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Minor Queries with Answers

Chandler, Bishop of Durham.—Lord Dover, in the second volume of his edition of Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, p. 373., in a note, thus speaks of this prelate:

"A learned prelate and author of various polemical works, he had been raised to the see of Durham in 1730, as it was then said, by symoniacal means."

Can any of your readers inform me where I can obtain evidence of the symoniacal means by which it is said this bishop obtained the bishopric of Durham? One would scarcely think so cautious a man as Lord Dover would refer to the imputation, without some evidence on which his lordship could rely.

Mr. Surtees, in his History of the Bishops of Durham, makes no allusion to the symoniacal means by which Chandler obtained his promotion to the see of Durham. He gives a list of the bishop's printed works, amongst which is a "charge to the grand jury of Durham concerning engrossing of corn, &c., 1740." Can you, or any of your readers, inform me where this pamphlet is to be met with? For I am curious to know how a bishop could make a charge to a grand jury. There must surely be some mistake in the title of the pamphlet.

Fra. Mewburn.

Darlington.

[The charge of simony is loosely noticed by Shaw in his History of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 278. He says, "Edward Chandler was translated from Lichfield and Coventry to Durham in 1730; and it was then publicly said that he gave 9000l. for that opulent see." To this Chalmers, in his Biog. Dict., adds, "which is scarcely credible." The Charge by the bishop is in the British Museum: it is entitled, "A Charge delivered to the Grand Jury at the Quarter-Sessions held at Durham, July 16, 1740, concerning engrossing of corn and grain, and the riots that have been occasioned thereby." 4to., Durham.]

Huggins and Muggins.—Can any of your readers assign the origin of this jocular appellation? I would hazard the conjecture, that it may be corruption of Hogen Mogen, High Mightinesses, the style, I believe, of the States-General of Holland; and that it probably became an expression of contempt in the mouths of the Jacobites for the followers of William III., from whence it has passed to a more general application.

F. K.

Bath.

[Hugger-mugger, says Dr. Richardson, is the common way of writing this word, from Udal to the present time. No probable etymology, he adds, has yet been given. Sir John Stoddart (Ency. Metropolitana, vol i. p. 120.) has given a long article on this word, which concludes with the following remarks:—"The last etymology that we shall mention is from the Dutch title, Hoog Moogende (High Mightinesses), given to the States-General, and much ridiculed by some of our English writers; as in Hudibras:

'But I have sent him for a token
To your Low-country, Hogen Mogen.'

It has been supposed that hugger-mugger, corrupted from Hogen Mogen, was meant in derision of the secret transactions of their Mightinesses; but it is probable that the former word was known in English before the latter, and upon the whole it seems most probable that hugger is a mere intensitive form of hug, and that mugger is a reduplication of sound with a slight variation, which is so common in cases of this kind."]

Balderdash.—What is the meaning and the etymology of "balderdash?"

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

[Skinner suggests the following etymology: "Balderdash, potus mixtus, credo ab A.-S. bald, audax, balder, audacior vel audacius, et nostro dash; miscere, q.d. potus temere mixtus." Dr. Jamieson explains it as "foolish and noisy talk. Islandic, bulldur, stultorum balbuties." Dr. Ogilvie, however, has queried its derivation from the "Spanish balda, a trifle, or baldonar, to insult with abusive language; Welsh, baldorz, to prattle. Mean, senseless prate; a jargon of words; ribaldry; anything jumbled together without judgment."]

Lovell, Sculptor.—What is known of this artist? That he was in advance of the age he flourished in is evinced by his beautifully executed engravings in Love's Sacrifice (fol. Lond. 1652), which for delicacy of work are far beyond anything of the period.

R.C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

[Is the name Lovell, or Loisell? for we find that Strutt, in his Dictionary of Engravers, vol. ii. p. 101., speaks of "P. Loisell having affixed some slight etchings, something in the style of Gaywood (if I mistake not), to Benlowe's Theophilia, or Love's Sacrifice."]

St. Werenfrid and Butler's "Lives of the Saints."—One of your correspondents will perhaps explain the cause of an omission in Butler's Lives of the Saints. The life of St. Werenfrid, whose anniversary is the 14th of August, is abstracted, vol. iii. p. 492. His name occurs in the table of contents: and pages 493 and 494, where the life should have appeared, are wanting; still page 495 follows 492 correctly in type, so that the former must have been reprinted after the castration of the leaf. Was the saint deemed unworthy of the place which had been allotted to him?

J. H. M.

[In the best edition of Butler's Lives (12 vols., 1812-13), the life of St. Werenfrid is given on Nov. 7. He is honored in Holland on the 14th of August; and his life appears in Britannia Sancta on that day, but in the Bollandists on the 28th of August.]

Replies

SIR W. HANKFORD-GASCOIGNE'S TOMB

(Vol. viii., p. 278.)

On reading Mr. Sansom's letter, it occurred to me that I had seen a different account of the master being shot by his park-keeper; and on search I found the following in 1 Hale's P. C. p. 40., which I send, as it may tend to clear up the question:

"In the case of Sir William Hawksworth, related by Baker in his Chronicle of the Time of Edward IV., p. 223. (sub anno 1471), he being weary of his life, and willing to be rid of it by another's hand, blamed his parker for suffering his deer to be destroyed; and commanded him that he should shoot the next man that he met in his park that would not stand or speak. The knight himself came in the night into the park, and being met by the keeper, refused to stand or speak. The keeper shot and killed him, not knowing him to be his master. This seems to be no felony, but excusable by the statute of Malefactores in Parcis."

This account varies from Ritson's in the name "Hawksworth" instead of "Hankford," and the date 1471 instead of 1422. It seems plain that Lord Hale had no idea that the person shot was a judge: and possibly the truth may be, that it was a descendant of the judge that was shot. Even if Hankford's death were in 1422, as stated by Risdon, the traditional account that he caused his own death "in doubt of his safety" does not seem very probable, as Henry V. came to the throne in 1412-13. Probably some of your readers may be able to clear up the matter.

I was at Harewood the other day, and examined a tomb there alleged to be that of the C.-J. Gascoigne. In the centre of the west end of the tomb is a shield: first and fourth, five fleurs-de-lys (France); second and third, three lions passant gardant (England).—May I ask how these arms happen to be on this tomb?

There are several other shields on the tomb, but all are now undistinguishable except one; which appears to be a bend impaling a saltire, as far as I can make it out: the colours are wholly obliterated. The head of the figure has not a coif on it, as I should have anticipated; but a cap fitting very close, and a bag is suspended from the left arm.—Is it known for certain that this is C.-J. Gascoigne's tomb?

S. G. C.

Harrogate.

Mr. Sansom need not have been very much surprised that I should have omitted noticing a tradition concerning Sir William Hankford, when I was merely rectifying an error with reference to Sir William Gascoigne. That I have not overlooked entirely "the Devonshire tradition, which represents Sir William Hankford to be the judge who committed Prince Henry," may be seen in The Judges of England, vol. iv. p. 324., wherein I show the total improbability of the tale. And my disbelief in the story of Hankford's death, and its more probable application to Sir Robert Danby, is already noticed in "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 93.

Edward Foss.

TRANSLATION OF THE PRAYER BOOK INTO FRENCH

(Vol. vii., p. 382.)

In answer to some of the questions proposed by O. W. J. respecting the Prayer Book translated into French, I am able to give this information.

A copy of a French Prayer Book is to be found in the Bodleian Library (Douce Coll.), which is very probably the first edition of the translation. A general account of this book may be gained from Strype's Mem. Eccl. K. Ed. VI. (vol. iii. p. 208. ed. 1816); also Strype's Mem. Abp. Cranmer (b. ii. c. 22. sub fin. and c. 33., and App. 54. and 261.); also Collier's Eccl. Hist., vol. ii. p. 321.

From these sources we may conclude that a translation of the first book of K. Ed. VI. was begun very soon after its publication in England, at the instigation of Pawlet (at that time governor of Calais), with the sanction of the king and the archbishop "for the use of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, and of the town and dependencies of Calais;" but it does not seem to have been completed before the publication of the second book took place, and so the alterations were incorporated into this edition.

The translator was "Françoys Philippe, a servant of the Lord Chancellor" (Thos. Goodrick, Bishop of Ely), as he styles himself. The printer's name is Gaultier. It was put forth in 1553.

There is still extant an "Order in Council" for the island of Jersey, dated April 15, 1550, commanding to "observe and use the service, and other orders appertaining to the same, and to the ministration of the sacraments, set forth in the booke sent to you presentlye." It is uncertain what the book here referred to was, whether a translation or a copy of the English liturgy.

There are copies extant of another liturgy put forth in 1616, purporting to be "newly translated at the command of the king." The printer's name is Jehan Bill, of London. The name of John Bill appears also as king's printer in the English authorised edition of 1662.

Another was published in 1667, by Jean Dunmore and Octavien Pulleyn.

The edition of 1695, published by Erringham (Everingham) and R. Bentley, has the sanction of K. Charles II. appended to it.

Numerous editions have since been published, varying in many important points (even of doctrine) from one another, and from their English original. There is now no authorised edition fit for general use; the older translations having become too antiquated by the variations in the French language to be read in the churches.

M. A. W. C.

PRAYING TO THE WEST

(Vol. viii., p. 208.)

Although going over old ground, yet, if it be permitted, I would note a curious coincidence connected with this far-spread veneration for the West.

