Notes and Queries, Number 07, December 15, 1849

"Qui pretium poseit quod non meruisse videtur,
Atque super fragilem ponit sua brachia cannam
Illius in dorso Cancrorum semita stabit;
Devolet inque suum rictum satis assa Columba."

It appears, then, to me, that the design of the medallist was to hold up to the exceration of the English people the machinations of Father Petre, who (together with Sunderland) guided the councils of the king at the juncture. The Jesuits, like the crustaceous fish above-mentioned, were alleged to accomplish their dark and crooked designs by creeping and sedulously working their way straight forward through the mud, until some real danger presented itself, and then reculing with equal adroitness.

At this time, too, the bigoted and superstitious adherents of James had been offering their vows at every shrine, and even making pilgrimages, to induce Heaven to grant a male heir to the throne, and thus exclude the Protestant daughters of the king. The premature and unexpected event, therefore, of the birth of a son, was pronounced by James's friends to have been predestined by the special grace of the Most High. All this, I apprehend, was intended to be typified by the figure of the Jesuit Petre riding upon a Lobster.

    JOS. BROOKS YATES

Straw Necklaces—Method of keeping Notes, &c.

Sir,—As I see this matter is not yet explained, I venture a suggestion. Wheat straw was an emblem of peace among heathen nations; in it the first-fruits brought by Abaris the Hyperborean to Delos were wrapped; and when commerce, or rather trade by barter, had rendered transmission from hand to hand practicable, wheat straw was still used. With the worship of Diana the offering of wheat straw passed over to Thrace, where it was a recognition of that goddess as the patron of chastity. In Judea the wheat harvest was later than that of barley, the Jews therefore offered a sheaf of the latter grain as first-fruits; it is, however, extraordinary that Moses orders barley-meal as the offering for jealousy (Numbers, v 15.), though the price of barley was but half that of wheat. It seems as if there were the same connection between this peace-offering and that of the first-fruits with the Jews, that we see between the offering to Diana and the first-fruits of the Hyperboreans; both may have been derived from Egypt, in the learning of which, we are told, Moses was skilled. The straw necklace or chaplet of Erasmus' pilgrim might be worn to secure him from molestation in travelling, or it may refer to the patroness of Walsingham, the Virgin Mary.

I dare say many persons have thought with me, that a poet's promise of a "belt of straw" to his love, was not a very complimentary one; one possible meaning never struck me till this moment: it may be a compliment unconsciously drawn from a heathen source, and perpetuated, like so many of our old-world customs, among a class of people the least likely to understand the meaning.

Another corroboration of Macaulay's Young Levite may be found in The Tatler, No. 255, sixty years later than Burton.

I beg to suggest a method of keeping "Notes," which I have found useful. I have a blank book for each quarter of the world, paged alphabetically; I enter my notes and queries according to the subject for which they are most likely to be required; if relating to mere geography or history, under the name of place or person. I also keep a list (with dates) of all the books I read, with a note of any use to be made of them; I also keep a list of all books to be read, and the reasons for reading them. I tried various ways of keeping my notes, and found no classification so easy for reference as the plan I have mentioned; it may not, however, suffice to those whose reading is much more extensive than mine; I mention it as a working plan.

    F.C.B.

ANSWERS TO MINOR QUERIES

Ancient Motto

Sir,—In your Sixth Number, p. 93, J.E.M. wishes to know whence the motto, "Si quis amicum absentum rodere delectat," &c. is taken.

Allow me to refer your correspondent to Horace, Sat. I. iv. 81 sqq.

"Absentem qui rodit amicum,
Qui non defendit, alio culpante,
* * * * * * * *
hic niger est, hanc tu, Romane, caveto."

The inscription would seem to be but an adaptation of Horace's maxim.

    C.B.B.

Political Maxim—when first used.

The political maxim, or phrase, inquired after by C. is Burke's. It occurs in his celebrated Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontent, published in 1770, in the course of his defence of party, a few pages from the end. A short extract will show the connection in which it is introduced:—

"No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle."

I have some suspicion that the maxim may be found, with probably a slight variation of expression, repeated in one of Burke's later tracts. But this is certainly its first appearance.

    G.L.C.

Old Brompton, Dec. 8. 1849.

Annus Trabeationis.

Sir Harris Nicholas, in his Chronology of History, p. 4., gives "annus Trabeationis" as one way in which the year of our Lord is designated in ancient documents. Would any of your readers favour me with the meaning of the word Trabeatio?

    G.P.

[Our correspondent will find, on referring to Mr. Hampson's useful work, Medii Ævi Kalendarium, vol. ii. s. v. Annus Trabentionis, "According to Du Cange, this is the year of the crucifixion—'Annus Trabeationis Christi (annus quo Christus trabi affixus est);' but according to L'Art de vérifier les Dates, it is the same as the year of the Incarnation." Mr. Hampson adds, "the import of the word is the year of the Crucifixion, and cannot well be reconciled with that of the Incarnation." But, upon referring to Du Cange, s. v. Trabeatio, our correspondent will find that Du Cange regards it as the year of the Incarnation—"Trabeatio autem, non a trabe, quà Crux intelligi posset, sed a trabea togæ species, deducitur"—quoting, as his authority for this interpretation, a sermon of St. Fulgentius on St. Stephen, in which he says, "Heri enim Rex noster Trabea carnis indutus."]

