Chapter L

Minor Notes.

_"Passilodion" and "Berafrynde."_--Have these terms, which play so memorable a part in the "Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd" {516} (Hartshorne's _Ancient Metrical Tales_) been explained? The shepherd's instructions (pp. 48, 49.) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has occurred to me that _perhaps_ "passelodion," "passilodyon," or "passilodion" may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking from a _peg_-tankard, since [Greek: passalos] means a _peg_, and [Greek: passalôdia] would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of _peg-song_, or _peg-stave_, and _might_ be used to denote an exclamation on having _reached the peg_.

H.G.T.

_Inscription on an Alms-dish._--In Bardsea Church, Island of Furness, is an alms-dish(?) of a large size, apparently very old, gilt, and bearing the following inscription:--

"WYLT : GHY : LANGHELEVEN : SOO : ERT : GODT :
ENDE : HOOVT : ZYN : GEBAT : VORWAR."

Bardsea Church is recently erected in a district taken out of Urswick parish.

Can any of your readers give an explanation of the inscription?

F.B. RELTON.

[This is another specimen of the alms-dishes, of which several have been described in our First Volume. The legend may be rendered, _If thou wilt live long, honour God, and above all keep His commandments_.]

_The Use of the French Word "savez."_--About fifty years ago the use of the French word _savez_, from the verb _savoir_, to know, was in general use (and probably is so at the present time) among the negroes in the island of Barbadoes,--"_Me no savez, Massa_," for, "I do not know, Master (or Sir)." It occurred to the writer at that time as a very singular fact, because the French had never occupied that island; nor is he aware of any French negroes having been introduced there. He had also been informed of its use in other places, but made no note of it. In the _Morning Herald_ of the 7th instant there is a statement that the Chinese at Canton, speaking a little English, make use of the same word. Can any of your readers give an explanation of this?

J.F.

_Job's Luck_.--I send you another version of Job's luck, in addition to those that have lately appeared in "NOTES AND QUERIES:"

"The devil engaged with Job's patience to battle,
Tooth and nail strove to worry him out of his life;
He robb'd him of children, slaves, houses, and cattle,
But, mark me, he ne'er thought of taking his wife.

"But heaven at length Job's forbearance rewards,
At length double wealth, double honour arrives,
He doubles his children, slaves, houses, and herds,
But we don't hear a word of a couple of wives."

A.M.

_The Assassination of Mountfort in Norfolk street, Strand._--The murder of Mountfort is related with great particularity in Galt's _Lives of the Players_, and is also detailed in, if I recollect aright, Mr. Jesse's _London and its Celebrities;_ but in neither account is the following anecdote mentioned, the purport of which adds, if possible, to the blackness of Mohun's character:--

"Mr. Shorter, Horace Walpole's mother's father, was walking down
Norfolk Street in the Strand, to his house there, just before poor
Mountfort the player was killed in that street by assassins hired by
Lord Mohun. This nobleman lying in for his prey, came up and
embraced Mr. Shorter by mistake, saying 'Dear Mountfort.' It was
fortunate that he was instantly undeceived, for Mr. Shorter had
hardly reached his house before the Murder took
place."--_Walpoliana_, vol. ii. p. 97., 2nd ed.

J.B.C.

_The Oldenburgh Horn_ (Vol. ii., p. 417.) is preserved amongst the antiquities in the Gallery of the King of Denmark at Copenhagen. It is of silver gilt, and ornamented in paste with enamel. It is considered by the Danish antiquaries to be of the time of Christian I., in the latter half of the fifteenth century. There are engraved on it coats of arms and inscriptions, which show that it was made for King Christian I., in honour of the three kings, or wise men, on whose festival he used it, at Cologne.

W.C. TREVELYAN.

Wallington, Dec. 19. 1850.

[We avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by Sir Walter Trevelyan's communication to add from Vulpius (_Handwörterbuch der Mythologie_) the following additional references to representations and descriptions of this celebrated horn--which is there said (p. 184.) to have been found in 1639:--Schneider, _Saxon. Vetust._ p. 314.; Winkelmann's _Oldenburgische Chronik._ s. 59.; S. Meyer, _Vom Oldenburgischen Wunderhorne_, Bremen, 1757.]

_Curious Custom_.--In 1833 the late Record Commissioners issued Circular Questions to the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, requesting various information; among such questions was the following:--"Do any remarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed within memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of corporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the printed histories or accounts of your borough? Describe them, if there be such."

To this question the borough of Chippenham, Wilts, replied as follows:--"The corporation dine together twice a-year, and _pay for it themselves_!" (_Report of Record Commissioners_, 1837, p. 442.)

J.E.

_Kite_ (_French_, "_Cerf-volant_").--Some years ago, when reading Dr. Paris' popular work called _Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest_, 5th edition, London, J. Murray, 1842, I observed that the author could not explain the meaning of the French term "cerf-volant," applied to the toy so well known among boys in England as a "kite," and in Scotland as a "dragon." The following passages will solve this mystery: {517}

"Cerf-volant. Scarabæus lucanus. Sorte d'insecte volant qui porte
des cornes dentelées, comme celles du cerf.

"Cerf-volant. Ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. On donne ce nom à
une sorte de joüet d'enfans qui est composé de quelques bâtons
croisés sur lesquels on étend du papier, et exposant cette petite
machine à l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. On la retient et on
la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est
attachée."--See _Dictionnaire de la Langue Françoise_, de Pierre
Richelet; à Amsterdam, 1732.

In Kirby and Spence's _Entomology_, vol. ii. p. 224., they mention "the terrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of Europe, the _Lucanus Cervus_ of Linnæus."

The "toothed horns" alluded to by Richelet are represented by the pieces of stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the string-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at certain seasons of the year in England and Scotland.

G.F.G.

Edinburgh.

_Epitaph on John Randal._--As a counterpart to Palise's death, I have sent a Warwickshire epitaph, taken from Watford Magna churchyard, written about the same period:

"Here old John Randal lies, who counting by his sale,
Lived three score years and ten, such virtue was in ale;
Ale was his meat, ale was his drink, ale did his heart revive,
And could he still have drunk his ale, he still had been alive."

J.R.

_Playing Cards._--As a rider to THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT'S Query respecting his playing cards (Vol. ii., p. 462.), I would throw out a suggestion to all your readers for notices of similar emblematic playing cards: whether such were ever used for playing with? what period so introduced? and where? as both France and Spain lay claim to their first introduction. I see that Mr. Caton exhibited at one of the meetings of the Archæological Institute this season a curious little volume of small county maps, numbered so as to serve as a pack of cards (described more fully in the _Archæological Journal_ for September, 1850, p 306.), and which I regret I did not see.

W.H.P.

Wanstead, Dec. 13. 1850.

* * * * *

Queries.

DRAGONS: THEIR ORIGIN.

When passing through the city of Brünn, in Moravia, rather more than a year ago, my attention was drawn to the _Lindwurm_ or dragon, preserved there from a very remote period. This monster, according to tradition, was invulnerable, like his brother of Wantley, except in a few well-guarded points, and from his particular predilection in favour of veal and young children, was the scourge and terror of the neighbourhood. The broken armour and well-picked bones of many doughty knights, scattered around the entrance to the cave he inhabited, testified to the impunity with which he had long carried on his depredations, in spite of numerous attempts to destroy him. Craftiness, however, at last prevailed where force had proved of no effect, and the Lindwurm fell a victim to the skill of a knight, whose name I believe has been handed down to posterity. The mode adopted by the warrior to deceive his opponent, was to stuff, as true to nature as possible, with unslaked lime, the skin of a freshly killed calf, which he laid before the dragon's cave. The monster, smelling the skin, is said to have rushed out and instantly to have swallowed the fatal repast, and feeling afterwards, as may be readily expected, a most insatiable thirst, hurried off to a neighbouring stream, where he drank until the water, acting upon the lime, caused him to burst. The inhabitants, on learning the joyful news, carried the knight and the Lindwurm in triumph into the city of Brünn, where they have ever since treasured up the memento of their former tyrant. The animal, or reptile, thus preserved, is undoubtedly of the crocodile or alligator species, although I regret it was not in my power to examine it more particularly, evening having set in when I saw it in the arched passage leading to the town-hall of the city where it has been suspended. I fear also that any attempt to count the distinguishing bones would be fruitless, the scaly back having been covered with a too liberal supply of pitch, with the view to protection from the weather.

Have any of your readers seen this _Lindwurm_ under more favourable circumstances than myself, and can they throw any light on the genus to which it belongs?

May not the various legends respecting dragons, &c., have their origin from similar circumstances to those of this Brünn Lindwurm, which I take to leave strong proof of fact, the body being there? Perhaps some of our correspondents may have it in their power to give further corroborative evidence of the former existence of dragons under the shape of crocodiles. The description of the Wantley dragon tallies with that of the crocodile very nearly.

R.S., Jun.

* * * * *

JOAN SANDERSON, OR THE CUSHION DANCE; AND BAB AT THE BOWSTER.

Can any of your numerous valuable correspondents give me the correct date, or any clue to it, of the above dance. There is little doubt of its great antiquity. The dance is begun by a single person (either a woman or man), who {518} dances about the room with a cushion in his hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:

"This dance it will no further go!"

[_The Musician answers._]

"I pray you, good sir, why say you so?"

[_Man._]

"Because Joan Sanderson will not come to!"

[_Music._]

"She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whither she will or no."

He now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing:

"Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome."

She rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing:

"Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
And once again,
And shall we go dance it once again?"

Then making a stop, the woman sings, as before:

"This dance it will no further go!"

[_Music._]

"I pray you, madam, why say you so?"

[_Woman._]

"Because John Sanderson will not come to."

[_Music._]

"He must come to," &c.

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it, salutes her, she singing:

"Welcome, John Sanderson," &c.

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round, singing as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, "This dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "Come to," they sing "Go fro," and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," &c., they sing, "Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell," &c.: and so they go out, one by one, as they came in. This dance was at one time highly popular, both at court and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country villages, it is still danced. Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to it:

"The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing, first
you have the grave measures, then the _Corvantoes_ and the
_Galliards_, and this is kept up with ceremony, at length to
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance; and then all the company dance,
lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. (Would our
fair Belgravians of 1850 condescend to dance with their
kitchen-maids?) So in our court in Queen Elizabeth's time, gravity
and state were kept up. In King James's time, things were pretty
well. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance," &c.

I shall also feel obliged for the date of _Bab at the Bowster_, or _Bab in the Bowster_, as it is called in Scotland. Jamieson, in his _Dictionary_, describes it as a very old Scottish dance, and generally the last danced at weddings and merry-makings. It is now danced with a handkerchief in place of a cushion; and no words are used. That a rhyme was formerly used, there is little doubt. Query, What were the words of this rhyme?

MAC.

Charminster.

* * * * *

DID BUNYAN KNOW HOBBES?

I observe a querist wishes to know the artist of the portrait of Bunyan prefixed to his works. I can only myself conjecture Cooper, the miniature painter, but I am also curious about the great author of _The Pilgrim's Progress_.

First, is Bunyan really the author of "Heart's Ease in Heart's Trouble," and the "Visions of Heaven and Hell," published in his works, and perhaps, excepting "Grace Abounding," the most popular of his received miscellanies? I think not. My reasons are these. The style is very different, and much poorer than his best works. In the "Progress," when he quotes Latin, he modestly puts a side-note [The Latin that _I borrow_]. In the two tracts mentioned he flashes out a bit of Latin two or three times where he might have much better used English, or in a superfluous way. Also it is curious to know that in his "Visions of Hell" he meets Leviathan Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury. The passage is curious, for if true, and written by Bunyan, it proves him to be personally acquainted with Hobbes. I extract it. After hearing his name called out, Epenetus (the author and visitant of the infernal regions) naturally inquires who it is that calls him. He is answered,--

"I was once well acquainted with you on earth, and had almost
persuaded you to be of my opinion. I am the author of that
celebrated book, so well known by the title of _Leviathan_!