As mentioned by G. W., the Puranas point to the "Sacred Isles of the West" as the elysium of the ancient Hindûs, "The White Islands of the West." The Celtæ of the European continent believed that their souls were transported to England, or some islands adjacent. (See Encyclopédié Méthodique, art. "Antiquités," vol. i. p. 704.) The Celtic elysium, "Flath-Innis," a remote island of the West, is mentioned by Logan in his Celtic Gaël, vol. ii. p. 342., who no doubt drew his information from the same source as Professor Rafinesque, whose observations on this subject I transcribe, viz.:

"It is strange but true, that, throughout the earth, the place of departed souls, the land of spirits, was supposed to be in the West, or at the setting sun. This happens everywhere, and in the most opposite religions, from China to Lybia, and also from Alaska to Chili in America. The instances of an eastern paradise were few, and referred to the eastern celestial abode of yore, rather than the future abode of souls. The Ashinists, or Essenians, the best sect of Jews, placed Paradise in the Western Ocean; and the Id. Alishe, or Elisha of the Prophets, the happy land. Jezkal (our Ezekiel) mentions that island; the Phœnicians called it Alizut, and some deem Madeira was meant, but it had neither men nor spirits! From this the Greeks made their Elysium and Tartarus placed near together, at first in Epirus, then Italy, next Spain, lastly in the ocean, as the settlers travelled west. The sacred and blessed islands of the Hindus and Lybians were in this ocean; Wilford thought they meant the British Islands. Pushcara, the farthest off, he says, was Iceland, but may have meant North America.
"The Lybians called their blessed islands 'Aimones;' they were the Canaries, it is said, but likely the Atlantides, since the Atlantes dwelt in the Aimones," &c.

And farther he says, the Gauls had their Cocagne, the Saxons their Cockaign, Cocana of the Lusitanians,—

"A land of delight and plenty, which is proverbial to this day! By the Celts it was called 'Dunna feadhuigh,' a fairy land, &c. But all these notions have earlier foundations, since the English Druids put their paradise in a remote island in the west, called 'Flath-Innis,' the flat island", &c.—American Nations, vol. ii. p. 245. et infra.

The coincidence then is this. The same veneration for the West prevails among many of our Indian tribes, who place their Paradise in an island beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far toward the setting sun. There, good Indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new skins, and live in warm new lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous gales; but the bad Indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the strand in all directions.

I cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with futurity. The above idea of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though prevalent, is not general; for instance, the Minnetarees and Mandans believed that to reach Paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good Indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (See Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. i. p. 259.)

The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake (see Long's Expedition to St. Peter's River, vol. i. p. 154.); and in the same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or Sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully.

Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just the Alsirat of the Mahomedans; I think it will be found in the Bibliothèque Orientale of D'Herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to Sale's Koran. Sale thinks Mahomet borrowed the idea from the Magians, who teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "Pûl Chînavad" or "Chînavar," i.e. "The Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of the "Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a thread. According to M. Hommaire de Hell, the Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the wicked attempt to pass along this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian, &c., p. 252.)

Having already trespassed most unconscionably, I forbear farther remark on these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that so remote as to have allowed time for diverging dialects to have become, as it were, distinct languages.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

JACOB BOBART

(Vol. viii., p. 37.)

The completion of a laborious literary work has taken my attention away from the "N. & Q." for some weeks past, otherwise I should sooner have given Mr. Bobart the following information.

The engraving of old Jacob Bobart by W. Richardson is not of any value, being a copy from an older print. Query if it is not a copy of the very rare engraving by Loggan and Burghers?

The original print of the "founder of the physick garden," "D. Loggan del., M. Burghers sculp., 1675," which Mr. Bobart wishes to procure, may be purchased of A. E. Evans, 403. Strand, for 2l. 12s. 6d. I also learn from Mr. Evans' invaluable Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits (an octavo of 431 pages, lately published), that there exists a portrait of Bobart, "the classical alma mater coachman of Oxford," whole length, by Dighton, 1808. The same catalogue also contains other portraits of the Bobarts.

Since my last communication on the present subject, I find the following memorandums in one of my note-books, which possibly may be unknown to your correspondent; they relate to MSS. in the British Museum.

Add. MS. 5290. contains 227 folio drawings of various rare plants, the names of which are added in the autograph of Jacob Bobart the elder.

Sloane MS. 4038. contains some letters from Jacob Bobart to Sir Hans Sloane, 1685-1716; also one from Anne Bobart, dated 1701.

Sloane MS. 3343. contains a catalogue of plants and seeds saved at Oxford, by Mr. Bobart, 1695-6.

Sloane MS. 3321., consisting of scientific letters addressed to Mr. Petiver, contains one from Jacob Bobart, and another from Tilleman Bobart. The latter has a letter dated "Blenheim, Feb. 5, 1711-12," to some person unknown, in Sloane MS. 4253.

Tilleman Bobart appears to have been employed in laying out the park and gardens at the Duke of Marlborough's magnificent seat at Blenheim. A member of his original papers and receipts were lately disposed of by auction at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's. (See the sale catalogue of July 22, 1853, lot 1529.)