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SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE
Meaning of "Delighted" in some Places of Shakspeare.—I am sorry to be obliged to differ so often in opinion with H. C. K., but as we are both, I trust, solely actuated by the love of truth, he no doubt will excuse me. My difference now with him is about "delighted spirit," by which he understands the "tender delicate spirit," while I take it to be the "delectable" or "delightful spirit." As I think this is founded on the Latin, I beg permission to quote the following portion of my note on Jug. ii. 3. in my edition of Sallust:
"Incorruptus, ἄφθαρτος , i. e. incapable of dissolution, the incorruptibilis of the Fathers of the Church. In imitation probably of the Greek verbal adjective in τος, as αἱρετός, στρεπτός, etc., the Latins, especially Sallust, sometimes used the past part. as equivalent to an adj. in bilis: comp. xliii, 5.; lxxvi. 1.; xci. 7.; Cat. I. 4.,
'Non exorato stant adamante viæ;' Propert. IV. 11. 4.,
'Mare scopulis inaccessum;' Plin. Nat. Hist., XII. 14.
It is in this sense that flexus is to be understood in Virg. Æn., v. 500."
The same employment of the past part. is frequent in our old English writers, and I rather think that they adopted it from the Latin. The earliest instance which I find in my notes is from Golding, who renders the tonitrus et inevitabile fulmen of Ovid (Met. III. 301.):
"With dry and dreadful thunderclaps and lightning to the same,
Of deadly and unavoided dint."
In Milton I have noticed the following participles used in this sense: unmoved, abhorred, unnumbered, unapproached, dismayed, unreproved, unremoved, unsucceeded, preferred. But as Milton was addicted to Latinising, I will give some examples from Shakspeare himself:
"Now thou art come unto a feast of death
A terrible and unavoided danger."—1 Hen. VI., Act IV. Sc. 5.
"We see the very wreck that we must suffer,
And unavoided the danger now,
For suffering so the causes of our wreck."—Rich. II., Act II. Sc. 1.
"All unavoided is the doom of destiny."—Rich. III., Act IV. Sc. 4.
"Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels."—Ib., Act I. Sc. 4.
"Tell them that when my mother went with child
Of that insatiate Edward."—Ib., Act III. Sc. 5.
"I am not glad that such a sore of time
Should seek a plaster by contemned revolt."—King John, Act V. Sc 2.
"The murmuring surge
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes."—Lear, Act IV. Sc. 6.
"O, undistinguished space of woman's will."—Ib.
I could give instances from Spenser and even from Pope, but shall only observe that when we say "an undoubted fact" we mean an indubitable one.
Thos. Keightley.
P.S.—I am not disposed to quarrel with H. C. K.'s derivation of awkward (Vol. viii., p. 310.), but I must observe that the more exact correlative of toward seems to be wayward. The Anglo-Saxons appear to have pronounced their ȝ as g; but after the Conquest it was pronounced hard in some cases, and so wayward and awkward may have the same origin.
Shakspeare Portrait.—Can any of your correspondents state whether the sign of Shakspeare, said to have been painted at a cost of 150l., and which in 1764 graced a tavern then in Drury Lane, called "The Shakspeare," and in that year was taken down and removed into the country, and used for a similar purpose, still exists, add where? and is the artist who painted such known?
Charlecott.
"Taming of the Shrew."—I cannot help thinking that Christopher Sly merely means that he is fourteenpence on the score for sheer ale,—nothing but ale; neither bread nor meat, horse housing, or bed.
He has drunk the entire amount, and glories in his iniquity, like a true tippler.
G. H. K.
Lord Bacon and Shakspeare.—Can any of those correspondents of "N. & Q." who have devoted attention to the lives of two of England's greatest worthies, Francis Bacon and William Shakspeare, account for the extraordinary fact that, although these two highly gifted men were cotemporaries, no mention of or allusion to the other is to be found in the writings of either? Bacon was born in 1561, and died in 1626; Shakspeare, who was born in 1563, and died ten years before the great chancellor, not only loved
"To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy,"
but breathes throughout every page of his wondrous writings a spirit of philosophy as profound as his imagination is unlimited; yet nowhere, it is believed, can he be traced as making the slight allusion to the great father of modern philosophy. Bacon, on the other hand, whom one can scarcely suppose to have been ignorant of the writings of the dramatist, but who indeed may rather be believed to have known him personally, seems altogether to ignore his existence, or the existence of any of his matchless works. As the solution of this problem could not but throw much light on that most interesting subject,—the history of the minds of Shakespeare and Bacon,—I venture to throw it out as a fit subject for the research of some of your contributors versed in the writings of these great spirits of their own age, no less than of all time.
Theta.
Minor Notes
Decomposed Cloth.—In Mr. Wright's valuable work on The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 308., is mentioned the discovery at York of a Roman coffin, in which were distinctly visible "the colour, a rich purple," as well as texture of the cloth with which the body it had contained had been covered.
I should think that the colour observed was not that of the ancient dye, but rather was caused by phosphate of iron, formed by the combination of iron contained in the soil or water, with phosphoric acid, arising from the decomposition of animal matter. It may often be observed in similar cases, as about animal remains found in bogs, and about ancient leather articles found in excavations, especially when any iron is in contact with them, or in the soles of shoes or sandals studded with nails.
W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.
First and Last.—There cannot be two words more different in meaning than these, and yet they are both used to express the same sense! Of two authors equally eminent, one shall write that a thing is of the first and the other of the last importance, though each means the greatest or utmost. How is this? To me first appears preferable, though last may be justifiable. Being on the subject of words, I am reminded of obnoxious, which is applied in the strangest ways by different authors. It is true that the Roman writers used obnoxius in various senses; but it does not seem so pliable or smooth in English. Generally it is held to indicate disagreeable or inimical, though our dictionaries do not admit it to have either of those meanings!
A. B. C.
Cucumber Time.—This term, which the working-tailors of England use to denote that which their masters call "the flat season," has been imported from a country which periodically sends many hundreds of its tailors to seek employment in our metropolis. The German phrase is "Die saure Gurken Zeit," or pickled gherkin time. A misunderstanding of the meaning of the phrase may have given rise to the vulgar witticism, that tailors are vegetarians, who "live on cucumber" while at play, and on "cabbage" while at work.
N. W. S.
MS. Sermons of the Eighteenth Century.—Having lately become possessed, at the sale of an an old library, of some MS. Sermons by the Rev. J. Harris, Rector of Abbotsbury, Dorset, from the year 1741 to 1763, I shall be happy to place them in the hands of any descendant of that gentleman.
W. Ewart.
Pimperne, Dorset.
Boswell's "Johnson."—In vol. v. p. 272. of my favourite edition, and p. 784. of the edition in one volume, Johnson, writing to Brocklesby, under date Sept. 2, 1784, calls Windham "inter stellas Luna minores." Boswell, in a note, says, "It is remarkable that so good a Latin scholar as Johnson should have been so inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written stellas instead of ignes." Now, with all due deference, a Captain of Native Infantry ventures to suggest that both stellas and ignes are wrong, and that Johnson was thinking of the noble opening of Horace's 15th Epode:
"Nox erat, et cœlo fulgebat Luna sereno,
Inter minora sidera."
F. C.
Bangalore.
Stage Coaches.—It occurs to me as highly desirable that, before the recollection of the old stage coach has faded from the memory of all but the oldest inhabitant, an authentic statement should be placed on record of the length of the stages, and the speed that was obtained, by this mode of conveyance, in which England was for so many years without a rival.
The speed of mail coaches is, I believe chronicled in the British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; but their speed, if I mistake not, was surpassed by that of the "Rival," which travelled (from Monmouth, I think) to London after the opening of the Great Western Railway.
Could any of your correspondents favour us with the time-bill of that coach, detailing the length of the several stages, and the time of performance? It would also be interesting to chronicle the period during which this rivalry with the railway was maintained.
