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Transcriber's note: on page 399, "Yule College" in the original is
corrected to "Yale College".

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{381}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 208.]
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22. 1853.
[Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

  NOTES:--                                                 Page

  A Prophet                                                 381

  FOLK LORE:--Folk Lore in Cambridgeshire--New
  Brunswick Folk Lore--North Lincolnshire Folk
  Lore--Portuguese Folk Lore                                382

  Pope and Cowper, By J. Yeowell                            383
  Shakspeare Correspondence, by Patrick Muirson, &c.        383

  MINOR NOTES:--Judicial Families--Derivation of
  "Topsy Turvy"--Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias--
  "Mary, weep no more for me"--Epitaph at Wood
  Ditton--Pictorial Pun                                     384

  QUERIES:--

  Sir Thomas Button's Voyage, 1612, by John Petheram        385

  MINOR QUERIES:--The Words "Cash" and "Mob"
  --"History of Jesus Christ"--Quantity of the Latin
  Termination -anus--Webb and Walker Families--
  Cawdrey's "Treasure of Similes"--Point of Etiquette
  --Napoleon's Spelling--Trench on Proverbs--Rings
  formerly worn by Ecclesiastics--Butler's "Lives of
  the Saints"--Marriage of Cousins--Castle Thorpe,
  Bucks--Where was Edward II. killed?--Encore--
  Amcotts' Pedigree--Blue Bell: Blue Anchor--
  "We've parted for the longest time"--Matthew
  Lewis--Paradise Lost--Colonel Hyde Seymour--
  Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire--Poems published at
  Manchester--Handel's Dettingen Te Deum--
  Edmund Spenser and Sir Hans Sloane, Bart.                 386

  MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--The Ligurian Sage
  --Gresebrok in Yorkshire--Stillingfleet's Library--
  The whole System of Law--Saint Malachy on the
  Popes--Work on the Human Figure                           389

  REPLIES:--

  "Namby Pamby," and other Words of the same Form           390
  Earl of Oxford                                            392
  Picts' Houses                                             392
  Pronunciation of "Humble"                                 393
  School Libraries                                          395

  PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:--Albumenized Paper
  --Cement for Glass Baths--New Process for Positive
  Proofs                                                    395

  REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--The Groaning Elmplank
  in Dublin--Passage in Whiston--"When
  Orpheus went down"--Foreign Medical Education
  --"Short red, good red"--Collar of SS.--Who first
  thought of Table-turning--Passage of Thucydides on
  the Greek Factions--Origin of "Clipper" as applied
  to Vessels--Passage in Tennyson--Huet's Navigations
  of Solomon--Sincere--The Saltpetre Man--
  Major Andre--Longevity--Passage in Virgil--Love
  Charm from a Foal's Forehead--Wardhouse, where
  was?--Divining Rod--Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle--
  Pagoda                                                    397

  MISCELLANEOUS:--

  Books and Odd Volumes wanted                              401
  Notices to Correspondents                                 401
  Advertisements                                            402

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Notes.

A PROPHET.

What a curious book would be "Our Prophets and Enthusiasts!" The literary
and biographical records of the vaticinators, and the heated spirits who,
after working upon the fears of the timid, and exciting the imaginations of
the weak, have flitted into oblivion! As a specimen of the odd characters
such a work would embrace, allow me to introduce to your readers Thomas
Newans, a Shropshire farmer, who unhappily took it into his head that his
visit to the lower sphere was on a special mission.

Mr. Newans is the author of a book entitled _A Key to the Prophecies of the
Old and New Testament_; showing (among other impending events) "The
approaching Invasion of England;" "The Extirpation of Popery and
Mahometisme;" "The Restoration of the Jews," and "The Millennium." London:
printed for the Author (who attests the genuineness of my copy by his
signature), 1747.

In this misfitted key he relates how, in a vision, he was invested with the
prophetic mantle:

    "In the year 1723, in the night," says Mr. Newans, "I fell into a
    dream, and seemed to be riding on the road into the county of Cheshire.
    When I was got about eight miles from home, my horse made a stop on the
    road; and it seemed a dark night, and on a sudden there shone a light
    before me on the ground, which was as bright as when the sun shines at
    noon-day. In the middle of that bright circle stood a child in white.
    It spoke, and told me that I must go into Cheshire, and I should find a
    man with uncommon marks upon his feet, which should be a warning to me
    to believe; and that the year after I should have a cow that would
    calve a calf with his heart growing out of his body in a wonderful
    manner, as a token of what should come to pass; and that a terrible war
    would break out in Europe, and in fourteen years after the token it
    would extend to England."

In compliance with his supernatural communication, our farmer proceeded to
Cheshire, where he found the man indicated; and, a year after, his own farm
stock was increased by the birth of a calf with his heart growing out. And
after taking his family, of seven, to witness to the truth of {382} what he
describes, he adds with great simplicity: "So then I rode to London to
acquaint the ministers of state of the approaching danger!"

This story of the calf with the heart growing out, is not a bad type of the
worthy grazier himself, and his _hearty_ and burning zeal for the
Protestant faith. Mr. Newans distinctly and repeatedly predicts that these
"two beastly religions," _i. e._ the Popish and Mahomedan, will be totally
extirpated within seven years! And "I have," says he, "for almost twenty
years past, travelled to London and back again into the country, near fifty
journies, and every journey was two hundred and fifty miles, to acquaint
the ministers of state and several of the bishops, and other divines, with
the certainty, danger, and manner of the war" which was to bring this
about. Commenting on the story of Balaam, our prophet says: "And now the
world is grown so full of sin and wickedness, that if a dumb ass should
speak with a man's voice, they would scarce repent:" and I conclude that
the said statesmen and divines did not estimate these prophetic warnings
much higher than the brayings of that quadruped which they turned out to
be. Mr. Newan professes to gave penned these vaticinations in the year
1744, twenty-one years after the date of his vision; so that he had ample
time to mature them. What would the farmer say were he favoured with a peep
at our world in 1853, with its Mussulman system unbroken; and its cardinal,
archbishops, and Popish bishops firmly established in the very heart of
Protestant England?

J. O.

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FOLK LORE.

_Folk Lore in Cambridgeshire._--About twenty years ago, at Hildersham,
there was a custom of ringing the church bell at five o'clock in the
leasing season. The cottagers then repaired to the fields to glean; but
none went out before the bell was rung. The bell tolled again in the
evening as a signal for all to return home. I would add a Query, Is this
custom continued; and is it to be met with in any other place?

F. M. MIDDLETON.

_New Brunswick Folk Lore_:--_Common Notions respecting Teeth._--Among the
lower orders and <DW64>s, and also among young children of respectable
parents (who have probably derived the notion from contact with the others
as nurses or servants), it is here very commonly held that when a tooth is
drawn, if you refrain from thrusting the tongue in the cavity, the second
tooth will be golden. Does this idea prevail in England?

_Superstition respecting Bridges._--Many years ago my grandfather had quite
a household of blacks, some of whom were slaves and some free. Being bred
in his family, a large portion of my early days was thus passed among them,
and I have often reverted to the weird superstitions with which they froze
themselves and alarmed me. Most of these had allusion to the devil:
scarcely one of them that I now recollect but referred to him. Among others
they firmly held that when the clock struck twelve at midnight, the devil
and a select company of his inferiors regularly came upon that part of the
bridge called "the draw," and danced a hornpipe there. So firmly did they
hold to this belief, that no threat nor persuasion could induce the
stoutest-hearted of them to cross the fatal draw after ten o'clock at
night. This belief is quite contrary to that which prevails in Scotland,
according to which, Robin Burns being my authority, "neither witches nor
any evil spirits have power to follow a poor wight any farther than the
middle of the next running stream."[1]

C. D. D.

New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[Footnote 1:

  "Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
  And win the key-stane of the brig:
  There at them thou thy tail may toss,
  A running stream they dare na crass."--_Tam O'Shanter._

 ]

_North Lincolnshire Folk Lore._--Here follow some shreds of folk lore which
I have not seen as yet in "N. & Q." They all belong to North Lincolnshire.

1. Death sign. If a swarm of bees alight on a dead tree, or on the dead
bough of a living tree, there will be a death in the family of the owner
during the year.

2. If you do not throw salt into the fire before you begin to churn, the
butter will not come.

3. If eggs are brought over running water they will have no chicks in them.

4. It is unlucky to bring eggs into the house after sunset.

5. If you wear a snake's skin round your head you will never have the
headache.

6. Persons called Agnes always go mad.

7. A person who is born on Christmas Day will be able to see spirits.

8. Never burn egg-shells; if you do, the hens cease to lay.

9. If a pigeon is seen sitting in a tree, or comes into the house, or from
being wild suddenly becomes tame, it is a sign of death.

10. When you see a magpie you should cross yourself; if you do not you will
be unlucky.

EDWARD PEACOCK.

Bottesford Moors.

_Portuguese Folk Lore._--

    "The borderer whispered in my ear that he was one of the dreadful
    Lobishomens, a devoted race, held in mingled horror and commiseration,
    and never mentioned {383} without by the Portuguese peasantry. They
    believe that if a woman be delivered of seven male infants
    successively, the seventh, by an inexplicable fatality, becomes subject
    to the powers of darkness; and is compelled, on every Saturday evening,
    to assume the likeness of an ass. So changed, and followed by a horrid
    train of dogs, he is forced to run an impious race over the moors and
    through the villages; nor is allowed an interval of rest until the
    dawning Sabbath terminates his sufferings, and restores him to his
    human shape."--From Lord Carnarvon's _Portugal and Gallicia_, vol. ii.
    p. 268.

E. H. A.

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POPE AND COWPER.

In Cowper's letter to Lady Hesketh, dated January 18, 1787, occurs a notice
for the first time of Mr. Samuel Rose, with whom Cowper subsequently
corresponded. He informs Lady Hesketh that--

    "A young gentleman called here yesterday, who came six miles out of his
    way to see me. He was on a journey to London from Glasgow, having just
    left the University there. He came, I suppose, partly to satisfy his
    own curiosity, but chiefly, as it seemed, to bring me the thanks of
    some of the Scotch professors for my two volumes. His name is Rose, an
    Englishman."

Prefixed to a copy of Hayley's _Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq._,
in the British Museum, is an extract in MS. of a letter from the late
Samuel Rose, Esq., to his favourite sister, Miss Harriet Rose, written in
the year before his marriage, at the age of twenty-two, and which, I
believe, has never been printed. It may, perhaps, merit a corner of "N. &
Q."

    "Weston Lodge, Sept. 9, 1789.

    "Last week Mr. Cowper finished the _Odyssey_, and we drank an
    unreluctant bumper to its success. The labour of translation is now at
    an end, and the less arduous work of revision remains to be done, and
    then we shall see it published. I promise both you and myself much
    pleasure from its perusal. You will most probably find it at first less
    pleasing than Pope's versification, owing to the difference subsisting
    between blank verse and rhyme--a difference which is not sufficiently
    attended to, and whereby people are led into injudicious comparisons.
    You will find Mr. Pope more refined: Mr. Cowper more simple, grand, and
    majestic; and, indeed, insomuch as Mr. Pope is more refined than Mr.
    Cowper, he is more refined than his original, and in the same
    proportion departs from Homer himself. Pope's must universally be
    allowed to be a beautiful poem: Mr. Cowper's will be found a striking
    and a faithful portrait, and a pleasing picture to those who enjoy his
    style of colouring, which I am apprehensive is not so generally
    acceptable as the other master's. Pope possesses the gentle and amiable
    graces of a Guido: Cowper is endowed with the bold sublime genius of a
    Raphael. After having said so much upon their comparative merits,
    enough, I hope, to refute your second assertion which was, that women,
    in the opinion of men, have little to do with literature. I may inform
    you, that the _Iliad_ is to be dedicated to Earl Cowper, and the
    _Odyssey_ to the Dowager Lady Spencer but this information need not be
    extensively circulated."

J. YEOWELL.

50. Burton Street.

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SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

_"As You Like It."_--Believing that whatever illustrates, even to a
trifling extent, the great dramatic poet of England will interest the
readers of "N. & Q.," I solicit their attention to the resemblance between
the two following passages:

                  "All the world's a stage,
  And all the men and women merely players."

  "Si recte aspicias, _vita haec est fabula quaedam_.
  _Scena autem, mundus versatilis_: _histrio et actor_
  _Quilibet est hominum--mortales nam proprie cuncti_
  _Sunt personati_, et falsa sub imagine, vulgi
  Praestringunt oculos: _ita Diis, risumque jocumque_,
  _Stultitiis, nugisque suis per saecula praebent_.
     .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
  "Jam mala quae humanum patitur genus, adnumerabo.
  _Principio_ postquam e latebris male olentibus alvi
  Eductus tandem est, materno sanguine foedus,
  _Vagit, et auspicio lacrymarum nascitur infans_.
     .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
  "Vix natus jam vincla subit, tenerosque coercet
  Fascia longa artus: praesagia dire futuri
  Servitii.
     .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
  "Post ubi jam valido se poplite sustinet, et jam
  Rite loqui didicit, tunc servire incipit, atque
  Jussa pati, _sentitque minas ictusque magistri_,
  Saepe patris matrisque manu fratrisque frequenter
  Pulsatur: facient quid vitricus atque noverca?
  _Fit juvenis, crescunt vires_: jam spernit habenas,
  Occluditque aures monitis, furere incipit, ardens
  Luxuria atque ira: et temerarius omnia nullo
  Consilio aggreditur, dictis melioribus obstat,
  Deteriora fovens: _non ulla pericula curat_,
  Dummodo id efficiat, suadet quod coeca libido.
     .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
  "_Succedit gravior, melior, prudentior aetas_,
  Cumque ipsa curae adveniunt, durique labores;
  Tune <DW25> mille modis, studioque enititur omni
  Rem facere,