Notes and Queries, Number 47, September 21, 1850

G.W. Skyring.

Saint, Legend of a.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I can find the account of some saint who, when baptizing a heathen, inadvertently pierced the convert's foot with the point of his crozier. The man bore the pain without flinching, and when the occurrence was discovered, he remarked that he thought it was part of the ceremony?

J.Y.C.

Land Holland—Farewell.—In searching some Court Rolls a few days since, I found some land described as "Land Holland" or "Hollandland." I have been unable to discover the meaning of this expression, and should be glad if any of your correspondents can help me.

In the same manor there is custom for the tenant to pay a sum as a farewell to the lord on sale or alienation: this payment is in addition to the ordinary fine, &c. Query the origin and meaning of this?

J.B.C.

Stepony Ale.—Chamberlayne, in his Present State of England (part. i. p. 51., ed. 1677), speaking of the "Dyet" of the people, thus enumerates the prevailing beverages of the day:—

"Besides all sorts of the best wines from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Grecia, there are sold in London above twenty sorts of other drinks: as brandy, coffee, chocolate, tea, aromatick, mum, sider, perry, beer, ale; many sorts of ales very different, as cock, stepony, stickback, Hull, North-Down, Sambidge, Betony, scurvy-grass, sage-ale, &c. A piece of wantonness whereof none of our ancestors were ever guilty."

It will be observed that the ales are named in some instances from localities, and in others from the herbs of which they were decoctions. Can any of your readers tell me anything of Stepony ale? Was it ale brewed at Stepney?

James T. Hammack

"Regis ad Exemplar."—Can you inform me whence the following line is taken?

"Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis."Q.Q.Q.

"La Caconacquerie".—Will one of your numerous correspondents be kind enough to inform me what is the true signification and derivation of the word "caconac?" D'Alembert, writing to Voltaire concerning Turgot, says:

"You will find him an excellent caconac, though he has reasons for not avowing it:—la caconacquerie ne mène pas à la fortune."

Ardern.

London Dissenting Ministers: Rev. Thomas Tailer.—Not being entirely successful in my Queries with regard to "London Dissenting Ministers" (Vol. i., pp. 383. 444. 454.), I will state a circumstance which, possibly, may assist some one of your correspondents in furnishing an answer to the second of those inquiries.

In the lines immediately referred to, where certain Nonconformist ministers of the metropolis are described under images taken from the vegetable world, the late Rev. Thomas Tailer (of Carter Lane), whose voice was feeble and trembling, is thus spoken of:—

"Tailer tremulous as aspen leaves."

But in verses afterwards circulated, if not printed, the censor was rebuked as follows:—

"Nor tell of Tailer's trembling voice so weak,While from his lips such charming accents break,And every virtue, every Christian grace,Within his bosom finds a ready place."

No encomium could be more deserved, none more seasonably offered or more appropriately conveyed. I knew Mr. Tailer, and am pleased in cherishing recollections of him.

W.

Mistletoe as a Christmas Evergreen.—Can any of your readers inform me at what period of time the mistletoe came to be recognised as a Christmas evergreen? I am aware it played a great part in those ceremonies of the ancient Druids which took place towards the end of the year, but I cannot find any allusion to it, in connexion with the Christian festival, before the time of Herrick. You are of course aware, that there are still in existence some five or six very curious old carols, of as early, or even an earlier date than the fifteenth century, in praise of the holly or the ivy, which said carols used to be sung during the Christmas festivities held by our forefathers but I can discover no allusion even to the mistletoe for two centuries later. If any of your readers should be familiar with any earlier allusion in prose, but still more particularly in verse, printed or in manuscript, I shall feel obliged by their pointing it out.

V.

Poor Robin's Almanacks.—I am anxious to ascertain in which public or private library is to be found the most complete collection of Poor Robin's Almanacks: through the medium of your columns, I may, perhaps, glean the desired information.

V.

Sirloin.—When on a visit, a day or two since, to the very interesting ruin (for so it must be called) of Haughton Castle, near Blackburn, Lancashire, I heard that the origin of this word was the following freak of James I. in his visit to the castle; a visit, by the way, which is said to have ruined the host, and to have been not very profitable even to all his descendants. A magnificent loin of meat being placed on the table before his Majesty, the King was so struck with its size and excellence, that he drew his sword, and cried out, "By my troth, I'll knight thee, Sir Loin!" and then and there the title was given; a title which has been honoured, unlike other knighthoods, by a goodly succession of illustrious heirs. Can any of your correspondents vouch for the truth of this?

H.C.

Bowden, Manchester.

Thomson of Esholt.—In the reign of Henry VIII. arms were granted to Henry Thomson, of Esholt, co. York, one of that monarch's gentlemen-at-arms at Boulogne. The grant was made by Laurence Dalton, Norroy. The shield was—Per fesse embattled, ar. and sa., three falcons, belted, countercharged—a bend sinister. Crest: An armed arm, embowed, holding a lance, erect. Families of the name of Thompson, bearing the same shield, have been seated at Kilham, Scarborough, Escrick, and other places in Yorkshire. My inquiries are,—

1. Will any of your readers by kind enough to inform me where any mention is made of this grant, and the circumstances under which it was made?

2. Whether any ancient monuments, or heraldic bearings of the family, are still extant in any parts of Yorkshire?

3. Whether any work on Yorkshire genealogies exists, and what is the best to be consulted?

JAYTEE.

Replies to Minor Queries

Pension (Vol. ii., p. 134.).—In the Dictionnaire Universelle, 1775, vol. ii. p. 203., I find the following explanation of the French word Pension:—

"Somme qu'on donne pour la nourriture et le logement de quelqu'un. Il se dit aussi du lieu où l'on donne à manger."

May not the meeting of the benchers have derived its name for their dining-room in which they assembled?

BRAYBROOKE.

Execution of Charles I. (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 110-140. 158.).—In Lilly's History of his Life and Times, I find the following interesting account in regard to the vizored execution of Charles I., being part of the evidence he gave when examined before the first parliament of King Charles II. respecting the matter. Should any of your correspondents be able to substantiate this, or produce more conclusive evidence in determining who the executioner was, I shall be extremely obliged. Lilly writes,—

"Liberty being given me to speak, I related what follows: viz., That the next Sunday but one after Charles I. was beheaded, Robert Spavin Secretary to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Pearson and several others along with him to dinner. That their principal discourse all dinner time was only who it was that beheaded the king. One said it was the common hangman; another, Hugh Peters; others were also nominated, but none concluded. Robert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand, and carried me to the south window. Saith he, 'These are all mistaken; they have not named the man that did the fact: it was Lieutenant-Colonel Joice. I was in the room when he fitted himself for the work; stood behind him when he did it; when done, went in with him again: there is no man knows this but my master, viz. Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and myself.'—'Doth Mr. Rushworth know it?' saith I. 'No, he doth not know it,' saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin since has often related to me, when we were alone."

R.W.E.

Cheltenham.

Paper Hangings (Vol. ii., p. 134.).—"It was on the walls of this drawing-room (the king's at Kensington Palace) that the then new art of paper-hangings, in imitation of the old velvet flock, was displayed with an effect that soon led to the adoption of so cheap and elegant a manufacture, in preference to the original rich material from which it was copied."—W.H. Pyne's Royal Residences, vol. ii. p. 75.

M.W.

Black-guard.—There are frequent entries among those of deaths of persons attached to the Palace of Whitehall, in the registers of St. Margaret's, Westminster, of "–, one of the blake garde." about the year 1566, and later. In the Churchwarden's Accompts we find—

"1532. Pd. for licence of 4 torchis for Black Garde, vj. d."

The royal Halberdiers carried black bills. (Grose, Milit. Antiq., vol. i. p. 124.) In 1584 they behaved with great cruelty in Ireland. (Cornp. Peck's Des. Curios., vol. i. p. 155.) So Stainhurst, in his Description, says of bad men: "They are taken for no better than rakehells, or the devil's blacke guarde."—Chap. 8. Perhaps, in distinction to the gaily dressed military guard, the menial attendants in a royal progress were called black-guards from their dull appearance.

I remember a story current in Dublin, of a wicked wag telling a highly respectable old lady, who was asking, where were the quarters of the guards, in which corps her son was a private, to inquire at the lodge of Trinity College if he was not within those learned walls, as the "black guards were lying there."

M.W.

Pilgrims' Road (Vol. ii., p. 237.).—Your correspondent S.H., in noticing the old track "skirting the base of the chalk hills," and known by the name of the "Pilgrims' Road," has omitted to state that its commencement is at Oxford,—a fact of importance, inasmuch as that the Archbishops of Canterbury had there a handsome palace (the ruins of which still exist), which is said to have been the favourite residence of Thomas à Becket. The tradition in the county thereupon is, that his memory was held in such sanctity in that neighbourhood as to cause a vast influx of pilgrims annually from thence to his shrine at Canterbury; and the line of road taken by them can still be traced, though only portions of it are now used as a highway. The direction, however, in which it runs makes it clear (as S.H., no doubt, is aware) that it cannot be Chaucer's road.

While on the subject of old roads, I may add that a tradition here exists that the direct road between London and Tunbridge did not pass through Sevenoaks; and a narrow lane which crosses the Pilgrims' road near Everham is pointed out as the former highway, and by which Evelyn must have been journeying (passing close, indeed, to the seat of his present descendant at St. Clere) when he met with that amusing robber-adventure at Procession Oak.

M(2).

Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury.—In the Athenæum of Nov. 2nd, 1844, there is a notice of Remarks upon Wayside Chapels; with Observations on the Architecture and present State of the Chantry on Wakefield Bridge: By John Chessell and Charles Buckler—in which the reviewer says—

"In our pedestrianism we have traced the now desolate ruins of several of these chapels along the old pilgrims' road to Canterbury."

If this writer would give us the results of his pedestrianism, it would be acceptable to all the lovers of Chaucer. I do not know whether PHILO-CHAUCER will find anything to his purpose in the pamphlet reviewed.

E.S. JACKSON.

Combs buried with the Dead.—In Vol. ii., p. 230., the excellent vicar of Morwenstow asks the reason why combs are found in the graves of St. Cuthbert and others, monks, in the cathedral church of Durham. I imagine that they were the combs used at the first tonsure of the novices, to them a most interesting memorial of that solemn rite through life, and from touching affection to the brotherhood among whom they had dwelt, buried with them at their death.

M.W.

The Comb, concerning "the origin and intent" of which MR. HAWKER (Vol. ii., p. 230.) seeks information, was for ritual use; and its purposes are fully described in Dr. Rock's Church of our Fathers, t. ii. p. 122., &c.

LITURGICUS.

Aërostation.—C.B.M. will find in the Athenæum for August 10th, 1850, a notice of a book on this subject.

E.S. JACKSON.

St. Thomas of Lancaster (Vol. i., p. 181.).—MR. R.M. MILNES desires information relative to "St. Thomas of Lancaster." This personage was Earl of Leicester as well as Earl of Lancaster; and I find in the archives of this borough numerous entries relative to him,—of payments made to him by the burgesses. Of these mention is made in a History of Leicester recently published. The most curious fact I know of is, that on the dissolution of the monasteries here, several relics of St. Thomas, among others, his felt hat, was exhibited. The hat was considered a great remedy for the headache!

JAYTEE.

Smoke Money (Vol. ii., p. 120.).—"Anciently, even in England, were Whitsun farthings, or smoke farthings, which were a composition for offerings made in Whitsun week, by every man who occupied a house with a chimney, to the cathedral of the diocese in which he lived."—Audley's Companion to the Almanac, p. 76.

Pentecostals, or Whitsun Farthings, are mentioned by Pegge as being paid in 1788 by the parishioners of the diocese of Lichfield, in aid of the repairs of the cathedral, to the dean and chapter; but he makes no allusion to the word smoke, adding only that in this case the payment went by the name of Chad-pennies, or Chad-farthings, the cathedral there being dedicated to St. Chad.

C.I.R.

Robert Herrick (Vol. i., p. 291.).—MR. MILNER BARRY states that he found an entry of the burial of the poet Herrick in the parish books of Dean Prior. As MR. BARRY seems interested in the poet, I would inform him that a voluminous collection of family letters of early date is now in the possession of William Herrick, Esq., of Beaumanor Park, the present representative of that ancient and honourable house.

JAYTEE.

Guildhalls.—The question in Vol. i., p. 320., relative to guildhalls, provokes an inquiry into guilds. In the erudite and instructive work of Wilda on the Guild System of the Middle Ages (Gildenwesen im Mittelälter) will be found to be stated that guilds were associations of various kinds,—convivial, religions, and mercantile, and so on; and that places of assembly were adopted by them. A guild-house where eating and drinking took place, was to be met with in most villages in early times: and these, I fancy, were the guild-halls. On this head consult Hone's Every-day Book, vol. ii. p. 670., and elsewhere, in connexion with Whitsuntide holidays.

JAYTEE.

Abbé Strickland (Vol. ii., pp. 198. 237.).—The fullest account of the Abbé Strickland, Bishop of Namur, is to be found in Lord Hervey's Memoirs (Vol. i., p. 391.), and a most curious account it is of that profligate intriguer.

C.

Long Lonkin (Vol. ii., pp. 168. 251.).—This ballad does not relate to Cumberland, but to Northumberland. This error was committed by Miss Landon (in the Drawing-room Scrap-book for 1835), to whom a lady of this town communicated the fragment through the medium of a friend. Its real locality is a ruined tower, seated on the corner of an extensive earth-work surrounded by a moat, on the western side of Whittle Dean, near Ovingham. Since this period, I have myself taken down many additional verses from the recitation of the adjacent villagers, and will be happy to afford any further information to your inquirer, SELEUCUS.

G. BOUCHIER RICHARDSON.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sept. 7. 1850.

Havock (Vol. ii., p. 215.).—The presumed object of literary men being the investigation of truth, your correspondent JARLTZBERG will, I trust, pardon me for suggesting that his illustration of the word havock is incomplete, and especially with reference to the line of Shakspeare which he has quoted:

"Cry havock! and let slip the dogs of war."

Grose, in his History of English Armour, vol. ii. p. 62., says that havok was the word given as a signal for the troops to disperse and pillage, as may be learned from the following article in the Droits of the Marshal, vol. ii. p. 229., wherein it is declared, that—

"In the article of plunder, all the sheep and hogs belong to such private soldiers as can take them; and that on the word havok being cried, every one might seize his part; but this probably was only a small part of the licence supposed to be given by the word."

He also refers to the ordinance of Richard II.

In agreeing with your correspondent that the use of this word was the signal for general massacre, unlimited slaughter, and giving no quarter, as well as taking plunder in the manner described above, the omission of which I have to complain is, that, in stating no one was to raise the cry, under penalty of losing his head, he did not add the words, "the king excepted." It was a royal act; and Shakspeare so understood it to be; as will appear from the passage referred to, if fully and fairly quoted:—

"And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,With Até by his side, come hot from hell,Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,Cry Havock! and let slip the dogs of war." Julius Cæsar Act iii.

It is not at this moment in my power to assist F.W. with the reference to the history of Bishop Berkeley's giant, though it exists somewhere in print. The subject of the experiment was a healthy boy, who died in the end, in consequence of over-growth, promoted (as far as my recollection serves me) principally by a peculiar diet.

W(1).

Becket's Mother.—I do not pretend to explain the facts mentioned by MR. FOSS (Vol. ii., p. 106.), that the hospital founded in honour of Becket was called "The Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, of Acon;" and that he was himself styled "St. Thomas Acrenis, or of Acre;" but I believe that the true explanation must be one which would not be a hindrance to the rejection of the common story as to the Archbishop's birth. If these titles were intended to connect the Saint with Acre in Syria, they may have originated after the legend had become popular. But it seems to me more likely, that, like some other city churches and chapels, that of St. Thomas got its designation from something quite unconnected with the history of the patron. In particular, I would ask what is the meaning of "St. Nicolas Acons?" And may not the same explanation (whatever it be) serve for "St. Thomas of Acon?" Or the hospital may have been built on some noted "acre" (like Long Acre and Pedlars Acre); and if afterwards churches in other places were consecrated to St. Thomas under the designation "of Acre," (as to which point I have no information), the churches of "our Lady of Loretto," scattered over various countries, will supply a parallel. As to the inference which Mr. Nichols (Pilgrimages, p. 120.) draws from the name Acrensis, that Becket was born at Acre, I must observe that it introduces a theory which is altogether new, and not only opposed to the opinion that the Archbishop was of English or Norman descent on both sides, but essentially contradictory of the legend as to the fair Saracen who came from the East in search of her lover.

J.C.R.

Watching the Sepulchre (Vol. i., pp. 318. 354. 403.).—In the parish books of Leicester various entries respecting the Sepulchre occur. In the year 1546, when a sale took place of the furniture of St. Martin's Church, the "Sepulchre light" was sold to Richard Rainford for 21s. 10d. In the reign of Queen Mary gatherings were made for the "Sepulchre lights;" timber for making the lights cost 5s.; the light itself, 4s.; and painting the Sepulchre, and a cloth for "our lady's altar," cost 1s. 10d. Facts like these might be multiplied.

JAYTEE.

Portraits of Charles I. in Churches (Vol. i., pp. 137. 184.).—In reference to this I have to state, that in the south aisle of the church of St. Martin, in Leicester, a painting of this kind is yet to be seen, or was lately. It was executed by a Mr. Rowley, for 10l., in the year 1686. It represents the monarch in a kneeling attitude.

JAYTEE.

Joachim, the French Ambassador (Vol. ii., p. 229.).—In Rapin's History of England I find this ambassador described as "Jean-Joachim de Passau, Lord of Vaux." This may assist AMICUS.

J.B.C.

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

The Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford, whose pleasant gossiping Memorials of Westminster, and History of St. Margaret's Church, are no doubt familiar to many of our readers, is, as an old Wykehamist, collecting information for a "History of Commoners and the Two S. Marie Winton Colleges;" and will feel obliged by lists of illustrious alumni, and any notes, archæological and historical, about that noble school, which will be duly acknowledged.

The Cambrian Archæological Association, which was established in 1846 for the purpose of promoting the study and preservation of the antiquities of Wales and the Marches, held its fourth anniversary meeting in the ancient and picturesque town of Dolgelly, during the week commencing the 26th ultimo. The Association is endeavouring to extend its usefulness by enlarging the number of its members; and as its subscribing members receive in return for their yearly pound, not only the Society's Journal, the Archæologia Cambrensis but also the annual volume of valuable archæological matter published by the Association, we cannot doubt but their exertions will meet the sympathy and patronage of all who take an interest in the national and historical remains of the principality.

The preceding paragraph was scarcely finished when we received proof of the utility of the Association in Mr. Freeman's volume, entitled Remarks on the Architecture of Llandaff Cathedral, with an Essay towards a History of the Fabric—a volume which, as we learn from the preface, had its origin in the observations on some of the more singular peculiarities of the fabric made by the author at the Cardiff meeting of the Association in 1849. These remarks were further developed in a paper in the Archæologia Cambrensis; and have now been expanded into the present descriptive and historical account of a building which, to use Mr. Freeman's words, "in many respects, both of its history and architecture, stands quite alone among English churches." Mr. Freeman's ability to do justice to such a subject is well known: and his work will therefore assuredly find a welcome from the numerous body of students of church architecture now to be found in this country; and to their judgments we leave it.

Notes on Bishop Jeremy Taylor's Works. A reprint being called for of vol. vi. of the present edition of Bishop Taylor's works, the Editor will be glad of any assistance towards verifying the references which have been omitted. The volume is to go to press early in October.

Messrs. Puttick and Simpson will commence on Monday next a six days' sale of valuable books in all classes of literature; oriental, and other manuscripts; autograph letters; engravings, miniatures, paintings, &c.

Messrs. Southgate and Barrett will sell on Tuesday next some fine portraits and engravings; together with a very interesting and extensive collection of nearly 200 original proclamations (extending from 1631 to 1695), two books printed by Pynson, unknown to bibliographers (viz. Aphthonii Sophistæ Præxercitamenta and Ciceronis Orationes Philippicæ and a few valuable MSS).

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE

ESSAYS, SCRIPTURAL, MORAL, AND LOGICAL, by W. and T. Ludlam. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1807.

ELDERFIELD (C.), DISQUISITIONS ON REGENERATION, BAPTISM, &c., 4to. London, 1653.