254
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. SEPT. 23, ion.
32, Argyll Street, Regent Street. It reads :
" Vol. I. Part I., containing The Life and
Vindication of John Foxe, is in the Press."
It was apparently published about the end
of 1868, perhaps later.
All the other parts I have, being ' The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe.' Their dates are as follows :
Vol. I. Part II. 1853.
Vol.11. Part I. 1854.
Vol. II. Part II. 1854.
Vol. III. Part I. 1855.
Vol. III. Part II. 1855.
Vol. IV. Part 1. 1856.
Vol. IV. Part II. 1857.
Vol. V. Part I. 1857.
Vol. V. Part II. 1858.
Vol. VI. Part I. 1858.
Vol. VI. Part II. 1859.
Vol. VII. Part I. 1861.
Vol. VII. Part II. 1861.
Vol. VIII. Part I. 1868.
Vol. VIII. Part II. 1868.
It is evident that Mr. Seeley hoped to continue the Pre-Reformation Series. I have a letter from him (found among the papers of my late father, who was a sub- scriber), dated 32, Argyll Street, Regent Street, Oct. 30, 1868, in which is the follow- ing:
"The parts we are now issuing will complete Foxe's Acts, c. V. 5 pt. 2 of the Pre Ref n series is ready for the press, and will be issued as soon as possible after the delivery of Foxe is completed. We propose then to send a circular to the subscribers to ascertain their wishes as to the further progress of the work. Foxe would be an imperfect work without the 3 parts now issuing ; but the works in- cluded in the other series being independent of each other, they will be complete as far as they go, whether the series is continued or not. We intend to make it a complete book, but the extent of it will
depend upon the subscribers themselves The
whole property is now in my hands, and I hope to proceed with it without any further impediment." Unfortunately, even Vol. V. Part II. of the Pre-Reformation Series, "ready for the press " in 1868, never appeared. Also of the same series Vol. I. Part I. never appeared. According to a notice facing the titJe-pao-e of Vol. I. Part II. of the said Pre-Reforma- tion Series,
"The first part of Vol I., consisting chiefly of Prefaces and other introductory matter, and the History ot the Early British Church, is Deferred till a later period."
It will be seen that each volume of each series either was or was intended to be divided into two parts, and that a full set of what was issued should consist of eight parts of the Pre-Reformation Series and sixteen parts of the Reformation Series, as given above. ROBERT PIERPOINT.
St. Austins, Warrington.
JOHN NIANDSEB (11 S. iv. 169, 213). In
regard to Niandser's marriage with Lady
Scrope of Bolton, may I refer MB. FABBEB
to G. E. C., ' Complete Peerage,' vii. 85,
note d, and ' Testamenta Eboracensia '
there cited ? In 1412 one Matthew Niand-
ser was a feoffee of some of Scrope' s lands
('Plac. in Cancell.,' 470), the same person
probably who as Matthew de Niandsergh
was one of the jurors for Westmorland in
1402 ('Feudal Aids,' v. 196).
W. H. B. BIBD.
10, Arundel Gardens, W.
"ALL MY EYE AND BETTY MABTIN "
(11 S. iv. 207). In reply to MB. J. F. BENSE'S question as to " all my eye and Betty Martin " in my novel ' Tillers of the Soil,' I may say that " Joe Miller " relates that a seaman of his day, being caught in a heavy shower in some Continental port, went into a Roman Catholic church during service. Whilst he remained, probably five to ten minutes, the choir, or the congrega- tion, chanted as a refrain or response, no doubt "Ah! mihi, beate Martine." Then, when the sailor returned aboard his ship, and was asked what fine sights he had seen, the main thread in his yarn was his visit to the church, with the oft-repeated remark : " But all I could make o' what they said was 'All my eye an' Betty Martin.' ' ' In time the phrase grew to mean "All non- sense." As " Joe Miller " was some 50 years prior to Mr. BENSE'S earliest quotation, we can only infer that all the examples were efforts to " elbow " the original out of the way. In other words, they were true "Joe Millers."
J. E. PATTEBSON.
I have known this saying all my life in use in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. Miss Baker in her ' Northamptonshire Glos- sary ' says :
"Many of our most popular vulgarisms may be traced to some whimsical perversion of language or facts ; and it has been supposed that some ancient hyrnn or prayer to St. Martin, one of the worthies of the Romish Calendar, contains the words ' mihi beate Martine,' which someone, more prone to pun- ning than praying, has distorted into this prevalent plebeian phrase."
See also 7 S. ix. 216, 298.
JOHN T. PAGE.
In The Cambridge Chronicle, more than thirty years ago, I saw this expression in the form of mediaeval Latin, thus : " Hei mihi ! Beate Martin' ! " It was used derisively in a letter against my candida- ture for an appointment.
