COFFINS AND SHROUDS (10 S. viii. 90). Thomas Hearne in his 'Diary' (30 April, 1724) records that formerly it was usual to be buried in winding sheets without coffins, and the bodies were laid on biers, and this custom was practised about three score years agoe, tho' even then persons of rank were buried in coffins, unless they ordered otherwise. Thomas Neile of Hart-Hall, in Queen Elizabeth's time, is represented in a winding sheet in Cassington church; it seems, therefore, he was not buried in a coffin, especially since his effigies in the winding sheet there was put up in his life time."Bliss's ed., vol. ii. p. 534. 66 A writer who uses the signature H. E. in the first volume (p. 321) of N. & Q. gives the following quotation from a table of Dutyes" dated 11 Dec., 1664, then preserved in Shoreditch Church. As many of your readers are not acquainted with the contents of the early volumes, it may be well to reproduce what appeared so long ago: "For a buryall in the New Church Yard without a coffin 00 00 08. "For a buryall in ye Old Church Yard without a coffin seauen pence 00 00 07. "For the grave making and attendance of ye Vicar and Clarke on y enterment of a corps uncoffined the churchwardens to pay the ordinary duteys (and no more) of this table." Coffinless burial was provided for himself by James Clegg the Conjurer in 1751 (Tim Bobbin's 'Works,' ed. 1894, p. 206). References to this subject occur in Denton's 'Hist. St. Giles, Cripplegate,' p. 133; Shirley's House of Lechmere,' p. 50; and Cotton's Exeter Gleanings,' p. 6. It may be well to give a French example of recent times: 1898; "Table of Dutyes of Shoreditch Church, 1664; Records of St. Giles's, Cripplegate,' by the Rev. W. Denton, M.A. (London, 1883); Dean Comber's Companion to the Temple'; Reliquary of July, 1864; Walford's Famines of the World,' &c. If any difficulty should arise as to consulting Mr. Andrews's 'Burials without Coffins,' I shall be happy to lend my copy. There is also " a very suggestive little book entitled On Christian Care of the Dying and the Dead,' in which will be found the history of the use of the coffin, its mateAn extract from this work (I do not know rial, shape, improved designs, furniture, &c. the date, but the publisher was Hayes), is as follows: "Coffins of wood, or of any other material, were but seldom used in England until within the last one hundred and seventy years. There is evidence to prove that before that time the departed were usually wrapped only in a winding-sheet, marked with one cross, or with three; and so laid in the ground, often the next day after decease." to these islands. The use of the parish coffin was not peculiar In Spain, I believe, to this day, the coffin merely serves the purpose of conveying the corpse to the graveside, and performing the same office for others coming after. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL. 29, Tooting Bec Road, Streatham. "NEITHER MY EYE NOR MY ELBOW is not the word (10 S. viii. 7).—“ Eye used among the English working classes in the present day, nor was it a thousand years ago. The word, though once in use in polite society, is now only in common use, without a thought of impropriety any more than eye by the working people. Dr. Murray, who starts the derivation of the word with the year 1000 (‘ O.E.D.,' vol. i. p. 465, col. 2), says it is obsolete in polite use. RALPH THOMAS. "PRETTY MAID'S MONEY" (10 S. v. 6).— I have only just seen the contribution under this heading, and I should like to point out that, although the extract given therein is from a journal published at Launceston, the ceremony of distributing the " Pretty Maid's Money "-2l. 10s. given each year, in accordance with the will of the Rev. Mr. Meyrick-takes place at Holsworthy, which is across the border, in Devonshire. I think MR. NEWSHOLME will find all that he can wish to know in a valuable paper by Mr. William Andrews, Librarian of the Royal Institution, Hull, entitled 'Burials without Coffins,' of which a hundred copies were printed for private circulation (Hull, William Andrews & Co., the Hull Press, 1899). Among the references there given I am the more concerned to correct this, are Testamenta Eboracensia,' vol. i. (Surtees though a Launceston man, because I reSoc.); Andrews's 'Church Treasury member well, and as far back as 1825, in Matthew