Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 68, February 15, 1851», sayfa 5

FOSSIL ELK OF IRELAND

(Vol. ii., p. 494.; Vol. iii., p. 26.)

W. R. C. states that he is anxious to collect all possible information as to this once noble animal. I would have offered the following notes and references sooner, but that I was confident that some abler contributor to the pages of "Notes and Queries" would have brought out of his stores much to interest your natural history readers (whose Queries I regret are so few and far between), and at the same time elucidate some points touched upon by W. R. C., as to the period of its becoming extinct. Perhaps he would favour me with the particulars of "its being shot in 1553," and a particular reference to the plate alluded to in the Nuremberg Chronicle, as I have not been able to recognise in any of its plates the Cervus Megaceros, and I am disposed to question the correctness of the statement, that the animal existed so lately as the period referred to.

There is in the splendid collections of the Royal Dublin Society (which, unfortunately, is not arranged as it should be, from want of proper space), a fine skeleton of this animal, the first perfect one possessed by any public body in Europe:

"It is perfect" [I quote the admirable memoir drawn up for the Royal Dublin Society by that able comparative anatomist Dr. John Hart, which will amply repay a perusal by W. R. C., or any other naturalist who may feel an interest in the subject] "in every single bone of the framework which contributes to form a part of the general outline, the spine, the chest, the pelvis, and the extremities are all complete in this respect; and when surmounted by the head and beautifully expanded antlers, which extend out to a distance of nearly six feet on either side, form a splendid display of the reliques of the former grandeur of the animal kingdom, and carries back the imagination to the period when whole herds of this noble animal wandered at large over the face of the country."

Until Baron Cuvier published his account of these remains, they were generally supposed to be the same as those of the Moose deer or elk of N. America. (Vide Ann. du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, tom. xii., and Ossemens Fossiles, tom. iv.) This error seems to have originated with Dr. Molyneux in 1697. (Vide Phil. Trans., vol. xix.)

The perforated rib referred to was presented to the society by Archdeacon Maunsell, and

"contains an oval opening towards its lower edge, the long diameter of which is parallel to the length of the rib, its margin is depressed on the outer and raised on the inner surface; round which there is an irregular effusion of callus.... In fact, such a wound as would be produced by the head of an arrow remaining in the wound after the shaft had broken off."—Hart's Memoir, p. 29.

There are in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, a very complete and interesting series of antlered skulls of this animal. Should W. R. C. or any other reader of "Notes and Queries," desire further information on this subject, I will gladly, if in my power, afford it.

S. P. H. T. (a M. R. D. S.)

Replies to Minor Queries

Coverdale Bible (Vol. iii., p. 54.).—Your correspondent Echo is quite right in declaring Mr. Granville Penn's statement, that Coverdale used Tyndale's New Test. in his Bible of 1535, to be quite wrong. Mr. Penn very probably took his statement from the Preface to D'Oyley and Mant's Bible, as published by the Christian Knowledge Society, which contains a very erroneous account of the earliest English versions.

Tyndale's version of the New Testament was not incorporated in any version of the whole Bible till the publication of what is called Matthewe's Bible in 1537.

For more particular statements confirmed by proofs, your correspondent may consult Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, under the dates of the respective editions, or his appendix to vol. ii., pp. viii., ix.; or Mr. Pearson's biographical notice of Coverdale, prefixed to the Parker Soc. edit. of his Remains; or the biographical notice of Tyndale, prefixed to the Parker Soc. edit. of his Works, pp. lxxiv., lxxv.; or Two Letters to Bishop Marsh on the Independence of the Authorised Version, published for me by Hatchard in 1827 and 1828.

Henry Walter.

