84 



NOTES AND QUERIES.' 



[No. 92. 



not give the slightest clue to the "birth, parentage, 

 and education" of John a Kent. As to John a 

 Cumber, all we learn is, that he was a Scottish 

 conjuror, employed by a nobleman of the same 

 country to counteract the j)roceedings of John a 

 Kent, who is represented as in the service of Sir 

 Gosselin Denville, a person who appears, from 

 what Munday says, to liave had power and influ- 

 ence in South Wales. 



Now, the name of Sir GoSselin Denville itself 

 suggests a Query ; because I find in Johnson's 

 Lives of Highxvaijinan, ^'c, fol. 1734, p. 15. (I do 

 not of course refer to it as a book of any autho- 

 rity), that there was a celebrated collector of 

 tribute from travellers who bore that name and 

 rank. He, however, came from Yorkshire, and 

 lived (according to the narrative of Johnson, who 

 had it most likely from Capt. A. Smith, whose work 

 I have not at hand) as long ago as the reign of 

 Edward II. Let me ask, therefore, whether there 

 exist any tidings respecting such a person as a 

 native of Wales, and as the " master " (I use 

 Munday's word) of John a Kent ? 



But this is not the principal object of my pre- 

 sent communication, which relates to one of the 

 heroines of Munday's drama — a daughter of 

 Llewellin, Prince of North AA^ales. To her the 

 name of Sidanen is given, and she is constantly 

 spoken of as "the fair Sidanen," with the additional 

 information, in one place, that "sonnets" had been 

 wi'itten in her praise. Every person who sends a 

 Query must plead ignorance, and mine may be 

 great as regards Welsh poetry, when I inquire, 

 who was Sidanen, and where has she been cele- 

 brated ? By the second volume of Extracts from 

 the Registers of the Stationers' Compumj (printed 

 for the Shakspeare Society), it is evident that 

 she was well known about the middle of the reign 

 of Elizabeth, for on p. 94. I read the following 

 entry : — 



"xiii August! [15S0] 

 " Rid). Jones. Rd. of hini for printlnge a ballat of 

 brittishe Sidanen, ai)plied by a courtier to the praise 

 of the Queen." 



British Sidanen probably meant Sidanen of 

 Ancient Britain, or Wales, to whom some un- 

 named and adulatory courtier had compared 

 Queen Elizabeth. I fancied also that I recol- 

 lected, in 'Wa.vnQvs Albion s England, some allusion 

 to Elizabeth under the name of Sidanen, but I 

 cannot at present find it. 



As I have my pen in hand, may I add anoLher 

 word, quite upon a different subject : it is upon 

 the nimium (pardon the word) vexata questio about 

 esile, as it is spelt in the first and second folios of 

 Hamlet. Have any of your correspondents, from 

 Mr. Singer to Mr. Campkin, with all their 

 learning and ingenuity, been able at all to settle 

 the point? Surely, then, I cannot be blamed for 

 not taking upon me dogmatically to decide it eight 



years ago. I stated the two positions assumed by 

 adverse commentators, and what more could I do? 

 What more have your friends done? The prin- 

 ciple I went upon was to make my notes as short 

 as possible ; and after pages on pages have been 

 employed in your miscellany, it seems, in my 

 humble judgment, that the case is not one jot 

 altered. Esile may still either mean vinegar 

 (eyesel) or the river Eisell. J. Patne Collier. 



SWEARING ON THE HORNS AT HIGHGATE. 



Can any of your readers give a satisfactory 

 explanation of what Lord Byron, in the i-xxth 

 stanza of the first canto of Childe Harold's Pil- 

 grimage, calls the worship of the solemn horn ? The 

 whole stan2a is as follows : 



" Some o'er thy Thamis row the ribbon'd fair. 



Others along the safer turnpike fly ; 



Some llichuiond Hill ascend, some scud to Ware, 



And many to tlie steep of Highgate hie. 



Ask ye, Boeotian shades ! the reason why ? ('^) 



'Tis to the worship of the solemn Horn, 



Grasp'd in the holy hand of mystery, 



In whose dread name both men and maids are sworn. 

 And consecrate the oatli with draught and dance till 

 morn ! " 



And the note (''') merely refers to the poet's 

 writing from Thebes, the capital of Bceotia. 



I have a faint recollection of a circumstance 

 which occurred on a journey from York to town 

 some forty years ago, and which I almost fancy 

 may throw some distant light on Lord B.'s horn. 

 Among the inside passengers by the stage was a 

 middle-aged Yorkshireman, apparently a small 

 fiirmer, who kept the rest in a continual titter 

 with his account of various personal adventures, 

 which he related in a style of quaint and ludicrous 

 [ simplicity ; and as, in the course of conversation, 

 I it appeared that he had never visited the metro- 

 I polls before, it was suggested by a couple of wags, 

 j that on the arrival of the coach at Highgate he 

 I should be invited " to make himself free of the 

 Horns." Accordingly, when iii due time the 

 vehicle halted at the above-mentioned place, and 

 the inside passengers, with the exception of York, 

 had quitted it, an ostler, having received his cue, 

 appeared at the door with a pole, to which was 

 attached a pair of gilded rani's horns ; and in- 

 quired if the "genelman" from Yorkshire, who 

 was on his first visit to London, wished to obtain 

 his freedom by swearing on the horns, or would 

 rather forego the ceremony by a payment of the 

 customary fee. The Yorkshireman was evidently 

 taken aback by the unexpected question; but, 

 after a moment's hesitation, intimated that he pre- 

 ferred the horns to forking out the cash. He was 

 thereupon directed with mock solemnity to place 

 his right hand upon the horns, and to foUow the 



