Notes and Queries, Number 214, December 3, 1853

    A. A. D.

David's Mother.—I used to think it was impossible to ascertain from the Old Testament the name of David's mother. In the Genealogies recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, by J. S. (usually assumed to stand for John Speed, the historian and geographer), the name of the Psalmist's mother is given "Nahash." Can this be made out satisfactorily? Will the text 2 Sam. xvii. 25., as compared with 1 Chron. ii. 15., warrant it?

    Y. B. N. J.

Emblems.—Can any of your readers inform me what are the emblematic meanings of the different precious stones, or of any of them? or in what work I shall find them described?

    N. D.

"Kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira."—In an appeal to the Privy Council from Madras, the above unparalleled long word occurs as the descriptions of an estate. I believe that its extreme length and unpronounceable appearance is without an equal. Can any of your readers acquainted with Indian literature translate it? if so, it would greatly oblige

    F. J. G.

"Quid facies," &c.—I have lately met with the following curious play on words in an old MS. book. Can any of your correspondents give any account of it?

"Quid facies, facies Veneris si veneris ante?
Ne pereas, per eas; ne sedeas, sed eas!"

    Balliolensis.
Will of Peter the Great.—M. Lamartinière, in a French pamphlet on the Eastern question, gives a document in several articles containing advice with respect to the policy of his successors on the throne of Russia, in which he advises her to make great advances in the direction of Constantinople, India, &c., and advocates the partition of Poland. Upon what authority does this document rest? and who is M. Lamartinière?

    R. J. Allen.

H. Neele, Editor of Shakspeare.—In the preface to Lectures on English Poetry, being the Remains of the late Henry Neele (Lond. 1830), mention is made of a new edition of Shakspeare's dramatic works, "under the superintendence of Mr. Neele as editor, for which his enthusiastic reverence for the poet of 'all time' peculiarly fitted him, but which, from the want of patronage, terminated after the publication of a very few numbers." These very few numbers must have appeared about 1824-1827; yet the answer to my repeated inquiries after them in London is always "We cannot hear of them." Can any one give me farther information?—From the Navorscher.

    J. M.

MS. by Rubens on Painting.—May I inquire of M. Philarète Chasles whether he ever saw or heard of a manuscript said to be written in Latin by Rubens, and existing in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris? One or two fragments have occasionally been quoted: I think one may be found in Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses, and the same is used by Burnet in his work on painting; but no authority is given as to the source of the information.[2 - [This may probably be Rubens's MS. Album, of which an account is given in Vertue's Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii. pp. 185, 186.—Ed.]]

If such a work can be found, it would confer a great boon upon the profession of the fine arts, if it were brought to light without delay.

    Weld Taylor.

Peter Allan.—Will some correspondent of "N. & Q." afford information as to the exact date and place of birth of the celebrated Peter Allan, whose cave at Sunderland is regarded as one of the principal curiosities of the north of England? What is known of his general history; and is any member of his family now living?

    E. C.

Haschisch or Indian Hemp.—I have been for some time trying to procure some of the Haschisch, or Indian hemp, about which Dr. Moreau has published such an amusing book, Du Haschisch et de l'Aliénation Mentale, Par. 1845.—Can any of your readers tell me where I can get any? The narcotic effects of the common hemp plant are well known in our country districts: where, under its ironical alias Honesty, the dried stalk is often smoked, but the tropical variety appears to be infinitely more powerful in its operation.

    V. T. Sternberg.

Crieff Compensation.—During the rebellion in 1715, the village of Crieff, Perthshire, was burnt by the Highland army, on account of the attachment of its inhabitants to the royal cause. It has been stated that, some years ago, the descendants of the sufferers received from government a sum equivalent to a certain proportion of the loss which had been sustained.

Is there any official record in reference to this compensation?

    D.

Admission to Lincoln's Inn, the Temple, and Gray's Inn.—Have there ever been published, or do there exist anywhere in MSS., lists of the persons who have been from time to time matriculated as students of those inns of court?

A publication of them would be of the greatest value to the biographical department of literature.

    G.

Orders for the Household of Lord Montagu.—The second Viscount Montagu, grandson and heir of Anthony Browne, created Viscount in 1554, ob. 1592, compiled a detailed code of regulations for his family, thus entitled:

"A Booke of Orders and Rules established by me, Anthony, Viscount Mountague, for the better direction and government of my howsholde and family, together with the generall dutyes and charges apperteyninge to myne officers and other servantes. Anno Dni 1595."

Has this curious illustration of ancient domestic manners ever been published?

    Albert Way.

Minor Queries with Answers

Cateaton Street.—I am anxious to ascertain the meaning and derivation of this word: the London Cateaton Street, I believe, is changed into Gresham Street. I have lately learnt that there is a Cateaton Street in Liverpool also.

    Etymo.

[Cateaton Street, or "Catteten Street," says Stow, "is a corruption of Catte Street, which beginneth at the north end of Ironmonger Lane, and runneth to the west end of St. Lawrence Church." In 1845, this street was renamed Gresham Street.]

Portrait of Lee, Inventor of the Stocking-frame.—In Hatton's History of London (published in 1708), it is stated that a picture (by Balderston) of Lee, the inventor of the stocking-frame, hung in the hall of the Framework Knitters' Company. The inquirer wishes to ascertain whether the picture is yet in existence or not; and, if still in existence, where it can be seen.

    M. E.

[In Cunningham's Handbook of London, p. 527., s. v. Weavers' Hall, Basinghall Street, is a quotation from the Quarterly Review for January, 1816, in which the picture is spoken of as then existing in the Stocking Weavers' Hall.]

Cocker's Arithmetic (Vol. iv., pp. 102. 149.).—Some correspondence appears in "N. & Q." about the first edition of "Old Cocker." I should be glad to ascertain the date of the latest edition.

    Tyro.

[The British Museum contains the following editions of Cocker's Arithmetic:—the 20th, Lond. 1700; the 37th, perused and published by John Hawkins (with MS. notes), Lond. 1720; 41st, Lond. 1724; 50th, corrected by Geo. Fisher, Lond. 1746. Watt notices one revised by J. Mair, Edinb. 1751. In Professor de Morgan's Arithmetical Books, p. 56., where a full history of Cocker's book is given, mention is made of an Edinburgh edition, 1765, and a Glasgow edition of 1777.]

Lyke Porch or Litch Porch.—What is the proper name for the porch found, not unfrequently, at the churchyard gate under which the body was, I believe, supposed to rest before the funeral? Is it lyke or litch? The derivation may be different in different parts of England, as they were originally Saxon or Danish. Lüg Dan., lyk Dutch, and leiche Ger., are all different forms of the same word. The first two approach nearer to lyke, the latter to litch.

    J. H. L.

[In most works on ecclesiastical architecture it is called lich-gate, from Anglo-Saxon lich, a corpse: hence Lich-field, the field of dead bodies. In the Glossary of Architecture we read "Lich-gate, or corpse-gate, leichengang, Germ., from the Ang.-Sax. lich, a corpse, and geat, a gate; a shed over the entrance of a churchyard, beneath which the bearers sometimes paused when bringing a corpse for interment. The term is also used in some parts of the country for the path by which a corpse is usually conveyed to the church."]

Henry Burton.—Henry Burton was born in 1579; studied at Oxford, and was at one time minister of St. Matthew, Friday Street. In 1636, he drew upon himself the vengeance of the Star-Chamber, by two discourses in which he severely inveighed against the bishops. For this offence he was fined, deprived of his ears, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was liberated by the parliament in 1640, and died in 1648. What theological works did he write?—From the Navorscher.

    Dionysius.

[Burton's pen was so prolific, that we cannot find room for a list of his works; and must refer Dionysius to the Bodleian Catalogue, where they fill nearly a column, and to Watt's Bibliotheca, s.v.]

British Mathematicians.—I am anxious to learn if there is any book which contains an account of the lives and works of eminent British arithmeticians and mathematicians?

    Euclid.

[Consult the following:—Biographia Philosophica: being an Account of the Lives, Writings, and Inventions of the most eminent Philosophers and Mathematicians, by Benjamin Martin: London, 1764, 8vo. There is also a Chronological Table of the most eminent Mathematicians affixed to John Bossut's General History of Mathematics, translated from the French by John Bonnycastle: London, 1803, 8vo. Some notices of our early English mathematicians will also be found in the Companion to the Almanac for 1837, and in the Magazine of Popular Science, Nos. 18. 20. and 22.]