Various

“ Jezebel.—Your correspondent W.G.H. believes this word to be derivable from Baal. That the Phœnician word בַעַל (Lord) makes a component part of many Syrian names is well-known: but I do not think the contracted form בֵל, which was used by the Babylonians, is ever found in any Syrian names. If we suppose the name אִיזֶבֶל to be derived from בֵל or בַעַל, we must find a meaning for the previous letters. Gesenius derives the name from אי, the negative particle, זבל, and gives it the sense of "innuba", i.e. "pure," comparing it, as a female name, with the Christian Agnes. ”

“ As the present work is distinguished by the same excellencies which have won for the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, the widely-spread reputation they enjoy, we shall content ourselves with a few words explanatory of the arrangement of a work which, it requires no great gift of prophecy to foretell, must ere long push Lemprière from its stool. ”

“ W.P.
[Another copy is in the valuable collection of the Rev. T. Corser. See that gentleman's communication on Nicholas Breton, in our First Vol., p. 409.]
QUERIES. THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
An ill-starred town in England seems to have enjoyed so unenviable a reputation for some centuries for the folly and stupidity of its inhabitants, that I am induced to send you the following Query (with the reasons on which it is founded) in the hope that some of your readers may be able to help one to a solution.
Query: Why have the men of Gotham been long famous for their extreme folly? ”

“ Selden then states the well-known occasion upon which this title was conferred, and sets out the Bull of Leo X. (then extant in the Collection of Sir Robert Cotton, and now in the British Museum) , whereby the Pope, "holding it just to distinguish those who have undertaken such pious labours for defending the faith of Christ with every honour and commendation," decrees that to the title of King the subjects of the royal controversialist shall add the title "Fidei Defensori." The pontiff adds, that a more worthy title could not be found. ”

“ Gray and Dodsley.—As the HERMIT OF HOLYPORT has repeated his Queries on Gray and Dodsley, I must make a second attempt to answer them with due precision, assured that no man is more disposed than himself to communicate information for the satisfaction of others.
1. Gray: In the first edition of the Elegy the epithet in question is droning; and so it stands in the Poems of Gray, as edited by himself, in 1753, 1768, &c.
2. Dodsley: The first edition of the important poetical miscellany which bears his name was published in 1748, in three volumes, 12mo. ”

“ Mr. Luders refers to the use of the words "Nos zelo fidei catholicæ, cujus sumus et erimus Deo dante Defensores, salubriter commoti" in the charter of Richard II. to the Chancellor of Oxford, in the nineteenth year of his reign, as the earliest introduction of such phrases into acts of the kings of England that he had met with. This zeal was for the condemnation of Wycliff's Trialogus. In the reign of Hen. IV. the writ "De Hæretico comburendo" had the words "Zelator justitia et fidei catholicæ cultor;" and the title of "Très Chrêtien" occurs in several instruments of Hen. ”

“ And as they were at their contention, another man of Gottam came from the market with a sack of meale upon a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife for sheepe, and none betwixt them, said, Ah, fooles, will you never learn wit? ”

“ In reply, I beg to remark that by "Socinian" is, I suppose, meant "Unitarian," for even the immediate converts of Socinus refused to be called Socinians, alleging that their belief was founded on the teaching of Jesus Christ; and modern Unitarians, disowning all human authority in religious matters, cannot take to themselves the name of Socinus. ”

“ Sir Roger Fienes, the builder of Herstmonceux Castle, accompanied Henry V. to Agincourt. Are any references to him to be found in Sir H. Nicolas' Battle of Azincourt, or elsewhere?
6. Francis Lord Dacre was one of the noble twelve who had the courage to appear in their places in the House of Lords and reject the ordinance for the trial of Charles I. His son Thomas, who married the daughter of Charles II. by the Duchess of Cleveland, and was created Earl of Sussex, was compelled through his extravagance to alienate the castle and manor of Herstmonceux. ”

“ One of the Harmonies of the Life of Christ is in the British Museum, and another at St. John's College, Oxford (Qy.) (See the list of MSS. once at Gidding, Peckhard, p. 306.) N. Ferrar published and wrote the preface to Herbert's Temple, 1633,—and translated Valdesso's Divine Considerations, Camb. 1646.
W.P.
Butchers' Blue Dress (Vol. ii., p. 266.) .—A blue dress does not show stains of blood, inasmuch as blood, when dry, becomes of a blue colour. I have always understood this to be the explanation of this custom.
X.Z.
Chaucer's Portrait by Occleve (Vol. ii., p. 442.) ”

