Notes and Queries, Number 66, February 1, 1851

(34.) Who is designated by the letters "G. N. N. D.," which are put at the head of the Epistle to Zuinglius, De Magistris nostris Lovaniensibus, quot et quales sint? And why has the Vita S. Nicolai, sive Stultitiæ Exemplar, originally attached to this performance, been omitted by Dr. Münch in his edition of the Epistolæ obscurorum Vivorum, aliaque ævi decimi sexti Monimenta rarissima, Leipzig, 1827? If he had reprinted this very desirable appendix, it would have furnished him with the date "Anno M.D.XX.," which would have prevented him from assigning this satirical composition to the year "1521." (Einl. p. 408.)

(35.) A student can scarcely be considered moderately well versed in ancient ecclesiastical documents who has neither read nor heard of the Somnium Viridarii; and we may wonder at, and pity, the learned Goldast, for having fallen into the extravagant mistake of attributing this Latin translation of the celebrated Dialogue, Le Songe du Verger, to "Philotheus Achillinus, Consiliarius Regius." (Monarch. S. Rom. Imper. i. 58. Hanov. 1612.) The question arises, How was he misled? Was it not through a strange misconception of a sentence in the Silva Nuptialis of Nevizan, to which he refers in his preliminary "Dissertatio de Auctoribus?" This writer, who has been plentifully purified by the Roman Index, had cited the preface of an Italian poem, "Il Viridario," composed by his contemporary, Giovanni Filoteo Achillini; and is it thus that an author of the sixteenth century has got credit for an anonymous achievement of the fourteenth age? Goldastus has hardly been out-Heroded by those who have devised an individual named Viridarius, or "Le Sieur du Vergier." (See Baillet, Déguisemens des Auteurs, p. 479., and M. De la Monnoye's note, pp. 501-2.)

(36.) Is there not a transpositional misprint in the colophon of the old German Life of S. Dorothea, the so-called patroness of Prussia? For it would seem to be inevitable that we should endeavour to elicit 1492, and not 1512, from the following date: "Den Dingstag nach Gregory als man tzelete, M.CCCC. unde cxii." (Vid. Lilienthal, Histor. B. Doroth. p. 6. Dantisc., 1744.)

(37.):—

"The Original Manuscript of both volumes of this History will be deposited in the Cotton Library, by

"T. Burnett."

Has this declaration been inserted, in the handwriting of Thomas Burnet, on the reverse of the title-page of the second volume, in all large-paper copies (and is it strictly limited to them?) of Bishop Burnet's History of his own Time, Lond., 1734? Compare the printed "Advertisement to the Reader" in the first volume, published in 1724.

(38.) Mr. T. R. Hampson, the author of Medii Ævi Kalendarium, which has, I believe, been commended in "Notes and Queries," informs us, in a precious production which he has lately issued on the Religious Deceptions of the Church of Rome, p. 30., that—

"Dr. Geddes, himself a learned Romanist, has selected many [remarkable errors] in his tract, A Discovery of some Gross Mistakes in the Roman Martyrology."

Only fancy a Romanist, learned or unlearned, having the effrontery to bestow so outrageous an appellation upon such an exploit. Does not the second volume of Miscellaneous Tracts, in which the said treatise may be seen, explicitly admonish us to remember that Michael Geddes, LL.D., was erst a chancellor of the Church of Sarum? "Quid Romæ faciam?" he upbraidingly asks in one of his title-pages, "mentiri nescio."

    R. G.

Minor Queries

Bishops' Lands.—In the month of September, 1642, the Parliament appointed a committee for the sale of Bishops' lands; and an account of some sold between 1647 and 1651, will be found in vol. i. of the Collectanea Topographica, 8vo., 1834. On the Restoration, a committee sat to inquire into these sales and make satisfaction. Bishop Kennet refers to a MS. containing the orders of the commissioners, but does not state where the MS. was deposited; nor has Sir Frederic Madden, who communicated that article to the Collectanea, met with it anywhere.

Can any of your correspondents give any information upon the subject, or say where may be found any accounts of the sales of the lands under the parliamentary orders, or of the proceedings of the commissioners appointed to make restitution upon the king's restoration?

    G.

The Barons of Hugh Lupus.—It appears by the charter foundation to the abbey of St. Werburge at Chester, that several very eminent persons held the rank of Baron, under Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester. The charter is signed by the earl himself and by the following barons: Richard, son of Hugh Lupus; Hervey, Bishop of Bangor; Ranulph de Meschines, nephew of the earl; Roger Bigod, Alan de Perci, William Constabular, Ranulph Dapifer, William Malbanc, Robert Fitz-Hugh, Hugh Fitz-Norman, Hamo de Masci, and Bigod de Loges.

Can any of your readers inform us what befel the families and descendants of William Malbanc, and Bigod de Loges? The descendants of the rest are too well authenticated to need inquiry.

    P.

Can the Queen make a Gentleman?—The following is from the Patent Rolls (13 Ric. II. pars. 1. m. 37. Prynne's Fourth Institutes, p. 68.):—

"Le Roy a tous ceux as queux cestes Lettres viendrount. Sachez qe come un Chivalier Fraunceys, a ceo qe nous Soums enformez, ad chalenge un nostre Liege, Johan de Kyngeston, a faire certeinez faitz et pointz darmes oveske le dit Chivalier. Nous a fyn qe le dit nostre liege soit le multz honerablement resceuz a faire puisse et perfourmir les ditz faitz et pointz d'armes luy avons resceux en lestat de Gentile homme, et luy fait Esquier. Et volons, qil soit conuz par armes, et porte desore enavant, Cestassavoir d'argent ove une, chapewe Dazure ovesque une plume Dostrich de goules. Et ceo a tous yeaux as queux y appertient nous notifions pu ycelles. En tesmoignance de quelle chose nous avons fait faire cestes noz lettres patentes. Done souz nostre grant Seal a nostre Paleys de Westm. le primer jour de Juyll.

"Par brief de Prive Seal."

    H. Witham.

Plafery.—In Carew's masque of Cœlum Britannicum, acted before the court at Whitehall, the 18th of February, 1633; Momus, arriving from Olympus immediately after Mercury, says to him—

"The hosts upon the highway cry out with open mouth upon you, for supporting plafery in your train; which, though, as you are the god of petty larceny, you might protect, yet you know it is directly against the new orders, and oppose the reformation in diameter."

What is plafery? It is evident that the joking allusion to it was rather bold, for Mercury exclaims,—

"Peace, railer, bridle your licentious tongue,
And let this presence teach you modesty."

    B. R. I.
St. John's Bridge Fair.—In what county in England was St. John's Bridge Fair held in the year 1614, and in what town in the county?

    Josephus.

Queries on Costume.—In Wilson's Life of De Foe there is an anecdote of Charles II. concealing himself, when a fugitive from Worcester, beneath a lady's hoop, while his pursuers searched the house in which he had taken refuge. Were hoops worn so early as the year 1651? In the Book of Costume I find no mention of them before the beginning of the eighteenth century; but I do not think this circumstance conclusive, as the "Lady of Rank" is not always very accurate.

Writing in the reign of Anne, she says, "Fans were now very much used," but omits to mention that they were in fashion long before, having been indispensable to Catherine of Braganza and her ladies at home and abroad, in the church and the theatre.

"Long gloves," says the Lady of Rank, "began to be worn by the ladies in this reign." (Queen Anne's).

"Twelve dozen Martial,[2 - "Martial.—The name of a famous French perfumer, emulating the Frangipani of Rome."—Miscellaneous Writings of John Evelyn, pp. 705. 711. 4to. edit. 1825.] whole and half," says Evelyn:—were not whole Martial gloves, long?

    Wedsecnarf.

Cum Grano Salis.—Sometime ago I asked from what figure is borrowed the expression of "Cum grano salis," and have had no reply. I can't find it in Erasmus. Once a very clever Cambridge man said that it meant "the thing must be swallowed with a little Attic salt to make it go down pleasantly." I don't think that he was right.

    E. H.

Earl of Clarendon's Daughter, Lucretia.—I should be very glad to learn whether the great Earl of Clarendon had a daughter named Lucretia. A friend of mine is descended from Dr. Marsh, archbishop of Armagh, who (it is said) married Lucretia, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, and was the father of Lucretia, wife of Dr. McNeil, Dean of Down and Connor.

    Wedsecnarf.

Vandyke's Portrait of Lord Aubigny.—Can any of your correspondents give any information respecting a portrait, by Vandyke, of George Lord Aubigny, brother to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox? There is no doubt that such a picture once existed.

    L.

Foundation Stone of St. Mark's, Venice.—In vol. xxvi. of the Archæologia is a paper by the late Mr. Douce, "On the foundation stone of the original church of St. Mark, at Venice," &c., accompanied by an engraving of the mutilated object itself, which also appears to have been submitted to the inspection of the Society of Antiquaries at the time the paper was read. The essay contains, in reality, very little information relating to the stone, and that little is of no very satisfactory kind; and I have never been able to divest myself of the idea that it bears somewhat the semblance of a hoax. Were I inclined to discuss the points which have suggested this notion, the necessity there is for brevity in corresponding with the Editor of "Notes and Queries" would preclude my doing it; but I must quote the following passage, which comes immediately after the statement that the original church, in the foundation of which this stone was deposited, was destroyed in 976.

"It is very possible that, in clearing away the rubbish of the old church, the original foundation stone was discovered, and, in some way or other, at present not traceable, preserved."

If the fact is so, this stone, "of a circular form, the diameter six inches and a quarter, its thickness half an inch," must have been loose in the world for 858 years from its exhumation to 1834, when Mr. Douce's essay was read, and during that time has lost only the least important part of its inscription and ornaments.

Can any one say where this stone now is? When and where Mr. Douce obtained it? And, I must add, what history was attached to it when in his possession? for he was not a person likely to possess such an object without, at least, endeavouring to trace its history. On these points the essay contains not a word.

    H. C. R.

Coins of Richard Cromwell.—Will any of your numismatical readers inform me whether there are any coins or medals known of Richard Cromwell, either during his chancellorship of Oxford, or his short protectorate of these realms?

    Blower.

Cataracts of the Nile.—Seneca (Nat. Quæst. iv. 2.) tells a story of the natives suffering themselves to be carried down in sport, which Rollin says is confirmed by modern travellers; but can this be so? Can any one give the names of any of these travellers, and supply the blank thus left by the historian?

    S. G.

Paternoster Tackling.—Dancing Trenchmore.—What is the origin and meaning of this term? also of the phrase "Dancing Trenchmore?"