Notes and Queries, Number 188, June 4, 1853

Senior Curate of St. Paul's, Wilton Place.

Shakspeare—Blackstone.—In Moore's Diary, vol. iv. p. 130., he says,—

"Mr. Duncan mentioned, that Blackstone has preserved the name of the judge to whom Shakspeare alludes in the grave-digger's argument?—

'If the water comes to the man,' &c."

Will one of your Shakspearian or legal correspondents have the kindness to name the judge so alluded to, and give a reference to the passage in Blackstone in which he conveys this information?

    Ignoramus.

Minor Queries with Answers

Turkey Cocks.—Why are Turkey cocks so called, seeing they were not imported from Turkey?

    Cape.

[This Query did not escape the notice of Dr. Samuel Pegge. He says; "The cocks which Pancirollus (ii. tit. 1.) mentions as brought from America, were Turkey cocks, as Salmuth there (p. 28.) rightly observes. The French accordingly call this bird Coq d'Inde, and from d'Inde comes the diminutive Dindon, the young Turkey; as if one should say, 'the young Indian fowl.' Fetching the Turkey from America accords well with the common notion:

'Turkeys, carps, hops, pikarel, and beer,
Came into England all in a year;'

that is, in the reign of Henry VIII., after many voyages had been made to North America, where this bird abounds in an extraordinary manner. But Query how this bird came to be called Turkey? Johnson latinizes it Gallina Turcica, and defines it, 'a large domestic fowl brought from Turkey;' which does not agree with the above account from Pancirollus. Brookes says (p. 144.), 'It was brought into Europe either from India or Africa.' And if from the latter, it might be called Turkey, though but improperly."—Anonymiana, cent. x. 79.]

Bishop St. John.—The following passage occurs at vol. iv. p. 84. of the Second Series of Ellis's Original Letters, Illustrative of English History. It is taken from the letter numbered 326, dated London, Jan. 5, 1685-6, and addressed "for John Ellis, Esq., Secretary of his Majesty's Revenue in Ireland, Dublin:"

"The Bishop of London's fame runs high in the vogue of the people. The London pulpits ring strong peals against Popery; and I have lately heard there never were such eminently able men to serve in those cures. The Lord Almoner Ely is thought to stand upon too narrow a base now in his Majesty's favour, from a late violent sermon on the 5th of November. I saw him yesterday at the King's Levy; and very little notice taken of him, which the more confirms what I heard. Our old friend the new Bishop St. John, gave a smart answer to a (very well put) question of his M– with respect to him, that shows he is not altogether formed of court-clay; but neither you nor I shall withdraw either of our friendship for him on such an account."

All who know this period of our history, know Compton and Turner; but who was Bishop St. John?

    J. J. J.

[An error in the transcription. In the manuscript it reads thus: "Bish

S

Jon

," and clearly refers to Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Bart., consecrated bishop of Bristol, Nov. 8, 1685, translated to Exeter in 1689, and to Winchester in 1707.]

Ferdinand Mendez Pinto.—

"Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude!"

Where is the original of the above to be found? Was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto a real or imaginary character?

    Inquirens.

[A famous Portuguese traveller, in no good odour for veracity. His Travels have been translated into most European languages, and twice published in English. A notice of Pinto will be found in Rose's Biog. Dict., s. v.]

Satin.—What is the origin of the word satin?

    Cape.

[See Ogilvie and Webster. "Fr. satin; W. sidan, satin or silk; Gr. and Lat. sindon; Ch. and Heb. sedin; Ar. sidanah."]

Carrier Pigeons.—When were carrier pigeons first used in Europe?

    Cape.

[Our correspondent will find some interesting notices of the early use of the carrier pigeon in Europe in the Penny Cyclopædia, vol. vii. p. 372., art. "Columbidæ;" and in the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. vi. p. 176., art. "Carrier Pigeon."]

Replies

"PYLADES AND CORRINA."—PSALMANAZAR AND DEFOE

(Vol. vii., pp. 206. 305. 435. 479.)

