Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850 | Page 6

M.V.
_Orkney under the Norwegians._--Torfæus (_Orcades_), under the
transactions of the year 1430 (p. 182-3.), has an incidental mention of
the Orkneys as among the forbidden islands, "vetitæ insulas," of which
the commerce was forbidden to strangers, and confined to the mother
country, as to this day it is with Denmark and her possessions of the
Faroe Islands and Iceland, both mentioned in the paragraph of the
historian among the islands whose commerce was restricted. It would
be very desirable to know of the social state of Orkney under the
government of Norway and its native Jarls of the Norwegian race, and
or its connexion with Norway and Denmark; and some of your
correspondents may take the trouble to point out sources of information
on the subject of this Query.
W.H.F.
Kirkwall
_Swift's Works._--In Wilde's _Closing Years of Dean Swift's Life_ (2d

edit. p. 78.) is mentioned an autograph letter from Sir Walter Scott to
C.G. Gavelin, Esq., of Dublin, in the MS. library. T.C.D., in which he
states he had nothing whatever to do with the publication or revision of
the second edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift. This does not agree
with the statement given in Mr. Lockhart's _Life of Sir Walter Scott_,
2d edit. vol. vii. p. 215. Who was the editor, and in what does the
second edition differ from the first?
W.H.F.
"Pride of the Morning."--Why is the small rain which falls in the
morning, at some seasons of the year, called "the pride of the
morning?"
P.H.F.
_Bishop Durdent and the Staffordshire Historians._--It is stated by
Sampson Erdeswich, Esq., in his _Survey of Staffordshire_, p. 164,
12mo. 1717, that--
"Not far from Tame, Roger Durdent held Fisherwicke of the bishop, 24
Ed. I. And 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of it, which I suppose
was procured to some of his ancestors of the same name by their
kinsman Walter Durdent, Bishop of Litchfield, in Henry II.'s time."
but no authority is given for this statement.
In Shaw's _History of Staffordshire_, p. 365., fol., 1798, it is further
recorded that--
"Walter Durdent, in the beginning of Henry II., appears to have granted
it (Fisherwicke) to some of his relations, for we find William Durdent
of Fisherwicke temp. Henry II.; and in the 40th of Hen. III. Roger
Durdent occurs, who held Fisherwicke of the bishop, 24 Ed. I. In the 4
Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of it."
Shaw refers to Erdeswick, and to the _Annals of Burton Abbey_, p.
364.
In Dr. Harwood's edition of Erdeswick, 8vo., 1844, the same statements
are repeated, but no authority is adduced. Could any of your
correspondents obligingly furnish me with the original {310} sources
of information to which Erdeswick had access, and also with any
biographical notices of Bishop Durdent besides those which are
recorded in Godwin and Shaw? The bishop had the privilege of coining
money. (See Shaw's _Staffordshire_, pp. 233. 265.) Are any of his
coins known to numismatists?

F.R.R.
_Pope and Bishop Burgess._--To what passage in Pope's writings does
the conclusion of the following extract refer?[1]
"Digammaticæ doctrinæ idem accidit. In his Popius eam in ludibrium
vertit, &c. Sed eximius Poeta neque in veteribus suæ ipsius linguæ,
nedum Græcæ monumentis versatus, tantum scilicet de antiqua illa
litera vidit, quantum de Shakespearii SAGITTARIO."
W.W.
[Footnote 1: 3d ed. of Dawes's _Mis. Critic_, p. xviii, note x.]
_Daniel's Irish New Testament._--F.G.X. will be much obliged for
information on the following points:--
1. Which is the most correct edition, as to printing and orthography, of
Daniel's Irish New Testament?
2. Does the edition now on sale by the Bible Society bear the character
for incorrectness as to these points, which, judged by itself, it appears
to deserve, or is it really, though "bad, the best?"
3. F.G.X. is far advanced with an Irish Testament Concordance. Can
any one possessed of the requisite information give him hope of the
acceptableness of such a publication? He should expect it to be chiefly
useful to clerical Irish students in acquiring a knowledge of words and
construction; but the lists of Irish Bibles disposed of of late years would
lead to the supposition of its being desirable also as pointing out the
place of passages to the native reader.
4. Does the Cambridge University Library contain a copy of the first
edition of Daniel's translation?
_Ale Draper--Eugene Aram._--In Hargrove's well-known history of
Eugene Aram, the hero of Bulwer's still better known novel, one of the
guilty associates of the Knaresborough murderer is designated as an
"Ale Draper." As this epithet never presented itself in my reading, and
as I am not aware that draper properly admits of any other definition
than that given by Johnson, "one who deals in cloth," may I ask
whether the word was ever in