Chapter M: M. P

THE CAXTON COFFER.

The devices of our early English printers are often void of significancy early, or else mere quibbles. In that particular, Caxton set a commendable example.

His device is "W.4.7C." The two figures, however, are interlaced, and seem to admit of two interpretations. I must cite, on this question, the famous triumvirate--Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin:

"The following mark [above described] I find put at the end of
many of his books, _perhaps_ for the date 1474, when he began
printing in England, or his sign."--Joseph AMES, 1749.

"The following mark [above described] I find put at the end of
many of his books, _perhaps_ for the date 1474, when he began
printing in England, or his sign."--William HERBERT, 1785.

"The figures in the large device [above described] form the
_reverse impression_ of 74; meaning, _as it has been stated_, that
our printer commenced business in England, in the year 1474: but
not much weight can be attached to this remark, as no copy of the
_Chess book_, printed in 1474, has yet been discovered which
presents us with this device."--T. F. DIBDIN, 1810.

In lieu of baseless conjectures, I have here to complain of timidity. There is scarcely room for a doubt on the date. As dom de Vaines observes, with regard to dates, "dans le bas age on supprimoit le millieme et les centaines, commencant aux dixaines." There can be no objection to the interpretation on that score. The main question therefore is, in what order should we read the interlaced figures? Now, the position of the _point_ proves that we should read 74--which is the date of _The game and playe of the chesse_. The figures indicate 1474 as clearly as the letters W. C. indicate William Caxton. What is the just inference, must ever remain a matter of opinion.

In the woodcut of _Arsmetrique_, published in the _Myrrour of the worlde_, A.D. 1481, I observe the figures 74 rather conspicuously placed, and perhaps the device was then first adopted.

BOLTON CORNEY.

Minor Notes.

"_They that touch pitch_," &c.--A few Sundays since the clergyman that I "sit under," quoting in his discourse the words "they that touch pitch will be defiled," ascribed them to "the wisest of men." A lady of his congregation (who was, I fear, more critical than devout) pounced upon her pastor's mistake, and asked me on the following Monday if I also had noticed it. I denied that it was one; but she laughed at my ignorance, produced a Shakspeare, and showed me the words in the mouth of Dogberry (_Much Ado about Nothing_, Act III. Sc. 3.). However, by the help of a "Cruden," I was able to find the same expression, not indeed in Solomon, but in the son of Sirach (ch. xiii. v. 1.).

If Shakspeare's appropriation of this passage has not been noticed before, may I request the insertion of this note? It may possibly prevent other learned divines from falling into the common (?) mistake of thus quoting Dogberry as "the wisest of men."

E. J. G.

Preston.

_Pasquinade._--In May last was placed on Pasquin's statue in Rome the following triglot epigram, of which the original Latin was borrowed from "NOTES AND QUERIES." As it is not probable that the Papal police allowed it to remain long before the eyes of the lieges of his Holiness, allow me to lay up in your pages this memorial of a visit to Rome during the "Aggression" summer.

"Cum Sapiente Pius nostras juravit in aras,
Impius heu Sapiens, desipiensque Pius.

"When a league 'gainst our Faith Pope with Cardinal tries,
Neither _Wiseman_ is Pious, nor _Pius_ is Wise.

"Quando Papa' o' Cardinale
Chiesa' Inglese tratta male,
Que Chiamo quella gente,
Piu? No-no, ni Sapiente.

ANGLUS."

The Italian version will of course be put down as _English_-Italian, and therefore worse than mediocre; but I wished to perpetuate, along with the sense of the Latin couplet, a little _jeu d'esprit_ which I saw half obliterated on a wall at Rovigo, in the Lombardo-Venetian territory; being a play on the family name and character of Pius IX.:

"Piu?--No-no: ma stai Ferette;"

which may be read,

"Pious?--Not at all: but _still_ Ferette."

A. B. R.

_Two Attempts to show the Sound of "ough" final._--

1.

Though from rough cough, or hiccough free,
That man has pain enough,
Whose wound through plough, sunk in slough
Or lough begins to slough.

2.

'Tis not an easy task to show
How _o_, _u_, _g_, _h_ sound; since _though_
An Irish _lough_ and English _slough_,
And _cough_ and hic_cough_, all allow,
Differ as much as _tough_, and _through_,
There seems no reason why they do.

W. J. T.

Queries.

CAN BISHOPS VACATE THEIR SEES?

In Lord Dover's note on one of Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann (1st series, vol. iii. p 424.), I find it stated that Dr. Pearce, the well-known Bishop of Rochester, was not allowed to vacate his see, when in consequence of age and infirmity he wished to do so, on the plea that a bishopric as being a peerage is _inalienable_. The Deanery of Westminster, which he also held, he was allowed to resign, and did so.

Now my impression has always been, that a bishop, as far as his peerage is concerned, is much on the same footing as a representative peer of Scotland or Ireland; I mean that his peerage is resignable at will. Of course the representative peers are peers of Scotland or Ireland respectively; but by being elected representative peers they acquire a _pro-tempore_ peerage of the realm coincident with the duration of the parliament, and at a dissolution require re-election, when of course any such peer need not be reappointed.

Now the clergy, says your correspondent CANONICUS EBORACENSIS (Vol. iv., p. 197.), are _represented_ by the bishops. Although, therefore, whilst they are so representative, they are peers of the realm just as much as the lay members of the Upper House, I can see no reason why any bishop, who, like Dr. Pearce, feels old age and infirmity coming on, should not resign this representation, _i.e._ his peerage, or the _temporal_ station which in England, owing to the existing connexion between church and state, attaches to the _spiritual_ office of a bishop.

Of course, ecclesiastically speaking, there is no doubt at all that a bishop may resign his spiritual functions, _i.e._ the overlooking of his diocese, for any meet cause. Our colonial bishops, for instance, do so. The late warden of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, Bishop Coleridge, had been Bishop of Barbadoes. So that if Lord Dover's theory be correct, a purely secular reason, arising from the peculiar position of the English church, would prevent any conscientious bishop from resigning duties, to the discharge of which, from old age, bodily infirmity, or impaired mental organs, he felt himself unfit.

Perhaps some of your correspondents will give me some information on this matter.

K. S.

SANDERSON AND TAYLOR.

I shall be much obliged if any of your readers can explain the following coincidence between Sanderson and Jeremy Taylor. Taylor, in the beginning of the _Ductor Dubitantium_, says:

"It was well said of St. Bernard, 'Conscientia candor est lucis
aeternae, et speculum sine macula Dei majestatis, et imago bonitatis
illius;' 'Conscience is the brightness and splendour of the
eternal light, a spotless mirror of the Divine Majesty, and the
image of the goodness of God.' It is higher which Tatianus said of
conscience, [Greek: Monon einai syneidesin Theon], 'Conscience is
God unto us,' which saying he had from Menander,

[Greek: Brotois hapasin he syneidesis Theos].

"God is in our hearts by his laws; he rules in us by his
substitute, our conscience; God sits there and gives us laws; and
as God said unto Moses, 'I have made thee a God to Pharaoh,' that
is, to give him laws, and to minister in the execution of those
laws, and to inflict angry sentences upon him, so hath God done to
us."

In the beginning of Sanderson's second lecture, _De Obligatione Conscientiae_, he says:

"Hine illud ejusdem Menandri. [Greek: Brotois hapasin he
syneidesis Theos]; _Mortalibus sum cuique Conscientia Deus est_,
Quo nimirum sensu dixit Dominus se _constituisse Mosen Deum
Pharaoni_; quod seis Pharaoni voluntatem Dei subinde _inculcaret_,
ad cum faciendam Pharaonem _instigaret_, non obsequentem
contentibus plagis insectaretur; eodem fere sensu dici potest,
eundem quoque _constituisse in Deum unicuique hominum_ singularium
propriam _Conscientiam_."

Sanderson's _Lectures_ were delivered at Oxford in 1647, but not published till 1660. The Dedication to Robert Boyle is dated November, 1659. The _Ductor Dubitantium_ is dedicated to Charles II. after the Restoration, but has a preface dated October, 1659. It is not likely, therefore, that, Taylor borrowed from the printed work of Sanderson. Perhaps the quotations and illustrations which they have in common were borrowed from some older common source, where they occur _associated_ as they do in these two writers. I should be glad to have any such source pointed out.

W. W.

Cambridge.

Minor Queries.

220. "_Vox vere Anglorum._"--"_Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas._"--_Translator of Horrebow's "Iceland."_--Perhaps some of your readers may be able to tell me the names of the writers of the two following works, which were published anonymously.

1. _Vox vere Anglorum: or England's loud Cry for their King._ 4to. 1659. Pp. 15. In this the place where it was published or printed is not given.

2. _Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas: or, the Sacred and Royall Prerogative of Christian Kings._ 4to. Printed at Oxford, 1644. The Dedication is signed "J. A."

I should also wish to find out, if possible, the name of the translator of Horrebow's _Natural History of Iceland_, published in folio, in London, in 1758.

[Greek: Boreas.]

221. "_Kings have their Conquests._"--I have met with a passage commencing thus:

"Kings have their conquests, length of days their date,
Triumph its tomb, felicity its fate;"

followed by two more lines expressive of the infinity of Divine power, as compared with human, which I have forgotten. Where is the passage to be found?

JAMES F. ABSALON.

Portsea.

222. _Dryden--Illustrations by T. Holt White._--The late T. Holt White, Esq. (who edited and published in 1819 the _Areopagitica_ of Milton, adding a very ably composed preface, erudite notes, and interesting illustrations), had compiled in _many_ interleaved volumes of the works of Dryden, such a mass of information, that Sir Walter Scott, when he had turned over the leaves of a few volumes, closed them, and is reported to have said, "_It would be unjust to meddle with such a compilation; I see that I have not even straw to make my bricks with._" Can any one of your correspondents inform me if that compilation has been preserved, and where it is?

AEGROTUS.

223. _Pauper's Badge, Meaning of._--In the Churchwarden's Accounts for the parish of Eye for the year 1716, is the following entry:

"22 July, 1716.

"It is agreed that, forasmuch as Frances Gibbons _hath refused to
weare the badge_, that she should not be allowed the collection
[_i.e._ the weekly parish allowance] now due, nor for the future
w'h shall be due."

Can any correspondent inform me what this _badge_ was, and also if it was of general use in other places?

J. B. COLMAN.

224. _The Landing of William Prince of Orange in Torbay. Painted by J. Northcote, R. A._--Can any of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" inform me who is the owner of the above-named painting, which was in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy at the end of the last century, and afterwards engraved by J. Parker?

A. H. W.

225. _The Lowy of Tunbridge._--Lambarde (_Perambulation of Kent_, 1596, p. 425.) says, that round about the town of Tunbridge lieth a territory commonly called the Lowy, but in the ancient records written Leucata or Leuga, which was a French league of ground, and which was allotted at first to one Gislebert, son of Godfrey (who was natural brother to Richard, second Duke of Normandy of that name), in lieu of a town and land called Bryonnie in Normandy, which belonged to him, and which Robert, eldest son to King William the Conqueror, seized and bestowed on Robert Earle Mellent. I should be glad to know if there is at present any trace of such a territory remaining.

E. N. W.

Southwark, Sept. 28, 1851.

226. _Bones of Birds._--Some naturalists speak of the hollowness of the bones of birds as giving them buoyancy, because they are filled with air. It strikes me that this reason is inconclusive, for I should suppose that in the atmosphere, hollow bones, _quite empty_, would be more buoyant than if filled with air. Perhaps one of your correspondents will kindly enlighten my ignorance, and explain whether the air with which the bones are filled is not used by the bird in respiration in the more rarefied altitudes, and the place supplied by a more gaseous expiration of less specific gravity than the rarefied atmosphere?

Although of a different class from the queries you usually insert, I hope you will not think this foreign to the purpose of your useful miscellany.

AN AERONAUT.

227. _"Malvina, a Tragedy."_--Can any of your readers afford any information about (1.) _Malvina, a Tragedy_, Glasgow, printed by Andrew Foules, 1786, 8vo., pp. 68? A MS. note on the copy in my library states it to be written by Mr. John Riddel, surgeon, Glasgow. (2.) _Iphigenia, a Tragedy_ in four acts. In Rege tamen Pater est.--Ovid. MDCCLXXXVII. My copy has this MS. note: "By John Yorke, of Gouthwait, Esq., Yorkshire," in the handwriting of Francis, seventh Baron Napier. Neither of these tragedies in noticed in the _Biographia Dramatica_.

J. MT.

228. _Rinuccini Gallery._--I see by a late number of the _Athenaeum_ newspaper, that the splendid collection of pictures preserved in the Rinuccini Palace at Florence will be brought to the hammer in the month of May 1852. It has been stated, that amongst the works of art at one period extant in the Rinuccini Palace, were a number of paintings made by Italian artists for Cardinal Rinuccini, when on his Legatine mission to Ireland in the middle of the seventeenth century, and representing his triumphal entry into Kilkenny in November 1645. It has also been asserted that these interesting historical paintings were wilfully destroyed from a very discreditable motive. The importance of these cartoons, as illustrating a period when Ireland became the final battle-field of the contending parties which then divided the British dominions, will at once be acknowledged; and at this period, when so many foreigners are assembled in London, perhaps some reader of "NOTES AND QUERIES" may be able to set the question of the existence or destruction of these cartoons at rest. Or, at all events, some person about to seek the genial air of Italy during the winter may bear this "Query" in mind, and forward to your valuable paper a "Note" of the contents of the Rinuccini Gallery. I need hardly say that the person so doing will confer a favour on every student of Irish History.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny, Oct. 11.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Meaning of Aneroid._--What is the derivation of the word _aneroid_, as applied to a new description of barometer lately introduced?

