Notes and Queries, Number 75, April 5, 1851 | Page 2

which
Edward made himself a pensioner to the French king. No Privy Seals
were addressed to Alcock after September 28; which may therefore be
considered the close of this double chancellorship, and the date of
Bishop Rotheram's return to England.
Who knows whether the discovery of this ancient authority may not
suggest to our legislators the division of the title between two
possessors {258} with distinct duties, in the same manner that two
chief justices were substituted in the reign of Henry III. for one chief
justiciary?
The immediate interest of this fact has prompted me to anticipate its
appearance in the volumes of my work, which you have been kind
enough to announce as being in the press.
EDWARD FOSS.
* * * * *
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. III.
"Now flieth Venus in to Ciclinius tour. * * * * * * "Alas, and there hath
she no socour, For she ne found ne sey no maner wight. * * * * * *
"Wherefore her selven for to hide and save, Within the gate she fledde
in to a cave. * * * * * * "Now God helpe sely Venus alone, But as God
wold it happed for to be, That while the weping Venus made her mone,
Ciclinius riding in his chirachee, Fro Venus Valanus might this palais
see; And Venus he salveth and maketh chere, And her receiveth as his
frende full dere." Complaint of Mars and Venus.
Having in my last communication (Vol. iii., p. 235.) shown cause for
the alteration in the foregoing quotation of Ciclinius into Cyllenius, I
shall now endeavour to interpret the line in Italics, which in its present
shape is utterly without meaning.
Whatever word Valanus may be supposed to represent, whether a
proper or a common name, still the construction of the whole line is

evidently corrupt.
Taking Valanus, in the first place, as a proper name, the most probable
original would be VALENS; for the connexion of which with Mercury
we must refer to Cicero (De Nat. Deor. iii. 22.), where mention is made
of it in these words:--
"Alter (Mercurius) Valentis et Phoronidis filius, is qui sub terris habetur
idem Trophonius."
Here the identification with Trophonius strikes us at once as affording a
clue to THE CAVE into which Venus fled, giving great probability to
Valens as the true solution of Chaucer's meaning.
But if we receive it as such, the following hypothesis becomes
necessary, viz., that Chaucer imagined a double impersonation of
Mercury--one absent, the other present,--one sidereal, the other
mythological,--one Cyllenius, the other Valens.
When Venus first enters Mercury's "palais," she "ne found ne sey no
maner wight." This signifies the absence from home of Cyllenius, who
was abroad upon "his chirachee" in attendance upon the Sun; and here
again is an instance of the nice astronomical accuracy of Chaucer. It
was impossible that the planet Mercury could be in the sign Gemini,
because his greatest elongation, or apparent distance from the sun, does
not exceed 29 degrees; so that the Sun having but just entered Taurus,
Mercury could not be in Gemini. Neither could Venus see Valens (the
other impersonation of Mercury), because of his concealment in the
cave; but when she entered the cave, then she was welcomed and
received by him.
Now, to render the text conformable with this interpretation, some
alteration in the construction is necessary, as indeed it must be in any
attempt to render the passage intelligible.
Taking, away the word "Fro," and transposing "might" to the other side
of "Valanus," the lines would stand thus,--

"---- it happed for to be That, while the weping Venus made her mone,
(Cyllenius riding in his chirachee) Venus might Valens in this palais
see; And Venus he salveth and maketh chere And her receiveth as his
frende full dere!"
On the other supposition of "Valanus" being a common name, to which
a capital letter has been prefixed in mistake, then the only word for
which it would appear to be a probable substitution would be "Vallum,"
in the sense of a border or rampart; but the application would be so
far-fetched that I shall not attempt it, especially as I look upon the
explanation afforded by "Valens" as most probably the true one.
A. E. B.
Leeds, March 20. 1851.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
Cure of Hooping Cough.--There is a superstition in Cheshire that
hooping cough may be cured by holding a toad for a few moments with
its head within the mouth of the person affected. I heard only the other
day of a cure by this somewhat disagreeable process; the toad was said
to have caught the disease, which in this instance proved fatal to it in a
few hours.
A. H. H.
Charms from Devonshire.--The