Notes and Queries, Number 67, February 8, 1851

"Spare my blushes—I am Delia."Hermes.

P. S. Can Mr. Dousa fix a positive date to my undated History of Dr. John Faustus?

Landwade Church.—It appears to me that an important service would be rendered to posterity, if a full account were taken of all the monuments and inscriptions in such deserted churches as Landwade appears to be. Such records may ere long become invaluable, and every day is hastening them to oblivion. Already hundreds of such churches, with the several monuments and inscriptions they contained, have entirely passed away. I have been making some investigation into the demolished and desecrated churches of Buckinghamshire, and am astonished at the number of monumental records which have thus perished. Thirty-one churches at least have been lost to the county, and some of them were rich in monumental memorials.

Other counties, doubtless, have equally suffered. Would it not, therefore, be well to collect accounts of the memorials they contained, so far as they can be obtained, and have them recorded in some publication, that they may be available to future historians, genealogists, and antiquaries? Is there any existing periodical suitable for the purpose?

W. Hastings Kelke.

The First Edition of the Second Book of Homilies, by Queen Elizabeth in 1563.—In the edition of the Homilies at the Oxford University press in 1822, and which from inspection, in the portion concerned, appear to be the same in the last, I find in the Advertisement, page iv. note d., that there exist four editions of the date 1563. Of these, I presume, are two in my possession, and I conclude one of them to be the first edition on the following grounds:—That one, printed by Richard Jugge and John Cawood, 1563, has in the last page and a half, "Faultes escaped in the printyng," which appear to have been corrected in all the subsequent editions, and are as they stand in the subsequent and modern editions, I presume, up to the present time. But the principal proof arises from a cancelled leaf in the Homily, "Of Common Prayer and Sacraments," as it stands in the Oxford edition of 1822, p. 329-331. The passage in question, as it there stands, and stands likewise in another edition of 1563, which I have, begins within three lines of the end of the paragraph, p. 329.,—"eth, that common or public prayer," &c., and ends at p. 331. line 13.,—"ment of baptism and the Lord's supper," &c. In my presumed first edition the original passage has been dismissed, and the substituted passage, being one leaf, in a smaller type, in order plainly to contain more matter, and it is that which appears, as I suppose, in all subsequent and the present copies. It would have been a matter of some curiosity, and perhaps of some importance, to have the original cancelled passage. But every intelligent reader will perceive that the subject was one which required both delicacy and judgment. Is any copy existing which has the original passage? My copy unfortunately is imperfect, wanting three leaves; and I apprehend this is an additional instance in which the first edition of an important work has been in a manner thrown aside for its imperfection; as was the case with the real first edition of the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, and the Execution of Justice given to Burghley. As the Oxford editor wished for information upon this subject, it is hoped that the present communication may not be unacceptable to him.

J. M.

Jan. 23. 1851.

Queries

DUTCH TRANSLATION OF A TRACT BY ROBERT GREENE

I was thinking of sending you a note or two on an early Dutch translation of a very celebrated English tract when your last number came to hand, by which I find that so much interest has been produced by "Notes and Queries" in Holland, that certain literati are about to establish a similar work in that country. If I mistake not, what I now transmit will be acceptable to your Batavian friends, and not unwelcome to those who approve of your undertaking on this side of the water.

A good deal has been advanced lately regarding the interest taken by the inhabitants of Holland, Belgium, and Germany, in our ancient drama; and in consistency with what was said by Thomas Heywood more than 200 years ago, some new information has been supplied respecting the encouragement given to English players abroad. The fact itself was well-known, and the author last cited (Shakspeare Society's reprint of the Apology for Actors, 1841, p. 58.) furnishes the name of the very play performed on one occasion at Amsterdam. The popularity of our drama there perhaps contributed to the popularity of our lighter literature, (especially of such as came from the pens of our most notorious playwrights,) in the same part of Europe, and may account for the circumstance I am about to mention.

At this time of day I need hardly allude to the reputation the celebrated Robert Greene obtained in England, both as a dramatist and a pamphleteer; and although we have no distinct evidence on the point, we need hardly doubt that some of his plays had been represented with applause in Holland. The Four Sons of Aymon, which Heywood tells us was acted with such strange effect at Amsterdam, must have been a piece of precisely the same kind as Greene's Orlando Furioso, which we know was extraordinarily popular in this kingdom, and may have been equally so abroad. We may thus suppose that Greene's fame had spread to the Netherlands, and that anything written by him would be well received by Batavian readers.

His Quip for an Upstart Courtier, or, a Quaint Dispute between Velvet-breeches and Cloth-breeches, was published in London in 1592, and went through two, if not three, impressions in its first year. It was often reprinted, and editions in 1606, 1615, 1620, 1625, and 1635, have come down to us, besides others that, no doubt, have entirely disappeared. That the fame of this production extended to Holland, I have the proof before me: it is a copy of the tract in Dutch, with the following imprint—"Tot Leyden. By Thomas Basson. M.D.CI." A friend of mine writes me from Rotterdam, that he has a copy, without date, but printed about twenty or five-and-twenty years after mine of 1601, which shows how long the popularity of the tract was maintained; and I have little doubt that mine is not by any means the earliest Dutch impression, if only because the wood-cut of the Courtier and the Countryman (copied with the greatest precision from the London impression of 1592) is much worn and blurred. The title-page runs as follows, and the name of Robert Greene is rendered obvious upon it for the sake of its attraction:—

"Een Seer vermakelick Proces tusschen Fluweele-Broeck ende Laken-Broeck. Waer in verhaldt werdt het misbruyck van de meeste deel der Menschen. Gheshreven int Engelsch door Robert Greene, ende nu int Neder-landtsch overgheset. Wederom oversien."

At the back of this title is printed a short address from the translator to the Edele ende welghesinde Leser, which states little more than that the original had been received from England, and concludes with the subsequent quatrain:—

"Ghemerckt dit Dal vol van ydelheytSoo lachet vrij als Democritus dede:Doch zy gheraeckt met vvat Barmherticheyt:Als Heraclyt, bevveen ons qualen mede."

The spelling and punctuation are the same as in the original, and the body of the tract follows immediately:

"Staende eens smorghens op van eene onrustige nacht rust, ende vindende mijn ghemoet noch wat onstelt, gingh ick wandelen nae de vermacklyche velden, om mijn Gheest wat te vermacken, dan wesende noch in een Melancholijcke humeur, seer eensaem sonder eenighe gheselschap, worde ick seer slaperich: alsoo dat ick droomde. Dat iek een Dal sach wel verceirt, &c."

As few of your readers will have the means of referring to the original English, I quote Greene's opening words from an edition of 1592:—

"It was just at that time when the Cuckoulds quirister began to bewray Aprill, Gentlemen, with his never-changed notes, that I, damped with a melancholy humor, went into the fields to cheere up my wits with the fresh aire: where solitarie seeking to solace my selfe, I fell in a dreame, and in that drowsie slumber I wandered into a vale, &c."

The Dutch version fills thirty-two closely printed pages, and ends with the succeeding literal translation of Greene's last sentence:—

"Tot dese Sententie (aldus by de Ridder ghepronuncieert) alle de omstaende Stemde daer toe, ende klapten in haere handen, ende maeckte een groot geluyde, waer door eck waeker worde, ende schoot uyt mynen Droom, soo stout ick op, ende met een vrolijck ghemoet, gingh ick schryven, al her gene, dat ghy hier ghehoort hebt."

The above is one of the few books I purchased when I was in Holland some thirty years ago; and as I have quoted enough for the purpose of identification, I may conclude with asking some of your Dutch correspondents, whether the tract, in this or in any other edition, is of considerable rarity with them? In England I never saw a copy of it but that in my possession. I may add that every paragraph is separately numbered from 1 to 110, as if the production were one of importance to which more particular reference might be made than even by the pagination.

The Hermit of Holyport.

THE BLACK ROOD OF SCOTLAND

(Vol. ii., pp. 308. 409.)

I am not satisfied with what W. S. G. has written on this subject; and as I feel interested in it, perhaps I cannot bring out my doubts better than in the following Queries.

1. Instead of this famous cross being destined by St. Margaret for Dunfermline, was it not transmitted by her as an heir-loom to her sons? Fordun, lib. v. cap. lv. "Quasi munus hæreditarium transmisit ad filios." Hailes (Annals, sub anno 1093) distinguishes the cross which Margaret gifted to Dunfermline from the Black Rood of Scotland; and it is found in the possession of her son David I., in his last illness. He died at Carlisle, 24th May, 1153. (Fordun, ut supra.)

2. Is not W. S. G. mistaken when, in speaking of this cross being seized by Edward I. in the Castle of Edinburgh in 1292, he says it is in a list of muniments, &c., found "in quadam cista in dormitorio S. Crucis." instead of in a list following, "et in thesauria castri de Edinburgh inventa fuerunt ornamenta subscripta?" (Ayloffe's Calendars, p. 827.; Robertson's Index, Introd. xiii.)

3. When W. S. G. says that this cross was not held in the same superstitious reverence as the Black Stone of Scone, and that Miss Strickland is mistaken when she says that it was seized by King Edward, and restored at the peace of 1327, what does he make of the following authorities?—

(1.) Fordun, lib. v, cap. xvii:

"Illa sancta crux quam nigram vocant omni genti Scotorum non minus terribilem quam amabilem pro suæ reverentia sanctitatis."

(2.) Letters to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, occassioned by some Passages in his late Book of the Scotch Library, &c., ascribed to the historian Rymer: London, 1702. From a "notable piece of Church history," appended to the second Letter, it appears that the Black Rood accompanied King Edward in his progresses, along with a famous English cross—the Cross Nigth,—and that he received on these two crosses the homage of several of the Scottish magnates. (The same thing, I have no doubt, will appear from the Fœdera of the same historian, which I have it not in my power to refer to.)

(3.) Chronicon de Lanercost, printed by the Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1839, p. 283. Alluding to the pacification of 1327:

"Reddidit etiam eis partem crucis Christi quam vocant Scotti Blakerode, et similiter unam instrumentum.... Ragman vocabatur. Lapidem tamen de Scone, in quo solent regis Scotiæ apud Scone in creatione sua collocari, Londonensis noluerunt a se demittere quoquomodo. Omnia autem hæc asportari fecerat de Scotia inclytus rex Edwardus filius Henrici, dum Scottos suæ subjiceret ditioni."

Fabian and Holinshed report the same thing.

4. Is not Fordun quoting from Turgot and Aelred (whom he names Baldredus) when he speaks of "illa sancta crux quam nigram vocant?" And how does the description of the Durham cross,—

"Which rood and pictures were all three very richly wrought in silver, and were all smoked black over, being large pictures of a yard or five quarters long," &c. &c.,—

agree with the description of the Black Rood of St. Margaret which, as Lord Hailes says, "was of gold, about the length of a palm; the figure of ebony, studded and inlaid with gold. A piece of the true cross was enclosed in it"?

5. As to the cross "miraculously received by David I., and in honour of which he founded Holyrood Abbey in 1128," and which some antiquaries (see A Brief Account of Durham Cathedral; Newcastle, 1833, p. 46.) gravely assert was to be seen "in the south aisle of the choir of Durham Cathedral at its eastern termination, in front of a wooden screen richly gilt and decorated with stars and other ornaments," are not all agreed that the story is a mere monkish legend, invented long after Holyrood was founded (although, perhaps, not so recent as Lord Hailes supposed)? and is it not, therefore, absurd to speak of such a cross being taken at the battle of Durham, or to identify it with the Black Rood of Scotland?

6. The quotation of W. S. G. from the MS. Dunelm is curious; but is there any contemporary authority for the Black Rood having been taken with King David at the battle of Durham? I can find none.

7. Is it not, however, probable that King David lost two crosses at Durham, one a military cross, carried with his army, and taken from the Abbey of Holyrood; and the other the famous Black Rood found on his person, and made an offering to the shrine of St. Cuthbert? This would reconcile some apparent discrepancies.

8. I find it noticed by Richardson in his Table Book (Newcastle, 1846, vol. i. p. 123.), that "there is a letter in the British Museum (Faustina, A 6. 47.) from the prior of Durham to the Bishop (then absent), giving an account of the battle of Neville's cross." Has this letter been printed, and where? If not so, will any of your correspondents have the kindness to examine it, and say if it gives any information as to a cross or crosses captured with the King of Scots?

