258 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 75. 



with distinct duties, in the same manner that two 

 chief justices were substituted in the reign of 

 Henry III. for one chief justiciary ? 



The immediate interest of this fact has prompted 

 me to anticipate its appearance in the volumes of 

 my work, whicli you have been kind enough to 

 announce as being in the press. Edwaku Foss. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. III. 



" Now flieth Venus in to Ciclinius tour. 



* * * 



" Alas, and there hath she no socour, 



For she ne found ne sey no maner wiglit. 



* * ♦ 



" Wherefore her selven for to hide and save, 

 Within the gate she fledde in to a cave. 



* * * 



" Now God heipe sely Venus alone, 

 But as God wuld it happed for to he, 

 That while the weping Venus made her mone, 

 Ciclinius riding in his chirachee, 

 J^ro I'emis Valanus might this palais see; 

 And Venus he salvetli and maketh chere. 

 And her receiveth as his frende full dere." 



Complaint of Mars and Venus- 



Having in my last communication (Vol.iii.,p.235.) 

 shown cause i'or the alteration in the foregoino' 

 quotation of Ciclinius into Cyllenius, I shall now 

 endeavour to interpret the line in Italics, which in 

 its present shape is utterly without meaning. 



AVhatever word Valanus may be supposed to 

 represent, whether a proper or a conimon name, 

 still the construction of the whole line is evidently 

 corrupt. 



Taking Valanus, in the first place, as a proper 

 name, the most probable original would be Valens ; 

 for the connexion of which with Mercury we must 

 refer to Cicero (Dc Nat. Deo?: iii. 22.), where 

 mention is made of it in these words: — 



" Alter (Merciuius) Valentis et Phoronidis filius, is 

 qui sub terris habetur idem Trophonius." 



Here the identification with Trophonius strikes 

 us at once as afTording a clue to the cave into 

 which Venus fled, giving great probability to 

 Valens as the true solution of Chaucer's meaning. 



But if we receive it as such, the following 

 hypothesis becomes necessary, viz., that Chaucer 

 imagined a double impersonation of Mercury — one 

 absent, the other present, — one sidereal, the other 

 mythological, — one Cyllenius, the other Valens. 



When Venus first enters Mercury's " palais," 

 she '■'■ ne found ne sey no maner wight." This sig- 

 nifies the absence from home of Cyllenius, who was 

 abroad upon "his chirachee" in attendance upon 

 the Sun ; and here again is an instance of the nice 

 astronomical accuracy of Chaucer. It was im- 

 possible that the planet Mercury could be in the 

 sign Gemini, because his greatest elongation, or 

 apparent distance from the sun, does not exceed 



29 degrees ; so that the sun having but just en- 

 tered Taurus, Mercury could not be in Gemini. 

 Neither could Venus see Valens (the other im- 

 personation of Mercury), because of his conceal- 

 ment in tlie cave ; but when she entered the cave, 

 then she was welcomed and received by him. 



Now, to render the text conformable with this 

 interpretation, sume alteration in the construction 

 is necessary, as indeed it must be in any attempt 

 to render the passage intelligible. 



Taking away the word "Fro," and transposing 

 "might" to the other side of "Valanus," the lines 

 would stand thus, — 



" it happed for to be 



That, while the weping Venus made her mone, 

 (Cyllenius riding in his chirachee) 

 Venus might Valens in this palais see ; 

 And Venus he salveth and maketh chere, 

 And her receiveth as Ids frende full dere!" 

 On the other supposition of " Valanus" being a 

 conmion name, to whicii a capital letter has been 

 prefixed in mistake, then the only word for which 

 it would appear to be a probable substitution 

 would be " Vallum," in the sense of a border or 

 rampart ; but the application would be so far- 

 fetched that I shall not attempt it, especially as I 

 look upon the explanation afforded by " Valens " 

 as most probably the true one. A. E. B. 



Leeds, March 20. 1851. 



FOLK LORE. 



Cure of Hooping Cough. — There is a supersti- 

 tion in Cheshire that hooping cough may be cured 

 by hohling a toad for a faw moments with its head 

 within the mouth of the person affected. I heard 

 only the other day of a cure by this somewhat dis- 

 agreeable process ; the toad was said to have 

 caught the disease, which in this instance proved 

 fatal to it in a few hours. A. H. H. 



Charms from Devonshire . — The following 

 charms were obtained from an old woman in this 

 parish, though probably they are all known to you 

 already : 



(a.) For a Scald or Bi'rn. 

 " There were three angels came from the East and 

 West, 

 One brought fire and another brought frost, 

 And the third it was the Holy Ghost. 

 Out fire, in frost, in the Name of the Father, and of 

 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 



(i. ) For a Sprain. 

 " As our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Clirist was 

 riding into Jerusalem, His horse tripped and sprained 

 his leg. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour blessed it, and 

 said, 



' Bone to bone, and vein to vein. 

 O vein, turn to thy rest again ! ' 

 M. N. so shall thine, in the Name," &c. 



