Chapter C: W. G

146. _Essex's Expedition to Ireland._--It is a matter of history that the celebrated Earl of Essex in Queen Elizabeth's time left London in March 1599, in command of a great expedition against Ireland, accompanied by a numerous train of nobility and gentry and other retainers.

At what office and to what quarter is one to apply for the purpose of discovering the _Muster Roll_ made upon that occasion? There must be some documents, bills, letters, &c., relating to that expedition, the object of the querist being to ascertain whether his own name, "Jackson," can be found in any of these documents, as he has reason to think that any ancestor of his was one of the battle-axe guards in Dublin at that period.

J.

147. _Decretorum Doctor._--Is this title given at either of our universities? And what is its precise meaning? It not uncommonly occurs in the documents of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and that it is not the same as Doctor of Laws may be concluded from the following examples:--The publication of a Pope's Bull by the Bishop of London, in the chapel of his palace in London on May 16, 1503, is stated to have been made "Præsentibus tunc ibidem, Venerabilibus viris, Willielmo Mors, et Johanne Younge, _Legum_, et Thoma Wodyngton, _Decretorum_, Doctoribus, Testibus," &c. (_Rymer_, xiii. 61.) And in Wood's _Athen._, 1845 (ii. 728.), we find the same "Tho. Wodynton, decr. doctor," collated to the church of St Mary le Bow, on the resignation of the same "Joh'is Yonge, LL.D." on May 3, 1514.

[Greek: Ph.]

148. _Grimsdyke or Grimesditch._--If you do not deem the following Query too trifling for your most invaluable publication, I should be much obliged if you would insert it, in hopes some of your antiquarian correspondents may find something to say on the point.

From near Great Berkhampstead, Hants, to Bradenham, Bucks, about fifteen miles (I write from memory), runs a vallum or ditch, called Grimsdyke, Grimesditch, or the Devil's Dyke: it is of considerable boldness of profile, being in some places twelve or fourteen feet from the crest of the parapet to the bottom of the ditch; it keeps within two miles of the crest of the Chiltern Hills, and is passingly mentioned in Lipscombe's _History of Bucks_, and in the commencement of Clutterbuck's _History of Hertfordshire_. Are there other earthworks of the same name (Grimsdyke) in England; and what was their former use? This one in question, from its total want of flank defence, could hardly hold an enemy in check for long; nor does it seem to have been a military way connecting detached forts, as, though there are earthworks (camps) on either side, it seems to hold a tolerably straight course independent of them. And, lastly, about the etymology of the word:--I find, in Bosworth's _Anglo-Saxon Dictionary_, among a host of other meanings:

"GRIMA, ghost, phantom, witch, hag."

I may mention that there is the tradition about the dyke, common to most works of the sort, that it was "done by the Devil in a night."

NAUTICUS.

H.M.S. Phaiton, Lisbon, Aug 25.

149. _Passage in Luther._--In Luther's _Responsio ad librum Ambrosii Catharini_, where he attacks the confessional, he says:

"Cogit etiam papa peccata suarum legum confiteri--ad hæc tot
peccatorum differentiis, speciebus, generibus, _filiabus_,
_nepotibus_, _ramis_, circumstantiis," &c.

Were these expressions merely jocular, or have any papal canonists or casuists given the title of _filiæ_, _nepotes_ or _rami_ to offences deducible from the same root?

H. W.

150. _Linteamina and Surplices._--What is the meaning of _linteamina_ to be met with in the writings of ecclesiologists of a past age, and in the canonists?

At what date did the surplice first become an ecclesiastical vestment, and what are the differences discernible in the surplices of the Greek, Latin, and English churches?

J. Y.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Ellrake or Hellrake._--Can you kindly give me any information respecting the word _ell-rake_ or _hell-rake_ (for I know not which it is), an agricultural implement in frequent use? It is not alluded to in Todd's _Johnson's Dictionary_, 1818.

VASHTI.

[In Shropshire an _ell-rake_ means a large rake: an _ellock-rake_,
a small rake used for breaking up ant-hills.]

_Francis Clerke._--I have now before me a MS. in small folio on paper, pp. 225., besides index, entitled--

"Pro Curatorium ac Modus postulandi in Curijs et Causis
ecclesiasticis Auct'at'e reverendissimi in Christi patris ac
D[=m]i D[=m]i Johannis providentia Divina Cantuariensis
Archiepiscopi, totius Anglie Prima'ts et Metropolitani Londoni
celebr[=a] que communiter Curie de Arcubus appellantur. Per
Franciscum Clerke, Alme Curie de Arcubus procuren' collecta et
edita."

Who was Francis Clerke; and was this collection ever published, and when?

S. P. H. T.

[Francis Clerke for about forty years practised the civil law in
the Court of Arches, Admiralty, Audience, Prerogative, and
Consistorial of the Bishop of London. In 1594, the Oxford
University conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law.
His principal work, entitled _Praxis curiæ Admiralitatis Angliæ_,
passed through several editions. A short notice of the author will
be found in Wood's _Athenæ_, i. 657. (Bliss), and a list of his
other works in Watt's _Bibliotheca Britannica_.]

_Nine Days' Wonder._--Did any particular circumstance give rise to the saying, "A nine days' wonder?"

W. R. M.

[Most probably Kemp's _Nine Daies Wonder_, performed in a Morrice
Daunce from London to Norwich, wherein euery dayes iourney is
pleasantly set downe, to satisfie his friends the truth against
all lying ballad-makers; what he did, how he was welcome, and by
whome entertained.--This very curious tract has been reprinted by
the Camden Society.]

_Streso._--In a book by Cradock on the Lives of the Apostles, published in 1641, I find many extracts and quotations in Latin from Streso in _Pref. de Vit. Apostolorum_. As I cannot find out or hear of such an author or book of Streso, could you inform one who he was?

LINCOLNIENSIS.

[The work is in the Bodleian Library: "Streso (Casp.), Anhaltinus,
_Commentarius practicus in Actorum Apostolicorum per Lucam
Evangelistam descriptorum capita priora sedecim_. 4to. Amst.
1650." The same library contains five other works by this author.]

_The Willow Garland._--In the Third Part of _King Henry VI._ (Act III. Sc. 3.), the Lady Bona sends this message to King Edward, uttered, as the messenger afterwards reports to him, "with mild disdain:"

"Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,
I'll wear the willow garland for his sake."

As I find no note upon the willow garland in any edition of Shakspeare to which I have access, I should be obliged by having its meaning explained in your columns.

ARUN.

[The willow is considered as the emblem of despairing love, and is
often associated with the yew and the cypress in the churchyard:
hence, a garland made of the boughs of the willow was said to be
worn by forlorn lovers. In _Much Ado about Nothing_, Act II. Sc.
1., Benedick says,--"I offered him my company to a willow-tree,
either to make him a garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him up
a rod, as being worthy to be whipped."]

_Name of Nun._--Can any of your readers inform me on what principle it is that the name of Nun ([Hebrew]), the father of Joshua, is expressed in the Septuagint by [Greek: nauê]? I cannot help regarding the substitution of [Greek: auê] for [Hebrew] as a very singular circumstance, more especially as it seems impossible to account for it by the conjecture that [Hebrew] had been mistaken by the LXX for any letter that would be likely to be represented in Greek by [Greek: ê]. There are but few proper names in the Hebrew Scriptures that terminate in [Hebrew] and the way in which these are expressed in the Septuagint affords, I believe, no analogy to the above case.

QUIDAM.

Gillingham.

[The explanation usually given, after Gesenius, is that early
copyists mistook [Greek: NAUN] for [Greek: NAUÊ]; and as some MSS.
have [Greek: Nabi] and [Greek: Nabê], it is supposed that later
copyists thought that it was the Hebrew [Hebrew].]

"_M. Lominus, Theologus._"--Is there any printed account of this divine, or of a work on the Pelagian and Manichæan heresies which he published at Ghent in 1675?

S. W. RIX.

Beccles.

[The Bodleian Library contains a work by M. Lominus, entitled,
_Blakloanæ Hæresis Historia et Confutatio_. 4to. Gandavi, 1675.]

Replies.

REMARKS UPON SOME RECENT QUERIES.

1. Without wishing to protract the discussion about _eisell_, let me tell the correspondent who questioned whether wormwood could be an ingredient in any palatable drink, that _crême d'absinthe_ ordinarily appears with noyau, &c. in a Parisian restaurateur's list of luxurious cordials. Whilst that _eisell_ was equivalent to wormwood is confirmed by its being joined with gall, in a page of Queen Elizabeth's book of prayers, which caught my eye in one of those presses in the library of the British Museum, where various literary curiosities are now so judiciously arranged, and laid open for public inspection.

2. As a decisive affirmation of what _rack_ meant, where the word was the derivative of the Saxon pecan, your correspondents may accept the following from our martyr, Frith's, _Revelation of Antichrist_. He renders the second clause of 2 Peter ii. 17., "And racks carried about of a tempest;" and he immediately adds, "Racks are like clouds, but they give no rain."

3. In answer to MR. BREEN'S inquiry where there is any evidence from the writings of Gregory I., that he could be so shameless as to panegyrise that female monster Queen Brunéhaut, he may read some of that Pope's flattering language in his letter addressed to her on behalf of that Augustine whom he sent to England, as contained in Spelman's _Concilia_. Epist. xvii. (_Brunichildæ, Reginæ Francorum_) begins as follows:

"Gratias omnipotenti Deo referimus, qui inter cætera pietatis suæ
dona, quæ excellentiæ vestræ largitus est, _ita vos amore
Christianæ religionis implevit, ut quicquid ad animarum lucrum_,
quicquid ad propagationem fidei pertinere cognoscitis, _devota
mente et pio operari studio_ non cessetis.... Et quidem hæc de
Christianitate vestra mirentur alii, quibus adhuc beneficia vestra
minus sunt cognita; nam nobis, quibus experimentis jam nota sunt,
non mirandum est, sed gaudendum."--Spelm. _Concil._ p. 82.

And in Epist. xi.:

"Excellentia ergo vestra, _quæ prona in bonis consuevit esse
operibus_."--Id. p. 77.

4. The etymology of Fontainebleau (Vol. iv., p. 38.). I can only speak from memory of what was read long ago. But I think that in one of Montfaucon's works, probably _Les Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, he ascribed the origin of that name to the discovery of a spring amongst the sandy rocks of that forest by a hound called _Bleau_, to the great satisfaction of a thirsty French monarch who was then hunting there, and was thereby induced to erect a hunting-seat near the spring.

5. To A. B. C. (Vol. iv., p. 57.), your questionist about the marriage of bishops in the early ages of the Christian church, who has had a reply in p. 125., I would further say, that as we have no biographies describing the domestic life of any Christian bishop earlier than Cyprian, who belonged to the middle of the third century, it is only incidentally that anything appears of the kind which he inquires after. It would be enough for the primitive Christians to know that their scriptures said of _marriage_, that it was _honourable in all;_ though such as were especially exposed to persecution, from their prominence as officers of the church, would also remember the apostle's advice as good for the present distress, 1 Cor. vii. As, however, your correspondent asks what evidence there is that Gregory Nazienzen's father had children after he was raised to the episcopate, this fact is gathered from his own poem, in which he makes his father say to him, "Thy years are not so many as I have passed in sacred duties." For though these sacred duties began with his admission into the priesthood, he was made a bishop so soon afterwards, that his younger son, Cæsarius, must at any rate be held to have been born after the elder Gregory became a bishop.

Curiously enough, however, good evidence appears in the papal law itself, that the marriages of ecclesiastics were not anciently deemed unlawful. In the _Corpus Juris Canonici_, or _Decretum aureum_, D. Gratiani, Distinctio lvi. canon 2., which professes to be a rescript of Pope Damasus (A.D. 366-84), says:

"Theodorus papa filius [fuit] Theodori episcopi de civitate
Hierosolyma, Silverius papa filius Silverii episcopi Romæ--item
Gelasius, natione Afer, ex patre episcopo Valerio natus est. Quam
plures etiam alii inveniuntur: qui de sacerdotibus nati apostolicæ
sedi præfuerunt."

To which Gratian attaches as his own conclusion:

"Hine Augustinus ait, _Vicia parentum_ Filiis non imputentur."

Thereby throwing a slur on the said married bishops. But can. xiii., or Cænomanensem, of the same Distinctio, says:

"Cum ergo ex sacerdotibus nati in summos pontifices supra legantur
esse promoti, non sunt intelligendi de fornicatione, sed de
legitimis conjugiis."