"'What! the great Hobbes,' said I, 'are you come hither? _Your voice
is so much changed, I did not know it._'"

The dialogue which ensues is not worth quoting, as it is from our purpose. But I would ask when was the time when Bunyan "was nearly persuaded to be of Hobbes' opinion?" If he is the author and speaks the truth (and he is notoriously truthful), it must have been in early youth; but surely the philosopher of Malmesbury could not know an obscure tinker. Bunyan cannot speak metaphorically, for he had not read the _Leviathan_, since he mentions that his only reading in early life, _i.e._ when he was likely to have embraced freethinking, was the _Practice of Piety_, and the _Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven_, his wife's dowry. {519} Moreover, he notes particularly the _change of voice_, a curious circumstance, which testifies personal acquaintance. Hobbes died in 1679; Bunyan in 1688. Were they intimate?

JAS. H. FRISWELL.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Boiling to Death._--Some of your correspondents have communicated instances where burning to death was inflicted as a punishment; and MR. GATTY suggests that it would prove an interesting subject for inquiry, at what period such barbarous inflictions ceased. In Howe's _Chronicle_ I find the two following notices:

"The 5th of Aprill (1532) one Richard Rose, a cooke, was boiled in
Smithfielde, for poisoning of divers persons, to the number of
sixteen or more, at ye Bishop of Rochester's place, amongst the
which Benet Curwine, gentleman, was one, and hee intended to have
poisoned the bishop himselfe, but hee eate no potage that day,
whereby hee escaped. Marie the poore people that eate of them, many
of them died."--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 559.

"The 17th March (1542) Margaret Dany, a maid, was boiled in
Smithfield for poisoning of three households that shee had dwelled
in."--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 583.

Query, was this punishment peculiar to cooks guilty of poisoning? And when did the latest instance occur?

L.H.K.

_Meaning of "Mocker."_--To-day I went into the cottage of an old man, in the village of which I am curate, and finding him about to cut up some wood, and he being very infirm, I undertook the task for him, and chopped up a fagot for his fire.

During the progress of my work, the old fellow made the following observation:--

"Old Nannie Hawkins have got a big stick o' wood, and she says as I
shall have him for eight pence. If I could get him, I'd soon
_mocker_ him."

Upon my asking him the meaning of the word _mocker_, he informed me it meant to _divide_ or _cleave in pieces;_ but, not being "a scholar" as he termed it, he could not tell me how to spell it, so I know not whether the orthography I have adopted is correct or not.

Can any of your readers give me a clue to the derivation of this word? I certainly never heard it before.

I ought perhaps to state, that this is a country parish in Herefordshire.

W.M.

Pembridge, Dec. 16.

_"Away, let nought to love displeasing"._--Is it known who was the author of the song to be found in Percy's _Reliques_, and many other collections, beginning--

"Away, let nought to love displeasing."

The first collection, so far as I know, in which it appears is entitled _Miscellaneous Poems by several Hands_, published by D. Lewis, London, 1726; and in this work it is called a translation from the ancient British. Does this mean a translation of an ancient poem, or a translation of a poem written in some extant dialect of the language anciently spoken in Britain? Either would appear to me incredible.

As I feel much interested in the poetry of English songs, can you or any of your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection; that is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective kinds? That the English language possesses materials for forming such a collection, and an extensive one too, I have no doubt, though I have never met with one. And, if there be none that answers the description I give, I should be glad of information respecting the best that exist.

It is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would admit only those which bore the character of "immortal verse," rejecting such as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been "married."

SAMUEL HICKSON.

Dec. 14. 1850.

_Baron Münchausen._--Who was the author of this renowned hero's adventures? The _Conversations-Lexicon_ (art. _Münchausen_) states that the stories are to be found under the title of "Mendacia Ridicula," in vol. iii. of _Deliciæ Academicæ_, by J.P. Lange (Heilbronn, 1665); and that "at a later period they appeared in England, where a reviewer supposed them to be a satire on the ministry." I remember to have read when a boy (I think in _The Percy Anecdotes_), that the book was written by an Englishman who was styled "M----," and was described as having been long a prisoner in the Bastille.

Since writing thus far I have seen the note by J.S. (Vol. ii., pp. 262-3.) on Münchausen's story of the horn. The idea of sounds frozen in the air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of "Castilian, in his _Aulicus_" (_i.e._ Castiglione, author of _Il Cortegiano_); for, besides that, it is found in his contemporary Rabelais (liv. iv. cc. 55-6), I believe it may be traced to one of the later Greek writers, from whom Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an illustration.

J.C.R.

_"Sing Tantararara Rogues all," &c._--The above is the chorus of many satirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c. Can any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original song_, and where it is to be found?

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Meaning of "Cauking."_--An old dame told me the other day, in Cheshire, that her servant was a {520} good one, and among other good qualities "she never went _cauking_ into the neighbours' houses." Unde derivatur "cauking?"

CHAS. PASLAM.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.

(Vol. ii., p. 476.)

The proverb, "As wise as the men of Gotham." is given in Fuller's _Worthies_ (ed. 1662, pp. 315, 316.). Ray, in his note upon this, observes

"It passeth for the _Periphrasis_ of a fool, and an hundred
fopperies are feigned and fathered on the townsfolk of _Gotham_, a
village in this county [Nottinghamshire]. Here two things may be
observed:

"1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out
some place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and solidity therein.
So the _Phrygians_ in _Asia_, the _Abderitæ_ in _Thrace_, and
_Boeotians_ in _Greece_, were notorious for dulmen and blockheads.

"2. These places thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as
witty and wise persons as the world produced. So _Democritus_ was an
_Abderite_, _Plutarch_ a _Boeotian_, &c.

"As for _Gotham_, it doth breed as wise people as any which
causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure I am _Mr. William de
Gotham_, fifth Master of _Michael House_ in _Cambridge_, 1336, and
twice Chancellor of the University, was as grave a governor as that
age did afford."--3d. ed. p. 258.

In Thoroton's _Nottinghamshire_, vol. i. pp. 42, 43., the origin of the saying, as handed down by tradition, is thus given:--King John intending to pass through this place towards Nottingham, was prevented by the inhabitants, they apprehending that the ground over which a king passed was for ever after to become a public road. The king, incensed at their proceedings, sent from his court, soon afterwards, some of his servants to inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill-treatment, that he might punish them. The villagers hearing of the approach of the king's servants, thought of an expedient to turn away his majesty's displeasure from them. When the messengers arrived at Gotham, they found some of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a pool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn, to shade the wood from the sun; and others were engaged in hedging a cuckoo, which had perched itself upon an old bush. In short, they were all employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the king's servants that it was a village of fools.

Should J.R.M. not yet have seen it, I beg to refer him to Mr. Halliwell's interesting edition of _The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham_ (Lond. 1840) for fuller and further particulars.

J.B. COLMAN.

* * * * *

Replies To Minor Queries.

_Master John Shorne_.--As neither MR. THOMS' Notes (Vol. ii., p. 387.) nor MR. WAY'S (p. 450.) mention where this reputed saint lived, or speak of him as connected with Buckinghamshire, I will offer an extract from Lysons in the hope of casting some little light on the subject.

"North Marston.--The church is a handsome Gothic structure; there is
a tradition that the chancel was built with the offerings at the
shrine of Sir John Shorne, a very devout man, of great veneration
with the people, who was rector of North Marston about the year
1290, and it is said that the place became populous and flourishing
in consequence of the great resort of persons to a well which he had
blessed. This story stands upon a better foundation than most vulgar
traditions; the great tithes of North Marston are still appropriated
to the dean and canons of Windsor, who, before the Reformation,
might without difficulty have rebuilt the chancel, as it is very
probable they did, with the offerings at the shrine of Sir John
Shorne, for we are told that they were so productive, that on an
average they amounted to 500l. per annum.[1] Sir John Shorne,
therefore, although his name is not to be found, appears to have
been a saint of no small reputation. The common people in the
neighbourhood still keep up his memory by many traditional stories.
Browne Willis, says, that in his time there were people who
remembered a direction-post standing, which pointed the way to Sir
John Shorne's shrine."[2]

North Marston, formerly Merston, is about four miles from Winslow. I visited it about a year ago, and drank of the well, or spring, which is about a quarter of a mile from the village; but I know nothing of the traditions alluded to by Lysons. The chancel of the church is a fine specimen of perpendicular style, with a vestry of the same date, and of two stories, with a fireplace in each. I do not find North Marston, in Bucks, mentioned in Leland, Camden, or Defoe, nor can I meet with any account of Sir John Shorne in any books of English saints within my reach. A copy of Browne Willis's MSS. may be seen in the British Museum.

