Page images
PDF
EPUB

long from you. I beg a thousand pardons for this my presumption in so early an acquaintance, but if ever there be any thing wherein in the future I can serve you, the effectuating it shall be the greatest pleasure imaginable to

Sir, your most obedient servant,
ALEXANDER GORDON.

The work referred to by Gordon, was a thin folio, printed at Edinburgh in 1703, entitled Historical Enquiries concerning the Roman Monuments and Antiquities in the North part of Britain called Scotland; by Sir Robert Sibbald, M.D. At the date of Gordon's letter it was then very rare, and is now not often seen. Anderson was a very obliging person, and there can be but little doubt that Gordon was allowed to retain possession of the so much coveted tome.

[ocr errors]

The Baron' was Sir John Clerk of Pennycook, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, a Scotish antiquary of considerable eminence. Anderson, it is almost needless to mention, was the editor of the well-known Diplomata Scotia, the preparation of which ruined him.

Paton was a bookseller at Edinburgh, the father of George Paton, the correspondent of Gough; and who collected a library, which, as regarded Scotish literature, was the finest ever formed in Scotland. His letters to Gough, with a large collection of letters addressed to himself, are in the library of the Faculty of Advocates. The letters of Bishop Percy, with those of several other eminent persons, were, at the suggestion of Sir Walter Scott, edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by James Maidment, Esq., Advocate, and published some years since at Edinburgh, by Stevenson; but the volume has long been, to use a bookseller's phrase, out of print.

It is somewhat surprising that, although Anderson did so much and so well for the history of his own country, few people South the Tweed know much about him. In England, no private individual ever produced such a work as the Diplomata Scotia, and the publications of the Original Record Commissioners are merely monuments of unnecessary expenditure; for the most part, instead of finding their ways to libraries for general use, are consigned to the tobacconist, or the trunkmaker, — in truth, for one-fourth of the public money so squandered, all the most valuable records possessing interest, might have been printed; and that too in a most satisfactory manner. Edinburgh, Nov. 5.

HEARNE'S UNPUBLISHED REMAINS.

M.

The Manuscript Diaries of the Oxford Antiquary, edited by Rev. Philip Bliss, D.D., are announced for publication; they are replete with biographical minutiæ, personal anecdote, and historical gossip, more particularly illustrative of the local antiquities, and by-gone habits and manners of the University. The impression is limited; in 2 vols. octavo, 150 copies, at Two guineas; 50 copies, in 2 vols. on LARGE PAPER, at Three pounds ten shillings, to range with Hearne's publications, issued by himself. The work is printed for subscribers only, and names are received by Messrs. Willis and Sotheran.

RELICS OF THE FAMILY OF THE STUARTS.

Henry, Cardinal of York, bequeathed to an officer of his household, designated his gentiluomo, certain jewels and weapons, of considerable intrinsic value for their artistic merits, but more especially interesting from the circumstance of their having been the property at different periods of various members of the House of Stuart. This collection of the Stuart relics has recently been purchased at Rome, for Lord John Scott, for about 600l., from the person to whom they were bequeathed, and consist of the following articles:

An enamelled medallion of the order of St. George, formerly worn by King Charles the First.

A ring with a cameo portrait in ivory of King James the Second. A gold ring with a white rose in enamel, worn by the same monarch, and by his son, the Pretender, designated King James III.

The ring worn by the latter, on his marriage with the Princess Clementina Sobieski; also the marriage ring of his son Prince Charles Edward, enclosing an exquisite small miniature.

An emerald seal, formerly belonging to James III.; and a chalcedony seal, engraved with the order of St. Andrew. A dial and compass mounted in silver, formerly belonging to Charles Stuart.

Charles Edward Stuart's watch seal, bearing the motto CHACVN À SON TOVR. Cardinal York's seal, with the

[blocks in formation]

York.

A ring with a cameo portrait of James Sobieski, great uncle of the Pretender's wife; by the celebrated gem engraver Pickler.

A ring with a cameo portrait of the wife of Prince Charles Edward, by the same artist.

