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EARLY SATIRICAL POEM

On the turning over the pages of an old printed copy of Durand's Rationale Divinorum Officiorus, edited by Bonetus de locatellis bergomensis, and printed at Lyons in 1506, by Natalis Brabam, for Jaques Huguetan, I found the following copy of verses written on the fly-leaf. They are written in a hand which I am inclined to assign to a date not much later than that of the book. There is no clue to the author. If they are thought worthy of insertion in "N. & Q.," I beg to inquire, through the medium of your columns, whether they are to be found in any collection of early English poems? and whether the author is known?

The ungallant sentiment of the first three stanzas is obvious. The fourth is not so plain; nor is its connexion with the others evident, though it is written without anything to mark separation; and the word "finis" is placed below it, as if to apply to the whole. I should be obliged if some one of your readers would give some explanation of it.

W. H. G.

Winchester.

"Wen [sic] nettylles in wynter bryngythe forthe rosses red,
And a thorne bryngythe figges naturally,
And grase berrythe appulles in every mede,
And lorrel cherrys on his crope so hye,
And okkys berrythe datys plentyusly,
And kykkys gyvythe hony in superfluans,
The put in women yower trust and confydenc.

"When whythynges walke forrestys hartyse for to chase,
And herrings in parkkys the hornnys boldly bloc,
And marlyons² … hernys in morrys doo unbrace,
And gomards shut ryllyons owght of a crose boow,
And goslyngs goo a howntyng the wolf to overthrow,
And sparlyns bere sperrys and arms for defenc,
Then put yn women yower trust and confydenc.

"When sparrowes byld chorchys and styppyllys of a hyght,
And corlewys carry tymber yn howsys for to dyght,
Wrennys bere sakkys to the myll,
And symgis³ bryng butter to the market to sell,
And wodcokkys were wodknyffys the crane for to kyll,
And gryffyns to goslynges doo obedienc,
Then put in women yower trust and confydenc.

"O ye imps of Chynner, ye Lydgatys pene,
With the spryght of bookkas ye goodly inspyrryd,
Ye Ynglyshe poet, excydyng other men,
With musyk wyne yower tong yn syrryd,
Ye roll in yower rellatyvys as a horse immyrryd,
With Ovyddes penner ye are gretly in favor,
Ye bere boys incorne, God dyld yow for yower labor.
Finis."

THE LETTERS OF ATTICUS

The editor of the Grenville Papers has alluded to some "very judicious and pertinent remarks in the 'N. & Q.'" respecting the Letters of Atticus, and as most of your readers will probably agree with him that the authenticity of these letters is "a curious and interesting question, and one that deserves very particular attention," I beg to correct an error into which he and others have fallen, as to the date when Junius ceased to write under the signature Atticus. The Atticus forwarded by Junius to George Grenville on the 19th October, 1768, was, there is every reason to believe, the last from the pen of that writer, who was then preparing to come before the public in a more prominent character. When another correspondent adopted the signature Atticus, Woodfall gave his readers warning by inserting the following notice into the Public Advertiser:

"The Address to the Freeholders of the county of Middlesex, signed Atticus, in our next. The Printer thinks it his duty to acquaint his readers that this letter is not by the same hand as some letters in this paper a little time since, under the signature Atticus."—Pub. Ad., March 19, 1769.

The printer took the like course when writers attempted to "impose upon the public" by using the signatures Lucius and C., and then freely inserted their letters; but when the same trick was tried with Junius, the printer did not scruple to alter the signature, or reject the contribution as spurious.

The genuine Letters of Atticus have had a narrow escape lately of being laughed out of their celebrity by writers in some of our most respectable periodicals. The authenticity of these letters up to the 19th October, 1768, is now fully established. The undecided question of the authorship of Junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence in future.

William Cramp.

