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Minor Queries with Answers
The Ligurian Sage.—In Gifford's Mæviad, lines 313-316, I read,—
"Together we explored the stoic page
Of the Ligurian, stern tho' beardless sage!
Or trac'd the Aquinian thro' the Latin road,
And trembled at the lashes he bestow'd."
The Aquinian is of course Juvenal; but I must confess me at fault with respect to the Ligurian.
W. T. M.
[The Ligurian sage is no doubt Aulus Persius Flaccus, who, according to ancient authors, was born at Volaterræ in Etruria; but some modern writers conclude that he was born at Lunæ Portus in Liguria, from the following lines (Sat. VI. 6.), which seem to relate to the place of his residence:
"Mihi nunc Ligus ora
Intepet, hybernatque meum mare, qua latus ingens
Dant scopuli, et multa littus se valle receptat.
Lunai portum est operæ cognoscere, cives."
When approaching the verge of manhood, Persius became the pupil of Cornutus the Stoic, and his death took place before he had completed his twenty-eighth year.]
Gresebrok in Yorkshire.—Can you or any of your correspondents give me any information as to what part of Yorkshire the manor of Gresebrok lies in? In Shaw's History of Staffordshire (2 vols. folio), there is a "Bartholomew de Gresebrok" mentioned as witness to a deed of Henry III.'s times made between Robert de Grendon, Lord of Shenston, and Jno. de Baggenhall; which family of Gresebrok, it is said, "probably took their name from a manor so called in Yorkshire, and had property and residence in Shenstone, from this early period to the beginning of the century, many of whom are recorded in the registers from 1590 to 1722."
The above is quoted by Shaw from Sanders's History of Shenstone, p. 98., and perhaps some of your correspondents may possess that work, and will oblige me by transcribing the necessary information.
Any particulars of the above family will much oblige your constant reader
Ἡραλδικος.
[According to Sanders, the family of Greisbrook was formerly of some note at Shenstone. He says that "Greisbrook, whence the family had their name, is a manor in Yorkshire, which, in the reign of Henry III., was in the great House of Mowbray, of whom the Greisbrooks held their lands. Roger de Greisbrook (temp. Henry II.) is mentioned as holding of the fee of Alice, Countess of Augie, or Ewe, daughter of William de Albiney, Earl of Arundel, by Queen Alice, relict of Henry I." Then follow some particulars of various branches of the family, from the year 1580 to the death of Robert Greisbrook in 1718. Sanders's History is included in vol. ix. of Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica.]
Stillingfleet's Library.—The extensive and valuable library of Edward Stillingfleet, the learned Bishop of Worcester, who died in 1699, is said to be contained in the library of Primate Marsh, St. Patrick's, Dublin. Can any of your correspondents state how it came there? Was it bequeathed by the bishop, or sold by his descendants? He died at Westminster, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral.
J. B. Whitborne.
[Bishop Stillingfleet's library was purchased by Archbishop Marsh for his public library in Dublin. A few years since Robert Travers, Esq., M.D., of Dundrum near Dublin, was engaged in preparing for publication a catalogue of Stillingfleet's printed books, amounting to near 10,000 volumes. The bishop's MSS. were bought by the late Earl of Oxford, and are now in the Harleian Collection. See The Life of Bishop Stillingfleet, 8vo., 1735, p. 135., and Biog. Brit. s. v.]
The whole System of Law.—On December 26, 1651, the Long Parliament, stimulated by Cromwell to various important reforms in civil matters, resolved,—
"That it be referred to persons out of the House to take into consideration what inconveniences there are in the law, and how the mischiefs that grow from the delays, the chargeableness, and the irregularities in the proceedings of the law, may be prevented; and the speediest way to reform the same."
The commission thus appointed consisted twenty-one persons, among whom were Sir Mathew Hale, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and John Rushworth. They seem to have set to work with great vigour, and submitted a variety of important measures to Parliament, many of which were adopted. They also prepared a document "containing the whole system of the law," which was read to the House on January 20 and 21, 1652; and it was resolved "That three hundred copies of the said book be forthwith printed, to be delivered to members of the Parliament only."
Is anything known of this work at the present day?
A Leguleian.
[It appears doubtful whether this work was ever printed, for in a pamphlet published April 27, 1653, entitled A Supply to a Draught of an Act or System proposed (as is reported) by the Committee for Regulations concerning the Law, &c., the writer thus notices it:—"Having lately heard of some propositions called 'The System of the Law,' which are said to be intended preparatives to several Acts of Parliament touching the regulation of the law, we cannot but with thankfulness acknowledge the care and industry of those worthy persons who contrived the same, it containing many good and wholesome provisions for the future perpetual good and quiet of the nation.... We know not, at present, wherein we could give a more visible testimony of our affections to the peaceable government of the free people here, than by offering to them and the supreme authority, what we humbly conceive prejudicial and inconvenient to well-government, in case that System (as it is said to be now prepared) should take effect." A week before the publication of this work, the Long Parliament had been turned out of doors by Cromwell.]
