Notes and Queries, Number 29, May 18, 1850

According to Col. Smyth, Akermann, and other authorities, no third brass of this empress exists; but the specimen before me has been decided as undoubtedly genuine by many competent judges.

4. A 3 B. coin of the Emperor Macrinus, struck in some of the provinces.—Obv. A bearded portrait of the emperor: Leg., AVT. K.M.O.C.C. MAKPINOC: Rev. An archaic S.C. in a laurel garland, above L and beneath C. I am anxious to know to what locality I may ascribe this coin, as I have not been able to find it described.

    E.S.T.

QUERIES PROPOSED, NO. 2

When reflecting on my various pen-and-ink skirmishes, I have sometimes half-resolved to avoid controversy. The resolution would have been unwise; for silence, on many occasions, would be a dereliction of those duties which we owe to ourselves and the public.

The halcyon days, so much desired, may be far distant! I have to comment, elsewhere, on certain parts of the Report of the commissioners on the British Museum—which I hope to do firmly, yet respectfully; and on the evidence of Mr. Panizzi—in which task I must not disappoint his just expectations. I have also to propose a query on the blunder of Malone—to which I give precedence, as it relates to Shakspeare.

The query is—have I "mistaken the whole affair"? A few short paragraphs may enable others to decide.

1. The question at issue arose, I presume to say, out of the statement of Mr. Jebb. I never quoted the Irish edition. If C. can prove that Malone superintended it, he may fairly tax me with a violation of my new canon of criticism—not otherwise. What says Mr. James Boswell on that point? I must borrow his precise words: "The only edition for which Mr. Malone can be considered as responsible [is] his own in 1790." [Plays and poems of W.S. 1821, i. xxxiii.]

2. I am said to have "repeated what C. had already stated."—I consulted the Shakspere of Malone, and verified my recollections, when the query of "Mr. JEBB" appeared—but forbore to notice its misconceptions. Besides, one C., after an interval of two months, merely asserted that it was not a blunder of Malone; the other C. furnished, off-hand, his proofs and references.

3. To argue fairly, we must use the same words in the same sense. Now C. (No. 24. p. 386.) asserts the Malone had never seen the introductory fragment; and asks, who forged it? He uses the word fabrication in the sense of forgery.—The facts are produced (No. 25. p. 404.). He is informed that the audacious fabrication, which took place before 1770, was first published by Malone himself, in 1790—yet he expects me to apply the same terms to the blunder committed by another editor in 1794.

4. As an answer to my assertion that the Irish editor attempted to unite the two fragments, C. proceeds to prove that he did not unite them. The procedure is rather defective in point of logical exactness. It proves only what was not denied. Malone refers to the will of John Shakspere, found by Joseph Moseley, with sufficient clearness; and it is charitable to assume that the Irish editor intended to observe the instructions of his precursor. He failed, it seems—but why? It would be useless to go in search of the rationale of a blunder.

Have I "mistaken the whole affair"?—I entreat those readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" who may take up the affirmative side of the question to point out my errors, whether as to facts or inferences.

    BOLTON CORNET.

AUTHORS WHO HAVE PRIVATELY PRINTED THEIR OWN WORKS

Can any of your readers refer me to any source whence I can obtain an account of "JOHN PAINTER, B.A. of St. John's College, Oxford?" He appears to have been a very singular character, and fond of printing (privately) his own lucubrations; to most of which he subscribes himself "The King's Fool." Three of these privately printed tracts are now before me:—1. The Poor Man's Honest Praises and Thanksgiving, 1746. 2. An Oxford Dream, in Two Parts, 1751. 3. A Scheme designed for the Benefit of the Foundling Hospital, 1751.

Who was ROBERT DEVERELL, who privately printed, in 4to., Andalusia; or Notes tending to show that the Yellow Fever was well known to the Ancients? The book seems a mass of absurdity; containing illustrations of Milton's Comus, and several other subjects equally incongruous.

    EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

MINOR QUERIES

Seager a Painter.—Marlow's Autograph.—In a MS., which has lately been placed in my hands, containing a copy of Henry Howard's translation of the last instructions given by the Emperor Charles V. to his son Philip, transcribed by Paul Thompson about the end of the sixteenth century, are prefixed some poems in a different handwriting. The first of these is an eclogue, entitled Amor Constans, in which the dialogue is carried on by "Dickye" and "Bonnybootes," and begins thus:—"For shame, man, wilt thou never leave this sorrowe?" At the end is the signature, "Infortunatus, Ch.M." Following this eclogue are sixteen sonnets, signed also "Ch.M.;" in two of which the author alludes to a portrait painter named Seager. One of these sonnets commences thus:—

"Whilest thou in breathinge cullers, crimson white,
Drewst these bright eyes, whose language sayth to me.
Loe! the right waye to heaven; Love stoode by the(e),
Seager! fayne to be drawne in cullers brighte," &c.

I should be glad to receive any information respecting this painter: as also any hints as to the name of the poet Ch. M. May I add, also, another Query? Is any authentic writing or signature of Christopher Marlow known to exist?

    M.

MS. Diary of the Convention Parliament of 1660.—The editors of the Parliamentary History give some passages from a MS. Diary of the Convention Parliament of the Restoration, and state that the Diary was communicated to them by the Rev. Charles Lyttleton, Dean of Exeter (vol. iv. p. 73.). I am anxious to know where this Diary now is, and if it may be seen by—

    CH.

