72 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n« a VII. Jan. 22. '69, 



to him were paid 13 pounds 4 stivers Flemish for a jour- 

 ney to Brussels, and from thence to Sluis, there to inspect 

 a piece of ordnance, and take down a model from it for a 

 gun His Majesty the King had ordered to be cast. And, 

 lastly, we read that, in 1559, was solved to Antonia, 

 Master Jan Tolhuys's widow, the sum of 10 pounds Fl. 

 for a half year's salary of her late husband. In 1559, 

 • paid to Antonis Henrixz, bell and gun-founder, 10 

 pounds Fl. for a year's salary, from the time he was ap- 

 pointed instead of the late Master Jan Tolhuys.' 



" See of Dodt van Flensburg's Archie/ voon Kerhelijke 

 en Wereldlijke Geschiedenis, published at Utrecht, the 

 Indexes on vols. iii. vi. and vii. 



" From all this we conclude it is very probable that 

 the so-called Pocket- Pistol of Queen Bess was cast within 

 the town of Utrecht, and thus is of Netherlands make, as 

 forsooth the inscription showeth. The arms quite corre- 

 spond with those of Maximilian of Egmond, Count of 

 Buren, Lord of Ysselstein, Emperor Charles's favourite, 

 who died in 1548. And the motto, appended to the 

 scutcheon, leaves the matter without doubt, as appears 

 from Kok's Vaderlandsch Woordenhoeh, vol. xiii. p. 200., 

 and Scheltema's Staatkundig Nederland, in voce, copied 

 by Van Harderwijk in the Konst en Letterbode of 1847. 



"V.D.N." 



" In Cornelius de -Jong's Reize in en door het Kanaal in 

 de jaren 1785 en 1786, p. 31., we read concerning the 

 monster-gun : 



" * Lastly, they showed us a brass j)iece of ordnance, 

 24 feet long, and throwing 12 pounds of iron ; its wooden 

 carriage measures 12 feet, and, upon the gun, which al- 

 ready is burst, I read the following old Dutch rhyme : 



" BREEKT SCIIEURET AL, MUUR en DAL 

 Ben IK GKHETEN 



Door berg en wal, boord miinen bal 

 Door mii gesmeten." * 



Somewhat higher stands "dieu est {]?] mon droit," 

 and, underneath, are found the English arms; whilst, 

 betwixt the nethermost ornamental bands I noticed, 

 " Jan Tolhuis van Utrecht, 1544." ' 



" The gun will thus have been a present from Charles 

 V. to Henry VIII., or perhaps, according to some, this 

 ponderous gift may have been offered in the last part of 

 the IGth century to Queen Elizabeth by the States of 

 Holland, as an acknowledgment for services in men and 

 money. In 1544, the Emperor still reigned over these 

 provinces; and the first Dutch embassy to treat with 

 England, to my knov.dedge, did not occur before the year 

 1578. The date, with the English arms, however, makes 

 me incline more towards the first opinion, as it is not 

 probable that a present should have been offered to a 

 mighty Princess, which already told of more than thirty 

 years ago. 



" From the description by De Jong it appears that, 

 besides in the spelling, there is some difference in the 

 words given by him and those mentioned by D. H. as 

 inscribed on the brass gun. De Jong does not mention 

 the other ornaments; he only tells us the monster-gun 

 still existed in 1785, but in a broken state. 



" In the Hoorn Chronicle of Feyken Ryp, anni 1706, 

 we read on page 62. : ' In the year 1545, by orders of the 

 town, were cast some brass pieces of ordnance by Mr. 

 Jan van Tolhuj's at Utrecht.' Laboranter." 



Whilst treating this subject, I may as vvoll re- 

 mark that the word doez in the doggrel on the 

 gun (" N. & Q.," 2"i S. iv. 409.), ought to be 



printed doer. And now we have enabled the 

 readers of " N. & Q." to see in how far the Na- 

 vorscher did elucidate the Dutch side of our ques- 

 tion, may we not hope for the English replies, 

 which almost any inhabitant of Dover can give ? 



J. H. VAN Lennep. 

 Zeyst, Dec. 28. 1858. 



* [The Englishman's copy, who did not understand 

 what he transcribed, is probably more correct. 



J. H. van Lennep.] 



(2"« S. vi. 458.) 



Dekker, in his English VUlanies seven sever all 

 Times prest to Death hy the Pi'inters (London, 

 1638), speaking of the beggars and rogues of his 

 time, gives the following account of the origin of 

 cant : — 



" And as these people are strange, both in names and 

 in their conditions, so do they speake a Language (proper 

 only to themselves) c.alled Canting, which is more strange. 

 By none but the Soldiers of these tattered Bands it is 

 familiarlj' or usually spoken, yet within lessc then foure- 

 score yeeres (now past) not a word of this language was 

 known. The first inventor of it was hang'd, yet left he 

 apt Schollers behinde him, who have reduced that into 

 Method, which he on his death-bed (which was a paire of 

 Gallowes) could not so absolutely perfect as he desired. 

 It was necessarj' that a people (so fast increasing, and so 

 daily practising new and strange Villanies) should bor- 

 row to themselves a speech which (so neer as they could) 

 none but themselves should understand : and for that 

 cause is this language (which some call Pedkr's French) 

 invented to this intent, that (albeit any Spies should se- 

 cretly steale into their Companies to discover them) thej' 

 might freely utter their mindes one to another, yet avoid 

 the danger. . . . This word. Canting, seemes to be derived 

 from the Latine Verbe {Canto) which signifies in Eng- 

 lish, to sing, or to make a sounde with words, that is to 

 say, to speake. And verj' aptly may Canting take his 

 derivation, u cantando, from singing, because amongst 

 these beggerly consorts that can play on no better in- 

 struments, the language of Canting is a kinde of Musicke, 

 and he thaj; in such assemblies can Cant best, is counted 

 the best musician." 



In Nares's Glossary, a canter is described as one 

 who cants, a vagrant or beggar, and Ben Jonson is 

 quoted : — 



" A rogue, 

 A very canter I, Sir, one that maunds 

 Upon the pad." — Staple of News, Act II. 



There is a curious little work, called A New 

 Dictionary of the Terms, Ancient and Modern, of 

 the Canting Crew, in its several Tribes of Gypsies, 

 Beggers, Thieves, Cheats, Sfc, and published in 

 London about the beginning of the last century. 

 From this I extract the following : — 



" Canting-crew, Beggers, Gypsies; also Dissenters in 

 Conventicles, who affect a disguised Speech, and disguised 

 Modes of Speaking, and distinguish themselves from 

 others by a peculiar Snuffle and Tone, as the Shibboleth 

 of their Party ; as Gypsies and Beggers have their pecu- 

 liar Jargon; and are known no less by their several 

 Tones in Praying, than Beggers are by their whining 

 Note in Begging." 



Junius (or rather his editor, Lye,) derives the 



