Notes and Queries, Number 16, February 16, 1850

DANIEL DE FOE AND HIS GHOST STORIES

I feel obliged by your intelligent correspondent "D.S." having ascertained that De Foe was the author of the Tour through Great Britain. Perhaps he may also be enabled to throw some light on a subject of much curiosity connected with De Foe, that appears to me well worth the inquiry.

Mrs. Bray, in her General Preface prefixed to the first volume of the reprint, in series, of her Novels and Romances, when giving an account of the circumstances on which she founded her very graphic and interesting romance of Trelawny of Trelawne, says—

"In Gilbert's History of Cornwall, I saw a brief but striking account, written by a Doctor Ruddell, a clergyman of Launceston, respecting a ghost which (in the year 1665) he has seen and laid to rest, that in the first instance had haunted a poor lad, the son of a Mr. Bligh, in his way to school, in a place called the 'Higher Broom Field.' This grave relation showed, I thought, the credulity of the times in which the author of it lived; and so I determined to have doctor, boy, and ghost in my story. But whereas, in the worthy divine's account of the transaction, the ghost appears to come on earth for no purpose whatever (unless it be to frighten the poor boy), I resolved to give the spirit something to do in such post-mortem visitations, and that the object of them should be of import to the tale. Accordingly I made boy, doctor, and the woman (who is said after her death to have appeared to the lad) into characters, invented a story for them, and gave them adventures."

Mrs. Bray adds—

"Soon after the publication of Trelawny, my much esteemed friend, the Rev. F.V.T. Arundell1, informed me, that, whilst engaged in his antiquarian researches in Cornwall, he found among some old and original papers the manuscript account, in Dr. Ruddell's own hand-writing, of his encounter with the ghost in question. This he lent Gilbert, who inserted it in his History of Cornwall; and there I first saw it, as stated above. A few months ago, I purchased some of the reprinted volumes of the Works of Daniel De Foe. Among these was the Life of Mr. Duncan Campbell, a fortune-teller. To my great surprise, I found inserted in the Appendix (after verses to Mr. Duncan Campbell), without either name of the author, reference, or introduction, under the heading, 'A remarkable Passage of an Apparition, 1665,' no other than Dr. Ruddell's account of meeting the ghost which had haunted the boy, so much the same as that I had read in Gilbert, that it scarcely seemed to differ from it in a word. The name of Mr. Bligh, the father of the boy, was, however, omitted; and Dr. Ruddell could only be known as the author of the account by the lad's father calling the narrator Mr. Ruddell, in their discourse about the youth. The account is so strangely inserted in the Appendix to the volume, without comment or reference, that, had I not previously known the circumstances above names by Mr. Arundell, I should have fancied it a fiction of De Foe himself, like the story of the ghost of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to Drelincourt on Death.

"Aware that Mr. Arundell had no idea that Ruddell's ghost story was to be found in any work previous to Gilbert's, I lost no time in communicating to that gentleman what I could not but deem a very curious discovery. He assured me there could be no mistake as to the genuineness of the ghost document he had found, as he had compared the manuscript with Ruddell's hand-writing in other papers, and saw it was one and the same. Soon after, Mr. Arundell favoured me with some further information on the subject, which I here give, as it adds still more to the interest of the story:—'Looking into Gilbert's History of Cornwall, in the parish of South Petherwin, there is said to be in the old mansion of Botathan five portraits of the Bligh family; one of them is the likeness of the boy, whose intimacy with the ghost of Dorothy Durant has been spoken of in his first volume, where she is erroneously called Dingley. If this be a fact, it is very interesting; for it is strange that both Mr. Ruddell, the narrator (whose manuscript I lent to Gilbert), and De Foe, should have called her Dingley. I have no doubt it was a fictitious name, for I never heard of it Launceston or the neighbourhood; whereas Durant is the name of an ancient Cornish family: and I remember a tall, respectable man of that name in Launceston, who died at a very advanced age; very probably a connexion of the Ghost Lady. He must have been born about 1730. Durant was probably too respectable a name to be published, and hence the fictitious one.' Mr. Arundell likewise says, 'In Launceston Church is a monument to Charles Bligh and Judith his wife, who died, one in 1716, and the other in 1717. He is said to have been sixty years old, and was probably the brother of Samuel, the hero of Dorothy Dingley. Sarah, the wife of the Rev. John Ruddell, died in 1667. Mr. Ruddell was Vicar of Aternon in 1684. He was the minister of Launceston in 1665, when he saw the ghost who haunted the boy.'"

Such is Mrs. Bray's account of these very curious circumstances. The ghost story inserted in Gilbert, as mentioned above, is altogether so much in the style of De Foe, that a doubt remains whether, after all, he may not have been the author of it. Can "D.S.," or any of your readers, throw further light on the subject?

PET-NAMES

"Mary" is informed that "Polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or pet-names, in which our language abounds. Most are mere abbreviations, as Will, Nat, Pat, Bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning, sometimes from the end of the name. The ending y or ie is often added, as a more endearing form: as Annie, Willy, Amy, Charlie, &c. Many have letter-changes, most of which imitate the pronunciation of infants. L is lisped for r. A central consonant is doubled. O between m and l is more easily sounded than a. An infant forms p with its lips sooner than m; papa before mamma. The order of change is: Mary, Maly, Mally, Molly, Polly. Let me illustrate this; l for r appears in Sally, Dolly, Hal P for m in Patty, Peggy; vowel-change in Harry, Jim, Meg, Kitty, &c; and in several of these the double consonant. To pursue the subject: re-duplication is used; as in Nannie, Nell, Dandie; and (by substitution) in Bob. Ded would be of ill omen; therefore we have, for Edward, Ned or Ted, n and t being coheir to d; for Rick, Dick, perhaps on account of the final d in Richard. Letters are dropped for softness: as Fanny for Franny, Bab for Barb, Wat for Walt. Maud is Norman for Mald, from Mathild, as Bauduin for Baldwin. Argidius becomes Giles, our nursery friend Gill, who accompanied Jack in his disastrous expedition "up the hill." Elizabeth gives birth to Elspeth, Eliza (Eloisa?), Lisa, Lizzie, Bet, Betty, Betsy, Bessie, Bess; Alexander (x=cs) to Allick and Sandie. What are we to say of Jack for John? It seems to be from Jacques, which is the French for our James? How came the confusion? I do not remember to have met with the name James in early English history; and it seems to have reached us from Scotland. Perhaps, as Jean and Jaques were among the commonest French names, John came into use as a baptismal name, and Jaques or Jack entered by its side as a familiar term. But this is a mere guess; and I solicit further information. John answers to the German Johann or Jehann, the Sclavonic Ivan, the Italian Giovanni (all these languages using a strengthening consonant to begin the second syllable): the French Jean, the Spanish Juan, James to the German Jacob, the Italian Giacomo, the French Jacques, the Spanish Jago. It is observable that of these, James and Giacomo alone have the m. Is James derived from Giacomo? How came the name into Scotland?

Of German pet-names some are formed by abbreviation; some also add s, as Fritz for Frieds from Friedrich, Hanns for Hann from Johann. (To this answers our s or c in the forms Betsy, Nancy, Elsie, &c.) Some take chen (our kin, as mannikin) as Franschen, Hannchen. Thus Catskin in the nursery ballad which appears in Mr. Halliwell's Collection, is a corruption of Kätchen Kitty. Most of our softened words are due to the smooth-tongued Normans. The harsh Saxon Schrobbesbyrigschire, or Shropshire, was by them softened into le Comté de Salop, and both names are still used.

Shrewsbury, Feb. 2. 1850.

LACEDÆMONIAN BLACK BROTH

If your readers are not already as much disgusted with Spartan Black Broth as Dionysius was with the first mouthful, I beg leave to submit a few supplementary words to the copious indications of your correspondents "R.O." and "W."

Selden says:—

"It was an excellent question of Lady Cotton, when Sir Robert Cotton was magnifying of a shoe, which was Moses's or Noah's, and wondering at the strange shape and fashion of it: 'But, Mr. Cotton,' says she, 'are you sure it is a shoe?'"

Now, from the following passage in Manso's Sparta, it would seem that a similar question might be put on the present occasion: Are you sure that it was broth? Speaking of the pheiditia, Manso says:—

"Each person at table had as much barley-bread as he could eat; swine's-flesh, or some other meat, to eat with it, with which the famous black-sauce2 (whose composition, without any loss to culinary art, is evidently a mystery for us) was given round, and to close the meal, olives, figs, and cheese."

In a note he continues:—

"Some imagined that the receipt of its composition was to be found in Plutarch (De Tuendâ Sanitate, t. vi. p. 487.), but apparently it was only imagination. That ζωμος signified not broth, as it has been usually translated, but sauce, is apparent from the connection in which Athenæus used the word. To judge from Hesychius, it appears to have borne the name βαφα among the Spartans. How little it pleased the Sicilian Dionysius is well known from Plutarch (Inst. Lacon. t. v. 880.) and from others."

Sir Walter Trevelyan's question is soon answered, for I presume the celebrity of Spartan Black Broth is chiefly owing to the anecdote of Dionysius related by Plutarch, in his very popular and amusing Laconic Apophthegms, which Stobæus and Cicero evidently followed; this, and what is to be gathered from Athenæus and Julius Pollux, with a few words in Hesychius and the Etymologicon Magnum, is the whole amount of our information. Writers since the revival of letters have mostly copied each other, from Coelius Rhodiginus down to Gesner, who derives his conjecture from Turnebus, whose notion is derived from Julius Pollux,—and so we move in a circle. We sadly want a Greek Apicius, and then we might resolve the knotty question. I fear we must give up the notion of cuttle-fish stewed in their own ink, though some former travellers have not spoken so favourable of this Greek dish. Apicius, De Arte Coquinariâ, among his fish-sauces has three Alexandrian receipts, one of which will give some notion of the incongruous materials admissible in the Greek kitchen of later times:—

"JUS ALEXANDRINUM IN PISCE ASSO.

"Piper, cepam siccam, ligusticum, cuminum, orignum, apii semen, pruna damascena enucleata; passum, liquamen, defrutum, oleum, et coques."

This question Vexata it seems had not escaped the notice of German antiquaries. In Boettiger's Kleine Shriften, vol. iii., Sillig has printed for the first time a Dissertation, in answer to a question which might have graced your pages: "Wherewith did the Ancients spoon" [their food]? Which opens thus:—

"Though about the composition and preparation of Spartan Black Sauce we may have only so many doubts, yet still it remains certain that it was a jus—boiled flesh prepared with pig's blood, salt, and vinegar, a brodo; and, when it was to a certain degree thickened by boiling, though not like a Polenta or other dough-like mass (maza offa), eaten with the fingers. Here, then, arises a gastronomic question, of importance in archæology; what table furniture or implements did the Spartans make use of to carry this sauce to their months? A spoon, or some substitute for a spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this Schwarzsauer."

It is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the Spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell, may have served the purpose. Those who are desirous of knowing more about the Table-Supellectile of the ancients, may consult Casaubon's Notes on Athenæus, iv. 13. p. 241.; "Barufaldo de Armis Convivialibus," in Sallengre's Thesaurus, iii. 741.: or Boettiger's Dissertation above referred to. How little ground the passage in Plutarch, De Sanitate Tuendâ, afforded for the composition will appear from the passage, which I subjoin, having found some difficulty in referring to it:

Οι Λακωνες υξος και 'αλας δοντες τω μαγειρω, τα λοιπα κελευουσω εν τω ιερειω ζητειν.

This only expresses the simplicity of Spartan cookery in general.

To revert to the original question propounded, however, I think we must come to the conclusion that coffee formed no part of the μελας ζωμος.

A HINT TO INTENDING EDITORS

Allow me to suggest, as an addition to the sphere of usefulness of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," that persons preparing new editions of old writers should give an early intimation of the work on which they are engaged to the public, through your paper. Very many miscellaneous readers are in the habit of making notes in the margins of their books, without any intention of using them themselves for publication, and would be glad to give the benefit of them to any body to whom they would be welcome; but as matters are now arranged, one has no opportunity of hearing of an intended new edition until it is advertised as being in the press, when it is probably too late to send notes or suggestions; and one is also deterred from communicating with the editor from doubts whether he will not think it an intrusion: doubts which any editor who did wish for communications might dispel by making such an announcement as I have suggested.

Lincoln's Inn.

NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HAND-BOOK OF LONDON

St. Giles's Pound.—The exact site of this Pound, which occupied a space of thirty feet, was the broad space where St. Giles's High Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Oxford Street meet. The vicinity of this spot was proverbial for its profligacy; thus in an old song:—

Dudley Court, St. Giles's.—This spot was once the residence of Alice Duchess of Dudley, in the reign of Charles the Second; and afterwards of the celebrated Lord Wharton. The mansion and gardens were of considerable extent.

St. Giles's Hospital.—The celebrated Dr. Andrew Boorde rented for many years the Master's house. He is mentioned as its occupant in the deed of transfer between Lord Lisle to Sir Wymonde Carewe, dated in the last year of Henry the Eighth's reign.

Gray's Inn Lane.—Anciently called Portpoole. See the commission granted to the Master of the Hospital of St. Giles's, &c. to levy tolls upon all cattle, merchandize, &c., dated 1346, in Rymer's Foedera.

Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn.—Lord Herbert of Cherbury was one of the first inhabitants of this street, residing at the south side, near the east corner of Wild (or more properly Weld) Street, where he died in 1648. The house is still standing, and is one of fifteen built in the third year of James the First. Powlet and Conway houses, also still standing, are among the said number. The celebrated Dr. Mead (D. 1754) resided in this street.

Turnstile Lane, Holborn.—Richard Pendrell, the preserver of Charles the Second, resided here in 1668. It is supposed that Pendrell, after the Restoration, followed the king to town, and settled in the parish of St. Giles, as being near the court. Certain it is that one of Pendrell's name occurs in 1702 as overseer, which leads to the conclusion that Richard's descendants continued in the same locality for many years. A great-granddaughter of this Richard was living in 1818 in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. Richard Pendrell died in 1674, and had a monument erected to his memory on the south-east side of the old church of St. Giles. The raising of the churchyard, subsequently, had so far buried the monument as to render it necessary to form a new one to preserve the memory of this celebrated man. The black marble slab of the old tomb at present forms the base of the new one.

Mrs. Cornelly's is stated, in vol. ii. p. 753., to be "the corner of Sutton Street," Soho Square, "now D'Almaines's." Mrs. Cornelly's was at the corner of Sutton Street, but has long been pulled down: the Catholic chapel in Sutton Street was Mrs. Cornelly's concert, ball, and masquerade-room; and the arched entrance below the chapel, and now a wheelwright's, was the entrance for "chairs." D'Almaine's is two doors north of Sutton Street, and was built by Earl (?) Tilney, the builder of Wanstead House? The House in Soho Square has a very fine banqueting-room, the ceiling said to have been painted by Angelica Kauffmann. Tilney was fond of giving magnificent dinners, and here was always to be found "the flesh of beeves, with Turkie and other small Larks!"

Cock Lane.—The house in Cock Lane famous for its "Ghost" is still standing, and the back room, where "scratching Fanny" lay surrounded by princes and peers, is converted into a gas meter manufactory.

FOLK LORE

Easter Eggs.—The custom of presenting eggs at Easter is too well known to need description; but perhaps few are aware that, like many other customs of the early Church, it had its origin in paganism.

Sir R.K. Porter (Travels, vol. i. p. 316.) mentions that at a period of the year corresponding to Easter, "the Feast of nooroose, or of the waters," is held, and seems to have had its origin prior to Mahometanism. It lasts for six days, and is supposed to be kept in commemoration of the Creation and the Deluge—events constantly synchronised and confounded in pagan cosmogonies. At this feast eggs are presented to friends, in obvious allusion to the Mundane egg, for which Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things.

When the many identities which existed between Druidism and Magianism are considered, we can hardly doubt that this Persian commemoration of the Creation originated our Easter-eggs.

Buns.—It has been suggested by Bryant, though, I believe, not noticed by any writer on popular customs, that the Good Friday cakes, called Buns, may have originated in the cakes used in idolatrous worship, and impressed with the figure of an ox, whence they were called βουν. The cow or bull was likewise, as Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 252.) has justly remarked, the symbol of the Cosmos, the prolific or generative powers of nature.

Gloucestershire Custom.—It is a custom in Gloucestershire, and may be so in other counties, to place loose straw before the door of any man who beats his wife. Is this a general custom?—and if so, what is its origin and meaning?

Curious Custom.—The custom spoken of by "PWCCA" (No. 11 p. 173.) was also commonly practised in one or two places in Lancashire some ten or twelve years back, but is now, I believe, obsolete. The horse was played in a similar way, but the performer was then called "Old Balls." It is no doubt a vestige of the old "hobby-horse,"—as the Norwich "Snap," who kept his place in the procession of the mayor of that good city till the days of municipal reform, was the last representative of his companion the dragon.

[Nathan also informs us "that it is very common in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where a ram's head often takes the place of the horse's skull. Has it not an obvious connection with the 'hobby-horse' of the middle ages, and such mock pageants as the one described in Scott's Abbot, vol. i. chap. 14.; the whole being a remnant of the Saturnalia of the ancients?"]

WHITE HART INN, SCOLE

In Songs and other Poems, by Alex. Brome, Gent. Lond. 12mo. 1661, there is (at p. 123.) a ballad upon a sign-post set up by one Mr. Pecke, at Skoale in Norfolk. It appears from this ballad, that the sign in question had figures of Bacchus, Diana, Justice, and Prudence, "a fellow that's small, with a quadrant discerning the wind," Temperance, Fortitude, Time, Charon and Cerberus. This sign is noticed in the Journal of Mr. E. Browne (Sir Thomas Browne's Works, ed. Wilkin, i. 53.). Under date of 4th March, 1663-64, he says:—"About three mile further I came to Scoale, where is very handsome inne, and the noblest sighne post in England, about and upon which are carved a great many stories, as of Charon and Cerberus, of Actæon and Diana, and many other; the sighne it self is the white harte, which hangs downe carved in a stately wreath." Blomefield, in his History of Norfolk (8vo. edit. i. 130.), speaking of Osmundestone or Scole, has the following passage:—

"Here are two very good inns for the entertainment of travellers; the White Hart is much noted in these parts, being called, by way of distinction, Scole Inn; the house is a large brick building, adorned with imagery and carved work in several places, as big as the life. It was built in 1655, by John Peck, Esq., whose arms impaling his wife's, are over the porch door. The sign is very large, beautified all over with a great number of images of large stature carved in wood, and was the work of one Fairchild; the arms about it are those of the chief towns and gentlemen in the county, viz. Norwich, Yarmouth, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Yarmouth, Bacon of Garboldisham, Hobart, Conwaleis, impaling Bukton, Teye, Thurston, Castleton, and many others; Peck's arms are arg. on a chevron ingrailed, gul. three croslets pattee of the field; his wife's are arg., a fess between two crescents in chief, a lion rampant in base gul., which coat I think is borne by the name of Jetheston. Here was lately a very round large bed, big enough to hold fifteen or twenty couple, in imitation (I suppose) of the remarkable great bed at Ware. The house was in all things accommodated, at first, for large business; but the road not supporting it, it is in much decay at present; though there is a good bowling-green and a pretty large garden, with land sufficient for passengers' horses. The business of these two inns is much supported by the annual cock-matches that are here fought."

In Cruttwell's Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain (Lond. 12mo. 1801), vol. v. 208., is the following:—

"Osmondeston, or Schole. The inn here was once remarkable for a pompous sign, with ridiculous ornaments, and is said to have cost a thousand pounds; long since decayed."

I shall be glad to be referred to any other notices of this sign, and am desirous of knowing if any drawing or engraving of it be extant.

Cambridge, 21st Jan. 1850.

PASSAGES FROM POPE

In addition to the query of "P.C.S.S." (No. 13. p. 201.), in which I take great interest, I would beg leave to ask what evidence there is that Quarles had a pension? He had, indeed, a small place in the household of James the First's queen, Anne; and if he had a pension on her death, it would have been from James, not from Charles.

I would also, in reference to Pope, beg leave to propound another query.