Notes and Queries, Number 12, January 19, 1850

Can any one furnish the entire title and imprint of a Latin poem, De Prælio Aveniniano, said to have been written in 1594, by a Scottish Jesuit named Alexander Macorovius, or Machoreus? Any particulars concerning this author would gratify

    LLEWELYN ST. GEORGE.

The Word "Cannibal."—When was the word Cannibal first used in English books?—To what language does it belong?—and what is its exact meaning?

    W.

Sir William Rider.—"H.F." would feel obliged by a reference to any work containing an account of Sir William Rider and his family. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1600; and his daughter Mary was married to Sir Thomas Lake, of Cannons, Secretary of State temp. James I. He wishes more particularly to ascertain the date of Sir William Rider's death.

The Word "Poghele."—What is the etymology and precise meaning of the word "Poghele" (pronounced Poughley), or rather the first part of it, which occurs occasionally as the name of a place in the county of Berks, and perhaps elsewhere?

    W.

Duncan Campbell.—Was the Duncan Campbell, of whom memoirs were written by Defoe, a real or an imaginary person? If the former, where can one find any authentic account of him?

    L.B.

Boston de Bury de Bib. Monasteriorum.—Can any of your correspondents give me a reference to the original MS. of Boston de Bury de Bibliothecis Monasteriorum?

    P.

Cazena on the Inquisition.—Can any one tell me what is the public opinion of Cazena's work on the Inquisition? I see Limborch and many others quoted concerning that tribunal, but never Cazena. Is the book scarce?—or is it not esteemed? I never saw but one copy.

    P.

The Reconciliation, 1554.—In 1554, Cardinal Pole directed a register to be kept in every parish of all the parishioners who, on a certain day, were to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and absolved. (Burnet's Ref. vol. iii. p. 245.)

The Bishop of London's Declaration thereon (Feb. 19. 1554) runs thus:—

"And they not so reconciled, every one of them shall have process made agaynst him accordyng to the canons, as the case shall requyre; for which purpose the pastours and curates of every paryshe shall be commanded by their archedeacon to certyfye me in writinge of every man and woman's name that is not so reconciled."

Have any of your readers at any time seen and made a note of such a register?

The most probable place of deposit would be the Bishop's Registry, but I have never yet been fortunate enough to meet with one of these curious returns.

    J.S.B.

MISCELLANIES

Darkness at the Crucifixion.—The following passage, in a volume of Lectures by the Rev. H. Blunt, has fallen under my notice:—

"It was this Dionysius (the Areopagite) of whom the earliest Christian historians relate that, being at Heliopolis, in Egypt, at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, when he beheld the mid-day darkness which attended that awful event, he exclaimed, 'Either the God of Nature suffers, or the frame of the world will be dissolved.'"

Having very limited opportunity of studying the ancient historians, I should be greatly obliged if you would inform me from what work this account is derived; or refer me to any authors, not having embraced Christianity, who give a description of the crucifixion of our Saviour; and especially with reference to the "darkness over all the earth" at the time of that event, mentioned by St. Luke, who also adds, that "the sun was darkened." Your kindly consenting, as you did in your second number, to receive queries respecting references, has induced me to trouble you so far.

    S.A.M.

[Our correspondent will find much that is to his purpose, both in the way of statements and of reference to original authorities, in Lardner's Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, chap. xiii. of the Heathen Authors; vol. ii. p. 125. of the original 4to. edition; or vol. vii. p. 370. of the 8vo. edition of his works by Kippis, 1788.]

High-Doctrine.—In the Cambridgeshire fens there are a great number of Dissenters, and I believe Cromwell's Ironsides were chiefly recruited from those districts. On the higher lands adjoining are the old parish churches; and in conversation it is not uncommon to hear the tenets of the Church of England described as High land Doctrine, in contra-distinction to the Low land, or Dissenters' doctrine.

The thing is amusing, if nothing else, and I heard it while staying some few years ago with my brother, who lives on the edges of the Cambridgeshire fens.

    E.H.

Wife of Robert de Bruce.—In the Surrenden Collection is an interesting roll, entitled "Liberatio facta Ingelardo de Warlee Custodi Garderobe, 7 E. 2."

It is, as its title imports, the release to the keeper of the wardrobe, for one year's accounts, aaº. 7 E. 2.

I shall probably be able to send you therefrom a few "notes" illustrative of the history of that time.

As a commencement, I think that the subjoined "note" will interest your historical readers.

It appears that the unfortunate wife of Robert Bruce was then consigned to the care of the Abbess of Barking, with an allowance of 20s. per week for the same. She was, I believe, the daughter of Henry de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, and died in 1328. In the above roll there is the following entry:—

"Cs liberati Anne de Veer Abbatisse de Berkyng, per manus domini Roberti de Wakfeld clerici, super expensis domine Elizabethe uxoris Roberti de Brus, percipientis per ebdomadum xxs., et ibidem perhendinantis."

"Cs liberati Johanni de Stystede valletto Abbatisse de Berkyng, per manus proprias, super expensis Domine de Brus in Abbathia de Berkyng perhendinantis."

It does not appear, in the above roll, how long the hapless queen remained in the abbey.

    LAMBERT B. LARKING.

Ryarsh Vicarage. Dec. 14. 1849.

The Talisman of Charlemagne.—I beg to refer your correspondent, on the subject of Charlemagne's Talisman, to what professes to be a correct representation of this antique relic, in The Illustrated London News, of March 8th, 1845; but it is not there described as "a small nut, in a gold filigree envelopment," and gives the idea of an ornament much too large for the finger or even wrist of any lady: that paper says,—

"This curious object of virtu is described in the Parisian journals as, 'la plus belle relique de l'Europe;' and it has, certainly, excited considerable interest in the archæological and religious circles of the continent. The talisman is of fine gold, of round form, as our illustration shows, set with gems, and in the centre are two rough sapphires, and a portion of the Holy Cross; besides other relics brought from the Holy Land."

The rest of the description much resembles your correspondent's, and asserts the talisman to be at that time the property of Prince Louis Napoleon, then a prisoner in the château of Ham.

    S.A.M.

Sayers the Caricaturist.—In Wright's England under the House of Hanover, vol. ii. p. 83 n., it is stated that James Sayer, the caricaturist, "died in the earlier part of the present century, no long time after his patron, Pitt." In Sepulchral Reminiscences of a Market Town, by Mr. Dawson Turner (Yarmouth, 8vo. 1848), p. 73 n., the caricaturist is called Sayers, and is said to have died on the 20th of April, 1823.

    C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Dec. 29. 1849.

May-Day.—To what old custom does the following passage allude?

"It is likewise on the first day of this month [May] that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver tankards, and, like the virgin Tarpeia, oppressed by the costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her."—Spectator, No. 365.

    MELANION.

[Our correspondent will find much curious illustration of this now obsolete custom in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes p. 357. (ed. Hone), where the preceding passage from the Spectator is quoted; and we are told "these decorations of silver cups, tankards, &c. were borrowed for the purpose, and hung round the milk pails (with the addition of flowers and ribands), which the maidens carried upon their heads when they went to the houses of their customers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of them." In Tempest's Cryes of London there is a print of a well-known merry milk-maid, Kate Smith, dancing with the milk pail decorations upon her head. See also Hone's Every Day Book, i. p. 576.]

Dr. Dee's Petition.—There is no mention of Dr. Dee's petition to King James in the list of his works in Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannica; but in Beloe's Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 263., is an account of the preface to a scarce work of his, in which he defends himself from the charge of being a conjurer, or caller of divels, &c.