Notes and Queries, Number 65, January 25, 1851

Other than these, I know of none of the name, ancient or recent, in the county, and I shall be glad to learn on what ground Sir George Downing's family is said to be of most ancient origin in Devonshire. The name does not appear in Westcote, Pole, Prince, Risdon, or the Heralds' visitations, and the modern authorities state that the family was from Essex or Norfolk.

J.D.S.

The following memorandum I found accidentally on the margin of a MS. pedigree of Downing, but I am sorry I cannot recall the source from whence I obtained it. Possibly, however, it may assist "ALPHA" in his enquiry.

"Sir George Downing was not the son of Calibut Downing, rector of Hackney, but of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New England. Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, gives the true account of Downing's affiliation, which has been further confirmed by Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New England."

J.P.C.

Hulls, the Inventor of Steam-boats (Vol. iii., p. 23.).—Your facetious correspondent, NOCAB, may gain some information relative to his friend Jonathan Hulls, by going to the British Museum, and asking for the following book from Mr. Grenville's library.

I will give the full title and Mr. Grenville's note, as it stands in my Catalogue of the library.

GRENVILLE CATALOGUE (Vol. i. p. 351.)

"Hulls, Jonathan. A Description and Draught of a new-invented Machine for carrying vessels or ships out of, or into any harbour, port, or river, against wind and tide, or in a calm. For which his Majesty has granted letters patent, for the sole benefit of the Author, for the space of Fourteen years. London, 1737, folding plate.7 8vo. R.8

"This new invented machine is a steam-boat. It entirely puts an end to the claims of America to the invention of steam navigation, and establishes for this country the honour of that important discovery."

HENRY FOSS.

42. Devonshire Street, 12. Jan. 1851.

"The lucky have whole days" (Vol. i., pp. 231. 351.).—I can inform your correspondents P.S. and H.H., that the passage in question is correctly quoted by the latter at p. 351., and that it is to be found in Dryden's Tyrannic Love.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, West Indies, Nov. 1850

"Clarum et venerabile nomen" (Vol. ii., p. 463.).—Your enquirer as to whence comes "Clarum et venerabile nomen," &c., will find them in Lucan. Book ix. l. 203.

E.H.

Norwich.

Occult Transposition of Letters (Vol. i., p. 416.; Vol. ii., p. 77.).—Concert of Nature.—Other examples of these ambiguous verses are given by J. Baptista Porta, de Furtivis Literarum Notis, one of which has suggested the following lines, as conveying the compliments of the season to the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES:" but which, transposed, would become an unseasonable address:—

"Principio tibi sit facilis, nec tempore parvo        Vivere permittat te Dea Terpsichore.Si autem conversis dictionibus leges, dicent,—Terpsichore Dea te permittat vivere parvo        Tempore, nec facilis sit tibi principio."

I beg leave sincerely, to add, in the words of Ausonius (Ep. xxv.),—

"Quis prohibet Salve atque Vale brevitate parata        Scribere? Felicesque notas mandare libellis."

This magnificent epistle inculcating—

"Nil mutum Natura dedit: non aëris alesQuadrupedesve silent," &c.

should be compared with the celebrated stanza of Spenser's Faerie Queen (book ii. canto xii. st. 71.), beginning with

"The joyous birds shrouded in cheareful shade;"

and with D'Israeli's animated defence, in his Amenities (vol. ii. p. 395.) of these charming verses against the πλημμελης and tasteless, the anti-poetical and technical, criticism of Twining, in his first Dissertation on Poetical and Musical Imitation.

T.J.

Darby and Joan (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—I never heard of the tradition mentioned by H. I can only suppose that the poet referred to was the first person who introduced the ballad at the manor-house. Helaugh Nichols, an excellent authority in such matters, whose trade traditions, through the Boyers, father and son, went back a century and a half, tells us that the ballad was supposed to have been written by Henry Woodfall, while an apprentice to Darby. The Darbys were printers time out of mind—one Robert Darby was probably an assistant to Wynkyn de Worde, who certainly left a legacy to a person of that name. The Woodfalls, too, can be traced up as printers for nearly two centuries. The Darby, and Joan, his wife, were probably John Darby, printer, in Bartholomew Close, who was prosecuted in 1684 for printing "Lord Russell's Speech," and died in 1704. The Woodfall, the printer, is understood to have been Henry Woodfall, afterwards "Woodfall without Temple Bar," grandfather of Henry Sampson, the printer of Junius' Letters, and great-great-grandfather of the present excellent printer of the same name.

