more than three Passengers an extra Chaise to be provided. Fare to and from London £1 8s. Od. Trowbridge, £1 6s. Od. Devizes £1 2s. 6d. One half to be paid at Booking, the other at entering the machine. Inside passengers allowed 10lb. wt., all above Three HalfThe Coach pence per pound from Frome as usual will set out from the Crown Inn in Frome, at Ten o'clock in the evening of every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday; and from the Bull Inn in Holborne, London, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Evening, at the same Hour.-Books are kept, Places taken, and Parcels received, at the Christopher in Wells, the George in Shepton, the Crown in Frome, the Woolpack in Trowbridge, and the Bull in Holborne, London; calls going in and coming out, at the White Bear Inn, Piccadilly, and the new White Horse Cellar. Perform'd by R. MESSETER, at the Crown, at Thatcham, J. HITCHCOCK, at the Catherine Wheel, Beckhampton. N. B. No Jewels, Plate, Money, Writings, or other things of Value, will be paid for if lost, unless enter'd as such, and paid for accordingly." With regard to G. G.'s Query as to the time occupied in the journey of Schultz from Colchester to London, do not the circumstances sufficiently prove that by some means six must have been written for sixteen? Sixteen hours would give a rate of travelling nearer the average of those days, and was about the time occupied on the return to Colchester. For if we allow a due time after twelve for dinner, settling accounts, and going to the inn whence the "Stäts-Kutsche" started, and for partaking of the meal there provided, we shall very easily get to seven or eight in the evening; sixteen hours after that time would be "towards noon" in the following day. A. D. M. PRISON DISCIPLINE AND EXECUTION OF JUSTICE. Sir, I am glad that you devote some part of your columns to the good work of bringing forward facts and anecdotes which, though not generally known, your readers individually may have happened to notice, and which illustrate the manners of our ancestors. I dare say few of your correspondents have met with the London Magazine for the year 1741. An imperfect copy fell into my hands when a lad; ever since which time I have been in a state of great wonderment at the story contained in the leaf which I enclose. I need hardly say that the italics are mine; and perhaps they are hardly necessary. Yours, &c., "TUESDAY, 21 [June]. BETA. "A very extraordinary Affair happen'd at the County Gaol in Hertford, where four Highwaymen, very stout lusty Fellows, viz. Theophilus Dean, Charles Cox (alias Bacon- Face), James Smith, and Luke Humphrys, lay under Sentence of Death, pass'd on them the last Assizes, and were intended to have been executed the following Day; Mr. Oxenton, the Gaoler, who keeps an Inn opposite to the Prison, went into the Gaol about four a Clock in the Morning, as was his Custom, attended by three Men, to see if all was safe, and, having lock'd the outward Door, sent one of his Men down to the Dungeon, where the four Felons had found means to disengage themselves from the Pillar and Chain to which they had been lock'd down, and one of them, viz. Bacon- Face, had got off both his Hand-Cuffs and Fetters; on opening the Door, they disabled the Man and all rush'd out; then coming up Stairs they met the Gaoler and his other two Men, of whom they demanded the Keys, threatening to murder them if their request was not immediately comply'd with they then forced his men into the Yard beyond the Hatchway, and a Battle ensu'd, in which the Gaoler behav'd so manfully, tho' he had but one Man to assist him, that he maintain'd the Possession of his Keys till he was heard by his Wife, then in Bed, to call out for Assistance, who fortunately having another Key to the Gaol, ran to rescue him; the Fellows saw her coming and demanded her Key, threatening to murder her if she offer'd to assist her Husband: By this Time the Neighbourhood was alarm'd, and several Persons got to the Gaol Door, when Mrs. Oxenton, notwithstanding their Threats, at the utmost Hazard of her Life, open'd the same and caught hold of her Husband, who was almost spent, and, with the Assistance of some Persons, got him out and lock'd the Door without suffering the Fellows to escape: They continued cursing and swearing that they would murder the first Man that attempted to enter the Gaol. the mean Time Robert Hadsley, Esq., High-Sheriff, who lives about a Mile from the Town, was sent for, and came immediately; he parley'd with them some Time to no Purpose, then order'd Fire- Arms to be brought, and, in case they would not submit, to shoot at them, which these Desperadoes refusing to do, they accordingly fired on them, and Theophilus Dean receiving a Shot in the Groin, dropt; then they surrender'd, and the Sheriff instantly caus'd Bacon- Face to be hang'd on the Arch of the Sign Iron belonging to the Gaoler's House, in the Sight of his