Notes and Queries, Number 36, July 6, 1850 | Page 9

By Mr. Pepys, who hath
my rival been For the Duke's[3] favour, more than years thirteen; But I
excluded, he high and fortunate, This Secretary I could never mate; {88}
But Clerk of th' Acts, if I'm a parson, then I shall prevail, the voice
outdoes the pen; Though in a gown, this challenge I may make, And
wager win, save if you can, your stake. To th' Admiral I all submit, and
vail--"
The book from which I extract is _cropped_, so that the last line is
illegible. Can the noble editor of Pepys' _Diary_, or any of your readers,
inform me who and what was this Mr. James Carkasse?
W.B.R.
[Footnote 3: The Duke of York, afterwards James II.]
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
Epigrams on the Universities.--There are two clever epigrams on the
circumstance, I believe, of Charles I. sending a troop of horse to one of
the universities, about the same time that he presented some books to
the other.
The sting of the first, if I recollect right, is directed against the
university to which the books were sent, the king--
"--right well discerning, How much that loyal body wanted learning."
The reply which this provoked, is an attack on the other university, the
innuendo being that the troops were sent there--
"Because that learned body wanted loyalty."

I quote from memory.
Can any of your readers, through the medium of your valuable paper,
favour me with the correct version of the epigrams, and with the
particular circumstances which gave rise to them?
J. SWANN.
Norwich.
Lammas Day.--Why was the 1st of August called "Lammas Day?" Two
definitions are commonly given to the word "Lammas." 1. That it may
mean _Loaf-mass_. 2. That it may be a word having some allusion to
St. Peter, as the patron of Lambs.
O'Halloran, however, in his _History of Ireland_, favours us with
another definition; upon the value of which I should be glad of the
opinion of some of your learned contributors. Speaking of Lughaidh, he
says:--
"From this prince the month of August was called Lughnas (Lunas),
from which the English adopted the name _Lammas_, for the 1st day of
August."
J. SANSOM.
_Mother Grey's Apples_.--At the time I was a little girl,--you will not, I
am sure, be ungallant enough to inquire when that was, when I tell you
I am now a woman,--I remember that the nursery maid, whose duty it
was to wait upon myself and sisters, invariably said, if she found us out
of temper--"So, so! young ladies, you are in the sulks, eh? Well, sulk
away; you'll be like 'Mother Grey's apples,' you'll be sure to come
round again." We often inquired, on the return of fine weather, who
Mother Grey was, and what were the peculiar circumstances of the
apples coming round?--questions, however, which were always evaded.
Now, as the servant was a Cambridge girl, and had a brother a _gyp_,
or bedmaker, at one of the colleges, besides her uncle keeping the
tennis court there, I have often thought there must have been some

college legend or tradition in Alma Mater, of Mother Grey and her
apples. Will any of your learned correspondents, should it happen to
fall within their knowledge, take pity on the natural curiosity of the sex,
by furnishing its details?
A.M.
Jewish Music.--What was the precise character of the _Jewish music_,
both before and after David? And what variety of musical instruments
had the Jews?
J. SANSOM
_The Plant "Haemony_."--Can any of your readers furnish information
of, or reference to the plant _Haemony_, mentioned in Milton's
_Comus_, l. 638.:--
"--a small unsightly root, But of divine effect,... The leaf was darkish,
and had prickles on it, But in another country, as he said, _Bore a
bright golden flower, but not in this soil:_ --More medicinal is it than
that Moly, That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; He called it
_Haemony_, and gave it me, And bade me keep it as of sov'reign use
'Gainst all enchantments," &c. &c.
The Moly that Hermes to Ulysses gave, is the wild garlick, [Greek:
molu] by some thought the wild rue. (Odyss. b. x. 1. 302.) It is the
[Greek: moluza] of Hippocrates, who recommends it to be eaten as an
antidote against drunkenness. But of Haemony I have been unable to
find any reference among our ordinary medical authorities, Paulus
Aeginata, Celsus, Galen, or Dioscorides. A short note of reference
would be very instructive to many of the readers of Milton.
J.M. BASHAM.
17. Chester Street, Belgrave Square.
Ventriloquism.--What evidence is there, that ventriloquism was made
use of in the ancient oracles? Was the [Greek: pneuma puthonos] (Acts,

xvi. 16.) an example of the exercise of this art? Was the Witch of Endor
a ventriloquist? or what is meant