Saint Malachy on the Popes.—Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, who flourished in the first half of the twelfth century, is said to be the author of a curious prophecy respecting the Popes. Some years ago I met with this prophecy in an old French almanack, and was particularly struck with its applicability to the life and character of the present Pope; but I omitted to make a Note.
Can you inform me where I may find a copy of this prophecy?
Henry H. Breen.
[St. Malachy's hieroglyphical descriptions or prophecy on the succession of Roman Pontiffs will be found in Flosculi Historici delibati nunc delibatiores redditi, sive Historia Universalis; Auctore Joanne de Bussières, Societatis Jesu Sacerdote, Oxon. 1668. An explanation of each prophecy is given from the pontificate of Celestus II. A.D. 1143, to that of Innocent X. A.D. 1644. The present Pope being the nineteenth from Innocent X., the following prophecy relates to him, "Crux de Cruce." We subjoin the remainder: 20. Lumen in cœlo. 21. Ignis ardens. 22. Religio depopulata. 23. Fides intrepida. 24. Pastor angelicus. 25. Pastor et nauta. 26. Flos Florum. 27. De medietate lunæ. 28. De labore solis. 29 Gloria Olivæ. St. Malachy concludes his prophecy with the following prediction of the downfall of the Roman Church: "In persecutione extrema Sacræ Romanæ Ecclesiæ sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus; quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, et Judex tremendus judicabit populum."]
Work on the Human Figure.—A few years ago there was a little work published on Dress and the Art of improving the Human Figure, by (I believe) a nobleman's valet: I wish to consult this for a literary purpose, and should be much obliged to any of your readers who can favour me with the exact title and date.
Charles Demayne.
[The following two works on dress appear in the London Catalogue:—The Whole Art of Dress, by a Country Officer, 12mo. Lond. 1830; and The Art of Dress, or a Guide to the Toilette, fcp. 8vo., Lond. 1839.]
Replies
"NAMBY-PAMBY," AND OTHER WORDS OF THE SAME FORM
(Vol. viii., p. 318.)
The origin of the word namby-pamby is explained in the following passage of Johnson's Life of Ambrose Philips:
"The pieces that please best are those which from Pope and Pope's adherents procured him the name of namby-pamby, the poems of short lines, by which he paid his court to all ages and characters—from Walpole, 'the steerer of the realm,' to Miss Pulteney in the nursery. The numbers are smooth and sprightly, and the diction is seldom faulty. They are not loaded with much thought, yet, if they had been written by Addison, they would have had admirers. Little things are not valued but when they are done by those who can do greater."
In the Treatise on the Bathos, the infantine style is exclusively exemplified by passages from Ambrose Philips:
"This [says Pope] is when a poet grows so very simple as to think and talk like a child. I shall take my examples from the greatest master in this way: hear how he fondles like a mere stammerer:
'Little charm of placid mien,
Miniature of Beauty's queen,
Hither, British Muse of mine,
Hither, all ye Grecian nine,
With the lovely Graces three,
And your pretty nursling see.
When the meadows next are seen,
Sweet enamel, white and green;
When again the lambkins play,
Pretty sportlings full of May,
Then the neck so white and round,
(Little neck with brilliants bound)
And thy gentleness of mind,
(Gentle from a gentle kind), &c.
Happy thrice, and thrice again,
Happiest he of happy men,' &c.
And the rest of those excellent lullabies of his composition."—C. xi.
These verses are stated by Warburton, in his note on the passage, to be taken from a poem to Miss Cuzzona. They are however in fact selected from two poems addressed to daughters of Lord Carteret, and are put together arbitrarily, out of the order in which they stand in the original poems. There is a short poem by Philips in the same metre, addressed to Signora Cuzzoni, and dated May 25, 1724, beginning, "Little syren of the stage;" but none of the verses quoted in the Treatise on the Bathos are extracted from it.
Namby-pamby belongs to a tolerably numerous class of words in our language, all formed on the same rhyming principle. They are all familiar, and some of them childish; which last circumstance probably suggested to Pope the invention of the word namby-pamby, in order to designate the infantine style which Ambrose Philips had introduced. Many of them, however, are used by old and approved writers; and the principle upon which they are formed must be of great antiquity in our language. The following is a collection of words which are all formed in this manner:
Bow-wow.—A word coined in imitation of a dog's bark. Compare the French aboyer.
Chit-chat.—Formed by reduplication from chat. A word (says Johnson) used in ludicrous conversation. It occurs in the Spectator and Tatler.
Fiddle-faddle.—Formed in a similar manner from to fiddle, in its sense of to trifle. It occurs in the Spectator.
Flim-flam.—An old word, of which examples are cited from Beaumont and Fletcher, and Swift. It is formed from flam, which Johnson calls "a cant word of no certain etymology." Flam, for a lie, a cheat, is however used by South, Barrow, and Warburton, and therefore at one time obtained an admission into dignified style. See Nares' Glossary in v.