J.D.Y.

Did Bunyan know Hobbes? (Vol. ii., p. 518.).—Before this question, put by JAS. H. FRISWELL, can be answered satisfactorily, it should be shown that Bunyan was the author of the Visions of Hell. In Chambers' Journal for Sept. 7. 1833, n., it is taken for granted that he was, and the passage alluding to Hobbes is noticed. Your correspondent more justly questions the fact.

A very intelligent friend of mine, who has devoted much research into the supposed origin of the Pilgrim's Progress, the result of which I hope ere long will appear, tells me that he is decidedly of opinion that the Visions in question are not the production of the "prince of dreamers."

He believes the Visions first appeared as Bunyan's in a stereotyped collection or selection of his works, about 1820-8. Some time after seeing this, my friend was surprised at meeting with the following little volume, which is now before me: The World to Come. The Glories of Heaven, and the Terrors of Hell, lively displayed under the Similitude of a Vision. By G.L., Sunderland. Printed by R. Wetherald, for H. Creighton, 1771. 12mo. The running title, as far as p. 95., is, The World to Come; or, Visions of Heaven; and on that page commence the Visions of Hell, and of the Torments of the Damned: and here it is the author has charitably placed Hobbes, with whom the colloquy alluded to by your querist occurs.

I shall not occupy your papers with any remarks on the ignorance betrayed by G.L. (whoever he may be), both of the writings and character of Hobbes; but I shall be glad if I can lead to the elucidation of what yet remains a literary obscurity, and obtains the name of G.L.

F.R.A.

Mythology of the Stars (Vol. iii., p. 23.).—G.I.C. is recommended to study the ordinary celestial globe, and to make himself familiar with its use, in order to enhance the interest of the spectacle of the sidereal heavens as seen by the naked eye. He is also particularly referred to the Celestial Cycle, by Capt. Smyth, published by Parker and Co., West Strand, in 2 vols. 8vo., price 2l. 2s.; a book full of astronomical and mythological gossip.

G.I.C. will find books on Astrology for sale at Maynard's, No. 8. Earl's Court, Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, more readily, perhaps, than any where else in London.

ROBERT SNOW.

6. Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, Jan. 13. 1851.

Dodo Queries (Vol. i., pp. 261, 262.).—MR. STRICKLAND is informed, that in the list of Pingré's works, as given in Quérard's France Littéraire, there is one with the following title:—

"Mémoire sur les Découvertes faites dans la Mer du Sud, avant les derniers Voyages des Français autour du Monde, lu à l'Académie des Sciences, 1766, 1767, 1778, in. 4."

I have not read Pingré's works, but if they contain any mention of Solitaires, it will probably be found in the Mémoire above referred to.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

Holland Land (Vol. ii., pp. 267. 345.; Vol. iii., p. 30).—In an ancient charter, in my possession, bearing date 19 Edw. I.: "Gilebertus dictus ate Vorde, de Farlegh," and "James, son of the late Philip de Essche," quitclaim to James, son of Paulinus de Wynchelse:

"dimidiam acram terre Flandrensis … in villa de Ickelesham,"

to have and to hold

una cum redditu et servitio mihi (sic) pertinentibus de alia dimidia acra terre Flandrensis."

The polders of Holland are familiar to all travellers, as lands lying below the level of the sea, once a mere morass, redeemed from that state, and brought into cultivation by embankments, &c., &c.

In another charter, somewhat earlier in date and relating to the same district, viz. the neighbourhood of Winchelsea, Hamo de Crevecour speaks of lands in La more in Ideun, which the monks of Robertsbridge, with consent of his father Hamo, "a mari incluserunt."

I have always supposed that the "terra Flandrensis" of my charter signified land of the same description as the Dutch polders; the art of thus redeeming land being probably introduced from the Low Countries. It is not unlikely that, in that day, lands so brought into cultivation were designated as "terre Flandrenses," and the term afterwards anglicised into "Holland Land."

L.B.L.

Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—Symbology of the swan.

"Tunc allati sunt in pompatica gloria duo cygni, vel olores, ante regem, &c. &c.,—vindicaturus."9—Matthæus Westmonasteriensis.

