Chapter II: Part 2

If the root ends in _s_ or _v_ preceded by a diphthong, or in a consonant +_s_[5] or +_v_ preceded by a vowel, our derived words add _e_, _as_ [Greek: paus-is] (paus-a), _paus-e_; caus-a, _cause-e_; naev-a, _nav-e_; puls-us, _puls-e_; dens-us, _dens-e_; [Greek: haps-is], _aps-e_; laps-us, _laps-e_; vers-us, _vers-e_; valv-a, _valv-e_; nerv-us, _nerv-e_.[6] The cause of this lies in the genius of our language, which totally rejects the ending _v_, and uses _s_ (single) very sparingly in the singular number, except in the ending _ous_, the genitive case, the third person of the present tense, the obsolete _wis_, and _was_. Other words are, the interjection _alas_; pronouns or pronominal particles; proper names, as _Thomas_, _Chaos_; compounds, as _Lammas_, _Christmas_; _plural_ adverbs, as _towards_, _thereabouts_; and the (perhaps) _plural_--it ought to be so--_alms_.[7]

From roots ending in a mute +_a_ liquid, our derived words also end in _e_, and are then in fact dissyllables; _e.g._ [Greek: bibl-os], _bible_; [Greek: kukl-os], _cycl-e_; [Greek: mitr-a], _mitr-e_; [Greek: nitr-on], _nitr-e_; [Greek: petr-os], _petr-e_. In this class of words the final letters (after the analogy of Latin) have sometimes become transposed; _e.g._ [Greek: lepr-os], _lep-er_. So now-a-days, _cent-er_ as well as _centr-e_. Compare _metr-e_, _diamet-er_.

To apply our rules to the words required to be formed in an English shape from [Greek: muth-os].

Very few words in our language end in _th_ which are not of purely native growth. _Frith_ is questionable exception. Besides the monosyllable _plinth_, we have imported from the Greek _colocynth_, _hyacinth_, _labyrinth_, with the proper names _Corinth_, _Erymanth_, all terminating in _nth_.

In the ending _the_ our language does not rejoice. Most of such words are verbs, so distinguished from their cognate substantives, as _wreathe_ from _wreath_. We have, as substantives, _lathe_ (A.-S. [Saxon: leeth]), _hythe_ ([Saxon: hyeth]), _scythe_ (more properly _sithe_, [Saxon: siethe]), _tythe_ ([Saxon: tyethe]); as adjectives, _blithe_ ([Saxon: bliethe]), _lithe_ ([Saxon: lieth]). There may be one or two more.

In all these the sounds is [Saxon: eth] (_th_ in _this_) not [Saxon: þ] (_th_ in _thick_). This appears worth notice.

On the whole, I should venture to say that so uncouth a slip as _mythe_, when set in our soil, was unlikely to thrive. Still _m[)y]th_ is objectionable, though we at Cambridge might quote _g[)y]p_ However I may seem to be a breaker of my own laws, I suggest, if we must have an English form of the word, that we should write and pronounce _m[=y]th_. Several words ending in _th_ have the preceding vowel lengthened, _e.g._ _both_, _sloth_, _ruth_, _truth_ (though with the inconsistency attributed to us, one, by the way, generally of orthography rather than pronunciation, we shorten the diphthong in _breath_, _death_). Compare also the sound of the endings _ild_ and _ind_.

I have already troubled you with a very long Note; but, before I close, allow me to add that in what I have advanced I have had in view only our modern mode of spelling, without binding {576} myself to an opinion of its inferiority or superiority to that of our forefathers. I beg also to protest against MR. KEIGHTLEY'S wish to banish _mythical_ from our vocabulary. It may be _hybrid_, but equally so are _critical_, _grammatical_, _musical_, _physical_, _poetical_, with a long string of et ceteras.

CHARLES THIRIOLD.

[Footnote 5: Except _x_ (=_cs_). Compare _flax_, _wax_, _ox_.]

[Footnote 6: From serv-us (after the French) we form _serf_.]

[Footnote 7: _Rebus_, _overplus_, and _surplus_ may, if not satisfied, take an _omnibus_, bring their action at the _Nisi Prius_, and meet there with a _nonplus_.]

* * * * *

"INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE UNION, BY THE WEDNESDAY CLUB IN FRIDAY STREET."

(Vol. vii., pp. 261. 409.)

This very able and valuable work, as to which your correspondent inquires, was written by Wm. Paterson, the projector of the Bank of England and the Darien scheme; a great and memorable name, but which, to the discredit of British biography, will be sought for in vain in Chalmers's or our other biographical dictionaries. The book above noticed appears to be a continuation of another tract by the same author, entitled _An Inquiry into the Reasonableness and Consequences of an Union with Scotland, containing a brief Deduction of what hath been done, designed, or proposed in the Matter of the Union during the last Age, a Scheme of an Union as accommodated to the present Circumstances of the two Nations, also States of the respective Revenues, Debts, Weights, Measures, Taxes, and Impositions, and of other Facts of moment: with Observations thereupon, as communicated to Laurence Philips, Esq., near York_: London, printed and sold by R. Bragg, 1706, 8vo., 160 pages. This was preceded by an earlier tract by the same author: _Conferences on the Public Debts, by the Wednesday's Club in Friday Street_: London, 1695, 4to. The last is noticed, with a short account of the author, by Mr. M^cCulloch (_Lib. of Political Economy_, p. 159.), but he has not mentioned the two other works previously adverted to. In all of them the author adopts the form of a report of the proceedings of a club; but, without attempting to deny the actual existence of a Wednesday's club in Friday Street (the designation he assumes for it), nothing can be more clear to any one who reads the three tracts than that the conversations, proceedings, and personages mentioned are all the creatures of his own fertile invention, and made use of, more conveniently to bring out his facts, arguments, and statements. The dramatic form he gives them makes even the dry details of finance amusing; and abounding, as they do, in information and thought, these works may always be consulted with profit and pleasure. The _Inquiry into the State of the Union_, 1717, 8vo., for which Walpole is said to have furnished some of the materials, was answered, but rather feebly, in an anonymous pamphlet entitled _Wednesday Club Law; or the Injustice, Dishonour, and Ill Policy of breaking into Parliamentary Contracts for public Debts_: London, printed for E. Smith, 1717, 8vo., pp. 38. The author of this pamphlet appears to have been a Mr. Broome. Those who would wish see one of the financial questions discussed in the _Inquiry_ treated with equal force and ability, and with similar views, by a great cotemporary of Paterson, whose pamphlet came out simultaneously, may read _Fair Payment no Spunge; or some Considerations on the Unreasonableness of refusing to receive back Money lent on public Securities, and the Necessity of setting the Nation free from the unsupportable Burthen of Debt and Taxes, with a View of the great Advantage and Benefit which will arise to Trade and to the Landed Interest, as well as to the Poor, by having these heavy Grievances taken off_: London, printed and sold by Brotherton: Meadows and Roberts, 1717, 8vo., pp. 79. This is one of the pamphlets which, though it has been sometimes erroneously assigned to Paterson, both on external and internal evidence may be confidently attributed to Defoe, but which has unaccountably escaped the notice of all his biographers.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

UNPUBLISHED EPIGRAM BY SIR W. SCOTT (?).

