Replies.

PEWS OR SEATS.

(3rd S. xi. 46, 107, 198, 338, 421, 500.) One word more, Mr. Editor, by your permission, upon this subject; and that not so much upon the antiquity of pews or seats-for their inquiries upon which we are much indebted to your correspondents-but rather upon the point to which those inquiries lead, one much canvassed at the present moment-the propriety of fixing seats or pews in our churches at all.

I am led to believe (and use this form of expression to denote simply my own personal belief, and not as laying down the law for others) that our first churches were very plain, long, and narrow; little else, indeed, than a shelter from the weather, not even paved, but strewed with rushes, as one of your correspondents has described them, and with very narrow and many lancet windows-narrow, to keep out the weather, as they were not glazed; and splayed widely on the inside, or in older cases, as in some at Kipon, towards the outside. And in this splaying the earliest indication of taste or ornament is to be discovered; for when made on the inside, not unfrequently the light is directed to a certain point, of which a remarkable instance may be seen in the chancel of Kilpeck church, Herefordshire (once the old chapel of a castle), where the light from all the windows in the semi-circular apse is made to fall as nearly as possible on the spot where the altar stood, and of course guided the eye to that place. Would that modern architects would attend to apparent trifles of this kind!

If we suppose the floors of churches to have been originally of mere earth, and strewed with rushes, of course we cannot suppose them to have had seats; and the services being short, these might have been dispensed with. But they must have gradually come into use, both to relieve the sick and infirm, and to enable the congregation to kneel. And I believe that a difficulty in cutting a regular pavement gave the first origin to encaustic tiles, the earliest builders finding it easier to make and burn a clay floor than raise one of smooth stone from the quarry; proofs of which, or what at least appear to me such, are often found in the churches of remote and retired villages, many of which have no regular pavement even at the present day, because the masons of ruder times found difficulty in properly working a material which would be hard enough for the purpose. And I must here, en passant, make a remark on the absurdity of the modern custom of paving the whole area of a church with encaustic tiles, as if it were either a restoration or improvement. That it is not a restoration, I will endeavour to show presently; but it is not an

improvement, because they are always liable, with a little wear, to get out of order. If they are not glazed, they wear out; and if they are, become slippery and dangerous, and so cold in winter that a person obliged to stand long on them, as the minister is in reading the Communion Service, soon becomes, even if dressed in thick shoes, very unpleasantly sensible of their effects in the winter. As to the whole area of churches having been at any time paved with them, and that for this reason the same thing is to be done now, it cannot be supposed that the builders in ruder times either had, or could have made, a sufficient number for the purpose. It is true they are often found in many different parts of our ecclesiastical edifices, but this arises from the fact that they were used only in the most sacred parts of these, generally before altars (of which there were often many in a church), and sometimes let into the floor as a mark where certain parties were to take their stand in the Roman Catholic processions round the congregation. And the first of these uses seems a direct allusion to a passage in the Book of Exodus, xxiv. 8, 9, 10:

"8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. "9 Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel :

"10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness."

Now, whoever has happened to turn his observation to the great attention commonly paid to what is termed by artists keeping in our ancient churches, where the altar was made the great point, and everything else kept subordinate to it, will easily judge that, even without any reference to the passage already quoted, whatever was most beautiful and attractive would be placed there, and confined to that spot. I am not ignorant that encaustic tiles, especially those commemorative of benefactors, were very generally employed in chapter-houses, and also perhaps in the monks' scriptoria or libraries; but this was the work of a later age; and my purpose is to show that there was a limit to their use in places of public worship, which it would both be more correct and desirable still to observe.

