Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Is he thinking of the gruesome witches' amongst the herd. I did this, but though I caldron in 'Macbeth,' IV. i.?

Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow, grease that's sweaten, &c. Shelley alters the sense in the account of the ghastly wares of the Trödelhexe. Confusing lustig with luftig, he can make nothing

of the line

Hier ist's so lustig, wie im Prater.

Finally, an erudite German friend pointed out to me that Shelley makes a grave error in translating two lines in the Prolog im Himmel'

:

Wenn ich zu meinem Zweck gelange,
Erlaubt ihr mir Triumph aus voller Brust.
The error lies in the italicized words :-
And if I lose, then 'tis your turn to crow,
Enjoy your triumph then with a full breast.
FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.
Brixton Hill.

The following passage, which

occurs in Dr. Louis Robinson's Wild Traits in Tame Animals,' will interest your correspondents :"[The] independence and sang-froid of the goat have proved of service to its masters on many occasions. It used to be the custom in almost all stables containing a number of valuable horses to keep a goat, which was allowed the free run of the building. The reason given was that in the case of fire, when terrified horses will sometimes refuse to leave the stables, and are therefore in great danger of perishing, such a goat will lead the way with the most perfect calmness, and, encouraged by this example, the bewildered horses will follow it and so escape destruction. I do not know personally of any instance where this has taken place, but the commonness of the custom asserts that it has probably been justified by the experience. There seems to be something about a goat's imperturbable character which inspires confidence and respect in other animals. I have known butchers who have kept goats in order to entice victims into their slaughter yards. Usually as soon as an ox smells the taint of blood he becomes suspicious and refuses to go further, but if preceded by a goat he will follow quietly to the place of execution. In like manner, specially trained goats are constantly used on the ships which bring sheep from abroad. At the unloading places on the Thames these decoy goats become very clever at their business. They will proceed to each part of the ship where sheep are penned, and lead forth the huddled and frightened passengers with very little guidance from their masters, and they will proceed in this way in the most methodical manner until the whole ship is cleared."-Pp. 185, 186.

ST. SWITHIN.

There is, I think, a general feeling amongst old-fashioned cattle-men in America that the goat is a preventive of disease. While farming in Virginia some years ago I lost a large number of cattle from the Texan cattle fever, and, after trying a number of remedies, was strongly advised to put half a dozen goats

lost fewer cattle that year, I am unable to say
whether the goats had anything to do with it.
I think, however, that it is a fact that these
animals do eat certain herbs which would be
very injurious to cattle, and they certainly
are themselves impervious to diseases which
prove fatal to sheep as well as cattle, for
I have seen them apparently flourishing in
pastures so infected with fever that all the
cattle have died off them after only a few
weeks' pasturing.
FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

The goats were friends of the devil and the
witches. In the Walpurgis Night scene in
Goethe's 'Faust' some of the witches are
mounted on goats. It is possible that goats
are placed amongst other cattle because the
witches will not hurt animals which are
under the protection of their friends. Goats
may keep diseases from farmyards for the
same reason, since witches are thought to
give diseases to animals. If the he-goat,
able wind, is alive, it may be that he is so
that is hung up in order to ensure a favour-
hung up for the purpose of keeping off the
witches, who have power over the winds,
for they would not hurt the goat. That
witches are supposed to have power of raising
tempests is well known. The Lapland witches
had a cord with three knots in it, whereby
they raised the wind. To untie one knot
raised a breeze, two a gale, and three a
tempest. The cord is somewhat similar to
the bag which Eolus gave to Ulysses.
witches had power over the winds may be
seen in 'Macbeth' and elsewhere.

That

As I am writing again, I make a remark which I should not have troubled you with otherwise. A word in my former letter on this subject is printed "Typhoeus." I was negligent, and omitted the diæresis. Consequently, as might be expected, the two vowels were printed as a diphthong; but I did not mean that they should be printed so. The right word is Typhoeus. The o is an omega.

E. YARDLEY.

Most of the large dairy farmers in the south of England have a donkey or goat to graze with the herd. The practice is avowedly pursued with the view of checking the tendency of cows to drop their calves prematurely. As to the causa causans, I have never ascertained anything satisfactory. H. P. L.

STAFFORD FAMILY (9th S. v. 316). The early writs of the Stafford family describe them as "barons." The writs of the Greystock family are the same. These are excep

tions from all other writs, and no one has as vet been able to supply an authoritative explanation, though many suggestions have been put forward. MR. JUBAL STAFFORD is confusing the dual character of baron and lord of Parliament. A baron by tenure was a man who "held land in barony"; he was not thereby a lord of Parliament. A lord of Parliament was one whom the king summoned to Parliament as a peer. From the fact that the king summoned the most powerful men to Parliament, and also from the fact that all power in those days was due to the possession of land, and, further, that nearly all land was "held in barony" at that period, it naturally followed that nearly all lords of Parliament were barons; but that the dual character was recognized is proved by the fact that Thomas de Furnivall, the first Lord Furnivall, denied successfully that he held any of his lands by barony. The application of the word "baron" to a lord of Parliament is a much later growth, and at the present day the writ of a baron simply describes him as chevalier. John de Beauchamp de Holt, the first baron by letters patent, was created Lord de Beauchamp and Baron of Kidderminster.

A. C. Fox-DAVIES.

ANCIENT DOGS (9th S. v. 269, 341).-Prof. Boyd Dawkins, in 'Cave Hunting' (pp. 256-7), says that the dog was "introduced into Europe by Neolithic peoples." Prof. Rolleston ('Scientific Papers and Addresses,' p. 822) writes of "the bones of a dog who was keeping his mistress faithful company in a grave undoubtedly of the earliest Neolithic period in England"; and (p. 337) he says of the same dog:

"This dog bears no resemblance to the wolf-like Esquimaux dog on the one side, nor to any such small terrier-like breed on the other as might suggest that it represents a lately domesticated jackal. It may be conveniently spoken of, as Rütimeyer (Fauna der Pfahlbauten,' p. 118) does speak of the dog, similarly rare in the relics from Swiss lake, dwellings, as a 'middle-sized' dog, 'einen Hund von mittlerer Grösse'; a description which, how ever vague, is decisive as to its representing a longdomesticated breed. The lower jaw, the only part of the head which had been left undisturbed in situ, had the stoutness and was about the size of that bone as seen in some of the smaller English mastiffs; its trunk bones are still incomplete, but may be supposed to have made un the framework of a body about the size of that of an ordinary shepherd's

dog."

This "find," which was at Eyford, Gloucestershire, is more fully described in 'British Barrows,' by Green well and Rolleston (pp. 520), and there the dog is said "to have been about the size of an English mastiff."

Considering that dogs were not found earlier than in Neolithic times; that this burial belonged to "the earliest Neolithic period"; and that Gloucestershire borders on Devonshire, we have evidence that "in the most ancient times" a dog not unlike the English mastiff was domesticated in that part of the country. ERNEST B. SAVAGE.

St. Thomas's, Douglas.

known to have existed in Devonshire in most
MR. CONNETT asks what breed of dog is
ancient times. If he consults Stonehenge on
read about the Devonshire cocker spaniel,
'The Dog,' second edition, 1872, p. 115, he may
which is practically identical with the ancient
liver-coloured Welsh spaniel.

Great Britain,' says of the spaniel (p. 744) :—
Prof. Low, in his Domestic Animals of

the Mediterranean, and in which it is possible the
"The spaniel is a race we owe to the countries of
blood of the African Canidae has been mixed with
that of dogs of Western Asia. But the spaniel
appears to be proper to the African rather than to
the European side of the Mediterranean," &c.

In my 'History of the Mastiff,' 1886, p. 37, I incidentally mentioned that Dr. S. Birch, of the British Museum, had identified the spaniel on the early Egyptian monuments; and, on p. 49, that "my lady's brach" of Shakedav generally a "comforter." See Caius. speare was probably a spaniel, termed in his

MR. CONNETT will find some interesting particulars relating to British dogs in the Rev. Mr. Whitaker's 'History of Manchester,' 1773. Except the cocker spaniel, I cannot recall ever having read of any ancient breed of dogs peculiar to Devonshire.

great ladies' pet dogs at their feet on monuIt was customary in ancient times to figure ments. A careful study of such figured on sepulchral monuments throughout Devonshire would reveal the ancient type of these comforters.

I see (ante, p. 341) MRS. B. F. SCARLETT writes, "The mastiff was the English dog par excellence." In all my research into the ancient history of the mastiff, as revealed in sculpture, pottery, carving, paintings, and engravings, I cannot recall ever having met with any trace of that breed anciently in Devonshire; but at Cotehele House, Devonshire, there are some brazen fire-dogs, standing some four feet high and upwards of 250 years old, mentioned on p. 32 of my 'History of the Mastiff.' M. B. WYNNE.

