Notes and Queries, Number 190, June 18, 1853

Are there traces in England of what the people of Germany, on the shores of the Baltic, call Hausmärke, and what in Denmark and Norway is called bolmærke, bomærke? These are certain figures, generally composed of straight lines, and imitating the shape of the cross or the runes, especially the so-called compound runes. They are meant to mark all sorts of property and chattels, dead and alive, movable and immovable, and are drawn out, or burnt into, quite inartistically, without any attempt of colouring or sculpturing. So, for instance, every freeholder in Praust, a German village near Dantzic, has his own mark on all his property, by which he recognises it. They are met with on buildings, generally over the door, or on the gable-end, more frequently on tombstones, or on epitaphs in churches, on pews and old screens, and implements, cattle, and on all sorts of documents, where the common people now use three crosses.

The custom is first mentioned in the old Swedish law of the thirteenth century (Uplandslagh, Corp. Jur. Sveo-Goth., iii. p. 254.), and occurs almost at the same period in the seals of the citizens of the Hanse-town Lubeck. It has been in common use in Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sleswick, Holstein, Hamburgh, Lubeck, Mecklenburgh, and Pomerania, but is at present rapidly disappearing. Yet, in Holstein they still mark the cattle grazing on the common with the signs of their respective proprietors; they do the same with the haystacks in Mecklenburgh, and the fishing-tackle on the small islands of the Baltic. In the city of Dantzic these marks still occur in the prayer-books which are left in the churches.

There are scarcely any traces of this custom in the south of Germany, except that the various towers of the city-wall of Nurnberg are said to bear their separate marks; and that an apothecary of Strasburg, Merkwiller, signs a document, dated 1521, with his name, his coat of arms, and a simple mark.

Professor Homeyer has lately read, before the Royal Academy of Berlin, a very learned paper on the subject, and has explained this ancient custom as significant of popular law, possibly intimating the close connexion between the property and its owner. I am sorry not to be able to copy out the Professor's collection of runic marks; but I trust that the preceding lines will be sufficient in order to elicit the various traces of a similar custom still prevalent, or remembered, in the British isles; an account of which will be thankfully received at Berlin, where they have lately been informed, that even the eyder-geese on the Shetlands are distinguished by the marks of their owners.

α.

Minor Queries

"Seductor Succo."—Will any of your readers oblige me by giving me either a literal or poetical translation of the following lines, taken from Foulis, Rom. Treasons, Preface, p. 28., 1681?

"Seductor Succo, Gallo Sicarius; Anglo Proditor; Imperio Explorator; Davus Ibero; Italo Adulator; dixi teres ore,—Suitam."

Clericus (D).

Anna Lightfoot.—T. H. H. would be obliged by any particulars relating to Anna Lightfoot, the left-handed wife of George III. It has been stated that she had but one son, who died at an early age; but a report circulates in some channels, that she had also a daughter, married to a wealthy manufacturer in a midland town. It is particularly desired to know in what year, and under what circumstances, Anna Lightfoot died.

Queries from the "Navorscher."—Did Addison, Steele, or Swift write the "Choice of Hercules" in the Tatler?

Was Dr. Hawkesworth, or, if not, who was, the author of "Religion the Foundation of Content," an allegory in the Adventurer?

In what years were born C. C. Colton, Pinnock, Washington Irving, George Long, F. B. Head; and when died those of them who are no longer among us?

Who wrote "Journal of a poor Vicar," "Story of Catherine of Russia," "Volney Becker," and the "Soldier's Wife," in Chamber's Miscellany?

Did Luther write drinking-songs? If so, where are they to be met with?

"Amentium haud Amantium."—I should be glad to ascertain, and perhaps it may be interesting to classical scholars generally to know, if any of your correspondents or readers can suggest an English translation for the phrase "amentium haud amantium" (in the first act of the Andria of Terence), which shall represent the alliteration of the original. The publication of this Query may probably elicit the desired information.

Fidus Interpres.

Dublin.

"Hurrah!" and other War-cries.—When was the exclamation "Hurrah!" first used by Englishmen, and what was the war-cry before its introduction? Was it ever used separately from, or always in conjunction with "H.E.P.! H.E.P.?" Was "Huzza!" contemporaneous? What are the known war-shouts of other European or Eastern nations, ancient or modern?

Cape.

Kissing Hands at Court.—When was the kissing of hands at court first observed?

Cape.

Uniforms of the three Regiments of Foot Guards, temp. Charles II.—Being very desirous to know where well authenticated pictures of officers in the regimentals of the Foot Guards during the reign of Charles II. may be seen, or are, I shall be greatly obliged to any reader of "N & Q." who will supply the information. I make no doubt there are, in many of the private collections of this country, several portraits of officers so dressed, which have descended as heir-looms in families. I subjoin the colonels' names, and dates of the regiments:

1st Foot Guards, 1660: Colonel Russell, Henry Duke of Grafton.

Coldstream Guards, 1650: General Monk.

3rd Guards, 1660: Earl of Linlithgow. 1670: Earl of Craven.

D. N.

Raffaelle's Sposalizio.—Will Digitalis, or any of your numerous correspondents or readers, do me the favour to say why, in Raffaelle's celebrated painting "Lo Sposalizio," in the gallery of the Brera at Milan, Joseph is represented as placing the ring on the third finger of right hand of the Virgin?

I noticed the same peculiarity in Ghirlandais's fresco of the "Espousals" in the church of the Santa Croce at Florence. This I remarked to the custode, an intelligent old man, who informed me that the connexion said to exist between the heart and the third finger refers to that finger of the right hand, and not, as we suppose, to the third finger of the left hand. He added, that the English are the only nation who place the ring on the left hand. I do not find that this latter statement is borne out by what I have seen of the ladies of continental Europe; and I suppose it was an hallucination in my worthy informant.

I must leave to better scholars in the Italian language than I am, to say whether "Lo Sposalizio" means "Betrothal" or "Marriage:" certainly this latter is the ordinary signification.

I have a sort of floating idea that I once heard that at the ceremony of "Betrothal," now, I believe, rarely if ever practised, it was customary to place the ring on the right hand. I am by no means clear where I gleaned this notion.

G. Brindley Acworth.

Brompton.

"To the Lords of Convention."—Where can I find the whole of the ballad beginning—

"To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverh'se that spoke;"

and also the name of the author?

L. Evans.

Richard Candishe, M.P.—Pennant (Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 48.) prints the epitaph of "Richard Candishe, Esq., of a good family in Suffolk," who was M.P. for Denbigh in 1572, as it appears on his monument in Hornsey Church. Who was this Richard Candishe? The epitaph says he was "derived from noble parentage;" but the arms on the monument are not those of the noble House of Cavendish, which sprung from the parish of that name in Suffolk. The arms of Richard Candishe are given as "three piles wavy gules in a field argent; the crest, a fox's head erased azure."

Buriensis.

Alphabetical Arrangement.—Can any one favour me with a reference to any work treating of the date of the collection and arrangement in the present form of the alphabet, either English, Latin, Greek, or Hebrew? or what is the earliest instance of their being used to represent numerals?

A. H. C.

Saying of Pascal.—In which of his works is Pascal's saying, "I have not time to write more briefly," to be found; and what are the words in the original?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Irish Characters on the Stage.—Would any of the contributors to "N. & Q." oblige me with this information? Who, or how many, of the old English dramatists introduced Irishmen into their dramatis personæ? Did Ben Jonson? Shadwell did. What others?

Philobiblion.

Family of Milton's Widow.—Your correspondent Cranmore, in his article on the "Rev. John Paget" ("N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 327.), writes thus: "Dr. Nathan Paget was an intimate friend of Milton and cousin to the poet's fourth (no doubt meaning his third) wife, Elizabeth Minshall, of whose family descent, which appears to be rather obscure, I may at another time communicate some particulars."

Now, as more than a year has elapsed since the article referred to appeared in your valuable columns, without the subject of Elizabeth Minshall's descent having been farther noticed, I hope your correspondent will pardon my soliciting him to supply the information he possesses relative thereto, which cannot fail proving interesting to every admirer of our great poet.

