the King's Pamphlets, entitled "The Last Age's Looking Glasse, or Eng. land's Sad Elegie, by S. H. 1642," (which your Reviewer quoted last month) appears the following couplet: "Let Charles' glorie through England ring, Let subjects say, 'God save the King."" The latter line proves the chorus at least to be near a century earlier than the period assigned to it. IN LATHBURIENSIS. Mr. URBAN, Hereford, Sept. 30. N your Magazine for January last, (p. 33,) I observed your Correspondent A. B. and C. gives a concise account of the antient custom of Wassailing, that formerly was much celebrated in many parts of Herefordshire, and in some parts of Gloucestershire. As I have many years been an attendant on these social and hospitable meetings, permit me to offer to your readers some particulars of this ceremony, as I have seen it kept up, with all due form, on the farm of Huntington*, two miles West from Hereford, that for many years was occupied by my late respectable friend and neighbour, Mr. Samuel Tully, well known to the publick, and many of your readers, as a farmer and grazier, more particularly distinguished for his excellent and beautiful breed of cattle. Among many visitors to Mr. Tully, at Huntington, to see his fine stock of cattle, I remember meeting the late Duke of Bedford, Lord Somerville, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, and other well-known amateurs in fine animals. A few years preceding the very unfortunate death of Mr. Tully †, I, for the last time, witnessed the joyous scene of Wassailing. On the eve of Twelfth-day (the Epiphany) Mr. Tully and his numer ous visitors, near the hour of six o'clock in the evening, walked to a field where wheat was growing, and on the highest parts of the land one large and twelve smaller fires were lighted up. While burning, the mas ter and some of his company, formed in a circle round the larger fire, and after pledging each other in good Herefordshire cyder, all the attendants joined in shouting and rejoicing. On the fires being extinguished, the company all returned to the hospitable mansion, where an excellent and plentiful supper was provided for the family, and all ranks of visitors. After the glass had circulated, and some songs had been sung, and happiness diffused through all the numerous company, near the hour of nine or ten o'clock, a second procession was formed, by all who joined in the concluding and more interesting ceremony. On coming to the out-house, where the oxen and cows were in their stalls, the bailiff attended with a large plum-cake, which, when made, had a hole in the middle. Previous to its being placed on the horn of the ox, the master and his friends each took a small cup with ale, and drank a toast to each ox, in nearly the following words (each of the 24 oxen having a name): the master began with the first: "Here's to thee, Benbaw ‡, and to thy white horn, God send thy master a good crop of corn; Of wheat, rye, and barley, and all sorts of grain. You eat your oats, and I'll drink my beer; [year!" May the Lord send us all a happy new After the last ox was toasted, the bailiff placed the cake on the horn of the first ox, the boy touching him with a pointed goad. This induced the ox to shake his head, when the cake was tossed on either side; if on *Huntington farm is one mile from White Cross, on the road from Hereford to South Wales, and to the Roman station of Ariconium. The views of Hereford from this well-known Cross, which makes an excellent foreground, is extremely grand; I have frequently drawn it from recollection, and particularly did so on the day I was with the Monks on Mount St. Barnard, in August 1816, going to Italy, for the two reasons that pleased the Prior, as it showed him the town in England where I generally resided, and a cross built by a Catholic Bishop (Charlton). in 1347, whose monument and arms (as on the Cross) are in Hereford Cathedral. This Cross has been often engraved (see vol. LXII. p. 298), and particularly in Britton's "Architectural Antiquities." +He was killed by a vicious bull, in a field near his own house. The ox's name, a common one. one one side, it was to be the perquisite of the bailiff, who divided it amongst the company. On returning to the house, mirth and feasting prevailed till a late, or rather an early hour. The Harvest supper is frequently celebrated at this time. Much of the ceremony is now omitted. The twelve fires are frequently made, and concluded by a social evening. I have lately, near six o'clock in the evening of Wassailing, from our public walk, the side of the Castle, if the evening proved clear, seen numerous fires on the hills around, particularly on the camps of