Notes and Queries, Number 181, April 16, 1853

Diss.

ROGER OUTLAWE

(Vol. vii., p. 332.)

Mr. Ellacombe will find some account of this personage, who was Prior of Kilmainham, and for several years served the office of Lord Justice of Ireland, in Holinshed's Chronicles of Ireland, sub anno 1325, et seq.: also in "The Annals of Ireland," in the second volume of Gibson's Camden, 3rd edition, sub eod. anno. He was nearly related to the lady Alice Kettle, and her son William Utlawe, al. Outlaw; against whom that singular charge of sorcery was brought by Richard Lederede, Bishop of Ossory. The account of this charge is so curious that, for the benefit of those readers of "N. & Q." who may not have the means of referring to the books above cited, I am tempted to extract it from Holinshed:

"In these daies lived, in the Diocese of Ossorie, the Ladie Alice Kettle, whome the Bishop ascited to purge hir selfe of the fame of inchantment and witchcraft imposed unto hir, and to one Petronill and Basill, hir complices. She was charged to have nightlie conference with a spirit called Robin Artisson, to whome she sacrificed in the high waie nine red cocks, and nine peacocks' eies. Also, that she swept the streets of Kilkennie betweene compleine and twilight, raking all the filth towards the doores of hir sonne William Outlaw, murmuring and muttering secretlie with hir selfe these words:

"'To the house of William my sonne
Hie all the wealth of Kilkennie towne.'

"At the first conviction, they abjured and did penance; but shortlie after, they were found in relapse, and then was Petronill burnt at Kilkennie: the other twaine might not be heard of. She, at the hour of hir death, accused the said William as privie to their sorceries, whome the bishop held in durance nine weeks; forbidding his keepers to eat or to drinke with him, or to speake to him more than once in the daie. But at length, thorough the sute and instance of Arnold le Powre, then seneschall of Kilkennie, he was delivered, and after corrupted with bribes the seneschall to persecute the bishop: so that he thrust him into prison for three moneths. In rifling the closet of the ladie, they found a wafer of sacramentall bread, having the divel's name stamped thereon insteed of Jesus Christ's; and a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and gallopped thorough thicke and thin when and in what maner she listed. This businesse about these witches troubled all the state of Ireland the more; for that the ladie was supported by certeine of the nobilitie, and lastlie conveied over into England; since which time it could never be understood what became of hir."

Roger Outlawe, the Prior of Kilmainham, was made Lord Justice for the first time in 1327. The Bishop of Ossory was then seeking his revenge on Arnold le Powre, for he had given information against him as being—

"Convented and convicted in his consistorie of certeine hereticall opinions; but because the beginning of Powres accusation concerned the justice's kinsman, and the bishop was mistrusted to prosecute his owne wrong, and the person of the man, rather than the fault, a daie was limited for the justifieing of the bill, the partie being apprehended and respited thereunto. This dealing the bishop (who durst not stirre out of Kilkennie to prosecute his accusation) was reputed parciall: and when by meanes hereof the matter hanged in suspense, he infamed the said prior as an abettor and favourer of Arnold's heresie. The Prior submitted himselfe to the trial."

Proclamation was made, "That it should be lawful for anie man … to accuse, &c. the Lord Justice; but none came." In the end, six inquisitors were appointed to examine the bishops and other persons, and they—

"All with universal consent deposed for the Prior, affirming that (to their judgements) he was a zelous and a faithfull child of the Catholike Church. In the meane time, Arnold le Powre, the prisoner, deceased in the castell; and because he stood unpurged, long he laie unburied."

In 1332, William Outlawe is said to have been Prior of Kilmainham, and lieutenant of John Lord Darcie, Lord Justice.

This Bishop of Ossorie, Richard Lederede, was a minorite of London: he had a troubled episcopate, and was long in banishment in England. I have met with his name in the Register of Adam de Orlton, Bishop of Winchester, where he is recorded as assisting that prelate in some of his duties, A.D. 1336. He died however peaceably in his see, and was a benefactor to his cathedral. (See Ware's History of Ireland.)

    W. H. G.

Winchester.

[It may be added, that much information respecting both Roger Outlawe and the trial of Alice Kyteler would be found in the interesting volume published by the Camden society in 1842, under the editorship of Mr. Wright, entitled Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324.]

Your correspondent H. T. Ellacombe asks who this Roger Outlawe was, and expresses his surprise that a prior of a religious house should "sit as locum tenens of a judge in a law court."

But the words "tenens locum Johannis Darcy le cosyn justiciarii Hiberniæ" do not imply that Outlawe sat as locum tenens of a judge in a law court. For this Sir John Darcy was Lord Justice, or Lord Lieutenant (as we would now say), of Ireland, and Roger Outlawe was his locum tenens.

Nothing, however, was more common at that period than for ecclesiastics to be judges in law courts; and it happens that this very Roger was Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1321 to 1325, and again, 1326—1330: again, 1333: again (a fourth time), 1335: and a fifth time in 1339: for even then, as now, we were cursed in Ireland by perpetual changes of administration and of law officers, so that we have scarcely had any uniform practice, and our respect for law has been proportionally small.

