Notes and Queries, Number 15, February 9, 1850

Permit me also to ask, in connection with this subject, for references to any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals, their origin, and their introduction into Europe. I am already acquainted with Astle, On Writing, Wallis’s Algebra, Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, the Huctiana, Pegge’s Life of Grostête, and the Philosophical Transactions; but I wish for additional, and, if possible, more recent information.

Does any one of your readers know what became of the MSS. formerly in the possession of the above-named Thomas Astle, formerly Keeper of the Tower Records? In Sir W. Burrell’s Sussex collections in the British Museum are copies of charters, “ex MSS. penes T. Aste,” with notices of curious seals appended, which I should be glad to be able to inspect.

E.V.

Stephen Eiton, or Eden’s “Acta Regis Edw. II.“—The interesting account of St. Thomas of Lancaster, with the appended queries (No. 12. p. 181.), reminds me of the work of Stephen Eiton or Eden, a canon-regular of Warter, in Yorkshire, entitled, “Acta Regis Edwardi iidi,” which is said still to remain in manuscript. Where is it deposited?

T.J.

Dog Latin.—Permit me also to ask, what is the origin of the expression “Dog Latin”?

T.J.

The Cuckoo—the Welch Ambassador.—In Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One, Act iv. sc. 5., Dampet says:—

“Why, thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? Thy sound is like the cuckoo, the Welch Embassador.”

And the editor of the continuation of Dodsley’s Collection remarks on the passage,—

“Why the cuckoo is called the Welch Embassador, I know not.”

Perhaps some of your readers can explain why the cuckoo is so called.

G.

A recent Novel.—Having lately met with an extremely rare little volume, the title of which runs thus: “La prise d’un Seigneur Ecossois et de ses gens qui pilloient les navires pescheurs de France, ensemble le razement de leur fort et le rétablissement d’un autre pour le service du Roi … en la Nouvelle France … par le sieur Malepart. Rouen, le Boullenger, 1630. 12o. 24pp.” I was reminded of a modern novel, the principal scenes of which are laid in an island inhabited by a British nobleman of high rank, who, having committed a political crime, had been reported dead, but was saved by singular circumstances, and led the life of a buccaneer. Can any of your numerous readers be good enough to mention the title of the novel alluded to, which has escaped my memory?

ADOLPHUS.

Authorship of a Couplet.—Can you help me to the authorship of the following lines?—

“Th’ unhappy have whole days, and those they choose;The happy have but hours, and those they lose.”P.S.

Seal of Killigrew, and Genealogy of the Killigrew Family.—”BURIENSIS” (No. 13. p. 204.) is informed that the arms on the seal at Sudbury are certainly those of a member of the old Cornish house of Killigrew. These arms, impaled by those of Lower, occur on a monument at Llandulph, near Saltash, to the memory of Sir Nicholas Lower, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1638. She was a daughter of Sir Henry Killegrewe, of London, and a near relative, I believe, of the Master of the Revels.

While on this subject, I beg to put a query to your genealogical readers. The double-headed eagle, the bordure bizantée, and the demilion charged with bezants, are all evident derivations from the armorial bearings of Richard, titular king of the Romans, Earl of Cornwall, &c., second son of King John. The family of Killegrewe is of venerable antiquity in Cornwall. What I wish to ascertain is, the nature of the connection between the family and that unfortunate “king.” Was it one of consanguinity, or merely one of feudal dependence?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

*** See, on the origin of the arms of Richard and their derivatives, my Curiosities of Heraldry, pp.309. et seq.

REPLIES

SELAGO AND SAMOLUS

In common with the mistletoe and vervain the Druids held the Selago and Samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the most devout and reverential manner. When they were gathered for religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall to the earth, for it was an established principle of Druidism, that every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum:

“– When they bearTheir wond’rous egg aloof in air:Thence before to earth it fall,The Druid in his hallow’d pallReceives the prize.”

Pliny, in his Natural History (lib. xxiv. cap. 11.) gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies used by the Druids in gathering the Selago and Samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:—

“Similis berbæ huie sabinæ est Selago appellata. Legitur sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur, pane vinoque. Fertur in mappa nova. Hanc contra omnem perniciem habendam prodidere Druidæ Gallorum, et contra omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse.

“Iidem Samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis: et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis.”

From the very slight manner in which these plants are described by Pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. So far as I know, Pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them, and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in this passage.

The word Selago is supposed to be derived from se and lego, i.e. quid certo ritu seligeretur. Linnæus appropriated the name to a pretty genus of Cape plants, but which can have nothing whatever to do with the Selago of the Druids. It has been thought to be the same as the Serratula Chamæpeuce of Linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for Pliny says it resembles the savine; and Matthiolus, in his Commentary on Dioscorides, when speaking of the savine (Juniperus Sabina), says:—

“Siquidem vidi pro Sabina assumi quandam herbam dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur, folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore Sabinam Hanc sæpius existimavi esse Selaginem referat. a Plinio lib. xxiv. c. 11. commemoratam.”

Samolus, or as some copies read Samosum, is said to be derived from two Celtic words, san, salutary, and mos, pig; denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of Pliny, who says the Gauls considered the Samolus as a specific in all maladies of swine and cattle. But there is not less difficulty in identifying this plant than in the former case. Some have thought it the same as the little marsh plant, with small white flowers, which Linnæus calls Samolus Valerandi, while others consider it to be the Anemone Pulsatilla. I am ignorant of the salutary properties of these plants, and must leave it to be decided which of them has the greatest claims to be considered the Samolus of Pliny.

G.M.

Is there any English translation of Ælian’s Various History, or of the work ascribed to the same author on the Peculiarities of Animals?

East Winch. Jan. 1850.

Selago and Samolus.—The Selago (mentioned by “PWCCA,” No. 10. p. 157.), in Welsh Gras Duw (Gratia Dei), was held by the Druids as a charm against all misfortunes; they called it Dawn y Dovydd, the gift of the Lord. They also ascribed great virtues to the Samolus, which was called Gwlydd, mild or tender. All that can be known respecting the Selago and Samolus, may be seen in Borlase’s Antiquities of Cornwall.

GOMER.

ÆLFRIC’S COLLOQUY

In the Anglo-Saxon Gloss, to Ælfric’s Latin dialogue, higdifatu is not, I conceive, an error of the scribe, but a variation of dialect, and therefore, standing in no need of correction into hydigfatu (“NOTES and QUERIES,” No. 13.). Hig, hi and hy, are perfectly identical, and nothing is more usual in A.S. than the omission of the final g after i; consequently, hig=hy, di=dig, therefore higdi=hydig. Mr. Singer’s reading of cassidilia for culidilia, I consider to be well-founded.

His conjecture, that sprote=Goth. sprauto, has something very specious about it, and yet I must reject it. That useful and sagacious author, Dr. Kitchener, tells us, that there is only one thing to be done in a hurry (or sprauto); and even if he had not informed us what that one thing is, very few indeed would ever have imagined that it was fish-catching. The word sprote was a puzzle to me, and I had often questioned myself as to its meaning, but never could get a satisfactory answer; nor was it until some time after the publication of the 2nd edition of my Analecta that it occurred to me that it might signify a wicker or sallow basket (such as is still in use for the capture of eels), from Lat. sporta, whence the German sportel. My conjecture, of salice for the salu of the text, was based on the possibility that the apparatus might somehow or other be made of the salix.

I beg leave to inform “SELEUCUS,” that The Phœnix, with an English version, and with the Latin original, is to be found in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by me, in 1842, for the Society of Antiquaries. The Latin ascribed to Lactantius, is printed in the Variourum edition of Claudian, and, I believe, in the editions of Lactantius.

Jan. 30, 1850.

