those who had disputed about it; some thinking it to be Jupiter, others Luna, others Angerona, expressing silence by her finger placed upon her lip; others lastly, amongst whom Macrobius classes himself, Ops Consivia; but the true name of their city, he adds, was unknown to their most learned men, the Romans endeavouring to guard against suffering themselves by that religious rite which they were conscious they had often employed against their enemies. This account is confirmed by Pliny the Younger "Verrius Flaccus auctores ponit, quibus credat, in oppugnationibus ante omnia solitum a Romanis sacerdotibus evocari Deum, in cujus tutelâ id oppidum esset; promittique illi eundem, aut ampliorem, apud Romanos cultum, Et durat in Pontificum disciplinâ id sacrum; constatque ideo occultatum in cujus Dei tutelâ Roma esset, ne qui hostium simili modo agerent. Defigi quidem diris depre cationibus nemo non metuit."-N. Hist. xxviii. 4, Hard. A remarkable instance of this custom is given in one of the early books of Livy, upon the occasion of the taking of Veii, when the Dictator (M. Furius Camillus), commanding the Roman army, is represented to have proceeded to the final attack with full religious ceremony: "Tum dictator, auspicato egressus, quum edixisset ut arma milites caperent, Tuo dictu, inquit, Pythice Apollo, tuoque numine instinctus, pergo ad delendam urbem Veios; tibique hinc decimam partem prædæ voveo. Te simul, Juno Regina, quæ nunc Veios colis, precor, ut nos victores in nostram tuamque mox futuram urbem sequare: ubi te dignum amplitudine tua templum accipiat. Hæc precatus, superante multitudine, ab omnibus locis urbem aggreditur," &c. (Lib. v. c. 21.) This form of evocation, it will be seen upon comparison, differs from that given by Macrobius in the chapter of his work already alluded to, which is too long to be repeated here, and seems to have been drawn up with much more care than the one attributed to Camillus, though agreeing with it in substance and general result. This form, and one of devotio which follows, the writer describes himself to have obtained from the fifth book of hidden things (res recondita) of Sammonicus Serenus (slain in the time of Caracalla), who himself professed to have discovered them in a most ancient work of one Furius. And Macrobius specially warns his readers not to confound together the evocatio and devotio, which were quite distinct things; the latter to be pronounced only by a dictator or commander-in-chief, using at the same time certain gestures, which are specified. He mentions, as instances in which it was so used, the cases of Tonii, Fregellæ, Gabii, Veii, and Fidenæ, in Italy; Carthage, and Corinth, and many cities and armies of the Gauls, Spaniards, Africans, and Moors, beyond its limits; and supposes the The name of Carthage occurs in the forms of evocatio and devotio given by Macrobius, and perhaps they were those used with respect to that city. If so, no instance of their supposed effect could be more striking. "Traditur etiam proprium Romæ nomen, et verum magis, quod nunquam in vulgum venit, sed vetitum publicari, quandoquidem quo minus enuntiaretur cæremoniarum arcana sanxerunt, ut hoc pacto notitiam ejus aboleret fides placita taciturnitatis. Valerium denique Soranum, quod contra interdictum id eloqui census foret, ob meritum profanæ vocis, neci datum. Inter antiquissimas sane relligiones sacellum editur Angeronæ, cui sacrificetur ante diem duodecimum Calendarum Januariarum: quæ diva præsul silentii istius, præenexo obsignatoque ore simulacrum habet." (Cap. 1.) We can now talk with impunity, and no longer sistance to Garibaldi or any other invader, of the with any apprehension of thereby rendering asof Rome, which it is no longer any secret was alterum Romæ nomen, the true and ineffable name Valentia, a Latinised form of ‘Púμn. that the notion of a city being defended by its I must conclude these remarks with observing tutelary deities is finely applied by Silius Italicus in one of the most splendid passages of his poem, Rome and ready to attack it, but restrained by where he represents Annibal under the walls of Juno, who removes the mist from his eyes, and enables him to see the guardian deities armed in its defence: Adspice, montis apex, vocitata Palatia, regi * De Bello Judaico, vi. 5. Implerit dictum proprio de nomine campum. The biblical student will not fail to be reminded. by the preceding lines, of the invisible hosts which protected the "man of God" in Dothan.