Allington Rectory, Grantham.

The dogs of this country, although now 514-presenting the widest differences, were probably derived from a single stock. In prehistoric times there appears to have been but

one species. The bones that have been found among the remains of the prehistoric races are nearly all about the same size, and represent, it is said, a type about the size of the modern beagle. At the time of the Roman occupation, however, there were five distinct species, most of which can with certainty be identified with those of the present day. There were the house-dog, the greyhound, the bulldog, the terrier, and the slow-hound. The description by Gratius of the British bulldog leaves no doubt on the mind of the reader as to its identity with the animal now known by that name. It has been translated thus:

But can vou waft across the British tide, And land undangered on the other side, O, what great gains will certainly redound From a free traffic in the British hound! Mind not the badness of their forms or face; That the sole blemish of the generous race: When the bold game turns back upon the spear, And all the furies wait upon the war, First in the race the whelps of Britain shine, And snatch, Epirus, all the palm from thine. The description of the greyhound is perhaps even more striking:

Swift as the wing that sails adown the wind, Swift as the wish that darts along the mind, The Celtic greyhound sweeps the level lea, Eyes as he strains, and stops the flying prey. But should the game elude his watchful eyes, No nose sagacious tells him where it lies. The character is as true to life now as it was then. Another trait is undoubtedly referred to by Martial :

Canis vertagus

[blocks in formation]

VAUTROLLIER, PRINTER (9th S. v. 436).—By the following extract from Timperley's 'Dictionary of Printers and Printing' (1839), the printer at London and Edinburgh bearing the name of Vautrollier was one and the same person:

"Thomas Vautrollier was a scholar and printer from Paris or Roan. came into England about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign and first commenced business in Blackfriars. On June 19, 1574, he received a patent or licence from the queen to print the New Testament, which he often inserted

at the end. In 1584 he printed Jordanus Brunus, for which he fled, and the next year being in Edintheir work in a masterly manner: where he conburgh, he first taught that nation the use of doing tinued until, by the intercession of friends, he procured his pardon; as appears from a dedication of his to the right worshipful Thomas Randolph, esq.. where he returns him thanks for his great favour and for assisting him in his great distress. He printed seventy-eight works, most of which were in Latin."

The title and dedication of the first work

printed by Vautrollier in 1570 will be found in N. & Q.,' 2nd S. iv. 84.

་་

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

The "two printers" were one. Thomas Vautrollier having had a press in Edinburgh as well as in London. See the me" oir of Vautrollier in the 'D.N.B.,' vol. lviii. F. ADAMS.

115, Albany Road, Camberwell.

(( "BUMMEL" (9th S. v. 436).—Bummeln, in German, means to do a thing in a feeble. bungling, aimless manner, as we say to potter or to fumble. Bummler is a loafer. 'Three Men on the Bummel' is equivalent to the older slang, "Three men loafing around.”

M. N. G.

When I was a lad in Saxony bummeln meant, for us, to loaf or loiter about aimlesslv, without any fixed programme in our heads. Mr. Jerome no doubt had this definition in view when he employed the word in the title of his amusing book. A bummel is almost as difficult to render into English satisfactorily as that expressive chic of our lively neighbours across the Channel. CECIL CLARKE. Authors' Club, S.W.

ARMS OF MERIONETH (9th S. v. 377).-It is stated in the 'Book of Public Arms' that the seal of the County Council displays three goats rampant, two and one; from the dexter base the sun in his splendour issuant.

J. B. P.

'THE THREE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM' (9th S. v. 169, 293. 465). The story of the fools of Gotham, who tried to drown an eel, brings to mind one of the merry tales told at the expense of the wiseacres of Auteuil (Doubs). In M. Charles Beauquier's 'Blason Populaire de Franche-Comté,' p. 34 (1897), among many seemly and unseemly simpleton stories, the following passage occurs :—

"Here is another anecdote which is told of the inhabitants of Auteuil and other places. A mole. without respect for the anointed of the Lord, had laid waste the cure's garden. There did not remain to the poor priest even a leek to put in his pot au feu! Great commotion in the village at the narra

tion of these misdeeds. The devoted parishioners were on the watch for the mole at sunrise, and possessed themselves of it. But by what torment punish its crimes? An ordinary death was too easy. The municipal council, after having deliberated a long time to decide whether it should be crushed, burnt, or flayed, concluded, in order to make a memorable example, that it should be buried alive." Several of the tales chronicled by M. Beauquier are also current in the British islands. Jests of this type are common throughout Europe, and probably they may be found in Asia and Africa. The riddles and facetiæ of Scotland and England can be traced in almost identical form as far south as Sicily. During the Middle Ages and earlier, merchants, pilgrims, or other wanderers, who could help to while away the long hours of a winter's evening, must have been welcome guests. Hence, perhaps, the wide dispersal of certain jokes and folk-tales. It is possible, too, that prisoners of war found their condition alleviated if they were able to render their own outlandish legends and jests into the home-speech of their captors. Is not there a tradition of some man of the sword who was clever enough to save himself from death by propounding a riddle which his enemies could not answer?

In defence of the wise men of Gotham, it may be said that fish will suffocate in water if so placed that the fluid cannot act properly on the gills; at least, so I am informed by a student of natural history. P. W. G. M. "ATLANTIC GREYHOUND (9th S. v. 397).The following cutting from the Glasgow Mail of 28 May gives the answer to A. C. W.'s

query:

[ocr errors]

"When was the Guion liner the Alaska christened "The greyhound of the Atlantic'? Not at its first voyage, says Mr. Thomas Dykes, an old press hand. In a letter to us he recalls the fact that in 1882 the three great shipbuilding yards-Barrow, Dalmuir, and Fairfield—had each on hand a new steamer that was to beat the record, at that time held by the Arizona. He was commissioned by Mr. Gordon Bennett to write an article on the subject, and, as an old coursing' correspondent, was called upon to name the winner. He interviewed men best qualified to give an opinion, amongst others Mr. G. L. Watson, who plumped for the Fairfield boat as likely to prove the greyhound of the Atlantic.' The Alaska, therefore, was named the greyhound of the Atlantic' before she was launched. More over, her best performances, and those in which she earned her title, were long after she had 'ground' her engines, and not on her first voyage. I may take the present opportunity, adds Mr. Dykes, of correcting an error which has been often repeated, and which I made in an article contributed to the Fortnightly Review some fifteen years ago. I stated that Sir (then plain) William Pearce declared the voyage would soon be done in four and a half days. This should really have read five and a half

days, but when Mr. Pearce was correcting the proof-
sheets for me in the outer lobby of the House of
Commons the division bell rang, and it escaped his
attention."
JAS. R. MANNERS.

48, Queen Square, Glasgow.

SIR PEREGRINE MAITLAND (9th S. v. 375).— The East India Company's despatch of 20 Feb., 1833, dealing with European participation in native ceremonies, remained for some years practically inoperative. Madras took the lead in remonstrating. A memorial was forwarded through Bishop Corrie in 1836. From it we hear that civil and military servants of the Company had to attend "heathen and Mahomedan" religious festivals-were, indeed, called on, in some cases, to present offerings and do homage to the native deities; that the services of the pagodas ("impure and degrading ") were under the supervision of the principal European officers, who exercised authority in the smallest details; and that

[ocr errors]

ment, are also now employed in firing salutes and
'British officers, with the troops of the Govern-
in otherwise rendering homage to Mahomedan and
idolatrous ceremonies, even on the Sabbath day;
and Christians are thus not unfrequently compelled
by the authority of Government to desecrate their
unholy and degrading superstitions."
own most sacred institutions, and to take part in

the Government letter of 22 Feb., 1837, prac-
tically approved of the delay in carrying out
the despatch of 1833. On this letter Sir
Peregrine Maitland resigned, and was suc-
ceeded (December, 1838) by Sir Jasper Nicolls.
No doubt the employment of the Government
troops to honour native ceremonies was his
main reason for withdrawing from the post
of Commander-in-Chief. He was lieutenant-
general at the time. The 'Dictionary of
National Biography' makes no allusion to
the cause of Maitland's retirement from the
Company's service-a serious omission. He
was Governor of South Africa from 18 March,
1844, to 27 Jan., 1847. Mr. George McCall
Theal ('History of South Africa,' chap. xlii.)
says that he "resigned" his Madras appoint-
ment "rather than show respect to an
idolatrous custom believed by the East India
Company to be necessary to secure the loyalty
of the natives." It may be mentioned that a
different state of things had already been set
parture. A good account of the matter will
on foot a few months before Maitland's de-
be found in Kaye's 'Christianity in India.'
GEORGE MARSHALL.

