LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1901.

NOTES:

CONTENTS. - No. 202.

Heuskarian Rarity, 377-Order of St. Michael and St. George, 378-Merry Tales, 380-Cartwright in Geneva, 382-Thackeray's Early Writings-Breadcrumbs aud the Devil-Canon Carter of Clewer, 383. QUERIES:-Sale of Pamphlets-Staunton

Cromwellian Forfeitures, 383-Green Crise or Cryse-French Genealogy - Buckworth: Hyde: Bygo-Macaulay's Essays Lamb's Angel Help' Wanted - Docklow-Gornall-Troughton-Private Printing Press, 384 - National Covenant of 1638-Insel Runö -Capt. Gordon at Sebastopol -"Second Chamber" "Stret warde"-Clock and Watch Figures-Greek Spear

- Cuckland Architect's Name

in Left Hand-Motto on Venetian Coin-"Man of honour" -Brown of Arlesey-Mgr. Erskine, 385-Dorothy Cecil, 386.

REPLIES:-Merlin, 386-Arms of Canada-Master of the

Musick Fowke of Drogheda, 387- Bruce and BurnsByron's tomb "Hymns Ancient and Modern,' 388Marshalsea and King's Bench Prisoners - Silversmith's Signature-"Obelisk," 389-" Riding the marches," 390Poem Wanted, 391 Bishops' Ornaments Back-formations - Kipling's Vampire' Register of BroadwoodWidger Leigh in Lancashire - Peché Family, 392Ancient Chair-Designs of Early Printers, 393-Chalice as Race Cup" Ask nothing more of me, Sweet"-Stone Pulpit, 394.

Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson at once said, "I will see if we have not a copy." The result was that the Bodleian is richer than it was supposed. Under the shelf-mark "Marescha 439" there is a perfect, clean copy, in a good old parchment cover, of the little volume in question. By its means the authorities of the Newberry Library in Chicago will be able to obtain copies of the part that is missing in the Buonapartean specimen. M. Vinson's description being necessarily imperfect, the following complementary details concerning the book as found in the Bodleian will be of interest to Baskologists. Its title is

"Ama Virginaren | Hirvr | Officio ac. | Latinean beçala escaraz. Bigarren liburua. | Pontu premienez. Presuna deboten othoitcera Saran C. Harismendi Apeçac gucia | hunela moldatua, eta Doctorez | aprobatua. | Bordelen, | G. de la Covrt, Imprimat-çaillea baithan. 1660. | Congiarequin." That is to say :

"The Three Offices of the Virgin Mary. In Baskish as they are in Latin. The Second Book. With the most necessary points for the praying of devout

and Magazines.

Notices to Correspondents.

Botes.

AN HEUSKARIAN RARITY IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY.

ONE effect of the lamented transportation to the Newberry Library in Chicago of the linguistic collection of the late Prince L. L. Buonaparte, which contained some unique copies of old and therefore precious Baskish* or Heuskarian books, is that the value of all rare books in that language which remain in Europe has risen. The Bodleian Library turns out to possess one of these rarities, of which no mention has hitherto been made in

the bibliographies. On my informing the librarian of the University of Oxford that M. Julien Vinson had just published a new edition of the three Baskish 'Offices of the Virgin Mother,' by C. Harismendi (described on p. 108, and under the number 27 c, in his Bibliographie Basque' of 1891, and on p. 551 of his Supplement of 1898), from an incomplete copy, supposed to be unique, in the collection of Prince L. L. Buonaparte.

Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich, the first English Bascophile of importance, spelt the name of the Heuskarian tongue Basquish, on the analogy of Finnish, Turkish, Polish, &c. This leaves the term Basque or Bask as the name of the people possessing that language. But to avoid the sound of quish, as in "vanquish,” it were well to spell the word Baskish.

C. Harismendi the Priest, and approved of the Doctors. In Bordeaux, in the house of G. de la Court, the Printer, 1660. With the Permission (congé d'imprimer)."

