Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

has the reputation of being the favourite resort of fairies and apparitions of all kinds, in the shapes of men and beasts. After nightfall, few of the peasantry care to cross the fields thereabouts. A curious remnant of the old pagan Celtic superstition and customs is the desire of dying people to have new garments made for them, which in some mysterious way they imagine will prove available in the next world. A very old Irish nurse, shortly before her death, entreated a relative of mine to purchase for her a large blue cloth cloak, such as the peasant women of the west wear on a journey to market, fair, or chapel. My relative, who knew that the woman was bedridden and could not possibly live long, endeavoured to induce her to accept, instead of the superfluous article, money to purchase better nourishment or additional comforts for the remaining days of her life; but nothing would satisfy but the cloak. The dying woman anxiously pleaded her belief that if she died without the garment in question here, she would be without it in the next world. The request was granted, and I rather think the cloak was placed over the winding-sheet in the coffin.

But even when the clothes are not buried with the corpse, they are still supposed to be serviceable to the departed, as the following incident will show: A lady, living in a remote part of the county of Cork, died, and some plain warm dresses of hers were given to a poor woman in the neigh bourhood who was in much need, apparently, of such assistance. She accepted the gifts, but the donor observed after a little time that they were not used, and that the woman was as ill-clad as usual. When asked why she did not wear the clothes which had been given to her, she replied in a deprecating tone of pity,-"Shure the dear lady would be wanting them clothes herself where she was"; and it actually appeared that the dresses were carefully laid aside in their earthly owner's house for the use and benefit of their former owner in another state of existence. So much for the superstitions of the benighted wild Irish.

In fashionable suburbs of London, amidst polite and educated circles, I can truly say I have seen them surpassed. An English lady, wellinformed, intelligent, and displaying on most matters sound judgment and common sense, whom I knew some years ago at the West-end, was a firm believer in fairies, and a subscriber to a monthly magazine entitled The Spiritual Herald (edited by a retired colonel), the pages of which were filled with accounts of visions of sprites, and elves, and spectres. The book had an extensive circulation. The wife of an eminent English judge once showed me a sheet of paper covered with a collection of short prayers to the Blessed Virgin, with an explanation prefixed to each, telling how it had been miraculously dropped from heaven near

sacred localities at Rome and Jerusalem, and promising that any one who wore on his person a copy would be safe from shipwreck, accidents by fire, the bites of venomous reptiles, or a violent death. It was added, that if the paper was placed under the body of a "possessed person,' the "evil spirit would depart." The faith in a relic of St. Francis, displayed by the dying man in Le Récit d'une Sœur, Romanists would endeavour to justify by that text in Scripture which tells of cures wrought by the shadow of Paul falling on the sick, &c. All that is a scriptural controversy, not to be discussed here; but the extraordinary developments of fetish worship I have mentioned are quite another thing. The prayers and explanations were absurd, ungrammatical, and ill-spelt. As far as I know, the lady who showed them to me had no authority to give as to their ever having been known at Rome or Jerusalem, yet she and her educated aristocratic friends wore them with reverential awe, and distributed them amongst their friends.

Extremes meet, and there certainly is a wonderful similarity between the fashionable mob and the real, ignorant, unwashed multitude. HIBERNIA.

THE REV. W. HAZLITT, A.M.: AN ORIGINAL LETTER TO A FRIEND.-It was my good fortune, about a year ago, to meet with a letter written by my great-grandfather in 1814 to his friend Mr. Thomas Ireland, of Wem, Salop. It is the only thing of the kind, so far as I know, in existence; as the letters, which were in the possession of the family, written by Mr. Hazlitt to his more famous son, the critic and essayist, were allowed to go to the printer many years ago and were lost:

"Dear Sir,

"Three weeks of my brittle life passed away last Saturday since I received your friendly epistle. May God assist me so to spend the remainder of it, that death will be to me a passage to a new and eternally happy life. I should have written to you sooner, if I had supposed that you wished me to do so. I now thank you for your favour, and for your kindness in forwarding to me a letter from one of my old friends in America. I thank you also for the potatoes, though I never received them, as you did not direct them according to my desire to my son William's.* John being at Manchester, his servant, thinking them probably for the use of the family, I presume made use of them. We were all pleased to hear from you that all our former friends were well. We continue here in much the same state in which we were, when I wrote to you last. Your having been at London lately, and not calling upon us here, was a disappointment to us. When you arrive there again, I hope that you will find or make time to gratify us. I should not be sorry if the inquisitor Ferdinand was once more in his old prison in France, and that any other person was * In York Street, Westminster.