(Vol. vii., p. 498.)

The lines which your correspondent R. VINCENT attributes to Sir Walter Scott are part of an old English inscription which Longfellow quotes in _Outremer_, p. 66., and thus describes in a note:

"I subjoin this relic of old English verse entire.... It is copied from
a book whose title I have forgotten, and of which I have but a single
leaf, containing the poem. In describing the antiquities of the church
of Stratford-upon-Avon, the writer gives the following account of a
very old painting upon the wall, and of the poem which served as its
motto. The painting is no longer visible, having been effaced in
repairing the church:

"'Against the west wall of the nave, on the south side of the arch, was
painted the martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, while kneeling at the altar
of St. Benedict, in Canterbury Cathedral. Below this was the figure of
an angel, probably St. Michael, supporting a long scroll, upon which
were seven stanzas in old English, being an allegory of mortality.'"

The lines given at p. 498. of "N. & Q." seem to be taken from the two following stanzas, which stand third and fourth in the old inscription:

"_Erth apon erth wynnys castellys and towrys,_
_Then seth erth unto erth thys ys all owrys._
When erth apon erth hath bylde hys bowrys,
Then schall erth for erth suffur many hard schowrys.

"Erth goth apon erth as man apon mowld,
Lyke as erth apon erth never goo schold,
_Erth goth apon erth as gelsteryng gold,_
_And yet schall erth unto erth rather than he wold._"

{577}

Dugdale, in his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_, p. 517., tells us that John de Stratford, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Edward III., built a chapel on the south side of the church, "to the honour of God and of St. Thomas the Martyr;" and as at p. 521. he describes it as "in the south ile of the said church," the west wall of this chapel answers very well the description of the position of the painting, and inscription. But in _The Beauties of England and Wales_, vol. xv. p. 238., _the chapel of the gild of the Holy Cross_, in the centre of the town, is mentioned as the place in which the pictures were discovered, during some repairs which it underwent in the year 1804.

I have since ascertained that the work to which Longfellow refers is Weaver's _Account of Stratford-upon-Avon_.

ERICA.

As a companion to the _unpublished_ epigram in No. 186. of "N. & Q.," I beg to hand you the following epitaph, copied by myself about thirty years since, and referring, as I _believe_, to an old brass in the church of St. Helen's, London:

"Here lyeth y^e bodyes of
James Pomley, y^e sonne of ould
Dominick Pomley and Jane his
Wyfe: y^e said James deceased y^e 7^{th}
day of Januarie Anno Domini 1592
he beyng of y^e age of 88 years, and
y^e sayd Jane deceased y^e ---- day
of ---- D----.

Earth goeth up[=o] earth as moulde up[=o] moulde;
Earth goeth up[=o] earth all glittering as golde,
As though earth to y^e earth never turne shoulde;
And yet shall earth to y^e earth sooner than he woulde."

WILLIAM WILLIAMS.

* * * * *

CHURCH CATECHISM.

(Vol. vii., pp. 190. 463.)

In accordance with the request of Z. E. R., I have pleasure in forwarding the extracts from the _Catechismus brevis et Catholicus_, referred to at pp. 190. 463. of the present volume. It is needful to premise, 1. That the pages of the catechism are not numbered. This will account for the absence of precise references. 2. That only so much is quoted as may exhibit the parallelism; and, 3. That the citations are not consecutive in the original, but arranged in the order of the questions and answers of the _Church Catechism_, beginning with the fourteenth question, "How many sacraments hath Christ ordained in His Church?"

Q. 14. How many, &c.

"Quot sunt Ecclesiae Catholicae Sacramenta?

Septem sunt in universum," &c.

"Quis instituit Baptismum?

Ipse Servator ac Dominus noster Jesus Christus."

[_Similarly of the Eucharist._]

Q. 15. What meanest thou, &c.

"Ecquur haec ipsa--et dicantur et sint Sacramenta?

Sacramenta sunt et dicuntur quia sacra atque efficacia sunt signa
divinae erga nos voluntatis."

Q. 16. How many parts, &c.

"Habetque unumquodque horum (quod sacramentis peculiare est verbum)
Elementum, et Gratiam invisibilem. Quod verbum nos docet, et promittit
nobis, hoc Elementum seu visibile signum similitudine quadam
demonstrat, hoc idem Gratia quoque (nisi tamen obicem objiciat homo) in
anima invisibiliter operatur.

Da paucis singulorum Sacramentorum signa et invisibilem gratiam?"

Q. 17. What is the outward, &c.

"In Baptismo signum externum Aqua est."

Q. 18. What is the inward, &c.

"Quid efficit seu prodest Baptismus?

"Res seu gratia est renovatio et sanctificatio animae, ablutio omnium
peccatorum, adoptio baptizati in filium Dei.

'Baptizatus sum in Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.'

"Tinctione illa aquae, operationeque Spiritus Sancti, eripitur
baptizatus a regno et tyrannide diaboli, donatur remissione peccatorum
ac innocentia, addicitur perpetuo uni veroque Deo Patri et Filio et
Spiritui Sancto, hujus denique filius atque haeres instituitur."

Q. 19. What is required, &c.

"Requiritur in eo (adulto), et verus fidei usus, et vita professione
Christiana, Baptismique voto digna: hoc est ut corde credat, et ore
fidem confiteatur, utque peccatis mortificatis in vitae ambulet
novitate.

Proba sacrae Scripturae testimoniis, quod Fides in Baptizato requiratur."