Geo. E. Frere.
Antecedents.—The word "antecedents," as a plural, and in the sense attached to it by the French, is not to be found in any English dictionary that I have the means of consulting. And yet it seems now to be commonly used as an English expression, even by some of our best writers.
When was this word first imported, and by whom? I have just met with an instance of it in Jerdan's Autobiography, vol. i. p. 131.:
"I got him (Hammon), with a full knowledge of his antecedents, into the employment of a humane and worthy wine merchant of Bordeaux."
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
The Letter X.—The letter X on brewers' casks is probably thus derived:
Simplex = single x, or X.
Duplex = double x, or XX.
Triplex = treble x, or XXX.
This was suggested by Owen's Epigram, lib. xii. 34.:
"Laudatur vinum simplex, cervisia duplex,
Est bona duplicitas, optima simplicitas."
B. H. C.
A Crow-bar.—In Johnson's Dictionary the explanation given of this word is "piece of iron used as a lever to force open doors, as the Latins called a hook corvus." In Walters' English and Welsh Dictionary, the first part of which was published about the year 1770, this word is printed "Croe-bar." Is it probable that the word crow has been derived front the Camb.-Brit. word cro, a curve? and that the name has been given from the circumstance of one end of a crow-bar being curved for the purpose of making it more efficient as lever?
N. W. S.
Minor Queries
Bishop Grehan.—I want any information obtainable with reference to a Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland named Grehan; his Christian name, family, date of his bishopric, and name of it. Where can I find such particulars?
O. L. R. G.
Doxology.—In his "Christmas Caroll" to the tune of "King Solomon," old Tusser has the following:
"To God the Son and Holy Ghost,
Let man give thanks, rejoice, and sing,
From world to world, from coast to coast,
For all good gifts so many ways,
That God doth send.
Let us in Christ give God the praise,
Till life shall end!"
Query, Is this the origin of our own doxologies?
L. A. M.
Great Yarmouth.
Arrow-mark.—On an ancient pump of wood, extracted from the Poltimore mine in North Devon, I perceive a deeply cut arrow-mark. What is the inference as to the age of this relic from the mark referred to? The fragment is that of a large oak tree hollowed out, and now decomposing from exposure after its long burial.
J. R. P.
Gabriel Poyntz.—There is a portrait here inscribed "Gabriel Poyntz, an. Domini 1568, ætatis suæ 36:" and having a coat of arms painted on it, Barry of eight, or and gules, with a crest very indistinct; but apparently a lion's head, and the motto "Clainte refrainte."
Can any of your correspondents inform me of the meaning of this motto, and the language in which it is expressed; and also what the crest is?
G. Poyntz was of South Okendon in Essex, and there is an account of his family in Morant's Essex; from which it appears that he was descended from the family of Poyntz of Tockington in Gloucestershire, of which there is an account in Atkins' Gloucestershire. He was afterwards knighted.—Any information as to him, in addition to that which is contained in Morant, would be very acceptable.
S. G. C.
Bradley, Ashbourne.
Queen Elizabeth's and Queen Anne's Motto, "Semper eadem."—Upon what occasion, and by what authority was the motto "Semper eadem" used as the royal motto in the reign of Elizabeth?
The authority for Queen Anne's motto has been afforded by your correspondent G. (Vol. viii., p. 255.); though he has not fully answered the original Query (Vol. viii., p. 174.), as the motto in question was signified to the public in the London Gazette, Dec. 21-24, 1702; was ordered to be continued in 1707, and to be discontinued (by an order in council) on the accession of the House of Hanover in 1714, when the old motto "Dieu et mon droit" was resumed.
Z. Z. Z.
Bees.—In these parts the increase of the apiary is known by the three following names:—The first migration from the parent hive is (as all your country readers are aware) a swarm; the next is called a cast; while the third increase, in the same season, goes under the name of a cote. Perhaps some one will kindly inform me if these names are common in other parts of England; and if there are any other local designations for the different departures of these insect colonists.
John P. Stilwell.
Dorking.
