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FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. LIFE OFFICES, Threadneedle Street, E.C.; Charing Cross, S.W.: Oxford Street (corner of Vere Street), W. Fire established 1710. Home and Foreign Insurances at mode ate rates. Life established 1810. Specially low rates for young lives. Large Bonuses. Immediate settlement of claims. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1883. CONTENTS.- N° 184. NOTES:-Venezuelan Folk-lore, &c., 1-Letter from Sir John Lawson to Sir H. Vane, 3-Robert III. of Scotland-An Attribute of Fame, 4-Julius Cæsar's Comet-Employment of Women-Jews and Greeks in London, 1677, 5. QUERIES:-Norwich-Mantua and Montferrat University Fund, 6-Black-joke-Snape Family-" L'homme propose,' &c.-Name of Inn-An Old Viola-Polyglot Vocabulary, 7 -Jennings of Shiplake - Arnold - Candlemas OfferingsS. Tilston William III. - English Prosody - Authors Wanted, 8. REPLIES:-Cotton's "Horace," 8-Cowper's Pew, OlneyJohn Kenrick, 10-Portraits of Hampden-Cromwell and 1 In Memoriam. HENRY FREDERIC TURLE. On Thursday, June 28, the anniversary of his father's death, Henry Frederic Turle, Editor of Notes and Queries, passed away from among us, ere the pages of that week's number had received their final revision. Those of his friends who had seen him but shortly before, full of life, and of interest in life and in his work, can even yet scarce believe that they have lost him. An "Old Westminster" by education as well as by long residence and association, Henry Turle felt strongly the historic attractions of the royal church and college within whose precincts he had spent so many happy years. Very fitly, he lay in another church full of historic memories, the Chapel Royal, Savoy, before being taken to his last home in Norwood Cemetery. And no less fitly, in the case of one whose reverence for things ancient was so deep, the service commenced by the Dean of Westminster and the clergy of the Savoy was concluded at Norwood by a canon of Westminster, Canon Prothero, a personal friend of the late Editor of "N. & Q." Among those who had known Henry Turle long and intimately, there followed him to Norwood-where he lies with his father, known for such long Russell, 11-The Acre-Lord Buchan and WashingtonJohannes de Temporibus-Heraldry, 12-Death of Socrates -Surrey Folk-lore-Paigle-Governor Dinwiddie, 13-" He frieth in his own grease "-Suffix "-some," 14-Old English Mortar, 15-Welcher-Three-way Leet-Nuns of Gidding, 16-Pitcho: Fiasco-Regimental Precedence, 17-Tennyson and Lockhart Stewart of Lorn - Glastonbury-Lecomte Family Discharge-Shillitoe Family-Smockhold, 18Marke-tree: Wainscot-Names of Manors-Horn Fair, 19. NOTES ON BOOKS:-Faucon's "Mariage de Louis d'Orléans "-Mackay's "Poetry and Humour of the Scottish Language"-Ingle's "Parish Institutions of Maryland "— "Journal of the Derby Archæological Society." Notices to Correspondents. years to the musical world as the Organist of Westminster Abbey-the publisher of Notes and Queries, Mr. John C. Francis, for whose father the late Editor had felt a very strong regard; the Organist of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, an old assistant of Henry Turle's father; the Editor of the Athenaum; and the Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature, who had been entrusted with the temporary charge of Notes and Queries last week. Of such a one as Henry Turle, taken from among us in the full activity of his powers, it seems only possible to sum up his career in the words, "Consummatus in brevi, explevit tempora multa." Our valued correspondent A. J. M. writes:"I ask leave to say a word, prompted only by private friendship and private sorrow, about the sad and sudden death of our genial Editor. His judgment and tact and temper in the conduct of N. & Q.' were singularly fine and accurate, and the loss of them is grievous to us all. But there are many, and I am one of them, who will feel even more deeply than this. They will feel, as I do now, that they have lost a friend; a man whose hearty cheerful kindness and personal regard were always at one's service and were always welcome. His memory will live with that of N. & Q.,' which is no light nor trivial touch of fame." H. E. Carrington, Chronicle Office, Bath, 1831.)" 3 vols. The information as to the leaders of the revolution in South America is often interesting. Simon Bolívar, the "Liberator," had, it seems, a dislike of the Indian weed of which so many of his compatriots were votaries:— "After supper he encouraged a brisk circulation of the bottle; for although Bolívar was in general remarkably abstemious, he was far from being rigid in enforcing temperance at his own table. From thence cigars alone were banished, as (strange to say of a creole and a soldier) he had an unconquerable dislike to the smell of tobacco."-Vol. ii. p. 244. The primitive character of the agriculture may be estimated from the following: "The plough used in the interior of South America is of a very primitive construction, as are all the implements of agriculture and mechanics. It is of wood, and in one piece, being made of the crooked limb of a tree selected for the purpose. It is sometimes, although rarely, strengthened in the share part with iron; but this is not essentially necessary, as the ground is usually rather scratched up than ploughed. As it has but one handle, the ploughman is enabled at the same time to steer it and to use the goad; he therefore requires no assistance in guiding his oxen or mules, which are har-will hold any intercourse with the Chinganéros, whom nessed in a very old-fashioned manner. The costume of the husbandmen, and the appearance of the ploughs, drawn generally by a yoke of oxen, strikingly resemble those in the vignettes which are sometimes to be found in old editions of Virgil's works. The harrows are even more simple in their formation than the ploughs. They are often nothing more than long branches of thorns, fastened together, and rendered sufficiently heavy by large blocks of wood tied across."-Vol. i. p. 189. That the people were superstitious need not be said: "The existence of apparitions is firmly maintained by them, in common with the natives of every other part of South America. They also believe in various classes of supernatural beings, as duendes, or dwarfs, who are said by them to haunt particular persons, to whom alone they are visible. These are represented as capricious fairies, lavish in the favours they confer when pleased, but excessively prone to jealousy, and, when enraged, capable of inflicting any injury, short of death, on the former object of their affection. Vultos, also, are dreaded as malicious spectral appearances, haunting deep glens and lonely hills, usually seen towards daybreak, very much resembling a wreath of cloud or mist, and are said to be sure precursors of misfortune to those by whom they are seen. Brujas, too, or witches, are universally and firmly believed in."-Vol. i. p. 306. It may not be out of place here to quote from another author the description of a place that holds an important position in the Venezuelan folk-lore: "At twenty leagues further inland, on entering the range of the Bergantin Mountains, near that of Turimiquiri, is the famous grotto of Guacharo, in which are millions of a new species of Caprimulgus, that fill the cavern with their plaintive and dismal cries. In every country the same causes have produced similar effects on the imagination of our species. The grotto of Guacharo is, in the opinion of the Indians, a place of trial and expiation; souls when separated from bodies go to this cavern; those of men who die without reproach do not remain in it, and immediately ascend, to reside with the great Manitou in the dwellings of the blessed: those of the wicked are retained there eternally; and such men as have committed but slight faults of a venial nature are kept there for a longer or shorter period, according to the crime. Immediately after the death of their parents and friends the Indians go to the entrance of this cavern to listen to their groans. If they think they hear their voices, they also lament, and address a prayer to the great spirit Manitou and another to the devil Muboya; after which they drown their grief with intoxicating beverages.”—Lavaysse, Description of Venezuela (London, 1820), p. 119. My present object, however, is chiefly to call attention to the account given by the former writer of a race bearing very striking analogies to that mysterious Romany race which has provided so many puzzles for ethnologists of the Old World : "He was one of that class of Mestizo natives who are called, in many parts of South America, Gitanos and Chinganéros, in allusion most probably to the wandering, vagabond way of life they have adopted; for there would seem to be no reason to believe that they really belong to that singular race of outcasts from whom they derive their name, and who are supposed to be as yet confined to the Eastern quarters of the globe. These people are held in utter contempt and abhorrence by all true Indians; and not even the meanest tribes among them they consider degraded by their buffoonery to the level of monkeys. Their agility and humour, nevertheless, rendered their occasional visits always welcome to the light-hearted Criollos; and even the supercilious Spaniards deigned at times to relax from their haughty gra vity, and to smile at their unpolished gambols. At the hottest periods of the guerra à la muerte the Chinganéros were considered as privileged exceptions to the general rule, which admitted of no sort of neutrality in the sanguinary contest, and were freely permitted to visit the encampments of both patriots and royalists, for the diversion of the soldiery. As they belonged to no party, so they could scarcely be looked on as spies; and although they had not the least scruple in conveying such intelligence as lay in their way, or even occasionally becoming bearers of private messages from one side to the other, still they atoned for this conduct, or rather neutralized its effects, by the perfect impartiality of their communications. In a word, they were considered too despicable and insignificant a race for anger, or even for serious attention."Vol. iii. p. 162. In another place he says:— "The Chinganéros are a peculiar race of wandering Criole minstrels, whose habits, and even whose appellation, strikingly resemble those of the Zinganées, or Eastern gypsies. They claim for themselves pure Indian descent; but this is denied by the aborigines. They are all good dancers and musicians, and, above all, fortunetellers, supposed sorcerers, and improvisatori,”—Vol. ii. p. 324. Of their power as minstrels he gives two examples, with translations : "La Montonéra. Libres vuelan los Condores "A Montonéra's life I lead I'll ne'er disown the name, And o'er the mighty Andes' heights JOHN LAWSON TO SIR HENRY VANE, 1652. It has been my good fortune, whilst making some researches into the naval history of the Commonwealth, to light on the following most interesting letter from Sir John Lawson to Sir Henry Vane. The short notice of in the Calen dar of State Papers (Domestic), 1652-3, p. 529, scarcely hints at its great value as an autobiographical sketch of Lawson's early career, of which has hitherto been known, and what little has been guessed at proves now to be erroneous. (Compare Granville Penn's Memorials of Sir William Penn, vol. i. p. 111). I will only add that the writing is that of a fairly well educated the spelling (which I have not attempted to is not abnormally irregular, and the grammar -which speaks for itself-is, on the whole, pretty of the letter quite bears out the inference that Lawson's origin was by no means so has been generally represented. Right Honourable,-It pleased the Lord in the bethese times to convince me of the justice of the Parliament's proceedings, for that in the year 1642, I voluntarily engaged in their service, and ever since the has kept my heart upright to the honest interest the nation, although I have been necessitated twice for my freedom and danger of Sir Hugh Cholmley and of my life, at the Col. Boynton at the first and second war; my wife and to Hull, where it children being banished two years in discovering and the intended treachery of with other tossings and my outward loss, suffering many times by the my livelihood being by trade that way: sea in a small ship time receiving my freight I commanded a foot in the State ships, at land near five years, and about three years last was called to this employment at which time my foot company was disposed. In the aforesaid service at land at sea, by reason of the treacheries and revolutions ashore and smallness of I assure your honour myself and family has from the public, nor I have not used those ways of plundering that others have. At my left the sea employment and to have endeavoured some to provide for my family; but this difference breaking out betwixt the Dutch and us, I could not satisfy my conscience to leave at this time being very well satisfied that this service is the last summer I resolved to have in order to the design of Jesus Christ, and therefore with much cheerfulness shall spend myself in this cause where the glory of God and the good of his people is so much concerned. May it please your honour, I have I shall humble beg for favour in, which is, that if the Lord shall have appointed my course to be finished and shall take me to Himself while I am in this employWhether these wandering minstrels are really ment (which at the appointed time I trust through His gipsies or not, the resemblance between the mon-rich mercy & free grace in Jesus Christ He will do) that taneros and the gitanos is sufficiently striking to your honour will become instrumental that my wife and be worthy of notice, and of fuller investigation children may be considered in more than an ordinary manner, for they have suffered outwardly by my emby those having the opportunity for making further bracing this sea service last: my wife is dear to me, and I WILLIAM A. AXON. have good ground is dear to God, and there fore I assure myself your honour will be more willing in such a case to take the trouble upon you. I beg pardon for this presumption, beseeching the Lord to preserve your honour and all faithful ones at land, and that His presence may be with, and providence over us at sea. My most humble and bounden service presented, I crave leave to subscribe myself, Right Honourable, Your Honour's and the Interest of God's people's faithfull Servant whilst I am Jo. LAWSON. months after his accession to the crown, by a charter dated July 20, 1390. This John was probably much older than his half-brothers David and James. The Auchingown charter was the first of a series by which the patrimony was built up of the family now represented by Sir Michael Robert Shaw-Stewart, Bart., the last being given on May 5, 1403, shortly before King Robert's death. We seem here to see the materials of a strange On board the State's frigate Fairfax in Dover Road, and romantic history. The son of his father's 12th of the 12th month, 1652 [ Feb. 12, 1652/3]. J. K. LAUGHTON. KING ROBERT III. OF SCOTLAND.-The last number of Blackwood contains an able refutation of recent attempts to rehabilitate the character of Robert, Duke of Albany, in connexion with the death of his nephew David, Duke of Rothsay. To those who wish to study the question a short note about the family history of the royal house of Scotland at that period may be interesting. Robert II. (son of Walter the Steward and the Lady Margery Bruce) was born on March 2, 1316, ascended the throne of Scotland on the death of his uncle, King David (Bruce), on March 27, 1370, and died on May 13, 1390. His two marriages and the mystery attending them will always involve questions of much difficulty. His eldest son, John (afterwards Robert III.), was the eldest of the three sons of his first wife, Elizabeth Mure. The dates of his parents' marriage and of his birth are not stated, but as Robert II. was born in 1316, and as Robert, Duke of Albany, the youngest of the three sons, was born in 1338, the date of John's birth may be assumed at 1335. He married in 1357 (age twenty-two). On his father's accession he became Prince of Scotland and Earl of Carrick in 1370 (age thirty-five). David, his eldest son (and probably his eldest child), was born in 1375 (age forty). James (afterwards James I), his youngest son (and child), was born in 1394 (age fifty-nine). He succeeded his father as Robert III. in 1390 (age fifty-five), and reigned for sixteen years, dying in 1406 (aged seventy-one). Queen Anabella (Drummond) was married in 1357, and died in 1401. Besides David and James she had one son, who died young, and three daughters, who married and left issue. It will be seen from the above dates that Robert (John) and Anabella had no children for the first eighteen years of their marriage, and that their youngest child (James) was not born till the thirtyseventh year of their marriage. Robert (John), unlike his father and his successors in the dynasty, had a very limited number of natural sons. By a lady whom tradition connects with the house of Campbell of Lochawe he had two sons, John and James. Very little is known about James of Kilbryde, but to John, the eldest son, he gave the lands of Auchingown, a few | boyish and dubious marriage, John, himself married very young, but had no family for eighteen years. His succession to the crown depended on King David's dying without issue and on the marriage of his parents being admitted. When at length, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, he succeeded to the throne, he had to change his name from John to Robert, and to entrust the reins of power to that brother, Albany, whose name he had assumed. He had to condone and pardon the death of his own eldest son while in Albany's harsh custody. He had to seek a foreign asylum for his youngest son, whose life was threatened by the same too powerful prince. However much he failed in protecting his own legitimate sons, we find him during his retired reign of sixteen years steadily watchful over the interest of his son by that unknown mother to whom, notwithstanding his early marriage, his heart seems to have beer given. SIGMA. AN ATTRIBUTE OF FAME.-In The Tragedy Sir John Van Olden Barnevelt, lately reprinted by Mr. A. H. Bullen, occur the lines, but with the intrusion after the third of them of Milton's line (Lycidas, v. 71) — "That last infirmity of noble minds." On this, as "a coincidence," Mr. Swinburne addressed a communication to the Athenæum, which appeared in its issue of March 10 last, p. 314. In reply, Mr. Bullen explained in the same periodical (March 17, p. 342) that the insertion was due to the printer. He agreed with Mr. Swinburne as to the possibility of an Italian original for the thought, citing after Warton, from the Lettere of the Abbate Grillo, "Questa sete di fama e gloria, ordinaria infirmità degli animi generosi"; and expressed his expectation that "a closer parallel" would "yet be found." The concetto in question seems traceable up, as to its fountain head, to a saying of Plato's, which is preserved to us, on the authority of Dioscorides, by Athenæus, xi. p. 507 d: exaτov TÙY TYS δόξης χιτῶνα ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτῷ ἀποδυόμεθα, ἐν διαθήκαις, ἐν ἐκκομιδαῖς, ἐν τάφοις. |