Dynedor, Aconbury, Credenhill, &c. scenes many of your Antiquarian readers well know. J. W. I Mr. URBAN, Westminster, Sept. 18. FEEL seriously obliged to your Correspondent "Notator," (p. 98,) for his hint respecting the Pamphlets concerning which I solicited some information in Part I. p. 602: while, over the executions of the friends of the Pretender, after the rising in 1715. Was the Duke of Marlborough characterised as the Captain of the Mathematical Class?' or the Duke of Argyle as the Boy of Northern Extract?' Acted near Westminster might allude to St. Stephen's. In style, the Work seems to be intended as a counterpart (and is a tenfold inferior one) to Mrs. Manley's Atalantis;' and there can be no doubt but that it was brought out as a puff for the new Whig Ministry. The second pamphlet could not be political, nor could malevolence itself extract any such intention from it; for it consists of little more than what I transcribed in my last. Any information relative to either hypothesis, will be thankfully reWESTMONASTERIENSIS. ceived by IRON COFFINS. MR. URBAN, Doctors Commons, Nov. 8. N the Consistory Court of London, in the novel and interesting case of Gilbert, versus Buzzard and Boyer, which was detailed at p. 174. The following is a brief sketch of the able remarks of the Learned Judge: however, I stated my private suppo-Sir William Scott gave Judgment sition, I had not the least idea that I was erecting a fabric not to be shaken. I thought fit to represent the tracts in question, in the light in which they appeared to myself, and endeavoured to reconcile the characters with those of real life. Supposing the former, (as "Notator" has hinted), to be of a political nature, it must have been written by some person well acquaint ed with the internal state of Westminster School at that period; for, allowing for the changes which have taken place in a century, the analogy is still tolerably correct. Perhaps it was designed to vex Atterbury, our then Dean, who was supposed to favour the cause of the Pretender, and was at least a staunch Tory; and the Head Master, Dr. Freind, who, together with his brother (the celebrated Physician), was of the same opinion in politicks.-The Master and Usher, may be intended for George the First and his Son, the Prince of Wales; yet they were hardly on the good terms which the book describes those Heads of the School as entertaining towards each other. As belonging to Westminster, the whole story is sufficiently laughable; but when the Master takes up the rod, as with a view to chastise the refractory Scholars, it seems to be an illjudged and unfeeling way of passing "He began by stating, that the Suit was brought by John Gilbert, against the Churchwardens of the Parish of Saint Andrew, Holborn, for obstructing the Interment of the body of his wife. 'The criminatory articles stated, that the said Mrs. Gilbert was a Parishioner, that she died in March 1819, that her body was deposited in an Iron Coffin, that due notice was given of her intended interment, and the fees paid, but that, notwithstanding, the Churchwardens refused the interment of the body.-In reply to these articles, a defensive allegation had been given in, in which it was stated, that the facts alleged in the articles were, in great part, erroneous; for that, on application being made by Gilbert for the interment of the body, no mention was made of its being intended to be brought in an Iron Coffin, although notice was given him that such could not be received; but that the usual fees being paid by him, it was then stated, that the corpse would be brought in an Iron Coffin:-that a Select Vestry was convened, when a Resolution was come to, refusing the admission of Iron Coffins, and a copy of such Resolution was duly served upon Bridgman, the Patentee; that notwithstanding a forcible entry was afterwards effected, and upon the refusal being persisted in, the body was was ultimately deposited in the Bonehouse-that the Parish was very popalous, containing upwards of 30,000 inhabitants-and that the burials exceeded 800 every year-that in addition to the Church-yard, there were three Burial Grounds;-that these would soon be rendered useless, by the introduction of the Iron Coffius, and that the Churchwardens, in the measures they had adopted, had been directed by the Select Vestry, and the Parish at large. Such were the circumstances brought to the notice of the Court; time had now been allowed for the angry feelings of both parties to subside; and they and agreed to take the opinion of the Court, on the dry question of Right. In this act of amnesty, the Court was glad to concur; and would therefore abstain from any observations upon the foreign