"And so of Browning and Meredith. Who questions their power or fails to appreciate their talent, though their sentences be oftenest like the Delphic Oracles in mystery? And will the twenty-first century read their lines with less difficulty or belaud what it cannot understand more loudly than the nineteenth? More likely it will relegate them (though unfairly), by the contraction of perspective, to the limbo of things unreadable."

What will the ladies, members of the Browning Society, say to the great, the immortal Robert Browning being described as a writer of "things unreadable"? difficult, within the limits of restricted In truth, it is space, to do justice to J. B. S. son and Goethe, will posterity bid them "And Tennyclimb to a higher gradient up the slopes of Parnassus than that which they have already reached? I doubt it." Imagine Tennyson and Goethe walking hand in hand up the slopes of Parnassus for the edification of mankind! The conjunction of Byron and Keats is nothing to that. J. B. S. then writes: "The verdict of the future is passed by a jury utterly incapable of viewing a case except through party-tinted lenses, and furnished only with fragments of evidence upon which to base it...... Gibbon, Macaulay, Freeman, and Lecky are samples [sic] in point; McCarthy's 'History of our Times witnesses for the plaintiff. One such volume is worth, in point of accuracy, a whole library of the former."

Poor Gibbon! Poor Macaulay! Poor Freeman! and, alas! poor Lecky! From 1788 to 1897, behold the vicissitudes of Fame !

RICHARD EDGCUMBH.

33, Tedworth Square, S. W.

Complete accuracy implies proportion. It follows that we cannot see anything accurately unless we see its surroundings too. A certain distance of time is therefore necessary to completely accurate vision of an historical, as of space to similar vision of a scenic object. This is, indeed, more necessary in the case of an historical than of a scenic object, because in the case of the latter, however near to the object we may be, the surroundings are all there; whereas in the other case they are not. We cannot possibly see our contemporaries in relation to succeeding times, and these are not the least important part of a man's historical surroundings.

It may also be urged that a man can only be judged by his work, the value of which cannot be accurately known until its full effect is seen. Time tries all. We can compare Shakespeare with Dante, because time has shown what the work of each was permanently worth; but we cannot compare

Salisbury with his Elizabethan ancestor, for we do not know either the actual or the relative value of their work.

And in all this no account is taken of the passions and prejudices which affect our vision of contemporaries far more than of the men of times past. C. C. B.

The real estimate of a man is the lasting one which he actually bears through the ages, and not that which any one generation do not arrive at that estimate until some of may think he ought to bear. Therefore we little thought of by his contemporaries. the ages are already past. Shakespeare was Hold a penny piece near enough to your eye Many of our own day are by us over-rated. and you can blot out the sun.

You can have

tain while you are standing at its foot. no conception of the relative size of a mounSurely it is a sign of the "end of the age that we are so impatient, so hasty to form judgments; as it was said of a late critic, we are not sure of our own personal identity unless we have made up our minds about everything and everybody. Our business should be rather the patient accumulation of materials from which a later age may be enabled to form a correct estimate.

W. C. B.

number of 'Chambers's Papers for the People,' ESSAY BY CARLYLE (9th S. i. 368).-That vol. ix., 1851, which your correspondent says is "palpably Carlyle's," was written for the Messrs. Chambers by Mr. John Leaf, of Friskney, Lincolnshire, who about that date did a great deal of literary work for the article on Fichte and seven others (of which various publications of this house. The those on Heyne, Defoe, and Louis XVII, had also appeared in 'Papers for the People' or Chambers's Repository') were subsequently published by Mr. Leaf as a separate volume with a sufficiently un-Carlylean title, Biographic Portraitures; or, Sketches of the Lives and Characters of a Few Illustrious Persons' (London, James Blackwood, 1861). DAVID PATRICK.

339, High Street, Edinburgh.