A ring with a cameo portrait of Prince Charles Edward; and another, with a similar portrait of the Duchess of Albany. Another, containing a lock of her hair. A portrait of the Duchess of Albany's mother.

The weapons comprise the blade of King John Sobieski's sword. A jasper handled dagger taken from the tent of a Turkish Bey, at the siege of Vienna; and a pair of richly ornamented pistols, formerly the property of the Sobieski family.

The highly valuable collection of Antiquities and articles of Art and Vertu, formed by Mr. Hertz, of Argyle-street, including those purchased at Mr. Rogers' recent sale, have been added to that formed by Joseph Mayer, Esq., who with princely munificence has presented the whole to the town of Liverpool, in aid of establishing their Museum, of which he will ever remain the principal founder.

Vita brevis, Ars longa. Whence is this well known adage derived?

H. C. From Hippocrates: the adage Life is short, Art is long,' is a translation of the first of his Aphorisms.

FIGURES OF PRELATES ON TOMBS.

Whence originated the practice of placing the effigies of deceased Prelates on their Tombs ? S. M.

In the third volume of Spelman's Concilia, it is stated: Thomas de Marleberg, abbot of Evesham was the first person who introduced the custom of placing such figures upon sepulchral monuments, which he did on the tombs of two of his predecessors, and also on a third designed for himself. He died in 1213.

LORD PANMURE AND ROSS'S MONUMENT.

In Current Notes, August 1855, p. 62, it will be observed, notice was there made, that the monument which was raised by subscription to the memory of Alexander Ross, A.M., the schoolmaster and poet, of Loch Lee, was then misplaced, in so far as it was erected in the new burial ground of the parish, fully a mile distant from the old one in which the poet and his wife were both interred. This was occasioned by the obstinate whim of a late minister of the parish who determined the monument should become an ornament to the new burial ground; and accordingly, contrary to the desire of the subscribers, and the urgent remonstrances of many disinterested parties persisted in its being so misplaced. Our observations upon the subject having happily fallen under the notice of Lord Panmure, the proprietor of this romantic district, his Lordship, during his recent visit there, caused Ross's memorial to be taken from the new church, and placed at the head of the poet's grave, in the fine old burial ground, within a pistol shot distance of which are also the ruins of the poet's dwelling house, and the parish school in which he taught the youth of the neighbourhood for more than fifty-two years.

BOAR'S HEAD TAVERN, EASTCHEAP.
Is Washington Irving's account of the following
Epitaph in St. Michael's Church, Crooked Lane, on the
tomb of Robert Preston, whilom drawer at the Boar's
that most pleasant writer in his very fictitious article in
Head Tavern, in Eastcheap, true, or a pleasant fiction of
the Sketch Book, on that famous Tavern?

Bacchus to give the toping world surprise,
Produced one sober son, and here he lies.
Though rear'd among full hogsheads, he defy'd
The charms of wine, and ev'ry charm beside.
O reader if to justice thou'rt inclined,
Keep honest Preston daily in thy mind:
He drew good wine, took care to fill his pots;
Had sundry virtues that excused his faults.
You that on Bacchus have the like dependence,
Pray copy Bob in measure and attendance.
Perhaps some of your readers can tell me? I have a
purpose in ascertaining its truth.

Needham Market, Nov. 4.

LINCOLN GREEN.

In the church-yard of St. Michael, Crooked-lane, was formerly a tablet to the memory of Robert Preston, late drawer at the Boar's Head Tavern, in Great Eastcheap, who departed this life, March 16, 1730, aged twenty-seven years; followed by the ten lines quoted by our corresponMagazine for August, 1733. dent. They were first noticed and printed in the London

FEMALE PROFESSORS OF SCIENCE.

of Universities, p. 63, it appears that the United States By the following extract from Malden, on the Origin of America is not the only country where the ladies share with the sterner sex the privilege of competing

for academical distinctions.

It is

The monument is simply a plain tablet of Aberdeen granite, inscribed with his birth in 1699, and his death,in University of Bologna, is the admission of the female sex 1784, and referring to his literary labours." His songs of the Rock an' the Wee pickle tow; To the biggin we will go; Wooed an' married an' a; and many others are as popularly well known; and sung by the peasantry between the rivers of Tay and Spey, as are those of Burns. Dr. Beattie, of Minstrel notoriety, was Ross's contemporary and intimate friend; and having upon one occasion visited him at Loch Lee, wrote him a curious address, in Scottish verse.

One of the most singular points in the history of the to its honours and offices. There is mention in early times said that Novella d'Andera read lectures on jurisprudence, of learned women on whom degrees were conferred. but took the precaution of drawing a curtain between herself and her auditors. Mrs. Piozzi mentions La Dottoressa Laura Brassi, who taught arithmetic and natural philosophy; and Lady Morgan has introduced us to Signora Clotilda Tambroni, a learned professor of Greek. But the boldest inroad into the scientific province of the ruder sex was made by Madame Manzolina, who lectured on anatomy. St. Alban's Parsonage, Gateshead.

E. H. A.

SUFFOLK TRADITIONAL CURE FOR FITS.

In the following rustic prescription, that little animal the Mole, is the victim to an absurd and ignorant belief. A friend, resident in the most north-easterly part of Suffolk, was thus recently addressed by an old woman:

Since the death of Ross, many a young poet, some of whom their country is now proud to honour, have made pilgrimages to his romantically situated grave; and by the absurdly misplacing of his monument, many have left the district, wending on their way, in the belief that no memorial marked his last deposit, or honoured his genius; but the recurrence of these apprehensions has now been obviated by the prompt and laudable interposition of Lord Panmure, who, amidst the many honours so justly gained—I from his Queen and country, has thus also insured the humble gratitude of every admirer of Scottish Poets and Poetry.

wish, Sir, yow'd catch me a live Moll. For what purpose? asked my informant. Why, Sir, you see my darter's little gal is got fits, and I'm told that if I get a live Moll, cut the tip of his nose off, and let nine drops bleed onter a lump of sugar, and give that to the child,

• See Mr. AndrewJervise's History and Traditions of the 'tis a sartin cure. Land of the Lindsays, 1853, 8vo. p. 73. Nov. 14.

JOHN F. FOWLER.

ULTIMUM VALE, A

LAST FAREWELL OF THOMAS, EARLE OF STRAFFORD,
Written by himselfe a little before his death.

[Reprinted from the original broad sheet.]
Farewell vain World, farewell my fleeting joyes,
Whose best of musick's but an Echo's noyse;
And all the lustre of your painted light,
But as dull dreams and fantoms of the night.
Empty your pleasures too, nor can they last
Longer than aire-puft bubbles, or a blast.
Farewell you fading Honours, which do blinde
By your false mists the sharpest sighted minde;
And having raised him to his height of cares,
Tumble him headlong down the slippery stairs.
How shall I praise or prise your glorious ills,
Which are but poyson put in golden pills.

Farewell my Blus'tring Titles, ne'er come backe,
You've sweld my sailes until my mastings cracke,
And made my Vessel reele against the rocks
Of gaping ruine, whose destructive knocks
Hath helplesse left me, sinking, here to lie:
The cause? I raised my main-top sailes too high.
Farewell Ambition, since we needs must part,
Thou great Inchantresse of man's greater heart:
Thy gilded titles that do seeme so faire,
Are but like meteors hanging in the aire :
In whose false splendor, falling thence, is found
No worth, but water-like shed on the ground.
Farewell the Glory, from which all the rest
Derive the sweets for which men style them blest,
That from one root in several branches spring;
I meane The favor of my Gratious King:
This too, hath led my wand'ring soule astray,
Like Ignis Fatuus from its righter way.
Farewell my Friends, I need not bid you go;
When Fortune flies, you freely will doe so:
Worship the rising, not the setting Sun.
The house is falling, Vermin quickly run.
Bees from the wither'd flowers do make haste:
The reason? Because they have lost their taste.
Farewell the Treasures of my tempting store,
Which of all Idols I did least adore;
Haste to some Idiot's coffer, and hee'l bee
Thy slave, as I have master been to thee.
Heaven knowes of all the suitors that I had,
I prized thee least, as counting none so bad.
Lastly, my Foes Farewell: for such I have
Who do in multitudes wait for my grave;
'Mongst which I can't belceve but some there be
That hate my vices only, and not me:
Let them passe ore my fame without a blot,
And let the vulgar snatch, they know not what.
Let them besmeare me by the chatt'ring notes,
Poor silly hearts, which echo through their throtes;
I'll passe it ore and pray, with patience too;
Father forgive, they know not what they do.

Yet O! I could have woo'd my treach'rous Fate T'have let me died without the publique hate. London, printed 1641.

WIMBORNE MINSTER LIBRARY.

Some time since, a correspondent in Dorsetshire discoursed pleasantly concerning the old library attached to Wimborne Minster. I should like to draw his attention en passant to its present state. When down there recently I did not forget to inquire for it, when the sexton conducted me to a damp vestry, where the books were piled on the stone floor in dreary disorder. The damp had already commenced its ravages upon them, and the sexton mournfully hinted at the prospect of the coming winter. Upon one, a Manuscript of the Gospels, mouldy decay was already visible. The reason assigned is, that a new library is being built to receive these books; but if more care is not taken, the new library will be only suitable for their grave.

I assure Mr. Garland that I have not overstated their present condition.

Needham Market, Nov. 4.

LINCOLN GREEN.

CENTENARIAN QUEEN OF THE LAKE.

Toward the close of the seventeenth century was born the memorable Margaret uch Evan of Penllyn, of whom it may be truly said-How little was it thought while the bantling crawled upon the floor, and feebly tottered to gain its mother's knee, unable to lisp her native tongue, that she in particular should live to become so celebrated an example of the spirit and strength of the ancient British fair. Pennant observes of her-This extraordinary female was the greatest fisher, hunter, and the best shooter of her time: she kept at least a dozen dogs, terriers, greyhounds, and spaniels, all excellent in their kinds. She killed more foxes in one year than all the confederated hunters do in ten.* Mistress of most mechanical arts, she was a good joiner, and while under contract to convey the copper ore down the lakes, she built her own boats, rowed them stoutly, and was the Queen of the Lake. She made her own shoes; and as a blacksmith, made the shoes, and shod her own horses. She made harps, and well versed in all the old British airs, fiddled excellently. Many of the neighbouring bards paid their addresses to her, and celebrated her many exploits, in pure heroic British verse; till at length, as if determined to maintain the superiority which Nature had so pre-eminently bestowed upon her, she gave her hand to the most effeminate of her admirers. In most field diversions she had no superior, and even at the age of seventy was considered the best wrestler in the county, so that few young men dared to try a fall with her. She had a maid-servant of congenial qualities, but Death ere long earthed this faithful companion; and Margaret herself, having lived through an entire century, at length succumbed to this mighty monitor in 1801, when she had attained her one hundred and fifth year. Harbledown. S.

* Journey to Snowdon, 1781, p. 158.

RELICS OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK.

Howell, in the Introduction to his Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, printed at Edinburgh, 1829; mentions seeing in 1823, the cup and chest that had once belonged to Robinson Crusoe, the name by which he has been rendered an object of so much interest, in the house at Largo, so admirably and so recently pourtrayed in Current Notes, pp. 73-74. He also notices no information was then obtainable except a few vague traditions repeated by an old man, a relative of Alexander Selkirk's, who possessed the precious relics, and dwelt in the house: this it would seem was the husband of the now surviving widow Gillies, alluded to by your correspondent.

In the spring of 1825, Howell discovered in the person of John Selcrag, a teacher of youth, at Canonmills, a village near Edinburgh, a veritable grand-nephew of Alexander Selkirk, who was in possession of two relics which had once belonged to his distinguished relative: a staff, or walking-stick, and his flip-can-the latter, in an appeal, printed in February, 1841, for assistance to alleviate the then distressed condition of the owner, an aged and indigent man-is described as being made of brown glazed stone ware, resembling a common porter jug, and holding about a Scottish pint. Every thing that belonged to a sailor in the olden time, that would admit of it, had its rhyme, and this flip-can had the following inscription and posy:

:

Alexander Salkurke, this is my one [i.e. own]. When you me take on bord of ship, Pray fill me full with punch or flipp. Fulham.

Alexander Selkirk obtained this stone ware jug from the pottery at Fulham, about the middle of 1703, while waiting for the equipment and sailing of the Cinque Ports Galley, to which he had been appointed sailing master. That the flip-can, as his grand-nephew designated it, doubtless accompanied him on his voyage, was with him on the island of Juan Fernandez, and was brought home by him, there cannot reasonably be entertained any doubt; and it appears that it had been highly venerated in the family, had been generally locked up, and, at one time, by a niece, during fifty years. It had been cracked, and to prevent the crack from extending, Selkirk had himself while at sea attached a patch of pitch: this had also been specially retained. Can any correspondent of Current Notes state where these relics are now deposited? The fact of 'Fulham' being attached to the distich, as the place of fabrication, renders the Jug an object of interest as a specimen of the early pottery, for which Lambeth and Vauxhall are now so deservedly celebrated.

Selkirk doubtless never dreamed of the posthumous fame that awaited him it is not certified that he communicated any papers to De Foe, who it would seem based his glorious fiction on the Voyages to the South Sea, and round the World, by Captain Edward Cook, printed in 1712, in 2 volumes, Svo.

[blocks in formation]

THE JEWS NOT THE ARBITERS OF EUROPE.

Allix's Refutation of the last Hope of the Jews, may serve as a refutation of Von Haxthausen: and, it may be remarked, one does not see how Von Haxthausen's assertion, that the Jews are now our servants, can be reconciled with what follows, that the Jews are now to a great extent the arbiters of the fate of Europe; or, how his further views can be reconciled with Revelation? On the Divine authority, we may rest satisfied, the Jews have no more important a destiny in the affairs of Europe, than this, and truly of no small importance, namely, to be witnesses for God to the end of the world, to all who believe not their Messiah, our Christ, God and Man, manifested to destroy the works of the Devil, in love to our souls, and to bring us nigh to God. Clifton, Bristol: HORATIO MONTAGU.

LORD COCKBURN'S MEMORIALS.

The accuracy of the late Lord Cockburn, with reference to several statements in his recently published Memorials, has been impugned. Among other charges is the one he has related of the Judge at Gerald's trial, in 1794; a remark, it was asserted, that was at mostan after thought; but on referring to Pryse Lockhart Gordon's Memoirs and Reminiscences, I found, as I anticipated, if the authority of Mr. Gordon, who affirms he was present at the trial, be trustworthy, and this there is no reason to question; a strong confirmation of Lord Cockburn's story. Subjoined are both versions

[ocr errors]

In his [Gerald's] speech, which was anything but a defence, he unfortunately attacked the Lord Chief Justice M[ansfield.] a severe judge, and a bitter enemy to reform. The prisoner at the bar stated that it was reform and not revolution which he wanted, and that Jesus Christ was a reformer.'

Weel, sir, and muckle did he get by that! Was na' he crucified? The most brutal and impious remark that ever came from the mouth of a Judge. Gordon, vol. i. p. 149.

The reporter of Gerald's case could not venture to make the prisoner say more than that Christianity was an innovation,' but the full truth is, that in stating this view, he added, that all great men had been reformers' even our Saviour himself." Muckle he made o' that,' chuckled Braxfield, in an under tone- he was banget. Cockburn's Memorials, p. 117.

NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM.

K. Y. E.

In one of the principal streets in Fisherrow, near Musselburgh, is the following sign-board BUTOOS AND SHOUS repreD

HeR Houf BURNSS

[blocks in formation]

ERRATA.-P. 84, col. 2, 1. 10, for pellets, read pallets. P. 86, col. 2, 1. 38, for edition, read addition. P. 87, col. 2, for hort read host.

WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES.

No. LXXII.]

"Takes note of what is done

By note, to give and to receive."-SHAKESPEARE.

[DECEMBER, 1856.

FEUDS OF THE VEITCHES AND TWEEDIES.

COLUMNAR ORNAMENT IN GULVAL CHURCH.

The meaning of the centre representation on the pillar in Gulval Church, referred to by your correspondent, HENRY WILLIAMS, in Current Notes, p 90, no doubt, represents the White Lily, (Lilium Candidum) in dedication to the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ. Yarmouth.

W.

These two families, though now of little notoriety, were at a former period, of some importance. James, whom it has been the fashion of late to ridicule; had during his Scotish reign, adopted every measure in his power to tame the "perferoidum genus Scotorum," and as he was not very scrupulous in the means used, was so successful, that when he ascended the English throne, his native country was making rapid strides towards civilization. Had he lived ruler of Ireland, a few years longer, Ulster would not have remained the only portion of that country in which life and property were deemed safe. James was in fact a much wiser man than his son Charles, and fully as honest. The following un-wealth, any person who became a member of Parliapublished letter, addressed to the Lords Privy Council, relative to the feuds between the Veitches and the Tweedies, goes far to establish the vigour of his Scotish administration

Right Trustie and Well beloved Cousins and Counsellors, We greet you well. Whereas We understand that the deadly feud between the Veitches and Tweedies is as yet unreconciled, and our peace kept between them only by the means of renewing of assurance from time to time; but since we came so far by great pains in our person or during our stay there, and by our continued directions sinsyne, and suppressed that monster within that kingdom, so as We do hardly think that there be any feud except this unreconciled, and the wrongs and mischiefs done by either of them, as we understand to others being in such a proportion of a compensation as neither part boast of advantage or otherways unless he be himself too much blind. Therefore our Pleasure and Will is, that you call before you the principals of either surname, and then take such course for removing of the Feud, and reconciling as We have been accustomed to do in the like cases: And, whoever shall disobey your commands and directions, you shall commit them prisoners and certifie us thereof to the effect We may return unto you our further pleasure and will therein. And so we bid you farewell.

From our Court at Greenwich, the 10th of March, 1611. The Veitches and the Tweedies were a higher class of border marauders; the Elliotts had not then come into much notice.

Edinburgh, Dec. 5.

M.

[blocks in formation]

ARMS TO PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATIVES.

I have heard it stated that prior to the Commonment, if he had not a coat of arms, had one granted to him. I should feel obliged if, through the medium of Current Notes, it were notified that such was the fact; and where a list of such arms may be found?

Also, is there any list of arms of the members of Parliament, Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of the City of York?

Rotherham, Dec. 12.

A SEA LAWYER.

of Elizabeth aud James was evidently waning, and had
Chivalry with its gorgeous splendour during the reigns
lost much of its original attractions by the substitution and
intermixture of Italian shows, while the Military ardour
which was its chief impetus, had greatly subsided; the pride
avowed and encouraged in opposition to those of newly-
of ancestry, seems at this era to have been very generally
acquired pretensions. The practice of the law, and the
wealth arising from commercial advantages, had, in fact,
created a new order in society who were ambitious of the
ensigns and rank of gentility, and these honours were not
obtainable from the heralds but upon the strictest inquiry,
and frequent references to the Institutes of the Earl Mar-
shal's Court, serve only to authenticate the equity and libe-
rality which directed most of their proceedings in days, in-
but certainly those when just claims only were confirmed,
vidiously, perhaps, deemed gothic, savage, and unlettered,
and real merit obtained its rewards. The fact of being re-
turned as a parliamentary representative, conferred doubtless
a rank of gentility on persons whose family possibly in a pre-
vious generation, the heralds might have deemed ineligible
to armorial honours, and in that light only could be con-
nected with our correspondent's enquiry. The grants of
upon search of name in the records of the College of Arms.
arms to all or any of such claimants are to be found only

mentary representatives, the Mayor and Bailiffs, Lord
Lists of names of the High Sheriffs of York, the Parlia-
Mayors and Sheriffs, to1735, are printed in Drake's History
of York, 1736, fol. pp. 350-367, but the armorial distinc-
tions are not particularised.

M

« PreviousContinue »