“ Smith has produced a volume, not only of immense value to those who are entering upon their classical studies, but one which will be found a most useful handbook to the scholar and the more advanced student. ”

“ If the patient be a woman, the grave chosen must be that of the last young man buried, and that of the last young woman in the case of a man patient.
Piskies.—An old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place called "Colmans," in the parish of Werrington, near Launceston, has frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for so, and not pixy, the creature is called here, as well as in parts of Devon) which frequently made its appearance in the form of small child in the kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a little stool for it. ”

“ Gesenius considers this equivalent with "cohabit;" and from this single passage draws the sense which he assigns to אִיזֶבֶל This seems rather far-fetched. I am, however, still inclined to give the sense of "pure, unpolluted," to אִיזֶבֶל, but on different grounds.
זֶבֶל has another sense, κοπρος, particularly of camels, from the round form; and the word was common, in the later Hebrew, in that sense. Hence the evil spirit is called בַעַל־זְבוּל, a contemptuous name, instead of בַעַל־זְבוּב = Βεελζεβουλ instead of Βεελζεβουβ (Matt. xii. 24.) . ”

“ It is a very delightful book, full of patristic learning. I am aware she was the daughter of Ralph Freke, Esq., of Hannington, and married Sir George Norton, Knt. of Abbot's Leigh, in the county of Somerset. I wish to know what other books she wrote, if any, and where her life may be found? Perhaps the Freke family could furnish an account of this learned lady. The work I believe to be extremely scarce.
RICHARD HOOPER.
Westminster Wedding.—Jeremy Collier says, in one of his Essays (Part iii. Essay viii.) ”

“ A particular care must be taken for the moveables settled in the house.
V. The house must be left clean and without fire, to avoid conflagration; it is forbidden to leave rooms or windows opened, as the house has been lately damaged by the winds, snow, sand, &c. &c.; the aforementioned A.D., M.N. are imputed of negligence and malice: persons neglecting to execute the above article will be severely punished, and are obliged to pay damages and expences. ”

“ Ventriloquism. Fanningus the King's Whisperer.—To the Query respecting Brandon the juggler (Vol. ii., p. 424.) , I beg leave to add another somewhat similar. Where is any information to be obtained of "The King's Whisperer, εγγαστριμυθος, nomine Fanningus, who resided at Oxford in 1643?"
T.J.
{480}
Frances Lady Norton.—Can any of your readers give me an account of the life of Frances Lady Norton, who wrote a work, entitled The Applause of Virtue, in Four Parts, consisting of Divine and Moral Essays towards the obtaining of True Virtue, 4to. 1705? ”

“ The country people in this neighbourhood sometimes put a prayer-book under a child's pillow as a charm to keep away the piskies. I am told that a poor woman near Launceston was fully persuaded that one of her children was taken away and a piskey substituted, the disaster being caused by the absence of the prayer-book on one particular night. ”

“ It would do a good deal of household work, but if the hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the maid. The piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of seeing it. ”

“ The negative of this word אִיזֶבֶל might, without any great forcing of the literal sense, imply "the undefiled," Αμιαυτος; and this conjecture is supported by comparing 2 Kings, ix. 37. with the same verse in the Targum of Jonathan. They are as follows: (Heb.) :
וִהָיְתָ נִבְלַת אִיזֶבֶל כְּרמֶן עַל־פְנֵי הַשׂרֶה
In the Targum thus:
וּתִהֵי נִבֵילתָּא רְאִיזֶבֶל כְּזֶבֶל מְבַרַּר עַל אַפֵּי תַקְלָא׃
It is quite clear that the Targumists intended here a strong allusion to the original meaning of Jezebel's name ”

“ Anima Magis, &c.—To whom is this sentence to be ascribed—
"Anima magis est ubi amat
Quam ubi animat."
TYRO-ETYMOLOGICUS.
The Adventures of Peter Wilkins.—Is the author of this delightful work of fiction known? The first edition was published in 1751, but it does not contain the dedication to Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland, found in later impressions. When was this dedication added? It is observable that in all the editions I have seen, the initials R.P. are signed to the dedication, while R.S. appears on the title-page. ”

“ J.S. Burn, in his History of the Foreign Refugees, repeating the same erroneous statement. At page 262, of his curious and interesting work be says:
"The county of Kent has been long famed for its manufacture of paper. It was at Dartford, in this county, that paper was first made in England."
But it is proved beyond all possibility of doubt that a paper-mill existed in England almost a century before the date of the establishment at Dartford. In Henry VII.'s Household Book, we have the following:—
"1498. ”

“ York. She died unmarried in 1703. As the Daphne of Pope's pastoral "Winter," inscribed to her memory, she is celebrated in terms which scarcely bear out the remark of your correspondent, that the poet "has no special allusion to her."
J.T. HAMMACK.
Calendar of Sundays in Greek and Romish Churches.—In reply to M.'s Query, I beg to inform him, that to find a calendar of both the above churches, he need seek no further than the Almanach de Gotha for the year 1851. He will there find what he wants, on authority no doubt sufficient. ”

“ It is one advantage of the proposed plan, that it may be tried on almost any scale. A society so constituted would NOT begin its existence {481} with great promises of returns to subscribers, and heavy engagements to printers, papermakers, and editors. ”

“ It is, indeed, hardly possible to imagine that they should be such as not to leave something to be funded for future use, if they did not furnish means for immediate display; but it seems better to wait patiently until such real substantial support is guaranteed as may prevent all apprehension on that score.
S.R. MAITLAND.
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. (Vol. ii., p. 442.)
It is quite startling to be told that the title of "Defender of the Faith" was used by any royal predecessor of Henry VIII.
Selden (Titles of Honour, ed 1631, p. 54) says ”

“ There was two men of _Gottam, and the one of them was going to the market to Nottingham to buy sheepe, and the other came from the market; and both met together upon Nottingham bridge. Well met, said the one to the other. Whither be yee going? said he that came from Nottingham. Marry, said he that was going thither, I goe to the market to buy sheepe. Buy sheepe? said the other, and which way wilt thou bring them home? Marry, said the other, I will bring them over this bridge. By Robin Hood, said he that came from Nottingham, but thou shalt not. ”

“ By the supposed authority of this statute, and notwithstanding the revocation of the title by Pope Paul III., and its omission in the Bull addressed by Pope Julius III. to Philip and Mary, that princess, before and after her marriage, used this style, and the statute having, been re-established by 1 Eliz. c. 1., the example has been followed by her royal Protestant successors, who wished thereby to declare themselves Defenders of the Anti-papal Church. ”

“ We have a bound copy of our First Volume now before us, and can assure him that, although the margin is necessarily narrow the book has not been spoilt by the binder.
J.S. Nortor or Nawter is only the provincial mode of pronouncing neatherd. The Nolt market is the ancient name of a street in Newcastle—the cattle-market. ”

“ And in Bartholomeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495, mention is made of a paper-mill near Stevenage, in the county of Hertford, belonging to JOHN TATE the younger, which was undoubtedly the "mylne" visited by Henry VII.
The water-mark used by John Tate was an eight-pointed star within a double circle. In the {474} twelfth volume of the Archæeologia, p. 114., is a variety of fac-similes of water-marks used by our early paper makers, exhibited in five large plates, but is not a little singular that the mark of John Tate is omitted. ”

“ La Borde, Voyage Pittoresque en Autriche, 3 vols., plates finely coloured; La Borde, Descripcion de un Pavimento de Mosayco, with coloured plates; the Fine Picturesque Works of Coney, Neale, Haghe, Lawis, Müller, Nash, and Wilkie, all fine and picked sets, complete; an Interesting Collection of Illustrious and Noble Foreigners, arranged in 5 vols.; Genealogical Illustrations of the Ancient Family of Gruee, a splendid Heraldic Manuscript, written by P. Absalom, Esq.; Dugdale, History of St. Paul's, fine copy, illustrated with extra portraits ”

“ It was composed of beer and gin, spiced with pepper, and well deserved its name. Is this a common beverage in the principality?
J.W.H.
REPLIES. CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY.
I am much obliged to your correspondent LAICUS for his inquiry respecting the proposed Society (Vol. ii., p. 464) . Will you allow me to express to him my confident hope, that the proposed plan, or some modification of it by a committee (when one shall exist) may in due time be carried out. But there seems to be no reason for haste ”