Notes and Queries, Number 76, April 12, 1851

    N. B.

[C., E. H., and numerous other correspondents, have also kindly replied to this Query.]

Epigram against Burke (Vol. iii., P. 243.).—

"Oft have I heard that ne'er on Irish ground,
A poisonous reptile ever yet was found;
Nature, though slow, will yet complete her work,
She has saved her venom to create a Burke."

The author of these lines was Warren Hastings himself; his private secretary (Mr. Evans) sat by his side during the trial, and saw him write the above. My authority is a niece of Mr. Evans, who formed one of her uncle's family at the period of the trial.

    N. M.

Engraved Portrait (Vol. iii., p. 209.).—This is the portrait of Samuel Clarke, the ejected minister of Bennet Fink, London. I have three impressions of this engraving now before me. Two of these are in an illustrated Granger, and are in different states, the earlier one having no shading in the background. The third copy is prefixed to—

"A Collection of the Lives of Ten Eminent Divines, Famous in their Generations for Learning, Prudence, Piety, and painfuless in the work of the Ministry, &c. By Sa. Clarke, Preacher of the Gospel in St. Bennet Fink, London, 1662." 4to.

Very likely the same plate had been previously used for some other of Clarke's numerous publications. At the end of the verses beneath the portrait, my copies have "P.V.A.M. fecit," which, I suppose, are the initials of Peter Vinke.

    John I. Dredge.

A full and interesting account of this worthy divine is given in Granger, vol. v. p. 73.; and the quatrain will be found annexed to a brief account of the same portrait in Ames's English Heads, p. 43.

    J. F. Y.

Salgado's Slaughter-house (Vol. ii., p. 358.).—Your correspondent asks, Who was Salgado? and his question has not yet, I believe, been answered. James Salgado, whose name does not appear in any biographical dictionary, though it deserves to do, and whose pieces are unnoticed in Peck's Catalogue, though they should certainly not have been omitted, was a Spanish priest, who renounced the Roman Catholic belief, and was imprisoned by the Inquisition, and after undergoing many sufferings made his escape to England in the latter part of the reign of Charles II. His history is contained in An Account of his Life and Sufferings, in a 4to. tract in my possession, entitled, A Confession of Faith of James Salgado, a Spaniard, and sometimes a Priest in the Church of Rome, London, 1681, 4to. Watt and Lowndes both notice some of his pieces, but their lists are very imperfect, and do not comprise the tract, of which your correspondent gives the title, and which is also in my possession, and several others which I have noted in my copy of my Confession, but which it is perhaps unnecessary to enumerate here.

    James Crossley.

Mathew's (not Matthew's) Mediterranean Passage (Vol. iii., p. 240.).—I have a copy of this work, and shall have pleasure in forwarding it to Mercurii for perusal, if he will address a note to me, which the publisher of "Notes and Queries" will forward.

    Nibor.

Oxford, March 29. 1851.

The Mitre and the "Cloven Tongues" (Vol. iii., p. 146.).—My attention has just been directed to the remark of your correspondent L. M. M. R., who adduces the miracle of the "cloven tongues as of fire" as having supplied the form of the mitre.

This is an old explanation; but your correspondent does not appear to be aware that "cloven" has been rejected by high classical authority, as not being a correct interpretation of the word διαμεριζόμεναι. The exact translation is, "And tongues as of fire appeared, being distributed to them." The same verb is used in the passage, "They parted my garments among them,"—parted or distributed—the exact equivalent.

It appears to me that the translators have here made an extraordinary blunder. They have, I think, mistaken διαμηρίζω for διαμερίζω. For the peculiar meaning of the former verb I beg to refer those who have not observed it, to Liddell and Scott's Lexicon. The substitution of a letter here (η for ε) would give to the Scripture term a significance, which, though analogous to that of the current translation, is immeasurably distant from the exact interpretation.

    Hughes Frazer Halle.

Chudleigh, March 24. 1851.

Slums (Vol. iii., p. 224.).—This word is, I take it, an Americanism, being an abbreviation of settlements.

The back settlements and back slums are used synonymously.

    D. Q.

"God's Acre" (Vol. ii., p. 56.).—On looking back to some of your old numbers I find W. H. K. has never been answered with regard to the above application of the term to churchyards. Longfellow (Liverpool edition, 1850, p. 36.) commences one of his poems thus:

"I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial-ground God's Acre. It is just;
It consecrates each grave within its walls,
And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust."

Whether this may be any help to W. H. K., I know not, but I cannot refrain from the Query—What is the Saxon phrase alluded to?

    W. H. P.

Wages in the last Century (Vol. iii., p. 143.).—I have a note on this subject which is at A. A.'s service, extracted from the Gentleman's Magazine for May 1732, vol. ii p. 771.:—

"Wages (Yearly) appointed by the Justices, A.D. 1732, to be taken by the Servants in the County of Kent.

I send the note as I have it in my commonplace book; but I should think that the periodical from which the above is extracted, contains much that would suit A. A.'s purpose.

    E. S. Taylor.

Martham, Norfolk.

Tradesmen's Signs (Vol. iii., p. 224.).—The projecting signs over tradesmen's shop-doors were removed under the London Paving Act, 6 Geo. III. c. 26. s. 17. In the Percy History of London, i. 179., the act is erroneously said to have been passed in 1762. From Malcolm's Anecdotes of London, pp. 468, 469., it seems that the clause in question was inserted in the act in consequence of inquiries by a committee appointed by the Court of Common Council in 1764. Mr. Peter Cunningham, in the "London Occurrences" prefixed to his Handbook for London, says: "1766. The house-signs of London taken down."

No doubt the existing Metropolitan Paving Acts contain clauses which will prevent tradesmen from again putting up projecting signs.

    C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

Standfast's Cordial Comforts, &c. (Vol. iii., p. 143.).—Abhba will find in a catalogue of curious books published by G. Bumstead, 205. High Holborn, an early edition of Standfast. It is described thus:

"Standfast (R.), A Little Handful of Cordial Comforts, and a Caveat against Seducers; with the Blind Man's Meditations, and a Dialogue Between a Blind Man and Death, 12mo. 1684."

This may assist Abhba in his researches.

    Z.

St. Pancras (Vol. ii., p. 496.).—Your correspondent Mr. Yeowell asks where C. J. Smith's collection of MSS., cuttings and prints, &c. relating to the parish of St. Pancras, are deposited? It is in the library of Richard Percival, Esq., 9. Highbury Park, Islington.

Can any of your readers give an account of St. Pancras? He was martyred May 12, 304.

    R.

[Has our correspondent looked at the Calendar of the Anglican Church, lately published by Parker of Oxford? A brief notice of St. Pancras will be found on p. 274. of that useful little work.]

Lines on "Woman's Will" (Vol. i., p. 247.).—Although somewhat late in the day, I send you the following paragraph from the Examiner of May 31, 1829: