  Paul Pitcher Night.—Can any of the contributors to "Notes and Queries" throw light upon a curious custom, prevalent in some parts of Cornwall, of throwing broken pitchers, and other earthen vessels, against the doors of dwelling-houses, on the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul, thence locally called "Paul pitcher night?" On that evening parties of young people perambulate the parishes in which the custom is retained, exclaiming as they throw the sherds,— "Paul's eve, And here's a heave!" According to the received notions, the first "heave" cannot be objected to; but, upon its being repeated, the inhabitants of the house whose Query, Can this apparently unintelligible custom have any reference to the 21st verse of the IXth chap. of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"—the earthen fragments thus turned to dishonour being called "Paul's pitchers." Any more probable conjecture as to the origin or meaning of this custom, or any account of its occurring elsewhere, will greatly oblige Disinterment for Heresy.—A remarkable instance of disinterment on account of heresy is stated to have occurred a little before the Reformation, in the case of one Tracy, who was publicly accused in convocation of having expressed heretical tenets in his will; and, having been found guilty, a commission was issued to dig up his body, which was accordingly done. I shall be much obliged to any of your readers who will favour me with the date and particulars of this case. "Just Notions," &c.—At the end of the Introduction of The Christian Instructed in the Principles of Religion, by W. Reading, Lond. 1717, occur the following lines: (Query, whether original, or, if not, from whence quoted?)— "Just notions will into good actions grow, And to our reason we our virtues owe; False judgments are the unhappy source of ill, And blinded error draws the passive will. To know our God, and know ourselves, is all We can true happiness or wisdom call." Pursuits of Literature.—How came the author of the Pursuits of Literature to be known? I have before me the 11th edition (1801); and in the Preface to the fourth and last dialogue, the author declares that "neither my name nor situation in life will ever be revealed." He does not pretend to be the sole depository of his own secret; but he says again:
Nevertheless, the author of the Pursuits of Literature is known. How is this? Satirical Medal.—I possess a medal whose history I should be glad to know. It is apparently of silver, though not ringing as such, and about an inch and a quarter in diameter. On the obverse are two figures in the long-waisted, full-skirted coats, cavalier hats, and full-bottomed wigs of, I presume, Louis XIV.'s time. Both wear swords; one, exhibiting the most developed wig of the two, offers a snuff-box, from which the other has accepted a pinch, and fillips it into his companion's eyes. The legend is "Faites-vous cela pour m'affronter?" The mitigated heroism of this query seems to be noted on the reverse, which presents a man digging in the ground, an operation in which he must be somewhat hampered by a lantern in his left hand; superfluous one would deem (but for the authority of Diogenes), as the sun is shining above his head in full splendour. The digger's opinion, that the two combined are not more than the case requires, is conveyed in the legend,—
The finding was curious. On cutting down an ash-tree in the neighbourhood of Linton, Cambridgeshire, in 1818, a knob on its trunk was lopped off, and this medal discovered in its core! It was probably the cause of the excrescence, having been, perhaps, thrust under the bark to escape the danger of its apparently political allusion. The Linton carrier purchased it for half-a-crown, and from him it passed in 1820 into hands whence it devolved to me. Is anything known of this medal, or are any other specimens of it extant? I pretend to no numismatic skill, but to an unlearned mind it would seem to contain allusion to the insult which Charles II. and his government were supposed to submit to from Louis XIV.; to be, in fact, a sort of metallic HB. Some friend, I forget who, pronounced the workmanship Dutch, which would, I think, favour the above theory. The figures are in bold and prominent relief, but to a certain degree rounded by wear, having been evidently carried in the pocket for a considerable time. Matthew's Mediterranean Passage.—I should be thankful for any information as to where the following work could be seen, and also respecting the nature of its contents.
