Notes and Queries 1850.02.23 by Various
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Various >> Notes and Queries 1850.02.23
"Oxoniae salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto;
Wintoniaeque (puer tum) piperatus eram.
Si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello,
Oxoniense sal est, Wintoniense piper."
It is No. 64 in that book of epigrams which Owen inscribed "Ad Carolum
Eboracensem, fratrem Principis, filium Regis," p. 205, edit. Elz,
1628. 12mo. I give this full reference in order to express my most
hearty sympathy with the righteous indignation of my highly respected
friend, your correspondent "L.S." (No. 15 p. 230.), against imperfect
references. I do not, however, agree with him in thinking it fortunate
that he is not a "despotic monarch;" on the contrary, now that I have
not to take up verses, or construe Greek to him, I should like it of
all things; and I am sure the world would be much the better for it.
S.R. MAITLAND.
Gloucester, Feb. 18. 1850.
* * * * *
A FEW DODO QUERIES.
The discovery and speedy extinction of that extraordinary bird the
DODO, belongs rather to {262} human history than to pure zoology, and
I therefore hope that a few Queries relating to this curious subject
will be admissible into your publication. I have already, in the work
entitled _The Dodo and its Kindred_, and in the Supplementary notices
inserted last year in the _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_
(ser. 2. vol. iii. pp. 136, 259; vol. iv. p. 335), endeavoured to
collect together the _omne scitum_ of the Dodo-history, but I am
satisfied that the _omne scibile_ is not yet attained.
_Query I._--Is there any historical record of the first discovery of
Mauritius and Bourbon by the Portuguese? These islands bore the name
of _Mascarenhas_ as early as 1598, when they were so indicated on one
of the De Bry's maps. Subsequent compilers state that they were thus
named after their Portuguese discoverer, but I have not succeeded in
finding any notice of them in the histories of Portuguese expeditions
to the East Indies which I have consulted. The only appartently
authentic indication of their discovery, that I am aware of, is the
pillar bearing the name of John III. of Portugal, and dated 1545,
which is stated by Leguat, on Du Quesne's authority, to have been
found in Bourbon by Flacour, when he took possession of the island
in 1653.
_Query II_.--It appears from Leguat's _New Voyage to the East Indies_,
London, 1708, pp. 2, 37., that the Marquis Du Quesne, being desirous
of sending out a colony from Holland to the Isle of Bourbon in 1689 or
1690, published (probably in Dutch) an account of that Island, with a
view of inducing emigrants to go thither. I should be greatly obliged
if any of your readers can tell me the title, date, and place of
publication of this book, and where a copy of it is to be seen or
procured.
_Query III_.--Are there in existence any original oil-paintings of
the Dodo by Savery or any other artist, besides the five described in
the _Dodo and its Kindred_--viz., the one at the Hague, at Berlin,
at Vienna, at the British Museum, and at Oxford? And are there any
original engravings of this bird, besides that in De Bry, in Clusius,
in Van den Broecke, in Herbert, in Bontekoc, and in Bontius, of all
which I have published fac-similes?
_Query IV_.--Are there any _original_ authors who mention the Dodo
as a living bird, besides Van Neck, Clusius, Heemskerk, Willem van
West-Zanen, Matelief, Van der Hagen, Verhuffen, Van den Broecke,
Bontekoe, Herbert, Cauche, Lestrange, and Benjamin Harry? Or any
authority for the _Solitaire_ of Rodriguez besides Leguat and
D'Heguerty; or for the Dodo-like birds of Bourbon besides Castelton,
Carre Sieur D.B., and Billiard?
_Query V_--In Rees' _Cyclopaeia_, article BOURBON, we are told that
in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated _l'Oiseau
bleu_, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." Where did the
compiler of the article pick up this statement?
_Query VI_.--Is there in existence any figure, published or
unpublished, of the Dodo-like bird which once inhabited the Isle of
Bourbon?
_Query VII_--What is the derivation or meaning of the words _Dodaers_
and _Dronte_, as applied to the Dodo?
_Query VIII_.--Sir Hamon Lestrange has recorded that about 1638 he
saw a living Dodo exhibited in London. (See _Sloane MSS_. 1839, v. p.
9. in Brit. Mus.; Wilkin's ed. of _Sir T. Browne's Works_, vol. i. p.
369.; vol. ii, p. 173.; _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 22.) Is there
any contemporary notice extant in print or in MS. which confirms this
statement? A splendidly bound copy of _The Dodo and its Kindred_ will
be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively.
_Query IX_.--In Holme's _Academy of Armory and Blazou_, Chester, 1688,
p. 289, we find a Dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of
which is given in the _Annals of Natural History_, 2nd series, vol.
iii. p. 260. The author thus describes it: "He beareth Sable a _Dodo_
or _Dronte_ proper. By the name of _Dronte_. This exotic bird doth
equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. Now I wish to ask, where did this
family of _Dronte_ reside? Is anything known concerning them? How did
they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living?
_Query X._--From a passage in the _Histoire de l'Academie Royale des
Sciences_, 1776, p. 37, it appears that Pingre the French astronomer,
published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to Rodriguez,
in which he speaks of _Solitaires_. Is this the fact? and if so, what
is the title of his work?
H.E. STRICKLAND.
* * * * *
ON PASSAGES IN COLERIDGE'S CHRISTADEL AND BYRON'S LARA. TABLET TO
NAPOLEON.
I am one of those who look upon the creations of our great poets as
deserving illustration almost as much as actual history; and I am
always distressed when I meet with passages representing events with
respect to which I cannot make up my mind as to what the author meant,
or intended his readers to believe. Two of these occur to me at this
moment, and I shall be much obliged by any of your correspondents
giving, in your pages, brief replies to my queries, or referring me
to any published works where I may find their solution.
1. What did Coleridge mean to represent or imply in his tale of
_Christabel_? Who or what was Geraldine? What did Christabel see in
her, at times, so unutterably horrible? What is meant by "the ladye
strange" making Christabel _carry_ her over the sill of the portal?
&c., &c. {263}
2. What does Byron mean us to infer that Lara _saw_ in his hall that
midnight, when he so alarmed his household with
"A sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call,
A long loud shriek--and silence."?
The poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to let his readers
into the truth, telling them:--
"Whate'er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld,
If yet remember'd, ne'er to be reaveal'd,
Rests at his heart."
But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that _he knew the truth_
(I speak as of realities), --knew what he intended to represent by so
full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. And it is the author's
meaning and intention that I wish to come at.
I will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem
(which I don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but
one respecting which I hardly think there can be any doubt as to the
author's secret meaning:--Is not the _Kaled_ of _Lara_ the _Gulnare_
of the _Giaour_?
Before concluding, I will add a query on a very different subject.
3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet
erected by the Vallaisians in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of
the Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switzerland (Dr. Forbes)
has, I find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as I had
done, both its meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's note as
expressing exactly the point on which I desiderate information:--
"Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual
purity of the compound epithet _Bis Italicus_, here applied
to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the
judgement of the learned:--
'NAPOLEONI ... AEGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER INVICTO ... GRATA
RESPUBLICA.'"--_A Physician's Holiday_, p. 468.
EMDEE.
Athenaeum, January 26. 1850.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_Howkey or Horkey._-- Can anybody explain the etymology of the
word _Howkey_ or _Horkey_, generally used to denote a harvest-home
merriment in our eastern counties? Forbes speaks of it as an
intractable word, and neither he nor Sir J. Cullum have succeeded
in explaining it satisfactorily.
BRAYBROOKE.
Audley End, Feb. 16.
_Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms._--The answer in No. 15.
p. 235. to A CORNISHMAN'S Query (No. 13. p. 202) respecting "Bacon's
Metrical Version of the Psalms," suggests another query. The work in
question was a mere "exercise of sickness;" it contains only seven
psalms (the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 137th, and 149th), and is,
without pretension of any kind, a very proper diversion for a mind
that could not be inactive and yet required rest; and very good verses
for a man unpractised in metrical composition. The _Collection of
Apophthegms_ (also a recreation in sickness), though considerably
larger and altogether weightier, was considered so trifling a work
that Dr. Rawley, in his "perfect list of his Lordship's true works,
&c.," appended to the first edition of the _Resuscitatio_ (1657),
either forgot or did not think fit to mention it. Yet both these
trifles were not only written but _published_, by Bacon himself the
year before his death--a thing quite contrary to his practice; for
though he had written and carefully preserved and circulated in
manuscript so much, he had till then published nothing that was not
of the weightiest and most solid kind. Can any of your correspondents
inform me how much two such books may possibly have been _worth_ to
a publisher in the year 1625; being works of low price and popular
character, proceeding from an author of great name? How much is
it reasonable to suppose that a publisher may have given for the
copyright? or how far may it have gone towards the payment of a
bookseller's bill?
J.S.
Feb. 7. 1850.
_Treatise of Equivocation._--I shall feel happy if, through your
very opportune medium, I can obtain some information respecting a
very extraordinary and mysterious book, as to its existence, local
habitation, and any other _material_ circumstance, which has the title
of _A Treatise of Equivocation._ The first recognition of the work is
in the _Relation of the Proceedings in the Trial for the Powder Plot_,
1604. At signat. I. the Attourney-General, Sir E. Coke, appeals to it,
and affirms that it was allowed by the Archpriest Blackwel, and that
the title was altered to _A Treatise against Lying and Fraudulent
Dissimulation_. He proceeds to describe some of its contents, as
if he were himself acquainted with the book. Thomas Morton, Bishop
of Lichfield, and Coventry, afterwards of Durham, in his _Full
Satisfaction concerning a double Romish Iniquitie; Rebellion and
Equivocation_, 1606, refers to the work as familiarly acquainted
with it. (See Ep. Dedic. A. 3.; likewise pages 88 & 94.) He gives
the authorship to Creswell or Tresham. He refers likewise to a Latin
work entitled _Resolutio Casuum_, to the same effect, possibly a
translation, to which he subjoins the names of Parsons and Allen.
Robert Abbot, in his _Antilogia_, 1613, pp. 13, 14. emphatically and
at length produces the same book and facts; but they are merely copied
from the _Relation_ of the Powder-treason Trial. Henry Mason, in his
most satisfactory work, _The New Art of Lying, &c._, 1624, has spoken
of the {264} _Treatise_ with the same familiarity (see p. 51.), and
elsewhere, if my memory does not deceive me. Dodd, in his _Church
history_,--when will the new edition begin to move again? Can
Stonyhurst tell?--ascribes the work to Tresham. Hardly any of the
similar works in these times belong to _one_ author. It may just be
added, that Parson's _Mitigation_ contains, perhaps, all the substance
of the Roman equivocation, with not much reserve or disguise. It was
published in answer to Bishop Morton's work in 1607. Foulis has, of
course, substantially all the above, but nothing more.
Now, the questions which I want to have solved are these:--Was the
book ever extant in MS. Or print? Is it now extant, and where? Who
has seen a copy? What is its size, date, and extent? Has the Durham
Cathedral Library, in particular, a copy? Mr. Botfield might have
informed us. In fact, where is any effectual intelligence of the
fugitive to be found?
J.M.
Feb. 8. 1850.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
ETYMOLOGY OF "ARMAGH."
Some of your correspondents have taken up the not unnatural idea, that
the last syllable of the word "Armagh" is identical with the Celtic
word _magh_, a plain. But there are two objections to this. In the
first place, the name is never spelt in Irish _Armagh_, nor even
_Ardmagh_, but always ARDMACHA. _Ardmagh_ or _Armagh_ is only the
anglicised spelling, adapted to English tongues and ears. It is
therefore clearly absurd to take this corrupt form of the word as
our _datum_, in the attempt to search for its etymology. Secondly,
the Irish names of places which are derived from, or compounded of,
_magh_, a plain, are always anglicised, _moy, moi, mow_, or _mo_,
to represent the pronunciation: as Fermoy, Athmoy, Knockmoy, Moira,
Moyagher, Moyaliffe (or Me-aliffe, as it is now commonly spelt),
Moville, Moyarta, and thousands of other cases. And those who are
acquainted with the Irish language will at once tell, by the ear, that
_Armagh_, as the word is pronounced by the native peasantry, even by
those who have lost that language (as most of them in that district
now have), could not be a compound of _magh_, a plain.
