244 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»<i S. VII. Mar. 19. '59. 



different from the facts." Neither can I in any 

 History of England or Chronicle find where Mb. 

 C. got his term of " respectable grocer." 



W. B. C. 

 ^ The Land of Gold (2»'> S. vi. 500.) — The 

 substance of Genesis ii. 10—12., inaccurately 

 rendered by your correspondent, refers to a par- 

 ticular spot ; and Moses has very carefully 

 pointed out the geographical site of Eden, aS 

 if he foresaw that it was to become a myth in 

 the estimation of future critics. Eden is men- 

 tioned again twice (2 Kings xix. 12., Is. xxxvii. 

 l2.). Eden, according to Asseman, is the country 

 near Diarbekir, on the Tigris, called pyo (Ma- 

 don), the root of which is pj? {Eden), translated 

 by your correspondent " the place of pleasure." 

 The description of the deluge by Moses, taken in 

 connexion with his identification of antediluvian 

 rivers and provinces with those existing after the 

 deluge, shows that, in the contemplation of Moses, 

 no dislocation of lands had then, and, we may add, 

 has certainly not since, taken place, so as to throw 

 Armenia or Mesopotamia into Australia. The 

 expression, the " growth " of gold, is neither war- 

 ranted by the Hebrew text nor by mineralogy. 

 The statement of Moses, that the gold of Havilah 

 was " good " (not " very good," as mistranslated), 

 shows that there were different values of gold, 

 dependent on the greater or less purity of the 

 metal, usually alloyed for its preservation or for 

 its economical use in manufactures. The abun- 

 dance of gold in antiquity furnishes a subject for 

 one of Hume's most able historical essays. The 

 river Phasis in Cholchis, emptying itself into the 

 Euxine Sea, where there is a city called Chdbala, 

 serves to identify the Pison and Havilah of Moses; 

 and the gold district there is also sufficiently iden- 

 tified by the Argonautic expedition thither for the 

 golden fleece. From an ancient people, the Chva- 

 liski, the Russians have Chvalinskoye More (Cas- 

 pian Sea), which has also preserved the etymology 

 of the Chavilah of Moses, as well as the meaning 

 of the word Chvala, the same as Slava, the desig- 

 nation of the Slavonian peoples. (Miilier, in 

 Biisching's Mag., xvi. 287 — 348. 305., and Rose- 

 mliller. Genesis ii. 11.) I cannot discover any 

 ground, theological, historical, geographical, or 

 geological, for such an extraordinary supposition 

 as the identification of the Pison with any part of 

 the almost riverless Australia of modern discovery, 

 first seen in 1526 by Europeans. T. J. Buckton. 

 Lichfield. 



Hatchments in Churches (2"'^ S. vii. 199.)— The 

 law upon this subject, as laid down by Prideaux, 

 is this : Monuments, coats of arms, paintings on 

 the windows, or elsewhere, pennants, hatchments, 

 &e., put in the church for the memory of the de- 

 ceased buried there, if regularly set up with the 

 consent of the minister who hath the freehold, can- 



not be pulled down again, either by the Church- 

 wardens, Minister, or Ordinary, because they be- 

 long to the heir, and he will have his action upon 

 the case against any that meddle with them, and 

 so may also the churchwardens. But if they be 

 an incumbrance, or any annoyance to the church, 

 or any way hindering or incommoding either the 

 minister in performing any of the divine offices, 

 or the parishioners in partaking of them, in this 

 case the Ordinary hath power to give his order 

 for their removal. 



It seems clear, then, that the objection of R.B.'s 

 friend that hatchments are in his belief " a simple 

 exhibition of family pride," would not be sufficient 

 to authorise the Ordinary to order their removal. 

 I believe that R. B.'s view of the subject is ex- 

 ceptional, and that most incumbents, and their 

 parishioners also, wish to preserve these reminis- 

 cences of the bygone aristocracy of their parishes, 

 which call forth the sentiment, — 



" Their swords are rust, their bones are dust, 

 Their souls are with the saints, we trust." 



E. Ventbis. 



I think your correspondent R. B. will find that 

 the following words of Lord Coke will give him 

 the information he requires relative to the custom 

 of placing hatchments in churches : — 



" For of grave stones, winding sheets, coats of arms, 

 penons, or other ensigns of honour, hanged up, laid, or 

 placed in memory of the dead, the property remains in 

 the executors ; and they may have actions against such 

 as break, deface, or carry them awav, or an appeal of 

 felony."— 3 Inst. 110. 



Sir Simon Degge says he conceives this must 

 mean " when set up by licence of the bishop, or 

 consent of the parson and churchwardens." — 

 Degge, P. i. c. 12. _ 



A great many authorities might be quoted in 

 support of the right, and the correct conclusion 

 seems to be, that if the hatchments are placed in 

 the church by consent, tacit or otherwise, of the 

 parson and churchwardens, they cannot after- 

 wards be removed, without the consent of the 

 executors, or heir, of the person to whose memory 

 they were set up. R. B. would do well to consult 

 a work entitled Ecclesiastical Laic, by Richard 

 Burn, LL.D., 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 341. J. A. Pn. 



Damn the Nature of Things (2"^ S. lii. 272.)— 

 At this reference Prof Db Moegan attributes 

 the expression, " Damn the nature of things," to 

 Person. A writer in Blackwood (Dec. 1858) 

 attributes it to Fielding. Which is correct ? and 

 If the latter, where in Fielding's works is the 

 phrase to be found ? 



Allow me to take this opportunity of thanking 

 the learned Professor for his prompt and courte- 

 ous replies to several questions of interest which 

 I have from time to time referred to him in " N. 

 & Q." C. Mansfield Ingleby, 



Birmingham. 



