Notes and Queries, Number 214, December 3, 1853

Rehearse, my Muse, and, oh! thy presence deign,
Auxiliar Phœbus, mortal foe to mice:
Whence bards in ancient times thee Smintheus term'd," &c.

Muscipula must have made some sensation to have been translated by two different persons. Welsh rabbits, and their supposed general fondness for cheese, have furnished many a joke at the expense of the inhabitants of the principality. Among others the following quiz may not be out of place on the famous Cambro-Britannic name of Lloyd:

    Balliolensis.

Berefellarii (Vol. viii., p. 420.).—M. Philarète Chasles has misrepresented John Jebb's Query and conjecture about berefellarii (Vol. vii., p. 207.). He never spoke of these officers as "half ecclesiastics (!), dirty, shabby, ill-washed attendants." They were priests of an inferior grade, answering to the minor canons of cathedrals, and superior to the vicars choral, who were also called personæ and rectores chori. He has far too great a respect for collegiate foundations to use such opprobrious terms when speaking of any class of ministers of divine service. The only conjecture J. Jebb made was, that the word might possibly have been a corruption (arising from incorrect writing) of beneficiarii, which is continually used abroad for the inferior clergy of collegiate churches, though not common in England. It is just possible, though not very probable, that this somewhat foreign word was misread, and gave rise to a blundering corruption conveying ludicrous ideas, the "turpe nomen" alluded to by the Archbishop of York tempore Ric. II. The conjectural derivation of the word from Anglo-Saxon words was not my own, but that of a subsequent correspondent. It is just one of those conjectures which, like that of "Mazarinæus," may be quite as likely to be false as true. I could suggest twenty that would be quite as likely; such as bier-followers (attenders on funerals, as did the clerks and inferior clergy in cathedrals), or bury fellows (query, burying fellows), or beer fellows (like the beerers in Dean Aldrich's famous catch), or belly fillers, &c., or lastly, some corruption of Beverly itself. Barefellows is as likely as any. Still I cannot think that these functionaries were low or contemptible. Their position corresponded to a very honourable status in cathedral churches.

    John Jebb.

Harmony of the Four Gospels (Vol. viii., pp. 316. 415.)—I am greatly obliged to Mr. Hardwick, Mr. Buckton, and J. M. for their valuable and satisfactory replies to my Query. To the list of those Harmonies published since the Reformation, may be added that of John Hind, 1632, under the title of

"The Storie of Stories, or the Life of Christ, according to the foure holy Evangelists: with a harmonie of them, and a table of their chapters and verses, collected by Johan Hind. London, printed by Miles Flesher, 1632."

It is dedicated to the "Lady Anne Twisden," with whom, and her son the learned Sir Roger Twisden, this John Hind, "a German gentleman of Mecklenburgh, a most religious honest knowing man, lived above thirty years," &c.

Surely Doddridge's Family Expositor should be added to the list.

    Z. 1.

Picts' Houses and Argils (Vol. viii., p. 264.).—Malte-Brun, in his Universal Geography, English translation, vol. vi. p. 387., has a passage in his description of Russia which applies to this matter. The steppes of Nogay lie immediately to the north of the peninsula of the Crimea, both being included in the Russian government of Taurida, and both countries were formerly inhabited by the Cimbri or Cimmerians. Malte-Brun says:

"The colonists are in many places ill provided with timber for building; they live under the ground, and the hillocks, which are so common in the country, and which served in ancient times for graves or monuments of the dead, are now converted into houses, the vaults are changed into roofs, and beneath them are subterranean excavations. Kurgan is the Tartar name for these tumuli; they are scattered throughout New Russia; they were raised at different times by the different people who ruled over that region. The Kurgans are not all of the same kind; some are not unlike the rude works of the early Hungarians, others are formed of large and thin stones, like the Scandinavian tombs. It is to be regretted that the different articles contained in them have been only of late years examined with care."

This does not establish the identity of the Argil and Kurgan, but I think it shows more particular information is likely to be met with on the subject. M. Malte-Brun, vol. vi. p. 152., in his description of Turkey, mentions a curious town on the hills of the Strandschea, a little to the west of Constantinople. It is called Indchiguis, and is inhabited by Troglodytes; its numerous dwellings are cut in solid rocks, stories are formed in the same manner, and many apartments that communicate with each other.

    W. H. F.

Boswell's "Johnson" (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—

"Crescit, occulto velut arbor ævo,
Fama Marcelli: micat inter omnes
Julium sidus, velut inter ignes
Luna minores."

    —Hor. Carm. I. xii. 45-48.
F. C. has overlooked the point of Boswell's remark, viz. that Johnson had been "inattentive to metre."

    C. Forbes.

Temple.

Pronunciation of "Humble" (Vol. viii., p. 393.).—I venture once more to trespass on your pages, in the hope of helping to settle the right pronunciation of humble. In the controversy respecting it, the derivation of the word should not be overlooked, as it is a most important point; for I consider that the improper use of the h has arisen from people not knowing from whence the word was taken. Now, as I am of opinion that it will go far to prove that the h should be silent in humble, by giving a list of the radical words in the English language in which that letter is silent, and their derivations, I beg to do so: premising that they are derived from the Celtic language, in which the h is not used in the same manner that it is in other languages:

Heir, from oigeir, i. e. the young man who succeeds to a property: the word is pronounced air.

Honest, from oinnicteac, i. e. just, liberal, generous, kind.

Honour, from onoir, i. e. praise, respect, worship.

Hour, from uair, pronounced voir, i. e. time present, a period of time, any time.

Humble, from umal, i. e. lowly, obedient, submissive.

Humour. The derivation of this word is obscure, but in the sense of mirth it may be derived from uaim-mir, i. e. loud mirth, gaiety.

The compounds formed from these words have the h silent; and every other word beginning with that letter should have it fully sounded. Such being my practice, I cannot be accused of cultivating the Heapian dialect, which I hold to be equally abominable with the improper use of the letter h.

    Fras. Crossley.

May not the following be the true solution of the question? All existing humility is either pride or hypocrisy; pride aspirates the h, hypocrisy suppresses it. I always aspirate.

    M.

Continuation of Robertson (Vol. viii., p. 515.).—The supplementary volume proposed by Mr. Turnbull, which is wanted extremely, was never published, owing to the fact that eighty subscribers could not be found to indemnify him for the expense of printing.

    G.

Nostradamus (Vol. vii., p. 174.).—My edition of Nostradamus, 1605 (described in "N. & Q.," Vol. iv., p. 140.), has the quotation in question; but the first line has "le sang du juste," not "le sang du jusse."

The ed. of 1605 is undoubtedly genuine. Besides the twelve centuries of prophecies, it contains 141 "Presages tirez de ceux faits par M. Nostradamus," and fifty-eight "Prédictions admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siècle, recueillies des mémoires de feu M. Nostradamus," with a dedication to Henry IV. of France, "par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire, 19 Mars, 1605."

    R. J. R.

Quantity of Words (Vol. viii., p. 386.).—Anti-Barbarus need not say we always pronounce Candace long, for I have never heard it otherwise than short. Labbe says it should be short, and classes it with short terminations in ăcus; but I am not aware that there is any poetical authority for it. Canace and canache are both short in Ovid; all which may have helped to the inference for Candăce. Facciolati has an adjective candăcus, to which I refer your correspondent.

    W. Hazel.

"Man proposes, but God disposes" (Vol. viii., p. 411.).—This saying is older than the age of Thomas à Kempis, who was born about A.D. 1380. It probably originated in two passages of Holy Scripture, on one or both of which it may have been an ancient comment:

"Hominis est animam præparare, et Domini gubernare linguam." "Cor hominis disponit viam suam, sed Domini est dirigere gressus ejus."—Proverbs xvi. 1. 10.

The sentiment in both is the same, and their pith is given in a still more brief and condensed form in our own proverb. It is remarkable that while Dr. A. Clarke, in his notes on Proverbs xvi., has quoted it without reference to its authorship in the edition of Stanhope's version of De Imitatione Christi, which I happen to have, it is not to be found; but its place (according to your correspondent's reference) is occupied by the two texts above quoted. The work referred to is asserted by some to have been only translated or transcribed by à Kempis, and written by John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a great theologian, who died in 1429. Be that as it may, I can assure your correspondent A. B. C. that the saying in question did not originate with the author of that work. In Piers Ploughman's Vision, written A.D. 1362, it is thus introduced:

"And Spiritus justitiæ
Shall juggen, wol he nele he (will he nil he!)
After the kynges counseil,
And the comune like.
And Spiritus prudentiæ,
In many a point shall faille,
Of that he weneth will falle,
If his wit ne weere.
Wenynge is no wysdom,
Ne wys ymaginacion.
Homo proponit, et Deus disponit,
And governeth alle good vertues."

    Vol. ii. p. 427., ll. 13984-95. Ed. London: W. Pickering, 1842.