The memorial was not well received, and

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

Sir Peregrine Maitland, Commander-inChief at Madras (1836-8), was certainly not

cashiered for refusing to conform to idolatrous practices; for he held high military commands after the above dates. It is certain, however though nothing is said on the subject in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' that it was on his strong remonstrance that salutes were discontinued in India in honour of Mahomet and Krishna. I notice a reversal of this policy in Egypt, by the way, where every year, on the Khedive sending a new carpet to Mecca to be laid on the tomb of the Prophet, the streets are all lined by British troops, and troops commanded by British officers.

F.

CAPE TOWN IN 1844 (9th S. ii. 489; iii. 96, 196). Burchell's 'Southern Africa, including the Cape of Good Hope and its Colonies,' was published in two volumes. The firstthe one I possess-contains sixty engravings and a map. Ten of these are large coloured plates, the others vignettes, all engraved from the original drawings made by the author early in the century. 'A View of Cape Town, Table Bay. and Tygerberg,' "engraved after the original drawing made by W. J. Burchell, Esq., 26 December, 1810," is of exceptional interest. The actual plate measures 1 ft. 9 in. by 11 in., and is most realistically coloured, the rare atmosphere of Cape Town (when no fog is on) being most happily represented. Upon the right hand of the plate is a long waggon drawn by eight light-coloured oxen. This vehicle is not a bit like the waggons now in general use throughout South Africa, but in outline and general proportion reminds one of the prairie schooners" which some of us remember as common years ago in the western parts of North America, and which were also drawn by ox teams. The vignettes include a view of the neighbourhood of Cane Town as seen when approaching it from the sea, the Jutty or landing place, the Castle Gate, and a part of Strand Street, seen looking southward from the Lutheran church. The following description of Boers of the period may be worth repeating. When near what the author calls "Misfortune River" he writes:

"We had scarcely released the oxen from the yoke, when we were visited by a boor, lying here with his flocks. We accompanied him to a miser able hut close by, to purchase some sheep. His only food was mutton, without bread, or any kind of vegetables......Our visitor's place in the scale of civilization would be nearly at the bottom, if even it should not be below zero; his mental powers appeared to have lowered themselves down to a level with those cattle who were the only concern of his thoughts. He seemed to possess a mere animal existence; he could eat meat, drink a dram,

[ocr errors]

smoke a pipe, spit, and practise some other disindulged in without ceremony, and almost without gusting vulgarities, which last enjoyments he cessation. He seldom spoke, because he had nothing to say; while a lifeless eye betrayed the vacancy of his mind... Another young boor on horseback......was passing by, but, seeing us, Dag !' and gave his hand to each of us in turn, in approached and dismounted; saluted us with a cold and unmeaning manner, by merely touching palms. One might have expected he would have had a long chat with his brother boor; but he, at that time, not thinking of anything to say, they five minutes, without exchanging a single word. stood insensibly looking at each other for about The stranger-whom no one seemed to know-then repeated his 'Dag!' which we all in like manner returned, mounted his horse, and proceeded on his way."

I can personally testify that the summer before last, in company with Mr. Julius Weil, M.P. for Mafeking, and the Rev. W. H. Weekes, its present rector, I visited the homes of Boers in the Marico Valley (Western Transvaal), who were of an equally low type with those described above.

Fair Park, Exeter.

HARRY HEMS.

'PUNCH' WEEKLY DINNER (9th S. v. 397).Whatever their custom later, when I was a boy the publishers and contributors used-in the summer season at all events-to hold their Saturday dinner at the best inn in one or other of the London suburbs. I remember their coming to the "King's Head," Harrow, in 1846. Thackeray I "knew at home," as boys say. I went up to him at once, and, at his desire, showed them all over the place. In the churchyard repairs were being made to his famous great-grandfather's grave, “at the expense of a gentleman in London whose name I don't know," said old Winkley the sexton. I turned to look at Thackeray, but he was absorbed in gazing at the steeple. I was introduced by him to Douglas Jerrold, Leech, and other choice spirits—a cretá notanda dies indeed, especially as Thackeray, the unfailing tipper of schoolboys, slipped a sovereign into my hand at parting.

D. F. C.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »