Notes and Queries, Number 230, March 25, 1854

Consolato del Mare.-The maritime code of the Venetians derived from Barcelona, observed also by the Genoese and Pisans, was called "Consolato del Mare," A.D. 1200. Why was it so called?

R. H. G.

Consonants in Welsh.-It has often been asserted that the Welsh language is remarkable for the number of its consonants. Can any of your readers acquainted with that language inform me whether there is a larger proportion of consonants in Welsh than in English? Messrs. Chambers, in a recent number of their Repository, say:

"On the road to Merthyr, we heard a drunken Welshman swear; oh for words to describe the effect! His mouth seemed full of consonants, which cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded, in an extraordinary way," &c.

Is this a true representation of the case?

J. M.

"Initiative" and "Psychology."-

" ... a previous act and conception of the mind, or what we have called an initiative, is indispensably necessary, even to the mere semblance of method."-Coleridge's Treatise on Method.

Am I to understand from this sentence that this word was an original adaptation of Coleridge's? If not, when was it first introduced, and by whom?

In the same treatise, Coleridge employs the word psychological, and apologises for using an insolens verbum. Was this the first occasion of the familiar use of this word? I find psychology in Bailey.

Birmingham.

Atonement.-Can you or any of your readers inform me when the word "atonement" first came into use, and when it was first applied to the work of reconciliation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ? It is used once only in the New Testament (Romans v. 11.), and there the word does not quite convey the meaning of the original καταλλαγη. The etymology of it seems so purely English, that one would hardly expect to find the present use, or rather adaptation, of the word, so very modern as it appears to be.

J. H. B.

Sir Stephen Fox.-Chambers' Journal, No. 515., Nov. 12, 1853, p. 320., says:

"Charles James Fox, who died in 1806, at the age of fifty-seven, had an uncle who was paymaster of the forces in 1679, the year of the battle of Bothwell Bridge, and his grandfather was on the scaffold with Charles I."

After consulting several books on the subject, I find that this latter statement is just possible; but I cannot learn under what circumstances Sir Stephen Fox accompanied Charles I. to the scaffold. Can any of your readers give me the desired information?

N. J. A.

"Account of an Expedition to the Interior of New Holland."-Can any one tell me the name of the writer of a book with the title I have here given? It was edited by Lady Mary Fox, and published, in one vol. 8vo., by Bentley, in the year 1837. I may be mistaken, but I think I can recognise the style of a well-known writer.

Abhba.

Darwin on Steam.-Where are the prophetic lines by Dr. Darwin to be found, commencing:

"Soon shall thy power, unrivalled steam, from far

Drag the slow barge, and urge the rapid car."

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Scottish Female Dress.-When did ladies cease to use hair-powder, face-patches, hoops, and high-heeled shoes? An old lady of about seventy recollects perfectly that her mother wore then all (so, she thinks, did her visitors, who came to a dish of tea) except the hoop, which was reserved for grand occasions. On the introduction of the new-fangled low-heeled shoes, she recollects her mother tottering about on them like a novice on skates, and groaning with pains in her legs, a victim to a change of fashion! At this time, she adds, was in every-day use the milk tally and bread-nick-stick. The first, that represented in Hogarth's picture; the second, a stick about a foot long, four-sided, on which each loaf was registered by a notch or nick in the stick; the servant kept a similar nick-stick as a check on the baker; but during the flirtation, common then as now on such occasions, the old lady slyly remarks, the baker often gallantly nicked the check-stick, as well as his own, with a couple of notches for one. Hence, possibly, the decline and fall of the use of this wooden system of book-keeping by double notch. Is any date assigned to the ceasing of the practice of using the wooden tally and nick-stick?

Greenock.

"The Innocents," a Drama.-Who is the author of a small volume of poetry, published anonymously about the year 1825, and which is very favourably noticed in the New Monthly Magazine for January, 1826, vol. xviii. The title of the volume is, The Innocents, a Sacred Drama; Ocean and the Earthquake at Aleppo, Poems.

S. N.

Waugh of Cumberland.-Can you inform a Waugh, the family arms of Waugh of Cumberland; to whom they were first granted, and why?

A Subscriber.

Norton.-Wanted, the origin of, or the sources of information respecting, this name, the appellation of so many villages, &c. in Oxfordshire. A family of the name of Norton, after residing in those districts for many generations, have long moved to London, and are not possessed of the information sought by the inquirer.

N.

De La Fond.-Can any of your readers explain the following inscription on an engraving by P. Lombart of De La Fond, and its application?

"In effigiem De La Fond, Galli

Festivissimi, apud Batavos, Ephemeridum Historicarum Scriptoris,

Distichon.

Mille oculis videt hic Fondus mille auribus audit;

Plus audit naso, plus videt ille, suo."

A. F. B.

Diss.

"Button Cap."-In the north of Ireland there is a belief that just before a war breaks out, the spirit of an ancient warder of Carrickfergus Castle is heard examining the arms stored there, and, if they are not entirely to his satisfaction, he shows his displeasure by making an awful clatter among them. Has old "Button Cap" (for that is his name) been inspecting the arms lately? What is the legend connected with him? If I mistake not, he is said to be the spirit of a warder who was drowned in the castle well in the reign of Elizabeth.

Fras. Crossley.

Cobb Family.-Richard Cobb, Esq., and his wife Joan, were painted by Sir Peter Lely between 1641 and 1680. These portraits are now in my possession. Elizabeth Cobb, granddaughter of the above, married, circa 1725, the Rev. Thos. Paget, at that time Fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford. Thus, Richard Cobb would be born circa 1634, his son circa 1667, and his granddaughter circa 1700. I shall be obliged for any clue to the arms, residence, &c. of this Mr. Cobb.

Arthur Paget.

Prince Charles' Attendants in Spain.-The assistance of your antiquarian correspondents is particularly requested towards the making out of a complete list of all the persons who were in attendance on Prince Charles on his romantic visit to Spain. Of course it is well known that the Prince and Buckingham started accompanied only by Sir Francis Cottington, Endymion Porter, and Sir R. Graham. Of the members of his household who afterwards joined him, the principal of course are also well known. But of the gentlemen and grooms of the Privy Chamber, pages, &c., I have been unable to discover a complete list, although notices of individuals are occasionally met with. Any references to such notices are much desired.

E. O. P.

Sack.-What wine was this? Is it still existing and known to the wine trade by any other name? If so, when and why was the name changed?

Falstaff.

* * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Ralph Ashton the Commander.-In an ancient record I met with a year or two ago (two centuries old, I suppose), the name of a Ralph Ashton, "Commander," occurred. The record related to Lancashire, and it spoke of "Isabella, the wife of Ralph the Commander." I believe that a gentleman of this name was commander of the Lancashire forces under the Commonwealth. Will any of your readers oblige me (should they have access to any ancient pedigree of the Ashton family) by saying whether any mention is made of this "Isabella," and what her name was before her marriage to Ralph the Commander?

Jaytee.

[The pedigree of the family of Ashton, or Assheton, of Middleton, is given in Baines's Lancaster, vol. ii. p. 596., which states that Ralph Ashton, Esq., M.P. for Clithero, temp. Chas. I., for the county, 16 Chas. I., died 17th Feb. 1650, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Kaye of Woodsome, co. York. In old documents Isabella and Elizabeth are used for one and the same name.]

Christopher Hervie.-M. Zachary (Vol. ix., p. 184.) obligingly replies to my question as to the quotation-

"One while I think, and then I am in pain,

To think how to unthink that thought again."

Would he be kind enough to say where I may find any notice of Christopher Hervie? as I have been unable to find mention of him or his work in any biography to which I have access.

W. M. M.

[A biographical notice of Christopher Harvie, or Harvey, is given by Anthony à Wood in his Athen? Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 538. (Bliss), from which it appears he was "a minister's son of Cheshire, was born in that county, became a batler of Brasen-nose College in 1613, aged sixteen years, took the degrees in Arts, that of Master being completed 1620, holy orders, and at length was made vicar of Clifton in Warwickshire." Wood, however (Ath. Oxon., vol. i. p. 628.), attributes The Synagogue to Thomas Harvey, first Master of Kington School in Herefordshire. "There can be no doubt," adds Mr. Bliss, "but a Ch. Harvie was the author of this poem, particularly as Walton contributed some commendatory verses to it, which were repaid by another copy prefixed to the Compleat Angler by Harvie; but whether this was Christopher Harvey, the vicar of Clifton, or some other, remains to be decided. If it was, it is at least singular that Wood, who was so inquisitive in these matters, should have been ignorant of the circumstance." Harvey died before the 4th Sept. 1663, as on that day Samuel Bradwall was instituted to the vicarage of Clifton, void by the death of the last incumbent.-See Sir John Hawkins' edition of The Complete Angler, p. 186.; also "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., pp. 463. 591.]

Dannocks.-Hedging-gloves made of whit-leather (untanned leather), and used by workmen in cutting and trimming fences, are called in this part of Norfolk dannocks. Can any of your correspondents say whence the word is derived?

J. L. S.

Edingthorpe.

["It should rather be Dornecks," says Forby, "which is the proper Flemish name of Tournai, a Frenchified name, long since universally substituted. Two hundred years ago it was celebrated for its coarse woollen manufactures, principally of carpets and hangings, mentioned in some of our old comedies. Probably thick gloves were another article of importation. Our modern dannocks, indeed, are of thick leather, and made at home by our own glovers. Dan. dorneck."]

Brass in All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.-In the Church of All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (an erection dating at some period of the Protestant dark ages), there is a magnificent Flemish brass, of which the incumbent refuses to allow a rubbing to be taken, on the ground that the process would injure it! Can any of your correspondents tell me if it has been engraved, and where?

J. H. B.

[There is a beautiful representation of the very curious plate of brass inlaid on the table monument of Roger Thornton, the celebrated patron of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, temp. Henry IV., and still preserved in the Church of All Saints in that town, engraved in Brand's History of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, vol. i. p. 382. Mention is also made by that author of another work containing it, entitled Monuments in the Churches of St. Nicholas and All Saints.]

Imperfect Bible.-A Bible has lately come into my possession in an imperfect state. It is in black letter, 4to., with the capitals commencing the chapters in Roman letters. I wish to know the date and printer. It begins at fol. 7., at the end of the 6th verse of xvth chapter of Genesis, "counted that to him for righteousness." There are a number of engravings representing the instruments used in the temple and tabernacle, at fol. 36. 38. 40. 62. 160. &c. There is no date, but I think it is about 1590 or 1600.

An Ignoramus on the Subject.

[This imperfect Bible is one of the very numerous series of editions of the Genevan or Puritan version, commonly called the Breeches Bible. It is not a 4to. but a pot folio, having six leaves to the sheet or signature, "Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, printer to the Queen's most excellent Maiestie, Anno Dom. 1595. Cum privilegio." Our correspondent's copy wants the title and preface (three leaves), six leaves of Genesis, the title to the N. Testament, and at the end eleven leaves, including the two tables. The translation may be identified by the last word of 1 Cor. vi. 9., or by 1 Tim. i. 10. There is another edition by the same printer, and of similar size, in the year 1602; but the title to the second part has "conteineth," instead of "conteining."]

The Poem of "Helga."-At what date was this poem, by Herbert, written?

Seleucus.

[This poem was commenced, as the author states in his preface, "soon after the publication of the translations which he made from the relics of ancient Icelandic and Scandinavian poetry," issued in 1805.]

"Merryweather's Tempest Prognosticator."-I wish to know if there be a book published entitled "Merryweather's Weather Prognostication?" I think, if I mistake not, I saw it among the nautical instruments, &c. in the naval department of the London Exhibition in 1851. I cannot find here if there be any such book extant.

J. T. C.

Dublin.

[The work is entitled An Essay explanatory of the Tempest Prognosticator in the Building of the Great Exhibition for the Works of Industry of all Nations, read before the Whitby Philosophical Society, Feb. 27, 1851, by George Merryweather, M.D., the Designer and Inventor: London, John Churchill, Princes Street, Soho, 1851.]

Edward Spencer's Marriage.-Can any reader supply me with particulars of the marriage of Edward Spencer of Rendlesham, co. Suffolk, and Grosvenor Square, who lived in the early part of the last century, and whose daughters married the Duke of Hamilton and Sir James Dashwood?

Charles Bridger.

Keppel St., Russell Sq.

[The following entry is given in Davy's Suffolk Collections (Add. MSS. 19,097., p. 272.): "Edward Spencer, son of John Spencer, Esq., ob. 1718. Edward, now living at Naunton Hall, is a barrister-at-law. He married Anne, the only daughter of William Baker of Layham, clerk, by whom he had issue Henry Spencer, who died an infant, and Ann Spencer, their only daughter, and now living." This extract is copied from Hawes's MSS., the date of which, unfortunately, is not given.]

Yew-tree at Crowhurst.-Could any of your readers inform me of the age of the yew-tree in Crowhurst Churchyard, Sussex?