Chapter C: M. L

"_Roses all that's fair adorn._"--Can you inform me where I can find a copy of an old poem, which begins as follows:

"Roses all that's fair adorn,
Rosy-finger'd is the morn," &c.;

since I have searched in vain for it.

W. S.

* * * * *

Minor Queries Answered.

_Donne._--In Walton's _Life of Donne_ it is said that Donne left behind him--

"The resultance of 1400 authors, most of them abridged and analysed
with his own hand; he left also some six score of sermons, all written
with his own hand."

Can any one tell me what has become of these MSS., and where they are now to be found if they still exist?

AJAX.

[The Sermons have been published in three volumes folio: the first
printed in 1640, containing eighty; the second in 1649, containing
fifty; and the third in 1660, containing twenty-six.]

_Dr. Evans._--Who was Dr. Evans, author of the _Sketch of Christian Denominations_? It would not be easy to ascertain, from internal evidence, what "denomination" he was himself! Who is the modern editor, the Rev. James Bransby?

A. A. D.

[Mr. Evans was born at Uske in Monmouthshire in 1767, studied at the
Bristol Academy, and afterwards at the Universities of Aberdeen and
Edinburgh. In 1792 he became pastor of a congregation of General
Baptists in Worship Street, London; and opened an academy for youth in
Hoxton, which was subsequently removed to Islington. In 1819 he
obtained the diploma of Doctor of Laws from Brown University, in Rhode
Island, America. His death took place Jan. 25, 1827. In doctrinal
matters, we believe he was a mitigated Socinian; and we believe his
Editor, who was a schoolmaster at Carnarvon, held the same theological
views.]

* * * * *

Replies.

CARLING SUNDAY--ROMAN FUNERAL PILE.

(Vol. iii., p. 449.; Vol. iv., p. 381.; Vol. v., p. 67.)

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and many other places in the North of England, grey peas, after having been steeped a night in water, are fried with butter, given away, and eaten at a kind of entertainment on the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday, which {612} was formerly called Care or Carle Sunday, as may be yet seen in some of our old almanacks. They are called _carlings_, probably, as we call the presents at fairs, _fairings_. Marshal, in his _Observations on the Saxon Gospels_, tells us that "the Friday on which Christ was crucified is called in German both Gute Freytag and Carr Freytag;" that the word _karr_ signifies a satisfaction for a fine or penalty; and that Care or Carr Sunday was not unknown to the English in his time, at least to such as lived among old people in the country.

In the old Roman calendar I find it observed on this day (the 12th of March), that a dole is made of soft beans. I can hardly entertain a doubt but that our custom is derived from hence. It was usual among the Romanists to give away beans in the doles at funerals; it was also a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen Rome. There is a great deal of learning in Erasmus's _Adages_ concerning _the religious use of beans_, which were thought to belong to the dead. An observation which he gives us of Pliny concerning Pythagoras's interdiction of the pulse, is highly remarkable. It is "that beans contain the souls of the dead." For which cause also they were used in the Parentalia. Plutarch also, he tells us, held that pulse to be of the highest efficacy for invoking the manes. Ridiculous and absurd as these superstitions may appear, it is yet certain that our _carlings_ deduce their origin from thence. On the interdiction of this pulse by Pythagoras, the following occurs in Spencer _De Leg. Hebr._, lib. i. p. 1154.:--

"Quid enim Pythagoras, ejusque præceptores, Ægypti Mystæ, adeo
leguminum, fabarum imprimis, esum et aspectum fugerent; nisi quod cibi
mortuorum coenis et exequiis proprii, adeoque polluti et abominandi
haberentur," &c.--Brand's _Observations on Popular Antiquities_,
Ellis's ed., vol. i. pp. 95-99.

In the notes in loco is mentioned "a practice of the Greek church, not yet out of use, to set boyled corne before the singers at their commemorations of the dead," v. _Gregorii Opusc._, p. 128. The length of this reply will not admit of my here enumerating the other emblems of the resurrection of the body used by the fathers and other writers. I shall therefore conclude with an extract from Rennel's _Geographical System of Herodotus_, p. 632., relating to the Pythagorean prohibition of beans:--

"The Bengalese have the _Nymphæa nelumbo_ in their lakes and
inundations; and its fruit certainly resembles at all points that of
the second species of water-lily described by Herodotus; that is, it
has the form of the orbicular wasp's nest; and contains kernels of the
size and shape of a small bean. Amongst the Bramins this plant is held
_sacred_; but the kernels, which are of a better flavour than almonds,
are almost universally eaten by the Hindoos.

