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Minor Notes

The Formation of the Woman, Gen. ii. 21, 22.—The terms of Matthew Henry on this subject, in his learned Commentary, have become quite commonplace with divines, when speaking of the ordinance of marriage:

"The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam: not made out of his head, to top him; nor out of his feet, to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side, to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart, to be beloved."

Like many other things in his Exposition, this is not original with Henry. It is here traced to the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis of the earliest and rarest printed works. Some of your readers can probably trace it to the Fathers. The verses which follow are engraven in block characters in the first edition of the work named, and are copied from the fifth plate of specimens of early typography in Meerman's Origines Typographicæ: Hague, mdcclxv.:

 
"Mulier autem in paradiso est formata
De costis viri dormientis est parata
Deus autem ipsam super virum honestavit
Quoniam Evam in loco voluptatis plasmavit,
Non facit eam sicut virum de limo terræ
Sed de osse nobilis viri Adæ et de ejus carne.
Non est facta de pede, ne a viro despiceretur
Non de capite ne supra virum dominaretur.
Sed est facta de latere maritali
Et data est viro pro gloria et socia collaterali.
Quæ si sibi in honorem collata humiliter præstitisset
Nunquam molestiam a viro unquam sustinuisset."
 

O. T. D.

Singular Way of showing Displeasure.—

"The earl's regiment not long after, according to order, marched to take possession of the town (Londondery); but at their appearance before it the citizens clapt up the gates, and denyed them entrance, declaring their resolution for the king (William III.) and their own preservation. Tyrconnel at the news of this was said to have burnt his wig, as an indication of his displeasure with the townsmen's proceedings."—Life of James II., p. 290.

E. H. A.

The Maids and the Widows.—The following petition, signed by sixteen maids of Charleston, South Carolina, was presented to the governor of that province on March 1, 1733-4, "the day of the feast:"

"To His Excellency Governor Johnson

"The humble Petition of all the Maids whose names are underwritten:

"Whereas we the humble petitioners are at present in a very melancholy disposition of mind, considering how all the bachelors are blindly captivated by widows, and our more youthful charms thereby neglected: the consequence of this our request is, that your Excellency will for the future order that no widow shall presume to marry any young man till the maids are provided for; or else to pay each of them a fine for satisfaction, for invading our liberties; and likewise a fine to be laid on all such bachelors as shall be married to widows. The great disadvantage it is to us maids, is, that the widows, by their forward carriages, do snap up the young men; and have the vanity to think their merits beyond ours, which is a great imposition upon us who ought to have the preference.

"This is humbly recommended to your Excellency's consideration, and hope you will prevent any farther insults.

"And we poor Maids as in duty bound will ever pray.

"P.S.—I, being the oldest Maid, and therefore most concerned, do think it proper to be the messenger to your Excellency in behalf of my fellow subscribers."

Uneda.

Alison's "Europe."—In a note to Sir A. Alison's Europe, vol. ix. p. 397., 12mo., enforcing the opinion that the prime movers in all revolutions are not men of high moral or intellectual qualities, he quotes, as from "Sallust de Bello Cat.,"

"In turbis atque seditionibus pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus aluntur."

No such words, however, are to be found in Sallust: but the correct expression is in Tacitus (Hist., iv. 1.):

"Quippe in turbas et discordias pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus indigent."

Sir A. Alison quotes, in the same note, as from Thucydides (l. iii. c. 39.), the following:

"In the contests of the Greek commonwealth, those who were esteemed the most depraved, and had the least foresight, invariably prevailed; for being conscious of this weakness, and dreading to be overreached by those of greater penetration, they went to work hastily with the sword and poniard, and thereby got the better of their antagonists, who where occupied with more refined schemes."

This paragraph is certainly not in the place mentioned; nor can I find it after a diligent search through Thucydides. Will Sir A. Alison, or any of his Oxford friends, be good enough to point out the author, and indicate where such a passage is really to be found?

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

"Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. vi., p. 376.).—"Sat cito, si sat bene."—The first of these proverbs reminded me of the second, which was a favourite maxim of Lord Chancellor Eldon. (See The Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, vol. i. p. 48.) I notice it for the purpose of showing that Lord Eldon followed (perhaps unconsciously) the example of Augustus, and that the motto is as old as the time of the first Roman emperor, if it is not of more remote origin. The following is an extract from the Life of Augustus, Sueton., chap. xxv.:

"Nil autem minus in imperfecto duce, quam festinationem temeritatemque, convenire arbitrabatur. Crebrò itaque illa jactabat, Σπεῦδε βραδεως. Et:

 
'ἀσφαλὴς γὰρ ἐστ' αμείνων ἤ θρασὺς στρατηλάτης.'
 

Et, 'Sat celeriter fieri, quicquid fiat satis bene.'"

Perhaps T. H. can give us the origin of these Greek and Latin maxims, as he has of "Bis dat, qui cito dat" (Vol. i., p. 330).

F. W. J.

Queries

HOUSE-MARKS

Are there traces in England of what the people of Germany, on the shores of the Baltic, call Hausmärke, and what in Denmark and Norway is called bolmærke, bomærke? These are certain figures, generally composed of straight lines, and imitating the shape of the cross or the runes, especially the so-called compound runes. They are meant to mark all sorts of property and chattels, dead and alive, movable and immovable, and are drawn out, or burnt into, quite inartistically, without any attempt of colouring or sculpturing. So, for instance, every freeholder in Praust, a German village near Dantzic, has his own mark on all his property, by which he recognises it. They are met with on buildings, generally over the door, or on the gable-end, more frequently on tombstones, or on epitaphs in churches, on pews and old screens, and implements, cattle, and on all sorts of documents, where the common people now use three crosses.

The custom is first mentioned in the old Swedish law of the thirteenth century (Uplandslagh, Corp. Jur. Sveo-Goth., iii. p. 254.), and occurs almost at the same period in the seals of the citizens of the Hanse-town Lubeck. It has been in common use in Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sleswick, Holstein, Hamburgh, Lubeck, Mecklenburgh, and Pomerania, but is at present rapidly disappearing. Yet, in Holstein they still mark the cattle grazing on the common with the signs of their respective proprietors; they do the same with the haystacks in Mecklenburgh, and the fishing-tackle on the small islands of the Baltic. In the city of Dantzic these marks still occur in the prayer-books which are left in the churches.

There are scarcely any traces of this custom in the south of Germany, except that the various towers of the city-wall of Nurnberg are said to bear their separate marks; and that an apothecary of Strasburg, Merkwiller, signs a document, dated 1521, with his name, his coat of arms, and a simple mark.

Professor Homeyer has lately read, before the Royal Academy of Berlin, a very learned paper on the subject, and has explained this ancient custom as significant of popular law, possibly intimating the close connexion between the property and its owner. I am sorry not to be able to copy out the Professor's collection of runic marks; but I trust that the preceding lines will be sufficient in order to elicit the various traces of a similar custom still prevalent, or remembered, in the British isles; an account of which will be thankfully received at Berlin, where they have lately been informed, that even the eyder-geese on the Shetlands are distinguished by the marks of their owners.

α.

Minor Queries

"Seductor Succo."—Will any of your readers oblige me by giving me either a literal or poetical translation of the following lines, taken from Foulis, Rom. Treasons, Preface, p. 28., 1681?

"Seductor Succo, Gallo Sicarius; Anglo Proditor; Imperio Explorator; Davus Ibero; Italo Adulator; dixi teres ore,—Suitam."

Clericus (D).

Anna Lightfoot.—T. H. H. would be obliged by any particulars relating to Anna Lightfoot, the left-handed wife of George III. It has been stated that she had but one son, who died at an early age; but a report circulates in some channels, that she had also a daughter, married to a wealthy manufacturer in a midland town. It is particularly desired to know in what year, and under what circumstances, Anna Lightfoot died.

Queries from the "Navorscher."—Did Addison, Steele, or Swift write the "Choice of Hercules" in the Tatler?

Was Dr. Hawkesworth, or, if not, who was, the author of "Religion the Foundation of Content," an allegory in the Adventurer?

In what years were born C. C. Colton, Pinnock, Washington Irving, George Long, F. B. Head; and when died those of them who are no longer among us?

Who wrote "Journal of a poor Vicar," "Story of Catherine of Russia," "Volney Becker," and the "Soldier's Wife," in Chamber's Miscellany?

Did Luther write drinking-songs? If so, where are they to be met with?

"Amentium haud Amantium."—I should be glad to ascertain, and perhaps it may be interesting to classical scholars generally to know, if any of your correspondents or readers can suggest an English translation for the phrase "amentium haud amantium" (in the first act of the Andria of Terence), which shall represent the alliteration of the original. The publication of this Query may probably elicit the desired information.

Fidus Interpres.

Dublin.

"Hurrah!" and other War-cries.—When was the exclamation "Hurrah!" first used by Englishmen, and what was the war-cry before its introduction? Was it ever used separately from, or always in conjunction with "H.E.P.! H.E.P.?" Was "Huzza!" contemporaneous? What are the known war-shouts of other European or Eastern nations, ancient or modern?

Cape.

Kissing Hands at Court.—When was the kissing of hands at court first observed?

Cape.

Uniforms of the three Regiments of Foot Guards, temp. Charles II.—Being very desirous to know where well authenticated pictures of officers in the regimentals of the Foot Guards during the reign of Charles II. may be seen, or are, I shall be greatly obliged to any reader of "N & Q." who will supply the information. I make no doubt there are, in many of the private collections of this country, several portraits of officers so dressed, which have descended as heir-looms in families. I subjoin the colonels' names, and dates of the regiments:

1st Foot Guards, 1660: Colonel Russell, Henry Duke of Grafton.

Coldstream Guards, 1650: General Monk.

3rd Guards, 1660: Earl of Linlithgow. 1670: Earl of Craven.

D. N.

Raffaelle's Sposalizio.—Will Digitalis, or any of your numerous correspondents or readers, do me the favour to say why, in Raffaelle's celebrated painting "Lo Sposalizio," in the gallery of the Brera at Milan, Joseph is represented as placing the ring on the third finger of right hand of the Virgin?

I noticed the same peculiarity in Ghirlandais's fresco of the "Espousals" in the church of the Santa Croce at Florence. This I remarked to the custode, an intelligent old man, who informed me that the connexion said to exist between the heart and the third finger refers to that finger of the right hand, and not, as we suppose, to the third finger of the left hand. He added, that the English are the only nation who place the ring on the left hand. I do not find that this latter statement is borne out by what I have seen of the ladies of continental Europe; and I suppose it was an hallucination in my worthy informant.

I must leave to better scholars in the Italian language than I am, to say whether "Lo Sposalizio" means "Betrothal" or "Marriage:" certainly this latter is the ordinary signification.

I have a sort of floating idea that I once heard that at the ceremony of "Betrothal," now, I believe, rarely if ever practised, it was customary to place the ring on the right hand. I am by no means clear where I gleaned this notion.

G. Brindley Acworth.

Brompton.

"To the Lords of Convention."—Where can I find the whole of the ballad beginning—

 
"To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverh'se that spoke;"
 

and also the name of the author?

L. Evans.

Richard Candishe, M.P.—Pennant (Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 48.) prints the epitaph of "Richard Candishe, Esq., of a good family in Suffolk," who was M.P. for Denbigh in 1572, as it appears on his monument in Hornsey Church. Who was this Richard Candishe? The epitaph says he was "derived from noble parentage;" but the arms on the monument are not those of the noble House of Cavendish, which sprung from the parish of that name in Suffolk. The arms of Richard Candishe are given as "three piles wavy gules in a field argent; the crest, a fox's head erased azure."

Buriensis.

Alphabetical Arrangement.—Can any one favour me with a reference to any work treating of the date of the collection and arrangement in the present form of the alphabet, either English, Latin, Greek, or Hebrew? or what is the earliest instance of their being used to represent numerals?

A. H. C.

Saying of Pascal.—In which of his works is Pascal's saying, "I have not time to write more briefly," to be found; and what are the words in the original?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Irish Characters on the Stage.—Would any of the contributors to "N. & Q." oblige me with this information? Who, or how many, of the old English dramatists introduced Irishmen into their dramatis personæ? Did Ben Jonson? Shadwell did. What others?

Philobiblion.

Family of Milton's Widow.—Your correspondent Cranmore, in his article on the "Rev. John Paget" ("N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 327.), writes thus: "Dr. Nathan Paget was an intimate friend of Milton and cousin to the poet's fourth (no doubt meaning his third) wife, Elizabeth Minshall, of whose family descent, which appears to be rather obscure, I may at another time communicate some particulars."

Now, as more than a year has elapsed since the article referred to appeared in your valuable columns, without the subject of Elizabeth Minshall's descent having been farther noticed, I hope your correspondent will pardon my soliciting him to supply the information he possesses relative thereto, which cannot fail proving interesting to every admirer of our great poet.

V. M.

Table-moving.—Was not Bacon acquainted with this phenomenon? I find in his Sylva Sylvarum, art. Motion:

"Whenever a solid is pressed, there is an inward tumult of the parts thereof, tending to deliver themselves from the compression: and this is the cause of all violent motion. It is very strange that this motion has never been observed and inquired into; as being the most common and chief origin of all mechanical operations.

"This motion operates first in a round by way of proof and trial, which way to deliver itself, and then in progression where it finds the deliverance easiest."

C. K. P.

Newport, Essex.