matters, into which the ease had been suffered to wander. Before entering on the immediate question, it might not be foreign briefly to state, that the two most antient modes of disposing of the body after death, as recorded in history, were by burial and burning; of. which methods, that of burial was the more antient, and frequent mention of it was made in Sacred History. The Divine Founder of our Religion had also sanctioned the indulgence of that natural feeling, against the sudden destruction of the body after death, which was now so universal. Sir Thomas Brown remarks, that the wisest nations have rested in inhumation and burning, and that Christianity gave a final extinction to the practice of burning. With respect to the mode of interment, very antient mention was made of SEPULCHRAL CHESTS, and it was recorded of the Patriarch Joseph, that he was deposited in a Coffin, and his body embalmed; but these marks of distinc tion, we have every reason to presume, were only paid to the most illustrious characters and indeed it is intimated in Scripture, that such were in use among the Jews but the two polished nations do not appear to have made use of any Coffins for their dead; which may be inferred from neither of them having any term in their languages, synonimous to our word "Coffin:" but rather to the feretrum or bier on which the body was conveyed to the place of interment.-The practice of sepulture seemed greatly to have varied, also, with respect to situation: in antient times, private graves and inclosures were the favourite depositories: but in modern times, Church-yards came into very general use. In our own country, the burying in Churches was much anterior to the burying in Church-yards; but this was a privilege reserved for men of eminence; as those of ordinary characters were buried in inclosed places, at considerable distance from the Church; and it was only in more recent times that Church-yards became attached to their respective Churches. In what state we were to be conveyed to our last home, no positive rule appears to have been laid down the authority must therefore be found in our manners and accustomed usage, rather than in our Laws. The right to Sepulture was undisputed; but the admission of chests containing the bodies, did not plead the same universal use. In the Eastern parts of Europe, open biers were used to convey the bodies, which were thence transferred to the grave; such also was the practice in South America: whereas in the Western parts of Europe, chests were found to be pretty general. In our own country the useof Coffins was extremely antient; they had been made at various times of various forms and materials, wood, stone, metals, marble, and even glass; as would appear on a reference to Mr. Gough's learned work on Sepulchral Monuments.-Dr. Johnson also says, "Coffins are made of wood and other materials." In modern practice, wood or lead were made use of at the choice of the relatives, and sometimes both; the poorer classes were usually interred in shells, which were an inferior kind of wooden coffin, but he was not aware, that by law any Coffin at all was required. The statute 30th of Charles II. required, that coffins should be lined with wool; but did not inforce the use of the coffins themselves. In the funeral service, no mention was made of the word coffin: it would be found that the word corpse was invariably used; for instance, dust is to be strewed, not on the coffin, but on the corpse. It was also singular to remark, that in some old tables of fees a distinction was made in their charges, coffined funerals and uncoffined funerals; from whence he should draw the conclusion, that such funerals were by no means infrequent. The law is undoubted, that every parishioner has a right to be buried in the Church-yard; but his being buried in a chest or trunk forms no part of his abstract right: it is not to be denied that our feelings naturally prompt us to something like the protection of the body; and few have hardness of mind enough to contemplate without pain, the utter extinction of the remains of those near and dear to them; this feeling has given birth to those various methods of embalming, &c. that have been invented for preserving the remains of the deceased, even beyond the natural extent of affection. In later times, the feelings of most people had been wounded by the frequent spoliation of the dead, for the purposes of anatomical dissection; these Iron Coffins had been invented for the purpose of preventing such depredations by by some mechanical contrivance; to this, no possible objection could be made, but it was the metal of which they were composed that occasioned their being refused; and he must say, that not knowjug of any rule that prescribed the materials of which Coffins were to be made, and knowing that lead was admitted, he found considerable difficulty in declaring that the use of Iron was unlawful: from their being composed of thin laminæ also, they must necessarily occupy less space, and the objection that had been made of their being hereafter increased in size, applied no more to them, than to those inade of wood.