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QUEVEDO—SPANISH BULL-FIGHTS
The clear and satisfactory reply that "MELANION" received in No. 11. to his query on the contradictions in Don Quixote, tempts me to ask for some information respecting another standard work of Spanish literature, written by a cotemporary of the great Cervantes.
How is it, that in the Visions of Don Quevedo, a work which passes in review every amusement and occupation of the Spanish people, the national sport of bull-fighting remains entirely unnoticed?
The amusement was, I presume, in vogue during the 16th and 17th centuries; and the assignations made, and the intrugues carried on, within the walls of the amphitheatre would have supplied many an amusing, moralising penitent, male and female, to the shades below—the "fabulæ manes" with whom Quevedo held converse. As my copy of the Visions is an anonymous translation, and evidently far from being a first-rate one, I shall not be surprised if I receive as an answer,—"Mistaken as to your fact, read a better translation:" but as in spite of its manifold, glaring defects, I have no reason to suspect that the text is garbled, I think I may venture to send the query.
In "Vision 7." I find Nero accusing Seneca of having had the insolence to use the words, "I and my king." I have often heard of Henry VIII., Wolsey, and "Ego et rex meus;" but as I never heard Quevedo quoted as an illustration, I look upon this as one of the suspicious passages in my copy of his work.
C. FORBES.
Temple.
MINOR QUERIES
Gilbert Browne.—"G.C.B." is desirous of information respecting the family from which was descended Gilbert Browne of the Inner Temple, who died about a century ago, and was buried in North Mymms Church, Herts, where there is a monument to him (vide Clutterbuck's History); also as to the arms, crest, and motto, as borne by him, and whether he was in any way related to Michael Browne of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, who married Elizabeth Philippa, daughter of Lord Coningsby, as stated in Collins's Peerage. He also desires information as to any enrolment of arms previous to the Visitations, by which the bearings of families who had grants of land from the Conqueror may be ascertained; as, for instance, a family who began to decay about the end of the 14th century, having previously been of great rank and position.
The Badger.—Can any body point out to me any allusion, earlier than that in Sir T. Browne's Vulgar Errors, to the popular idea that the legs of the badger were shorter on one side than on the other, whence Mr. Macaulay says, "I think that Titus Oates was as uneven as a badger?"
W.R.F.
Ecclesiastical Year.—Note in an old parish register, A.D. 1706. "Annus Domini Secundum Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ Supputationem incipit 25to Mensis Martij."
Query the authority for this? the reason seems easy to define.
NATHAN.
Sir William Coventry.—Pepys mentions in his Diary, that Sir William Conventry kept a journal of public events. Is anything known of this journal? It is not known of at Longleat, where are several papers of Sir William Conventry's.
A MS. letter from Lord Weymouth to Sir Robert Southwell, giving an account of Sir W. Conventry's death, was sold at the sale of Lord de Clifford's papers in 1834. Can any of your readers inform me where this letter now is?
C.
Shrew.—Is shrew, as applied to the shrew-mouse, and as applied to a scolding woman, the same word? If so, what is its derivation?
The following derivations of the word are cited by Mr. Bell. Saxon, "Schreadan," to cut; "Schrif," to censure; "Scheorfian," to bite; "Schyrvan," to beguile. German, "Schreiven," to clamour; none of which, it is obvious, come very near to "Schreava," the undoubted Saxon origin of the word shrew.
Now it was a custom amongst our forefathers to endeavour to provide a remedy against the baneful influence of the shrew-mouse by plugging the wretched animal alive in a hole made in the body of an ash tree, any branch of which was thenceforth held to be possessed of a power to cure the disease caused by the mouse. It thereupon occurred to me that just as brock, a still existing name for the badger, is clearly from the Saxon broc, persecution, in allusion to the custom of baiting the animal; so schreava might be from schræf, a hollow, in allusion to the hole in the ash tree; and on that supposition I considered "shrew," as applied to a woman, to be a different word, perhaps from the German schreyen, to clamour. I have, however, found mentioned in Bailey's Dictionary a Teutonic word, which may reconcile both senses of "shrew,"—I mean beschreyen, to bewitch. I shall be obliged to any of your subscribers who will enlighten me upon the subject.
W.R.F.
A Chip in Porridge.—What is the origin and exact force of this phrase? Sir Charles Napier, in his recent general order, informs the Bengal army that
"The reviews which the Commander-in-Chief makes of the troops are not to be taken as so many 'chips in porridge.'"
I heard a witness, a short time since, say, on entering the witness-box—
"My Lord, I am like a 'chip in porridge'; I can
say nothing either for or against the plaintiff."
