Notes and Queries, Number 179, April 2, 1853.

B. C.

Lady High Sheriff (Vol. vii., p. 236.).—There is a passage in Warton's History of English Poetry (Vol. i. p. 194., Tegg's edition) which will in part answer the Query of your correspondent W. M. It is in the form of a note, appended to the following lines from the metrical romance of Ipomydon:

"They come to the castelle yateThe porter was redy there at,The porter to theyme they gan calle,And prayd hym go in to the halle,And say thy lady gent and fre,That comen ar men of ferre contrè,And if it plese hyr, we wolle hyr pray,That we myght ete with hyr to-day."

On this passage Warton remarks:

"She was lady, by inheritance, of the signory. The female feudatories exercised all the duties and honours of their feudal jurisdiction in person. In Spenser, where we read of the Lady of the Castle, we are to understand such a character. See a story of a Comtesse, who entertains a knight in her castle with much gallantry. (Mém. sur l'Anc. Chev., ii. 69.) It is well known that anciently in England ladies were sheriffs of counties."

To this note of Warton's, Park adds another, which I also give as being more conclusive on the subject. It is as follow:

["Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was a justice of peace. Sir W. Dugdale tells us that Ela, widow of William, Earl of Salisbury, executed the sheriff's office for the county of Wilts, in different parts of the reign of Henry III. (See Baronage, vol. i. p. 177.) From Fuller's Worthies we find that Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Lord Clifford, was sheriffess of Westmoreland for many years; and from Pennant's Scottish Tour we learn that for the same county Anne, the celebrated Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, often sat in person as sheriffess. Yet Riston doubted of facts to substantiate Mr. Warton's assertion. See his Obs. p. 10., and reply in the Gent. Mag. 1782, p. 573.—Park."]

T. C. S.

I can answer part of W. M.'s Query, by a reference to a personage who could not have been very far from being the first instance of the kind (Query, was she?).

"About this time (1202) Gerard de Camville, his old and faithful adherent, was restored by John to the possession of the honours of which he had been deprived by King Richard; and it is a remarkable circumstance that, on the death of the said Gerard, in the eighteenth year of the king's reign, his widow, Nichola Camville (who is described by an ancient historian as being 'a martial woman of great courage and address') had the sheriffalty of the county of Lincoln committed to her; which honourable and important trust was continued to her by a grant of Henry III.," &c.

The above quotation is taken from Bailey's Annals of Nottinghamshire, now publishing in Numbers (Part III. p. 107.). Should I be wrong in asking correspondents to contribute towards a list of ladies holding the above honorable post?

Furvus.

St. James's.

Burial of an unclaimed Corpse (Vol. vii., p. 262.).—E. G. R.'s question is easily answered. The parish of Keswick proved that some years before they had buried a body found on a piece of land. This was evidence of reputation that at the time of the burial the land was in Keswick, otherwise the parishioners would not have taken on themselves this work of uncalled-for benevolence. The fact of their having incurred an expense, which, unless the land was in their parish, would have been the burden of Markshall, satisfied the commissioner that the land must have belonged to Keswick. I have no doubt this was the reason, though I never heard of the question in connexion with Keswick and Markshall. Battersea Rise, I heard when a boy, had formerly belonged to Clapham, and been given to Battersea for the same reason as E. G. R. states to have been the cause of Markshall losing its territory to Keswick.

J. H. L.

Surname of Allan (Vol. vii., p. 205.).—I think A. S. A. will find that this name was introduced into Britain from Normandy. It occurs in early Norman times as a personal name, and afterwards as a patronymic. Thus Alan, the son of Flathald, who had the castle of Oswestry granted him by the Conqueror, had a son, William Fitz-Alan, ancestor of the great baronial house of Arundel. In the Hundred Rolls, temp. Edward I., it is very common under the orthographies of fil. Alan, fil. Alain, Alayn, Aleyn, Aleyne, Aleynes, Aleynys, &c. Allen has always remained a baptismal name, and hence it is probable that there is no more affinity between the numerous families now bearing it as a surname, than between the various Thompsons, Williamses, and others of this class. The MacAllans of Scotland may have a separate Celtic source, though it is far likelier that this name (like MacEdward, MacGeorge, and numerous others) is the English appellative with the patronymic Mac prefixed.

Mark Antony Lower.

Lewes.

