THE AWAKENING MALLET. FOR APRIL, 1854. In many Colleges, both at Cambridge and Oxford, it is a custom for the Bible Clerk to knock at every room door with a key to waken the students in a morning before he begins to ring the chapel bell. This, as it should seem, is a vestige of an ancient monastic custom; for we are informed by Bingham, that before the invention of bells, this was the method of convening religious assemblies in monasteries. The monks were called to the chapel by the knock of a hammer at their cells. The instrument was called the night signal, and the awakening mallet. Spelman, in his very learned glossary, article campana, has preserved two Monkish lines, in which all the ancient offices of bells seem to be included Laudo deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum, We praise the true God, call the people, convene the CHURCH BELL INSCRIPTIONS. Sterne died on Friday, March 18, 1768. He was buried at Marybone, but afterwards his corpse was taken up by persons employed by surgeons for this purpose, and, being sent to Cambridge, was known by the Professor of Anatomy, as it lay on the table ready for dissection. The Rev. - Green, of Ferring, told me, that being at Cambridge a short time after, he saw the skeleton, and had the anecdote, that was in the public papers, confirmed to him by the Professor. The facts are not very widely different from the substance of the note, but reliance may be placed on the following: : Sterne died on the first floor of No. 41, New Bond Ox some of the bells in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dub- Street,* at four in the afternoon of the day above stated. lin, are the following inscriptions— First. DVRET ILLESA AD PRECES EXCITANS VSQVE AD SONITVM SVPREMA TVBÆ. 1724. TO BE FIFT IN EIGHT WHEN ALL RINGE ROVND DOM. 1670. NON CLAMANS SED AMANS SONAT IN AVRE dei. AN. On Tuesday, the 22nd, he was buried, no one attending 66 Seventh. FEARE God and Honner THE KING [| Pet. ii. 17] to Cambridge, where a gentleman, who loved him while THE PALL INN.- An anonymous writer, in the "Western Flying Post," a paper published in Yeovil, has rendered the following most satisfactory reply to my query, in reference to the origin and designation of the Pall Inn. See Current Notes, vol. iv. p. 13. Behind the inn there are almshouses, both being erected on one and the same property; at these almshouses was long deposited a pall for funereal purposes, and let out for the benefit of the charity. Mr. Peter Draper, half a century since, one of the chief drapers and undertakers in Yeovil, on all occasions when a funeral was placed in his management, referred them to these almshouses for the pall, hence, the inn being the same property with the almshouses, was named "The Pall Inn." The pall was so long retained in use, that, completely worn out, it was used up, and suffered the fate of its users, having been some years since consigned to its last resting-place. living, and lamented him when dead, was asked by the Anatomical Professor to attend a dissection. He went, and saw the body of his friend produced, and his senses instantly forsook him. This interruption was however merely temporary. That heart whose pulsations were of gaze benignity itself, and the hand never extended but in the act of benevolence, were each laid open to the inhuman curiosity. Each fibre of the heart, it was remarked, seemed relaxed and wrung with sorrow. What became of the mangled corpse the writer cannot say. Those were the particulars stated at the time. The Professor, C. Collignon, B.M. of Trinity, who lectured The Quarterly Review, just issued, has an admirable estimate of the qualities of Sterne as a man and a sentimentalist; but unluckily, some historical errors, certainly not expected from the excellence of the writer, have escaped him; he speaks of Sterne as the great grandson of Roger, The exposed situation of the burial-ground in the Archbishop of York, and states he died in Old Bond Street. Bayswater Road, and the almost constant nightly despoilments of the graves by the body-snatchers, frequently excited painful notices in the journals. One, the St. James's Chronicle, of November, 1767, immediately presents itself on the corpse, knew nothing of the identity of Sterne till after the dissection-he had received it as a nameless body, and the intimation that it was the corpse of the author of Tristram Shandy was only made known to him by his friend after the dissection was effected, hence the care in