Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 213, November 26, 1853», sayfa 2
RAPPING NO NOVELTY
It may be interesting to the believers in modern miracles to learn that at all events "rapping" is no new thing. I now send you the account of an incident in the sixteenth century, which bears a strong resemblance to some of those veracious narrations which have enlightened mankind in the nineteenth century.
Rushton Hall, near Kettering in Northamptonshire, was long the residence of the ancient and distinguished family of Treshams. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the mansion was occupied by Sir Thomas Tresham, who was a pedant and a fanatic; but who was an important character in his time by reason of his great wealth and powerful connexions. There is a lodge at Rushton, situate about half a mile from the old hall, now in ruins; but covered all over, within and without, with emblems of the Trinity. This lodge is known to have been built by Sir Thomas Tresham; but his precise motive for selecting this mode of illustrating his favourite doctrine was unknown until it appeared from a letter written by himself about the year 1584, and discovered in a bundle of books and papers inclosed, since 1605, in a wall in the old mansion, and brought to light about twenty years ago. The following relation of a "rapping" or "knocking" is extracted from this letter:
"If it be demanded why I labour so much in the Trinity and Passion of Christ to depaint in this chamber, this is the principal instance thereof; That at my last being hither committed1, and I usually having my servants here allowed me, to read nightly an hour to me after supper, it fortuned that Fulcis, my then servant, reading in the Christian Resolution, in the treatise of Proof that there is a God, &c., there was upon a wainscot table at that instant three loud knocks (as if it had been with an iron hammer) given; to the great amazing of me and my two servants, Fulcis and Nilkton."
D. Jardine.
Minor Notes
Bond a Poet, 1642, O.S.—In the Perfect Diurnall, March 29, 1642, we have the following curious notice:
"Upon the meeting of the House of Lords, there was complaint made against one Bond, a poet, for making a scandalous letter in the queen's name, sent from the Hague to the king at York. The said Bond attended upon order, and was examined, and found a delinquent; upon which they voted him to stand in the pillory several market days in the new Palace (Yard), Westminster, and other places, and committed him to the Gatehouse, besides a long imprisonment during the pleasure of the house: and they farther ordered that as many of the said letter as could be found should be burnt."
His recantation, which he afterwards made, is in the British Museum.
E. G. Ballard.
The late Harvest.—In connexion with the present late and disastrous harvest, permit me to contribute a distich current, as an old farmer observed to-day, "when I was a boy:"
"When we carry wheat o' the fourteenth of October,
Then every man goeth home sober."
Meaning that the prospect of the "yield" was not good enough to permit the labourers to get drunk upon it.
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.
Misquotation.—In an article entitled "Popular Ballads of the English Peasantry," a correspondent of "N. & Q." (Vol. v., p. 603.) quotes as "that spirit-stirring stanza of immortal John," the lines:
"Jesus, the name high over all," &c.
These lines were not written by John, but by Charles Wesley. Here is the proof:
1st. A hymn of which the stanza quoted is the first, appears (p. 40.) in the Collection of Hymns published by John Wesley in 1779; but in the preface he says, "but a small part of these hymns are of my own composing."
2nd. In his Plain Account of Christian Perfection, he says:
"In the year 1749, my brother printed two volumes of Hymns and Sacred Poems. As I did not see them before they were published, there were some things in them which I did not approve of; but I quite approved of the main of the hymns on this head."—Works, vol. xi. p. 376., 12mo. ed. 1841.
3rd. The lines quoted by your correspondent form the ninth stanza of a hymn of twenty-two stanzas (which includes the six in John Wesley's Collection), written "after preaching (in a church)," and published in "Hymns and Sacred Poems. In two volumes. By Charles Wesley, M.A., Student of Christ Church, Oxford. Bristol: printed and sold by Felix Farley, 1749." A copy is in my possession. The hymn is No. 194.; and the stanza referred to will be found in vol. i. p. 306.
J. W. Thomas.
Dewsbury.
Epitaph in Ireland.—The following lines were transcribed by me, and form part of an epitaph upon a tombstone or mural slab, which many years past was to be found in (if I mistake not) the churchyard of Old Kilcullen, co. Kildare:
"Ye wiley youths, as you pass by,
Look on my grave with weeping eye:
Waste not your strenth before it blossom,
For if you do yous will shurdley want it."
J. F. Ferguson.
Dublin.
Reynolds (Sir Joshua's) Baptism.—I have been favoured by the incumbent of Plympton S. Maurice with a copy of the following entry in the Register of Baptisms of that parish, together with the appended note; which, if the fact be not generally known, may be of interest to your correspondent A. Z. (Vol. viii., p. 102.) as well as to others among the readers of "N. & Q.":
"1723. Joseph, son of Samuel Reynolds, clerk, baptised July the 30th."
