  "The Whole Duty of Man."—Of what nature is the testimony that this book was written by Dorothy Coventry, "the good Lady Pakington?" [The supposition that Lady Packington was the author of The Whole Duty of Man, arose from a copy of it in her handwriting having been found at Westwood after her death. (Aubrey's Letters, vol. ii. p. 125.) But the strongest evidence in favour of Lady Packington is the following note: "Oct. 13, 1698. Mr. Thomas Caulton, Vicar of Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, in the presence of William Thornton, Esq., and his lady, Mrs. Heathcote, Mrs. Ashe, Mrs. Caulton, and John Hewit, Rector of Harthill, declared the words following: 'Nov. 5, 1689. At Shire-Oaks, Mrs. Eyre took me up into her chamber after dinner, and told me that her daughter Moyser, of Beverley, was dead. Among other things concerning the private affairs of the family, she told me who was the author of The Whole Duty of Man, at the same time pulling out of a private drawer a MS. tied together, and stitched in 8vo., which she declared was the original copy written by Lady Packington her mother, who disowned ever having written the other books imputed to be by the same author, excepting The Decay of Christian Piety. She added, too, that it had been perused in MS. by Dr. Covel, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Dr. Stamford, Prebendary of York, and Mr. Banks, Rector of the Great Church at Hull.' Mr. Caulton declared this upon his death-bed, two days before his decease. W.T. and J.H." This is quoted from the Rev. W.B. Hawkins's Introduction to Pickering's edition of 1842; and a similar account, with unimportant variations, is given in "N. & Q.," Vol. ii. p. 292.: see also Vol. v., p. 229., and Vol. vi., p. 537.] "It rained cats and dogs and little pitchforks."—Helter-skelter.—What can be the origin of this saying? I can imagine that rain may descend with such sharpness and violence as to cause as much destruction as a shower of "pitchforks" would; but if any of your readers can tell me why heavy rain should be likened to "cats and dogs," I shall be truly obliged. Many years ago I saw a most cleverly drawn woodcut, of a party of travellers encountering this imaginary shower; some of the animals were descending helter-skelter from the clouds; others wreaking their vengeance on the amazed wayfarers, while the "pitchforks" were running into the bodies of the terrified party, while they were in vain attempting to run out of the way of those which were threatening to fall upon their heads, and thus striking them to the ground. So strange an idea must have had some peculiar origin.—Can you or your readers say what it is? P. S.—I find I have used a word above, of which every one knows the signification, "helter-skelter;" but I, for one, confess myself ignorant of its derivation. And I shall be glad to be informed on the subject. [As to the etymology of helter-skelter, Sir John Stoddart remarks, "The real origin of the word is obscure. If we suppose the principal meaning to be in the first part, it may probably come from the Islandic hilldr pugna; if in the latter part, it may be from the German schalten, to thrust forward, which in the dialect of the north of England means 'to scatter and throw abroad as molehills are when levelled;' or from skeyl, which in the same dialect is 'to push on one side, to overturn.'"] Father Traves.—Can any of your Lancashire readers refer me to a source whence I might obtain information on matters pertaining to the life of one Father Travers [Traves], the friend and correspondent of the celebrated martyr John Bradford? As yet I have but met with the incidental mention of his name in the pages of Fox, and in Hollingworth's Mancuensis, pp. 75, 76. [The name is spelt by Fox sometimes Traves and sometimes Travers; but who he was there is no particular mention; except that it appears from Bradford's letters that he was some friend of the family, and from the superscription to one of them, that he was the minister of Blackley, near Manchester, in which place, or near to which, Bradford's mother must then have resided. Strype says, he was a learned and pious gentleman, his patron and counsellor.—Mem. Eccles., vol. iii. part I. p. 364.] Precise Dates of Births and Deaths of the Pretenders.—Will any one be so kind as to tell me the date of the birth and death of James VIII. and his son Charles III. (commonly called Prince Charles Edward Stuart)? These dates are given so variously, that I am anxious to ascertain them correctly. [We believe the following to be the precise dates:—James VIII., born June 10, 1688; died January 2, 1765-6. Charles Edward, born December 20, 1720 (sometimes printed as New Style, Dec. 31); died January 31, 1788.] Clarence.—Whence the name of this dukedom? Was the title borne by any one before the time of Lionel, son of Edward III.? [The title Clarence was, as we learn from Camden (Britannia, edit. Gough, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74.), derived from the honour of Clare, in Suffolk; and was first borne by Lionel Plantagenet, third son of Edward III., who married Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter and heir of William, Earl of Ulster, and obtained with her the honour of Clare. He became, jure uxoris, Earl of Ulster, and was created, September 15, 1362, Duke of Clarence.] |
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