W.H.K.

[Footnote 1: _History of Windsor_, p. 111.]

[Footnote 2: B. Willis's MSS., Bodleian Library.]

For the information of those who may not have the _Norfolk Archæology_ to refer to, let me add that John Shorne appears to have been rector of North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, about the year 1290, "and was held in great veneration for his virtues, which his benediction had imparted to a holy well in his parish, and for his miracles, one of which, _the feat of conjuring the devil into a boot_, was considered so remarkable that it was represented in the east window of his church."

E.S.T.

_Antiquity of Smoking._--The passage is in Herodian. In the time of Commodus there was a {521} pestilence in Italy. The emperor went to Laurentum for the benefit of the smell of the laurel trees.

"In ipsa quoque urbe de medicorum sententia plerique unguentis
suavissimus nares atque aures opplebant, suffituque[3] et
odoramentis assidua utebantur, quod meatus sensuum (ut quidem
dicunt) odoribus illis occupati, neque admittant aëra tabificum: et
si maxime admiserint, tamen eum majore quasi vi longe superari."

This has nothing to do with the practice of smoking, nor is it clear that they smoked these things with a pipe into the mouth at all. The medical use of fumigation, as Sir William Temple observes, was greatly esteemed among the ancients. But it is very probable that, being sometimes practised by means of pipes, it was what led to the practice of smoking constantly, either for general medical protection, or merely for luxury, in countries and times too, when these epidemics from bad air were very common. The great love of smoking among the Turks may be originally owing to the plague.

C.B.

[Footnote 3: [Greek: "thumiamasi te kai arômasi sunechôs echrônto."]]

_Antiquity of Smoking_ (Vol. ii., pp. 41. 216. 465.).--Mr. Lane, in his edition of the _Arabian Nights_, infers the very late date of that book from there being no mention of tobacco or coffee in it.

As two of the ancient authorities have broken down, it occurred to me that others might.

The reference to Strabo, vii. 296. leads me only to this; that the Mysians were called [Greek: kapnobatai] (some correct to [Greek: kapnopatai]) because they did not eat animals, but milk, cheese, and honey; but of religion, living quietly.

One cannot imagine that this can be meant. I referred to Almaloveen's edition, the old paging.

In the next page he repeats the epithet, coupling it, as before, with the word religious, and arguing from both as having the same meaning.

It occurred to me that somebody might have read [Greek: kapnopotai], "fumum bibentes," which might have given occasion to the reference to this passage: and I find in the English Passow that [Greek: kapnobotai], "smoke-eaters," has been proposed.

[Greek: Kapnopatai], is there derived from [Greek: paomai].

But if these are the readings, they can have nothing to do with smoking, but with religion. From the context they would mean as we say, "living on air;" like Democritus, who subsisted three days upon the steam of new loaves.

[Greek: Kapnobatai] meant, as I believe, to describe their religiousness more directly; treading on the clouds, living _in_ the air: like Socrates in Aristophanes, [Greek: Neph]. 225.:

[Greek: "Aerobatô kai periphronô ton hêlion,"]

And in v. 330. [Greek: kapnos] is used of the clouds:

[Greek: "Ma Di all homichlên kai droson autas hêgoumên kai kapnon
einai."]

There is nothing in Solinus, cap. 15.; and Mela, lib. ii., is too wide a reference.

C.B.

_Meaning of the Word "Thwaites"_(Vol. ii., p. 441.).--The word "Thwayte" occurred in the ancient form of the Bidding Prayer: "Ye shalle byddee for tham, that this cherche honour with book, with bell, with vestiments, with _Thwayte_," &c. This form is said to be above four hundred years old; and Palmer says (_Orig. Lit._, iii. p. 60.) that we have memorials of these prayers used in England in the fourteenth century. Hearne remarks that the explication of this word warranted by Sir E. Coke is "a wood grubbed up and turned to arable." This land being given to any church, the donors were thus commended by the prayers of the congregation.

