ARROW-BREAKING: ITS MORAL

LESSONS.

BUCKLE'S 'History of Civilization in England,' 2nd ed., vol. ii. ch. iii., cites Lindsay of Pitscottie's 'Chronicles of Scotland' to this effect :

"And when, in consequence of the murder [of the Earl of Douglas], the Douglases and their friends rose in open rebellion, Kennedy gave to the king a crafty and insidious counsel, highly characteristic of his profession. Taking up a bundle of arrows, he showed James that when they were together, they were not to be broken; but that if separated, they were easily destroyed. Hence he inferred that the aristocracy should be overthrown by disuniting the nobles, and ruining them one by

one.'

Opposite to this practical example of the motto "Divide et impera," the Japanese moral works record the following tale in illustration of another maxim, Unity is strength

:

66

"Môri Motonari (1502-71 A.D.), on his death-bed collected round him his sons, ordered as many arrows to be brought, and spake thus: "When bound together, these shafts are hard to break, but separately they are easily broken; so, you brothers, unify your mind in order to ensure prosperity by dint of your complete harmony.' Takakage, his third son, remarked thereon: Verily strife takes root in avarice; if we only endeavour to shun avarice and to respect duty, what can induce us to quarrel? Much pleased with this wise saying, and commending it to be followed by all his progeny, Motonari died." - Yuasa, ‘Jôzan Kidan,' 1739,

tom. xvi. chap. ii.

In the Waseda Bungaku, Tokyo, April, 1907, p. 174, Mr. Nakao traces this Japanese story to one of Æsop's fables, which narrates how a father gave a lesson to his ever-contending seven sons, by exhibiting the facility with which seven sticks were broken separately.

Ossuki Bankei in his 'Kinko Shidan,' 1855, tom. i. fol. 8, quotes a Chinese passage in this connexion, and ascribes the close resemblance of the Japanese and the Mongol traditions to a mere coincidence. The passage runs :

written in 1307 (French translation in Pierre Bergeron's Voyages faits principalement en Asie dans les XII., XIII., XIV., et XV. Siècles,' The Hague, 1735, cols. 31, 32), contains another variant making Genghis Khan its hero, and reading thus :—

"C'est pourquoi Changius fit venir en sa présence ses douze fils, et les avertit de vivre en bonne intelligence, et leur apporta cet exemple: il ordonna à chacun de ses fils d'apporter une flèche; et lorsqu'il les eut assemblés ensemble, il ordonna à l'aîné de les rompre ainsi toute douze, ce qu'il tâcha de faire, inutilement: ensuite il proposa la même chose au second; puis au troisième, et ainsi aux autres, sans qu'aucun en peut venir à bout. Après quoi il fit séparer les flèches d'une après l'autre, et ordonna au plus jeune de ses fils de rompre les flèches l'une après l'autre, ce qu'il fut fort facilement. Alors Changius, se tournant du côté de ses fils, leur dit: pourquoi, mes enfants, n'avez-vous pu rompre les flèches que je vous ai présentées? ils répondirent, Seigneur, parce qu'il y, en avoit plusieurs ensemble: et pourquoi votre plus jeune frère les a-t-il bien rompues? Seigneur, dirent-ils, parce qu'il les a rompues l'une après l'autre. He bien, reprit Changius, il en sera de même de vous autres: tant que vous serez de bon accord, votre empire subsistera toujours; mais si vous êtes divisés, vos domaines seront bientôt reduits à rien." KUMAGUSU MINAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

ST. PETER-LE-POER CHURCH, OLD BROAD
STREET.-The following extract from The
Standard of 22 June chronicles another act of
vandalism, and the place of St. Peter-le-
Poer will no longer be known in London :-
By Order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for
England.

:

Old Broad Street, City of London. The very valuable Freehold Site, together with the fabric of the (late) Church of St. Peter le Poor, occupying, a fine position in the heart of the City, within a short distance of the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, and the Royal Exchange, having a bold frontage of over 52 feet to Old Broad Street, partly abutting, on the north-east side, upon Crown Court, and covering the large area of about 4 200 ft. super.; the site is eminently adapted for a Bank, Insurance office, or other first-class office preraises, and offers every advantage for the erection of a handsome well-lighted building. - Messrs. Deben"The Records of the West Tsin Dynasty ham, Tewson, Richardson, and Co. are instructed [385-431 A.D.],' by Tsui Hung, relates: Tu-ye-kune to Sell this important Freehold Building Site (with O-chai, when about to die, gathering together his Possession), at the Mart, on Tuesday, July 2, at 2. sons and brothers, ordered them to fetch each one-Particulars, with plan, may be had of Messrs. an arrow. After this was done, he asked Mu-yen, Milles, Jennings White, and Foster, solicitors, one of his brothers, to break the arrow he had 5, Little College Street, Westminster, S.W.; of brought. After which he desired him to break Messrs. Clutton, surveyors, 5, Great College Street, nineteen other arrows in one bundle. Observing Westminster, S.W.; and of the Auctioneers, 80, his bootless effort, O-chai told them: Thus you Cheapside, E.C. know that a single thing is easy to break, whereas associated many are difficult to crush; only your unison both in mind and in flesh can secure the lasting solidity of this State.' After these words he expired."

Haiton's 'Oriental History,' originally

The church is situated in Old Broad Street, just opposite the Merchants' Clun House, and has for me an interest, as in the days of my boyhood I used occasionally to attend it. The front was flush with the

street; it was circular in structure, lighted
by a dome on the roof, and a tower indicated
its position. Some little time ago, when its
approaching doom was sealed, I went in,
as the door was open, and saw the many
monumental tablets ranged on the staircase.
The attendant asked me if I should like to
go into the vaults beneath the church, but I
declined. Most probably their contents
have been transferred to one of the London
cemeteries.
JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

recalls the fact that it is one of the original
eight Dissenting chapels permitted by the
Conventicles Act of the seventeenth century.
Baxter preached in it in 1672, and later
Thankful Owen (who at one time had been
an Oxford Don), Whitefield, John Wesley,
and the great Moravian pastor Count
Zinzendorf. During the riots connected
with the trial of Dr. Sacheverell the mob
stormed and almost ruined the chapel, very
nearly killing the pastor, Thomas Bradley.
It had a long period of usefulness after that,
till the middle of the nineteenth century.

[The Daily Telegraph and The Standard of 3 July and continued to draw good congregations stated that the price realized was 96,0007.]

An illustrated account of it appeared in
The Sunday at Home many years since,
and I once came across an old print of it
entitled The Church of the United Brethren
in Fetter Lane,' in a second-hand bookshop
in Philadelphia.
FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

found under the heading Vanishing London,' at
[Some particulars concerning the chapel will be
9 S. vi. 222, 331, 351. A History of the Moravian
Chapel' is published at 32, Fetter Lane.]

ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, BREAM'S BUILDINGS. (See 8 S. i. 261.) The Church of St. Thomas, Liberty of the Rolls, was demolished in the course of the alterations described in the article at the above reference, when the office of N. & Q.' was removed to its present site. The church was described and illustrated in The Surveyor, Engineer, and Architect for October, 1842, p. 257, from which it appears that the works were commenced on 16 May, 1841, the architects being Mr. C. Davy and Mr. J. Johnson. GREENSTED CHURCH, ONGAR.—Referring The church was consecrated on 13 July, to the review of Mr. Heath's book on 1842, and was intended to serve that part Homeland Churches' at 10 S. vii. 500, I of the parish of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, may mention that during the restoration situate in the county of Middlesex, known of Greensted Church about the year 1849, as the Liberty of the Rolls, the population the nave-which dates from the beginning being 2,440. The site was not considered of the eleventh century-had to be pulled very eligible, Bream's Buildings being then a cul-de-sac; but the writer of the article in The Surveyor foresaw that the time is not far distant when a thoroughfare will be opened through Bream's Buildings.'

66

But when this came to pass, half a century later, the church was swept away. It cost in all 4,275l., of which 3,400l. was given by Hyndman's Trustees, who also gave 1,000l. to form an endowment fund. The Commissioners of Woods and Forests, who owned property in the neighbourhood, contributed 3007. The site was purchased from the Bishop of Chichester. Although the building was absolutely destitute of architectural merit, I should like to be allowed to place on record these few facts relating to its brief existence. The consecration is shortly described in The Illustrated London News for 16 July, 1842, p. 150, col. 3, where it is stated that the bishop preached from Matt. ix. 27, 28, a highly respectable congregation,' that the collection amounted to 106.

66 to

and

R. B. P. MORAVIAN CHAPEL, FETTER LANE.-The proposed destruction of this old chapel

6

down, in order that the rotten bottom ends
of the split trunks of trees, forming the
walls, might be sawn off and replaced by a
brick foundation. At that time a violent
controversy arose as to the character of the
trees, some antiquaries positively asserting
that they were oak, and others that they
were chestnut. It was, I think, finally
determined that these trees were placed
alternately.

It is a remarkable fact that, although these
trunks of trees had been exposed to the
weather for upwards of 800 years, they
were so hard at the time of the restoration
that the saws and axes of the workmen were
blunted in the act of cutting the bottoms
off. This I have since verified, for I have
found it impossible to get even the point of
It is like iron.
my knife into the wood.
HENRY TAYLOR.

Rusthall, Kent.
[Greensted Church has already been fully dis-
cussed in 'N. & Q.'; see 6 S. vii. 472; 7 S. x. 297;
8 S. vi. 297; xii. 134.]

!

i.e., lumps.

66

Queries.

formation on family matters of only private interest WE must request correspondents desiring into affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct

OF

SOUTHY'S AUTHENTIC MEMOIRS GEORGE III.-Is anything known of the author of the following book. which is not in the British Museum, the Bodleian, or the Memoirs of our late Venerable and Beloved University Library, Cambridge? "Authentic Monarch, George the Third....By Robert Southy, Esq.....London....1820."

LEWIS MELVILLE.

purged of its dross and reduced to a roughly rectangular shape under the steam hammer. The N.E.D.' quotes O.E. bloma from Wright-Wülcker's Vocabulary,' but gives no instance in Middle-English. The word occurs in Mirk's Festial' (E.E.T.S., 1905), of the beginning of the fifteenth century, where, 80/24, devils are said to cast at St. Brendan blomes of brennyng yerne," H. P. L. NEWPORT, ESSEX.-When revisiting Newport on 18 May I observed that the ancient Lepers' Hospital outside the village, and near the fine old inn, 66 The Coach and Horses," still happily intact has this year been demolished by Mr. Carl Meyer, of Shortgrove. I saw the old materials and PACKHORSE CROOKS.-Will any of your oak beams and joists lying piled together correspondents kindly inform me where a near the site. I was informed that during pack-saddle fitted with long crooks can be the destruction the skeleton of a man, of seen, or a photograph of one be obtained? great size, was found near the foundations: The Torquay Natural History Museum this was, at the instance of the vicar, possesses one with short crooks, and another reinterred in consecrated ground. Another with relic of ancient Newport, the “ pots." A direct reply will greatly Hercules " T. N. BRUSHFIELD, M.D. Inn, was destroyed by fire in 1905. The Hospital is referred to in Wright's Essex' at some length: it was originally founded in the time of King John. The so-called Nell Gwyn house is standing, and externally is still untouched. The vanishing of the old Hospital should be should be mentioned in 'N. & Q. W. H. QUARRELL.

ITS MEANING.-In a recent

66

oblige.
Salterton, Devon.

HAMILTON BROWN.-Can any of your readers furnish biographical details or Hamilton Brown, who was one of Byron's supply particulars of the career of Mr. companions when he embarked at Genoa in July, 1823, to join the insurgent Greeks ? He was, I believe, the eldest son of Mr. "MINK": Birnie Brown of Morpeth (a reputed son law case some curiosity was aroused as to of one of the Dukes of Hamilton-born at the meaning of the word " mink," used by Dalserf, Lanarkshire, and died at Morpeth, one of the parties in a letter, apparently in 10 July, 1825, aged sixty) by his marriage a depreciatory sense, 66 the mink in a with Catherine Grace (born at Dorking, country-house party being proposed to be 9 June, 1768), elder of the twin daughters relegated to a barn. None of the counsel and coheirs of John Cresswell of Cresswell nor the judge was able to explain the word. by his wife Catherine Dyer, niece of Dyer I suggest that it is a contraction of the Italian minchione, a simpleton, blockhead (fool), according to the dictionaries; but how the word found its way into the English language I am unable to explain.

JOHN HEBB. [Surely the word was a meaningless invention: many such are used and invented in particular circles.]

the poet.

Alnwick.

J. C. HODGSON, F.S.A.

The Observer of 4 Dec., 1791, there is an LIBRARY IN ST. MARTIN'S STREET.-In advertisement on p. 4 of a subscription library at No. 36, St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square. It appears from the advertisement that the library had been removed from Greek Street. The names of the committee are given, and several well-known men appear in the list. anything more known of this library?

R. B. P.

Is

LIEUT.-COL. VALENTINE JONES-GRAEME. —I am anxious to have a few biographical details of Valentine Jones (afterwards JonesGraeme), who was educated at Eton and at Jesus College, Oxford, where he matricu

lated 20 May, 1802. He entered the army, third part of this catalogue is engraved by and served in Spain in the 18th Hussars, Robert Grave. ALECK ABRAHAMS. attaining to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He died at Oldbury Court, near Bristol, and it is the exact date of his death that I more particularly want. W. ROBERTS. 47, Lansdowne Gardens, Clapham, S.W.

"I remember, when he [Johnson] was in Scotland, his praising Gordon's palates' (a dish of palates at the Honourable Alexander Gordon's) with a warmth of expression which might have done honour to more important subjects." The precise nature of these "palates" has long been a puzzle to me. The only hint I derived from the 'N.E.D.' was a quotation from Mrs. Haywood (before 1756): "To fricasey Ox Palates." I also wondered allows? whether the dish referred to bore any resemblance to German Ochsenmaulsalat (a Nürnberg speciality). This consists of the cartilaginous muzzle and palate of the