John Hazlitt, the miniature-painter, who lived in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury.

King of Spain who has any justice and humanity.
Having nothing of consequence to communicate, I only
add, that we all unite in friendly respects to all your
family, and to all those whose remembrances you trans-
mitted to me, besides J. Cooke of Nonelly and Mrs. Keay.
I remain, my dear friend, most affectionately yours,
66 W. HAZLITT."

"Addlestone, 9th August, 1814.

[Endorsed]

"Mr Thos Ireland,

Wem,

Shropshire."

W. CAREW HAZLITT.

MANX LINES ON MANX FAIRY STEAMER.-On August 31, 1853, the Manx Fairy steam-packet of the port of Ramsey made her first trip from the port of Liverpool to Ramsey, beating the Mona's Queen to Douglas by eleven minutes; and on the following morning, September 1, 1853, the Manx Fairy departed from Ramsey harbour for Liverpool port.

On the occasion of the Fairy's first trip, some Manx lines were printed with an English translation, and a man was singing them ballad-fashion, when feeling a little curiosity, I gratified it by obtaining a copy, a transcript of which I annex, Manx and English; and should your pages not be better occupied, perhaps you will accord space

for insertion thereof.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Zirif. So rises day blushing at night's deformitie;
And so the pretty flowers blubber'd with dew,
And over washt with raine, hang downe their heads."
W. CAREW HAZLITT.

dral is the tomb of Berengaria of Sicily, queen
of Richard I., which was brought from the Abbey
of Epan, and is still in fair preservation, at least
so far as the figure is concerned. The base of
the tomb is ornamented with quatrefoil-shaped
tracery, and the effigy is mounted upon a block of
black marble, bearing this inscription: -

BERENGARIA OF SICILY. -In Le Mans Cathe

"Mausoleum istud serenissimæ Berengariæ Anglorum Reginæ hujus coenobii fundatricis inclitæ restauratum et in augustiorem locum hunc translatum fuit, in eoque recondita sunt ossa hæc quæ reperta fuerunt in antiquo tumulo, die 27 Maii anno Domini 1672. Ex Ecclesià Abbatiali de pietate Dei translatum fuit et depositum in Ecclesia Cathedrali die 2 decembris 1821."

On entering the fine old doorway at the end of the south transept, the tomb is seen on the left hand, placed against the wall, near to the corner of the south aisle. The figure, which is large, is crowned and dressed in a long robe fastened with a narrow girdle. In the hands is a block of stone, upon which is carved what appears to be the recumbent effigy of a man. The feet of the queen rest upon a lion and a lamb, the former trampling The entire figure is perhaps larger than the ordinary size of such monuments. G. W. M.

RING POSY.-In Cooper's Life of Lady Arabella Stuart (vol. i. p. 169), I found the following posy (of his own composition) was presented by Ed-upon the latter. ward Seymour to Lady Katherine Grey, on a ring of gold made of five links:

"As circles five by art compact show but one Ring in sight,

So trust uniteth faithfull mindes with knot of secretmight;

Whose force to breake but greedie Death no wight
possesseth power,

As times and sequels well shall prove; my Ring can
say no more!"
W. M. M.

[ocr errors]

MELES. Although I am not confident, I am inclined to suggest that the Georgian milia water-channel or canal, may be the source from which the name of the Meles is derived. Smyrna was an acknowleged Amazonian city, and the lower course of the Meles in the plain may be compared to a water-channel or irrigating canal.

I consider the present Smyrna, or rather Mount Pagus, as the true Smyrna. HYDE CLARKE. 32, St. George's Square.

A COLLECT AND LORD'S PRAYER BEFORE SERMON.- Herrick, in his Noble Numbers, seems to refer to this unauthorised practice in a short poem headed

"THE NUMBER OF TWO.