Paris; Leland's 'Itinerary'; my early childhood, the Rev. Thomas Reliquiæ Hearnianæ,' p. 534; Dyer's Meyrick, the parson referred to, and himself Social Life as told by Parish Registers,' the son of Owen Lewis Meyrick, a Hols 6 worthy clergyman. The first time I saw him was in the year named, when I was eight years old, and was taken by my father to the church of North Petherwin for the funeral of Jacob Brooks, a former resident of my native parish of St. Thomas-byLaunceston-who, by the way, had had eight sons, seven of them living in the same parish, and, by his request, they were the bearers of his coffin to the grave. When I went into the church, I was much struck with Parson Meyrick's eccentricity of dress and appearance, and especially with his wig; while, to complete the strange picture, the parish clerk, his head covered with a handkerchief, stood by his side. Afterwards I came to know more of him, when he had left North Petherwin, and had gone to reside at Carthamartha, in Lezant, with his elder sister, the younger sister going to Holsworthy. He lived on the commonest diet, though he was а wealthy man, and would partake of no luxury unless it was given to him. As a consequence, his sister, in order to get him to take anything like the comforts of life, would tell him that Mr. So-and-so had sent him a gift, and of this he would eat most freely. She spent, indeed, nearly the whole of her income upon him; but, when he died in May, 1841, he left, I have been told, nearly all his money to Exeter College, on Oxford, where he had matriculated 10 Nov., 1792, at the age of eighteen. But, whether that be correct or not, there is no doubt as to the Pretty Maid's Money" bequest, which is described in the following terms (for which I am indebted to The Cornish and Devon Post of 12 July in its account of the latest presentation, made, according to custom, on the first day of St. Peter's Fair) in his will, dated 19 Nov., 1839, and proved 21 June, 1841 : "I give in like manner the sum of 1007. in the new 37. 108. per cent annuities in trust to pay the dividends 3. 10s. on July 5th annually to the churchwardens of the parish of Holsworthy, in the county of Devon, who shall on the Monday following openly give 2. 10s. of that sum to the young single woman resident in that parish being under 30 years of age and generally esteemed by the young as the most deserving, and the most handsome and most noted for her quietness and attendance at church, and on the next day shall openly give the remainder of that sum to any spinster not under 60 years of age and noted for the like virtues, and not receiving parochial relief. These donations shall be made to the same women being single once only, and at noon, and their names and ages and abodes and the sums given to each not receiving parochial relief, and the dates shall be duly entered in a book to be kept safely by every successive churchwarden, who shall sign and deter "HEREFORDSHIRE WINDOW" (10 S. viii. 8).—This is not an accepted architectural term. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. reference to the question of the mite raised "MITE," A COIN (10 S. viii. 69).-With by MR. LYNN, I was informed not long ago that there was no such coin-or ever had at the Coin Department of the Museum been, I understood. It is probable that your correspondent was thinking of the half-farthing, which I learn by Mr. L. Jewitt's handbook of English coins was struck in 1827-8 for Ceylon, and one, a third of a farthing, for Malta. The writer adds that had them, though they might not have they are rare ; but the Museum must have been known by the English word “mite,' differ as to its name, but seem to agree that about which I inquired. The dictionaries there was such a coin. An excellent small dictionary, Chambers's Twentieth Century," has it: Mite, the minutest or smallest of coins, about one-fourth of a farthing: anything very small." 66 Smith in the "Dictionary of the Bible ' enlarges on the value of the small Greek copper coin called a lepton, but does not try to explain why our translators called it a mite." I think the term is used in a translation anterior to the Authorized Version, but not in Wycliffe's. R. B. S. 66 Small copper coins were passed about but not as a value tender, of the half-farthing value, and these, I remember, were called mites and the widow's mite." This was fifty years ago, and I have some saved at that time. I have quite" a little handful" of them, with the dates 1843, 1844, and 1845. They are beautifully struck little coins, most of them in Mint conditions. These and third and quarter farthings were struck for colonial use only. The latter two seem to be scarce, but I have a few. The coin known as mite and widow's to be the mite" seems one MR. LYNN is inquiring about. THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop. 66 66 Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions. With Historical, Biographical, Genealogical, and Antiquarian Notes by John A. Henderson. Vol. I. (Aberdeen, printed for the Subscribers.) INTENSELY self-centred from its geographical position, and almost painfully industrious, owing to elimatic conditions, the North-East corner of Scotland has produced an unusually large amount of the quarrywork of history. Deficient in historical imagination, and lacking the journalistic touch which can make what Americans call a "story," it has, with characteristic apology, fought shy of creating a structure from the vast amount of material which has been accumulated. It prefers to continue its spadework, and remains obsessed by foundations. A good example of this kind of inquiry is furnished in Aberdeenshire Epitaphs,' by Mr. Henderson, who is already known by some useful books on the topography of Deeside. It is typical of the sound digestions of readers in the North that Mr. Henderson's investigations, like those of Andrew Jervise which they supplement after a lapse of thirty years, should have first appeared in newspapers; but without the subsidy involved in serial publication they might not have appeared at all. done much useful work in preserving inscriptions Henderson possess that quaint sense of epigram A Waterloo veteran was commemorated in Old Billeted here by death, I'll rise and march again. The Proverbs of Alfred. Re-edited by the Rev. IT takes many qualities to make a good editor of It is doubtful whether history proper could be produced from mere epitaphs, and Mr. Henderson leaves "to those who are minded to engage in it the task of disintegrating the "material for romance or moral reflection." His book, therefore, is a compi- Deer by the lines:lation rather than a co-ordination: but we venture to think that he and most of the epitaph-hunters set about their laudable task in the wrong way. An epitaph in the past performed the duty of a newspaper obituary of to-day. If its occasion is a churchyard, its co-relative is no more an account of the parish ministers who represented the owners of the "lairs" than the "funds' are the corelative of the births, marriages, and deaths in a newspaper. Yet Mr. Henderson, with his Hew Scott handy, has detailed the ministers' careers; and as he proceeds he is tempted to go further afield and launch on a general history of the parishes with which he deals, thus traversing much ground that is covered by existing books. The real corelative of a collection of epitaphs of this kind would be the publication of the births, marriages, and deaths of each parish, as contained in the registers now housed in Edinburgh. The epitaph is, in the case of a great many people, the only means of identifying and co-ordinating extracts from these registers. In one way it is a misfortune that these invaluable documents should be in the Register House, for the average local antiquary has neither the time nor the means to secure transcripts, and he breaks down here, just as he does in tracing people who have left the shire, and are to be followed up only in comprehensive libraries like that of the British Museum. An example occurs on p. 259, where Sir Theodore Martin "is said to be a great-grandson" of a James Martin whom a stone in Fraserburgh describes, in a characteristic Scotticism, as "presently [1781] residing at the House of Cairnbulge." Surely a letter to Sir Theodore would have settled the point. Within these limitations, Mr. Henderson has In the present little book he has made a careful study of one particular text of the Proverbs of Alfred, that, namely, given in the Trinity College,. Cambridge, MS.; and here his intimate knowledge of Old English has enabled him to correct many strange blunders made by its previous editors,. Wright, Kemble, and Morris; and even to detect sundry slips and miswritings passed by the transcriber of the MS., who manifestly was an AngloFrenchman. The Norman origin of the writer serves to account for most of the peculiarities of the orthography, of which Prof. Skeat gives a full analysis (pp. xvi-xxi). The Jesus College, Oxford, MS. (thirteenth century) is printed on the one opening for comparison. The date of the Proverbs Prof. Skeat judges to be about 1210; at all events, the phrase "England's. darling," which is here applied to Alfred, is already found in Layamon's Brut,' written about 1205, from which it seems to be derived. It was, no doubt, the traditional reputation of the popular king as a teacher and promoter of learning which led to this collection of folk saws being fathered on his memory. Some judicious notes, explanatory and literary, with a glossary, make this a complete edition of an old English classic. 66 interest. Arboretum,' 8 vols., 1854, 12. The coloured-plate books include Dr. Syntax,' 3 vols., royal 8vo, original cloth, 2. 10s.; and Nicholson's 'Wars occasioned by the French Revolution,' folio, calf, 1816, 37. 10s. The general portion comprises the Library Edition of Froude's England, 12 vols., cloth, 4. 15.; Darwin's Animals and Plants,' 17. 18.; Grote's Greece,' 12 vols., 17. 158.; Hallam's Works, Cabinet Edition, 10 vols., 17. 108.; and Lamb's Works, edited by Ainger, 6 vols., 17. 10s. Under Ornament we find Pugin's 'Glossary,' 4to, Life of Shelley,' 2 vols., 1846, 37. 38. Hogg's Moxon, 1858, is 17. 58.; and Wright's House of Hanover,' 2 vols., 1849, 17. 10s. 6 Corre FOR the traveller who likes a volume weighty in matter, but not in avoirdupois, we recommend in "The World's Classics" (Frowde) Leigh Hunt's The Town; Great Expectations, with some new and able illustrations by Mr. Warwick Goble; and George Herbert's Poems, all great books in their way, beyond the reach of the cavilling Zoilus. In the same series we have a specially slender issue Mr. A. Russell Smith's Catalogue 58 is devoted "intended for holiday-makers") of Aristophanes chiefly to Old English Literature. There are also in English Verse, by J. H. Frere; Horne's New Acts of Parliament of Henry VIII., Philip and Spirit of the Age, an interesting critical summary of Mary, and Charles II., and an extraordinarily large some immortal and some forgotten figures which is and clean copy of the Black Acts of 1566-8, 10. 10%. well worth reading; and Margaret Catchpole, which Almanacs range from 1633 to 1771. Americana inMr. Shorter describes in his Introduction as "the clude a series of twenty Proclamations of the Comclassic novel of Suffolk." It is a novel with de-monwealth of Massachusetts, 1812-65, in clean cided longueurs"; still it has now an historic condition, 71. 10. A manuscript on vellum, fourteenth century, is 20. A rare book is spondence between Queen Victoria and Louis These letters were disPhilippe,' 12mo, 2. 108. covered at the Tuileries in the secret portfolio of the ex-King after his flight from Paris, Feb. 24th, 1848. Only one copy seems to have occurred for public sale. There is an English-Dutch Grammar, 12mo, Amsterdam, 1675, 17. 10s. It describes various amusements and sports, and in reference to tobacco-taking states that in many shires in England children are sent to school with a pipe of tobacco for their breakfast. A curious book is A True Relation of the late Great and Terrible Tempest of Thunder and Lightning that fell on the House of Mr. Edward Smith in Piccadilly, also of a Great Storm at Mile End where the Devil Appeared,' 4to, 1664, 27. 2s. Under Trials are 'The Tyburn Chronicle' and 'The Newgate Calendar,' tree-marbled calf, a fine set, 14 vols., 1824, 137. 10s. ON the 3rd inst. The Cornish and Devon Post celebrated its jubilee, and its special page gives pictures of Mr. Richard Robbins, now a nonagenarian, and his son Mr. Alfred F. Robbins. Both are well known for contributions to our columns. The former is probably the oldest contributor which N. & Q.' now possesses, and the latter's third son, Clifton, who belongs to the select ranks of scholar Mr. Alfred ship, is, we dare say, the youngest. Robbins is well known as the London correspondent of The Birmingham Daily Post. His father's reminiscences, some of which we print to-day (pp. 137-8), go back to the time when he worked as a boy with Mr. Thomas Eyre, the printer of The Reformer, a local paper which first appeared in 1832. BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. MR. EDWARD BAKER, of Birmingham, has in his List 242 much of interest under Americana. Autograph letters include those of Payne Collier, Gladstone, William Morris, Tennyson, Rossetti, Burnea first edition of Jones, and others. There is 'Lavengro,' 1851, 17. 18.; also of 'The Romany Rye, 1857, 21. 123. 6d. Under Burns is the Caledonian Musical Museum,' containing over 200 songs, 12mo, calf, 1809, 1. 158. There are many entries a large number under under Chapbooks, and Cruikshank's Illustrations, including The Comic Almanack.' The list under Dickens contains a "Nicholas volume of plays, among which are Nickleby,' Oliver Twist,' one by Planché, &c., Chapman & Hall, n.d. (1839), 31. 38.; and The Dickensian,' edited by B. W. Matz, 2 vols., 158. (vol. i. is in parts, and out of print; vol. ii. in cloth). Sheridan items include the rare first edition of The Rivals,' 1775, 15. 15s. There is a copy of Edward FitzGerald's Literary Remains,' first edition, 3 vols., 1889, 21. 28.; and there are lists under Costume, Thackeray, Tennyson, Shelley, Leech, Kipling, &c. Altogether there are nearly three thousand entries in this varied and interesting catalogue. Mr. C. Richardson sends from Manchester his Catalogue 50, which contains many interesting works on America. There are also many works under Art. Under Botany is a copy of Loudon's Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices : ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them. D. J. ("Oliver Cromwell's Head").-Many article on this subject have appeared in N. & Q.' See 1S. v. 275, 304, 354, 382; xi. 496; xii. 75; 2 S. vii. 495; viii. 97, 158, 218; xii. 224, 278; 3 S. v. 119, 178, 264, 305; 5 S. ii. 205, 240, 466; iii. 27, 52, 126, 273, 357; x. 277. W. G. ("The Extinction of Light").-Too scien tific for our pages. Your idea is correct. A. M., Boston, U.S. Bream's Buildings are E.C., Chancery Lane is W.C. J. B., Sheffield.-We do not undertake to answer queries in astronomy or science generally. CORRIGENDA.-Ante, p. 105, col. 2, 1. 22 from foot, canto ii." and p. 106, col. 1, 1. 12 from foot, for read canto xi. 66 BOOKSELLERS' ADVERTISEMENTS (AUGUST). FRANCIS EDWARDS, L. C. BRAUN, 83, HIGH STREET, MARYLEBONE, LONDON, W. 17, Denmark Street, Charing Cross Road CATALOGUES NOW READY. SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. F. E. now has Sole MILITARY CATALOGUE, Part I., 96 pp., containing Items on the CRUIKSHANK CATALOGUE, 500 Items, Books, Drawings, and Prints of George Robert, Isaac, and J. R. Cruikshank, and a few Caricatures of Gillray, Woodward, &c. MISCELLANEOUS CATALOGUE, No. 291, 32 pp. ALBERT SUTTON, SECOND-HAND BOOKSELLER, 43 BRIDGE STREET, MANCHESTER. LIBRARIES PURCHASED. DISTANCE NO OBJECT. Will shortly issue a MILITARY CATALOGUE CONTAINING 1016 ITEMS. Which will be forwarded to any address on application. J. POOLE & CO., ESTABLISHED 1854, 104, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON. School, Classical, Scientific, Mathematical, and Students' BOOKSELLERS, New and Second-Hand. All Enquiries as to Prices of Books in our BARGAINS FOR BOOKBUYERS. Thousands of the Best Books at from 25 to 80 per cent. below the Original Prices. LARGEST AND BEST STOCK OF SECOND-HAND AND NEW REMAINDER BOOKS IN THE WORLD. WRITE FOR OUR AUGUST CATALOGUE. W. H. SMITH & SON, LIBRARY DEPARTMENT, 186, Strand, London, W.C. (near Oxford Street), London, W.C. ENGLISH AND FOREIGN SECOND-HAND BOOKSELLER. ESTABLISHED 1883. FRENCH AND GERMAN BOOKS. PORTRAITS and VIEWS for EXTRA-ILLUSTRATING. CATALOGUES OF BOOKS IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES SENT POST FREE. WOODCUTS, EARLY BOOKS, MS S., &c. LEIGHTON'S Illustrated Catalogue, Containing 1,350 Facsimiles. Thick 8vo, art cloth, 258.; half-morocco, 308. Part XII., BOC-CAL, with 175 Facsimiles, 28., including J. & J. LEIGHTON, 40, Brewer Street, Golden Square, London, W. LUPTON BROS. Are prepared to purchase small Collections or Large Libraries of Books FOR CASH. Executors and others should communicate with LUPTON BROS., before disposing elsewhere. Vendors will find it more satisfactory than auction, while the worry, risk, delay and expenses will be entirely obviated. |