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Queries

POET LAUREATES

Can any of the contributors to your most useful "NOTES AND QUERIES" favour me with the title of any work which gives an account of the origin, office, emoluments, and privileges of Poet Laureate. Selden, in his Titles of Honour (Works, vol. iii. p. 451.), shows the Counts Palatine had the right of conferring the dignity claimed by the German Emperors. The first payment I am aware of is to Master Henry de Abrinces, the Versifier (I suppose Poet Laureate), who received 6d. a day,—4l. 7s., as will be seen in the Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, edited by Frederick Devon.

Warton (History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 129.) gives no further information, and is the author generally quoted; but the particular matter sought for is wanting.

The first patent, according to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, article "Laureate," is stated, as regards the existing office, to date from 5th Charles I., 1630; and assigns as the annual gratuity 100l., and a tierce of Spanish Canary wine out of the royal cellars.

Prior to this, the emoluments appear uncertain, as will be seen by Gifford's statement relative to the amount paid to B. Jonson, vol. i. cxi.:—

"Hitherto the Laureateship appears to have been a mere trifle, adopted at pleasure by those who were employed to write for the court, but conveying no privileges, and establishing no claim to a salary."

I am inclined to doubt the accuracy of the phrase "employed to write for the court." Certain it is, the question I now raise was pressed then, as it was to satisfy Ben Jonson's want of information Selden wrote on the subject in his Titles of Honour.

These emoluments, rights, and privileges have been matters of Laureate dispute, even to the days of Southey. In volume iv. of his correspondence, many hints of this will be found; e.g., at page 310., with reference to Gifford's statement, and "my proper rights."

The Abbé Resnel says,—"L'illustre Dryden l'a porté comme Poète du Roy," which rather reduces its academic dignity; and adds, "Le Sieur Cyber, comédien de profession, est actuellement en possession du titre de Poète Lauréate, et qu'il jouit en même tems de deux cens livres sterling de pension, à la charge de présenter tous les ans, deux pièces de vers à la famille royale."

I am afraid, however, the Abbé drew upon his imagination for the amount of the salary; and that he would find the people were never so hostile to the court as to sanction so heavy an infliction upon the royal family, as they would have met with from the quit-rent ode, the peppercorn of praise paid by Elkanah Settle, Cibber, or H.J. Pye.

The Abbé, however, is not so amusing in his mistake (if mistaken) relative to this point, as I find another foreign author has been upon two Poet Laureates, Dryden and Settle. Vincenzo Lancetti, in his Pseudonimia Milano, 1836, tells us:—

"Anche la durezza di alcuni cognomi ha più volte consigliato un raddolcimento, che li rendesse più facili a pronunziarsi. Percio Macloughlin divenne Macklin; Machloch, Mallet; ed Elkana Settle fu poi – John Dryden!"

—a metamorphose greater, I suspect, than any to be found in Ovid, and a transmigration of soul far beyond those imagined by the philosophers of the East.

S.H.

Athenæum.

Minor Queries

Wood Paper.—The reprint of the Works of Bishop Wilkins, London, 1802, 2 vols. 8vo., is said to be on paper made from wood pulp. It has all the appearance of it in roughness, thickness, and very unequal opacity. Any sheet looked at with a candle behind it is like a firmament scattered with luminous nebulæ. I can find mention of straw paper, as patented about the time; but I should think it almost impossible (knowing how light the Indian rice paper is) that the heavy fabric above mentioned should be of straw. Is it from wood? If so, what is the history of the invention, and what other works were printed in it?

M.

Latin Line.—I should be very much obliged to anybody who can tell where this line comes from:—

 
"Exiguum hoc magni pignus amoris habe,"
 

which was engraved on a present from a distinguished person to a relation of mine, who tried in several quarters to learn where it came from.

C.B.

Milton, New Edition of.—I observe in Mr. Mayor's communication (Vol. i. p. 427.), that some one is engaged in editing Milton. May I ask who, and whether the contemplated edition includes prose and poetry?

