66 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 65, 



suggests, the punishment of the Danaides, is ex- 

 tremely probable ; but tiiis only makes the exphi- 

 nation of captious in the sense of ahsoj-hent more 

 applicable to the passage, with which that of 

 Seneca, quoted above, may be aptly compared. 



I am sorry that Johnson was so unfortunate as 

 to propose carious as an emendation ; but even in 

 doing this, he had, according to my notion of the 

 lines, the right sense in view, viz., that of Ittting 

 through or "swalloiLung up, like a rotten tub or a 

 quicksand. 



I hope that Mr. Singer will take these remarks 

 in good part, as being offered, not from a wisii to 

 oppose his opinion, but from a conviction that the 

 interpretation now given is right, and from a desire 

 that to every word in Sliakspeare should be as- 

 signed its true sisfnllication. J. S. W. 



Stockwell. 



SWORD OF WILLIAM TUE COKQUEE.OR. 

 (Vol. iii., p. 24.) 



There can be little doubt that the sword re- 

 specting which P. inquires is in the armoury at 

 Goodrich Court. It was presented by Lord 

 Viscount Gage to the late Sir Samuel Mcyrick, 

 and exhibited by Pr. Meyrick to the Society of 

 Antiquaries, Nov. 23. 1826. The Doctor's letter 

 is to be found in the Appendix to the Archceologia 

 of that date, with an engraving of the sword. He 

 states that the arms on the pommel are those of 

 Battle Abbey, that its date is about a.d. 1430, 

 and that it was the symbol of the criminal juris- 

 diction of the abbot. At the dissolution of the 

 abbey it fell into the hands of Sir John Gage, who 

 was .one of the commissioners I'ur taking the sur- 

 render of religious houses. 



Its entire length is 3 feet 5 inches, and the 

 breadth of the blade at tlie guard 2 inches. The 

 Doctor considers it to be " the oldest perfect 

 sword in England." The arms are a cross, with 

 a crown in the first and last quarters, and a sword 

 in the second .and third. There .are also the let- 

 ters T. L., the initials of the Abbot, Tiiomas de 

 Lodelow, who held that office from 1417 to 1437. 

 This fixes its date in the reign of Henry V., though 

 the fact of tlie first "William having been the 

 founder of Battle Abbey has given colour to the 

 tradition of its having been his j)roperty. 



W. J. Berniiard Smith. 



Temple. 



I much doubt the fact of the Conqueror's sword 

 ever having been in the possession of the monks 

 of Battle. Nor am I aware of any writer con- 

 temporary with the dissolution of that famous 

 abbey who asserts it. 'William's royal robe, adorned 

 with precious gems, and a feretory in the Ibrm of 

 an altar, inclosing 300 relics of the saints, were 



bequeathed by him to the monastery ; and Rufus 

 transmitted them to Battle, where they were duly 

 received on the 8th of the calends of November, 

 1088. This inforniation is furnished by the 

 Chronicle of Battel Ahliey, which I have just 

 translated for the press ; but not one word is said 

 of the sword. 



Though I have always lived within a few miles 

 of Firle Place, the seat of the Gages, and though 

 I am tolerably well acquainted with the history 

 and traditions of that uoble liimily, I never heard 

 of the sword mentioned by P. Had th;it relic 

 really been preserved at Battle till the time of 

 Henry VIII., it is not improbable that it might 

 have come into Sir John Gage's hands with the 

 manor of Alciston, of which he was grantee, while 

 his son-in-law, Sir Anthony Browne, became pos- 

 sessor of the abbey itself. 



V\'ill P. have the goodness to mention the 

 source from which he obtained his statement ? 



Mark Antony Lower. 



liL'Tves. 



In reply to the .Query respecting the sword of 

 Williani ihe Conqueror (Vol. iii., p. 24.), I am 

 enabled to inform you that the sword, and .also 

 the coronation robes, of William the Conqueror, 

 were, together with the original "Roll of Battel," 

 kept in the church or chapel of Battel Abbey 

 until it was dismantled at the Relbrmation ; when 

 they were transferred to the part of the abbey 

 which remained, and which became the possession 

 and habitation of Sir Anthony Browne, Master of 

 the Horse to Henry VIII. These precious relics 

 continued in the possession of his descendants, who 

 were created Lords Mountacute ; and when Bat- 

 tel Abbey was sold by them to the ancestor of the 

 present owner, they conveyed them to Cowdray 

 Park, Sussex, where they remained until they 

 were destroyed in the lamentable fire which 

 burned down that mansion ; and which, by a sin- 

 gular coincidence, took place on the same day 

 that its owner, the Last male representative of the 

 Brownes Lords Mountacute, was drowned in a 

 rash attempt to descend the falls of Schaffhausen 

 in a boat. E. H. Y. 



MEANING OF EISELL. 



(Vol. ii., pp. 241. 286. 315. 329.) 



After all that has been written on this subject 

 in " Notes and Queries," from JIr. Singbr's 

 proposition of wormwood in No. 46., to Mr. Hick- 

 son's approval of it in No. 51., the question re- 

 mains substantially where Steevens and Malone 

 had left it so many years .agone. 



It is not necessary to discuss whether vinegar, 

 verjuice, or wormwood be the preferable transla- 

 tion of the Shakspearian word; for before either of 

 them can be received, the advocate is bound to 



