210 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 281. 



nus, in bis HistGria Plantarum Biblicae (Norim. 

 1663), lib. II. cap. v. n. 7. : 



"Gammon (JOD), eodem Esaia; loco [cap. xxviii. 

 V. 14.], quod Cyminum esse volunt. Nam et Arabibus 

 Camon appellatur, nascique prima dignitate in Ethiopia ; 

 proxima in ^gypto ; sed et passim in Asia, Cilicia, atque 

 alibi, testatur Dioscorides. Radix Caman latere, et la- 

 tenter insidiari, significat: quod quomodo Cymino con- 

 veniat, non apparet. Nam quod latenter vim suam ex- 

 serat pluribus commune est. Hoc proprium forth, quod 

 Cyminum sanguini insidiatur, ' palloremque inducit, siv6 

 bibitur, sivfe illinatur cuti ' ut docet Dioscorides. ' Ita 

 ferunt Porcii Latronis, clari inter magistros dicendi, ad- 

 sectatores similitudinem palloris studiis contract!, imi- 

 tatos,' etc. (Plinius, lib. xx. cap. 57.) Hinc Horatius, 

 lib. I. epist. xix. de Imitatoribus : 



' Quod si 

 Pallerem casu, biberent exsangue cuminum.' 



Et Persius, Satyra V. [v. 55.] : 



• Mercibus his Italis mutat, sub sole recenti, 

 Rugosum piper, et pallentis grana cumini.' 



" Sic apud Plinium decepit Neronem Julius vindex, testa- 

 ment! sui captorem, ciim pallido luridoque vultu, usu cu- 

 mini contracto, morbum mentiretur. jSJthiopicum cuminum, 

 quod Grjeci Ammi vocant, prsestantissimum habebatur. 

 ' Similis et huic usus. Namque et panibus Alexandrinis 

 subigitur, et condimentis interponitur. Colorem quoque 

 bibentibus similiter mutat in pallorem.' (Plinius, lib. cit. 

 cap. 15.) Possis quoque putare ab occulta facultate sic 

 dictum. Nam Amon tectum et latentem significat, Bux- 

 torff. in Thalmud. Amun .^gyptiis Deus absconditus 

 apud Jamblich. de Mysteriis. Ammi tamen Syris Mater. 

 Undfe proverbium Alexandrinorum : AmmcBa persequitur 

 Azesiam ; id est, Ceres Proserpinam : de iis qui longo tem- 

 pore aliquid quajrunt, Suidas ; eadem repetit Apostolius. 

 Azesia florem significat nV^ Ziza, Hazziza : Ammi 

 mater Ceres DID et {J^IS ventrem, uterum matris signi- 

 ficans, semen est, quod florem gignit, et ex flore nascitur. 

 Sensus itaque Proverbii videtur esse : Qualis mater, talis 

 filia, Ezech. xvi. 44. Sequitur matrem sua proles, et vicis- 

 sim. Hebrsei dicunt; Bozin Mikkitphe jediah, Cumiiiis 

 de flore cognoscitur. Ammi igitur kut i^oxt)v semen prse- 

 stantissimum : aut et quia matres facit, optimum contra 

 sterilitatem remedium, de quo Matthiolus in Dioscor. lib. in. 

 cap. 61." 



I shall only remark on the above, that Ursinus 

 does not appear to have been aware of the spirit 

 of contradiction which the cummin was supposed 

 to display in its growth ; he has overlooked it, 

 because the belief is noted incidentally by Pliny, 

 and not repeated in his subsequent account of the 

 plant. Dioscorides does not (jtifallor) allude to 

 it at all. 



What Horace relates to his patron Mascenas 

 (cit. supra), that when he is looking pale, from a 

 slight bilious attack may be, liis imitators straight- 

 way resort to copious draughts of cummin, to ac- 

 quire the same poetic hue of visage, is a vagary 

 in plagiarism to which every reader could, with- 

 out difficulty, furnish a y^ovthj pendant. What a 

 caustic diatribe against the genus Homo would a 

 collection of such inanities afford. 



It only remains for me to notice the fact re- 

 corded by F. C. B., that cummin seeds have been 

 found in a coffin with the dead. This use may 



once have been customary, though we cannot 

 accept it as such until other instances are adduced 

 beyond the solitary one at Wymondhara in Nor- 

 folk, in your correspondent's account of which I 

 find a suspicious " I think." Query the date of 

 William D'Albini's death ? * Mb. Pamplin justly 

 remarks that there "is nothing to connect this 

 plant with necrological purposes" directly; but a 

 plausible conjecture as to the reason why it might 

 be placed in coffins with the dead may, I think, 

 be founded on its property, already noticed, of 

 imparting a death-like pallor to the countenance. 

 This, in conjunction with its well-known " anti- 

 septic, aromatic " qualities, appears in my mind to 

 afford satisfactory grounds for its use in sepulture. 

 There is one grain of utility to many of fancy in 

 all such usages, and we must not be inexorable 

 about the cui bono when admitting them. 



Amos Challstetk. 



INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS. 



(Vol. ix., pp. 109. 592.) 

 Normanton-on-Soar, Notts. Four bells : 



1. " God save His Chvrch. 1631." 



2. "I, sweetly toling, men do calle 



To taste on meate that feeds the soule. 1631." 



3. " Edward Cotton, citizen and marchant tailor, of Lon- 



don, gave fort}' marks to buy this bell. 1631." 



4. " This bell was given to this chvrch and parish by 



Edward Darling, Esq., and Susannah his wife. 

 1631." 

 Stanford-on-Soar, Notts. Four bells : 

 2. " God save our King. 1603." 

 4. " Jesus be our spede." 

 Nottingham, St. Peter's. Eight bells. (I ex- 

 tract these inscriptions from Bailey's Annals of 

 Nottinghamshire.') 



1. " I was given by the Society of Northern Youths, Jn 



1672, and recast by the Sherwood Youths, in 1771. 

 Pack and Chapman, of London, /ecit." 



2. Same as above. 



3. « Our voices shall with joyfuU sound 



Make hills and valleys echo round." 



4. " We celebrate th' auspicious morn 



On which the Son of God was born." 



5. «' Our voices shall in concert ring. 



To honour both of God and King." 

 G. "The bride and groom we greet, in holy wedlock 

 join'd; ,• ,, „ 



Our sounds are emblems of hearts m love combm d. 



7. " I was given by Margery Doubleday, about the year 



1544, and recast with the bells in 1771." 



8. " I toll the funeral knell ; 



I hail the festal day : 



[♦ A.D. 1156. See Archceohgia, vol. xxvi. p. 295.] 



