repetitum," one of them was specially named "the vervain bearer," verbenarius. The name "verbena" came to be applied to any herb which was considered sacred. ED. MARSHALL. MR. MACKENZIE WALCOTT, by whom the note in 1st S. xi. was communicated, was not very likely to have made a statement without foundation, and would, in all probability, have referred for authority to Virgil, who, in Eneid, xii. 120, writes :"Velati limo [or lino], et verbenâ tempora vincti." On which Servius comments, 66 Verbena proprie est herba sacra [ros marinus, ut multi volunt, id est Aiẞavoris], sumpta de sacro loco Capitolii, quâ coronabantur Feciales et pater patratus, fœdera facturi, vel bella indicturi." Hence the chief of them was called verbenarius (Plin., xxii. 3). See Adams's Roman Antiquities, under "Feciales," or, for a fuller account, Pitisci Lexicon Antiquitatum Romanarum. W. E. BUCKLEY. In the late Mr. J. R. Planche's interesting volume of autobiography there is an amusing account of the reductio ad absurdum of the heralds' duties which occurred when war was proclaimed between England and Russia in 1854; but I do not think he says anything about the vervain. E. H. M. Hastings. This was the regular head-gear of the Fetiales. See Ramsay's Roman Antiquities (ed. 1876), p. 332, and the passages quoted. P. J. F. GANTILLON. "THERE'S CAULD KAIL IN ABERDEEN " (6th S. v. 328). Neither song nor melody can be attributed to any author. It is likely that both existed in a certain form early in the last century. Herd published the song in his valuable collection in 1776. The first appearance of the air is in Johnson's Museum, vol. ii. (1788). Dr. Chambers, in Scottish Songs prior to Burns, after quoting two stanzas from Herd, goes on to say : "It would appear that these verses relate to some incident in the life of the first Earl of Aberdeen, who died in 1720, at the age of eighty-three, after being some years a widower. If this conjecture be right, the cauld kail of Aberdeen was no mess connected with the ancient city, but a metaphorical allusion to the faded lovefervours of an aged nobleman, who, spite of years, was presuming to pay his addresses to a young lady." The air is in Dr. Chambers's valuable work, and the song will be found in Mary Carlyle Aitken's Scottish Song (Macmillan). THOMAS BAYNE. In one of the best collections of Scottish songs I know, published by Blackie & Son, the air, it is stated, "is not very old." How far this may be correct I know not, but I find in Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd, that song vii. is to be sung to the tune "Cald Kale in Aberdeen," so I should imagine that the air was an old one in Ramsay's day. The air is given in Johnson's Museum, vol. ii., and to it are wedded the words, said to be by Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon; there are, including this version, at least four songs bearing the title. I should, however, like to have some particulars of the song Cauld Kail," mentioned by Mr. Thomson in his letter to Burns, Jan. 20, 1793; perhaps you will allow me to quote the passage: "The four songs with which you favoured me, for Auld Rob Morris, Duncan Gray, Galla Water, and Cauld Kail, are admirable," &c. ALFRED CHAS. JONAS. Swansea. FILIAL AFFECTION OF THE STORK (6th S. v. 186).-In a work entitled The Magick of Kirani, King of Persia, and of Harpocration, printed in the year 1685, the author bears testimony to the parental attachment of the stork in these words: 'p, or the "When the parents are grown old, and not able to fly, their children, on every side, carry them upon their wings, from place to place, and also maintain them; and if they be blind, their children feed them: this retribution, and due gratitude from children to parents, is called, antipelargia, i.e. Stork-gratitude." Hence its name in the Hebrew, pious (bird), so called from its love towards its parents and its young, of which ancient writers make much mention; and its English name, taken (indirectly, at least) from the Greek σTоpyn, signifying "strong natural affection," accords with the remarkable tenderness in the young towards the old birds, a filial duty thus happily expressed in blank verse by Beaumont : "The Stork's an emblem of true piety, WILLIAM PLATT. Belief in this obtained long before the times of Erasmus. Pliny alludes to it : "Storkes keep ono nest still from yeare to yeare, and never chaunge and of this kind nature they are, that the young will keepe and feed their parents when they be old, as they themselves were by them nourished in the beginning."-Holland's translation of Nat. Hist., i. f. 282 (ed. 1601). The following passages are from Ælian: τρέφειν μὲν τοὺς πατέρας πελαργοί γεγηρακό τας καὶ ἐθέλουσι, καὶ ἐμελέτησαν· κελεύει δὲ Cf. Erasmi Adagia, s.v. àvrimeλapyet̃v, p. 282, col. 1, edit. Petri de Zetter, MDCXXIX. + Bochart, Hieroz., lib. ii. cap. xxix., edit. MDCLXXXXII. Aristot., H. A., viii. 3 and ix. 13; Aristoph., Aves, with notes by Jacobs, x. 26; Solin., Polyhist., c. 53; v. 1353; Plin., H. N., x. 23, 28; Elian, N. A., iii. 23, Plut., Mor., 1178, 16, edit. Firmin Didot, Parisiis, MDOCCLV. αὐτοῖς νόμος ἀνθρωπικὸς οὐδὲ εἰς τοῦτο, ἀλλ ̓ airia ToÚTwv púois dyaon.-De Nat. Animal., iii. c. 23. AiyúTTIOL YOûv ToÙS TEλaрyoùs Kal Tрooκυνοῦσιν, ἐπεὶ τοὺς πατέρας γηροκομοῦσιν, καὶ ἄγουσι διὰ τιμῆς. Ibid., x. c. 16. There is a still earlier allusion in Aristotle : περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν πελαργῶν, ὅτι ἀντεκτρέ φονται, θρυλλείται παρὰ πολλοῖς· φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τοὺς μέροπας αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖν, καὶ ἀντεκτρέφεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκγόνων οὐ μόνον γηράσκοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐθὺς, ὅταν οἷοι τ ̓ ὦσι· τὸν δὲ πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα μένειν ἔνδον.—De Anim. Hist., ix. c. 14. Cardiff. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. THE WITWALL (6th S. v. 308).-Yarrell, in his History of British Birds (1856), vol. ii. p. 149, says: "The terms Woodwele, Woodwale, Woodwall, and Witwall, which are only modifications of the same word, are generally considered to refer to one of the species of our English Woodpeckers, but to which, or I may add, if to either, there is some doubt. Willughby and Ray apply the name of Witwall to the greater Black and White or Greater Spotted Woodpecker; and in the New Forest, Hampshire, at the present day, this same bird is called Woodwall, Woodwale, Woodnacker, and Woodpie. The word occurs occasionally in old ballads : "The Woodwele sang and would not cease, So loud he wakened Robin Hood In the green wood where he lay. 'In many places Nightingales, There the Jay and the Throstell, True Thomas." After discussing the question at considerable length, Yarrell adds: "In many places were nyghtyngales, The Romaunt of the Rose, 11. 657-8. Cf. also ibid, 1. 914. Dr. Jamieson, in his Dict., says, "Prob. the green woodpecker," and quotes:"I herde the jay and the throstell, Wodewale, “ picus,” is given in Prompt. Ρar., 531. Coleridge also gives: "Wodewale, sb. woodpecker; Wright's L.P., p. 26." The following quotation from Tennyson's Princess, p. 12, ed. 1872, may somewhat appositely be added to that given by your correspondent: "Walter warp'd his mouth at this This is the great spotted woodpecker, the Dendrocopus of Swammerdam, and the D. major of Selby (pl. 38, fig. 2), and is remarkable for its black plumage, spotted or banded with white above and plain beneath. WILLIAM PLATT. Callis Court, St. Peter's, Isle of Thanet. The correct name is oriole, golden oriole, or The classical golden thrush, in French loriot. name is Oriolus galbula. Among upwards of fifty other appellations the German has Pfingstvogel. Some of its names are derived from its colour, others, no doubt, from its note. R. S. CHARNOCK. HENRY III.'S ELEPHANT (6th S. v. 385).-The miserere seats in Exeter cathedral are famous; they date from about the middle of the thirteenth century. One of the most remarkable grotesques introduced is an elephant. I enclose a proof of a stereo. I had taken three years ago for the Exeter Lectionary. Bishop Briwere, to whom we owe these singular carvings, was absent for five years in the East, and may have been instrumental in securing such an interesting beast for his royal. master, at whose command we find him accompanying the Princess Isabella to the Court of the Emperor Frederick II. The difficulties of transit may well have delayed the elephant's voyage across the Channel, the bishop's design for one of the choir-stalls being merely a pledge of his intended arrival at a future date. HERBERT EDWARD REYNOLDS. Exeter Cathedral Library. DEATH OF MILTON'S GRAND-NEPHEW (6th S. v. 386).