I will only add that Athanasius mentions a Bishop Eupsychius (Primâ contra Arianos) who was martyred in the reign of Julian, and that the historian Sozomen says of him (_Eccl. Hist._, lib. v. ch. 11.), that when he suffered he had but recently married, [Greek: kai hoion eti nymphion onta].

H. WALTER.

DOMINGO LOMELYNE.

(Vol. i., p. 193.)

As it is not to be met with in a regular way, your correspondent may be ignorant that Domingo Lomelyne was progenitor of the _extinct baronets_ LUMLEY, his descendants having softened or corrupted his name into an identity with that of the great northern race of the latter name. They, however, retained different coat-armour in the senior line, bearing in common with many other English families of Italian, Champaigne, and generally trans-Norman origin, "a chief." Guido de St. Leodigaro and one Lucarnalsus are the earliest heroes to whom I find it assigned; but Stephen, son of the Odo, Earl of _Champaigne_ (whence Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle), also brought it to England at a very early period; and thence from the Holderness annex of de Fortibus (in spite of the allegations in Wott. _Bar._, i. 189.), Worsley perhaps copied it. The old Lumley or Lomelyne accounts connect it with the city of _Naples_. Your correspondent will find that Domingo Lomelyne was a _Genoese_, and of the _bedchamber_ to Henry VIII.; that he maintained at his own cost, and commanded, a troop of horse at Boulogne in the same reign, and had a pension of 200_l._ per annum from Queen Elizabeth in 1560. If any of your corespondents can give me the junior ramifications of this family diverging from the son and grandson of Domingo, I shall feel much obliged, provided that James Lumley, living 1725, who married Catherine Hodilow, can be satisfactorily linked with James, the son of Domingo. James and Martin were the family names, and the family was settled in London and Essex.

WM. D'OYLY BAYLEY.

PETTY CURY.

(Vol. iv., pp. 24. 120.)

Having noticed in a recent number some rather various derivations of the name "Petty Cury," which one of the streets in Cambridge bears, I have been led to examine the word "Cury," and think that a meaning may be given to it, preferable to any of the three mentioned in your paper. The three to which I refer connect the word with "cook-shops," "stables," or some kind of a court-house ("curia"). The arguments brought forward in their favour either arise from the similarity of the words (as "Cury" and "écurie"), or from the probability that either cook-shops, stables, or a court-house existed in the vicinity of the street, whence it might derive its name. With regard to the name "Cury" being derived from the cook-shops in the streets, this seems to have little to do with the question; for supposing there are some half dozen such shops there (which I do not know to be the case), it proves little as to what was the number three or four centuries ago. Secondly, "Cury" derived from "écurie:" this seems unsatisfactory, for, as nothing whatever is known about our former fellows' horses, the argument in its favour simply consists in "Cury" being similar to "écurie." The third derivation is, that "Cury" is taken from "curia," a senate or court-house. This falls to the ground from the considerations, that if it were derived from it we might expect the name to be Parva Cury and not Petty Cury; and if it be derived from it, it implies that there was some larger court existing at that time, in contradistinction to which this was called "Parva Curia." But no larger one (as the advocate of the derivation allows) did exist, so that this derivation meets the fate of the former ones.

The most probable derivation of the word is from the French "curie," a _ward_ or _district_, which certainly possesses this advantage over the three former ones, that the word is exactly the same as that of the street. The arguments in its favour are these:--In referring to a map of Cambridge dated A.D. 1574, I find the town divided into _wards_, with different names attached to them. These wards are all larger than "Petty Cury:" in the same map the name is spelt "_Peti Curie_" (_i.e._ small ward), both words being French or Norman ones, and the word "peti" being applied to it from its being smaller than any of the other wards. In former times it was not unusual to give French names to the wards and streets of a town, as may be seen any day in London, or even in Liverpool, which is comparatively a modern place. Thus the word from which I propose to derive the name "Cury" being the very same, and not requiring us to form any vague suppositions either about cook-shops, stables, or court-houses, I conclude, may be considered preferable to the three before mentioned.

W. F. R.

Trinity College, Sept. 1. 1851.

THE DAUPHIN.

(Vol. iv., p. 149.)