-But it was contended, that they should be admitted on the same terms as those of wood; this must either be on the ground of there being no difference in their duration, or that if there be, it should make no difference in the terms of admission. Upon the first point, it was not without a violent revolt to all the ideas he had formed on the subject, that he heard it affirmed, that Coffins formed of Iron would not keep longer possession of the soil than those of wood: to him it appeared, without pretending to any experimental knowledge on such subjects, that it must be otherwise: rust was the process by which Iron travelled to decomposition. Excluded from the air, it remained unimpaired; if it did from internal moisture, or any small admission of external air, contract rust, that rust, until it scales off, protects the interior from further decay: whereas, wood corrupts internally, and thus hastens its own destruction. It was the fault of the complaining party, by leaving him without information on these points, if he had formed erroneous notions on the subject. The pretension of these Coffins must therefore resort to the second point, that the difference of duration made no difference in the right; that such right was unalienable, and that the introduction of another corpse was an intrusion.-But surely there can not be a right of perpetuity in a perishable body; and the "eterna domus" that had been mentioned, was a mere flourish of rhetoric, It was objected, that no precise time could be fixed for a complete dissolution of the body; certainly such was the case, as it depended on the nature of the soil, the climate, and the seasons; founded on these facts, the legal doctrine was, that the cemetery was not the exclusive property of one set of persons, but was the property of ages yet unborn. It was only with the Ordinary to give an alienation of this common right; even a brick grave was gression, which the Ordinary only could legally authorize at his discretion. All contrivance, therefore, to prolong the duration of the body, was an act of injustice, an ag unless compensation was made for such encroachment. In country places this was of little or no consideration; but in populous cities, unless the right was limited, the most serious evils would result: as it was, the usual period of decay did not arrive fast enough, to evacuate the ground for the use of succeeding families. --In most parishes, new grounds had been found necessary, which had been purchased at enormous expense.-In this paIrish, with the present mode of burial, it had become necessary to purchase three additional grounds, and the evil would become intolerable, if once the Iron Coffins were generally admitted; a comparatively small portion of the dead would shoulder out the living; and a circumvallation of Church-yards round the city, would be the inevitable results. If the use of Iron Coffins were thus to occasion additional Churchyards, the persons wishing them, should bring proportionate compensation, and should pay for a longer lease of the ground they were to occupy; Coffins of lead were subjected to this, and he knew not what was to exempt iron. The individuals, and not the parishes, must pay for the consequences. Parishes were not left to their own discretion in their quantum of fees, but they were subject to the approval and confirmation of the Ordinary, and no where could such power be better lodged. It only remained that be should direct the parish to prepare a table of fees for the confirmation of the Ordinary, who would then subject these Coffins to such fees as in his discretion should seem meet; it had been said that such a measure would act as a prohibition to their use; but that was better than that parishes should be robbed of their cemetery. Patent rights must be held by the same tenure as all other rights, ita utere jure tuo alieno ne lædas; they must not infringe on more antient rights. learned Judge then concluded his luminous remarks with a recommendation that the body in question should be interred without any extra fees, at the same time without prejudice to the rights of the parish and declared himself ready to admit affidavits on both sides before confirming the Table of Fees. Yours, &c. THE The J. S. Mr. URBAN, Brompton, Nov. 7. HE following is the receipt of an industrious managing woman; who by thus turning every thing to account, is enabled to bring up her family in far greater comfort and respectability than many who deprive themselves of the means, merely for want of a little contrivance. By Fishes.