1845, I extract the following account of the Scottish establishment of this Order, being especially desirous to test the accuracy of the List of Preceptors, some of whose names have a strangely un-Scottish look:

"The Knights were introduced to this establishment by David I., and had many possessions conferred on them by him and his successors; afterwards, when the Knights-Templars were unfrocked and put under ban, they inherited the extensive property of that great rival Order. In 1291 and 1296, Alexander de Wells, Prior Hospitalis Sancti Johannis Jerusalomitani in Scotia, swore fealty to Edward I.; and in 1298, he was slain in the battle of Falkirk. From Precepts which Edward issued to the Sheriffs to restore the property of the Knights, the Preceptory or the Order seem, even at that early period, to have had estates in almost every shire except Argyle, Bute, and Orkney.

"Radolph de Lindsay was Preceptor under Robert I. "Sir Henry Livingstone was Preceptor under James II.,

and died in 1463.

"Sir Henry Knolls (sic in orig. but qu.?) the next Preceptor, governed the Order in Scotland during half a century, and was commonly called Lord St. John. He was Treasurer to Jas. III. from 1468 to 1470; he joined the party who hunted down that monarch to his unhappy end; he was appointed in 1489-90 to collect the Royal Revenues in Linlithgowshire, and after being much employed by Jas. IV., he fell fighting by his side "Sir George Dundas, his successor in the Preceptorship, was the schoolfellow of Hector Boece, and is praised for his learning.

on the field of Flodden.

"Sir Walter Lindsay, the next Preceptor, was a Knight of no small fame, and rose to be Justice General of Scot

land.

"Sir Jas. Sandilands, the last on the list, joined the Reformers in 1560; and on his paying down 10,000 crowns, and engaging to pay an annual rent of 500 merks, he received the remaining estates of the Order as a Temporal Barony, and was raised to the Peerage under the title of Lord Torphichen (or more fully, Lord of St. John of Torphichen); and his descendants, whose family seat is Calder House, Mid-Lothian, continue to enjoy the title."

Thus far the Gazetteer. I wish to learn how much its account can be relied on, and from what sources its deficiencies can be supplied. Sir Henry Knolls appears to me a very suspicious Scotchman, unless perchance "Knox were the name intended to be indicated.

Were the English and Scottish Branches of the Sovereign Order independent of each other, or did the two united form the " English Langue?"

I should like to know whether a complete and accurate List of the Preceptors of Torphichen has been drawn up, and where it is accessible. May there not exist also Lists of the Knights admitted into the Scottish Branch, at various periods during its existence? "Black Colin of Rhodes," an ancestor of the Clan Campbell, will readily occur to memory, as showing the interest such a list might possess in family history. I hope some of your correspondents will enlighten me on these subjects; and I shall be very glad of

any corrections or amplifications of the List of the Preceptors of Torphichen. C. H. E. CARMichael. Castle-Douglas, Kirkcudbright, N.B.

Minor Notes.

MISTRANSLATION.-On taking up a work entitled Historical and Classical Tour through France, Switzerland, and Italy, London, 1826, Anon., I was struck with a singular instance of mistranslation which occurs in vol. ii. p. 273. The author, describing the church of Loretto which contains the Santissima Casa, or Holy House, in which tradition says that Christ was born, has the following sentence: "On the façade of the Church, which owes its grandeur mainly to the labours of Sixtus V., we read this inscription: 'Deiparæ domus, in quâ Verbum Caro factum est.'” And at the bottom of the page he appends this translation of the line: "The House of the Virgin, equal with God, in which the word was made Flesh." Here the author has taken Deiparæ as though it were a compound of Deus and par, pario, " to make equal," "be equal," instead of being, as it is, one of the well-known equivalents of the Latin Church for the toтókos of the Greeks, the denial of which term, in its Catholic sense, to the B. V. M. was part of the heresy of Nestorius, condemned by the Council of Ephesus.

W.BOWEN ROWLANDS.

who, besides the loss of an arm, received so many other wounds that his life was at first despaired of."

"Sir Peter Parker, after every effort of which a brave man is capable, finding that all hope of success was at an end, between 9 and 10 in the evening, withdrew his shattered vessels from the scene of action, after an engagement which had been supported, with uncommon courage and vigour, for above ten hours," &c.

GOG AND MAGOG OF GUILDHALL. — The origin of these gigantic figures being unknown, I will suggest one that I conceive may appear very plausible. In A.D. 566, there was a mayor of the palace of Austrasia, a part of France east of the Seine, as the name imports, called Godeghiselmore commonly contracted into GoG-who was employed to negotiate a marriage for his master Sighebert with Brunehilda, a daughter of Atha

"There might be reasons," says the Annual Register, "for concealing the true state of the affair." I believe there was a controversy at the time, but the mystery was never explained. W. D.

"SHANDY" HALL IN PERIL.-Yesterday, when visiting one of our few authentic rural shrines of literature, Coxwold, Yorkshire, near which stands "Shandy" Hall, where Lawrence Sterne wrote the books that have moved, and will move, men to mirth and tears, I was startled to find a country mason and his men at work upon the building, and, on making inquiry, I learned that they were engaged in dividing the Hall into three tenements for the accommodation of a village carrier and two day labourers and their families. I was told this could easily be done by knocking a couple of the old lead-paned windows into outer door-ways, blocking up a few inner passages, and otherwise "improving" the whole place. The old "Shandy" garden, with its venerable yews and other coeval trees, under which Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim fought their sieges over again, is staked out into three cabbage-garths for the incoming tenants; so that, unless the ruthless hand of spoliation be at once arrested, one of the quaintest and most interesting hatching-nests of English literature will go "express" by the facilis descensus line to perdition. I make a "Note" of this, in order that you may put the "Query". Is Sir George Wombwell, the proprietor of Princely Newburgh Park, and of "Shandy" Hall, aware of this desecration? I trow not.

April 16, 1863.

G. H. OF S.

RING FINGERS.-The following is from a Polyglot Dictionary published, anno 1625, by John Minshew :

"RING FINGER. Vetus versiculus singulis digitis Annulum tribuens, Miles, Mercator, Stultus, Maritus, Amator. Pollici, adscribitur Militi, seu Doctori; Mercatorum, a pollice secundum; Stultorum, tertium; Nuptorum vel Studiosorum, quartinum; Amatorum, ultimum." UUITE. Capetown, S.A.

ceive further, that this historical fact being forgotten, and the Biblical names of Gog and Magog being familiarly known, the Frankish mayor of the Austrasian palace was superseded by a representation not of persons, but of words employed in the Hebrew and Arabic to designate a barbarous and unknown people. (Thierry's Merovingian Times, p. 21; Assemani Bibl. Orient.. III. ii. 16, 17, 20; Klaproth's Asiat. Mag. i. 138; D'Herbelot's Orient. Bibliothèque, art. "Jagiouge and Magiouge.") T. J. BUCKTON.

RYAN'S "HISTORY OF THE EFFECTS OF RELIGION ON MANKIND." The following particulars of a work (of which the first edition was published in London in 1788, the second in Dublin in 1802, and the third in Edinburgh in 1806) are copied from a printed slip, which I may safely describe as being "very scarce," and will, I think, prove interesting in more ways than one:

"Vestry Room of St. Luke [Dublin], November 1st, 1802.

of St. Luke, having examined the Subscription List of "The Visitors of the Sick Poor, and other Parishioners the Rev. Dr. Ryan, their Parish Minister, and the various expenses which attended the publication of the 2nd Edition of his History of the Effects of Religion on Mankind, find that the clear profits to the Poor, were all the Subscriptions paid, would amount to 209. 11s. Od.

"That the Dr. without waiting for those payments, this day deposited two Government Debentures in the Bank of Ireland, where they are to remain, producing for the Sick Poor 101. a year.

Interest and Commission) is 1971. 4s. 2d. "That this day the price of the Debentures (including

"That the Dr. paid every expense whatever; while certain Subscribers still owe 837. 198. 84d.; to the Treasurer, 12l. 68. 10d., and to the Dr. 71. 12s. 10d. which the Dr. advanced, and are still due to him.

"The Dr. requests those Subscribers to send him their Subscription to 25, William-street, and he authorizes Mr. Ridley, the Treasurer, to call on such as shall not do so. 'Signed by Order,

66

ENEAS SYLVIUS'S DESCRIPTION OF COAL. Eneas Sylvius, in his work, De Europa, describing Scotland, where he had resided some time as ambassador to James I., states: "Genus lapidis, sive sulphureâ, sive aliâ pinqui materiâ præditum, pro ligno, quo regio nuda est, comburitur."

Coal is supposed to have been discovered more than a century before the date of Pius II.'s strange description of it.

Is it mentioned by any author earlier than Eneas Sylvius as an article of fuel? *

THOMAS E. WINNINGTON.

CARTERS' LANGUAGE.—I subjoin the most common expressions employed by carters in the midland counties when driving their teams, and shall be glad of any suggestions upon their probable derivation, and likewise of any equivalent expressions employed elsewhere, more especially in the districts of Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. To the best of my ability, I spell them as pronounced: "Come eggin," come hither; "Gee eggin," or "Heet off," go from me; "Gee upp," go on; "Who, Whoa, or Wheygh," stop, or stand still. In connection with this last, I would remark that the celebrated combat or duel, which took place in Smithfield in the year 1467, between the Bastard of Burgundy and Lord Scales, was arrested at the third encounter by the King (Edward IV.) throwing down his staff and calling out "Whoo!"

M. D.

CHELSEA CHINA. I have lately seen a pair of porcelain vases-white and gold, with medallions suspended by a coloured ribbon-at the country mansion of a very ancient family of Bucks. These vases have the Chelsea anchor in gold, with a crown also in gold above it. What mark is this? I should say that the vases are (excellent in taste, as well as beautiful in execution. H. C. C.

CREDENCE TABLE. Where is the proper and authorised place in the church for the credence table? I observe that at St. Andrew's church, Wells Street, it has lately been removed from the north to the south side; but I know that in a recent restoration of a church in the West Riding, under the superintendence of Mr. Scott, he was applied to for information as to the situation in which the credence should be placed, and that he

On the early use of coal in Britain, see "N. & Q.," 1st S. v. 513, 568; 2nd S. vii. 24, 303; viii. 53, 95, 119. -ED.]

THE FIFTEEN ACRES, PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN. In that famous park above named, there is a broad, flat, and beautiful piece of green sward (not far from the front of the vice-regal residence) called the fifteen acres, where military reviews, sham battles, duels, and horse-races were whilom practised. Having failed to ascertain why this piece of land is so called - which in extent I should say is nearer to 100 or 150 than fifteen acres,- I now appeal to some Dublin correspondent, or any other who can give the "why and wherefore" for this anomaly; for it is a well-known fact that the Irish propensity is rather given to extend than curtail dimensions, particularly regarding land. S. REDMOND.

Liverpool.

"GOING TO."—The following is from an article Dean of Canterbury: — in the March Number of Good Words, by the

"If a man chooses, as west countrymen mostly do, to say, 'Where are you going to?' he does not violate propriety, though he does violate custom. But let us go further still. Going has not only a local, it has also a mind. And this usage rests on exactly the same basis mental meaning; being equivalent to intending in the as the other. The to of the infinitive mood is precisely the same preposition as the to of motion towards a place. Were you going to do it?' simply means, Were you in your mental intention approaching the doing of it?' And the proper conversational answer to such a question is, 'I was going to,' or, I was not going to,' as the case may be: not I was going,' or I was not going,' inasmuch as the verb to go does not express any mental intention."

In my young days I was taught that it was improper to conclude a sentence with a preposition, and I was told not to.

As the learned Dean justifies this form of speech, perhaps some of your correspondents could confirm his views. If so, I have no doubt they would be glad to. If they can justify this construction of a sentence, I think they ought to. I hope I do not impose too much trouble in asking for an insertion of this Query, as I do not

LOPE DE VEGA: CAMOENS.-Having had occasion to test the accuracy of a great many dates of late, the following discrepancies amongst others have come under my notice, upon which I shall be glad to have any additional light thrown in the pages of " "N. & Q. :"

1. Sismondi, in his Literature of the South of Europe, vol. ii. p. 301, ed. Bohn, says that Lope was born on Nov. 25, 1562. In the last edition of Haydn's Dict. of Dates, it is given as 1568, under "Eminent Spanish Authors," at the end of art. "Spain." If this latter date is correct, De Vega could have been only twenty years old when he sailed in the Spanish Armada, 1588. At which age he could scarcely have completed his studies, been secretary to the Duke of Alva, spent several years in exile, and lost his wife; all of which Sismondi seems to state he did before joining in the crusade against England.