CITY NAMES IN THE FIRST EDITION OF STOW'S 'SURVEY' (8th S. xii. 161, 201, 255, 276, 309, 391; 9th S. i. 48, 333, 431).--Aldersgate. My remarks upon Aldersgate referred solely to the form of the word as it stands. The statement that it really represents "Aldred's gate" is easily verified. In the 'Liber Custumarum,' ed. Riley, i. 230, the form is Aldrethegate, an Anglo-French spelling of Aldredesgate. As

to the name itself, the correct A.-S. form is Ealdræd, and the correct Old Mercian form is Aldræd. The suffix -red became -red at a very early period, owing to the lack of stress on the second syllable. It is perhaps worth saying that one mark of a Norman scribe is that he usually changes every A.-S. œ, whether long or short, into a or e, symbols with which he was more familiar.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

“SNY" (8th S. xii. 447; 9th S. i. 17).—Is there any relation between this word and sni, dealt with at the references given? In looking through the glossary appended to Bamford's Tim Bobbin,' I found sny to indicate dislike or indifference by look or manner; to be squeamish or delicate in food::

"Thus a good dame would say to her young and over-indulged boy, or to her tea-loving daughter, Come, getthe brekfust ettn, an dunno sit snyin theer. Thoose porritch, awn sure, ar good enoof for ony lady or gentlemon i'th lond, and iv the arno' good enoof for thee, theaw mun goo beawt, that's 0'.'"

CANALETTO IN LONDON (8th S. xii. 324, 411; 9th S. i. 373).—I would refer MR. HEBB to 8th S. ix. 15. C. LEESON PRINCE.

HARE PROVERB (9th S. i. 468).--An article on 'Sarcasm and Humour in the Sanctuary,' in the Antiquary for June, says, p. 183, col. 1: "Among the grotesque carvings upon the arches of the north choir aisle of Bristol Cathedral we have......a goat blowing a horn, and carrying a hare slung over its back." The article opens with the explanation that many of the carvings were allegories at the expense of the friars. Is it possible that the folk-tale is the perpetuation of an old confusion between hare-pipe hare-snare and ARTHUR MAYALL.

hare-tabor?

signify a ground swell, When this occurs on a windless night the echo of it rings thro' the timbers of the old houses in a haven."-From 'Alfred, Lord Tennyson: a Memoir,' by his son, 1897, vol. ii. p. 8. JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

Ropley, Hampshire.

"FOOL'S PLOUGH" (9th S. i. 348).-Perhaps the following from A Glossary of Yorkshire Words and Phrases' will explain the meaning of the phrase in question:

the first Monday after Twelfth Day, and the days "Plufe Stots or Plough Stots.-On Plough Monday, following, there is a procession of rustic youths dragging a plough, who, as they officiate for oxen,' says Dr. Young, are called Plough Stots [stot=a shirts over the outsides of their jackets, with sashes steer, a young ox]. They are dressed with their of ribbons fixed across their breasts and backs, and knots or roses of the same fastened on to their shirts and hats.' They are generally accompanied with a band of sword-dancers, while one or more musicians play the fiddle or flute. When the dancers perform their evolutions, the Madgies or Madgy Pegs, grotesquely attired, and oft with their faces blacked and heads horned, go about for contributions, rattling their tin canisters as money boxes. miles around; and afterwards the money collected In this way they proceed from place to place for is spent in festivities with their friends and sweethearts."

In the instance quoted by Mackenzie_the money, thus collected would seem to have been given towards building the bridge which he mentions. C. P. HALE.

This was the plough that was taken in procession on " Plough Monday"; see Bohn's ed. of Brand's 'Popular Antiquities,' 1849, i. 505. W. C. B.

He was

CHARLES SHERBORN, ENGRAVER (8th S. iv.307, 358).-Charles Sherborn was the son of Thomas Sherborn (d. 1731) and Hannah Thomas was the son of Henry Sherborn (d. 1705) and married Elizabeth Mary (d. 1707). Charles was born 1716, 1786 (Gent. Mag., 1786, p. 719), (d. 1787), and died succeeded in his Gutter Lane business by his son H-. The plates engraved in 1789, 1791, and 1792, mentioned by MR. HODGKIN, Bedfont Sherborns. were by the son. Charles was one of the His father had three brothers- Francis, whose descendants still live at Bedfont; William, who died young; and Henry, who married Rachel Elford. This Henry had many children, of whom one, Henry (1711-84), went to Windsor, and also had a large family, of which one, William, went to Newbury, in Berkshire, and his William Sherborn, the line engraver, my descendant still lives in the person of Charles father.

I have during the last five years gone very

carefully into the history of the Sherborns, and have a great mass of material. I should be glad to hear from any one interested in the family. C. DAVIES SHERBORN.

540, King's Road, S. W.

WIDTH OF ORGAN AND PIANOFORTE KEYS (9th S. i. 408).-There is much on this subject in the dictionary of Sir George Grove :

"The permanence of the width of the octave has been determined by the average span of the hand, and a Ruckers harpsichord of 1614 measures but a small fraction of an inch less in the eight keys than a Broadwood or Erard concert-grand piano of 1879." The "average span" of a hand like that of Woelfl-who must have straddled the keyboard like a Colossus-would not make the octave of much account. Recent invention has, however, rendered great things possible to the smallest of average hands. K. B. Schumann (d. 1865) invented a radiated keyboard having c on a black key. Here the octave was the width of six of the present white keys (nearly 5ğ in.). Herr von Jankó (1887-8) also brought the octave within the limits of six keys. There appear to be some disadvantages, but it is obvious that much modern music-the well-known No. 4 of Schumann's Nachtstücke,' Op. 23, is an example-would thus tend to become more tolerable at the hands of the modern "pupil" than it is at present. GEORGE MARSHALL. Sefton Park, Liverpool.

MACAULAY AND MONTGOMERY (8th S. xii. 66, 132, 214, 332).--In glancing over the penultimate volume of N. & Q. my eye caught, at the second reference, a very dogmatic assertion of the late C. F. S. WARREN, which escaped my attention when first issued, and which I venture equally dogmatically to contravert. Macaulay was wrong; soul and spirit are not identical, and so far MR. YARDLEY is right," is MR. WARREN'S er cathedra utterance. In logical parlance, I deny the major, minor, and conclusion of this quasi-syllogism, and formulate my thesis thus: Soul and spirit are identical, therefore both MR. WARREN and MR. YARDLEY are wrong, and Macaulay was right. Montgomery was also wrong; "his mistake," to judge MR. WARREN ex ore suo, was in the awkward association of the two words soul and spirit." Very "awkward" it certainly was, and richly merited Macaulay's drastic question. Since "qui bene distinguet bene docet," it would be interesting to have had MR. WARREN's distinction between soul and spirit, as I have never so far met with any convincing proof of difference between them, either philosophical or theological. What is

predicated of the one can be so of the other. But the onus probandi would have lain with MR. WARREN. Finally, though MR. YARDLEY may not thank me for championing his cause, his contention that "a fairy is a soulless thing and a spirit" differentiates correctly soul from ginary though they be, and precisely instances spirit. Fairies are the only instances (imafor that very reason) of spirit divorced from soul. This is the only way of answering "a question put as one of fact"-or, rather, of hypothetical fact, which this undoubtedly is. Quod gratis asseritur gratis negatur.” Manchester.

J. B. S.

PORTRAIT OF HENRIETTA, LADY WENTWORTH (9th S. i. 347, 475).-EBOR's inquiry is one that much interests me, and I wish him the success which did not attend my own inquiries when reproducing in my Wentworth book Williams's engraving of Kneller's painting. It was not then known at the office of the National Portrait Gallery whether the picture yet existed: possibly, as a few years have elapsed, inquiry in the same quarter might now be more fruitful. The natural owners would be the Earl of Lovelace, or Earl Fitzwilliam, or Mr. VernonWentworth (of Wentworth Castle, Stainborough, co. York); but so far as my experience has extended, the present representatives of the Wentworths do not appear to be interested in family history, my work having had no encouragement from them.