J. D. N. N.

Minor Queries

The "Tanthony."—When the porteress at the principal entrance to Kimbolton Park opens the gates for the admission of a visitor, she rings a bell to give warning to the servants at the castle of his approach. This bell is popularly called the "Tanthony," in reference, I presume, to some legend of Saint Anthony. Will one of your readers be good enough to enlighten me?

Arun.

"Beauty Retire."—Will the noble editor of Pepys's Diary permit me to ask him whether he has seen, in the Pepysian library, or elsewhere, a copy, either in print or MS., of Pepys's song, "Beauty Retire," words and music; or is it to be found in any miscellaneous collection of songs?

I. H. M.

The Soul's Dark Cottage.—Being called on to reply to matters as plain as those to which I replied last week, I am less reluctant to acknowledge my own ignorance or obliviousness, respecting a couplet of which, I doubt not, hundreds of your readers know the original habitat, but which cannot be recalled to my own memory, nor to that of several friends to whom I have referred. The couplet is—

"The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,Lets in new light through chinks that time hath made."Effaress.

London, Jan. 4, 1851.

"Small by degrees and beautifully less."—This is a very common quotation, but, although I have made frequent inquiries, I have never yet been able to find out the author of it. Perhaps some of your readers can inform me.

W. H. B.

Musical Plagiarism.—I think I remember to have heard, two or three years ago, of an action for damages brought against an eminent composer, on account of plagiarism in a musical composition; and that the defendant's argument was founded on the fact, that there exist very few really "original compositions," if originality excludes every form of plagiarism. And he adduced as examples the "See the conquering hero," of Handel; and the "Zitti Zitti," of Rossini. Can any of your readers refer me to the minutes of this trial; and tell me if any book has been published in criticism of the originality of composers?

R. M.

Simon Bache.—In the parish church of Knebworth, Herts, is the brass of a priest, with the following inscription:—

"Hic jacet Dominus Simo Bache, Clericus, quondam Thesaurarius Hospitii illustrissimi Principis Domini Henrici Quinti Regis Angliæ, ac Canonic. Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Sancti Paulli, London; qui obiit xix. die Maii. Anno Dom. nostr. 1414."

Can any of your readers inform me what this office of Thesaurarius Hospitii was; also, who Simon Bache was that held it; and how it happens that he is buried at Knebworth?

A. W. H.

Sir Walter Raleigh.—In speaking of the difficulty which exists in obtaining a perfect knowledge of any event, reference is often made to Sir Walter Raleigh having witnessed an occurrence, while confined in the Tower, and that two witnesses gave such a different account from each other as well as from himself, that he threw his MS. history into the fire. In what contemporary work is this recorded?

A similar discrepancy in evidence is mentioned with reference to the celebrated tourney at Tiani, in 1502, in Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. iii. p. 45.

H. J.

Harrison's Chronology.—William Harrison, a native of London, chaplain to Sir William Brooke, Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, composed a Description of Britain and of England; and likewise translated Hector Boethius's Description of Scotland, from the Scottish version of John Bellenden. Both these pieces are printed in Holinshed's Chronicles, 2 vols. fol. 1587. In the prefaces Harrison speaks of a work on Chronology, "which I have yet in hand." Has that work ever been printed? I discovered the manuscript of it last year, in the Diocesan Library of Derry, in Ireland; but did not ascertain who was its author (though it bears the name of Harrison), until a few days ago.

H. Cotton.

Thurles, Ireland, Dec. 21. 1850.

Aristophanes on the Modern Stage.—Can any of your valuable correspondents inform me whether any of the plays of Aristophanes have been produced upon the stage in a modern version; and if so, when, and by whom?

I am inclined to think that some at least of the comedies in the hands of a skilful author might be made entertaining and popular.

The Acharnians and Peace, or perhaps even the Birds, might form the groundwork of an amusing piece. Should you be able to spare a corner in your valuable periodical for this Query, you would greatly oblige

C. J. R. (2.)

Burton Crescent.

Drachmarus.—Can any of your readers kindly inform me, under what name "Drachmarus," one of the Schoolmen, is commonly known?

