456 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°^ S. YII. Jdke 4. '59. 



sale, a few years ago, and that the author was an 

 Englishman who passed a season at Brussels. I 

 think he was an American. The style is inflated, 

 and the depreciation of England constant. He 

 greatly dislikes /Ae clockmakei', and says (p. 41.), — 



" Mr. Haliburton has read with profit, but without ac- 

 knowledgment, the wit of Eulenspiegel, which, though 

 germanically heavy, is better than his own. The con- 

 ception and much of the matter in 'Sam Slick as attache' 

 are due to the chapter ' Wie Eulenspiegel Gesandtschafts- 

 sekretSr wird.' " 



I know that the versions of Eulenspiegel vary, 

 but in none that I have seen is his secretaryship 

 of legation mentioned. Can you refer me to any 

 information on this matter ? M. (2.) 



Wall of Coolnamuck, of the County Waterford. 



The arms and crest of this ancient family are 



required. A reference to any book containing 

 them will be an obligation to A. 



Silk mentioned in Scripture. — Can any of the 

 learned readers of " N. & Q." tell me whether, in 

 the description of the Temple, 2 Chronicles iii. 14., 

 where it is said that Solomon " made the veil of 

 Hue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and 

 wrought cherubims thereon," silk is intended ? If 

 not, what is meant by the " blue and purple and 

 crimson ? " 



WLen is silk first ipentioned in the Holy Scrip- 

 tures or elsewhere ? E. H. 



Keepers of the King's Cormorants. — Among 

 the documents in the State Paper Office, as will 

 be seen from the first volume of Mr. Bruce's Ca- 

 lendar (p. 15.), is a petition " of Robert Wood, 

 John Wood, and two others. Keepers of His 

 Majesty's Cormorants, to the Commissioners for 

 the Funeral" [of James I.], praying that they may 

 have mourning weeds. 



Where can I find any farther particulars of 

 these officers ? Where were the cormorants kept ? 

 and until what period did the keepers of the king's 

 cormorants figure in the list of the royal house- 

 hold? M. N, S. 



Caricature Query. — A caricature of November, 

 1778, has this inscription : — 



" Ha Ha Ha I Cant help Laughing. No No nor j'ou. For 

 Every Body laughs at Worstead Stockings Mi ... 1, yo 



Acknowledged Coward. 

 What! retreat at Noon Day & suffer himself to be Cane"* 



thus in y« heart of y« Cit}' 

 of LONDON. O Terrible ! A Merchant too & a Patriot ! 



A disgrace to y® names 

 ha ha ha he he he keep it up. My Dear Boy, keep it up. 



.... Dedicated to every soul that has a ■ 

 Spark of Fire in him, in College or Out, by their humble 



Servant Brother Bamboo. 

 F.S. If this modest Patriot returns y» Compliment y" 



Public will be favo* 



With a Companion to this Print. A Coward Dreadfull ! 



Buy it & and stick it up for y" Joke sake. 



Price only 1 Shilling." 



The picture is suitable to the inscription, and 

 represents a man receiving a sound bambooing. 

 I should be glad to know to what it alludes, and 

 who is the author or etcher. E. King. 



Circuit Epigram. — Can you tell me which of 

 our forensic wits was the author of the following 

 epigram ? 



" On Judge Grose condemnivg a Man convicted of 

 Bigamy to the payment of One Shilling. 



" Ye Gentlefolks all, here's a secret worth knowing, 

 In Leicestershire Wives are the cheapest things going. 

 To back my assertion this truth as fulfilling, 

 If vou have a Grose, whv you pav but a Shilling." 



D. S. 



iKlt«0r ^mvitS Jnttib ^nSiocrS. 



"Heri John in the Pot." — What is the meaning 

 of the phrase " Herb John in the pot ?" 



"As if false doctrine were but an innocent thing, not 

 like the wild gourd, which brought death into the Pro- 

 phet's pot (2 Kings, iv.), turning wholesome food with 

 which it was mingled into baneful poison, but rather like 

 herb John in the pot, which does neither much good nor 

 hurt." — Gurnall's Christian Armour, ed. 1679, pt. ii. p. 12. 



May I take the present opportunity of recom- 

 mending the book quoted to all who are not ac- 

 quainted with it? In addition to its religious 

 excellency, it is so full of illustration and variety 

 of all kind, that I think it will peculiarly suit the 

 readers of " N. & Q." 



The reference above made reminds me of the 

 use of the name John in our language, as often 

 singularly compounded — used as a typical word 

 for man, or fellow. Your readers will remember 

 " John-a-dreams " in Hamlet ; according to Stee- 

 vens, "John the Dreamer, a nick-name for any 

 ignorant, silly fellow." In more vernacular lan- 

 guage, John Bull, John Dory, Jack-o-lantern, 

 Jack-o-both-sides, Jack-of-all-trades, &c. &c. may 

 recur. Francis Trench. 



Islip. 



[On an attentive consideration of the above extract 

 from Gurnall, to whose merits we most cordially add our 

 testimony, we are inclined to think that, in the phrase 

 "Herb John in the pot," " Herb John" is all that re- 

 quires explanation; and that the last three words, "in 

 the pot," are no part of the name of the herb itself, but 

 rather refer to what Gurnall had said just before: q. d. 

 " There are some who pretend that false doctrine is not, 

 like the gourd in the pot, poisonous or baneful, but, like the 

 ' herb John ' in the pot, does neither much good nor much 

 hurt." According to this view, our present business is 

 not the identification of any such herb as " John-in-the- 

 pot" but simply that of the "herb John." This consider- 

 ation, however' does not by any means remove the diffi- 

 culty. " John " enters into the composition of many 

 mediaeval names of plants, but none of these plants anstver 

 the conditions. Neither the " John's wort " {Hypericum, 

 millepe.rtuis), nor the " herbe de Saint Jean " (^Artemisia, 

 armoise, mugwort), appears to have been an esculent. 

 The former was deemed good as a vulnerary herb : the 

 latter was accounted first-rate for the sciatica, two drams 