* And it seems no improbable conjecture, that the peculiar ceremonies used at the capture of Jericho, and continued in the sight of the inhabitants for six days, may have been considered as an evocatio numinum, and in the result have had no small share in putting the "fear and dread"† of the Israelites into the hearts of the people whom they were commissioned to subdue. Certainly we find at a much later period the Syrians acknowledging local gods-those of the "hills and of the vallies," and that an immense number of them were slain in consequence, as a judgment. ST. PETER'S CHAIR. (4th S. i. 55.) W. Since a cutting, opposed to the genuineness of the above relic, has been admitted into " N. & Q.," it is but fair and just that its readers should be directed to evidence on the other side. Such will be found in the treatise, published by the late Cardinal Wiseman, under the following title, Remarks on Lady Morgan's Observations on St. Peter's Chair (1832). In that treatise the learned writer carefully and minutely describes the chair, and gives a correct engraving of it. He clearly proves it not to have been of Mahometan origin, as Lady Morgan had the audacity to assert, and lays open the origin of her foolish tale. "The stone chair," he says, "called by the vulgar that of St. Peter, and kept in the patriarchal church of the apostle in Venice, has been confounded with the ivory throne of the Vatican basilic, by some blundering or malicious person; the story has been repeated to her ladyship; she deemed it too well suited to her purposes of misrepresentation to merit examination, and gave it to the public with all the assurance which points, and all the levity which wings, the worst shafts of calumny." The correspondent of the Post is wrong in asserting that "the church has declared it to be the chair actually used by St. Peter." The church has made no declaration or decision on the subject, nor is she likely ever to make such. She leaves this, like every other relic, to stand or fall upon the value of the evidence adduced; so that "sincere and enlightened Catholics are quite at liberty to form their own opinions upon its identity. But Bunsen was no Catholic at all; and if the correspondent had read Cardinal Wiseman's Remarks," he would have seen the strong evidence by which he arrived at his conclusion that "the chair is manifestly of Roman workmanship, a curule chair, such as might be occupied by the head of the church, adorned with ivory and gold, as might befit the house of a wealthy Roman senator; while the exquisite finish of the sculpture forbids us to consider it more modern than the Augustan age, when the arts were in their greatest perfection." Whoever desires to form a fair judgment on the question should read the Cardinal's "Remarks" before he trusts to Lady Morgan or the Post correspondent. F. C. H. GREYHOUND. (4th S. i. 13.) In The Gentleman's Recreation, 3rd edit. 1686, p. 36, I read that— "The Grey-hound (called by the Latins Leporarius) hath his name from the word Gre, which word soundeth Gradus in Latine, in English Degree; because among all Dogs, these are the most principal, having the chiefest place, and being simply and absolutely the best of the gentle kind of Hounds." This extract may do very well for an introduction; the attempt at derivation, I think, must be at once discarded. In Anglo-Saxon this dog is called Ren-hund (Cursorius canis) from the verb rennan, to run, to flow. From this we have at once a prefix denoting speed, and pointing to the remarkable and conspicuous quality the greyhound is endowed with, viz. swiftness. We might say Swifthound, which I think comes near to what may prove to be the true etymology of the word. Johnson, Bailey, and Webster quite agree: all they say about it is as follows: GREYHOUND, n. (Sax.) grighund," offering no explanation of the prefix Grig. Herbert Coleridge, in his Dictionary of the first or oldest Words in the English Language, has the word Grifhound. Now what does "Grig" really mean? Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, simply says "GRIG-HUND, a Greyhound," and refers you to the Glossarii Elfrici, p. 173, A. 2 B.M., but says nothing whatever about Grig. The word evidently means something sprightly, brisk, or nimble. Dean Swift says, "Merry as a Grig." A lively In the "Irishlittle eel is also called "a Grig." English Dictionary," found at the end of Ed. Lhuyd's Archeologia Britannica, we have "Gribeach, a hunting nag," and "Grib, quick." Here, I think, we have a solution to the difficulty. The name of Moreri is given as the authority Gribhound-grighound-grifhound-grey-hound for this article; but, on referring to Moreri, the = a swift hound. From the quotation given by J. HARRIS GIBSON. I believe we must go to the Icelandic for the etymology of this word. In Haldorson's Dictionary, Hundr figures for the male dog, Greyhundr for the female. It would be beyond the limits of a note to do more than allude to the prepossession in favour of the female, for all sporting purposes, amongst all the old authorities upon such subjects, from the younger Xenophon downwards, who always call their favourites she, as the sailor does his ship at the present day. Thus the name seems to have gradually attached itself, without distinction of sex, to the dog most in use at a certain period for sporting purposes the Canis Gallicus, of which the modern greyhound only represents one type. The preference of the Arab for the mare over the horse is well known; and in the familiar proverb in which the grey-mare figures as the better horse, our ancestors seem to have expressed a similar preference for the grey-march over the march-for the female over the male horse. E. WILLIAM ROBERTSON. Gres, a buck, has no connection with greyhound. A gres means a buck "in grease time," i. e. at the time when they are fattest; and gres is thus merely short for gres buck, or gras buck, i. e. a fat buck. It is a well-known phrase; see Halliwell's Dictionary. The etymology of greyhound is not quite clear, but it is known to be connected with A.-S. grighund and O. N. grey or grey-hundr, which Mr. Wedgwood translates by the word bitch. Observe that the singular of gres is and not gre; and this shows the suggestion to be untenable. Cambridge. gres, WALTER W. SKEAT. EOBANUS. story of the drinking-bout is very differently told. It is true that Moreri taxes Eobanus with a love of drinking, but the anecdote, misquoted by Rees, is to this effect. A certain man challenged Eobanus to drink off a great quantity of beer. Eobanus told the challenger to drink first; whereupon the latter, in the act of taking the monstrous draught, fell to the ground "ivre mort."- Of course this story is not quite truly told, for a man would not become drunk while in the very act of drinking beer in this way. I have not seen the life of Eobanus by his contemporary Camerarius; nor that by Lossius (1797). Do either of these writers confirm Moreri's account of Eobanus's intemperance? In his Latin poem, Bona Valetudinis conservandæ præcepta, he inculcates moderation; and so far from singing the praises of beer, he expressly denounces it as hurtful. A hasty glance at the title-page of one edition of the above work misled me, as it may have misled others. The full title is as follows: "De tuendâ bonâ Valetudine libellus Eobani Hessi, commentariis doctissimis illustratus a Joanne Placotomo, in Academiâ Regiomontanâ professore, &c. Ejusdem de naturâ et viribus cerevisiarum et mulsarum opusculum. tatio. (Francof. apud Chr. Egenolphum, 1551.)” De causis, præservatione, et curatione Ebrietatis disser The "ejusdem " refers to Placotomus, who reprints Eobanus's poem, writing comments upon it as he goes on; and when he comes to the passage where Eobanus speaks disparagingly of beer, the Königsberg professor fires up, and defends his favorite liquor, referring his reader to a prose essay immediately following the poem and its commentary. He there fully describes all the varieties of beer known in his day, and finishes with an essay on drunkenness. He denounces the vice, but looks upon an occasional debauch as one of the misfortunes incidental to mixing in society, and is careful to explain how a man is to manage himself, or be managed by his friends, when he has been overtaken in drink. The "ejusdem" in the title-page just quoted refers, as I have said, not to Eobanus, but to Placotomus; and I fancy that a hasty inspection of this title may have induced some readers to suppose the essay on Beer, and that on Drunkenness, to be by Eobanus himself, and hence may have arisen the story of his intemperance. (3rd S. xii. 435; 4th S. i. 16.) Helius Eobanus Hessus, a contemporary of Luther and Melancthon, and esteemed in his day as an ornament to the literary world of Germany, In the Nouvelle Biographie Générale, the poet's seems to have fared badly at the hands of some of name is found under E, as Eobanus; but the Conhis biographers. In Rees's Cyclopædia, for in-versations-Lexikon has it under H, as Hessus. stance a work still worth consulting for its biographies, Eobanus is said to have "taken credit to himself for being a hard drinker, and to have challenged any man as to the quantity of liquor which he would drink; and in a contest of this kind his antagonist fell dead on the floor." One knows that most literary men of that period Græcised or Latinized their names, so that their real vernacular ones are never heard of. How few of those who talk familiarly of Melancthon and Ecolampadius ever think of them as Schwarzerde and Hausschein! I suppose the parents of I do not think that I have over-rated Telfer's ballad poetry, as MR. SIDNEY GILPIN supposes. Tastes and ideas differ. I do not form my opinion from the Border Ballads. Telfer was a very young man when he published the book. It abounds with imperfections. Telfer's fame is not to be judged by that work. Who would test Byron and Moore by The Hours of Idleness and Little's Poems? I form my opinion of the Liddesdale schoolmaster from his revised Ballads, as we find them in Mr. J. S. Moore's Pictorial Book of Ballads, and in Richardson's Border Table-Book. In the first edition of my Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England (Percy Society's publications), I inserted a very excellent Border ballad, called "Parcy Reed." I omitted it in the second edition which I prepared for Mr. Bell's series (published by Parker & Son), because I had doubts as to its being a genuine old ballad. It turns out to be what I suspected-an ancient traditional ballad, improved and added to by James Telfer. The "cooking" is very cleverly done; and even Walter Scott was imposed upon, and swallowed the bait as easily as he had done the "barbarous lay" that he received from Surtees! Not having seen the genuine relic, I cannot say what are the additions of Telfer. I have no doubt, however, that the major portion of this fine ballad is from his pen. What principally shook my faith in the antiquity of "Parcy Reed" was the following line "It was the hour of gloamin gray,”— which is almost verbatim with what is found in an exquisite stanza which, like a Danish burden, is repeated two or three times in "The Gloamynge Bughte": "It might be glamourye or not In sooth I cannot say; It was the witching time o'night, And she, that lay in her lover's arms, My friend and fellow balladist, Mr. Robert White, in a recent letter has cleared up all doubts about "Parcy Reed." I give his words: In Richardson's Table-Book will be found my remarks on this ballad. "Parcy Reed,' as you suspect, is not genuine, for it I have a bears marks of our friend's improvements. copy of the original somewhere, but may not be able to find it." I deem it right to make the above remarks. I When an imitation is cleverly done, it is not would not knowingly impose on the public. always easy to detect. The late Mr. Robert Bell, and also Mr. Robert Chambers, were taken in as well as myself. Mr. Bell put "Parcy Reed" amongst his "Old Ballads"; and Mr. Chambers, in his review of my first edition, quoted it as a fine old Border ballad! MR. GILPIN contrasts Telfer with Hogg, Surtees, and Allan Cunningham! Sir Walter Scott once remarked to a visitor at Abbotsford: "Telfer's ballads are very good, but rather Hoggish." He probably meant nothing more than that both poets copied the ancient minstrels, and that Telfer was Hoggish because his career commenced long after Hogg's. Sir Walter could not mean that Telfer was a copyist or plagiarist. His subjects, fairy or otherwise, are founded on Liddesdale legends, and do not at all resemble those of the Bard of Altrive. Telfer cannot be compared with Allan Cunningham, who was an elegant song writer, but a very poor ballad poet. The notorious "Nithsdale and Galloway" book was so poorly executed that the forgery was immediately detected. I shall not turn critic on Telfer; his fame is established. He has written what will live. The Newcastle Magazine—a clever periodical that was edited by a clever man, the late W. A. Mitchell of the Tyne Mercury-was the first to draw out the young minstrel. The Westminster Review spoke in very laudatory terms of the Gloamynge Bughte." Mr. J. S. Moore deemed the ballad, "Our Ladye's Girdle," worthy of a reprint in his admirable selection: so did Richardson, who has also reprinted it and the "Gloamynge Bughte" and "Parcy Reed." I could quote others, but it is unnecessary. James Telfer will always rank as one of England's best modern minstrels. J. H. DIXON. Florence. As an addendum to what has already appeared in your pages, will you please allow me to note that the biographical notice of Mr. James Telfer which appeared in the Border Advertiser of January 24, 1862-referred to by your correspondent MR. WHITE (p. 352)—is reprinted in the obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine for March of that year, p. 374. In connection with the subject it may be perused with interest. The second edition of "Barbara Gray" will be found in Tales and Ballads, by James Telfer, London, 1851; and with it not only the ballad of "Fair Lilias," originally known as "Our Lady's Girdle," but other productions from the same pen. If your correspondent MR. SYDNEY GILPIN Will THE HIGHWAYMAN NEVISON. As Nevison for many years after his death enjoyed a local fame, in the district over which his exploits extended, equal to that of Robin Hood in his own time, a few additional notes may be acceptable. The memory of a man who is said to have been profusely generous to the poor, with the means taken from the rich, and who possessed a great deal of rude chivalrous feeling and carried on his depredations with great secrecy and address, will always be treasured by the vulgar; but most of his actions, when looked at as plain matters of fact, show him to have united with his courage and address a savage and merciless disposition. All such men are capable of deeds of reckless generosity, and these are often recorded to their honour when their worst deeds are forgotten. Soon after my note appeared (3rd S. xii. 418), my friend Mr. John Guest, of Moorgate Grange, author of a valuable work, which has been printed for private circulation, Relics and Records of the Parish of Rotherham, wrote me to claim for Wortley, a village in that neighbourhood, the honour (P) of being the birthplace of Nevison. I do not know whether the researches of Mr. Grainge and his friends went into that district, but I will transcribe some of the memoranda which Mr. Guest has supplied to me. First, as to the birthplace. Hunter, in his South Yorkshire, says, in relation to Wortley : "Among the miscellanea of this village may be noticed that it was the birthplace of John Nevison, whose name is still remembered while many better men are forgotten. But the perfection to which he had brought his system of depredation, the mystery in which his proceedings were clouded, and his address in escaping the punishment he so well deserved, were calculated to make a long and lasting impression on the common mind. With him appears to have ended, at least in the north of England, the race of highwaymen by profession. The most authentic notice of him is contained in an advertisement which appears in the Gazette of October 31, 1681. It is there said that he had been convicted of robbery and horse stealing at York assizes, 1676, but respited on a provision of discovering his accomplices. This he did not do, and remained long in prison, but at length was set at liberty, and placed in Captain Graham's company designed for Tangiers. From this he deserted, and is said to have subsisted ever since by stealing and highway robbery, especially in the counties of York, Derby, and Nottingham, and that he lately murdered one Fletcher, who had a warrant to apprehend him. Even after this proclamation, and a reward of 201. offered for his apprehension, such was the imperfect state of the police, he continued in his lawless course for two years and a half, though his person was well known. On Thursday, March 6, 1688-4, he was apprehended at an alehouse near Sandal, The fortieth volume of the Surtees Society, which consists of "depositions from York Castle, relating to offences committed in the northern counties in the seventeenth century," contains two most interesting accounts of Nevison and his accomplices, male and female, and their numerous exploits, but nothing is said of the origin of the man. Mr. Guest says: "My own impression is that Nevison came from Thorp, a village four miles from here [Rotherham ], and which since the time of Nevison harboured one of the most audacious and desperate thieves this neighbourhood has ever known." The following are some of the extracts :— "March 3, 1675-6. John Nevison and others for highway robbery. This was a robbery at Wentbridge, and Nevison there goes by the name of Brace, or John Bracy." In a note it is said : "A deposition referring to John Nevison, the famous highwayman, who is commemorated in an old ballad, of which two stanzas may be taken as a sample. "Did you ever hear tell of that hero, He rode about like a bold hero, And he gained himself favor therefore." Mr. Guest then adds: Duval of the North. The story of his ride from London "Nevison may be appropriately called the Claude to York is too well known to be repeated; and even Lord Macaulay introduced him into his History of England. The depositions given are imperfect, so that we cannot well tell what the crime was for which Nevison was condemned in 1675-6. He was however reprieved, together with a woman of the name of Jane Nelson, in the expectation that he would discover his accomplices. The hope would seem to be a vain one, and the pardoned culprit was draughted into a regiment destined for Tangiers. He soon deserted from it, and we shall meet with him again. "It seems to have been a custom among the highwaymen to have receiving-houses in different parts of the country. This put them at the mercy of the receivers, and they were obliged to conciliate them with gifts. "A life of Nevison has been published, which is excessively scarce. There are several scarce pamphlets, describing robberies and other crimes that took place about this time in Yorkshire, in some of which, perhaps, Nevison played his part: "Bloody News from Yorkshire, in the great robbery committed by twenty highwaymen upon fifteen butchers, as they were riding to Northallerton Fair. 4to, London, 1674.' "A full and true relation of a most barbarous and cruel robbery and murder by six men and one woman, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire. 4to, London, 1677.'" The extracts from the volume of the Surtees Society include several depositions of witnesses on the trial of Nevison, but nothing as to his birthplace. Shortlands. T. B. |