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OUR PROGRESS

Although very unwilling to encroach upon the enlarged space which we have this week afforded to our numerous and increasing contributors, we may be permitted to refer to the fact of our having felt it due to them to find such additional space by giving an extra half-sheet, as a proof at once of the growing interest in our Journal, and of its extended utility.

We trust too that the step which we have thus taken will be received as a pledge of our intention to meet all the requirements which may arise from our Journal becoming more generally known, and consequently, as we are justified by our past experience in saying, being made greater use of, as a medium of intercommunication between all classes of students and men of letters.

Our last and present Number furnish proofs of its utility in a way which when it was originally projected could scarcely have been contemplated. We allude to its being made the channel through which intending editors may announce the works on which they are engaged, and invite the co-operation of their literary brethren. Nor is the readiness with which such co-operation is likely to be afforded, the only good result to be obtained by such an announcement. For such an intimation is calculated not only to prevent the unpleasantness likely to arise from a collision of interests—but also to prevent a literary man either setting to himself an unprofitable task or wasting his time and research upon ground which is already occupied.

One word more. When we commenced our labours we were warned by more than one friendly voice, that, although we should probably find no lack of Queries, we should oftentimes be "straited for a Reply." This, however, as our readers will admit, has not been the case; for though, as Shakspeare says, with that truth and wisdom for which he is proverbial—

 
"The ample proposition that Hope makes,
In all designs begun on earth below,
Fails in its promis'd largeness,"
 

the observation in our Introduction, that "those who are best informed are generally most ready to communicate knowledge, and to confess ignorance, to feel the value of such a work as we are attempting, and to understand that if it is to be well done they must help to do it," has, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends, grown, from a mere statement of opinion, to the dignity of a prediction. We undertook our task in faith and hope, determined to do our best to realize the intentions we had proposed to ourselves, and encouraged by the feeling that if we did so labour, our exertions would not be in vain, for—

 
"What poor duty cannot do,
Noble respect takes it in might not merit."
 

And the success with which our efforts have been crowned shows we were justified in so doing. And so, gentle reader, to the banquet of dainty delights which is here spread before you!

NOTES

CAPTIVITY OF THE QUEEN OF BRUCE IN ENGLAND

I perceive, in one of the recent interesting communications made to the "NOTES AND QUERIES," by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, that he has given, from a wardrobe roll in the Surrenden collection, a couple of extracts, which show that Bruce's Queen was in 1314 in the custody of the Abbess of Barking. To that gentleman our thanks are due for the selection of documents which had escaped the careful researches of Lysons, and which at once throw light on the personal history of a royal captive, and illustrate the annals of a venerable Abbey. I am glad to be able to answer the concluding query as to the exact date when the unfortunate lady, (Bruce's second wife,) left that Abbey, and to furnish a few additional particulars relative to her eight years' imprisonment in England. History relates that in less than three months after the crown had been placed upon the head of Bruce by the heroic Countess of Buchan, sister of the Earl of Fife (29th March, 1306), he was attacked and defeated at Methven, near Perth, by the English, under Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. After this signal discomfiture, the king fled into the mountains, accompanied by a few faithful followers: his Queen, daughter, and several other ladies, for awhile shared his misfortunes and dangers; but they at length took refuge at the Castle of Kildrummie, from whence they retreated, in the hope of greater security, to the sanctuary of St. Duthae, at Tain, in Ross-shire. The Earl of Ross, it is said, violated the sanctuary, and delivered the party up to the English, who (as sings Chaucer's contemporary, Barbour, in his not very barbarous Scottish dialect) straightway proceeded to

 
—"put the laydis in presoune,
Sum in till castell, sum in dongeoun."
 

Among the captives were three ecclesiastics, who had taken a prominent part at the king's coronation—the Bishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews and the Abbot of Scone, arrayed in most uncanonical costume.1 Peter Langtoft pathetically bewails their misfortune:—

 
"The Bisshop of Saynt Andrew, and the Abbot of Scone,
The Bisshop of Glascow, thise were taken sone;
Fettred on hackneis, to Inlond ere thei sent,
On sere stedis it seis, to prison mad present."
 

An instrument in Norman French, printed in Rymer's great collection (Foedera, vol. i. part ii. p. 994, new ed.), directs the manner in which the prisoners were to be treated. As this document is curious, I will give that portion which refers particularly to Bruce's wife, the "Countess of Carrick:"—

"A.D. 1306. (34 Edw. 1.) Fait a remembrer, qi, quant la Femme le Conte de Carrik sera venue au Roi, ele soit envee a Brustewik [on Humber], & qe ele eit tieu mesnee, & sa sustenance ordenee en la manere desouz escrite: cest asavoir,

"Qe ele eit deux femmes du pays oversqe li; cest asaver, une damoisele & une femme por sa chambre, qi soient bien d'age & nyent gayes, & qi eles soient de bon & meur port; les queles soient entendantz, a li por li servir:

"Et deux vadletz, qi soient ausint bien d'age, & avisez, de queux l'un soit un des vadletz le Conte de Ulvestier [the Earl of Ulster, her father], cest asaver Johan de Benteley, ou autre qil mettra en lieu de li, & l'autre acun du pays, qi soit por trencher devant li:

"Et ausant eit ele un garzon a pee, por demorer en sa chambre, tiel qi soit sobre, & ne mie riotous, por son lit faire, & por autres choses qe covendront por sa chambre:

"Et, estre ce, ordenez est qeele eit un Vadlet de mestier, qe soit de bon port, & avisez, por port ses cleifs, por panetrie, & botellerie, & un cu:

"Et ele deit ausint aver trois leveriers, por aver son deduyt en la garrene illueques, & en les pares, quant ele voudra:

"Et qe ele eit de la veneison, & du peisson es pescheries, selene ce qe master li sera:

"Et qe ele gisse en la plus bele maison du manoir a sa volunte: Et, qe ele voit guyer es pares, r'aillois entor le manoir, a se volunte."

These orders are apparently not more severe than was necessary for the safe custody of the Queen; and, considering the date of their issue, they seem to be lenient, considerate, and indulgent. Not so, however, with the unfortunate Countess of Buchan, who was condemned to be encaged in a turret of Berwick Castle ("en une kage de fort latiz, de fuist & barrez, & bien efforcez de ferrement;" i.e. of strong lattice-work of wood, barred, and well strengthened with iron2), where she remained immured seven years. Bruce's daughter, Marjory, and his sister Mary, were likewise to be encaged, the former in the Tower of London, the latter in Roxburghe Castle. The young Earl of Mar, "L'enfant qi est heir de Mar," Bruce's nephew, was to be sent to Bristol Castle, to be carefully guarded, "qil ne puisse eshcaper en nule manere," but not to be fettered—"mais q'il soit hors de fers, tant come il est de si tendre age."

In 1308 (1 Edw. 2.), the Bailiff of Brustwick is commanded to deliver up his prisoner, to be removed elsewhere, but to what place it does not appear. A writ of the 6th Feb. 1312, directs her to be conveyed to Windsor Castle, "cum familia sua." In October of the same year, she was removed to "Shaston" (Shaftesbury), and subsequently to the Abbey of Barking, where she remained till March, 1314, when she was sent to Rochester Castle, as appears by the following writ (Rymer, vol. ii. part i. p. 244.):—

"(7 Edw. 2.) De ducendo Elizabetham uxorem Roberti de Brus, usque ad Castrum Rossense.

"Mandatum est Vicecomitibus London quod Elizabetham. Uxorem Roberti de Brus, quæ cum Abbatissà de Berkyngg' stetit per aliquot tempus, de mandato Regis, ab cadem Abbatissà sine dilatione recipiant, eam usque Ross' duci sub salvâ custodia faciant, Henrico de Cobeham, Constabulario Castri Regis ibidem per Indenturam, indè faciendam inter ipsos, liberandam; et hoc nullatenus omittant.

 
"Teste Rege, apud Westm. xii. die Martii,
"Per ipsum Regem.
 

"Et mandatum est præfatæ Abbatissæ, quod præfatam Elizabetham, quam nuper, de mandato Regis, admisit in domo suâ de Berkyng' quousque Rex aliud inde ordinâsset, moraturam, sine dilatione deliberet præfatis Vicecomitibus, ducendam pront eis per Regem plenius est injunctum, et hoc nullatenus omittat.

 
"Teste Rege ut supra,
"Per ipsum Regem.
 

"Et mandatum est dicto Henrico, Constabulario Castri Regis prædicti, quod ipsam Elizabetham de prædictis Vicecomitibus, per Indenturam hujus modi, recipiat, et ci cameram, infra dictum Castrum competentem pro mora suâ assignari:

"Et viginti solidos, de exitibus Ballivæ suæ, ei per singulas septimanas, quamdiu ibidem moram fecerit, pro expensis suis, liberari faciat:

"Eamque, infra Castrum prædictum, et infra Prioratum Sancti Andreæ ibidem, opportunis temporibus spatiari sub salva custodia (ita quod securus sit de corpore suo), permittat:

"Et Rex ei de prædictis viginti solidis, præfatæ Elizabethæ singulis septimanis liberandis, debitam allocationem, in compoto suo ad Scaccarium Regis, fieri faciet.

 
"Teste ut supra,
"Per ipsum Regem."
 

But the day of deliverance was close at hand: the battle of Bannockburn, so fatal to the English, was fought on the 24th June; and on the 2nd of October the Constable of Rochester Castle is commanded to conduct the wife, sister, and daughter of Robert Bruce to Carlisle (usque Karliolum), where an exchange of prisoners was made. Old Hector Boece, who, if Erasmus can be trusted, "knew not to lie," informs us, that "King Robertis wife, quhilk was hald in viii. yeris afore in Ingland, was interchangeit with ane duk of Ingland"3 [Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford]. And the aforesaid Barbour celebrates their restoration in the following lines:—

 
"Quhill at the last they tretyt sua,
That he4 till Inglond hame suld ga,
For owtyn paying of ransoune, fre;
And that for him suld changyt be
Byschap Robert5 that blynd was mad;
And the Queyne, that thai takyn had
In presoune, as befor said I;
And hyr douchtre dame Marjory.
The Erle was changyt for thir thre."
 
W.B. RYE.

A NOTE ON ROBERT HERICK, AUTHOR OF "HESPERIDES."

In the summer of 1844, I visited Dean Prior in company with my brother, in order to ascertain if we could add any new fact to the scanty accounts of the Life of Herrick recorded by his biographers. The events of his life have been related by Dr. Drake, (Literary Hours, vol. iii., 1st edit. 1798.—3rd edit. 1804), by Mr. Campbell, by Dr. Nott (Select Poems from the Hesperides, &c. Bristol, 1810,) by a writer in the Quarterly Review, vol. iv. 1810, by Mr. Wilmott in his elegantly written Lives of Sacred Poets, vol. i., 1834, and in the memoirs prefixed to the recent editions of Herrick's Poems published by Clarke (1844), and Pickering (1846). On examining any of these biographies, it will be found that the year and place of Herrick's death have not been ascertained. This was the point which I therefore particularly wished to inquire into.

Dean Prior is a village about six or seven miles from Totnes: the church, with the exception of the tower, had been recently rebuilt. The monuments and inscribed stones were carefully removed when the old fabric was taken down, and restored as nearly as could be to corresponding situations in the new building. I sought in vain, amongst these, for the name of Herrick. On making inquiry of the old sexton who accompanied us, he said at first in a very decided tone, "Oh, he died in Lunnun," but afterwards corrected himself, and said that Herrick died at Dean Prior, and that an old tombstone in the churchyard, at the right hand side of the walk leading to the south side of the church, which was removed several years ago, was supposed to have covered the remains of the former vicar of Dean Prior.

Being baffled in our search after "tombstone information," we called at the vicarage, which stands close by the church, and the vicar most courteously accorded us permission to search the registers of the marriages, births, and burials, which were in his custody. The portion of the dilapidated volume devoted to the burials is headed thus:—

"Dean Prior

"The names of all those y't have been buried in y'e same parish from y'e year of our Lord God 1561, and so forwards."

After some careful search we were gratified by discovering the following entry:—

"Robert Herrick Vicker was buried y'e 15th day October, 1674."