"It may, however, be a question whether it has always been the case;
and whether in the lapse of time that has taken place since the days of
Pythagoras (who is supposed to have visited India, as well as Chaldæa,
Persia, and Egypt), a relaxation in discipline may not have occasioned
the law to be dispensed with; instances enough of a like kind being to
be met with elsewhere. _Kyamos_ in the Greek language appears to
signify, not only a bean, but also the fruit or bean of the _Nymphæa
nelumbo_. Is it not probable then that the mystery of the famous
inhibition of Pythagoras, an enigma of which neither the ancients nor
the moderns have hitherto been able to give a rational solution, may be
discovered in those curious records of Sanscrit erudition, which the
meritorious labours of some of our countrymen in India are gradually
bringing to light?"

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

* * * * *

HART AND MOHUN.

(Vol. v., p. 466.)

In Downes' _Roscius Anglicanus_, edit. 1789, mention is made of these two actors, thus:

"Hart was apprentice to Robinson, an actor who lived before the Civil
Wars; he afterwards had a captain's commission, and fought for Charles
I. He acted women's parts when a boy.

"Mohun was brought up under Robinson, as Hart and others were: in his
youth he acted Bellamente, in _Love's Cruelty_, which part he retained
after the Restoration."--Page 10.

It appears to have been the practice of the old actors--the "master actors," as they were called--to take youths as apprentices, and to initiate them in female characters, as a preparatory step towards something weightier. Richard Robinson, above-mentioned, _circa_ 1616, usually performed female characters himself.[5] In 1647 his name occurs, with several others, prefixed to the dedication of the first folio edition of Fletcher's _Plays_. He served in the king's army in the civil wars, and was killed in an engagement by Harrison, who refused him quarter, and who was afterwards hanged at Charing Cross.

The patent of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, of which Mr. Hart and Major Mohun formed part of the company, having descended from Thomas to Charles Killigrew--

"In 1682 he joined it to Dr. Davenant's patent, whose company acted
then in Dorset Garden, which, upon the union, were created the King's
Company: after which Mr. Hart acted no more, having a pension to the
day of his death from the United Company. I must not omit to mention
the parts in several plays of some of the actors, wherein they excelled
in the performance of them. First, Mr. Hart, in the part of Arbaces, in
_King and no King_; Amintor, in the _Maid's Tagedy_; Othello; Rollo;
Brutus, in _Julius Cæsar_; Alexander. Towards the latter end of his
acting, if he {613} acted in any one of these but once in a fortnight,
the house was filled as at a new play, especially Alexander; he acting
that with such grandeur and agreeable majesty, that one of the Court
was pleased to honour him with this commendation; that Hart might teach
any king on earth how to comport himself."[6]

In Rymer's _Dissertation on Tragedy_ he is thus noticed:

"The eyes of the audience are prepossessed and charmed by his action,
before aught of the poet can approach their ears; and to the most
wretched of characters Hart gives a lustre which dazzles the sight,
that the deformities of the poet cannot be perceived."

"He was no less inferior in Comedy; as Mosca, in the _Fox_; Don John,
in the _Chances_; Wildblood, in the _Mock Astrologer_; with sundry
other parts. In all the Comedies and Tragedies he was concerned, he
perform'd with that exactness and perfection that not any of his
successors have equall'd him."[7]

It would seem that through Hart's "excellent action" alone Ben Jonson's _Catiline_ (his own favourite play), which had been condemned on its first representation, was kept on the stage during the reign of Charles II. With Hart this play died.

Previous to Nell Gwyn's elevation to royal favour, it is said, upon the authority of Sir George Etherge, in _Lives of the most celebrated Beauties, &c._, 1715, she was "protected" by Lacy, and afterwards by Hart. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that she received instructions in the Thespian art from both of these gentlemen.

The cause of Hart retiring from the stage was in consequence of his being dreadfully afflicted with the stone and gravel, "of which he died sometime after, having a salary of forty shillings a week to the day of his death."

Hart's Christian name was Charles. He is believed by Malone to have been Shakspeare's great nephew.[8]

Major Mohun remained in the "United Company" after Hart's retirement.

"He was eminent for Volpone; Face, in the _Alchemist_; Melantius, in
the _Maid's Tragedy_; Mardonius, in _King and no King_; Cassius, in
_Julius Cæsar_; Clytus, in _Alexander_; Mithridates, &c. An eminent
poet[9] seeing him act this last, vented suddenly this saying: 'Oh,
Mohun, Mohun! thou little man of mettle, if I should write 100 plays,
I'd write a part for thy mouth.' In short, in all his parts, he was
most accurate and correct."[10]

Rymer remarks:

"We may remember (however we find this scene of Melanthius and Amintor
written in the book) that at the Theater we have a good scene acted;
there is work cut out, and both our Æsopus and Roscius are on the stage
together. Whatever defect may be in Amintor and Melanthius, Mr. Hart
and Mr. Mohun are wanting in nothing. To these we owe what is pleasing
in the scene; and to this scene we may impute the success of the
'_Maid's Tragedy_.'"

Major Mohun's Christian name was Michael.

W. H. LN.

Berwick-on-Tweed.

[Footnote 5: See _The Devil is an Ass_, Act II. Sc. 8.]

[Footnote 6: _Roscius Anglicanus_, p. 23.]

[Footnote 7: Ibid., p. 24.]

[Footnote 8: See _Historical Account of the English Stage_, in Malone's edition of Shakspeare, vol. i. part ii. p. 278. Lond. 1790.]

[Footnote 9: Thought by Thomas Davies to have been Lee.]

[Footnote 10: _Roscius Anglicanus._]

* * * * *

BURIAL WITHOUT RELIGIOUS SERVICE--BURIAL.

(Vol. v., pp. 466. 549.)

There can be no doubt, I think, that a burial ground, whether parish churchyard or cemetery, so long as it has been consecrated, or even licensed by the bishop, is only _legally_ useable for interments performed according to "the ecclesiastical laws of this realm;" _i.e._ the burial service, as rubrically directed, must be read by a clergyman over the corpse. Whether the bishop would have proceeded by law against the clergyman in Carlile's case, supposing he had desisted from the service under the protests of the sons, may be questioned; but that he could have done so is beyond a doubt. The sixty-eighth canon says, that "no minister shall refuse or delay to bury any corpse that is brought to the church or churchyard ... in such manner and form as is prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. And if he shall refuse, &c., he shall be suspended by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the space of three months." The consecration, or episcopal licence, seems to tie the burial ground to the burial service, except in the three cases of persons who die excommunicated, unbaptised, or by their own hands; and I imagine that a clergyman would render himself liable to suspension by his bishop, who either allowed interments to take place in the churchyard without the burial service, or, on the other hand, used the service in unconsecrated or unlicensed ground. By the 3 Ja. I. c. 5., there is a penalty for burying a corpse away from the church; but this law is either repealed or obsolete. If any services of the church be used by a clergyman, except "according to order," I imagine that he renders himself liable to penal consequences; but it may be sometimes thought best to omit them. Sometimes, however, as in the case of baptisms being allowed in drawing-rooms, there is such an intentional oversight as is quite indefensible.

The story which I have heard of Baskerville's burial is as follows;--He died at Birmingham, but was not interred, and his corpse was kept in the house in which he had lived. After a time this house was sold, and the purchaser of it became embarrassed by the unexpected discovery that he was in possession of the old printer's mortal remains. He applied to the clergyman of {614} the parish for release from his difficulty; and this gentleman, being a man of the world, said that he was the last person who ought to have been consulted, but since it was so, the churchyard and the shades of evening afforded a remedy.

Perhaps it is worth adding, that when Sir W. Page Wood, the late Solicitor-General, would have brought a bill into parliament to relieve dissenters from the payment of church rates, on condition that they consented to forego all claim upon the services of the church, including of course the burial service, the bargain was declined by them.

ALFRED GATTY.

* * * * *

"QUOD NON FECERUNT BARBARI," ETC.

(Vol. v., p. 559.)

Your correspondent MR. BREEN is mistaken in supposing this "epigram" to refer to the Barberini spoliation of the Coliseum; it was an equally important and more sacrilegious theft that aroused Pasquin's satire and indignation.

Urban VIII. (Matteo Barberini), 1623-44, had just stripped the dome of the Pantheon of the bronze that adorned it, to construct therewith the baldacchino over the high altar in St. Peter's. The amount of metal obtained, says Venuti, was upwards of 450,250 pounds weight; and upon the principle of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the material thus stolen from the Madonna was dedicated to the service of San Pietro. Bernini was the artist employed, from whose taste, perhaps, little better was to be expected; and the baldacchino, though highly ornamented, richly gilt, and of imposing dimensions, certainly makes the beholder regret that the metal was moved from its original position. It was costly enough too, upwards of 20,000l. having been expended upon its production.

Urban evidently had a practical turn for warfare by no means unusual to the possessors of the "holy see," for we find that the surplusage of the metal was cast into cannon for the defence of St. Angelo.

This pope certainly was _one_ of the most unsparing despoilers of the Coliseum, inasmuch as the huge pile of the Palazzo Barbarini was erected by him with stone supplied solely from that convenient and inexpensive quarry. If, however, we reflect that he did but follow the example of many of his predecessors (Paul II. built the Palazzo di Venezia, and Paul III. the Farnese, from the same exhaustless supply), and that the Coliseum was not only much ruined by the "barbarians" during the various sieges of Rome, but was used as a fortress by the Frangipani in the Middle Ages, the pasquinade quoted by MR. BREEN would hardly have been applicable to Urban's misdeeds in that quarter. Nor was the Coliseum at that time consecrated ground, as it was not till the year 1750 that Benedict XIV., with a view to protect it from future depredation, dedicated it to the memory of the Christian martyrs who had perished in its arena. But the Pantheon, consecrated as early as A.D. 608, under the name of S. Maria Rotonda, had been respected and spared by all, whether Arian or barb-"arian;" and it was reserved for a "Santo Padre" of the seventeenth century to despoil a Christian Church, and himself set an example of sacrilege to the Christian world. Urban was the sole member of the Barberini family (of Florentine extraction) that ever attained the papal tiara. The amount of wealth stated to have been amassed by him during his pontificate appears almost fabulous.

The author of the pasquinade in question is, I believe, unknown.

A. P.

Bayswater.

* * * * *

RESTIVE.

(Vol. v., p. 535.)

I am inclined to think that your correspondents, however deeply they may be versed in "Folk-Lore," are generally not much acquainted with "Horse-Lore." Such, at least, is the opinion that is warranted by the extraordinary nature of the questions (not many in number, it is true) which have been put in relation to that subject, and of the replies that have been given to them. In the case now before us, J. R. has only superficially considered the matter. He takes one out of many definitions "in our dictionaries," and on that takes his stand. He is manifestly in error. The tempting facility of referring all words similar in appearance to the same etymon lies at the root of his mistake; for _restive_, as he will find on more patient investigation, is by our lexicographers (Richardson, for example) classed under a different root from _rest_, used to express _quiescence_, or _repose_. _Restive_, or more properly _restiff_, is equivalent to the French _rétif_, or Italian _restio_; and, as applied to horses, means those which resist the will of their rider. Hence, whether in standing stock still, in running away, in rearing, in plunging, or in kicking, they employ their natural means of defence against the control of the cavalier, and may equally be called _restiff_. In support of this view, take the following quotation, to which others might be added. It is from Grisone, _Ordini di Cavalcare_, 4to., 1550:

"Se il cavallo è restio, il più delle volte procede per colpa del
Cavaliero, per una di questi ragioni. Overo il Cavallo è vile, e di
poca forza, e essendo troppo molestato si abandona e avvilisce di sorte
che accorando non vuole caminare avante; over è superbo, e gagliardo, e
dandogli fatica, egli mancandogli un poco di lena, si prevalerà con
salti, e con aggrupparsi, e con altre malignità, ò fara pur questo dal
principio che si cavalca, di maniera che se allora conoscerà chi il
Cavaliero lo teme, {615} prenderà tant' animo, che usando molte
ribalderie, si fermerà contra la volontà sua; _e di queste due Specie
di Restii_ [which J. R. will be pleased to _note_], la peggior è quella
che nasce da viltà, e da poca forza."--Folio 92, verso.

Thus much for the equestrian part of the subject. With regard to the use of the word _restive_ by the author of the _Eclipse of Faith_, that is purely a matter of taste, which it is unnecessary here to discuss; but I hope that the foregoing opinion of one who in his day passed for the most accomplished horseman of Europe, will suffice to show that, in the passage quoted, the term is not so entirely misapplied as J. R. supposes.

F. S. Q.

* * * * *

MEN OF KENT AND KENTISH MEN.

(Vol. v., p. 321.)

In your answers to Minor Queries (Vol. v., p. 321.) I find it stated, that the inhabitants of the part of Kent lying between Rochester and London being _invicti_, have ever since (the Norman Conquest) been designated as Men of Kent; while those to the eastward, through whose district the Conqueror marched unopposed, are only "Kentish Men."

As I have always understood that the contrary is the case, and that the inhabitants of East Kent are called "Men of Kent," and those in West Kent, "Kentish Men"--because in East Kent the people are less intermixed with strangers than in West Kent, from its proximity to the metropolis--I was desirous of correcting what appeared to me to be a manifest error: but not finding any direct authority on the point, I consulted my friend Charles Sandys, Esq., of Canterbury, as a Kentish antiquary, on the subject. And I now send you a letter from that gentleman, which you are at liberty to print.

GEO. R. CORNER.

Eltham.

"'MEN OF KENT,' AND 'KENTISH MEN.'

"I am not aware that any professed treatise has been written or published upon our provincial distinction of 'Men of Kent' and 'Kentish Men.' That some such traditionary distinction, however, (whatever it may be) has existed from time immemorial in our county, cannot be disputed, and I think it has an undoubted and unquestionable historic origin, which I will endeavour briefly to illustrate.

"The West Kent Men, according to the tradition, are styled 'Kentish Men;' whilst those of East Kent are more emphatically denominated 'Men of Kent.'

"And now for my historical authorities:--

"That the East Kent people were denominated from ancient time 'Men of Kent,' may, I think, be inferred from the ancient Saxon name of its metropolis, [Cant-wara-burh] [_Canterbury_], literally, 'The City of the Men of Kent;' the royal city and seat of government of King Ethelbert at the time of the arrival of St. Augustine (A.D. 597) to convert our idolatrous Saxon ancestors from the worship of Woden and his kindred deities to that of the Saviour of the world.

"St. Augustine, having succeeded in his holy mission, and having been consecrated Archbishop of the Saxons and Angles in Britain, fixed his metropolitical see in the royal city of Canterbury, which had been granted to him by King Ethelbert on his conversion (who thereupon retired to his royal fortress, or Castrum, of Regulbium, _Reculver_). And in that city it has ever since continued for a period of more than twelve centuries.

"The conversion of the Pagan inhabitants of Kent proceeded so rapidly that St. Augustine, with the assistance of King Ethelbert, soon founded another episcopal see at Rochester, and thus divided the Kentish kingdom into two dioceses: the eastern, or diocese of Canterbury; the western, or diocese of Rochester. And thus, I conceive, originated the divisions of East and West Kent: the men of the former retaining their ancient name of 'Men of Kent;' whilst those of the latter adopted that of 'Kentish Men.'

"The Saxon (or Jutish) kingdom of Kent continued a separate and independent kingdom of the Octarchy from the time of Hengist (A.D. 455) until its subjugation by Offa, King of Mercia, in the eighth century, to which it continued tributary until King Egbert reduced all the kingdoms of the Octarchy under his dominion, at the commencement of the ninth century,--and thus became the first King of all England.

"That Kent was separated at an early period into the two divisions of East and West Kent, may be inferred from a charter (Kemble, _Cod. Dipl._ ii. 19.) relating to some property withheld from the church of Canterbury, and which is specially described as having been that "of Oswulf, duke and prince of the province of _East Kent_" ('dux atque princeps provinciæ _Orientalis Cantiæ_') c. A.D. 844.

"The _Saxon Chronicle_ also confirms this view of the matter, thus:

A.D. 853. "Ealhere with the 'Men of Kent' fought in _Thanet_ against the heathen army (Danes)."--Thanet is in _East_ Kent.

A.D. 865. "The heathen army sate down in _Thanet_, and made peace with the 'Men of Kent.' And the 'Men of Kent' promised them money for the peace."

A.D. 902. ... "Battle at the _Holmes_, between the 'Kentish Men' and the 'Danish Men.'--This, I take it, occurred in _West_ Kent.

A.D. 999. "The army (Danes) went up along the Medway to _Rochester_, and then the '_Kentish_ forces' stoutly joined battle ... and full nigh {616} all the 'West Kentish men' they ruined and plundered."

A.D.[11] 1009. "Then came the vast hostile army (Danes) to _Sandwich_, and they soon went their way to _Canterbury_; and all the people of '_East Kent_' made peace with the army, and gave them 3000 pounds."

"Thus, I trust, I have satisfactorily shown from our ancient annals, that the distinction between 'Kentish Men' and 'Men of Kent,' existed at a period long anterior to the Norman Conquest, and is distinctly recognised in the foregoing historical passages. And its origin may, I think, be attributed to the ancient division of the Jutish kingdom of Kent into the two dioceses of _Canterbury_ and _Rochester_.

