Chapter D: Rock

_Fiz-gig_ (Vol. ii, p. 120).--I had expected that your Querist C.B. would have received an {238} immediate reply to his Query as to the meaning of _fiz-gig_, because the word is in Johnson's _Dictionary_, where he may also see the line from Sandys' _Job_, in which it caught his attention.

You may as well, therefore, tell him two things,--that _fiz-gig_ means a fish-cart and that Querists should abstain from soliciting your aid in all cases where a common dictionary would give them the information they want.

H.W.

_Guineas_ (Vol. ii., p. 10.).--The coin named in the document quoted by A.J.H. is the _Guiennois_ a gold piece struck at Guienne by Edward III., and also by his son the Black Prince. It is not likely that the Guiennois was the original of the name given to the new gold coin of Charles II., because it could have had no claim to preference beyond the _Mouton_, the _Chaise_, the _Pavillon_, or any other old Anglo-Gallic coin. I think we may rest contented with the statement of Leake (who wrote not much more than half a century after the event), and who says that the _Guinea_ was so called from the gold of which it was made having been brought from Guinea by the African Company, whose stamp of an elephant was ordered to be impressed upon it.

J.C. Witton.

_Numismatics._--My thanks are due to Mr. J.C. Witton (Vol. ii., p. 42.) for his replies to my Numismatic Queries, though I cannot coincide with his opinion on Nos. 1. and 3.

No ancient forger would have taken the pains to cut a die to strike lead from; and my specimen, from its sharpness, has clearly never been in circulation: why may it not have been a proof from the original die?

Of No. 2. I have since been shown several specimens, which had before, I suppose, escaped my notice.

On the coin of Macrinus, the letter below the S.C. now clearly appears to be an [Greek: eta], but the one above is not a [Greek: Delta], but rather an L or inverted T. It cannot stand for [Greek: Lykabas], as on the Egyptian coinage, as Macrinus was slain by his soldiers the year after his accession.

The Etruscilla, even under a powerful magnifier, betrays no trace of ever having been plated and has all the marks by which numismatists determine the genuineness of a coin. The absence of S.C., I must remind Mr. W., is not uncommon on _third_ brass, though of course it always appears on the first and second.

I need go no farther than the one just mentioned of Tiberius, which has no S.C., and I possess several others which are deficient in this particular, a Severus Alexander, Elagabalus, &c. After Gallienus it never appears.

E.S.T.

_Querela Cantabrigiensis_ (Vol. ii, p. 168.).--Dr. Peter Barwick, in the life of his brother, Dr. Jno. Barwick (Eng. Edit. Lond. 1724, 8vo.), after describing the treatment of the University by Cromwell, adds (p. 32.) "But Mr. Barwick, no inconsiderable part of this tragedy, together with others of the University, groaning under the same yoke of tyranny, and each taking a particular account of the sufferings of his own college, gave a distinct narrative of all these barbarities, and under the title of _Querela Cantabrigiensis_, or the _University of Cambridge's Complaint_, got it printed by the care of Mr. R---- B----, bookseller of _London_ who did great service to his King and country, by printing, and dispersing in the most difficult times, books written in defence of the royal cause." See also _Biog. Brit._, article "Barwick".

John I. Dredge.

_Ben Johnson_ (Vol. ii., p. 167.)--So the name was spelt by most of his contemporaries. The poem mentioned by N.A.B. is printed in the _Underwoods_, Gifford's edition, ix., 68; but the MS. may contain variations worthy of notice. I should doubt its being autograph, not merely because the poet spelt his name without the _h_, but because the verses in question are only part of his _Eupheme_.

J.O. Halliwell.

_Barclay's "Argenis"._--Since I sent you a Query on this subject, I have heard of _one_ translation, by Miss Clara Reeve, the authoress of _The Old English Baron_ and other works. She commenced her literary career, I believe, by a translation of this work, which she published in 1772, under the title of _The Phoenix_.

Jarltzberg.

_Hockey_ (Vol. i., p. 457.).--I have not observed that this has been yet noticed: if such be the case, permit me to refer to a letter of the poet Cowper, dated 5th Nov., 1785 (5th vol. _Works_, edit. by Southey, p. 174.) in which, alluding to that day, he says,

"The boys at Olney have likewise a very entertaining sport which
commences annually upon this day; they call it _hockey_, and it
consists in dashing each other with mud, and the windows also,
so that I am forced to rise now and then and to threaten them
with a horsewhip, to preserve our own."

F.R.A.

_Praed's Poetical Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 190.).--Your Cambridge correspondent, Mr. Cooper, will be glad to know that Praed's _poems_ are published in a collected form; _Poetical Works of Winthrop Mackworth Praed, now first collected by Rufus W. Griswold; New York_, 1844. This collection contains some thirty-six pieces. The longest poems, "Lillian" and "The Troubadour," each in two cantos, display passages of great beauty and exquisite musical flow. Among the charades, five in number, "Sir Harry, he charged at Agincourt", is not to be found.

W.M. Kingsmill.

* * * * * {239}

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

We announced, after the last Annual Meetings of the Shakspeare Society, that it had been determined to publish a complete set of the Plays of one of Shakspeare's most prolific and interesting contemporaries, Thomas Heywood; and that the first volume of such collection, containing Six Plays, was then ready. A further contribution towards this collection, containing _The Royal King and Loyal Subject_, which has not been reprinted since the old edition of 1637, and his very popular drama, _A Woman killed with Kindness_, has just been issued, with an Introduction and Notes by J. Payne Collier, Esq., the zealous and indefatigable Director of the Society, and will, we are sure, be welcomed by every lover of our early drama. The Shakspeare Society will, indeed, do good service to the cause of our early literature if it prove the means of securing us, a uniform series of the works of such of our Elizabethan dramatists as do not stand sufficiently high in the opinion of the uninitiated, to tempt the publishing world to put forth their productions in a collected form.

We have received the following Catalogues:--John Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue, Part CXV. (No. 9. for 1850), of Old and New Books; Cole's (15. Great Turnstile) List, No. XXVIII., of Useful Second-hand Books.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Diurnal Readings, 1 vol. 8vo.

Scottish Poems collected by Pinkerton, 2 vols. sm. 8vo., 1792.

ODD VOLUMES

Bell's Shakspeare's Plays and Poems. Vol. I.

Ivimey's History of the Baptists. Vol. II.

Edwards' Gangræna. Parts II. and III.

Asiatic Annual Register. Vol. VII. for 1805.

Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES", 186. Fleet Street.

* * * * *

Notices to Correspondents.

Nocab _is informed that the Prelate to whom he refers was created a D.D. by the late Archbishop of Canterbury. It certainly is not necessary that the recipient of such a degree should have previously taken that of M.A. or B.A._

H.I.G., _Northampton. The Editor would be happy to insert the Question of this Correspondent, relating to the Epistles of St. Paul, but he apprehends that the discussion to which it would give rise would, in order to its being of any use, require more space than could be afforded, and involve a good deal of criticism and argument not suited to these columns._

A.B. _(Bradpole) will find a notice of the line "Incidis in Scyllam", &c., which is taken from Gualter de Lisle's Alexandriad, in Notes and Queries, Vol. ii., p. 86._

_The loan of a copy of the Teseide is freely offered to our Brighton correspondent_.

To be Published by Subscription, in 3 vols. fcp. 8vo.

I. NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY, comprising the Principal Later Superstitions of Scandinavia.