I fancy I met with a selection from Herrick's Poems edited by Mr. Singer, several years ago, comprised in a small neat volume. Can any of your readers inform me whether there is such a book? I possess Mr. Singer's valuable editions of Cavendish, More, and Hall's Satires, and would wish to place this volume on the same shelf.

J. MILNER BARRY.

Totnes, Feb. 21. 1850.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "LÆRIG?"

This query, evidently addressed to our Anglo-Saxon scholars by the distinguished philologist to whom we are all so much indebted, not having been hitherto replied to, perhaps the journal of "NOTES AND QUERIES" is the most fitting vehicle for this suggestive note:—

TO DR. JACOB GRIMM.

Allow me, though an entire stranger to you, to thank you for the pleasure I have derived, in common with all ethnological students, from your very valuable labours, and especially from the Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache. At the same time I venture, with much diffidence, to offer a reply to your question which occur in that work at p. 663.:—"Was heisst lærig?"

Lye says, "Hæc vox occurrit apid Cædm. At interpretatio ejus minime liquet." In the Supplement to his Dictionary it is explained "docilis, tyro!" Mr. Thorpe, in his Analecta A.-S. (1st edit. Gloss), says, "The meaning of this word is uncertain: it occurs again in Cædmon;" and in his translation of Cædmon he thus renders the passage:—"Ofer linde lærig=over the linden shields." Here then lærig, evidently an adjective, is rendered by the substantive shields; and linde, evidently a substantive, is rendered by the adjective linden. In two other passages, Mr. Thorpe more correctly translates lindum=bucklers.

Lind, which Lye explained by the Latin labarium, vexillum, that excellent scholar, the late lamented Mr. Price, was the first, I believe, to show frequently signified a shield; which was, probably for lightness, made of the wood of the lime tree, and covered with skin, or leather of various colours. Thus we have "sealwe linde" and "hwite linde" in Cædm., "geolwe linde" in Beowulf.

All this is superfluous to you, sir, I know—"Retournons à nos moutons," as Maistre Pierre Pathelin says.

The sense required in the passage in Brythnoth seems to me to be:—

"bærst bordes lærig=the empty (hollow concave) shields

"and seo byrne sang=and the armour (lorica) resounded."

And in Cædmon:—

"ofer linde lærig=over the empty (hollow concave) shield."

In Judith, Th. Anal. 137, 53. we have a similar epithet:—

"hwealfum lindum=vaulted (arched concave) shields."

We should remember that Somner has ge-lær, void, empty, vacuus; and Lye, with a reference to the Herbarium, lær-nesse, vacuitas. In the Teuthonista we have lær, vacuus, concavus. In Heiland, 3, 4. "larea stodun thar stenuatu sehsi=empty stood there stone-vats six." I need not call to your mind the O.H.G. lári.

I think, therefore, we cannot doubt that what is intended to be expressed by the A.-S. lærig is empty, hollow, concave. But if we wanted further confirmation, leer, leery, leary are still in use in Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and perhaps elsewhere, for empty, hollow, as the provincial Glossaries will show. Skinner has the word leer, vacuus, and says, "foeliciter alludit Gr. [Greek: lagaros], laxus, vacuus." In Layamon we have (244, 16.), "the put wæs i-lær." I have found but one instance in Middle English, and that is in the curious old Phrase-Book compiled by William Horman, Head Master of Eton School in the reign of Henry VIII:—

"'At a soden shyfte leere barellis, tyed together, with boardis above, make passage over a streme.' Tumultuario opere, inanes cuppæ colligatæ et tabulatis instratæ fluminis transitu perhibent."—Hormanni Vulgaria, Lond. 1519, f. 272 b.

Instances of the word are not frequent, possibly because we had another word for empty (toom) in common with the Danes; but perhaps there was no necessity for dwelling upon it in the sense of empty; it was only its application as an epithet to a concave or hollow shield that your question could have had in view.

Once more thanking you most heartily for the pleasure and profit I have derived from the Deutsche Grammatik, and all your other important labours, I am, sir, your grateful and obliged servant,

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, Nov. 23. 1849.

1.Loricati, (in their coats of mail.)—Matthew of Westminster.
2.See the order at length in Rymer, ut sup.
3.Bellenden's translation.
4.The Earl of Hereford.
5.Wishcart, Bishop of Gloucester, before alluded to.
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