Notes and Queries, Number 46, September 14, 1850 | Page 8

notes, or the _not_-able Queries of a recent Number, (I regret that I have it not at hand, for an exact quotation), a learned correspondent mentioned, _en passant_, that the word bacon had the obsolete signification of "dried wood." As a patronymic, BACON has been not a little illustrious, in literature, science, and art; and it would be interesting to know whether the name has its origin in the crackling fagot or in the cured flitch. Can any of your genealogical correspondents help me to authority on the subject?
A modern motto of the Somersetshire Bacons has an ingenious rebus:
ProBa-conSCIENTIA;
the capitals, thus placed, giving it the double reading, Proba coniscientia, and Pro Bacon Scientia.
NOCAB.
_Armorials._--Sable, a fesse or, in chief two fleurs de lis or, in base a hind courant argent. E.D.B. will feel grateful to any gentlemen who will kindly inform him of the name of the family to which the above coat belonged. They were quartered by Richard or Roger Barow, of Wynthorpe, in Lincolnshire (_Harl. MS._ 1552. 42 _b_), who died in 1505.
E.D.B.
_Artephius, the Chemical Philosopher._--What is known of the chemical philosopher Artephius? He is mentioned in Jocker's _Dictionary_, and by Roger Bacon (in the Opus Majus and elsewhere), {248} and a tract ascribed to him is printed in the Theatrum Chemicum.
E.
_Sir Robert Howard._--Can any reader assist me in finding out the author of
"A Discourse of the Nationall Excellencies of England. By R.H., London. Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Henry Fletcher, at the Three Gilt Cups in the New Buildings, near the west end of St. Paul's, 1658. 12 mo., pp. 248."
This is a very remarkable work, written in an admirable style, and wholly free from the coarse party spirit which then generally prevailed. The writer declares, p. 235., he had not subscribed the engagement, and there are internal evidences of his being a churchman and a monarchist. Is there any proof of its having been written by Sir Robert Howard? A former possessor of the copy now before me, has written his name on the title-page as its conjectured author. My copy of Sir Robert's _Poems_, published two years after, was published not by _Fletcher_, but by "Henry Herringman, at the sign of the Anchor, in the lower walk of the New Exchange." John Dryden, Sir Robert's brother-in-law, in the complimentary stanzas on Howard's poems, says,
"To write worthy things of worthy men, Is the peculiar talent of your pen."
I would further inquire if a reason can be assigned for the omission from Sir Robert Howard's collected plays of _The Blind Lady_, the only dramatic piece given in the volume of poems of 1660. My copy is the third edition, published by Tonson, 1722.
A.B.R.
_Crozier and Pastoral Staff._--What is the real difference between a crozier and a pastoral staff?
I.Z.P.
_Marks of Cadency._--The copious manner in which your correspondent E.K. (Vol. ii., p. 221.) has answered the question as to the "when and why" of the unicorn being introduced as one of the supporters of the royal arms, induces me to think that he will readily and satisfactorily respond to an heraldic inquiry of a somewhat more intricate nature.
What were the peculiar marks of cadency used by the heirs to the crown, apparent and presumptive, after the accession of the Stuarts? For example, what were the changes, if any, upon the label or file of difference used in the coat-armour of Henry, Prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., and of his brother Charles, when Prince of Wales, and so on, to the present time?
_Miniature Gibbet, &c._--A correspondent of the Times newspaper has recently given the following account of an occurrence which took place about twenty-five years ago, and the concluding ceremony of which he personally witnessed:--
"A man had been condemned to be hung for murder. On the Sunday morning previous to the sentence being carried into execution, he contrived to commit suicide in the prison by cutting his throat with a razor. On Monday morning, according to the then custom, his body was brought out from Newgate in a cart; and after Jack Ketch had exhibited to the people a small model gallows, with a razor hanging therefrom, in the presence of the sheriffs and city authorities, he was thrown into a hole dug for that purpose. A stake was driven through his body, and a quantity of lime thrown in over it."
Will any correspondent of "NOTES AND QUERIES" give a solution of this extraordinary exhibition? Had the sheriffs and city authorities any legal sanction for Jack Ketch's disgusting part in the performances? What are the meaning and origin of driving a stake through the body of a suicide?
A.G.
Ecclesfield
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REPLIES
COLLAR OF SS.
If you desire proof of the great utility of your publication, methinks there is a goodly quantum of it in the very interesting and valuable information