Notes and Queries, Number 203, September 17, 1853

Once more, and I shall have done with the present arguments of Mr. G. Shadbolt. He says that the two pictures should have exactly the same range of vision. This I deny: for, were it so, there would be no stereoscopic effect. Let the object be a column: it is evident that a tangent to the left side of the column from the right eye, could not extend so far to the left as a tangent to the left side of the column from the left eye, and vice versâ. And it is only by this difference in the two pictures (or, in other words, the range of vision) that our conceptions of solidity are created. This is not exactly the test to suit the views of Mr. Shadbolt, as I am quite aware; but I chose it for its simplicity, and because it will bear demonstration; and my desire has been to elicit truth, and not to perpetuate error.

In conclusion, I beg to refer Mr. G. Shadbolt to my definition and solution of the stereoscopic problem—which I then said I believed—but which I now unhesitatingly assert to be correct.

T. L. Marriott.

Ammonio-nitrate of Silver.—The inability of your correspondent Philo-pho. to form the ammonio-nitrate of silver from a solution of nitrate of silver, which has been used to excite albumenized paper, is in all probability owing to the presence of a small quantity of nitrate of ammonia, which has been imparted to the solution by the paper.

Salts of ammonia form, with those of silver, double salts, from which the oxide of silver is not precipitated by the alkalies.

I cannot however explain how it was that the solution had lost none of its silver, for the paper could not in such case have been rendered sensitive.

J. Leachman.

20. Compton Terrace, Islington.

Replies to Minor Queries

Sir Thomas Elyot (Vol. viii., p. 220.).—Particulars respecting this once celebrated diplomatist and scholar may be collected from Bernet's Hist. Reformation, ed. 1841, i. 95.; Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, i. 221. 263., Append. No. LXII.; Ellis's Letters, ii. 113.; Archæologia, xxxiii.; Wright's Suppression of Monasteries, 140.; Lelandi Encomia, 83.; Leland's Collectanea, iv. 136-148.; Retrospective Review, ii. 381.; Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary, 82. 230.; Chamberlain's Holbein Heads; Smith's Autographs; Fuller's Worthies (Cambridgeshire); Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, i. 58.; Lysons' Cambridgeshire, 159.

The grant of Carlton cum Willingham in Cambridgeshire to Sir Thomas Elliot and his wife is enrolled in the Exchequer (Originalia, 32 Hen. VIII., pars 3. rot. 22. vel 221.); and amongst the Inquisitions filed in that Court is one taken after his death (Cant. and Hunt., 37 vel 38 Hen. VIII.).

I believe it will be found on investigation, that Sir Richard Elyot (the father of Sir Thomas) was of Wiltshire rather than of Suffolk. See Leland's Collectanea, iv. 141. n., and an Inquisition in the Exchequer of the date of 6 or 7 Hen. VIII. thus described in the Calendar: "de manerio de Wanborough com. Wiltes proficua cujus manerii Ricardus Eliot percepit."

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

Judges styled "Reverend" (Vol. viii., p. 158.).—As it is more than probable that your pages may in future be referred to as authority for any statement they contain, especially when the fact they announce is vouched by so valued a name as that of my friend York Herald, I am sure that he will excuse me for correcting an error into which he has fallen, the more especially as Lord Campbell is equally mistaken (Lord Chancellors, i. 539.).

York Herald states, that "Anthony Fitz-Herbert was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1523, and died in 30 Henry VIII." Fitz-Herbert was never Chief Justice. He was made a judge of the Common Pleas in 1522; and so continued till his death at the time mentioned, 1538. During that period, the office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was successively held by Sir Thomas Brudenell till 1531, by Sir Robert Norwich till 1535, and then by Sir John Baldwin, who was Chief Justice at the time of Fitz-Herbert's death.

William Rastall (afterwards Judge), in the early part of his career, joined his father in the printing business, and there are several books with his imprimatur. It was during that time probably that he formed the table to the Natura Brevium of Anthony Fitz-Herbert, mentioned in the title-page to York Herald's volume.

Edward Foss.

"Hurrah" and other War-cries (Vol. vii., pp. 595. 633.; Vol. viii., pp. 20. 88.).—Hurrah is the war-cry of many nations, both in the army and navy. The Dutch seem to have adopted it from the Russians, poeta invito, as we see in the following verses of Staring van den Willenborg:

"Is 't hoera? Is 't hoera?Wat drommel kan 't u schelen?Brul, smeek ik, geen Kozakken na!Als Fredrik's batterijën spelen—Als Willem's trommen slaanBlijv' Neêrland's oorlogskreet: 'Val aan!'Waar jong en oud de vreugd der overwinning deelen,Bij Quatre-Bras' trofee,Blijve ons gejuich Hoezee!"

