Notes and Queries, Number 68, February 15, 1851

"A translucid piece of amber rubbed on the jugular artery, on the hand wrists, near the instep, and on the throne of the heart, and then hung about the neck,"

was a most certain preventative of (if not a cure for) the plague; the profound success of which Van Helmont attributes to its magnetic or sympathetic virtue.

    Blowen.

Engraved Warming-pans.—Allow me to add another illustration to the list furnished by H. G. T., p. 84. One which I purchased a few years ago of a cottager at Shotover, in Oxfordshire, has the royal arms surmounted by C. R., and surrounded by

"FEARE GOD HONNOR Y

KING, 1662."

The lid and pan are of brass, the handle of iron.

    E. B. Price.

Queen Elizabeth's Christening Cloth.—The mention (in the first No. of your 3rd Vol.) of some damasked linen which belonged to James II. reminds me of a relic which I possess, and the description of which may interest some of your readers.

It is the half of Queen Elizabeth's christening cloth, which came into my possession through a Mrs. Goodwin. A scrap of paper which accompanies it gives the following account of it:

"It was given by an old lady to Mrs. Goodwin; she obtained it from one of the Strafford family, who was an attendant upon the Queen. The other half Mrs. Goodwin has seen at High Fernby, in Yorkshire, a place belonging to the family of the Rooks, in high preservation. In its original state, it was lined with a rose-coloured lutestring, with a flounce of the same about a quarter deep. The old lady being very notable, found some use for the silk, and used to cover the china which stood in the best parlour with this remains of antiquity."

The christening cloth is of a thread net, worked in with blue and yellow silk, and gold cord. It must have been once very handsome, but is now somewhat the worse for wear and time. It is about 2½ feet wide and 3½ feet in length, so that the entire length must have been about 7 feet.

Can any one inform me whether the remaining half of this interesting relic STILL exists; as the notice attached to it, and mentioning its locality, must now be fifty years old at least?

    H. A. B.

Minor Notes

The Breeches Bible.—The able and interesting article on the Breeches Bible which appeared in a late number of "Notes and Queries" (Vol. iii., p. 17.) is calculated to remove the deep-rooted popular error which affixes great pecuniary value to every edition of the Bible in which the words "made themselves breeches" are to be found, by showing that such Bibles are generally only worth about as many shillings as they are supposed to be worth pounds. It is worth noting, with reference to this translation, that in the valuable early English version, known as Wickliffe's Bible, just published by the university of Oxford, the passage in Genesis (cap. iii. v. 7.) is translated "thei soweden togidre leeues of a fige tree and maden hem brechis."

    Effessa.

Origin of the present Race of English.—In Southey's Letters of Espriella (Letter xxiv., p. 274., 3rd edit.), there is a remark, that the dark hair of the English people, as compared with the Northern Germans, seems to indicate a considerable admixture of southern blood. Now, in all modern ethnological works, this fact of present complexion seems to be entirely overlooked. But it is a fact, and deserves attention. Either it is the effect of climate, in which case the moral as well as the physical man must have altered from the original stock, or it arises from there being more "ungerman" blood flowing in English veins than is acknowledged. May I hazard a few conjectures?

1. Are we not apt to underrate the number of Romanised Celts remaining in England after the Saxon Conquest? The victors would surely enslave a vast multitude, and marry many Celtic women; while those who fled at the first danger would gradually return to their old haunts. Under such circumstances, that the language should have been changed is no wonder.

2. Long before the Norman Conquest there was a great intercourse between England and France, and many settlers from the latter country came over here. This, by the way, may account for that gradual change of the Anglo-Saxon language mentioned as observable prior to the Conquest.

3. The army of the Conqueror was recruited from all parts of France, and was not simply Norman. When the men who composed it came into possession of this country, they clearly must have sent home for their wives and families; and many who took no part in the invasion no doubt came to share the spoils. Taking this into account, we shall find the Norman part of the population to have borne no small proportion to the then inhabitants of England. It is important to bear in mind the probable increase of population since 1066 A.D.

    Terra Martis.

