Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850

There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the Royal Collections.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

EISELL AND WORMWOOD WINE

(Vol. ii., p. 249.)

If Pepys' friends actually did drink up the two quarts of wormwood wine which he gave them, it must, as LORD BRAYBROOKE suggests, have been rendered more palatable than the propoma which was in use in Shakspeare's time. I have been furnished by a distinguished friend with the following, among other Notes, corroborative of my explanation of eisell:

"I have found no better recipe for making wormwood wine than that given by old Langham in his Garden of Health; and as he directs its use to be confined to 'Streine out a little spoonful, and drinke it with a draught of ale or wine,' I think it must have been so atrociously unpalatable, that to drink it up, as Hamlet challenged Laertes to do, would have been as strong an argumentum ad stomachum as to digest a crocodile, even when appetised by a slice of the loaf."

It is evident, therefore, that but small doses of this nauseously bitter medicament were taken at once, and to take a large draught, to drink up a quantity, "would be an extreme pass of amorous demonstration sufficient, one would think, to have satisfied even Hamlet." Our ancestors seem to have been partial to medicated wines; and it is most probable that the wormwood wine Pepys gave his friends had only a slight infusion of the bitter principle; for we can hardly conceive that such "pottle draughts" as two quarts could be taken as a treat, of such a nostrum as the Absinthites, or wormwood wine, mentioned by Stuckius, or that prescribed by the worthy Langham.

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, Sept. 30. 1850.

Eisell (Vol. ii., p. 242.).—The attempt of your very learned correspondent, MR. SINGER, to show that "eisell" was wormwood, is, I fear, more ingenious than satisfactory. It is quite true that wormwood wine and beer were ordinary beverages, as wormwood bitters are now; but Hamlet would have done little in challenging Laertes to a draught of wormwood. As to "eisell," we have the following account of it in the "Via Recta ad Vitam longam, or a Plaine Philosophical Discourse of the Nature, Faculties, and Effects of all such Things as by way of Nourishments, and Dieteticale Observations make for the Preservation of Health, &c. &c. By Jo. Venner, Doctor of Physicke at Bathe in the Spring and Fall, and at other Times in the Burrough of North-Petherton, neere to the Ancient Haven Towne of Bridgewater in Somersetshire. London, 1620."

"Eisell, or the vinegar which is made of cyder, is also a good sauce, it is of a very penetrating nature and is like to verjuice in operation, but it is not so astringent, nor altogether so cold," p. 97.

J.R.N.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES

Feltham's Works (Vol. ii., p. 133.).—In addition to the works enumerated by E.N.W., Feltham wrote A Discourse upon Ecclesiastes ii. 11.; A Discourse upon St. Luke xiv. 20.; and A Form of Prayer composed for the Family of the Right Honourable the Countess of Thomond. These two lists, I believe, comprise the whole of his writings. The meaning of the passage in his Remarks on the Low Countries, appears to be this, that a person "courtly or gentle" would receive as little kindness from the inhabitants, and show as great a contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble"), among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for their beauty nor their politeness. The words "after Michaelmas" are used because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October." Bewick's British Birds, vol. i. p. 43.

T.H. KERSLEY.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

Harefinder (Vol. ii., p. 216.).—The following lines from Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 23., sufficiently illustrates this term:—

"The man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sportThe Finder sendeth out, to seeke out nimble Wat,—Which crosseth in the field, each furlong every flat,Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found:Then viewing for the course which is the fairest ground,The greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing then in case,And, choycely in the slip, one leading forth a brace;The Finder puts her up, and gives her coursers' law,"&c.

In the margin, at the second line, are the words, The Harefinder. What other instances are there of Wat, as a name of the hare? It does not occur in the very curious list in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 133.

K.

Fool or a Physician—Rising and Setting Sun (Vol. i., p. 157.).—The inquiry of your correspondent C. FORBES, respecting the authorship of the two well-known sayings on these subjects, seems to have received no reply. He thinks that we owe them both to that "imperial Macchiavel, Tiberius." He is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. The saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from Tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to Pompey.