B. THORPE.

PORTRAITS OF LUTHER AND ERASMUS

Your correspondent, “R.G.” (No. 13. p. 203.), is correct in supposing the wood-cut portrait of Luther to be that which is prefixed to the treatise “De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiæ,” where he is habited as a monk; but it was evidently only a copy from the very interesting copper-plate engraving of his friend Lucas Cranach, bearing the date 1520, of which a very accurate copy was prefixed to the translation of “Luther’s Way to Prayer,” published by Mr. Pickering in 1846. Juncker’s book is a very good repertory of the various representations of the great reformer, but the prints are generally but faithless copies. In 1750 Kirchmayer printed an especial disquisition upon the portrait by Lucas Cranach of 1523, under the following title:—”Disquisitio Historia de Martini Lutheri Oris et Vultus Habitu Hervieo ad vivum expresso in Imagine divine pencilli Lucæ Cranachj patris in ære hic incisa,” &c., Wittebergæ Sax. 1750, 4to. The works in which the Germans have sought to do honour to their great protestant saint, are numerous enough to fill a small library but two of them are so remarkable as to deserve notice, 1. “Luther’s Merkwürdige Lebensumstande bey seiner Medicinalischen Leibesconstitution, Krankheiten, geistlichen und leiblichen Anfectungen und andern Zufallen, &c., von F.G. Keil,” Leipsig, 1764. 2. “Luther’s Merkwürdige Reisegeschichte zu Erganzung seiner Lebensumstande, von Jo. Th. Lingke,” Leipsig, 1769, 4to. The earliest wood-cut representation of Erasmus with which I am acquainted is a medallion accompanying another of Ulric of Hutten, on the title-page of the following work of the unfortunate but heroic champion of the Reformation:—”Ulrichi ab Hutten cum Erasmo Rotirodamo, Presbytero, Theologo, Expostulatio.” There is reason to believe that this Expostulation was printed only a short month before Hutten died; and, though it bears neither date nor name of printer, that it was printed by Johannes Schott, at Strasburg, in the month of July, 1523. It has another portrait of Hutten at the end, the whole strikingly spirited and characteristic; by some they have been attributed to Holbein, and if not by him, which is doubtful, they are at least worthy of him.

One would gladly forget this strife between the great promoter of learning and the soldier-scholar. Erasmus’s conduct was unworthy of a great man, and can never be vindicated.

S.W.S.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES

Praise undeserved.—The correct quotation, referred to in No. 14. p. 222., is

“Praise undeserved is Satire in disguise.”

It is by Mr. Br–st, author of a copy of verses called the British Beauties. I cannot fill up the “hiatus,” which in this case is not “maxime deflendus,” because I have now no time to search the Museum Catalogue. I apprehend that the author belonged to the “mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease,” as it is something like Savage’s “tenth transmitter” (which, by the bye, your correspondent, Mr. Gutch, should have said is said to be Pope’s)—his only good line. Here is my authority:

EPIGRAM

On a certain line of Mr. Br–, author of a copy of verses called the“British Beauties.”—From the “GARLAND,” a collection of Poems, 1721.

“When one good line did much my wonder raiseIn Br–st’s works, I stood resolved to praise;And had, but that the modest author cries,Praise undeserv’d is satire in disguise.”

I would add, that I believe this Epigram to be Dr. Kenrick’s, Goldsmith’s old persecutor in later years.

JAMES H. FRISWELL

French Maxim.—I beg to inform your correspondent “R.V.” in reply to his query (No. 14. p. 215.), that the maxim quoted is the 218th of Rochefoucauld: “L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”

J.H.F.

Singular Motto.—The “singular motto” which occasions “P.H.F.’s” wonder (No. 14. p. 214.), is, without doubt, a cypher, and only to be rendered by those who have a Key. Such are not unfrequent in German, Austrian, or Bohemian Heraldry.

J.H.F.

Discurs. Modest.—At p. 205. No. 13., your correspondent N. replies to A.T.’s query, that “there can be no reasonable doubt, that the original authority for Rem transubstantiationis patres ne altigisse quidem, is William Watson in his Quodlibet, ii. 4. p. 31.”

By a note of mine, I find that this secular priest, W. Watson, lays the expression in question to the charge of the Jesuits as “an heretical and most dangerous assertion of theirs.” Admitting, therefore, the Discurs. Modest. to have been published after Watson’s Decacordon, i.e. later than 1602 (which can hardly be doubted), still the further question remains to be asked: “In what writings of the Jesuits, prior to 1602, had W. Watson himself found these words, with which he charges them?” Should you think this further query of importance enough to find a place in your paper, perhaps some one of your readers might throw yet another ray of light upon this subject.

J.S.

Oxford

Pallace (No. 13. p. 202).—Mr. Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic, &c. Words, explains this word as used in Devonshire:—

“Palace, a Storehouse.”—Devon. “At Dartmouth, I am told there are some of these storehouses, called palaces, cut out of the rock, still retaining the name.” —MS Devon. Gloss.

C.W.G.

Meaning of “Pallace.”—The term “Pallace” (No. 13. p. 202.) is applied in Totnes to denote a landing-place inclosed by walls, but not roofed in. Many of these “pallaces” have been converted into coal-cellars. Perhaps pales may have been used originally to form these inclosures in lieu of walls;—and hence the word “pallace” would mean a place paled in. I find repeated mention made of “pallaces” in a schedule attached to a deed of the Corporation of Totnes, bearing date September 18th, 1719, a copy of which is now before me, and from it the following extracts are taken:—

“One linney and two pallaces or yards.”

“All those houses, rooms, cellars, and pallaces.”

“All that great cellar lately rebuilt, and the plott of ground or pallace thereto belonging lately converted into a cellar.”

“All that little cellar and pallace lately rebuilt, and the kay or landing place thereto belonging, and near adjoyning unto and upon the river Dart.”

“And the little pallace or landing-place.”

Apropos of landing-places, it may interest some of your readers to learn that the very stone upon which Brutus, the nephew of Æneas, landed at Totnes, still remains! It is inserted in the foot-way nearly opposite the Mayoralty-house in the Fore Street. From Totnes, the neighbouring shore was heretofore called Totonese: and the British History tells us, that Brutus, the founder of the British nation, arrived here; and Havillanus [John de Alvilla or Hauteville, according to Mr. Wright] as a poet, following the same authority, writes thus:—

“Inde dato cursu, Brutus comitatus AchateGallorum spoliis cumulatis navibus æquorExarat, et superis auraque faventibus usus,Littora felices intrat Totonesia portus.”“From hence great Brute with his Achates steer’d,Full fraught with Gallic spoils their ships appear’d;The Winds and Gods were all at their command,And happy Totnes shew’d them grateful land.”Gibson’s Camden.

Totnes is made mention of the Lais de Marie:—

“Il tient sun chemin tut avant.A la mer vient, si est passer,En Toteneis est arriver.”—Lai d’Elidne.J. MILNER BARRY, M.D.

Totnes, Devon, Jan. 30. 1850.

Litany Version of the Psalms.—The doubts produced by Beloe’s self-contradicting statements on the subject of the Bishops’ Bible, which are referred to by “X.X.” (No. 13. p. 203.), may thus be settled. The first edition of this Bible, printed in 1568, contains a new translation of the Psalms by Becon. In the second folio edition, 1572, are inserted, in opposite columns, “the translation according to the Ebrewe,” which differs but little from the former, in Roman letter, and “the translation used in common prayer,” or that of the Great Bible, printed by Whitchurch, 1553, in black letter.

The clarum et venerabile nomen associated with the Bishops’ Bible, a very magnificent and perfect copy of which is now open before me, suggests the inquiry whether there is any copy known of Archbishop Parker’s rare volume on the English Church, 1572, which is not noticed by Martin in the list of eighteen which he had discovered. He does not mention that in the Chetham library.

T. JONES.

Tempora mutantur &c.—In reply to your correspondent, “E.V.” (No. 14. p. 215.), I beg to state, that the germ of “Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis,” is to be found in the Delitiæ Poetarium Germanorum, vol. i. p. 685., under the Poems of Matthias Borbonius. He considers them as a saying of Lotharius I. (flor. Cir. 830.):—

“Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis;Illa vices quasdam res habet, illa suas.”

I sent this communication, some years ago, to Sharpe’s Magazine, where it will be found, vol. v. p. 208.

L.S.

Pandoxare.—Your correspondent, “H.B.” (No. 13. p. 202.), has lighted upon a curious specimen of domestic hieroglyphics, the notice of which recalls to mind the quaint marginal symbols scattered over the inventories of the Exchequer Treasury, at a much earlier period. They are not devoid of information or interest. The word of which he requests explanation, is, indeed, of too base Latinity to be found in the Facciolati, or even in the Auctarium; but in our old Latin dictionaries, sources of abundant information on obsolete expressions, the word is readily to be found. Old Gouldman, for instance, whose columns are replete with uncommon and local English terms, gives “Pandoxor, to brew,” citing Alciatus as authority, and “Pandox, a swill-bowl,” apparently a word used by Statius. It is obviously a barbarous derivative of the same Greek words as Pandocium or Pandoxarium (παν and δοχειον), the hostelry open to all comers. If, however, a more recondite authority for the explanation of the word, as formerly used in England, be desired, I would refer your querist to the pages of the Promptorium Parvulorum, where may be found—“Bruwyn ale or other drynke, Pandoxor. Browstar, or brewere, Pandoxator, Pandoxatrix,” the medieval Bass or Guinness having been, most frequently, a female. And, having cited the primitive lexicographer of Norfolk, I would seize the occasion to offer a note, in response to the numerous queries regarding the too tardy advance of the work in question, and to assure your readers, who may be interested in the publications of the Camden Society, that a further instalment of the Promptorium is in forwardness, so that I hope to complete a considerable portion, in readiness for issue, early in the current year.

ALBERT WAY.

Saint Thomas of Lancaster.—Not having Brady at hand, I cannot tell what authorities he cites; but, as Mr. Milnes (No. 12. p. 181.) does not mention Rymer, he perhaps may not know that he will find in that collection some documentary evidence on the subject of this saint, if saint he was; for instance—

“Super rumore Thomam nuper Comitem Lancastriæ miraculis corruscuri.”—Rym. Fœd. iii. p. 1033. A.D. 1323. “Quod,” adds the king, “moleste gerimus.”

But Edward III. was of quite another mind, and urged his canonization of the Holy See. Witness Rymer:—

“Ad Papam; pro canonisatione Thomaelig; nuper Comitis Lancastriæ.”—Fœd. iv. p. 2. A.D. 1326.

And again—

“Pro custodi“ (Weryngton mentioned by Mr. Milnes), “Capellæ ad montem ubi nuper comes Lancastriæ decollatus fuit.”—Ib. p. 291.

It seems that the bodies of some of Thomas’s accomplices were also supposed to have worked miracles; for we find an ordinance—

“Contra Fingentes miracula fieri per inimicos Regis.” —Rym. Fœd. iv. p. 20. A.D. 1323.

Andrews says (Hist. i. 342.) that Richard II. renewed the application for Thomas’s canonization; but he does not give his authority, and I have not time to look further through Rymer.

p. 184. Jhon-John.—I wonder Mr. Williams does not see that the h is not “introduced“ for any purpose; it is an integral part of the original name Johannes, which was contracted into Johan, and in French into Jehan.

p. 185. Slang Phrases.—”A Rowland for an Oliver“ is no slang phrase of the eighteenth century; it is a proverbial expression as old as the days of the romances of Roland and Olivier. The other two were phrases put into the mouths of two characters (Dr. Ollapod, in Colman’s Poor Gentleman, and Young Rapid, in Morton’s Cure for the Heart-ache), which grew into vogue only from the success of the actors Fawcett and Lewis, and had no meaning or allusion beyond what the words obviously meant.

C.

Full of Rain in England.—”ROYDON” (No. 11. p. 73) will find the average quantity of rain fallen at Greenwich, for twenty-five years, 1815 to 1839, in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price 1s., by J.H. Belville, of the Royal Observatory, published by Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, called Manual of the Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers.

HENRY WILKINSON

Judas Bell—(No. 13, p. 195). In the “Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie,” a singular Scotch Poem, composed in the former half of the 16th century, and printed in Ramsay’s Evergreen, the following passage occurs (Everg. vol. ii. p. 74.):—

“A Benefice quha wald give sic a Beist,But gif it were to jingle Judas bells?Tak thee a Fiddle or a Flute to jest,Undocht thou art, ordained for naithing ells.”

The Judas bells may probably have been used in the Easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with which we find Judas candles mentioned. See Brand’s Popular Antiq. by Sir H. Ellis, vol. i. p. 29.

C.W.G.

Boduc or Boduoc on British Coins.—The real name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very uncertain. Walther (Tacitus, xiv. Ann. c. 31.), adopts Boudicea. It is probable enough that the syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as pronounced by the Britons. We are reminded of Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by Cæsar. But to come nearer home, the name Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel discovered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr. Goddard Johnson, Archæologia, xxviii. p. 436.