Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/163

 2nd s. NO 8., FEB. 23. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

155

per se. There is la credenza del? altare, la credenza del battisterio, la credenza dell' olio santo, and there is a cre- denza in everybody's chamber.", Another correspondent, that " Credence, French ; credenza, Italian ; Kredentz, Ger- man ; and credentia, Latin, all 'mean, primarily, a cup- board, press, or pantry, and are probably derived from credo, credendum, a place of" trust. We find in Baretti's Italian Dictionary, ' Credenza, armario, dove si ripongon le cose da mangiare, a buttery or pantry.' Cotgrave translates ' Credence, silver plate, or a cupboard of silver plate.' Menage, in his Dictionnaire Etymologique, gives us ' Cre- dence, a buffet or sideboard, on which silver plate is placed ; of late, we say in France a credensier for a butler, and it is to be found in that sense in Rabelais. Kredentz, in German, signifies a buffet.' Ducange distinguishes the primary and secondary senses : ' Credentia, abacus, ta- bula seu mensa, in qua vasa ad convivia reponuntur, vel etiam mensula quae vasa altaris continet.' And even the Ceremoniale Romanum carries the matter no higher : ' Credentiam appellant mensam, supra quam vasa argentea sive aurea ad convivium opportuna prseparantur : et simi- liter in divinis, supra quam ad sacrificandum necessaria coiitinentur.' : ']

Discovery of the Safety- Valve. In The Times of Wednesday, February 6, it is stated that " the safety-valve of the steam-engine was discovered by a boy in his anxiety to get away from his work to play at marbles." Where can I meet with tho particulars of this incident ? L. S.

[The name of the lad was Humphrey Potter, a cock-boy, as he was called. The incident is recorded in Lardner's work, The Steam- Engine Explained, edit. 1840, p. 71.]

THE DE WITS : TICHELAEB.

(2 nd S. i. 35.)

Historians dispose of Tichelaer briefly as "an infamous barben" or " un scelerat." I have searched for something more precise of the wit- ness on whose sole, and not uncontradicted evi- dence, Cornelius Do Wit was put to the torture and condemned, and I think a short account of him, taken from original sources, may be accept- able.

Tichelaer's services were amply paid for. The High Court of Holland declared him blameless, and decreed him costs in the prosecution of Cor- nelius DeWit; and afterwards, on his repre- sentation that some persons persisted in calling him hard names een notorien vagabond ende en infaem persoon 't welch alsoo het suppliant niet staet te lijden certified formally, on the 17th October, 1672, that he had acted as an honourable man; still, as his patriotism was doubted, he published, not on his own account, but for those friends to whom his good name was dear, a statement en- titled :

" Waarchtig Verhael van 't gepasseerde in en omtrent de zaken tusschen Wilbelra Tichelaer, Mr. Chirugen tot

Piershil en Mr. Cornelius De Wit Ruart van Fatten, nopende de conspiratie tegens syn Hoogheijt den Heer Prins van Orangen. 4to. pp. 30., 1672."

On the back of the title-page is a caution that no copies are genuine but those which bear the author's initials, W. T.

He states, that he was born at Old Beyerland, of a good family, and was about thirty years old at the time of writing, well proportioned, above the middle height, a lover (liebhaber) of the re- formed religion, and a surgeon practising at Piershil. He also practised as a barber, for he says the lord (heer) of Piershil owed him five guldens, and the mayor ten guldens, for shaving (rasereri), and because he asked for his money, they took away his office of surgeon to the poor of Piershil. Probably there was something more than simple dunning, as he was prosecuted and condemned, for insulting the lord and the mayor, to make honourable and profitable reparation, honourable, in asking pardon on his knees of God and the prosecutors; profitable, in paying a fine of ten guldens to the poor of Piershil, and twenty- five to the Ruart van Putten, with all the costs. He says that to complain of this judgment he sought an interview with the Ruart, Cornelius De Wit, at his house at Dordrecht. He had been before the court of Piershil on charges of rape and fraud. In 1670, he had offered marriage to one Janneken Eeuwouts, but, being rejected, he urged his suit so offensively that she left the town and placed herself under the protection of a widow lady at Dordrecht. Tichelaer sent two men with a forged letter, to the effect that her aunt was dangerously ill, and wished her to return with them. She complied, and they put her on board a boat, and left-her with Tichelaer, who used much violence, and was stopped only by a storm, which obliged him to land. For this outrage proceed- ings were taken, and still pending when he called upon the Ruart.

The fraud was on his maidservant, Cornelia Pleunen, who sued him for her wages. He swore to a set-off to a greater amount, for bleedings and medicines, ^mt was disbelieved, and ordered to pay debt and costs. He was also charged with having forged a certificate of his good morals, attendance at church, and skill as a surgeon ; but I do not find that he was prosecuted for this.

Possibly these antecedents were not known to those who arrested the Ruart on Tichelaer's in- formation ; but proof of all was tendered to the High Court, while it was deliberating on putting the Ruart to the torture. Tichelaer, in proof of the truth of his charges, offered to be tortured against the Ruart. I do not know whether that was allowable by the practice of the court, but the wife and friends of the Ruart, in their memo- rial, object to it as unequal, because Tichelaer, being a surgeon, could fortify (yerharden) himself