retaining his skeleton. Qu. Is it now at Cambridge? It may be asked, why Sterne's widow or daughter did not interfere-the circumstances could only be known when all was over, and their poverty would have prevented any interposition on their part; unhappily, too, they had long been estranged, and were absent when he died in London. No sooner was he dead than his widow, to raise means, sold his books to Todd and Sotheran, booksellers at York, and their shop-catalogue, printed in 1768, ostentatiously announced in the title, it contained the library of Laurence Sterne, M.A., Prebendary of York, and author of 'Tristram Shandy.'" Sterne, in the autobiography, as printed, notices his amusements at Sutton were "books, painting, fiddling, and shooting;" for fiddling read fishing, he was no musician. CHRISTMAS TREE.-The contributor of the excellent article on The Early Signification of the Christmas Tree," Current Notes, p. 11, might have added that the sigillaria are still manufactured at Rome, and used under the name of Agnus Dei. They consist in oval cakes of wax of various sizes from one inch to six or seven inches broad, and are uniformly an eighth of an inch thick. The figure of a lamb is stamped on one side, emblematic of our blessed Lord, and on the other side is the image of some saint, most commonly St. Mary the Virgin, or St. John Baptist. These wax medallions are in great numbers consecrated by the Pope alone, every seventh year of his pontificate, with a ceremonial of the greatest pomp and intricacy, in which there are many ablutions with blessed water, and anointings with the holy christ. Liverpool, March 19. T. A. T. C. CURIOUS FACT ABOUT THE WORD CARPET. - The word "carpet" contains the following FIFTY-FOUR | other words! Carp, verb. Are Pace Acre Par Eat Act THE THE QUEEN AND THE ITALIAN OPERA. ELIZABETH, Duchess of Orleans, in one of her letters Car relates, that during her abode in Paris, Christina, the Care abdicated Queen of Sweden, who was as peculiarly Cart eccentric in her nightdress as she was in almost every Cap thing else, and instead of some display of elegancy in Cape her nightcap, made use of a most unseemly linen Caper wrapper; having spent a restless day in bed, at length Cat ordered a band of Italian musicians from the Opera, to Cate attend and approach the curtains of the bed, which Crape were closely drawn, and endeavour to amuse her. Their Crept attempts were for some time unavailing, until the ex- Ace cellence of one of the singers arrested her attention and Arc afforded her so much delight, that loudly exclaiming, "Mort Diable! comme il chante bien!" she on the instant suddenly arose, and thrust her strangely attired head from between the curtains, to the astoundment of the submissive Italians, who, not hitherto accustomed to such a mode of royal applause, were struck mute, and, unable to recover their surprise and terror of the object before them, were wholly silent for several minutes. VCRIMDR.-On the reverse of some few of the third brass coins of Aurelian, is the legend VABALATHVS VCRIMDR. Will any reader of Current Notes kindly explain what this word implies? E. H. parish of St. George's, Hanover Square, having been lately robbed of several dead bodies, a watch was placed there, attended by a large mastiff dog; notwithstanding which, on Sunday night last, the 26th, some villains found means to steal out another dead body, and carried off the dog." Under these circumstances, the corpse of a peer, or an author, was of no consequence to persons who were commissioned, or knew where to dispose of a subject; it was forwarded to its destination, and no questions asked, as to what cognomen while living the clay-cold-clod had borne. Ate Race Rap Reap Pear Peat Pera Pert Pet Prate Ear Tare, verb. Tear, verb. FELTHAM. CAR OF JUGGERNAUTI DESTROYED. The worldknown famous Car of Juggernauth of Muhes, near Serampore, so memorable in the idolatrous observances of the Hindoos, was totally destroyed by fire on the night of Monday, February 6th last. The "odekuries," or proprietors of Juggernauth, merged in grief, attribute the accident to the fury of the god, but for what cause they are not cognizant. No. XLI.] "Takes note of what is doneBy note, to give and to receive."