Notes and Queries, Number 201, September 3, 1853. Various
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Latin.—The answer of one of your late correspondents (E. M. B., Vol. vii., p. 622.) on the subject of "Latin—Latiner," has revived a Query in your First Volume (p. 230.) as to the origin of this expression which does not appear to have been answered. I do not remember having seen any explanation of the term, but I have arrived at one for myself, and present it to your readers for what it is worth. Nothing, it must be admitted, can be more inconsistent with the usual forms of language than the Latin of mediæval periods; it is often, in fact, not Latin at all, but merely a Latin form given to simple English or other words, and admitting of the greatest variety. Now of all animals the distinctions of breed are perhaps more numerous in the canine race than any other. The word "mongrel," originally applied to one of these quadruped combinations of variety, has long been used to signify anything in which mixture of class existed, especially of a debasing kind, to which such mixture generally tends. Nothing could be more appropriate than the application of the term to the "infima latinitas" of the Middle Ages; and from "mongrel" the transition to the name of the genus from that of the degenerate species appears to me to be very easy, though fanciful.
Thomas Wright of Durham.—In the Philosophical Magazine for April, 1848, I gave an account of the "Original Theory or new Hypothesis of the Universe" of Thomas Wright, whose anticipations of modern speculation on the milky way, the central sun, and some other points, make him one of the most remarkable astronomical thinkers of his day. In the biography in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1793, he is described as struggling for a livelihood when a young man, and no account is given of the manner in which he obtained the handsome competence with which he emerges in 1756, or thereabouts. A few days after my account was published, I was informed (by Captain James, R.E.) that a large four-foot orrery, constructed by Wright for the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, was still in that town; and that by the title of "J. Harrises Use of the Globes" it appears that he (Wright) kept his shop at the Orrery, near Water Lane, Fleet Street (No. 136), under the title of instrument-maker to his Majesty. In an edition of Harris (the 8th, 1767), which I lately met with, the above is described as "late the shop of Thomas Wright," &c. By the advertisements which this work contains, Wright must have had an extensive business as a philosophical instrument-maker. The omission in the biography is a strange one. Possibly some farther information may fall in the way of some of your readers.
A Funeral Custom.—At Broadwas, Worcestershire, in the valley of the Teame, it is the custom at funerals, on reaching "the Church Walk," for the bearers to set down the coffin, and, as they stand around, to bow to it.
Queries
LITTLECOTT—SIR JOHN POPHAM
Every one knows the tradition attached to the manor of Littlecott in Wiltshire, and the alleged means by which Chief Justice Sir John Popham acquired its possession. It is told by Aubrey, Sir Walter Scott, and many others, and is too notorious to be here repeated. Let me ask you or your learned correspondents whether there exists any refutation of a charge so seriously detrimental to the character of any judge, and so inconsistent with the reputation which Chief Justice Popham enjoyed among his cotemporaries? See Lord Ellesmere's notice of him in the case of the Postnati (State Trials, ii. 669.), and Sir Edward Coke's flattering picture of him at the end of Sir Drew Drury's case (Reports, vi. 75.). Are there any records showing that a Darell was ever in fact arraigned on a charge of murder, and the name of the judge who presided at the trial? Is the date known of the death of the last Darell who possessed the estate, or that of Sir John Popham's acquisition of it? The discovery of these might throw great light on the subject, and possibly afford a complete contradiction.
Sir Francis Bacon, in his argument against Sir John Hollis and others for traducing public justice, states that—
"Popham, a great judge in his time, was complained of by petition to Queen Elizabeth; it was committed to four privy councillors, but the same was found to be slanderous, and the parties punished in the court."—State Trials, vol. ii. p. 1029.
If this petition could be discovered, and it should turn out that the slander complained of in it had reference to this story, the investigation which it then underwent by the four privy councillors, and the chief justice's enjoyment of his high office for so many subsequent years, would go far to prove the utter falsehood of the charge. This is a "consummation devoutly to be wished" by every one who feels an interest in the purity of the bench, and particularly by the present possessors of the estate, who must be anxious for their ancestor's fame.
Your useful publication has acted the part of the "detective police" in the elucidation of many points of history less interesting than this, and I trust you will consider the case curious enough to justify a close examination.
EARLY EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
I should be greatly obliged if I could obtain through "N. & Q." when, where, and by whom an imperfect black-letter copy of the New Testament, lately come into my possession, was printed, and also who was the translator of it.
It is bound in boards, has three thongs round which the sheets are stitched, seems never to have been covered with cloth, leather, or other material like our modern books, has had clasps, and is four inches long and two inches thick.
The chapters are divided generally into four or five parts by means of the first letters of the alphabet. The letters are neither placed equidistant, nor do they always mark a fresh paragraph.
It is not divided into verses. There are a few marginal references, and the chapter and letter of the parallel passages are given.
Crosses are placed at the heads of most chapters, and also throughout the text, without much apparent regularity. It contains a few rude cuts of the Apostles, &c. The Epistles of St. Peter and St. John are placed before that to the Hebrews.
Letters are frequently omitted in the spelling, and this is indicated by a dash placed over the one preceding the omitted letter. A slanting mark (/) is the most frequent stop used. I will transcribe a few lines exactly as they occur, only not using the black-letter.
"B. As some spake of the temple/ howe yt was garnesshed with goodly stones and iewels he sayde. The dayes will come/ when of these thyngis which ye se shall not be lefte stone upon stone/ that shall not be throwen doune. And they asked hym sayinge/ Master whē shall these thynges be? And what sygnes wil there be/ when suche thynges shal come to passe."—St. Luke, ch. xxi.
Land is spelt londe; saints, sainctis; authority, auctorite, &c.
P.S. It commences at the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, and seems perfect to the 21st chapter of Revelation.
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