Notes and Queries, Number 59, December 14, 1850 by Various
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Various >> Notes and Queries, Number 59, December 14, 1850
{473} NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 59.]
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14. 1850.
[Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
The First Paper-mill in England, by Dr. E.F. Rimbault 473
Specimens of Foreign English 474
Folk Lore:--May-dew--Piskies--The Dun Cow--
Lady Godiva--"Can du plera meleor cera" 474
Minor Notes--Circulation of the Blood--Origin of
the Word "Culprit"--Collar of SS.--The Singing of
Swans--Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs--Portraits
of Stevens and Cotton and Bunyan--Sonnet: Attempting
to prove that Black is White--Nicholas
Bretons Fantasticks 475
QUERIES:--
The Wise Men of Gotham 476
Herstmonceux Castle 477
Minor Queries:--Yorkshire Ballads--Ringing a Hand-bell
before a Corpse--Church of St. Savior, Canterbury--
Mock Beggar's Hall--Beatrix Lady Talbot--
English Prize Essays--Rev. Joseph Blanco White--
History of the Inquisition--Lady Deloraine--Speke
Family--Pope's Villa--Armorial Bearings--Passage
From Tennyson--Meaning of "Sauenap"--Hoods
worn by Doctors of the University of Cambridge--
Euclid and Aristotle--Ventriloquism--Fanningus,
the King's Whisperer--Frances Lady Norton--
Westminster Wedding--Stone's Diary--Dr. King's
poem of "The Toast"--"Anima Magis" etc.--The
Adventures of Peter Wilkins--Translations of the
Talmud--Torn by Horses--The Marks *, [obelus], &c.
--Blackguard 478
REPLIES:--
Church History Society, by S.R. Maitland 480
Defender of the Faith, by W.S. Gibson 481
Meaning of Jezebel 482
Socinian Boast, by J.R. Beard 483
Replies to Minor Queries:--The Koenig stuhl at Rheuze
--Mrs. Tempest--Calendar of Sundays in Greek and
Romish Churches--The Conquest--Thruscross--
Osnaburgh Bishopric--Nicholas Ferrar--Butcher's
Blue Dress--Chaucer's Portrait by Occleve--Lady
Jane of Westmoreland--Gray and Dodsley 484
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 485
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 486
Notices to Correspondents 486
Advertisements 486
* * * * *
NOTES.
THE FIRST PAPER-MILL IN ENGLAND.
In the year 1588, a paper-mill was established at Dartford, in Kent, by
John Spilman, "jeweller to the Queen." The particulars of this mill are
recorded in a poem by Thomas Churchyard, published shortly after its
foundation, under the following title:--
"A description and playne discourse of paper, and the whole benefits that
paper brings, with rehearsall, and setting foorth in verse a paper-myll
built near Darthforth, by an high Germaine, called Master Spilman, jeweller
to the Queene's Majyestie."
The writer says:
"(Then) he that made for us a paper-mill,
Is worthy well of love and worldes good will,
And though his name be _Spill-man_, by degree,
Yet _Help_-man now, he shall be called by mee.
Six hundred men are set at work by him,
That else might starve, or seeke abroade their bread;
Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,
And who may boast _they_ are with paper fed."
In another part of the poem Churchyard adds:
"An high Germaine he is, as may be proovde,
In Lyndoam Bodenze, borne and bred,
And for this mille, may heere be truly lovde,
And praysed, too, for deep device of head."
It is a common idea that this was the first paper-mill erected in England;
and we find an intelligent modern writer, Mr. J.S. Burn, in his _History of
the Foreign Refugees_, repeating the same erroneous statement. At page 262,
of his curious and interesting work be says:
"The county of Kent has been long famed for its manufacture of paper.
It was at Dartford, in this county, that paper was _first made_ in
England."
But it is proved beyond all possibility of doubt that a paper-mill existed
in England almost a century before the date of the establishment at
Dartford. In Henry VII.'s _Household Book_, we have the following:--
"1498. For a rewarde geven at the pulper-mylne, 16s. 8d."
Again:--
"1499. Geven in rewarde to Tate of the Mylne, 6s. 8d."
And in _Bartholomeus de Proprietatibus Rerum_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde
in 1495, mention is made of a paper-mill near Stevenage, in the county of
Hertford, belonging to JOHN TATE the younger, which was undoubtedly the
"mylne" visited by Henry VII.
