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MINOR QUERIES
Pope’s Translations of Horace.—In a pamphlet against Pope, entitled, A True Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings, by the author of The Critical History of England, written in May, 1716, and printed in that year, Pope is reproached with having just published a “libellous,” “impudent,” and “execrable” Imitation of Horace. Twenty years later such a reproach would be very intelligible; but can any one favour me with a reference to any Imitation of Horace, published by Pope prior to 1716, of which any such complaint could be made?
C.
Etymology of “Havior.”—Can any of your readers inform me what is the etymology of the word Havior, by which all park-keepers denote an emasculated male deer, affording good venison between the buck and doe season?
Never having seen the word written or printed, I am guided, in attempting to spell it, by the usual pronunciation.
BRAYBROOKE
Audley End, Feb. 2.
Arabic Numerals.—In the Archæological Journal (vol. vi. p. 291.), it is stated that the earliest “example of the use of Arabic numerals in any work connected with building” is the date 1445, on the tower of Heathfield Church, Sussex, though “they were common in MSS. after 1320, and in astronomical Tracts as early as 1290.” As it is probable that not a few instances of the employment of the Arabic numeral characters of an earlier date than that at Heathfield are to be met with in different parts of the country, will you permit me to make use of your paper to inquire whether any such are known to any of your readers, and if they will be so obliging as to communicate their knowledge through the medium of your columns? As the subject is one of considerable interest, it would be desirable that any date belonging to the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth century should be made known, and registered in your valuable publication.
Permit me also to ask, in connection with this subject, for references to any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals, their origin, and their introduction into Europe. I am already acquainted with Astle, On Writing, Wallis’s Algebra, Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, the Huctiana, Pegge’s Life of Grostête, and the Philosophical Transactions; but I wish for additional, and, if possible, more recent information.
Does any one of your readers know what became of the MSS. formerly in the possession of the above-named Thomas Astle, formerly Keeper of the Tower Records? In Sir W. Burrell’s Sussex collections in the British Museum are copies of charters, “ex MSS. penes T. Aste,” with notices of curious seals appended, which I should be glad to be able to inspect.
E.V.
Stephen Eiton, or Eden’s “Acta Regis Edw. II.“—The interesting account of St. Thomas of Lancaster, with the appended queries (No. 12. p. 181.), reminds me of the work of Stephen Eiton or Eden, a canon-regular of Warter, in Yorkshire, entitled, “Acta Regis Edwardi iidi,” which is said still to remain in manuscript. Where is it deposited?
T.J.
Dog Latin.—Permit me also to ask, what is the origin of the expression “Dog Latin”?
T.J.
The Cuckoo—the Welch Ambassador.—In Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One, Act iv. sc. 5., Dampet says:—
“Why, thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? Thy sound is like the cuckoo, the Welch Embassador.”
And the editor of the continuation of Dodsley’s Collection remarks on the passage,—
“Why the cuckoo is called the Welch Embassador, I know not.”
Perhaps some of your readers can explain why the cuckoo is so called.
G.
A recent Novel.—Having lately met with an extremely rare little volume, the title of which runs thus: “La prise d’un Seigneur Ecossois et de ses gens qui pilloient les navires pescheurs de France, ensemble le razement de leur fort et le rétablissement d’un autre pour le service du Roi … en la Nouvelle France … par le sieur Malepart. Rouen, le Boullenger, 1630. 12o. 24pp.” I was reminded of a modern novel, the principal scenes of which are laid in an island inhabited by a British nobleman of high rank, who, having committed a political crime, had been reported dead, but was saved by singular circumstances, and led the life of a buccaneer. Can any of your numerous readers be good enough to mention the title of the novel alluded to, which has escaped my memory?
ADOLPHUS.
Authorship of a Couplet.—Can you help me to the authorship of the following lines?—
“Th’ unhappy have whole days, and those they choose;
The happy have but hours, and those they lose.”
P.S.
Seal of Killigrew, and Genealogy of the Killigrew Family.—”BURIENSIS” (No. 13. p. 204.) is informed that the arms on the seal at Sudbury are certainly those of a member of the old Cornish house of Killigrew. These arms, impaled by those of Lower, occur on a monument at Llandulph, near Saltash, to the memory of Sir Nicholas Lower, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1638. She was a daughter of Sir Henry Killegrewe, of London, and a near relative, I believe, of the Master of the Revels.
While on this subject, I beg to put a query to your genealogical readers. The double-headed eagle, the bordure bizantée, and the demilion charged with bezants, are all evident derivations from the armorial bearings of Richard, titular king of the Romans, Earl of Cornwall, &c., second son of King John. The family of Killegrewe is of venerable antiquity in Cornwall. What I wish to ascertain is, the nature of the connection between the family and that unfortunate “king.” Was it one of consanguinity, or merely one of feudal dependence?
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
*** See, on the origin of the arms of Richard and their derivatives, my Curiosities of Heraldry, pp.309. et seq.
REPLIES
SELAGO AND SAMOLUS
In common with the mistletoe and vervain the Druids held the Selago and Samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the most devout and reverential manner. When they were gathered for religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall to the earth, for it was an established principle of Druidism, that every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum:
“– When they bear
Their wond’rous egg aloof in air:
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his hallow’d pall
Receives the prize.”
Pliny, in his Natural History (lib. xxiv. cap. 11.) gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies used by the Druids in gathering the Selago and Samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:—
“Similis berbæ huie sabinæ est Selago appellata. Legitur sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur, pane vinoque. Fertur in mappa nova. Hanc contra omnem perniciem habendam prodidere Druidæ Gallorum, et contra omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse.
“Iidem Samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis: et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis.”
From the very slight manner in which these plants are described by Pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. So far as I know, Pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them, and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in this passage.
The word Selago is supposed to be derived from se and lego, i.e. quid certo ritu seligeretur. Linnæus appropriated the name to a pretty genus of Cape plants, but which can have nothing whatever to do with the Selago of the Druids. It has been thought to be the same as the Serratula Chamæpeuce of Linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for Pliny says it resembles the savine; and Matthiolus, in his Commentary on Dioscorides, when speaking of the savine (Juniperus Sabina), says:—
“Siquidem vidi pro Sabina assumi quandam herbam dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur, folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore Sabinam Hanc sæpius existimavi esse Selaginem referat. a Plinio lib. xxiv. c. 11. commemoratam.”
Samolus, or as some copies read Samosum, is said to be derived from two Celtic words, san, salutary, and mos, pig; denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of Pliny, who says the Gauls considered the Samolus as a specific in all maladies of swine and cattle. But there is not less difficulty in identifying this plant than in the former case. Some have thought it the same as the little marsh plant, with small white flowers, which Linnæus calls Samolus Valerandi, while others consider it to be the Anemone Pulsatilla. I am ignorant of the salutary properties of these plants, and must leave it to be decided which of them has the greatest claims to be considered the Samolus of Pliny.
G.M.
Is there any English translation of Ælian’s Various History, or of the work ascribed to the same author on the Peculiarities of Animals?
East Winch. Jan. 1850.
Selago and Samolus.—The Selago (mentioned by “PWCCA,” No. 10. p. 157.), in Welsh Gras Duw (Gratia Dei), was held by the Druids as a charm against all misfortunes; they called it Dawn y Dovydd, the gift of the Lord. They also ascribed great virtues to the Samolus, which was called Gwlydd, mild or tender. All that can be known respecting the Selago and Samolus, may be seen in Borlase’s Antiquities of Cornwall.
GOMER.