-The statement is probably incorrect both as to locality and date. The death is thus recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1827 (xcvii. 379), under the head of deaths in Gloucestershire : "Feb. 27. At Bristol, aged 84, Mr. Tho. Milton, True Thomas, Jamieson's Popular Ball., ii. 11. the celebrated engraver. His grandfather was The mavis menyd in hir song, The wodewale farde as a bell That the wood aboute me rung." no doubt, from the township of Parr, in Lan- brother to John Milton, the author of Paradise PAROCHIAL REGISTERS (6th S. v. 141, 211, 233, [We are glad to hear that Mr. E. Chester Waters is "OTAMY" (6th S. iii. 430).-Your correspondent seems to have appealed in vain for instances of the use of this word. The only one which I have been able to meet with is given in the Rev. T. L. O. Davies's Supplementary English Glossary : "Lord Sp. Lady Smart, does not your Ladyship think "Lady Sm. Why, my lord, she was handsome in her THE PARSLOW FAMILY (6th S. v. 288).-The of Parselowes or Passelowes" in Becontree Hun interest. HIRONDELLE. Dickens, at the conclusion of the preface to Barnaby Rudge, dated November, 1841, acknowledges his obligation to the poet Rogers for the following thought in chapter seventy-one of The Old Curiosity Shop. It is the chapter which so touchingly describes the burial of Little Nell, and shortly afterwards her grandfather being found dead upon her grave in the old church: "It is a great pleasure to me to add in this place-for which I have reserved the acknowledgment-that for a Curiosity Shop I am indebted to Mr. Rogers—it is taken beautiful thought in the last chapter but one of The Old from his charming tale Ginevra :— 'And long might'st thou have seen An old man wandering as in quest of something, Something he could not find-he knew not what.'" JOHN PICKFORd, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. wood in 1845. This is noted in Prof. Masson's The Suspiria de Profundis appeared in Blackvolume on De Quincey (p. 102), in "English Men of Letters." Was it not about 1841 that the readers of Master Humphrey's Clock were thrilled with the story of Little Nell and her grandfather? Perhaps Dickens stimulated De Quincey. THOMAS BAyne. Dates of old "HORE B. VIRGINIS" (6th S. v. 306).-J. C. F. has, I think, overlooked two things. One, a fact, the "noviter impressum" of the copy he quotes. The other a certain infer- FREEDOM FROM SUITS OF HUNDRED, &c. (6th S. v. 309).-Freedom from suit of county and hundred is simply to be free from the liability of attending the county and hundred courts. Sheriff aids.-The sheriff was usually the collector of the aids or subsidies granted to an ancient sovereign, and so to be free from his aid would be, I think, to be free from the payment of the aid usually collected by him. THE LEMANS OF NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK (6th S. v. 327).-"William Johnson, son of William Johnson, by Priscilla, dau. of William Leman, of Beccles, co. Suffolk, Esq. (brother of Sir John Leman, Lord Mayor of London), who were both dead in 1631" (Col. Chester's Registers of Westminster Abbey, p. 165, note 6). HIRONDELLE. "THE PROTESTANT FLAIL" (5th S. x. 451, 518; xi. 53, 438; xii. 216).-Three years ago there was some discussion as to the precise form of this weapon, and reference was made to an engraving of it in one of the plates to Castlemaine's Embassy, 1688, which gives a not very correct picture of the flail according to the description of it given in North's Examen. The frontispiece to Bruno Ryves's View of frank-pledge.