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MINOR QUERIES

Dr. Timothy Thruscross.—What is known of the Rev. Dr. Timothy Thruscross, Thirscross, or Thurscross? I am in possession of the very little related by Wood, Ath. Oxon. et Fasti, Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, Life of Barwich, and the interesting notices scattered in several parts of Sir H. Slingsby's Diary; but this only renders me anxious for more, and I should be glad to receive other references.

W. DN.

Echo Song.—Meaning of Thwaites.—Would you be kind enough to insert the inclosed poem as I am very desirous of being made acquainted with the name of the writer. I expect, from various reasons, that it was written about the year 1645:—

AN ECHO

"What wantst thou, that thou art in this sad taking?
A King.
What made him first remove hence his residing?
Siding.
Did any here deny him satisfaction?
Faction.
Tell me wherein the strength of faction lies?
On Lies.
What didst though when the king left his parliament?
Lament.
What terms wouldst give to gain his company?
Any.
What wouldst thou do if here thou mightst behold him?
Hold him.
But wouldst thou save him with they best endeavour?
Ever.
But if he come not, what become of London?
Undone."

I also wish to know (if any of your readers will enlighten me I shall be obliged) what is the meaning of the name "Thwaites." It is a very common name, there being Thwaites, Thornthwaites, Hawthornthwaites, Haythornthwaites, in abundance through all part of England.

LLYD RHYS MORGAN.

Deus Justificatus.—Can any of your readers give any information respecting the authorship of the book entitled:—

"Deus Justificatus, or the Divine Goodness vindicated and cleared, against the Assertors of Absolute and Inconditionate Reprobation. Together with some Refections on a late Discourse of Mr. Parkers concerning the Divine Dominion and Goodness. London, 1668." 8vo. pp. xxxii. 280. iii.?

My copy (which has the autograph of Richard Claridge, the quaker) has written on the title in an old hand "By H. Hallywell." In the Biographia Britannica vol. iv., p. 546., 2d edit., it is said to be by Ralph Cudworth. If so, it has escaped Birch and the other editors of this celebrated writer.

JOHN J. DREDGE.

Death by Burning (Vol. ii., p. 6.).—In the Mendip mining district in Somersetshire, I am credibly informed that within seventy years a person has been burned alive for stealing ore from the pit mouth. There must be some old inhabitant who can attest this fact, and it would be desirable to obtain its confirmation.

J.W.H.

Irish Bull.—What is the exact definition of an Irish bull? When was the term first applied to the species of blunder which goes by that name?

GRIFFIN.

Farquharson's Observations on Auroræ.—A translation of the Course of Meteorology, by Professor Kaenitz, of Halle, by Mr. C.V. Walker, was published at London in 1845, in one volume 12mo. The work was written in German, and afterwards translated into French, and the English work is derived from the French translation. In p. 459. the following passage occurs:

"It is chiefly to the shepherd Farquharson, at Alford, in Aberdeenshire, that we are indebted for a long series of observations on auroræ; and he endeavoured to prove that their height is inconsiderable."

Lower down it is said:

"At the same time, another Protestant minister, Mr. James Paull, at Tullynessle, four kilometres from Alford, saw that the aurora possessed an unusual clearness in the zenith, so that its height did not perhaps exeed 1300 metres."

I have neither the original German work nor the French translation at hand to refer to; but I have a strong suspicion that the word translated shepherd is pasteur, and that it is used to designate Mr. Farquharson as minister of Alford.

L.

Smith's Vitæ Eruditissimorum et Illustrium Virorum.—In his Life of Sir Peter Young he quotes Ex Ephemeride Cl. V.D. Petri Junii, but does not say where it was preserved. This (so-called) Ephemeris was written by Sir Peter in his later years, partly perhaps from memory, partly from notes, and, as might be expected, is not free from errors of date which admit of correction from other sources. Smith, following Camden, places Easter Seatown, Young's chief residence, in Lothian, whereas it is in Forfarshire, about a mile from Arbroath, and was part of the property of the great Abbey to which that town belonged. Is it known whether this Ephemeris is extant? and, if so, where?

SCOTUS.

Defender of the Faith.—In Banks' Dormant and Extinct Baronage, pp. 408-9., vol. iv., I find the following:—

"He ( Henry VIII.) was the first English monarch who obtained the title of Defender of the Faith, which was conferred upon him by Pope Leo X., for a book written by him against Martin Luther."

To which the following note is subjoined:—

"But in a letter from Christopher Wren, Esq., to Francis Peek, M.A. (author of the Desiderata Curiosa), it is thus stated, viz., 'that King Henry VII. had the title of Defender of the Faith, appears by the Register of the Order of the Garter in the black book, (sic dictum a tegmine), now in my hands, by office, which having been shown to King Charles I., he received with much joy; nothing more pleasing him than that the right of that title was fixed in the crown long before the Pope's pretended donation, to all which I make protestation to all posterity.' Αυτογραφω, hoc meo. Ità testor. Chr. Wren, à memoria, et secretis Honoratissimi Ordinis. Wrexham, 4 March, 1736-7."

In support of this note, I find in Chamberlayne's Present State of England, 1669, p. 88., this statement:

"Defender of the Faith was anciently used by the Kings of England, as appears by several charters granted to the University of Oxford, &c."

As the word anciently, I conceive, applies to a period anterior to 1521, may I express a hope that some of your learned subscribers at Oxford will favour your readers with the dates of the charters alluded to; and, if possible, some information as to the circumstances which led to the adoption of the title "Defender of the Faith" by the kings of England previous to the reign of Henry VIII.

ROBERT ANSTRUTHER, Lieut.-Col.
Bayswater.

Calendar of Sundays in Greek and Romish Churches.—Where can I find good authority on the calendar of Sundays in the Greek Church, and in the Roman? As to the latter, the missals and directories only give the current year: as to the former, there is no work I know of which gives anything.

M.

Dandridge the Painter.—At Osterley Park (Lord Jersey's) is the only example of the pencil of Dandridge, bearing his signature and the date 1741.

Through neglect and the effect of time this able work has been dried up, so that we may say—

"The wine of life is drawn, and nothing
Left but the mere lees:"

but there's savour of merit and signs of goodly craft for the dark age of its birth. In the group of three children of life-size we have a rare work of the period when few men of genius wielded the brush or daubed canvas, even through the inspiring patronage of a wealthy banker, whose progeny they are—and this is executed too before academies and societies offered their fostering aid, and when Hogarth struggled on probably side by side with Dandridge. Some of your readers may have traces of him and of his works, and may be able to trace his memory to the grave. All that Walpole has of him is (p. 439.):

"Son of a house painter; had great business from his felicity in taking a likeness. He sometimes painted small conversations, but died in the vigour of his age."
QUESTOR.
Athenæum, Nov. 20. 1850.

Chaucer's Portrait by Occleve.—Is the portrait of Chaucer which Occleve drew in his translation of Egidius de Roma to be found in all the MSS. of that work? and, if so, has it ever been engraved. I have not Urry's Chaucer by me, or perhaps he could save you the trouble of answering the question.

On reference to Watts, I find he does not even mention this work of Occleve, but contents himself with a piece of supercilious criticism; whereas the notices which Occleve takes of passing events (of which the character of Chaucer is one) are at least valuable (although his poetry may not be the best in the world), and his work is also valuable in giving us the phraseology of the fourteenth century.

P.

John o'Groat's House.—Does any authenticated view of the building called John o'Groat's House in Caithness exist, and are any traditions respecting it known beyond the certainly ridiculous account in the fifth volume of Beauties of Scotland, p.83.?

Can any of your readers point out an engraving of the old Konigs or Kaiserstuhl, at Rheuse, on the Rhine, as well as of its restoration in 1848, after being destroyed by the hordes of revolutionary France, in 1792? It is not in Merian or Zeiler. I have seen it, but cannot call to mind the author. Perhaps Alsatia Illustrata?

WILLIAM BELL, Phil. Dr.

Dancing the Bride to Bed—Old Hewson the Cobler.—I have a tune called "A round dance to dance the bride to bed." Can any of your readers favour me with notices of such a custom prevailing? The tune dates about 1630 or earlier, and resembles that of "The Hunt is up."

Another, printed about 1730, is called, "My name is Old Hewson the Cobler." Is this a cavelier's song in ridicule of the Roundhead Colonel Hewson; and are the words to be found?

WM. CHAPPELL.

[We trust these Queries may be regarded as a sign that Mr. Chappell is preparing a new edition of his valuable collection of National English Airs.—ED.]

Duke and Earl of Albemarle.—Albemarle has given a title of duke to the celebrated General Monk, and that of earl to the family of Keppel. Will some of your correspondents tell me where there is any place called Albemarle, which gives rise to these dignities, or why this title was assumed by these families?

