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ANSWERS TO MINOR QUERIES

Ancient Motto

Sir,—In your Sixth Number, p. 93, J.E.M. wishes to know whence the motto, "Si quis amicum absentum rodere delectat," &c. is taken.

Allow me to refer your correspondent to Horace, Sat. I. iv. 81 sqq.

 
"Absentem qui rodit amicum,
Qui non defendit, alio culpante,
* * * * * * * *
hic niger est, hanc tu, Romane, caveto."
 

The inscription would seem to be but an adaptation of Horace's maxim.

C.B.B.

Political Maxim—when first used.

The political maxim, or phrase, inquired after by C. is Burke's. It occurs in his celebrated Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontent, published in 1770, in the course of his defence of party, a few pages from the end. A short extract will show the connection in which it is introduced:—

"No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle."

I have some suspicion that the maxim may be found, with probably a slight variation of expression, repeated in one of Burke's later tracts. But this is certainly its first appearance.

G.L.C.

Old Brompton, Dec. 8. 1849.

Annus Trabeationis.

Sir Harris Nicholas, in his Chronology of History, p. 4., gives "annus Trabeationis" as one way in which the year of our Lord is designated in ancient documents. Would any of your readers favour me with the meaning of the word Trabeatio?

G.P.

[Our correspondent will find, on referring to Mr. Hampson's useful work, Medii Ævi Kalendarium, vol. ii. s. v. Annus Trabentionis, "According to Du Cange, this is the year of the crucifixion—'Annus Trabeationis Christi (annus quo Christus trabi affixus est);' but according to L'Art de vérifier les Dates, it is the same as the year of the Incarnation." Mr. Hampson adds, "the import of the word is the year of the Crucifixion, and cannot well be reconciled with that of the Incarnation." But, upon referring to Du Cange, s. v. Trabeatio, our correspondent will find that Du Cange regards it as the year of the Incarnation—"Trabeatio autem, non a trabe, quà Crux intelligi posset, sed a trabea togæ species, deducitur"—quoting, as his authority for this interpretation, a sermon of St. Fulgentius on St. Stephen, in which he says, "Heri enim Rex noster Trabea carnis indutus."]

Betterton's Duties of a Player.

Sir,—Betterton's Instructions on the Art of Playing and Public Speaking, queried in your 5th Number, were pubished by the well-known dramatic critic, Charles Gildon, and form a portion of his Life of Betterton. As this work is little known, I shall quote the title at length:—"The Life of Mr. Thomas Betterton, the late eminent Tragedian, wherein the Action and Utterance of the Stage, Bar, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered; with the judgment of the late ingenious Monsieur de St. Evremond, upon the Italian and French Music and Operas, in a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham. To which is added, The Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife, a Comedy, written by Mr. Betterton, now first printed from the Original Copy. London, Printed for Robert Gosling, at the Miter, near the Inner Temple Gate in Fleet Street, 1710. 8vo." Gildon was intimately acquainted with Betterton, and he gives an interesting account of a visit paid to that great actor, the year before his death, at his country house at Reading. It was on this occasion that Gildon came into the possession of Betterton's manuscripts. Thirty-one years after the publication of Betterton's Life, Curll, the notorious bookseller, put forth a mutilated copy of the Instructions on Playing, in a work bearing the following title:—"The History of the English Stage, from the Restauration to the Present Time, Including the Lives, Character, and Amours, of the most Eminent Actors and Acresses; with Instructions for Public Speaking, wherein the Action and Utterance of the Bar, Stage, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered. By Thomas Betterton. London, Printed for E. Curll, at Pope's Head in Rose-Street, Covent Garden, 1741. 8vo." From this title it would appear (as indeed Curll wished it) that Betterton was the author of the entire work; but he is only accountable for the brief Instructions for Public Speaking, which, as before stated, were pillaged from Gildon.

Reverting to Colley Cibber's Lives, I beg to point out a curious and rare tract in connection with them, entitled, "A Brief Supplement to Colley Cibber, Esq.; his Lives of the Late Famous Actors and Actresses. By Anthony (vulgò Tony) Aston. Printed for the Author. 8vo. pp. 24." The copy now before me, which was Isaac Reed's, sold at his sale for 2l. 5s. It is reprinted in a literary journal called The Cabinet, and in Bell-chambers' excellent edition of Cibber's Apology.

Whilst on the subject of the stage, I should be glad if any of your correspondents could inform me what has become of "Dick Leveridge's History of the Stage and Actors in his own Time?" Leveridge himself informed Oldys that he had compiled such a work, and Oldys, with his usual care, noted the fact in one of his numerous memorandum books. I have been long engaged in a history of The Life and Times of Henry Purcell, and the said MS., if it could be recovered, would, without doubt, enlighten us much upon the subject of Purcell's career as a dramatic composer.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Betterton's Essay.

The "best piece" of Betterton, for which T. J. L. inquires (p. 68.), is contained in his Life, printed by Gosling, 1710; in fact, this is merely a vehicle to intriduce the treatise, the Life filling only from p. 5. to 11., and thus concluding:—"He was bury'd with great decency in Westminster Abbey."

"The year before his death, (he) being at his country house in Reading, my friend and I travelled that way.... One day, after dinner, we retired to his garden, and fell into the discourse of acting." Thus is introduced his Essay, &c., continuing to p. 174., where it abruptly ends thus:—"After this discourse, we took our leaves of Mr. Betterton, and returned to London. I was pleased with his story," &c.

My copy is dedicated to Richard Steele, Esq., by Charles Gildon, and has prefixed to it the beautiful portrait of Betterton, engraved by Vander Gucht, from Kneller's picture, and, at its close (but separately paged), "The Amorous Widow or the Wanton Wife, now first printed from the original copy," 1710. E.

Incumbents of Church Livings.

A correspondent in Number 4., writes to inquire for information relative to the "names and birthplaces of incumbents of church livings prior to 1680, and the patrons of them."

It may slightly help his investigations to know that there is a Latin MS. in the British Museum, numbered Additional MSS. 12,483, with the title "Ecclesiastical Visitation of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, held in March and April 1543, by Nicholas Harpisfelde, Official of the Archdeacon of Winchester," folio, containing the names of the incumbents and churchwardens of the livings in those counties.

W. M. KINGSMILL.

Westminster, December 1849.

Mars de Saham—Portum Pusillum.

The first appears to be Soham, in Cambridgeshire; described in Liber Eliensis as "terra de Saham, quæ est ad stagnum juxta Ely." Does "mare" stand for "stagnum," "palus," "mariscus," or our English "mere?" Can Portum Pusillum be Littleport, in the same country?

J.F.M.

Reinerius—Inquisition in France.

Sir,—Faber, in his work on the Waldenses, quotes Reinerius, in Biblio. Patrum. I have in vain looked in modern biographical dictionaries for any account of Reinerius, so am constrained to inquire of some of your readers, who and what he was, or to beg the favour of a reference to some accessible account of him. I think Faber says he was an inquisitor; and this is the extent of the information which I have been able to collect respecting him.

I wish also to inquire whether his work on Heretics (his only work, I presume) has been published in any other and more accessible form than that in which it was referred to by Faber; and, particularly, whether it has ever been translated into English.

I have often wished to know whether the tribunal of the Inquisition was ever established elsewhere in France than at Toulouse. Can any of your correspondents enlighten me on the point, and give me references in proof?

D.

[The work of Reinerius Saccho was first published by the Jesuit Gretser in 1613, and has since been reprinted in the different editions of the Bibliotheca Patrum. It has never been translated into English.]

Whelps.

The following extracts from the Travels of Sir William Brereton may answer the inquiry respecting the ships called "Whelps":—

"Waterford, 25 July, 1635. About six hour I went aboard one of the kings ships, called the ninth whelp, which is in the king's books 215 ton and tonnage in kings books. She carries sixteen pieces of ordinance, two brass rakers, six iron demiculverin drakes, four iron whole culverin drakes, and four iron demicannon drakes. They are called drakes. They are taper-bored in the camber, and are tempered with extraordinary metal to carry that shot; these are narrower where the powder is put in, and wider where the shot is put in, and with this kind of ordinance his majesty is much affected. This ship is manned with sixty men."—p. 164.

"1627. This 26th of February, attending the officers of the navy at Sir Sackville Crowes house by Charing Cross, Sir John Pennington came thither to acquaint them with a warrant from the Lord Duke (of Buckingham) directed to him and myself, for present bargaining with the yard keepers of the river for the building of ten small vessels, for the enterprise of Rochel, of some 120 tons a piece, with one deck and quarter only, to row as well as sail. The 28th of the same month we concluded our bargains with the general yard keepers, and drew convenants between us, and delivered to them accordingly. In this business I was employed till the latter end of July that the ships set sail to Portsmouth. My son John was placed captain in the sixth whelp, built by my kinsman Peter Pett. Having liberty from my lord Duke to make choice from among them all, I chose that pinnace before the rest, supposing she would have proved the best, which fell out afterwards cleane contrary. The 4th September my son John took leave of me in the evening, and went on board his ship, whom I never saw after, being unfortunately cast away in the return from Rochel.

"1628. In this interim I received certain intelligence of the great loss of my son John, his ship and all his company, who foundered in the sea about the Seames in a great storm, about the beginning of November; not one man saved to bring the doleful news, nor no ship near them to deliver the certainty but a small pinnace belonging to the fleet that was within ken of her, and saw her shoot nine pieces of ordinance hoping of succour."—Journal of Phineas Pett. MSS. in Brit. Mus. 9298.

"At the return of this fleet (from Rochel) two of the whelps were cast away, and three ships more, and some five ships who had some of those great stones, that were brought to build Pauls, for ballast and for other uses within them, which could promise no good success, for I never heard of any thing that prospered which being once designed for the honour of God was alienated from that use."—Howel's Letters, sect. v. lett. 9.

The name whelp was probably given them facetiously in reference to their designation as barks.

EDW. HAWKINS.

Cowley or Cowleas.

Your correspondent W. asks the etymon of "Cowley;"—probably "Cow leas," or Cow pasture. In ancient records it is written "Couelee." I have before me a survey or "extent" of the Hospitalers' lands in England, including those formerly belonging to the Templars. In this record, as in most that I have seen, it is written, "Templecouelee," and it is entered as a limb of the commandry of Saunford or Sandford.

L.B.L.

Cowley or Coverley—Statistics of Roman Catholic Church—Whelps—Discovery of America.

I can answer pretty confidently the query II. in Number 4., p. 59., about the etymon of Cowley, for I have, on a farm of my own, two denominations of land, called Ox-ley and Cow-ley, and I believe that both these names are common all through England. Like Horseley, Ashley, Oakley and a thousand other leas or leys distinguished from each other by some local characteristic. Coverley was probably not Cowley, but, like Woodley, Orchardleigh, &c., derived from its local position.

In answer to the query as to the statistics of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 61. Number 4., I think I may say there is no such general work, though the Propaganda of Rome was said to register something of that sort. The information is only to be picked up from various and (as far as I know) all imperfect publications. The least so that I can just now refer to is the Statistics of the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland, in Thom's Dublin Almanack—a very curious and useful compilation.

In reply to the inquiry as to a priest's wife, p. 77. Number 5., I would suggest that married persons may have separated, and retired each into the celibacy of a convent, yet might join, when necessary, in a legal conveyance; but I should examine closely the word deciphered clericus.

To J.J., who inquires about "Whelps," and refers to Howell's Letters, sect. 5. p. 9., I beg leave to suggest more precision in his future references. The passage is in one (viz. the viii.) of the 42 letters of the 5th section; but in the last and best edition (Lond. 1754) it is p. 204. I note this to inculcate the necessity of accurate references and mention of the edition quoted. As to the query itself, I can answer that the "whelps" were a class, perhaps I might say a litter, of light men-of-war of the fifth rate, which were so called, perhaps, after one named the "Lion's Whelp," in Queen Elizabeth's navy, and distinguished by numbers, as "1st Whelp," "2nd Whelp," and so on to at least "10th Whelp," which is to be found in a list of the navy in 1651. She was of 180 tons, and carried 18 guns and 60 men. It seems not easy to account for this class of vessels having been rated so high as 5th rates, but I suppose they were a favourite and favoured class.