474 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2nd s. VI. 154., Dec. 11. '68. 



on parchment (the use of a printed version being 

 unlawful), a rule scrupulously observed on this 

 occasion, the mention of the came of " Haman" is 

 the signal for a scene of intense and almost fren- 

 zied excitement, the junior members of the con- 

 gregation belabouring the synagogue benches 

 amidst bowlings, and various other vocal and 

 practical expressions of the national abhorrence; 

 ■while the names of the traitor's ten sons are voci- 

 ferated by the excited reader with a furious volu- 

 bility, and with a single inspiration, to represent 

 to the imaginations of his audience their sudden 

 and momentary end. 



The synagogue services are followed by a brief 

 interval of sober thankfulness and repose, the 

 earlier part of the feast being devoted to games of 

 chess, and sundry other amusements — such as 

 music and dancing, &c. — when their season of 

 Bacchanalian revelry commences. 



The Jews are strangely enough guilty of an 

 unblushing violation of their law on this occasion 

 (Deut. xxii. 5.), attiring themselves in the garb 

 of the other sex ; their Doctors too have ruled 

 that wine may be drank to excess ; the inebriate 

 limit is attained by a confusion of the formulas 

 pronounced at such times with much religious 

 fervour : " Cursed be Haman," " Blessed be Mor- 

 decai" (see for a more detailed account of the 

 above, Patrick on Esther; Calmet, Diet., art. 

 Purtm). 



The anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot will 

 hardly furnish an historical parallel, except in a 

 point of ceremony, which is as religiously ob- 

 served by the juvenile zealots of the memorable 

 5 th of November as by the Jews of a remoter age : 

 as Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy on the famous 

 Jifth, so was it a custom with the Jews at one 

 time to subject the Amalekite traitor to the same 

 ignominious process of imaginary cremation. At 

 the season above mentioned, they erected a gibbet 

 to which they affixed a man of straiv they called 

 Haman, and delivered it, amidst loud execrations, 

 to the flames. But such a demonstration being 

 deemed, in process of time, a mockery of the 

 highest Christian mystery, the Emperor Theodo- 

 sius forbad its continuance. In spite, however, of 

 the above prohibitory edict, an instance is re- 

 corded of the Jews having fastened to the gibbet 

 a Christian in the place of their Haman, and in 

 this position scourged him to death. Perhaps some 

 of the numerous readers of " N. & Q." may be able 

 to say when, or where, may be found the earliest 

 trace of this mode of perpetuating the infamy of 

 traitors, criminals, and other objects of public exe- 

 cration or fanatical hatred. Cremation, as a cus- 

 tom of Pagan antiquity, is familiar to us from the 

 remotest times, but not as practised for purposes 

 of posthumous degradation. Hanging in effigy 

 arose out of the ancient practice of suspending 

 images of escaped criminals ; and as hanging is 



said to have been a punishment of Edgar's time, 

 the process alluded to may possibly have been in 

 vogue in this country at that early age. It was not 

 my intention to have trespassed on your valuable 

 space at such length ; but if the Query, appended 

 to my Note, possesses any interest for the corre- 

 spondents of "N. & Q.," your indulgence may 

 guarantee me a reply. F. Phillott. 



EVELTN S MEMOIRS : CORRIGENDUM. 



Under the date of August 18, 1688, Evelyn 

 makes the following entry (Bray's edition, 1827, 

 iii. 248.) : — 



" Dr. Jeffrj'es, the minister of Althorp, who was my 

 Lord's Chaplain when Ambassador in France, preach'd 

 the shortest discourse I ever heard; but what was defec- 

 tive in the amplitude of this sermon he had supplied in 

 the largeness and convenience of the parsonage house, 

 which the Dr. (who had at least 600/. a year in spiritual 

 advancement) had new built, and made fit for a person of 

 quality to live in, with gardens and all accommodation 

 according therewith." 



In the year 1688 the minister of Althorp (or 

 rather of Brington, for that is the name of the 

 parish in which Althorp is situated) was not 

 Jeffryes but Jessop, and Evelyn's ear probably 

 misled him when he was told the preacher's name. 

 The vionumentum perennius, — " the large and con- 

 venient parsonage house," — has been replaced by 

 one still better, erected by the Earl Spencer of 

 Lord Grey's administration for his brother, the 

 Hon. and Rev. George Spencer (now Father 

 Ignatius), who was rector of Brington until he 

 seceded to the church of Rome. Brington church 

 contains an epitaph to the memory of Dr. Jessop, 

 which is as follows : — 



" LiBtam hie prsestolatur Resurrectionem Constans Jes- 

 sop, S. T. P. Ecclesise Dunelmensis Prsebendarius, et hujus 

 ecclesiie Rector. Cajtera fama dabit. Sed nee monumento 

 perenniori carebit vir desideratissimus, quoad usque suc- 

 cessores gratos jedes Rectoris sustentare non piguerit ; quas 

 elegantissimas, modestas tamen (animi sui quam similli- 

 mas) propriis sumptibus condidit et ecclesise dicavit. 

 Decubuit xi die Martii, A. D. mdcxcv. retatis sure lv." 



Anthony Wood mentions two Constant Jessops, 

 father and son. The former, he snys, conformed 

 to the Presbyterian model during the time of the 

 troubles, succeeding John Owen in a parish in 

 Essex, where he ministered with great success. 

 He became afterwards one of the Triers of the 

 Clergy, and altogether was esteemed by the Puri- 

 tans as a man faithful and beloved, excellent in 

 piety as well as learning, which last attainment 

 he showed by divers writings. Wood continues : — 



" He left behind him at his death a son, of both his 

 names, and a true Son of the Church of England; who 

 being importuned, when he proceeded D. of D. in this 

 Universit}', 1G86, to give thn author information con- 

 cerning his Father and his Writings, he seemed not to 

 care to have the Memory of him perpetuated ; other- 