Sir John Darcy was Lord Justice, or Lord Lieutenant, in 1322, in 1324, in 1328 (in which year Roger Outlawe was his locum tenens during his absence), in 1322, and on to 1340.

Roger Outlawe was Lord Justice, either in his own right or as locum tenens for others, in 1328, 1330, and 1340, in which last year he died in office. His death is thus recorded in Clyn's Annals (edited by Dean Butler for the Irish Archæological Society), p. 29.:

"Item die Martis, in crastino beatæ Agathæ virginis, obiit frater Rogerus Outlawe, prior hospitalis in Hibernia, apud Any, tunc locum justiciarii tenens: et etiam Cancellarius Domini Regis, trium simul functus officio. Vir prudens et graciosus, qui multas possessiones, ecclesias, et redditus ordini suo adquisivit sua industria, et regis Angliæ gratia speciali et licentia."

To this day, in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lords Justices are appointed.

    J. H. Todd.

Trin. Coll., Dublin.

PROSPECTUS TO CIBBER'S "LIVES OF THE POETS."

(Vol. v., pp. 25. 65.; Vol. vii., p. 341.)

I am obliged to Dr. Rimbault for noticing, what had escaped me, that this Prospectus has been reprinted in the Censura Literaria, vol. vi. p. 352. With respect to my ground for attributing it to Johnson, it will, I think, be obvious enough to any one who reads my remarks, that it was on the internal evidence alone, on which, as every one is aware, many additions have been made to his acknowledged compositions. Your correspondent C., with whom I always regret to differ, is so far at variance with me as to state it as his opinion that "nothing can be less like Johnson's peculiar style," and refers me to a note, with which I was perfectly familiar, to show—but which I must say I cannot see that it does in the slightest degree—"that it is impossible that Johnson could have written this Prospectus." Another correspondent, whose communication I am unable immediately to refer to, likewise recorded his dissent from my conclusion. Next follows Dr. Rimbault, whom I understand to differ from me also, and who says (but where is the authority for the statement?) "Haslewood believed it to have been the production of Messrs. Cibber and Shields." I have every respect for Haslewood as a diligent antiquary, but I confess I do not attach much weight to his opinion on a question of critical taste or nice discrimination of style. I had, as I have observed, assigned the Prospectus to Dr. Johnson on the internal evidence alone; but since it appeared in "N. & Q." I have become aware of an important corroboration of my opinion in a copy of Cibber's Lives which formerly belonged to Isaac Reed, and which I have recently purchased. At the beginning of the first volume he has pasted in the Prospectus, and under it is the following note in his handwriting: "The above advertisement was written or revised by Dr. Johnson.—J. R." Reed's general correctness and capacity of judging in literary matters are too well known to render it necessary for me to enlarge upon them; and with this support I am quite content to leave the point in issue between your correspondents and myself to the decision of that part of your readers who take an interest in similar literary questions.

It will be observed that I have confined myself in my remarks to the Prospectus exclusively. The authorship of the Lives themselves is another question, and a very curious one, and not, by any means, as your correspondent C. appears to think, "settled." Perhaps I may, on a future occasion, trouble you with some remarks upon the Lives in detail, endeavouring to assign the respective portions to the several contributors.

    James Crossley.

PIC-NIC

(Vol. vii., p. 23.)

As I consider that the true origin of pic-nic remains yet to be discovered, permit me to try and trace the word through France into Italy, and to endeavour to show that the land with the "fatal gift of beauty" was its birthplace; and that when the Medici married into France, the august ladies probably imported, together with fans, gloves, and poisons, a pastime which, under the name of pique-nique, became, as Leroux says in his Dictionnaire Comique, "un divertissement fort à la mode à Paris."

I will not occupy space by quoting the article "at length" from Leroux, but the substance is this:—Persons of quality, of both sexes, who wished to enjoy themselves, and feast together, either in the open air or in the house of one of the number, imposed upon each one the task of bringing some particular article, or doing some particular duty in connexion with the feast. And to show how stringent was the expression pique-nique in imposing a specific task, Leroux quotes "considérant que chacun avait besoin de ses pièces, prononça un arrêt de pique-nique." (Rec. de Pièc. Com.)

Thus, I think Leroux and also Cotgrave show that the word pique-nique involves the idea of a task, or particular office, undertaken by each individual for the general benefit.

Let us now go to Italian, and look at the word nicchia. Both from Alberti and from Baretti we find it to bear the meaning of "a charge, a duty, or an employment;" and if before this word we place the adjective piccola, we have piccola nicchia, "a small task, or trifling service to be performed." Now I think no one can fail to see the identity of the meanings of the expressions piccola nicchia and pique-nique; but it remains to show how the words themselves may be identical. Those who have been in the habit of reading much of the older Italian authors (subsequent to Boccacio) will bear me out in my statement of the frequency of contraction of words in familiar use: the plays, particularly, show it, from the dialogues in Machiavelli or Goldoni to the libretto of a modern opera; so much as to render it very probable that piccola nicchia might stand as picc' nicc', just as we ourselves have been in the habit of degrading scandalum magnatum into scan. mag. It only remains now to carry this picc' nicc' into France, and, according to what is usual in Gallicising Italian words, to change the c or ch into que, to have what I started with, viz. the divertissement concerning which Leroux enlarges, and in which, I am afraid, it may be said I have followed his example.