-It was an ancient Mercurius Rusticus, 1646, represents Mercury custom that, for the preservation of the public with a long flail in his hand, the total length of peace, every freeman at the age of fourteen (ex- the weapon being not less than six feet, and bears cepting religious persons and some others) should out the assertion that the flail was used in the give security for his good behaviour. The con- religious warfare which preceded the Commonsequence was, that several families would, to use wealth. It is said that Braddon introduced the a modern phrase, club together, and become short, or pocket flail, which was called the "Proanswerable for each other. This was called frank-testant flail." It is noteworthy that in the second pledge. View of frank-pledge is well described by Jacob in his Law Dictionary :"The Sheriffs at every County Court did from time to time take the oath of young persons as they grew to fourteen years of age, and see that they were settled in one Decennery or other, whereby this branch of the Sheriff's authority was called Visus Franci plegii, or frank-pledge." This view of frank-pledge belonged to the Crown, and was exercised through its deputy, the sheriff. Hence it was capable, as all franchises in the hands of the Crown are, of being granted to a subject; and its grant, as attached to a grant of lands, would confer these rights of the sheriff on the grantee of the lands. Murder. This would confer, I think, a right to hold plea of murder, in defeazance of the powers of the justices of assize. F. SYDNEY WADDINGTON. These grants exempted the grantees from attendance at the courts of the county and hundred, and from taking their part (to which they would otherwise have been liable) in the various processes of the criminal law. A "view of frankpledge" was the production of sureties for the good behaviour of freemen. For further information on the subject of" frank-pledge," see Cowel's Law Dictionary. G. FISHER. edition of the Mercurius Rusticus, printed in 1685, and therefore after the introduction of the short flail, the frontispiece was reproduced with scarcely any alteration, except that the flail in the hand of the principal figure was shortened to about two feet in length, and gives a perfect representation of the flail as described in North's Examen. Alexander Radcliffe's Poems, 1682, there is an epigram which has reference to the material used: "On the Protestants' Flail. In former days th' Invention was of Wracks, VOLTAIRE (6th S. v. 369).-The notice on André Félibien given by MR. W. A. SMITH is simply extracted from the catalogue of French writers given by Voltaire in his Siècle de Louis XIV. ST. MARGARET'S, WESTMINSTER (6th S. v. 128, 171, 213, 234, 295, 319, 351).-I cull the following from the St. James's Gazette of May 16, thinking it worth preserving, with other notes on this interesting church, in the present volume of "N&Q.": "An Old Westminster Man' writes:-I have just read with great satisfaction the announcement that a society has been formed for the preservation of 'ancient sepulchral monuments in our churches.' For many years during the first quarter of the present century I was a regular attendant at St. Margaret's, Westminster, one of the most interesting monuments in which is that of Cornelius Van Dun, who, after serving with the King, was Yeoman of the Guard to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary and Elizabeth. His monument is a bust representing him in his habit as he lived; and it being painted as was that of Shakspeare before Malone whitewashed it and brought down upon himself the reproach that he had daubed his tombstone as he marred his plays'-is in many respects a monument specially deserving of preservation, not only for its own sake, but for the sake of him whom it commemorates. He was one of the worthies of Westminster: he founded a set of almshouses in York Street for poor widows, which were swept away to South Lambeth to make room for a new workhouse, thanks to the good taste of the guardians of the poor. Van Dun's monument, if not actually whitewashed, has got sadly bedaubed during the recent alterations in St. Margaret's Church. But there would be no difficulty in restoring it, since there are plenty of traces of the original colouring; and even the broken nose might be replaced from J. T. Smith's accurate engraving of the monument." This seems a suitable time and place for recording the unveiling of the two memorial windows recently erected in this church; one to Caxton, unveiled on Sunday, April 30, and the other to Sir Walter Raleigh, under American auspices, on Sunday, May 13. Emanuel Hospital, S.W. J. MASKELL. JOHN KNIBB, OXON., CLOCKMAKER (6th S. v. 329, 378, 416).