Dr. Lingard states that "the vows of chivalry were not taken on the gospels, but, ridiculous as it may appear, in the presence of a peacock, or pheasant, or other bird of beautiful plumage."—History of England, Edward I.

"Nec dissimili ingenio Heraldi antiquiores, musicos et cantatores cygnis10 donarunt. Ejusque haud ignarus perspicax noster Franciscanus cum hos a non cantoribus latos observasset, rationem se ait a rege heraldorum petiisse, eumque duplicem assignasse: hanc quia viri essent pulcherrimi, illam quia haberent longa colla. Sane candorem animi per cygni effigiem antiquitùs prædicabant, nec insulsè igitur corporis. Sed gloriæ studium ex eodem hoc symbolo indicari multi asserunt.

"Cum Edwardus primus," &c. &c.—Spelmanni Aspilogia, p. 132.

The Spaniards found that the swan had been employed emblematically in Mexico, supporting the theory of Hornius that that part of America was colonised by the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, inasmuch as, according to Bryant, "where the Canaanites or their descendants may have settled, there will a story be found in reference to swans."

The mythological history of the Cygnus will be found in the latter author's Analysis, and in Hill's Urania, or a Complete View of the Heavens, containing the Ancient and Modern Astronomy, in Form of a Dictionary, which will perhaps meet the wants of G.I.C. (Vol. iii. p. 24.).

It will not, perhaps, be irrelevant to this subject to advert to the story of Albertus Aquensis (in Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 196.), regarding a Goose and a Goat, which in the second crusade were considered as "divino spiritu afflati," and made "duces viæ in Jerusalem." Well may it be mentioned by the histoian as "scelus omnibus fidelibus incredibile;" but the imputation serves to show that the Christians of that age forgot what a heathen poet could have taught them,—

"Εις οιωνος αριστος αμυνεσθαι περι πατρης."

T.J.

Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—The quotation given by your correspondent E.T.M. (Vol. ii., p. 451.), only increases my desire to receive a reply to my query on this subject, since he has adduced a parallel custom. What are the earliest notices of the usage of swearing by swans and pheasants? Was the pheasant ever considered a royal bird?

R.V.

The Frozen Horn (Vol. iii., p. 25.).—I am quite angry with J.M.G. for supposing my old friend Sir John Maundevile guilty of such a flam as that which he quotes from memory as the worthy knight's own statement. There is no such story in the Voiage and Travaile: nay more, there is not in the whole of that "ryght merveillous" book, a single passage given on the authority of Sir John as eyewitness that is not perfectly credible. When he quotes Pliny for monsters, the Chronicles for legends, and the romances of his time for narratives of an extraordinary character, he does so in evident good faith as a compiler. His most improbable statements, too, are always qualified with some such phrase as "men seyn, but I have not sene it." In a word, I believe Sir John Maundevile to have been as truthful in intention as any writer of his age. I am afraid that J.M.G.'s knowledge of our old "voiager" is limited to some jest-book of more modern times, which attributes to him sayings and doings of which he is perfectly guiltless.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

Cockade and True Blue (Vol. iii., pp. 7. 27.) both owe their origin to the wars of the Scottish Covenanters; and the cockade appears to have been first adopted as a distinguishing emblem by the English army at the battle of Sherra-muir, where the Scotch wore the blue ribbon as a scarf, or on their bonnets (which was their favourite colour). The English army then, to distinguish themselves, assumed a black rosette on their hats; which, from its position, the Scotch nick-named a "cock'ade" (with which our use of the word "cockscomb" is connected) and is still retained.

An old Scotch song describing, "the Battle of Sherra-muir" (which name it bears) in verse 2., line 1., speaks of the English as—

"The red-coat lads, wi' black cockades;"

verse 3., describing the Scotch and their mode of fighting, says,—

"But had you seen the philibegs,    And skyrin tartan trews, man,When in the teeth they dared our Whigs,    And Covenant TRUE-BLUES, man;In lines extended lang and large,When bayonets opposed the targe,And thousands hasten'd to the charge,Wi' Highland wrath, they frae the sheathDrew blades o' death, till, out o' breath,    They fled like frighted doos, man."

The song, which is rather a long one, carries you with the army to the Forth, Dumblane, Stirling, Perth, and Dundee. Oft referring to the "Poor red-coat," and to the "Angus lads."

BLOWER.

The Vavasours of Hazlewood (Vol. ii., p. 326.).—1. It is a well-known fact that the stone for York minster was given by the Vavasour family. To commemorate this, there is, under the west window in that cathedral, a statue of the owner of Hazelwood at that period, holding a piece of stone in his hand. Hence may have arisen the tradition that the chief of the family might ride into York minster on horseback.

2. In feudal times Hazlewood was a fortified castle, having its regular retainers, &c.

3. Hazlewood Chapel was the only Roman Catholic parish church in England which did not become a Protestant church at the Reformation.

CHAS. D. MARKHAM.

Jan. 10. 1851.

"Breeches" Bible (Vol. iii., p. 17.).—In quoting from specimens of early printing, correctness of orthography, even in trivial matters, is desirable, and therefore I venture, in allusion to the interesting communication from

on the subject of the Geneva or "Breeches" Bible, to state that the edition of 1576, in my possession, is "Imprinted by Christopher Barkar" (not Barker), "dwelling in Paternoster Rowe, at the signe of the Tygres Head."

The text quoted varies also in two or three words from my copy, and it is probably from the Geneva edition. The English edition of 1576 runs thus, (Gen. iii. 7.): "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made them selves breeches." I am, sir, yours truly,

S.H.H.

Histoire des Sévarambes (Vol. iii., p. 4.).—On the subject of the authorship of this work I will transcribe a note which I subjoined to a short account of Isaac Vossius (Worthington's Diary, p. 125):—

"Whether the History of the Sevarites, of Sevarambi by Captains Thomas Liden, published in two parts (London, 1675-9, 12mo.), which is one of the ablest of the fictions written after the model of More's Utopia, and which has been ascribed to Isaac Vossius by J.A. Fabricius, be his, is a point yet unsettled. On a careful consideration of the internal evidence, and a comparison with his avowed publications, so far as such a comparison can be made between works so dissimilar in character, I incline to the conclusion that this tract is justly ascribed to Isaac Vossius."

On a reconsideration of the subject, I see no reason to alter this opinion. Morhof, who always attributed it to Isaac Vossius (see Polyhistor, vol. i. p. 74., edit. 1747), was thoroughly versed in the literary history, including the English, of the period, and was not likely to have been mistaken. Vossius lived in England from 1670 to 1688, when he died. I have seen several English letters of his, though his general correspondence was in Latin or French, and he seems quite able to have written it, as far as the language is concerned. Vairasse appears to have translated it into French but to have had no other part in it. I may observe, that the publication in English, London, 1738, is a retranslation from the French, not a reprint of the original work of 1675-9.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Verses attributed to Charles Yorke (Vol. ii., p. 7.; and Vol. iii., p. 43.).—These lines, "Stript to the naked soul," have been frequently printed, indeed so lately as in Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, at the end of the Life of Charles Yorke, as his, but without any observation. What is most singular is, that the excellent editor of Bishop Warburton's Literary Remains has overlooked the fact that they are driven in that prelate's correspondence with Bishop Hurd as Pope's. (See Letters, p. 362., edit. 1809, 8vo.) Warburton observes, "The little poem is certainly his." He remarks in a letter to Yorke—

"You have obliged me much (as is your wont) by a fine little poem of my excellent and endeared friend, Mr. Pope, and I propose to put in into use."—Letters from Warburton to C. Yorke. 1812, 4to. p. 64.

Warburton then gave them to Ruffhead, who inserted them in his Life of Pope, from which they were transferred in Bowles's editions of Pope's Works (vol. ii. p. 406), and in the supplementary volume to Pope's Works (1807, 4to.). The extraordinary circumstance is, that they had appeared as far back as 1753 in the miscellaneous works of Aaron Hill, published in 1753, in 4 vols. 8vo., and are included in that collection as his own. Roscoe observes (Life of Pope, in vol. i. of his edition of Pope's Works, p. 361., edit. 1824), without, however appearing to have been fully acquainted with the facts of the case:

"These verses are not the production of Pope, as might indeed readily have been perceived, but of Aaron Hill."

