Notes and Queries, Number 29, May 18, 1850

    J.M.B.

Meaning of Finkle.—Referring to No. 24. p. 384. of your most welcome and useful publication, will you allow me to say, touching the inquiry as to the derivation and meaning of the word "Finkle" or "Finkel" as applied to a street, that the Danish word "Vincle" applied to an angle or corner, is perhaps a more satisfactory derivation than "fynkylsede, feniculum," the meaning suggested by your correspondent "L." in No. 26. p. 419. It is in towns where there are traces of Danish occupation that a "Finkle Street" is found; at least many of the northern towns which have a street so designated were inhabited by the Danish people, and some of those streets are winding or angular. Finchale, a place, as you know, of fame in monastic annals, is a green secluded spot, half insulated by a bend of the river Wear; and Godric's Garth, the adjacent locality of the hermitage of its famous saint, is of an angular form. But then the place is mentioned, by the name of Finchale, as the scene of occurrences that long preceded the coming of the Danes; and the second syllable may be derived from the Saxon "alh" or "healh," as the place was distinguished for a building there in Saxon times.

    W.S.G.

Newcastle, May 4. 1850.

Your correspondent "W.M." ("Finkel." p. 384.) may not have recollected that there is a beautiful ruin on the river Wear near Durham, of which the name is pronounced (though not spelt) Finkel Abbey.

Christian Captives (No. 27. p. 441.).—As a very small contribution towards an answer to "R.W.B.'s" inquiry, I may inform you that Lady Russell mentions in her Letters (p. 338., ed. 1792) that Sir William Coventry left by his will 3000l. to redeem slaves.

    C.H.

Christian Captives (No. 27. p. 441.).—"R.W.B." may be referred to the case of "Attorney-General v. the Ironmongers' Company," which was a suit for the administration of a fund bequeathed for the redemption of the captives. See 2 Mylne & Keen, 576.; 2 Beavan, 313., 10 Beavan, 194.; and 1 Craig & Philips, 208.: all of which I mention to be Reports in Chancery, in case he be not a lawyer.

    A.J.H.

Ecclesiastical Year (No. 24. p. 381.).—"NATHAN" is informed, that, according to the legal supputation, until A.D. 1752, the year of Our Lord in that part of Great Britain called England, began on the 25th day of March, as he will find stated in the 24 Geo. II. c. 23., by which Act it was enacted, that the 1st day of January next following the last day of December, 1751, should be the first day of the year 1752; and that the 1st day of January in every year in time to come should be the first day of the year.

Philippe de Thaun, in his Livre des Créatures, which was written in the first half of the twelfth century, p. 48. of the edition published for the Historical Society of Science, has some remarks which may interest your correspondent, that are thus literally translated by Mr. Wright:—

"In March, the year ought always to begin,
According to that explanation which we find in the book,
That in the twelve kalends of April, as your understand,
Our Creator formed the first,
Where the sun always will begin his course,
But at all times we make the year begin in January,
Because the Romans did so first;
We will not un-make what the elders did."

    ARUN.
Hanap.—Among the specimens of ancient and mediæval art now exhibiting in John Street, Adelphi, I was struck with the number of gilt cups, called in the catalogue hanaps. The word was new to me; but I have since met with it (as frequently happens after one's interest has been excited with respect to a word) in Walter Scott's Quentin Durward, in vol. i. chap. 3.; or rather, vol. xxxi. p. 60. of the edition in 48 vols., Cadell, 1831; in which place the context of the scene appears to connect the idea of hanap with a cup containing treasure.

Now I cannot find hanap in any dictionary to which I have access; but I find hanaper in every one. Johnson, and others, give the word Hanaper as synonymous with treasury or exchequer. They also contract Hanaper into Hamper. For example, in Dyche's English Dictionary, 17th ed. Lond. 1794, we have,—

"Hamper, or Hanaper, a wicker basket made with a cover to fasten it up with; also, an office in Chancery; the clerk or warden of the Hanaper receives all monies due to the king for seals of charters, &c.... and takes into his custody all sealed charters, patents, &c.,… which he now puts into bags, but anciently, it is supposed, into Hampers, which gave the denomination to the office."

And perhaps it may be remarked here, since we commonly say of a man in difficulties that he is "exchequered" or in "chancery," that so we probably intend to express the same, when we say a man is hanapered, or hampered.

