Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 204, September 24, 1853», sayfa 4
"VOIDING KNIFE," "VOIDER," AND "ALMS-BASKET."
(Vol. vi., pp. 150. 280.; Vol. viii., p. 232.)
In later times (the sixteenth century) the good old custom of placing an alms-dish on the table was discontinued, and with less charitable intentions came the less refined custom of removing the broken victuals after a meal by means of a voiding-knife and voider: the latter was a basket into which were swept by a large wand, usually of wood, or voiding-knife, as it was termed, all the bones and scraps left upon the trenchers or scattered about the table. Thus, in the old plays, Lingua, Act V. Sc. 13.: "Enter Gustus with a voiding-knife;" and in A Woman killed with Kindness, "Enter three or four serving men, one with a voider and wooden knife to take away."
The voider was still sometimes called the alms-basket, and had its charitable uses in great and rich men's houses: one of which was to supply those confined in gaols for debt, and such prisoners as had no means to purchase any food.
In Green's Tu Quoque, a spendthrift is cast into prison; the jailer says to him:
"If you have no money, you had best remove into some cheaper ward; to the twopenny ward, it is likeliest to hold out with your means; or, if you will, you may go into the hole, and there you may feed for nothing."
To which he replies:
"Ay, out of the alms-basket, where charity appears in likeness of a piece of stinking fish."
Even this poor allowance to the distressed prisoners passed through several ordeals before it came to them; and the best and most wholesome portions were filched from the alms-basket, and sold by the jailers at a low price to people out of the prison. In the same play it is related of a miser, that—
"He never saw a joint of mutton in his own house these four-and-twenty years, but always cozened the poor prisoners, for he brought his victuals out of the alms-basket."
In the ordinances of Charles II. (Ord. and Reg. Soc. Ant. 367.), it is commanded—
"That no gentleman whatsoever shall send away my meat or wine from the table, or out of the chamber, upon any pretence whatsoever; and that the gentlemen-ushers take particular care herein, that all the meate that is taken off the table upon trencher-plates be put into a basket for the poore, and not undecently eaten by any servant in the roome; and if any person shall presume to do otherwise, he shall be prohibited immediately to remaine in the chamber, or to come there again, until further order."
The alms-basket was also called a maund, and those who partook of its contents maunders.
W. Chaffers.
Old Bond Street.
THE LETTER "H" IN HUMBLE
(Vol. viii., p. 229.)
The recent attempt to introduce a mispronunciation of the word humble should be resisted by every one who has learned the plain and simple rule of grammar, that "a becomes an before a vowel or a silent h." That the rule obtained a considerable time ago, we have only to look into the Book of Common Prayer to prove, where the congregation are exhorted to come "with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart," and I believe it will be admitted that the compilers of that work fully understood the right pronunciation.
It may assist to settle the question by giving the etymology of the word humble. It is derived from the Celtic uim, the ground, Latin humus. Umal in Celtic is humble, lowly, obedient; and the word signifies the bending of the mind or disposition, just as a man would kneel or become prostrate before a superior.
Fras. Crossley.
In the course of a somewhat long life I have resided in the North of England, in the West, and in London, upwards of twenty years each, and my experience is directly the reverse of that of Mr. Dawson. I have very rarely heard the h omitted in humble, and when I have heard it, always considered a vulgarity. The u at the beginning of a word is always aspirated. I believe the only words in which the initial h is not pronounced are derived from the Latin. If that were the general rule, which, however, it is not, as in habit, herb, &c., still, where h precedes u, it would be pronounced according to the universal rule for the aspiration of u.
E. H.
The letter "h" to be passed unsounded in those words which are of Latin origin.—Try it:
"Ha! 'tis a horrible hallucination
To grudge our hymns their halcyon harmonies,
When in just homage our rapt voices rise
To celebrate our heroes in meet fashion;
Whose hosts each heritage and habitation,
Within these realms of hospitable joy,
Protect securely 'gainst humiliation,
When hostile foes, like harpies, would annoy.
Habituated to the sound of h
In history and histrionic art,
We deem the man a homicide of speech,
Maiming humanity in a vital part,
Whose humorous hilarity would treat us,
In lieu of h, with a supposed hiatus."
* *.
SCHOOL LIBRARIES
(Vol. viii., p. 220.)
I have great pleasure in removing from the mind of your correspondent an erroneous impression which must materially affect his good opinion of a school to which I am sincerely attached. He asks if in any of the public schools there are libraries of books giving general information accessible to the scholars. Now my information only refers to one, that of Eton. There is a library at Eton consisting of some thousand volumes, filled with books of all kinds, ancient and modern, valuable and valueless. It is open to the 150 first in the school on payment of eighteen shillings per annum, and on their refusal the option of becoming subscribers descends to the next in gradation. The list, however, is never full. The money collected goes to the support of a librarian, and to buy pens, ink, and paper, and the surplus (necessarily small) to the purchase of books. The basis of the library is the set of Delphin classics, presented by George I. The late head master (now provost) has been a most munificent contributor; Prince Albert has also presented several valuable volumes. Whenever the Prince has come to Eton he has always visited the library, and taken great interest in its welfare; and on his last visit said to the provost that he should be quite ready and willing to obey the call whenever he was asked to lay the first stone of a museum in connexion with the library.
Etonensis.
The free grammar school at Macclesfield, Cheshire, has always had a library. It did contain some rare volumes of the olden time; it was at various times more or less supported by a small payment from the scholars. Some years since Mr. Osborn, the then head master, solicited subscriptions from former pupils, and with some success. Of the present state of the school library I know nothing.
Edward Hawkins.
At Winchester there are libraries for the commoners and scholars containing books for general reading: they are under the several charge of the commoner-prefects and the prefect of library, who lend them on application to the juniors.
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
Christ's Hospital has a library such as inquired after by Mr. Weld Taylor. The late Mr. Thackeray, of the Priory, Lewisham (who died about two years ago), bequeathed to this school his valuable library of books on general literature for the use of the boys. Previously to this bequest the collection of books was small.
N.
DR. JOHN TAYLOR
(Vol. i., p. 466.)
My attention has been caught by some remarks in the early volumes of your work upon my learned ancestor Dr. John Taylor, minister at Norwich, and subsequently divinity tutor at Warrington. Whatever opinion may have been attributed to Dr. Parr concerning Dr. Taylor, this I know, that on revisiting Norwich he desired my father (the Dr.'s grandson) to show him the house inhabited by him while he was the minister of the Octagon Chapel.
Dr. Parr looked serious and solemn, and in his usual energetic manner pronounced, "He was a great scholar."
Dr. John Taylor was buried at Kirkstead4, Lancashire, where his tomb is distinguished by the following simple inscription:
"Near to this place lies interr'd
what was mortal of
Iohn Taylor, D.D
Reader,
Expect no eulogium from this Stone
Enquire amongst the friends of
Learning, Liberty, and Truth;
These will do him justice
Whilst taking his natural rest, he fell
asleep in Jesus, the 5th of March, 1761,
Aged 66."
The following inscription, in Latin, was composed by Dr. Parr for a monumental stone erected by grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the Octagon Chapel, Norwich:
"Joanni Taylor, S.T.P
Langovici nato
Albi ostii in agro Cumbriensi
bonis disciplinis instituto
Norvici
Ad exequendum munus pastoris delecto A.D. 1733
Rigoduni quo in oppido
Senex quotidie aliquid addiscens
Theologiam et philosophiam moralem docuit
Mortuo
Tert. non. Mart
Anno Domini MDCCLXI
Ætat. LXVI
Viro integro innocenti pio
Scriptori Græcis et Hebraicis litteris
probe erudito
Verbi divini gravissimo interpreti
Religionis simplicis et incorruptæ
Acerrimo propugnatori
Nepotes ejus et pronepotes
In hac Capella
Cujus ille fundamenta olim jecerat
Monumentum hocce honorarium
Poni curaverunt."
S. R.
PORTRAIT OF SIR ANTHONY WINGFIELD
(Vol. viii., p. 245.)
It is most likely that Q., who inquired relative to a picture of Sir Anthony Wingfield, may occasionally meet with an engraving of this worthy, though the depository of the original portrait is unknown. The tale told Horace Walpole by the housekeeper at the house of the Nauntons at Letheringham, Suffolk, is not correct. Sir Anthony was a favourite of the monarch, and was knighted by him for his brave conduct at Terouenne and Tournay. A private plate of Sir Anthony exists, the original portrait from which it was taken being at Letheringham at the time the engraving was made. The position of the hand in the girdle only indicates the fashion of portraiture at the time, and is akin to the frequent custom of placing one arm a-kimbo in modern paintings.
The Query of your correspondent opens a tale of despoliation perhaps unparalleled even in the days of iconoclastic fury, and but very imperfectly known.
The estate of Letheringham devolved, about the middle of the last century, upon William Leman, Esq., who, being obliged to maintain his right against claimants stating they descended from a branch of the Naunton family who had migrated into Normandy at the end of the preceding century, was placed in a position of considerable difficulty to defend his occupation of the house and lands. I will not say by whom, but in 1770 down came the residence in which the author of the well-known Fragmenta Regalia had resided, and, what is far worse, the Priory Church, which, after the Dissolution, was made parochial, and which was filled with tombs, effigies, and brasses to members of the family—Bovilles, Wingfields, and Nauntons—was also levelled with the ground. It was stated at the time that the sacred edifice had only become dilapidated from age, and that the parishioners were therefore obliged to do something. What was done, however, was no re-edification of the fabric, but its entire destruction, and the erection of a new church. Fortunately, Horace Walpole saw the edifice before the contractor for the new building had cast his "desiring eyes" upon it, and has recorded his impressions in one of his letters. More fortunate still, the late Mr. Gough and Mr. Nichols visited it, and the former employed the well-known topographical draughtsman, the late James Johnson of Woodbridge, Suffolk, to copy some of the effigies, which were afterwards engraved and inserted in the second volume of the Sepulchral Monuments. The zeal of Johnson, however, led him to preserve, by his minute delineation, not only every monument (only two, I think, are given by Gough), but also the interior and exterior of the church, with the position of the tombs. The interior view may be seen among Craven Ord's drawings in the library of the British Museum; and I am happy to say I possess Johnson's original sketches of all the monuments, and of the exterior of the building. A fair idea of the extent of the destruction may be gained by the mention of the fact, that six hundred-weight of alabaster effigies were beaten into powder, and sold to line water-cisterns. Some of the figures were rescued by the late Dr. W. Clubbe, and erected into a pyramid in his garden at Brandeston Vicarage, with this inscription:
"Fuimus. Indignant Reader, these monumental remains are not (as thou mayest suppose) the ruins of Time, but were destroyed in an irruption of the Goths so late in the Christian era as the year 1789. Credite posteri."
John Wodderspoon.
Norwich.
William Naunton, son and heir of Thomas Naunton (temp. Hen. VII.), and Margery, daughter and heiress of Richard Busiarde, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Anthony Wingfield. Their only child, Henry Naunton, was the father of two sons, viz. Robert the secretary (temp. James I.), whose son died unmarried, and daughter, married to Paul Viscount Bayning, died without issue; and William Naunton (fil. 2s). His son and heir, who married a Coke, had one daughter, Theophila, married to William Leman (ancestor of the family whose great estates are in search of an owner): their only issue, Theophila, married Thomas Rede, who thereby became possessed of Letheringham in Suffolk, and the whole of the Naunton property. His estates went to his son Robert, who, dying without issue in 1822, left them much diminished to his nephew, the Rev. Robert Rede Cooper, second son of the Rev. Samuel Lovick Cooper and Sarah Leman, youngest daughter, and eventually heiress, of the above Thomas Rede. The Rev. Robert Rede Rede (for he assumed that name) died a few years ago possessed of Ashmans Park, Suff., which was independent of the Naunton property, and of certain heir-looms, the sole remains of the great estates of the "Nauntons of Letheringham," which continue in the possession of the descendants of that family. It is at Ashmans that the portrait inquired for by your correspondent Q. will probably be found. Whether that estate has already been sold by the daughters of the late possessor (four co-heiresses) I am unable to say.
H. C. K.
BARNACLES
(Vol. viii., p. 223.)
In reference to the article on the barnacle bird in "N. & Q." as above, I send you a paper which I lately put in our local journal (The Tralee Chronicle), containing a collection of notices of the curious errors and gradual correction of them, on the subject of the barnacle. I fear it may be long for your columns, but don't know how to shorten it; nor can I well omit another amusing notice of the subject, to which, since I published it, an intelligent friend called my attention; it is from the Memoirs of Lady Fanshaw:—
"When we came to Calais, we met the Earl of Strafford and Sir Kenelm Digby, with some others of our countrymen; we were all feasted at the Governor's of the castle, and much excellent discourse passed; but, as was reason, most share was Sir Kenelm Digby's, who had enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories than might be averred, and all of them passed with great applause and wonder of the French then at table; but the concluding one was—that barnacles, a bird in Jersey, was first a shell-fish to appearance, and from that sticking upon old wood, became in time a bird. After some consideration, they unanimously burst out into laughter, believing it altogether false, and, to say the truth, it was the only thing true he had discoursed with them!—that was his infirmity, tho' otherwise a person of most excellent parts, and a very free bred gentleman."—Lady Fanshaw's Memoirs, pp. 72-3.
A. B. R.
Belmont.
As a tail-piece to the curious information communicated respecting these strange creatures in Vol. i., pp. 117. 169. 254. 340., Vol. viii., pp. 124. 223., may be added an advertisement, extracted from the monthly compendium annexed to La Belle Assemblée, or Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine, for June, 1807, in the following terms:
"Wonderful natural curiosity, called the Goose Tree, Barnacle Tree, or Tree bearing Geese, taken up at sea, on the 12th of January, 1807, by Captain Bytheway, and was more than twenty men could raise out of the water, which may be seen at the Exhibition Rooms, Spring Gardens, from ten o'clock in the morning till ten at night, every day. Admission, one shilling; children half-price.
"The Barnacles which form the present Exhibition, possess a neck upwards of two feet in length, resembling the windpipe of a chicken; each shell contains five pieces, and notwithstanding the many thousands which hang to eight inches of the tree, part of the fowl may be seen from each shell. Sir Robert Moxay, in the Wonders of Nature and Art, speaking of this singularly curious production, says, in every shell he opened he found a perfect sea-fowl, with a bill like that of a goose, feet like those of water-fowl, and the feathers all plainly formed.
"The above wonderful and almost indescribable curiosity, is the only exhibition of the kind in the world."
μ.