In Yorkshire the word is so understood: Thwaite, or "stubbed ground, ground that has been essarted or cleaned."

J.H.M.

_Meaning of "Thwaites"_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--Hearne took the word "Thwayte" to signify "a wood grubbed up and turned into arable." His explanation, with other suggestions as to the meaning, of this word, may be found in a letter from Hearne to Mr. Francis Cherry, printed in vol. i. p. 194. of _Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_, published by Longman and Co. in 1813.

J.P. JR.

December 5. 1850.

_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Your correspondent S.G. will find a brief notice of this person in Rose's _Biographical Dictionary_, London, 1848. It appears he was rector of Horninger, and a friend of Camden; who prefixed some commendatory verses to a work of his, entitled _The Anatomy of the Mind_. I would suggest to S.G. that further information may probably be collected respecting him from these verses, and from the prefaces, &c. of his other works, of which a long list is given in Rose's _Dictionary_.

T.H. KERSLEY, A.B.

King William's Col., Isle of Man.

_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p 424.).--If S.G. will apply to the Rev. J. Perowne, of his own college, who is understood to be preparing an edition of Rogers's work for the Parker Society, he will doubtless obtain the fullest information.

A.H.

_Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 468.).--A pretended copy of the inscription at Kilkenny West, mentioned by your correspondent AN HIBERNIAN, was produced in evidence, on the claim of Stephen Francis Dillon to the earldom of Roscommon, before the House of Lords. As there was reason to doubt the evidence of the person who produced that copy, or the genuineness of the inscription itself, the House decided against that claim; and by admitting that of the late earl (descended {522} from the youngest son of the first earl) assumed the extinction of all the issue of the six elder sons. The evidence adduced altogether negatived the presumption of any such issue. Your correspondents FRANCIS and AN HIBERNIAN will find a very clear and succinct account of the late earl's claim, and Stephen Francis Dillon's counter-claim, in _The Roscommon Claim of Peerage_, by J. Sidney Tayler, Lond. 1829.

W.H.C.

_Parse_ (Vol. ii., p. 430.).--Your correspondent J.W.H. is far from correct in supposing that this word was not known in 1611, for he will find it used by Roger Ascham, in a passage quoted by Richardson in his _Dictionary_ sub voce.

In Brinsley's curious _Ludus Literarius_, 1612, reprinted 1627, 4to., the word is frequently used. At page 69. he recommends the "continual practice of _parsing_." At p. 319., enumerating the contents of chap. vi., we have "The Questions of the Accidence, called the _Poasing_ of the English Parts;" and chap. ix. is "Of _Parsing_ and the kinds thereof, &c."

At the end of a kind of introduction there is an "Advertisement by the Printer," intimating that the author's book, "The _Poasing_ of the Accidence," is likely to come forth. From all this, it seems as if the two words were used indifferently.

F.R.A.

_The Meaning of "Version"_ (Vol. ii., p. 466.).--T. appears to apply a peculiar meaning of his own to the word "version," which it would have been quite as well if he had explained in a glossarial note.

He thinks A.E.B. was _mistaken_ in using that phrase in reference to Lord Bacon's translation into Latin of his own English original work, and he proceeds to compare (to what end does not very clearly appear) a sentence from Lord Bacon's English text, with the same sentence as re-translated back again from Lord Bacon's Latin by Wats. Finally, T. concludes with this very singular remark: "Wats' version is the more exact of the two!"

Does T. mean to call Lord Bacon's English text a _version_ of his Latin, by anticipation of eighteen years?

The only other authority for such meaning of the word would seem to be the facetious Dr. Prout, who accused Tom Moore of a similar _version_ of his celebrated papers.

A.E.B.

_First Paper-mill in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 473).--The birthplace of the "High Germaine Spilman" (_Spielmann_), celebrated by Churchyard, your English readers may not easily discover by his description as quoted by DR. RIMBAULT.

"Lyndoam Bodenze" is _Lindau am Boden-see_, on the Lake of Constance (in German, _Bodensee_), once a free imperial city, called, from its site on three islets in the lake, "the Swabian Venice," now a pretty little town belonging to the kingdom of _Bavaria_.