Q.D.
Temple Stanyan.—Who was Temple Stanyan, concerning whom I find in an old note-book the following quaint entry?
"Written on a window at College, by Mr. Temple Stanyan, the author of a History of Greece:—
"Temple Stanyan, his window.
God give him grace thereout to look!
And, when the folk walk to and fro',
To study man instead of book!"
A.G.
Tandem.—You are aware that we have a practical pun now naturalised in our language, in the word "tandem." Are any of your correspondents acquainted with another instance?
Σ.
"As lazy as Ludlum's dog, as laid him down to bark."—This comparison is so general and familiar in South Yorkshire (Sheffield especially) as to be frequently quoted by the first half, the other being mentally supplied by the hearer. There must, of course, be some legend of Ludlum and his dog, or they must have been a pair of well-known characters, to give piquancy to the phrase. Will any of your readers who are familiar with the district favour me with an explanation?
D.V.S.
Anecdote of a Peal of Bells.—There is a story, that a person had long been absent from the land of his nativity, where in early life, he had assisted in setting up a singularly fine peal of bells. On his return home, after a lapse of many years, he had to be rowed over some water, when it happened that the bells struck out in peal; the sound of which so affected him, that he fell back in the boat and died! Can any of your readers give a reference where the account is to be met with?
H.T.E.
Sir Robert Long.—"ROSH." inquires the date of the death of Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Long, who founded, in 1760, a Free School at Burnt-Yates, in the Parish of Ripley, co. Yorks., and is said to have died in Wigmore Street, London, it is supposed some years after that period.
Dr. Whichcot and Lord Shaftesbury.—It is stated in Mr. Martyn's Life of the First Lord Shaftesbury, that Dr. Whichcot was one of Shaftesbury's most constant companions, and preached most of his sermons before him; and that the third Earl of Shaftesbury, the author of the Characteristics, is said to have published a volume of Whichcot's sermons from a manuscript copy of the first Lord Shaftesbury's wife. Can any of your readers give any further information as to the intimacy between Whichcot and Shaftesbury, of which no mention is made in any memoir of Whichcot that I have seen?
C.
Lines attributed to Henry Viscount Palmerston.—Permit me to inquire whether there is any better authority than the common conjecture that the beautiful verses, commencing,—
"Whoe'er, like me, with trembling anguish brings
His heart's whole treasure to fair Bristol's springs,"
were written by Henry Viscount Palmerston, on the death of his lady at the Hot-wells, June 1 or 2, 1769. They first appeared p. 240. of the 47th vol. of the Gentleman's Magazine, 1777.
They also have been attributed to Dr. Hawkeworth, but his wife survived him. There is a mural tablet under the west window of Romsey Church, containing some lines to the memory of Lady Palmerston, but they are not the same. Perhaps some of your correspondents are competent to discover the truth.
INDAGATOR.
Gray's Alcaic Ode.—Can any of your readers say whether Gray's celebrated Latin ode is actually to be found entered at the Grande Chartreuse? A friend of mine informs me that he could not find it there on searching.
C.B.
Abbey of St. Wandrille.—Will "GASTROS" kindly allow me to ask him a question? Does the Chronicle of the Abbey of St. Wandrille, which he mentions (No. 21. p. 338.), include notices of any of the branches of that establishment which settled in England about the time of the Conquest; and one of which, the subject of my query, formed a colony at Ecclesfield, near Sheffield?
I feel an interest in this little colony, because my early predecessors in this vicarage were elected from its monks. Moreover, some remains of their convent, now incorporated into what is called "the hall," and forming an abutment which overlooks my garden, are affording an appropriate domicile to the curate of the parish.
ALFRED GATTY.
Ecclesfield, March 26. 1850.
Queries as to "Lines on London Dissenting Ministers" of a former Day.—Not having made Notes of the verses so entitled, I beg to submit the following Queries:—
1. Does there exist any printed or manuscript copy of lines of the above description, in the course of which Pope's "Modest Foster" is thus introduced and apostrophised:—
"But see the accomplish'd orator appear,
Refined in judgment, and in language clear:
Thou only, Foster, hast the pleasing art
At once to charm the ear and mend the heart!"
Other conspicuous portraits are those of THOMAS BRADBURY, ISAAC WATTS, and SAMUEL CHANDLER. The date of the composition must be placed between 1704 and 1748, but I have to solicit information as to who was its author.
