LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1877. CONTENTS.- N° 184. NOTES:-Byron and Shelley in the Environs of Geneva during the Summer of 1816, 1-Whitsunday: Whitsuntide, 2-Shak speariana, 4-Pedigrees and Pedigree Makers: The St. Johns and Tollemaches, 5-Brahma, the Father-Life at Harro gate in 1731, 6. QUERIES:-Lord Beaconsfield's Crest and Motto-Bennet Passage in the "Paston Letters"-Joan of Arc-Where did and in a note to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto iii., Byron accordingly says, "This is written in the eye of Mont Blanc (June 3, 1816), which even at this distance dazzles mine."§ The Shelleys and Miss Clairmont had clearly reached the hotel by the 17th of May. This is the date of Mrs. Shelley's first letter thence, given in the Six Weeks' Tour. It is the letter of a person who has arrived a day or two, not of a person arrived on that same day, inasmuch as she writes, "We have hired a boat, and every evening at about six o'clock we sail on the lake." And "We do not enter into society again, further on, here, yet our time passes swiftly and delightfully." I should fix their arrival at Sécheron late on the REPLIES:-William, First Duke of Queensberry, 10- Dr. Dodd's Marriage, 12-The Halsham Family-Bibliography of 15th of May, on these grounds:- The same letter Utopias, 13- Incidit in Scyllam," &c.-Axtell Family- commences, "We arrived at Paris on the 8th of "Things in General," &c.-"The Crisis," 14-Scotch Here- this month, and we were detained two days for ditary Offices-The Churchyards of Roxburghshire the purpose of obtaining the various signatures "Baron of the Court of Exchequer"-Farewell Family, 15-necessary to our passports." That is to say, the Carausius-"Outile "-" Patina "-Shakspeare-"High Borlase"- The Long Eleventh of June"-J. Witherspoon and Shelleys left Paris on May 10. We are then told Descendants-"A Commonplace Book," &c., 16- Ev'n in that Dijon was reached on the third evening after our ashes," &c.-Strasbourg Cathedral-J. Rivett-Philothea their departure from Paris (May 13); Chamand Pamela-Bonvyle Family-"Temorn "-"To-year "Lady Hamilton - Centenarianism—"Next the heart pagnolles was reached at midnight on the fourth Musical Revenge: "Hudibras," 18-Fen: Fend - Philip evening (May 14). They leave Les Rousses at Stubbs-Descendants of the Regicides-Authors Wanted, 19. 6 P.M. next day (May 15), and no doubt reached Notes on Books, &c. Geneva before midnight on that same evening. la Maine Family-Briggs Family-Curious Use of Words Notes. BYRON AND SHELLEY IN THE ENVIRONS OF GENEVA DURING THE SUMMER OF 1816. The first meeting of these illustrious poets was at the Hôtel de Sécheron. This was more correctly the Hôtel d'Angleterre at Sécheron, a small suburb of Geneva, situated about an English mile and a quarter on the road to Lausanne, that is, north-east of Geneva, and on the north shore of the lake. It was kept at that time by one Dejean, and in both the Letters and Journals* and in the Six Weeks' Tourt it is merely called Hôtel de Sécheron. It must be remembered, in order to understand the topography of many allusions in the two above works, that the city of Geneva occupies the extreme south-west angle of Lake Leman, and that both the north and south shores of the lake diverge respectively from left and right of that city. On the north shore stood the Hôtel de Sécheron, which would thus face Mont Blanc, Byron and Dr. Polidori arrived there on May 25, and acquaintance was made with the Shelleys and Miss Clairmont within two days.|| Their subsequent movements are thus told by Moore : "After passing a fortnight under the same roof with Lord Byron at Sécheron, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley removed to a small house on the Mont Blanc side of the Lake, within about ten minutes' walk of the villa which their noble friend had taken, upon the high banks, called $ Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto iii., p. 73. London, 1816. The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, &c., and a Memoir, by William Michael Rossetti. London, Moxon, 1870, 2 vols. 8vo. (See Memoir, vol. i. lxxxvii.) I copy the dates of the arrival and of the acquaintanceship from Mr. W. Rossetti. They are taken from Polidori's diary. Subsequently, in narrating that curious but often-repeated incident of Shelley's hallucination of the breast-eyed woman, Mr. Rossetti informs us that the version of this story, which he then proceeds to quote, "is thus authentically jotted down in the physician's diary," dori's was never published. Polidori has also told the inand the occurrence is dated June 18. This diary of Policident in his prefatory letter to the Vampyre (London, 1819, Svo., published anonymously), and this account is quoted by Moore (vol. ii. p. 208); but, though the two versions tally, their wording is different. In a letter at the page last cited Byron, who had received the Vampyre, Hook-comments very amusingly on the various perversions of its preface. He then continues, "What do you mean about Polidori's Diary? Why, I defy him to say anything about me, but he is welcome,"-which sentence thus ends brokenly, but its general sense is easy to gather, and the passage shows that the physician had at that time (1819) thoughts of publishing his journal. This was never done. *Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of is Life, by Thomas Moore, in two volumes. London, J. Murray, 1830, 4to. History of a Six Weeks' Tour, &c. London, ham, Jun., &c., 1817, 12mo. "Secheron's (sic) Hotel," at p. 71 of the Shelley Memorials, &c., London, 1859, 2nd edition, 8vo., is, of Course, incorrect. Medwin says, "At Dejean's, Sécheron." This is right as far as it goes. See The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Thomas Medwin, in two volumes, vol. i. p. 236. London, Newby, 1847, 8vo. The next paragraph relates a quarrel between Byron and his physician; after which Polidori meditated suicide, but was ultimately reconciled to his patron. Moore then continues, "Soon after this the noble poet removed to Diodati." Let us these accounts with yet another furnished compare by Moore somewhat earlier in the same biography: Arriving at Geneva (Byron) took up his abode at the well-known hotel, Sécheron. After a stay of a few weeks at this place, he removed to a villa in the neighbourhood, called Diodati, very beautifully situated on the high banks of the Lake, where he established his residence for the remainder of the summer."t pendent evidence that this date cannot be very at Diodati.T WHITSUNDAY: WHITSUNTIDE. A great deal has been written, both in " N. & Q." and elsewhere, on the derivation of our English name for the feast of Pentecost, and it might be considered that the subject had been pretty well threshed out. This is, however, by no means the case. It cannot be said that any definite conclusion was reached by the former discussions, and there is still virgin soil left to turn up in search of the genuine root. I may possibly not succeed where so many have failed, but the attempt, at least, is worth making. On comparing these extracts, the question at once arises whether Belle Rive was not merely a second name of the Villa Diodati (just as Chapuis was another appellation of the Campagne Mont Alègre). Both are described as situated upon the high banks of the lake; both were in or near Coligny. Observe, also, that in the second passage quoted, Moore represents Byron as moving directly from the Hôtel de Sécheron to the Villa Diodati. We need only suppose that, in printing or copying, the words " or Diodati" were accidentally omitted in the first extract after "called Belle Rive," to clear away and reconcile all crepancies. Medwin follows in the same sense, omitting any allusion to Belle Rive. He says:§ "After a fortnight's residence at Dejean's, Shelley and his female friends removed to the Campagne Montallegre, on the opposite side of the lake; and shortly after Lord Byron took that (the campagne) of Diodati." In deciding for or against the separate existence of a Villa Belle Rive the dates are all-important. Counting a fortnight from the Shelleys' arrival at the Hôtel de Sécheron, they would move on May 28 or 29; and, indeed, on June 1, Mrs. 66 2. This day is called Wytsonday because the Shelley writes that they had changed their resi- Holy Ghost brought wytte and wysdome into dence, and she, moreover, dates her letter from Cristis disciples." This is quoted by Hearne from Campagne C******" which initial, and six a book printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and is supsequent asterisks, must stand for Campagne Cha-ported by a passage from Richard Rolle of Hampuis, that is Mont Alègre. If, as we are told, Byron outstayed his friends a fortnight at the Hôtel, he would have occupied the Villa Diodati on the 11th or 12th of June; and we have inde In order to avoid repetition, and to put such of your readers as may be bitten by the etymological dis-maggot au courant with the present aspect of the question, I may refer to "N. & Q.," 5th S. i. 401, for an able summary by the editor, and also to a letter signed C*** (Mr. Cockayne), 4th S. xi. 437. These articles, with the references which they contain, are sufficient to bring out the various theories, which may in a few words be summarized as follows: 66 * Letters, vol. ii. p. 27. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 6. This seems to have been a common topographical name. Compare our "Mount Pleasant." § See vol. i. p. 238 of The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Thomas Medwin. The words in parenthesis are mine. Medwin is a loose and incorrect writer, but in this instance he seems to know the ground, and he tells us that he was at Diodati "two years after," i.e. in 1818, I suppose. The name is filled in at full in the reprint of the Six Weeks' Tour as a portion of the Essays and Letters from Abroad, Moxon, 1840, 8vo. See vol. ii. p. 56. I suppose "Chapius" (sic) is a misprint. 1. Whitsunday is equivalent to Dominica Alba, and was so called from the white garments worn by neophytes on that day. pole (A.D. 1358). 3. Another correspondent quotes Brady's Clavis Calendaria, in which it is said that the original name of the season of the year was Wittentide, or the time of choosing the wits or wise men to the Wittenagemote. 4. Verstegan, in his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, suggests A.-S. wieda, Fl. wijen, to consecrate, applied as a period of peculiar sanctity. 5. Reading, in his Sermons on the Lessons for Sundays throughout the Year (vol. ii. 291), says :"It was a custom amongst our ancestors upon this day (Whitsunday) to give all the milk of their ewes and kine to their poor neighbours, for the love of God, and in ¶ Letters and Journals, vol. ii. p. 7. The date of the letter is June 27. 