In reply to DR. RAMAGE'S inquiry (4th S. ii. 145), what Chaupy says of the lacus Ampsanctus (vol. iii. pp. 30, 101, &c.) is of too great length to be transcribed in the pages of "N. & Q.," but its general result seems to be to express, that, in his opinion, the ancients applied this name to two localities, one in the country of the Hirpini, half way between Frigento and S. Angelo Lombardo, and the other a lake at Cutilia near Reate, noted for its depth, a floating island, and the efficacy of its mineral waters. In the first of these, Chaupy does not remark-what seems to have been the case that it was the soil, and not the water, which was thought destructive of life, by an effect similar to that of the Grotta del Cane. For if we compare the passages he quotes-"vidimus, quam sint varia terrarum genera, ex quibus et mortifera quædam pars est, ut et Ampsancti in Hirpinis" (Cic. De Divin. cap. 36)-with Pliny, N. H. ii. 93, "Spiritus letales alibi, aut scrobibus emissi, aut ipso loci situ mortiferi-item in Hirpinis Ámpsancti, ad Mephitis ædem, locum quem qui intravere, moriuntur," we shall see this. It is true, that some have read "lacum" for "locum," but this is evidently contrary to the meaning of both passages, and must be an error. Nay, Virgil himself, whose Ampsanctus was clearly at the Aquæ Cutiliæ, suggests the same thing: "Est locus Italiæ in medio, sub montibus altis, The testimony of Pliny from Varro is express, that what was called the Italia umbilicus was to be found at Cutilia: "In agro Reatino Cutiliæ lacum, in quo fluctuat insula, Italiæ umbilicum esse M. Varro tradit." (Plin. H. N. iii. 12.) And though Servius asserts the contrary, yet Chaupy very justly remarks that the district of the Hirpini could only be considered the centre of Italy, by supposing the latter to commence at Ariminum, where Cisalpine Gaul ends. And he concludes by observing that the Aqua Cutiliæ contributed their waters to the Velinus, and not the reverse. Of course both lakes-that of the Hirpini and the Sabini-are highly impregnated with sulphur, and the description, "sa vam exhalat opaca mephitim" (Æn. vii. 84) would not at all assist us in identifying the one meant, for the exhalations from these and many other waters in Italy are sensibly felt to be most offensive and detestable. The poet Gray's description (in a letter to his friend Mr. West), of one of them which he had the misfortune to meet with on his road from Rome to Tivoli may suit them all:-"We crossed," says MR. BRAE does very right in showing that he pointed out Tyrwhitt's error respecting the Ram some seventeen years ago, and that I was therefore wrong in supposing myself to be the first person to do so. But I must explain that the "claim" in The Athenæum of Sept. 19 is not my "own," but written by a friend, who founded what he had to say on some notes communicated to him before I had read the articles in the 1st S. of " N. & Q.," and who, in fact, drew my attention to those articles, which I might otherwise never have seen; though I now wonder why it did not occur to me to search the earlier volumes of "N. & Q." more closely. I can only say that whatever I have said in the way of personal statement has always been true at the moment of writing it, but not therefore always at the time of publication. Any variance between statements of mine, however direct, has been due to this simple cause. The interval between communication of an article and its publication is sometimes necessarily long. It is now several weeks since I sent to The Athenæum a note on Chaucer's star Aldryan, for instance, and it has been in type some time, but is not yet struck off, that I know of. In any case, I would always gladly resign any pretension to originality rather than even seem to take anything without acknowledgment. I do not wish now to argue the various questions raised, though I do not feel convinced about them. I do not regret offering different solutions of some points from those already suggested by MR. BRAE, because the questions may be more easily decided when they have been examined from all points of view. In any case, if my communications draw attention to those of MR. BRAE in 1851, so much the better. They ought certainly to be consulted, and I cannot but admire them even where I differ from them. In editing Chaucer's Astrolabe, or "Bred and Mylk for Children" (for such is its true title), I hope to exercise the greatest care, and shall be truly thankful for useful hints and for assistance. There are many passages in Chaucer which I believe I have made out for myself by independent work, sometimes coming to like conclusions with those already published, sometimes arriving at conclusions different from them, and new in the sense that I have not met with them elsewhere as yet. But I wish to reserve these until all the