Q. 20. Why then are infants, &c.

"Sed quomodo infantes possunt credere, ut qui nondum usum habeant
rationis?

His fides Ecclesiae et susceptorum suffragatur, donec idonei fiant suo
illam assensu percipere, adhaec et fidei gratiam in Baptismo ii
consequuntur."

Q. 21. Why was the Sacrament, &c.

"Quur vero sacram Eucharistiam Christus instituit?

... Ut suae passionis ac mortis recordemur, eamque annuntiemus
perpetuo."

Q. 22. What is the outward, &c.

Q. 23. What is the inward, &c.

"Da paucis ... signa et invisibilem gratiam.

In Eucharistia, Elementum est panis ac vini species: res autem, verum
corpus, et verus Christi sanguis est, fructusque dignam sumptionem
sequentes."

{578}

Q. 24. What are the benefits, &c.

"Jam recense paucis quinam fructus dignam Eucharistae sumptionem
sequantur?

Principio quidem virtute escae hujus confirmamur in fide, munimur
adversus peccata, ad bonorum operum studium excitamur, et ad charitatem
inflammamur. Hinc vero per eam incorporamur adjungimurque capiti nostro
Christo, ut unum cum ipso constituamus corpus," &c.

Q. 25. What is required, &c.

"Quonam pacto digne sumitur Eucharistia?

Digna sumptio, omnium primum requirit, ut homo peccata sua agnoscat ex
animo ob ea vere doleat--ac firmum etiam animo concipiat amplius non
peccandi propositum. Deinde exigit etiam digna sumptio, ut
communicaturus simultatem omnem odiumque animo eximat: reconcilietur
laeso, et charitatis contra viscera induat. Postremo vero et fides cum
primis in sumente requiritur ... ut credat corpus Christi pro se esse
traditum mortem, et sanguinem ejus in remissionem peccatorum suorum
vere effusum," &c.

I fear the unavoidable length of the previous extracts will be against the insertion of the full title of the book, and one remark. The title is,--

"Catechismus brevis et Catholicus in gratiam Juventutis conscriptus,
Autore Iacobo Schoeppero, Ecclesiasta Tremoniano. Cui accessit Pium
diurnarum precum Enchiridion, ex quo pueri toto die cum Deo colloqui
discant. Antverpiae, apud Ioan. Bellerum ad insigne Falconis, 1555."

My remark is, that some of the coincidences above enumerated are at least singular, though they do not perhaps _prove_ that the compiler of the _Church Catechism_, in the places referred to, had them before him.

B. H. C.

* * * * *

JACOB BOBART, ETC.

(Vol. vii., p. 428.)

Of old Jacob Bobart, who originally came from Brunswick, Granger (_Biog. Hist._, vol. v. p. 287., edit. 1824) gives us the following account:

"Jacob Bobart, a German, whom Plot styles 'an excellent gardener and
botanist,' was, by the Earl of Danby, founder of the physic-garden at
Oxford, appointed the first keeper of it. He was author of _Catalogus
Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis, scil. Latino-Anglicus et
Anglico-Latinus_: Oxon. 1648, 8vo. One singularity I have heard of him
from a gentleman of unquestionable veracity, that on rejoicing days he
used to have his beard tagged with silver. The same gentleman informed
me, that there is a portrait of him in the possession of one of the
corporation at Woodstock. He died the 4th of February, 1679, in the
eighty-first year of his age. He had two sons, Tillemant and Jacob, who
both belonged to the physic-garden. It appears that the latter
succeeded him in his office."

There is a very fine print of the elder Bobart, now extremely scarce, "D. Loggan del., M. Burghers, sculp." It is a quarto of the largest size. Beneath the head, which is dated 1675, is this distich:

"Thou German prince of plants, each year to thee
Thousands of subjects grant a subsidy."

In John Evelyn's _Diary_, under the date Oct. 24, 1664, is the following entry:

"Next to Wadham, and the physic garden, where were two large
locust-trees, and as many platani (plane-trees), and some rare plants
under the culture of old Bobart."

The editor of the last edition, after repeating part of Granger's note, and mentioning the portrait, adds:

"There is a small whole-length in the frontispiece of _Vertumnus_, a
poem on that garden. In this he is dressed in a long vest, with a
beard. One of his family was bred up at college in Oxford; but quitted
his studies for the profession of the whip, driving one of the Oxford
coaches (his own property) for many years with great credit. In 1813 he
broke his leg by an accident; and in 1814, from the respect he had
acquired by his good conduct, he was appointed by the University to the
place of one of the Esquire Beadles."

_Vertumnus_, the poem mentioned in the above note, was addressed to Mr. Jacob Bobart, in 1713, by Dr. Evans. It is a laudatory epistle on the botanical knowledge of the Bobarts; and we learn from it that Jacob, the younger, collected a _Hortus Siccus_ (a collection of plants pasted upon paper, and kept dry in a book) in twenty volumes.

"Thy _Hortus Siccus_ ...
In tomes twice ten, that world immense!
By thee compiled at vast expense."

The broadsides about which H. T. BOBART inquires are of the greatest possible rarity. They were the production of Edmund Gayton, the author of _Festivious Notes on Don Quixote_, &c. Copies may be seen in the Ashmolean Library, under the press-marks Nos. 423. and 438., but I think not in any other repository of a like nature.

Among the Ashmolean MSS. (No. 36, art. 296.) is a poem of 110 lines "Upon the most hopeful and ever-flourishing Sprouts of Valour, the indefatigable Centrys of the Physick-Garden." This, I apprehend, is a MS. copy of the first broadside mentioned by your correspondent.

I shall merely add, the Bobarts, father and son, were personal friends of Ashmole and Ray, and that, in all probability, among their correspondence much curious and minute information might be obtained.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

"ITS."

(Vol. vii., p. 510.)

I was somewhat surprised to find, in No. 186. of "N. & Q.," two instances quoted of the use of the {579} word "its" in the version of the Bible. It has long been an established opinion that this word did not exist in it; and the fact has been recently referred to by two different authorities, MR. KEIGHTLEY in "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 160., and Mr. Watts of the British Museum, in a paper "On some philological peculiarities in the English authorised Version of the Bible," read before the Philological Society on December 10, 1852.

Feeling curious on the subject, I have taken the trouble of referring to several different versions of the Bible in the British Museum, and the following _variorum_ readings of the verses quoted by your correspondent B. H. C. are the result:

1. The Wickliffite version, before 1390 (edit. Forshall and Wadden):

"And he shal ben as a tree, that is plauntid beside the doun rennyngis
of watris; that _his_ frut shal [gh]ive in _his_ time."--Ps. i. 3.

"Duke of the weie thou were in _his_ (_sc._ the vine) si[gh]t; and thou
plauntidist _his_ rootis, and it fulfilde the erthe."--Ps. lxxx. 10.

2. Coverdale's Bible, 1536:

"Y^t br[=i]geth forth _his_ frute in due season."

"Thou maydest rowme for it, and caused it to take rote, so y^t it
fylled the l[=o]de."

3. Matthews, 1537:

"That bryngeth forth _his_ frute in due season."

"Thou madest rowme for it, and caused it to take rote, so that it
fylled the lande."

4. Cranmer, 1539:

"Y^t wyll brynge forth _hys_ frute in due season."

"Thou madest rowme for it, and whan it had taken rote it fylled y^e
lande."

5. The Bishops' Bible, 1568:

"That bryngeth foorth _her_ fruite in due season."

"Thou madst roome before it, thou causedst it to take roote, and it
hath filled the lande."

6. Geneva Bible, 1578. In this there are two translations, one "according to the Ebrewe," the other "used in the Common Prayer":

i. "That wil bring forth _her_ fruite in due season."

ii. "That will bring forth _his_ fruite in due season."

i. "Thou madest roome for it, and when it had taken roote, it filled
the lande."

ii. "Thou madest roume for it, and didest cause it to take roote, and
it filled the land."

7. The Douay Bible (Roman Catholic version), 1609-10:

"Which shal geue _his_ fruite in _his_ time."

"Thou wast the guide of the way in the sight _thereof_; thou didst
plant the rootes _thereof_, and it filled the earth."

8. Authorised version, 1611:

"That bringeth forth _his_ fruit in _his_ season."

"Thou preparedst roome before it, and didst cause it to take deepe
roote, and it filled the land."

It will thus be perceived that "its" is wanting in all the above passages, and that "his," "her," and "thereof" invariably supply its place. I have been equally unsuccessful in detecting the word in the Common Prayer-Book version of the Psalms, which is well known to be that of the "Great Bible," or Cranmer's edition of 1539, and which has remained in use without alteration ever since. May I therefore ask B. H. C. to be so good as to point out the particular "Old version of the Psalms" from which he has derived his quotation?

W. B. RYE.

* * * * *

BOHN'S EDITION OF HOVEDEN.

(Vol. vii., p. 495.)

In reply to your correspondent's remarks (May 21) on my translation of Hoveden, I beg to state that, in suggesting Cork, I did not allude to the city of Cork, but the _territory_ of Desmond or Cork, which probably extended to within a short distance of Waterford. Hoveden more than once, in his foreign geography, confounds places with territories or kingdoms; this fact, and the similarity of the names, _Croch_ and _Corch_, as the kingdom of Cork is elsewhere called by him, led me to believe that a landing in the territory of Cork was meant. "Crook," "Hook Point," or "The Crook," is only _supposed_ to have been the place of landing on this occasion. I confess that I was not aware that "Erupolis" was an alias of the diocese of Ossory: I cannot find it mentioned as such in the dictionaries at my command. My Note, however, was worded in such a way as to give offence to no reasonable person: and, among the many hundreds, perhaps thousands of suggestions, made in the notes (in a proper spirit, I hope,) I should be greatly surprised to find that I had miscarried in none. For your correspondent's information, I beg to state, that I am not an Irishman either by birth or descent; and that I have never had the good fortune to pay a visit to that country. Were I inclined to follow his example in making remarks upon the "ominousness" of names, I might perhaps retaliate upon him with interest.

Why I have forfeited all claim to be treated by this gentleman with courtesy or common politeness, I am quite at a loss to conceive; but I beg to remind him that vituperation does not carry conviction, and that criticism is enfeebled by an alliance with abuse.

HENRY T. RILEY.

* * * * *

BOOKS OF EMBLEMS.

(Vol. vii., p. 469.)

In your 185th Number, two or three Queries are proposed by the REV. MR. CORSER in {580} connexion with that interesting branch of literature called _Books of Emblems_. To these it shall be my endeavour to reply.

First. Some years ago I made particular inquiry from the surviving relatives of the late Rev. William Beloe, whether among his manuscripts there had been found any "Treatise on Emblems," or any notices which had a bearing on the subject? They informed me that they had made search, but without success.

Second. Of Thomas Combe, mentioned by Meres in his _Palladis Tamia_, I have been unable to learn anything.

Third. It appears certain that Bunyan never published any _Book of Emblems_, whatever may have been hawked under his name; nor can I find, in the Account of his Life and Writings just published in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, or in any preceding edition of his works, that such a production was ever contemplated by him.

Fourth. In the extensive and valuable "English Books of Emblems" furnished (chiefly from his own library) by MR. CORSER, he mentions R. Burton's _Choice Emblems, Divine and Moral; or Delights for the Ingenious, &c._, 12mo. 1721. Perhaps my learned and accomplished friend may not be aware that _Burton_ is an _assumed_ name, placed in the title-pages of several cheap books which appeared at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, but which were thought to have been written by a Mr. Nathaniel Crouch, a bookseller, who sold them. I have a sixth edition of these "choice emblems," dated 1732, which was then sold for "two shillings bound." The work is merely a collection of fifty emblems, taken, without acknowledgment, from George Wither, the copper-plate engravings being poor copies from those of Depasse. To this sixth edition there is prefixed a portrait of K. Charles I., with eight pages of sympathising verses.

MR. CORSER'S list of English works is very complete. I possess, however, an unpublished manuscript translation of Alciato into English verse. It is of the time of James I., and possesses much merit; but it has unfortunately been mutilated.

I also possess the following:

"Amorum Emblemata figuris aeneis incisa studio Othonis Vaeni,
Batavo-Lugdunensis. Emblemes of Love, with verses in Latin, English,
and Italian, obl. 4to.: Antverpiae, 1608."

Prefixed is an English dedication "to the most Honourable and Worthy Brothers William, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip, Earl of Montgomerie, Patrons of Learning and Chevalrie," whose coat of arms also is given.

