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Minor Queries with Answers
Margaret Patten.—I have just seen a curious old picture, executed at least a century ago, and which was lately found amongst some family papers. It is a half-length of an old woman in homely looking garments; a dark blue stuff gown, the sleeves partially rolled up, and white sleeving protruding from under, not unlike the fashion of to-day; a white and blue checked apron; around her neck a white tippet and a handkerchief, on her head a "mutch," or close linen cap, and a lace or embroidered band across her forehead to hide the absence of hair. She holds something undistinguishable in one hand.
The picture is about 10 × 8 inches, and is done on glass, evidently transferred from an engraving on steel. The colours have been laid on with hand, and then, to preserve and make an opaque back, it has received a coating of plaster of Paris; altogether in its treatment resembling a coloured photograph.
By-the-bye, I am sorry I could not get a copy (photographic) of it, or that would have rendered intelligible what I fear my lame descriptions cannot. Beneath the figure is the following inscription:
"Margaret Patten,
Born in the Parish of Lochnugh, near Pairsley in Scotland, now Liveing in the Work House of St. Margts, Westminsster, aged 138."
There is no date appended.
The word "Lochnugh" in the inscription is evidently spelt from the Scotch pronunciation of Lochwinnoch, near Paisley.
I should be very glad if any of your readers or correspondents in London could ascertain if the name, &c. is to be found in the records of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and also give me some facts as to the history of this poor old Scotch woman, left destitute so far from home and kindred.
If it can be authenticated, it will make another item for your list of longevals.
James B. Murdoch.
Glasgow.
[In the Board-room of the workhouse of St. Margaret's, Westminster, is a portrait of Margaret Patten, which corresponds with the picture just described, and bears the following inscription:
"Margaret Patten, aged 136: the Gift of John Dowsell, William Goff, Matthew Burnett, Thomas Parker, Robert Wright, John Parquot, Overseers, anno 1737."
Margaret Patten was buried in the burial-ground of what was then called the Broadway Church, now Christ Church, and there is a stone on the eastern boundary wall inscribed, "Near this place lieth Margaret Patten, who died June 26, 1739, in the Parish Workhouse, aged 136." In Walcott's Memorials of Westminster, p. 288., we are told "she was a native of Lochborough, near Paisley. She was brought to England to prepare Scotch broth for King James II., but, owing to the abdication of that monarch, fell into poverty and died in St. Margaret's workhouse, where her portrait is still preserved. Her body was followed to the grave by the parochial authorities and many of the principal inhabitants, while the children sang a hymn before it reached its last resting-place."]
Etymology of "Coin."—What is the etymology of our noun and verb coin and to coin? I do not know if I have been anticipated, but beg to suggest the following:—Coin, a piece of cornered metal; To coin, the act of cornering such block of metal.
In Cornwall, the blocks of tin, when first run into moulds from the smelting furnace, are square; and when the metal is to be fined or assayed, the miner's phrase is, that it is to be coined; for the corners of the moulded block are cut off, and subjected to the assay; and the decree of fineness proved is stamped on the now cornerless block—thereafter called a coin of tin. It is, I conceive, by no means a violent supposition that such coins of tin were current as money very many ages before either silver, gold, copper, bronze, lead, tin, or any other metal moulded, stamped, engraved, or fashioned into such coins as we now know had come into use. We know to what far-back ages the finding of tin carries us, its find being entirely confined to Cornwall; its presence near the surface in an ore readily reduced and easily melted making its reduction into the metallic state possible in the very rudest state of society and of the arts.
C. D. Lamont.
Greenock.
[See Dr. Richardson for the following derivation:—"Fr. coigner, It. cuniare, Sp. cunar, acuñar, to wedge, and also to coin. Menage and Spelman agree from the Latin cuneus. 'Cuneus; sigillum ferreum, quo nummus cuditur; a forma dictum: atque inde coin quasi cune pro monetâ.' An iron seal with which metal is stamped; so called from the shape. And hence money is called coin (q. cune, wedge).—Spelman." The Rev. T. R. Brown, in an unpublished Dictionary of Difficult Etymology1, suggests the following:—"Fr. coign, a coin, stamp, &c.; Gaelic, cuin, a coin. Probably from the Sanscrit kan, to shine, desire, covet; kanaka, gold, &c. The Hebrew ceseph, money, coin, is derived in like manner from the verb casaph, to desire, covet. The other meaning attached to the French word coign, viz. a wedge, appears to be derived from quite a different root."]