AGRICOLA.

[From a note in Mr. Dent's interesting pamphlet, _A Treatise on
the Aneroid, a newly invented Portable Barometer; with a short
Historical Notice of Barometers in general, their Construction and
Use_, it appears that the word _aneroid_ has been the subject of
some philological discussion. "It is said to be derived from three
Greek words, [Greek: a], [Greek: neros], and [Greek: eidos], and
to signify _a form without fluid_. If so, it does not appear very
happily chosen, since it indicates merely what the instrument is
_not_, without at all explaining what it is."]

_Fox's Cunning._--Can any of your correspondents or readers give any authentic information as to the fact having been witnessed by any one, of the old story of the fox relieving itself of fleas by taking a feather in its mouth, and gradually, though slowly enough, retrograding itself into the water, first by legs and tail, then body, shoulders, and head to the nose, and thus compelling the fleas, to escape from the drowning element, to pass over the nose on to the bridge of the feather, which is then committed to the stream.

Has any one actually seen this? Has any one heard it related by one who has seen the ejectment performed?

J. D.

Torquay, May 12.

[Lord Brougham, in his _Dialogues on Instinct_ (ed. 1844, p.
110.), does not allude to this proverbial instance, but says: "I
know not if it (the Fox's cunning) was ever more remarkably
displayed than in the Duke of Beaufort's country; where Reynard,
being hard pressed, disappeared suddenly, and was, after strict
search, found immersed in a water pool up to the very snout, by
which he held a willow bough hanging over the pond."]

Replies.

ARCHBISHOP OF SPALATRO.

(Vol. iv., p. 257.)

_Audi alteram partem_ is too excellent and equitable a rule, not to find ample scope given for its exercise in "NOTES AND QUERIES," especially where the memory of a foreigner is concerned, who, after dwelling awhile among us under the protection of our hospitality, and in the communion of our Church, was content eventually to sacrifice his life, rather than forsake the truth, or repudiate the Church of England.

I am led to this remark by observing the tone of depreciation in which Chalmers speaks of Antonius de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro, in the extract produced at p. 257. out of the _Biographical Dictionary_, for the satisfaction of MR. W. FRAZER.

The words of Chalmers, which I conceive to be objectionable, alike ungenerous and inaccurate--such as Fuller might rejoice in (conf. _Church History_, book x.)--are:

"He returned to Rome in 1622, _where he abjured his errors_; but
on the discovery of a correspondence which he held with some
Protestants, he was thrown into prison, where he died in 1625. He
was a man of great abilities and learning, _although remarkable
for a fickleness in religious matters_."

This reproach against the good archbishop, of having renounced the English communion (for that is doubtless what is meant), is clearly an unjust accusation, and appears to be based upon no better authority than a spurious book, published in the Low Countries under Spalatro's name, but without his knowledge or sanction, and bearing the following title: _Marc. Ant. de Dominis sui reditus ex Anglia concilium exponit_, 4to. Dilingae, 1623. This book at the time of its publication deceived Bishop Hall, and gave occasion to the _Alter Ecebolius M. Ant. de Dominis, pluribus dominis inservire doctus_: 4to. Lond. 1624.

It is only fair, certainly, to Spalatro's memory, that the calumnies thus raised against him in his lifetime should not now be perpetuated by the inadvertency of modern writers, for so far at least the means are at hand to refute them. Now there is one writer especially who has done much to vindicate the name of Ant. de Dominis from this charge of "fickleness in religious matters." That writer is Bishop Cosin, whose testimony herein is of the more value from the fact of his having been present (as Bishop Overall's secretary) at the "Conference between Spalato and Overall," which "Conference" the following particulars were collected by Mr. Gutch, _e Schedis MSS. Cosini_, and are preserved in the _Collectanea Curiosa_, vol. ii. p. 18.:

"A. Spalato came into England in 1616, being desirous to live
under the protection of King James, having before been recommended
by Padre Paolo. By King James's bounty and care he was safely
conveyed through Germany into England, and lodged in Lambeth
Palace: Abbot thinking fit to retire to Croydon, till either
Bishop Andrewes or Bishop Overall had conferred with him. The king
sent Bishop Overall to him, who took in his company his secretary,
and commanded him to be near him the same morning Spalato arrived,
to hear what passed between them. After dinner, some other being
present, the discourse began about the state of the Church of
England; of which Overall having given a large account, Spalato
received great satisfaction, and made his protestation that he
came into England then to live with us in the union and profession
of that Catholic religion which was so much obstructed in his own
country, that he could not with safety and peace of conscience
live there any longer. Then he added what satisfaction he had
received from the monitory preface of King James [Vid. _Apol. for
the Oath of Allegiance_, ed. 4to. Lond. 1609] to all the estates
and churches of Christendom; wherein the true ancient faith and
religion of the Catholic Church is set forth, and no heterodoxies
or novelties maintained: to the defence of which faith, and
service of which Church, as he had already a long time applied his
studies, and wrote ten books, _De Republica Ecclesiastica_, so, by
the favour of God, and King James, he was now come into England to
review and publish them, together with the _History of the Council
of Trent_, which he had brought with him from Padre Paolo of
Venice, who delivered it into his hands; by whom he was chiefly
persuaded and encouraged to have recourse to the king and the
Church of England, being the best founded for the profession of
true Catholic doctrine, and the freest from error and novelties,
of any Church in all places besides. Then they descended to the
particular points of doctrine," &c.

It is, however, _not_ with the _doctrinal_ question which would, of course, be inadmissible in "NOTES AND QUERIES," but with the historical _fact_, that we have to do; the question being, whether Antonius Spalateasis was "fickle" in respect of the Church of England.

There is an interesting sketch of Spalatro's _after_ history in Cosin's _Treatise against Transubstantiation_, chap. ii. [section] 7.; from Luke de Beaulieu's translation of which (Cosin's _Collected Works_, vol. iv. p. 160., Oxford, 1851) I quote the following:

"Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, (was) a man well
versed in the Sacred Writings, and the records of antiquity; who,
having left Italy (when he could no longer remain in it, either
with quiet or safety) by the advice of his intimate friend, Paulus
Venetus, took sanctuary under the protection of King James of
blessed memory, in the bosom of the Church of England, which he
did faithfully follow in all points and articles of religion. But,
being daily vexed with many affronts and injuries, and wearied by
the unjust persecutions of some sour and over-rigid men, who
bitterly declaimed everywhere against his life and actions, he at
last resolved to return into Italy with a safe conduct. Before he
departed he was, by order from the king, questioned by some
commissionated bishops, what he thought of the religion and church
of England, which for so many years he had owned and obeyed, and
what he would say of it in the Roman court. _To this query he gave
in writing this memorable answer, 'I am resolved, even with the
danger of my life, in profess before the Pope himself, that the
Church of England is a true and orthodox Church of Christ.' This
he not only promised, but faithfully performed_; for though, soon
after his departure, there came a book out of the Low Countries,
falsely bearing his name, by whose title many were deceived, even
among the English, and thereby moved to tax him with apostacy, and
of being another Ecebolius; yet, when he came to Rome (where he
was most kindly entertained in the palace of Pope Gregory XV., who
formerly had been his fellow-student), _he could never be
persuaded_ by the Jesuits and others, who daily thronged upon him,
neither to subscribe the new-devised tenets of the Council of
Trent, or _to retract those orthodox books_ which he had printed
in England and Germany, or _to renounce the communion of the
Church of England, in whose defence he constantly persisted to the
very last_. But, presently after the decease of Pope Gregory, he
was imprisoned by the Jesuits and Inquisitors in Castle St.
Angelo, where, by being barbarously used, and almost starved, he
soon got a mortal sickness, and died in a few days, though not
without suspicion of being poisoned. The day following, his corpse
was by the sentence of the Inquisition tied to an infamous stake,
and there burnt to ashes, _for no other reason but that he refused
to make abjuration of the religion of the Church of England_, and
subscribe some of the lately-made decrees of Trent, which were
pressed upon him as canons of the Catholic faith. I have taken
occasion (Cosin adds) to insert this narration, perhaps not known
to many, to make it appear that this reverend prelate, who did
great service to the Church of God, may justly (as I said before)
be reckoned among the writers of the Church of England."

In the first collection of Lord Somers's _Tracts_, vol. iv. p. 575., there is a curious paper bearing the title: _A relation sent from Rome, of the process, sentence, and execution done upon the body, pictures, and books of Marcus Ant. de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, after his death._ There are some notices of De Dominis, also, among the Birch and other MSS. in the British Museum.

MR. FRAZER might possibly ascertain the other particular about which he inquires, viz. whether Spalatro "_acted_ as a bishop in England," by consulting some of the numerous tracts written at the time, both against and in vindication of the archbishop; and, more particularly, a tract entitled: _De pace religionis M. Ant. de Dominis Spalateus. Archiepisc. Epist. ad venerabilem virum Jos. Hallum, Archipresbyterum Vigorn_, &c.: edit. Ves. Sequan. 1666.

J. SANSOM.

Perhaps it may be doubted whether it was the wish of Antonius de Dominis to reunite the churches of Rome and England: however this may be, as Dean of Windsor, he accused one of the canons, Richard Mountagu (afterwards successively Bishop of Chichester and Norwich) of preaching the Roman doctrine of the invocation of saints and angels. Mountagu replied in a pamphlet, the title of which is, _Immediate Addresse unto GOD Alone. First delivered in a Sermon before his Majestie at Windsore, since reuised and inlarged to a just Treatise of Invocation of Saints. Occasioned by a false imputation of M. Antonius de Dominis upon the Authour, Richard Mountagu._ London, 1624.

Mountagu had evidently no high opinion of his accuser: for he writes in his Epistle Dedicatory to John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and Visitor of the collegiate church of Windsor: "There was present at my sermon that infamous Ecebolius of these times, Religionis desultor, Archbishop sometime of _Spalata_, then Deane of that church, Marcus Antonius de Dominis;" and he goes on to abuse him in no measured terms. Collier (_Ecc. Hist._, vol. ii. p. 726., ed. 1714) mentions that Antonius assisted at the consecration of some English bishops in the chapel at Lambeth Palace. He was afterwards reconciled to the Church of Rome, but was soon imprisoned on suspicion of heresy. After he was dead, he passed through the forms of the Inquisition, was pronounced a lapsed heretic, and his corpse was publicly burnt.

ROVERT.

Withyham.

ANAGRAMS.

(Vol. iv., p. 226.)

I know not whether the art of composing anagrams was much practised in the days of Swift; the description, however, of one of the employments at the Academy of Lagado--the "project for improving speculative knowledge by practical mechanical operations," which was carried into operation by covering the superficies of a large frame with wooden letters, which, by the turning of a handle, were constantly shifted into new places--so aptly satirises this practice, that it seems likely that it was to this he alluded, the more so as the one employment would be as profitable as the other. MR. BREEN, however (Vol. iv., p. 226.) having challenged the production of half a dozen good specimens of the art, perhaps you will afford him an opportunity of amending his judgment. The following twelve, whether new or not, will at least stand the test he has propounded:--

Who will deny that _Old England_ is a _golden land_; or that _lawyers_ are _sly ware_?

There are many who deem _radical reform_ a _rare mad frolic_; and when asked to _guess a fearful ruin_, would reply _universal suffrage_.

Every one will admit that _astronomers_ are _moon-starers_; and that a _telegraph_ is a _great help_.

We have long been accustomed to consider that a _revolution_ is _to love ruin_; and that _nine thumps_ constitute a _punishment_.

What answer more fitting in the _penitentiary_ than _Nay, I repent it_?

Is there a more _comical trade_ than the _democratical_? and what is more likely to make _bakers fat_ than a good _breakfast_.

But, in conclusion, I am compelled to confess that I can see no affinity between _potentates_ and _ten tea pots_.

C. A.

That on _Daniel R._ may be otherwise rendered _Erin lad_.

D. Q.

Your interesting correspondent MR. BREEN challenges the world to produce "six good anagrams." It may help him in his search for them to be referred to two curious papers on the subject in the _Bengal Moofussul Miscellany_, reprinted in London in 1837. Or, as perhaps he may not have the book within reach, he may not be displeased at my extracting a few of the best of them. The first is a compliment paid to one of the Ptolemies: [Greek: Ptolemaios], [Greek: apo melitos]. Lycophron, in a similar vein, calls [Greek: Arsinoe], [Greek: ion Heras]. Out of _William Noy_, Charles I.'s Ship-Money Attorney-General, we have, _I moyl in law_. _Loraine_ produces _alerion_, which is assigned as the reason for that house bearing eaglets in their arms. _Sir Edmundbury Godfrey_ gives, _I fynd murder'd by rogues_. The tale about Lady Eleanor Davies, lately referred to by one of your contributors, occurs in the first of these papers; as does another of somewhat later date, which really deserves to be preserved among your "Notes."

"When young Stanislaus, afterwards king of Poland, returned home
from his travels, all the illustrious family of Leczinki assembled
at Lissa to congratulate him on his arrival. Festivals, shows, and
rejoicings of every kind took place: but the most ingenious
compliment that graced the occasion, was the one paid by the
College of Lissa. There appeared on the stage thirteen dancers,
dressed as youthful warriors; each held in his hand a shield, on
which was engraved in characters of gold, one of the thirteen
letters which compose the two words 'Domus Lescinia.' They then
commenced their dance, and so arranged it, that at each turn their
row of bucklers formed different anagrams. At the first pause they
presented them in the natural order:

Domus Lescinia
At the second Ades Incolumis
At the third Omnis es lucida
At the fourth Mane Sidus Loci
At the fifth Sis Columna Dei
At the last I, scande Solium."

