No. LXVIII.]

66

"Takes note of what is done-
By note, to give and to receive."-SHAKESPEARE.

MEANING OF UNIVERSITY NOMINALS." During the reign of King Edward the Second, the University of Oxford was much prepossessed in favour of those who were termed Nominals,' whose peculiarity then as now consisted in the most rigid adherence to the signification of words, and of which class of persons, the following will afford a sufficient illustration."

Merton College being on the walls, and the Master and Fellows being desirous of a facility to walking in the meadows which were situated contiguously thereto; deputed three of their community to the king then at Woodstock, to ask his authority and permission. One of them, on their being presented to the king, signified that they were sent by the College to demand licentiam faciendi ostium-a licence or liberty to make a door; when a second immediately interrupted him, by saying that he was mistaken, as liberty to make a door was not a satisfaction to them, for so they might have a licence, and yet the door never be made; therefore, his desire was to have ostium fieri-a door to be made. On this the third insisted, that they were both in error, for by this request it might still be in fieri, but his petition was to have ostium factum,-a door made. Whereupon, the first replied, they were not so unmannerly as to desire a door made, for that was to demand the king to make them a door, yet simply desired they might have leave posse ostium fieri-to have it in their power to make a door; but the second again interposing, and the third as resolutely opposing the second, the king wearied by their squabble, intimated that though he understood their request, he would not give them satisfaction till they should agree in modo loquendi.

Oxford, August 4.

P. B.

RUMP STEAK CLUB.-I have heard of the Beef Steak Club, but I am also told there is or was another, called the Rump Steak Club. Can any correspondent of Current Notes gratify your readers by some notice of it? Cambridge, August 5.

P.

[AUGUST, 1856.

THE SAINT GILES'S BOWL.

Burton, the historian of Leicestershire, mentions-At the hospital of Saint Giles in the Fields, without the bar of the Old Temple, London, and the Domus Conversorum, now the Rolls; the prisoners conveyed from the City of London towards Teybourne, there to be executed for treasons, felonies or other trespasses, were presented with a great bowle of ale thereof to drinke at their pleasure, as to be their last refreshing in this life. Parton, under the head of 'peculiar custom,* states, before 1413, the gallows was removed from the Elms in Smithfield, and erected at the north end of the garden wall belonging to the hospital of St. Giles, on which spot between the ends of St. Giles's High Street, and Hoglane now Crown Street, opposite to the place where afterward the pound stood, it continued till removed to Tyburn. The condemned criminals on their way to this their place of execution, usually stopped at the great gate of the hospital, where they as their last refreshment in this life, were presented with a large bowl of ale, whence the name of the Saint Giles's bowl.'

The custom was not so peculiar, but appears to have been an observance of Popish times. Saintfoix, in reference to Paris, observes, in those ages when literature had not yet civilized our manners, the execution of criminals was a kind of show, exhibited with no small state and solemnity, and often on holidays.† On their way to the place of execution, they were to stop at certain places, and among others, in the Court of the Daughters of God, where they had a glass of wine, and three bits of consecrated bread. This collation was called the patient's last bit; and if he eat with any appetite, it was looked upon as a good omen to his soul.

In accordance with this practice, we find in 1477, the Duke of Nemours who was beheaded in the FishMarket at Paris, was led thither from the Bastille, on the market-place appointed for his last resting-place, a horse caparisoned with black cloth, The rooms in were lined with blue-grey serge, sprinkled with vinegar, and fumigated with a fire of juniper-wood, to overpower the smell of the flesh. Whilst he was confessing, his Commissaries were treated with wine, white-bread and pears. He was then brought out upon a scaffold made

Upon the Excise Scheme being rejected, King George the Second evinced his resentment against those Lords and Commons who opposed it, by turning his back upon them when they came to Court, upon which they formed themselves into a society, and designated themselves— the Rump in the Fields, 1822, 4to. p. 38. Steak Club, adopting for their motto:

RUMPATUR QUISQUIS RUMPATUR INVIDIA.

The Toasts of the Rump Steak Club, were printed in a folio pamphlet, in 1734; but the Club has long since ceased.

VOL, VI.

Some account of the Hospital and Parish of St. Giles

The same brutal malignity was evinced by King James the First, in the order for the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, on the Inauguration day of the Mayor of London, 1618. This was done to evince his contempt for the

citizens.

L

for that occasion, care having even been taken to newly stuff the cushion upon which he was to kneel; and the executioner after severing his head from the body, plunged it into a vessel of water, and held it up to the people. By order of the King, Louis the Eleventh, the Duke's children, the eldest of whom was but twelve years of age, were present on the scaffold, in white apparel, bare headed, and with folded hands, that they might be sprinkled with their father's blood! The fiendlike ovation over, the procession on its return was closed by one hundred and fifty Cordeliers holding lighted torches, the head and body of the Duke in an open coffin being borne before them. Money was given to them to bury him, and the whole chaunting proceeded on their way.

EPITAPHIUM.

The Epitaph quoted in Current Notes, p. 62, by W. B., was inscribed to the Memory of John Wiles, of Lavenham, who died Dec. 16, 1691, ætat 50; the said epitaph appearing to be a paraphrase of two or three verses in the sacred Scriptures, viz.—

The thing that hath been, is that which shall be. Ecclesiastes, ch. i. v. 9.

That which hath been, is now, and that which is to be, hath already been. Eccl., ch. iii. v. 15.

There is another line, which I cannot at this moment place my hand on, that has been frequently selected as the theme of one of the most delightful anthems in Canterbury Cathedral, and to which some of the young choristers there have given the most charming effect, Pennant mentions, an anciently similar observance at so much so, that after a breathless silence and sympaYork, occasioned the saying that the sadler of Baw-thetic attention of a most numerous congregation, I trey was hanged for leaving his liquor,' for that had have sometimes heard pass from one to another, in pious he stopped as usual, his reprieve then actually on the admiration of the melodious powers of the youth, in a road would have arrived in time to have saved him. subdued whisper, the word "beautiful" involuntarily escaping from many lips on every side. The sentence is-Who was, and is, and is to come.

After the suppression of the Hospital, the ale appears to have been presented to criminals, at a house, that early in the seventeenth century, was known as 'the Bowl public house,' and gave name to Bowl-yard, which with Canter's Alley seem to have been the only places, or nearly so, built on the south side of the present Broad Street: the rest being for the most part, cultivated ground, known by the appellation of Great Garden. Bowl-yard was continued to Long Acre, by Belton Street, which, by an inscribed stone tablet, was erected in 1683; but modern improvements have demolished Bowl-yard, it is now named Endell Street; and the Swiss Church, with ale and bottle stores on each side as supporters, now occupy the site of the once wellknown Bowl-Brewery.

LINES FROM AN EARLY MANUSCRIPT.
Fade, Flowers, fade! nature will have it so;
'Tis what all living must in autumn do:
And as your leaves lye listless on the ground,
The loss alone who loved them, will be found.
So in the grave shall we as quiet lye,
Miss'd by some few who liked our company;
But some so like to thorns and nettles live,

That none for them shall when they perish grieve.

On the fly-leaf of a copy of Tom Paine's Common
Sense, sold among Ritson's books, were these lines:
On the King's Illness, 1789.

See the vengeance of Heaven! America cries,
George loses his senses, North loses his eyes;
When they strove to enslave us, all Europe will find,
That the tyrant was mad and his Minister blind.
Qu. Were these lines written by Tom Paine?
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
They were ascribed at the time to John Williams, better
known as Anthony Pasquin. Ed.

The literal translation of the epitaph in Lavenham
Church, is as follows:

That which a being was, What is it? show;
That being which it was, it is not now;

To be what 'tis, is not to be, you see;

That which now is not, shall a being be.

The following in the parish church of Horsham, Sussex, has a slight addition.

Quod fuit esse-quod est ;
Quod non fuit esse-quod esse.
Esse quod est non esse quod est:
Non est-erit-esse.

Vita malis plena est,

Mors pia-preciosa Corona.
Post Vitam Mors est:

Post mortem Vita beata.

What we have been, and what we are,
This moment, or the time that's past,
We cannot possibly compare,

With what we are to be at last.

Tho' fancy's flight has often ranged,
In search of form that ne'er has been ;
We yet shall into that be changed

By ear unheard-with eyes unseen.
Like Him transform'd whose God-like soul,
Lay hid beneath the human shrine,
From flesh and sense, and earth's controul,
At once immortal and divine.

Life cursed with evils, then shall cease,
While faith, the Crown of glory shows;
For death succeeds to life, and this
At death commenced, unending flows.
Words of similar import occur in the Revelations,
chap. i. verse 8. I am Alpha and Omega, etc.
Harbledown, August 20.

M. D.

ADDISON'S RE-EDITED WORKS.

Addison's Works have again appeared; but in a new form, and with highly commendable additions. Bishop Hurd's edition, hitherto considered the most complete, having become scarcely possible of attainment, the new edition has opportunely been published to supply its place at a much less cost. The new edition comprises six volumes, the first four of which and a small portion of the fifth contain all that constituted Bishop Hurd's edition; thus nearly two volumes are added from unpublished manuscripts, and in all nearly two hundred and fifty letters, wholly superseding for library purposes and utility all previous editions of this celebrated Eng

lish classic.

In vol. v. p. 365, is printed a letter from Addison to Stepney, under the date 1707, which should have been placed to Dec. 17, 1706, and followed in at p. 356, after

the letter dated Dec. 13.

Addison's letter, dated Dec. 20, pp. 356-7, transmitted to Stepney the news received from Lisbon, Dec. 17th.' that heading, therefore, at p. 356 is in error, Addison being then in London, not at Lisbon.

the truth of what I now write. I know no otherwise than from the rumour of the town, and a half intimation from a

great man, who has always promoted my small interest, if I am to be continued in my present station or commanded elsewhere; in either case, I have reason to hope, my fortunes may not be diminished. The favour I would, therefore, desire of your Lordship is to mention me to my Lord Sunderland, with whom in every station (whilst I have the honour to continue in the service) I must have affairs, that his Lordship would receive me as a man who has obligations to my late Lord, his father, and who, by my diligence and duty in her Majesty's service, would deserve his favour and protection.

many prose afflictions, I have one that is poetical. Some

I must detain your Lordship one moment longer, amongst

rogue of a bookseller has made a very imperfect collection of what he calls my writings; the whole is mutilated, names printed at length, and things written near twenty years since mingled with some written the other day, in such a manner as may do me harm; part of The Mouse is likewise inserted, which I had little to say to, otherwise than as I held the pen to what Mr. Montagu dictated. I mention this, my Lord, desiring your Lordship to consider this book was printed without my knowledge or consent, and I Addison's allusion, p. 365, They say Jack Howe, add to it, that since I had the unhappiness of being sepaMr. Blathwaite, and Prior shake,'* derives an interest-rated from your Lordship's company, I never have written ing explanation from the amusing letter addressed by friends' displeasure. I am ashamed to be your debtor so anything that could possibly merit yours or any of my Prior to Lord Halifax, as the friend of Addison, who was long as to pecuniary matters; in others, my Lord, your under the immediate patronage of Lord Sunderland. Lordship sees in what manner I desire to continue my obliThese letters are truly valuable as illustrative of the gations to you. times, and adducing personal details which have not I am, with very great respect, | hitherto been available to the biographer or poetical My Lord, your Lordship's most obedient ! historian. and most humble servant, M. PRIOR.

Duke Street, Westminster, Feb. 4, 1707.

My Lord,—It is too late to recapitulate the differences

that have happened between us, or to dispute the reasons that occasioned them; it is properer at present to thank you for your generosity and assistance whenever you saw any danger threaten the man, whom you once honoured with the title of your friend. I know a great many ill people have endeavoured to calumniate me to your Lordship and to some of your friends, but I hope you know me well enough not to believe them, and though I may suffer the misfortune, I desire you to think I will not (as I have not hitherto) any way deserve the blame.

I am very much obliged to Sir James Montagu for his kind concerns in my poor affairs, and take this opportunity of assuring your Lordship that my respects to yourself and family are inviolable; and I appeal to him if, in all my discourses and actions, I have not upon all occasions, testified

Addison, in defence of Garth and the Whigs, was politically opposed to Prior, who found the former a formidable opponent. His contempt of Prior induced the latter to level a shaft at him, at the end of his Alma, in the following lines:

For Plato's fancies what care I?

I hope you would not have me die
Like simple Cato in the play,
For anything that he can say.

Lord Halifax and Prior were also estranged by the Tory affinities of the latter; the Whigs were in the ascendant.

that distinguished antiquary, Sir Andrew Fountaine, Among the letters is one, dated June 27, 1710, from to Swift, in reference to Addison; but so rich and racy in its invective and smartness of raillery that it is here extracted, in the hope that it will afford no little gratification to the reader.

I neither can nor will have patience any longer: and, May your Swift, you are a confounded son of a —. half acre turn to a bog, and may your willows perish: may the worms eat your Plato, and may Parvisol* break your snuff-box. What! because there is never bishop in England with half the wit of St. George Ashe, nor ever a Secretary of State with a quarter of Addison's good sense; therefore you cannot write to those that love you, as well as any Clogher or Addison of them all. You have lost your reputation here, and that of your bastard, the Tatler, is going too; and there is no way left to recover either, but your writing. Well, 'tis no matter; I'll e'en leave London. Kingsmill is dead, and you don't write to me. Adieu.

Whiston, bookseller, at the Boyle's Head in Fleet Street, in an unpublished note on his father's life, in the Biographical Dictionary, writes: William Whiston being in company with Mr. Addison, Sir R. Steele, Mr. Secretary Craggs, and Sir Robert Walpole, they were busily engaged in a dispute whether a secretary of state could

Parvisol was the Dean's steward.

be an honest man? Whiston not intermeddling with it, was pressed to declare his opinion, which at length he did, by saying he thought honesty was the best policy, and if a Prime Minister would practise it he would find it so. To this Mr. Craggs replied, It might do for a fortnight, but it would not do for a month. Whiston asked him if he had ever tried it for a fortnight? to which, he making no reply, the company gave it for Mr. Whiston.

QUAINT ΕΡΙΤΑΡΗ.

The epitaph in Current Notes, p. 55, stated by your correspondent H. J. L. to have been recently placed in Whittlesea Churchyard reminds me of one I have heard quoted, though I cannot tell where it is to be found. Indeed I am of opinion that the Whittlesea epitaph is taken from it. It is as follows

August 9.

Weep not for me, my dearest dear,
I am not dead, but sleeping here;
With patience wait, prepare to die,
And then you'll come to sleep with I.
I do not weep, my dearest dear;
For I have wed a neighbour near.
I cannot come to sleep with thee,
For I must home to sleep with she.

THE GRAVE TELLS NO TALES.

M.

The publication of Lord Chesterfield's Letters in 1774, created such a disgust in the mind of the Hon. Frederick Keppel, bishop of Exeter, that to prevent any such similar occurrence in respect to himself, he by a codicil to his will, directed his Executor to bury in the coffin with him all manuscripts which should be found

in his bureau. He died Dec. 27, 1777; and on examination, the manuscripts were no other than a collection of letters which he had received in the course of his life from some distinguished personages abroad and at home.

August 11.

H. P.

PORSON, though so admirable a scholar, wrote very little either Latin or Greek, and when he did, his style was rather of a witty than of a grave character. He was very fond of charades, of which the following is an example:

TO MISS LAURA CROW.

Te primum incauto nimium propriusque tuenti
Laura mihi subito subripuisse queror,
Nec tamen hoc furtum tibi condonare recusem
Si pretium tali solvere merce velis:
Sed quo plus candoris habent tua colla secundo
Hoc tibi plus primum frigoris intus habet
Jamque sinistra cava cantavit ad illice totum
Omnia, et audaces spes vetat esse ratas.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOM IN NORFOLK.

Should the following notice of a custom, formerly prevalent at Tibenbam in this county, be worth inserting in Current Notes, it is at your service.

An old farm labourer informed me, that when a young man, he lived at a farm to which was attached two large orchards, from which a large quantity of cyder of two qualities was made; that at Christmas the best cyder was tapped, and so long as the yule log or Christmas block was burning, say for some ten or twelve days, the servants had it in common.

The worst or slowest burning log was held in reserve by the servants till Christmas-tide, and till that was consumed, a small piece excepted, which was retained till another year for the purpose of setting fire to the new yule log, the general beverage of the family was the best cyder, of which two or more casks were made expressly for the occasion at least a twelve-month or more before it was required.

Such was then the good feeling between employers and the employed, that a sincere regard existed on each side, that both men and maids considered it to be their duty to contribute by every endeavour, by their service comfort and prosperity-such good and kind feeling, in every way, and on all occasions, to their master's arising from a pure and sincere love of regard and respect existing between them, is now become very rare indeed, and I much fear that with all our so-called enlightened education and improvements, they have not hitherto tended to exalt or improve the moral conduct of the rising generation.

The difference or distinction between master and servant is now so distant, that it hardly seems to be the same race of people; no reciprocity of feeling is shewn as formerly, and the family having ceased to have their servants taking their meals and lodging in the same house, has done much injury to their morals; they are no longer under the eye of the master, and when the work of the day is done, they seem habitually to freA translation of the preceding would be acceptable. quent those pests of society-the beer-houses.

T. F.

Ed.