2 order to qualify themselves to receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit. And from the food which the poor made of that milk, called white-meat, this day is supposed by some to have taken the name of Whit-Sunday.' 6. In "N. & Q.," 2nd S. i. 521, MR. MACKENZIE WALCOTT derives Whitsun from the German Pfingsten (Low Ger. Pingsten). This has met with support in other quarters. 7. MR. COCKAYNE ("N. & Q.," 4th S. xi. 437) rejects altogether the Christian derivation of the word, and refers it to a heathen custom of welcoming the summer and seeking for a bright sun. 8. Two other suggestions may be passed over very lightly one that Whitsunday is huict Sunday, the eighth after Easter; the other that, as Whitsunday was introduced after the Conquest, some word was brought over by Norman ecclesiastics, which was rendered intelligible to Saxon ears by being corrupted into the forms White Sunday or Wit Sunday. In glancing over these various theories, the principal thing that strikes one is the marvellously small basis, and in most the utter absence, of any facts to sustain the conclusions arrived at. Imagination and conjecture raise up a house of cards, which a breath suffices to destroy. In the following remarks I propose to confine myself to facts which may be tested by any one who will take the trouble to investigate them, and simply to point out the direction towards which these facts will lead us. I have no theory to maintain, and am equally content whatever the result may be. In the first place, it is a fact that, down to the period of the Conquest, Whitsuntide, Whitsunday, are not found in our language. The earliest known occurrence is an entry in the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1067: "Sona æfter tham com Mathild seo hlæfdie hier to lande, and Ealdred arcebischof hig gehalgode to cwene on Westmynstre on hwitan sunnan dag." In the rubrics to the A.-S. Gospels Pentecost is always used. From A.D. 1200, Whitsun, in its archaic forms, was in common use. In the Ancren Riwle (1200) we find hwite-sunne dei; in Layamon's Brut (1205), white sunne tide; and so on subsequently, Pentecost falling into disuse. Wicliffe uses witsontide in 1 Cor. xvi. 8, where Cranmer's Bible of 1551 has wytsontyde. Our A. V. has in all cases Pentecost. Jupiter. Wachter, however, has set the question at rest by showing that the earliest form was fimfchustim, from fimfzugosto, quinquagesimus. This does not, however, apply to Anglo-Saxon, which adopted the Greek word pure and simple. It is again a fact that, in the early ages of Christianity amongst the Teutons, Pentecost was called by a name equivalent to our own. Wachter, sub voc. "Weisse Sonntag,” says :— "Dominica alba, ab albis vestibus sic dicta, quibus candidati baptismi comparebant. Erant autem antiquitus tria baptismi tempora, Festum Nativitatis Christi (quo die baptizatus est Chlodoveus), Paschatis et Pen tecostes." Ihre gives the Old Norse name for Pentecost, Hwita dagar; Ten Kate (Nederduitsche Sprake, 1723) gives Witte Zondag, Dominica Pentecostes. These changes must have had their origin in some altered circumstances or customs, which it may be well to inquire into. We turn now to a different quarter. The publication, in 1874, of the Icelandic-English Dictionary of Cleasby and Vigfusson opened a new era in the study of Teutonic philology, especially in its Norse and Anglo-Saxon relations. It is not a mere dictionary, but a laborious and valuable collection of illustrations of a rich and copious language closely allied to our own, which has undergone little change during the last eight hundred years, and which possesses an unequalled extent of early medieval literature. Iceland was colonized at the latter end of the ninth century, and Christianized about A.D. 1000, principally by missionaries from Saxony, who would, of course, bring with them their own ecclesiastical terms. Now neither Pfingsten nor Pentecost has ever been current in Iceland. The first bishop of Iceland was consecrated on Whitsunday, A.D. 1056, and the day is recorded as HvitDrottin's Dagr, White Lord's Day, which afterwards settled down as Hvitasunnu-dagr, Whitsunday, and Hvitasunnudags-vika, Whitsundayweek. A reference to the article will well repay perusal for the variety of information it conveys on the early history of Whitsuntide. I extract a few notices: especially the two latter, were the great seasons for "The great festivals, Yule, Easter, and Pentecost, but christening, whence the first Sunday after Easter was called 'Dominica in Albis,'* but in the Northern churches, perhaps owing to the cold weather at Easter, Pentecost seems to have been specially appointed for christening.+ Amongst our congeners on the Continent the reverse change took place. From a very early period Pentecost, amongst the Teutonic nations, "At the introduction of Christianity, neophytes, in took the name of High Ger. Pfingsten, Flem. the week after their baptism, used to wear white garPinckster, Danish Pintse, Swed. Pingest. The ments called hvíta vaðir, 'white weeds,' as a symbol of derivation of this has been a subject of dispute, some maintaining that these words are merely corruptions of the Greek TEVTηKOσTý; others that, as Easter is named after a heathen divinity, Pfingsten may be so called from Pin, the Teutonic *See Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. i. p. 541, vol. ii. 318-322; also Cave's Primitive his sermons alludes to the same custom. Christianity, part i. ch. vii. p. 192. St. Augustine in Thomas Saga,—Hungr-vaka (Lives of the Bishops). |