"God hates the duall number; being known
The lucklesse number of division;

And when He blest each sev'rall day whereon
He did His curious operation;

'Tis never read there, as the Fathers say,
God blest His work done on the second day;
Wherefore two prayers ought not to be said,
Or by ourselves, or from the pulpit read."
The Poetical Works of Robert Herrick, p. 570.
W. H. S.

Yaxley.

Aueries.

FRENCH ALPHABET:

TREASURE OF THE FRENCH TONGUE, 1592-1647. I have a small volume bearing on the first the following title: —

page

"The French Alphabet, Teaching in a very short time, by a most easie way, to pronounce French naturally, to read it perfectly, to write it truly, and to speak it accordingly. Together with the Treasure of the French Tongue, containing the rarest Sentences, Proverbs, Parables, Similies, Apothegmes, and Golden Sayings of the most excellent French Authours, as well Poets as Orators. The one diligently compiled, and the other painfully gathered and set in order, after the Alphabeticall manner, for the benefit of those that are desirous of the French Tongue. By G. D. L. M. N. London: Printed by A. Miller, and are to be sold by Tho. Vnderhill at the Bible in Woodstreet, 1647."

Then follows an ""A Tres-Illvstre, "Epistre," et Tres-Heroiqve Le Sieur Henry Walloppe Chevalier & Tresorier General de sa Serenissime

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Majesté en Irelande," dated "De Londres ce 11 de Aoust, 1592," and signed "G. Delamothe N.," succeeded by an Anagramme," a "Quatrain," and a "Sonnet Acrostiche on Henry Walloppe" by the said "G. Delamothe N." Then "An Epistle to the Reader, Warning him of the Method that he ought to keep in learning the French tongue," "A Table of the things contained in this Book;" and, after 159 pages of English and French devoted to the exposition of "The French Alphabet," a second title-page as follows:

"The Treasvre of the French Tongve, containing the rarest Sentences, Proverbs, Similies, Apothegmes, and Golden Sayings, of the most excellent French Authors, as well Poets as Oratours. Diligently gathered, and faithfully set in order after the Alphabeticall manner, for those that are desirous of the French Tongue. By G. D. L. M. N. London: Printed by Abraham Miller, 1647," followed by an "Epistre," "A Tres-Noble et Tres-Vertvevse Damoiselle Madamoiselle Fasbvrga," dated "De Londres ce 11 d'Aoust, 1592,"

and signed "G. De la Mothe N.," this portion being brought to a close after fifty-nine pages of English and French displaying "The Treasvre of the French Tongve."

I now proceed with a few notes and queries on the said dual volume.

1. Note. On each title-page is 1647, and each "Epistre" is dated 1592.—Query. How can the fifty-five years be explained, seeing that the edition appears to be the first?

2. Note. "G. D. L. M. N.” is partly solved by the subscriptions to the "Epistres."-Query. What would be the extension of the N. ?

3. Note. On the third page of the "Epistle to the Reader" he advises him to know if certain letters or syllables "must be sounded after the English fashion or no," and "why pronounced or not."-Query. As the no implies dubiousness, and the not certainty, will this difference account for the complaint of "M. A. B." on p. 112, antè (4th S. ii.)?

4. Note. There were then but twenty-two letters in the French tongue, nor was there the semicolon punctuation, nor the letter k.-Query. When was the semicolon adopted? and when did letter k obtain a place not only in the French alphabet but many other European alphabets ?

5. Note. On p. 142 of the " Alphabet," the tailor says, "Trust to me. Where is your stuffe? Will you see them cut before you? -Query. Was it customary in those days for tailors to measure and cut out on the spot?

6. Note. On p. 146 of the "Alphabet," the barber asks, "Shall I make cleane your eares? Will you have your face and neck washed ?"-Query. Was it customary for barbers to clean ears and wash faces and necks in those days?

7. Note. On p. 24 of the "Treasure " occurs, "The thing seldom seen is accounted dear"="La chose guere veve est chere tenue," on p. 29.-— Query. Was this the origin of the saying "Though lost to sight, to memory dear"? (See 4th S. i. 77, 161.)

occurs

8. Note. On p. 32 of the "Treasure "The Lord of heaven hath at his gate two great tuns, from whence doth raine all that brings to men the cause, both of their joy and also pain."Query. Is the same idea used and explained elsewhere ?