Accept or reject this doggerel translation:

"Is it hurrah? Is it hurrah?What does that concern you, pray?Howl not like Cossacks of the Don!But, when Frederic's batteries pour—When William's drums do roar—Holland's war-cry still be 'Fall on!'When old and youngRaise the victor's song,At Quatre-Bras' trophy,Let Huzzah our joy-cry be!"

Hoera (hurrah) and hoezee (huzza), then, in the opinion of Staring, and indeed of many others, have not the same origin. Some have derived hoezee from haussé, a French word of applause at the hoisting (Fr. hausser) of the admiral's flag. Bilderdijk derives it from Hussein, a famous Turkish warrior, whose memory is still celebrated. Dr. Brill says, "hoezee seems to be only another mode of pronouncing the German juchhé." Van Iperen thinks it taken from the Jewish shout, "Hosanna!" Siegenbeek finds "the origin of hoezee in the shout of encouragement, 'Hou zee!' (hold sea)." Dr. Jager cites a Flemish author, who says "that this cry ('hou zee,' in French, tiens mer) seems especially to belong to us; since it was formerly the custom of our seamen always 'zee te houden' (to keep the sea), and never to seek shelter from storms." Dr. Jager, however, thinks it rather doubtful "that our hoezee should come from 'hou zee,' especially since we find a like cry in other languages." In old French huz signified a cry, a shout; and the verb huzzer, or hucher, to cry, to shout; and in Dutch husschen had the same meaning.—From the Navorscher.

Major André (Vol. viii., p. 174).—The sisters of Major André lived until a comparatively very recent date in the Circus at Bath, and this fact may point Serviens to inquiries in that city.

T. F.

In reply to Serviens's Query about Major André, I beg to inform him that there is a good picture of the Major by Sir Joshua Reynolds in the house of Mrs. Fenning, at Tonbridge Wells, who, I have no doubt, would be enabled to give him some particulars respecting his life.

W. H. P.

Early Edition of the New Testament (Vol. viii., p. 219.).—The book, about which your correspondent A. Boardman inquires, is an imperfect copy of Tyndale's Version of the New Testament: probably it is one of the first edition; if so, it was printed at Antwerp in 1526; but if it be one of the second edition, it was printed, I believe, at the same place in 1534. Those excellent and indefatigable publishers, Messrs. Bagster & Sons, have within the last few years reprinted both these editions; and if your correspondent would apply to them, I have no doubt but they will be able to resolve him on all the points of his inquiry.

F. B–w.

Ladies' Arms borne in a Lozenge (Vol. vii., p. 571. Vol. viii., pp. 37. 83.).—As this question is still open, I forward you the translation of an article inserted by me in the first volume of the Navorscher. Lozenge-formed shields have not been always, nor exclusively, used by ladies; for, in a collection of arms from 1094 to 1649 (see Descriptive Catalogue of Impressions from Scottish Seals, by Laing, Edinburgh) are many examples of ladies' arms, but not one in which the shield has any other form than that used at the time by men. In England, however, as early as the fourteenth century, the lozenge was sometimes used by ladies, though perhaps only by widows. Nisbet (System of Heraldry, ii. 35.) mentions a lozenge-formed seal of Johanna Beaufort, Queen Dowager of Scotland, attached to a parchment in 1439; while her arms, at an earlier period, were borne on a common shield (Gent. Mag., April, 1851). In France the use of the lozenge for ladies was very general; yet in the great work of Flacchio (Généalogie de la Maison de la Tour) are found several hundred examples of ladies' arms on oval shields; and in Vredii Genealogia comitum Flandriæ (p. 130.), on shields rounded off below. On the other hand, lozenges have sometimes been used by men: for instance, on a seal of Ferdinand, Infant of Spain, in Vredius, l. c. p. 148.; also on a dollar of Count Maurice of Hanau, in Kohler's Müntzbelustig. 14. See again the arms of the Count of Sickingen, in Siebmacher, Suppl. xi. 2. So much for the use of the lozenge. Most explanations of its origin appear equally far-fetched. That of Menestrier, in his Pratique des Armoires (p. 14.), seems to me the least forced. He derives the French name lozange from the Dutch lofzang:

"In Holland," he says, "the custom prevails every year, in May, to affix verses and lofzangen (songs of praise) in lozenge-formed tablets on the doors of newly-made magistrates. Young men hung such tablets on the doors of their sweethearts, or newly-married persons. Also on the death of distinguished persons, lozenge-shaped pieces of black cloth or velvet, with the arms, name, and date of the death of the deceased, were exhibited on the front of the house. And since there is little to be said of women, except on their marriage or death, for this reason has it become customary on all occasions to use for them the lozenge-shaped shield."

In confirmation of this may be mentioned, that formerly lozange and lozanger were used in the French for louange and louer; of which Menestrier, in the above-quoted work (p. 431.), cites several instances.

Besides the conjectures mentioned by H. C. K. and Broctuna, may be cited that of Laboureur: who finds both the form and the name in the Greek word ὀξυγώνιος (ozenge with the article, l'ozenge); and of Scaliger, who discovers lausangia in laurangia, lauri folia. See farther, Bernd. Wapenwesen, Bonn, 1841.

John Scott.

Norwich.

Sir William Hankford (Vol. ii., p. 161. &c.).—Your learned correspondent Mr. Edward Foss proves satisfactorily that Sir W. Gascoigne was not retained in his office of Chief Justice by King Hen. V. But Mr. Foss seems to have overlooked entirely the Devonshire tradition, which represents Sir William Hankford (Gascoigne's successor) to be the judge who committed Prince Henry. Risdon (v. Bulkworthy, Survey of Devon, ed. 1811, p. 246.), after mentioning a chapel built by Sir W. Hankford, gives this account of the matter:

"This is that deserving judge, that did justice upon the king's son (afterwards King Henry V.), who, when he was yet prince, commanded him to free a servant of his, arraigned for felony at the king's bench bar; whereat the judge replied, he would not. Herewith the prince, enraged, essayed himself to enlarge the prisoner, but the judge forbad; insomuch as the prince in fury stept up to the bench, and gave the judge a blow on the face, who, nothing thereat daunted, told him boldly: 'If you will not obey your sovereign's laws, who shall obey you when you shall be king? Wherefore, in the king's (your father's) name, I command you prisoner to the king's bench.' Whereat the prince, abashed, departed to prison. When King Henry IV., his father, was advertised thereof (as fast flieth fame), after he had examined the circumstances of the matter, he rejoiced to have a son so obedient to his laws, and a judge of such integrity to administer justice without fear or favour of the person; but withal dismissed the prince from his place of president of the council, which he conferred on his second son."

Risdon makes no mention of Sir W. Hankford's being retained in office by King Henry V. But at p. 277., v. Monkleigh, he gives the traditional account of Hankford's death (anno 1422), which represents the judge, in doubt of his safety, and mistrusting the sequel of the matter, to have committed suicide by requiring his park-keeper to shoot at him when under the semblance of a poacher:

"Which report (Risdon adds) is so credible among the common sort of people, that they can show the tree yet growing where this fact was committed, known by the name of Hankford Oak."

J. Sansom.

Mauilies, Manillas (Vol. vii., p. 533.).—W. H. S. will probably find some of the information which he asks for in Two Essays on the Ring-Money of the Celtæ, which were read in the year 1837 to the members of the Royal Irish Academy by Sir William Betham, and in some observations on these essays which are to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine of that year. During the years 1836, 1837, and 1838, there were made at Birmingham or the neighbourhood, and exported from Liverpool to the river Bonney in Africa, large quantities of cast-iron rings, in imitation of the copper rings known as "Manillas" or "African ring-money," then made at Bristol. A vessel from Liverpool, carrying out a considerable quantity of these cast-iron rings, was wrecked on the coast of Ireland in the summer of 1836. A few of them having fallen into the hands of Sir William Betham, he was led to write the Essays before mentioned. The making of these cast-iron rings has been discontinued since the year 1838, in consequence of the natives of Africa refusing to give anything in exchange for them. From inquiry which I made in Birmingham in the year 1839, I learnt that more than 250 tons of these cast-iron rings had been made in that town and neighbourhood in the year 1838, for the African market. The captain of a vessel trading to Africa informed me in the same year that the Black Despot, who then ruled on the banks of the river Bonney, had threatened to mutilate, in a way which I will not describe, any one who should be detected in landing these counterfeit rings within his territories.