Epitaph (Vol. iii., p. 57.).—The name of the "worthie knyght" is Sir Thomas Gravener, as A. B. R. might have seen in the printed Catalogue of the Harleian MSS. Who he was, is a more difficult question to answer; but there was a family of that name settled in Staffordshire, as appears from MS. Harl. 1476. fol. 250. The epitaph in question (at fol. 28 b of the old numbering, or 24 b of the new, not fol. 25 b.) is inserted among several short poems written by Sir Thomas Wyatt; and the epitaph itself has a capital W affixed to it, as if it were also of his composition: but I do not find it inserted in Dr. Nott's edition of his poetical works, in 1816; nor does this MS. appear to have been consulted by Dr. Nott. And here I may take the liberty of remarking, how desirable it is that your correspondents, in sending any extracts from old English MSS. to the "Notes and Queries," should adhere strictly to the original orthography, or else modernise it altogether. A. B. R. evidently intends to retain the ancient spelling; yet, from haste or inadvertence, he has committed no less than forty-four literal errors in transcribing this short epitaph, and three verbal ones, namely, itt for that (l. 11.), Hys for The (l. 14.), and or for and (l. 17.). Another curious source of error may here be pointed out. Nearly all the MSS. contained in the British Museum collections are not only distinguished by a number, but have a press-mark stamped on the back, which is denoted by Plut. (an abbreviation of Pluteus, press), with the number and shelf. Thus the Harleian MS. 78., referred to by A. B. R., stands in press (Plut.) LXIII. shelf E. In consequence of the Cottonian collection having been originally designated after the names of the twelve Cæsars (whose busts, together with those of Cleopatra and Faustina, stood above the presses), it appears to have been supposed that other classical names served as references to the remaining portions of the manuscript department. In A. B. R.'s communication, Plut. is expressed by the name of Pluto; in a volume of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of Scotland, lately published, it is metamorphosed into Plutus; and the late Dr. Adam Clarke refers to some of Dr. Dee's MSS. in the Sloane (more correctly, Cottonian) library, under Plutarch xvi. G! (See Catalogue of his MSS., 8vo., 1835, p. 62.) The same amusing error is more formally repeated by Dr. J. F. Payen, in a recent pamphlet, entitled Nouveaux Documents inédits ou peu connus sur Montaigne, 8vo., 1850, at p. 24. of which he refers to "Bibl. Egerton, vol. 23., Plutarch, f. 167.," [Plut. CLXVII. F.], and adds in a note:

"On sait que dans nos bibliothèques les grandes divisions sont marquées par les lettres de l'alphabet; au Musée Britannique c'est par des noms de personnages célèbres qu'on les designe."

μ.

Probabilism (Vol. iii., p. 61.).—Probabilism, so far as it means the principle of reasoning or acting upon the opinion of eminent teachers or writers, was the principle of the Pythagoreans, whose ipse dixit, speaking of their master, is proverbial; and of Aristotle, in his Topics.

But probabilism, in its strict sense, I presume, means the doctrine so common among the Jesuits, 200 years ago, and so well stated by Pascal, that it is lawful to act upon an opinion expressed by a single writer of weight, though contrary to one's own opinion, and entirely overbalanced, either in weight or numbers, by the opinion of other writers.

Jeremy Taylor, in his Ductor Dubitantium, tells us that this doctrine, though very prevalent, was quite modern; and that the old Casuists, according to the plain suggestions of common sense, held directly the contrary, namely, that the less probable opinion must give way to the more probable.

All this may be no answer to the deeper research, perhaps, of your enquirer,—but it may possibly be interesting to general readers, as well as the following refined and ingenious sophism which was used in its support:—They said that all agreed that you could not be wrong in using the more probable, best supported, opinion of the two. Now, let that in the particular case in question be A, and the less probable B. But the doctrine that you may lawfully take the less probable in general is the more probable doctrine; meaning at that time the doctrine of the greater number of authorities: therefore they said, even upon your principles it is lawful to take B.

C. B.

Old Hewson the Cobbler (Vol. iii., pp. 11. 73.).—The most satisfactory account of "old Hewson" is the following, extracted from The Loyal Martyrology, by William Winstanley, small 8vo. 1665, (p. 123.):—

"John Hewson, who, from a cobbler, rose by degrees to be a colonel, and though a person of no parts either in body or mind, yet made by Cromwell one of his pageant lords. He was a fellow fit for any mischief, and capable of nothing else; a sordid lump of ignorance and impiety, and therefore the more fit to share in Cromwell's designs, and to act in that horrid murther of his Majesty. Upon the turn of the times, he ran away for fear of Squire Dun [the common hangman], and (by report) is since dead, and buried at Amsterdam."

In the collection of songs entitled The Rump, 1666, may be found two ballads relative to Hewson, viz., "A Hymne to the Gentle Craft; or Hewson's Lamentation. To the tune of the Blind Beggar:"

 
"Listen a while to what I shall say
Of a blind cobbler that's gone astray
Out of the parliament's high way,
Good people pity the blind."
 

"The Cobbler's Last Will and Testament; or the Lord Hewson's translation:"

 
"To Christians all, I greeting send,
That they may learn their souls to amend
By viewing, of my cobbler's end."
 

Lord Hewson's "one eye" is a frequent subject of ridicule in the political songs of the period. Thus in "The Bloody Bed-roll, or Treason displayed in its Colours:"

 
"Make room for one-ey'd Hewson,
A Lord of such account,
'Twas a pretty jest
That such a beast
Should to such honour mount."
 

The song inquired for by my friend Mr. Chapell, beginning, "My name is old Hewson," is not contained in any of the well-known printed collections of political songs and ballads, nor is it to be found among the broadsides preserved in the King's Pamphlets. A full index to the latter is now before me, so I make this statement positively, and to save others the trouble of a search.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Old Hewson and Smollett's "Strap."—Perhaps the enclosed extract from an old newspaper of April, 1809, will throw some light upon this subject:

"SMOLLETT'S CELEBRATED HUGH STRAP

"On Sunday was interred, in the burial-ground of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, the remains of Hugh Hewson, who died at the age of 85. The deceased was a man of no mean celebrity. He had passed more than forty years in the parish of St. Martin's, and kept a hair-dresser's shop, being no less a personage than the identical Hugh Strap, whom Dr. Smollett rendered so conspicuously interesting in his life and adventures of Roderick Random. The deceased was a very intelligent man, and took delight in recounting the scenes of his early life. He spoke with pleasure of the time he passed in the service of the Doctor; and it was his pride, as well as boast, to say, that he had been educated at the same seminary with so learned and distinguished a character. His shop was hung round with Latin quotations, and he would frequently point out to his acquaintance the several scenes in Roderick Random, pertaining to himself, which had their foundation, not in the Doctor's inventive fancy, but in truth and reality. The Doctor's meeting with him at a barber's shop at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the subsequent mistake at the Inn, their arrival together in London, and the assistance they experienced from Strap's friend were all of that description. The deceased, to the last, obtained a comfortable subsistence by his industry, and of late years had been paid a weekly salary by the inhabitants of the Adelphi, for keeping the entrances to Villiers-walk, and securing the promenade from the intrusion of strangers."

John Francis.

Rodolph Gualter (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—From letters to and from Rodolph Gualter (in Zurich, and Original Letters, Parker Society) little can be gathered; thus much have I gleaned, that though mention is oftentimes made of Scotland, yet not sufficient to identify Gualter as being a native of that country; yet it should be observed that he dedicated his Homilies on the Galatians to the King of Scotland, Zurich Letters (second series) cxviii., see also, cxxix., cxxx. These remarks may tend perchance to put J. C. R. on the right track for obtaining true information.

N. E. R. (a Subscriber.)

Burning the Hill (Vol. ii., pp. 441. 498.).—The provision for burning out a delinquent miner, contained in the Mendip mine laws, called Lord C. J. Choke's laws, first appeared in print in 1687; at least I can find no earlier notice of them in any book; but as the usages sanctioned by them are incidentally mentioned in proceedings in the Exchequer in 21 and 22 Elizabeth, they are no doubt of early date. Article 6. certainly has a very sanguinary aspect; but as the thief, whose hut and tools are to be burnt, is himself to be "banished from his occupation before the miners for ever," it cannot be intended that he should be himself burnt also. If any instance of the exercise of a custom or law so clearly illegal had ever occurred within recent times, we should have assuredly found some record of it in the annals of criminal justice, as the executioner would infallibly have been hanged. The regulations are probably an attempt by some private hand to embody the local customs of the district, so far as regards lead mining; and they contain the substance of the usual customs prevalent in most metallic regions, where mines have been worked ab antiquo. The first report of the Dean Forest Commission, 1839, f. 12., adverts to a similar practice among the coal and iron miners in that forest. It seems to be an instance of the Droit des arsins, or right of arson, formerly claimed and exercised to a considerable extent, and with great solemnity, in Picardy, Flanders, and other places; but I know of no instance in which this wild species of metallifodine justice has been claimed to apply to anything but the culprit's local habitation and tools of trade. I need not add that the custom, even with this limitation, would now be treated by the courts as a vulgar error, and handed over to the exclusive jurisdiction of the legal antiquaries and collectors of the Juris amœnitates.