However, I consider the Decameron of Boccacio as a probable period where the temporary queen of the day would impose the arrêt of pique-nique upon her subjects; and when I look over the engravings of the manners and customs of the Italians of the Middle Ages, all indicating the frequency of the al fresco banquets, and find that subsequently Watteau and Lancret revel in similar amusements in France, where the personages of the fête manifestly wear Italian-fashioned garments; and when we are taught that such parties of pleasure were called pique-niques, I think it is fair to infer that the expression is a Gallicised one from an Italian phrase of the same signification.

I do not know if it will be conceded that I have proved my case positively, but I might go so far negatively as to show that in no other European language can I find any word or words which, having a similar sound, will bear an analysis of adaptation; and though there is every probability that the custom of pic-nicing obtained in preference in the sunny south, there are few, I think, that would rush for an explanation into the Eastern languages, on the plea that the Crusaders, being in the habit of al fresco banquetting, might have brought home the expression pic-nic.

    John Anthony, M.D.

Washwood, Birmingham.

This word would seem to be derived from the French. Wailly, in his Nouveau Vocabulaire, describes it as "repas où chacun paye son écot," a feast towards which each guest contributes a portion of the expense. Its etymology is thus explained by Girault-Duvivier, in his Grammaire des Grammaires:

"Pique-nique, plur. des pique-nique: des repas où ceux qui piquent, qui mangent, font signe de la tête qu'ils paieront.

"Les Allemands, dit M. Lemare, ont aussi leur picknick, qui a le même sens que le nôtre. Picken signifie piquer, becqueter, et nicken signifie faire signe de la tête. Pique-nique est donc, comme passe-passe, un composé de deux verbes; Il est dans l'analogie de cette phrase, 'Qui touche, mouille.'"

    Henry H. Breen.

PETER STERRY AND JEREMIAH WHITE

(Vol. iii., p. 38.)

Your correspondent's inquiry with respect to the missing MSS. of Peter Sterry, which were intended to form a second volume of his posthumous works, published without printer's name in 1710, 4to., and of which MSS. a list is given in vol. i., does not seem to have led to any result. As I feel equal interest with himself in every production of Sterry, I am tempted again to repeat the Query, in the hope of some discovery being made of these valuable remains. I have no doubt the editor of the "Appearance of God to Man," and the other discourses printed in the first volume, was R. Roach, who edited Jeremiah White's Persuasion to Moderation, Lond., 1708, 8vo.; and afterwards published The Great Crisis, and The Imperial Standard of Messiah Triumphant, 1727, 8vo.; and probably Sterry's MSS. may be found if Roach's papers can be traced. It is curious that a similar loss of MSS. seems to have occurred with regard to several of the works of Jeremiah White, who, like Sterry, was a chaplain of Cromwell (how well that great man knew how to select them!), and, like Sterry, was of that admirable Cambridge theological school which Whichcot, John Smith, and Cudworth have made so renowned. Neither of these distinguished men have yet, that I am aware of, found their way into any biographical dictionary. White is slightly noticed by Calamy (vol. ii. p. 57.; vol. iv. p. 85.). Sterry, it appears, died on Nov. 19, 1672. White survived him many years, and died in the seventy-eighth year of his age, 1707. Of the latter, there is an engraved portrait; of the former, none that I know of; nor am I aware of the burial-place of either. The works which I have met with of Sterry are his seven sermons preached before Parliament, &c., and published in different years; his Rise, Race, and Royalty of the Kingdom of God in the Soul of Man, 1683, 4to.; his Discourse of the Freedom of the Will (a title which does not by any means convey the character of the book), Lond., 1675, fol.; and the 4to. before mentioned, being vol. i. of his Remains, published in 1710. Of White I only knew a Funeral Sermon on Mr. Francis Fuller; his Persuasion to Moderation, above noticed, which is an enlargement of part of his preface to Sterry's Rise, &c.; and his Treatise on the Restoration of all Things, 1712, 8vo., which has recently been republished by Dr. Thom. To his Persuasion is appended an advertisement:

"There being a design of publishing the rest of Mr. White's works, any that have either Letters or other Manuscripts of his by them are desired to communicate them to Mr. John Tarrey, distiller, at the Golden Fleece, near Shadwick Dock."

This design, with the exception of the publication of The Restoration, seems to have proved abortive. White entertained many opinions in common with Sterry, which he advocates with great power. He does not however, like his fellow chaplain, soar into the pure empyrean of theology with unfailing pinions. Sterry has frequently sentences which Milton might not have been ashamed to own. His Discourse of the Freedom of the Will is a noble performance, and the preface will well bear a comparison with Cudworth's famous sermon on the same subject.