Tacitus says of Tiberius, that he was "solitus eludere medicorum artes, atque eos qui post tricesimum ætatis annum ad internoscenda corpori suo utilia vel noxia alieni consilia indigerent." Annal. vi. 46. Suetonius says: "Valetudine prosperrimâ usus est,—quamvis a tricesimo ætatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjumento consiliove medicorum." Tib. c. 68. And Plutarch, in his precepts de Valetudine tuendâ, c. 49., says—

[Greek: "Aekousa Tiberion pote Kaisara eipein, hos anaer huper hexaekonta [sic vulgò, sed bene corrigit Lipsius ad Tac. loc. cit. triakonta] gegonos etae, kai proteinon iatro cheira, katagelastos estin."]

These passages sufficiently indicate the origin of the saying; but who first gave it the pointed form in which we now have it, by coupling fool with physician, I am not able to tell.

The authority for giving the other saying to Pompey, is Plutarch, who says that when Pompey, after his return from Africa, applied to the senate for the honour of a triumph, he was opposed by Sylla, to whom he observed, [Greek: "Oti ton aelion anatellonta pleiones ae duomenon proskunousin,"] that more worship the rising than the setting sun—intimating that his own power was increasing, and that of Sylla verging to its fall. (Vit. Pomp. c. 22.)

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

Papers of Perjury (Vol. ii., p. 182.).—In the absence of a "graphic account," it may interest your correspondent S.R. to be referred to the two following instances of "perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime." In Machyn's Diary, edited by the accomplished antiquary, John Gough Nichols, Esq., and published by the Camden Society, at p. 104. occurs the following:—

"A.D. 1556, April 28th.... The sam day was sett on the pelere in Chepe iij. [men; two] was for the preuerment of wyllfull perjure, the iij. was for wyllfull perjure, with paper sett over their hedes."

In the same works at p. 250., we have also this additional illustration:

"A.D. 1560—I. The xij. day of Feybruary xj. men of the North was of a quest; because they gayff a wrong evyde [nee, and] thay ware paper a-pon their hedes for perjure."

J. GOODWIN.

Birmingham.

Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury.—Being acquainted with the road to which your correspondent S.H. (Vol. ii., p. 237.) alludes, he will, perhaps, allow me to say, that in the neighbourhood of Kemsing a tradition is current, that a certain line of road, which may be traced from Otford to Wrotham, was the pilgrims' road from Winchester to Canterbury. How far this may be correct I know not.

I have not been able to discover any road in the neighbourhood of this city which goes by the name of the pilgrims' road.

If any of your correspondents would furnish any particulars respecting this road, I shall feel much obliged.

R.V.

Winchester.

Capture of Henry VI. (Vol. ii., p. 228.).—In his correction of your correspondent, CLERICUS CRAVENSIS, MR. NICHOLS states:—

"Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington of Brierley, near Barnesley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received 100 marks reward; but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of 100l."

In this statement appears entirely to have been overlooked the grant of lands made by King Edward IV. to Sir James Harrington—

"For his services in taking prisoner, and withholding as such in diligence and valour, his enemy Henry, lately called King Henry VI."

This grant, which was confirmed in Parliament, embraced the castle, manor, and domain of Thurland; a park, called Fayzet Whayte Park, with lands, &c. in six townships in the county of Lancaster; lands at Burton in Lonsdale, co. York; and Holme, in Kendal, co. Westmoreland, the forfeited lands of Sir Richard Tunstell, and other "rebels." So considerable a recognition of the services of Sir James Harrington would seem to demand something more than the second-rate position given to them by your correspondent. The order to give Sir James Harrington possession of the lands under his grant will be found in Rymer. The grant itself is printed in the Nugæ Antiquæ, by Henry Harrington, 1775 (vol. ii. p. 121.), and will, I believe, be found in Baines' Lancashire. Mr. Henry Harrington observes that the lands were afterwards lost to his family by the misfortune of Sir James and his brother being on the wrong side at Bosworth Field; after which they were both attainted for serving Richard III. and Edward IV., "and commanding the party which seized Henry VI. and conducted him to the Tower."

H.K.S.C.

Brixton.

Andrew Becket (Vol. ii., p. 266.), about whom A.W. HAMMOND inquires, when I knew him, about twelve years ago, was a strange whimsical old gentleman, full of "odd crotchets," and abounding in theatrical anecdote and the "gossip of the green-room." But as to his ever having been "a profound commentator on the dramatic works of Shakspeare," I must beg leave to express my doubts. At one period he filled the post of sublibrarian to the Prince Regent; and that he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature" cannot be a question.

