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OPINIONS ON ENGLISH HISTORIANS
II. Lord Clarendon.
"This great historian is always too free with his judgments. But the piety is more eminent than the superstition in this great man's foibles."—Bishop Warburton, note, last edition, vol. vii. p. 590.
"It is to be hoped no more chancellors will write our story, till they can divest themselves of that habit of their profession, apologising for a bad cause."—H. Walpole, Note in Historic Doubts.
"Clarendon was unquestionably a lover of truth, and a sincere friend to the free constitution of his country. He defended that constitution in Parliament, with zeal and energy, against the encroachments of prerogative, and concurred in the establishment of new securities for its protection." —Lord Grenville, Note in Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 113.
"We suffer ourselves to be delighted by the keenness of Clarendon's observations, and by the sober majesty of his style, till we forget the oppressor and the bigot in the historian."—Macaulay, Essays, vol. ii. p. 281.
"There is no historian, ancient or modern, with whose writings it so much behoves an Englishman to be thoroughly conversant, as Lord Clarendon."—Southey, Life of Cromwell.
"The genuine text of the history has only been published in 1826," says Mr. Hallam, who speaks of "inaccuracy as habitual to him;" and further, "as no one, who regards with attachment the present system of the English constitution, can look upon Lord Clarendon as an excellent minister, or a friend to the soundest principles of civil and religious liberty, so no man whatever can avoid considering his incessant deviations from the great duties of an historian as a moral blemish on his character. He dares very frequently to say what is not true, and what he must have known to be otherwise; he does not dare to say what is true, and it is almost an aggravation of this reproach, that he aimed to deceive posterity, and poisoned at the fountain a stream from which another generation was to drink. No defence has ever been set up for the fidelity of Clarendon's history; nor can men, who have sifted the authentic material, entertain much difference of judgment in this respect; though, as a monument of powerful ability and impressive eloquence, it will always be read with that delight which we receive from many great historians, especially the ancient, independent of any confidence in their veracity." —Hallam, Constitutional History, 8vo. vol. ii. p.502.
"His style is a little long-winded; but, on the other hand, his characters may match those of the ancient historians; and one thinks they would know the very men if you were to meet them in society. Few English writers have the same precision, either in describing the actors in great scenes, or the deeds which they performed; he was himself deeply engaged in the scenes which he depicts, and therefore colours them with the individual feeling, and sometimes, doubtless, with the partiality of a partisan. Yet, I think he is, on the whole, a fair writer; for though he always endeavours to excuse King Charles, yet he points out his mistakes and errors, which certainly were neither few nor of slight importance."—Scott, Life by Lockhart, vol. v. p. 146.
Other opinions as to the noble writer will be found in the Life of Calamy, and in Lord Dover's Essay; but I have perhaps trespassed too much on your space.
M.
MISCELLANIES
Books by the Yard. —Many of your readers have heard of books bought and sold by weight,– in fact it is questionable whether the number of books sold in that way is not greater than those sold "over the counter,"—but few have probably heard of books sold "by the yard." Having purchased at St. Petersburg, the library left by an old Russian nobleman of high rank, I was quite astonished to find a copy of Oeuvres de Frederic II. originally published in 15 vols., divided into 60, to each of which a new title had been printed; and several hundred volumes lettered outside Oeuvres de Miss Burney, Oeuvres de Swift, &c., but containing, in fact, all sorts of French waste paper books. These, as well as three editions of Oeuvres de Voltaire, were all very neatly bound in calf, gilt and with red morrocco backs. My curiosity being roused, I inquired into the origin of these circumstances, and learnt that during the reign of Catherine, every courtier who had hopes of being honoured by a visit from the Empress, was expected to have a library, the greater or smaller extent of which was to be regulated by the fortune of its possessor, and that, after Voltaire had won the favour of the Autocrat by his servile flattery, one or two copies of his works were considered indispensable. Every courtier was thus forced to have rooms filled with books, by far the greater number of which he never read or even opened. A bookseller of the name of Klostermann, who, being of an athletic stature, was one of the innumerable favourites of the lady, "who loved all things save her lord," was usually employed, not to select a library, but to fill a certain given space of so many yards with books, at so much per volume, and Mr. Klostermann, the "Libraire de la Cour Imperiale," died worth a plum, having sold many thousand yards of books (among which I understood there were several hundred copies of Voltaire), at from 50 to 100 roubles a yard, "according to the binding."
A. ASHER. Berlin. Dec. 1849.
Thistle of Scotland.—R.L. will find the thistle first introduced on coins during the reign of James V., although the motto "Nemo me impune lacessit" was not adopted until two reigns later. —See Lindsay's Coinage of Scotland, Longman, 1845.
B.N.
Miry-Land Town. In the Athenaeum, in an article on the tradition respecting Sir Hugh of Lincoln, the Bishop of Dromore's version of the affair is thus given:—
"The rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune,
Sae dois it doune the Pa';
Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune.
Quhan they play at the Ba'."
In explanation of part of this stanza, Dr. Percy is stated to have considered "Mirry-land toune" to be "probably a corruption of Milan (called by the Dutch Meylandt) town," and that the Pa' was "evidently the River Po, though the Adige, not the Po, runs through Milan;" and it is observed that it could not have occasioned Dr. Jamieson much trouble to conjecture as he did that "Mirry-land toune" was a corruption of "Merry Lincolne," and that, in fact, in 1783, Pinkerton commenced his version of the ballad thus—
"The bonnie boys o' merry Lincoln;"
and it is added, very truly, that with all his haste and petulance, Pinkerton's critical acumen was far from inconsiderable. Now, there appears to me to have been a very simple solution of the above words, so simple that perhaps it was beneath the critical acumen of the said commentators. My note on the subject is, that Mirry-land toune means nothing more than Miry-, Muddy-land Town, a designation that its situation certainly entitles it to; and Pa' is certainly not the Po, but an abbreviated form of Pall, i.e. a place to play Ba' or ball in, of which we have a well-known instance in Pall Mall.
Since writing the above, I recollect that Romsey, in Hampshire, has been designated "Romsey-in-the-Mud."
J.R.F.
Richard Greene of Lichfield.—H.T.E. is informed that there is a medal or token (not difficult to obtain) of this zealous antiquary. Obv. his bust, in the costume of the period; legend, "Richard Greene, collector of the Lichfield Museum, died June 4, 1793, aged 77." Rev. a Gothic window, apparently; legend, "West Porch of Lichfield Cathedral, 1800."
B.N.
The Lobster in the Medal of the Pretender.—The "Notes" by your correspondents, Mr. Edward Hawkins and Mr. J.B. Yates, relative to this medal, are very curious and interesting, and render it probable that the device of the Lobster has a religious rather than a political allusion. But it strikes us that the double introduction of this remarkable emblem has a more important signification than the mere insidious and creeping characteristics of Jesuitism. The lines beneath the curious print in Brandt's Stultifera Nuvis throw no light on the meaning of the Lobster. We think the difficulty yet remains unsolved.
B.N.
Marescautia.—Your correspondent "D.S." who asks (in No. 6.) for information upon the word "Marescautia," may consult Du Cange with advantage, s. v. "Marescallus;" the "u," which perhaps was your correspondent's difficulty, being often written for "l," upon phonotypic principles. It was anciently the practice to apportion the revenues of royal and great monastic establishments to some specific branch of the expenditure; and as the profits of certain manors, &c., are often described as belonging to the "Infirmaria," the "Camera Abbatis," &c., so, in the instance referred to by "D.S." the lands at Cumpton and Little Ongar were apportioned to the support of the royal stable and farriery.
J.B.
Macaulay's "Young Levite.—The following is an additional illustration of Mr. Macaulay's sketch, from Bishop Hall's Byting Satyres, 1599:—
"A gentle squire would gladly entertaine
Into his house some Trencher-chapelaine;
Some willing man, that might instruct his sons,
And that would stand to good conditions.
First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed,
While his young master lieth o'er his head;
Second, that he do, upon no default,
Never to sit above the salt;
Third, that he never change his trencher twise;
Fourth, that he use all common courtesies,
Sit bare at meales, and one half rise and wait;
Last, that he never his young master beat,
But he must aske his mother to define
How manie jerks she would his breech should line;
All these observ'd, he could contented be,
To give five markes, and winter liverie."
R.