The work of M. Bullet, quoted by your correspondent "HERMES," is full
of ignorant blunders similar to that which he commits, when he tells
us that Armagh in compounded of "_Ar_, article, and _mag_, ville."
The article, in Irish, is _An_, not _ar_; and _mag_ does not signify
a town. He adopts, your readers will perceive, the modern English
spelling, which could not lead to a correct result, even if M. Bullet
had been acquainted with the Celtic languages. The same remark applies
to the explanation given by the author of _Circles of Gomer_. _Ard_,
not _Ar_, is the word to be explained; and therefore, even though _Ar_
and _Ararat_ meant, as he tells us, "earth, country, or upon and on
the earth," this would throw no light on the etymology of ARD_macha_.
"HIBERNICUS" (No. 14. p. 217.) is partly right and partly wrong; he
adopts the anglicised spelling of the second syllable, although he
seems aware that the first syllable ought to be _Ard_; and he admits
also that this word is a substantive, signifying a _height_, not the
adjective _high_. "A high plain," in Irish, would be, not Ardmagh,
or Ardmoy (as it would have been anglicised), but _Magh-ard_ (Anglice
_Moyard_). Great light will be thrown on the whole subject of the
etymology of Irish typographical names, when the Index to my friend
Mr. O'Donovan's edition of the _Annals of the Four Masters_ makes its
appearance.
I may add too, in conclusion, that Camden is wrong in suggesting that
_Armach_ (as he spells it, retaining, curiously enough, the correct
etymology of the last syllable) is identical with _Dearmach_ (where
the last syllable ought to be _magh_). This latter place is the
well-known Durrow, in the county Westmeath; and its name, in Irish,
is _Duir-magh_, which is really a compound from _magh_, a plain. Bede
tells us, that the word signified, in the Scottish language, _Campus
roborum_ (see Bede, _Hist. Eccl._ lib. iii. c. 4.); but Adamson (_Vit.
Columbae_, c. 39.) more correctly translates it, "monasterium _Roboreti
Campi_." It is not likely that such authorities could confound Durrow,
in Westmeath, with the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and
patriarchal see of St. Patrick.
Whoever the Mach or Macha was from whom Ardmacha has its name
(whether the queen called Macha-mong-ruadh, whose reign is assigned
by O'Flaherty to A.M. 3603, or the older Macha, who is said to be the
wife of Nemedius), it should be borne in mind, that the word whose
etymology is required is ARDMACHA[16], and not _Armagh._ What would
be thought of the critic who would now attempt to investigate the
etymology of the English word _bishop_, by dividing it into two
syllables, and seeking analogies in sound for each syllable.
I have ventured to go at greater length into this matter than its
importance may seem to warrant, because it illustrates so clearly a
very general error, from which Celtic literature has deeply suffered,
of inventing fanciful etymologies adapted to the modern English
spellings, instead of the original Celtic forms of names; and this
error, as the question before us proves, is as old as Camden's time,
and older.
J.H. TODD.
Trin. Coll. Dublin, Feb. 2, 1850.
[16] Those who have access to Colgan's _Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniae_ will see that he always spells Armagh, _Ardmacha_;
and Durrow, _Durmugia_.
* * * * *{265}
WILLIAM BASSE AND HIS POEMS.
I read with great pleasure MR. COLLIER'S interesting paper on "William
Basse and his Poems," inserted in your 13th Number. Very little is
known of this once popular poet, but it is very desirable that that
little should be collected together, which cannot be better effected
than through the friendly system of inter-communication established by
your valuable journal.
From my limited researches upon this subject, it appears that there
were two poets of the name of William Basse. Anthony Wood (_Athen.