9. Note. On p. 40 of the "Treasure" is found "We ought to love those better that be beholding to us, then those to whom we be beholding." -Query. Can any other instance be adduced of the active participle beholding being used for the passive form beholden?

[ocr errors]

10. Note. On p. 54 of the "Treasure is this sentence: "The more saffron is trodden under foot the better it is."-Query. Why? and what is the application of the saying?

11. Query. As the finis French page 59, contain

[blocks in formation]

ANTIQUITIES OF HYTHE. During a short run round to Saltwood and Lympne, in this neighbourhood, I was much struck with the appearance of a large block of stone which stands in Hythe, at the corner of Chapel Street, adjoining Bartholomew's Hospital. It has been used as a "mounting block" for equestrians; but cannot, as I think, have been originally placed, or even left there, for that purpose. It has occurred to me to inquire whether this was ever a Roman milestone ? One authority, now before me, states that Hythe stood "at the end of Stone Street." I am unwilling to rely upon this assertion, without confirmation, because Hythe is not in the straight line from Lympne to Canterbury; but if the statement be true, then Hythe must certainly at one time have had its milliarium. Perhaps some experienced archæologist will explain it further: with this hope I will just add that, if known, or thought to be such, care should be taken for its preservation, as in that case it may prove to be one of the most interesting objects of antiquity in these islands.

Let your readers pardon the following digression. Vortimer is said to have defeated Hengist 66 near the stone on the shore of the Gallic Sea "

(Gallicum fretum). I am not aware that anybody really knows what this stone was, or where it was situated. Some say at Stonar, near Sandwich; again, there is Stone close to the sea-bank, in Oxney Isle, between Rye and Appledore.

Places in England now bearing the name of Stone in any form have most generally derived it from their situation somewhere on one of the old lines of Roman road; and this analogy might sufficiently account for the origin of the names of the two places above-mentioned, without necessarily implying a reference to any particular stone, such as the one in question "on the shore of the Gallic Sea."

The stone now alluded to, in the modern streets of Hythe, must have been at one time very close upon the sea-shore, which has here receded for nearly a mile. Could this have been the spot where Cæsar's standard-bearer, leaping from the galley, carried his victorious eagle ashore? Such stones are interesting monuments anywhere, and we have not too many of them: there is one milliarium at Leicester; another, called London Stone, in Cannon Street, City; a similar block is to be seen in Westminster Abbey, called the Royal Stone of Scone; another very peculiar one, called the Treaty Stone, outside the city of Limerick.

Circumstances that induce me to call attention to this one in particular, are:-1. That Hythe may have been Cæsar's landing-place, and so commemorated, though the connection has been lost to history. 2. The huge hecatomb of skulls and bones now in the crypt of Hythe church may have been the relics of this sanguinary conflict alluded to between Vortimer and Hengist "on the shore of the Gallic Sea." A. H.

Folkestone.

"ADVICE TO A YOUNG OXONIAN."-A commonplace book, made up apparently about the end of the last century, contains the following lines: "Jason, on state affairs, seeks Corinth's shores, And in a wig the Hellespont explores. Creusa's skirts his fickle heart engage, And with a fan Medea vents her rage. His father's 'decent' ghost calm Hamlet hears, And o'er a teapot sheds his filial tears; The prostrate monarch, sunk in grief and shame, Mingles his tears with puns upon his name; In tedious rant bids towns, ponds, brooks farewell, And says he'll finish his discourse in hell. While his companions, mourning o'er their chief, Decline a substantive in sign of grief. The words are good: mind these, but do not flatter The classic coxcomb, nor applaud his matter."

Advice to a Young Oxonian.

[blocks in formation]

brated comic poet, that the best thing to be done with "It was a favourite saying of Aristophanes, the celethe lion's consort was to let her suckle her own whelps." Wellington Journal, Sept. 19, 1868.

A reference to the passage will oblige E. B.