The same interesting lady (whose story is too intimately connected with the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth) was also portrayed by Sir Peter Lely, if credence is to be given to a small engraving published by Richardson in 1708. I doubt the identity, however, as it has no resemblance to Kneller's portrait. The engraving is found in the British Museum Print-Room and at the office of the National Portrait Gallery. It is a half figure, hair in pendent curls, pearl necklace, hand on breast. A few words of description of MR. HUMPHREY WOOD's little picture would be welcome. If representing Ann, wife of Sir Thomas Wentworth, third Earl of Strafford (first Earl, of the second creation), married 1711, would it not have been described as the Countess of Strafford, not merely as "The Honble Mrs Wentworth"? Her name before marriage was Johnson (only daughter of Sir Henry Johnson, Knt., by his wife Martha, Baroness Wentworth); she died in 1754 (ætat. seventy).

On looking through my pedigrees, I find that 1724 seems to fit Alice, wife of Thomas Watson

27, Elgin Avenue, W.

· TURNER (9th S. i. 389).-I do not know whether your correspondent has referred to my book Kingston Parish Registers' ('Monuments). In that he would see there is a monument to Margaret, wife of Thomas Turner, of Ileden, who died 4 Aug., 1698, in the forty-seventh year of her age and twentysixth of her marriage. There is also entered on the same tablet the death of the said Thomas Turner, 1 April, 1715, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. I think that the following marriage allegation ('Harleian Society's Publications,' vol. xxiii. p. 210) must apply to the

above:-

"1672. Dec. 18. Thomas Turner, of S. Andrew's, Holborn, Gent., Bach., abt. 25, & Mrs. Margaret Theobald, of St. Saviour's, Southwark, Sp., abt. 22, her parents dead; at St. Dunstan's East.

The ages and dates correspond with those on the tablet. Moreover, in the elaborate coat of arms above the inscription I find, from Berry's 'Dictionary of Heraldry,' the arms of Theobald included: Gules, six crosses crosslet fitchée or, 3, 2, and 1. Crest, a phoenix rising out of flames proper. I should mention that in my book Mr. R. Hovenden kindly gave the heraldic description of the arms, &c., as I am not versed in heraldry. If desired, I could furnish verbatim copy of the inscription on the tablet; but my book is in the British Museum, also at Lambeth Library.

I find from Bishop of London's Marriage Licences (Harleian Soc., vol. xxvi. p. 326) the second marriage of this Thomas Turner as follows:

1700. Thomas Turner of Ileden, Kingston, Kent, Esq, Widower, 50, and Mr Susanna Ryves, of Stepney, Wid., 50; at St. James in Fields."

CHRIS. HALES WILKIE. Kingston Rectory, Canterbury. Thomas Turner, of Ileden, Kent, married Margaret Theobald, 18 Dec., 1672. He was barrister-at-law and clerk in Chancery. If he is the man asked for, I can give full particulars of his wife's family, and should be grateful for his pedigree.

MRS. STEPHENSON. Warley Barracks, Brentwood.

GENERAL WADE (9th S. i. 129, 209, 253, 334, 376).—There have been several references to

"what first suggested the design were some conversations formerly with a great general...... who was a man of good understanding and some reading, but unhappily had no great regard for revealed religion......and, when the prophecies were urged as a proof of revelation, constantly derided the notion."

There is a remark upon this in Felix Summerly's Handbook for Westminster Abbey,' abridged edition, p. 20: "Bishop Newton is said to have been prompted to write his 'Dissertations on the Prophecies' by conversations with this general." ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.

MOON THROUGH COLOURED GLASS (9th S. i. 328, 377, 393).-A writer in the Athenæum, 12 September, 1896, says :—

"The pictorial splendours of 'The Eve of St. Agnes' have so intoxicated all readers that Millais beams falling through a stained-glass window. It was taken to task for giving a green hue to moonwas of no use to tell the objectors that green is the true colour of Nature's own moonbeams falling through stained glass, even though they should fall Keats having conon Madeline's fair breast. having dipped his royal brush in all the colours descended to compete with Nature in this matter, with which the sun himself can stain the morning spray when he rises above the sea-line and turns to gold the brown cliffs of Cromer, why discuss the question of his veracity? why lug in Nature?...... Not for one moment do we challenge all this praise; on the contrary, we agree with most of it."

If Keats, in the stanza of 'The Eve of St. Agnes' (the twenty-fifth) that is alluded to, is untrue to Nature, as I believe he certainly is, one feels inclined to say, "Tant pis pour Madame la Nature!" Keats, however, in this matter errs in good company. See "The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' canto ii. stanza xi., the last couplet. JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

Ropley, Alresford.

In 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel' there is even a more beautiful allusion to this than in 'The Eve of St. Agnes,' though it is to be feared more fanciful than true. The passage deserves quotation :—

The silver light, so pale and faint,
Shew'd many a prophet and many a saint,
Whose image on the glass was dyed;
Full in the midst, his Cross of Red
Triumphant Michael brandished

And trampled the Apostate's pride.
The moonbeam kiss'd the holy pane,
And threw on the pavement a bloody stain.
Canto ii. stanza xi.

better would go into York Minster or King's College Chapel at Cambridge, where there is the finest stained glass in England, when the moon is at the full, and observe the effect. We should then have the evidence of ocular demonstration on the point, if he would tell us what he saw. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

JUDGE FAMILY (9th S. i. 348).-I can give some particulars of the relationship mentioned between the Judges and the D'Arcys of co. Meath from a pamphlet in my possession, entitled 'An Historical Sketch of the Family of D'Arcy from the Norman Conquest to the Year 1853 (Miller School Print, 1882). Not being a genealogist, I cannot, of course, vouch for the accuracy of all the details, such as dates, &c.; but I believe them to be correct in the main :

"John D'Arcy, the eldest son of Thomas D'Arcy, of Lisnabin, born about 1700, married 1727 Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Judge, of Grangebeg, in this county. He was the first of the family who conformed to the Protestant religion, which took place before his marriage with Miss Judge. He died in 1758, leaving four sons.

"1. Judge, born 1729, married in 1765 Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Nugent, of Robinstown, and died in 1766; by her he had a posthumous daughter, Elizabeth Judge D'Arcy, who married Sir Gorges Irvine, of Necarne (Castle Irvine), county Fermanagh. On his marriage, the settlements being about to be signed, which entailed all his estates in the male line of his family, his fatherin-law Richard Nugent suddenly stood up, and took his hat, saying, 'Mr. D'Arcy, Mr. D'Arcy, there's my daughter; you may marry her if you choose, but I won't settle an acre of my property, so I wish you good morning and a pleasant wedding,' and went away. He was, therefore, married without settlements, and his estates descended to his daughter.

"2. Francis, born in 1733, who, on the death of his brother Judge D'Arcy, became heir male of Sir William D'Arcy, of Platten, second son of Lord D'Arcy, Viceroy of Ireland; and on the death of the Earl of Holderness, in 1778, heir male of John, Lord D'Arcy, and Norman D'Arcy. He married Mary, daughter of Hall, of Somersetshire, and

died in 1813 without issue.

"3. Arthur, born in 1734, died about 1802, un

married.

"4. James, born 1740, entered the navy, and married in 1766 Martha, daughter and heiress of William Grierson, of Deanstown, county Dublin, and died in 1803, leaving three sons and five daughters."

S. A. D'ARCY, L.R.C.P. and S.I. Rosslea, Clones, co. Fermanagh.

LATIN AMBIGUITIES (9th S. i. 269).-" Mea mater mala est sus." The ambiguity vanishes if a comma be put after "mea," and another after "mater," thus exhibiting the true sense, the first a in "mala" being, of course, long. The form of the puzzle familiar to me before

SIDESMEN (9th S. i. 349). The sidesman's oath, for which by 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 62, sect. 9, a declaration is substituted, is "You shall swear that you will be assistant to the church wardens, in the execution of their office, so far as by law you are bound." In the Canons of 1603 they are taken with the churchwardens by the expression "the Churchwardens or Questmen, see Canons 85, 88, 89, 90"; and in Canon 85 there is, "but especially they shall see that in every meeting of the congregation peace be well kept, and that all persons excommunicated, and so denounced, be kept out of the church "; while by Canon 90 they

"shall diligently see that all the parishioners resort to their church on all Sundays and holidays, and and none to walk or to stand idle or talking in the there continue the whole time of Divine Service: church, or in the churchyard, or the church porch, during that time."