At the left-hand lower corner of the titlepage the Bodleian mark "Mar 439" occurs, and on the other side of it, below an engraving of the Crucifixion signed "I D," there is the circular stamp "Bibliotheca Bodleiana." At the other end of the book, on the inside of the cover, some one has written the twentytwo letters of the Heuskarian alphabet, headed by a +. The alphabet is known in Baskish as croasa or kruasa, i.e., la croix, from the fact of the alphabet being so printed in the hornbooks or their equivalents, a fact which makes one think of "Christcross row "in English. The book is numbered all through its pages, of which it contains 236. On pp. 2 and 3, immediately following the verso of the title-page, there is "Andre Dena Mariari Dedicainoa," i.e., "The Dedication to Saint Mary Lady," ending with the exclamation "May Jesus live, and Mary!" On p. 5 there is "The approbation of my Lord the Bishop," ending "Datum Baionæ anno Domini 1659, die vero 27 FebThis bishop was Jean d'Olce. P. 6 contains ruarii. Ioannes Episcopus Baionensis." the "Aprobacinoa" of 27 Feb., 1658, signed "I. de Moleres Maria Magdalena Paravisvco Priorea eta Curaideco [sic] erretora." That is, "J. de Moleres, Prior of the Paradise (or Parvise?) of Mary Magdalene and Rector of Zuraide." On p. 7 there is "Aprobacinoa,' signed at Ciburu (i.e., Zubiburu Ciboure),

=

11 March, 1658, by I. De Haristegvi. Then come two tables for finding the Church festivals from 1657 to 1671 inclusive, and on p. 10 there are notices about ember days, "Garthez," and times when marriage was forbidden. Pp. 11 to 30 inclusive give the ecclesiastical calendar, the months being called Urtharilla, Oxailla, Marchoa, Apirilla, Maiatça, Errearoa, Uztailla, Abostua, Burulla, Urria, Hacilla, Abendoa, names now forgotten or illegitimately confounded by many Basks. On p. 31 begin "Orhoitçari Batçu," that is, "Some Memoranda." P. 34 consists of an engraving of the Annunciation of Our Lady, signed "I D," and on p. 35 one gets "Matutinac Incarnacinoaz," i.e., "The Mattins of the Incarnation." Thence down to p. 191 inclusive, with the exception of a few prayers and responses, the offices are in rime. Then comes Examena," or examination before confession, followed by Eucharistic Devotions, and meditations on sin, death, the patron saint, the guardian angel, general counsels, &c. The last page ends, like p. 4, with the words "Vici bedi Iesus eta Maria."

Mr. Nicholson refers the name Marescha to Thomas Marshall, Dean of Gloucester (16211685), who is described in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' as a student of languages. In Annals of the Bodleian Library,' by W. D. Macray, he is said to have been known also by the name of Mareschal. The words "The Second Book" in the title suggest inquiry for the first book. Was it ever published? Has a copy of it survived? The Baskish used in the book is much superior to that written during the nineteenth century, which was a period of decadence in literary style.

The Bodleian possesses the reputed unique copy of a book in the same Labourdin dialect by Stephen Materre, printed at Bordeaux in 1623. The late Mr. Llewelyn Thomas, Vice-Principal of Jesus College, Oxford (to whom I suggested the publication of P. d'Urte's Labourdin version of Genesis and part of Exodus, on first meeting him in the library at Bayonne in the summer of 1892), marked (illegally) in pencil upon the margin of the Bodleian copy of M. Vinson's 'Bibliography' some useful corrections of the description therein given of this treasure. It contains one of the earliest known instances of the use of the word "etorkia," by which P. d'Urte translated Genesis, a word perfectly familiar to Basks of the present generation. As Mr. Thomas's notes have not yet been published, let them appear here:

P. 52, l. 16, for "licencia " read licentia.

THIS is the order the decorations of which are most largely drawn upon when it is desired to reward or compliment persons who have rendered services to their country which may be specially characterized as of a colonial nature. At the present time, when our recent foreign affairs have rendered these services particularly acceptable and grateful to the mother country, it may be as well to consider in some detail what this order is, and whether it can be said to fulfil the object for which it was founded or to which it is now being devoted.

23

Originally a comparatively small order, consisting of the Sovereign, the Grand Master, twenty Knights Grand Crosses, twenty Knight Commanders, and twentyfive Companions (then called "Cavalieri with respect to the Ionian and Maltese members), it was founded in the year 1818, for natives of the Ionian Islands, Malta, and its dependencies, and others holding high positions in the Mediterranean. Since then it has been considerably extended from time to time, particularly in 1868, with the object of making it an order of merit for the British colonies, when it was raised to twenty-five Grand Crosses, sixty Knight Commanders, and one hundred Companions. The extent of the increase to which its membership has since been subjected may be gathered from the fact that in May, 1887 (the date of the last augmentation), the number had risen to sixty-five Grand Crosses, two hundred Knight Commanders, and three hundred and forty-two Companions (see the chapter on The Orders of Knighthood' in Woodward's 'Heraldry: British and Foreign,' edition 1896, vol. ii. pp. 343 et seq.).

Although these statutes were repealed by the last ones promulgated in 1891, the num

bers of the several classes remained at the above figure, though power is reserved to the sovereign under the letters patent of 1850 to increase the number of any class. Doubtless many of your readers are familiar with the insignia of the order: the badge, consisting of a gold cross of fourteen points (in seven rays), having a circular centre of blue enamel within a motto-band of the same colour bearing the motto "Auspicium melioris ævi"; the collar, consisting of six golden crowned lions of England, eight Maltese crosses enamelled white, and eight golden ciphers; the ribbon, of three equal stripes, two of Saxon blue, the centre one of scarlet; and the star, consisting in the case of the Grand Crosses of seven rays, each composed of as many smaller ones of silver, the intervals being filled with small rays of gold; and in the case of the Knight Commanders, composed of four silver rays in the general shape of a cross patée.

Those of your readers who desire further details relating to these insignia I would refer to pp. 354-5 of the volume above mentioned.

Dr. Woodward was of opinion-and he is a high authority--that this extension of the order so as to embrace the British colonies in general has rendered the original design and embellishments of the insignia insufficient for the purposes for which the order has now been adapted, the condition of affairs which originated the order having disappeared. He says (p. 355):

"The withdrawal of the British protection from the Ionian Islands and the extension and applica

tion of the order as a colonial distinction have rendered the insignia no longer appropriate to this latter purpose, and a change which would make them more fitting to the present circumstances of the order is certainly desirable. The seven rays of the cross, the use of the sept-insular lion (indicative of long past Venetian rule), and especially the motto, Auspicium melioris ævi,' have lost whatever appropriateness they might have had when the seven Ionian Islands were made subject to the British Crown."

According to the full and interesting 'History and Constitution' of the order, issued from the office of the Chancery of the Order in August, 1887, the origin of the above motto is still in doubt; and, if we may believe Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, a former Chancellor of the Order, in his 'History of the Order of St. Michael and St. George' (1842), an extract from which is given at p. 5 of the above History and Constitution, though the learning of many eminent scholars has been employed in the inquiry, in the hope that the words might be

traced to some author of antiquity, all that has been discovered is that the legend "Auspicium melioris ævi" occurs on a coin of Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of the Rhine, in 1642. It is also cited in Menestrier's Philosophia Imaginum,' p. 699; and the same words, Nicolas states, form the motto of the Duke of St. Albans, the descendant of a natural son of Charles II. Can no scholarly reader of 'N. & Q.' help us here?

66

Loth as I may be to disagree with anything that Dr. Woodward has written, I must say that I can see no good reason for any such suggested change in the motto of the order. The circumstances which gave rise to its adoption in 1818 are, although greatly changed, in my opinion just as applicable now as then; and at the beginning of the twentieth century we all trust that we are on the eve of that better age" which a higher appreciation of each other and the establishment of that closer union between the mother country and her colonies which recent events have called forth must inevitably bring to pass. Therefore, I say, let the motto stand. It is a good one for all time. But I do agree with Dr. Woodward that the rest of the insignia might well undergo a change and improvement more emblematic of and more suited to the higher position that our colonies have taken as a factor even in European politics.

The insignia of the principal public orders instituted since the foundation of that of St. Michael and St. George, namely, the Order of the Star of India, instituted in 1861 (members of which now take precedence of those of St. Michael and St. George, though at its institution the latter ranked next to that of the Bath*), and the Order of the Indian Empire, instituted in 1878, both bear distinct references to the objects for which they were founded. Those of the Order of St. Michael and St. George may have some reference to the object for which it was founded, but have none for that for which it is now alone usedexcept, as I suggest, in the applicability still