I fear I have already asked for too much of your space, yet must I beg the least bit more for an anagram which, unless the sacredness of the subject be accounted a drawback, may well claim a foremost place among the "six." It is found in Pilate's question to our Lord, _Quid est veritas?_ which contains its own best answer: _Est Vir qui adest._

PHILIP HEDGELAND.

DISCOVERING THE BODIES OF THE DROWNED.

(Vol. iv., p. 251.)

The mode of doing this, as shown by S. W. to be practised by the North American Indians, is very common amongst ourselves. About five-and-twenty years ago, an Eton boy, named Dean, who had lately come to the school, imprudently bathed in the river Thames where it flows with great rapidity under the "playing fields," and he was soon carried out of his depth, and disappeared. Efforts were made to save him or recover the body, but to no purpose; until Mr. Evans, who was then, as now, the accomplished drawing-master, threw a cricket bat into the stream, which floated to a spot where it turned round in an eddy, and from a deep hole underneath the body was quickly drawn. This statement is entirely from memory, but I believe it to be substantially correct.

I heard the following anecdote from the son of an eminent Irish judge. In a remote district of Ireland a poor man, whose occupation at certain seasons of the year was to pluck feathers from live geese for beds, arrived one night at a lonely farmhouse, where he expected to glean a good stock of these "live feathers," and he arose early next morning to look after the flock. The geese had crossed the river which flowed in front of the house, and were sitting comfortably in the sunshine on the opposite bank. Their pursuer immediately stripped off the few clothes he had, deposited them on the shore, and swam across the river. He then drove the birds into the water, and, boldly following them, he maintained a long contest to keep then together on their homeward voyage, until in the deep bed of the river his strength failed him, and he sank. The farmer and his family became aware of the accident, the cries of the drowning man, and the cackling of the geese, informed them, in the swimmer's extremity, of his fate, and his clothes lay on the shore in witness of his having last been in their company. They dragged the river for the body, but in vain; and in apprehension of serious consequences to themselves should they be unable to produce the corpse, they applied to the parish priests, who undertook to relieve them, and to "improve the occasion" by the _performance of a miracle_. He called together the few neighbours, and having tied a strip of parchment, inscribed with cabalistic characters, round a wisp of straw; he dropped this packet where the man's head was described to have sunk, and it glided into still water where the corpse was easily discovered.

ALFRED GATTY.

The discovery of drowned bodies by loading a loaf with mercury, and putting it afloat on a stream, or by casting into the river, as the Indians do, "a chip of cedar wood, which will stop and turn round over the exact spot," is referrible to natural and simple causes. As there are in all running streams deep pools formed by eddies, in which drowned bodies would be likely to be caught and retained, any light substance thrown into the current would consequently be drawn to that part of the surface over the centre of the eddy hole.

J. S. C.

MARRIAGE OF ECCLESIASTICS.

(Vol. iv., pp. 57. 125. 193. 196.)

In the early ages, your correspondent H. WALTER assumes that the primitive Christians knew "that their Scriptures said of marriage that it was honourable in all" (Vol. iv., p. 193.). H. WALTER is under more than one mistake with regard to the text of St. Paul (Heb. xiii. 4.) on which he grounds his assertion. This whole chapter being full of admonitions, the apostle, all through it, speaks mostly in the imperative mood. He begins with, "Let brotherly love continue;" "Be not forgetful," &c.; "Remember them that are in bonds," &c. Then he says: [Greek: Timios ho gamos en pasi, kai he koite amiantos], that is: "Let (the laws of) marriage be revered in all _things_, and the marriage bed be undefiled;" and as a warning to those who might not heed such an admonition, he adds, "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." H. WALTER mistakes the adjective feminine [Greek: en pasi] as meaning "all men," whereas it signifies here, "in all things;" according to which sense St. Paul uses the same form of speech in 2 Corinthians xi. 6. True it is, the authorised version translates thus: "Marriage _is_ honourable in all;" but the _is_ is an insertion of the translators, and therefore printed in Italics. Parkhurst, however, in his _Lexicon_, at the word [Greek: Gamos], says: "Wolfius has justly remarked, the imperatives preceding and following show that we should rather understand [Greek: esto] than [Greek: esti]. See also Hammond and Macknight; and observe that the Alexandrian and two other MSS., for [Greek: de] in the following sentence read [Greek: gar], and the Vulgate translates by _enim_, "for."

