Notes and Queries, Number 58, December 7, 1850

Bailie Nicol Jarvie (Vol. ii., p. 421.).—When we spoke recently of Charles Mackay, the inimitable Bailie Nicol Jarvie of one of the Terryfications (though not by Terry) of Scott's Rob Roy having made a formal affidavit that he was a real "Edinburgh Gutter Bluid," we suspect some of our readers themselves suspected a joke. The affidavit itself has, however, been printed in the Athenæum, accompanied by an amusing commentary, in which the document is justly pronounced "a very curious one." Here it is:

"At Edinburgh, the Fourteenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty years.

"In presence of John Stoddart, Esq., one of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the City of Edinburgh, appeared Charles Mackay, lately Theatre Royal, residing at number eleven Drummond Street, Edinburgh; who being solemnly sworn and examined depones, that he is a native of Edinburgh, having been born in one of the houses on the north side of the High Street of said city, in the month of October one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. That the deponent left Edinburgh for Glasgow when only about nine years of age, where he sojourned for five years; thence he became a wanderer in many lands, and finally settled once more in Edinburgh a few months before February eighteen hundred and nineteen years, when the drama of Rob Roy was first produced in the Theatre Royal here. That the deponent by his own industry having realised a small competency, he is now residing in Edinburgh; and although upwards of threescore years old he finds himself 'hale and hearty,' and is one of the same class whom King Jamie denominates 'a real Edinburgh Gutter Bluid.' All which is truth, as the deponent shall answer to God.

    "Chas. Mackay, B. N. Jarvie.
    "John Stoddart, J. P.
    "John Middleton, M.D.E., Witness.
    "Walter Henderson, Witness."

Hogs not Pigs (Vol. ii., p. 102.).—J. Mn.'s remark on "hogs, lambs a year old," reminds me that the origin of this rustical word still lingers in the remote west, among the Irish and the Highland Gaels, whose gnath-bearla, vernacular tongue, furnishes the neglected key of many a dark chamber. The word to which I allude is "og," adj. young; whence "ogan," a young man; "oige," a virgin.

In these islands we still apply the old French term "aver," averium, in Guernsey, to the hog or pig; in Jersey, to a child. In France "aver" denoted the animal produce or stock on a farm; and there were "averia lanata" likewise. Similar apparently whimsical adaptations of words will not shock those who are aware that "pig" in England properly means a little fellow of the swine species, and that "pige" in Norse signifies a little maid, a damsel.

    G. M.

Guernsey.

The Baptized Turk.—Your correspondent CH. (Vol. ii., p. 120.), who inquired about Lord Richard Christophilus (al. Isuf Bassa), a converted Turk, may be interested in a curious account of another convert to Christianity, which has lately fallen in my way, if he be not already in possession of the (almost legendary) narrative. I allude to a small 8vo. volume, entitled:

"The Baptized Turk; or, A Narrative of the happy conversion of Signior Rigep Dandulo, the onely son of a silk merchant in the isle of Tsio, from the delusions of that great Impostor Mahomet, unto the Christian Religion; and of his admission unto Baptism, by Mr. Gunning at Excester-house Chappel, the 8th of November, 1657. Drawn up by Tho. Warmstry, D.D., Lond. 1658."

Dr. Warmstry was Dean of Worcester. His conversion of the Turk Dandulo is mentioned in the Lansdowne MSS. (986., p. 67.), and also in the Athenæ Oxonienses. The narrative is dedicated to

"The Right Honourable the Countess of Dorset, the Honourable the Lord George, and the Worshipful Philip Warwick, Esq., witnesses at the baptism of Signior Dandulo the convert."

There appears to have been "a picture of the said Dandulo in a Turkish habit put before it;" but this has been abstracted from the only copy I have seen.

This conversion appears to have been effected by the instrumentality of a dream; and the Narrative contains an interesting essay of some length on the subject of visions, and gives an interpretation of the dream in question.

    J. Sansom.

Queries

GRAY.—DRYDEN.—PLAYING CARDS

Although my question regarding Gray and Dodsley's Collection of Poems has only been half answered, and my two Queries respecting Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel and Essay on Satire not answered at all, I am not discouraged from putting interrogatories on other matters, in the hope that I may be more fortunate hereafter. On each of my former inquiries I have still a word or two to say, and I do not know why I should not say them now.

First, as to Gray and Dodsley:—Is the epithet droning, or drony, in the first edition of the Elegy? and, as my copy of Dodsley's Collection is dated 1748, and is said (on the half title, preceding the whole title) to be "the second edition," was there a first edition in the same year, or in an earlier year, or was there, in fact, no first edition at all? This question is important, because several poetical productions, of undisputed excellence, originally made their appearance in Dodsley's Collection.

Next, as to Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel: Is it known, or anywhere stated, that it was printed early in the eighteenth century as a penny or two-penny chap-book, and why was it so printed? Observe, too, that it was unaccompanied by Tate's Continuation, which, as far as a lesson to the lower orders is concerned, was of more consequence than Dryden's portion. It is a circumstance I did not mention, but it is, nevertheless, worth a Note, that in The Key which follows the Address "to the Reader," in my edition of 1708, the character of Zimri (which was given by Dryden himself to the Duke of Buckingham) is assigned to Lord Gray, who was in truth the Caleb of the performance. Is it to be taken that the publication of this chap-book edition is merely a proof of the extreme popularity of Dryden's half of the poem?

My third unanswered Query referred to the Essay on Satire, commonly attributed to Lord Mulgrave and Dryden, but with which, as it seems to me, for reasons there assigned, Lord Mulgrave could have nothing to do. As a farther proof of Dryden's sole authorship, I may here add, what I have since found, that the Addendum to the first volume of State Poems consists of one thus entitled: "In opposition to Mr. Dryden's Essay on Satyr," treating it as only his: it begins,

"Now the reformer of the court and stage,
The common beadle of this wilful age,
Has with impartial hand whipp'd sovereign sin,
In me it is but manners to begin."

