480 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 85. 



Gemceurten in de Nederlanden, 1838 en 1839, 

 pp. 102, 103. 



An edition, dated 1.599, of these very rare books 

 is now before me. It has the following curious 

 and affecting title : 



" Dit Boeck wort genacmt : Het Offer des Heeren, 

 Om het inhout van sommige opgeofferde Kinderen 

 Gods, de welcke voort gebrocht htbben, wt den goeden 

 ?cliat liaers herten, Belijdinghen, Sentbrieuen ende 

 Testamenten, de welcke sy met den naonde beleden, 

 ende met den bloede bezeghelt hebben, &c. &c. Tot 

 Harlinghen. By my Peter Sebastiaenzoon, Int jaer 

 ons Heeren mdxcix." 



It is a thick 12mo. of 229 folios, and contains 

 the martyrdoms of thirty-three persons (the first 

 of which is Stephen), which were subsequently 

 embodied in the larger martyrologies. Each nar- 

 rative is followed by a versified version of it. A 

 small book of hymns is added, some of them com- 

 posed by the martyrs ; and the letters and con- 

 fession of one Joos de ToUenaer, who was put to 

 death at Ghent in 1589. 



In 1615, a large collection of these narratives 

 appeared at Haarlem in a thick 4to. volume. The 

 compilers were Hans de Kies, Jaques Outerman, 

 and Joost Govertsoon, all eminent Mennonite 

 ministers. Two editions followed from the press 

 of Zacharias Cornells at Hoorn in 1617 and 1626, 

 both in 4to., but under different editorship. The 

 last edition was offensive to the Haarlem editors, 

 who therefore published a fourth at Haarlem in 

 1631. As its title is brief, I will give it from the 

 copy in my library : 



" Martelaers Spiegel der Werelose Christenen t' ze- 

 dert A. D. 1524. Joan, xv. 20. Matt. x. 28. Esai, 11. 7. 

 Joan, xvi. 2. 1 Pet. iv. 19. [All quoted at length.] 

 Gedrukt tot Haerlem Bij Hans Passchiers van Wes- 

 busch. I n't Jaer onses Heeren, 1631." 



This edition is in small folio. The title-page is 

 from a copperplate, and is adorned with eight 

 small engravings, representing scenes of suffering 

 and persecution from scripture. The narratives 

 of martyrs extends from 1524 to 1624. It is this 

 work which forms the basis of Van Braght's. He 

 added to it the whole of his first part, and also 

 some additional naiTatives in the second. To the 

 best of his ability he verilied the whole. 



Tiiese works are fretjuently referred to by 

 Ottius in his Aiinales Anahaptislici under the titles 

 " Martyrologium Ilarlemeuse " and " Martyrolo- 

 gium Ilornanum." 



From a paper in the Archivs fur Kunde oster- 

 reichischer Geschichtsquellen, I learn that a MS. 

 exists in the City library of Hamburgh, with the 

 following title : 



" Chronickel oder Denkbiiecheldarinnen mit kurtzen 

 Begrlffen, Was sich vom 1524 Jar, Bis aiifF gegen- 

 wartige Zeit, in der gemain zuegetragen, vnd wie viel 

 treu'er Zengen Jesu Christij die warheit Goltes so ri- 

 terlich niit irem bluet beZL'ugt. 1637." 



The work appears chiefly confined to a history 

 of the Moravian Anabaptists : but from passages 

 given by the writer, Herr Gregor Wolny, it is 

 evident that it contains many of the narratives 

 given by Van Braght. The earlier portion of the 

 MS. was written previous to 1592, wlien its writer 

 or compiler died. Three continuators carried on 

 the narrations to 1654. The last date in it is 

 June 7, 1654; when Daniel Zwicker, in his own 

 handwriting, records his settlement as pastor over 

 a Baptist church. Mention is m.ade of this MS. 

 by Ottius, and by Fischer in his Tauben-kobel, 

 p. 33., &c. For any additional particulars re- 

 specting it, I should feel greatly obliged. 



It does not appear to be known to your corre- 

 spondent that a translation of the second part of 

 Van Braght's work has been commenced in this 

 country, of which the first volume was issued by 

 the Hanserd Knollys Society last year. A trans- 

 lation of the entire work appeared in 1837, in 

 Pennsylvania, U. S., for the use of the Mennonite 

 churches, emigrants from Holland and Germany, 

 to whom the language of their native land had 

 become a strange tongue. E. B. U. 



33, Moorgate Street, London. 



SUcpIic^ to JMtnor caucri'ciS. 



Spich and Span New (Vol. iii., p. 330.). — The 

 corresponding German word is Spann-nagel-neu, 

 which may be translated as " New from the 

 stretching needle;" and corroborates the mean- 

 ing given by you. I may remark the French have 

 no equivalent phrase. It is evidently a familiar 

 allusion of the clothraakers of England and Ger- 

 many. Benbow. 



Birmingham. 



Under the' Rose (Vol. iii., pp. 300.).— There 

 is an old Club in this town (Birmingham) 

 called the "Bear Club," and established (ut die.) 

 circa 1738, formerly of some repute. Among 

 other legends of the Club, is one, that in the 

 centre of the ceiling of their dining-room was 

 once a carved rose, and that the members always 

 drank as a first toast, to " The health of the 

 King" [under the rose], meaning the Pretender. 



Benbow. 



HandeTs Occasional Oi-atorio (Vol. iii., p. 426.). 

 — The " Occasional Oratorio " is a separate com- 

 position, containing an overture, 10 recitatives, 

 21 airs, 1 duet, and 15 choruses. It was pro- 

 duced in the year 1745. It is reported, I know 

 not on what authority, that the King having 

 ordered Handel to produce a new oratorio on a 

 given day, and the artist having answered that it 

 was impossible to do it in the time (which must 

 have been unreasonably short, to extort such a 

 reply from the intellect that produced The Messiah 

 in three weeks, and Israel in Egypt in four), his ' 



