  Marcarnes (Vol. viii., p. 365.).—Can this curiously sounding name be an archaic form of Mackarness, a name, I think, still borne by living persons? Tewkesbury. X on Brewers' Casks (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—Your correspondent B.H.C., though ingenious, is in error. The X on brewers' casks originated in the fact, that beer above a certain strength paid 10s. duty; and the X became a mark to denote beer of that better quality. The doubling and tripling of the X are nothing but inventions of the brewers to humbug the public. No Sparrows at Lindham (Vol. vii., p. 233.).—Amongst the various responses in connexion with the Queries given on the page above noted, communicated direct, the only one which I have thought worthy of insertion in my MSS. is as follows:
Furthermore Mr. Whittaker kindly communicated of the above Yorkshire worthy:
Piersebridge, near Darlington, Durham. Theobald le Botiller (Vol. viii., p. 366.).—Theobald le Botiller was an infant at his father's death, 1206. He had livery in 1222; and in 9 Hen. III., Hampton Court Palace. Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire (Vol. viii., p. 388.).—Touching the "vault," or underground passage, "that goeth under the river" of Swale, from the Castle of Richmond to the priory of St. Martin, every tradition, i.e. as to its whereabouts, is, I believe, now wholly lost. Your Querist, however, who seems to feel an interest in that beautiful and romantic portion of the north countrie, will perhaps welcome the following mythe, which is connected, it is possible, with the identical vault which is depictured by Speed in his Plan of Richmond. It was taken down from the lips of a great-grand-dame by one of her descendants, both of whom are still living, for the gratification of your present correspondent, who, like Luther,
But to my legend: Once upon a time a man, walking round Richmond Castle, was accosted by another, who took him into a vennel, or underground passage, below the castle; where he beheld a vast multitude of people lying as if they were sleeping. A horn and a sword were presented to him: the horn to blow, and the sword to draw; in order, as said his guide, to release them from their slumbers. And when he had drawn the sword half out, the sleepers began to move; which frightened him so much, that he put it back into the sheath: when instantly a voice exclaimed, "Potter! Potter Thompson! If thou had either drawn The sword, or blown the horn, Thou had been the luckiest man that ever was born." So ends the Legend of the Richmond Sleepers and Potter Thompson; which, mayhap, is scarcely worth preserving, were it not that it has preserved and handed down the characteristic, or rather trade, cognomen and surname of its timorous at least, if not cowardly, hero. Piersebridge, near Darlington, Durham. Lord Audley's Attendants at Poictiers (Vol. viii., p. 494.).—A notice of the arguments in opposition to the statement, rested mainly on the grant of arms by John Touchet, Lord Audley, to the descendant of Sir James de Mackworth, in consideration of his having been one of these esquires, occurs in Blore's Rutland, p. 130. and p. 224. And it appears to be satisfactorily shown by the grant itself, that it was not made on account of the services of Sir James. Portraits at Brickwall House (Vol. vii., p. 406.).—Immerzeel says, in his Levens der Kunstschilders (Lives of the Painters), vol. iii. pp. 238, 239.:
He was living in 1701, and was probably grandson of a person of the same name who resided in 1622 at Soetermeer near Leyden, for in the register of the villages of Rhynland are found:
The portrait painted by Terburgh probably represents Andries de Graeff, who, in 1672, is called by Wagenaar, in his Vaderlandsche Hist. of that year (p. 82.), late burgomaster of Amsterdam. It is then necessary to ascertain whether this late burgomaster died in 1674. The family de Graeff also resided at Delft, where several of its members became magistrates. The portrait of the old gentleman is, in my opinion, doubtless that of Andries de Graeff, who was elected burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1660, and filled the office several times afterwards, although after the year 1670 his name no more appears on the list of burgomasters, which can very well agree with the date of death (1674) on the portrait.—From the Navorscher. Gorinchem. The Words "Mob" and "Cash" (Vol. viii., pp. 386. 524.).—Clericus Rusticus will find the origin and first introduction of the word mob fully stated in Trench's Lectures on the Study of Words (p. 124. fourth ed.). In addition to the quotations there made, Clericus Rusticus may refer to Dryden's preface to Cleomenes (1692), to the 230th number of The Tatler, written by Swift (an. 1710), and to the Dean's Introduction to Polite Conversation. Cash.—What Lord Holland may have meant by a legitimate English word it is hard to say. Dr. Johnson derives it from the Fr. caisse (or casse), which Cotgrave interprets "a box, a case, Bloomsbury. English Clergyman in Spain (Vol. viii., p. 410.).—The clergyman was perhaps attached to the army of England in Spain, in the capacity of chaplain. I recommend a search for the record of his licence, which will very probably recite his appointment; and this record is most likely to be found with the proper officer of the diocese of London, in Doctors' Commons. I have seen one extraordinary discovery of information of the kind now sought by D.Y., in this quarter; and D.Y. will probably be so kind as to note his success in "N. & Q.," if he obtains his information here or elsewhere. The Cid (Vol. viii., p. 367.).—I find in the catalogue of my library, the greatest part of which was destroyed by fire in 1849, amongst other books relating to The Cid, the following:
In Thorpe's Catalogue, 1841, No. 1355, is an edition, 12mo., Segovia, 1629. Exterior Stoups (Vol. v., p. 560.; Vol. vi., pp. 18. 86. 160. 345. 497. 591., &c.).—Having introduced this subject to "N. & Q.," you will perhaps allow me to return to it, by adding to the list of churches where exterior stoups may be seen, the names of Leigh and Shrawley, Worcestershire. A recent visit to these places made me aware of the existence of the stoups. That at Leigh is in a shattered condition, and is on the south side of the western doorway: it is now covered in by a porch of later date. That at Shrawley is on the eastern side of the south door, and is hollowed out within the top of a short column. Shrawley Church possesses many points of interest for the antiquary: among which may be mentioned, a Norman window pierced through one of the buttresses of the chancel. Among the noticeable things at Leigh Church is a rude sculpture of the Saviour placed exteriorly over the north door of the nave, in a recess, with semicircular heading and Norman pillars. The rector is gradually restoring this fine church. Green Jugs used by the Templars (Vol. viii., p. 171.)—In clearing out the ground for the foundation of Raymond Buildings in Gray's Inn, about thirty years since, two earthen green jugs were dug up, which are preserved by the benchers as a memento of "the olden times." They will hold very little more than half a pint of liquor, are tall and of good proportions, but so small at the top as almost to preclude their being used to drink out of, and having a lip it is surmised that they held the portion assigned to each student, who was also supplied with a drinking horn. I have seen a jug of the same description in the possession of a gentleman in Lincoln's Inn, which he informed me was brought to light in excavating for the new hall. It is therefore probable that all the inns of court were accustomed to provide jugs of the same description. "Peccavi," I have Scinde (Vol. viii, p. 490.).—Your correspondent Mr. G. Lloyd, who says he does "not know on what authority" it is stated that "the old and lamented warrior, Sir Charles Napier, wrote on the conquest of Scinde, Peccavi!" is informed that the sole author of the despatch was Mr. Punch. In a note touching these well-known words, Mr. G. Lloyd says, "It is also stated, I do not know on what authority, that the old and lamented warrior, Sir Charles Napier, wrote on the conquest of Scinde, Peccavi!" The author of Democritus in London, with the Mad Pranks and Comical Conceits of Motley and Robin Good-Fellow, thus alludes to this saying in that work. I presume he had good authority for so doing: Sir P. "What exclaim'd the gallant Napier, Proudly flourishing his rapier! To the army and the navy, When he conquer'd Scinde? 'Peccavi!'" Raffaelle's Sposalizio (Vol. vii., p. 595.; Vol. viii., p. 61.).—The reason why the ring is placed on Early Use of Tin.—Derivation of the Name of Britain (Vol. viii., pp. 290. 344. 445.).—Your correspondent G.W. having been unable to inform Dr. Hincks who first suggested the derivation of Britannia from Baratanac or Bratanac, I have the pleasure to satisfy him on this point by referring him to Bochart's Geographia Sacra, lib. I. c. xxxix. In that great storehouse of historical information, the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, there are some profound researches by Melot and others, in which may be found answers to all the Queries proposed by G.W. The islands, rivers, mountains, cities, and remarkable places of Phoenician colonies, had even in the time of the habitation of the Greeks and Romans Phoenician names, which, according to the spirit of the ancient languages of the East, indicated clearly the properties of the places which bore those names. See instances in Bochart, ubi supra; Sammes's Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, or the Antiquities of Ancient Britain derived from the Phoenicians; and D'Hancarville's Preface to Hamilton's Etruscan, &c. Antiquities. Unpublished Epigram by Sir Walter Scott (Vol. vii., pp. 498. 576.).—The following extract is from the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1824, p. 194.:
'Earth goes upon the earth, glittering like gold; Earth goes to the earth sooner than 'twould; Earth built upon the earth castles and towers; Earth said to the Earth, All shall be ours.'
Permit me to repeat this Query? Derivation of the Word "Humbug" (Vol. viii. passim).—Not being satisfied with any of the derivations of this word hitherto proposed in your pages, I beg to suggest that perhaps it may be traced to a famous dancing master who flourished about the time when the word first came into use. The following advertisement appeared in the Dublin Freeman's Journal in Jan. 1777:
Bees (Vol. viii., p. 440.).—In the midland counties the first migration of the season is a swarm, the second a cast, and the third a spindle. Topsy Turvy (Vol. viii., p. 385.).—I have always understood this to be a corruption of "Topside t'other way," and I still think so. Parish Clerks and Politics (Vol. viii., p. 56.).—In the excitement prevalent at the trial of Queen Caroline, I remember a choir, in a village not a hundred miles from Wallingford, Berks, singing Phantom Bells—"The Death Bell" (Vol. vii. passim).—I have never met, in any work on folk-lore and popular superstitions, any mention of that unearthly bell, whose sound is borne on the death-wind, and heralds his doom to the hearer. Mickle alludes to it in his fine ballad of "Cumnor Halle:" "The death-belle thrice was heard to ring, An aerial voice was heard to calle, And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing, Arounde the towers of Cumnor Halle." And Rogers, in his lines "To an Old Oak:" "There once the steel-clad knight reclined, His sable plumage tempest-tossed: And as the death-bell smote the wind, From towers long fled by human kind, His brow the hero crossed." When ships go down at sea during a terrible tempest, it is said the "death-bell" is often distinctly heard amid the storm-wind. And in tales of what is called Gothic superstition, it assists in the terrors of the supernatural. Sir W. Scott perhaps alluded to the superstition in the lines: "And the kelpie rang, And the sea-maid sang The dirge of lovely Rosabelle." Porter Family (Vol. viii., p. 364.).—Full particulars of the existing branch of this ancient family can be afforded by the Rev. Malcom Macdonald of South End, Essex, chaplain to Lady Tamar Sharpe, the aunt and guardian of the representatives of Sir R.K. Porter. Thavies Inn. The Mitred Abbot in Wroughton Church, Wilts (Vol. viii., p. 411.).—The figure was painted in fresco, not on a pillar, but on the spandril-space between two arches. The vestments, as far as I can make out, are an alb, a tunicle and a cope, and mitre. The hands do not appear to hold anything, and I see nothing to show it to represent a mitred abbot rather than a bishop. The colours of the cope and tunicle were red and green, the exterior of the cope and the tunicle being of one colour, the interior of the cope of the other. The figure was the only perfect one when I visited the church, and the rain was washing it out even as I sketched; but there had been one between every two arches, and there were traces of colour throughout the aisle, and the designs appeared to me unusually elegant. I believe my slight sketch to be all that now remains; and shall be glad to send a copy of it to your correspondent if he wishes for it, and will signify how I may convey it to him. Passage in Virgil (Vol. viii., p. 270.).—Is this the passage referred to by Doctor Johnson? "Nunc scio, quid sit Amor: duris in cotibus illum Aut Tmarus, aut Rhodope, aut extremi Garamantes, Nec generis nostri puerum, nec sanguinis, edunt." Virgil: Bucolica, Ecl. viii. l. 43. "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks." Dr. Johnson found his reward not in vain solicitations to patrons, but in the fruits of his literary labours. The famous lines in Spenser's "Colin Clout's come home again,"[3] on the instability and hollowness of patronage, may occur to the reader: "Full little knowest thou, that hast not tride, What hell it is in suing long to bide: To lose good days that might be better spent, To waste long nights in pensive discontent. To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow. To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares; To eat thy heart through comfortless despaires," &c. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Chief Justice (Vol. viii., pp. 158. 276.).—In "A Letter to a Convocation Man," which was recently edited by a frequent contributor to your pages, the Rev. W. Fraser, B.C.L., and is favourably mentioned by you, I find the following sentence, declaring that Sir Anthony Fitzherbert was Chief Justice:
Mr. Fraser merely refers to Sir Anthony Fitzherbert as being made judge of the Common Pleas in 1523, and does not enter into this question, which deserves investigation. "To put a spoke in his wheel" (Vol. viii., pp. 269. 351.).—W.C.'s answer to G.K.'s inquiry is so very facetious, that I must confess I do not understand it. As to the meaning of the expression, I think there can be no doubt. Ainsworth interpreted "Scrupulum injecisti mihi, spem meam remoratus es." In Dutch, "Een spaak in t'wiel steeken," is "To traverse, thwart, or cross a design." See Sewel's Woordenboek. The effect is similar to that of spiking cannon. And it is not improbable that spoke, known by the Bloomsbury. Ballina Castle (Vol. viii., p. 411.).—O. L. R. G. inquires about Ballina Castle, Castlebar, and of the general history, descriptions, &c. of the co. Mayo. In the catalogue of my manuscript collections, prefixed to my Annals of Boyle, or Early History of Ireland (upwards of 200 volumes), No. 37. purports to be "one volume 8vo., containing full compilations of records and events connected with the county of Mayo, with reference to the authorities," and it has special notices of Castlebar, Cong, Burrishoole, Kilgarvey, Lough Conn, &c., and notes of scenery and statistics. I offered in the year 1847 to publish a history of the county if I was indemnified, but I did not succeed in my application. I have, of course, very full notices of the records, &c. of Ballina, and the other leading localities of that interesting but too long neglected county, which I would gladly draw out and assign, as I would any other of my manuscript compilations, to any literary gentleman who would propose to prepare them for publication, or otherwise extract and report from them as may be sought. 48. Summer Hill, Dublin. Mardle (Vol. viii., p. 411.).—This is the correct spelling as fixed by Halliwell. I should propose to derive it from A.-S. mathelian, to speak, discourse, harangue; or A.-S. methel, discourse, speech, conversation. (Bosworth.) Forby gives this word only with the meaning "a large pond;" a sense confined to Suffolk. But his vocabulary of East Anglia is especially defective in East Norfolk words—an imperfection arising from his residence in the extreme west of that county. Charles Diodati (Vol. viii., p. 295.).—Mr. Singer mentions that Dr. Fellowes and others have confounded Carlo Dati, Milton's Florentine friend, with Charles Diodati, a schoolfellow (St. Paul's, London) to whom he addresses an Italian sonnet and two Latin poems. Charles Diodati practised physic in Cheshire; died 1638. Was this young friend of Milton's a relative of Giovanni Diodati, who translated the Bible into Italian; born at Lucca about 1589; became a Protestant; died at Geneva, 1649? Longevity (Vol. viii., p. 442.).—Mr. Murdoch's Query relative to Margaret Patten reminds me of a print exhibited in the Dublin Exhibition, which bore the following inscription:
"Now the fierce bear," &c. (Vol. viii., p 440.).—The lines respecting which ?. requests information are from Mr. Keble's Christian Year, in the poem for Monday in Whitsun Week. They are, however, misquoted, and should run thus "Now the fierce bear and leopard keen Are perish'd as they ne'er had been, Oblivion is their home." |
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