The explanation which I offer satisfies every one of the various peculiarities observed and recorded with regard to this phenomenon; and moreover it is the only one which will satisfy them all. I shall be thankful to any of your readers who may be able either to confirm it, or to show its fallacy, if such exists. H. C. K.

Rectory, Hereford.

Characterized, in a Sermon (not preached, nor needful to be preached, in any place so properly as in a Camp), by Edmund Hickeringill, Rector of the Rectory of AllSaints in Colchester. The "good old cause" of this divine is that of monarchy, and "the guard of his Majesty's sacred person, the darling of Heaven as well as of mankind," is set in battle array against "Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, with the Philistines also."]

THE GOOD OLD CAUSE."

SO

It would greatly interest me to ascertain the precise birthplace and early history of that noble watchword, "The good old Cause" in what speech, or in what book that expression, so full of deep and lofty meaning, and so dear to the lips of Puritan England, made its first appearance. Preachers and pamphleteers are full of "the Cause;" the fighting saints had ever "the Cause" upon their lips; it entered into their battle-cry: "God and the Cause!" were the words that led them to victory at Marston Moor and Naseby. I would fain know the Englishman who deepened, beautified, and heightened the expression by these two epithets, who elevated "the Cause" into "The good old Cause." The honour, I think, scarcely belongs to Milton. A tolerably intimate and constantly sustained acquaintance with his prose works has not revealed to me the existence of the expression there. I do not recollect it in the letters or speeches of Cromwell. Algernon Sidney, at the end of that noble dying prayer of his, where he makes such tender mention of the Cause, associated therewith one only of the two attendant epithets: "Grant that I may die glorifying Thee for all Thy mercies, and that at the last Thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a witness of Thy truth, and even by the confession of my opposers, for that Old Cause in which I was from my youth engaged, and for which Thou hast often and wonderfully declared Thyself." We may not then congratulate the full expression upon so noble a birthplace as the Sidneian prayer. Perhaps some among the learned contributors to "N. & Q." may assist my search for the speech or book honoured by the first appearance of that noble watchword "The good old Cause."

THOMAS H. GILL.

[We have before us a quarto pamphlet, published February 16, 1658-9, entitled, The Good Old Cause dress'd in its Primitive Lustre, and set forth to the View of all Men; being a Short and Sober Narrative of the Great Revolutions of Affairs in these Later Times, by R. Fitz-Brian, an affectionate Lover of his Country. "The good old cause," commended by the writer, is that of the "Commonwealth of England, purged from those dregs and defilements which in time it had contracted." The celebrated John Dunton also published, in 1692, The Good Old Cause; or, the Divine Captain

"It is neither easy to know how they exist in nature, nor, if any one did know, to persuade others. But upon the minds of men, who look with suspicion on each other in things of this kind, it is not worth while to make an attack, if perchance they see representations moulded in wax, either in the house door, or where three cross roads meet, or on the tombs of their parents; and to exhort those who have no clear notions about them, to hold all things of that kind cheap."— Burges' Trans., book xi. c. 12.

In the apocryphal "First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus," it is said:

"There was a woman possessed with a devil... she went out into desert places, and sometimes standing

where roads crossed, and in churchyards, would throw

stones at men."

Can any of your correspondents elucidate these allusions to cross roads? J. P.

Odyllic Light.-While reading Gregory's translation of Reichenbach, the following question was suggested to my mind, which perhaps some one among your readers may be able to answer, which will be esteemed by me a favour.

Heat being a constituent of light, and in proportion to its intensity, though light is not in all cases a visible constituent of heat, as may be exemplified by a voltaic battery in darkness, I wish to know, if any substance easy of combustion at a low comparative temperature, as nitrate of silver, or fine carburetted hydrogen, has been tried in the odyllic light? ÆGROTUS.

