286 



NOTES AND 



QUERIES. 



[2»* S. IX. April 14. 'CO. 



FLAMBARD BRASS AT HARROW. 



(2 nd S. ix. 179.) 



The verses are indeed grotesque, and I don't 

 think an (Edipus can be found who can clear up 

 the enigma beyond cavil. For the sake of com- 

 ment, I will here reproduce them : — 



"Jon me do marmore Numinis ordine flam tum'lat' 

 Bard q°3 verbere stigis E fun'e hie tueatur." 



Mr. Gough's translation of the second verse is 

 clearly inadmissible. He has strangely committed 



the double blunder of translating hie tueatm is 



here kept! Neither do the suggestions of Mr. 

 Gougb Nichols, in my opinion, unravel the dif- 

 ficulty. On the contrary, they are forced ; and, 

 as not warranted by the context, they are, I think, 

 merely conjectural and fanciful. Fanus does not 

 mean death ; stigis is genitive to verbere, and not 

 to funere, as I will show; and the substitution of 

 cujus for quoque, which, I think, is the right 

 reading, both by its accord with the sense and the 

 metre of the verse, would entirely interfere with 

 the run of the hexameter ; for although there are 

 two false quantities in the verse — stigis e — yet 

 they might be easily made ; but no one with the 

 slightest knowledge of prosody could put cujus 

 between Bard and verbere in a hexameter verse 

 beginning with Bard. 



Allow me, then, to try my hand at untying the 

 knot. My chief difficulty is me do. As it stands, 

 it is perfectly incomprehensible. I suggest, there- 

 fore, that an o on the brass has been mistaken for 

 an e ; which, if the inscription be indistinct from 

 age, is quite possible. If I am right, then the 

 word is modi, now. This would entirely tally 

 with the sense, and, moreover, leave the verse a 

 correct hexameter. 



Bard is in the accusative case, governed by the 

 deponent tueatur ; the nominative to which' is 

 Numen, understood. Moreover, I think that by 

 the whimsical separation ot the syllables of the 

 name, Flam is intended to stand for the body, 

 and Bard for the soul. Funus means the rites, 

 prayers, and ceremonies of interment ; and not 

 only on the day of the obsequies, but the con- 

 tinuance for a considerable time — in some cases 

 for years, according to the will of the testator — 

 of the celebration of masses, burning of wax lights 

 round the tomb, and other funereal devotions; to 

 which, particularly the continual offering of the 

 Eucharistic sacrifice, the Catholic church attaches 

 great importance, in delivering the soul from the 

 pains of purgatory. Stigis does not necessa/ily 

 mean the hell of the damned, but like the word 

 infer i — descenditad inferos (Apostles' Creed) — 

 means the lower regions, or the lower world, 

 whether hell, purgatory, or limbo. 



As the E is a capital letter, it may possibly 

 stand for Eques, the rank of the deceased. If so, 

 the short quantity would be right; funere, more- 



over, not requiring the preposition e, according 

 to my interpretation of the inscription ; though it 

 also admits it. I think the meaning is — by 

 virtue of the. funeral prayers, rites, and sacrifices. 

 With these preliminary explanations, I offer the 

 following translation ; that of the second .verse 

 somewhat paraphrastically : — 



"John Flam is now entombed within this marble by 

 the ordinance of God : may He here by the virtue of the 

 funeral rites, prayers, and sacrifices, defend Bard from the 

 pains of purgatory " {verbere stigis). 



John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



Samuel Daniel (2" d S. ix. 152. 208.)— A re- 

 duced facsimile of the inscription on the monu- 

 ment in Beckington church, Somersetshire, is on 

 p. 34. of Selections from Daniel's Works, by Mr. 

 John Morris of Bath, published in 1855, and also 

 in Collinson's Somersetshire, vol. ii. p. 201. As 

 this differs widely from that given by your corre- 

 spondent, and also bears internal evidence of 

 being the composition of that very celebrated lady 

 who caused the monument to be erected, it is 

 subjoined. From what collection in three volumes 

 did C J. Robinson transcribe what you have 

 already inserted ? — 



" Here lyes, expectinge the second comming of Our Lord 

 and Sauiour JesusChrist, y c Dead Body of Samuell Danyell, 

 Esq., that Excellent Poett and Historian who was Tu- 

 tor to the Lady Anne Clifford in her youth : she that was 

 sole Daughter and heire to George Clifford, Earle of 

 Cuberland, who in Gratitude to him erected this Monu- 

 ment in his memory a long time after, when she was 

 Countesse Dowager of Pembroke, Dorsett, and Montgo- 

 mery. He dved in October, 1619." 



E. D. 



The Crossing- Sweeper (2 nd S. ix. 20.)— With 

 the kind permission of the writer, I request your 

 insertion of the following Note in correction and 

 confirmation of the story of the crossing-sweeper : 



"THE CROSSING-SWEEPER OF ST. JAMES'S. 



" To the Editor of the 'Birmingham Daily Post.' 



" Sir, — The ' Mr. Simcox ' alluded to in the above 



notice was not engaged in the nail trade, but was a large 



brass-founder in this town, of the firm of Simcox and 



Pemberton, Livery Street. 



" His name was George Simcox, and he died in 1831. 

 Having died when I, his grandson, was young, I have 

 never heard him tell the anecdote; but I know that 

 every word of the narrative is true, as I have heard of it 

 from other members of my family. 



" I am, Sir, yours obediently, 

 " Harborne, January 18. Howard Simcox." 



Samuel Bache. 



Edgbaston. 



I well remember years ago hearing a story 

 similar to that told by Mr. Bache, and singularly 

 enough a few months ago I heard a lady relating 

 my version of it, which was this : — 



There was a young lady who was courted by 

 a gentleman prepossessing in person and manners, 