-SHAKESPEARE. CORONATION OATH OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST. FROM AN EARLY MANUSCRIPT. THE Oath which Edward the First, sonne of kinge Henry, tooke when he was anointed kinge of England, by the hands of Robert Kelwarby, a prior and Archbishop of Canterberry, on St. Magnus the Martir's day [August 19] in the church of Westminster, where hee was Crowned in the presence of the lords and nobles of all England, anno 1274. I EDWARD, sonne and heire to kinge Henry, professe, protest and prommise before God and his angells, from this time forward to keepe withoutt respect, the law, justice and pease, vnto the holy church of God, and the people subject vnto me, so farre forth as wee can deuise by the counsell of our leige and loyall ministers; also to exhibitt condigne and canonicall honour vnto the Bishopps of God's church, to preserue inuiolably whatsoeuer hath beene bestowed by Emperors and Kings vppon the church comitted vnto Them, and to yeelde due honnor vnto abbotts, and the Lord's vessells accordinge to the aduise of our lieges, etc. So helpe mee God, and the holy Gospells of the Lord. With the exception of substituting 'the' for 'ye,' the orthography has otherwise been retained. King Henry the Third died on the feast of St. Edmund the Confessor, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 1272; so that King Edward the First, who was then abroad, was not crowned till nearly two years subsequently. The Close Rolls of the second year of his reign attest the fact of his return to England," Memorandum quod Edwardus Rex Angliæ applicuit apud Dover die Jovis proxima post festum Sancti Petri ad vincula [August 2nd] 1274, et die Dominica post festum Assumptionis beatæ Mariæ proximo sequente [August 19th] solempniter coronat' fuit in ecclesia beati Petri Westm' anno Domini supradicto, et anno regni ejusdem Regis Edwardi secundo."Rot. Claus. 2 Edw. I., m. 5. The arrival of Edward in England is erroneously stated by Matthew of Westminster, p. 407, to have been on the 25th of July; but by Wikes, p. 101, and in the Annals of Waverley, p. 229, the true date is correctly recorded. VANE.-It is an extraordinary fact that the attainder of the celebrated Sir Henry Vane, convicted of high treason, in "keeping King Charles the Second, out of possession of the Government, and levying war against his Majesty," on June 6, 1662, and executed on Tower Hill, on the 14th following, has never been reversed, though his son was created a Baron, his great-grandson, a Viscount and Earl; and his great-great-greatgrandson a Marquess. VOL. IV. [MAY, 1854. GAUDEN v. KING CHARLES THE FIRST. WITHOUT wishing to derogate from the merited literary celebrity of Mons. Guizot, or to question his critical acumen, I must still refuse him the honour of having pronounced the final verdict in the cause Gauden v. King Charles the First. All that the eminent French writer has done is to confirm an opinion that competent judges had long since arrived at, and upon which all well-read men are now pretty well agreed that Gauden was the author of the Eikon. In 1821, Sir James Mackintosh declared the famous controversy of the Icon Basiliké to be at length decided; and Archdeacon Todd, in his Life of Bryan Walton,' by producing Gauden's correspondence with the Earl of Bristol, has placed for ever beyond a doubt the fact of the Bishop of Exeter having been the author of the" Kingly Portraiture." Even before the publication of the private letters of Gauden, the majority of historical inquirers had pronounced the Eikon to be spurious; the only writers of great acuteness who maintained the contrary opinion, such as Hume and Warburton, did so in a tone that neither showed a desire others should believe, or that they had a firm conviction in their own minds. Milton, so early as 1650, in his 'Iconoclastes,' questioned its genuineness. Godwin and Lilly were alike convinced of its spuriousness. Gauden, at the Restoration, in 1660, laid claim to the authorship, and in letters to Lord Chancellor Clarendon, asked for promotion in the Church, on the ground of the great service he had done to the memory of the late king. So far from this claim having been disputed, it was acknowledged by his preferment from the vicarage of Barking to the Bishopric of Exeter. Nor does the proof depend upon the fact alone; it is confirmed by a series of letters addressed to Clarendon and the Duke of York, and by a Memorial to King Charles the Second, in which Gauden, on the score of the eminent services he had rendered, again asks to be nominated to the see of Worcester, the infirmities of Duppa promising a speedy vacancy in that great bishopric. A letter from Sir Edward Nicholas, Secretary of State, is still extant, in