I must confess I cannot agree with the remark. If the point be to be decided by internal evidence, the verses are surely Pope's. The collection of A. Hill's miscellaneous works was a posthumous one for the benefit of the family, and includes several other poems, which were certainly not written by him. Little stress, therefore, can be laid upon the fact of the lines being included in this collection, which seems to have comprised whatever was found amongst Hill's papers, without any nice examination or scrutiny. My conclusion is, that the verses are Pope's; and it is at all events certain that they are not Charles Yorke's.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Archbishop Bolton of Cashel (Vol. iii., p. 39.).—He was born at Burrishool, in the county of Mayo, about 1678; graduated at Trinity College, Dublin; was ordained deacon in 1702; priest in 1703; became a prebendary of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1707; chancellor of that cathedral in 1714; vicar-general of the diocese of Dublin in 1720; vicar of Finglas, near Dublin, in the same year; præcentor of Christ Church, Dublin, in 1722; bishop of Clonfert in the same year; bishop of Elphin in 1724; archbishop of Cashel in 1729; to which diocese he bequeathed his valuable library.

He died in January, 1744, and was buried at St. Werburgh's Church, in Dublin.

See my Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, vols. i., ii., and iv., for a few more particulars, if required.

H. COTTON.

Thurles, Ireland, Jan. 20. 1851.

Erasmus and Farel (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—In my Life of Calvin, p. 46., I mention that Erasmus named Farel, Phallicus; and infer that he probably did so from some manifestation of amorous propensities on the part of that reformer.

A querist in your last number (J.C.R.) points out that D'Aubigné, or his translator, spells the word Fallicus, and refers it to the deceitful character of Farel.

Phallicus is a Greek word, and has a meaning—φαλλικος, of or belonging to the φαλλος. Fallicus, to the best of my knowledge, is neither Greek nor Latin, and has no meaning. Erasmus, in his epistles, constantly spells the word Phallicus. (See Epp. 698. 707. &c. Leyden, ed. 1706.) And that I was justified in drawing from it an inference which is in analogy with its meaning, the following passages, in the last of the epistles just cited, will establish:—

"Hunc stomachum in me concepit (Phallicus) quod in spongia dubitem de Lutheri spiritu: præterea quod scripserim, quosdam sordidos, et impuræ vitæ se jactitare nomine Evangelii."

And a little farther on—

"At tamen quicquid hactenus in me blateravit Phallicus, non minus vane quam virulente, facite condonabitur hominis morbo, modo posthac sumat mores Evangelii præcone dignos."

THOS. H. DYER.

London, Jan. 20. 1851.

Early Culture of the Imagination, (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—The interesting article to which MR. GATTY refers will be found in the Quarterly Review, No. XLI. Sir Walter Scott, in a letter addressed to Edgar Taylor, Esq. (the translator of German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories by M.M. Grimm), dated Edinburgh, 16th Jan. 1823, says—

"There is also a sort of wild fairy interest in them [the Tales] which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the imagination and soften the heart of childhood, than the good-boy stories which have been in later years composed for them. In the latter case, their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks, like their feet at the dancing-school, and the moral always consists in good moral conduct being crowned with temporal success. Truth is, I would not give one tear shed over Little Red Riding-Hood for all the benefit to be derived from a hundred Histories of Jemmy Goodchild.... In a word, I think the selfish tendencies will be soon enough acquired in this arithmetical age; and that, to make the higher class of character, our wild fictions—like our own simple music—will have more effect in awakening the fancy and elevating the disposition, than the colder and more elaborate compositions of modern authors and composers."

F.R.R.

Milnrow Parsonage.

Early Culture of the Imagination (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—MR. ALFRED GATTY will find what he inquires for in the 74th volume of the Quarterly Review, "Children's Books." With the prefatory remarks of that article may be compared No. 151. of the Rambler, "The Climacterics of the Mind."

T.J.

William Chilcot (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—MR. HOOPER is referred to the History of Tiverton, by Lieut. Col. Harding, ed. Boyce, Tiverton; Whittaker, London, 1847, vol. ii., B. III., p. 167., for an account of the family of Chilcot alias Comyn; to which most likely the author belonged, and was probably a native of Tiverton. As MR. HOOPER many not have ready access to the book, I send the substance of an extract. Robert Chilcott alias Comyn, born at Tiverton, com. Devon, merchant, and who died, it is supposed, at Isleworth, com. Middlesex, about A.D. 1609, "married Ann, d. of Walter Cade of London, Haberdasher, by whom he had one son, William, who married Catherine, d. of Thomas Billingsly of London, Merchant, and had issue." Certain lands also in Tiverton, A.D. 1680-90, are described as "now or late of William Comyns alias Chilcott."—Ibid. p. 61.