VERY FRIEND MA. RICH. MARTIN "To whom shall I this dauncing Poeme send, This suddaine, rash, halfe-capreol of my wit? To you, first mover and sole cause of it, Mine-owne-selves better halve, my deerest frend. O, would you yet my Muse some Honny lend From your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit Suada in majestie, that I may fit These harsh beginnings with a sweeter end. You know the modest sunne full fifteene times Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend, While I in making of these ill made rimes, My golden bowers unthriftily did spend. Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse, I will mispend another fifteene dayes."
The cause of quarrel between the two young lawyers is not known, but the "offence," whatever it was, was not slight. In the year 1622, when Davies reprinted his poetical works, we find that his feelings of resentment against his once "very friend" had not abated, for in place of the dedicatory sonnet to Richard Martin, is substituted a sonnet addressed to Prince Charles; and at the conclusion of the poem, he left a hiatus after the one hundred and twenty-sixth stanza, on account of the same quarrel.
Sir John Davies's celebrated poem, Nosce Teipsum (mentioned by Wood in the previous extract), is said to have gained the author the favour of James I., even before he came to the crown. Wood gives the precise period of its composition, and, I think, with every appearance of truth, although it does not accord with the statement of modern biographers, that it was written at twenty-five years of age. (See Campbell's Essay on Poetry, &c., ed. 1848, p. 184.) The first edition of this poem was printed in 4to. in the year 1599, and has for its title the following:—
"Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle expounded in Two Elegies. 1. Of Humane Knowledge. 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the Immortalitie thereof. London, Printed by Richard Field, for John Standish. 43 leaves."
As I am deeply interested in all that relates to the subject of this note, I have compiled a list of editions of the above poem, which shows its popularity for more than a century and a half:—
1. 1599. London, 4to. First edition.
2. 1602. ib. 4to. Second ed.
3. 1608. ib. 4to. Third ed.
4. 1619. ib. 8vo. Fourth ed.
5. 1622. ib. 8vo. The last edition printed during the Author's lifetime.
6. 1653. ib. 4to. Published by T. Jenner with curious plates, and prose paraphrase.
7. 1688. ib. folio. With prose dissertation.
8. 1697. Dublin, 8vo. With Life of the Author, by Nahum Tate.
9. 1714. ib. 12mo. Second edition by Tate.
10. 1733. ib. 8vo. With Essay by Dr. Sheridan.
11. 1749. London, 12mo.
12. 1759. Glasgow, 12mo. With Life of the Author.
13. 1760. London, 8vo. In Capel's Prolusions.
14. 1773. ib. 12mo. In Davies's Poetical Works, edited by Thompson.
Sir John Davies left behind him a large number of MSS. upon various subjects, none of which have since been printed. It would be very desirable that a list, as far as can now be made out, should be put on record. Anthony Wood says, several of Davies's MSS. were formerly in the library of Sir James Ware of Ireland and since that in the possession of Edward, Earl of Clarendon. The most interesting of these MSS. were a Collection of Epigrams, and a Metaphrase of David's Psalms. The Harleian MSS., Nos. 1578. and 4261., contain two law treatises of this learned writer, and in Thorpe's Catalogue for 1823, I find A Treatise of Tenures touchinge his Majesties Prerogative Royal, by John Davies, folio, MS.
Granger does not record any engraved portrait of this writer, and all my enquiries have failed in discovering one. In Mr. Soame Jenyn's Hall, at Botesham, in Cambridgeshire (in 1770), was a full-length portrait of an elderly gentleman in a gown, with a book in one hand, on which is written "Nosce Teipsum." If this is a genuine portrait of Sir John Davies, it ought to be engraved to accompany a new edition of his poetical works; a publication which the lovers of our old poetry would deem an acceptable offering.
A NOTE ON QUEEN ANN'S FARTHINGS
The idea that a Queen Anne's farthing is a coin of the greatest rarity, originated perhaps in the fact that there are several pattern pieces executed by Croker, which are much valued by collectors, and which consequently bring higher prices. One type only was in circulation, and this appears to have been very limited, for it is somewhat scarce, though a specimen may easily be procured of any dealer in coins for a few shillings. This bears the bust of the Queen, with the legend ANNA DEI GRATIA—reverse, BRITANNIA around the trite figure of Britannia with the spear and olive-branch: the date 1714 in the exergue. Those with Peace in a car, Britannia standing with olive-branch and spear, or seated under an arch, are patterns; the second has the legend BELLO ET PACE in indented letters, a mode revived in the reign of George III. It is said that many years ago a lady in the north of England lost one of the farthings of Queen Anne, which she much prized as the bequest of a deceased friend, and that having offered in the public journals a large reward for its recovery, it was ever afterwards supposed that any farthing of this monarch was of great value.
FOLK LORE
Lammer Beads.—Does any one know the meaning of "Lammer beads?" They are almost always made of amber, and are considered as a charm to keep away evil of every kind; their touch is believed to cure many diseases, and they are still worn by many old people in Scotland round the neck. The name cannot have anything to do with "Lammermuir," as, although they are well known among the old people of Lammermuir, yet they are equally so all over Scotland.
On the Lingering of the Spirit.—Perhaps you may think the following story worthy of insertion in your paper.
There is a common belief among the poor, that the spirit will linger in the body of a child a long time when the parent refuses to part with it. I said to Mrs. B., "Poor little H. lingered a long time; I thought, when I saw him, that he must have died the same day, but he lingered on!"
"Yes," said Mrs. B., "it was a great shame of his mother. He wanted to die, and she would not let him die: she couldn't part with him. There she stood, fretting over him, and couldn't give him up; and so we said to her, 'He'll never die till you give him up.' And then she gave him up; and he died quite peaceably."
Vicarage, Barrow-on-Humber, Jan. 13. 1851.
May Cats (Vol. iii., p. 20.).—In Hampshire, to this day, we always kill May kittens.
Mottos on Warming-Pans and Garters.—It seems to have been much the custom, about two centuries ago, to engrave more or less elaborately the brass lids of warming-pans with different devices, such as armorial bearings, &c., in the centre, and with an inscription or a motto surrounding the device. A friend of the writer has in his possession three such lids of warming-pans, one of which has engraven on the centre a hart passant, and above his back a shield, bearing the arms of Devereux, the whole surrounded by this inscription:—
Another bears the arms of the commonwealth, (as seen on the coins of the Protectorate,) encircled with an inscription, thus:—
The third bears a talbot passant, with the date above its back, 1646, and the motto round:—
It