"The Doctrine of Morality, or a View of Human Life according to the
Stoic Philosophy, &c. A translation, by T. M. Gibbs, from the French of
M. De Gomberville, with 103 copper plates by Daret, folio: London,
1721."

To each engraving are appended quotations from Horace, &c., with English translations: but both engravings and quotations have been pirated (without the least acknowledgment) from Van Veen's _Horatia Emblemata_.

It must be admitted that a comprehensive work on European Books of Emblems, illustrated with fac-similes of the various engravings, &c., is a great desideratum in modern literature. I feel highly flattered by the kind commendations which MR. CORSER has bestowed upon my two small attempts towards such a work, and by his encouraging me to proceed "to enlarge and complete" the same. Now, I do not altogether despair of _enlarging_ it. But when my excellent friend puts forward a proposal to _complete_ it, he should be informed that my library alone contains nearly 250 volumes strictly emblematical, and published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By far the greater part of these are in Latin. To carry forward a work of such magnitude to anything like _completion_ must therefore be rather wished for than expected.

JOS. B. YATES.

West Dingle, near Liverpool.

Allow me to add the following to MR. CORSER'S list:

"The Christian's Divine Amusement, consisting of Emblems and
Hieroglyphicks on a great Variety of Subjects, Moral and Divine, in
four books. By the late Rev. Mr. J. Jones. Embellished with near 100
beautiful emblematical cuts, 12mo. pp. 191.: London, 1764."

I know not who the Rev. Mr. J. was, but his book is the old one of Francis Quarles. The author, or rather adapter, attacks and demolishes the fable as a method of instruction, and would substitute the emblems. In remodelling Quarles, Mr. Jones makes the following alterations, or improvements:--Instead of the Latin motto under each cut, he presents us with four lines of English verse, which contain a general explanation of the emblem. The page facing the cut he divides into two parts or sections of odes and hymns suited to common psalmody, and the moral, or application, also in a poetical dress.

A prose work belonging to the class under notice is an

"Emblematical Representation of the Paradise of God; showing the Nature
of Spiritual Industry, in the similitude of a Garden well ordered,
dressed, and kept. London, 1779."

The author of this was a visionary Scots gardener named Alexander Clark, who had been favoured with a special manifestation of divine glory, "by which," he says, "(to my own astonishment) I was enabled to see through every profound passage of Scripture, and to spiritualise every material thing;" but he belongs to my fanatical rather {581} than to my emblematical shelf, and may be worth a separate Note hereafter.

Under the name of Farlie, or Fairlie, MR. CORSER mixes up the titles of two distinct books; they are now before me, and divide themselves thus:

1. "Lychnocavsia, sive Moralia Facvm Emblemata. Light's Moral Emblems.
Authore Roberto Farlaeo, Scoto-Britanno. 12mo.: London, Th. Cotes for M.
Sparke, 1638."

Containing fifty-eight emblems in Latin and English, each with a cut, with a dedication in Latin to the Earl of Ancrum, and one in English to his Countess. There are also complimentary verses by J. Hooper, Christ. Drayton, Mr. Povey, Thos. Beedome, and Edm. Coleman.

2. "Kalendarium Humanae Vitae. The Kalendar of Man's Life. Authore R. F.,
S.-B. 12mo. London, for W. Hope, 1638."

With a Latin dedication to his patron the Earl of Ancrum. The book contains verses upon the various stages of man's life, under the heads of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; again subdivided into moralisations upon the months, as corresponding with the periods of life, as "August, or Man's Youth," &c. This has also a variety of curious cuts, and both have engraved emblematical titles, the latter bearing on its face "G. Glover fecit."

When book-rarities were in more request, these were costly little volumes; and I shall be glad if any of your correspondents can direct me where to find any notice of Robert Fairlie, the author of two of the most interesting of the emblematical series.

J. O.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

[The following paper, which has been kindly communicated to us by MR.
POLLOCK at the request of DR. DIAMOND, describes a process which
deserves the especial attention of our photographic friends, for the
beauty and uniformity of its results.]

MR. POLLOCK'S DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING POSITIVE PHOTOGRAPHS UPON ALBUMENISED PAPER.

_The paper_ should be carefully chosen, by holding up every sheet to the light, and only those sheets which are homogeneous in appearance and free from spots should be kept for use.

_The albumen_ should be obtained from new-laid hens' eggs; twenty-four is a convenient number to use at a time: these will yield twenty-four ounces of albumen, to which should be added six ounces of distilled writer (making thirty ounces in all) and four per cent. of chloride of ammonium, viz. one ounce and a quarter.

The albumen water and chloride should be whipped with a silver fork for several minutes, and then put into a narrow tall jar, and allowed to stand for not less than two days (forty-eight hours). In cool weather it will keep well for eight days, at the end of which time the upper half of the albumen is to be poured off into a shallow vessel, rather larger than the sheets of paper intended to be albumenised.

_To put the Albumen on the Paper._--Take a sheet by two opposite corners; turn one up; place the sheet boldly on the albumen, the centre first coming in contact with the albumen; lower the corners of the paper, gradually carefully excluding, the air. Let the sheet so placed remain four minutes: then take it by the turned up corner, and rip it from the albumen quickly, so as to carry up a quantity of the albumen with it. Let it drain for a minute or two, moving it so as not to allow the albumen to run in streaks; pin it to a piece of tape; and, when dry, pass a very hot iron over the back. This ends the albumenising process.

_To make the Paper sensitive._--Place the albumenised side downwards, for four minutes, on the surface of a solution of nitrate of silver, of the strength of ninety grains to the ounce of distilled water; pin it up by one corner to dry, and keep it between pieces of blotting-paper. This must be done by yellow light, or the light of a candle.

_To print from the Negative._--The simplest apparatus to have is a number of pieces of plate-glass a quarter of an inch thick, colourless, about twelve inches by ten in size.

The sensitive paper is to be placed on one of the plates of glass, sensitive side upwards, and the negative is to be placed firmly upon it, collodion side downwards; and a second glass plate is then to be placed on the negative, and the whole arrangement exposed to the light. The time for exposure is from three minutes to an hour. With a little practice the negative can be lifted up, and the positive viewed front time to time, without any risk of displacement.

The best rule is to print the lightest shade on the positive very decidedly darker than it would be wished that it should remain permanently.

_To fix the Positive._--On removing it from the pressure frame, place it in a bath made as follows:

Water 6 oz.
Hyposulphite of soda 1 oz.
Nitrate of silver solution, 50 grs. to oz. 15 minims.
Iodide of silver, dissolved in a saturated
solution of hypo. 10 minims.
Chloride of gold 2 grains.
Chloride of silver (blackened by light) 5 grains.
Acetic acid 2 drops.

Mix these: let them stand some hours; and filter before use. If the chloride of silver is omitted, the bath will do very well, but will very much improve with age, as it will acquire chloride of silver from the positives placed in it. {582}

The time to leave the positive in the fixing bath varies from one hour to twelve. To get good black and white tints, the average time is five or six hours. When the desired tint is obtained, remove it into a bath composed of

Water 6 oz.
Hypo. 1 oz.

Leave in this for half an hour, and then keep it in running water for several hours. If the water is hot, the time of soaking may be lessened: boiling water is objectionable. Nearly dry the positive between sheets of clean blotting-paper, and finish it by passing a very hot iron over it.

_General Remarks._--The albumenised paper will keep any length of time in a dry place.

When made sensitive, as directed, it will keep three days, always supposing that it is both prepared and kept most carefully excluded from white light. If, instead of a solution of nitrate of silver of ninety grains to the ounce, a weaker one be used, to make the paper sensitive, it will keep when sensitive a much longer time,--with a thirty-grain solution, a fortnight, or sometimes even a month; but then it does not give a positive of the same force and tone as that obtained with the stronger solution.

After the fixing bath has done its day's work, it should be poured back into the bottle from which it came, and the bottle be filled up from the finishing bath; and so the bath is kept always of the same quantity; and by adding from time to time chloride of gold, it is kept of the same quality.

The nitrate of silver and chloride of silver will never have to be renewed. The iodide of silver should be added as at first, viz. ten drops for about every two hundred positives fixed; and the acetic acid, viz. two drops for about every four hundred.

In a bath of twenty-four ounces, as many as thirty positives, five inches by four, may be placed at one time: but the dark tints will then appear very slowly and gradually.

To insure a good positive, next to having a good negative, it is most important to print of the right depth, neither too much nor too little. Great attention should be paid to this: for the finest tints are only to be obtained in positives exposed exactly the right time.

Positives printed in a bright sun quickly are always better than those obtained by longer exposure without sun.

H. P.

21. Maddox Street, Regent Street.

_Test for Lenses._--In applying the methods recommended in your last Number for the purpose of testing lenses, there is one precaution absolutely necessary to be taken, but which all your correspondents have omitted to point out. The operator must take care that his _focussing-glass_ is placed at precisely the same distance from the lens as the _collodionised_ glass is. To insure this, my practice is to place a piece of ground glass in the dark frame, which is afterwards to receive the collodionised glass, and to obtain the focus of the lens on that; then to put in the proposed plate, and obtain an impression as described by MR. SHADBOLT. In this way I secure myself from what I believe is often a source of fallacy in these experiments, and am sure that I give the lens a fair trial.

E. S.

_Washing Collodion Pictures._--I have never offered to your readers an opinion in photography without having _bona fide_ tested it, to the best of my ability; and however correct my friend MR. SHADBOLT may be, chemically and theoretically, I am convinced that in practice so good a tone is never obtained in a positive collodion picture which has been washed, as in one which has been instantly fixed with the old saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda. The unpleasant tints obtained upon positive collodion pictures, I believe to be much dependent upon the frequent washings in the proofs. When a collodion picture is properly treated, it surpasses in pleasing effect every other photograph.

H. W. DIAMOND.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Cremonas_ (Vol. vii., p. 501.).--A discriminative account of the violins and basses by the great Italian makers, showing, in every ascertainable instance, the date of manufacture, and thereby forming to some extent a chronological catalogue, as it were, of the works of each master, would be, indeed, a curious and interesting achievement. Such a task, involving much consultation of books and examination of instruments, calls for sounder eye-sight and larger opportunities than are possessed by me; but I shall rejoice if the desire expressed by your correspondent H. C. K. shall be found to have stirred up some competent investigator. Time and accident are gradually attaching, to the fine instruments in question, a kind of _sibylline_ intensity of value; and the inquiry, if omitted now, may become impossible hereafter. Let us not fear, however, that those "cunning'st patterns of excelling art," the Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri fiddles, will eventually perish without worthy issue, and "die, and leave the world no copy." Provision to the contrary, it seems, has already been made; Monsieur Vuillaume "has ta'en order for't," that is to say, _if_ his instruments, which at present look very like faithful fac-similes of the renowned classic prototypes, shall verify the confident predictions of their admirers, by continuing to stand the test of time.

My authority for 1664 as the date of birth of Antonio Stradivari, is a living Belgian writer, Monsieur Fetis, who has not stated from whence {583} he has adopted it. I find that the Paris _Biographie Universelle_ gives no fixed date, but only a conjectural one, _about_ 1670, so that 1664 _may_ possibly be right.

G. DUBOURG.

Brighton.

_James Chaloner_ (Vol. vii., p. 334.).--MR. HUGHES is mistaken in imagining that James Chaloner the herald-painter was the same person as James Chaloner, Governor of the Isle of Man, and one of the judges of Charles I. He will find the error exposed by Chalmers (_Biog. Dict._, JAS. C.), and in my family, as descendants of the latter James Chaloner, there are among his papers many which prove the governor to have been (as MR. HUGHES doubts) the son of Sir Thomas Chaloner of Gisborough.

Should any farther doubts remain on the subject, I shall be happy to give all information required concerning these papers, among which are the original commission of governor and captain, signed by Lenthal, and twenty-one letters from Lord Fairfax to his "dear cousin James Chaloner." The son of Sir Thomas Chaloner married Ursula Fairfax. It may be presumed the herald-painter did not stand in the same relationship to the Parliamentary general. Lord Fairfax thanks his correspondent for a copy of "his" _History of the Isle of Man_.

URSULA.

_Irish Convocation_ (Vol. vi., p. 317.; Vol. vii., p. 345.).--In vol. i. of _Letters written by the late Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and several of his Friends, from the Year 1703 to 1740, &c., with Notes, by John Hawkesworth, LL.D._: London, 1766,--will be found some account of the Irish Convocation in 1711. See Archbishop King's Letters at pp. 110, 111. 122, 123. 132, 133. 140, 141.

J. K.

_St. Paul's Epistle to Seneca_ (Vol. vii., p. 500.).--It is not manifest whether J. M. S. wishes for information simply respecting the MS. in Merton College, or whether his inquiry really relates to the _printing_ of the fourteen spurious epistles, eight of which are ascribed to Seneca, and six to St. Paul.

If your correspondent is curious about the particular MS. he mentions, which is a very old one, and was the gift of William Reade, Bishop of Chichester (who had been a Fellow of Merton) about the year 1370, he may consult the _Catal. Lib. MSS. Ang. et Hib._, part. ii. p. 23., Oxon. 1697; and should he desire to peruse the fictitious Epistles, he may easily discover them in the _Bibliotheca Sancta_ of Sixtus Senensis, lib. ii. pp. 102-104. Francof. 1575, or in Fabricii _Cod. Apoc. Nov. Test._, ii. 892-904. Jacobus Faber Stapulensis has inserted them in the handsome volume of his _Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul_. (Fol. clxxvi.-clxxix.: Paris, 1517.) I find them also annexed to the _Epistole Francisci Philelphi_, 4to., Hagenau, 1514. So far as I can perceive, it does not appear that the correspondence in question was published amongst any of the works of Seneca earlier than the year 1475; and it is commonly omitted in later editions. (Fabr., _Bib. Lat._, i. 429.: Venet. 1728.) Vid. Raynaudi _Erotemata_, p. 119.: Lugd. 1653.; Nicolai Antonii _Biblioth. Hisp. vetus_, tom. i. pp. 39, 40.: Matriti, 1788.

R. G.

_Captain Ayloff_ (Vol. vii., p. 429.).--I possess a small volume (a 12mo.) by "Captain Ayloffe," with a title-page as follows:

"A Pocket Companion for Gentlemen and Ladies; being a true and faithful
Epitomy of the most exact and ample Histories of _England_; containing
all the material Particulars in every reign of the _English_ Monarchs,
from Egbert to her present Majesty, being 884 years. With forty-nine
Copper plates curiously engraved, being the effigies of every Monarch.
London, printed by J. Nutt, near Stationers' Hall, 1703."

It is dedicated "To the Honourable Col. Archibald Row, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Scots Fuzileers," and signed "W. Ayloffe." Then follows an introduction of six pages.

Should the above be useful to MR. STERNBERG, I shall feel pleasure in having made the communication by means of the useful and intelligent publication of "N. & Q."

GODDARD JOHNSON.

_Plan of London_ (Vol. vii., p. 382.).--L. S. W. asks whether there is a good plan of London, and answers his Query thus, _None_. I beg to differ from him, believing that no city in the world possesses so good a plan as that lately made under the late Commissioners of Sewers. It is true I and my tenants have paid very dearly for it, but having examined both the reduced plan and block plan very carefully, am compelled to admit their accuracy. It is published in sheets at two shillings each; size, three feet by two feet; scale of _block plan_, five feet to one mile; _reduced plan_, one foot to one mile. On each plan accurate levels of every place is given. An index-map, price threepence, is also published.

A. P.

Canonbury.

_Syriac Scriptures_ (Vol. vii., p. 479.).--The editions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, preceding the Bible Society's edition, are,--

1. Nov. Testam. Syriac. et Arabic. Romae, typis Sacr. Cong. de prop.
Fide, 1703, fol.

2. Nov. D. N. Jesu Christi Test. Syriac. cum versione Latina, curra et
studio Joh. Leusden et Caroli Schaaf. Secunda editio a mendis purgata.
Lugduni. Bat. Typ. Jo. Mulleri. John. fil. apud Vid. et fil. Cornel.
Boutesteyn, Samuelem Luchtmans, 1717, 4to.

3. Biblia Sacra quadrilinguia N. T. Graeci, cum versione Syriaca, Graeca
vulgari, Latina, et Germanica, accurante M. Christ. Reineccio, Lips.
1713, fol.

4. Psalter, by John. Aug. Dathe, 1768.

{584} 5. Sacrorum evangeliorum versio Syriaca Pholoxeniana ex codd.
MSS. Ridleianis, nunc primum edita cum interpretatione et
annotationibus Josephi White. Oxon. 1778.

6. Pentateuchus Syriace. Ex Polyglottis Anglicanis summa fide edidit M.
Georgius Guil. Kirsch. Gymnasii quod Hofae est, in Principatu Baruthino
Rector. Hofae et Lipsiae ap. A. Fr. Boehm, 1787, 4to.

An elaborate criticism on No. 5. (the Oxford edit.) appears in Eichhorn's _Repertorium_, vol. vii. p. 1., by D. Gottlob Christian Storr.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

_Meaning of "Worth"_ (Vol. v., p. 509.).--As this suffix enters into the composition of many of our English surnames, particularly in the northern counties, MR. LOWER (and probably your readers in general) will be glad to have the explanation of an able Anglo-Saxon scholar and antiquary, the late lamented Mr. John Just of this town, whose merits as a philosopher and etymologist were highly appreciated by the learned societies in this district. It occurs in a paper read at a chapter of the Rosicrucians in Manchester a few months since:

"WORTH.--_Weorthe_, Anglo-Saxon, a field, &c. _Worth_ means land,
close, or farm. It does not necessarily imply any residence, although
thereon might be a hall or mansion. It likewise sometimes means nothing
more than road or public way. Hence it is connected with the names of
many places on our old roads, as Ainsworth, Edgeworth, on the Roman
military road to the north; Failsworth, Saddleworth, on the Roman
military road from Manchester to York; Unsworth, Pilsworth, on the old
road between Bury and Manchester; also Ashworth, Whitworth,
Butterworth, on old roads, and connected with old places, near
Rochdale. Whether originally land, closes, or farms, _worths_ were
acquired properties. The old expression of 'What is he worth?' in those
days meant, 'Has he land? Possesses he real property?' If he had
secured a _worth_ to himself, he was called a _worthy_ person, and in
consequence had _worship_, _i. e._ due respect shown him. A _worth_ was
the reward of the free; and perchance the fundamentals of English
freedom were primarily connected with such apparently trivial matters,
and produced such a race of _worthies_ as the proud Greeks and haughty
Romans might not be ashamed of. _Worth_ is pure Anglo-Saxon. The
Scandinavians applied it not in their intercourse with our island."

BROCTUNA.

Bury, Lancashire.

_Khond Fable_ (Vol. vii., p. 452.).--This fable is clearly from Lokman, of which the following is Helot's translation:

"Une moustique se posa un jour sur la corne d'un taureau, et, pensant
qu'elle pouvait etre trop lourde pour lui, elle lui dit: 'Si je te suis
a charge, fais-le-moi savoir afin que je m'envole.' Le taureau lui
repondit: 'Je ne t'ai point sentie au moment ou tu es descendue, je ne
saurai pas davantage quand tu t'envoleras.' Cette fable regarde celui
qui cherche a s'attribuer de l'honneur et de la gloire tandis qu'il est
faible et meprisable."

The sense of the Bull's reply in Arabic seems to be:

"O you, whatever you are [_Ya hadi_], I did not know when you
descended, nor shall I know when you take yourself off [_Taterin_]."

A pointed reply, leaving the mosquito one horn of the dilemma.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

The following lines by Prior immediately occurred to my mind on perusing J. C. R.'s interesting note. The points of resemblance between the two fables are somewhat striking:

"'Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol!'
A fly on the chariot pole cried out,
'What blue-bottle alive
Did ever with such fury drive?'

"'Tell, Beelzebub, great father, tell!'
Says t'other, perch'd upon the wheel,
'Did ever any mortal fly
Raise such a cloud of dust as I?'"

MORAL.

"_My_ judgment turn'd the whole debate!
_My_ valour saved the sinking state!"

COWGILL.

This fable is found in the collection assigned to Babrius. It is the eighty-fourth in the excellent edition of these fables by Mr. G. Cornewall Lewis: Oxford, 1846.

W. H. G.

Winchester.

_Collar of SS._ (Vols. iv. _and_ v., _passim_).--In the discussion on the subject of the collar of SS., in the columns of "N. & Q.," I find no mention of an incidental observation of Thomas Fuller, which occurs in the notice of John Gower, the poet, in the Worthies of Yorkshire, and is deserving of some notice:

"Another author (Stow) unknighteth him, allowing him only a plain
esquire, though in my apprehension the collar of SSS. about his neck
speaketh him to be more. Besides (with submission to better judgments)
that collar hath rather a civil than a military relation, proper to
persons in place of judicature; which makes me guess this Gower some
judge in his old age, well consisting with his original education."

MR. FOSS, I see, mentions (Vol. iv., p. 147.) the existence of the collar on the poet's monument, and suggests that he might have worn it as a court poet.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

_Chaucer's Knowledge of Italian_ (Vol. vii., p. 517.).--To the proofs that Chaucer was well acquainted with Italian literature, brought forward in "N. & Q." by J. M. B., it may seem {585} unnecessary to add any more. Yet, if it were only for the purpose of recalling your readers' attention to the elegant and instructive _Dissertation on the State of English Poetry before the Sixteenth Century_, by the late Dr. Nott, of All Souls' College, will you permit me to adduce that learned writer's authority, in opposition to the opinion of Sir Harris Nicolas, that Chaucer was not versed in Italian literature? Dr. Nott's Dissertation is entombed in the two quarto volumes of his edition of the _Works of Surrey and Wyatt_ (London, 1815); and it is much to be wished that it were reprinted in a separate and more accessible form.

J. M.

Oxford.

_Pic Nic_ (Vol. vii., p. 387.).--The following extract from an Italian newspaper raises a considerable presumption that this word is not now considered in Italy as an Italian one; the date is Sept. 1841.

"Se qualche delirante vi ha dato ad intendere che i Bagni di Lucca sono
il soggiorno prediletto dell' Italiano, ci vi ha detto una solenne
bugia.

"I Bagni di Lucca appartengono, come tant' altre cose in Italia,
esclusivamente allo straniero."

Then follows a description of the numerous English arrivals, while the Italian--

"Spera di rinvenir sulle alture di que' colli un pie di patria tutto
per lui, e ascende i sentieri ornati di bosco. Ma abbassando gli occhi
ci s' accorge che non e solo. Un' _Amatore_ a cui forse l' ignobile
itinerario della _Starke_ ha rivelate quella sublime veduta, sta
colassu scarabocchiando uno sbozzo pell' Album del suo _drawing room_.
Piu lunge, povero Italiano! piu lunge! Ecco la scena si cambia ... i
sentieri divengono piu ardui ... in fondo, mezzo nascosto dal fitto
fogliame apparisce ... un casolare; un villano lo invita ad entrare ...
e gli parla in Inglese, in Francese, ed in Tedesco!... ci s' allontana
impazientito, e corre piu lunge!... I castagni divengono rari.... Aride
roccie annunziano il vertice dell' Apennin. Ancora una breve salita, e
poi ci sara sul piu alto pinacolo del Prato Fiorite. Ma al pie del
viattolo e un inciampo! e l'occhio sconfortato scorge la livrea di un
_groom_ e da un lato una sentimentale _Lady_, che si e arrampiccata piu
lassa e prosaicamente seduta sulla sua sedia portatile sta scrivendo
una lettera sopra un foglio a vignetta. L' Italiano continua ad
ascendere ... e giunte alla vetta ... all' amplissima libera vista, il
cuore dell' Italiano batte piu forte ... la mente s' esalta, e i piu
energici pensieri vi bollono.... Ma gli occhi ritornano svegliati dei
passi dei Cavalli, appie del ripiane s' affaccia una numerosa comitiva
... e un _pique nique_! Fuggi fuggi mal capitate Italiano la straniero
l' inseque anco nel nido dell aguila!"

Here the "pique nique" is evidently the climax of all that is "straniero."

K. E.

_Canker or Brier Rose_ (Vol. vii, p. 500.).--I suspect that this term refers to the beautiful mossy gall, so commonly seen on the branches of the wild rose, which has been called the _bedeguar_ of the rose. This is the production of a cynips; and, from its vivid tints of crimson and green, might well pass at a short distance for a flower, brilliant, but scentless. Hence Shakspeare's allusion:

"The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses."

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

_Cancre_ and _crabe_ in French are synonymous, meaning the same; Anglice, crab (_fish_).

Now, we have crab-tree, a wild apple-tree; a canker rose, a wild rose; dog rose, dog-violet, horse leech, horse chestnut. In all these cases the prefix denotes inferiority of species.

H. F. B.