2. Has there been preserved, in print or manuscript, verses which circulated from about 1782-1784, on the same body of men, as characterised, severally, by productions of the vegetable world, and, in particular, by flowers? The bouquet is curious, nor ill-selected and arranged. One individual, for example, finds his emblem in a sweet-briar; another, in a hollyhock; and a third, in a tulip. RICHARD WINTER, JAMES JOUYCE, HUGH WASHINGTON, are parts of the fragrant, yet somewhat thorny and flaunting nosegay. These intimations of it may perhaps aid recollection, and lead to the wished-for disclosure. It came from the hand, and seemed to indicate at least the theological partialities of the lady1 who culled and bound together the various portions of the wreath.
W.
Dutch Language.—"E. VEE" will be indebted to "ROTTERODAMUS," or any other correspondent, who can point out to him the best modern books for acquiring a knowledge of the Dutch language,—an Anglo-Dutch Grammar and Dictionary.
Horns.—1. Why is Moses represented in statues with horns? The idea is not, I think, taken from the Bible.
2. What is the reason for assigning horns to a river, as in the "Tauriformis Aufidus."
3. What is the origin of the expression "to give a man horns," for grossly dishonouring him? It is met with in late Greek.
L.C.
Cambridge, March 27.
Marylebone Gardens.—In what year did Marylebone Gardens finally close?
NASO.
Toom Shawn Cattie.—I find these words (Gaelic, I believe, from Tom John Gattie) in an old Diary, followed by certain hieroglyphics, wherewith I was wont to express "recommended for perusal." I have lost all trace of the recommender, and have hunted in vain through many a circulating library list for the name, which I believe to be that of some book or song illustrating the domestic life of our Western Highlanders. Can any of your readers assist me in deciphering my own note?
MELANION.
Love's Last Shift.—In the first edition of Peignot's Manuel du Biblioplide, published in 1800, the title of Congreve's "Mourning Bride" is rendered "L'Epouse du Matin." Can any of your readers inform me whether it is in the same work that the title of "Love's Last Shift" is translated by "Le dernier Chemise de l'Amour?" if not, in what other book is it?
H.C. DE ST. CROIX.
Cheshire-round.—"W.P.A." asks the meaning of the above phrase, and where it is described.
Why is an Earwig called a "Coach-bell?"—Your correspondents, although both kind and learned, do not appear to have given any satisfactory answer to my former query—why a lady-bird is called Bishop Barnaby? Probably there will be less difficulty in answering another entomological question—Why do the country-people in the south of Scotland call an earwig a "coach-bell?" The name "earwig" itself is sufficiently puzzling, but "coach-bell" seems, if possible, still more utterly unintelligible.
LEGOUR.
Chrysopolis.—Chrysopolis is the Latin name for the town of Parma, also for that of Scutari, in Turkey. Is the etymological connection of the two names accidental? and how did either of them come to be called the "Golden City?"
R.M.M.
Pimlico.—In Aubrey's Surrey, he mentions that he went to a Pimlico Garden, somewhere on Bankside. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the derivation of the word "Pimlico," and why that portion of land now built on near to Buckingham House, through which the road now runs to Chelsea, is called Pimlico?
R.H.
April 1. 1850.
Zenobia.—I have read somewhere that Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, was of Jewish origin, but am now at a loss to retrace it. Could any of your correspondents inform me where I have read it?
A. FISCHEL.
Henry Ryder, Bishop of Killaloe.—"W.D.R." requests information in reference to the paternity of Henry Ryder, D.D., who was born in Paris, and consecrated Bishop of Killaloe in 1692.
Belvoir Castle.—In the Harleian Miscellany, vol. iv. p. 527., is a Pindaric Ode upon Belvoir Castle, which Mr. Nichols reprinted in his History of the Hundred of Framland. Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of this very singular production?
T.R. Potter.
St. Winifreda.—Can any of your readers refer me to any history or recent discoveries relative to St. Winifreda?
B.
Savile, Marquis of Halifax.—It is stated in Tyers's Political Conferences (1781), that a Diary of his was supposed to be among the Duke of Shrewsbury's MSS.; and when Mr. Tyers wrote, in the hands of Dr. Robertson. Can any of your readers give information about this Diary?
C.
Salt at Montem.—Will you allow me, as an old Etonian, to ask the derivation of "salt," as it used to be applied to the money collected at Eton Montem for the Captain of the Colleges? Towards investigating the subject, I can only get as far as Salt Hill, near Slough, where there was a mount, on which, if I remember rightly, the Captain waved a flag on Montem day. A brief account of the origin of Montem would be interesting; and it is especially worth noting now that the pageant is suppressed.