Oxon._, edit. Bliss. iv. 222.) speaks of one William Basse, of
Moreton, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, who was some time a retainer
of Lord Wenman, of Thame Park, i.e. Richard Viscount Wenman, in the
peerage of Ireland. And I find among my MS. biographical collections
that a William Basse, of Suffolk, was admitted a sizar of Emanuel
College, Cambridge, in 1629. A.B. 1632, and A.M. in 1636. The William
Basse who wrote _Great Brittaines Sunnes-set_ in 1613, was also the
author of the MS. collection of poems entitled _Polyhymnia_, mentioned
by MR. COLLIER. In proof of this it is merely necessary to notice
the dedication of the former "To his Honourable Master, Sir Richard
Wenman, Knight," and the verses and acrostics in the MS. "To the Right
Hon. the Lady Aungier Wenman, Mrs. Jane Wenman, and the truly noble,
vertuous, and learned Lady, the Lady Agnes Wenman." Basse's Poems
were evidently intended for the press, but we may conjecture that the
confusion of the times prevented them from appearing. Thomas Warton,
in his _Life and Literary Remains of Ralph Bathurst, M.D._, has a copy
of verses by the Dr. "To Mr. W. Basse, upon the intended publication
of his Poems, January 13, 1651;" to which the learned editor adds, "I
find no account of this writer or his poems." The whole consists of
forty-four verses, from which I extract the beginning and the end:--
Basse, whose rich mine of wit we here behold
As porcelain earth, more precious, 'cause more old;
Who, like an aged oak, so long hath stood,
And art religion now as well as food:
Though thy grey Muse grew up with elder times,
And our deceased grandsires lisp'd thy rhymes;
Yet we can sing thee too, and make the lays
Which deck thy brow look fresher with thy praise.
* * * * *
Though these, your happy births, have silent past
More years than some abortive wits shall last;
He still writes new, who once so well hath sung:
That Muse can ne'er be old, which ne'er was young."
These verses are valuable as showing that Basse was living in 1651,
and that he was then an aged man. The Emanuelian of the same name, who
took his M.A. degree in 1636, might possibly be his son. At any rate,
the latter was a poet. There are some of his pieces among the MSS. in
the Public Library, Cambridge; and I have a small MS. volume of his
rhymes, scarcely soaring above mediocrity, which was presented to me
by an ancient family residing in Suffolk.
A poem by William Basse is inserted in the _Annalia Dubrensia_, 1636,
in praise of Robert Dover and his revival of the Cotswold Games; but
it is not clear to which of these poets we may ascribe it. Malone
attributes two rare volumes to one or other of these poets. The first,
a translation or paraphrase of Juvenal's tenth satire, entitled _That
which seems Best is Worst_, 12mo., 1617; the second, "A Miscellany of
Merriment," entitled _A Helpe to Discourse_, 2nd edit. 8vo., 1620:
but the former is more probably the work of William Barkstead. I may
mention that a copy of Basse's _Sword and Buckler, or Serving Man's
Defence_, 1602, is among Malone's books in the Bodleian.
Izaac Walton speaks of William Basse, "one that hath made the choice
songs of the _Hunter in His Career_, and of _Tom of Bedlam_, and many
others of note." The ballad mentioned by MR. COLLIER, "Maister Basse
his Career, or the Hunting of the Hare," is undoubtably the one
alluded to by Walton. I may add, that it is printed in _Wit and
Drollery_, edit. 1682. p. 64.; and also in _Old Ballads_, 1725, vol.
iii. p. 196. The tune is contained in the _Shene MS._, a curious
collection of old tunes in the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh; and a
ballad entitled _Hubert's Ghost_, to the tune of _Basse's Carrier_, is
preserved among the Bagford Collection of Old Ballads in the British
Museum. With regard to the second ballad mentioned by Walton, our
knowledge is not so perfect. Sir John Hawkins in a note (_Complete
Angler_, 5th edit. p. 73.) says:--
"This song, beginning--
'Forth from my dark and dismal cell,'
with the music to it, set by Hen. Lawes, is printed in a book,
entitled _Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues, to sing to the
Theorbo Lute, and Bass Viol_, folio. 1675, and in Playfield's
_Antidote against Melancholy_, 8vo. 1669, and also in Dr.
Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_, vol. ii. p. 350;
but in the latter with a mistake in the last line of the third
stanza, of the word _Pentarchy_ for _Pentateuch_."
A copy of the _Choice Ayres_, 1675, is now before me, but Henry
Lawes's name does not appear to the song in question. Sir John has
evidently made a mistake; the air of _Mad Tom_ was composed by John
Cooper, alias _Giovanni Coperario_, for one of the Masques perfomed
by the Gentlemen of Gray's Inn. (See _The English Dancing Master_,
1651, in the British Museum, and Additional MS. 10,440, in the same
repository.) With regard to the ballad itself, there is an early copy
(of the latter part of the sixteenth century) {266} preserved in the
Harleian MSS., No. 7332, fol. 41. It purports to have been
"Written (i.e. transcribed) be Feargod Barebone, who being
at many times idle and wanting employment, wrote out certain
songs and epigrams, with the idea of mending his hand in
writing."
There is another copy among Malone's MSS. in the Bodleian (No. 16. p.
55.), where it is entitled _A new Tom of Bedlam_. But I contend there
is no evidence to show that this is the ballad alluded to by Walton;
none of the copies having the name of the author. We have two other
songs (probably more) bearing the same title of _Tom of Bedlam_; one
beginning, "From the top of high Caucasus;" the other commencing,
"From the hag and hungry goblin;" either of which are quite as likely
to have been intended as that mentioned above.
It still remains a question, I think, which of the two Basses was
the author of the ballads mentioned by Walton. But I have already
trespassed so long upon your valuable space that I will leave the
further consideration of the subject until a future period: in the
meantime, perhaps some of your correspondents may be enabled to
"illuminate our darkness" upon the various knotty points.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
BEAVER HATS--PISAN.
Allow me to say a few words in reply to your correspondent "GASTROS."
His quotation from Fairholt (_Costume in England_), who cites
Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_ as the earliest authority for the use
of beaver hats in England, is not a satisfactory reply to my query;
inasmuch as I am aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by
great people in this country some centuries before Stubbes was born.
For example, Henry III. possessed "unum capellum de Bevre cum apparatu
auri et lapidibus preciosis;" as appears from the "Wardrobe Account,"
of the 55th year of his reign. I have, therefore, still to ask for
the _earliest_ instance of the use of hats or caps of this material
in England; such hats, as well as gloves, are mentioned in several
English inventories made between the thirteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Is there any example earlier than the time of Henry III.?
"GASTROS" has also obligingly replied to my query as to "the meaning
of the term _Pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive
armour," but he seems to have forgotten that I expressly stated that
term had no relation to "the fabrics of Pisa;" at least such is my
belief. With regard to the inventory of the arms and armour of Louis
le Hutin, taken in 1316, printed in Meyrick's _Ancient Armour_, to
which he kindly refers me, it may be observed that the said inventory
is so perversely translated in the first edition of that work (just
now I have no means of consulting the second), as to be all but
useless; indeed it might be termed one of the most extraordinary
literary performances of modern times, as the following instance
may suffice to show. One of the items of the inventory is, "une cote
gamboisee a arbroissiaus d'or broudees a chardonereus;" and it is thus
rendered into English, "a gamboised coat with a rough surface (like
a thicket;--_note_) of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!"
The real signification is "a gamboised coat embroidered in gold,
with little bushes (or trees), with gold-finches [on them]." But I
am rather wandering from my point: I never could ascertain on what
authority Sir Samuel Meyrick asserted that "jazeran armour," as
he calls it, was formed of "overlapping plates." The French word
_jazeran_ was derived from the Italian _ghiazarino_, or _ghiazzerino_,
which signified "a gorget of mail," or what some of our antiquaries
have termed "a standard of mail;" in France this word always preserved
its relation to mail, and in process of time came to be applied to
so lowly an object as a flagon-chain: see Cotgrave's _Fr. Dict._ ed.
1673. Roquefort, indeed, says a "jaserans" was a cuirass, but to
my apprehension the passage which he quotes from the _Roman
d'Alexandre_--