any one who will trace the designation to its source, and
give information as to what were the special duties of the Grummett, or
Gromet.
[Greek: Sigma].
_Vertue's Manuscripts._--Steevens and Malone, in fixing the dates of
Shakspeare's Dramas, frequently quote from _Vertue's_ MSS. George
Chalmers, in his _Supplemental Apology_, says, "On making some
inquiries, by a friend, what manuscript of _Vertue's_ it were, which I
saw so often quoted about scenic matters, Mr. Steevens was so obliging
as to say, 'The books, from which those extracts were made, with several
others lost, belonged to Secretary Pepys, and afterwards to Dr.
Rawlinson, who lent them to Mr. Vertue.' When the said MSS. were
consulted by the two commentators, they were, I believe, in the
possession of Garrick." Chalmers adds, "Much is it to be lamented, that
any MS. or book, which furnished an illustration of Shakespeare, and
having once been seen, should ever disappear." Every true lover of our
great poet will heartily agree with this remark.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Loscop._--The Patent Roll, 1 Edw. III. part I, membrane 27, contains
the exemplification or copy of a grant by Henry I. to his butler William
de Albini of--"Manerium de Snetesham cum duobus hundredis et dimidio
scil. Fredebruge et Smethedune cum wreck et cum omnibus pertinentiis
suis et misteria de Luna cum medietate fori et theloneis et cum ceteris
consuetudinibus et portu cum applicacione navium et _loscop_ et viam
ipsius aquae et transitu cum omnibus querelis." I should be greatly
obliged to any of your learned correspondents who would explain the word
_loscop_. Luna is the town or port of King's Lynn. _Misteria_ {320} may
probably be translated "offices." See Ducange (Paris Edit. 1845) under
the words misterium and ministerium. _Loscop_ appears to be a word of
similar formation to Laudcop and Lahcop, which occur in the Laws of
Ethelred (Thorpe's _Ancient Laws_, vol. i. pp. 294, 295.). Can it mean a
fee paid on _loosing_ the vessel in order to leave the port?
C.W.G.
_Ormonde House._--Perhaps some of your annotators on Cunningham's
_Hand-book of London_, will be so kind as to inform me whereabouts
"Ormonde House" stood in St. James's Square; also to state any
particulars respecting its history before and after it was occupied by
that noble family.
J.G.
_As Morse caught the Mare._--I shall be glad to be informed the meaning
of this expression--it is to be met with in the translation of Rabelais.
There is also a song sung among the farmers of South Devon, of which the
last line of each verse is "As Morse caught the Mare."
R.S.B.
_Dustpot--Forthlot._--In a Manorial Compotus, temp. Hen. V., I find the
following entry, under the head of Out-goings:--
"In custodes carucarum et carectarum nil quia per firmarium. Item
pro eorum _duspot_ (xij'd) nil, causa predicta. Item pro eorum
_forlot_ (iiij'd) nil, causa predicta," &c.
I have in vain consulted the glossaries within my reach,--Ducange,
Spelman, Halliwell, for the meaning of the terms _dustpot_ and _forlot_
(or, as spelt in another Compotus, _dustpot_ and _forthlot_). They
appear to have been customary payments to the servants who had the care
of the carts and carriages belonging to the manor, which, at the time of
this particular Compotus, were not payable by the lord, because the
demesne lands were in farm; and these dues were paid by the tenant. A
reference to the _Promptorinm Parvulorum_ (a further instalment of which
I rejoice to learn, from Mr. Way's communication, in No. 15., is in a
state of progress) has been equally unproductive. The editorial note to
the communications inserted in No. 17., on the interpretation of
_Pokership_, induces me to send you this query, in the hope of eliciting
information, if not from the gentleman you there refer to, at least from
some one or other of your numerous readers learned in Archaic words.
I may, at a future period trouble you with some further remarks arising
out of the same Compotus.
G.A.C.
_Tracts attributed to Eachard._--The writer of this article has long had
in his possession an old volume (among many others of a like kind in his
collection) published in 1685; and containing the following
tracts:--1st. "The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the
Clergy,... in a letter written to R.L., 9th edition." This letter is
signed T.B. 2nd. "Observations upon the Answer to the Inquiry, &c., in a
second Letter from T.B. to R.L." 3rd. "Hobbes' State of Nature,
considered, in a Dialogue between Philautus and Timothy;" the "Epistle
Dedicatory" is signed, J.E. 4th. "A Letter to his Old Dear Friend R.L.
from T.B." 5th. "A Letter to B.D.," the publisher of Mr. Herbert's
_Country Parson_, from T.B. 6th. "A Letter to the Author of the
Vindication of the Clergy," from T.B. 7th. "A Letter to T.D.," the
Author of _Hieragonisticon_, or _Corah's Doom_, from T.B. 8th. "A Letter
to I.O. from T.B."