True Blue.—I find the following account of this phrase in my note-book, but I cannot at present say whence I obtained it:—

"The first assumption of the phrase 'true blue' was by the Covenanters in opposition to the scarlet badge of Charles I., and hence it was taken by the troops of Leslie in 1639. The adoption of the colour was one of those religious pedantries in which the Covenanters affected a Pharisaical observance of the scriptural letter and the usages of the Hebrews; and thus, as they named their children Habakkuk and Zerubbabel, and their chapels Zion and Ebenezer, they decorated their persons with blue ribbons because the following sumptuary precept was given in the law of Moses:—

"'Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make to themselves fringes on the borders of their garments, putting in them ribbons of blue.'"—Numb. xv. 38.

    E. L. N.

"By Hook or by Crook."—The destruction caused by the Fire of London, A.D. 1666, during which some 13,200 houses, &c., were burnt down, in very many cases obliterated all the boundary-marks requisite to determine the extent of land, and even the very sites occupied by buildings, previously to this terrible visitation. When the rubbish was removed, and the land cleared, the disputes and entangled claims of those whose houses had been destroyed, both as to the position and extent of their property, promised not only interminable occupation to the courts of law, but made the far more serious evil of delaying the rebuilding of the city, until these disputes were settled, inevitable. Impelled by the necessity of coming to a more speedy settlement of their respective claims than could be hoped for from legal process, it was determined that the claims and interests of all persons concerned should be referred to the judgment and decision of two of the most experienced land-surveyors of that day,—men who had been thoroughly acquainted with London previously to the fire; and in order to escape from the numerous and vast evils which mere delay must occasion, that the decision of these two arbitrators should be final and binding. The surveyors appointed to determine the rights of the various claimants were Mr. Hook and Mr. Crook, who by the justice of their decisions gave general satisfaction to the interested parties, and by their speedy determination of the different claims, permitted the rebuilding of the city to proceed without the least delay. Hence arose the saying above quoted, usually applied to the extrication of persons or things from a difficulty. The above anecdote was told the other evening by an old citizen upwards of eighty, by no means of an imaginative temperament.

    J. D. S.

Putney, Feb. 1. 1851.

[We insert the above, as one of the many explanations which have been given of this very popular phrase—although we believe the correct origin to be the right of taking fire-bote by hook or by crook. See Notes and Queries, Vol. i., pp. 281. and 405.]

Record of Existing Monuments.—I have some time since read your remarks in Vol. iii., p. 14. of "Notes and Queries," on the Rev. J. Hewett's Monumentarum of Exeter Cathedral, and intend in a short time to follow the advice you have there given to "superabundant brass-rubbers," of copying the inscriptions in the churches and churchyards of the hundred of Manley. The plan I intend to pursue is, to copy in full every inscription of an earlier date than 1750; also, all more modern ones which are in any way remarkable as relating to distinguished persons, or containing any peculiarity worthy of note. The rest I shall reduce into a tabular form.

The inscriptions of each church I shall arrange chronologically, and form an alphabetical index to each inscription in the hundred.

By this means I flatter myself a great mass of valuable matter may be accumulated, a transcript of which may not be entirely unworthy of a place on the shelves of the British Museum.

I have taken the liberty of informing you of my intention, and beg that if you can suggest to me any plan which is better calculated for the purpose than the one I have described, you will do so.

Would it not be possible, if a few persons in each county were to begin to copy the inscriptions on the plan that I have described, that in process of time a copy of every inscription in every church in England might be ready for reference in our national library?

Perhaps you will have the goodness, if you know of any one who like myself is about to undertake the task of copying inscriptions in his own neighbourhood, to inform me, that I may communicate with him, so that, if possible, our plans may be in unison.

    Edw. Peacock, Jun.

Bottesford Moors, Messingham, Kirton Lindsey.

[We trust the example set by Mr. Hewett, and now about to be followed by our correspondent, is destined to find many imitators.]

Queries

FIVE QUERIES AND NOTES ON BOOKS, MEN, AND AUTHORS

1. Newburgh Hamilton.—Can any of your readers inform me who Newburgh Hamilton was? He wrote two pieces in my library, viz. (1.) Petticoat Plotter, a farce in two acts; acted at Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, 1720, 12mo. This has been mutilated by Henry Ward, a York comedian, and actually printed by him as his own production, in the collection of plays and poems going under his name, published in 1745, 8vo., a copy of which I purchased at Nassau's sale, many years since. (2.) The Doating Lovers, or the Libertine Tamed, a comedy in five acts; acted in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It is dedicated to the Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, whose "elegant taste and nice judgment in the most polite entertainments of the age," as well as her "piercing wit," are eulogised. Accident gave me a copy of Mr. Hamilton's book-plate, which consists of the crest and motto of the ducal race of Hamilton in a very curious framework,—the top being a row of music-books, whilst the sides and bottom are decorated with musical instruments, indicative, probably, of the tastes of Mr. Hamilton.

2. The Children's Petition.—I have also a very extraordinary little book, of which I never saw another copy. It formerly belonged to Michael Lort, and is entitled

"The Children's Petition, or a Modest Remonstrance of that Intolerable Grievance our Youth lie under, in the accustomed Severities of the School Discipline of this Nation. Humbly presented to the Consideration of the Parliament. Licensed Nov. 10. 1669, by Roger L'Estrange. London, 1669. 18mo."

The object of this most singular production is to put down the flagellation of boys in that particular part of the body wherein honour is said to be placed; and the arguments adduced are not very easily answered. The author, whoever he was, had reason, as well as learning, on his side. I am not aware of any other copy north the Tweed; but there may be copies in some of the libraries south of that river.

3. Dr. Anthony Horneck.—Do any of the letters of the once celebrated Dr. Anthony Horneck exist in any library, public or private? His only daughter married Mr. Barneveldt; and his son, who served with Marlborough, left issue, which failed in the male line, but still exists in the female line, in the representative of Henry William Bunting, Esq., the caricaturist. The writer of these Queries is the direct descendant of Mrs. Barneveldt, and is anxious to know whether any unpublished MSS. of his ancestors still exist. There was a Philip Horneck who in 1709 published an ode inscribed to his excellency the Earl of Wharton, wherein he is described as LL.B., a copy of which I have. There can be no doubt he is the individual introduced by Pope in the Dunciad, book iii. line 152.; but what I wish to know is, whether he was a son of Dr. Horneck, and a brother of the general.

4. In Clifford's History of the Paul of Tixall, the name of the real author of Gaudentio di Lucca is given. Every reliance may be attached to the accuracy of the information there given, not only on account of the undoubted respectability of the author, but from the evident means of knowledge which he, as a Roman Catholic of distinction, must have had.

5. The Travels of Baron Munchausen were written to ridicule Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, whose adventures were at the time deemed fictitious. Bruce was a most upright, honest man, and recorded nothing but what he had seen; nevertheless, as is always the case, a host of detractors buzzed about him, and he was so much vexed at the impeachment of his veracity, that he let them get their own way. Munchausen, a veritable name—the real possessor of which died in October, 1817—was assumed, and poor Bruce was travestied very cleverly, but most unjustly. The real author has not been ascertained; but at one time it was believed to have been James Grahame, afterwards a Scotch barrister, and author of a poem of much beauty, called The Sabbath. Circumstances which came to my knowledge, coupled with the exceedingly loveable character of Grahame, render this belief now incredible; but undoubtedly he knew who the real author was. The copy in my library is in two volumes: the first, said to be the second edition, "considerably enlarged, and ornamented with twenty explanatory engravings from original designs," is entitled Gulliver Revived: or the Vice of Lying properly exposed, and was printed for the Kearsleys, at London, 1793. The second volume is called A Sequel to the Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and is described as "a new edition, with twenty capital copperplates, including the Baron's portrait; humbly dedicated to Mr. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller," was published by H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, 1796. I had for years sought for an original copy of this very singular work, and I at last was so successful as to purchase the one above described, which had been picked up by a bookseller at the sale of some books originally forming part of the library at Hoddam Castle.

On looking over a copy of Sir John Mandeville,

"Printed for J. Osborne, near Dockhead, Southwark; and James Hodges, at the Looking Glass, on London Bridge:"