impression of bad odour; and one may presume Doll Tearsheet's language was offensively figurative, especially if one happen to be acquainted with the Creole patois interpretation of the word. I am inclined to think, however, that the phrase addressed to Bardolph is antithetical only: "When wilt thou leave fighting o' days and fleeing o' | nights "—foining, from the French fouiner, to H. DE KERLOSQUET. elude or escape. Brooklyn, NY. THE OWL AN EMBLEM OF DEATH (6th S. vi. 74, 198, 353; vii. 137).-There is an historic reference which will make the notices of the owl as an emblem of misfortune or of death more nearly complete. When Herod Agrippa I. (cf. Acts xii.) was receiving the flattering acclamations preceding his death, he saw the owl, as Josephus mentions in the following passage :— Street on Feb. 12, 1682. Practically this poor man was a serf of the Coningsmarks, who lent or gave him for the time to Capt. Vratz, and he obeyed the order of his master blindly, as, by Polish custom, the master who gives a wrong order alone is guilty, and not his servant, who only obeys his master. When Coningsmark was in prison he offered a large bribe to Sir J. Reresby to get him acquitted. This was refused; but he probably made the same offer again elsewhere, and with better success, for on February 21 (see Reresby's Memoirs) "the king was willing that Count Coningsmark should come off"; and the trial was then SO managed by Pemberton that he did get off. As a matter of fact the trial was somewhat a farce. The man most guilty escaped altogether, his friend Vratz was honourably hanged, and his body embalmed by Russell's new process (Evelyn's Diary, March 24, 1682). The poor tool Borosky, who "But not long after, he, looking upwards, perceived obeyed orders and fired the blunderbuss, and an owl over his head, perched upon a cord, and knew Stern, who only looked on, were hanged ignomin-presently that he was but a messenger of his misforiously, and their bodies left suspended in chains. tune; whereas formerly he had denounced unto him The broadsword was in no way used for the his felicity; and conceived thereupon & most hearty and murder; but the whole thing was very much talked inward grief: and suddenly he was seized," &c.-Ant., xix. vii. p. 524, Works, translation, London, 1701. about, and no doubt a "Coningsmark sword" was a household expression, equivalent to the weapon This instance is the more remarkable for the disof a hired assassin which a man might employ and cussion which has arisen from the way in which yet be free of guilt. It is probable when D'Urfey Eusebius, while quoting Josephus, substitutes wrote the prologue to Sir Hercules Buffoon that ayyedov for Boußova (H. E., ii. x. 5). Upon some cutler-it may be the very Thomas Howgood which Dr. Westcott observes:-"By a singular who gave evidence upon the trial as having supand interesting confusion Eusebius converts the plied a sword to Coningsmark-tried to make some owl, which, according to Josephus, appeared to profit out of the transaction, and put out for sale Herod as a messenger of evil, into 'the angel' of "the Coningsmark sword." It was not important the Acts (xii. 23) who was the unseen minister of whether he recommended the weapon for attack the Divine will" (Smith's Dict. of the Bible, s.v.). ED. MARSHALL. or for defence; the title was sure to be attractive. No doubt such weapons would readily be sold, and when reference was made to them in the theatre every one would know what was meant, and most would applaud, for Coningsmark was then generally considered a mean, sneaking coward. Evelyn, who probably fairly expressed the general feeling, says, "Vratz did a friendly office for that base coward Coningsmark." EDWARD SOLLY. LORD BYRON AND THE ETON AND HARROW MATCH (6th S. viii. 45).-As regards the account of Lord Byron at Lord's, the late Lord Stratford de Redcliffe told me that he was at Lord's on one occasion, probably in 1805, and he saw a big boy put out, and limp away from the wicket to the pavilion looking very sulky, and he asked who it was, and he was told Lord Byron. F. L. "FOIN": "FOINSTER" (6th S. iii. 328; vii. 97).-Foin is a French exclamation expressive of repulsion. It occurs in La Fontaine, "Foin! du loup et de sa race"; and in Molière," Foin! que n'ai-je avec moi mon porte-respect." Etymologically derived from fouin, fouine (marten), it conveys an THE CURFEW NORTH AND SOUTH (6th S. v. 347; vi. 13, 177, 318; vii. 138, 158).—I think the curfew is still rung in the city of Durham, and that the hour is 9 P.M. in summer and 8 P.M in winter. The bell, which is in the cathedral, begins to ring about a quarter before the hour, I think, and is a signal for the servant-maids to make homewards. I have no doubt your correspondent J. T. F., of Bishop Hatfield's Hall, would be able to give the necessary information. HOMEROS. LOCALITIES IN ENGLAND MENTIONED BY CHAUCER (6th S. vii. 221, 298).-There are two more items which serve to connect Chaucer and his writings with East Yorkshire. His mention of Hull and Holderness is well known. First, the poet's granddaughter Alice became the wife of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, great-grandson of William de la Pole, the Hull merchant whom Edward III. called "dilectus Mercator noster" and "Mercator regis." Secondly, "L'envoy de Chaucer a Bukton " seems to have been addressed to a well-known Yorkshire gentleman, Peter de Bukton, of Buckton, Κρεμαστούς κήπους, καὶ τὴν ἱσταμένην ̓Αθηνῶν RUSSELL (6th S. vii. 468).-Russell, from Ryssell, a town in Holland or Flanders, where a pecaliar kind of black material was made in the olden time, whether for five centuries I cannot say. I. C. G. near Bridlington, whose name frequently occurs in Yorkshire records. There is an interesting entry in a monastic account-roll printed in the second volume of the Whitby Chartulary (Surtees Society, 1881), p. 607: "Uni citharista d'ni Petri de Bukton [misprinted Bukcan], xiid" (1394-5). He to whom Chaucer wrote verses may well have had a band of harpers, and the monks of Whitby surely bestowed their shilling well upon one of them. W. C. B. THE FIRST BISHOP WHO WORE PANTALOONS (6th S. vii. 388).-I think that I can throw some light upon the question of MR. PATCHING, which [Ryssell is simply the Flemish form of Lille, the appears 6th S. vii. 388. MR. PATCHING asks, ancient capital of Flanders, now the chief town of the "Who was the first bishop who came out in panta-markable for all kinds of manufactures. See La Belgique, French Département du Nord, which has long been reloons ?" I think that it may have been Dr. Shuttle- Guide Hen, Brussels, 1856, and Baedeker's Belgium and worth, Bishop of Chichester. Dr. Shuttleworth, Holland, 1875, where linen and woollen goods, cotton though his was not a bad figure, yet had rather an and cloth, are specified among the staple commodities of unpromising pair of legs, and the story, in the Lille.] common room of his college at the time of his appointment or nomination to the bishopric of Chichester, was that, being conscious of the advantage which he derived from wearing long trousers or pantaloons, he used to say, with the playful humour which was natural to him, that he would not wear knee-breeches, whatever dreadful things Dr. Gilbert might say would befall him from this disregard of the episcopal style of dress. Dr. Gilbert was at that time rather conspicuous in the university as a stout stickler for old forms and usages. I remember that some such story as this was current in the college common room, but I do not know what Dr. Shuttleworth actually did when he became a bishop. OXONIENSIS. THE STORY OF "THE POUND OF FLESH" (Cth S. viii. 105).—Allow me to say that a paper on this in The Merchant of Venice, and a version of it in the Cursor Mundi, was read by Miss L. Toulmin Smith before the New Shakspere Society on April 9, 1875, and published in the Transactions for that year, p. 181. An additional note appears p. 457. BR. NICHOLSON. "SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD" (4th S. ix. 377; xi. 355).—The "Seven wonders of the world" is a familiar phrase, but I only recently saw for the first time what appears to me an original, or at least very early, authority for the expression : Τὰ ἑπτὰ θεαματα. α'. Ὁ ἐν Ὀλυμπία Ζεὺς, πήχεων λε', β'. Ὁ τῆς Ἐφεσίων Αρτέμιδος ναός. γ'. Ὁ ἐν Δήλῳ κεράτειος Βωμὸς, ὃς λέγεται γενέσθαι ἐκ θυμάτων τοῦ θεοῦ μιᾶς ἡμέρας δεξιῶν κεράτων. δ'. то Μαυσώλιον τὸ ἐν Αλικαρνασσῷ. ε. Αι ἐν Αιγύπτῳ Πυραμίδες, ὧν ἡ μείζων πήχεις ἔχει τετρακοσίας. Σ'. Τὰ Βαβυλώνια τείχη. Ο ἐν Ῥόδῳ Κολοσσός, πήχεων ό, ὃν ἐποίησε Χάρης ὁ Λίνδιος. τινὲς δὲ τάττουσι καὶ τὸν ἐν Ἐπιδάυρῳ Ασκληπιὸν, καὶ τὸν ἐν Παρίῳ Βωμὸν, καὶ τοὺς In the statute of 1 & 2 Phil. and Mary, cap. 14, are mentioned "russels, called russels sattens, and sattens reverses." W. C. B. CANDLEMAS OFFERINGS (6th S. viii. 8).—It would appear that the custom to which S. S. L. refers, was "an universal practice" in Scotch schools. See Chambers's Book of Days, vol. i. p. 214. G. F. R. B. ΤΟ SONNET ON MACREADY, ATTRIBUTED CHARLES LAMB (6th S. vii. 504).-The sonnet found by MR. DYKES CAMPBELL in the Literary Gazette for 1819, in spite of the initials appended to it, was by Mr. Procter (Barry Cornwall), and is quoted in full, as by him, in Macready's Diary and Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 163. It would seem that, for some unexplained reason, Procter was in the habit of writing under the initials of his friend Lamb. In a letter of Lamb's to Coleridge of the same year, he writes : Lofft's. Another sonnet appeared with the same initials 2, Upper Terrace, Hampstead. A HANDEL COMMEMORATION (6th S. vii. 485). -The two lines quoted as by "Cynic Swift" are not his, but Byrom's. They have been credited to both Pope and Swift, but John Byrom wrote them, except that his first line is— "Strange all this difference should be." FREDK. RULE. B. F. FOSTER (6th S. vii. 428).—Since writing at the above reference with inquiries as to this gentleman and his collection of works on bookkeeping, it has been ascertained from his successor in business (himself long since retired) that Mr. courses, The Pre-Eminence of Parliament," and Foster emigrated to New York in 1852, and sub-"England's Teares," by "James Howell, Esq., sequently died there. This accounts for the want one of the Clerks of H.M.'s most Honble of success in tracing him through the department of the Registrar-General here. His collected library on book-keeping, which was probably unique, was despatched by an earlier vessel, and it is believed that the whole of the books were lost at sea. The council of the Institute of Chartered Ac countants in England and Wales is desirous of forming as complete a series of works bearing on its operations as possible; and if any correspondent of " N. & Q." will describe any early or rare work in English on this subject it will be esteemed a favour. W. C. J. AN OLD LINE ENGRAVING (6th S. viii. 88). -The engraving about which Y. A. K. inquires is the portrait of James Howell, a learned man and copious writer, son of Thomas Howell, minister of Abernant, in Carmarthenshire. He was born about 1594, educated at the free school, Hereford, and Jesus College, Oxford; became agent to a patent glass manufactory in Broad Street, and in that capacity travelled much. Afterwards he accompanied Baron Altham's son on a tour to France, was secretary to Lord Scrope, became M.P. for Richmond, Yorks., secretary to Robert, Earl of Leicester, and in 1640 Clerk of the Council. In 1643 he was sent to the Fleet Prison, where he remained for many years, and where he wrote the greatest part of his works. He was the author of more books than any other Englishman of his time. Cibber says that he published no less than forty-nine. His Dodona's Grove passed through many editions; but the most esteemed of his works are his Letters. At the Restoration he was appointed Historiographer Royal, which office was created for him. He died in 1666, and was buried in the Temple Church. Y. A. K.'s engraving was prefixed to James Howell's German Dict. The same engraving, with arms, is prefixed to his Londinopolis. Claude Mellan was an eminent French designer and engraver. Abraham Bosse was also a French engraver. There is another engraving of James Howell as frontispiece to his Letters, 1645, and one as a vignette to the same, engraved by Marshall; and Wood, in his Athence Oxonienses, says, "The excellent head of Howell, by Melan and Bosc [sic], was first placed before the French translation of his Vocal Forests, 1641. It seems curious that the full-length engraving mentioned by Y. A. K. should have been "sold" so early as "1650." The oak became the badge of the Royalists, and often occurred in pictures in remembrance of Boscobel; but Charles II.'s concealment did not take place till September, 1651. CONSTANCE RUSSELL. In a small quarto volume of Political Tracts in my possession, I find one entitled "Two Dis Privie Council," London, 1644, with a fine copy of Y. A. K.'s engraved portrait opposite the title, no doubt the effigies of the above popular writer. It occurs again, according to Lowndes, in the same author's Londinopolis, 1657. J. O. The above, as described by Y. A. K., is an impression of the frontispiece to a curious tract called England's Teares for the Present Wars, &c., written by James Howell in 1644. He died in 1666. I have a copy of this singular engraving, similar in every respect to that named by Y. A. K., except that no horse or servant is shown in the distance. It would not be a steel engraving, as that metal was not used until about 1820. Probably the print was afterwards published and sold in a separate form, with the date altered to 1650. C. T. THOMPSON. Y. A. K.'s print is certainly not a "steel engraving," that style of art not existing in 1650, nor, indeed, until the present century. He will find it mentioned in all lists of Bosse's works. In Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, for instance, it is entered as "A man in a cloak, leaning against a tree." It certainly had no reference to Oliver Cromwell. Abraham Bosse (b. 1610, d. 1678) was a celebrated etcher and engraver, and Y. A. K.'s specimen was executed conjointly by Bosse and Claude Mellan (not Melan). If the print is pasted and without a margin it would be worth only a few shillings. JAYDEE. This must be the portrait of James Howell, the author of the Epistola Ho-Eliana. I write without an impression to refer to, but I have no doubt of the fact. The print, if cut close and pasted on paper, is of little value, as it is not rare; in fine state it would not fetch much more than a guinea. There are two states of this print. JULIAN MARSHALL. Miscellaneous: NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. English Men of Letters.-Sheridan. By Mrs. Oliphant. question of the impeachment of Warren Hastings; the triumphs and reverses of his financial schemes; the destruction by fire of his new theatre at Drury Lane; and the sad details of the last days of his life,-all these incidents, and others of minor interest, are graphically described to us by Mrs. Oliphant. Though a mere sketch, which makes no pretence to any original research, the memoir, we venture to think, will rank amongst the most interesting volumes of the series to which it belongs. Folk-lore Relics of Early Village Life. By George Laurence Gomme. (Stock.) MR. GOMME is well known as a learned interpreter of folk-lore. His Primitive Folk Moots is the standard work on a most interesting, though obscure, subject. The present volume is worthy to rank beside it. Folklore collectors have seldom possessed the faculty of arrangement. They have done good work, but it has for the most part been as quarrymen, not as builders. Material must be got together before the house can be built; but we estimate more highly the architect, or even the skilful mason, than we do the man that digs the stone or fells the timber. In the work before us we do not think that Mr. Gomme has given us any new knowledge, but he has gathered together from a vast number of sources a great mass of folk-lore bearing on one point, the early communal life of our forefathers. This primitive life he has illustrated by parallel examples taken from almost every race on the globe. There are eight chapters. All are well worked out; but, of course, where materials are so scanty, the old life comes out much more clearly on some of its sides than on others. We think that Mr. Gomme has succeeded best where he treats of "The Settlement of the Village" and "The Foundation Sacrifice." The chapter on "Village Marriage" is also exceedingly good, but might be much enlarged with advantage. Notwithstanding all that has been written on early marriage customs, there is much yet to be done even so far as civilized Europe is concerned. A careful examination of the decrees of medieval councils and early law proceedings in matrimonial cases would, we feel assured, throw much light on a subject which is still very obscure. So late as 1519 we find in a manor in one of our eastern shires the daughter of a "nativus" paying five shillings to the lord for permission to marry. We believe there is in other places evidence of payments of this sort being made down to a more recent date. The Antiquary, Vol. VII., Jan.-June, 1883 (Stock), contains much matter of interest to the student of mediæval as well as of earlier and later history. Numismatics enjoy a very fair share of attention, and under the competent guidance of Mr. Barclay V. Head, Mr. H. A. Grueber, and Mr. C. F. Keary we are able to realize the beauty of Syracusan medallions, to look once more upon the well-known "Judæa Capta," and to consider all that is involved in the first Papal coin, that of Pope Hadrian I. With regard to the subject of Papal coinage, it appears to us deserving of special treatment. There are great books on the subject, but nothing within ordinary compass; and there seems no good reason why it should not be made a most interesting chapter in the story of Western numismatics. Notes from parish registers afford more than one quaint entry, and throw side lights upon the general history of England. The fine church and monuments at Porlock deservedly attract the pen of Dr. Hayman, and the discussion adds to the interest of the volume. WE have received Mr. Lach-Szyrma's paper On the Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, which was read before the British Archæological Association at their meeting at Plymouth last year. We quite agree with our valued correspondent that a good modern biography of Drake is to be desired, and hope that some one will be found to carry out his happy suggestion. A NOTICE of the Emperor Julian's view of Christianity It is signed "Alice Gardner." To the Nineteenth Cenin Macmillan's Magazine is well worthy of attention, tury Mr. C. Kegan Paul contributes a paper on "Clergymen as Head Masters," advocating the view that to place a clergyman as a mere figure-head is misleading and illusory. The second part of "The French Newspaper Press" appears in the Cornhill. "A Bookman's Purgatory," by A. Lang, contributed to Longman's, ridicules pleasantly the extravagances of a collector The same able writer contributes to the Contemporary "The Early History of the Family." In the Contem porary also appears "The Origin of Tithes," by the Rev. Edwin Hatch. THE first announcement is put forth of The Library Handbook, an annual publication to be devoted to library management and matters of interest to book lovers. The editors are Mr. Henry R. Tedder, Librarian of the Athenæum Club, and Mr. Ernest C. Thomas, Hon. Sec. of the Library Association and late Librarian of the Oxford Union Society. MR. CHARLES A. FEDERER will issue on October 1, to subscribers only, an edition of The Ballad of Flodden Field, from the text of Thomas Gent, which is taken from the Ingleton transcript. Once only, in the last century, it is stated, has this monument of early English ballad literature been printed in a complete form. A copious appendix will be supplied. Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. JAMES NICHOLSON ("St. Swithin ").-The orthography of the word was discussed in "N. & Q." 5th S. xi. 185, 275, the general opinion being favourable to the spelling now adopted. H. P. ("The Earl and Countess of Cork") has neglected to give his name. H." Argentorati" on the title-page of a book signi fies Strasburg. It is one of several forms that are employed. C. F. W.-The question is purely scientific, and such we do not undertake to answer. H. STONE AND B. J. ("More prevailing sadness") See ante, p. 178. are thanked for answers which are, however, anticipated. A CONSTANT READER (Dublin) must send name and address. Every SATURDAY, of any Bookseller or News-agent, Price THREEPENCE. Each Half-yearly Volume complete in itself, with Title-Page and Index. REVIEWS of every important New Book, English and Foreign, and of every New English Novel. REPORTS of the LEARNED SOCIETIES. AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS of Scientific Voyages and Expeditions. CRITICISMS on Art, Music, and the Drama. LETTERS from Foreign Correspondents on subjects relating to Literature, Science, and Art. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES of Distinguished Men. ORIGINAL POEMS and PAPERS. WEEKLY GOSSIP on Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, THE ATHENÆUM İs so conducted that the reader, however distant, is in respect to Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, on an equality in point of information with the best informed circles of the Metropolis. OFFICE for ADVERTISEMENTS, 20, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C. Published by JOHN C. FRANCIS, 20, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C. |