J. Sansom.

Strutt's Queen Hoo Hall.—Some years back I purchased of a son of the late Joseph Strutt, a copy of Queen Hoo Hall, containing manuscript memoranda by that son relating to his father and to Walter Scott. Amongst other matters it states, that the original manuscript of that romance was submitted to Mr. Scott before it was published, and that he retained it a long time before he published his Waverley Novels. Mr. Strutt, jun., accuses him of taking hints and facts from his parent's work. He also stated that the story of the Illuminator in Queen Hoo Hall is mainly an account of the life of his father. The three volumes I gave to my friend and patron, Mr. John Broadly, whose very fine and choice library was sold by auction after his death, with the copy of the work referred to. I am desirous of ascertaining in whose possession these volumes are? I have a beautiful miniature portrait of Joseph Strutt.

J. Britton.

17. Burton Street, Jan. 21. 1851.

Cardinal's Monument.—Passing into the church of St. Saviour, Southwark, yesterday by the centre door on the south, I observed on a pillar to the right, a sculpture of a cardinal's hat with the usual cord and tassels properly coloured, beneath which was a coat of arms, quartering alternately three lions and three fleur-de-lis. There is no name or date upon it. It would be interesting to know to whom it refers.

J. D. A.

Names Bacon and Fagan.—The very curious and interesting information which has come to light in the replies to my Query about the origin of the patronymic Bacon, emboldens me to put another question upon the subject.

I have long suspected, but have been unable to prove, that the names Bacon and Fagan were originally one and the same. Bacon, it appears, is a Saxon word, meaning "of the beech tree." Fagan, I presume, is as undoubtedly from the Latin "de fago," "of the beech tree."

The approximation of sound in these names is sufficiently evident. That the letters C and G have been commonly convertible between the Latin and Saxon is without doubt. Query: Have B and F been at all used convertibly? Or can any of your readers, by any other means, strengthen the probability, or prove the truth, of my conjecture?

Nocab.

Blunder.—What is the origin of this word? In Woolston's First Discourse on Miracles (Lond. 1729), at p 28., I find this passage:—

"In another place he intimates what are meant by oxen and sheep, viz., the literal sense of the Scriptures. And if the literal sense be irrational and nonsensical, the metaphor we must allow to be proper, inasmuch as nowadays dull and foolish and absurd stuff we call Bulls, Fatlings, and Blunders."

This would seem to imply that in Woolston's days blunder was the name of some animal; but in no dictionary have I been able to find such a signification attributed to it. The Germans use the words bock and pudel in the same sense as our word blunder.

C. W. G.

Prince of Wales' Feathers.—The establishment of "De Navorscher" is a matter of great importance to all students of our early history, and the liberal mention of its projectors, to bring under the notice of their countrymen all Queries likely to be answered by them, is one calculated to clear up many obscure points in our early history. Sir H. Nicolas concludes his valuable papers on the Badge and Mottoes of the Prince of Wales (Archæologia, vol. xxxi. p. 372.) by expressing his belief that both the former, namely, the Feathers, and the mottoes, "Ich Dien" and "Houmout," were derived from the House of Hainault, possibly from the Comté of Ostrevant, which formed the appanage of the eldest sons of the Counts of that province. Perhaps I may be allowed, through your columns, to invite the attention of the correspondents of "De Navorscher" to this point.

Effessa.

Portrait of Ben Jonson.—Ritson, the well-known antiquary, possessed an original painting of Ben Jonson. It was afterwards purchased by W. Fillingham, Esq., of the Inner Temple, a gentleman well known for his love of the early drama; and whilst in his possession it was engraved by Ridley in 8vo. What has become of the painting? Can any of your readers point out its locality at the present time?

Edward F. Rimbault.

Robert Burton, otherwise Democritus Junior, the author of that glorious book The Anatomy of Melancholy, is stated by Wood to have been born at Lindley, in Leicestershire. Plot, however, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, 1686, p.276., gives the place of his birth, Fald, in the latter county; and, furthermore, says he was shown the very house of his nativity. Can any of your correspondents throw any light upon this subject?

Edward F. Rimbault.

Blowen, Origin of the Name.—You have fallen into a very general error in spelling my name (pp. 71. 76.) with the terminal r, "Blower," instead of "Blowen." Perhaps some one of your genealogical readers can inform me of the origin and descendants of the family with this scarce name, thus spelt, "Blowen." Are we a branch of the Blowers (as you appear to think we must be), that useful family of alarmists, whose services in early times were so necessary? or are we the descendants of the Flanders "Boleyns," Anglicanized "Bloyen?"