I cannot but think that the makers of the authorized version advisedly inserted _is_ instead of _let_, to forward their own new doctrines, as this their rendering would seem to countenance the marriage of priests. Curiously enough, when they had no interest in putting in the indicative instead of the imperative mood, those same translators have of themselves inserted, in the verse following, the latter, thus: "_Let_ your conversation _be_ without covetousness," &c. Moreover, in translating [Greek: en pasi], in another passage of St. Paul, 2 Cor. xi. 6., they render it, "in all things;" in which same sense it is to be understood in the above place, Heb. xi. 4.

CEPHAS.

In lately reading that very curious book, Whiston's _Autobiography_, I met with some remarks on this subject, which I made a note of, and which are at the service of A. B. C. Whiston quotes the well-known Dr. Wall as follows:--

"The Greek Church still observe the rule of allowing their clergy
to marry but once, and before the Council of Nice made a further
rule that none after his orders should marry; and I believe it is
hard to find in church history an instance of any one who married
after he was in priest's orders for a thousand (in reality for
above a thousand four hundred) years before Martin Luther."

The interpolation marked by a parenthesis is Whiston's, who proceeds:--

"The Church of England allows their very bishops to be twice--nay
thrice--nay even four times married without any impediment to
their episcopal functions, whereas the Greek Patriarch of
Constantinople would not admit the Emperor Leo, a layman, into the
church, because he had married a fourth wife."

Whiston, though a "fanciful man," as Burnet calls him, was well read in Christian antiquity, and his opinion is therefore of some weight. Wall's authority no one would willingly undervalue.

I cannot call to mind any English bishop who was four times married; yet Whiston would hardly have asserted the fact if he had not had some example in view. I should be obliged to any one who would inform me on the subject.[1]

[Footnote 1: We have somewhere read of a Bishop Thomas giving his
fourth wife a ring, with this posy:--

"If I survive, I'll make it five."

This may give a clue to our correspondent.]

When on the subject of Whiston, I should be glad to know if his edition of our Common Prayer Book published in 1713, and his Primitive New Testament published in 1745, still exist.[2]

[Footnote 2: The two works mentioned by K. S., though scarce,
occasionally occur for sale. The "Common Prayer Book" was
republished by the Rev. Peter Hall in his _Fragmenta Liturgica_,
vol. iii.]

The former he entitled _The Liturgy of the Church of England reduced nearer to the Primitive Standard_. The latter contains, besides the Canonical Books of the New Testament, the Apostolic Constitutions, Epistles of Ignatius, the Epistle of Timothy to Diognetus, &c. &c., all of which he considered as of equal authority with the Canonical Books. The Apostolic Constitutions indeed he terms "the most sacred of the Canonical Books of the New Testament."

K. S.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Robert Douglas_ (Vol. iv., p. 23.).--There is no truth in the report that this person was a grandson of Mary Queen of Scots. His diary during the march of the Scots troops to England, 1644, is printed in a work entitled _Historical Fragments relative to Scotish Affairs from 1635 to 1664_, Edin., 1833, 8vo., published by Stevenson of Edinburgh, and edited by James Maidment, Esq., of that city, who has enriched the volume with many notes and illustrations, and has given in addition a pretty copious account of Douglas. His letters and papers fell into the hands of Wodrow. (See _Analecta Scotica_, vol. i. p. 326.) Allow me to correct an error. The Bannatyne Club did _not_ print Wodrow's _Analecta_. This very amusing collection was a munificent present from the late Earl of Glasgow to the members of the Maitland Club, of which his lordship was president; it is in _four_ thick 4to. volumes, and full of all sorts of out-of-the-way information. It seems very little known at present south the Tweed. I question whether Mr. Macaulay has gone through it, although he is no doubt familiar with Wodrow's one-sided work on the Sufferings of the Scotish Presbyterian clergy.

J. MT.

_The Leman Baronetcy_ (Vol. iv., pp. 58. 111.).--The attempt in _Scotland_ to give a right to an _English_ title of honour is exposed fully in Mr. Turnbull's _Anglo-Scotia Baronets_, Edin. 1846, P. XXXII. iii. The "certified court proceedings" are worth nothing, and would not be sustained in a court of law. The party called _Sir_ Edward Godfrey Leman may or may not be the next heir of the Lord Mayor, but he must prove his right in England by such evidence as may be required there, and not by reference to what would not even be looked at in the Scotish law courts.

J. MT.

_Cachecope Bell_ (Vol. iii., p. 407.).--Is it possible that this word may be a corruption of the low Latin "Catascopus" (Gr. [Greek: kataskopos]), and that it was applied to a bell which a watchman tolled to give an alarm of fire, &c.? I have seen a bell set apart for this duty, in churches on the continent.