The above is quoted from Thos. Thorpe's Cat., part iii., 1832, p. 169., no. 7473. Inscription on an Oak Board.—I have an old oak board, on which are carved the following lines in raised capital letters of an antique form, with lozenges between the words:— "IF . YOV . WOVLD . KNOW . MY . NAME . OR . WHO . I . WAS . THAT . DID . THE . SAME . LOKE . IN . GENESIS . WHERE . HEE . DOO . INDIGHT." The letters are two inches long, and a quarter of an inch high from the sunken face of the board, which is four feet long by ten inches wide. It has a raised rim or border round the inscription; which proves that it had not contained more lines than as above. It was found at Hereford, in a county which still abounds in timbered houses, and it had been lately used as a weather-board. The legend was submitted to the late Sir Samuel Meyrick of Goderich Court; who was of opinion, that it had formerly been over the chimney-piece or porch of some dwelling-house, and is a riddle involving the builder's or founder's name. If any of your readers can suggest the age and original use of this board, or explain the name concealed in the lines, it will oblige Expressions in Milton.—Allow me to ask some correspondent to give the meaning of the following expressions from the prose works of Milton:—
"A toothed sleck stone," I take to mean a "jagged whetstone," very unfit for its purpose; but what is the force of the term "as bullish?" Again:
The meaning I receive from this is, "I don't mean to carry you through the maze of the ancient councils of the church;" but I wish to know the exact force of the expression "to bid you the base?" Saints' Days.—The chorea invita is not a very satisfactory explanation of St. Vitus's dance; and though St. Vitus is not in the Roman martyrology of our day, yet he is in the almanacs of the fifteenth century, and probably earlier. The martyr Vitus makes the 15th of June a red letter-day in the first almanac ever printed. Who was St. Vitus, and how did he give his name to the play of the features which is called his dance? Again, the day before St. Patrick is celebrated in Ireland, St. Patricius is celebrated in Auvergne. Can any identity be established? Chepstow Castle.—In Carlyle's Life of Cromwell, vol. i. pp. 349, 350., there is a letter from Cromwell, dated before Pembroke, wherein he directs a Major Saunders, then quartered at or near Brecon, to go to Monmouthshire and seize Sir Trevor Williams of Llangevie, and Mr. Morgan, High Sheriff of Monmouth, "as," he writes, "they were very deep in the plot of betraying Chepstow Castle." Carlyle has the following foot-note to the letter:
Can any of your correspondents give me information in what work I can find a tolerably full account of this "betraying of Chepstow Castle?" and also of what place in the county was this Morgan, Sheriff of Monmouth? The Wilkes MSS. and "North Briton."—I inquired long since what had become of these MSS., which Miss Wilkes bequeathed to Peter Elmsley, of Sloane Street, "to whose judgement and delicacy" she confided them,—meaning, I presume, that she should be content to abide by his judgement as to the propriety of publishing them, or a selection; but certainly to be preserved for the vindication of her father's memory; otherwise she would have destroyed them, or directed them to be destroyed. In 1811 these MSS. were, I presume, in the possession of Peter Elmsley, Principal of St. Alban's Hall, as he submitted the Junius Correspondence, through Mr. Hallam, to Serjeant Rough, who returned the letters to Mr. Hallam. Where now are the original Junius Letters, and where the other MSS.? The AthenÆum has announced that the Stowe MSS., including the Diaries and Correspondence of George Grenville, are about to be published, and will throw a "new light" on the character of John Wilkes. I suspect any light obtained from George Grenville will be very like the old light, and only help to blacken what is already too dark. I therefore venture to ask once again, Where are the Wilkes MSS.? and can they be consulted? Further, are any of your readers able and willing to inform us who were the writers of the different papers in the North Briton, either first or second series? Through "Notes and Queries" we got much curious information on this point with reference to the Rolliad. "O wearisome Condition of Humanity!"—Can any of your readers inform me in what "noble poet of our own" the following verses are to be found. They are quoted by Tillotson in vol. ii. p. 255. of his Works, in 3 vols. fo. "O wearisome condition of humanity! Born under one law, to another bound; Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity; Created sick, commanded to be sound. If Nature did not take delight in blood, She would have found more easy ways to good." Bloomsbury. Places called "Purgatory."—The Rev. Wm. Thornber, in his History of Blackpool in the Fylde District of Lancashire, gives the following explanation of the name as applied to particular fields, houses, &c.:—
It is certain that places may be found here and there in the county still going by the name of Purgatory. Can any of your correspondents throw further light on the matter, or tell us if the custom extended to other counties? Epitaph in Hall's "Discovery."—The following epitaph occurs in Bishop Hall's Discovery of a New World, by an English Mercury, an extremely rare little volume, unknown to Ames or Herbert; and is, I should imagine, a satire on some statesman of the time. Query, on whom?
|
|