Inscription at Aylesbury.—In the north transept of St. Mary's Church, Aylesbury, occurs the following curious inscription on a tomb of the date of 1584:
"Yf, passing by this place, thou doe desire
To knowe what corpse here shry'd in marble lie,
The somme of that whiche now thou dost require
This slender verse shall sone to thee descrie.
"Entombed here doth rest a worthie Dame,
Extract and born of noble house and bloud,
Her sire, Lord Paget, hight of worthie fame
Whose virtues cannot sink in Lethe floud.
Two brethern had she, barons of this realme,
A knight her freere, Sir Henry Lee, he hight,
To whom she bare three impes, which had to name,
John, Henry, Mary, slayn by fortune spight,
First two being yong, which cavs'd their parents mone,
The third in flower and prime of all her yeares:
All three do rest within this marble stone,
By which the fickleness of worldly joyes appears.
Good Frend sticke not to strew with crimson flowers
This marble stone, wherein her cindres rest,
For sure her ghost lives with the heavenly powers,
And guerdon hathe of virtuous life possest."
Can any of your readers give me any other instances of children being called imps? and also tell me wherefore the name was given them? and how long it continued in use?
T. W. D. Brooks.
Cropredy, Banbury.
[The inscription is given in Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire. Horne Tooke says imp is the past participle of the A.-S. impan, to graft, to plant. Mr. Steevens (Note on 2 Henry IV., Act V. Sc. 5.) tells us, "An imp is a shoot in its primitive sense, but means a son in Shakspeare." In Hollinshed, p. 951., the last words of Lord Cromwell are preserved, who says, "And after him that his sonne Prince Edward, that goodlie impe, may long reign over you." The word imp is perpetually used by Ulpian Fulwell, and other ancient writers, for progeny:
"And were it not thy royal impe
Did mitigate our pain."
Again, in the Battle of Alcazar, 1594:
"Amurath, mighty emperor of the East,
That shall receive the imp of royal race."
See other examples in Todd's Johnson and Dr. Richardson's Dictionaries. Shakspeare uses the word only in jocular and burlesque passages, which, says Nares, is the natural course of a word growing obsolete.]
"Guardian Angels now protect me," &c.—I remember John Wesley, and also his saying the "Devil should not have the best tunes." There was a pretty love-song, a great favourite when I was a boy:
"Guardian angels, now protect me,
Send to me the youth I love."
the music of which Wesley introduced to his congregation as a hymn tune. The music I have, and I shall be glad if any of your correspondents can oblige me with the first verse of this love-song; I only recollect the above lines.
William Gardiner.
Leicester.
[The following is the song referred to by our correspondent:
The Forsaken Nymph.
"Guardian angels, now protect me,
Send to me the swain I love;
Cupid, with thy bow direct me;
Help me, all ye pow'rs above.
Bear him my sighs, ye gentle breezes,
Tell him I love and I despair,
Tell him for him I grieve, say 'tis for him I live;
O may the shepherd be sincere!
"Through the shady grove I'll wander,
Silent as the bird of night,
Near the brink of yonder fountain,
First Leander bless'd my sight.
Witness ye groves and falls of water,
Echos repeat the vows he swore:
Can he forget me? will he neglect me?
Shall I never see him more?
"Does he love, and yet forsake me,
To admire a nymph more fair?
If 'tis so, I'll wear the willow,
And esteem the happy pair.
Some lonely cave I'll make my dwelling,
Ne'er more the cares of life pursue;
The lark and Philomel only shall hear me tell,
What bids me bid the world adieu."]
K. C. B.'s.—I observe that in the London Gazette of January 2, 1815, which regulates the existing order of the Bath, it is commanded by the sovereign that "there shall be affixed in the church of St. Peter at Westminster escutcheons and banners of the arms of each K. C. B." Has this command been regularly fulfilled on the creation of each K. C. B.? I believe that on each creation fees are demanded by the Heralds' College, for the professed purpose of exemplifying the knight's arms, and affixing his escutcheon; but I never remember to have seen the escutcheons in Westminster Abbey.
Tewars.
[The order never was fulfilled. If the knights were entitled to armorial bearings, no fees whatever were demanded by or paid to the Heralds' College. The statutes of 1815 were, however, abrogated and annulled by the statutes of 1847, and the banners are not required to be suspended in the Abbey. The erection of the banners and plates, however, rested with the officers of the order, and the Heralds' College had nothing to do with the matter.]
Danish and Swedish Ballads.—What are the best and most recent collections of ancient Danish and Swedish ballad poetry?
J. M. B.
[We believe the best and most recent collection of Danish ballads is the edition of Udvalgte Danske Viser fra Middelalderen, by Abrahamson, Nyerup, Rabbek, &c., in five small 8vo. volumes, Copenhagen, 1812. The best Swedish collection was Svenska Folk-Visor fran Forteden, collected and edited by Geijer and Afzelius, and published at Stockholm, 1814; but the more recent collection published by Arwidson in 1834 is certainly superior. It is in three octavo volumes, and is entitled Svenska Fornsänger. En Samling of Kämp-visor, Folk-visor, Lekar och Dansar, samt Barn- och Vall-Sänger.]
Etymology of "Conger."—What is the etymology of the word Conger, as applied to the larger kind of deep sea eels by our fishermen (who, be it remarked, never add eel. Conger-eel is entirely used by shore-folk)?
I imagine that it may be traced from the Danish Kongr, a king, or kings; for being the greatest of eels, the fishermen, whose nets he tore, and whose take he seriously reduced, might well call him in size, in strength, and voracity—Kongr, the king.
C. D. Lamont.
Greenock.
[Todd and Webster derive it from the Latin conger or congrus; Gr. γόγγρος, formed of γράω, to eat, the fish being very voracious; It. gongro; Fr. congre.]
"Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum tibi."—This is, I think, the ordinary form of a saying cited somewhere by Goldsmith, who calls it "so trite a quotation that it almost demands an apology to repeat it." Whence comes it originally? I am unable to give the exact reference to the passage in Goldsmith, but in his Citizen of the World, letter 53rd, he has a cognate idea:
"As in common conversation the best way to make the audience laugh is by first laughing yourself, so in writing," &c.
W. T. M.
Hong Kong.
[Horace, De Arte Poetica, 102.]
Replies
MEDAL AND RELIC OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
(Vol. viii., p. 293.)
I possess a cast of this medal as described by your correspondent W. Fraser, but which is a little indistinct in some of the letters of its inscriptions. The yew-tree represented on it is generally supposed to be that which stood at Cruikston Castle nearly Paisley; and its motto "Vires" may perhaps have been intended to denote its natural strength and durability. The date of the medal being 1566, and Mary's marriage with Lord Darnly having taken place on July 29, 1565, the yew-tree may have been introduced to commemorate some incident of their courtship, and gives likelihood to the common tradition. I once had a small box composed partly of its wood, and of that of the "Torwood Oak" near Stirling, which was presented to me about thirty-five years ago by an aged lady, whose property it had been for a long time previously, and who placed much value on it as a relic. Though visiting Cruikston Castle in early life, I never heard of there being any feeling of "superstition" connected with such little objects as the crosses, &c. which were long made from the wood of the yew-tree. They are all, I think, to be viewed simply as curiosities associated with the historical interest of the place, and similar examples are to be found among our people in the numerous quaichs (drinking-cups) and other articles which have been formed from the "Torwood Oak" that protected the illustrious Sir William Wallace from his enemies; from his oak at Elderslie, said to have been planted by his hand, two miles to the west of Paisley; and lately from such scraps of the old oaken rafters of the Glasgow Cathedral as could be obtained in the course of its modern repairs.
As respects the yew-tree immediately concerned, some notices of its remains may be found in a work entitled The Severn Delineated, by Charles Taylor, Glasgow, 1831, at page 82. The author, who was a very curious local antiquary, died in 1837, aged forty-two. As his book is now scarce, I may be excused from subjoining rather a long extract, but which also throws some light on other particulars of this subject:
"Retreating from Househill (a seat in the vicinity) to Cruikston Castle, the country is rich, and the scenery delightful. The castle itself might be the subject of volumes, as it has been the theme of many a poet, and the subject of many a painter's pencil. Its name is known all over the world, or may be so, from the circumstance of its once having been the residence of Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Lord Darnly; and though the famed yew-tree decks not now the 'hallowed mould,' as the poet expresses himself,
'Is there an eye that tearless could behold
This lov'd retreat of beauty's fairest flower?'
About three years ago a large fragment fell from the south wing of this ruin, despite of all the attention Sir John Maywell paid to keep it up. The founder of this castle was one De Croc; hence the name Crockston, Crocston, or Cruikston. This family (says Crawfurd), failing in ane heiress, she was married to Sir Alexander Stewart of Torbolton, second son to Walter, the second of that name, Great Stewart of Scotland, and of this marriage are descended the families of Darnly and Lorn."
Cruikston is now the property of Sir John Maywell of Nether Pollock. Of the trunk of the once—
" . . . . . green yew,
The first that met the royal Mary's view;
When bright in charms the youthful princess led
The graceful Darnly to her throne and bed."—
Lady Maywell ordered to be made by an ingenious individual, at Pollockshaws, an exact model of the castle, and some table and other utensils, which are still in preservation at Pollock. Before its removal, many are the snuff-boxes, toddy ladles, &c. that have been made of it, and are still in preservation by the curious. The following couplet, composed by the late Mr. W. Craig, surgeon, is inscribed on one of these ladles, which has seen no little service:
"Near Cruikston Castle's stately tower,
For many a year I stood;
My shade was of the hallow'd bower;
Where Scotland's queen was woo'd."
Another medal of Queen Mary's, of considerable size, of which I have seen a cast many years since, contained the following inscriptions:
"O God graunt patience in that I suffer vrang."
The reverse has in the centre:
"Quho can compare with me in grief,
I die and dar nocht seek relief."
With this legend around:
"Hourt not thequhais [heart whose] joy thou art."
"They all appear [says Mr. Pinkerton] to have been done in France by Mary's directions, who was fond of devices. Her cruel captivity could not debar her from intercourse with her friends in France; who must with pleasure have executed her orders as affording her a little consolation."
G. N.
Mr. Fraser's supposed medal is a ryal (or possibly a ¾ ryal) of Mary and Henry, commonly known as a Cruickstown dollar; from the idea that the tree upon them is a representation of the famous yew-tree at Cruickstown Castle. It appears, however, from the ordinance for coining these pieces, that the tree is a "palm-tree crowned with a shell paddock (lizard) creeping up the stem of the same." The motto across the tree is "DAT GLORIA VIRES." (See Lindsay's Scotch Coinage, p. 51.)
John Evans.
EARLY USE OF TIN.—DERIVATION OF THE NAME OF BRITAIN
(Vol. viii., p. 344.)
The reply of Dr. Hincks appears to require the following. While seeking information upon the first of these matters, I took up one of my old school-books, and at the foot of a page found the following note: "Britannia is from Barat-anac, the land of tin." I do not recollect to have seen it elsewhere; but it appeared to me so apt and correct that I adopted it at once.
That the Shirutana of the Egyptian inscriptions, or Shairetana, will be found to be the same people as the Cirátas of the Hindu Puranas, I have little doubt.
Cirátas is there applied as a name to the people who were afterwards known to us as the Phœnicians; but that either the Shirutana or the Cirátas will be found to have discovered Britain, though they may have given it a name, I do not expect. The Cirátas were a people of a later age to that of the first inhabitants of Britain. The first inhabitants of Britain I call the Celtæ, as I know no other name for them; but there seems reason for thinking that this island was visited by an earlier tribe, though probably they were of the same race.
The origin of the Cirátas and first inhabitants of Britain is this:—A powerful monarchy appears to have been established at the earliest dawn of history in the country we now call Persia, long before there was any Assyrian government, and under this monarchy that country was the true centre of population, of knowledge, of languages, and of arts. Three distinct races of men appear to have migrated in different directions from this their common country. One of these divides into two parts, one proceeding to the west, the other to the south-east of the place where the division took place. The western party passed through Asia Minor, and also by the north of the Black Sea, carrying with it all that was then known of the different arts and sciences, until we find the descendants at this day in the British Isles. The south-eastern party, also, continued its progress to the part now known to us as India, where its descendants may be found at this day. Long after the settlement in India, various tribes, all proceeding from it, migrated from that country to the parts now known to us as Egypt and Syria; and one of these tribes was the Cirátas.
That the Cirátas, Shirutana, or Phœnicians, call them as you may, were the first who passed the Pillar of Hercules in ships on their way to obtain tin here at first-hand, is almost certain; and that the western party, as described above, had broken ground to supply it long before their customers came for it, is scarcely less so. They all had a common origin, and used nearly the same language, religion, and laws.
My Query has brought out a highly satisfactory elucidation of the origin of the term Britain; and this, looking at the position in which that term stood on the day the last Number of "N. & Q." was published is by no means a slight acquisition. I now leave it.
G. W.
Stansted, Montfichet.
PICTORIAL EDITIONS OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
(Vol. vii., pp. 18. 91. 321.; Vol. viii., p. 318.)
The following list may prove an acceptable addition to those already printed in your pages. Some of your correspondents perhaps will make it more complete:
1707. Oxford. 8vo. Plates by John Sturt.
1710. London. 8vo. Forty-four plates, with no engraver's name.
1712. Oxford. 8vo. Plates by Sturt.
1717. London. 8vo. Ruled with double red lines. Plates by Sturt.
Lowndes speaks of a large paper impression in quarto of this same edition: "The volume consists of one hundred and sixty-six plates, besides twenty-two containing dedication, table, &c. Prefixed is a bust of King George I.; and facing it, those of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Sturt likewise published a set of fifty-five historical cuts for Common Prayer in small 8vo."
1738. London. 8vo. With Old Version of the Psalms; and forty-four curious plates, including Gunpowder Treason, the Martyrdom of Charles I., and Restoration of Charles II. (Booksellers' Catal.)
1794. London. Published by J. Good and E. Harding, with plates after Stothard by Bartolozzi and others (Lowndes).
Lowndes also mentions "Illustrations to the Book of Common Prayer by Richard Westall, London, 1813, 8 vo. (proofs) 4to.," and "Twelve illustrations to ditto, engraved by John Scott, from designs by Burney and Thurston, royal 8vo."
I have reserved for more particular description two editions in my own possession:—One is a small 8vo., ruled with red lines: "In the Savoy, printed by the assignees of John Bill and Christopher Barker, Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1667." It contains fifty-nine plates: these are identical with those in the Antiquitates Christianæ, or Bishop Taylor's Life of Christ, and Cave's Lives of the Apostles (folio editions), which, if I mistake not, were engraved by William Faithorn. The Act of Uniformity is given in black-letter. The Ordinal is wanting. The three State Services are not enumerated in the Table of Contents, but are added at the end of the book. The Old Version of the Psalms (with its usual quaint title), a tract of 104 pp., is appended: "London: printed by Thos. Newcomb for the Company of Stationers, 1671." The other edition is a 12mo.: "London, printed by Charles Bill and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb deceased, Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, 1708" (ruled with red lines). In the frontispiece is represented a female figure kneeling with a prayer book open before her: an angel in the air holds a scroll, on which is inscribed, "The Liturgy of the Church of England, adorned with fifty-five historical cuts, P. La Vergne del., M. Van der Gucht sc." Beneath the picture, "Sold by Robt. Whitledge at the Bible in Ave Maria Lane, near Stationers' Hall."
Some of the cuts are very curious, as No. 16., which represents the Devil (adorned with a crown, sceptre, and tail) standing on the top of a high conical rock, and our Blessed Lord at a little distance from him. The appearance and attitude of the Apostles are somewhat grotesque. One of the best is St. Philip (No. 39.), who is represented as a wrinkled, bearded old man, contemplating a crucifix in his hand.
No. 51. is a picture of Guy Fawkes approaching the Parliament House, with a lantern in his hand. A large eye is depicted in the clouds above, which sheds a stream of light on the hand of the conspirator. No. 52. is "The Martyrdom of King Charles I." No. 53. "The Restoration of Monarchy and King Charles II." A number of cavaliers on horseback, with their conical hats and long tresses, occupy the foreground of this picture; the army appears in the background. This is the last, though the scroll advertises fifty-five cuts.
The Prefaces and Calendar are printed in very small bad type. The four State Services are enumerated in the Table of Contents. After the State Services follow, "At the Healing;" the Thirty-nine Articles, and a Table of Kindred and Affinity. This edition neither contains the Ordinal nor a metrical version of the Psalms. Notwithstanding the date on the title-page, King George is prayed for throughout the book, except in the service "For the Eighth Day of March," when Queen Anne's name occurs.
Of the modern pictorial editions of the Book of Common Prayer may be mentioned that of Charles Knight "illustrated by nearly seven hundred beautiful woodcuts by Jackson, from drawings by Harvey, and six illuminated titles; with Explanatory Notes by the Rev. H. Stebbing," royal 8vo., London, 1838; reprinted in 1846. That of Murray, "illuminated by Owen Jones, and illustrated with engravings from the works of the great masters," royal 8vo., London, 1845; reprinted in 1850 in med. 8vo. That of Whittaker in 12mo. and 8vo., "with notes and illuminations." The last, and by far the best, pictorial edition is that of J. H. Parker of Oxford, "with fifty illustrations; selected from the finest examples of the early Italian and modern German schools, by the Rev. H. J. Rose and Rev. J. W. Burgon."
Jarltzberg.