Etymology of Totnes.—Can any of your readers suggest a probable etymology for Totnes, the "prime town of Great Britain," as it is called by Westcote[1 - A View of Devonshire in MDCXXX., by Thomas Westcote, Esq., Exeter, 1845.], who supposes it to have been built by Brutus, 1108 years before the Christian era. Mr. Polwhele, who supposed the numerous Hams in Devon to have owed their names to the worship of Jupiter Hammon, would, I imagine, have derived Totnes from the Egyptian god Thoth or Taut; or, perhaps, directly from King Thothmes. Westcote observes that some would have the name from,—

"The French word tout-à-l'aise, which is in English, all at ease; as if Brutus at his arrival in such a pleasant soil … should here assure himself and his fellow-travellers of ease, rest, and content; and the l, in this long time, is changed into n, and so from tout-à-lesse we now call it tout-à-nesse, and briefly Totnessse. This would I willingly applaud, could I think or believe that Brutus spake so good French, or that the French tongue was then spoken at all. Therefore, I shall with the more ease join in opinion with those who would have it named Dodonesse, which signifieth [in what language?] the rocky-town, or town on stones, which is also agreeable with the opinion of Leland."

Totnes is denominated Totenais and Totheneis in Domesday Book; and in other old records variously spelt, Toteneis, Totteneys, Toteneys, Totton', Totteñ, Totenesse, Tottenesse, Tottonasse, Totonie, &c. Never, Donodesse.

    J.M.B.

Totnes, April 23. 1850.

Dr. Maginn's Miscellanies.—Towards the end of 1840, Dr. Maginn issued the prospectus of a work to be published weekly in numbers, and to be entitled "Magazine Miscellanies, by Dr. Maginn," which was intended to comprise a selection from his contributions to Blackwood, Fraser, &c. Will any one of your multitudinous readers kindly inform me whether this work was ever published, or any portion of it?

    J.M.B.

Dr. Maginn's "Shakspeare Papers."—The Doctor published several very able critical dissertations under this, or some similar title, about the year 1837, in one of the monthly magazines, for references to which I shall feel obliged.

    J.M.B.

Dr. Maginn's Homeric Ballads.—Between 1839 and 1842, the "Homeric Ballads," from thirteen to sixteen, appeared in Fraser's Magazine. Will any correspondent favour me with specific references to the numbers or months in which they were published? I may add, that I shall esteem it as a very great favour to receive authentic reference to any articles contributed to Blackwood, Fraser, &c., &c., by Dr. Maginn. The difficulty of determining authorship from internal evidence alone is well-known, and is aptly illustrated by the fact, that an article on Miss Austen's novels, by Archbishop Whately, was included in the collection of Sir Walter Scott's prose works.

    J.M.B.

Poor Robin's Almanack.—Who was the author or originator of Poor Robin's Almanack? Are any particulars known of its successive editors? In what year did it cease to be published? The only one I possess is for the year 1743,—"Written by Poor Robin, Knight of the Burnt Island, a well-wisher to Mathematicks," who informs his readers that this was his eighty-first year of writing. What is meant by Knight of the Burnt Island?

I must not omit to add, that at Dean Prior, the former vicar, Robert Herrick, has the reputation of being the author of Poor Robin.

    J.M.B.

Totnes, April 18. 1850.

The Camp in Bulstrode Park.—Is there any published account of this camp having been opened? It is well worth the examination of a competent antiquary.... It is not even alluded to in Mr. Jesse's Favourite Haunts, nor does that gentleman appear to have visited the interesting village of "Hedgerley" (anciently Hugely), or Jordans, the Quakers' Meeting-house, and burial-place of Penn, between Beaconsfield and Chalfont. Chalfont was anciently written Chalfhunt, and is by the natives still called Charff[)u]nt; and Hunt is a very common surname in this parish: there was, however, Tobias Chalfont, Rector of Giston, who died 1631. "Chal" appears to be a common prefix. In Chalfont (St. Peter's) is an inscription to Sir Robert Hamson, Vycar, alluded to in Boutell's Brasses. In a cupboard under the gallery staircase is a copper helmet, which, prior to the church having been beautified in 1822, was suspended on an iron bracket with a bit of rag, as it then looked, to the best of my memory. I have heard that it belonged to the family of Gould of Oak End, extinct.

    A.C.

Hobit, a measure of corn in Wales; what is the derivation?

    A.C.

REPLIES

DR. PERCY AND THE POEMS OF THE EARL OF SURREY

I have the means of showing what Dr. Percy did with the poems of the Earl of Surrey, because I have a copy of the work now before me.

It can hardly be said that he "prepared an edition" of those poems, as supposed by your correspondent "G." on the authority of Watts's Bibliotheca Britannica, but he made an exact reprint of the Songes and Sonnettes written by the Right Honorable Lorde Henry Haward, late Earle of Surrey, and other, which was printed Apud Richardum Tottell. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. 1557. The Bishop of Dromere made no attempt at editing the work much beyond what was necessary to secure an exact reimpression. He prefixed no Life of Surrey (a point "G." wishes to ascertain); and, in fact, the book was never completed. It contains considerably more than the reprint of the poems of Lord Surrey, and was intended to consist of two volumes with separate pagination; the first volume extending to p. 272., and the second to p. 342.

As the work is a rarity, owing to an unfortunate accident, some of your readers may like to see a brief notice of it. Watts (as quoted by "G." for I have not his portly volumes at hand,) states that the "whole impression" was "consumed in the fire which took place in Mr. Nicholls's premises in 1808." This was a mistake, as my extant copy establishes; and Restituta (iii. 451.) informs us that four were saved. Of the history of my own impression I know nothing beyond the fact, that I paid a very high price for it some twenty years since, at an auction; but the late Mr. Grenville had another copy, which I had an opportunity of seeing, and which had belonged to T. Park, and had been sent to him by Dr. Percy for the advantage of his notes and remarks. This, I presume, is now in the British Museum; whither it came with the rest of Mr. Grenville's books, four or five years ago.