The Patronymic Mac (Vol. vii., p. 202.).—The present Earl of Stair has collected and printed, under the title of Almacks Extraordinary, a list of seven hundred Scotch and Irish surnames with the prefix "Mac;" and a highly esteemed correspondent promises me a supplementary list of "a few hundreds" of such appellatives, which must therefore be in the aggregate upwards of a thousand in number. I hope to include all these in my forthcoming Dictionary of British Surnames.

Mark Antony Lower.

Lewes.

Cibber's "Lives of the Poets" (Vol. v., p. 25.).—When Mr. Crossley inserted in your pages, at great length, the original prospectus of Cibber's Lives, he was not aware that it had been reprinted before. Such, however, is the case, as may be seen by turning to the sixth volume of Sir Egerton Brydges' Censura Literaria, ed. 1808, p. 352. It was communicated to the columns of that work by that diligent antiquary in literary matters, Joseph Haslewood. Mr. Crossley says, "It is rather extraordinary that none of Dr. Johnson's biographers appear to have been aware that the prospectus of Cibber's Lives was furnished by Johnson." Where is there the slightest proof that Johnson wrote one line of it? Haslewood believed it to have been the production of Messrs. Cibber and Shiels. Does Mr. Crossley ground his claim for Johnson merely upon a fancied resemblance in style?

Edward F. Rimbault.

Parallel Passages, No. 2.—Stars and Flowers (Vol. vii., p. 151.).—Other parallels on this subject are given in "N. & Q." (Vol. iv., p. 22.), to which may be added the following:

"Silently, one by one, on the infinite meadows of heaven,Blossom'd the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."Longfellow's Evangeline, Part I. iii. p. 187. of the Liverpool edition.Zeus.

Schomberg's Epitaph (Vol. vii., p. 13.).—I find this entry in my note-book:—The following inscription is written on a black slab of marble, affixed to the wall of the choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The remains of the duke were removed to this cathedral immediately after the battle of the Boyne; and on the 10th July, 1690, they were deposited under the altar. The relatives of this great man having neglected to raise any monument to his memory, Dean Swift undertook and caused the above slab to be erected, having first vainly applied to the connexions of the deceased. His sword is in the possession of the society of the "Friendly Brothers," Dublin.

The following is the inscription on the slab:

"Hic infra situm est corpus Frederici Ducis de Schonberg ad Bubindam occisi A.D. 1690. Decanus et Capitulum maximopere etiam atque etiam petierunt, ut hæredes Ducis, monumentum in memoriam parentis erigendum curarent. Sed postquam per epistolas, per amicos, diu ac sæpe orando nil profecere, hunc demum lapidem statuerunt; saltem ut scias hospes ubinam terrarum Schonbergenses cineres delitescunt.

"Plus potuit fama virtutis apud alienos quam sanguinis proximitas apud suos, A.D. 1731."

Clericus (D.)

Dublin.

Pilgrimages to the Holy Land (Vol. v., p. 289.).—There is still another book to be added to the curious list of old pilgrimages to the Holy Land, furnished by your correspondent Peregrine A. I derive my knowledge of it from Brunet's Manuel, sub voce Capodilista (Gabriele), where it is described as follows:

"Itinerario di Terra Santa, e del Monte Sinai." (Without date or printer) 4to.

It is a journal of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, made in the year 1458 by a Padua nobleman, accompanied by a relative, Antonio Capodilista, a canon of the same place, and several other noble personages. It is one of the earliest productions of the press at Perugia, and the date assigned to it by M. Brunet is 1472, but by Vermiglioli 1473 or 1474. The latter authority, in his Principi della Stampa in Perugia, calls it "Veramente un prezioso cimelio di tipografia e bibliografia." I am anxious to know where a copy of this very rare work is deposited, as I have been told that there is none at the British Museum.

W. M. R. E.

Album (Vol. vii., p. 235.).—The origin and the earliest notice of this kind of friendly memorial book is to be traced to the registers of the deceased that were formerly kept in every church and monastery. Such a book was called the album, i. e. the blank book, in which the names of the friends and benefactors to the church or monastery were recorded, that they might be prayed for at their decease, and on their anniversaries. The earliest writer belonging to this country who uses the word is the Venerable Beda, who in his preface to his prose life of St. Cuthbert, written previous to the year 721, reminds Bishop Eadfrith that his name was registered in the album at Lindisfarne, "in albo vestræ sanctæ congregationis." (Bedæ Opera Minora, p. 47., ed. Stevenson.) Elsewhere Beda calls this book "the annal" (Hist. Eccles., lib. iv. c. 14.). At a later period it was called, both in England and abroad, the Liber Vitæ, or Book of Life, a name borrowed from St. Paul (Philippians, iv. 3.).

The earliest specimen of an English album, and perhaps the most elegant one that this or any other country ever produced, may be seen in the British Museum (Cotton MSS., Domitian VII.). It is the Album, or Book of Life, of the monastery of Durham. Nor need we add that this album affords a relief to the eye wearied with looking over the pages of a modern album, and to the mind sick of the endless but monotonous repetition of imaginary ruins, love sonnets, and moss roses.

Ceyrep.

Gesmas and Desmas (Vol. vii., p. 238.).—For the information of your correspondent A. B. R., I copy the passage referred to by you in the disputed Gospel of Nicodemus, formerly called the Acts of Pontius Pilate. The extract is from an English version, printed for William Hone, Ludgate Hill, 1820:

"But one of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, whose name was Gestas, said to Jesus, If thou art the Christ, deliver thyself and us."—vii. 10.

"But the thief who was crucified on his right hand, whose name was Dimas, answering, rebuked him, and said, Dost not thou fear God, who art condemned to this punishment? We indeed receive rightly and justly the demerit of our actions; but this Jesus, what evil hath he done?"—vi. 11.

"After this, groaning, he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."—vi. 12.

It thus appears the names have been differently received: here they appear GESTAS the impenitent, and DIMAS the penitent.

I have a fine old engraving, nineteen inches by fourteen, bearing date "Greg. Huret, Lugd. inv. et sculp. 1664;" published in Paris, cum priv. Regis.

The three crosses, with their inscriptions (each in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), appear.

The Latin on the cross of the thief on the right hand of our Lord (and, from the expression of countenance, confessed the penitent) is DISMAS LATRO: the other is GESTAS LATRO.

W. C. H.

Chelsea.

"Quod fuit esse" (Vol. vii., p. 235.).—Allow me to suggest the following meaning of the epitaph in Lavenham churchyard, which is the subject of A. B. R.'s Query. The word est has evidently been omitted in the third line: with this restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexameters:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse;Esse quod (est), non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

And the literal meaning, will be: "What was existence, is that which lies here; that which was not existence, is that which is existence; to be what is now, is not to be; that which is now, is not existence, but will be hereafter."

This, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original: but the following lines will render the meaning plainer, though it is difficult to preserve the brevity of the Latin in an English version:

All that I really was lies here in dust;That which was death before is life, I trust.To be what is, is not, I ween, to be;Is not, but will be in eternity.H. C. K.

—– Rectory, Hereford.

I think your correspondent A. B. R. is not quite correct in his version of the epitaph of which he inquires the sense. It is evidently intended for two hexameter verses, and, as I have heard it, runs thus:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse;Esse quod est, non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

I inclose a similar epitaph in another churchyard (the locale of which I do not know), which may serve to elucidate its meaning:

"That which a Being was, what is it? show:That being which it was, it is not now.To be what 'tis is not to be, you see;That which now is not shall a Being be."Q. S.

Straw Bail (Vol. vii., p. 85.).—In connexion with, though not as a reply to, Mr. Curtis's Query touching the origin of the expression "A man of straw," I beg to bring under notice a phrase I heard for the first time a few days ago, but which may nevertheless be well known to others. A seaman, talking to me of a strike for wages among the crew of a ship, said that the captain, as the rate of wages had not been raised, had manned his ship with a "lot of straw-yarders." On my asking the meaning of the expression, I was told that a "straw-yarder" was a man about the docks who had never been to sea, and knew little or nothing of the duties of a seaman.

Brutoniensis.

Pearl (Vol. vi., p. 578.; Vol. vii., pp. 18. 166.).—In the Old German, merikrioz is pearl; and in the Ang.-Sax. it is meregreot,—the latter from mere, sea, and greot, grit, sand, or grot, an atom. These are so similar to the Greek margaritas, and the margarita of the sister language (Latin), that we may be excused believing they have a common origin; more especially as we find the first syllable (at least?) in almost all the cognate Indo-Germanic or Indo-European languages: Latin, mare; Celt., mor; Gothic, marei; Sax., mære or mere; Old Germ., meri; Slavon., more and morze; Swed., mar; Iceland, mar; Esthon., merri; Lett., marrios.