Trochilus and Crocodile. Herodotus (11. 68.) gives the well-known story of the trochilus entering into the mouth of the crocodile to pick from his teeth the bdella that adhere to them. The same account is to be found (apparently copied from the above-referred-to passage) in Aristotle, Hist. An. 1x. 6. 6., and Pliny H. N. vII. 25. I wish to know whether this fact (if it be one) has ever been confirmed by modern writers. What traveller has seen the trochilus perform the part of a living toothpick, and what species of bird is it? S. L. P.

Oxford and Cambridge Club.

Pickigni.-In an old dictionary, which wants title-page and some pages at the end, and of which I therefore can tell nothing, I find the following:

"Pickigni f. a word used (like Shibboleth) to distinguish aliens from the native French, as bread und cheese did the English from the Flemings in Wat Tyler's rebellion."

What is the meaning of this word, and what the truth of the alleged use? F.A.

Heywood Arms. Can any one refer me to an authority for the following arms as borne by a family of the name of Haywood or Heywood: a chevron between three martlets.

R. W. C.

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of his reign (1 Sam. x. 1. 8.), was charged by Samuel to go down before him to Gilgal, and tarry seven days" there, till Samuel himself should come to him. Accordingly, "he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed" (1 Sam. xiii. 8.). How is the former chronology to be reconciled with verse 1. of this latter chapter, where it is said that Saul "had reigned two years" before the events connected with the seven days? Is the former passage an anticipation of the latter one? BOTICUS.

Edgmond, Salop, July 5. 1852.

Coudray Family.-I should feel obliged by any of your readers furnishing information as to this family, whose name first appears in the Battle Abbey Roll, in Leland's copy probably as "Soucheville Coudrey" or Coubray" (I am quoting from the lists attached to Lower's Surnames), and in Holinshead's copy as "Couderay." I have not referred to Domesday Book for Hants and Berks; but we find different members of the family mentioned in the Testa de Nevill; also in the four volumes of the Calend. Inq. Post Mort. from Henry III. to Edward IV. After which period I have not been able to find any traces of them, nor at any time of their alliances. In Lipscomb's Bucks there is a slight pedigree drawn from the above sources alone, merely repeating the Christian names of the ladies. They appear to have been a knightly family of some consideration, particularly in Berks, where their principal manor of Padworth is situate, which they held by the service of finding a man to manage the ropes of the ship in which the queen should cross the sea. Fulk de Coudray is mentioned in one of Sir H. Nicolas's "Roll of Arms."

When did the principal line expire; and what family now represents it?

There is a family still extant in Berks which, under the corrupted name of Cordery, claims to represent the ancient family, and uses the arms.

Is there any evidence of this claim? Any information respecting the family will be acceptable W. H. L.

to

The Furneaux Family.-I shall be thankful to any of your readers who will enable me to trace the pedigree of the Furneaux family, either upward or downward, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. I have hitherto succeeded in tracing the line from Forneus, or Furnieueus, of the Battle Abbey Roll, through Sir Alan de Furneaux, to whom the manor of Fen-Ottery, Devon, was granted by Henry I. circa 1100, down through six generations, to Sir John de Furneaux, who in 1343 alienated the above manor to his brother Richard, who was dead in 1344. The intermediate links are Sir Galfrede, the son of Sir Alan; then another Sir Alan, then Sir John, Sir Philip, a second Sir John, a third Sir John, who alienated the manor. The last account I can get of the Furneaux, in connexion with Fen-Ottery, is of a Sir John de F., dead in 1413.

The Furneaux now resident in Devon I can trace no further back than to Henry, the son of Matthew Furneaux, baptized at Paignton Church in 1560. Still the frequent allusions and references made to them, argue them to be of the same stock. Any information, therefore, connecting the links broken at 1344 and 1560, will oblige

WM. DUCK.

Personators of Edward VI.-Harvey, in his Discoursive Probleme concerning Prophecies, Lond. 1588, writes:

“Alas! what fond and vaine expectation hath a long time rested in the minds, not of one, or two, or a few; but of great multitudes of the simpler sort in England about K. Edward Sixt, as though they were sure either of his arising from death, or his returne from I know not what, Jerusalem or other strange land."