Hab or nab.—That is, according to Nares, have or have not; subsequently abridged into hab, nab. Hob or nob is explained by him to mean "Will you have a glass of wine or not?" Hob, nob is applied by Shakspeare to another alternative, viz. give or take (Twelfth Night, Act III. Sc. 4.). See Nares in v. Habbe or Nabbe.
Handy-dandy.—"A play in which children change hands and places" (Johnson). Formed from hand. The word is used by Shakspeare.
Harum-scarum.—"A low but frequent expression applied to flighty persons; persons always in a hurry" (Todd). Various conjectures are offered respecting its origin: the most probable seems to be, that it is derived from scare. The Anglo-Saxon word hearmsceare means punishment (see Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, p. 681.); but although the similarity of sound is remarkable, it is difficult to understand how harum-scarum can be connected with it.
Helter-skelter.—Used by Shakspeare. Several derivations for this word are suggested, but none probable.
Higgledy-piggledy.—"A cant word, corrupted from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as higglers carry a huddle of provisions together" (Johnson). It seems more probable that the word is formed from pig; and that it alludes to the confused and indiscriminate manner in which pigs lie together. In other instances (as chit-chat, flim-flam, pit-a-pat, shilly-shally, slip-slop, and perhaps harum-scarum), the word which forms the basis of the rhyming reduplication stands second, and not first.
Hocus-pocus.—The words ocus bochus appear, from a passage cited in Todd, to have been used anciently by Italian conjurers. The fanciful idea of Tillotson, that hocus-pocus is a corruption of the words hoc est corpus, is well known. Compare Richardson in v.
Hoddy-doddy.—This ancient word has various meanings (see Richardson in v.). As used by Ben Jonson and Swift, it is expressive of contempt. In Holland's translation of Pliny it signifies a snail. There is likewise a nursery rhyme or riddle:
"Hoddy-doddy,
All legs and no body."
Hodge-podge appears to be a corruption of hotch-pot. It occurs in old writers. (See Richardson in Hotch-pot.)
Hoity-toity.—Thoughtless, giddy. Formed from the old word to hoit, to dance or leap, to indulge in riotous mirth. See Nares in Hoit and Hoyt.
Hubble-bubble.—A familiar word, formed from bubble. Not in the dictionaries.
Hubbub.—Used by Spenser, and other good writers. Richardson derives it from hoop or whoop, shout or yell. It seems rather a word formed in imitation of the confused inarticulate noise produced by the mixture of numerous voices, like mur-mur in Latin.
Hugger-mugger.—Used by Spenser, Shakspeare, and other old writers. The etymology is uncertain. Compare Jamieson in Hudge-mudge. The latter part of the word seems to be allied with smuggle, and the former part to be the reduplication. The original and proper sense of hugger-mugger is secretly. See Nares in v., who derives it from to hugger, to lurk about; but query whether such a word can be shown to have existed?
Humpty-dumpty.—Formed from hump. This word occurs in the nursery rhyme:
"Humpty-dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-dumpty had a great fall," &c.
Hurdy-gurdy.—The origin of this word, which is quoted from no writer earlier than Foote, has not been explained. See Todd in v.
Hurly-burly.—This old word occurs in the well-known verses in the opening scene of Macbeth—
"When the hurly burly's done,
When the battle's lost and won"—
where see the notes of the commentators for other instances of it. There are rival etymologies for this word, but all uncertain. The French has hurlu-burlu. Nares in Hurly.
Hurry-scurry.—This word, formed from hurry, is used by Gray in his Long Story.
Nick-nack.—A small ornament. Not in the dictionaries.
Pic-nic.—For the derivation of this word, which seems to be of French origin, see "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., pp. 240. 387.
Pit-pat, or Pit-a-pat.—A word formed from pat, and particularly applied to the pulsations of the heart, when accelerated by emotion. Used by Ben Jonson and Dryden. Congreve writes it a-pit-pat.
Riff-raff.—The refuse of anything, "Il ne lui lairra rif ny raf." Cotgrave in Rif, where rif is said to mean nothing.
Rolly-pooly.—"A sort of game" (Johnson). It is now used as the name of a pudding rolled with sweetmeat.
Rowdy-dowdy, and Rub-a-dub.—Words formed in imitation of the beat of a drum.
Shilly-shally.—Used by Congreve, and formerly written "shill I, shall I."
Slip-slop.—"Bad liquor. A low word, formed by reduplication of slop" (Johnson). Now generally applied to errors in pronunciation, arising from ignorance and carelessness, like those of Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals.
Tip-top.—Formed from top, like slip-slop from slop.
Tirra-lirra.—Used by Shakspeare:
"The lark that tirra lirra chants."—Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. 2.
From the French, see Nares in v.
The preceding collection is intended merely to illustrate the principle upon which this class of words are formed, and does not aim at completeness. Some of your correspondents will doubtless, if they are disposed, be able to supply other examples of the same mode of formation.
L.