2. In Haydn, under art. "Portugal," the date of the birth of Camoens, is given as "about 1520." In the Index to the same work it seems to be fixed at 1524. Sismondi, Lit. Eur. ii. p. 476, ed. Bohn, while confessing that it has “ never been ascertained," gives the preference to the year 1525. In other works it is variously stated, e. g. Encyc. Londin. gives it 1527.

W. BOWEN ROWLANDS.

-

MICHAEL MAITTAIRE. -I desire some further information respecting Michael Maittaire than what may be gathered from the entry of his publications in Watt's Bibliotheca, where it is merely

stated that this eminent classical editor and bibliographer was born of a foreign family in 1668, and died in 1747.* Unfortunately, his Historia Stephanorum, and also his Historia Typographorum, which I presume throw light upon his professional career, are both exceedingly rare; nor do I suppose his Annals of Typography, a Latin work in five vols. 4to, can now be considered less so, though pronounced "indispensable in every bibliographical library." No doubt his 12mo editions of the Classics, printed by Tonson and Watts, may be considered valuable both for their accuracy and for their useful indices to the best passages of each author-in fact, with their excerpts of various readings from the Elzevirs, they are equal to cheap variorum editions. But what I wish to know is, how Maittaire came by his fourteen years' monopoly, which, as I find by Queen Anne's Licence, [* See Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, and Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary.-ED.]

signed by the Earl of Dartmouth, and prefixed to these tiny Classics, was granted him April 4, 1713, not only for the sole printing and publishing, but strictly forbidding all our subjects within our kingdoms and dominions to reprint the same, either in the like or in any other volume or volumes whatsoever, or to import, buy, vend, utter, or distribute any copies thereof reprinted beyond the seas during the said term of fourteen years." What effect was given to this monopoly? Were no other editions of these Classics, including Cæsar, Catullus, &c., Curtius, Florus, Homer, Horace, Justin, Juvenal, Livy, Lucan, culus, Phædrus, Plautus, Pliny, Sallust, SophoLucretius, Martial, Corn. Nepos, Ovid, Patercles, Terence, Virgil, and the Greek Testament permitted in this country till 1727 (in which last little gem-like Classics must have done for the year the Sophocles was printed)? Much as these advancement of classical learning, I cannot be

lieve this.

SHOLTO MACduff.

GEORGE NEVIL'S "CHRONICLE." — In vol. ii. p. 360, of Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, Oxoniæ, MDCXCVII, occurs a list entitled "Auctarium Librorum vii Manuscriptorum quos transmisit D. Abrahamus Pryme, Lincolniensis," the second of which is thus described :—

"A large Chronicle writt by Mr. George Nevil about the year 1577, in six vols. fol. from Brute's Days unto the aforesaid year."

The author of this chronicle was, I believe, George Nevil of Faldingworth, co. Lincoln, who died in 1579. He doubtless compiled the early part of his work from still existing materials, but it is highly probable that much original information was recorded by him as to the events which immediately preceded his own days.

oldest of the Lincolnshire families of gentle blood, The Nevils of Faldingworth were among the and more than one of George Nevil's near relatives took an active part in the local politics of the stormy period which had then but just past away. I think it not improbable, therefore, that if this manuscript were found, we should recover a highly important historical document.

EDWARD PEACOCK, F.S.A.

HENRY NEWCOMBE'S "TRANSUBSTANTIATION DISCUSSED," 1705.-This is the title of a book of 254 pages, 4to, containing papers "pass'd between T. B., a Popish Priest, and Henry Newcome, Rector of Middleton," which is named as being probably that rector's work in p. xv. of the Introduction to the autobiography of his father (Henry Newcome of Manchester), printed for the Chetham Society, 1852. This conjecture is there avowedly given on the authority of an incomplete copy. My own perfect copy confirms it; and from it and from MSS. I may add, that the controversy arose from a discussion respecting edu

cation of children of a Romanist by a Protestant wife in the principles of her family, with reference of those of Humphrey Trafford of Trafford, Esq., and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Ralph Assheton of Middleton. "The debate" was first fixed to have taken place in the "Manchester Library" (obviously that in Chetham's Hospital); and it did take place in 1704, on Dec. 15, 16, 27, 28, between "T. B." and Henry Newcome, attended by two gentlemen on each side, Newcome "having previously, by letter, acquainted" his "diocesan with the challenge," and being nominated by Bishop Stratford as debater on Sir R. Assheton's side.

Can any correspondent give the real name of "T. B." for addition to the writer's copy of this rare book, once belonging to J. Clayton, Chaplain of Manchester Collegiate Church, and the local friend of the Pretender there in 1745? LANCASTRIENSIS.

ISLAND OF PATMOS. - Anxious to pay a visit to this ever-sacred island, I venture to ask any readers of "N. & Q." who may know, to kindly inform me how, as inexpensively as possible, and at same time within a month for the whole trip, it might be reached and explored.

REFERENCES WANTED.

r.

(1.) "As that proud cardinal in Germany said, 'I confess these things that Luther finds fault with are naught [i. e. naughty, wicked], but shall yield to a base monk?'" [Who?]

(2.) "Therefore it was a worthy work of that reverend bishop that set out in a Treatise, all the deliverances that have been from Popish conspiracies from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time to this present." (1639.) [Who is the bishop?]

(3.) "As Cyprian saith, 'Non potest seculum,' &c., the world cannot hurt him who in the world hath God for his protector."

г.

married one of the heirs of William de Ivedon; and a small but beautiful estate, near Honiton, has ever since borne the name of Tracy. Can any of your readers inform me what Tracy this was? 15 Tracy of Sir Wm. Pole gives his arms thus: Ivedon, argent, three saltires sable," differing thus from the coat of the Tracys, barons of Barnstaple. P. H. J.

TUNBRIDGE SCHOOL.

Can any

of

your

readers

give me any information about Mr. Hatch, M.A., and Mr. Jenkyns, M.A., two successive masters of Tunbridge School, Kent, between the years 1578 and 1636?* What colleges they were at, and the dates of their residence there, would be very R. S. acceptable.

"WOOD LEIGHTON:"A NOVEL BY MARY HOWITT. In Wood Leighton, or a Year in the Country, a charming episode, which forms the framework of a very powerful story called Denborough Park, Mrs. Howitt relates a touching incident which probably had its foundation in fact, in the following words:

"There is an extremely beautiful effigy of alabaster, singularly perfect from having been walled in, and only discovered of late years, of an abbess who, as the tradition says, travelled on foot, perhaps in penance, attended by a lay sister. Night came on as they were approaching Wood Leighton, and they lost their way, for many hours wandering about in a wood below the town-a marshy, desolate wood in those days and had given themselves up for lost, when they heard the cheering sound of a curfew bell; their spirits revived, and the sound directed them which way to advance. They reached Wood Leighton, and the abbess, a feeble, delicate woman, took to her bed, and died on the third day, leaving a sum of money to be paid yearly to the ringer of the curfew bell; and to this day the curfew is tolled an unusual length of time. This circumstance is authenticated by the town records, singular, but most interesting documents, preserved from the year 1252, when Wood Leighton was made a borough town. These incidents are thus recorded:

"1417, November. The Abbess came-paid for doctor and attendants, seven shillings and fourpence.

"The abbess gave the rent of the Spicer's Field, which she had purchased, for nightly ringing of the curfew bell, by the space of one quarter of an hour, after the hour of eight at night.

"Paid to him that fetched the notary, threepence. "Paid to the three women that laid out the body, sixpence.

"Paid for making the vault, and the costs of burial, five pounds ten shillings and threepence.

"Paid to the man who rode with the sister Maud to Derby, one shilling.

"1419. Paid to the mason and his men who put up the monument and stone figure, seventeen shillings and fourpence.'

I should be glad to know the locality indicated as Wood Leighton, and whether the story of the

[In the list of Masters printed in A Concise Account of Tunbridge School, 1826, 8vo, Mr. Hatch's name does not appear. The writer adds, that "his efforts to procure any information respecting Michael Jenkins, A.M. have proved altogether fruitless."-Ep.]