garding St. Areed's birds, it is worth noting that not only singing, but talking, in fact, preaching birds figure largely in the old Irish legends about St. Brendan and other Irish saints. In the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, a few years ago, there was an account of a very curious ancient instrument, to all appearance a musical one, which was dug up in some county in Ulster. It had small figures of three birds attached to it with rings which could be moved up and down. It was shaped like a modern flute, but by some was conjectured to have been an instrument used by pagan priests in divination. M. A. H. NAVAL ARTILLERY IN ANCIENT TIMES: FIREARMS A.C. 1100.-The following statement, suggestive of discussion at the Christmas fireside, is forwarded in the hope that it may be acceptable to the readers of "N. & Q." The statement is taken from a work recently published in Paris (Les Premiers Habitants de l'Occident, par M. d'Arbois de Hubainville), and is to this effect : The most ancient colony in Spain is Gadeira, called by the Romans Gades, and at this day Cadiz. If we adopt the chronology of Velleius Paterculus, the date will be about 1100 A.C., and if we are to follow the calculation of the Spaniard, Pomponius Mela, the foundation of the colony will go back so far as to be coincident with the siege of Troy. The Phoenicians encountered resistance in this place, and Macrobius has preserved a legend which refers to Theron, the Iberian King of Northern Spain, coming thither with a fleet to take possession of (and of course to spoliate) the temple of Hercules. The Latin name of Hercules is here the designation of the Phoenician god Melkarath, in whose honour the founders of the colony had erected a temple on the eastern side of the little island on which the city is built. The Phoenicians came out to encounter the enemy in their long ships. The battle lasted for some time, without any signal success on either side; but-all of a sudden—the Iberians were seized with a panic of terror an unexpected fire consumed their ships to ashes! The Iberians believed that they saw lions upon the prows of the Phoenician ships, and that these lions poured out against them flashing rays of fire, by which their ships were burned. Such is the statement of M. Hubainville, ch. iii. pp. 39, 40. The account given by Macrobius of the burning of the Iberian fleet is in these words Subito in fugam versæ sunt regiæ naves; simulque improviso igne, correptæ conflagraverunt, paucissimi, qui superfuerant, hostium capti indicaverunt apparuisse sibi leones proris Gaditance classis superstantes, ac subito suas naves immissis radiis quales in solis capite pinguntur exustas.”—Saturn., lib. i. ch. xx. p. 207 (Leyden, 1695). Thus it will be seen that the Iberian fleet was destroyed by means of fire that had been discharged from the ships of the Phoenicians. The "lions' heads" were, most probably, the ornamental orifices to the engines from which the fire was ejected, and the destructive material must have been of a similar substance to that of the "Greek fire," the invention, as is generally supposed, of a later time, attributed to Callinicus, and which is described as being "blown out of long tubes of copper." If this be so, the incident mentioned by Macrobius is the earliest record of ships employing artillery, as they do in modern times, for the destruction of an enemy. WM. B. MACCABE. LOWLAND ABERDEEN.-Strangers reckon AberThey have of late, perhaps, had some excuse for deen as belonging to the Highlands of Scotland. this, since its militia regiment has been named the Aberdeen Highland Light Infantry. Nevertheless, the city of Aberdeen and more than threefourths of the county have been for some centuries entirely devoid of Celtic character. Indeed, there are few districts in which the feeling of antagonism of race has been kept up more strongly, or at least used to be so some years ago, than the Lowlands of Aberdeen. I do not know whether the feeling has been modified of late years; but at the period to which I allude, some thirty years ago, Highlanders were often characterized as "sweer Hieland breets"-lazy Highland brutes. And still less flattering epithets were often added. My present object is to inquire whether any readers of "N. & Q." can complete or give a different version of some rhymes which used to be shouted out by boys in reproach of their Highland neighbours : "Hielanman, Hielanman, far ware ye born? Canna get naething but sowins and leeks. In some versions siddies or sids, the corn seeds out of which sowins, a kind of flummery, is made, is substituted for sowins, and in others ingans or sibbies, an old word for onions, is used. In another version the last three lines are run into two, thus: "What got you there? Sibbies and leeks. My own notion is that there should be six complete lines. Lauch at the Hielanman wanting his breeks!" I fear that this year there will be only too much of green or unripe corn in the Highlands. As to the allusion to leeks, it seems to have been introduced mainly as a word to rhyme with "breeks." In former times the Highlanders had scarcely any vegetables, and now they grow very few. I have never heard of leeks being characteristic of Highlanders, as of their Kymric brethren in Wales. I. M. P. Curzon Street, W. "MUCKED TO DEATH."-During the last twentyseven years I have often been struck with the prevalent use of the word "muck" by the peasantry of Huntingdonshire and Rutland. Its general sense would appear to mean dirt; but it is applied in a variety of ways. The other day, in Rutland, I was talking with an old cottager who had recently been left a widower, and I was inquiring about one of his married daughters, who had promised to come and live with him, and "do for him." The old man represented his household arrangements to be in a deplorable state, and ended the recital of his woes by saying, "If she don't come soon I shall be mucked to death." The words "muck" and "mucky" are usually pronounced "moock" and "moocky." When I said to an old Huntingdonshire farmer, "What a state the roads are in!" he lifted up his hands (as well as his voice) and exclaimed, "Moocky, moocky, woonderful moocky!" This was forcible, if not elegant. A Huntingdonshire woman, whose weekly duty it was to clean the parish church, complained to me of the school-boys, "They owdacious boys make muck all over the church.' To the same effect a Rutland cottager the other day, when I asked him to walk into my study, politely excused himself by pleading that he was "all over muck," meaning that his clothes were covered with mud from the ploughed field. It may be noted that a farmer's dream of heaven was that of a place where there were "heaps o' muck." CUTHBERT BEDE. CHARLOTTE BRONTE: ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.-Jane Eyre was published in 1847; Aurora Leigh in 1856 or 1857. I note the following points of resemblance between the two stories, conceding that, as a poem, apart from its narrative, Aurora Leigh is abundantly original. Jane Eyre is pressed by her cousin, St. John Rivers, to marry him, but she declines the offer, on the ground that he does not require a wife, but merely some one to help him in his works of benevolence. A similar situation occurs between Aurora and her cousin Romney. Jane Eyre, an orphan, is left to the care of her aunt by marriage, who dislikes and ill treats her, and dies after a short illness. Aurora Leigh, being an orphan, is taken charge of by her aunt, who misunderstands her and is severe with her, and who dies suddenly. The proposed marriage between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester is interrupted in church, and Jane becomes a fugitive. The intended espousals of Marian Erle to Romney Leigh are prevented by the flight of Marian, whose disappearance is announced in church to the crowd assembled to witness the ceremony. Rochester has his house burnt over his head. Romney Leigh has his house burnt over his head ; and each is struck with blindness whilst endeavouring to rescue one of the inmates. Lastly, Jane Eyre is married to Rochester, and Aurora Leigh becomes the wife of Romney Leigh. J. W. W. NEW WORKS ON WORDS WANTED."It would be both entertaining and instructive were any one to collect the words in English invented by particular authors, and to explain the reasons which may either have occasioned or hindered their being incorporated with the body of the language. In some cases no want of the word has been felt; in others the formation has been incorrect, or unsupported by any familiar analogy."-Guesses at Truth (ed. 1876), p. 219. "It would form an interesting essay, or rather series of essays, in a periodical work, were all the attempts to ridicule new phrases brought together, the proportion observed of words ridiculed which have been adopted and trial made how far any grounds can be detected, so that are now common, such as strenuous, conscious, &c., and a one might determine beforehand whether a word was invented under the condition of assimilability to our language or not."-Coleridge's Lectures on Shakespeare, &c. (ed. 1874), p. 266. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. 1, Alfred Terrace, Glasgow. "CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS."-I read in the Talmud. some time ago in the Jewish World that this was lecturer on the Talmud said :On Sunday, Dec. 3, a Jewish by the Rabbins of the Talmud many centuries ago, both "This well-known English phrase had been taught as a religious principle and a sanitary law." No doubt this was the spirit of the laws in the Pentateuch. But perhaps the Jews may have had the principle from the Egyptians. Plutarch says in his Isis or Osiris, or the Ancient Religion and Philosophy of Egypt : "You are in the first place to understand this, that these people make the greatest account imaginable of all endeavours that relate to health and more especially in their sacrifices, purgations, and diets; health is then no less respected than devotion. For they think it would be an unseemly thing to wait upon that Nature that is pure, and every way unblemisht and untoucht, with crazy and diseased minds and bodies." W. J. BIRCH. [This saying, quoted by Wesley, has been traced in "N. & Q." to others of similar significance in the Talmud, in Aristotle and St. Augustine. See "N. & Q., " 2nd S. ix. 446; 3rd S. iv. 419; vi. 259, 337; vii. 367; 4th S. ii. 37, 68, 213.] OBSOLETE WORDS IN THE ENGLISH BIBLE. Some works on this subject have been noticed; but mention has not been made, so far as I recollect, of the earliest: A Short Explanation of Obsolete Words in our Version of the Bible, and of such as are there used in a Peculiar or Uncommon Sense, by Rev. H. Cotton, D.C.L., Oxford, Parker, 1832. ED. MARSHALL. Queries. [We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.] "INKLE-WEAVER." "They chat together, drink and fill, And like two inkle-weavers swill." -Poems on Several Occasions, by N(icholas) Amhurst, sometime of St. John's College, Oxford, London, 1720, 8vo., p. 115. I heard the other day in Berkshire of two persons who had struck up a close intimacy, it was supposed, to outwit their neighbours: "Oh, they are as thick as inkle-weavers just at present, but how long it will last," &c. Inkle is used in Shakspeare several times, and means a coarse bad kind of tape; but I should be glad to have any other references pointed out in which the weavers of inkle are in confidential and convivial comparisons. in the list of canons of that church three Irish ecclesiastics named McMahon, or "Mac-Mahon." The first and best known of the three is Arthur Augustin de Mac-Mahon, who was Provost of the Collegiate Chapter for the long period of twentyeight years. He was raised to that dignity by a royal ordinance on March 24, 1682, his immediate predecessor in it having been an Irish priest whose name is recorded as "Mac-Wyer or Magguire." The second canon of the name of Mac-Mahon was Hugh (junior). He was a near relative of the provost, and was one of his heirs. The third canon of the name was Arnould. It would appear from documentary evidence that the Provost Mac-Mahon was " Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland," who had taken refuge in exile from the persecution that threatened him at home. On this and other points I seek for confirmatory details. His testamentary executor was Hugh Mac-Mahon, Bishop of Clogher, who went over to Cassel, and on Feb. 14, 1713, signed the contract of sale of the late provost's house. This house is the present presbytery-house of Cassel, situate in the Grande Place, at the corner of the Rue d'Aire. The arms of the three Canons Mac-Mahon were Or, an ostrich sable, holding in its beak a horseshoe of the same, pierced argent; in the sinister corner of the chief a star azure. "SHE'D TAKE UP A STRAW WITH HER EAR" (MS. Commonplace Book of Joshua Peart, of the City of Lincoln, Gentleman, 1726, 4to., pp. 165).— This line occurs in a somewhat homely lyric called "The Gossip's Song," beginning, "Two gossips they luckily met." It is probably to be found in some printed collection of the period. What does the line which I have extracted mean? The saying was probably proverbial. In Shakspeare, and The number of Irish dignitaries in the Chapter elsewhere, a wisp of straw is mentioned as appro- of Cassel may be regarded as an instructive, and priate to be shown or mentioned to a scold or ais probably by no means an extraordinary, illuscallet"; and the Horatian fenum habet in cornu, meaning he is an ugly customer, literally an ox whose horns require to be blunted with hay, may perhaps each help to explain our quotation. "LONDONS SCHOLLER-KILLING LETTER." "Death lies in ambush like an enemy, 66 And brasheth where our sconces weakest be. "Scholler" is "scholar," of course, for we have PARCHMENT LACE.— "Nor gold nor silver parchment lace Nor would the honest, harmless face MCMAHON FAMILIES.-I am informed that the annals of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, at Cassel, France (Département du Nord), exhibit tration of the operation of the penal laws in Ireland. Other readers may perhaps be able to cite parallel cases of equal interest, which I should be pleased to see. My primary object, however, is to beg the favour of information from Irish sources as to the Provost Mac-Mahon, Archbishop of Armagh; Hugh, Bishop of Clogher; and their family, and the possible relationship between that family and the present President of the French Republic, Marshal de Mac-Mahon. The armorial bearings of the latter are not those of the three canons. For any information on these points, or, failing details, for any references to probable sources of information, I, and I am sure my correspondent, should feel much obliged. JOHN W. BONE, F.S.A. 26, Bedford Place, Russell Square. SEAMEN AND TATTOO MARKS.-In the Uncommercial Traveller, ch. xi., on the wreck of the Royal Charter, there is this remark : "It is not impossible that the perpetuation of this marking custom may be referred back to their desire to be identified if drowned and flung ashore." Is there any foundation for such a supposition? or is the custom to be traced, as other authorities have it, to a traditional use of the old British habit of staining the skin? Is it a common custom with the seamen of other nations? and have any writers specially treated of it, elsewhere, that is, than as it occurs in dictionaries ? ED. MARSHALL. 66 THOMAS BRITTON, MUSICAL SMALL-COAL MAN. -Upon what authority is it stated that Britton was born at Higham Ferrers? Cole, in his history of that place, appears to doubt it, and says we EARLY BRITAIN.-The anonymous geographer there any other catalogues of his library except the do not find any entry of him in the register." Are of Ravenna has left a list of the British names undated one (? 1694), contents sold by auction at (under Latin forms) of some old British cities and Tom's Coffee House by John Bullord, a copy of strongholds, but to the sites of many of them there which is in the Brit. Mus. Library, and another seem to be no clues but the meanings of their names. in the Bodleian, and that of books sold "at Paul's Can any of your readers tell me what towns or earth-Coffeehouse the 24th of January, 1714/15, by works answer to the following names?-Thomas Ballard," copies of which were to be ob(1.) Punctuobice, Br. Punc-twy-bic, now Ponc-tained "at his late Dwelling-Cottage near Clerkendwy-big, Mount two peaks. (2.) Bannio, Br. Ban, a prominence, high ground. Is Banbury on a ban? (3.) Conderco, Con-derch, high point. The Peak of Derbyshire, or what one? (4.) Dolcindo, Dól-cynad, the steep ground by the meadow or lealand. (5.) Melarnoni, Moel-ar-non-wy, the bare hill by the Non (or Nen) stream. Could it be by the river Nen? Non means a stream. (6.) Vindomi, Gwyn-dom, the White mound. Said to be St. Mary Bourne. Has it such a mound? Not, I allow, a very singular mark. W. BARNES. Rectory, Winterborne-Came, Dorchester, Dorset. SUPERSTITION IN YORKSHIRE.-A young woman has singularly disappeared at Swinton, near Sheffield. The canal has been unsuccessfully dragged, and the Swinton folk are now going to test the merits of a local superstition, which affirms that a loaf of bread containing quicksilver, if cast upon the water, will drift to, keep afloat, and remain stationary over, any dead body which may be lying immersed out of sight. Does this singular superstition exist elsewhere? EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. DR. JOHNSON'S METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENT. -Sir John Hawkins says that Johnson wrote the dedication to the king for George Adams's treatise on the use of the globes, for which he was gratified with a very curious meteorological instrument. What was this instrument? Was it amongst the doctor's effects at his death? Who had it then? And where is it now? C. A. WARD. Mayfair. THE MAYOR OF HUNTINGDON AND THE STURGEON.-Mr. Pepys says that on May 22, 1667, "coming from Westminster with W. Batten, we saw at White Hall stairs a fisher-boat with a sturgeon that he What is the story? and who was the Mayor of instruments or other property? Grove Road, Holloway, N. LEIGH, OF CO. WARWICK.-In 1643 Sir ThomasLeigh, Bart., of London, was created Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh, co. Warwick. The second Lord Leigh, grandson of Sir Thomas, had four sons and two daughters. The tale told here is that the eldest son, Thomas, the heir to the estate and peerage, who was born Feb. 3, 1682, murdered his father's footman and fled from his ancestral home, to which he never returned. He would be at the age of eighteen when it is alleged he committed the murder (circa 1700). Shortly afterwards it is asserted that Thomas Leigh was living in this town, and the name is to be found on our church registers. I should be glad if any of your Warwickshire readers could confirm, from contemporary records, the legend of Thomas Leigh's crime, and ascertain if for the offence he was outlawed or in any way, directly or indirectly, punished. Leigh, Lancashire. JOSIAH ROSE. SCHOMBERG ARMS.-Seckendorf, in his History of Lutheranism, says: "Rhenani (Schombergii) stellam liliatam in scuto gerunt, quam vulgo Clivensem vocant, Misnenses leonem, alia Helvetici." What were the other arms the Swiss Schombergs bore? Where can I find any account of their families? How were the Schombergs of Ober-Wesel related to, or sprung from, the house of Clèves ? Отто. Brodhurst or BROADHURST.-Can any reader, learned in family histories, tell me which of these two is the correct spelling of the name I bear? The name is not a very general one, but is more frequently met with in Staffordshire than elsewhere. I never saw it spelt without the a in any other case than my own, but it has always been our custom, so far as I can trace, to spell it so. I should also like to know whether or not the family was originally a Staffordshire one. I believe it has been settled in that county for something like 150 years. It is probable that those who spell LEWIS BRUCE, D.D., Vicar of Rainham, Essex, was heir male of the Bruces of Earlshall in 1769. Was he ever married, and, if so, to whom, and did he have any male descendants? W. B. A. THE PRONUNCIATION OF ARE." I find that inhabitants of North America, whether born in the United States or Canada, pronounce "are" with the a long, so as to rhyme with "fare." Is this the old English pronunciation, surviving in our former and present colonies though extinct at home? Clearly it has analogy in its favour, and I do not know of an exception to the long sound of a before an r followed by e. The rule, I take it, is the same, whatever the intermediate consonant. We shorten the a in "have," but this may be an innovation. If are is the old English pronunciation, can any of your readers say when the short sound of are was introduced, and when DAWSON Burns. it became current ? THE CIRCUS.-Are there any other books, in any language, on the modern circus, in addition to Mr. Frost's Circus Life and Circus Celebrities (Tinsley Brothers, 1875)? J. BRANDER MATTHEWS. Lotos Club, N.Y. REGISTER OF PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEYS.In Peck's collections for a supplement to the Monasticon Anglicanum, now in the British Museum, are numerous extracts from a MS. register, the marginal reference to which is "Reg. Prem." The extracts are generally of great interest, and often consist of quaint English letters. In Pegge's Beauchief this register is mentioned in a note as being (circa 1790) in the British Museum. I am told it is not in the Museum now, and possibly the reference in Pegge is an error. I am very anxious to know where it is, and, as the register is of such vast antiquarian importance, I am surprised that I cannot find any clue to its whereabouts. It surely must be well known, and I should be very thankful to any one who could give me the reference to it. It probably consists of many volumes. S. O. ADDY. Sheffield. AUTHORS OF BOOKS WANTED. Tales of the Forest: containing the Lotus-Walker and the Spoiler's Doom, by Snellius Schickhardus (London, Madden, 1853, 8vo.), includes "Songs of the Exile ". subjects Indian-two mythical cuts, and a note: "This volume was printed in 1842. Circumstances prevented J. O. its publication at that time." Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge, in 2 vols. (Moxon, 1836).-Joseph Cottle's book is called Early Recollections of Coleridge. Replies. J. M. SIMSON. BOOKSELLERS IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. (5th S. viii. 461, 489.) The subject which DR. SIMPSON has started is one of considerable interest, and one which probably many would be glad to see completely carried out, not only in relation to St. Paul's Churchyard, but also to other parts of the City. A mere list of the booksellers and signs in the cathedral yard, with only brief explanatory notes, would occupy many pages of "N. & Q." In the two lists already given the first date is 1593, but the churchyard had been noted for its booksellers for many years previously. Probably the first bookseller there was Julian Notary, who dwelt "at the sygne of the Thre Kynges, without Tempell barre," in 1510, and who in 1515 had removed to St. Paul's, where he published The Chronicles of England, at the sign of the Three Kings, " in powlys chyrche yarde, besyde ye weste dore, by my lordes palyes." Not long after Henry Pepwell was a noted bookseller, at the sign of the Holy Trinity in St. Paul's Churchyard. His will bears date 1539, and in it he desired to be buried in the crypt of St. Faith. The following list contains a few of the more prominent names and signs of booksellers who had shops in St. Paul's Churchyard between 1515 and 1590. The books which they sold may readily be found in Ames. |