His published works, as far as I can learn, are as follows:—

1. A Trip to Holland, 1801.

2. Socrates, a dramatic poem, 8vo. 1806.

3. Lucianus Redivivus, or Dialogues concerning Men, Manners, and Opinions, 8vo. 1812.

4. Shakspeare's Himself, or the Language of the Poet asserted; being a full but dispassionate Examin of the Readings and Interpretations of the several Editors, 2 vols. 8vo. 1815.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Passage in Vida (Vol. i., p. 384.).—Your correspondent A.W. asks for some light on the lines of Vida, Christiad, i. 67.:

"Quin age, te incolumi potius....…Perficias quodcumque tibi nunc instat agendum."

He cannot construe "te incolumi." No wonder. Will not all be set right by reading, "Quin age, et incolumi," &c.?

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

"Quem Deus vult perdere" (Vol. i., p. 347., &c.).—To the illustrations of the saying "Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat," which have been given, may be added the following from the Fragments of Constantinus Manasses (edited with Nicet. Eugen., by Boissonade. Paris, 1819), book viii. line 40.:—

[Greek: "Ho gar theos aptomenos anthropou dianoiasHaenika to dusdaimoni kirnaesi penthous poma,Ouden pollakis sugchorei bouleusasthai sumpheron."]J.E.B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College.

Countess of Desmond (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 186.).—R. is referred to Smith's History of Cork, and European Magazine, vol. viii., for particulars respecting the Countess of Desmond. They show her picture at Knowle House, Kent, or Penshurst (I forget which); and tell the story of the fall from the cherry (or plum) tree, adding that she cut three sets of teeth!

WEDSECNARF.

Confession (Vol. ii., p. 296.).—The name asked for by U.J.B. of the Catholic priest, who, sooner than break the seal of confession, suffered death, is John of Nepomuc, Canon of Prague. By order of the Emperor Wenceslas, he was thrown off a bridge into the Muldaw, because he would not tell that profligate prince the confession of his religious empress. This holy man is honoured as St. John Nepomucen on the 16th of May, in the kalendar of Saints.

D. ROCK.

[U.J.B., if desirous of further particulars respecting St. John Nepomuc, may consult Mrs. Jameson's interesting Legends of the Monastic Orders, pp. 214. 217.—ED.]

Cavell, meaning of (Vol. i., p. 473.).—I concur entirely with the etymology of the word cavell given at p. 473. A lake having been drained in my country, the land is still divided into Kavelingen; as lots of land were formerly measured by strings of cord, kavel, kabel, cable. Vide Tuinman Trakkel, d. n. t. p. 165. Kavelloten is to receive a cavell by lot. cf. Idem, Verrolg, p. 97.

JANUS DOUSA.

Lord Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico.—Has Lord Kingsborough's splendid work on Mexican hieroglyphics ever been completed or not?

J.A. GILES.

[This magnificent work has been recently completed by the publication of the eighth volume, which may, we believe, be procured from Mr. Henry Bohn.—ED.]

Aërostation (Vol. ii., p. 199.).—The article BALLOON, in the Penny Cyclopædia, would give C.B.M. a good many references. The early works there mentioned are those of Faujas de St. Fond, Bourgeois, and Cavallo; to which I add the following: Thomas Baldwin, Airopaidia, containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion from Chester, Sept. 8. 1785. Chester, 1786, 8vo. (pp. 360.).

Vincent Lunardi published the account of his voyage (the first made in England) in a series of letters to a friend. The title is torn out in my copy. The first page begins, "An Account of the First Aërial Voyage in England. Letter I. London, July 15. 1784." (8vo. pp. 66 + ii. with a plate.) It ends with a poetical epistle to Lunardi by "a gentleman well known in the literary world" (query, the same who is thus cited in our day?) from which the following extracts are taken as a specimen of the original balloon jokes:—

"The multitude scarcely believed that a man,With his senses about him could form such a plan,And thought that as Bedlam was so very nigh,You had better been there than turned loose in the sky."In their own way of thinking, all felt and all reasoned,Greedy aldermen judged that your flight was ill-seasoned,That you'd better have taken a good dinner first,Nor have pinched your poor stomach by hunger or thirst."In perfect indifference the beau yawned a blessing,And feared before night that your hair would want dressing;But the ladies, all zeal, sent their wishes in air,For a man of such spirit is ever their care."Attornies were puzzled how now they could sue you,Underwriters, what premium they'd now take to do you;While the sallow-faced Jew, of his monies so fond,Thanked Moses he never had taken your bond."

Mr. Baldwin ascended in Lunardi's balloon, the latter being present at the start, though not taking part in the voyage.

M.

Concolinel (Vol. ii., p. 217.).—I have been many years engaged in researches connected with the original music of Shakspeare's Plays, but it has not been my good fortune to meet with the air of Concolinel. The communication of your correspondent R. is of the greatest interest, and I should be for ever grateful if he would allow me to see the manuscript in question, in order that I might test the genuineness of the air "stated, in a recent hand, to be the tune of Concolinel mentioned by Shakspeare."

This air has double claims on our attention, as its existence, in any shape, is placed amongst the "doubtful" points by the following note extracted from the Rev. J. Hunter's New Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 268.:—

"Concolinel. In the absence of any thing like sufficient explanation or justification of this word, if word it is, I will venture to suggest the possibility that it is a corruption of a stage direction, Cantat Ital., for Cantat Italicé; meaning that here Moth sings an Italian song. It is quite evident, from what Armado says, when the song was ended, 'Sweet air!' that a song of some sort was sung, and one which Shakespeare was pleased with, and meant to praise. If Moth's song had been an English song, it would have been found in its place as the other songs are."

I, for one, cannot subscribe to Mr. Hunter's suggestion that our great poet intended an Italian song to be sung in his play and for this reason, that Italian music for a single voice was almost unknown in this country in 1597, at which date we know Love's Labour's Lost was in existence. Surely Concolinel is just as likely to be the burden of a song as Calen o Custure me, mentioned in Henry the Fifth (Act iv. sc. 4.), of which there is now no doubt.

I may just mention, in passing, that I have discovered the air of Calen o Custure me in a manuscript that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and have ample proof that it was an especial favourite with her maiden majesty. The commentators were at fault when they pointed out the more modern tune of the same name in Playford's Musical Companion, 1667.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

S. Augustus Square, Regent's Park.

Andrewes's Tortura Torti (Vol. ii., p. 295.).—On what forms Mr. Bliss's third quotation, which does appear in some shape in Bernard, De Consid. ad Eugen., iii. 4. 18., the Bibliotheca Juridica, &c., of Ferraris observes, under the head of Dispensatio: "Hinc dispensatio sine justa causa non dispensatio sed dissipatio dicitur communiter a doctoribus, ut observant et tenent Sperell;" then referring to several Romish canonists, &c., the last being Reiffenstuel, lib. i., Decretal, tit. 2., n. 450., of which I give the full reference, his volumes being accessible in the British Museum, if not elsewhere.

NOVUS.

Swords worn in Public (Vol. ii., p. 218.)—A very respected and old friend of mine, now deceased, used to relate that he had often seen the celebrated Wilkes, of political notoriety, walking in the public streets, dressed in what is usually termed court dress, wearing his sword. Wilkes died in 1797. In connexion with this subject it may be interesting to your readers to know that in 1701 it was found necessary to prohibit footmen wearing swords. An order was issued by the Earl Marshal in that year, declaring that—

"Whereas many mischiefs and dangerous accidents, tending not onely to the highest breach of the peace, but also to the destruction of the lives of his Ma'ties subjects, have happend and been occasioned by Footmen wearing of Swords, for the prevention of the like evill accidents and disturbance for the future, I doe hereby order that no Foot-man attending any of the Nobilitye or Gentry of his Ma'ties Realms, during such time as they or any of them shall reside or bee within the Cities of London or Westm'r, and the Liberties and Precincts of the same, shall wear any Sword, Hanger, Bagonet, or other such like offensive weapon, as they will answer the Contempt hereof." Dated 30th Dec. 1701.

F.E.

Speech given to Man to conceal his Thoughts (Vol. i., p. 83.).—The maxim quoted by your correspondent F.R.A. was invented, if I may rely upon the notebook of memory, by the Florentine Machiavelli. The German writer Ludwig Börne says:—

"Macchiavelli, der die Freiheit liebte, schrieb seinem Prinzen so, dass er alle rechtschaffenen Psychologen in Verlegenheit und in solche Verwirrung gebracht, dass sie gar nicht mehr wussten, was sie sprachen und sie behaupteten, Macchiavelli habe eine politische Satyre geschrieben."

Le style c'est l'homme!

JANUS DOUSA.

The Character "&,", and Meaning of "Parse" (Vol. ii., pp. 230. 284.).—This character, being different from any of the twenty-four letters, was placed at the end of the alphabet, and children, after repeating their letters, were taught to indicate this symbol as and-per-se-and. Instead of spelling the word and, as composed of three letters, it was denoted by a special symbol, which was "and by itself, and." Hence the corruption, an ampussy and.

The word parse is also derived from the Latin per se. To parse a sentence is to take the words per se, and to explain their grammatical form and etymology.

L.

Wife of Edward the Outlaw (Vol. ii., p. 279.).—With reference to the Query of E.H.Y. (Vol. ii., p. 279.), there seems to be much confusion in all the accounts of Edward's marriage. I think it is evident, from an attentive consideration of the various authorities, that the Lady Agatha was either sister to Giselle, wife of Stephen, King of Hungary (to whom the young princes must have been sent, as he reigned from A.D. 1000 till A.D. 1038), and sister also to the Emperor Henry II., or, as some writers seem to think, she was the daughter of Bruno, that emperor's brother. (See a note in Dr. Lingard's History, vol. i. p. 349.)

That she was not the daughter of either Henry II., Henry III., or Henry IV., is very certain; in the first case, for the reason stated by your correspondent; and in the second, because Henry III. was only twelve years old when he succeeded his father Conrad II. (in the year 1039), which of course puts his son Henry IV. quite out of the question, who was born A.D. 1049. It strikes me (and perhaps some of your correspondents will correct me if I am wrong) that the two English princes may have respectively married the two ladies to whom I have referred, and that hence may have arisen the discrepancies in the different histories: but that the wife of Edward the Outlaw was one of these two I have no doubt.

O.P.Q.

Translations of the Scriptures (Vol. ii., p. 229.).—C.F.S. may perhaps find The Bible of every Land, now publishing by Messrs. Bagster, serviceable in his inquiries respecting Roman Catholic translations of the Scriptures. The saying of the Duke of Lancaster is found in the first edition of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and in the modern reprint, iv. 674.; the original of the treatise from which it is taken being in C.C. College, Cambridge. (See Nasmith's Catalogue, p. 333.)

NOVUS.

Scalping (Vol. ii., p. 220.).—W.B.D. confounds beheading with scalping. In the American war many British soldiers, it was said, walked about without their scalps, but not without their heads.

SANDVICENSIS.

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

No one branch of antiquarian study has been pursued with greater success during the last few years than that of Gothic Architecture; and, to this success, no single work has contributed in any proportion equal to that of the Glossary of Terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic Architecture. Since the year 1836, in which this work first appeared, no fewer than four large editions, each an improvement upon its predecessor, have been called for and exhausted. The fifth edition is now before us; and, we have no doubt, will meet, as it deserves, the same extended patronage and success. When we announce that in this fifth edition the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones, among which Professor Willis has embodied a great part of his Architectural Nomenclature of the Middle Ages; that the number of woodcuts has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred; and lastly, that the Index has been rendered far more complete, by including in it the names of places mentioned, and the foreign synonyms; we have done more to show its increased value than any mere words of commendation would express. While the only omission that has been made, namely, that of the utensils and ornaments of the Mediæval Church (with the exception of the few such as altars, credences, piscinas, and sedilias, which belong to architectural structure and decoration), is a portion of the work which all must admit to have been foreign to a Glossary of Architectural Terms, and must therefore agree to have been wisely and properly left out. The work in its present form is, we believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of Europe, for the amount of accurate information which it furnishes, and the beauty of its illustrations; and as such, therefore, does the highest credit both to its editor and to its publisher; if, indeed, the editor and publisher be not identical.