V. M.

Table-moving.—Was not Bacon acquainted with this phenomenon? I find in his Sylva Sylvarum, art. Motion:

"Whenever a solid is pressed, there is an inward tumult of the parts thereof, tending to deliver themselves from the compression: and this is the cause of all violent motion. It is very strange that this motion has never been observed and inquired into; as being the most common and chief origin of all mechanical operations.

"This motion operates first in a round by way of proof and trial, which way to deliver itself, and then in progression where it finds the deliverance easiest."

C. K. P.

Newport, Essex.

Minor Queries with Answers

Form of Petition, &c.—May I request the insertion of a Query, requesting some of your readers to supply the ellipsis in the form with which petitions to Parliament are required to be closed, viz.: "And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." To me, I confess, there appears to be something like impiety in its use in its present unmeaning state. Would a petition be rendered informal by any addition which would make it more comprehensible?

C. W. B.

[The ellipsis appears to have varied according to circumstances: hence we find, in an original petition addressed to the Privy Council (apparently temp. Jac. I.), the concluding formula given at length thus:—"And yor suplt, as in all dutie bounden, shall daylie pray for your good Lps." Another petition, presented to Charles I. at Newark, a.d. 1641, closes thus: "And your petitioners will ever pray for your Majesty's long and happy reign over us." Another, from the Mayor and Aldermen of London, in the same year: "And the petitioners, as in all duty bound, shall pray for your Majesty's most long and happy reign." Again, in the same year, the petition of the Lay-Catholic Recusants of England to the Commons closes thus: "And for so great a charity your humble petitioners shall ever (as in duty bound) pray for your continual prosperity and eternal happiness." We do not believe that any petition would be rendered informal by such addition as would make it more comprehensible.]

Bibliography.—I am about to publish a brochure entitled Notes on Books: with Hints to Readers, Authors, and Publishers; and as I intend to give a list of the most useful bibliographical works, I shall feel much obliged to any one who will furnish me with a list of the various Printers' Grammars, and of such works as the following: The Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant; comprising Explanations of the Process of Printing, Preparation and Calculation of MSS., Paper, Type, Binding, Typographical Marks, &c. 12mo., Lond. 1840. I have met with Stower's Printers' Grammar, London, 1808.

Mariconda.

[The following Printers' Grammars may be advantageously consulted; 1. Hansard's Typographia; an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing, royal 8vo. 1825. 2. Johnson's Typographia; or the Printers' Instructor, 2 vols. 8vo. 1824. 3. Savage's Dictionary of the Art of Printing, 8vo. 1841, the most useful of this class of works. 4. Timperley's Dictionary of Printers and Printing, royal 8vo. 1839. Stower also published The Compositors' and Pressmen's Guide to the Art of Printing, royal 12mo. 1808; and The Printer's Price Book, 8vo. 1814.]

Peter Francius and De Wilde.—In a little work on my shelf, with the following title,

"Petri Francii specimen eloquentiæ exterioris ad orationem M. T. Ciceronis pro A. Licin. Archiâ accommodatum. Amstelædami, apud Henr. Wetstenium m dc xcvii.],"

occurs the following brief MS. note, after the text of the speech for Archias:

"Orationem hanc pro Archia sub Dno Petro Francio memoriter recitavi Wilhelmus de Wilde in Athenæi auditorio Majore, a.d. xviii kal. Januarias, ani 1699."

The volume is 12mo., containing about 200 pp.; the text of the speech occupying nearly 42 pp.

Who was Peter Francius? Did De Wilde ever distinguish himself?"

D.

[Peter Francius, a celebrated Greek and Latin poet, was born in 1645 at Amsterdam, afterwards studied at Leyden, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws at Augers. In 1674, the magistrates of Amsterdam appointed him Professor of History and Rhetoric, which office he held till his death in 1704. See Biographie Universelle.]

Work by Bishop Ken.—

"A Crown of Glory the Reward of the Righteous; being Meditations on the Vicissitude and Uncertainty of all Sublunary Enjoyments. To which is added, a Manual of Devotions for Times of Trouble and Affliction: also Meditations and Prayers before, at, and after receiving the Holy Communion; with some General Rules for our Daily Practice. Composed for the use of a Noble Family, by the Right Reverend Dr. Thomas Kenn, late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. Price 2s. 6d."