J.

REPLIES

JULIN, THE DROWNED CITY

(Vol. ii., p. 282.)

It does not at all follow, that if a city perished by the encroachment of the sea, it was a very striking event at the time: it might have happened gradually, not suddenly. Instances both ways seem to have occurred on the shores of the German Ocean (see Lyell's Principles of Geology, ch. 16.). A great flood happened in 1154 (Helmold, p. 216. b. ii. c. 1. s. 5.), but it is mentioned with respect to the oceanic rivers only, and not as to the Baltic, or destruction of houses or buildings.

But was Julin drowned at all? Helmold does not say that it was (his account is in Book i. c. 2. s. 5.); and he does say that it was not, but destroyed by a certain Danish king. It is most inconceivable that he should not have known who the Danish king was, if it happened in his own time. The passage savours of much later interpolation.

Koch, Rivol. vol. i. p. 280., states positively that Julin was Wollin, and was destroyed by Waldemar I. in 1175, for which he seems to rely upon Helmold, or at least his continuator, Arnold. Helmold himself died in 1170.

Saxo Grammaticus lived at that time, and was probably well acquainted with the events, since he was intimate with Archbishop Absolon, who took part in them in a military as well as ecclesiastical sense. In p. 333. he says:

"Waldemar the 1st, goes with a fleet through the month of the river Zwina, then to the river which adjoins Julin and Camin, and has its mouth divided into two. There was a long bridge joining the walls of Julin. The king having landed 'ex adverso urbis in ripa Australi, pontem disjici jussit.' The king cleared the way for his fleet; got to an island Chrisztoa; crossed the river and went to Camin. He went out to sea by that mouth."

This is given very much at length.

All this is the geography of the present day, and the names, if you read Wollin for Julin. The Oder expands into a wide lake, shut off from the sea by a bar of land, through which there are three channels. The Zwein is the middle one of the three; that which passes by Wollin and Kimmin is the eastern one.

In p. 347. he says:

"Rex … classem … Zuinsibus ostiis inserit, Julinique vacuas defensoribus ædes, incendio adortus, rehabitatæ urbis novitatem, iterata penatium strage, consumpsit.... Juilinenses, cum urbis uæ recenses ruinas, ferendæ obsidioni, inhabiles cernerent, perinde ac viribus orbati, deserta patria, præsidium Caminense petiverunt, aliena amplexi mœnia, qui propria tueri diffiderent."

In p. 359. he says: The king "per Suinam invectus, Julinum oppidum, incolarum fugâ desertam, incendio tentat."

Saxo mentions Julin, p. 182-24.: "Nobilissimum illius provinciæ oppidum," under Harold Blatand, King of Denmark, who reigned in the latter half of the ninth century. He put a body of troops into it, who became dreadful pirates.

In p. 225. he says that the Danes compelled them to give up their pirates, who were punished. In p. 381., in the reign of Canute, son of Waldemar, there is an expedition against the Julinenses, the result of which is expressed "Julinensium rebus absumptis."

In p. 382., the king sets out for Julin, but seems to have attacked only Camin. Waldemar died in 1182, Canute, 1202 (Koch.)

Arnold (b. iii. c. 8. s. 4.) speaks of the Sclavi as finally subdued and made tributary, about 1185.

In the notes to Saxo (p. 197.) there is a long extract about Wollinum, from Chytræus, a writer who lived 1530-1600, taken from the information of a learned old man whose uncle was born there. He says he went there to see, accompanied by many of the principal inhabitants, the remains of Julin, destroyed in 1170 by Waldemar. Wollin he calls "mediocris civitas." From the ruins, it had been more than a German mile round. Part of it was "ineditiore paulum colle." He speaks of four montes, which had castles. He says Wollin is "non aspernenda civitas," but not a thirtieth part of the ancient size.

C.B.

I regret that my questioner V., from Belgravia (Vol. ii., p. 379.), should have felt aggrieved that, upon his request for my story, I should have been compelled to reply, in the words of the Ancient Mariner:

"Story! bless you, sir, I have none to tell."

As he seems, however, so assured that some account of the destruction of a city of such opulence and renown as Vineta must exist, I shall be extremely happy to learn it from him. I can assure my friend V. that neither Kanzow nor Micrœlius (who has, however, a plan of the stone pavement of its streets at the bottom of the Baltic), nor Giesebrecht, in his Wendische Geschichten (Berlin, 1844, 3 vols. 8 vo.), know anything beyond what I have stated. And as to a great port disappearing in the ocean, without any cotemporary notice, the instances are frequent; as remarkable a one as any occurs in our own island, and at a much later period:—Ravenspur, which was a sea-port of the greatest importance, where certainly Henry IV., and, as some say, Henry VII., landed from the opposite continent, to claim and conquer their crowns, and where the father of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, was a merchant, is now so totally lost from memory and the earth, that its very site is unknown, whether within the Humber, or outside the Spurn; possibly where now the reef called Stony Binks at the mouth of that æstuary is situated.

So far, however, as an actual legend is concerned with the destruction of a great emporium of commerce, I am happy I can supply your correspondent with one, possibly the more acceptable as it is of another famous city, not very remote from Vineta, and is not without relations belonging to the latter: I allude to the town of Wisby, Visbuy, Visbye, Visburgum, on the island of Gothland, of which the following account is found in an old Latin description of Sweden:

"Insulæ unica civitas, olim potentia splendore et magnitudine celebris, tantarum rerum jactura fracta in exiguos fines se contraxit et oppiduli speciem refert, ut Jansonii Atlas docet. Arx prope portum satis valida. Emporiis illis Pomeraniæ clarissimis Wineta et Julin pessum euntibus, Visbya inter omnia Regionum oppida floruit. (Olaus Magnus, l. 10. cap. 16.) Licet urbs vetustissima Visbycensis potentissima ac opulentissima quondam fuerit et pro minima occasione, nempe fractionis unius fenestralis vitri vix valoris obolaris, humiliata sit, tamen leges maritimæ et decisiones omnium controversiarum singulariter longe latèque observantur. Ex distructa autem Vineta Gothlandos incolas marmor, ferrum, cuprum, stannum, argentum, et inter alia duas ænei portas grandis ponderis petiisse, et secum in Gothlandum avexisse ferunt."

I need not remind your readers that the maritime code of Wisby even now influences many of the most important decisions affecting our present mercantile shipping, it having been the model of the Laws of the Acquitanian Islands of Re and Oleron, which Richard I. ordered to be observed in England, and which are still frequently acted on. It is, however, to the notice which I have marked in Italics that I would call the attention of V.,—the destruction of the city on account of a small pane of glass not the value of an obolus: and as he, no doubt, has interested himself on these northern histories, request him to explain the circumstance more in detail. I myself have often determined on searching Pontanus, and other ancient Danish authorities, but hitherto neglected, and therefore know nothing about the matter.

As to the gates, which are more especially mentioned amongst the spoils of the ruined Wineta, we find them also noticed in the same work, at its account of Wineta:

"Urbem frequentabant Græci aut potius Russi multarumque aliarum nationum mercatores, quorum affluxus frequens civibus ingentes divitias et facultates conciliavit: adeo ut portæ civitatis ex ære paratæ, et argentum tam vulgare ibi esset ut ad communium et vilium rerum usum adhibetur."

To go, however, completely into the history of these gates would require a volume. It would be necessary to commence with the great veneration for gates in general throughout the north: whether the name of their great god Thor (a gateway) is cause or consequence would have to be considered, and his coincidence, in this respect, with Janus and Janua, the eldest deity of the Italians, which I have more largely discussed in an Essay on a British Coin with the Head of Janus, in the 21st No. of the Journal of the British Archæological Association. Next, the question would arise, whether these gates have not been migratory, like those of Somnauth, which Mahmoud took to Gazni from a similar principle of deeply-rooted ancient veneration,—relics of sanctity rather than trophies of victory, and which Lord Ellenborough was so unjustly ridiculed for endeavouring to restore. Thirdly, therefore, also whether the famous gates of the cathedral of Novogorod may not be identical with those which have successively adorned Vineta's and Wisby's portals; and whether those which are still the ornament of the west door of the cathedral of Hildesheim, (which, according to the inscription which crosses their twenty scriptural bas-reliefs, were cast by Bereward, the thirteenth bishop, in 1015), may not be an existing and beautiful example; as is the bronze column, with the bas-reliefs of passages of the New Testament winding round it, and placed in the same cathedral close. It would not be too much to surmise, that even the beautiful gate of the Florence baptistery are from the same atelier, as an old Italian author sings: