coffin painted "true blue;" and in a spirit of remarkable utilitarianism, used it as a cupboard for no less than twenty years:

-

"On his birthday he would try on his best suit, and

extend himself in the coffin to see if it still fitted. Evacu

ating his quarters, the coffin, well lined with substantial viands, would then be carried in state on the shoulders of his associates. Ned following as chief mourner, with an enormous pitcher of ale in his hand :

'The blue-lined coffin holds his dust now dead, In which the living Dawson kept his bread."" The same book also records the doings of one John Wheatley; who bought a coffin, stored it with choice wines, and for some time kept it in his bed-room:

"Thence," says Mr. Wylie, "he removed it to an enclosed place in the General Cemetery, in which he had a vault dug. He there, however, imbibed such copious draughts of wine, that he was driven from the place; and thus made to cease from his revolting dissipation."

ST. SWITHIN.

A remarkable instance of a monumental brass, prepared before death, is that of the Abbot Delamere at St. Albans, considered to be the finest ecclesiastical brass remaining. The inscription, in very bold Lombardic letters, runs thus: "Hic jacet Dominus Thomas, quondam abbas hujus monasterii -." A space is left for the age and date of death; but what is most extraordinary is, that these have never been filled in. The brass was fixed, but the inscription never completed, even after the abbot's death. I may here note that Boutell is mistaken in calling one of the figures on the side of the abbot's head Offa, king of Mercia: it is St. Oswin, king and martyr, whose relics were translated to the monastery of Tinmouth, subject to the abbey of St. Albans, and at which translation Richard, abbot of St. Albans, attended in 1103. F. C. H.

The Rev. Joseph Pomeroy, who was born in 1749, instituted to the vicarage of St. Kew, in Cornwall, in 1777, and died, the oldest clergyman in that county, on Feb. 7, 1837, had prepared, some few years before his death, a granite coffin, which be caused to be placed in the churchyard of his parish ready for his interment. I well remember seeing it in a newly finished state and stretching myself in it. The practice of erecting monuments prior to death has, as is well known, been very common. We very frequently find that the date of death has not been filled in by the executors or representatives of the deceased. In the church of Blislund, in the above mentioned county, is a brass commemorating John Balsam, sometime rector of that parish, who died in May, 1410. This monument is singular in that the date of the day of the month is not filled in, a blank space remaining in the brass plate, although the remainder of the inscription is complete. JOHN MACLEAN. Hammersmith,

SHAKERS (2nd S. xii. 366.)—T. J. H. wishes a full historical account of this sect, and I have not seen that any answer has been yet given. The following is the title of a book in my possession:

"An Account of the People called Shakers: their Faith, Doctrines, and Practice, exemplified in the Life, Conversations, and Experience of the Author during the time he belonged to the Society. To which is affixed a History of their Rise and Progress to the Present Day. By Thomas Brown, of Cornwall, Orange County, State of New-York.

"Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.'— Apostle Paul.

"An historian should not dare to tell a falsehood, or leave a truth untold.'-Cicero.

"TROY: Printed by Parker and Bliss. Sold at the Troy Bookstore, by Websters and Skinners, Albany; and by S. Wood, New-York, 1812."

The work is in octavo, and contains 372 pages; concluding with some hymns used by the sect. The book was published by subscription, and a list of the subscribers is given. About 350 copies appear to have been subscribed for; and perhaps* few of those have found a way across the Atlantic. W. LEE.

LEADING APES IN HELL (3rd S. v. 193, 341.) — Under the heading "APE," I find the following remarks in Toone's Glossarial and Etymological Dictionary : —

"The common expression, to lead apes in hell, said of women dying old maids, seems to have puzzled all preceding writers as to its origin; but all agree that it owes its rise to the Reformation, no mention being made of it prior to 1600 in any old author. Mr. Boucher suggests, inducement to women to marry. In the dissolution of that it may have been invented by the reformers as an the monasteries, a disinclination to marriage manifested itself; and many women, of a contemplative turn of mind, sighed for the seclusion of the cloister to counteract this propensity. Some pious reformer hit upon the device in question; but whether true in fact, or whether it had the desired effect, it is difficult to determine. It is still in use in a jocular sense :

'But 'tis an old proverb, and you know it well,
That women dying maids lead apes in hell.'
O. P., The London Prodigal.
Fear not, in hell you'll never lead apes,

A mortify'd maiden of five escapes.'

I

B. Jonson. Well, if I quit him not, I here pray God lead may in hell and die a maid.' apes O. P., Englishmen for my Money." ST. SWITHIN.

THE MOLLY WASH-DISH (3rd S. v. 356.)—I take this to be a provincial name for the Motacilla. It is commonly called the water-wagtail, from having its habitat near running streams; and from the peculiar shake of its tail, noticed in all languages when speaking of this bird. The rapid and pertinacious tappings at his window, which MR. BINGHAM speaks of, are nothing unusual with the Motacilla tribe. Many years ago, I was attending the sick bed of a woman who lived near the Froome, which runs in a narrow stream, at

the back of the town of Dorchester; and during my visit, heard repeated tappings at the window of the cottage; and, on inquiry, found they were made by a water-wagtail, who continued the practice for several days-much to the alarm of the poor woman and her family: for they were all convinced that it was the warning of her approaching death. It was in vain to persuade them to a contrary belief; so I let the superstition cure itself by the bird, after two or three days, disappearing altogether. But was it " transmigrated spirit-rapper ?" Of this, MR. BINGHAM seems to suggest the possibility: no doubt, from his classical studies at Winchester. The Ivy of Theocritus clearly indicates that country people, in his day, had strangely superstitious notions about this bird, as being able to create love, and bring the lover back to his forsaken mistress: "Iüy§, čλke ̧tù,” &c. This Virgil imitates, in the line

99

a

"Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, Daphnim.” The bird was said to be tied to a magic wheel, which, being turned rapidly, exhibited the appearance of the lost lover. But a phrase, in Xenophon's Memorabilia, λкew toyya, "turn the magic wheel," brings the truth more closely home, that the ancients used "table-turning" much the same as "foolish women do in the nineteenth century, for the purpose of knowing mysterious circumstances about lovers, or other hidden secrets. The belief in spirit-rapping, in our enlightened age, is something worse than a rustic superstition. Proh pudor! QUEEN'S GARDENS. CAPTAIN NATHANIEL PORTLOCK (3rd S. v. 375.) In connection with this distinguished naval officer, to whose memory, as your correspondent rightly observes, justice has not been done, it may be well to mention that his son, Major-General Joseph Ellison Portlock, R.E., F.R.S., M.R.I.A., &c., died at his residence, Lota, Booterstown, co. Dublin, February 14, 1864, and was buried at Mount Jerome. General Portlock's character as a man of science stood particularly high; and one of his publications, entitled Report on the Geology of the County of Londonderry, and of Parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh (8vo, Dublin, 1843, pp. xxxi. 784, with maps and plates), is a standard authority. I have lately seen a large sized oil-painting of Captain Portlock, in full uniform.

Авива.

bear them with respect to his descent from the antient family of Sausmarez, in the said Isle❞ (Guernsey). In this petition it is set out that — "His Great Grandfather's Father, John Andros, als Andrewes, an English Gentleman, borne in Northamptonshire, coming into the Island of Guernsey, as Lieutenant to Sr Peter Mewtis, Knt, the Govern, did there marry A°

1543, with Judith de Sausmarez, onely Daughter of Thomas Sausmarez, son and heir of Thomas Sausmarez, Lords of the Seignorie of Sausmarez in the said Isle,” &c., &c.

The warrant, granting the petition, is dated Sept. 23, 1686; and from this time Sir Edmund Andros and his descendants, as Seigneurs de Saustheir own, and used the crest and supporters bemarez, quartered the arms of De Sausmarez with longing thereto, as depicted on the margin of the warrant. These arms are thus blazoned :- Arg. as many castles triple-towered or. on a chev. gu. between three leopards' faces sa. Crest. A falcon affrontant, wings expanded ppr. belled or. Supporters. Dexter, an unicorn arg. tail cowarded; sinister, a greyhound arg. collared gu. garnished EDGAR MAC CULLOCH.

or.

Guernsey.

CURLL'S VOITURE'S LETTERS (3rd S. ii. 162.) — D. says, "two translations of Voiture's Letters had been published: one in 1657, and the other in 1715."

I have no copy of the latter; but I presume it is the translation published by Curll. I have the former, which I may state was translated by John Davies of Kidwelly.

The object of this note is, to mention another collection of Letters: "Printed for Sam. Briscoe, in Russel-street, Covent Garden, and sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers'-hall, 1700." It is intituled:

"Familiar and Courtly Letters, written by Monsieur VOITURE to Persons of the greatest Honour, Wit, and Quality of both Sexes in the Court of France. Made English by Mr. Dryden; Tho. Cheek, Esq.; Mr. Dennis; Henry Cromwel, Esq.; Jos. Raphson, Esq.; Dr. &c. To these are added translations from Aristænetus, Pliny, Jun, and Fontanelle, by Tho. Brown; and Original Letters by the same. Never before Published. And a Collection of Letters written by Dryden, Wycherly, Congreve, Dennis," &c.

On a cursory examination of Voiture's Letters in this volume, I find them, with one exception, different letters from those in the edition of 1657. W. LEE.

In 1686, he made application to the Earl Marshal to have his arms "registered in the College of Armes in such a manner, as he may lawfully

tion was probably the word "to-well." I think no solution, perfectly answerable in all points, possible. Mine is open to the objection, that "the old knight" had a "gouty knee;" but it was when his red toe twinged him worst, that he would willingly have yielded to the hatchet that which

forms the first part of the charade. The solution given by Lord Monson-"foot-stool"-is liable to the same objection; while it must be admitted that "leg-rest," given by C. S., is not. As to the second part, mine has the recommendation of antithesis to the word "ill," which immediately succeeds it in the poem. The word "stool" seems inapplicable; but the word "rest" is admissible, though not quite satisfactory. The all, or complete solution, is something that might be "smoothed" by a single touch,"-which could scarcely be said of a leg-rest, or a foot-stool; but might of a "to-well."

66

I do not presume to affirm that my solution is

the correct one; nor dare I recommend a wet towel to any of your readers afflicted with gout: but I applied one in a paroxysm (like that which made Sir Geoffrey think of the hatchet), and I must say, in the words of the charade, "like a fairy's wand, it banished the pain away." I am bound to add that my medical adviser, on being informed, said I had incurred a risk that might have proved fatal.

W. LEE. SMYTH OF BRACO, AND STEWART OF ORKNEY (3rd S. iii. 51.)-I should be much indebted to W. H. F., who wrote from Kirkwall on the subject of some Orkney families, if he would permit me to correspond privately with him touching certain Orcadian relatives on whose history he may be enabled to throw a light. I do not think the investigation would have any interest for general readers of "N. & Q."; and, moreover, details of genealogy can be best communicated

direct.

I may add, that I am specially interested in an inquiry concerning the Margaret Stewart who is mentioned by W. H. F., as wife of Hew Halcro of Halcro. Is he acquainted with any other marriage of hers?

I am also desirous of obtaining some further particulars than I have hitherto been able to glean respecting the family of James Aitken, Bishop of Galloway; whose father, Henry Aitken, was sheriff and commissary of Orkney, and who was himself parson of Birsa at the time of Montrose's descent.

Is there any trace of a Margaret Stewart among the Burray family, descending from Ochiltree, or Evendale, as mentioned in your correspondent's long and elaborate paper?

I think I am acquainted with the principal possessions of the Smyths of Braco, in Orkney; but of this I will speak later, should W. H. F. feel disposed to accede to my request. I shall hope to hear from him at the address I have given. C. H. E. CARMICHAEL.

Trin. Coll. Oxon.

HEMMING OF WORCESTER (3rd S. v. 173, 268, 355.)-A recent investigation of the records of

At the siege of 1646, Alderman Heming was one of the citizens nominated to consider the propriety of a treaty with the besiegers. The choice was disapproved, and Lieut.-Col. Soley supplied the alderman's place.

Hemming is still a local name; and it is, and has been, to be found in many parts of the county. I have not met with any example of the arms borne by mayors of this name, nor does it appear that they registered at the Visitations. The crest suggested at p. 355, according to Burke, does not belong to the same family as the arms at p. 268. Perhaps the pedigree of Heming of London (p. 268) may throw some light on the subject.

A Robert Hemming was buried at Tenbury, Sept. 13, 1691.

James Hemming died at Inkberrow, Dec. 25, 1727, aged seventy-three. R. W.

"TROILUS AND CRESSIDA" (3rd S. iv. 121.) – There can, I think, be no doubt about the meaning with which Shakspeare wrote the line:

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

He is simply pointing out, that there is a tendency natural to all-all are akin to each other in this-that they all praise what is new, because it is new. But by frequent quotation, the line has lost its connection with the context, and has acquired a much more emphatic application; being made to signify an allusion to that electric sympathy by which "the heart of man answers to man." It is hardly necessary to point out how many texts of Scripture have passed through a similar process, even those which have been pressed into the service of the most solemn controversy. A notable parallel is found in the use of the hackneyed quotation, Cui bono? It means, in everybody's mouth, "What is the good of soand-so?" Whereas it grew into proverbial use from its frequency as a question under the Roman law of evidence, meaning, "Who was the gainer by so-and-so?" C. G. PROWETT.

Garrick Club.

"HAMLET" (3rd S. v. 232.) — A. A. should have recollected Horatio's comment on the lines in question: "You might have rhymed." By his suppressed rhyme, Hamlet means us to understand the word " ass " instead of "peacock." He

wishes to mask the suggestion under a less uncourtly term of reproach: and having just referred to "Jove himself," the bird of Juno naturally supplies him with the word he wants. C. G. PROWETT.

Garrick Club.

MONKS AND FRIARS (3rd S. v. 346.) — It is to be regretted that many, besides Mr. Froude, are in the habit of confounding monks and friars. Sterne speaks loosely, not to say ignorantly, of a poor monk of the Order of St. Francis," he should have said friar. We meet, indeed, with such mistakes in so many respectable writers, that it would be only waste of time to select examples. Every one, again, talks of the monks of Mount St. Bernard; when in reality they are neither monks nor friars, but canons regular of St. Augustine. But to answer the queries of

F. H. M.:

1. What was the distinction between monks and friars? The very names might suffice to show this. Monks, or monachi, were so called from Mords, alone, because they originally lived alone, in the deserts, and far from all intercourse with the world; whereas the friars were so called from fratres, or brethren, because they lived together in community. The monks were later on assembled in monasteries, or communities, containing each about thirty or forty monks; and these were styled cenobites, from living in community, to distinguish them from those who still lived alone, and were called hermits, or anchorets. Two centuries after monks had been formed into communities in the East, they were established in the West by St. Benedict in 595, and his rule was generally adopted; so that by monks are usually understood Benedictines, though there are monks of various other Orders, who in great measure follow his rule-such as Cistercians, Carthusians, Camaldulenses, Cluniacs, &c. The friars are, the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites. St. Francis, of Assisium founded the Friars Minors in 1209.

2. Was the difference as great as the reviewer of Froude implies? Certainly not. There have been, it is true, too many jealousies, and too many instances of opposition between monks and friars; but it is quite false to represent them as systematically "bitter enemies." Nor is there any parity between the opposition of these religious Orders and that of the Pharisees and Sadducees: for these differed on essential points of doctrine, whereas monks and friars never differed on any doctrinal subject. F. C. H.

The monks (uovaxol) are very ancient, existing before the time of Christ, and were so called from their seclusion from the world: at first in caves and deserts, afterwards in buildings. This seclusion was so perfect that, in contemplation of English law, it was considered death. Thus Littleton

says (s. 200)"When a man entreth into religion and is professed, he is dead in the law, and his son or next cousin (consanguineus) incontinent shall inherit him, as well as though he were dead indeed."

Guizot (Hist. Mod. ch. xiv. p. 382), says that "as late as the eleventh age the monks were for the most part laymen;" which opinion is thought by Waddington to be too hastily asserted (Hist. Church. ch. xxviii. p. 698): yet the latter admits (ch. xix. p. 370, 384), "the order of monks was originally so widely distinct from that of clerks, that there were seldom found more than one or two ecclesiastics in any ancient convent."

The friars (frères), on the contrary, known as the mendicant and preaching orders, had no fixed residence, did not appear till the twelfth century, and were missionaries. The Augustines were canonici, and in some respects conformed to the monastic system (Waddington, Hist. Church. ch. xix. p. 384). Some of the friars, however, domiciled themselves in monasteries, as at Oxford and Cambridge; but the Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelites, and Augustines, did not thereby become monks-that is, persons secluded from the world."

The monks (laymen), it may be said, had regard each to his personal religion as his main object; the friars (clergy), on the other hand, had regard especially to the conversion and religious advancement of the general public. The Pharisees and Sadducees were at variance chiefly on the doctrines of tradition, and of the resurrection of the body; both held by the former, and denied by the latter; their differences had regard to matters of opinion. The distinction of clergy and laity had not then arisen. The differences of monks and friars were evinced in acts, selfish as regarded the monks, philanthropic as regarded the friars.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Islandic nefi. See Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary, and Toone's Etymological Dictionary, where quotations are given from Gawin Douglas's Virgil, Burns's Haggis, and the Midsummer Night's Dream. It occurs, also, in Tim Bobbin's Lancashire Dialect. J. F. M. "A SHOFUL" (3rd S. v. 145.) — MR. PHILLIPS has recalled attention to this subject, and has attempted to bring within the region of true etymology a term which may perhaps have no claim to legitimacy. The difficulty experienced in accounting for slang terms (such as I consider shoful to be) very generally arises from want of acquaintance with the classes among whom they take their rise. I beg leave to assist MR. PHILLIPS by throwing out a suggestion. I am inclined to regard shoful as a piece of Jewish slang. Thus in Friedrich's Unterricht in der Judensprache, 8vo, 1784, we find "SCHOFEL, schlecht, gering; and if we may suppose that on the introduction of the Hansom cabs the drivers of the old fourwheelers wished to display their contempt for the innovation, those among them who were Jews (and several such might be met with) would probably express their feeling by the use of this Hebrew word. This explanation may perhaps admit of question; but at all events it appears to me to carry with it some semblance of philological truth, while MR. PHILLIPS's solution of the difficulty, I may be pardoned for saying, is unsupported either by the principles of language, or the character of the vehicle in question. R. S. Q. DUMMERER (3rd S. v. 355.)— Harman in his Caveat for Common Cursitors, 4to, 1567, has a chapter descriptive of "a dommerar," which commences thus,

"These dommerars are leud and most subty'll people, the most part of these are Walch men, and wyll neuer speake, unlesse they haue extreame punishment, but wyll gape, and with a maruellous force wyll hold downe their toungs doubled, groning for your charyty," &c.

To the same effect Dekker, in his English Villanies, 4to, 1638, writes of dommerars,—

"The bel-man tooke his marks amisse in saying that a dommerar is equal to a cranke, for of these dommerars I never met but one, and that was at the house of one M. L.

of L. This dommerar's name was W. Hee made a

strange noise, shewing by fingers acrosse that his tongue was cut out at Chalke Hill," &c.

Grose, on the foregoing authorities, gives, in his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, the following definition of a dommerar:

"A beggar pretending that his tongue has been cut out by the Algerines, or cruel and blood-thirsty Turks; or else that he was born deaf and dumb."

R. S. Q. PARIETINES (3rd S. v. 281.)-I imagine this word to mean ruins, or ruined walls, the same as the Latin parietine, so used by Cicero. Robert Burton was so pedantic in his style, and so fond

of interlarding his sentences with quotations from classic authors, that it is quite probable he would Anglicise words not acknowledged by any English lexicographer. FENTONIA.

THE NEWTON STONE (3rd S. v. 110, 245, 380.) I must decline to occupy your space with a refutation of DR. MOORE's last letter; but it may be desirable to inform such of your readers as are interested in the matter, that the copy of the inscription, with which I compared DR. MOORE'S renderings, is that of Dr. Wilson in his Prehistoric Scotland. I am also anxious to say that I do not assert the inscription to be Celtic. That it is Celtic is possible, that it is Hebrew or Chaldee is impossible. B. H. COWPER.

-

CHESS (3rd S. v. 377.) — On looking up the epigram quoted by your correspondent D., in the useful Delphin edition of Martial, I find a reference made to the 72nd of the 7th book "Ad Paullum," where an authority on this subject is cited. The extract is too long for insertion, but I may briefly sketch what is there said. The

"calculi" were called either "canes" or "latrones,"

and the game was played on a board (Talvetov) intersected by lines forming spaces, which were termed citadels (urbes). The "men," which were much like our draughtsmen, I suppose, were variously coloured, and the object was to separate a man from the rest, surround it with your own men, and so capture it. Luxury, as in every thing else, would greatly modify the appliances of so popular a game, and the draughtsmen would be made of the most beautiful and precious materials. Undoubtedly "gemmeus means jewelled or inlaid, or even cut out of precious stones. The agate, jasper, cornelian, are used sometimes now for such purposes, and ivory chessmen inlaid with gems are occasionally made. The "miles et hostis" are merely the names of the two sides; the "miles" being the "grassator," the "hostis," the "insidiator," the attacking and defending sides alternately. The Delphin edition quotes Ovid,

"Sive latrocinii sub imagine calculus ibit,

Fac pereat vitreo miles ab hoste tuus."

And says expressly that his author considers this game "diversum esse a scapis, Gallice échecs." I am of his opinion. The question is interesting, and I could wish a better explanation than that I have given.

E. C.

Chess was not known to the Greeks or Romans (Penny Cyclo. vii. 53). It was invented by the Indians, and was introduced into Persia under the reign of Nushivran (A.D. 531-579, Gibbon, ch. xlii. p. 308). The passage in Martial (xiv. 20), "Insidiosorum si ludis bella latronum,

Gemmeus iste tibi miles et hostis erit,"

refers probably to the Duodena scripta, and was a kind of trick-track or backgammon; it was played