The water-mark used by John Tate was an eight-pointed star within a double
circle. In the {474} twelfth volume of the _Archaeeologia_, p. 114., is a
variety of fac-similes of water-marks used by our early paper makers,
exhibited in five large plates, but is not a little singular that the mark
of John Tate is omitted.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
SPECIMENS OF FOREIGN ENGLISH.
The accompanying specimens of foreign English you may perhaps consider
worth a corner among the minor curiosities of literature:--
_Basle._--
"Bains ordinaires et artificiels, tenu par B. Sigemund, Dr. in
medicine, Basle. In this new erected establishment, which the Owner
recommends best to all foreigners are to have,--Ordinary and artful
baths, russia and sulphury bagnios, pumpings, artful mineral waters,
gauze lemonads, fournished apartments for patients."
_Cologne._ Title-page in lithograph.
"_Remembrance on the Cathedral of Cologne._--A collection of his most
remarkable monumens, so as of the most artful ornamous and precious
hilts of his renaconed tresory. Draconed and lithographed by Gerhardt
Levy Elkan and Hallersch, collected by Gerhd. Emans."
_Augsburg_, Drei Mohren Hotel. Entry in travellers' book.
"January 28. 1815.--His Grace Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, &c.
&c. &c. Great honour arrived at the beginning of this year to the three
Moors: this illustrious warrior, whose glorious atchievements, which,
cradled in Asia, have filled Europe with his renown, descended in it."
_Mount Etna._ Printed notice found attached to the wall of one of the rooms
in the Casa degl' Inglesi, Mount Etna, October, 1844:
"In consequence of the damage suffered in the house called English set
on the Etna for the reprehensible conduct of some persons there
recovered, the following provisional regulations are prescribed,
authorized, and granted to M. Gemmellaro[1], who has the key of the
mentioned house for his labour, honour, and money spent to finish such
edifice, besides his kind reception for travellers curious to visit the
mountain.
I. Any person desirous to get the key of the house is requested to
apply to M.G., and in case of his absence, to ... signing his name,
title, and country, in the same time tell the guide's and muleteer's
name, just to drive away those have been so rough to spoil the
moveables and destroy the stables ... are the men to be particularly
remarked.
II. Nobody is admitted without a certificate of M.G., which will assure
to have received his name, &c. &c., except those are known by the
fore-going strangers.
III. According to the afore-mentioned articles, nobody will take the
liberty to go in the house and force the lock of the door: he will
really suffer the most severe punishment fixed against violence.
IV. Is not permitted to any body to put mules in the rooms destined for
the use of people, notwithstanding the insufficiency of stables. It is
forbidden likewise to dirtes the walls with pencil or coal. M.G. will
procure a blank book for those learned people curious to write their
observations. A particular care must be taken for the moveables settled
in the house.
V. The house must be left clean and without fire, to avoid
conflagration; it is forbidden to leave rooms or windows opened, as the
house has been lately damaged by the winds, snow, sand, &c. &c.; the
aforementioned A.D., M.N. are imputed of negligence and malice: persons
neglecting to execute the above article will be severely punished, and
are obliged to pay damages and expences.
VI. As soon as the traveller returns at Nicolosi, either to S. Nicolo
l'Arena, will immediately deliver the key to M.G., as it commonly
happens that foreigners are waiting for it. A certificate must be
likewise delivered, declaring that the afore-mentioned regulations have
been exactly executed. It is likewise proper and just to reward M. Gem.
for the expense of moveables, money, &c, &c., and for the advantage
travellers may get to examine the Volcan, for better than Empedocli,
Amodei, Fazelli, Brydon, Spallanzani, and great many others. M. Gemm.
has lately been authorized to deny the key whenever is unkindly
requested. He is also absolutely obliged to inform the gen. of the
army, who is determined to punish with rigour their insolence."
_Mount Sinai._--(On the fly-leaf of the travellers' book.)
"Here in too were inscribed as in one legend, all whose in the rule of
the year come from different parts, different cities and countries,
pilgrims and travellers of any different rank and religion or
profession, for advise and notice thereof to their posterity, and even
also in owr own of memory acknowledging. 1845, Mount Sinai."
VIATOR.
[Footnote 1: The name of this gentleman will be recognised by some of the
readers of NOTES AND QUERIES as that of a most indefatigable explorer of
the wonders of the mountain, and the author, in the _Transactions of the
Catanian Academy_., of excellent descriptions of its recent eruptions.]
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_May-dew._--Every one has heard of the virtues of "May-dew," but perhaps
the complex superstition following may be less generally known. A
respectable tradesman's wife in this town (Launceston) tells me that the
poor people here say that a swelling in the neck may be cured by the
patient's going _before sunrise_, on the 1st of May, to the grave of the
last young man who has been buried in the church-yard, and applying the
dew, gathered by passing the hand _three times_ from the {475} head to the
foot of the grave, to the part affected by the ailment.[2] This was told me
yesterday in reply to a question, whether the custom of gathering "May-dew"
is still prevailing here. I may as well add, that the common notion of
improving the complexion by washing the face with the early dew in the
fields on the 1st of May extensively prevails in these parts; and they say
that a child who is weak in the back may be cured by drawing him over the
grass wet with the morning dew. The experiment must be thrice performed,
that is, on the mornings of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May. I find no
allusion to these specific applications of "May-dew" in Ellis's _Brand_.
H.G.T.
[Footnote 2: If the patient be a woman, the grave chosen must be that of
the last young man buried, and that of the last young woman in the case of
a man patient.]
_Piskies._--An old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place
called "Colmans," in the parish of Werrington, near Launceston, has
frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for _so_, and
not _pixy_, the creature is called _here_, as well as in parts of Devon)
which frequently _made its appearance_ in the form of small child in the
kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a
little stool for it. It would do a good deal of household work, but if the
hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the
maid. The piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little
stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of
seeing it. Indeed it was a familiar guest in the house for many months. At
last it left the family under these circumstances. One evening it was
sitting on the stool as usual, when it suddenly started, looked up, and
said,--
"Piskey fine, and Piskey gay,
Now Piskey! run away!"
and vanished; after which it never appeared again. This distich is the
first utterance of a piskey I have heard.
The word "fine" put me in mind of the expression "_fine_ spirit," "_fine_
Ariel," &c., noticed by DR. KENNEDY lately in NOTES AND QUERIES (Vol. ii.,
p. 251.). It is worth notice that the people here seem to entertain no
doubt as to the identity of piskies and fairies. Indeed I am told, that the
old woman before mentioned called her guest indifferently "piskey" or
"fairy."
The country people in this neighbourhood sometimes put a prayer-book under
a child's pillow as a charm to keep away the piskies. I am told that a poor
woman near Launceston was fully persuaded that one of her children was
taken away and a piskey substituted, the disaster being caused by the
absence of the prayer-book on one particular night. This story reminds me
of the "killcrop."
H.G.T.
1. The _dun cow_ of Dunsmore filled with milk every vessel that was brought
to her till an envious witch tried to milk her in a sieve.
2. _Lady Godiva._--A close-fitting dress might suggest the idea of nudity;
but was not the horse borrowed from the warrior Lady of Mercia Ethelfleda?
3. CAN DU PLERA MELEOR CERA. Quand Dieu plaira meilleur sera. Charm on a
ring, olim penes W. Hamper, F.A.S.
F.Q.
* * * * *
MINOR NOTES.
_Circulation of the Blood._--About twenty-five years since, being in a
public library in France, a learned physician pointed out to me in the
works of the Venerable Bede a passage in which the fact of the circulation
of the blood appeared to him and myself to be clearly stated. I regret that
I did not, at the time, "make a note of it," and that I cannot now refer to
it, not having access to a copy of Bede: and I now mention it in hopes that
some of your correspondents may think it worth while to make it a subject
of research.
J. MN.
_Culprit, Origin of the Word._--Long ago I made this note, that this much
used English word was of French extraction, and that it was "_qu'il
paruit_," from the short way the clerk of the court has of pronouncing his
words; for our pleadings were formerly in French, and when the pleadings
were begun, he said to the defendant "_qu'il parait_"--culprit; and as he
was generally culpable, the "_qu'il parait_" became a synonyme with
offender.
T.
Cambridge.
[Does not our ingenious correspondent point at the more correct origin
of _culprit_, when he speaks of the defendant being "generally
_culpable?_"]
_Collar of SS._--In the volume of Bury Wills just issued by the Camden
Society, is an engraving from the decorations of the chantry chapel in St.
Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmund's, of John Baret, who died in 146-; in which
the collar is represented as SS in the upright form set on a collar of
leather or other material. It is described in the will as "my collar of the
king's livery." John Baret, says the editor of the Wills, was a lay officer
of the monastery of St. Edmund, probably treasurer, and was deputed to
attend Henry VI. on the occasion of the king's long visit to that famed
monastic establishment in 14--.