Companions and great Numbers of People; the other three were directly put into a Cart and carried to the usual Place of Execution, and there hang'd before seven a Clock that Morning." Lond. Mag. July, 1741, p. 360. SATIRICAL MEDAL OF THE PRETENDER. In I am well acquainted with the medal described by Mr. Nightingale, and can confirm his statement of the difficulties which numismatists have experienced in attempting to explain the circumstances alluded to by the lobster which is the badge of "the order of the pretended Prince of Wales," and upon which, on the other side of the medal, Father Petre is represented as riding with the young prince in his arms. Upon other medals also the Jesuit appears carrying the prince, who is decorated, or amusing himself, with a windmill. There is likewise a medal on which a Jesuit is represented concealed within a closet or altar, and i raising or pushing up through the top the young prince to the view of the people, while Truth is opening the door and exposing the imposition. Similar representations of the Jesuit's interference occur upon caricatures and satirical prints executed in Holland. Upon one, entitled " Arlequin sur l'Hippogryphe, a la croisade Lojoliste," the lobster, on which the Jesuit is mounted, carries a book in each claw; the young prince's head is decorated with a windmill. All these intimate the influence of Father Petre upon the proceedings of James II., and of the Jesuits in general in the imposition, as was by many supposed, of the pretended prince. The imputation upon the legitimacy of the young child was occasioned in a great degree, and almost justified, by the pilgrimages and superstitious fooleries of his grandmother, increased by his mother's choosing St. Francis Xavier as one of her ecclesiastical patrons, and with her family attributing the birth of the prince to his miraculous interference. This may have provoked the opposers of popery to take every means of satirising the Jesuits; and the following circumstances related in the Life of Xavier probably suggested the idea of making the lobster one of the symbols of the superstitions and impositions of the Jesuits, and a means of discrediting the birth of the prince by ridiculing the community by whose impositions they asserted the fraud to have been contrived and executed. The account is given by a Portuguese, called Fausto Rodriguez, who was a witness of the fact, has deposed it upon oath, and whose juridical testimony is in the process of the Saint's canoni zation. We were at sea,' says Rodriguez, Father Francis, John Raposo, and myself, when there arose a tempest which alarmed all the mariners. Then the Father drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he always carried about him, and leaning over deck, intended to have dipt it into the sea; but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and was carried off by the waves. This loss very sensibly afflicted him, and he concealed not his sorrow from us. The next morning we landed on the Island of Baranura; from the time when the crucifix was lost, to that of our landing, it was near twentyfour hours, during which we were in perpetual danger. Being on shore, Father Francis and I walked along by the sea-side, towards the town of Tamalo, and had already walked about 500 paces, when both of us beheld, arising out of the sea, a crab fish, which carried betwixt his claws the same crucifix raised on high. I saw the crab fish come directly to the Father, by whose side I was, and stopped before him. The Father, falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crabfish returned into the sea. But the Father still continuing in the same humble posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour praying with his hands across his breast, and myself joining with him in thanksgiving to God for so evident a miracle; after which we arose and continued on our way.' Thus you As the biographer and editor of that amiable and zealous antiquary John Aubrey, I noticed with peculiar interest the statement of your correspondent, that the date of your first publication coincided with the anniversary of his birthday; but, unhappily, the coincidence is imaginary. Your correspondent has, on that point, adopted a careless reading of the first chapter of Aubrey's Miscellanies, whereby the 3rd of November, the birthday of the Duke of York, afterwards James the Second, has been frequently stated as that of the antiquary himself. See my Memoir of Aubrey, 4to. 1845, p. 123. In the same volume, p. 13., will be found an engraving of the horoscope of his nativity, from a sketch in his own hand. So far as his authority is of any value, that curious sketch proves incontestably that "the Native" was born at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 17 o'clock (astronomical time) on the 11th of March, 1625-6; that is, at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 5 o'clock A.M. on the 12th of March, instead of the 3rd of November. Few things can be more mortifying to a biographer, or an antiquary, than the perpetuation of an error which he has successfully laboured to correct. It is an evil, however, to which he is often subjected, and which your valuable publication will go far to remedy. In the present case it is, doubtless, to be ascribed to the peculiar nature of my Memoir of Aubrey, of which but a limited number of copies were printed for the Wiltshire Topographical Society. The time and labour which I bestowed upon the work, the interesting character of its contents, and the approbation of able and impartial public critics, justify me in saying that it deserves a far more extensive circulation. After this allusion to John Aubrey, I think I cannot better evince my sympathy with your exertions than by requesting the insertion of a Query respecting one of his manuscripts. I allude to his Monumenta Britannica, in four folio volumes - a dissertation on Avebury, Stonehenge, and other stone circles, barrows, and similar Druidical monuments-which has disappeared within the last thirty years. Fortunately a large portion of its contents has been preserved, in extracts made by Mr. Hutchins, the historian of Dorsetshire, and by the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart.; but the manuscript certainly contained much more of great local interest, and some matters which were worthy of publication. In the Memoir already mentioned, p. 87., the history of the manuscript down to the time of its disappear INEDITED SONG BY SIR JOHN SUCKLING. I do not remember to have seen the following verses in print or even in MS. before I accidentally met with them in a small quarto MS. Collection of English Poetry, in the hand-writing of the time of Charles I. They are much in Suckling's manner; and in the MS. are described as Sir John Suckling's Verses. I am confirm'd a woman can Love this, or that, or any other man: Then hang me, Ladies, at your door, Yet still I'll love the fairsome (why?- I'll give my faney leave to range WHITE GLOVES AT A MAIDEN ASSIZE. espousals, &c. That this symbolism should sometimes be transferred from the hand to the glow (the hand-schuh of the Germans) is but naturi and it is in this transfer that we shall find the origin of the white gloves in question. At a maiden assize no criminal has been called upon to plead, or, to use the words of Blackstone, "called upon by name to hold up his hand;" in short, no guilty hand has been held up, and, therefore, after the rising of the court our judges (instead of receiving, as they did in Germany, an entertainment at which the bread, the glasses, the food, the linen -every thing, in short was white) have been accustomed to receive a pair of white gloves. The Spaniards have a proverb, "white hands never offend;" but in their gallantry they use it only in reference to the softer sex; the Teutonic races, however, would seem to have embodied the idea, and to have extended its application. WILLIAM J. THOMS. A LIMB OF THE Law, to a portion of whose Query, in No. 2. (p. 29.), the above is intended as a reply, may consult, on the symbolism of the Hand and Glove, Grimm Deutsches Rechtsaltherthümer, pp. 137. and 152., and on the symbolical use of white in judicial proceedings, and the after feastings consequent thereon, pp. 137. 381. and 869. of the same learned work. [On this subject we have received a communication from F. G. S., referring to Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 79., ed. 1841, for a passage from Fuller's Mixed Contemplations, London, 1660, which proves the existence of the practice at that time; and to another in Clavell's Recantation of an Ill-led Life, London, 1634, to show that prisoners, who received pardon after condemnation, were accustomed to present gloves to the judges: "Those pardoned men who taste their prince's loves (As married to new life) do give you gloves."] Mr. Editor, -" Anciently it was prohibited the Judges to wear gloves on the bench; and at present in the stables of most princes it is not safe going in without pulling off the gloves." - Chambers' Cyclopædia, A.D. MDCCXLI. Was the presentation of the gloves a sign that the Judge was not required to sit upon the Bench their colour significant that there would be no A. D. occasion for capital punishment? Embroidered gloves were introduced about the year 1580 into England. The practice of giving white gloves to judges at maiden assizes is one of the few relics of that symbolism so observable in the early laws of this as of all other countries; and its origin is doubtless to be found in the fact of the hand being, in the early Germanic law, a symbol of power. By the hand property was delivered over or reclaimed, hand joined in hand to strike a bargain and to celebrate "This Or were gloves proscribed as the remembrances of the gauntlet cast down as a challenge? is the form of a trial by battle; a trial which the tenant or defendant in a writ of right has it in his election at this day to demand, and which was the only decision of such writ of right after the Conquest, till Henry II., by consent of Parliament, introduced the Grand Assise, a peculiar species of trial by jury." - Blackstone, Commentaries, Sir,-Have the following contradictions in Cervantes' account of Sancho's ass "Dapple" ever been noticed or accounted for? In Don Quixote, Part. I. chap. 23., we find Dapple's abduction at night by Gines de Passamonte; only a few lines afterwards, lo! Sancho is seated on her back, sideways, like a woman, eating his breakfast. In spite of which, chap. 25. proves that she is still missing. Sancho tacitly admits the fact, by invoking "blessings on the head of the man who had saved him the trouble of unharnessing her." Chap. 30. contains her rescue from Passamonte. MELANION. Doctor Dove, of Doncaster. The names of "Doctor Dove, of Doncaster," and his steed "Nobbs," must be familiar to all the admirers, in another word, to all the readers, of Southey's Doctor. Many years ago there was published at Canterbury a periodical work called The Kentish Register. In the No. for September, 1793, there is a ludicrous letter, signed "Agricola," addressed to Sir John Sinclair, then President of the Royal Agricultural Society; and in that letter there is frequent mention made of "Doctor Dobbs, of Doncaster, and his horse Nobbs." This coincidence appears to be too remarkable to have been merely accidental; and it seems probable that, in the course of his multifarious reading, Southey had met with the work in question, had been struck with the comical absurdity of these names, and had unconsciously retained them in his memory. P. C. S. S. INSCRIPTION ON ANCIENT CHURCH PLATE. Mr. Editor,-Herewith I have the pleasure of sending you a tracing of the legend round a representation of St. Christopher, in a latten dish belonging to a friend of mine, and apparently very similar to the alms-basins described by CLERICUS in No. 3. The upper line - "In Frid gichwart der," written from right to left, is no doubt to be read thus: Derin Frid gichwart. The lower line con tains the same words transposed, with the variation of "gehwart" for "gichwart." The words "gehwart" and "gichwart" being no doubt blunders of an illiterate artist. In Modern German the lines would be:Darin Frieden gewarte - Therein peace await, or look for. Gewarte darin Frieden - Await, or look for, therein peace. In allusion, perhaps, to the eucharist or alws, to hold one or the other of which the dish seems to have been intended. b. ANECDOTES OF BOOKS. MS. of English Gesta Romanorum. Your work, which has so promising a commencement, may be regarded as, in one department, a depository of anecdotes of books. Under this head I should be disposed to place Notes of former possessors of curious or important volumes: and, as a contribution of this kind, I transmit a Note on the former possessors of the MS. of the Gesta Romanorum in English, which was presented to the British Museum in 1832, by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, now Dean of Llandaff, and has been printed at the expense of a member of the Roxburgh Club. It is No. 9066 of the MSS. called Additional. Looking at it some years ago, when I had some slight intention of attacking the various MSS. of the Gesta in the Museum, Lobserved the names of Gervase Lee and Edward Lee, written on a flyleaf, in the way in which persons usually inscribe | their names in books belonging to them; and it immediately occurred to me that these could be no other Lees than members of the family of Lee of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, who claimed to descend from a kinsman of Edward Lee, who was Archbishop of York in the reign of Henry VIII., and who is so unmercifully handled by Erasmus. The name of Gervase was much used by this family of Lee, and as there was in it an Edward Lee who had curious books in the time of Charles II., about whose reign the name appears to have been written, there can, I think, be little reasonable doubt that this most curious MS. formed a part of his library, and of his grandfather or father, Gervase Lee, before him. Edward Lee, who seems to have been the last of the name who lived in the neighbourhood of Southwell, died on the 23rd of April, 1712, aged 76. That he possessed rare books I collect from this: that the author of Grammatica Reformata, 12mo. 1683, namely John Twells, Master of the Free School at Newark, says, in his preface, that he owed the opportunity of perusing Matthew of Westminster "to the kindness of that learned patron of learning, Edward Lee, of Norwell, Esquire." And now, having given you a Note, I will add a Query, and ask, Can any one inform me what became of this library, or who were the representatives and heirs of Edward Lee, through whom this MS. may have passed to Mr. Conybeare, or give me any further particulars respecting this Edward Lee? A person who asks a question in such a publication as yours ought to endeavour to answer one. I add therefore that Mr. Thorpe - no mean authority on such a point--in his Catalogue for 1834, No. 1234, says that E. F. in the title-page of The Life of King Edward II., represents "E. Falkland:" but he does not tell us who E. Falkland was, and it is questionable whether there was any person so named living at the time when the book in question was written. There was no Edward Lord Falkland before the reign of William III. Also, in answer to Dr. Maitland's Query respecting the fate of Bindley's copy of Borde's Dyetary of Health, 1567, in priced copy of the Catalogue now before me, the name of Rodd stands as the purchaser for eleven shillings. JOSEPH HUNTER. Nov. 26. 1849. a QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 3. A Flemish Account, &c. The readiness with which we adopt a current saying, though unaware of its source, and therefore somewhat uncertain as to the proper mode of applying it, is curiously exemplified by the outstanding query on the origin and primary signification of the phrase A Flemish account. I have consulted, in search of it, dictionaries of various dates, the glossaries of our dramatic annotators, and the best collections of proverbs and proverbial sayings - but without success. The saying casts no reproach on the Flemings. It always means, I believe, that the sum to be received turns out less than had been expected. It is a commercial joke, and admits of explanation by reference to the early commercial transactions between the English and the Flemings. I rely on the authority of The merchants mappe of commerce, by Lewes Roberts, London, 1638, folio, chap. 179: In Antwerp, which gave rule in trade to most other cities, the accounts were kept in livres, sols, and deniers; which they termed pounds, shillings, and pence of grosses. Now the livre was equal only to twelve shillings sterling, so that while the Antwerp merchant stated a balance of 11. 138. 4d., the London merchant would receive only 11.which he might fairly call A Flemish account! The same instructive author furnishes me with a passage in illustration of a recent question on the three golden balls, which seem to require additional research. It occurs in chap. 181: "This citie [Bruges] hath an eminent market place, with a publicke house for the meeting of all marchants, at noone and evening: which house was called the Burse, of the houses of the extinct familie Bursa, bear ing three purses for their armes, ingraven upon the houses, from whence these meeting places to this day are called Burses in many countries, which in London wee know by the name of the Royall Exchange, and of Britaines Burse." BOLTON CORNEY. I think it probable that the expression "Flemish Account" may have been derived from the fact that the Flemish ell measures only three quarters of our yard, while the English ell measures five quarters, and that thence the epithet Flemish was adopted as denoting something deficient. QQ When commerce was young, the Flemings were the great merchants of Western Europe; but these worthies were notorious, when furnishing their accounts current, for always having the balance at the right side (for themselves), and hence arose the term. I am not at this moment able to say where this information is to be had, but have met it somewhere. JUNIOR. I wonder that some better scholar than myself should not have explained the phrase "Flemish account;" but though I cannot quote authority for the precise expression, I may show whence it is derived. To flem, in old Scotch (and in old English too, I believe), is to "run away;" in modern slang, to "make oneself scarce," "to levant." Flemen is an outcast, an outlaw. It is easy to understand the application of the word to accounts. Your querist should consult some of the old dictionaries. SCOTUS There is an old story that a Count of Flanders once gave an entertainment to some Flemish merchants, but that the seats on which they sat were without cushions. These "princes of the earth" thereupon folded up their costly velvet cloaks, and used them accordingly. When reminded, on their departure, of having left their cloaks behind they replied, that when asked to a feast they were not in the habit of carrying away with them the chair cushions. Could this have originated the expression "Flemish account?" In this case the proud merchants gave such an account of a va luable article in their possession, as made it out to be quite worthless to the owner. MUSAFIR ANSWERS TO MINOR QUERIES. Richard Greene, Apothecary. Mr. Richard Green, the subject of H. T. E.'s Query (No. 3. p. 43.), was an apothecary at Lichfield, and related to Dr. Johnson. He had a considerable collection of antiquities, &c., called "Green's Museum," which was sold, after his death, for a thousand pounds. See Boswell's Johnson, Croker's edition, vol. v. p. 194. |