Book: Notes and Queries, Number 16, February 16, 1850
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Various >> Notes and Queries, Number 16, February 16, 1850
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 16.]
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16. 1850.
[Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * *{241}
CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
Daniel Defoe and his Ghost Stories 241
Pet Names, by Rev. B.H. Kennedy 242
Lacedaemonian Black Broth 243
A Hint to Intending Editors 243
Notes on Cunningham's London, by E.F. Rimbault 244
Folk Lore--Easter Eggs--Buns--Gloucestershire
Custom--Curious Custom 244
QUERIES:--
White Hart Inn, Scole, by C.H. Cooper 245
On Passages in Pope 245
Belvoir Castle 246
Minor Queries:--Dr. Hugh Todd's MSS.--French
Leave--Portugal--Tureen--Military Execution--
Change of Name--Symbolism of Fir Cone--Kentish
Ballad--Monumental Brass--A Tickhill Man--
Bishop Blaize--Vox et praeterea Nihil--Cromwell
Relics--Lines on Woman's Will 246
REPLIES:--
AElfric's Colloquy, by S.W. Singer and C.W.G. 248
Antony Alsop 249
Replies to Minor Queries:--Origin of Snob--Bishop
Burnet--Circulation of the Blood--Genealogy of
European Sovereigns--Sir Stephen Fox--French
Maxim--Shipster--Spars--Cosmopolis--Complutensian
Polyglot--Christmas Hymn--Sir J. Wyattville--
Peruse--Autograph Mottoes--Boduc--Annus
Trabeationis 250
MISCELLANIES:--
Pursuits of Literature--Dr. Dobbs--Translation from
V. Bourne--St. Evona's Choice--Muffins and
Crumpets--Dulcarnon--Bishop Barnaby--Barnacles
--Ancient Alms Dish, &c. 253
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 254
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 255
Notices to Correspondents 255
Advertisements 256
* * * * *
DANIEL DE FOE AND HIS GHOST STORIES.
I feel obliged by your intelligent correspondent "D.S." having
ascertained that De Foe was the author of the _Tour through Great
Britain_. Perhaps he may also be enabled to throw some light on a
subject of much curiosity connected with De Foe, that appears to me well
worth the inquiry.
Mrs. Bray, in her General Preface prefixed to the first volume of the
reprint, in series, of her _Novels and Romances_, when giving an account
of the circumstances on which she founded her very graphic and
interesting romance of _Trelawny of Trelawne_, says--
"In Gilbert's _History of Cornwall_, I saw a brief but striking
account, written by a Doctor Ruddell, a clergyman of Launceston,
respecting a ghost which (in the year 1665) he has seen and laid to
rest, that in the first instance had haunted a poor lad, the son of
a Mr. Bligh, in his way to school, in a place called the 'Higher
Broom Field.' This grave relation showed, I thought, the credulity
of the times in which the author of it lived; and so I determined
to have doctor, boy, and ghost in my story. But whereas, in the
worthy divine's account of the transaction, the ghost appears to
come on earth for no purpose whatever (unless it be to frighten the
poor boy), I resolved to give the spirit something to do in such
_post-mortem_ visitations, and that the object of them should be of
import to the tale. Accordingly I made boy, doctor, and the woman
(who is said after her death to have appeared to the lad) into
characters, invented a story for them, and gave them adventures."
Mrs. Bray adds--
"Soon after the publication of _Trelawny_, my much esteemed friend,
the Rev. F.V.T. Arundell[1], informed me, that, whilst engaged in
his antiquarian researches in Cornwall, he found among some old and
original papers the manuscript account, in Dr. Ruddell's own
hand-writing, of his encounter with the ghost in question. This he
lent Gilbert, who inserted it in his _History of Cornwall_; and
there I first saw it, as stated above. A few months ago, I
purchased some of the reprinted volumes of the _Works of Daniel De
Foe_. Among these was the _Life of Mr. Duncan Campbell_, a
fortune-teller. To my great surprise, I found inserted in the
Appendix (after verses to Mr. Duncan Campbell), without either name
of the author, reference, or introduction, under the heading, 'A
remarkable Passage of an Apparition, 1665,' no other than Dr.
Ruddell's account of meeting the ghost which had haunted the boy,
so much the same as that I had read in Gilbert, that it scarcely
seemed to differ from it in a word. The name of Mr. Bligh, the
father of the boy, was, however, omitted; and Dr. Ruddell could
only be known as the author of the account by the lad's father
calling the narrator Mr. Ruddell, in their discourse about the
youth. The account is so strangely inserted in the Appendix to the
volume, without comment or reference, that, had I not previously
known the circumstances above names by Mr. Arundell, I should have
fancied it a fiction of De Foe himself, like the story {242} of
the ghost of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to _Drelincourt on Death_.
"Aware that Mr. Arundell had no idea that Ruddell's ghost story was
to be found in any work previous to Gilbert's, I lost no time in
communicating to that gentleman what I could not but deem a very
curious discovery. He assured me there could be no mistake as to
the genuineness of the ghost document he had found, as he had
compared the manuscript with Ruddell's hand-writing in other
papers, and saw it was one and the same. Soon after, Mr. Arundell
favoured me with some further information on the subject, which I
here give, as it adds still more to the interest of the
story:--'Looking into Gilbert's _History of Cornwall_, in the
parish of South Petherwin, there is said to be in the old mansion
of Botathan five portraits of the Bligh family; one of them is the
likeness of the boy, whose intimacy with the ghost of Dorothy
Durant has been spoken of in his first volume, where she is
erroneously called Dingley. If this be a fact, it is very
interesting; for it is strange that both Mr. Ruddell, the narrator
(whose manuscript I lent to Gilbert), and De Foe, should have
called her Dingley. I have no doubt it was a fictitious name, for I
never heard of it Launceston or the neighbourhood; whereas Durant
is the name of an ancient Cornish family: and I remember a tall,
respectable man of that name in Launceston, who died at a very
advanced age; very probably a connexion of the Ghost Lady. He must
have been born about 1730. Durant was probably too respectable a
name to be published, and hence the fictitious one.' Mr. Arundell
likewise says, 'In Launceston Church is a monument to Charles Bligh
and Judith his wife, who died, one in 1716, and the other in 1717.
He is said to have been sixty years old, and was probably the
brother of Samuel, the hero of Dorothy Dingley. Sarah, the wife of
the Rev. John Ruddell, died in 1667. Mr. Ruddell was Vicar of
Aternon in 1684. He was the minister of Launceston in 1665, when he
saw the ghost who haunted the boy.'"
Such is Mrs. Bray's account of these very curious circumstances. The
ghost story inserted in Gilbert, as mentioned above, is altogether so
much in the style of De Foe, that a doubt remains whether, after all, he
may not have been the author of it. Can "D.S.," or any of your readers,
throw further light on the subject?
D.S.Y.
[Footnote 1: Of Landulph, Cornwall, the author of _Discoveries in
Asia Minor_, and the well-known _Visit to the Seven Churches of
Asia_. Mr. Arundell is now dead.]
* * * * *
PET-NAMES.
"Mary" is informed that "Polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or
pet-names, in which our language abounds. Most are mere abbreviations,
as Will, Nat, Pat, Bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning,
sometimes from the end of the name. The ending _y_ or _ie_ is often
added, as a more endearing form: as Annie, Willy, Amy, Charlie, &c. Many
have letter-changes, most of which imitate the pronunciation of infants.
_L_ is lisped for _r_. A central consonant is doubled. _O_ between _m_
and _l_ is more easily sounded than _a_. An infant forms _p_ with its
lips sooner than _m_; papa before mamma. The order of change is: Mary,
Maly, Mally, Molly, Polly. Let me illustrate this; _l_ for _r_ appears
in Sally, Dolly, Hal _P_ for _m_ in Patty, Peggy; vowel-change in Harry,
Jim, Meg, Kitty, &c; and in several of these the double consonant. To
pursue the subject: re-duplication is used; as in Nannie, Nell, Dandie;
and (by substitution) in Bob. Ded would be of ill omen; therefore we
have, for Edward, Ned or Ted, _n_ and _t_ being coheir to _d_; for Rick,
Dick, perhaps on account of the final _d_ in Richard. Letters are
dropped for softness: as Fanny for Franny, Bab for Barb, Wat for Walt.
Maud is Norman for Mald, from Mathild, as Bauduin for Baldwin. Argidius
becomes Giles, our nursery friend Gill, who accompanied Jack in his
disastrous expedition "up the hill." Elizabeth gives birth to Elspeth,
Eliza (Eloisa?), Lisa, Lizzie, Bet, Betty, Betsy, Bessie, Bess;
Alexander (_x_=_cs_) to Allick and Sandie. What are we to say of Jack
for John? It seems to be from Jacques, which is the French for our
James? How came the confusion? I do not remember to have met with the
name James in early English history; and it seems to have reached us
from Scotland. Perhaps, as Jean and Jaques were among the commonest
French names, John came into use as a baptismal name, and Jaques or Jack
entered by its side as a familiar term. But this is a mere guess; and I
solicit further information. John answers to the German Johann or
Jehann, the Sclavonic Ivan, the Italian Giovanni (all these languages
using a strengthening consonant to begin the second syllable): the
French Jean, the Spanish Juan, James to the German Jacob, the Italian
Giacomo, the French Jacques, the Spanish Jago. It is observable that of
these, James and Giacomo alone have the _m_. Is James derived from
Giacomo? How came the name into Scotland?
Of German pet-names some are formed by abbreviation; some also add _s_,
as Fritz for Frieds from Friedrich, Hanns for Hann from Johann. (To this
answers our _s_ or _c_ in the forms Betsy, Nancy, Elsie, &c.) Some take
_chen_ (our _kin_, as _mannikin_) as Franschen, Hannchen. Thus Catskin
in the nursery ballad which appears in Mr. Halliwell's Collection, is a
corruption of Kaetchen Kitty. Most of our softened words are due to the
smooth-tongued Normans. The harsh Saxon Schrobbesbyrigschire, or
Shropshire, was by them softened into le Comte de Salop, and both names
are still used.
BENJ. H. KENNEDY.
Shrewsbury, Feb. 2. 1850.
* * * * *
LACEDAEMONIAN BLACK BROTH.
If your readers are not already as much disgusted with Spartan Black
Broth as Dionysius was {243} with the first mouthful, I beg leave to
submit a few supplementary words to the copious indications of your
correspondents "R.O." and "W."
Selden says:--
"It was an excellent question of Lady Cotton, when Sir Robert
Cotton was magnifying of a shoe, which was Moses's or Noah's, and
wondering at the strange shape and fashion of it: 'But, Mr.
Cotton,' says she, '_are you sure it is a shoe?_'"
Now, from the following passage in Manso's _Sparta_, it would seem that
a similar question might be put on the present occasion: _Are you sure
that it was broth?_ Speaking of the _pheiditia_, Manso says:--
"Each person at table had as much barley-bread as he could eat;
swine's-flesh, or some other meat, to eat with it, with which the
famous black-sauce[2] (whose composition, without any loss to
culinary art, is evidently a mystery for us) was given round, and
to close the meal, olives, figs, and cheese."
In a note he continues:--
"Some imagined that the receipt of its composition was to be found
in Plutarch (_De Tuenda Sanitate_, t. vi. p. 487.), but apparently
it was only imagination. That [Greek: zomos] signified not broth,
as it has been usually translated, but _sauce_, is apparent from
the connection in which Athenaeus used the word. To judge from
Hesychius, it appears to have borne the name [Greek: bapha] among
the Spartans. How little it pleased the Sicilian Dionysius is well
known from Plutarch (_Inst. Lacon._ t. v. 880.) and from others."
Sir Walter Trevelyan's question is soon answered, for I presume the
celebrity of Spartan Black Broth is chiefly owing to the anecdote of
Dionysius related by Plutarch, in his very popular and amusing _Laconic
Apophthegms_, which Stobaeus and Cicero evidently followed; this, and
what is to be gathered from Athenaeus and Julius Pollux, with a few words
in Hesychius and the _Etymologicon Magnum_, is the whole amount of our
information. Writers since the revival of letters have mostly copied
each other, from Coelius Rhodiginus down to Gesner, who derives his
conjecture from Turnebus, whose notion is derived from Julius
Pollux,--and so we move in a circle. We sadly want a Greek Apicius, and
then we might resolve the knotty question. I fear we must give up the
notion of cuttle-fish stewed in their own ink, though some former
travellers have not spoken so favourable of this Greek dish. Apicius,
_De Arte Coquinaria_, among his fish-sauces has three Alexandrian
receipts, one of which will give some notion of the incongruous
materials admissible in the Greek kitchen of later times:--
"JUS ALEXANDRINUM IN PISCE ASSO.
"Piper, cepam siccam, ligusticum, cuminum, orignum, apii semen,
pruna damascena enucleata; passum, liquamen, defrutum, oleum, et
coques."
This question Vexata it seems had not escaped the notice of German
antiquaries. In Boettiger's _Kleine Shriften_, vol. iii., Sillig has
printed for the first time a Dissertation, in answer to a question which
might have graced your pages: "Wherewith did the Ancients spoon" [their
food]? Which opens thus:--
"Though about the composition and preparation of Spartan Black
Sauce we may have only so many doubts, yet still it remains certain
that it was a _jus_--boiled flesh prepared with pig's blood, salt,
and vinegar, a _brodo_; and, when it was to a certain degree
thickened by boiling, though not like a _Polenta_ or other
dough-like mass (_maza offa_), eaten with the fingers. Here, then,
arises a gastronomic question, of importance in archaeology; what
table furniture or implements did the Spartans make use of to carry
this sauce to their months? A spoon, or some substitute for a
spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this
Schwarzsauer."
It is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the
Spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell,
may have served the purpose. Those who are desirous of knowing more
about the Table-Supellectile of the ancients, may consult Casaubon's
_Notes on Athenaeus_, iv. 13. p. 241.; "Barufaldo de Armis
Convivialibus," in Sallengre's _Thesaurus_, iii. 741.: or Boettiger's
_Dissertation_ above referred to. How little ground the passage in
Plutarch, _De Sanitate Tuenda_, afforded for the composition will appear
from the passage, which I subjoin, having found some difficulty in
referring to it:
[Greek: Oi Lakones uxos kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa
keleuouso en to iereio setein.]
This only expresses the simplicity of Spartan cookery in general.
To revert to the original question propounded, however, I think we must
come to the conclusion that _coffee_ formed no part of the [Greek: melas
zomos.]
S.W.S.
[Footnote 2: Manso's word is _Tunke._]
* * * * *
A HINT TO INTENDING EDITORS.
Allow me to suggest, as an addition to the sphere of usefulness of the
"NOTES AND QUERIES," that persons preparing new editions of old writers
should give an early intimation of the work on which they are engaged to
the public, through your paper. Very many miscellaneous readers are in
the habit of making notes in the margins of their books, without any
intention of using them themselves for publication, and would be glad to
give the benefit of them to any body to whom they would be welcome; but
as matters are now arranged, one has no opportunity of hearing of an
intended new edition until it is advertised as being in the press, when
it is probably too late to send notes or suggestions; and one is also
deterred from communicating with the editor from doubts {244} whether
he will not think it an intrusion: doubts which any editor who _did_
wish for communications might dispel by making such an announcement as I
have suggested.
R.R.
Lincoln's Inn.
* * * * *
NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HAND-BOOK OF LONDON.
_St. Giles's Pound_.--The exact site of this Pound, which occupied a
space of thirty feet, was the broad space where St. Giles's High Street,
Tottenham Court Road, and Oxford Street meet. The vicinity of this spot
was proverbial for its profligacy; thus in an old song:--
"At Newgate steps Jack Chance was found,
And bred up near _St. Giles's Pound_."
_Dudley Court, St. Giles's_.--This spot was once the residence of Alice
Duchess of Dudley, in the reign of Charles the Second; and afterwards of
the celebrated Lord Wharton. The mansion and gardens were of
considerable extent.
_St. Giles's Hospital_.--The celebrated Dr. Andrew Boorde rented for
many years the Master's house. He is mentioned as its occupant in the
deed of transfer between Lord Lisle to Sir Wymonde Carewe, dated in the
last year of Henry the Eighth's reign.
_Gray's Inn Lane_.--Anciently called _Portpoole_. See the commission
granted to the Master of the Hospital of St. Giles's, &c. to levy tolls
upon all cattle, merchandize, &c., dated 1346, in Rymer's _Foedera_.
_Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn_.--Lord Herbert of Cherbury was one
of the first inhabitants of this street, residing at the south side,
near the east corner of Wild (or more properly _Weld_) Street, where he
died in 1648. The house is still standing, and is one of fifteen built
in the third year of James the First. _Powlet_ and _Conway_ houses, also
still standing, are among the said number. The celebrated Dr. Mead (D.
1754) resided in this street.
_Turnstile Lane, Holborn_.--Richard Pendrell, the preserver of Charles
the Second, resided here in 1668. It is supposed that Pendrell, after
the Restoration, followed the king to town, and settled in the parish of
St. Giles, as being near the court. Certain it is that one of Pendrell's
name occurs in 1702 as overseer, which leads to the conclusion that
Richard's descendants continued in the same locality for many years. A
great-granddaughter of this Richard was living in 1818 in the
neighbourhood of Covent Garden. Richard Pendrell died in 1674, and had a
monument erected to his memory on the south-east side of the old church
of St. Giles. The raising of the churchyard, subsequently, had so far
buried the monument as to render it necessary to form a new one to
preserve the memory of this celebrated man. The black marble slab of the
old tomb at present forms the base of the new one.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Mrs. Cornelly's_ is stated, in vol. ii. p. 753., _to be_ "the corner of
Sutton Street," Soho Square, "_now D'Almaines's_." Mrs. Cornelly's _was_
at the corner of Sutton Street, but has long been pulled down: the
Catholic chapel _in_ Sutton Street was Mrs. Cornelly's concert, ball,
and masquerade-room; and the arched entrance below the chapel, and now a
wheelwright's, was the entrance for "chairs." D'Almaine's is two doors
north of Sutton Street, and was built by Earl (?) Tilney, the builder of
Wanstead House? The House in Soho Square has a very fine
banqueting-room, the ceiling said to have been painted by Angelica
Kauffmann. Tilney was fond of giving magnificent dinners, and here was
always to be found "the flesh of beeves, with Turkie and other small
Larks!"
_Cock Lane_.--The house in Cock Lane famous for its "Ghost" _is still_
standing, and the back room, where "scratching Fanny" lay surrounded by
princes and peers, is converted into a gas meter manufactory.
NASO.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Easter Eggs_.--The custom of presenting eggs at Easter is too well
known to need description; but perhaps few are aware that, like many
other customs of the early Church, it had its origin in paganism.
Sir R.K. Porter (_Travels_, vol. i. p. 316.) mentions that at a period
of the year corresponding to Easter, "the Feast of nooroose, or of the
waters," is held, and seems to have had its origin prior to
Mahometanism. It lasts for _six_ days, and is supposed to be kept in
commemoration of the Creation and the Deluge--events constantly
synchronised and confounded in pagan cosmogonies. At this feast eggs are
presented to friends, in obvious allusion to the Mundane egg, for which
Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things.
When the many identities which existed between Druidism and Magianism
are considered, we can hardly doubt that this Persian commemoration of
the Creation originated our Easter-eggs.
G.J.
_Buns_.--It has been suggested by Bryant, though, I believe, not noticed
by any writer on popular customs, that the Good Friday cakes, called
_Buns_, may have originated in the cakes used in idolatrous worship, and
impressed with the figure of an ox, whence they were called [Greek:
boun]. The cow or bull was likewise, as Coleridge (_Lit. Rem_. vol. ii.
p. 252.) has justly remarked, the {245} symbol of the _Cosmos_, the
prolific or generative powers of nature.
G.J.
_Gloucestershire Custom_.--It is a custom in Gloucestershire, and may be
so in other counties, to place loose _straw_ before the door of any man
who beats his wife. Is this a general custom?--and if so, what is its
origin and meaning?
B.
_Curious Custom_.--The custom spoken of by "PWCCA" (No. 11 p. 173.) was
also commonly practised in one or two places in Lancashire some ten or
twelve years back, but is now, I believe, obsolete. The horse was played
in a similar way, but the performer was then called "Old Balls." It is
no doubt a vestige of the old "hobby-horse,"--as the Norwich "Snap," who
kept his place in the procession of the mayor of that good city till the
days of municipal reform, was the last representative of his companion
the dragon.
J.T.
[Nathan also informs us "that it is very common in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, where a ram's head often takes the place of the horse's
skull. Has it not an obvious connection with the 'hobby-horse' of the
middle ages, and such mock pageants as the one described in Scott's
_Abbot_, vol. i. chap. 14.; the whole being a remnant of the Saturnalia
of the ancients?"]
* * * * *
QUERIES.
WHITE HART INN, SCOLE.
In _Songs and other Poems_, by Alex. Brome, Gent. Lond. 12mo. 1661,
there is (at p. 123.) a ballad upon a sign-post set up by one Mr. Pecke,
at Skoale in Norfolk. It appears from this ballad, that the sign in
question had figures of Bacchus, Diana, Justice, and Prudence, "a fellow
that's small, with a quadrant discerning the wind," Temperance,
Fortitude, Time, Charon and Cerberus. This sign is noticed in the
_Journal_ of Mr. E. Browne (Sir Thomas Browne's Works, ed. Wilkin, i.
53.). Under date of 4th March, 1663-64, he says:--"About three mile
further I came to Scoale, where is very handsome inne, and the noblest
sighne post in England, about and upon which are carved a great many
stories, as of Charon and Cerberus, of Actaeon and Diana, and many other;
the sighne it self is the white harte, which hangs downe carved in a
stately wreath." Blomefield, in his _History of Norfolk_ (8vo. edit. i.
130.), speaking of Osmundestone or Scole, has the following passage:--
"Here are two very good inns for the entertainment of travellers;
the _White Hart_ is much noted in these parts, being called, by way
of distinction, _Scole Inn_; the house is a large brick building,
adorned with imagery and carved work in several places, as big as
the life. It was built in 1655, by _John Peck_, Esq., whose arms
impaling his wife's, are over the porch door. The sign is very
large, beautified all over with a great number of images of large
stature carved in wood, and was the work of one _Fairchild_; the
arms about it are those of the chief towns and gentlemen in the
county, viz. _Norwich, Yarmouth, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Yarmouth,
Bacon of Garboldisham, Hobart, Conwaleis_, impaling _Bukton, Teye,
Thurston, Castleton_, and many others; _Peck's_ arms are _arg_. on
a chevron ingrailed, _gul_. three croslets pattee of the field; his
wife's are _arg_., a fess between two crescents in chief, a lion
rampant in base _gul_., which coat I think is borne by the name of
_Jetheston_. Here was lately a very round large bed, big enough to
hold fifteen or twenty couple, in imitation (I suppose) of the
remarkable great bed at _Ware_. The house was in all things
accommodated, at first, for large business; but the road not
supporting it, it is in much decay at present; though there is a
good bowling-green and a pretty large garden, with land sufficient
for passengers' horses. The business of these two inns is much
supported by the annual cock-matches that are here fought."