CH.

Barum and Sarum.—By what theory, rule, or analogy, if any, can the contractions be accounted for of two names so dissimilar, into words terminating so much alike, as those of Salisbury into Sarum—Barnstaple into Barum?

S.S.S.

Roman Roads.—Can you inform me in whose possession is the MS. essay on "Roman Roads," written by the late Dr. Charles Mason, to which I find allusion in a MS. letter of Mr. North's?

Buriensis.

John Dutton, of Dutton.—In the Vagrant Act, 17 George II., c. 5., the heir and assigns of John Dutton, of Dutton, co. Chester, deceased, Esq., are exempt from the pains and penalties of vagrancy. Query—Who was the said John Dutton, and why was such a boon conferred on his heirs for ever?

B.

Rome, Ancient and Modern.—I observed, in a shop in Rome, in 1847, a large plan of that city, in which, on the same surface, both ancient and modern Rome were represented; the shading of the streets and buildings being such as to distinguish the one from the other. Thus, in looking at the modern Forum, you saw, as it were underneath it, the ancient Forum; and so in the other parts of the city. Can any of your readers inform me as to the name of the designer, and where, if at all, in England, a copy of this plan may be obtained?

If I remember rightly, the border to the plan was composed of the Pianta Capitolina, or fragments of the ancient plan preserved in the Capitol. In the event of the map above referred to not being accessible, can I obtain a copy of this latter plan by itself, and how?

A.B.M.

Prolocutor of Convocation.—W.D.M. inquires who was Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation during its session in 1717-18?

Language of Queen Mary's Days.—In the first vol. of Evelyn's Diary (the last edition) I find the following notice:—

"18th, Went to Beverley, a large town with two churches, St. John's and St. Mary's, not much inferior to the best of our cathedrals. Here a very old woman showed us the monuments, and being above 100 years of age, spake the language of Queen Mary's days, in whose time she was born; she was widow of a sexton, who had belonged to the church a hundred years."

Will any of your readers inform me what was the language spoken in Queen Mary's days, and what peculiarity distinguished it from the language used in Evelyn's days?

A learned author has suggested, that the difference arose from the slow progress in social improvement in the North of England, caused by the difficulty of communication with the court and its refinements. I am still anxious to ascertain what the difference was.

Fra. Mewburn.

Darlington.

Vault Interments.—I shall be very glad of any information as to the origin and date of the practice of depositing coffins in vaults, and whether this custom obtains in any other country than our own.

Walter Lewis.

Edward Street, Portman Square.

Archbishop Williams' Persecutor, R.K.—Any information will be thankfully received of the ancestors, collaterals, or descendants, of the notorious R.K.—the unprincipled persecutor of Archbp. Williams, mentioned in Fuller's Church Hist., B. xi. cent. 17.; and in Hacket's Life of the Archbishop (abridgment), p. 190.

F.K.

The Sun feminine in English.—It has been often remarked, that the northern nations made the sun to be feminine.² Do any of your readers know any instances of the English using this gender of the sun? I have found the following:—

"So it will be at that time with the sun; for though she be the brightest and clearest creature, above all others, yet, for all that Christ with His glory and majesty will obscure her."—Latimer's Works, Parker Soc. edit. vol. ii. p. 54.

"Not that the sun itself, of her substance, shall be darkened; no, not so; for she shall give her light, but it shall not be seen for this great light and clearness wherein our Saviour shall appear."—(Ib. p. 98.)

Thos. Cox.

Construe and translate.—In my school-days, verbal rendering from Latin or Greek into English was construing; the same on paper was translating. Whence this difference of phrase?

M.

Men but Children of a larger growth.—Can you give one the author of the following line?

 
"Men are but children of a larger growth."
 

R.G.