It sounds drolly, in our day, to hear Dryden called "the reformer of the court and stage," especially recollecting the attack upon him made just afterwards by Jeremy Collier. Then, what are we to say to the subsequent lines, attributed to Prior, which advert to the cudgelling Dryden received in Rose Street for his attack upon Rochester. Prior calls his own production A Satire on the Modern Translators, where he thus speaks of Dryden under his name of Bayes:—

"But what excuse, what preface can atone
For crimes which guilty Bayes has singly done—
Bayes, whose Rose Alley ambuscade enjoin'd
To be to vices, which he practised, kind?"

All the contemporary evidence, with which I am acquainted, tends to establish that Lord Mulgrave, instead of being the author of a satire which Dryden improved and polished, had nothing in the world to do with it. Is there any evidence, not contemporary, which shows the contrary? Surely this, and the two other matters to which I have above adverted, are interesting literary Queries.

Now to a subject that I care less about, and upon which I am entitled, from his published works, to appeal to your correspondent, Mr. S. W. Singer. It is a mere trifle, but upon a curious point—the history of playing cards, which may, however, attract more attention than topics that relate only to such insignificant men as Thomas Gray and John Dryden.

I have before me only four, out of what I presume originally consisted of fifty-two playing cards, unlike any I have hitherto heard of. Each of them illustrates a proverb, which is engraved at the bottom of a pictorial representation of figures and objects, and the cards consist of the ten of diamonds, the ace of hearts, the seven of hearts, and the eight of spades: the number is in Roman figures at the left-hand corner, and the subject, a diamond, heart, and spade, at the right-hand corner. I will briefly describe them separately.

The proverb illustrated by the ten of diamonds is "Hee's in an ill case y

can finde no hole to creepe out at;" and the engraving (upon copper) represents two men, with grey heads and in black gowns, in the pillory, surrounded by soldiers armed with halberds, partisans, spears, &c., of various shapes, and by a crowd of men in dresses of the seventeenth century. The ace of hearts illustrates the proverb "Look before you leap;" a man in a hat turned up at the sides is about to leap from a high bank into the waters, wherein two others are already swimming: in the background is a fifth man looking over the fence of a cottage. The seven of hearts has engraved at the bottom of it, "Patience on force is a medicine for a mad horse;" and it represents the female keeper of a brothel receiving whip-castigation at a cart's tail, a punishment frequently inflicted of old upon women of that description, as many authors testify: soldiers with halberds, &c., as before, march on either side of the cart, which at the moment is passing a house with the sign of the Half-moon hanging out from the wall by ornamented iron-work. The eight of spades is upon the proverb, "Two of a trade can never agree;" and in the engraving, a couple of fish-wives, who have thrown down their baskets of plaise, flounders, &c., are fighting furiously, while a man, behind, is obviously running away with something he has stolen from them: the background consists of gable-ended houses, part of a street.

These cards came to me from an old relative, who very likely once had the whole pack, or deck, as it was formerly called; but I never could find more than these four, and I have been unable to meet with, or hear of, any others like them. From the costume and other circumstances, I am inclined to think that they belong to the period of the Civil War, or rather later; and I remember, some years ago, to have been shown twenty or thirty cards of the latter end of the seventeenth century, founded upon public events, one of them relating to the celebrated "Virgins of Taunton Dean," another to the Death of Monmouth, &c. I shall be personally obliged by any information respecting the cards I have described; and, since a distinct Query may be desirable, I beg leave to ask any of your readers, whether they know of the existence of any other cards belonging to the same set?

    The Hermit of Holyport.

Minor Queries

Pretended Reprint of Ancient Poetry.—In a bookseller's catalogue (J. Taylor, Blackfriars-road, 1824), I find mention of a work entitled Sundrie Pleasaunte Flowres of Poesie, newlie plucked from the Hill Parnasse the hand of P. M., and verie goodlie to smelle. It is said to have been "Imprynted in London, in the yeare of our Lorde 1576," and "Reprinted by Davidson, 1823." The bookseller's note records the fact, that "only TWO COPIES were reprinted from the original supposed to be unique." I do not believe that any work with the above title came from the press in the sixteenth century. Query, Who was the enlightened individual who produced the two copies?

    Edward F. Rimbault.

The Jews' Spring Gardens.—In the newspaper called the Postman, Oct. 3. to 6. 1702, I read,

"At Milend the garden and house called the Jews' Spring Garden, is to be let. Enquire at Capt. Bendal's at Milend."

Can any of your readers, acquainted with the neighbourhood of London, afford me information regarding this place, which was probably one of amusement and promenade much used by the Jews, many of the wealthier of whom, at that time and long afterwards, resided in Goodman's Fields?

    Y. S.

Cardinal Allen's Admonition to the Nobility.—Sharon Turner (Eliz., book ii. chap. xxx. vol. iv. p. 348.) mentions that there is a copy of Cardinal Allen's Admonition to the Nobility, &c., in the Jesuit's College at Stoneyhurst, and but a few others in England.

I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me where one is to be found. There is not one either in the Bodleian or the British Museum.

    James Bliss.

"Clarum et venerabile nomen."—Can any of your correspondents inform me in what author the following lines are to be found? They are quoted by Burke in his speech on American taxation.

"Clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi?"

    W. L.
Whipping by Women.—In the accounts of the constable of this parish for the year 1644, there are the following items:

Was it the usual custom for women sentenced to whipping to be consigned to the tender mercies of one of their own sex?