-Whale, Salmón, Trout, Mackrill, Roach, Dace, Pearch, Pike, Gudgeon, Sprat, Smelt, Herring, Hake, Sturgeon, Whiting, Tench, Ling, Codling, Cockle, Crabb. giving it a place in your pages, some of your benevolent Readers may be induced to furnish such of their poorer neighbours as they may think proper, with copies, and will thus put it in their power to obtain nourishing Draper, Vintner, Painter, Thatcher, meals at a very trifling expense. Get two shillings' worth of good bonessome butchers will throw in a bit of meat -cut and scrape off every morsel that there is upon them-put the bones alone into four gallons of water, and let them boil for an hour-(it is generally convenient to put them on in the evening, when they may stand all night in the kettle) -take them out-skitn the liquor, which will furnish nearly two pounds of marrow fat, which makes excellent pie or pudding crust-strain the liquor-once more scrape the bones quite clean, and put them in again, with some onions, carrot, turnip, or any cheap herbs -two penny worth is sufficient- -season with salt and pepper-a bit of pork, bacon, or a salt herring, is a great improvement— it may be thickened, or not, with a quarter of a pound of oatmeal-keep it gently boiling for four hours. The meat first taken off the bones is sufficient for a meat pie or pudding-and the second scraping, with what was strained from the liquor, chopped up with a few apples or currants, and sweetened with coarse sugar, makes a mince pie, very acceptable to children. The whole, if well managed, will furnish dinners for a family of five or six persons for nearly a week. S. Great Surrey Street, Mr. URBAN, July 6. Trent families, noticed to in p. 296, HE origin of Surnames to diffe has frequently occurred to me as very strange, from the variety and singularity of most of them. We find few (if any persons) who can trace how their families originally became possessed of their name. Many names are derived no doubt from places and towns. I have drawn out a classification of a few Surnames of families as derived from various animals, birds, fishes, trades, and other descriptive titles. T. A. Animals.-Lion, Lamb, Wolfe, Panther, Bull, Bullock, Hog, Pig, Buck, Hind, Hart, Deer, Stag, Fox, Talbot, Pointer, Squirrel, Badger. Birds.-Blackbird, Swallow, Sparrow, Raven, Crow, Pigeon, Martin, Nightin gale, Peacock, Partridge, Woodcock, Duck, Drake, Goose, Gosling, Parrot, Jay, Rook, Hawk, Kite, Heron, Crane, Dove, Wren, Swan, Batt, Gull. Trades.-Carpenter, Joiner, Weever Carver, Glover, Farmer, Turner, Sawyer, Wheeler, Brewer, Baker, Butcher, Taylor, Barber, Miller, Gardener, Glasier, Sadler, Girdler, Fisher, Fowler, Hawker, Fuller, Tanner, Potter, Tyler, Skinner, Cooper, Collyer, Fletcher, Chandler. Trees.-Birch, Ash, Rose, Pine, Beach, Cherry, Sweetapple, Peach, Lemon, Hawthorne, Holyoake, Myrtle, Greentree. Offices and Dignities.—King, Lord, Duke, Prince, Earl, Baron, Knight, Noble, Marshall, Chamberlain, Page, Butler. Names Ecclesiastical.—Church, Churchyard, Christian, Pope, Abbot, Monk, Friar, Bishop, Dean, Priest, Deacon, Parson, Clark, Sexton. Kingdoms.-England, Ireland, Holland, France, French, Frank, Welch, Scot, Norman. Colours.-Black, White, Green, Pink, Reid, Orange, Grey, Brown, Scarlet, Dunn. Insects.-Bee, Wasp, Natt, Bugg, Fly, Cricket. Ores.-Gold, Silver, Brass, Stone, Steel, Glass, Flint. Points of the Globe.-East, West, North, South. Names significant to Men.-Longman, Smalman, Trueman, Merryman, Prettyman, Wildman, Horsman, Spearman, Bowman, Huntsman, Freeman, Honeyman, Goodman, Richman, Plowman, Chapman, Gladman, Deadman. Measure and Quantity.Long, Short, Mutch, Little, Small, More. Mr. URBAN, YOUR Nov. 7. YOUR amusing Correspondent, iu p. 296, on the subject of Surnames, reminds me of a pleasant anecdote that occurred many years ago in America. The Governor of West Florida gave a public dinner on the birth-day of our late esteemed and revered Monarch, and his name was Chester. At the same table sat a witty counsellor-query, what counsellor is there who is not so? After dinner, the toasts had gone cheerfully round, when the Governor calls to the counsellor, whose name was Morrison, "Mr. Morrison, I understand all names that end in son are bastards." The reply was instantaneous, "No, please your Excellency, they are names called after places." The table was in a roar, and the Governor |