Betterton's Duties of a Player.

Sir,—Betterton's Instructions on the Art of Playing and Public Speaking, queried in your 5th Number, were pubished by the well-known dramatic critic, Charles Gildon, and form a portion of his Life of Betterton. As this work is little known, I shall quote the title at length:—"The Life of Mr. Thomas Betterton, the late eminent Tragedian, wherein the Action and Utterance of the Stage, Bar, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered; with the judgment of the late ingenious Monsieur de St. Evremond, upon the Italian and French Music and Operas, in a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham. To which is added, The Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife, a Comedy, written by Mr. Betterton, now first printed from the Original Copy. London, Printed for Robert Gosling, at the Miter, near the Inner Temple Gate in Fleet Street, 1710. 8vo." Gildon was intimately acquainted with Betterton, and he gives an interesting account of a visit paid to that great actor, the year before his death, at his country house at Reading. It was on this occasion that Gildon came into the possession of Betterton's manuscripts. Thirty-one years after the publication of Betterton's Life, Curll, the notorious bookseller, put forth a mutilated copy of the Instructions on Playing, in a work bearing the following title:—"The History of the English Stage, from the Restauration to the Present Time, Including the Lives, Character, and Amours, of the most Eminent Actors and Acresses; with Instructions for Public Speaking, wherein the Action and Utterance of the Bar, Stage, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered. By Thomas Betterton. London, Printed for E. Curll, at Pope's Head in Rose-Street, Covent Garden, 1741. 8vo." From this title it would appear (as indeed Curll wished it) that Betterton was the author of the entire work; but he is only accountable for the brief Instructions for Public Speaking, which, as before stated, were pillaged from Gildon.

Reverting to Colley Cibber's Lives, I beg to point out a curious and rare tract in connection with them, entitled, "A Brief Supplement to Colley Cibber, Esq.; his Lives of the Late Famous Actors and Actresses. By Anthony (vulgò Tony) Aston. Printed for the Author. 8vo. pp. 24." The copy now before me, which was Isaac Reed's, sold at his sale for 2l. 5s. It is reprinted in a literary journal called The Cabinet, and in Bell-chambers' excellent edition of Cibber's Apology.

Whilst on the subject of the stage, I should be glad if any of your correspondents could inform me what has become of "Dick Leveridge's History of the Stage and Actors in his own Time?" Leveridge himself informed Oldys that he had compiled such a work, and Oldys, with his usual care, noted the fact in one of his numerous memorandum books. I have been long engaged in a history of The Life and Times of Henry Purcell, and the said MS., if it could be recovered, would, without doubt, enlighten us much upon the subject of Purcell's career as a dramatic composer.

    EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Betterton's Essay.

The "best piece" of Betterton, for which T. J. L. inquires (p. 68.), is contained in his Life, printed by Gosling, 1710; in fact, this is merely a vehicle to intriduce the treatise, the Life filling only from p. 5. to 11., and thus concluding:—"He was bury'd with great decency in Westminster Abbey."

"The year before his death, (he) being at his country house in Reading, my friend and I travelled that way.... One day, after dinner, we retired to his garden, and fell into the discourse of acting." Thus is introduced his Essay, &c., continuing to p. 174., where it abruptly ends thus:—"After this discourse, we took our leaves of Mr. Betterton, and returned to London. I was pleased with his story," &c.

My copy is dedicated to Richard Steele, Esq., by Charles Gildon, and has prefixed to it the beautiful portrait of Betterton, engraved by Vander Gucht, from Kneller's picture, and, at its close (but separately paged), "The Amorous Widow or the Wanton Wife, now first printed from the original copy," 1710. E.

Incumbents of Church Livings.

A correspondent in Number 4., writes to inquire for information relative to the "names and birthplaces of incumbents of church livings prior to 1680, and the patrons of them."

It may slightly help his investigations to know that there is a Latin MS. in the British Museum, numbered Additional MSS. 12,483, with the title "Ecclesiastical Visitation of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, held in March and April 1543, by Nicholas Harpisfelde, Official of the Archdeacon of Winchester," folio, containing the names of the incumbents and churchwardens of the livings in those counties.

    W. M. KINGSMILL.

Westminster, December 1849.

Mars de Saham—Portum Pusillum.

The first appears to be Soham, in Cambridgeshire; described in Liber Eliensis as "terra de Saham, quæ est ad stagnum juxta Ely." Does "mare" stand for "stagnum," "palus," "mariscus," or our English "mere?" Can Portum Pusillum be Littleport, in the same country?

    J.F.M.

Reinerius—Inquisition in France.

Sir,—Faber, in his work on the Waldenses, quotes Reinerius, in Biblio. Patrum. I have in vain looked in modern biographical dictionaries for any account of Reinerius, so am constrained to inquire of some of your readers, who and what he was, or to beg the favour of a reference to some accessible account of him. I think Faber says he was an inquisitor; and this is the extent of the information which I have been able to collect respecting him.

I wish also to inquire whether his work on Heretics (his only work, I presume) has been published in any other and more accessible form than that in which it was referred to by Faber; and, particularly, whether it has ever been translated into English.