Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 34, June 22, 1850», sayfa 5

The preceding sketch is respectfully submitted as an attempt to answer the queries of Pen-and-Ink, so far as Lancashire is concerned. It is not improbable that other reasons, equally cogent, or perhaps corrective of several of the preceding, may be advanced by some of your more learned correspondents, whose experience and means of reference are superior to my own. Should any such be induced to offer additions or corrections to what is here attempted, and to extend the inquiry into other localities, your pages will afford a most desirable medium through which to compare notes on a very imperfectly understood but most important subject of inquiry.

T. T. Wilkinson.

Burnley, Lancashire, June 5. 1850.

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 8

Passing over various queries of early date, on which it has been my intention to offer some suggestions, I have endeuoyred me, as Master Caxton expresses it, to illustrate three subjects recently mooted.

Trianon (No. 27.).—The origin of this name is thus stated by M. Dolort, in his excellent work entitled Mes voyages aux environs de Paris, ii. 88.

"Le grand Trianon.—Appelé au 13^e siècle Triarmun, nom d'une ancienne paroisse, qui était divisée en trois villages dépendant du diocèse de Chartres. Cette terre, qui appartenait aux moines de Sainte-Geneviève, fut achetée par Louis XIV. pour agrandir le parc de Versailles, et plus tard il y fit coustruire le château."

Wood paper (No. 32.).—At the close of the last century a patent was granted to Matthias Koops for the manufacture of paper from straw, wood, &c. In September 1800, he dedicated to the king a Historical account of the substances which have been used to describe events, in small folio. The volume is chiefly printed on paper made from straw; the appendix is on paper made from wood alone. Both descriptions of paper have borne the test of time extremely well. Murray, in his Practical remarks on modern paper, speaks of Koops and his inventions with much ignorance and unfairness.

Tobacco in the East (No. 33.).—Relying on the testimony of Juan Fragoso, physician to Felipe II. of Spain, I venture to assert that tobacco is not indigenous to the East. To the same effect writes Monardes. Nevertheless, it was cultivated in Java as early as the year 1603. Edmund Scott, factor for the East India Company at Bantam, thus describes the luxuries of the Javans:—

"They are very great eaters—and they haue a certaine hearbe called bettaile which they vsually have carryed with them wheresoeuer they goe, in boxes, or wrapped vp in cloath like a suger loafe: and also a nutt called pinange, which are both in operation very hott, and they eate them continually to warme them within, and keepe them from the fluxe. They doe likewise take much tabacco, and also opium."—An exact discovrse etc. of the East Indians, London, 1606. 4^o. Sig. N. 2.

Bolton Corney.

MEANING OF "BAWN."

Bawn (Vol. i, p. 440.) has been explained as "the outer fortification, inclosing the court-yard of an Irish castle or mansion, and was generally composed of a wall with palisadoes, and sometimes flankers."

The word bawn or bane (the a pronounced as in the English word hat) is still applied in the south of Ireland to the spot of ground used as a place for milking the cows of a farm, which, for obvious reasons, is generally close to the farm-house. Before the practice of housing cattle became general, every country gentleman's house had its bawn or bane. The necessity for having such a place well fenced, and indeed fortified, in a country and period when cattle formed the chief wealth of all parties, and when the country was infested by Creaghadores and Rapparees, is obvious; and hence the care taken in compelling the "undertakers in Ulster" to have at least "a good bawn after the Irish fashion." In Munster the word bane or bawn is used to express land that has been long in grass; tholluff bawn being used to signify grass land about to be brought into cultivation; and tholluff breagh, or red land, land which has been recently turned. To redden land is still used to express either to plough land, or, more generally, to turn land with the spade.

Now the milking field was, and is always kept in grass, and necessarily receiving a good deal of manure, would usually be white from the growth of daisies and white clover. Hence such a field would be called the white field: and from this to the general application of the phrase to grass land the transition is easy and natural. It may be proper to add, that in Kerry, particularly, the word is pronounced bawn, in speaking Irish; but the same person will call it bane, if mentioning such land in English. The a in the latter word is, as I said before, pronounced like the a in hat.

The Irish for a cow being bo, the phrase may have had its origin therefrom. On this matter, as on all relating to Irish antiquities, the readers of "Notes and Queries" may be glad to have a sure person to refer to; and they cannot refer to a more accomplished Irish scholar and antiquarian than "Eugene Curry". His address is, "Royal Irish Academy, Grafton Street, Dublin."

Kerriensis.

Replies To Minor Queries

Births, Marriages, &c., Taxes on (Vol. ii., p. 10.).—The first instance, that I am aware of, of a tax on marriages in this country, occurs in the 5 of Wm. and Mary, c. 21. The war in which William engaged soon rendered it necessary to tax other incidents of humanity; and accordingly the 6 & 7 Wm. III. c. 6. was passed, granting to his Majesty certain rates and duties upon marriages, births, deaths, and burials, and upon bachelors and widowers (a widely-spread net), for the term of five years, "for carrying on the war against France with vigour." The taxes on births, marriages, and burials were continued indefinitely by the 7 & 8 Wm. III. c. 35. I know not when this act was repealed; but by the 23 George III. c. 67., taxes were again imposed on burials, births, marriages, and christenings; and by 25 George III. c. 75. these taxes were extended to Dissenters. By the 34 George III. c. 11., the taxes were repealed, and they ceased on October 1st, 1794. The entries in the parish register noticed by Arun, refer to these taxes. Query, Were our ancestors justified in boasting that they were "free-born" Englishmen as long as one of these taxes existed?

C. Ross.

M. or N. (Vol. i., p. 415.).—These must, I think, be the initials of some words, and not originating in a corruption of nom, as suggested. We have in the marriage service:—

 
"'I publish the banns of marriage between M. of – and N. of –.'
"The curate shall say unto the man,
"M. 'Wilt thou have this woman,' &c.
"The priest shall say unto the woman,
"N. 'Wilt thou have this man,' &c.
"The man says: 'I, M. take thee N. to my wedded wife,' &c.
"The woman says: 'I, N. take thee M. to my wedded husband,'" &c.
Again, "Forasmuch as M. and N. have consented together," &c.
 

All these passages would go to show that the letters are initials either of some word by which the sex was denoted, or of some very common Christian names of each sex, which were formerly in use.

I grant that, in the baptismal service, N. may possibly stand for nomen.

Thos. Cox.

Preston.

Arabic Numerals.—I am not entitled to question either the learning or the "acumen" of the Bishop of Rochester; but I am entitled to question the interpretation which E. S. T. tells us (Vol. ii., p.27.) he puts upon the Castleacre inscription. My title to do so is this:—that in the year of grace 1084 the Arabic numerals were not only of necessity unknown to the "plaisterers" of those walls, but even (as far as evidence has been yet adduced) to the most learned of England's learned men.

As to the regular order in crossing himself, that will entirely depend upon whether the plaister was considered to be a knight's shield, and the figures the blazonry, or not. Is it not, indeed, stated in one of your former numbers, that this very inscription was to be read 1408, and not 1048? I have already hinted at the necessity of caution in such cases; and Mr. Wilkinson of Burnley has given, in a recent number of your work, two exemplifications. The Bishop of Rochester certainly adds another; though, of course, undesignedly.

T. S. D.

Shooter's Hill, June 7.

Comment. in Apocalypsin (Vol. i., p. 452.).—There was a copy of this volume in the library of the Duke of Brunswick; and in the hope that Sir F. Madden may succeed in obtaining extracts, or a sight of it, I intimate just as much, though not in this kingdom. (See Von der Hardt's Autographa Lutheri et Coætaneorum, tom. iii. 171.) You do not seem to have any copy whatever brought to your notice. This collection was, it appears from the Centifolium Lutheranum of Fabricius (p. 484.), bequeathed by the Duke to the library at Helmstad.

Novus.

Robert Deverell (Vol. i., p. 469.).—If my information is too scanty to deserve a place among the Replies, you may treat it as a supplement to Dr. Rimbault's Query. Mr. Deverell also published (according to Lowndes) A New View of the Classics and Ancient Arts, tending to show the invariable Connexion with the Sciences, 4to. Lond. 1806; and Discoveries in Hieroglyphics and other Antiquities, 6 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1813,—which was suppressed by the author after a few copies had been sold. I have the second and third volumes, being all that relates to Shakspeare. They consist of an edition of Hamlet, Lear, Othello, Merchant of Venice, and the third satire of Horace, copiously illustrated with notes and woodcuts, intended to prove that in the works in question, in common with "all the classics and the different specimens of the arts which have come down to us from the ancients, no part of them is to be understood without supposing that they were mere vehicles of knowledge, not intended to meet the eye or the understanding on the first inspection or perusal;" in short, that all the phrases, characters, and incidents are merely allusions to the appearances of the moon! a representation of which, and of Shakspearian characters, &c., bearing supposed resemblance to its lights and shadows, form the staple of the illustrations. I collect from passages in these volumes, that the first was devoted to a similar illustration of Hudibras. The whole affair seems to afford indications of insanity. In the Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors, 8vo., Lond. 1816, I find that in 1802 he was returned to Parliament by the borough of Saltash, in Cornwall: and from the same authority it also appears that, in addition to the works above noticed, he was the author of A Guide to the Knowledge of the Ancients, 1803, and A letter to Mr. Whitbread on two Bills pending in Parliament, 8vo. 1807.

J. F. M.

The Hippopotamus.—The Scotch Kilt.—I was on the point of addressing a Minor Query to you, when No. 33. arrived, and therein I saw a Major Query from L. (p.36.), which prompts an immediate answer. He asks, "Has there been a live hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus?" To be sure there has, and Capitolinus would have set him right. A goodly assemblage of animals of all sorts was collected by Gordianus Pius, but used by the elder Philip, for the celebration of the secular games on the 1000th anniversary of the building of Rome, or A.D. 248. Among them were 32 elephants, 10 tigers, 10 elks, 60 lions, 30 leopards, 10 hyænas, 1 hippopotamus, 1 rhinoceros, 40 wild horses, 20 wild asses, and 10 giraffes, with a vast quantity of deer, goats, antelopes, and other beasts. "And," it is added in Captain Smyth's Roman Catalogue, "still further to increase the public hilarity, 2000 gladiators were matched in mortal affray."

The portrait of the hippopotamus exhibited on that splendid occasion is well represented upon the large brass medals of Otacilia Severa, Philip's wife, and on those of their son, Philip Junior. That of Otacilia is described at length in Captain Smyth's work.

Now for my Minor Query. Can you, Sir, or any of your intelligent correspondents, oblige me by saying who introduced the kilt into Scotland and when? However it may wound local prejudice, I fear our northern brethren will find its use to be much more recent than they seem willing to be aware of. At present I will not put a rider on the question, by asking, whether an Englishman first gave it them: but perhaps you, Sir, will sift it thoroughly, even although a whole corps of rabid MacNicolls should enter the field against you.

Σ

Ashes to Ashes (Vol. ii., p. 22.).—The word is taken from Genesis, xviii. 27.:

"I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes."

It is plain that this has nothing to do with the treatment of the corpse; but that whatever the exact meaning of the word in Hebrew may be, it is synonymous with dust. As to dust, this is perfectly plain in Genesis, iii. 19.:

"Till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Here burial seems to be distinctly meant.

The Latin word cinis, which denotes ashes produced by burning, is derived from the Greek, which denotes natural dust, I forget whether burnt ashes also.

C. B.

Dr. Maginn's Miscellanies (Vol. i., p. 470.).—Mr. Tucker Hunt (brother of Mr. F. Knight Hunt, author of The Fourth Estate, a History of Newspapers, &c. &c.) showed me some years since a collections of these papers from various sources, which he proposed to publish, and which I was very glad to learn, as I had always regretted that Dr. Maginn had left no memorial of his splendid talents in a seperate publication, but frittered away his genius in periodicals. As "J. M. B." appears very anxious to obtain an authentic reference to any article contributed by the Dr., I think if he could communicate with Mr. Tucker Hunt, it might be of great assistance. I have not the latter's address, but probably a note to the care of his brother's publisher, "D. Bogue, Fleet Street", might lead to a communication.

W. H. Lammin.

Fulham, June 5. 1850

Living Dog better than a dead Lion.—For an answer to my Query at Vol. i., pp. 352. 371., where I asked for the authority upon which Baunez gave Homer credit for the expression (which is evidently none of his), "quod leoni mortuo etiam lepores insultant," a friend has referred me to Antholog. Græc.. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1794, tom. iv. p. 112.; out of which you may, perhaps, think it not too late to insert the following Epigr. xi.

 
"Ὡς ἀπὸ Ἕκτορος τιτρωσκομένου ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων,
Βάλλετε νῦν μετὰ πότμον ἐμὸν δέμας. ὅττι καὶ αὐταὶ
Νεκροῦ σῶμα λέοντος ἐφυβρίζουσι λαγωοί."
 

J. Sansom.

Gaol Chaplains (Vol. ii., p. 22.) were made universal by act of parliament in the fourth year of George IV. Before that they may have existed in some places. In Gloucestershire from 1786.

C. B.

Rome Ancient and Modern (Vol. ii., p. 21.)—Such a map as your correspondent A. B. M. describes, was at Rome in 1827. It was by Vasi. I got it, but never saw it in England.

C. B.

Trianon (Vol. ii., p. 47.).—In justice to myself, and in reply to your correspondent C., who believes I have "not the slightest authority" for my explanation of the word Trianon, I beg to refer him to the French dictionaries, in some of which, at all events, he will find it thus written: Trianon, subst. masc., a pavilion.

J. K. R. W.