Upon the question of the precise time when seats or pews were first introduced into our churches I will not enter, leaving it to be settled by those learned correspondents who have already favoured you with communications upon the subject; but that which does press upon us, in the present church-restoring (query, church-altering?) age, is how to arrange the interior of our churches so as to attract and accommodate as many as possible within them? And to accomplish so desirable a purpose, those of the modern school tell us that

pews are to be swept away, monuments taken down, Minton to reign supreme on the floor, and some other equally eminent artificer in clay to astonish the external world by a fantastic and pastry-like looking coping on the roof, and then the minister and congregation will be perfectly happy, especially if the services have a reformation corresponding to that of the building.

*

These particulars are not given in caricature, but they so often appear in practice that they seem to form the staple of church restoration. Certainly it is extraordinary that, considering the sums paid for their erection, and the legal property which Blackstone tells us families have in them, parties should submit as they do to have the monuments of their ancestors removed and perhaps destroyed; but it is to be hoped that a late Act †, which gives a remedy independent of the Ecclesiastical Courts, by enacting, inter alia, that anyone unlawfully and maliciously destroying or damaging any monument, &c., shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour, besides being answerable for the damage, may correct this. But with respect to seats or pews in churches, our only consideration now appears to me to be, what is best to be done in the matter, without following blindly either old practices or new lights.

I will therefore take it for granted that, unless it is wished to have the whole area of a church open, and to hire a chair for one's devotion, as in France, it is necessary in England, where the people pray with and follow the minister in what he is saying, that there should be seats or benches to enable them to do so. And are these to be appropriated or not? If they are simply free to any one, there is no opportunity of having a hassock to kneel on, or having a book to pray from, but these must be brought and taken away at every service. Thus, in truth, it is found that the seats called open are generally appropriated, from the necessity of the case; and, to mention a circumstance which occurred to myself, upon going some time since into a church in Wiltshire, considered to be par excellence a free church, and attempting to take my seat, before I could say a word of prayer, the verger, approaching me, said, "Sir, you cannot sit here." Why not?" I replied; "is not this a free church? "Don't you see the card?" he rejoined; "you can sit here," pointing to seats evidently meant for servants. I should not have objected to being so displaced, whatever I might have thought of the seat so rudely appointed me, because there was a handsome cushion on the bench of which I had originally taken possession, which clearly was private pro

66

* Bl. Comm. ii. 428.

24 & 25 Vict. ch. 97, § 39.

perty, had it not been professed that the church was open and free, which it clearly was not. But it may be asked, what arrangement do you propose? You admit that seats are necessary, yet object to their being perfectly free or appropriated. Would you go back to pews? Not except under strict modifications.

I would propose, in the first place, that all seats in churches should be only so high that, when the congregation stand up, they only, and not their seats, should be seen; that the making of pews should be permitted, provided they harmonize in size, height, and other respects with other arrangements, and that, if the wind blows unpleasantly, they should be allowed doors; but that in all cases, there should be a requisite number of really free benches for the poor, and that for this purpose, especially in agricultural parishes, the pews (if any) should be placed against the walls, and the free seats in the middle of the church.

There is no point on which people, generally speaking, are more sensitive than on the right to a pew; and therefore, in conversation some years since with a venerable archdeacon of our church, now no more, and who had been very active in refitting the interior of the churches in his district, I was astonished to hear him declare that the distribution and appropriation of the pews, so put in order, gave him little or no trouble. "My custom," he explained, "is, sometime before my visitation, to send notice to the churchwardens of each parish, that they should consider and talk over the arrangements of the pews, seating the parishioners according to their rank in society, but never removing any one without a sufficient reason, and when this was done, to enter the whole in a roll. When my visitation takes place," he continued, "I call for this; and after examining it, ask publicly if any one is dissatisfied with, or has any reason to complain of, any part of the proposed arrangement; if such complaint is made, I hear and determine it; which done, or in case there is no appeal, I sign the roll to be deposited in the parish chest, and that arrangement of seats continues in force for three years, until my next visitation, but only in regard to such parties as continue to reside in the parish, and to attend the church services."