BONDMAN.-Mr. Riley, in his excellent Memorials of London and London Life, A.D. 1276-1419, states at p. 23, note 6, that the nativus of Early England was a man "born in bondage; the 'bondman' being so by contract; and the villein' being bound to service, as belonging to the land." Can any reader of "N. & Q." give me any authority for the above distinction between the bondman and the nativus "or born bondman," as Mr. Riley translates it? I have applied to Mr. Riley for one in vain, and never having seen one myself, I desire further information. Can any reader also give me any information about English bondmen after Fitzherbert's time-say 1520-3 A.D.? F. J. FURNIVALL.

3, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.

[blocks in formation]

THE DUNLOPS OF GARNKIRK, NEAR GLASGOW. This old Lanarkshire family is now extinct in the direct male line in this country. The last two lairds in succession were father and son, and both were named James Dunlop. The father died in 1719; the son was born in 1697, and died at Garnkirk on August 3, 1769. The father appears to have been married twice; his first wife was named Lillias Campbell. She died August 1, 1709. It is believed that his second wife was Mary Douglas, widow of John Hunter, merchant, and collector of cess in Edinburgh.

The son was three times married. One of his wives is supposed to have been of the family of Maxwell of Southbar, Renfrewshire; another, of the Boyles of Shewalton, in Ayrshire; and a third, a daughter of Hamilton of Cochno, Dumbarton

shire. But there is no authentic information whether these really were the names of the second wife of James Dunlop the father, or of the three wives of James Dunlop the son.

Would any correspondent of "N. & Q." be so kind as to elucidate all or any of these points, and give the real names of any of the wives, with the dates of the marriages, and deaths of the ladies? It would also be obliging if it can be stated who were the parents of the Mary Douglas referred to, who was the widow of John Hunter before mentioned. One of the wives of James Dunlop of Garnkirk, the son, died on or about April 17, 1759, but her maiden name is uncertain.

she?

Who was X. Y. Z.

BADGE OF AN ESQUIRE. - Gerard Leigh, in his Accidence of Armorie, p. 205, prints an engraving of a "sagittary geules, within an escalop argent,' and states that "this is the badge of an esquire of England." Is this a mere fond invention of Master Gerard, or was this badge once used to mark the rank of an esquire, as the bloody hand is now used to indicate that of a baronet ?

CORNUB.

GODWIN FAMILY. In the marriages in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1757 is the following:[These commendatory lines on Buchanan are by Charles Utenhove, a learned person patronised by our Queen Elizabeth. He died at Cologne in 1600.-ED.]

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

OLD ENGLISH HEDGES.-Examining the old hedges which, in spite of so-called "agricultural improvement," still exist to charm the eye of the artist and the lover of rural scenery-such as may be found in the Weald of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex-I have been struck with the great variety of trees and shrubs composing them. For many years past quickset is the only thing one has ever seen planted for a field hedge. Holly, yew, privet, &c., are used for gardens and shrubberies, but each kind is always planted separately. In an old hedge, such as I have alluded to, one may see on the same bank oak, elm, beech, maple, hazel, holly, ash, elder, blackthorn, whitethorn, dog-rose, and even more varieties. To have raised all these from cuttings, or from seed, must have required an amount of fencing and care such as one is apt to fancy would not have been bestowed on the formation of a hedge in old English times. Does any early work on husbandry describe the with the fact of many of our hedges being of manner of forming field hedges? I was impressed very old date when looking over the other day a beautiful MS. minutely describing a large manor in Essex. The volume contains carefully drawn and tinted maps of each farm, and in most cases their hedges are traced precisely as they exist at the present day. The survey is dated 1592.

Tusser, in his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, has the following under " February." By kernel he probably means hazel-nut; but to raise the bramble from its seed is what one would hardly have expected :—

"11. Buy quick set at market, new gather'd and small,
Buy bushes or willow, to fence it withal;
Set willows to grow, instead of a stake,
For cattle in summer a shadow to make.
"13. Now sow, and go harrow (where ridge ye did
draw),

The seed of the bramble, with kernel and haw;
Which covered evenly, sun to shut out,
Go see it be ditched, and fenced about."

[blocks in formation]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »