EGYPTIAN ROYAL CARTOUCHE. pondents wise in Egyptian lore, kindly decypher for me RA It is beautifully cut in wood, which appears to be that of the sant (Mimosa Nilotica) which is almost imperishable in a climate like Egypt; and I brought it from a tomb near Abou Sir. E. S. TAYLOR. A MAYOR TOST IN A BLANKET.-Your correspondent, "A Bookworm," seems to be in quest of the anecdote of Thomas Aislabie, Esq. last Mayor of Scarborough, vide page 317 of Hinderwell's admirable history of that town. This borough was one of those which surrendered their franchise to Charles II. in 1683, when, as Roger North quaintly describes, "Charters of Corporations fell before Jeffreys like the walls of Jericho." The only point in the story needing elucidation is, how it happened that the affront to the Mayor for his zeal in what was eminently the king's quarrel should have passed unredressed, and the royal pardon granted to the assailant before his examination? Such lenity was probably intended to conciliate the dissatisfaction caused by the publication of "The Royal Declaration for liberty of conscience;" dissatisfaction only appeased by James II.'s abdication of the throne. If your correspondent be inclined to pursue the subject, he may make some interesting discovery. Y. S. N. Your correspondent Feltham's elaborate enigma scems to point at the letter A. A CORRESPONDENT inquires after the North Country Mayor, who was tossed in a blanket. This was one of the Mayors of Scarborough, during the latter part of the reign of Charles II. He had a squabble, I'believe, a political one, with the Vicar in the church one Sunday, and ended by using his cane pretty freely on the shoulders of the Churchman. An officer in the army, a Captain, was at church, and feeling indignant at such a breach of good conduct in the sacred edifice, sent a message to his worship, the day following, to come to his quarters, as he particularly wished to see him. The unsuspecting Mayor complied, the officer had a number of men ready, and the alarmed civic dignitary received the rather singular treatment mentioned in the ballad. The whole of this curious affair is related at length in a Scarborough Guide, published about forty-five years ago. It is an octavo pamphlet and is now scarce. JAMES WARDell. Town Clerk's Office, Leeds. DAME JULIANA BARNES, the authoress of that singular treatise on Hunting and Hawking, "The Boke of Seynt Allons" is commonly said to have been a daughter of Sir James Barnes, the obnoxious favourite of Richard II. who was beheaded on Tower Hill. Can any of your genealogical correspondents bring forward any evidence of this presumed fact? J. E. A BLACKGUARD, says the great Dr. Johnson, "is a cant word among the vulgar Ly which is implied a dirty fellow of the meanest kind." The derivation of this word is involved in some obscurity, though the original Howard's Defensative, 1583, occurs the following pashas certainly existed from time immemorial. In H. sage: "As the blessed angels are ministering spirits, so the devil and his blackguards are the means and instruments which God hath used and employed in all times, either for the trial of the godly or chastisement of the wicked." Again in Stanihurst's Description of Ireland, "They are taken for no better than rakehells or the devils blackguard." "A lamentable case," says Fuller," that the devils blackwould seem to imply "a fit attendant on the Devil." guard should be God's soldiers." In these instances it By Webster, however, it is derived from blackard' (black-kind), but Gifford in an amusing note to Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his humour,' has traced its origin to some of the attendants on royalty. He tells royal residences there were a number of mean and us that in all great houses, but particularly in the dirty dependents whose office it was to attend the woodyard and sculleries. Of these the most forlorn wretches halls, &c. To this smutty regiment who attended the seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchen, Progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, which with every other article of furniture were then moved from palace to palace, the people in derision gave the name of blackguards, a term since become familiar and never properly explained. JOHNSON BY TODD. KIT MARLOW, in Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments, is thus described as an Atheist, "by profession a scholar brought up from his youth in the University of Cambridge, but by practise a play maker and poet of scurrility, who by giving too large a swing to his own wit, fell to that extremity that he not only in word blasphemed the Trinity but also (as is credibly reported) wrote books against it affirming our Saviour to be but a deceiver, and Moses to be but a conjuror and seducer of the people, and the Holy Bible to be but vain and idle stories, and all religion but a device of policy." Are any of these works of this Tom Paine of the sixteenth century, known to be in existence. C. ALBERT DURER is stated to have written a Diary of his Tour in the Netherlands. Has it ever been translated? PICTOR. THOMAS GENT.-Your Correspondent Mr. Boyne, (Current Notes for February, p. 16) seems not to be aware that Gent's interesting autobiography, which was published by Thorpe in 1832, was edited by a gentleman, who may be justly termed the most eminent of our living topographical writers, the reverend Joseph Hunter, the historian of Hallamshire and South Yorkshire. In the editor's concluding note upon the Life, he states that Gent's Translation of "Reliquiæ Eboracenses" was published. I have a copy in my possession, answering precisely to Mr. Hunter's description: "it is printed on the coarsest paper, and in the rudest manner, and has no title page.' The poem is in three books, and extends over 104 pages. The titles at the head of some of the pages are, "Historical Antiquities:" "Ethnic Historical Delights, or Ancient Glories of Yorkshire." I may add for the information of your correspondent 'Eboracensis,' that I possess the following productions of Gent's press, which are not included among those mentioned in Current Notes for January, p. 2. A Speech delivered to the Grand Lodge of Freemasons at A Voyage to Russia, &c. by Elizabeth Justice, 1739. A Second Address to the Clergy in Great Britain, a Sermon by Philanthropos, 1731. 66 It is doubtful whether "The History of the Ancient Militia in Yorkshire under King Venusius" was ever published. To the title page, of which I have a copy, this notice is prefixed, Designed for the press in 8 or 10 Exhibitions, weekly, at 3 pence each time, provided a tolerable number subscribe, whose names are to be printed." And at the foot of the page this is printed: "written under cruel disappointment and waiting for paper. A. C. M. DCC. LX. EBURACO. THOMAS GENT.-A Correspondent in your last number inquires as to Gent's translation of Dering's Reliquiæ Eboracenses. I do not believe it was ever published, but I have a copy of it printed on rather coarse paper with marginal woodcuts, which appears as if it were made up from proof sheets. It has no title page, and consists of 104 8vo. pages. It commences: "Fair Yorkshire bounds I'll range with pilgrim's art, And pleasant things not quite obscur'd impart." And ends, "Enrich our souls to greater joys above, Where all is glory, ecstacy, and love." On the fly-leaves is a letter to some unknown correspondent in Gent's autograph, but not dated. He observes, "I send you this only to see my poor skill in poetry and genius. After read you may commit it to "the flames. My books of St. Winifrid have sold very "prosperously." JAS. CROSSLEY. 66 Manchester, 1st March, 1853. LATIN QUOTATION.-Who is the author of "Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamus in illis?" This has often been asked but has never yet been satisfactorily answered. Many correspondents have, in vain, made this enquiry in "Notes and Queries." The reply given has been, Vox et præterea nihil! SIBTHORPE. LOTTERIES.-When were they first established in England? The earliest notice I can find is in "The Glory of England," by Thomas Gainsford, printed about 1619. 66 S. N. WILLIAM PRYNNE.-A large placard was issued by a scandalous this worthy in 1648, wherein he states, paper has been newly printed and published in my name by some of the imprisoned stage-players, or agents of of Stage Playes, or a retractation of a former booke of the army, intituled, Mr. William Prynne, his Defence his, called Histriomatrix, of purpose to traduce and defame me, I do hereby publicly declare to all the world the same to be a mere forgery and imposture." Can any of your readers furnish me with any account of this literary hoax? Lincoln's Inn. TO CORRESPONDENTS. E. S. The verses inquired after by a Subscriber (p. 12) are in Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. C. S. H., James Wardell, B., J. M., Robert Spence, P. C., H. A. B. M., H. G, Faber, and a host of kind correspondents, must receive our thanks for transcribing the verses enquired after by Feltham, in our last. The "Lines addressed to Lord Byron" were by Mrs Elliott, and will be found in MacDiarmid's Scrap Book, 1823. and "Had you ever a cousin, Gleanings in Poetry, 1836. Tom," first appeared in the New Monthly Magazine, 1829. It is said to have been written by a Mr. Fitzgerald. been often printed. The Epitaph on Nel' Bachelor, the old pie-woman, has E. Peacock.-The Broadside in honour of that notorious scoundrel, Captain Bedloe, is curious, but too long for insertion. A. C. K. thanked for his tracing of the Roman wheeled Galley from Vegetius. The paddle is no modern invention. H. E. Windle. Knight's Cyclopædia is so popular a book that the extract about Spence must be already familiar to our readers. Literary and Scientific Obituary. ADAMS, C. B., Professor, U. S. Conchology. Recently. CHARLESWORTH, Dr., an eminent Physician. Lincoln, 28th February. Aged 71. A Pamphlet on Health and Cleanliness, &c. DE BUCH, Leopold. March 4th. Aged 79. Geology. ORFILA, M., Physician. March 12th. Aged 70. Poisons and Legal Medicine. OVERWEG, Dr. Recently. Geology and Mineralogy. SOUTHERN, Henry. Belles Lettres. At Rio, Jan. 28th. No. XXVIII.] FOR THE MONTH. "I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-SHAKSPERE. JOAN CROMWELL. 66 IN the British Bibliographer is noticed a rare little volume, entitled, The Court and the Kitchen of Elizabeth, commonly called Joan Cromwell, the Wife of the late Usurper, truly described and represented. 12mo. 1664," in which the writer, under the guise of a cookery book, has severely satirized the thrifty wife of the Protector. Prefixed is her scarce portrait, with the monkey and some verses underneath. We may be pardoned for omitting the receipts of the homely dishes usually met with at her frugal table-the Dutch puddings, Scotch collops of veal ("almost her constant dish,") the marrow puddings which "she usually had for breakfast," sack posset, boiled woodcocks, Punnado and Warden pie-all valuable receipts, doubtless, and affording a sweet-smelling savour to Puritan noses, whose owners hungered not after the more dainty and more carnal flesh-pots of Egypt; and all which receipts the author professes to have had from " a near servant" of the Protectress; but we will pass on to the more interesting portion of the volume occupied by anecdotes touching the "sordid frugality and thrifty baseness" of one who, according to the writer's views, "was a hundred times fitter for a barn than a palace." From the singularity of its satire, we might almost conclude that it was the production of some discarded "chef de cuisine" who reigned omnipotent under Cavalier régime, but who, like Othello, found his "occupation gone,' under the strait-laced dynasty of Puritanism and Fast Days; and who, scoffing at the abstemious degeneracy of the age, seems to have measured greatness by a good digestion; and virtue, by a penchant for morceaux. Alas! if no man is a hero to his valet de chambre, how can he hope to find favour in the eyes of a cook? The statesman must bow before the epicure, and the glories of Wellington succumb to those of Heliogabalus. The author seems to have regarded Oliver Cromwell and his wife with the same suspicious eye that Cæsar looked upon Cassius, because he was so lean. However, "it would be well," he exclaims with a sneer, "if his butchery could be slighted into her cookery, and that there were no other monument of it than in paste." [APRIL, 1853. those two he gave the French ambassador and the Parliament in 1656, upon their gratulation of his Syndercombe deliverance; which last amounted not to above £1000, and she saved £200 of it in the banquet; for a woman, a spectator near Cromwell's table, upon the serving thereof with sweetmeats, desiring a few dry candies of apricots, Colonel Pride sitting at the time, instantly threw into her apron a conserve of wet, with both his hands, and stained it all over; when, as if that had been the sign, Oliver catches up his napkin and throws it at Pride; he, at him again; while all of that table were engaged in the scuffle, the noise whereof made all the members rise before the sweetmeats were set down; and believing dinner was done, go to this pastime of gambols, and be spectators of his Highness's frolics." Elsewhere we learn that Cromwell was wont "to call in the guards, to eat the relics of his victuals." "I might," continues the author, "insert a story of her inof it for candles, which those that knew her humour, had quiry into the profit of the kitchen stuff, and the exchanging purposely put into her head, till she was told to whom it belonged, and the customs of the Court, to most of which she answered: they should not think to have them take place as in the other woman's days.' And the reason she used to give for this, her frugal inspection and parsimony, was the small allowance and mean pittance she had to defray the household expenses." Some curious stories are related of her first coming to town, after the Battle of Marston Moor; when the pastors, elders, and brethren of the sects presented "her with a silver service, and all "the middle sort of the religiously fanatic sent her in Westphalia hams, neat's tongues, puncheons and tierces of French wine, runlets and bottles of sack, all manner of preserves and comfits, to save her the trouble of the town; the most of which gifts, (they being multiplied upon her), she retailed by private hands at as good a rate as the market would disdain to receive bribes; and that "her house was in afford." The author proceeds to hint that she did not this respect, a Political or State Exchange, by which the affairs of the kingdom were governed, and the prices of all things set, whether offices, preferments, or indemnity; as all other manner of collusion and deceits were practised, and money-stirring no where else." At this time she was frequently invited to sumptuous entertainments, and would "look as religiously upon a March pane, preserve or comfit, as a despairing lover upon his mistress' lips; but the war expired, and these thanksgivings and triumphal festivals ended, this pious family began to enter upon the years of famine, after those of plenty; and so many fast days were enjoined, that her domestics almost forgot dinner time. If anything could be observable by her for state and charge, it was the keeping of a coach; the driver of which served her for caterer, as much occasion as she had for him, for butler, for serving man, for gentleman usher, when she was to appear in any public place. And this coach was We are told that in Oliver's household, "suppers they had none; eggs or some slops contenting Cromwell and her Ladyship. For the family there was constantly boiled eight stone of beef early in the morning to keep her retainers in heart, and in earnest of a dinner; the broth whereof, and all the scraps and relics of dinner, (to give her her due), were alternately given to the poor of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and St. Martin's in the Fields; and that very orderly without any babble or noise. His feasts were none of the liberalest, and far from magnificent. Even VOL. III. E bought second hand, out of a great number, which then lay by the walls, while their honourable owners went on foot, and ambled in the dirt to Goldsmith's and Haberdasher's Halls, if so fairly come by." After hinting that she would have had a sequestered coach, if she dared; the author adds that she had "horses out of the army, and their stabling and livery in her husband's allotment out of the mews, at the charge of the State; so that it was the most thrifty and unexpensive pleasure and divertissement (besides the finery and honour of it) that could be imagined; for it saved many a meal at home, when upon pretence of business her Lady ship went abroad; and carrying some dainty provant for her own and her daughters' own repast, she spent whole days in short visits, and long walks in the air; so that she seemed to affect the Scythian fashion, who dwell in carts and waggons, and have no other habitations. Her public retinue was also very slender; no more commonly than one of her husband's horse boys-with or without livery, all was one." A curious story is related of her daughter's marriage with Mr. Claypole. The wedding was very private, "all that was Hymen-like in the celebration of it was some freaks and pranks without the aid of a fiddler (which in those days was thought to be altogether unlawful, as the ring and form of marriage was thought antichristian), in Nol's military rude way of spoiling the custard, and like Jack Pudding throwing it upon one another, which was ended in the more manly game of buffeting with cushions, and flinging them up and down the room.' of them ministers' daughters. She was once resolved by the advice of her mother to have made a small brewing place with vessels and other accommodations of her own for her own and Oliver's drink; but about the same time a drink was then grown famous in London, being a very small ale at 78 6d a barrel, well boiled and well tasted and conditioned, called Morning Dew,' which was thence brought into request at Court, and was the diet drink of this temperate couple, and the cool refreshing entertainment of those bouncing ladies that came weltering and wallowing in their coaches instead of drays to visit her." We have not space for the story of the early green peas and the poor country woman; but there is one anecdote too amusing to be omitted. "Upon Oliver's rupture with the Spaniards, the commodities of that country grew very scarce, and oranges and lemons were very rare and dear. One day as the Protector was private at dinner he called for an orange to a loin of veal, to which he used no other sauce, and urging the same command, was answered by his wife, that Oranges were oranges now, that crab oranges would cost a groat, and for her part she never intended to give it ;' and it was presently whispered that sure her Highness was never the adviser of the Spanish war, and that his Highness should have done well to have consulted his digestion before his hasty and inordinate appetite of dominion and riches in the A BOOKWORM. West Indies." British Museum. CHESTERFIELD IN THE SEVENTEENTH Century. No class of books, perhaps, yield us so much interesting information on the manners and every day life of our ancestors as the old works on etiquette. I send you a few specimens from Hawkins' Youths Behaviour, or Decency in Conversation amongst Men. Lond. 1646, one of the most popular productions of the kind, which I think cannot fail to be entertaining. The writer commences by admonishing the youth of the Commonwealth against divers small breaches of good manners, such as "rolling the eyes," "urging the face" "lifting one eyebrow higher than the other," &c. and entreats his readers to "rub not thy teeth, nor crash them, nor make anything crack in such a manner that thou disquiet anybody." There is an art even in yawning. The author proceeds to relate how her Highness took possession of her palace at Whitehall, "where like the devil cast out she entered by fasting and praying after the usual manner, and like devout Jezebel took possession of Naboth's vineyard." We are further told "she employed a surveyor to make her some convenient accommodations and little labyrinths, and trap stairs, by which she might at all times unseen, pass to and fro, and come unawares upon her servants, and keep them vigilant in their places, and honest in the discharge thereof. Several repairs were likewise made in her own apartments, and many small partitions up and down, as well above stairs as in the cellars and kitchens, so that it looked like the picture of Bartholomew Fair; her Highnessship not being yet accustomed to that roomy and august dwelling, and per haps afraid of the vastness and silentness thereof.-She could never endure any whispering or to be alone by herself in any of the chambers." "Much ado she had at first to raise her mind and deportment to this sovereign grandeur, and very difficult it was for her to lay aside those impertinent meannesses of her private fortune; like the Bride Cat metamorphosed into a comely virgin that could not forbear catching at mice, she could not forget the common converse and affairs of life." "She very providentially kept two or three cows in St. James' Park, erected a dairy in Whitehall, with dairy maids, and fell to the old trade of churning butter and making buttermilk; nor were Oxford Kate's fine things half so famous among the Cavalier But after all, the besetting sin of Young England ladies, as my Lady Protector's butter among the mushroom related to the nasal organ. The author cautions his zealous ladies of the Court. Next to this covey of milk-countrymen against the impropriety of "blowing it maids she had another of spinsters and sewers to the number of six, who sat most part of the day after she was ready in her privy chamber sewing and stitching; they were all "In yawning howle not, and thou shouldst abstain as much as thou canst to yawne especially when thou speakest, or that sheweth one to be weary; but if thou be'st constrained to yawne, by all means for that time being, speak not, nor gape wide mouthed, but shut thy mouth with thy handkerchiefe or with thy hand, if it be needfull readily turning thy face to another side." Imagine the countenance of a modern diner-out, while his wretched victim was performing this complicated manœuvre ! like a trumpet and is imperative on the absolute necessity of the handkerchief, anathematizing those who respectively prefer the sleeve and fingers. When you wish to warm your hands it shews a horrible want of "ton" to thrust them into the flame, and when you go into a room when there is meat on the fire it is " very uncomely to put your foot thereon to warm it." From the many directions given respecting spitting, it would seem that in those days we were about a match for the Yankees. You must not spit in the fire, nor on the wall, nor on the windows, but not far off thee, but aside, a little distant and not right before thy companion." Here are a few regulations for the dinner-table. "One ought not to cast under the table, or on the ground, bones, parings, wine or such like things, notwithstanding if one bee constrained to spit something which was too hard to chew, or which causeth irksomness, then may one throw it forth dextrously upon the ground, taking it decently with two fingers, or with the left hand half shut, so that it be not a liquid thing." "Suck no bones, at least in such wise that one may heare it. Take them not with two hands, but with one solely and properly. Gnaw them not, nor teare the flesh from the bones as dogs doe, but make use of thy knife, holding them with one hand. Knock no bones upon thy bread or trencher to get out the marrow of them, but get out the marrow with a knife. To speake better, it is the counsell of the most wise, that it is not fit to handle bones and much less to mouthe them." Covetousness is another vice to be avoided. "Cast not thine eyes upon the trenchers of others, and fix them not wistly upon the meat on the table, and lift them not up whilst thou drinkest, or whilst thou puttest the meat in thy mouth." The reader is further counselled not to "put a morsel in his mouth until the former bit be swallowed," and they are not to be of such a size as to "puffe up the checkes notably." All things considered, the table cloth is not the article to cleanse the teeth with, and to attempt the same office with the fork is "much worse.' It is not praiseworthy to plunge the digits into the soup on a privateering expedition for a bonne bouche, neither when drawn out is it comely to wipe the fingers on a whole loaf- though it may be done on one's own piece of bread and afterwards polished off with the napkin. It is likewise not seemly to make great "shives" of the bread; it must be cut even, and "without framing a tub thereof." Salt spoons are not yet discovered, and the knife if not "very greasy" is to serve instead,-which, however must not be held upright in the hands like a truncheon, for that is the fashion of "cuntrey clounes." Only snobs pitch the cherrystones upon the floor; they ought to be carefully taken out of the mouth with the left hand and arranged in a row round the edge of the trencher. A formal dinner party now-a-days is a terribly dull affair, but in A.D. 1646 it must have been even worse, for Dr. Hawkins tell us, "It is peculiar to the chiefest of the company to be the first to unfold his napkin and fall to the meat, and therefore it is the dutie of others to attend patiently without setting hand upon anything before him." If your readers are interested in these curiosities of etiquette, I may send you some more. V. T. S. CALAMITIES OF AUTHORS.-The following letter tells its own tale, and a sad tale it is. R. C. Sir, It is with no small diffidence that I take the liberty of addressing this letter to you, but the former instances I have received of your liberal friendship to me, encourage me to hope you will not be offended at it. Snatched from happier days, and the enjoyment of plenty by the false deceptions of others, I have been now near seven years confined within the walls of this prison, a long time of unhappy woe, and though many highly respectable friends, who knew me in my prosperity have convinced me by their generosity that they have not forgot me, and I have too, by a frequent support by my literary labours, contrived to subsist to the present time, yet I am now, by my length of imprisonment and other untoward circumstances happening, at this moment driven to the utmost extremity of woe. I have sacrificed, Sir, the best part of my life in the labour of my History of Kent for the benefit of the public but most ruinous to myself. My attention to it at that time, before I had the pleasure of knowing you, has in a great measure led to all my misfortunes since, and of bringing me to my present crisis of distress; a dreadful crisis, Sir, to be destitute as I am now, of common necessaries and comfort at my advanced years of life, and in the walls of a prison. May I, Sir, in this trying situation, without too great an intrusion on your goodness, solicit you to assist me with a small token of your remembrance of me, and of those feeland more especially for those whom you have been in ings which I am certain you possess for the afflicted, the habit of friendship with; thus by the kindness of my friends I shall be enabled to weather out this crisis of woe till the worst of the storm of it is passed away. My acknowledgements to you, Sir, will ever remain, and in return may Providence continue to bless you with every plenty of comfort and happiness, which is the sincere wish of, Sir, your most obliged humble servant, EDWARD HASTED. King's Bench, Southwark, Sept. 19th, 1801. Addressed John Latham, Esq. Dover, Kent, Rococo. A correspondent begs for information on the meaning and derivation of the word rococo, a term which has found its way, within the last ten years he believes, into the English language, on what authority he is anxious to learn? He observes the word used in the June number last year, of the Quarterly Review, in an article on Lady Theresa Lewis's Clarendon Gallery. The sentence occurs at p. 201-"The sins of the father are visited on the children, and our Niobes in calico, all tears, yet mourn over rococo designs and colours," &c. The sense of the word in this sentence does not seem at all apparent to the inquirer. Doubtless, some of your readers will be able to justify it, or to furnish a few notes which may tend to its elucidation. E. B. BATTLE OF CHEVY CHASE.-Who was the author of this popular ballad ? N. |