I have before observed that the first origin of pews is a question for antiquaries, and of little practical utility. The point with us is, to know how congregations may be enabled, either by an old or new arrangement, to say their prayers devoutly and in comfort; and the plan suggested by my friend the archdeacon appears to me, from its simplicity and compliance with the law, fully and satisfactorily to accomplish this, and to be liable only to one objection, that it certainly is not destructive.

W.

CAP-A-PIE.

(3rd S. xii. 165.)

I think your correspondent D. P. S. does very wisely in thus asking for examples of the occurrence of this phrase before proceeding to give his theory of the etymology; for it is not uncommon for etymologists to construct a theory first, and look about for facts afterwards, and it is this practice which has often brought etymology into contempt. In the present instance, I think the received explanation may stand.

First, by way of examples. The phrase occurs, according to the dictionaries, both in Prescott and Swift. In A.D. 1755 we meet with

"Armed cap-a-pee, forth marched the fairy king." Cooper, Tomb of Shakspear. Tracing back, we come to"Arm'd cap-a-pie, with reverence low they bent." Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, 1. 1765.

There is also another curious instance. In a poem called "Psyche, or Love's Mystery," by Joseph Beaumont, published in 1651, we have "For knowing well what strength they have within, By stiff tenacious faith they hold it fast; How can those champions ever fail to win, Amidst whose armour heav'n itself is plac'd." Psyche, canto xii, st. 136.

end. The second of these is clearly the one we want, and he gives the following example: "Que dol si del cap tro als pes." Guillaume Adhemar (died A.D. 1190). This he translates by "Qu'il se plaint de la tête jusqu'aux pieds."

When your correspondent says he doubts this explanation, I suspect he is being misled by a French proverb given by Cotgrave, viz. " n'avoir que la cape et l'épée," which means, "to have nothing left but your mantle and your sword, to be brought to dependence on your own exertions." The resemblance between the two phrases cap-apie (head to foot), and cape et l'épée (mantle and sword), is certainly striking, but they seem to be quite distinct nevertheless, and I do not think they can be proved to be otherwise.

22, Regent Street, Cambridge.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

Shakspeare no doubt wrote cap-à-pie, for he has repeated the same expression on the same subject twice a few lines below: "from top to toe," "from head to foot." The corresponding modern French is the reverse, de pied en cap. But Montaigne (ii. 9) wrote de cap à pied. The armour which Shakspeare had in his mind was of the time of Richard II., and probably that made at Milan expressly for Henry Duke of Hereford,* to wear in the famous duel at Coventry; for the most cha

"How can those champions ever fail to win,

Who, cap-a-pe, for arms, with heaven are drest." I have little doubt but that many more examples might be found; and now for the etymology.

The received one is, that cap-a-pied means from head to foot, and surely it is simply equivalent to the usual French phrase, "armè de pied en cap," for which Raynouard gives the quotation:

"De pied en cap s'armera tout en fer." Laboderie, Hymn Eccl. p. 282. The only objection to this seems to be that there is a reversal of the order of the words. But if, leaving the Langue d'Oil, we consult the Langue d'Oc, we shall then find the words in their right order, and at the same time establish, as I think, the right explanation beyond a doubt, besides showing that the phrase existed in the twelfth century. In his Provençal Lexicon, Raynouard gives “CAP, KAP, s. m. Lat. caput, tête, chef"; and he goes on to explain the phrases de cap en eap (from one end to the other); del cap tro als pes (from the head to the foot); del premier cap tro en la fi (from the first beginning even to the

"he

(as it is indifferently called), of the bascinet, which, from having been simply convex, had assumed the shape of a truncated bird's beak. To this Shakspeare refers when he says, wore his bavière (beaver) up." In a MS. copy of the "Roman de la Rose," two women are represented fighting-one with sword, the other with spear-in ordinary dress, except that each has a helmet or bascinet, with long projecting bavière down. (See "British Costume," L. E. K., 159.) T. J. BUCKTON. Streatham Place, S.