which, besides expressing his belief that Gauden was the author of Eikon, he allows no doubt to remain on the mind of any one, that King Charles the Second was of the same opinion. Clarendon, in a letter to Gauden, dated March 16, 1661, fully admits his knowledge of the secret; and Bishop Burnet says he was surprised to hear from the Duke of York, that "the book was not of his father's writing-he said Dr. Gauden wrote it." F I am well aware there are assertors who state that the Icon was taken in the king's cabinet at Naseby, but their evidence is at best second hand; two of the most known among them are, the Earl of Manchester and William Prynne. I have not spoken of Mrs. Gauden's narrative, in which she supports, at great length and with much truth, the claims of her husband to the authorship of the work; neither have I alluded to the discrepancies and improbable statements of Wagstaffe, all of which, strange to say, have been incorporated with Dr. Wordsworth's ingenious defence of the king's claim. Both are fully treated on by Lady Theresa Lewis, in her Lives from the Clarendon Gallery," and by Sir James Mackintosh in his Critical Examination of Dr. Wordsworth's "Who wrote Icon Basilikè?" The curious in this matter may consult with profit a note of Laing's on this subject, in his History of Scotland; Todd's Life of Bryan Walton; Mr. B. H. Bright's Analysis of Prayers by Gauden; and a pamphlet by Gauden's curate, Walker, on the part he sustained in the work. JAMES LANDells. NICHOLAS MANN.-Over the entrance to the chapel at the Charter House is the following inscription, referring to the Master, of whom, in Current Notes, vol. iii. p. 97, there are some interesting particulars, but whose memory is not in the highest estimation. Attende paulum quisquis es Subtus jacet Olim Magister, nunc remistus pulvere, In the edition printed by Thomas Newcome, 1699, it is thus, "It is as a sport to a fool to do mischief." The Cambridge stereotyped dateless edition is the same. Mark and Charles Kerr's royal quarto, and the folio editions of 1793; Blair and Bruce's editions of 1813 and 1821; and Eyre and Strachan's, 1816, read, "It is sport to a fool, to do mischief." Charles Bill's editions, 1698; Mark and Charles Kerr's, 1795; the duodecimo of 1799, with Cannes' Notes; and the Blair and Bruce's, of 1816, read, "It is a sport." Other instances may possibly be observed by your correspondents. P. T. MICHEL ANGELO. Current Notes, vol. iii. p. 78.— B. asks, In what collection or gallery is deposited the design or sketch by this master, called "L'Anima Damnata?" The drawing, formerly in Sir Joshua Reynolds's collection, though not mentioned by Duppa, appears to have been a design or study for the cartoon of the Last Judgment, or for one of the compositions intended for the Sistine Chapel at Rome, if the original intention of decorating the side walls, by paintings from the designs of Michel Angelo had been carried into effect. It was engraved, in 1816, by William Sharp, and entitled EVIL; "with the quotation from Psalm xxxvii. 13, "He seeth that his day is coming." 66 Most of Sharp's drawings and prints he bequeathed to his housekeeper, Mrs. Akenhead, upon whose death, at Twickenham, they fell to her sister, from whom Shirley, the printseller in Goswell-street, purchased the whole privately. Among them was the Michel Angelo drawing, that, with several proofs of Sharp's print and other engravings, were sold by Shirley to the late Martin Colnaghi, for fifty guineas. From him, the drawing that obtained the approbation of Duroveray and other competent judges as an unquestionable production of Michel Angelo, passed into the collection of William Conyngham, Esq., of Kemp Town, Brighton; where it is believed to be still remaining. The admirers of Michel Angelo, and collectors of Sharp's engravings, will probably be pleased to know, that desirable original impressions can be obtained of Mr. Halsted, 108, New Bond Street. AWAKENING MALLET. Current Notes, vol. iv. p. 31. -Surely the assertion from Bingham, that this was the practice before the invention of bells, must be incorrect? Bells of gold are noticed in Exodus xxviii. 33, 34. In Zechariah xiv. 20 mention is made of “the bells of the horses; " and bells were used for sacred and profane purposes in ancient Greece and Rome, though they do not appear to have been used by the Christians before the time of Paulinus, about A.D. 400. J. DE B. STRULDBRUGS. Current Notes, p. 30.-See the Tenth Chapter of Gulliver's Voyage to Laputa, for Dean Swift's particular description of that class of immortals. STERNE. Current Notes, p. 32.-I am sorry that I can give you no information respecting the skeleton of Laurence Sterne, said to be preserved in our Anatomical Museum. There is no record of any such object. Cambridge, April 22. WM. CLARK, M.D. LIONS IN THE TOWER.-The following may interest some readers of Current Notes. J. O. H. Likewise in that Tower [of London] although in separate small houses, made of wood, are kept six lions and lionesses, two of which are each upwards of a hundred years old.Frederick, Duke of Wirtemberg, Travels in England, 1592. FOR MAY, 1854. SHAKESPEARE AND BEN JONSON. -Ben Jonson's comedies, founded upon system, or what the age termed humours, by which was implied factitious and affected characters, superinduced on that which was common to the rest of their race, in spite of acute satire, deep scholarship, and strong sense, do not now afford general pleasure, but are confined to the closet of the antiquary, whose studies have assured him the personages depicted by the dramatist were once, though they are now so no longer, portraits of existing nature, while Shakespeare drew his characters for all ages, and will live for ever. SHAKESPEARE'S Plays are being translated into the "SEMEL INSANIVIMUS OMNES."-In what author are these words to be found? The line occurs in an eclogue of Mantuanus, an Italian "Id commune malum, semel insanivimus omnes," This is a literal version of a Greek iambic, in one of ISABELLA COLOUR.-In an old inventory of some ladies dresses of the seventeenth century, occurs' satin M. H. of Isabella collour.' What does this imply? The Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip the Second of Spain, was married to the Archduke Albert, to whom passed with her the sovereignty of the Low Countries, as a dowry. In 1601, Ostend, then held by the Protestants, or heretics, as they were termed, was besieged by the Archduke, when his consort Isabella, who accompanied him in this expedition, believing in the immediate power of the force employed, made a vow, that till the place was taken, she would not change her clothing. Contrary, however, to all calculation, the defence was maintained for three years, and Ostend was then with difficulty reduced; during this time her highness's linen had acquired a hue, which from the sanctity of the vow, and the superstition of Roman Catholics, obtained admiration, and was adopted as a fashion at court, under the name of Isabella colour;' a yellow or soiled buff, better imagined than described. MONUMENTAL SLAB, AT BINDON ABBEY, DORSETSHIRE. The abbey dedicated to the Virgin Mary has long been in ruins; even in 1733, when the brothers Buck drew and engraved the view of the remains of the abbey church; they consisted of no more than five large semicircular arches, supported by six massive round pillars and four windows. All that is now seen are the walls, varying from two or three feet to ten feet in height, covered with ivy and wild plants of many kinds; the plan of the conventual buildings may, notwithstanding, be now accurately traced. Leland notices that many families of distinction, inter alia the Newburghs, and the Poyntses of Sutton, had here their sepulture; and many tombs yet remain, desecrated and exposed to the atmosphere; the arms, devices, and inscriptions, for the most part illegible. Among these is one with a flat stone on the ground, the cross raised in relief as here represented; but no inscription or clue to whom in memory it was placed I do not know the meaning of this, and thinking it might induce some useful information on the subject, as well as interesting to your readers, forward it to "Current Notes" for publication. On referring to the very interesting volume by the Rev. Edward L. Cutts, on the Sepulchral Slabs and Crosses of the Middle Ages, printed in 1849, p. 17, it is there stated, "No raised slabs remain of so great antiquity as some of the incised cross slabs," and among the illustrations, pl. xliv., a stone bearing a cross, the top part being of a similar design with the above, but the annulets or rings, not cut Oxfordshire, and attributed to the thirteenth century; yet through, is represented as being extant at Dorchester in the Bindon slab may be possibly a century more recent, as a monumental stone, with a similarly leafed shaft, now remaining at Bilborough, Notts., see pl. lviii., is there placed to the fourteenth century. |