He then goes on to speak of "suborned marchants of base parentage" who have "sithence ranged abroade in the countrie, presuming to terme themselves by the roiale name of K. Edward." Where can I find an account of these impostors ? T. STERNBERG. Barlaam's Commentary on Euclid.—The article in the Penny Cyclopædia, under the word "BARLAAM," refers to a work of his in the catalogue of De Thou's library, under the title Arithmetica Demonstratio eorum quæ Euclides Libro II. in lineis demonstravit (no date or place). This work was, however, printed by Christian Mylius at Strasburgh in 1564, 16mo., as an appendix to the second book of Euclid's Elements, with a Latin translation by Conrad Dasypodius (=Rauchfuss), with the usual title of Euclid prefixed:

« Ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Θεῶνος συνουσιῶν. Καὶ Βαρλαάμ μοναχοῦ ἀριθμητικὴ ἀπόδειξις τῶν γραμμικῶς ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν στοιχειῶν ἀποδειχθέντων.”

This is an algebraical* rather than arithmetical

Λογιστική.

application or proof of the first ten propositions of Euclid's second book; for no numerals are used, but lines and parts of lines having certain ratios and resulting equations: each poraois, proposition, being divided into eleσis, explanation given; diopipòs, explanation sought; KaraokevỲ, delineation or construction; anódeiĝis, demonstration; and ovμnépaoμa, conclusion, in the strict form of Euclid. Barlaam lived in the first half of the fourteenth century, before the introduction of the Arabic numerals into Europe. His name was Bernard before he changed it to Barlaam (son of the people) on taking the vows of St. Basil in the Greek church, which he deserted for the Latin. He was well known to Boccacio and Petrarch. T. J. Buckton. Bristol Road, Birmingham.

Venice Glasses.-Could you kindly give me some information on the subject of Venice glasses? They appear to have possessed the valuable property of splitting in pieces as soon as poison was put into them, and to have been used as a safeguard almost in modern times? Who invented them? And how did they differ in composition from ordinary glasses? Warmington.

RT.

Styles of Dukes and Marquises.-Have not these peers different styles- Most Noble and Most Honorable? How is it that the style Most Noble is applied to marquises, and even the sons of marquises, in official notices? For instance, in the Gazette on the 18th of June, the Duke of Beaufort's son is announced as the Most Noble Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset, commonly called Marquis of Worcester, which is only a courtesy title! L. T. 2. New Square, Linc. Inn.

Let him to base unequal termes submit,

help me in my difficulty, and inform me what foundation there is for this legend?

FRANCES S. M. [The legend of St. Margaret is "singularly wild," says Mrs. Jameson. It appears that the Governor of Antioch was captivated with her beauty: but Margaret rejected his offers with scorn. He endeavoured to subdue her constancy by the keenest torments, and she was dragged to a dungeon, where the devil, in the shape of a terrible dragon, came upon her with his inflamed and hideous mouth, and sought to terrify her: but she held up the cross, and he fled before it. In some of the old illuminations the dragon is seen rent and burst, and St. Margaret stands upon him, or near him, unharmed.] Montebourg, Abbey of.—Where is any account of the great abbey of Montebourg, near Valognes, now destroyed?

Lyme Regis.

G. R. L.

[Dugdale (vol. vi. p. 1097.) has given two charters of confirmation to it; and a list of thirty-three abbots of this house will be found in Neustria Pia, pp. 674676.]

Virgilian Lots.-What is the meaning of "The Virgilian lots ?"

Johnson, in his "Life of Cowley" (Lives of the Poets, vol. i. p. 17.), says,·

“.... But the manners of that time were so tinged with superstition, that I cannot but suspect Cowley of having consulted on this great occasion the Virgilian lots, and to have given some credit to the answer of his oracle."

TECEDE.

[A very curious illustration of Johnson's meaning will be found in Aubrey's Remains of Gentilism and Judaism, from which it has been printed in the volume of Anecdotes and Traditions published by the Camden Society, where we read as follows:

"In December 1648, King Charles the First, being in great trouble, and prisoner at Caersbroke, or to be brought to London to his triall; Charles, Prince of Wales, being then in Paris, and in profound sorrow for his father, Mr. Abraham Cowley went to wayte on him. His Highnesse asked him whether he would play at cards to divert his sad thoughts; Mr. Cowley replied he did not care to play at cards, but if his Highness pleased they would use Sortes Virgiliana. Mr. Cowley alwaies had a Virgil in his pocket. The Prince accepted the proposal, and prickt his pin in the fourth booke of the Eneid, at this place (Iv. 615. et seq.),

'At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis,' &c. The Prince understood not Latin well, and desired Mr. Cowley to translate the verses, which he did admirably well; and Mr. George Ent (who lived in his house at Chertsey in the great plague, 1665) showed me Mr. Cowley's own handwriting –

In hope to save his crown, yet loose both it
And life at once, untimely let him dy,
And on an open stage unburied ly.""

Aubrey, who had not at first recovered Cowley's translation, having inserted an extract from Ogilby's Virgil, observes on the last line of the passage he quoted

"But die before his day, the sand his grave.'

Now as to the last part, 'the sand his grave,' I well remember it was frequently and soberly affirmed by officers of the army and grandees, that the body of King Charles the First was privately putt into the sand about Whitehall; and the coffin, which was carried to Windsor, and layd in King Henry VIII.'s Mr. vault, was filled with rubbish or brick batts. Fabrian Philips, who adventured his life before the king's trial by printing, assures me that the king's coffin did cost but six shillings, a plain deale coffin. Aubrey, fo. 157 and 158."

On which the editor has this further note:

"A very different account of the incident related by Aubrey is given by Welwood in his Memoirs, pp. 93, 94. ed. 1820, where it is said that it was the King himself who, being at Oxford and viewing the Public Library, was shown a magnificent Virgil, and induced by Lord Falkland to make a trial of his Fortune by the just referred to. Sortes Virgiliana, and opened the book at the passage Weldon adds It is said King Charles seemed concerned at this accident, and that the Lord Falkland observing it, would also try his own Fortune in the same manner, hoping he might fall upon some passage that could have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the King's thoughts from any impression that the other might have made upon him; but the place that Falkland stumbled upon was yet more suited to his destiny than the other had been to the King's: being the following expressions of Evander upon the untimely death of his son Pallas, as they are translated by Dryden :

"O Pallas! thou hast fail'd thy plighted word
To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword;
I warn'd thee, but in vain; for well I knew
What perils youthful ardour would pursue;
That boiling blood would carry thee too far;
Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war!
O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom,

Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come!'

Newspaper Extracts. Some years since a volume of Newspaper Extracts—a curious compilation was published. Can you give me the title, date, and publisher ?

J. P.

[Perhaps the following is the work wanted by our correspondent: More Mornings at Bow Street; a New Collection of Humorous und Entertaining Reports, by John Wight, of the Morning Herald: London, 1824 and 1827.]

Replies.

PORTRAITS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

(Vol. vi., p. 36.)

I would meet MARICONDA's first Query by another. What reason is there for attributing "fascinating beauty" of face to Mary? No doubt she was a handsome woman; and so all the portraits which I have seen represent her. Is there any description of her face made by, or derived directly from, any one who had seen her, which would lead us to expect anything more? Those which I have happened to meet with do not speak so much of personal beauty, as of charms of another kind, far more potent than personal beauty ever carried with it.

In May, 1568, when she was in her twenty-sixth year, Lord Scrope and Sir F. Knollys reported their first interview with her to Elizabeth :

"We found the Quene of Skottes in her chamber of presence, ready to receive us; where, after salutations made, and our declaration also of your Highness' sorrowfulness, &c. &c., we found her in her answers to have an eloquent tonge and a discrete head; and it seemeth by her doinges that she hath stout courage and liberall harte adjoined thereunto."- Wright's Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 277.

On the 11th of June, Sir F. Knollys writes to Cecil,

"And yet this lady and pryncess is a notable woman. She seemeth to regard no ceremonious honor besyde the acknowledging of her estate regalle. She sheweth a disposition to speake much, to be bold, to be pleasant, and to be very famylyar. She sheweth a great desyre to be avenged of her enemyes; she sheweth a readines to expose herselfe to all perylls in hope of victorie; she delyteth much to hear of hardines and valianeye, commending by name all approved hardy men of her cuntrye, altho they be her enemyes; and she commendeth no cowardnes even in her frendes. The thyng she most thirsteth after is victory," &c.- Id. p. 281. On the 28th of February, 1568-9, Nicholas White reports to Cecil his impressions upon a first interview with her at Tutbury :

"But if I, which in the sight of God beare the Queen's majestie a naturall love besyde my bounden dutie, might give advise, there should be very few subjects in this land have accesse to or conference with this lady. For beside that she is a goodly personage, and yet in truth not comparable to our Soverain, she hath withall an alluring grace, a prety Scotishe accente, and a searching wit, clouded with myldness. Fame might move some to relieve her, and glory joyned to gayn might stir others to adventure much for her sake. Then joy [gy. the ey] is a lively infective sense, and carieth many persuasions to the heart, which ruleth all the Myne owne affection, by seeing the Quene's majestie our Soverain, is doubled, and thereby I guess what sight might worke in others. Her hair of itself is black; and yet Mr. Knollys told me that she wears hair of sundry colors."-Id. p. 311.

reste.

Here we have quite enough to account for her extraordinary powers of fascination, without supposing any extraordinary personal beauty.

With regard to that, I should like to see a complete collection of the testimonies of eye-witnesses, especially such as were recorded before her death; for I suspect that, by a comparison of them, the question concerning her portraits would be much simplified. Among the portraits under which her name is written, I seem to recognise two distinct types of face, each handsome in its kind, but of opposite kinds. Most of those which I have seen represent a long face, with a high nose inclining to the Roman. The others represent a short round face, with a nose elegantly shaped, but rather short than long; rather depressed than rising in the middle; and rather swelling than falling towards the end. Now, the only particular description of her face which I remember to have seen (I speak of descriptions made from the life) agrees with the last, and is not compatible with the first. It relates, indeed, to her appearance the day of her execution, when she was turned fortyfive; but it describes such a face as the other never could have grown into.

"The 8th of February being come, at the time and place appointed for the execution, the said Queen of Scots, being of stature tall, of body corpulent, roundshouldered, her face fat and broad, double-chinned, with hazle eyes, her borrowed hair [gy. her hair borrowed?], her attire on her head, was in this manner," &c. Strype's Annals, vol. v. p. 558.

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An account in the Cotton MSS. (Calig. B. V. 175. b.) of her appearance a few months before at her trial, describes her as a very tall and bigge woman, being lame, and supported by one arme by one of her gentlemen named Melwin, and by her other her physicon." So these two agree well enough with each other. Is there any other, equally authentic, which contradicts them?

One portrait I have seen which represents precisely such a face as this might have been when in the prime of womanhood. It is an engraving "from an original portrait in the possession of the Hon. William Maule of Panmure," made in February, 1809, for Sir W. Scott's edition of the Sadler Papers. But if this be her true likeness, whence come the others, which represent evidently a different woman? I do not know whether the question has been considered by more competent faced Maries are in fact portraits, or copies of judges; but my conjecture is, that all the longportraits, of her mother, who, being Mary the wife of the King of Scots, might easily be confounded with Mary Queen of Scots. This solution of the problem occurred to me only the other day, on going up to examine what I took to be an old painting of Mary Stuart, and being told that it was Mary of Guise. The truth of it could be