Minor Notes

Irish Bishops as English Suffragans.—In compliance with the suggestion of J. M. D. in your last volume, p. 385., I abridge from The Record of March 17th the following particulars:

"At a recent meeting of the Archæolgical Society the Rev. W. Gunner stated that from a research among the archives of the bishops and of the college of Winchester, he had found that many Irish bishops, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were merely titular bishops, bearing the titles of sees in Ireland, while they acted as suffragans to bishops in England. A Bishop of Achonry, for instance, appeared to have been frequently deputed by William of Wykeham to consecrate churches, and to perform other episcopal duties, in his diocese; and the Bishops of Achonry seemed frequently to have been suffragans of those of Winchester. No see exhibits more instances of this expatriation than Dromore, lying as it did in an unsettled and tumultuous country. Richard Messing, who succeeded to Dromore bishopric in 1408, was suffragan to the Archbishop of York; and so died at York within a year after his appointment. His successor John became a suffragan to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and died such in 1420. Thomas Scrope, a divine from Leicestershire, was appointed by the Pope to this see in 1430: he could not live in peace with the Irish, and therefore became vicar-general to the Bishop of Norwich. Thomas Radcliffe, his successor, never lived in Ireland: 'the profits of his see did not extend to 30l. sterling, and for its extreme poverty it is void and desolate, and almost extincted, in so much as none will own the same, or abide therein.' Dr. Radcliffe was therefore obliged to become a suffragan to the Bishop of Durham. William, who followed him in the Dromore succession in 1500, lived in York, and was suffragan to its archbishop; and it would seem his successors were also suffragans in England, until the plantation of Ulster improved the circumstances of that province."
An Oxford B. C. L.

Pope and Buchanan.—I beg to suggest as a Query, whether Pope did not borrow the opening of his Essay on Man from that of the second book of Buchanan's Latin poem De Sphærâ. Let us compare them.

Buchanan:

"Jam mihi Timoleon, animo majora capaci
Concipe; nec terras semper mirare jacentes;
Excute degeneres circum mortalia curas,
Et mecum ingentes cœli spatiare per auras."

Pope:

"Awake, my St. John, leave all meaner things
To low ambition and the pride of kings;
Let us, since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die,
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man."

I do not remember the comparison to have been made before.

Wm. Ewart.

University Club.

Scarce MSS. in the British Museum.—In Cotton MSS., Titus, B 1., will be found a curious and valuable collection of papers entitled "Cromwell's Remembrances." These comprise:

1. A period from about the death of Anne Boleyn to his attainder.

2. They are very miscellaneous, consisting of memoranda of subjects for conference with the king. Notices of persons to be remembered for offices. Sale of lands. Diplomacy, and various other particulars. Notes relative to the dissolution of monasteries; their riches, revenues, and pensions to abbots, &c. The reception of Anne Cleves, and the alteration of the royal household thereupon. Privy council and parliamentary notes. Foreign alliances. Scotch and Irish affairs, consequent on the dissolution of abbeys, &c.

These curious materials for history are in the rough and confused state in which they were left by their author, and, to render them available, would require an index to the whole.

The "Remembrances" are in some degree illustrated by Harl. MS. 604., which is a very curious volume of monastic affairs at the dissolution. Also by 605, 606, and 607. The last two belong to the reign of Philip and Mary, and contain an official account of the lands sold by them belonging to the crown in the third and fourth years of their reign.

E. G. Ballard.

The Royal Garden at Holyrood Palace.—I cannot help noticing a disgraceful fact, which has only lately come to my knowledge. There is, adjoining the Palace of Holyrood, an ancient garden of the old kings of Scotland: in it is a curious sundial, with Queen Mary's name on it. There is a pear-tree planted by her hands, and there are many other deeply interesting traces of the royal race, who little dreamed how their old stately places were to be profaned, after they themselves were laid in the dust. The garden of the Royal Stuarts is now let to a market gardener! Are there no true-hearted Scotchmen left, who will redeem it from such desecration?

L. M. M. R.

The Old Ship "Royal Escape."—The following extract from the Norwich Mercury of Aug. 21, 1819, under the head of "Yarmouth News," will probably be gratifying to your querist Anon, Vol. vii., p. 380.:

"On the 13th inst. put into this port (Yarmouth), having been grounded on the Barnard Sand, The Royal Escape, government hoy, with horses for his royal highness at Hanover. This vessel is the same that King Charles II. made his escape in from Brighthelmstone."
Joseph Davey.

Queries

"THE LIGHT OF BRITTAINE."

I should be glad, through the medium of "N. & Q.," to be favoured with some particulars regarding this work, and its author, Maister Henry Lyte, of Lytescarie, Esq. He presented the said work with his own hand to "our late soveraigne queene and matchlesse mistresse, on the day when shee came, in royall manner, to Paule's Church." I shall also be glad of any information about his son, Maister Thomas Lyte, of Lytescarie, Esq., "a true immitator and heyre to his father's vertues," and who

"Presented to the Majestie of King James, (with) an excellent mappe or genealogicall table (contayning the bredth and circumference of twenty large sheets of paper), which he entitleth Brittaines Monarchy, approuing Brute's History, and the whole succession of this our nation, from the very original, with the just observation of al times, changes, and occasions therein happening. This worthy worke, having cost above seaven yeares labour, beside great charges and expense, his highnesse hath made very gracious acceptance of, and to witnesse the same, in court it hangeth in an especiall place of eminence. Pitty it is, that this phœnix (as yet) affordeth not a fellowe, or that from privacie it might not bee made more generall; but, as his Majestie has granted him priviledge, so, that the world might be woorthie to enjoy it, whereto, if friendship may prevaile, as he hath been already, so shall he be still as earnestly sollicited."

These two works appear to have been written towards the close of the sixteenth century. Is anything more known of them, and their respective authors?

Traja-Nova.

Minor Queries

Thirteen an unlucky Number.—Is there not at Dantzic a clock, which at 12 admits, through a door, Christ and the Eleven, shutting out Judas, who is admitted at 1?

A. C.

Quotations.—

"I saw a man, who saw a man, who said he saw the king."

Whence?

"Look not mournfully into the past; it comes not back again," &c.—Motto of Hyperion.

Whence?

A. A. D.

"Other-some" and "Unneath."—I do not recollect having ever seen these expressions, until reading Parnell's Fairy Tale. They occur in the following stanzas:

"But now, to please the fairy king,
Full every deal they laugh and sing,
And antic feats devise;
Some wind and tumble like an ape,
And other-some transmute their shape
In Edwin's wondering eyes.

"Till one at last, that Robin hight,
Renown'd for pinching maids by night,
Has bent him up aloof;
And full against the beam he flung,
Where by the back the youth he hung
To sprawl unneath the roof."

As the author professes the poem to be "in the ancient English style," are these words veritable ancient English? If so, some correspondent of "N. & Q." may perhaps be able to give instances of their recurrence.

Robert Wright.

Newx, &c.—Can any of your readers give me the unde derivatur of the word newx, or noux, or knoux? It is a very old word, used for the last hundred years, as fag is at our public schools, for a young cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. When I was there, some twenty-five or twenty-seven years ago, the noux was the youngest cadet of the four who slept in one room: and a precious life of it he led. But this, I hope, is altered now. I have often wanted to find out from whence this term is derived, and I suppose that your paper will find some among your numerous correspondents who will be able to enlighten me.

T. W. N.

Malta.

"A Joabi Alloquio."—Who can explain the following, and point out its source? I copy from the work of a Lutheran divine, Conrad Dieteric, Analysis Evangeliorum, 1631, p. 188.:

"A Joabi Alloquio,
A Thyestis Convivio,
Ab Iscariotis 'Ave,'
A Diasii 'Salve'
Ab Herodis 'Redite'
A Gallorum 'Venite.'
Libera nos Domine."

The fourth and sixth line I do not understand.

B. H. C.

Illuminations.—When were illuminations in cities first introduced? Is there any allusion to them in classic authors?

Cape.

Heraldic Queries.—Will some correspondent versed in heraldry answer me the following questions?

1. What is the origin and meaning of women of all ranks, except the sovereign, being now debarred from bearing their arms in shields, and having to bear them in lozenges? Formerly, all ladies of rank bore shields upon their seals, e.g. the seal of Margaret, Countess of Norfolk, who deceased A.D. 1399; and of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry VIII., who deceased A.D. 1509. These shields are figured in the Glossary of Heraldry, pp. 285, 286.

2. Is it, heraldically speaking, wrong to inscribe the motto upon a circle (not a garter) or ribbon round the shield? So says the Glossary, p. 227. If wrong, on what principle?

3. Was it ever the custom in this country, as on the Continent to this day, for ecclesiastics to bear their arms in a circular or oval panel?—the martial form of the shield being considered inconsistent with their spiritual character. If so, when did the custom commence, and where may instances be seen either on monuments or in illustrated works?

Ceyrep.

John's Spoils from Peterborough and Crowland.—Clement Spelman, in his Preface to the reader, with which he introduces his father's treatise De non temerandis Ecclesiis, says (edit. Oxford, 1841, p.45.):

"I cannot omit the sacrilege and punishment of King John, who in the seventeenth year of his reign, among other churches, rifled the abbeys of Peterborough and Croyland, and after attempts to carry his sacrilegious wealth from Lynn to Lincoln; but, passing the Washes, the earth in the midst of the waters opens her mouth (as for Korah and his company), and at once swallows up both carts, carriage, and horses, all his treasure, all his regalities, all his church spoil, and all the church spoilers; not one escapes to bring the king word," &c.

Is the precise spot known where this catastrophe occurred, or have any relics been since recovered to give evidence of the fact?

J. Sansom.

"Elementa sex," &c.—Perhaps one of your readers, given to such trifles, will hazard a guess at the solution, if not at the author, of the subjoined:

"Elementa sex me proferent totam tibi;
Totam hanc, lucernis si tepent fungi, vides,
Accisa senibus suppetit saltantibus,
Levetur, armis adfremunt Horatii;
Facienda res est omnibus, si fit minor,
Es, quod relinquis deinde, si subtraxeris;
Si rite tandem quæritas originem,
Ad sibilum, vix ad sonum, reverteris."

Effigy.

Jack and Gill—Sir Hubbard de Hoy.—Having recently amused myself by a dive into old Tusser's Husbandrie, the following passages suggested themselves as fitting Queries for your pages:

Jack and Gill.—

"Let Jack nor Gill
Fetch corn at will."

Can the "Jack and Gill" of our nursery tales be traced to an earlier date than Tusser's time?

Hobble de Hoy.—Speaking of the periods of a man's life, Tusser's advice, from the age of fourteen years to twenty-one, is to "Keep under Sir Hubbard de Hoy." Is it known whether there ever existed a personage so named, either as a legend or a myth? And if not, what is the origin of the modern term "Hobble de Hoy" as a designation for a stripling? Bailey omits it in his Dictionary.

L. A. M.

Humphrey Hawarden.—Information is solicited respecting this individual, who was a Doctor of Laws, and living in 1494. Also, of a Justice Port, living about the same period.

T. Hughes.

Chester.

"Populus vult decipi."—

Who was the author of the maxim? which is its correct form? and where is it to be found? It seems to present another curious instance of our ignorance of things with which we are familiar. I have put the question to a dozen scholars, fellows of colleges, barristers, &c. &c., and none has been able to give me an answer. One only thinks it was a dictum of some Pope.

Harry Leroy Temple.

Sheriffs of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire.—Where can any list of the sheriffs for these counties be found, previous to the list given by Fuller from the time of Henry VIII.?

D.

Harris.—The Rev. William Harris, B.A., was presented, by Thomas Pindar, Esq., to the vicarage of Luddington, Lincolnshire, on the 7th August, 1722. Mr. Harris died here in June, 1748, aged eighty-two. On his tomb is inscribed,—

"Illi satis licuit
Nunc veterum libris, nunc
Somno, et inertibus horis
Ducere solicitæ jucunda oblivio vitæ."

A tradition of his being a wizard still lingers in the village, and I should be very glad to receive any particulars respecting him. From an inspection of his will at Lincoln, it appears that he used the coat of the ancient family of Harris of Radford, Devon, and that his wife's name was Honora, a Christian name not infrequent about that period in families of the West of England also, as, for instance, Honora, daughter of Sir Richard Rogers of Bryanstone, who married Edward Lord Beauchamp, and had a daughter Honora, who married Sir Ferdinand Sutton; Honora, the wife of Harry Conway, Esq., of Bodrhyddan, Flint; Honora, daughter of Edward Fortescue of Fallapit; besides others.