Now, it is mentioned in Dr. Hooke's _Ecclesiastical Biography_ (vol.
iv., art. Eachard), that Eachard was the author of these tracts. But the
queries I would beg to propose, if any of your correspondents can answer
them, are these:--1st. Why does Eachard sign himself T.B.; does that
signature allude to any matter in particular? 2nd. Who are meant by the
other letters, R.L., B.D., L.O., &c.; and who, if any persons in
particular, by Philautus; and Timothy; and who was the author of
_Hieragonisticon_.
Perhaps "Philau_tus_" should be rather be "Philau_tos_," and may mean
"Hobbes" himself, as a self-sufficient person, and a great admirer or
lover of himself. I wish these queries may not be thought too
insignificant for your periodical, which to me, and so many others, is
of peculiar interest and value.
GEO. WYATT (Clerk.)
Burghwallis, 1850.
_Queen of Hearts._--Permit me to request some explanation of a passage
in Miss Strickland's _Life of Queen Elizabeth_ (vol. vii. p. 292.),
where we are told that--
"Lady Southwell affirms that the two ladies in waiting discovered
the _Queen of Hearts_, with a nail of Iron knocked through the
forehead, and thus fastened to the bottom of the chair: they durst
not pull it out, remembering that her like thing was used to the
old Countess of Sussex, and afterwards proved a witchcraft, for
which certain persons were hanged."
The author moralises upon this, but does not refer us to any authority,
or tell where the affirmation of Lady Southwell is to be found, or where
the account of the old countess is given; defects which I hope some of
your correspondents will be good enough to supply.
F.R.A.
_Guildhalls._--There are in most villages in this neighbourhood houses
which from time immemorial have been called Guildhalls. These are
situate among such small populations that they are manifestly
unconnected with trade. Will any of your correspondents tell me--
1st. Why are they called Guildhalls?
2nd. For what purpose were they anciently used? {321}
3rd. Are they common in other counties besides Suffolk?
Also: What is the origin of the Friday Streets so common in most
villages in this neighbourhood?
A SUBSCRIBER AB INITIO.
Guildhall, Framlingham, Suffolk, Feb. 6. 1850.
_Vox Populi_--_Monody on Sir John Moore._--Can any reader give me the
origin of the saying "_Vox Populi, Vox Dei_?"--and has any one of your
correspondents ever heard of any doubts being raised as to the original
author of the _Monody upon Sir John Moore_, which is now always assigned
to the Rev. Dr. Wolfe? I saw it stated in an English paper, published in
France some few years back, that Wolfe had taken them from a poem at the
end of the _Memoirs of Lally Tottendal_, the French governor of
Pondicherry, in 1756, and subsequently executed in 1766. In the Paper I
refer to, the French poem was given; and certainly one of the two must
be a translation of the other. I have not been able to get a copy of
Tottendal's _Memoirs_, or of the Paper I refer to, or I would not
trouble you with this Query; but perhaps some one can inform me which is
the Merchant here, and which the Jew.
QUAESITOR.
Reg. Coll. London.
_Use of Coffins._--How long has it been the custom to inter the dead in
coffins? "In a table of Dutyes" dated 11th Dec. 1664, and preserved at
Shoreditch Church, it is mentioned:--
"For a buryall in the New Church Yard without a coffin, 00 00 08.
"For a buryall in ye Old Church Yard without a coffin seauen pence
00 00 07.
"For the grave marking and attendance of ye Vicar and Clarke on
ye enterment of a corps uncoffined the churchwardens to pay the
ordinary duteys (and no more) of this table."
H.E.
_Rococo._--Would any correspondent of "NOTES AND QUERIES" give the
history of this word, or indicate where it is to be found? or, if the
history is not known, state when, and by whom, it appears to have been
_first_ used?
T.
Oxford.
_Howlett the Engraver._--Can any of your readers furnish me with an
account of the "Publications of Bartholomew Howlett," who was an
engraver of some note, and about forty-five or fifty years ago resided
in London? He was a native of Louth in Lincolnshire, and about
forty-five years ago, being then resident (as appears from his book)
somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Blackfriars' Road, published by
subscription a book containing a series of engravings, entitled "Views
in Lincolnshire."
L.L.L.
_The Bear, the Louse, and Religion._--I should be much obliged to any of
your correspondents who will inform me where I can find _The Bear, the
Louse, and Religion_: a fable. It commences--
"A surly Bear, in college bred,
Determin'd to attack Religion;
A Louse, who crawl'd from head to head,
Defended her--as Hawk does pidgeon.
Bruin Subscription discommended;
The Louse determin'd to support it--"
I know no more. When was it written?--upon what occasion?--who are meant
by the Bear and the Louse?
GRIFFIN.
Mar. 5. 1850.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR R. WALPOLE.
There are many reasons, drawn from style and other internal evidence,
which induce P.C.S.S. to entertain strong doubts as to the authenticity
of the letter attributed to Sir Robert Walpole (and reprinted from
Bankes) in No. 19. Among others it seems very unlikely that a prime
minister, confidentially addressing his sovereign (and that sovereign
George II.!) on a matter of the greatest import, would indulge in a
poetical quotation. And it is remarkable that neither the quotation in
question, not any thing at all resembling it, in thought or expression,
is to be found in any part of Fenton's printed works. P.C.S.S. has
carefully looked them over, in the editions of London, 1717, and of
1810 (Chalmer's _Collection_, vol. x.), and he cannot discover a trace
of it. He had at first imagined that it might be successfully sought
for in Fenton's admirable _Epistle to William Lamborde_ (the Kentish
antiquary), where there is a remarkably fine passage respecting flattery
and its influences; but nothing at all like the quotation cited in the
letter is to be found in that poem, which (_par parenthese_) seems to
have met with much more neglect than it deserves.
P.C.S.S. would further notice the great improbability that Walpole would
committed himself _in writing_, even to his royal master, by such a
display of perilous frankness, in treating of the private character and
principles of his great rival. He must have been aware that the letter
would, most probably, at the decease of the king (then advanced in life)
have been found among his majesty's papers, and, with them, have passed
into the hands of his successor, by whom it would undoubtedly have been
communicated to the very individual with whom it so hardly dealt.
P.C.S.S.
* * * * *
COLLEGE SALTING.
The money collected at the Eton Montem, now wisely abolished, was called
"salt." In the {322} _Consuetudinarium vetus Scholae Etonensis_, taken from
a MS. in the library of Corpus, Cambridge, and the Harleian MS. 7044, p.
167., and printed by Professor Creasy in his _Account of Eton College_,
p. 73. (from whose work I take the extract), the following passage
occurs, under the head "Mense Januario." I would remark, that Montem was
changed from January to Whit-Tuesday, about a hundred years since:--
"'Circiter festum Conversionis Divi Pauli ad horam nonam quodam die
pro arbitrio moderatoris' (ex consueto modo quo eunt collectum
Avellanas Mense Septembri), itur a pueris ad Montem. Mons puerili
religione Etonensium sacer locus est; hunc ob pulchritudinem agri,
amoenitatem graminis, umbraculorum temperationem, et Apollini et
Musis venerabilem sedem faciunt, carminibus celebrant, Tempe
vocant, Heliconi praeferunt. Hic Novitii seu recentes, qui annum
nondum viriliter et nervose in acie Etonensi ad verbera steterunt
_sale primo_ condiuntur, tum versiculis qui habeant _salem_ ac
leporem, quoad fieri potest egregie depinguntur. Deinde in recentes
epigrammata faciunt, omni suavitate sermonis, et facetiis alter
alterum superare contendentes. Quicquid in buccam venit libere
licet effutire, modo Latine fiat, modo habeat urbanitatem, modo
caveat obscoena verborum scurrilitate, postremo et lacrymis
_salsis_ humectant ora genasque' et tune demum veteranorum ritibus
initiantur. Sequuntur orationes et parvi triumphi, et serio
laetantur, cum ob praeteritos labores tum ob cooptationem in tam
lepidorum commilitonum societatem."
It seems that "salting" was a sort of initiation, like that which
prevails among our Teutonic brethren, where the "Fuchs" is raised to the
sublime degree of a "Brandfuchs," "junge Bursch," "bemorstes Haupt," by
successive promotions. Not improbably in after times, especially at the
Universities, like "passing the Line," it admitted of being commuted for
a money payment. The exact nature of the "salting" at Eton I cannot
explain; perhaps your able correspondent, R.O., may afford information
on this head.
