Page:Notes and Queries - Series 1 - Volume 1.djvu/98

---

"The timber I saw here was prodigious, as well in quantity as in bigness, and seem'd in some places to be suffered to grow only because it was so far off of any navigation, that it was not worth cutting down and carrying away; in dry summers, indeed, a great deal is carried away to Maidstone and other parts on the Medway; and sometimes I have seen one tree on a carriage, which they call here a tug, drawn by two-and-twenty oxen, and even then this carried so little a way, and then thrown down and left for other tugs to take up and carry on, that sometimes it is two or three years before it gets to Chatham; for if once the rains come in it stirs no more that year, and sometimes a whole summer is not dry enough to make the roads passable. Here I had a sight which, indeed, I never saw in any other part of England, namely, that going to church at a country village, not far from Lewes, I saw an ancient lady, and a lady of very good quality, I assure you, drawn to church in her coach with six oxen; nor was it done in frolic or humour, but mere necessity, the way being so stiff and deep that no horses could go in it."—A Tour through Great Britain, by a Gentleman. London, 1724. Vol. i. p. 54. Letter II.

 

Factotum.

"He was so farre the dominus fac totum in this juncto that his words were laws, all things being acted according to his desire."—p. 76. of Foulis' Hist. of Plots of our Pretended Saints, 2nd edit. 1674. F. M.

 

Birthplace of Andrew Borde.

Hearne says, in Wood's Athenæ, "that the Doctor was not born at Pevensey or Pensey, but at Boonds-hill in Holmsdayle, in Sussex."

Should we not read "Borde-hill?" That place belonged to the family of Borde for many generations. It is in Cuckfield parish. The house may be seen from the Ouse-Valley Viaduct. J. F. M.

 

Order of Minerva.

"We are informed that his Majesty is about to institute a new order of knighthood, called The Order of Minerva, for the encouragement of literature, the fine arts, and learned professions. The new order is to consist of twenty-four knights and the Sovereign; and is to be next in dignity to the military Order of the Bath. The knights are to wear a silver star with nine points, and a straw-coloured riband from the right shoulder to the left. A figure of Minerva is to be embroidered in the centre of the star, with this motto, 'Omnia posthabita Scientæ.' Many men eminent in literature, in the fine arts, and in physic, and law, are already thought of to fill the Order, which, it is said, will be instituted before the meeting of parliament.—Perth Magazine, July, 1772. Scotus.

 

Flaws of Wind.

The parish church of Dun-Nechtan, now Dunnichen, was dedicated to St. Causlan, whose festival was held in March. Snow showers in March are locally called "St. Causlan's flaws." Scotus.

 

QUERIES ANSWERED.

DORNE THE BOOKSELLER AND HENNO RUSTICUS.

Sir,—Circumstances imperatively oblige me to do that from which I should willingly be excused—reply to the observations of J. I., inserted in page 75. of the last Saturday's Number of the "Notes and Queries."

The subject of these are three questions proposed by me in your first number to the following effect:—1. Whether any thing was known, especially from the writings of Erasmus, of a bookseller and publisher of the Low Countries named Dorne, who lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century? Or, 2ndly, of a little work of early date called Henno Rusticus? Or, 3rdly, of another, called Of the Sige (Signe) of the End?

To these no answer has yet been given, although the promised researches of a gentleman of this University, to whom literary inquirers in Oxford have ever reason to be grateful, would seem to promise one soon, if it can be made. But, in the mean time, the knot is cut in a simpler way: neither Dorne, nor Henno Rusticus, his book, it is said, ever existed. Permit me one word of expostulation upon this.

It is perfectly true that the writing of the MS. which has given rise to these queries and remarks is small, full of contractions, and sometimes difficult to be read; but the contractions are tolerably uniform and consistent, which, to those who have to do with such matters, is proved to be no inconsiderable encouragement and assistance. A more serious difficulty arises from the circumstance, that the bookseller used more than one language, and none always correctly. Still it may be presumed he was not so ignorant as to make a blunder in spelling his own name. And the first words of the manuscript are these: "+ In nomine domini amen ego Johannes dorne," &c. &c. (In nōie domi amē ego Johānes dorne, &c.) From the inspection of a close copy now lying before me, in which all the abbreviations are retained, and from my own clear recollection, I am enabled to state that, to my full belief, the name of "dorne" is written by the man himself in letters at length, without any contraction whatever; and that the altered form of it, "Dōmr̃," as applied to that particular person, exists nowhere whatever, except in page 75. of No. 5. of the "Notes and Queries."

The words "henno rusticus" (hēno rusticus) are found twice, and are tolerably clearly written in both cases. Of the "rusticus" nothing need be said; but the first n in "henno" is expressed by a contraction, which in the MS. very commonly denotes that letter, and sometimes the final m. How frequently it represents n may be judged from the fact that in the few words already quoted, the final n in "amen," and the first in "Johannes," are supplied by it. So that