"Our Gavelkind Tenure and free Kentish customs, of which I have attempted a history in my recently published _Consuetudines Kanciæ_, gave rise to our well-known old provincial song of 'The Man of Kent,' its burthen being:

"Of Briton's race--if one surpass,
'A Man of Kent' is He."

CHARLES SANDYS, F.S.A.

Canterbury.

[Footnote 11: "A.D." corrected from "A.B."--Transcriber.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Speculum Christianorum, &c._ (Vol. v., p. 558.).--In case no fuller information should be forthcoming on this tract, allow me to refer MR. SIMPSON to Ames's _Typographical Dictionary_, p. 113., where is an account of what is apparently another edition of the above, printed by William Machlinia, or Macklyn, about the year 1480. The title runs thus: _Incipit liber qui vocatur Speculum Xpristiani_. It is a short exposition of the common topics of divinity of that time, for the most part in Latin, but there is some English which is chiefly in rhyme. The first English lines are--

"In heauen shall dwelle alle cristen men
That knowe and kepe goddes byddynges ten."

At the end, after--

"Explicit liber qui vocatur specul[=u] Xpr[=i]ani, Sequitur exposicio
oracionis dominice c[=u] quodam bono notabili et sept[=e] capitalia
vicia c[=u] aliquibus ramis eor[=u]."

Afterwards--

"Sequuntur monita de verbis beati Ysidori extracta ad instruend[=u]
homin[=e] qualiter vicia valeat euitare et in bonis se debeat
informare."

The whole concludes with this colophon:

"Jste Libellus impressus est [=i] opulentissima Ciuitate Londoniarum
per me Willelmum de Machlinia ad instanciam necnon expensas Henrici
Vrankenbergh mercatoris."

The author is said to be John Watton in the Catalogue of MSS. in England and Ireland, C.C.C., Oxon. n. clv. p. 53.

J. EASTWOOD.

_Smyth's MSS. relating to Gloucestershire_ (Vol. v., p. 512.).--A querist writes to know where any of these may be seen.

The original manuscript (three vols. folio) was given to the library of the College of Arms, through the hands of Sir Charles Young, by the Rev. R. W. Huntley of Boxwell Court, about 1835, who became possessed of it by a legacy from a descendant of Mr. Smyth. There is another copy in the "Evidence Room," at Berkeley Castle; and another in the library of Smyth Owen, Esq., a descendant from the author, at Condover Hall, Shropshire. There is another copy in the possession of the Hon. Robert Berkeley at Spetchley Park, Worcestershire. And an imperfect copy was sold at the sale at Hill Court, Gloucester, in 1846. It was bought by a bookseller for Mr. Pigott of Brockley; it was resold in 1849, but to whom I could never find out. This last is also in three vols.; two of these match in the binding, but the third does not: the leather of this odd vol. is thickly studded with the _portcullis_. The imperfection of this set consists in being _unfinished_ in many parts. Mr. Huntley's is considered the first copy of that at the castle; and that at Condover was probably Mr. Smyth's own. The Hill Court copy seems to be about the same date.

The _Abstracts and Extracts_ of these MSS. as published by Fosbroke in 1821, are but a tantalising meagre sample of the very rich store of genealogical and historical information which the originals contain.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George, Devon.

_M. Barrière and the Quarterly Review_ (Vol. v., pp. 347. 402.).--As I see that J. R. (of Cork) has resumed his correspondence with "N. & Q.," I beg leave to call his attention to his statement, and to my inquiry under the above references: any one or two instances of what is stated to be "so frequent" a practice will suffice.

C.

"_I do not know what the truth may be_" (Vol. v., p. 560.).--The lines run thus in the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Canto II. 22.:

"I cannot tell how the truth may be,
I say the tale as 'twas said to me."

J. EASTWOOD.

[J. M.--D. P. WATERS--NASO--L. X. R.--W. J. B. S.--B. R. J.--MARY, &c.,
have also furnished us with Replies to this Query.]

_Optical Phenomena_ (Vol. v., p. 441.).--You have not yet published any satisfactory reply to the optical Query of N. B., at p. 441. of the present volume. I apprehend there is not much difficulty in finding the solution. I attribute the phenomenon to the refraction of light through a stratum of air that is more dense than the surrounding air. Every solid is coated by such a stratum. This is the well-known fact of _adhesion_ {617} alluded to by Liebig, in his _Letters on Chemistry_, 1st series [2nd edit. by Gardner, p. 16.]