On another page is the following memorandum:
"In the entry of baptisms for the year 1723, the person by mistake named Joseph, son of Samuel Reynolds, clerk, baptized July 30th, was Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated painter, who died February 23, 1792."
Samuel Reynolds, the father, was master of Plympton Grammar School from about 1715 to 1745, in which year he died. During that period his name appears once in the parish book, in the year 1742, as "minister for the time being" (not incumbent of the parish): the Rev. Geo. Langworthy having been the incumbent from 1736 to 1745, both inclusive.
Query, Was Sir Joshua by mistake baptized Joseph? or was the mistake made after baptism, in registering the name?
J. Sansom.
Oxford.
Tradescant.—The pages of "N. & Q." have elicited and preserved so much towards the history of John Tradescant and his family, that the accompanying extract from the register of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, in the city of London, should have a place in one of its Numbers:
"1638. Marriages.—John Tradeskant of Lambeth, co. Surrey, and Hester Pooks of St. Bride's, London, maiden, married, by licence from Mr. Cooke, Oct. 1."
This lady erected the original monument in Lambeth churchyard upon the death of her husband in 1662. She died 1678.
G.
Queries
GRAMMAR IN RELATION TO LOGIC
Dr. Latham (Outlines of Logic, p. 21., 1847, and English Language, p. 510., 2nd edition) defines the conjunction to be a part of speech that connects propositions, not words. His doctrine is so palpably and demonstrably false, that I am somewhat at a loss to understand how a man of his penetration can be so far deceived by a crotchet as to be blind to the host of examples which point to the direct converse of his doctrine. Let the learned Doctor try to resolve the sentence, All men are either two-legged, one-legged, or no-legged, into three constituent propositions. It cannot be done; either and or are here conjunctions which connect words and not propositions. In the example, John and James carry a basket, it is of course quite plain that the logic of the matter is that John carries one portion of the basket, and James carries the rest. But to identify these two propositions with the first mentioned, is to confound grammar with logic. The former deals with the method of expression, the latter with the method of stating (in thought) and syllogising. To take another example, Charles and Thomas stole all the apples. The fact probably was, that Charles' pockets contained some of the apples, and Thomas' pockets contained all the rest. But the business of grammar in the above sentence is to regulate the form of the expression, not to reason upon the matter expressed. A little thought will soon convince any person accustomed to these subjects that conjunctions always connect words, not propositions. The only work in which I leave seen Dr. Latham's fundamental error exposed, is in Boole's Mathematical Analysis of Logic; the learned author, though he seems unsettled on many matters of logic and metaphysics, has clearly made up his mind on the point now under discussion. He says:
"The proposition, every animal is either rational or irrational, cannot be resolved into, Either every animal is rational, or every animal is irrational. The former belong to pure categoricals, to latter to hypotheticals [Query disjunctives]. In singular propositions such conversions would seem to be allowable. This animal is either rational or irrational, is equivalent to, Either this animal is rational, or it is irrational. This peculiarity of singular propositions would almost justify our ranking them, though truly universals, in a separate class, as Ramus and his followers did."—P. 59.
This certainly seems unanswerable.
If Dr. Latham is a reader of "N. & Q.," I should be glad if he would give his reasons for adhering to his original doctrine in the face of such facts as those I have instanced.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
THE CORONET [CROWN] OF LLEWELYN AP GRIFFITH, PRINCE OF WALES
A notice, transferred to The Times of the 5th instant from a recent number of The Builder, on the shrine of Edward the Confessor, after mentioning that "to this shrine Edward I. offered the Scottish regalia and the coronation chair, which is still preserved," adds, "Alphonso, about 1280, offered it the golden coronet of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, and other jewels."
Who was Alphonso? And would the contributor of the notice favour the readers of "N. & Q." with the authority in extenso for the offering of this coronet?
The period assigned for the offering is certainly too early; Llewelyn ap Griffith, "the last sovereign of one of the most ancient ruling families of Europe" (Hist. of England, by Sir James Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 254.), having been slain at Builth, Dec. 11, 1282. Warrington (Hist. of. Wales, vol. ii. p. 271.), on the authority of Rymer's Fœdera, vol. ii. p. 224., says: "Upon stripping Llewelyn there were found his Privy Seal; a paper that was filled with dark expressions, and a list of names written in a kind of cypher;" omitting, it will be observed, any reference to Llewelyn's coronet. That monarch's crown was probably obtained and transmitted to Edward I. on the capture, June 21, 1283, or shortly after, of his brother David ap Griffith, Lord of Denbigh, who had assumed the Welsh throne on the demise of Llewelyn; the Princess Catherine, the daughter and heir of the latter, and de jure sovereign Princess of Wales, being then an infant. Warrington states (vol. ii. p. 285.) that when David was taken, a relic, highly venerated by the Princes of Wales, was found upon him, called Crosseneych, supposed to be a part of the real cross brought by St. Neots into Wales from the Holy Land; and he adds that, besides the above relic, which was voluntarily delivered up to Edward by a secretary of the late Prince of Wales, "the crown of the celebrated King Arthur, with many precious jewels, was about this time presented to Edward," citing as his authorities Annales Waverleienses, p. 238.; Rymer's Fœdera, vol. ii. p. 247.
There are some particulars of these relics in the Archæologia Cambrensis; but neither that periodical, nor the authorities referred to by Warrington, are at the moment accessible to me.
Cambro-Briton.
Minor Queries
Monumental Brass at Wanlip, Co. Leicester, and Sepulchral Inscriptions in English.—In the church of Wanlip, near this town, is a fine brass of a knight and his lady, and round the margin the following inscription, divided at the corners of the slab by the Evangelistic symbols:
"Here lyes Thomas Walssh, Knyght, lorde of Anlep, and dame Kat'ine his Wyfe, whiche in yer tyme made the Kirke of Anlep, and halud the Kirkyerd first, in Wirchip of God, and of oure lady, and seynt Nicholas, that God haue yer soules and mercy, Anno Dni millmo CCCmo nonagesimo tercio."
Mr. Bloom states, in his Mon. Arch. of Great Britain, p. 210., that—
"There are, perhaps, no sepulchral inscriptions in that tongue (English) prior to the fifteenth century; yet at almost the beginning of it, some are to be met with, and they became more common as the century drew to a close."
Is there any monumental inscription in English, earlier than the above curious one, known to any of your correspondents?
William Kelly.
Leicester.
Influence of Politics on Fashion.—Can any one of the numerous readers of "N. & Q." explain the meaning of the following passage of the note of p. 305. of Alison's History of Europe, 7th edition?—
"A very curious work might be written on the influence of political events and ideas on the prevailing fashions both for men and women; there is always a certain analogy between them. Witness the shepherd-plaid trousers for gentlemen, and coarse shawls and muslins worn by ladies in Great Britain during the Reform fervour of 1832-4."
Henri van Laun.
King William's College, Isle of Man.
Rev. W. Rondall.—Can any of your correspondents give information respecting the Rev. William Rondall, Vicar of Blackhampton, Devonshire (1548), who translated into English a portion of the writings of the learned Erasmus?
Historicus.
Henry, third Earl of Northumberland.—The above nobleman fell on the battle field of Towton (Yorkshire), 29th March, 1461, and was interred in the church of St. Denys, or Dionisius, in York, where his tomb, denuded of its brass, is still pointed out. Pray does an account exist, in any of our old historians, as to the removal of the body of the above nobleman from that dread field of slaughter to his mansion in Walmgate in the above city, and of his interment, which doubtless was a strictly private one? Again, does any record exist of the latter event in any book of early registers belonging to the above church? Doubtless many readers of "N. & Q." will be able to answer these three Queries.
M. Aislabie Denham.
Piersebridge, Darlington.
"When we survey," &c.—Where are the following lines to be found?
"When we survey yon circling orbs on high,
Say, do they only grace the spangled sky?
Have they no influence, no function given
To execute the awful will of Heaven?
Is there no sympathy pervading all
Between the planets and this earthly ball?
No tactile intercourse from pole to pole,
Between the ambient and the human soul?
No link extended through the vast profound,
Combining all above, below, around?"
Alledius.
Turnbull's Continuation of Robertson.—Some years ago, a continuation of Robertson's work on Scottish Peerages was announced by Mr. Turnbull, Advocate of Edinburgh.—I shall be glad to be informed whether it as published; and by whom or where.
Fecialis.
An Heraldic Query.—Will any one of your contributors from Lancashire or Cheshire, who may have access to ancient ordinaries of arms, whether in print or in manuscript, favour me by saying whether he has ever met with the following coat: Per pale, argent and sable, a fess embattled, between three falcons counterchanged, belled or? It has been attributed to the family of Thompson of Lancashire, by Captain Booth of Stockport, and an heraldic writer named Saunders; but what authority attaches to either I am not aware. Is it mentioned in Corry's Lancashire?
Heraldicus.
Osborn filius Herfasti.—Were Osborn, son of Herfast, abbot of S. Evroult, and Osborn de Crepon (filius Herfasti patris Gunnoris comitissæ), brothers? or were there two Herfasts?
J. Sansom.
Jews in China.—A colony of Jews is known to exist in the centre of China, who worship God according to the belief of their forefathers; and the aborigines of the northern portion of Australia exercise the rite of circumcision. Can these colonists and aborigines be traced to any of the nations of the lost tribes?
Historicus.
Derivation of "Mammet."—The Rev. B. Chenevix Trench, in his book on the Study of Words, 4th edition, p. 79., gives the derivation of the old English word mammet from "Mammetry or Mahometry," and cites, in proof of this, Capulet calling his daughter "a whining mammet." Now Johnson, in his Dictionary, the folio edition, derives mammet from the word maman, and also from the word man; and mentions Shakspeare's
"This is no world to play with mammets, or to tilt with lips."—Henry IV. (First Part), Act II. Sc. 3.
As both Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Ch. Trench, and many others, agree that mammet means "puppet," why not derive this word from the French marmot, which means a puppet.—Can any of the readers of the "N. & Q." give me a few examples to strengthen my supposition?
Henri van Laun.
King William's College, Isle of Man.
Non-recurring Diseases.—Among the many diseases to which humanity is subject, there are some which we are all supposed to have once, and but once, in our lifetime. Is this an unquestioned fact? and if so, has anything like a satisfactory explanation of it been offered?
פ.
Warville.—There being no w in the French language, whence did Brissot de Warville derive the latter word of his name?
Uneda.
Philadelphia.
Dr. Doddridge.—A poem entitled "To my Wife's Bosom," and beginning
"Open, open, lovely breast,
Let me languish into rest!"
occasionally appears with the name of the Rev. Dr. Doddridge as the author. Is it his?
M. E.
Philadelphia.
Pelasgi.—In an article which appeared some time ago in Hogg's Instructor, Thomas de Quincey, speaking of the Pelasgi, characterises them as a race sorrowful beyond conception.—What is known of their history to lead to this inference?
T. D. Ridley.
West Hartlepool.
Huc's Travels.—I was lately told, I think on the authority of a writer in the Gardener's Chronicle, that the travels of Messrs. Huc and Gabet in Thibet, Tartary, &c., was a pure fabrication, concocted by some Parisian littérateur. Can any of your readers confirm or refute this statement?
C. W. B.
The Mousehunt.—I should feel much obliged to any reader of "N. & Q." who would refer me to any mention of in print, or give me any information from his own personal experience, respecting a small animal of the weasel tribe called the mousehunt, an animal apparently but little known; it is scarcely half the size of the common weasel, and of a pale mouse-colour. It is said to be well known in Suffolk, whence, however, after some trouble, I have been unsuccessful in obtaining a specimen; young stoats or weasels having been sent me instead of it. I could not find a specimen in the British Museum. Some years ago I saw two in Glamorganshire; one escaped me; the other had been killed by a ferret, but unfortunately I neglected to preserve it. Near the same spot last year a pair of them began making their nest, but being disturbed by some workmen employed in clearing out the drain in which they had ensconced themselves, were lost sight of and escaped.
Mr. Colquhoun, in The Moor and the Loch, ed. 1851, says:
"The English peasantry assert that there are two kinds of weasel, one very small, called a 'cane,' or 'the mousekiller.' This idea, I have no doubt, is erroneous, and the 'mousekillers' are only the young ones of the year, numbers of these half-grown weasels appearing in summer and autumn."
The only description I have met with in print is in Bell's Life of Dec. 7, 1851, where "Scrutator," in No. 15. of his Letters "On the Management of Horses, Hounds, &c.," writes:
"I know only of one species of stoat, but I have certainly seen more than one species of weasel.... There is one species of weasel so small that it can easily follow mice into their holes; and one of these, not a month ago, I watched go into a mouse's hole in an open grass field. Seeing something hopping along in the grass, which I took for a large long-tailed field mouse, I stood still as it was approaching my position, and when within a foot or two of the spot on which I was standing, so that I could have a full view of the animal, a very small weasel appeared, and quickly disappeared again in a tuft of grass. On searching the spot I discovered a mousehole, in which Mr. Weasel had made his exit."
W. R. D. Salmon.
Lockwood, the Court Jester.—In some MS. accounts temp. Edw. VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, now before me, payments to "Lockwood, the king's jester," or "the queen's jester, whose name is Lockwood," are of almost annual occurrence. He appears to have travelled about the country like the companies of itinerant players.
Are any particulars known respecting him, and where shall I find the best account of the ancient court jesters? I am aware of Douce's work, and the memoirs of Will. Somers, the fool of Henry VIII.
William Kelly.
Leicester.
Right of redeeming Property.—In some country or district which I have formerly visited, there exists, or did recently exist, a right of redeeming property which had passed from its owner's hands, somewhat similar to that prescribed to the Jews in Leviticus xxvi. 25. &c., and analogous to the custom in Brittany, with which Sterne's beautiful story has made us familiar. Can you help me to remember where it is?
C. W. B.
