Thos. Gildeford, resid., 1427 (Luffenam, 8). Jo. Wardraper, resid., 1515 (Holder, 8). Simeon, dean, 1508 (Bennett, 4). Thos. Hutton, D. decret. archd., 1505 (Adeane, 3). Jo. Breton, canon, 1465 (Godyn, 9). St. Paul's.-Jo. Ednam, treas., 1517 (Holden, 31). Wm. Dighton, canon, 1391 (Rous, 8). This reference to Ptolemy and his Geography is indispensable, in order that the reader may form a correct idea of the birthplace of Carausius. All that was known of the different countries in Europe was recorded in Ptolemy's Geography. Ptolemy, it is stated in the Mon. Hist. Brit. (p. x), "floruit A.D. 120,” and Carausius died at the close of the third century. Bearing these facts in mind we have to test, by means of the geographical information supplied by Ptolemy, the accuracy of the different and contradictory statements made as to the birthplace of Carausius. Mr. Ramsay (Smith's Greek and Roman Biography, vol. i. p. 609) says that Carausius was "born in Menapia, a district between the Scheldt and the Meuse," -a statement that is in part confirmed by a note in the Rerum Gallicarum et Francorum Scriptores (vol. i. p. 566, note b, Paris, Zanobius de Mulakins, D. decret. archd. Essex, 1461 1741, fol.) upon the words of Aurelius Victor, (Stokton, 22). Jo. Crulle, archd. Essex, 1480 (Logge, 3). Jo. Chitterne, archd. Lond., 1419 (Marche, 44). Rich. Pidyton, archd. Essex, 1387 (Rous, 2). John Mowy, canon, 1417 (Marche, 39). Saye, dean, 1468 (Godyn, 26). Roger Holm, chanc., 1395 (Rous, 4). Rob. Ascogh, archd. Colch., 1448 (Rous, 13). Lichfield.-John, archd. Salop, 1504 (Holgrave, 20). Thos., canon, 1451 (Rous, 16). Hugh Penthwyn, archd., 1504 (Holgrave, 16). THE BIRTHPLACE OF CARAUSIUS. Contemporary with the Emperors Adrian and Antoninus there was a famous individual named Claudius Ptolemæus, who composed works so remarkable for their science and profound learning that Dr. Lempriere, in his Classical Dictionary, says, "Ptolemy was regarded by the Greeks as most wise and most divine." A proof of the value still attached to his writings is afforded by the large space allotted to his biography in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography (vol. iii. pp. 569-580), wherein is an analysis of his works, and especial attention is bestowed upon his Geography, a book recognized by every scholar as one of indubitable authority. At various times it has been edited by Erasmus, Servetus, Montanus, Bertius, and others.* * The only copy I have had the opportunity of consulting is that which bears the title Cl. Ptolemæi Alexandrini Geographica Libri Octo, illustrated with "Menapiæ civis" :-"Menapiæ nomine aut Castellum Menapiorum aut pagum Menapicum designari putat Hadr. Valesius."+ Evidence as to the value of both these authorities is afforded by Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, where, under the heading of "Menapia," it is stated, from a passage in Ptolemy (vi. 11, § 8), that it was "a small place in Bactriana" (vol. ii. p. 327), and at the same time (in verb. Menapii ") superabundant information is tendered as to the Menapians, whose country had been invaded by Julius Cæsar (vol. ii. pp. 327, 328). Ptolemy and his Geography are, as regards Manapia and Manapii, altogether ignored by Mr. Ramsay in his biography of Carausius. Milton, the profound Greek scholar, passes by the geographical tables of Ptolemy as if they were unknown to him, to tell us that Carausius was "a man of low parentage, born in Menapia, about the parts of Cleves and Juliers" (History of England, book ii. p. 23). The sagacious and most learned Mr. Gibbon gives this account of Carausius. He was, we are assured, "a Menapian of the meanest origin." And then Mr. Gibbon, not paying due attention maps by Mercator, bearing date 1584, and published, I believe, at Duisburg in that year, as introductory remarks by Mercator are dated "Duisburg, 1583." Extracts from Ptolemy relating to the British Islands are to be seen in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, pp. x-xvi; Giles, History of Ancient Britons, vol. ii. pp. 97-103; and Johnstone, Antiquitates Celto-Normannica, pp. 125-134 (Copenhagen, 1786). + Castellum is not "a city." Civitas is, according to Dr. Smith's Latin and English Dictionary, rarely used 66 66 to the statement contained in Ptolemy's Geography, borough, and grandfather of the Duke of Berwick, not even to "the small place in Bactriana" men- published in the year 1675 a very extraordinary tioned by Mr. Vaux in Smith's Geographical Dic-book, entitled Divi Britannici; being a Remark tionary, nor to "the small city of Bactriana" | upon the Lives of all the Kings of this Isle, from specified in Dr. Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, the Year of the World 2855 until the Year of says, The Menapians were settled between the Grace 1660 (London, 1675). Information is to Scheldt and the Meuse, in the northern part of be found in this book not easily procurable elseBrabant" (History, vol. ii. c. xiii. p. 120). where; and how it was discovered I cannot even guess, for it displays in its first chapter the heraldic shields of various sovereigns, beginning with Brute in the year of the world 2855, and ending with Lubelin, anno mundi 3921! The highly respectable aristocratic author cannot abide the very thought of a low-born plebeian like Carausius being British born and a British sovereign, but, relying upon the panegyrist Eumenius, insists that Carausius must have been a Batavian. It is not very easy to extract a distinct meaning from the language of the worthy knight, but, as I understand him, he appears to be referring to the temporary possessors of sovereignty over Britain. Here are the precise words used by him: Dean Milman, in his edition of Gibbon's History, has something more to say on this point: "The three opinions of Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, and Eumenius, Vilissime natus,' 'Menapiæ civis,' and 'Bataviæ alumnus,' give us a very doubtful account of Carausius" (Gibbon's History, vol. ii. c. xiii. note 25). Mr. Gibbon having stated that Carausius was a Menapian, and that the Menapians were settled between the Scheldt and the Meuse, adds this information: "Born on the confines of the Franks, he courted that formidable people by the flattering imitation of their dress and manners (vol. ii. p. 123). That Carausius favoured the Franks I believe, as (to use the words of Sir F. Palgrave)" amongst his other allies" he had "settled large bodies of Franks in Britain" (vol. i. c. xi. p. 377); but I can find no authority for the statement that he imitated the "dress and manners" of the Franks. I can discover no confirmation of this assertion in the coins and medals of Carausius. The proof may be there, but the defective vision of a shortsighted man renders me incapable of perceiving it. On the contrary, the only character assumed on coin or medal is that of "a Roman," and his "favourite device" of "the wolf and twins" seems to be an emblem of the obscurity of his own birth, of his alien nurture, and of his ambition that the new principality of Britain, over which he reigned, might become, like to Rome, a sovereign and dominant power amid all other nations: "The ensigns of the Eternal City are found upon his coins, and it is very remarkable that the wolf and twins are copied upon the rude mintage of Ethelbert, the Bretwalda or Emperor of Anglo-Saxon Britain."-Sir F. Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the English Constitution, vol. i. c. xi. p. 376. I have thus far cited writers of great weight and authority, but who ignore the information concerning Menapia and Menapians, Manapia and Manapians, to be found in Ptolemy, and so doing they come to the conclusion that Carausius was probably a Brabanter, and certainly a "foreign or continental Menapian. To these writers of great weight and authority is to be added an author of high rank and quality-a man of marvellous luck, for he was the father of the ablest English-born general that ever commanded a British army, and he was the grandfather of the most illustrious and successful of French generals. This particularly lucky individual, Sir Winston Churchill, Knt., the father of the Duke of Marl "The two Tetrici and Marius, who seem to have had some marks of sovereignty (as appears by some old coins that have been found with scarce legible inscriptions of here, with no other design than to plunder or squeeze their names), yet I take them to be only such as touch't some Tribute out of the impoverish'd Islanders, as did the drunken Bonosus, Admiral to Aurelian, and Carausius, Admiral to Dioclesian (whom, I know not for what reason, Rhetor calls the last Terra Batavia alumnus), or, some would have thought to be natives, whereas Eumenes peradventure, took sanctuary here, as the remotest and most secure place to shelter themselves in after they rebell'd against their masters, as did Allectus when pursu'd by Constantius, next Emperor in succession."Pp. 82, 83. WM. B. MAC CABE. (To be continued.) FOLK-LORE. FOLK-SPEECH (DORSETSHIRE.)-In redemption of the offer made (5th S. vii. 45) to supplement the list of folk-names of flowers (Dorset) I there furnished, I now send a similar one, derived from the same sources, appertaining to birds, insects, &c., in the hope of inducing contributions from other counties, and collecting in the pages of "N. & Q.” a storehouse of those quaint old names of their folk, ere the enlightening tendencies of the School Board render such an object impossible. Die-dapper.-A dabchick. Dish-washer.-The wagtail. Devil's cow.-A flat kind of beetle. Dumbledore.-The humble-bee. Dun piddle.-The kite or moor buzzard. Frog-hopper.-The whole of the genus Cicada is often so called. Gorky.-A cuckoo. God Almighty's cow. -The ladybird. Hart berries.-The whortleberry bilberry. Horse-stinger.-The dragon-fly. Jobbler.-The bird wheatear. Kitty-coot.-The water-rail. Maiden tree.-A tree not polled. and archaeologist when gleaning, as occasion offers, trustworthy accounts of the various superstitious habits and customs to be found in foreign countries. Do not the following newspaper cuttings, from two of a series of graphic communications from Bucharest, show that, in such matters, we have a good deal in common with the ignorant unlettered peasant of Roumania?— "There are no medical men in Roumania, except in the large towns, and in the country witchcraft is practised openly. When a person becomes sick, the witches -generally old women-are sent for, and they sing and perform incantations over the sick. Illness arises from being bewitched, and the coldbloodedness with which the murder is planned of the persons who accomplish this bewitching is startling. Meeting with one of these witch hags, asked her if she could cure animals as well as human beings, and she replied that she could cure horses and bullocks, but not dogs. When people Meat-ware.-Potatoes, pulse, and other farinaceous persist in dying, despite the singings and incantations, food. screech "). (see "Home then it is kismet (fate). A peasant taking spite at a neighbour overtures these hags to bewitch his enemy, and according to payment is the awfulness of the bewitchery. One old hag I saw had just been accomplishing the death of a man, at the desire of a second, by singing over a piece of putrid flesh, and plunging a knife into it. What is called the Evil Eye' is supposed to be very potent in Wallachia. A Roumanian thinks that the greatest injury you can do to his or her child is to admire it, for then the Evil Eye has passed from you to the child, and it will fade away and die-so it is believed. The Evil Eye also affects bullocks and horses. There is one preventive which most people take the precaution of attending to. A child or adult or animal, decorated with red ribbons, is impervious to the Evil Eye, and hence most people wear something scarlet about them, and oxen have generally a red rag about their horns. The bear cure is a favourite with the peasants, especially for rheumatism and fevers. Swallow pear-A tiny wild pear, so called because it When attacked by these illnesses, the peasants send for can be taken whole, at a swallow. Toad's-meat.-Toadstool. gipsies, who are always moving about with bears half tamed and led by chains. On the arrival of the bear the sick man lies down on the ground, and the bear is made to tread upon and over him. the man as the bear passes pulling out a hair from the fur of the animal. This hair is worn in the bosom of the patient. Previous to this simple operation, however, a mystery has to be performed, otherwise the cure will not be complete. A gipsy leads the bear round in a circle, and causes the animal to perform all sorts of strange antics to the wild music of a species of tambourine, played by a second. After this incantation the spirits are propitiated, and the bear cure is proceeded with. Divination is also thoroughly believed in, one favourite practice being for the magician to poise a key on a finger-the movement of the key being the interpreting medium. For instance, a peasant, who had lost a purse containing a few francs, went to a witch-male in this case-to find out the thief. I accompanied him, and saw the process. The witch poised a key on the tip of his index finger, told the man to repeat the names of the persons he suspected of having committed the theft, and then mumbled some words inexplicable to me. At the fourth name the key moved and dipped, and the witch said that was the thief. Quite convinced the peasant left, and I have no doubt engaged the services of another witch to bewitch the thief. Cards are also used in divination, and even in the large towns, at every few doors in the back streets, a fortune-teller may be found; a card in the window being the sign."-The Scotsman, June 22 1877. "Unusual activity prevails in the market this morning, owing to the presence of a number of Russian Jews and Greeks, who are buying up the maize and wheat in order to fulfil contracts which they have entered into with the Russian Government. One practice I observed which is worthy of notice. As a matter of course, the Rouman demands, on a first inquiry, about twice the market value of his produce, and when he receives what he considers too low an offer, as an emphatic disclaimer or a sign of defiance he puts the nail of his thumb against the front teeth of the upper jaw, and gives a klick. This is done exactly in the sense in which Shakspeare makes one of his characters in Romeo and Juliet say to another, I bite my thumb at them.' Another custom which is prevalent in Scotland is that on concluding a bargain the buyer gives a coin to the seller as luckpenny. A sale so ratified is, I am told, never departed from. Another Scotch custom extant here, and which I noted, was that the first money taken for the day is spat upon as luck."-The Scotsman, June 21, 1877. J. Glasgow. THE EMPEROR JOSEPH.-The annexed copy of a letter, written nearly a century ago, from the then Emperor of Germany to the Pope, has been recently found among some old family documents, with the following note or card annexed: "Mr. Robertson Barclay's compts. to Sir Alexander Dick [of Prestonfield, I doubt not]-sends him the above copy of a letter from the Emperor to the Pope, which his son James sent him from Rome the other day, December 31, 1782." Copy of Translation. "I have the honour to answer by return of post the letter your Holiness writes me upon the supposition that I intend to deprive churches and ecclesiastics of all their possessions, and to reduce them all to simple pensions. The reports of certain persons have already procured me the very high honour of seeing your Holiness in my capital, and I make no doubt that such, too, have procured me this new testimony in writing of your friendship and of your apostolical zeal. I can only say (without dwelling too long on the subject) that the supposition which has come to your ears, as your Holiness expresses yourself, is false: and without having recourse to texts of Scripture or of the Fathers,always, however, subject to interpretation and explanation, I possess in my own breast a voice which tells me what, as legislator and protector of religion, I ought to pursue or desist from: and that voice, with the assistance of Divine grace, and that honest and just character which I feel in myself, can never lead me into If your Holiness will rest satisfied of this truth, as I hope you will, I beg of you to believe me likewise to be with the most filial attachment and regard, &c. "August, 1782." error. J. M. E FINAL.-Murdock, in his clever Dictionary of Distinctions, has made a study of this, and has said more to the purpose upon it than perhaps any other writer either before or since. It has three effects. One of them is twofold,-to lengthen the preceding vowel, and change its sound if only one consonant intervenes, as ban, bane. Then it changes c and g from hard to soft, as rag, rage. Or it adds a syllable, and changes the seat of accent, Babylon, Babylone. And then he says that it varies the sound of th, as in bath, bathe; breath, breathe. I think this is true, though likely to lead to an error. What Murdock calls varied others will call altered. It is not the sound of th that is altered. When a word concludes with th, it hisses; but, when an e follows, it becomes the, as in the man; and so it does in ba-the. nature is the same, though modified by the new combination. C. A. WARD. Mayfair. The POETICAL ANALOGY.-The following passages are neither parallel nor transverse:— Waller. "As once the lion honey gave, Out of the strong such sweetness came; "Beware! the Israelite of old, who tore J. G. Whittier. Bleached by the desert's sun and wind became And he who, lone and naked-handed, tore In after time drew forth their honied store To strengthen his strong heart," &c. The Hive at Gettysburg. Those who compare the latter poems together will find that the two American poets have chosen the same text and preached the same sermon without the slightest approach to a parallelism. 80, Litchfield Street, Gateshead. JOHN CRAGGS. "OLD."-Whilst walking through a back street at Ashburton, Devon, a few evenings ago, I observed three or four children, the eldest not more, than six years of age, playing and making some noise near the door of a house, to which, as it appeared, none of them belonged. A woman dwelling in the house came out and drove them away, and then remarked, apparently to the world at large, "I can't tell why the infernal old children make their noise at my door." The use of "old" as a term of depreciation is common in South Devon, but I never before heard it applied to children. WM. PENGELLY. Torquay. EDITORS OF MILTON.-It would be interesting if somebody would chronicle for "N. & Q." all the editors of Milton's works. I fancy that neither Lowndes, Watt, or Allibone is at all complete. C. A. WARD. Mayfair. Queries. [We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.] PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND, 1646-1660.The writer is anxious to ascertain in what parts of England the Presbyterian discipline was set up during the above period. As is well known, owing to the zeal of individual advocates of it, it was in most active operation in London and in Lancashire. About 1648 there was a disposition to put it in force in Suffolk and Essex. The latter county, in a printed document, was mapped out into "Classes," with a somewhat incomplete roll of ministers and elders; but it does not appear that it ever got to work. Information as to the districts in which Presbyterianism exercised its functions seems, in the absence of direct information in the authorities on the subject, to be best obtained from incidental sources. Philip Henry was ordained in Shropshire, 1659, by the "nearest acting Class of Presbyters, in the Hundred of Bradford North, wherein Mr. Porter, of Whitchurch, was the leading man." In twelve years this Classis ordained sixty-three ministers (An Account of the Life and Death of Mr. P. Henry, ed. 1698, p. 35). In Derbyshire there was a Classis at Chesterfield, and another at Wirksworth. At the latter place the son of Master Samuel Hieron, the author of the Sermons, was ordained; as also was Josiah Whiston, father of the celebrated translator of Josephus. As to Cheshire, Henry Newcome, afterwards of Manchester, was ordained at Sandbach, in 1648; and he preached (Oct. 20, 1653), as minister of Gawsworth, "at Knutsford Exercise; and we then met," he records, "about a classical association" (Autobiog., pp. 10, 46). One of the earliest orders for the carrying out of the new discipline is that of Feb. 20, 1645-6, being the resolution of the Houses of Parliament: "That there be forthwith a Choice made of Elders throughout the Kingdome of England, and Dominion of Wales, in the respective Parish Churches and Chappels, according to such Directions as have already passed both Houses, bearing date the 19 of August, 1645, and since that time And all Classes and Parochial Congre gations respectively are hereby authorized and required forthwith effectually to proceed therein accordingly."— Husband's Folio, p. 809. Stretford, near Manchester. JOHN E. BAILEY. can only be traced back to one Thomas Cartwright, alias Vicars, of Scawsbie, who made his will Dec. 7, 1576. He is mentioned as cousin in the will of Roger Cartwright, of Coningsborough, within the deanery of Doncaster, dated Nov. 28, 1539, and there is called "Thomas Cartwright of Scawsbie," without the alias of "Vicars." Furthermore, John, the eldest son of the above Roger Cartwright, in his will, dated Feb. 14, 1569, calls himself "John Vicars, otherwise called John Cartwright, of Conyngsbro'." The family is of some interest in South Yorkshire, one member, Thomas Cartwright, alias Vicars, of Scawsbie, having by his will, dated June 10, 1597, left 10l. a year to both universities for the education of one of my poor kinsmen or blood" for ever. This charity has disappeared, but whither I am unable to say. He also left some local benefactions. Can any one tell me why the alias of "Vicars " was added to the name of Cartwright, and give me any clue as to the earlier descent of this family? One Edward Vicars, of Quarne, in co. Derby, who claimed to be a son of "William Vicars, of Scoresby, in com' Ebor.," was found in the Visitation of 1569 to have usurped arms; he bore, "Argent, upon a cross patonce, sable, five estoiles or." ALFRED SCOTT GATTY. Ecclesfield, Sheffield. Doister: 66 UDAL'S "ROISTER DOISTER." I should feel greatly obliged for help in the following difficulties, which I have met with in the first scene of Roister 1. What is a "sayd saw," and to what "sayd saw" does Merygreek allude in the following lines ? "As long lyveth the mery man (they say) As doth the sory man, and longer by a day." 2. In enumerating his victims the jovial sponger makes use of compounds which in most cases indicate the peculiarities of those that bear them, as, ""Nichol Neverfor example, "Davy Diceplayer," thrives." It is natural to suppose that the other names are also intended to convey a meaning. Can any one suggest it? The passage is as follows: "Sometime Tom Titivile maketh us a feast, Sometime with Sir Hugh Pye I am a bidden guest, Sometime I am feasted with Bryan Blinkinsoppe, Sometime I hang on Hankyn Hoddydodies sleeve." How does the name of Merygreek himself denote that, "Whatever chaunce betide, he can take no thought"? 3. What meaning is to be given to the word "loute" in these lines?"In these twentie townes, and seke them throughout, Is not the like stocke, whereon to graffe a loute." According to Johnson "lout" means an awkward fellow, a bumpkin, a clown." I am inclined to add to these explanations that of flatterer, 66 66 |