326
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XL APRIL 25, IMS.
Poets.' In Ward's ' English Poets,' iii. 189,
Mr. Gosse, although a little uncertain as to
one or two matters of fact, gives the author
something like his due, and illustrates his
work by two fairly representative extracts
from 'The Chase.' There appears to have
been nothing in Somerville that appealed to
Mr. A. T. Quiller-Couch when he compiled
'The Oxford Book of English Verse.'
In his lectures on ' The English Poets ' Hazlitt dismisses Somerville with other twenty or more, including Tickell, Aaron Hill, Christopher Smart, Michael Bruce, Mickle, and so forth, as poets whom he thinks "it will be best to pass and say nothing about them." It would have been kinder, of course, to omit the reference. Mr. Gosse, as was to be expected, gives Somerville a place in his ' Eighteenth-Century Literature,' and if he does not say very much, he at least indi- cates the main features of his work. There are very imperfect references to the poet in most of the literary text-books. Prof. Spalding in his little work, so admirable in many ways, says that "'The Chase' is not quite forgotten." This was written in the middle of the nine- teenth century. Prof. Morley in his ' First Sketch,' and Mr. Thomas Arnold in his 4 Manual of English Literature,' both notice the poet, the former doing so in a somewhat inaccurate fashion. Mr. Stopford Brooke finds no room for the author of * The Chase ' in his marvellously comprehensive ' Primer ' ; Prof. Saintsbury excludes him from his
- Short History of English Literature'; and
Mr. Thompson ignores him in * The Student's English Literature.' Apparently, though he was remembered in Prof. Spalding's time, we now threaten to forget him.
THOMAS BAYNE.
STUART AND DEREHAM. The following entries are made on the flyleaf of a copy of Riders' ' British Merlin' for 1709 :
" Simeon Stuart Esq* only son of Charles Stuart Esqy son & heir of S r Nicolas Stuart Bar" of Harte- ley in y e county of South' ton was married to Eliza- beth y e only daughter of Sir Richard Dereham, K* & Bar" of Dereham Abby in y e county of Norfolck deceased, on Saturday y e 14 th of June, 1701 in y e Whitsontide week, at Dereham Abby."
" Elizabeth Stuart born Munday Mar. 15. at 8 of y e clock morn. 1702."
" Mary Stuart born Wednesday May 16 being y e eve to Holy Thursd. att 5 of y u clock morn. 1705."
'Anne Stuart born Munday Aprill 7, att 1 of v e clock morn. 1707."
W. C. B.
" MONBAIN," THE JAMAICA PLUM. This
appears worthy of inclusion in the ' N.E.D.,' as being the only term in French or English derived from the much-discussed " Women's
Language " of the West Indies. It has long
been known that the Caribs had two lan-
guages, one peculiar to men and the other
bo women. Monbain, according to Prefon-
taine's * Maison Rustique/ 1763, belonged to
the latter. The synonym in the "Men's Lan-
guage" was oubou. The word is common in
French books. Landais, ' Dictionnaire des
Dictionnaires,' 1854, has monbain, but Bes-
cherelle, ' Grand Dictionnaire National,' 1887,
spells it indifferently mombin or monbin. It
is the Spondias lutea, in English now often
called the Jamaica plum. Our old authors
preferred the native name. Thus Davies,
'History of the Caribby Islands,' 1666 (a
scarce book, because many copies were con-
sumed in the Great Fire of London), has
(p. 33), " The Monbain is a tree, grows very
high, and bears long and yellowish plumbs,"
&c. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
MISTAKES IN PRINTED REGISTERS : RICHARD JUGGE, PRINTER. Transcribers of old records, though possessed of a high general competency, not seldom make blunders through lack of local or special knowledge. Many of these might have been avoided if the transcriber had consulted somebody who had the special knowledge which he himself lacked. Thus Sir E. A. Bond, in the ' Chronica Monasterii de Melsa,' Rolls Series, prints "Surdenalle" for Surdevalle, i. 412, ii. 173; and " Kyluse " for Kylnse (Kilnsea), iii. 122. My experience has taught me that in conse- quence of the numbers of these errors the many volumes of printed parish registers issued of recent years, though otherwise excellent, are to be read with caution. The volumes of the Harleian Society are deservedly held in high estimation, but here we find, e.g., "Landtoft" instead of Sandtoft (xviii. 9), and " Sararia " instead of Saravia (xxv. 90), although this is the marriage of the well- known Dr. Hadrian Saravia.
But a worse case is in the ' Register of Christ Church, Newgate Street ' (xxi. 274), where we have the burial on 18 Aug., 1579, of "Richard Ingge, paynter to the Queens Majesty at S fc Faith's Church under Powle's." This is really Richard Jugge, the Queen's printer. On p. 282 comes the burial of his widow, 28 Aug., 1588, " M rs Inges in the parish of S fc Faith's under S fc Paul's, whose husband was sometime printer to our sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth." These entries supply missing dates for the article in ' D.N.B. ,' xxx. 223-4. Nevertheless, Jugge is not the only great printer who has been registered as a painter ; for in Smyth's ' Obituary ' (Camd, Soc., 1849), edited by Sir