I find the above in a list of "books printed for Arthur, Betterworth, &c.," at the end of the 7th edition of Horneck's Crucified Jesus: London, 1727. I do not remember to have seen any notice of this work in the recent biographies of the saintly prelate to whom it is here attributed.

E. H. A.

[This work originally appeared under the following title: The Royal Sufferer; a Manual of Meditations and Devotions, written for the use of a Royal though afflicted Family, by T. K., D. D., 1669, and was afterwards published with the above title. It has been rejected as spurious by the Rev. J. T. Round, the editor of The Prose Works of Bishop Ken, l838.]

Eugene Aram's Comparative Lexicon.—This talented criminal is said to have left behind him collections for a dictionary of the Celtic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English languages, comprising a list of about 3000 words, which he considered them to possess in common. Was this ever published? and where are any notices of his works to be found?

E. S. Taylor.

[The following notice of Eugene Aram's Lexicon occurs in a letter written by Dr. Samuel Pegge to Dr. Philipps, dated Feb. 18, 1760: "One Eugene Aram was executed at York last year for a murder. He has done something, being a scholar and a schoolmaster, towards a Lexicon on a new plan. Hearing of this, I sent for the pamphlet, which contained some account of his life, and the specimen of a Lexicon. He goes to the Celtic, the Irish, and the British languages, as well as others; and there are things, in the specimen that will amuse a lover of etymologies." (Gent. Mag., 1789, p. 905.) Aram left behind him an Essay relative to his intended work, from which some extracts are given in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, s.v. The Lexicon does not appear to have been printed.]

Drimtaidhvrickhillichattan.—I should feel obliged through the medium of "N. & Q.," to be informed of the whereabouts of a locality in Scotland with the above euphonious name.

Alpha.

[Drimtaidhvrickhillichattan is situated in the island of Mull, and county of Argyle.]

Coins of Europe.—Where can I find the fullest and most accurate tables showing the relative value of the coins in use in different parts of Europe?

Alpha.

[Consult Tate's Manual of Foreign Exchanges, and the art. Coins in McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce.]

General Benedict Arnold.—Can any of the readers of "N.& Q." inform me where General Arnold is buried? After the failure of his attempt to deliver up West Point to the English, he escaped, went to England, and never returned to his native country. I have heard that he died about forty years ago, near Brompton, England; and would be glad to have the date of his death, and any inscription which may be on his tomb.

W. B. R.

Philadelphia.

[General Arnold died 14th June, 1801, in the sixty-first year of his age. His remains were interred on the 21st at Brompton.]

Replies

PARISH REGISTERS.—RIGHT OF SEARCH

In Vol. iv., p. 473. a Query on this subject is inserted, to which, in Vol. v., p. 37., Mr. Chadwick replied.

The question, one of great importance to the genealogist, has recently been the subject of judicial decision, in the case of Steele v. Williams, reported in the 17th volume of the Jurist, p. 464. (the Number for Saturday, 28th May).

At the opening of the argument, the Court of Exchequer decided that the fees, &c. are regulated by the 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86., "An Act for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England," which in the 35th section enacts—

"That every rector, vicar, curate, and every registrar, registering officer, and secretary, who shall have the keeping, for the time being, of any register book of births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made of any register book in his keeping, and shall give a copy, certified under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the fee hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, for every search extending over a period not more than one year, the sum of 1s., and 6d. additional for every additional year; and the sum of 2s. 6d. for every single certificate."

Mr. Chadwick seemed to consider this section only applied to "civil registration;" but this view is, I apprehend, now quite untenable.

The case was, whether a parish clerk had a right to charge 2s. 6d., where the party searching the register did not require "certified copies," but only made his own extracts; and it is decided he has no such right.

Mr. Baron Parke in his judgment says:

"I think this payment was not voluntary, because the defendant" [the parish clerk] "told the plaintiff, that if he did not pay him for certificates, in all cases in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not make a search at all. I think the plaintiff had at all events a right to make a search, and during that time make himself master, as he best might, of the contents of the book, and could not be prevented from so doing by the clerk in whose custody they were; who in the present case insisted that if he wanted copies he must have certificates with the signature of the incumbent. For the 1s. he paid, the applicant had a right to look at all the names in one year. He had no right to remain an unreasonable time looking at the book; nor perhaps, strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it into his hands at all: for the clerk has a right to superintend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, 'Your hands are dirty: keep them in your pockets.' The applicant could therefore only exercise his right of search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that way. If a man insists on taking himself a copy of anything in the books, that case is not provided for by the statute: but if he requires a copy certified by the clergyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it.

"It was consequently an illegal act in the defendant to insist that the plaintiff should pay 2s. 6d. for each entry in the book, of which he might choose to make an extract," &c.

Mr. Baron Martin says:

"With respect to the statute, counsel (Mr. Robinson) says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in the statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an extra payment for allowing them to be made. Where a man is allowed by statute to receive money, it is, as it were, by virtue of a contract that the statute makes for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different sum. The defendant here is bound by the entirety of the statute; he may be paid for a search, or for a certified copy, but there is no intermediate course."

This decision will, I hope, have the effect of removing the difficulties so often experienced in making searches for genealogical purposes. At all events, the person making such search can now safely make his own notes, none daring lawfully to make him afraid. I have to apologise for the length of this letter.

G. Brindley Acworth.

12. King's Bench Walk, Temple.

THE HONOURABLE MISS E. ST. LEGER, A FREEMASON

(Vol. iv., p. 234.)

There is an inquiry in Vol. iv., p. 234., as to whether there is any truth in the story, that the Honourable Miss E. St. Leger was made a freemason; and as no account of the circumstances has yet appeared in your pages, I send you the following statement, which has been extracted from The Patrician. Apart from its value as a record of this singular fact, it contains other particulars which you may deem worthy of preservation in "N. & Q."

"The Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger as the only female who was ever initiated into the ancient and honourable mystery of Freemasonry. How she obtained this honour we shall lay before our readers, having obtained the only genuine information from the best sources.

"Lord Doneraile, Miss St. Leger's father, a very zealous mason, held a warrant, and occasionally opened Lodge at Doneraile House, his sons and some intimate friends assisting; and it is said that never were the masonic duties more rigidly performed than by the brethren of No. 150, the number of their warrant.

"It appears that previous to the initiation of a gentleman to the first steps of masonry, Miss St Leger, who was a young girl, happened to be in an apartment adjoining the room generally used as a lodge-room; but whether the young lady was there by design or accident, we cannot confidently state. This room at the time was undergoing some alteration: amongst other things, the wall was considerably reduced in one part, for the purpose of making a saloon.

"The young lady having heard the voices of the Freemasons, and prompted by the curiosity natural to all, to see this mystery so long and so secretly locked up from public view, she had the courage to pick a brick from the wall with her scissors, and witnessed the ceremony through the first two steps. Curiosity gratified, fear at once took possession of her mind; and those who understand this passage, well know what the feelings of any person must be who could unlawfully behold that ceremony. Let them then judge what were the feelings of a young girl, under such extraordinary circumstances.

"Here was no mode of escape except through the very room where the concluding part of the second step was still being solemnised; and that being at the far end, and the room a very large one, she had resolution sufficient to attempt her escape that way, and with light but trembling step glided along unobserved, laid her hand on the handle of the door, and gently opening it, before her stood, to her dismay, a grim and surly tiler, with his long sword unsheathed. A shriek that pierced through the apartment alarmed the members of the lodge, who all rushing to the door, and finding that Miss St. Leger had been in the room during the ceremony, in the first paroxysm of their rage, it is said, her death was resolved upon; but from the moving and earnest supplication of her younger brother, her life was spared, on condition of her going through the two steps of the solemn ceremony she had unlawfully witnessed. This she consented to do, and they conducted the beautiful and terrified young lady through those trials which are sometimes more than enough for masculine resolution, little thinking they were taking into the bosom of their craft a member that would afterwards reflect a lustre on the annals of Masonry.