BURIENSIS.
_The Singing of Swans._--"It would," says Bishop Percy (Mallet's _North.
Antiq._, ii. p. 72.), "be a curious subject of disquisition, to inquire
what could have given rise to so arbitrary and groundless a notion as the
singing of swans," {476} which "hath not wanted assertors from almost every
nation." (Sir T. Browne.)
"Not in more swelling whiteness sails
Cayster's swan to western gales, [3]
When the melodious murmur sings
'Mid her slow-heav'd voluptuous wings."
T.J.
[Footnote 3: "It was an ancient notion that the music of the swan was
produced by its wings, and inspired by the zephyr. See this subject,
treated with his accustomed erudition, by Mr. Jodrell, in his
_Illustrations of the Ion of Euripides_."--Bulwer's _Siamese Twins_.]
_Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs._--In consequence of the suggestion of
[Greek: D.] (Vol. ii., p. 220.), I have applied to the owner of Sir T.
Herbert's MS. account of the last days of Charles I., and the answer which
I have received is as follows:
"I found the first part of Sir Thos. Herbert's MS. (56 pages) is not in
the edition of Woods _Athenae_ Lord W. has; but I found a note in a
pedigree book, saying it was printed in 1702, 8vo. I suppose it can be
ascertained whether this is true."
Perhaps some of your readers may know whether there is such a volume in
existence as that described by my friend.
ALFRED GATTY.
_Portraits of Stevens and Cotton and Bunyan._--The plan of "NOTES AND
QUERIES" appears well adapted to record the change of hands into which
portraits of literary men may pass. I accordingly offer two to your notice.
The portrait of George Stevens, the celebrated annotator on Shakspeare, who
died in 1800, was bequeathed by him to a relative, Mrs. Gomm of Spital
Square; and at that lady's death, some years after, it passed, I have
reason to expect, into the possession of her relative, Mr. Fince, of
Bishopsgate Street. I have no farther information of it.
The portrait of Charles Cotton, by Sir Peter Lely, was, at the time (1814)
when Linnell took a copy, and (in 1836) when Humphreys took a copy, in the
possession of John Berisford, Esq., of Compton House, Ashborne, Derbyshire;
and the following extracts of letters will show who at present possesses
it:--
"Leek, 14th July, 1842.
"After Mr. Berisford's decease, I should think the portrait of Cotton
would fall into the hands of his nephew Francis Wright, Esq., of Linton
Hall, near Nottingham.
I am, &c. &c"
"Linton Hall, Aug. 19. 1842.
"Sir,--The Rev. J. Martin, of Trinity College, Cambridge, is the
possessor of the portrait of Cotton to which your letter alludes. I am,
Dear Sir,
"Yours, in haste,
"F. WRIGHT."
I avail myself of the present opportunity to ask the authority for the
portrait of Bunyan appended to his ever-fresh allegory. The engraved
portrait I have has not the name of the painter.
O.W.
_Sonnet: Attempting to prove that Black is White._--
"It has been said of many, they were quite
Prepared to prove (I do not mean in fun)
That white was really black, and black was white;
But I believe it has not yet been done.
Black (Saxon, Blac) in any way to liken
With _candour_ may seem almost out of reach;
Yet _whiten_ is in kindred German _bleichen_,
Undoubtedly identical with _bleach_:
This last verb's cognate adjective is _bleak_--
Reverting to the Saxon, _bleak_ is blaek. [4]
A semivowel is, at the last squeak,
All that remains such difference wide to make--
The hostile terms of keen antithesis
Brought to an _E plus ultra_ all but kiss!"
MEZZOTINTO.
[Footnote 4: Pronounced (as _black_ was anciently written) _blake_.]
_Nicholas Breton's Fantasticks_, 1626.--MR. HEBER says, "Who has seen
another copy?" In Tanner's Collection in the Bodleian Library is one copy,
and in the British Museum is another, the latter from Mr. Bright's
Collection.
W.P.
[Another copy is in the valuable collection of the Rev. T. Corser. See
that gentleman's communication on Nicholas Breton, in our First Vol.,
p. 409.]
* * * * *
QUERIES.
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
An ill-starred town in England seems to have enjoyed so unenviable a
reputation for some centuries for the folly and stupidity of its
inhabitants, that I am induced to send you the following Query (with the
reasons on which it is founded) in the hope that some of your readers may
be able to help one to a solution.
Query: Why have the men of _Gotham_ been long famous for their extreme
folly?
My authorities are,--
1. The Nursery Rhyme,--
"Three wise men of _Gotham_
Went to sea in a bowl;
If the bowl had been stronger,
My story would have been longer."
2. _Drunken Barnaby's Journal_ (edit. London, 1822, p. 25.), originally
printed 1774, London:
"Veni _Gotham_, ubi multos
Si non omnes, vidi stultos,
Nam scrutando reperi unam
Salientem contra lunam
Alteram nitidam puellam
Offerentem porco sellam."
"Thence to _Gotham_, where, sure am I,
If, _though_ not all fools, saw I many;
Here a she-bull found I prancing,
And in moonlight nimbly dancing;
There another wanton mad one,
Who her hog was set astride on."
{477} 3. In the "Life of Robin Hood" prefixed to Ritson's _Collection of
Ballads concerning Robin Hood_ (People's edit. p. 27.), the following
story, extracted from _Certaine Merry Tales of the Madmen of Gottam_, by
Dr. Andrew Borde, an eminent physician, temp. Hen. VIII. (Black letter), in
Bodleian Library, occurs:--
"There was two men of __Gottam_, and the one of them was going to the
market to Nottingham to buy sheepe, and the other came from the market;
and both met together upon Nottingham bridge. Well met, said the one to
the other. Whither be yee going? said he that came from Nottingham.
Marry, said he that was going thither, I goe to the market to buy
sheepe. Buy sheepe? said the other, and which way wilt thou bring them
home? Marry, said the other, I will bring them over this bridge. By
Robin Hood, said he that came from Nottingham, but thou shalt not. By
Maid Marrion, said he that was going thitherward, but I will. Thou
shalt not, said the one. I will, said the other. Ter here! said the
one. Shue there! said the other. Then they beat their staves against
the ground, one against the other, as there had been an hundred sheepe
betwixt them. Hold in, said the one. Beware the leaping over the bridge
of any sheepe, said the other. I care not, said the other. They shall
not come this way, said the one. But they shall, said the other. Then
said the other, and if that thou make much to doe, I will put my finger
in thy mouth. A t..d thou wilt, said the other. And as they were at
their contention, another man of _Gottam_ came from the market with a
sack of meale upon a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at
strife for sheepe, and none betwixt them, said, Ah, fooles, will you
never learn wit? Helpe me, said he that had the meale, and lay my sacke
upon my shoulder. They did so and he went to the one side of the
bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sacke, and did shake out all his
meale into the river. Now, neighbours, said the mall, how much meale is
there in my sacke now? Marry, there is none at all, said they. Now, by
my faith, said he, even as much wit as in your two heads, to strive for
that thing you have not. Which was the wisest of all these three
persons, judge you?"
4. Tom Coryat, in an oration to the Duke of York (afterwards Chas. I.),
called _Crambe, or Colwarts twice sodden_ (London, 1611), has this
passage:--
"I came to Venice, and quickly took a survey of the whole model of the
city, together with the most remarkable matters thereof; and shortly
after any arrival in England I overcame any adversaries in the Town of
Evill, in my native county of Somersetshire, who thought to have sunk
me in a bargain of pilchards, as the _wise men of Gottam_ went about to
drown an eel."
5. Dr. More's _Antidote against Atheism_, cap. ii. Sec. 14.:
"But because so many bullets joggled together in a man's hat will
settle a determinate figure, or because the frost and wind will draw
upon doors and glass windows pretty uncouth streaks like feathers and
other fooleries which are to no use or purpose, try infer thence, that
all the contrivances that are in nature, even the frame of the bodies,
both of men and beasts, are from no other principle but the jumbling
together of the matter, and so because that this doth naturally effect
something, that is the cause of all things, seems to me to be reasoning
in the same mood and figure with that wise market man's, who, going
down a hill and carrying his cheeses under his arms, one of them
falling and trundling down the hill very fast, let the other go after
it appointing them all to meet him at his house at _Gotham_, not
doubting but they beginning so hopefully, would be able to make good
the whole journey; or like another of the same town, who perceiving
that his iron trevet he had bought had three feet, and could stand,
expected also that it should walk too, and save him the labour of the
carriage."