Travelling in England.—I forward you a note on this subject, extracted, some years ago, from a very quaintly-written History of England, without title-page, but apparently written in the early part of the reign of George the First. It is among the remarkable events of the reign of James the First:—
"A.D. 1621, July the 17th, Bernart Calvert of Andover, rode from St. George's Church in Southwark to Dover, from thence passed by Barge to Callais in France, and from thence returned back to Saint George's Church the same day. This his journey he performed betwixt the hours of three in the morning and eight in the afternoon."
This appears to me such a surprising feat, that I think some of your correspondents may be interested in it; and also may be able to append farther information.
DAVID STEVENS.
Warning to Watchmen.—The following Warning, addressed to the Watchmen of London on the occasion of a great fire, which destroyed nearly 100 houses in the neighbourhood of Exchange Alley, Birchin Lane, the back of George Yard, &c., among which were Garraway's, The Jerusalem Coffee House, George and Vulture, Tom's, &c. &c., is extracted from the London Magazine for 1748, and is very characteristic of the then state of the police of the metropolis:—
"Mr. Touchit's Warning to the Watchmen of London. From the Westminster Journal, April 2nd, No. 331. (1748).
"Whereas it has been represented to me, Thomas Touchit, Watchman Extraordinary of the City of Westminster, that the Watchmen of London were very remiss during the dreadful Fire on Friday morning, March 25, in not giving timely Notice of that Calamity over their several Beats, whereby the Friends of many of the unhappy Sufferers, who would have flown to their Assistance, were ignorant of their Distress till it was too late to do them Service; and also that most of the said Watchmen, on other Occasions, are very negligent, whence it happens that many Robberies, Burglaries, and other Offences, which their Care might prevent, are committed; and that even some of them are in Fee with common Harlots and Streetwalkers, whom they suffer at unseasonable Hours, unmolested to prey on the Virtue, Health and Property of His Majesty's Liege Subjects: Be it known to the said Watchmen, and their Masters, that, having taken the Premises into Consideration, I intend whenever I set out from Spring Gardens with my invisible Cap, my irradiating Lanthorn, and my Oken Staff of correction, to take the City of London, under Leave of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, into my Rounds, and to detect, expose, and punish all Defaulters in the several Stands and Beats: Whereof this fair Warning is given, that none may be surprized in Neglect of Duty, I being determined to shew no Favour to such Offenders."
Euston Square, 12th Dec. 1849.
Aelfric's Colloquy.—Permit me to correct a singular error into which the great Anglo-Saxon scholars, Messrs. Lye and B. Thorpe, have been betrayed by some careless transcriber of the curious Monastic Colloquy by the celebrated Aelfric. This production of the middle ages is very distinctly written, both in the Saxon and Latin portions, in the Cotton MS. (Tiberius, A 3, fol. 58b.) Mr. Lye frequently cites it, in his Saxon Dictionary, as "Coll. Mon.," and Mr. Thorpe gives it entire in his Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. The former loosely explains higdifatu, which occurs in the reply of the shoewright (sceowyrhta), thus—"Calidilia, sc. vasa quoedam.—Coll. Mon." —and Mr. Thorpe prints both higdifatu and calidilia. Higdifatu is manifestly vessels of hides, such as skin and leather bottles and buckets. The ig is either a clerical error of the monkish scribe for y, or the g is a silent letter producing the quantity of the vowel. "I buy hides and fells," says the workman, "and with my craft I make of them shoes of different kinds; leathern hose, flasks, and higdifatu." The Latin word in this MS. is casidilia, written with the long straight s. Du Cange explains capsilis to be a vessel of leather, and quotes Matt. Westmon.: "Portans cassidile toxicum mellitum."—Gloss. tom. ii. col. 387. The root caps, or cas, does not appear to have any Teutonic correspondent, and may merit a philological investigation.
R.T. Hampson.
Humble Pie.– the proverbial expression of "eating humble pie," explained by A.G., will be found also explained in the same manner in the Appendix to Forby's Vocabulary, where it is suggested that the correct orthography would be "umble pie," without the aspirate. Bailey, in his valuable old Dictionary, traces the word properly to umbilicus, the region of the intestines, and acknowledges in his time the perquisite of the game-keeper.