-If your correspondent can answer the following questions, I shall most probably be able to give him some precise information as to the age and date of his clock, as I have paid much attention to clocks and watches, of which I have a very large collection. The clock is called a 66 case clock." Is it in a wooden case against a wall, or is it a bracket or table clock? Is it a spring or a weight clock? The escapement being a crown wheel and verge, is the crown wheel vertical or horizontal, and has it a balance wheel or a pendulum? if the latter, is it long or short? Has it two hands, an hour and a minute hand, or has it an hour hand only? Is the frame of the clock of brass with a pillar at each corner, surmounted by a large bell, forming a dome to the whole? There was a Samuel Knibb admitted to the Clockmakers' Company of London in 1663. OCTAVIUS MORGAN. : Malynes's Little Fish and Great Whale, and Poized against them in the Scale, 1622, attacks the commercial canons of his opponent, upon whom he launches vollies of Hebrew from Rabbi Bachai, Greek from Aristotle, Latin from a variety of sources, plentifully interlarded with a fine sarcastic vein of wit. Malynes, or, as Misselden calls him, "the Belgic Pismire," retorts, and gives him a Roland for his Oliver, and if the Dutch kick falls heavier than the Londoner's quippe, Master Misselden, in whom his adversary remarks, "the Babylon of learning seemeth to bee," cannot say it was unprovoked. In his address "To the Gentle and Judicious Readers" of his Circle, Misselden quaintly intimates at foot, "You may, if you please, receive this from London, if any of you take it not from Hackney," showing that he hailed from that quarter. In his the Stuarts; his Free Trade, addressed to the books he figures as an outrageous worshipper of Prince, afterwards Charles I., is something more than was common even in the fulsome style of the age, and is dated "From my House at Hackney on Whitsun Eve this 8 June in the year of grace MDCXXII., and of the King of Peace XXLV" (?) J. O. GENTLES: MUDWALL (6th S. v. 68, 216).—My query as to "mudwall" being the name for the bee-eater having received no satisfactory answer, I am strongly inclined to think that it is a mere dictionary word, and was never really in use. It appears to be unknown in the provincial dialects. I believe it is a corrupt form of modwall in Coles, 1714; and that this word is itself a mere misreading of wodwall (or woodwall), one of the woodpeckers, to which class the bee-eater belongs. In a black-letter book a w might sometimes be mistaken for an m by a careless reader. Leacroft, Staines, A. SMYTHE PALMER. before the battle of Naseby. It would be very interesting if MR. TOLE would give the extract at full length. Ranke, in his History of the Stuarts, alludes to it. H. T. 186; vii. 250, 279).— KING CHARLES'S VISION (6th S. v. 168, 294).The Friars, Newport, Mon. At the latter reference MR. TOLE refers to Rastall's History of Southwell for an account of the "FREE TRADE" (6th S. iv. 387, 543).-If MR.supposed appearance of Strafford to King Charles PARLANE'S copy of Free Trade is perfect he must see in its dedication "To the Prince" that Edward Misselden wrote the book. A leading London merchant and literary character of the times of King James and Charles I. was this Misselden, whose qualifications in the latter respect were brought out strongly in his contention with Gerard de Malynes, who also wrote largely upon trade and was in high favour with the Government. The quarrels between Misselden and Malynes, the author of Lex Mercatoria, 1622, and other books, was a chapter worthy of the pen of D'Israeli. The Dutchman was probably no match, however, for the learned Hackneyman, who, in his "Circle of Commerce, opposed to At the first and last of the above references are to be |