best MSS. of the Astrolabe have been compared and collated. I heard of two only last week, in the FOUR-AISLED CHURCHES. (4th S. ii. 178, 237, 308.) There is much that is erroneous, as well as much useful information, in the different communications that have appeared in "N. & Q." on the above subject. It is always well to define a term before using it. What, then, is meant by the term "aisle," as applied to the structural divisions of a church? for I assume, as a matter of course, that in such a discussion its modern or churchwarden's application to the open spaces or flagged pathways between the pews is out of the question. Dr. Whewell, in his Notes on German Churches (2nd edit. p. 42), finding the inconvenience of having no term whereby to describe the central portion of a building, applies the term "aisle" indiscriminately to the whole of the longitudinal divisions of a church, and alike to those of the nave, choir, and transepts. Thus he would speak of York Cathedral as a three-aisled church; and of its nave as possessing a central aisle, and two side-aisles, or a north and south aisle. It must be admitted that this use of the word is a perversion of its original sense, manifestly derived as it is from the French word aile, or aisle. But its application, as introduced into modern phraseology by Dr. Whewell, supplies a want so constantly felt, that, as in other words the change in the sense of which has been sanctioned by use (ex. gr. "Gothic"), we need have no hesitation in adopting it, and in rejecting the exclusive application of this term, as meaning "wings," to the lateral subdivisions or side-aisles of a church. It is in the latter sense only that Kendal church can be said to have "four aisles." It would more properly be called, in the enlarged sense of the word, "five-aisled "; having one central, and a double side-aisle on each side. In no sense whatever, however, can the interesting church of Dore Abbey be properly said to be either "five-aisled" or "four-aisled." Its nave has a central and a north and south aisle, its transepts an east aisle, and its choir a single aisle only on its north and south sides. But on the east side of the choir, which, as in most Cistercian conventual churches on the Continent, as well as in England, is square and not apsidal, there is what appears to be a double aisle, carried transversely across the whole east end of the building. The nature and object of this unusual arrangement, peculiar to the abbey churches of this order built during the latter part of the Transitional and the Lancet periods, I may take a future occasion of explaining; at present I refer to it only as scarcely justifying your correspondent ALPHA in describing the church of Dore Abbey as a "four-aisled" church. Nor can Chichester Cathedral be properly said to have either four or five aisles: for the elegant structures which were added to the north and south aisles of the nave in the Geometrical period were originally distinct chapels, separated by solid partition walls. It is true that these walls were subsequently cut down and demolished, and the whole of these lateral chapels were thus thrown together at the time of the Reformation or thereabouts; but the appearance of their being additional aisles, which this alteration effected, scarcely warrants our accepting them as such. We have not, therefore, in England any legitimate example of a five-aisled cathedral; and as far as I know, and as asserted by your correspondent P. E. MASEY, only three examples of five-aisled parish churches. EDMUND SHARPE. ROBERT BURNS. (4th S. ii. 339, 355.) With reference to the interesting notes which are now appearing in your columns, allow me to submit the following: I became acquainted, in her advanced years, with Mrs. Begg, sister of the poet. She described her celebrated brother as deeply imbued with a sense of religion. On the death of his father he took his place in conducting worship in the family, and on the Sundays he was particular in instructing my informant, who was considerably his junior, in the catechism. Mrs. Begg described the poet as possessing a striking appearance. "His whole countenance beamed with genius," she said; "so much so that any one meeting him on the highway would turn round to have a second look." My early friend, Professor Gillespie, of St. Andrews, used to relate that he remembered the veneration with which Burns was regarded by himself and schoolfellows at the Wallace Hall Academy, Dumfriesshire. "Any boy," said Dr. Gillespie, "noticed by Burns would have been an object of envy. We all regarded him with a species of idolatry." Both Mrs. Begg and Robert Burns, jun., the bard's eldest son, mentioned to me, that while the poet did not possess a strikingly high forehead, the upper part of his head was uncommonly flat. This peculiarity appears in the cast of the poet's skull. Conscious of power as he unquestionably was, Burns did not share in that egotism which has disfigured so many of the modern poets. His son Robert, who had attained his tenth year when his father died, and possessed a distinct recollection of him, informed me that he was not aware that his father was a poet till after his death. "He encouraged me," said Robert, "to study the works of the great English poets, and I had, under his tutorage, read Milton, Pope, Cowper, and many others; but he never mentioned to me any of his own poems, and my mother was equally reticent about them." The following paragraph is from a recent number of the Greenock Telegraph: "We have been told," writes the editor, "that an official gentleman in London, one of the chief officers of the Excise, recently went over all the papers in the office which bore the signature of Robert Burns. He is a gentleman of eminent piety, and when he set about the investigation he had a prejudice against our national bard. When he closed his examination of the papers, his unfavourable estimate had undergone quite a revolution. The papers demonstrated that Burns was a conscientious servant and a first-rate business man. If you go carefully through the best biographies of Burns, and sum up his money transactions, you will be amazed at the demonstration which they supply of the poet's noble independence, prudence, and generosity. Many who shake their foolish heads when Burns is spoken of would not come out so clean if a similar test were applied to themselves." In 1859 an aged tradesman, resident in St. Ninian's, near Stirling, informed me that during a business visit to Ayr he saw Burns in the course of a personal canvass for subscribers to the first edition of his poems. "He was pointed out to me," said our informant, as a ploughman of uncommon ability, and who was entitled to encouragement." The poet had been unsuccessful in his farming speculations, and in publishing a volume of his poetical compositions sought to acquire the means of emigrating to America or the West Indies. Burns deeply felt the withdrawal of friendship. I have seen a volume of Dr. Blair's sermons, presented to the poet by the author, and now in the possession of Mr. Gracie, of Dumfries, which bears on several of its pages, in the poet's handwriting, reflections on the fickleness of friendship. Though not spared to regain the local fame forfeited by his excessive convivialities, Burns retained the consciousness that he would obtain justice in future times. "They'll ken me better, Jean, an hunder years after I'm dead, than they do now," were the simple words with which he consoled himself and his amiable partner amidst those unhappy estrangeCHARLES ROGERS, LL.D. ments. Snowdoun Villa, Lewisham, S.E. The occurrence of the word "Stincher" in this oral fragment, possibly authentic, of Burns, is very curious. The common form in the various editions I have seen is Stinchar; but Chambers, ed. 1851, vol. i. p. 43, has it Stinsiar, apparently without any authority for the change. As the note there states, the word Lugar was substituted for it later. A friend of mine is in possession of the original manuscript Commonplace Book of Burns, which I have examined. The song is headed "My Nanie, O," and there, in Burns's bold, well-known hand, the word is written distinctly "Stincher." The first two lines of the song run thus: "Behind yon hills where Stincher flows, 'Mang muirs and mosses many, 0." There is an additional verse, intended as a chorus, which has never been published. There are also several variants from all the published copies. The date of the piece, written in the margin, is April 1784, two years before the first or Kilmarnock edition of the poems came out; yet, curiously enough, the song is not in that edition, but first appeared in print in the second or Edinburgh subscription edition published by Creech in 1787. The MS. has numerous differences from all the printed texts. Neither Currie, Cunningham, nor Cromell (nor any other editor) has given the original correctly or entire; hence I infer that no one of them ever saw it, but that the earlier editors have taken their versions from an imperfect copy, and the later editors have copied from C. D. L them, and from one another." Greenock. "Nay, nay, my young friend," said the bard, "that's all over now." After a pause he quoted two verses of Lady Grizel Bail- NEW APPLICATION AND CHANGE OF TERMS lie's ballad In his lately published History of Dumfries, Mr. William McDowall supplies the following original anecdote of the poet. During an evening in the autumn of 1794, when High Street, Dumfries, was gay with fashionable groups of ladies and gentlemen passing down to attend a country ball in the Assembly Rooms, Burns was allowed to pass with hardly a recognition on the shady side of the street. Mr. David McCulloch, of Ardwell, noticing the circumstance, dismounted, accosted the poet, and proposed that he should cross the street. "His bonnet stood ance fu' fair on his brow, His auld ane looked better than mony ane's new; WORDS, ETC. (4th S. ii. 321.) It is possible that in Liverpool a tailor may be called a "fashioner," a bootmaker a "cushioner," and a hatter a "fabricator of crowns"; but I have never heard such terms used in the metropolis. Affected Londoners are apt to speak of their dressmakers as their modistes. The term "costumer," or rather "costumier," is very appropriately ap- on board, who in the earlier stages of the voyage WILLIAM TANS'UR. As a collector of the works of the old psalmtune writers, I feel much obliged to DR. RIX for his valuable notice of William Tans'ur. Having on my shelves a tolerable collection of the works of this old worthy, I had intended preparing a notice of them for your pages, but in this I have been anticipated by DR. RIX. In No. 57 of The Musical Standard (Nov. 5, 1864,) is a very imperfect notice of Tans'ur and his works, in which the writer, R. T., says Choron is the "only biographer who notices him." MR. RALPH THOMAS acknowledges the authorship of this article in "N. & Q." (4th S. i. 569), remarking "I could add nothing to that now.' With regard to MR. THOMAS's observation upon the biography of Tans'ur, it is most unfortunate, as biographical notices of him occur in most of the musical dictionaries of England, France, Italy, Germany, and America-viz. in the works of Sainsbury, Fetis, Lichtenthal, Becker, Moore, &c.! Surely writers on these matters should be careful before making assertions calculated only to mislead. DR. RIX's list of Tans'ur's works is the most complete yet given, and it is with a view to its future usefulness that I venture to make the following remarks: 1. Sound Anatomised, 1724. This work is erroneously assigned to Tans'ur by Burney. Its true author was William Turner. (This writer must not be confounded with Dr. William Turner.) I have a copy of the work before me. The author's name, "William Turner," is plainly given on the These complaints against the prevalence of new or seemingly new words and phrases may sometimes appear querulous and meticulous, but to my mind they are very useful. They serve to show the amazing elasticity and eruptiveness of the English language: for instance, in the very next column to that in which MR. REDMOND laments over the vulgar phraseology of the day, your correspondent W. T. M. mentions, in connection 66 a pair of cocktailwith a capital pun from Ovid, shakers to be found in a house in Hong Kong." Now I can imagine the inmate of some quiet country rectory, brimful of the Diversions of Purley, Harris's Hermes, and Stoddart's Universal Grammar, looking up in horror and amazement from his "N. & Q." and crying, "Shades of Minsheu, Junius, and Skinner! what is a cocktail-title-page. shaker?" I never possessed a pair of "cocktailshakers" myself, but a young officer in the Blues, a fellow-passenger in a Cunard steamer in which I crossed the Atlantic in 1865, did possess, and was very proud of, a brace of tall silver mugs in which the ingredients of the beverage known as a "cocktail" (whiskey, brandy or champagne, bitters and ice) are mixed, shaken together, and then scientifically discharged-the "shakers" being held at arm's length, and sometimes above the operator's head-from goblet to goblet, backwards and forwards, over and over again, till the requisite perfection of homogeneousness has been attained. These are the "cocktail-shakers," and our friend in the Blues was so great a proficient in the difficult art of goblet-throwing, and the compounds he made were so delicious, that ladies 2. The Melody of the Heart; or, the Psalmist's Pocket Companion. My edition," printed for James Hodges at the Looking Glass on London Prefixed to it is the Bridge," is dated 1735, and it has every indication of being the first. curious portrait of the author writing at a table, the "effigy" being surrounded by a musical canon. 3. A Compleat Melody; or, the Harmony of Sion. I have before me the third edition, "corrected by the author, printed for James Hodges, &c. 1736." The preface is dated Sept. 29, 1734. The book consists of three parts, the third being the same as the Melody of the Heart. 4. The New Royal Melody Compleat. My edition is dated 1755; it is probably the second. I believe the first edition was printed in 1754. ness. 5. Heaven and Earth; or, the Beauty of HoliThere seems to have been only one edition of this book, that of 1738. It has a curious portrait of the author in his study, with four lines of verse underneath. 6. Sacred Mirth; or, the Pious Soul's Daily Delight. My edition, apparently the first, is dated 1739. It has a portrait similar to No. 5. 7. Poetical Meditation on the Four last Things. One of the rarest of Tans'ur's works. I have never seen a copy. 8. A New Musical Grammar and Dictionary. My edition, the third, 1756, is "printed for James Hodges near London Bridge; also sold by the author; and by his son, late chorister of Trinity College, Cambridge." It was reprinted, called the seventh edition, in 1829. 9. Universal Harmony. I have not seen this work, but feel assured that it is incorrectly assigned to Tans'ur. 10. The Excellency of Divine Musick. I do not believe this work has existence, at least as an independent publication. It is perhaps a former work of the author, with a new title-page. 11. The Psalm-Singer's Jewel; or, Useful Companion to the Singing-Psalms. Printed for S. Crowder at the Looking Glass near against St. Magnus's Church, London Bridge, 1760. I have a fine copy of this edition. 12. The Elements of Musick. My edition is dated 1770. It is one of the commonest of Tans'ur's numerous works. 13. Melodia Sacra; or, the Devout Psalmist's New Musical Companion. Being a Choice Collection of Psalm-Tunes for Divine Service, &c. My copy of this work, the second edition, printed for Stanley Crowder, is dated 1772. It has a portrait of the author, anno ætatis suæ seventy-two, different from any of the preceding. The remaining works mentioned by DR. RIX I have not in my library. They are of rarity, although I suspect of little value. EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. P.S. Since writing the above I have received a number of the Antiquarisches Bücherlager von Kirchoff und Wigand in Leipzig (No. 219). Art. 453 is a copy of Tans'ur's New Musical Grammar; or, the Harmonical Spectator, 8vo, Lond. 1746. In all probability this is the first edition. FLOWER BADGES (4th S. i. 579.)-The flower badges of the United Kingdom are the best known, but Austria has the oak-leaf, and Prussia the corn-flower; India the lotos-leaf; and the Carolinas and adjacent states wore the palmetto-leaf in the war. Was not the palm-tree a badge of Judæa? A woman weeping under a palm is the SEBASTIAN. emblem of Judæa in old coins. DOVECOT, OR COLUMBARIUM (4th S. ii. 323.) In addition to the instances named by MR. PIGGOT, I can testify, from personal knowledge, to the existence, in excellent preservation, of a very ancient one at Penmon Priory, in Anglesea, about five miles from Beaumaris. This columbarium is a large substantial stone building, quadrangular in form and (speaking from recollection) about twenty feet square, and an equal height to the spring of the roof, which is of a peculiar domelike shape (seen in some remains of Oriental temple architecture), and of stone mason-work, and is surmounted by a sort of lantern; the summit of this can scarcely be less than thirty-five feet from the ground. Rising from the centre of the interior is a massive circular solid column, not less than four feet in diameter, also of stone masonwork, with projecting flat stones winding spirally round it and serving as a ladder. The portion of the column remaining reaches about ten feet in height. The interior walls have hundreds of pigeon-holes. This building may be about forty or fifty yards from the priory itself, which is of great antiquity, dating by tradition from the seventh century. The remains of this priory are of extreme interest, particularly an arcade in one of the interior walls, of apparently genuine Saxon (not Norman) architecture. There is also an ancient holy well in the precincts of the priory. The remains are generally of great interest, and are deserving of much more particular notice than is given of them in the guide books of this locality. M. H. R. At Coverham, Yorkshire, there are in a field belonging to an estate known as Cotescue Park, the remains of the dovecot which belonged to Coverham Abbey. R. D. DAWSON-DUFFIELD, LL.D. Dovecotes are to be found in most parts of the country, and some of them are of much architectural interest. Amongst others known to me, I may mention the pretty circular dove-cot at Hurley near Henley-on-Thames, and the square one, gabled at each side, at Lower Slaughton, Gloucestershire. The walls inside are honeycombed by nests. I should think both these examples are of the early part of the sixteenth century. B. FERREY, F.S.A. An ancient circular dovecot was formerly attached to the rectory of Harrington, in the vale of Evesham, but was taken down some years past by the rector. appendage to the country manor-house, and many Like fish-ponds, the columbarium was an usual of them of great antiquity still exist. THOMAS E. WINNINGTON. SIR JAMES WILSFORD (4th S. ii. 325.)—Your correspondent G. W. M. will find a picture such as he describes of Sir James Wilsford at St. George's Hospital. The last Sir Thomas Apreece |