Notes and Queries, Number 18, March 2, 1850

    JNO. SUDLOW. Manchester.

Junius and Sir G. Jackson.—I find no one has answered my question about Sir George Jackson (No. 11. p. 172.). I will therefore put another. I possess an unpublished letter by Junius to Woodfall, which once belonged to Sir George Jackson. My Query is, "Is it likely he could have obtained it from Junius, if he was neither Junius himself nor a party concerned?" The manner in which Burke evades the question as to himself being the author of Junius makes me think two or three were concerned in these Letters.

    P.

NEW EDITION OF REV. DR. OWEN'S WORKS

I gladly avail myself of the hint thrown out by "R.R." (in No. 17.) to state that as I am engaged in editing a reprint of the works of the Rev. Dr. Owen, and as I am exceedingly anxious to ensure accuracy in the quotations from and references to the Fathers, any suggestions which may be furnished by those of your learned correspondents who may be conversant with the works in question, will be very acceptable. I should wish much to obtain original editions of the leading works, such as that On the Person of Christ; On the Work of the Spirit; On the Death of Death, in the Death of Christ. Have any of your correspondents ever taken the trouble of collating the Greek and Latin quotations with the authors quoted from, and examined the references made to the Fathers and other ancient writers? Any communication addressed to the editor of the works of Owen at Messrs. Johnstone and Hunter, Publishers, Edinburgh, will be promptly forwarded to me.

    J.G. Dunnichen, Forfarshire.

MINOR QUERIES

MS. Book of Hours.—In the sale catalogue of the library of John Bridges, of Lincoln's Inn, February, 1725, is entered Lot 4311:—

"Missale quondam Henrici VII., regis Angliæ, ut ex ipsius autographo in codicis initio patet, pulcherrime illuminatum, et inconibus fere 80 exornatum. In pergameno, et ornatissime compact."

It appears, from Wanley's Diary (MS. Lansd. 772.), that this volume, which he calls a Primer, was purchased for the Earl of Oxford (for 31l. 10s., as I learn from a priced copy of the catalogue), and was highly valued. To judge from the above description, it must have been a very beautiful book; and as it does not seem to be at present among the Harleian collection of MSS. in the British Museum, I should be glad to learn into whose hands it has fallen. It is not the celebrated volume of Hours known under the name of the Bedford Missal, since that was purchased by Lord Harley of Lady Worseley, and is now in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Tobin;—nor is it the book of Hours in the library of the Duke of Devonshire (described by Dr. Dibbin in the Bibl. Decameron, vol. i. p. 155.), which contains the autograph notes of Henry VII.;—nor is it the similar volume formerly in the libraries of George Wilkinson, of Tottenham Green (sold in 1836), and the Rev. Will. Maskell, and now MS. Add. 17,012. in the British Museum, in which are seen the autographs of Henry VII. and his Queen, Henry VIII., Catherine of Aragon, and others;—nor is it the beautiful volume of Hours executed for René d'Anjou, and subsequently presented to Henry VII. by his chaplain George Strangeways, Archdeacon of Coventry (now in the British Museum, MS. Eg. 1070.);—nor, lastly, is it the book of Hours in the collection of George III. (No. 9.), which contains the autograph writing of Henry VIII.

    F.M. B.M., Feb. 19. 1850.

Bess of Hardwick.—Elizabeth, or Bess of Hardwick, celebrated for her distaste for celibacy, makes a considerable figure in the histories of the Cavendish family, who in some degree owed their greatness to her judicious purchases and careful management of their Derbyshire estates.

It appears, from the Derbyshire Visitations, that she was one of the daughters of John Hardwick, of Hardwick co. Derby, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leake, of Hasland co. Derby, and that John Hardwick died 19 Hen. VIII.

Can any of your readers inform me of the pedigree of this John Hardwick?—what arms, crest, motto and quarterings he made use of?—what persons now living are descended from him?—and what became of his estates?

I presume that your typographical arrangements do not admit of the insertion of a regular pedigree; but the descents may be stated as in Burke and similar Books.

    GULES

Cæsar's Wife..—"NASO" wishes to know where the proverbial saying, "Cæsar's wife must not even be suspected," first occurs.

Minar's Books of Antiquities.—Can any one conversant with the works of Cardinal Nicolas de Cusa inform me what author he quotes as "Minar in his Books of Antiquities," in what language, and where existing? De Doctâ Ignorantiâ, I. i. cap. 7.

    A.N.

Proverb against Physicians.—"M.D." wishes to be informed of the earliest writer who mentions the proverb "Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei."

Compendyous Olde Treatyse.—In Ames's Typographical Antiquities, vol. i. p. 405. (ed. Herbert), is described a work, printed by Rycharde Banckes, some time between 1525 and 1545, entitled, "A compendyous olde treatyse shewynge howe that we ought to have the Scripture in Englyshe, with the Auctours." 12mo. 18 leaves. This copy belonged to Herbert himself, and was probably obtained at the sale of Thomas Granger, in 1732. Any information as to its wherabout at present, or the existence of any other copy of the above tract, would confer a fabour on the inquirer.

    F.M.

The Topography of Foreign Printing Presses.—I have often been at a loss to discover the locality of names which designate the places where books have been printed at Foreign presses; and "when found" to "make a note of it." I was therefore pleased to find in No. 16. p. 251., by the reply of "R.G." to Mr. Jebb, that "Cosmopolis was certainly Amsterdam," and that "Coloniæ" signifies "Amstelædami." And I will take the liberty of suggesting that it would be an acceptable service rendered to young students, if your learned correspondents would occasionally communicate in the pages of your work, the modern names, &c. of such places as are not easily gathered from the books themselves.

    P.H.F.

Cromwell's Estates.—In Carlyle's edition of Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, there is a note (p. 75. vol. iv. of the 3rd ed. 1850) containing a list of the estates which the Protector owned at the time of his death, as follows; there being, besides Newhall, specified as "in Essex," five, viz.—

"Dalby,
Broughton,
Burleigh,
Oakham, and
Egleton."

of which the editor has ascertained the localities; and six, viz.—

of which, he say, "he knows nothing."

It would surely be a proper, and, one might hope, an attainable object of inquiry, to search out these unplaced estates of the great Protector, and give them a local habitation in modern knowledge. This is precisely one of the kind of queries which your publication seems best fitted to aid; and I therefore submit it, in the hope of some discoveries, to your correspondents.

    V. Belgravia, Feb. 18, 1850.

What are Depinges?—In the orders made in 1574 for regulating the fishery at Yarmouth, the Dutch settlers there are "To provide themselves with twine and depinges in foreign places." What are Depinges?

    J.S.B.

REPLIES

ORIGIN OF THE JEWS-HARP

The "Jews-harp," or "Jews-trump," is said by several authors to derive its name from the nation of the Jews, and is vulgarly believed to be one of their instruments of music. Dr. Littleton renders Jews-trump by Sistrum Judaicum. But no such musical intrument is spoken of by any of the old authors that treat of the Jewish music. In fact, the Jews-harp is a mere boy's plaything, and incapable of in itself of being joined either with a voice or any other instrument; and its present orthography is nothing more than a corruption of the French Jeu-trompe, literally, a toy trumpet. It is called jeu-trompe by Bacon, Jew-trump by Beaumont and Fletcher, and Jews-harp by Hackluyt. In a rare black-letter volume, entitled Newes from Scotland, 1591, there is a curious story of one Geilles Duncan, a noted performer on the "Jews-harp," whose performance seems not only to have met with the approval of a numerous audience of witches, but to have been repeated in the presence of royalty, and by command of no less a personage than the "Scottish Solomon," king James VI. Agnes Sampson being brought before the king's majesty and his council, confessed that

"Upon the night of All-hallow-even last, shee was accompanied as well with the persons aforesaid, as also with a great many other witches, to the number of two-hundredth; and that all they together went to sea, each one in a riddle or sive, and went into the same very substantially, with flaggons of wine, making merrie, and drinking by the way, in the same riddle or sives, to the Kirk of North Barrick in Lowthian; and that after they had landed, tooke handes on the lande and daunced this reill or short daunce, singing all with one voice,

"'Commer goe ye before, commer goe ye:
Gif ye will not goe before, commer let me.'

"At which time, she confessed that this Geilles Duncan (a servant girl) did goe before them, playing this reill or daunce uppon a small trumpe called a Jews-trumpe, until they entred into the Kirk of North Barrick. These confessions made the King in a wonderfull admiration, and sent for the said Geilles Duncan, who upon the like trumpe did play the saide daunce before the Kinge's Majestie; who in respect of the strangenes of these matters tooke great delight to be present at their examinations."

It may be as well to mention that in the Belgic or Low Dutch, from whence come many of our toys, a tromp is a rattle for children. Another etymon for Jews-harp is Jaws-harp, because the place where it is played upon is between the jaws. To those who wish to learn more upon the subject, I beg to refer them to Pegge's Anonymiana; Dauncy's Ancient Scottish Melodies; and to my edition of Chettle's Kind-Harts Dream printed by the Percy Society.

    Edward F. Rimbault.

[We are indebted also to Trebor, E.W.D., J.F.M., and F.P. for replies to this Query. They will perceive that Dr. Rimbault had anticipated the substance of their several communications.]

ÆLFRIC'S COLLOQUY

I must trouble you and some of your readers with a few words, in reply to the doubt of "C.W.G." (No. 16. p. 248.) respecting the word sprote. I do not think the point, and the Capital letter to saliu in the Latin text, conclusive, as nothing of the kind occurs in the A.-S. version, where the reading is clearly, "swa hwylce swa, on watere swymmath sprote." I have seen the Cottonian MS., which, as Mr. Hampson observes, is very distinctly written, both in the Saxon and Latin portions; so much so in the latter, as to make it a matter of surprise that the doubtful word saliu should ever have been taken for salu, or casidilia for calidilia. The omission of the words sprote and saliu, in the St. John's MS., would only be evidence of a more cautious scribe, who would not copy what he did not understand.

Your correspondent's notion, "that the name of some fish, having been first interlined, was afterwards inserted at random in the text, and mis-spelt by a transcriber who did know its meaning," appears to me very improbable; and the very form of the words (sprote, saliu, supposing them substantives), which have not plural terminations, would, in my mind, render his supposition untenable. For, be it recollected, that throughout the answers of the Fiscere, the fish are always named in the plural; and it is not to be supposed that there would be an exception in favour of sprote, whether intended for sprat or salmon. Indeed, had the former been a river fish, Hulvet and Palsgrave would have countenanced the supposition; but then we must have had it in the plural form, sprottas. As for the suggestion of sprod and salar, I cannot think it a happy one; salmon (leaxus) had been already mentioned; and sprods will be found to be a very confined local name for what, in other places, are called scurfes or scurves, and which we, in our ignorance, designate as salmon trout. In the very scanty A.-S. ichthyologic nomenclature we possess, there is nothing to lead us to imagine that our Anglo-Saxon ancestors had any corresponding word for a salmon trout. I must be excused, therefore, for still clinging to my own explanation of sprote, until something more specious and ingenious shall be advanced, but in full confidence, at the same time, that some future discovery will elucidate its truth.

    S.W. Singer.

Feb. 19. 1850.

REHETING AND REHETOURS