Nelly O'Brien and Kitty Fisher.—Perhaps some of the readers of "N. & Q." can tell me where information is to be found respecting these two celebrated women, who have been immortalised by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and whose portraits are sometimes to be met with.
"Cleopatra dissolving the Pearl" is a portrait of Kitty, and he probably introduced them both into some of his fancy pictures.
As I happen to possess a good portrait of one of them, I should like to know something of their history.
Cantab.
University Club.
"Homo unius libri."—To whom does this saying ing originally belong? The British Critic gives it to St. Thomas Aquinas:
"When asked on one occasion who is in the way to become learned, he answered, 'Whoever will content himself with the reading of a single book."—The British Critic, No. LIX. p. 202.
W. Fraser.
Tor-Mohun.
"Now the fierce bear," &c.—Can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the following lines?
"Now the fierce bear and leopard keen,
All perished as they ne'er had been;
Oblivion's their best home.
. . . .
There is an oath on high,
That ne'er on brow of mortal birth,
Shall blend again the crowns of earth."
θ.
Prejudice against Holy Confirmation.—I have found among my rural parishioners an idea very prevalent, that it is wrong, or at least highly improper, for a married woman to become a candidate for, or to receive holy confirmation; and this quite apart from any sectarian views on the matter. I should like to know if any of my clerical brethren have noticed the same superstition as I must call it. Labourers' wives in some cases have at once stated their being married as a valid objection; and in others their husbands, although Churchmen, have at once entered their veto on their being confirmed. Can it arise from any vague reminiscence of the practical rule of the Church of England on the subject, which has been so long ignored?
W. Fraser.
Tor-Mohun.
Epigram on MacAdam.—Who was the author of the following epigram?
"My Essay on Roads, quoth MacAdam, lies there,
The result of a life's lucubration;
But does not the title page look rather bare?
I long for a Latin quotation.
"A Delphin edition of Virgil stood nigh,
To second his classic desire;
When the road-maker hit on the shepherd's reply,
'Miror Magis,' I rather add-mire."
Jane Scrimshaw.—Can any of your numerous correspondents inform me if there is any other biographical notice of Jane Scrimshaw, who attained the advanced age of 127, and resided for upwards of eighty years in the Merchant Taylors' Almshouse, near Little Tower Hill, than that recorded in Caulfield's Memoirs of Remarkable Characters?
J. T. M.
The Word "Quadrille."—May I trouble some kind reader to give me the origin, derivation, full and literal meaning, and the several senses, in their regular succession, of the above word Quadrille? There seems to be much uncertainty attached to the word.
Veritatis Amicus.
Oxon.
The Hungarians in Paules.—Perhaps some of the ingenious contributors to "N. & Q." may be able to assist P. C. S. S. to explain the following passage in the dedication of a rare little book Dekker's Dreame (Lond. 4to. 1620). It is inscribed:—
"To the truly accomplished gentleman, and worthy deserver of all men's loves, Master Endymion Porter. Sir, if you aske why, from the heapes of men, I picke you out only to be that Murus ahæneus which must defend me, lett me tell you (what you knowe allready) that bookes are like the Hungarians in Paules, who have a priviledge to holde out their Turkish history for anie one to reade. They beg nothing: the texted past-bord talkes all—and if nothing be given, nothing is spoken, but God knowes what they thinke!"
An explanation of the above passage is very earnestly desired by
P. C. S. S.
Ferns Wanted.—Specimens of the following rare ferns are much wanted to complete a collection:—Woodsia ilvensis, Woodsia alpina, Cystopteris montana, Lastrea cristata, Lastrea recurva, Lastrea multiflora, Asplenium alterniflorum, Trichomanes speciosum.
The undersigned will feel very much obliged to any charitable person, residing near the habitat of any of the above-mentioned ferns, who would take the trouble to forward to him, if not a root, at least a specimen for drying, he need scarcely say that any expenses will be most cheerfully defrayed.
Henry Cooper Key.
Stretton Rectory, near Hereford.
Craton the Philosopher.—Two of the figures on the brass font in the church of St. Bartholomew at Liège are superscribed Johannes Evangelista et Craton Philosophus.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." say if anything is known about the latter, who is represented as being baptized by the Evangelist?
R. H. C.
The Solar Annual Eclipse in the Year 1263.—In the Norwegian account of Haco's expedition against Scotland, A.D. 1263, published in the original Islandic from the Flateyan and Frisian MSS., with a literal English version by the Rev. James Johnstone, I read as follows:
"While King Haco lay in Ronaldsvo, a great darkness drew over the sun; so that only a little ring was bright round the sun, and it continued so for some hours."—P. 45.
King Haco, according to the account, left Bergen on his expedition "three nights before the 'Selian' vigils … with all his fleet," and, "having got a gentle breeze, was two nights at sea when he reached that harbour of Shetland called Breydeyiar Sound (Bressay Sound, I presume) with a great part of his navy." Here he remained "near half a month, and from thence sailed to the Orkneys; and continued some time at Elidarwick, which is near Kirkwall.... After St. Olave's wake (July 18, O. S.) King Haco, leaving Elidarwick, sailed south before the Mull of Ronaldsha, with all the navy;" and being joined by Ronald from the Orkneys, with the ships that had followed him, he "led the whole armament into Ronaldsha, which he left upon the vigil of St. Lawrence (July 30, O. S.)."
Now I wish to know, 1. On what day in August this eclipse took place, the day of the week, commencement of the eclipse, &c.
2. Whether any cotemporary, or other writer besides the Icelandic historian, has recorded this eclipse?
S.
Fitzroy Street.
D'Israeli—how spelt?—Caucasus is so fortunate as to possess all the acknowledged works of D'Israeli the elder, as published by himself. In the title-page of every one of them, the name of the elegant and accomplished author is spelt (as above) with an apostrophe. In the late edition of his collected works, by his no less accomplished son, the name is printed without the apostrophe. Indeed the name so appears in all the works of Mr. D'Israeli the younger; a practice which he seems to have taken up even in the lifetime of his father, who spelt it differently. Can any of your readers inform Caucasus of the reason of this difference, and of the authority for it, and which is the correct mode? He has vainly sought for information in the Heralds' Visitation books for Buckinghamshire, preserved in the British Museum.
Caucasus.
Richard Oswald.—Could any of your correspondents give me any information respecting Mr. Richard Oswald, the commissioner who negociated the Treaty of 1782 at Paris, with Franklin, and his other colleagues, representing the United States? Is there any obituary or biographical notice of him in existence?
L.
Cromwell's Descendants.—Oliver Cromwell's daughter Bridget was baptized August 4, 1624; married to Ireton January 15, 1646-7; a widow Nov. 26, 1651; married to General Fleetwood, Lord President in Ireland, before 1652; died at Stoke, near London, 1681.—Can any of your correspondents furnish the date of this lady's marriage with Fleetwood; also, a list of her children and grandchildren by Fleetwood? It is supposed that Captain Fleetwood's daughter, i. e. the General's granddaughter, married a Berry.
Erin.
Letter of Archbishop Curwen to Archbishop Parker.—In The Hunting of the Romish Fox, collected by Sir James Ware, and edited by Robert Ware (8vo., Dublin, 1683), there is a long account of an image of the Saviour which, to the astonishment of the good people of Dublin, and by the contrivance of one Father Leigh, sweated blood in the year 1559. It is added, at p. 90.:
"The Archbishop of Dublin wrote this relation and to this effect, to his brother, Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker, who was very joyful at the receipt thereof, by reason," &c.
The whole chapter in which this occurs is stated to be "taken out of the Lord Cecil's Memorials." Can any of your readers give me assistance in finding these Memorials, or this letter to Archbishop Parker, or a copy of it? I intended to have made it an object of inquiry and search in Dublin, but I have been prevented accomplishing my design of visiting that country. Perhaps some of your Irish readers may be able to help me.
John Bruce.