I had forwarded for insertion a short answer to the Query as to Pylades and Corinna before Dr. Maitland's communication was printed; but as it now appears more distinctly what was the object of the Query, I can address myself more directly to the point he has raised. And, in the first place, I cannot suppose that Defoe had anything to do with Pylades and Corinna, or the History of Formosa. In all Defoe's fictions there is at least some trace of the master workman, but in neither of these works is there any putting forth of his power, or any similitude to his manner or style. When the History of Formosa appeared (1704), he was ingrossed in politics, and was not, as far as any evidence has yet informed us, in the habit of translating or doing journeyman work for booksellers. Then the book itself is, in point of composition, far beneath Defoe, even in his most careless moods. As to Pylades and Corinna, Defoe died so soon after Mrs. Thomas—she died on the 3rd February, 1731, and he on the 24th April following, most probably worn out by illness—that time seems scarcely afforded for getting together and working up the materials of the two volumes published. The editor, who signs himself "Philalethes," dates his Dedication to the first volume, in which are contained the particulars about Psalmanazar, "St. John Baptist, 1731," which day would be after Defoe's death. Nor is there any ground for supposing that Defoe and Curll had much connexion as author and publisher. Curll only printed two works of Defoe, as far as I have been able to discover, the Memoirs of Dr. Williams (1718, 8vo.), and the Life of Duncan Campbell (1720, 8vo.), and for his doing so, in each case, a good reason may be given. As regards the genuineness of the correspondence in Pylades and Corinna, I do not see any reason to question it. Sir Edward Northey's certificate, and various little particulars in the letters themselves, entirely satisfy me that the correspondence is not a fictitious one. The anecdotes of Psalmanazar are quite in accordance with his own statements in his Life—(see particularly p. 183., Memoirs, 1765, 8vo.); and if they were pure fiction, is it not likely that, living in London at the time when they appeared, he would have contradicted them? In referring (Vol. vii., p. 436., "N. & Q.") to the Gentleman's Magazine for these anecdotes, I had not overlooked their having appeared in Pylades and Corinna, but had not then the latter book at hand to include it in the reference. Dr. Maitland considers Pylades and Corinna "a farrago of low rubbish, utterly beneath criticism." Is not this rather too severe and sweeping a character? Unquestionably the poetry is but so-so, and of the poem the greater part might have been dispensed with; but, like all Curll's collections, it contains some matter of interest and value to those who do not despise the minutiæ of literary investigation. The Autobiography of the unfortunate authoress (Mrs. Thomas), who was only exalted by Dryden's praise to be ignominiously degraded by Pope, and "whose whole life was but one continued scene of the utmost variety of human misery," has always appeared to me an interesting and rather affecting narrative; and, besides a great many occasional notices in the correspondence, which are not without their use, there are interspersed letters from Lady Chudleigh, Norris of Bemerton, and others, which are not to be elsewhere met with, and which are worth preserving.

For Psalmanazar's character, notwithstanding his early peccadilloes, I can assure Dr. Maitland that I have quite as high a respect as himself, even without the corroborative evidence of our great moralist, which on such a subject may be considered as perfectly conclusive.

    James Crossley.

ROBERT WAUCHOPE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH

(Vol. vii., p. 66.)

This prelate seems to have been a cadet of the family of Wauchope, of Niddry, or Niddry Marischall, in the county of Midlothian, to which family once belonged the lands of Wauchopedale in Roxburghshire. The exact date of his birth I have never been able to discover, nor which "laird of Niddrie" he was the son of. Robert was a favourite name in the family long before his time, as is evidenced by an inscription at the entry to a burial chapel belonging to the family to this effect: "This tome was Biggit Be Robert Vauchop of Niddrie Marchal, and interit heir 1387." I am at present out of reach of all books of reference, and have only a few manuscript memoranda to direct further research; and these memoranda, I am sorry to say, are not so precise in their reference to chapter and verse as they ought to be.

According to these notes, mention is made of Robert Wauchope, doctor of Sorbonne, by Leslie, bishop of Ross, in the 10th book of his History; by Labens, a Jesuit, in the 14th tome of his Chronicles; by Cardinal Pallavicino, in the 6th book of his Hist. Conc. Trid.; by Fra Paolo Sarpi, in his Hist. Conc. Trid. Archbishop Spottiswood says that he died in Paris in the year 1551, "much lamented of all the university," on his return home from one of his missions to Rome.

One of my notes, taken from the Memoirs of Sir James Melville, I shall transcribe, as it is suggestive of other Queries more generally interesting. The date is 1545:

"Now the ambassador met in a secret part with Oneel(?) and his associates, and heard their offers and overtures. And the patriarch of Ireland did meet him there, who was a Scotsman born, called Wauchope, and was blind of both his eyes, and yet had been divers times at Rome by post. He did great honour to the ambassadour, and conveyed him to see St. Patrick's Purgatory, which is like an old coal pit which had taken fire, by reason of the smoke that came out of the hole."

Query 1. What was the secret object of the ambassador?

Query 2. Has St. Patrick's Purgatory any existence at the present time?

    D. W. S. P.

SEAL OF WILLIAM D'ALBINI

(Vol. vii., p. 452.)

The curious article of your correspondent Senex relative to this seal, as described and figured in Barrett's History of Attleburgh, has a peculiar interest as connected with the device of a man combating a lion.