gives any meaning whatever? In asking this question, I know that he will not plead the bold sweep of the master's hand, or the magician's wand, to make sense of nonsense, or to justify bad logic. He thinks with me that Shakspeare "needs no defence," and therefore I appeal to him with confidence. "Gilded" then is not an epithet in any way applicable to "shore:" the sense clearly required is deceitful; "in a word, the seeming truth which cunning times put on to entrap the wisest; all showing that guile was meant, whether expressed or not. Observe, too, that this passage is but an illustration; and an illustration must be true in itself, or you can draw no just comparison. The gilding of the casket might deceive Bassanio; a gilded shore was not likely to deceive any one: and admitting the expression to be allowable, the illustration would be weaker than the subject

illustrated.

In the second place, I should ask MR. SINGER with some confidence if, supposing the word in place of "beauty" to be correctly " gipsy," and the word in doubt had been the epithet, he would have adopted the suggestion of Indian as one at all appropriate, adding force to the subject (in which case only would an epithet be allowable), or at all likely to have been used by Shakspeare. The term gipsy is not applied depreciatingly to Cleopatra. Indian, on the other hand, was much less susceptible of association with beauty than now. Indeed I think A. E. B.'s remarks are so just that they must go far to decide the question in favour of the oldest reading; "beauty," as he so clearly points out, implying sex, and the expression meaning simply, a woman who would be considered a beauty among Indians."

66

I quite agree with MR. SINGER in the substitution of "stale" for "pale;" and I will take the occasion to remark that as, in his opinion, there are in Shakspeare at least two instances of this partiI think it strengthens the case in favour of the unintelligible word "prenzie" being also misprint for a word beginning with the letter " SAMUEL HICKSON.

cular error,

S.

a

99

Replies to Minor Queries. Experto crede Roberto (Vol. iii., p. 353.). - Dr. John Prideaux, Rector of Exeter College (16121642), appears during these years to have lost three sons. On the gravestone of the second, in the chapel of the college, was inscribed the following epitaph:

"Quam subito, quam certo, experto crede, ROBERTO PRIDEAUX, fratri Matthiæ minori, qui veneno infeliciter comesto, intra decem horas misere expiravit, Sept. 14.

1627."

Is it possible that the words experto crede Roberto (especially when connected with the unhappy death of the poor boy above-mentioned) became a

familiar phrase with the Oxford men of that generation, and has thus been transmitted to the present day?

When Dr. Prideaux, afterwards Regius Professor of Divinity, and Bishop of Worcester, was a very young man, he was a candidate, being of humble origin, for the place of parish clerk of the church of Ugborow, near Hereford; but which he lost, as he says, to "his very great grief and trouble." The reflection which he afterwards made, "If I could have been clerk of Ugborow, I had never been Rishop of Worcester," may be no useless lesson to those who are disposed to repine under early disappointments. J. H.M.

Phelps's Gloucestershire Collections (Vol. v., p. 346.).—The Gloucestershire Collections of the late John Delafield Phelps, Esq., which form the subject of DELTA's inquiry, I believe descended to his nephew, William Phelps, Esq., of Dursley, and remain in his possession. The catalogue is entitled Collectanea Glocestriensia, by John Delafield Phelps, Esq.: London, privately printed by Wm. Nicol, 1842, royal 8vo., pp. 284. It is in the library of the Athenæum Club; but, from some inadvertency in the Club Catalogue, Mr. Phelps's name has been wholly omitted, and it simply appears under the name of Delafield. It is to be regretted that no other than the most succinct biography of this gentleman (which was given in the Gentleman's Magazine for February 1843, p. 219.) is to be

found.

He was of a very old Gloucestershire family, was lord of the manor of Dursley, and his and the property of the old family of the Fields of father was also lord of the manor of Rangeworthy; Pagan Hill, near Stroudwater, had descended to them. His contribution to the Roxburghe Club was a reprint in 1817 of The Glutton's Feaver, by Thomas Bancroft. Mr. Phelps died at Chavenage House, Tetbury, on Dec. 19, 1842, aged seventyeight years. Mr. Phelps was a barrister, but having a good private fortune, I believe he did not practise latterly; he was a man of much charity A SUBSCRIBER. and amiable disposition.

Andrew Marvel (Vol. v., p. 597.). - -Jos. A. KIDD only half corrects the mistake often made when he says that Andrew Marvel was not born in Hull; he should have proceeded to state, as the fact is, that he was born at Winestead in Holderness, where the Rev. Andrew Marvel, his father, resided, prior to coming to reside at Hull: his baptismal register exists there in the parish books. There are several families in the neighbourhood of Hull still, which are descended from the Rev. Andrew Marvel, viz. the present generation of Peases of Hesslewood, through their mother; the Haworths of Hull Bank; the Popples of Wetton, and my own family; also the Blaydes, late of Paul.

Hull.

T. THOMPSON.

Mexican Grammar (Vol. v., p. 585.). The only person likely to have grammars of South American languages for sale is the well-known bookseller Asher (Berlin, under den Linden). Should, however, the prices at which Asher generally offers such very scarce books appear to W. B. D. too exorbitant, he will get any of those Mexican &c. grammars, which in Jülg's edition of Vater's Grammatiken, §c., are marked with an asterisk, cheaply transcribed for him from the original copies in the royal public library of Berlin. Otherwise W. B. D. must take the chance to wait till the great work on the American languages, begun many years ago by the late W. Von Humboldt, and long since completed by Prof. Buschmann, will at last come out. R. R.

Canterbury.

-

Burial without Service (Vol. v., p. 613.). This, whether legal or not, is with respect to Roman Catholics continually practised, at least in Lancashire, where the common sense of both parties easily gets over the difficulty. The priest knows he cannot celebrate his service in the church, and therefore performs it ere the body leaves the house. The clergyman knows the English service would not be acceptable, and does not offer to perform it. The bell tolls as usual, and the coffin being taken straight to the grave, is buried by the sexton and his attendants. If (as is often the case with the Roman Catholic gentry) the family vault is inside the church, the organist sometimes plays solemn music during the interment. If the Protestant clergyman desires to show respect to the character or station of the deceased, he either joins the pro-. cession, or awaits it (without surplice) in the church. There is no secret made of the matter, and until the last ten or fifteen years it was usual to ring a merry peal on the bells as the mourners were leaving the churchyard. P. P.

-

The True Maiden-hair Fern (Vol. vi., p. 30.). Allow me to add to EIRIONNACH's list of the localities of the lovely Adiantum (Capillus Veneris), that of Ilfracombe, Devon, in England, where, though rare, it exhibits the greatest luxuriance of growth; but I have never seen its beauty so conspicuous as in Italy. It flourishes at Massa and at Carrara; but the extremity of the Grotto of Egeria, near the Eternal City, is adorned with a curtain of its beautiful fronds, which will not be easily forgotten by those who have even but once visited the haunts of the fair inspirer of Numa. W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

Royal Arms in Churches (Vol. v., p. 559.). In the accounts of the churchwardens of Mellis, printed in the Proceedings of the Bury and West Suffolk Archeological Institute, there is a charge in 1617 for painting the King's arms, and for making

a frame for them, upon which the Rev. Mr. Creed, the contributor of the paper to the Institute, remarks that it does not clearly appear that the setting up of the king's arms in churches was done by any express law or injunction, and submits that it was probably ordered by episcopal or archidiaconal authority. He mentions, however, one or two instances prior to the Reformation, of the arms of the sovereign being placed in churches. In reference to this subject, Mr. King, York Herald, in his interesting remarks on a series of the royal arms existing in Yarmouth Church (vide vol. ii. of Norfolk Archeology, published by the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society), states that the practice of placing the arms of the sovereign and his family in churches, appears in the Middle Ages to have been in a great measure uniform in architectural and other decorations, and suggests that the modern exhibition of the arms of the sovereign had its origin in that practice. Both suggestions are entitled to respect, and as the custom may have originated from a combination of both causes, I have placed them in juxtaposition, trusting, through your justly increasing and unassuming periodical, to elicit something more decisive upon these points. Z. Z. Z.

I have seen the royal arms, carved, affixed in some conspicuous place in several churches-commonly, I think, over the western door: but I have also seen large hatchments of the royal arms in country churches; for instance, those of George I. and II.; but I have always suspected that they were only given to churches near royal residences, or where there was some royal property. The Lord Chamberlain's office (the records of which are I believe very curious) might explain this point.

C.

in 1662, nor of the governor of St. Martin's, who is alleged to have "reduced to slavery the crew and passengers of an English ship." From the character of the inhabitants of the latter island (at that period little better than a handful of freebooters), and their avowed hostility to the British, such a circumstance is barely possible; but no account of it occurs in any history of these islands that I have had an opportunity of consulting. HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

Reverence to the Altar (Vol. vi., p. 33.).—The country folks in this part of Pembrokeshire bow to the clergyman as they go to their seats from the aisle, in the same way as those in Huntingdonshire. R. J. A.

Docking Horses' Tails (Vol. vi., p. 43.).-The practice of docking the tails of horses is of an earlier date than F. B-w supposes, as the following extract from Markham's Masterpiece, tenth edition, 1668, will show :

66

Of the making of Curtals, or cutting off of the Tails of Horses.

"The curtailing of horses is used in no nation whatsoever, so much as in this kingdom of ours, by reason of much carriage, and heavy burthens which our horses continually are exercised and imployed withall; and the rather, sith, we are strongly opinionated, that the taking away of those joynts doth make the horses chine or back a great deal stronger, and more able to support a burthen, as in truth it doth; and we daily find it by continual experience."-P. 539. EDWARD PEACOCK, Jun. Bottesford Moors, Messingham,

Kirton Lindsey.

Apple-pie Order (Vol. iii., pp. 330. 468. 485.).— There is a children's story beginning, "A was an apple-pie; B bit it; C cut it; D divided it; F fought for it; G got it; H had it," &c., to the end of the alphabet. Some years since I met with the assertion that this was the origin of the expression "apple-pie order," reference being had to the regular order in which the letters follow each other. UNEDA.

Philadelphia, Pa., June 15. 1852.

Seth's Pillars (Vol. v., p. 609.).-In reply to the Query of ANON., I beg to inform him that this is a well-known oriental tradition, noticed by many writers. I may, in the first instance, refer him to Josephus's Jewish Antiq., bk. i. ch. ii. 3.

Mention is also made of these pillars in some of the extracts from oriental writers contained in the

appendix to the second volume of Colonel Vyse's valuable work on the Pyramids of Egypt.

In two ancient MSS. in the British Museum (Lansd. 98. No. 48., and Harl. 1942.), purporting to be a history of The Beginning and Foundation of the worthy Craft of Masonry, an account

of the legend connected with these pillars will be found.

I possess a copy of the latter of these documents, written in a hand of the last century, but refrain from trespassing upon your valuable space with any lengthy extracts. It may be sufficient to state that the erection of the pillars (which Josephus attributes to the children of Seth) is here ascribed to the four children of Lamech, viz. Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain, and Naamah. It then proceeds:

"These children knew well that God would take vengeance for sin, either by fire or water; wherefore they wrote their sciences that they had found out on two pillars, that they might be found after Noah's flood.

"One of the pillars was marble, which will not burn with any fire, and the other pillar or stone was called Laternes [in the other MS. Latres], which will not drown in any water."

The discovery of one of the pillars by Hermes Trismegistus after the Deluge is then narrated, together with an account of his supposed inventions.

Your correspondent will also find the contents of this MS. noticed in the preface to Mr. Halliwell's curious work on The Early History of Freemasonry in England.

Allow me to conclude with a Query.-What is the meaning and derivation of the word latres or laternes, of which material one of the pillars is said to have been formed? LEICESTRIENSIS.

Paget Family (Vol. iv., p. 133.; Vol. v. pp. 66. 280. 327. 381.). The following extract from Harl. MSS., 1476, p. 178., may be interesting to your correspondents CRANMORE and EDWARD FOSS:

with the last reprint of it. Rhabanus Maurus was archbishop of Mayence in 847. The editions of his work De Laudibus Sanctæ Crucis of 1503 and 1606 are mentioned by P. B.: a third edition of the archbishop's poem may be found in his complete works, in folio, published at Cologne, Aa.d. 1626, vol. i. pp. 273-337. The latest edition of the poem is one that has just issued from the press of Pönicke and Son, of Leipsic, under the editorship of Adolphus Henze. It is now on sale by Franz Thimm, New Bond Street.

The wok consists of a series of anagrams, acrostics, and other literary puzzles of most intricate character, forming the shape of the cross in every possible variety of pattern, wrought, without injury to the sense, into the framework of a number of poems. The work is a curiosity of literary ingenuity and typographical excellence; so much so, that no one can appreciate the difficulty of the task without an examination of the work.

Hydrophobia (Vol. v., p. 10.). Your correspondent INDAGATOR is not the only boy who has

been horrified at the accounts related of the smothering of hydrophobic patients. Is there such a disease clearly deducible from the bite of a dog? We know that lock-jaw following wounds in the tendons is not uncommon, and I think it probable that may have been mistaken for it. Be it as it may, I spent 1810-12 at Guy's Hospital, and never heard the disease of hydrophobia mentioned. Drs. Babington and James Curry never alluded to it in their lectures; nor was there even a report during that period of the admission of any patient so suffering. I have been since forty years in practice; I have never seen nor heard of a case, nor, in spite of persevering inquiry, have I found any person who could adduce an instance of it. I have long looked at it as a fabulous tale. In the convulsions consequent upon traumatic tetanus it is possible that, in the restraint to which patients may have been subjected, smothering has occurred. I have met with no case of deliberate suffocation in my medical reading.

JAMES CORNISH.

Battle of Alfred the Great with the Danes (Vol. vi, p. 10.). If your correspondent J. S. will refer to Lingard (History of England, vol. i. p. 249.), he will find that this battle did not take place in Hampshire, but at Icglea ("grata salicis planities juxta silvam," St. Neot's Life, p. 335.),

Can a Man baptize himself? (Vol. vi., p. 36.). - Surely the obvious reply to this question is, that he cannot do so. Not being in Christian fellowship before baptism, he would not be in a condition to administer a Christian sacrament.

The habit of altering the words when the minister receives the bread and wine at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper from his own hands, is not universal, nor practised, perhaps, by those of the clergy whose example would be most looked to. There would not seem to be any authority for such alteration.

ALFRED GATTY.

The

Eton Montem (Vol. vi., p. 63.).—I agree with DR. RIMBAULT, that the Eton Montem may have Bishop; but we possess no certain data as to their been derived from the ceremony of the Boyidentity. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to throw more light on the subject; and I would suggest the expediency of a reference to and Cambridge University libraries, it being highly the indices of Cole's MSS. in the British Museum, probable that from his long connexion with Eton and King's Colleges, he may have recorded some particulars as to the origin of these celebrities. Meanwhile, I am enabled to fix the exact date of the alteration of the time for holding the Montem from the winter to the summer season. change took place on Whit Tuesday, 1758; and is pointedly alluded to in a copy of Latin verses preserved in the Musa Etonenses, vol. i. p. 60., edition 1795, and written by Benjamin Heath, the school, he was entitled to the proceeds of the afterwards Fellow of the College. As captain of Montem, or the salt, as it was called; he was also expected to produce an exercise, the subject of which has always been "Pro More et Monte." The following lines will be sufficient to prove my assertion, but the whole poem is well worth perusal. "Ut mihi more novo Montis celebrare triumphum, Fas sit, et optato figere signa jugo, Te supplex te rite colo, quo præside nostra, Lætior estivo tempore pompa nitet."

BRAYBROOKE.

Haberdasher (Vol. vi., p. 17.). — Minshew derives it from Habt ihr das, Teut. Possibly the real derivation is berdash, an old English neck-dress, whence a seller of this article was called a berdasher or haberdasher. R. J. A.

Burials in Woollen (Vol. v., pp. 414. 542., Vol. vi., p. 58.).-H. W.'s quotation of Pope's distich,"Odious! in woollen! 'twould a saint provoke,

Were the last words which poor Narcissa spoke," seems to require the addition of the date. Narcissa (Mrs. Oldfield the actress), died in 1731, and Pope's Essay was published in 1734. Mrs. Oldfield escaped the "woollen," and was really "buried in Westminster Abbey in a Brussels lace headdress; a Holland shift with tucker, and double ruffles of the same lace; and a pair of new kid gloves."-Gent. Mag., March, 1731. C.

In reference to this subject, the parish register of Bretforton, Worcestershire, has the following

entry :

"Here begins the register book of all and every person that have been buried in the parish of Bretforton, according to act of parliament entitled An Act for burying in woollen only since the 1st of August, 1678.'"

Fairfax Family Mansion (Vol. v., p. 490.). There is probably no family reason for the disuse of the strait old-fashioned entrance. I have seen the same practice in twenty other places. When the strait avenue went out of fashion, a winding, and, as it was thought, more natural and park-like line of approach was adopted. Sometimes the old gates were removed altogether; sometimes they remained, but were never opened. I think this style of strait avenues and iron gates is rather coming in again, with the terraces and parterres. C.

Gospel Trees (Vol. v., pp. 157. 209. 306. 444. 570.).—I have a venerable silver fir-tree (west coast of Argyleshire), which, although not called a "Gospel tree," was, before the existence of the parish church, hallowed by having its large bole used as a pulpit for the minister, and its extensive

shade, as a canopy under which the people listened to the preaching of the Gospel. There is nothing apocryphal about this: it was done in my father's time. On wet Sundays the people assembled in the mansion house.

ancient (possibly apocryphal) history to this tree, I may mention that tradition assigns a less holy whose shape, by the way, is exquisitely adapted to the alleged purpose. The lairds, so it is said, were wont to suspend their refractory vassals on the branches. Hence it is affectionately called that, in the glorious feudal times, the lairds exer"the Lairds' tree." You are no doubt aware, cised the power of life and death over their own people, as well as over all others under their ban, and within their reach: a noble privilege which, alas! has long ago yielded to the baying of the many-mouthed novarum rerum cupidi.

W. C.

Flemish Clothiers in Wales (Vol. v., p. 36). — Your correspondent may wish to learn, that the Flemish Clothiers, or such traces as are left, are to be found in Pembrokeshire:—a colony of Flemings landed there in the reign of Henry I., and brought over their woollen manufactures;-that the Castle of Haverford West is said to have been inhabited by them; there is also a road called the "Flemish Way," yet existing;—that here as well as in the neighbourhood of Milford Haven, and throughout a great part of this county (Pembroke), traces of the manners and appearances yet remain: both Wittle," similar to that worn by the early Flesexes wore a short cloak called by them a "Gawr mings;-that the customs of some of these Welsh to the Flemish, is also noticed in a work entitled Barber's Tour through South Wales, 8vo. 1803. C. G.

Paddington.

Curious Mistranslation (Vol. vi., p. 51.).-P. T. misses the point of Mr. Dickens's humour. The Frenchman is designedly made to mistranslate "sabots." QUIZ.

Seal of Mary Queen of Scots (Vol. vi., p. 36.).— E. A. S. is mistaken in supposing his seal "the original," I have one answering his description in a box with a printed label, "Queen Mary's_Signet Ring, from the Collection of the late Earl of Buchan." Device, quarterly, the arms of England, France, Ireland, and Scotland; the shield surmounted by a crown, and between the initials M. R. Surely the original (judging from arms and initials) belonged to Mary of Modena, wife of James II,

METAOUO.