Among modern languages, we have,—Span., margarita; Ital., margarita and maugherita; Fr., marguerite, but used only in the proverb, "Il ne faut pas jeter les marguerites devant les pourceaux." Johnson, Webster, and Halliwell give margarite as an English word. Probably all derived from the Latin.

At the same time, although not occurring (as far as I am aware) in either Greek or Latin, the word pearl is found in some shape in most of the same Indo-Germanic languages: thus, Ital. and Span., perla; Low. Lat., perla; French, perle; Eng., pearl; Dan., paarl; Swed., perla or p[)a]rla; Bohem., perle; Ang.-Sax., pearl and pærl; Low. Sax., berel. Webster says the word pearl may be radically the same as beryl. In the Celtic we find, Irish, pearla, and Welsh perlyn.

The Germans derive pearl from beer, a berry, making thus berle or beerlein; as in Latin bacca also means a pearl.

Some of your correspondents can, no doubt, inform us whether any analogous words to pearl and margarita exist in the Sanscrit?

A. C. M.

Exeter.

Sermons by Parliamentary Chaplains (Vol. vii., p. 34.).—On the day of Thanksgiving, 19th July, 1648, Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick was ordered to preach before the House, and his sermon to be printed. Where can a copy of it be seen?

Joseph Rix.

St. Neot's.

Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors (Vol. vii., pp. 13, 14.).—Your correspondent may find the passage to which he wishes to refer again, in one of the back volumes of Dickens's Household Words, in an article with the title of "History in Words."

Another correspondent, in the succeeding page of the same Number, will obtain the information he requires by consulting Dunlop's History of Fiction.

W. L. N.

Tuebeuf (Vol. vii., p. 207.).—J. E. J. will find Tubœuf is a town in France, in the department of Mayenne. On May 9, 1194, Richard I. sailed from England on his expedition against Philip II. of France; and he was accompanied by Master Eustace, Dean of Salisbury, for the purpose of his conducting such business of the Great Seal as might be necessary while the king remained abroad. The Doncaster Charter appears to have been sealed on the 22nd of the same month of May, and I shall feel obliged if J. E. J. will give me a copy of Eustace's title, and the date and place, as they appear on the document. The addition to his name in other charters is "tunc gerentis vices cancellarii." He himself became Chancellor and Bishop of Ely on the death of Longchamp.

Edward Foss.

Street-End House, near Canterbury.

"Goe, soule, the bodies guest" (Vol. vii., p. 175.).—Your correspondent is mistaken in thinking that his "additions" are a new discovery. Both stanzas were printed, with slight variations from this copy, by Sir H. Nicolas, at the end of his edition of Davison's Poetical Rhapsody, 1826, pp. 413—415.; and both are mentioned by Mr. Hannah, when he says (p. 103.):

"In E (the mark by which Mr. H. designates that copy in Nicolas), one stanza is interpolated after line 36, and a second at the end."

As I entirely agree with Sir H. Nicolas that the lines in question are "a wanton interpolation," I think Mr. Hannah was perfectly justified in contenting himself with this acknowledgment of their existence.

R.

Bells versus Storms (Vol. vi., p. 508.).—While returning my acknowledgments to your correspondents the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe and W. S. G., I would briefly refer to the subject again, which may be of interest to some of our readers.

Dr. Fuller says:

"That bells are no effectual charm against lightning. The frequent firing of abbey churches by lightning confuteth the proud motto commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each intitled itself to a six-fold efficacy.

'Men's death I tell, by doleful knell,Lightning and thunder, I break asunder,On Sabbath all, to church I call,The sleepy head, I raise from bed,The winds so fierce, I do disperse,Men's cruel rage, I do assuage.'"

"It has anciently been reported," observes Lord Bacon, "and is still received, that extreme applauses and shouting of people assembled in multitudes, have so rarefied and broken the air, that birds flying over have fallen down, the air not being able to support them; and it is believed by some that great ringing of bells in populous cities hath chased away thunder, and also dissipated pestilent air. All which may be also from the concussion of the air, and not from the sound."

W. W.

Malta.

The following note in connexion with the baptism of bells may be interesting, as it shows the manner of working, at that time.

Among the Centum Gravamina offered to Pope Adrian in 1521 by the Princes of Germany, as given in Herbert's Henry VIII., p. 139., this is the 51st:

"That suffragans used to baptize bels under pretence of driving away divels and tempests; and for this purpose did invite many rich godfathers, who were to touch the rope while the bell was exorcised, and its name invoked (unto which all the people must answer). And that a banquet was used to be made thereupon, at the cost of the layicks, amounting in little towns to a hundred florins, whither the godfathers were to come, and bring great gifts, &c., whereas they desired that the said bels might be baptized not onely by suffragans, but by any priest, with holy water, salt, herbs, without such costs."

H. T. Ellacombe.

Clyst St. George.

Will Mr. Gole oblige me and your readers with a reference to the Golden Legend, from which he has sent a quotation bearing on bells and storms.

H. T. Ellacombe.

Clyst St. George.

Exercise Day (Vol. vii., p. 205.).—The extract from the borough chamberlain's accounts, referred to by your correspondent Leicestriensis, relates rather to a religious assembly or meeting established by authority in the reign of Elizabeth, and designed as a check on the growing tendency towards Puritanism, which marked that period. In this diocese (at that time the diocese of Chester) Bishop Downham instituted a "monthly exercise," which was confirmed by his successor Dr. Chadderton, in an injunction bearing date Sept. 1, 1585. (See Appendix to Strype's Annals, vol. i.) It is there decreed that all parsons, vicars, curates, and schoolmasters shall resort to this exercise, there either to speak or write; and certain penalties are enforced on any neglect of its observance. In the churchwardens' accounts of this parish is an entry of similar import to that quoted by Leicestriensis: "1656, Pd. for minister diner at the exercise day, 00.00.06," the only perceptible difference being in the degree of hospitality extended to the clergy by their entertainers.

John Booker.

Prestwich.

The Iron Mask (Vol. v., p. 474.; Vol. vii., p. 234.).—Your correspondent A. S. A. asks with much complacency, "What authority Mr. James Cornish has for asserting (Vol. v., p. 474.) that the mysterious secret of the Masque de fer has ever been satisfactorily explained?" Mr. James Cornish does not make statements of historical facts without authority: he therefore begs to refer A. S. A. to Delort, Histoire de l'Homme au Masque de fer, Paris, 1825; and to The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called "The Iron Mask," &c., by the Hon. George Agar Ellis: London, 1826.

I repeat "my sanguine" expectations that "Junius" will yet be "unearthed." "Matthias" made an equal boast with the "mighty shade," that he would be for ever unknown.

Your Journal "N. & Q." has left no doubt about the author of The Pursuits of Literature.

James Cornish.

Shakspeare's Use of the Word "Delighted" (Vol. ii., pp. 113. 139. 200. &c.).—The following passage from Douce's Illustrations has not been referred to by any of your contributors on this point; to some it may be unknown:

"With respect to the much contested and obscure expression of bathing the delighted spirit in fiery floods, Milton appears to have felt less difficulty in its consideration than we do at present; for he certainly remembered it when he made Comus say:

"' … one sip of thisWill bathe the drooping spirits in delightBeyond the bliss of dreams.'"W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

Samuel Daniel (Vol. vi., p. 603.).—A copy of an original letter of Samuel Daniel, sent to Lord Keeper Egerton with a present of his Works newly augmented, 1601, is printed in Censura Literaria, ed. 1808, vol. vi. p. 391.

John Daniel, who published Songs for the Lute, Viol, and Voice, 1606, is supposed to have been the brother of the poet, and the publisher of his works in 1623. He was of Christ Church, Oxford; and took his degree of Bachelor of Music in 1604. At the commencement of the reign of Charles I., he was one of the court musicians, and his name occurs among the "Musicians for the Lutes and Voices," in a privy seal, dated Dec. 20, 1625, exempting the musicians belonging to the court from the payment of subsidies.

John Daniel's Songs were "printed by T. E. for Thomas Adams, at the Signe of the White Lyon, Paule's Church Yard, folio, 1606." They are dedicated, in rhyme, to "Mrs. Anne Greene, the worthy Daughter to Sir William Greene, of Milton, Knight."