N. W. S.

The Use of the Hour-glass in Pulpits (Vol. vii., p. 589.; Vol. viii., p. 82.).—Your correspondent A. W. S. having called attention to the use of the hour-glass in pulpits (Vol. vii., p. 589.), I beg to mention two instances in which I have seen the stands which formerly held them. The first is at Pilton Church, near Barnstaple, Devon, where it still (at least very lately it did) remain fixed to the pulpit; the other instance is at Tawstock Church (called, from its numerous and splendid monuments, the Westminster Abbey of North Devon), but here it has been displaced, and I saw it lying among fragments of old armour, banners, &c., in a room above the vestry. They were similar in form, each representing a man's arm, cut out of sheet iron and gilded, the hand holding the stand; turning on a hinge at the shoulder it lay flat on the panels of the pulpit when not in use. When extended it would project about a yard.

Balliolensis.

George Poulson, Esq., in his History and Antiquities of the Seignory of Holderness (vol. ii. p. 419.), describing Keyingham Church, says that—

"The pulpit is placed on the south-east corner; beside it is an iron frame-work, used to contain an hour-glass."

Edward Peacock.

Bottesford Moors, Kirton-in-Lindsey.

Derivation of the Word "Island" (Vol. viii., p. 209.).—Your correspondent C. gives me credit for a far greater amount of humour than I can honestly lay claim to. He appears (he must excuse me for saying so) to have scarcely read through my observations on the derivation of the word island, which he criticises so unmercifully; and to have understood very imperfectly what he has read. For instance, he says that my "derivation of island from eye, the visual orb, because each are (sic) surrounded by water, seems like banter," &c. Had I insisted on any such analogy, I should indeed have laid myself open to the charge; but I did nothing of the kind, as he will find to be the case, if he will take the trouble of perusing what I wrote. My remarks went to show, that, in the A.-S. compounded terms, Ealond, Igland, &c., from which our word island comes, the component ea, ig, &c., does not mean water, as has hitherto been supposed to be the case, but an eye; and that on this supposition alone can the simple ig, used to express an island, be explained. Will C. endeavour to explain it in any other way?

Throughout my remarks, the word isle is not mentioned. And why? Simply because it has no immediate etymological connexion with the word island, being merely the French word naturalised. The word isle is a simple, the word island a compound term. It is surely a fruitless task (as it certainly is unnecessary for any one, with the latter word ready formed to his hand in the Saxon branch of the Teutonic, and, from its very form, clearly of that family), to go out of his way to torture the Latin into yielding something utterly foreign to it. My belief is, that the resemblance between these two words is an accidental one; or, more properly, that it is a question whether the introduction of an s into the word island did not originate in the desire to assimilate the Saxon and French terms.

H. C. K.

A Cob-wall (Vol. viii., p. 151.).—A "cob" is not an unusual word in the midland counties, meaning a lump or small hard mass of anything: it also means a blow; and a good "cobbing" is no unfamiliar expression to the generality of schoolboys. A "cob-wall," I imagine, is so called from its having been made of heavy lumps of clay, beaten one upon another into the form of a wall. I would ask, if "gob," used also in Devonshire for the stone of any fruit which contains a kernel, is not a cognate word?

W. Fraser.

Tor Mohun.

Oliver Cromwell's Portrait (Vol. vi. passim).—In reference to this Query, the best portrait of Oliver Cromwell is in the Baptist College here, and 500 guineas have been refused for it.

I am not aware if it is the one alluded to by your correspondents. The picture is small, and depicts the Protector without armour: it is by Cooper, and was left to its present possessors by the Rev. Andrew Gifford, a Baptist minister, in 1784.

Two copies have been made of it, but the original has never been engraved; from one of the copies, however, an engraving is in process of execution, after the picture by Mr. Newenham, of "Cromwell dictating to Milton his letter to the Duke of Savoy." The likeness of Cromwell in this picture is taken from one of the copies.

The original is not allowed to be taken from off the premises on any consideration, in consequence of a dishonest attempt having been made, some time ago, to substitute a copy for it.

Bristoliensis.

Manners of the Irish (Vol. viii., pp. 5. 111.)—A slight knowledge of Gaelic enables me to supply the meaning of some of the words that have puzzled your Irish correspondents. Molchan (Gaelic, Mulachan) means "cheese."

"Deo gracias, is smar in Doieagh."

I take to mean "Thanks to God, God is good." In Gaelic the spelling would be—"is math in Dia." A Roman Catholic Celt would often hear his priest say "Deo Gratias."