I venture to give an extract from the play of Albumazar with reference to cap-à-pie, and, although the word there is not so compounded, it (quarto edition of 1615, Act II. Sc. 1):affords an example of early English literature

"Trinculo. Hee that saith I am not in love, hee lies

De cap a pe; For I am idle, choicely neate in my cloaths, valiant, & extreme witty: My meditations are loaded with metaphors, & my songs sonnets: Not a cur shakes his taile but I sigh out a passion: thus do I to my mistresse," &c. &c.

Whatever opinions may be formed with regard to this inimitable play, it is quite certain that the

* Afterwards King Henry IV. See Shakspeare's Richard II.

BISHOP HAY.

(3rd S. xi. 427.)

"Diaulia, Atavλía, vel Ataúλeia; civitas episcopalis, est secunda sub Athenarum metropolita in notitiis Leonis Imp., et aliis deinceps, B'. 8 Alavλías. Ipsa nimirum est quæ Ptolemæo Aavλls, Daulis, Straboni Aaúλetov, Daulium, urbs quædam exigua Phocidis in monte assurgens, ubi vicus hodie est, quindecim millibus pass. Delphis distans ad septentrionem. Plinius, lib. iv. cap. 3, Drymæam regionem Daulidem appellatam dicit. In episcopatum unum Diaulia conjuncta est cum Talantio, de quo supra."

From this it is sufficiently evident that it is Diaulia or Daulia, and not “Daulis;" and in the ancient lists are found the names of the following Greek bishops of the united sees of Diaulia and Talantium or "Oreum"-1. "Sophronius, episcopus Diaulice et Talantii, & Aiavxías Kal Taλavriou Zwopóvios;" and 2. "Chrysanthus Diaulie, adeoque Talantii; Chrysantho de Diaulia." (Oriens

Christ., ii. 203.) It will be sufficient to add, that the see of Daulia, or Diaulia, was in the diocese being a suffragan bishopric of the metropolis of of Illyricum Orientalis and province of Hellas, Athens.

Bishop Hay may here be introduced with referPerhaps a few additional particulars regarding ence to "N. & Q." (3rd S. xi. 312) and MR. COOPER'S query.

He was of Protestant parentage, and was educated as a physician; but, having become a Roman Catholic in 1748, he entered the Scottish College at Rome Sept. 10, 1751, and was ordained priest there April 2, 1758. Having returned to Scotland in the autumn of 1759, he was sent as missionary to Preshome, Banffshire, in November of that year. Soon after Bishop Smith's death in 1766, Mr. Hay was appointed to the Edinburgh mission; and, on Bishop Grant's posLowland district of Scotland; his consecration tulation, he was nominated coadjutor for the taking place on Trinity Sunday, May 21, 1769 (the year "1729" is a misprint in the Catholic Directory for this year), in the chapel of the seminary at Scalan, the officiating prelate being, it is believed, Bishop James Grant, on whose death in 1778 he succeeded to the sole cure of the vicariate. On Aug. 24, 1805, by virtue of powers given him by the Holy See, Bishop Hay transferred his episcopal authority and vicarial faculties to his coadjutor, Bishop Alexander Cameron, and retired to the seminary at Aquhorties, where he age, fifty-fourth of his priesthood, and forty-third died Oct. 15, 1811, in the eighty-third year of his of his episcopate.

controversial and devotional, most of which have He was the author of numerous works, chiefly been republished at various periods up to the present time; and they are still greatly valued by members of the Roman Catholic church, of which he was so distinguished an ornament.

India, July, 1867.

A. S. A.

DEBENTURES (3rd S. x. 501; xi. 47.) — This word is older than the " Rump Act" of 1649. Among the minor poems of Ben Jonson is a droll copy of verses, beginning

"Father John Burges, Necessity urges My humble cry To Sir Robert Pye, That he will venture (or sign), or words to that effect, for I am quoting To send my debenture" I read the verses. without book, and many years have passed since his pension, which has fallen into arrear, and to Their gist is, that Ben wants this intent importunes "Father John Burges," probably an underling in the Exchequer, to move

Sir Robert Pye, a still more important official in my Lord Treasurer's department. The "Debenture" itself, I conjecture, was a species of I. O. U. issued by the Crown when-as frequently happened it could not pay ready money to its servants: the which I. O. U.'s the recipients got cashed or discounted, as they might, by goldsmiths or money-scriveners, who, in their turn, took their chance of the Court being in funds to come down in force on the Exchequer. Similar I. O. U.'s, under the more pretentious title of "Certificates of Indebtedness,' were issued by the United States Government to their contractors and others during the recent Civil War. Royal Debentures, flung to various parasites, were common at the Court of Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA.

"OIL OF MERCY" (3rd S. xii. 73.)-This legend is much older than the "Cursor Mundi." It is taken from the apocryphal "Gospel of Nicodemus," part II., otherwise called "The Descent of Christ to the Underworld;" where, at the express desire of Adam, his son Seth relates to the prophets and patriarchs assembled in Hades his expedition to the gate of Paradise in quest of the oil. A curious illustration of the popularity of this legend occurs in the famous History of Rey nard the Fox. One of the jewels which Reynard pretended to have sent as a present to the king was "a rynge of fyn golde, and within the rynge next the fyngre were wreton lettres enameled with sable and asure, and ther were thre hebrews names therin." Reynard could not read Hebrew, so he applied to "Maister Abrion of Trier," a jew, who "understandeth wel al maner of languages," and learned from him that "they were tho thre names that Seth brought out of Paradys whan he brought to his fadre Adam the Oyle of Mercy." (Caxton's Reynard, p. 112. London, 1844.)

Here we have a different version of the story, for in the Gospel abovementioned it is distinctly stated by Seth himself that the angel sent him back without the oil. (Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, &c. Lond. 1867, p. 302.); and Sir John Maundeville, who relates it as he found it current in his day among "the Cristene men that dwellen beyond the sea in Grece," with considerable additions as quoted by Mr. Cowper in his introduction, p. xxxvii., says, that "the aungelle wolde not late him come in, but seyed to him that he myghte not have of the Oyle of Mercy." I can find no mention of the three names anywhere but in the Reynard.

F. N.

"THUS!" EARL ST. VINCENT (3rd S. xii. 106.) The motto Thus is a naval term, an order given to

the steersman when he must not deviate from the point he is steering. Now Lord St. Vincent was celebrated for his straightforward conduct;

upon all occasions he spoke his sentiments freely, and won all hearts by his plain, manly, straightforward dealing both with officers and men under his command. The motto, therefore, chosen for him by his sister, when the admiral was raised to the peerage, was deemed appropriate, and, after the general fashion of mottoes, had a double meaning. The sailors, however, of later days, through a mistaken conception of the sound, and ignorant of the term, call out, "Very well, Dice!" when, if spoken correctly, they ought to say, "Very well Thus"; just as we familiarly say, "Do soand-so Thus." J. S.

Stratford, Essex.

DUKE OF MONCADA, MARQUIS D'AYTONE (3rd S. xii. 66.)—Aytone seems to be the same as Aytona or Aitona, the name of a small place near Lerida in Catalonia.

Aytona is not an Anglo-Saxon name (cf. Ayjones in New Castile, Ay, Saint-Ay, Aydius, Aydie, Aynac, Ayrens, Aytré, &c., in France; capital of North Etruria; Dertona, now Tortona, and Cortona (Kópтwva) or Crotona, the ancient in Liguria, Cortona in the land of the Jaccetani, &c.; also Aytane, the name of a mountain in Valentia).

cerning the Duke of Moncada, Marquis D'Aytone, I am not acquainted with any particulars conbut I know of a William Raymond de Moncada, who distinguished himself in 1140 at the capture of Alcaraz, a fortified town near Lerida.

G. A. S.

S. JACKSON.