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MINOR NOTES

Prince Modoc.—At p. 57., "ANGLO-CAMBRIAN" refers to the report of the Proceedings of the British Association at Swansea, in Aug. 1848, extracted from the Athenæum newspaper. In the course of a discussion which took place on Prof. Elton's address, it was observed (if I recollect rightly) by the learned Dr. Latham, that a vocabulary of the so-called Welsh-Indian dialect has been formed, and that it contains no trace of any Celtic root.

J.M.T. December 10. 1849.

St. Barnabas.—About the time of the Reformation, it was strongly debated whether the festival days of St. Paul and St. Barnabas should be admitted into the calendar; and, in the 2d Book of K. Edward, the conversion of St. Paul is put down in black, and St. Barnabas is omitted altogether! No wonder, therefore, if, in Suffolk, liberties were taken with the name of St. Barnabas, and it was transferred to doggerel rhyme, to be repeated by children.

J.I.

Register of Cromwell's Baptism.—The communication of your correspondent C.W.G. at p. 103. of your last number, induces me to offer you the inclosed copy from the Register of All Saints' Church, Huntingdon, of the birth and baptism of Oliver Cromwell:—

"Anno Domini 1599 Oliverus filius Roberti Cromwell generosi et Elisabethæ huxoris ejus Natus vicesimo quinto die Aprilis et Baptisatus vicesimo nono ejusdem mensis."

Then follow the words "England's plague for many years," written in a different hand.

R.O.

The Times.—A correspondent (NASO) informs us of the following fact in the history of this widely circulated and influential journal; namely, that it is stated in that the paper of the 12th of March, 1788, that it was printed "Logographically!" We wish our correspondent had furnished us with the precise words of this very curious statement.

Roland Monoux.—I have in my possession a brass monumental plate, said to have been taken from some church in Middlesex, and bearing the following lines, engraved in black letter:—

"Behold what droupinge Dethe maye doe, consume
y'e corse to duste,
What Dethe maie not shall lyue for aye, in spite of
Dethe his luste;
Thoughe Rouland Monoux shrowdeth here, yet
Rouland Monoux lives,
His helpynge hand to nedys want, a fame for ever
geves;
Hys worde and dede was ever one, his credyth never
quaylde,
His zeall' to Christ was stronge, tyll' dethe w'th latest
panges asaylde.
Twyse thre and one he Children had, two sones, one
kepes his name,
And dowghters fyve for home he carde, y't lyve in
honest fame.
What booteth more, as he be kynde dyd come of
Jentyll race,
So Rouland Monoux good Desertes this grave can
not Deface."

I should be obliged to any of your readers for some account of this Rouland Monoux, and when he died. I may also add; that I should be very willing to restore the brass to its original site, did I know the spot from whence it has been sacrilegiously torn.

M.

Wessel Cup Hymn.—The following Wassail Song is taken from a little chap-book printed at Manchester, called A Selection of Christmas Hymns. it is obviously a corrupted version of a much older song:—

"Here we come a wesseling,
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering,
So fair to be seen.

"Cho.—Love and joy come to you,
And to your wessel too,
And God send you a happy new year,
A new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

"Our wessel cup is made of the rosemary tree,
So is your beer of the best barley.

"We are not daily beggars,
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbours' children,
Whom you have seen before.

"Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring,
Let him bring us up a glass of beer,
And the better we shall sing.

"We have got a little purse,
Made of stretching leather skin,
We want a little of your money,
To line it well within.

"Bring us out a table,
And spread it with a cloth,
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas loaf.

"God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children,
That round the table go.

"Good master and mistress,
While you'r sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children,
Who are wand'ring in the mire.

"Cho.—Love and joy come to you,
And to your wessel to,
And God send you a happy new year,
A new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

Our wessel cup is made of the rosemary tree,
So is your beer of the best barley."

It is a song of the season which well deserves to be preserved. Its insertion will at least have that effect, and may be the means of our discovering an earlier and purer text.

AMBROSE MERTON.

Portrait of Charles I.—In Sir Henry Ellis's Original Letters, 2d series, vol. iii. p. 254., amongst the prefatory matter to the reign of Charles I., there is a notice of a sermon, entitled "The Subject's Sorrow, or Lamentations upon the Death of Britaine's Josiah, King Charles."

Sir Henry Ellis says it is expressly stated, in this Sermon, that the King himself desired "that unto his Golden Manual might be prefixed his representation, kneeling; contemning a temporal crown, holding our blessed Saviour's crown of thorns, and aspiring unto an eternal crown of happiness."

Note b. upon this passage is as follows:—

"This very portrait of King Charles the First, engraved by Marshall, adorned the original edition of the [Greek: Eikon Basilikae]. 8vo. 1648. The same portrait, as large as life, in oil painting, was afterwards put up in many of our churches."

When I was a boy, such a portrait, in oil painting, hung upon the south wall of the body of St. Michael's Church, Cambridge, between the pulpit and a small door to the west, leading into the south aisle.

Out of the window of the chamber in which the King was kneeling was represented a storm at sea, and the ship being driven by it upon some rocks.

A few years ago, upon visiting Cambridge, I went purposely to St. Michael's Church to see this picture, which had been so familiar to me in my boyhood. The clerk told me it had been taken down, and was in the vestry. In the vestry I found it, on its side, on the floor against the wall.

You are probably aware that this St. Michael's Church was nearly destroyed by fire not many weeks since; that a committee is established to arrange its restoration.

Would it not be worth while that some inquiry should be made about the fate of this picture?

R.O.

Dec. 17. 1849.

P.S.—I may add, that there was affixed to the bottom of the frame of the picture a board, on which was painted, in conformably large letters—

"LORD, remember David and all his trouble."
Psalm cxxxii. 1.

The italics in part of the Note above quoted are mine.

Autograph Mottoes of Richard Duke of Gloucester, and Henry Duke of Buckingham.—In the volume of the Cottonian MSS. marked Vespasian F. XIII., at fol. 53., is a slip of parchment, upon which is written by the hands of Richard Duke of Gloucester, and Henry Duke of Buckingham, the following couplet:—

"Loyaulte me lie
Richard Gloucestre

"Souente me souène
Harre Bokingh'a'm."

A fac-simile is engraved in Autographs of Royal, Noble, Learned, and Remarkable Personages in English History, engraved by C.J. Smith, and edited by Mr. John Gough Nichols, 1829, 4to., where the editor suggests that this slip of parchment was "perhaps a deceitful toy," or it may have been attached to some present offered by the Duke of Gloucester to his royal nephew Edward the Fifth. The meaning of Gloucester's motto is perfectly free from misapprehension; but he asserts his fidelity to the crown, which he soon so flagrantly outraged—"Loyalty binds me." In the work above mentioned, the motto of Buckingham is interpreted by these words, in modern French:—"Souvent me souviens." This does not appear to me perfectly satisfactory; and I have to request the opinions of such as are conversant with old manuscripts, whether the true meaning, or even the true reading, of the Duke of Buckingham's motto has as yet been ascertained?

H.

NOTES IN ANSWER TO QUERIES

Lord Erskine's Brooms.—"G.B." informs us, that the anecdote about Lord Erskine's brooms, and the apprehension of his servant for selling them without a licence, will be found in his Life by Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 618.). Erskine himself attended the sessions to plead the man's cause, and contended that the brooms were agricultural produce, or, as he jocosely observed, "came under the sweeping clause." The when is about 1807, and the where an estate in Sussex, which proved rather an unprofitable speculation to its owner, as it produced nothing but birch trees, and those but stunted ones. To which information "W.J." adds, that about the same period Lord Erskine printed, for private circulation, An Appeal in favour of the agricultural Services of Rooks; a production probably scarce now, but full of humanity, and very characteristic.

Scarborough Warning.—In a postscript to a letter written from court on the 19th January, 1603, by Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham, to Hutton, Archbishop of York, I find the term Scarborough warning. Can any of the correspondents of your valuable paper inform me of the origin and prevalence of this saying? The postscript is—

"When I was in the middest of this discourse, I received a message from my lord chamberlaine, that it was his majesty's pleasure that I should preach before him upon Sunday next; which Scarborough warning did not perplex me, but so puzzled me, as no mervail if somewhat be pretermitted, which otherwise I might have better remembered."

Quoted in Caldwell's Conferences, p. 166.

W.M.C.

[NARES tells us, that Ray, on the authority of Fuller, states that this saying took its origin from "Thomas Stafford, who, in the reign of Mary, A.D. 1557, with a small company, seized on Scarborough Castle (utterly destitute of provision for resistance), before the townsmen had the least notice of their approach;" but shows that it was probably much older, as, in a ballad written by J. Heywood on the taking of that place by Stafford, the following more probable origin is given to the proverb:—

"This term Scarborow warning grew (some say),
By hasty hanging for rank robbery theare.
Who that was met, but suspect in that way,
Straight he was trust up, whatever he were."

This implies that Scarborough imitated the Halifax gibbet law. Is any thing known of such a privilege being claimed or exercised by the men of Scarborough? We should be glad to hear from any local antiquary upon this point.]

Gray's Elegy.—In answer to your correspondent, J.F.M. (p. 101.), who asks for information respecting the competition for the best translation of Gray's Elegy, in which Dr. Sparke was a candidate, I would beg to refer him to the satirical poem attributed to Mr. T.J. Matthias, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, entitled The Pursuits of Literature, in which a ludicrous account is given of the affair. It does not appear who offered the prize, but Mr. Nares, the editor of The British Critic, was the judge, and the place of meeting "The Musical Room in Hanover Square," which was decorated for the occasion with appropriate scenery—at least so says The Critic. He thus describes the solemnity (p. 174 8th edit. 1798):—

"Lo, learned clerks in sable stole,
Graceful in years, pant eager for the goal.
Old Norbury starts, and, with the seventh-form boys,
In weeds of Greek the church-yard's peace annoys,
With classic Weston, Charley Coote and Tew,
In dismal dance about the mournful yew.
But first in notes Sicilian placed on high,
Bates sounds the soft precluding symphony;
And in sad cadence, as the bands condense,
The curfew tolls the knell of parting sense."

The distribution of prizes is thus recorded, Dr. Norbury being apparently the "conqueror:"—

"Nares rising paused; then gave, the contest done,
To Weston, Taylor's Hymns and Alciphron,
And Rochester's Address to lemans loose;
To Tew, Parr's Sermon and the game of goose;
To Coote the foolscap, as the best relief
A dean could hope; last to the hoary chief
He filled a cup; then placed on Norbury's back
The Sunday suit of customary black.
The gabbling ceased; with fixed and serious look
Gray glanced from high, and owned his rival, COOK."

W. Lincoln's Inn, Dec. 17.

Coffee, the Lacedæmonian Black Broth.—Your correspondent "R.O." inquires what modern author suggests the probability of coffee being the black broth of the Lacedæmonians? The suggestion, I think, originated with George Sandys, the translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Sandys travelled in the Turkish empire in 1610. He first published his Notes in 1615. The following is from the 6th edit. 1652, p. 52.:—

"Although they be destitute of taverns, yet have they their coffa-houses, which something resemble them. Their sit they, chatting most of the day, and sip of a drink called coffa (of the berry that it is made of), in little China dishes, as hot as they can suffer it; black as soot, and tasting not much unlike it (why not that black broth which was in use among the Lacedæmonians?) which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity," &c.

Burton also (Anatomy of Melancholy) describes it as "like that black drink which was in use among the Lacedæmonians, and perhaps the same."