Notes and Queries, Number 44, August 31, 1850

If any of your correspondents who has access to the Museum would look through the prints representing out-of-doors life, from Hogarth to Gilray, he would probably be able to furnish you with some precise and amusing details on this not unimportant point in the history of manners.

    C.

Quarles' Pension (Vol. ii., p. 171.).—There should have been added to the reference there given, viz. "Vol. i., p. 201." (at which place there is no question as to Quarles' pension), another to Vol. i., p. 245., where that question is raised. I think this worth noting, as "Quarles" does not appear in the Index, and the imperfect reference might lead inquirers astray. It seems very curious that the inquiry as to the precise meaning of Pope's couplet has as yet received no explanation.

    C.

Franz von Sickingen (Vol. i., p. 131.).—I regret that I cannot resolve the doubt of H.J.H. respecting Albert Durer's allegorical print of The Knight, Death, and the Devil, of which I have only what I presume is a copy or retouched plate, bearing the date 1564 on the tablet in the lower left-hand corner, where I suppose the mark of Albert Durer is placed in the original.

I should, however, much doubt its being intended as a portrait of Sickingen, and I can trace no resemblance to the medal given by Luckius. I believe the conjecture originated with Bartsch, in his Peintre Graveur, vol. vii. p. 107. Schoeber, in his Life of Durer, p. 87., supposes that it is an allegory of the nature of a soldier's life.

It was this print that inspired La Motte Fouqué with the idea of his Sintram as he thus informs us in the postscript to that singularly romantic tale:

"Some years since there lay among my birth-day presents a beautiful engraving of Albert Durer. A harnessed knight, with an oldish countenance, is riding upon his high steed, attended by his dog, through a fearful valley, where fragments of rock and roots of trees distort themselves into loathsome forms; and poisonous weeds rankle along the ground. Evil vermin are creeping along through them. Beside him Death is riding on a wasted pony; from behind the form of a devil stretches over its clawed arm toward him. Both horse and dog look strangely, as it were infected by the hideous objects that surround them; but the knight rides quietly along his way, and bears upon the tip of his lance a lizard that he has already speared. A castle, with its rich friendly battlements, looks over from afar, whereat the desolateness of the valley penetrates yet deeper into the soul. The friend who gave me this print added a letter, with a request that I would explain the mysterious forms by a ballad.... I bear the image with me in peace and in war, until it has now spun itself out into a little romance."

    S.W. Singer.

Mickleham Aug. 13. 1850.

"Noli me tangere" (Vol. ii., p. 153.).—B.R. is informed, that one of the finest paintings on this subject is the altar-piece in All Souls College Chapel, Oxford. It is the production of Raphael Mengs, and was purchased for the price of three hundred guineas of Sir James Thornhill, who painted the figure of the founder over the altar, the ceiling, and the figures between the windows. There may be other paintings by earlier masters on so interesting subject, but none can surpass this of Raphael Mengs in the truthfulness of what he has here delineated. The exact size of the picture I do not recollect, but it cannot be less than ten feet high.

There is a beautiful engraving of it by Sherwin.

    J.M.G.

Worcester.

Dr. Bowring's Translations (Vol. ii. p. 152.).—Besides the anthologies mentioned by Jarltzberg, Dr. Bowring has published Poets of the Magyars, 8vo. London, 1830; Specimens of Polish Poets, 1827; Servian popular Poetry, 1827; and a Cheskian Anthology, 1832.

    H.H.W.

"Speak the Tongue that Shakspeare spoke" (Vol. ii., p. 135.).—The lines about which X. asks, are

"We must be free or die, who speak the tongue
That Shakspeare spake; the faith and morals hold
Which Milton held," &c.

They are in one of Wordsworth's glorious "Sonnets to Liberty" (the sixteenth), and belong to us, and not to the New-Englanders.

    G.N.

Countess of Desmond (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 186.).—In reply to K., I have an impression that Horace Walpole has a kind of dissertation on the Old Countess of Desmond, to whom his attention was directed by her being said to have danced with Richard III. Having no books at hand, I cannot speak positively; but if K. turns to Walpole's Works, he will see whether my memory is correct. I myself once looked, many years ago, into the subject, and satisfied myself that the great age attributed to any Countess of Desmond must be a fable; and that the portrait of her (I think, at Windsor) was so gross an imposition as to be really that of an old man. I made a "Note"—indeed many—of the circumstances which led me to this conclusion; but they are at this moment inaccessible to me. I venture however, now that the question is revived, to offer these vague suggestions. By and by, if the subject be not exhausted, I shall endeavour to find my "Notes," and communicate them to you. I wonder the absurdity of the kind of death imputed to the imaginary lady did not reflect back a corresponding incredulity as to the length of her life.

    C.

Yorkshire Dales (Vol. ii., p. 154.).—No guide or description has been published that would serve as a handbook to the dales in the West Riding of Yorkshire between Lancashire and Westmoreland. Should A PEDESTRIAN wish to explore the beauties of Teesdale he will find a useful handbook in a little work, published anonymously in 1813, called A Tour in Teesdale, including Rokeby and its Environs. The author was Richard Garland, of Hull, who died several years ago.

    Δ.

The Yorkshire Dales (Vol. ii., p. 154.).—In answer to a recent inquiry, I beg to state that a guide to the above dales is in preparation. It will be edited by your humble servant, illustrated by a well-known gentleman, and published by Mr. Effingham Wilson.

    J.H. DIXON.

Tollington Villa, Hornsey.

[We are glad to hear that such a Guide is preparing by Mr. Dixon, whose knowledge of the locality peculiarly fits him for the work he has undertaken.]

Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs (Vol. ii., p. 140.).—The information MR. GATTY wishes for, he will find in Dr. Bliss's edition of the Athenæ, vol. iv. p. 18. He will perform an acceptable service to historical inquirers, if he will collate the printed memoir with the MS. in the possession of his friend, and give to the world such passages, if any, as have not been hitherto published.

    Δ.

Alarum (Vol. ii., pp. 151. 183.).—There can be no doubt that the word alarm (originally French) comes from the warning war-cry à l'arme. So all the French philologists agree; and the modern variance of aux armes does not invalidate so plain an etymology. When CH. admits that there can be no doubt that alarm and alarum are identical, it seems to one that cadit questio,—that all his doubts and queries are answered. I will add, however, that it appears that in the words' original sense of an awakening cry, Shakspeare generally, if not always, spelled it alarum. Thus—

"Ring the alarum bell!"—Macbeth.

"—Murder
"Alarum'd by his sentinel the wolf."
Macbeth.

"When she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?"
Othello.

"But when he saw my best-alarum'd spirits roused
to the encounter."—Lear.

In all these cases alarum means incitement, not alarm in the secondary or metaphorical sense of the word, which has now become the ordinary one. In truth, the meanings, though of identical origin, have become almost contradictions: for instance, in the passage from Othello, an "alarum to love"—incitement to love—is nearly the reverse of what an "alarm to love" would be taken to mean.

    C.

Practice of Scalping among the Scythians, &c. (Vol. ii., p. 141.).—Your correspondent T.J. will find in Livy, x. 26., that the practice of scalping existed among the Kelts.

"Nec ante ad consules … famam ejus cladis perlatam, quam in conspectu fuere Gallorum equites pectoribus equorurn suspensa gestantes capita, et lanceis infixa ovantesque moris sui carmine."

    W.B.D.

Gospel Tree (Vol. ii., p. 56.).—In reply to W.H.B., I may mention that there is a "Gospel Tree" near Leamington. I do not know of one so called in Gloucestershire.

    GRIFFIN.

Martinet (Vol. ii., p. 118.).—There is no doubt the term martinet is derived from the general officer M. de Martinet indicated by MR. C. FORBES, and who was, as Voltaire states, celebrated for having restored and improved the discipline and tactics of the French army; whence very strict officers came to be called martinets: but is it also from this restorer of discipline that the name of what we call cat-o'-nine-tails is in French martinet? This is rather an interesting Query, considering how severely our neighbours censure our use of that auxiliary to discipline.

    C.

"Yote" or "Yeot" (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—You may inform B. that Yote or Yeot is only provincial pronunciation of Yate or Gate, a way or road. The channel made to conduct melted metal into the receptacle intended for it, is called a gate.

    GRIFFIN.

Map of London (Vol. ii., p. 56.).—The map of London, temp. Edw. VI., in the Sutherland collection, has been recently engraved. It is of singular curiosity. I do not know the name of the publisher.