Thus, there is no difficulty about the meaning of Hanaper; and its connection with treasure is plain and clear enough: and, with respect to cups, though chiefly used for drinking, the presentation of them with sums of money in them has ever been, and indeed is, so very customary, that it is needless to occupy space here with instances. But I cannot distinctly connect the hanap of the exhibition with hanaper: and I perhaps ought to look in another direction for its true signification and etymology.

    ROBERT SNOW.

[Our correspondents who have written upon the subject of Hanap are referred to Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary, where they will find "HANAP, a cup. Test. Vet. p. 99.;" to Ducange, s.v. "HANAPUS, HANAPPUS, HANAPHUS, vas, patera, crater, (Vas ansatum et pede instructum, quo a poculo distinguitur), ex Saxonico Hnaep, Hnaeppa, Germ. Napf, calix patera;" and to Guenebault, Dict. Iconographique des Monuments, who refers again for particulars of this species of drinking cup to the works of Soumerard and Willemin.]

Life of W. Godwin.—"N.'s" inquiry (No. 26. p. 415.) for an account of the life of W. Godwin, and more particularly of his last hours, leads me to express hope in your columns that the memoirs of Godwin, which were announced for publication shortly after his death, but which family disputes, as I have understood, prevented from appearing, may not much longer be denied to the public. I am not aware of any better account of Godwin's life, to which "N." can now be referred, than the sketch in the Penny Cyclopædia.

    CH.

Charles II. and Lord R.'s Daughter.—Earl of Ranelagh.—Since I inquired in your columns (No. 25. p. 399.) who was the lady mentioned in a passage of Henry Sidney's Diary, edited by Mr. Blencowe, as Lord R.'s daughter, and a new mistress of Charles II., who in March 1680 brought Monmouth to the King for reconciliation, I have, by Mr. Blencowe's kindness, seen the original Diary, which is in the possession of the Earl of Chichester. The name of the nobleman is there abbreviated: the letters appear to be Rane., and it is probably Lord Ranelagh who is intended. I do not remember any other notice of this amour of Charles II., and should be glad to be referred to any other information on the subject. Charles II.'s mistresses are political characters; and in this notice of Lord R.'s daughter, we find her meddling in state affairs.

I do not know whether this lady, if indeed a daughter of a Lord Ranelagh, would be the daughter or sister of the Lord Ranelagh living in 1680, who was the first Earl of Ranelagh and third Viscount, and who is described by Burnet as a very able and very dissolute man, and a great favourite of Charles II. (Hist. of his own Time, i. 462., ii. 99., ed. 1823); and who, having held the office of Vice-Treasurer in Ireland during three reigns, was turned out of it in disgrace in 1703. He died in 1711, leaving no son, but three daughters, one of whom was unmarried; he was the last, as well as first, Earl of Ranelagh. The elder title of Viscount went to a cousin, and still exists.

    CH.

MISCELLANIES

Dr. Sclater's Works.—Books written by W. Sclater, D.D., omitted in Wood's Ath. Oxon. edit. Bliss. vol. iii. col. 228.:—

"A Threefold Preseruatiue against three dangerous diseases of these latter times:—

"1. Non-proficiency in Grace.

"2. Fals-hearted Hypocrisie.

"3. Back-sliding in Religion.

"Prescribed in a Sermon at S. Paul's Crosse in London, September 17, 1609. London. 1610." 4to. Ded. to "Master Iohn Colles, Esquire," from which it seems that Sclater had been presented to his living by the father of this gentleman. The Ser. is on Heb. vi. 4-6.

"A Sermon preached at the last generall Assise holden for the County of Somerset at Taunton. London, 1616." 8vo. On Ps. lxxxii. 6, 7. Ded. to "John Colles, Esq., High Sheriffe of Sommerset."

"Three Sermons preached by William Sclater, Doctor of Diuinity, and Minister of the Word of God at Pitmister [sic] in Sommersetshire. Now published by his Sonne of King's Colledge in Cambridge. London, 1629." 4to. On 1 Pet. ii. 11., 2 Kings, ix. 31., and Heb. ix. 27, 28. The last is a funeral Sermon for John Colles, Esq., preached in 1607.

    JOHN J. DREDGE.

Runes.—Worsäae (Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, 1849) mentions that inscriptions are found in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, written in different languages in Runic character. He also mentions the fact of a Pagan Runic inscription occurring at Jellinge, Denmark, on the tomb of old King Gorm, A.D. c. 900, found in a huge barrow; and, at the same place, a Christian Runic inscription on the tomb of his son Harold. Has this inquiry been extended to British Runes, and might it not throw much light upon many monuments of dates prior to the Conquest? Crossed slabs with Runes have been found at Hartlepool, Durham; have the inscriptions been read? (Boutell's Christian Monuments, p. 3.; Cutt's Manual of Sepulchral Slabs, pp. 52. 60. plate III.)

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC

The Nibelungenlied, which has been aptly designated the German Iliad, has hitherto been a sealed book to the mere English reader. Mr. Lettsom has however just published a most successful translation of it under the title of The Fall of the Nibelungers. Few will rise from a perusal of the English version of this great national epic—which in its present form is a work of the thirteenth century—without being struck with the innate power and character of the original poem; and without feeling grateful to Mr. Lettsom for furnishing them with so pleasing and spirited a version of it.

Captain Curling, Clerk of the Cheque of what was formerly designated the Band of Gentleman Pensioners, has, under the influence of a laudable esprit de corps, combined the disjointed materials which Pegge had collected upon the subject with the fruits of his own researches; and, under the title of Some Account of the Ancient Corp of Gentlemen-at-Arms, has produced a volume of great interest doubtless to his "brothers in arms," and containing some curious illustrations of court ceremonial.[9 - We find at page 200, an Order of the Council, dated Dec. 5. 1737, respecting the disposition of the band at the funeral of Queen Caroline, signed by "TEMPLE STANYAN," the subject of a Query in No. 24. p. 382., and of several Replies in our last, No. 28. p. 460.]

Mr. Timbs, the editor of The Year-Book of Facts, &c., announces for early publication a work on which he has been engaged for some time, entitled Curiosities of London. It will, we believe, be altogether of a different character from Mr. Cunningham's Handbook, and treat rather of present London and its amusements than those of historical and literary associations which give a charm to Mr. Cunningham's volume.

We are glad to find that the most mysterious and mystified portion of the Greek Geometry is likely to receive at last a complete elucidation—we mean the "Porisms." There are so many questions arising out of this subject, respecting the development of the Grecian intellect, that a full discussion of them is no easy task; especially of those arising out of the conflicting testimonies furnished by history, and by the internal evidences contained in the existing works of the "fathers of Geometry." We certainly anticipate, from the known character of the minds now engaged in this work, that some conclusive evidence as to the state of geometry anterior to the time of Euclid will be elicited by Messrs. Potts and Davies. The analysis of the writings of all the authors who have treated on the Porism, will form a subject of interest not only for its assigning to every author his fair share of credit for his contributions towards perfecting the poristic method; but for that critical discrimination of principles, which constitutes one of the marked features of Mr. Davies's writings in the archæology of geometry. We shall be glad if his slight notice of the intended work shall bring some accession of aid to the undertaking in the form of subscriptions: as upon adequate support, it appears, must depend whether the work shall go to press, or the project be abandoned.

We have received the following Catalogues:—Thomas Thorpe's (13. Henrietta Street) General Catalogue of very Choice, Curious, Rare, and most Interesting Books recently purchased, including some hundred articles of the utmost rarity. Williams and Norgate's (14. Henrietta Street) No. 24. of German Book Circular, a Quarterly List of the principal New Publications on the Continent; C.J. Stewart's (11. King William Street, West Strand) Catalogue of Dogmatical, Polemical, and Ascetical Theology.

WANTED.—MANUSCRIPT OF OLD ENGLISH POETRY.—Borrowed, within the last few months, from the Town Residence of a Gentleman, a large 4to. MS., in modern binding, of Early English Poetry, by Richard Rolle, of Hampole; containing, among other matters, Religious Pieces couched in the form of Legal Instruments, and a Metrical Chronicle of the Kings of England, in the style of Lydgate's. As the owner does not recollect to whom it was lent, and is very anxious to refer to it, he will be obliged by its immediate return, either to himself directly, or, if more convenient, to the Editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES."

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