Clerical Costume.—In the Diary of the Rev. Giles Moore, rector of Hosted Keynes, in Sussex, published in the first volume of the Sussex Archæological Collections, there is the following account of his dress:—

"I went to Lewis and bought 4 yards of broad black cloth at 16s. the yard, and two yards and 1/2 of scarlet serge for a waistcoat, 11s. 1d., and 1/4 of an ounce of scarlet silke, 1s."

and this appears to have been his regular dress. Will any of your correspondents inform me whether this scarlet serge waistcoat was commonly worn by the clergy in those times, namely, in 1671?

R.W.B.

Ergh, Er, or Argh.—In Dr. Whitaker's History of Whalley, p. 37., ed. 1818, are the following observations on the above word:—

"This is a singular word, which occurs, however both to the north and south of the Ribble, though much more frequently to the north. To the south, I know not that it occurs, but in Angles-ark and Brettargh. To the north are Battarghes, Ergh-holme, Stras-ergh, Sir-ergh, Feiz-er, Goosen-ergh. In all the Teutonic dialects I meet with nothing resembling this word, excepting the Swedish Arf, terra (vide Ihre in voce), which, if the last letter be pronounced gutturally, is precisely the same with argh."

Can any of your readers give a more satisfactory explanation of this local term?

T.W.

Burnley, May 4. 1850.

Burial Service.—During a conversation on the various sanitary measures now projecting in the metropolis, and particularly on the idea lately started of re-introducing the ancient practice of burning the bodies of the deceased, one of our company remarked that the words "ashes to ashes," used in our present form of burial, would in such a case be literally applicable; and a question arose why the word "ashes" should have been introduced at all, and whether its introduction might not have been owing to the actual cremation of the funeral pyre at the burial of Gentile Christians? We were none of us profound enough to quote or produce any facts from the monuments and records of the early converts to account for the expression; but I conceive it probable that a solution could be readily given by some of your learned correspondents. The burning of the dead does not appear to be in itself an anti-christian ceremony, nor necessarily connected with Pagan idolatries, and therefore might have been tolerated in the case of Gentile believers like any other indifferent usage.

Cinis.

Gaol Chaplains.—When were they first appointed? Did the following advice of Latimer, in a sermon before King Edward, in 1549, take any effect?

"Oh, I would ye would resort to prisons! A commendable thing in a Christian realm: I would wish there were curates of prisons, that we might say, the 'curate of Newgate, the curate of the Fleet,' and I would have them waged for their labour. It is a holiday work to visit the prisoners, for they be kept from sermons."—Vol. i. p. 180.

Thos. Cox.

Hanging out the Broom (Vol. i., p. 385.).—This custom exists in the West of England, but is oftener talked of than practised. It is jocularly understood to indicate that the deserted inmate is in want of a companion, and is really to receive the visits of his friends. Can it be in any way analogous to the custom of hoisting broom at the mast-head of a vessel which is to be disposed of?

S.S.S.

George Lord Goring, well known in history as Colonel Goring and General Goring, until the elevation of his father to the earldom of Norwich, in Nov. 1644, is said by Lodge to have left England in November, 1645, and after passing some time in France, to have gone into the Netherlands, where he obtained a commission as Lieutenant-General in the Spanish army. Lodge adds, upon the authority of Dugdale, that he closed his singular life in that country, in the character of a Dominican friar, and his father surviving him, he never became Earl of Norwich. A recent publication, speaking of Lord Goring, says he carried his genius, his courage, and his villainy to market on the Continent, served under Spain, and finally assumed the garb of a Dominican friar, and died in a convent cell.

Can any of your readers inform me when and where he died, and whether any particulars are known respecting him after his retirement abroad, and when his marriage took place with his wife Lady Lettice Boyle, daughter of the Earl of Cork, who died in 1643? The confusion that is made between the father and son is very great.

G.

Bands.—What is the origin of the clerical and academical custom of wearing bands? Were they not originally used for the purpose of preserving the cassock from being soiled by the beard? This is the only solution that presents itself to my mind.

Oxoniensis Nondum-Graduatus.