Notes and Queries, Number 30, May 25, 1850

As regards the derivation of "News," I wish you had allowed the question to rest as it stood after the sensible remarks of "A.E.B." (No. 23. p. 369.). Pray excuse me, Sir, for expressing a hope that you will ponder well before you again allow us to be puzzled on so plain a subject, and give circulation and your sanction to paradoxes, even though coming from one so entitled to attention as "Mr. HICKSON."

The early communication between the English and German languages, of which "Mr. HICKSON" puts forward the derivation of "news" from "neues" as an instance, may be an interesting and profitable subject of inquiry; but as I think he has been singularly unfortunate in the one instance, so I do not think him particularly happy in his other. I see no further resemblance between Heywood's "Song in praise of his Mistress," and the early German poem, than what might arise from treatment of the same and a very common subject.

I am not enough of an etymologist to give you the root of the word "noise." But my faith in "Mr. HICKSON" in this capacity is not strong enough to lead me to believe, on his dictum, that "news" and "noise" are the same word; and when, pursuing his fancy about "neues," he goes on to say that "noise" is "from a dialect from which the modern German pronunciation of the dipthong is derived," I fear his pronunciation of German is faulty, if he pronounces eu in "Neues" like oi in "noise."

[We differ from our correspondent on this point, and think that here, at all events, Mr. HICKSON has the advantage of the argument.]

I beg to repeat that for "Mr. HICKSON" I feel great respect. If he knew my name, he would probably know nothing about me; but I happen to know of him, what perhaps, some of your readers do not, that he has unostentatiously rendered many considerable services not only to literature but to our social and political interests. In my humble opinion, his recent essay in your columns on The Taming of the Shrew is a contribution to our literary history which you may be proud of having published. But I feel that I cannot too strongly protest against his derivation of "News."

    CH.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES

Dr. Whichcot and Lord Shaftesbury (No. 24. p. 382., No. 27. p. 444.).—I am obliged to "COLL. REGAL. SOCIUS" for his notice of my inquiry. The Lord Chamberlain and Chancellor of Cambridge University mentioned in Lord Lauderdale's letter to Dr. Whichcot, is the Earl of Manchester. Shaftesbury was never either Lord Chamberlain or Chancellor of Cambridge.

I may mention that Whichcot's intimacy with Lord Shaftesbury would probably have been brought about by his being incumbent of the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, Shaftesbury having his London house in the latter part of his life in Aldersgate Street.

If it is not committing unpardonable trespass on that useful part of your publication in which books and odd volumes are asked for, I will go on to say that I should be glad to have a copy of the volume of Whichcot's Sermons (1698) which the third Lord Shaftesbury edited, at a reasonable price.

    CH.

Elizabeth and Isabel (No. 27. p. 439.).—Mr. Thomas Duffus Hardy, in his evidence on the Camoys Peerage case (June 18. 1838, Evidence, p. 351.) proved that the names of Isabella and Elizabeth were in ancient times used indifferently, and particularly in the reigns of Edward I. and Edward III. Mr. Hardy says in his evidence:—

"In the British Museum there is a Latin letter of Elizabeth of Austria, Queen of Charles IX. of France, to Queen Elizabeth of England. In the Latin she is called Elizabetha, and she signs her name Ysabel. In the Chronicle de St. Denis, in the year 1180, it is stated, 'Le jor martmes espousa la noble Roine Ysabel,' 'Upon this day, Queen Elizabeth was married;' and in Rigordus de Gestis Philippi Augusti Regis Francois it is stated, 'Tune inuncta fuit Elizabeth uxor ejus venerabilis foemina;' and Moreri says she is called 'Elizabeth or Izabeau de Hainault, Queen of France, wife of Philippe Auguste.' Camden, in his Remains, says, 'Isabel is the same as Elizabeth;' that the Spaniards always translate Elizabeth into Isabel, and the French into Izabeau. I have seen in the British Museum a deed, in which the name Elizabetha is written in Latin; on the seal it is Isabella. In the Inquisitiones post Mortem I have frequently seen Ysabella returned in one country and Elizabetha in an other for the same person. I have something like a dozen other instances from Moreri, in which he says that Elizabeth and Isabella or Isabeau are the same. Elizabeth or Izabeau de France, dau. of Lewis VIII. and Blanche of Castella; Elizabeth or Isabelle d'Aragon, Queen of France, wife of Philippe III., surnamed le Hardie; Elizabeth or Isabeau de Bavière, Queen of France, wife of Charles VI.; Elizabeth or Isabeau d'Angoulême, wife of King John of England; Elizabeth or Isabeau de France, Queen of England, dau. of Philippe IV.; Elizabeth or Isabelle of France, Queen of Richard II.; Elizabeth or Isabelle de France, Queen of Navarre; Elizabeth or Isabelle de Valois, dau. of Charles of France; Elizabeth or Isabelle de France, dau. of Philippe le Long, King of France; Elizabeth or Isabelle de France, Duchess of Milan; Elizabeth or Isabelle, Queen of Philippe V. of Spain."

    WM. DURRANT COOPER.

81. Guildford Street, May 4. 1850.

Elizabeth—Isabel.—The Greek word [Greek: Elisabet] (Luke, i. 5. &c.) from which Elizabeth, or Elisabeth, must have been adopted as a Christian name, is used by the LXX. (Exodus, vi. 23.) to express the Hebrew [Hebrew: Elisheba], the name of Aaron's wife. This at once directs us to the verb [Hebrew: shaba], or rather to its Niphal, [Hebrew: nishba], for the Kal form does not occur, to swear; for the combination of letters in [Hebrew: el isshaba], God will swear, or God sweareth, is the same as that in the proper name. Now let us transpose the verb and its nominative case, and we have [Hebrew: ishaba el], which a Greek translator might soften into [Greek: Isabel].

The use of [Greek: Elisabet] both by the LXX. and the Evangelist, makes it probable that the mother of John the Baptist, who was of the daughters of Aaron (Luke, i. 5.), was known amongst her own people by the recognized and family name of Elisheba, as Anna no doubt would be Hannah ([Hebrew: hanah]), and Mary, Miriam ([Greek: Mariam], Luke, i. 27.). And this is confirmed by the Syriac version, the vernacular, or nearly so, of Our Blessed Lord and His disciples, which has [Syriac: elisheba].

Genesius, in his Lexicon, explains Elisheba to mean "cui Deus est sacramentum," "quæ jurat per Deum, i.e. Dei cultrix: cf. Is. xix. 18." I should rather take it to be a name expressive of trust in God's promises or oath, such as Elijah, "the LORD is my God;" Isaiah, "the LORD is my salvation;" Ezekiel, "God strengtheneth." Schleusner (Lex. N.T.) says that others derived it from [Hebrew: saba], saturavit; "sic in Alberti Gloss. N.T., p. 87. explicatur, [Greek: Theou mou plaesmonae]." Wolfius, in his note on Luke, i. 5., refers to Witsii Miscellanea, tom. ii. p. 478., to which I must refer your correspondent "A.C.," as I have not the book by me.

Camden must, of course, have derived the name from [Hebrew: shabath], to rest; but I think we must rather defer to the authority of the LXX. And though [Hebrew: el ishaboth] may give us Elisabeth, we shall not be able to deduce Isabel from [Hebrew: ishboth el] quite so easily.

    B.

L – Rectory, S –, May 4. 1850.

Trunck Breeches (No. 24. p. 384.), more commonly called "trunk-hose," were short wide breeches reaching a little above, or sometimes below the knees, stuffed with hair, and striped. (See The Oxford Manual for Brasses, p. cvi.; and Planche's British Costume, pp. 334-339. new ed.) Two years ago, I saw in the Strand an old man with a queue; a sight which I made a note of as soon as I got home, influenced by the same motive that, no doubt, led Smith in 1640 to append to the death of "old Mr. Grice" the remark, "who wore truncke breeches," namely, the antique singularity of the habiliment.

    ARUN.

Mercenary Preacher (No. 24. p. 384.).—I think mercenary here is used in its primary signification, and in the sense in which we still apply it to troops in the pay of a state foreign to their own; to designate one who, having no settled cure, was at liberty to be "hired" by those who had occasion for his services.

    ARUN.

Abdication of James the Second (No. 3. p. 40.).—"J.E." would probably hear of the MSS. mentioned by Sir Harris Nicholas, on application to the Rev. Sir Thomas Miller, Bart., Froyle, near Alton, Hants.

    E.W.

Clifton.

Toom Shawn Cattie (No. 24. p. 383.).—An entertaining volume, containing the life and adventures of Twm Sion Catti, was published at Biulth some years ago, by Mr. Jeffery Llewelyn Prichard, who recently told me it was out of print, and that inquiries had been made for the book which might probably lead to a new and improved edition.

    ELIJAH WARING.

Dowry Parade, Clifton.

Wotton's Poem to Lord Bacon (No. 19. p. 302.).—The poem communicated by Dr. Rimbault, with the heading, "To the Lord Bacon when falling from Favour," and with the remark that he does "not remember to have seen it in print," was written by Sir Henry Wotton, and may be found under the title, "Upon the sudden restraint of the Earl of Somerset, then falling from Favour," in all the old editions of the Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1651, 1654, 1672, and 1685), as well as in the modern editions of Sir Henry's poems, by Mr. Dyce and Mr. Hannah. It was also printed as Wotton's in Clarke's Aurea Legenda, 1682, p. 97., and more recently in Campbell's Specimens, in both cases, doubtless, from Rel. Wotton. The misapplication of it to Lord Bacon's fall dates from an unauthorised publication in 1651, which misled Park in his edition of Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, ii. 208. In stanza 3. line 2. of Dr. Rimbault's copy, "burst" should be "trust."

    R.A.

"My Mind to Me a Kingdom is" (No. 19. p. 302.).—The following note, from the Introduction to Mr. Hannah's edition of the Poems of Sir H. Wotton and Sir Walter Raleigh, 1845, p. lxv., will answer Dr. Rimbault's Query, and also show that a claim had been put in for Sir E. Dyer before Mr. Singer's very valuable communication to "NOTES AND QUERIES," p. 355.

"There are three copies of verses on that model; two of which, viz., one of four stanzas and another of size, were printed by Byrd in 1588. They have been reprinted from his text in Cens. Lit ii. 108-110, and Exc. Tudor, i. 100-103. Percy inserted them in the Reliques with some alterations and additions; but he changed his mind more than once as to whether they were two distinct poems, or only the discovered parts of one (see i. 292-294. 303., ed. 1767; and i. 307-310. ed. 1839). The third (containing four stanzas) is among Sylvester's Posthumous Poems p. 651.; and Ellis reprinted it under his name. In Cens. Lit. ii. 102., another copy of it is given from a music book by Gibbons, 1612. Now the longest, and apparently the earliest of these poems is signed 'E. DIER,' in MS. Rawl. Poet. 35., fol. 17. That copy contains eight stanzas, and one of the two which are not in Byrd corresponds with a stanza which Percy added. The following are the reasons which incline us to trust this MS.:—(1.) Because it is the very MS. to which reference is commonly made for several of Dyer's unprinted poems, as by Dr. Bliss, A.O. i. 743.; and apparently by Mr. Dyce, ed. of Greene, i. p. xxxv. n.; and by Park, note on Warton, iii. 230. Park is the only person I can recollect who has mentioned this particular poem in the MS., and he cannot have read more than the first line, for he only says, 'one of them bears the popular burden of "My mind to me a kingdom is."' (2.) Because it is quite impossible that Dyer wrote many extant poems, of which he is not known to be the author; for, as Mr. Dyce says, none of his (acknowledged) productions 'have descended to our times that seem to justify the contemporary applause which he received.' (3.) Because I cannot discover that there is any other claimant to this poem. One of Greene's poems ends with the line,

'A mind content both crown and kingdom is.'"

    (Works, ii. 288., ed. Dyce.)
It will be observed that no mention is here made of the copy in Breton's tract; therefore this summary gains from both the correspondents of "NOTES AND QUERIES"—an addition from the one, a corroboration from the other.

    R.A.

Gesta Grayorum (No. 22. p. 351.).—"J.S." is informed that copies of the Gesta Grayorum are by no means uncommon. It was originally printed for one shilling; but the bibliomaniac must now pay from twenty to thirty shillings for a copy. The original, printed in 1688, does not contain the second part, which was published by Mr. Nichols for the first time. Copies are in the Bodleian, and in the University Library, Cambridge.

    EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Marylebone Gardens (No. 24. p. 383.).—These gardens were finally closed in 1777-8. It is not generally known that, previous to the year 1737, this "fashionable" place of amusement was entered gratis by all ranks of people; but the company becoming more "select," Mr. Gough, the proprietor, determined to charge a shilling as entrance money, for which the party paying was to receive an equivalent in viands.

    EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Mother of Thomas à Becket (No. 26. p. 415.).—An inspection of some of the numerous legends touching the blessed martyr, St. Thomas of Canterbury, would probably supply many interesting particulars concerning the story of his father's romantic marriage. But the most important narrative is that of Herbert Bosham, Becket's secretary, who, it will be remembered, was present at his martyrdom. Bosham's Vita et Res Gestæ Thomæ Episcopi Cantuariensis is published in the Quadrilogus, Paris, 1495. Consult also the French translation of Peter Langtoft, and the English one by Laurence Wade, a Benedictine monk of Canterbury. Robert of Gloucester's metrical Legend of the Life and Martyrdom of Thomas Beket, published by the Percy Society, under the editorial care of Mr. W.H. Black, fully confirms the "romance;" as also do the later historians, Hollingshed, Fox, and Baker.

    EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Dr. Strode's Poem (no. 10. p. 147.).—Dr. Strode's poem, beginning—

"Return my joys, and hither bring—"

which Dr. Rimbault does "not remember to have seen in print," is in Ellis's Specimens, iii. 173. ed. 1811. He took it from Wit Restored, p. 66. ed. 1658, or i. 168. reprint. It is the second poem mentioned by Dr. Bliss, A.O. iii. 152., as occurring with Strode's name in MS. Rawl. 142.

    R.A.

"All to-broke" (No. 25. p. 395.).—Surely the explanation of Judges, ix. 53, is incorrect. Ought not the words to be printed "and all-to brake his scull," where "all-to" = "altogether"?

    R.A.