The meaning of the passage seems to be pretty clear, and may be rendered thus:—The Irish farmer, although in the abundant enjoyment of bread, butter, cheese, flesh, and broth, is not only not ashamed to complain of poverty as an excuse for non-payment of his rent, but has the effrontery to thank God, as if he were enjoying only those blessings of Providence to which he is justly entitled.

W. C.

Argyleshire.

Chronograms and Anagrams (Vol. viii., p. 42.).—Perhaps the most extraordinary instance to be found in reference to chronograms is the following:

"Chronographica Gratulatio in Felicissimum adventum Serenissimi Cardinalis Ferdinandi, Hispaniarum Infantis, a Collegio Soc. Jesu. Bruxellæ publico Belgarum Gaudio exhibita."

This title is followed by a dedication to S. Michael and an address to Ferdinand; after which come one hundred hexameters, every one of which is a chronogram, and each chronogram gives the same result, viz. 1634. The first three verses are,—

"AngeLe CæLIVogI MIChaëL LUX UnICa CætUs.Pro nUtU sUCCInCta tUo CUI CUnCta MInIstrant.SIDera qUIqUe poLo gaUDentIa sIDera VoLVUnt."

The last two are,—

"Vota Cano: hæC LeVIbus qUamVIs nUnC InCLyte prInCeps.VersICULIs InCLUsa, fLUent in sæCULa CentUm."

All the numeral letters are printed in capitals, and the whole is to be found in the Parnassus Poeticus Societatis Jesu (Francofurti, 1654), at pp. 445-448. of part i. In the same volume there is another example of the chronogram, at p. 261., in the "Septem Mariæ Mysteria" of Antonius Chanut. It occurs at the close of an inscription:

"StatUaM hanC—eX Voto ponItFernanDUs TertIUs AUgUstUs."

The date is 1647.

"Henriot, an ingenious anagrammatist, discovered the following anagram for the occasion of the 15th:

'Napoleon Bonaparte sera-t-il consul à vie,La [le] peuple bon reconnoissant votera Oui.'

There is only a trifling change of a to e."—Gent. Mag., Aug. 1802, p. 771.

The following is singular:

"Quid est veritas? = Vir qui adest."

I add another chronogram "by Godard, upon the birth of Louis XIV. in 1638, on a day when the eagle was in conjunction with the lion's heart:"

"EXorIens DeLphIn AqUILa CorDIsqUe LeonIsCongressU GaLLos spe LætItIaqUe refeCIt."B. H. C.

"Haul over the Coals" (Vol. viii., p. 125.).—This appears to mean just the same as "roasting"—to inflict upon any one a castigation per verbum and in good humour.

To cover over the coals is the same as to cower over the coals, as a gipsy over a fire. Thus Hodge says of Gammer Gurton and Tib, her maid:

"'Tis their daily looke,They cover so over the coles their eies be bleared with smooke."

To carry coals to Newcastle is well understood to be like giving alms to the wealthy; but viewed in union with the others would show what a prominent place coals seem to have in the popular mind.

B. H. C.

Poplar.

Sheer Hulk (Vol. viii., p. 126.).—This phrase is certainly correct. Sheer = mere, a hulk, and nothing else. Thus we say sheer nonsense, sheer starvation, &c.; and the song says:

"Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling,The darling of our crew," &c.

The etymology of sheer is plainly from shear.

B. H. C.

Poplar.

The Magnet (Vol. vi. passim).—This was used by Claudian apparently as symbolical of Venus or love:

"Mavors, sanguinea qui cuspide verberat urbes,Et Venus, humanas quæ laxat in otia curas,Aurati delubra tenent communia templi,Effigies non una Deis. Sed ferrea MartisForma nitet, Venerem magnetica gemma figurat."—Claud. De Magnete.B. H. C.

Poplar.

Fierce (Vol. viii., p. 125.).—Oxoniensis mentions a peculiar use of the word "fierce." An inhabitant of Staffordshire would have answered him: "I feel quite fierce this morning."

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Connexion between the Celtic and Latin Languages (Vol. viii., p. 174.).—Your correspondent M. will find some curious and interesting articles on this subject in vol. ii. of The Scottish Journal, Edinburgh, 1848, p. 129. et infra.

Duncan Mactavish.

Lochbrovin.

Acharis (Vol. viii., p. 198.).—A mistake, probably, for achatis, a Latinised form of achat, a bargain, purchase, or act of purchasing. The passage in Dugdale seems to mean that "Ralph Wickliff, Esq., holds two-thirds of the tithes of certain domains sometime purchased by him, formerly at a rental of 5s., now at nothing, because, as he says, they are included in his park."