The communication of your correspondent ÆGROTUS respecting the claims of an individual to be the Dauphin of France and Duke of Normandy, brought to my recollection pretensions of a similar nature made by a person who, about twenty years ago, was resident in London; and was a teacher of music, as I was informed. This person introduced himself to me, in a French house of business, as the genuine Dauphin of France, the second son of Louis XVI. In justice to the _soi-disant_ Dauphin, I should state that he did not bring forward his claims abruptly, but in the course of a conversation held in his presence, relating to the claims of another pretender to the same honours. The communicator of this important intelligence of a new rival to the contested diadem, urged his claims with so much plausibility, and pressed me so earnestly to pay him a visit--seeing that I listened to his impassioned statement with decorous patience and real interest--in order that he might explain the matter more fully and at leisure--that I went to his house in the New Road, where I saw him more than once. He told me that the woman, who had all her life passed as his mother, informed him on her death-bed that he was the Duke of Normandy, and had been confided to her charge and care; and that she was told to make her escape with him by his true mother, Marie Antoinette, when that unfortunate queen eluded the murderous pursuit of her assailants in the furious attack made on the Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792. So impressed was I by the earnestness of the narrator, and the air of truth thrown around his story--knowing also that some doubts had been started as to the death of the Dauphin in the Temple--that I offered, being then about to visit Edinburgh, which was at that time the residence of the exiled monarch Charles X. and his ill-starred family, to be the bearer to them of any memorial or other document, which the claimant to the rights of Dauphin might wish to submit to that illustrious body. A statement was accordingly drawn up, and sent by me when in Edinburgh, not to Charles X., but to her royal highness the Duchess of Angoulême; who immediately replied, requesting an interview on my part with one of the noblemen or gentlemen of her household, whom I met; and was informed by him from her royal highness, that such communications exceedingly distressed her, in recalling a past dreadful period of her life; for that there was no truth in them, and that her brother, the Duke of Normandy, died in the Temple. With deep and sincere protestations of regret at having been the cause of pain to her royal highness, and made the unconscious dupe of either a knave or a fool, instead of bringing forward an illustrious unknown to his due place in history, I took my leave; and think this account ought to scatter for ever to the winds all tales, _in esse_ or _posse_, of pretended Dauphins of France and Dukes of Normandy.

I should mention, that in my interview with the _soi-disant_ Dauphin, he showed me various portraits of Louis XVI., and then bade me look at his own features, in every attitude and form, and say if the likeness was not most striking and remarkable. I could not deny it; and in truth was so impressed with his whole account, that I began to look upon the humble individual before me with something of the reverence due to majesty, shorn of its glories.

J. M.

P.S.--I now recollect that the name of this pretended Dauphin was Mevis, and that he was said to have been seen in Regent Street by a friend of mine about five years ago; and may, for aught I know, be still living.

Oxford, Sept. 2.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Visiting Cards_ (Vol. iv., p. 133.).--In answer to your 87th Query, it may serve in part to help to show "when visiting cards first came into use," by informing you that about six or eight years ago a house in Dean Street, Soho, was repaired (I think No. 79.), where Allison and Co., the pianoforte makers, now of the Quadrant, formerly resided; and, on removing a marble chimney-piece in the front drawing-room, four or five visiting cards were found, one with the name of "Isaac Newton" on it. The names were all _written_ on the back of common playing cards; and it is not improbable that one or more may still be in the possession of Mr. Allison, 65. Quadrant. The house in Dean Street was the residence of either Hogarth or his father-in-law.

A. MITE.

_Sardonic Smiles_ (Vol. iv., p. 18.).--I beg to refer such of your readers as take an interest in the discussion of "Sardonic Smiles" to a treatise or memoir on the subject, by a learned scholar and antiquary in the St. Petersburgh Transactions for 1851. The title of the memoir is as follows: _Die Talos-Sage und das Sardonische Lachen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Griechischer Sage und Kunst, von Ludwig Mercklin._ The memoir is also printed separately, from the _Mémoires des Savants Etrangers_.

J. M.

Oxford, August 4.

_Darby and Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--As no one has answered your correspondent by referring him to a copy of this ballad, I have great pleasure in calling his attention to _A Collection of Songs, Moral, Sentimental, Instructive, and Amusing_, 4to. Cambridge, 1805. At p. 152. of this volume, the "pleasant old ditty" of "Darby and Joan" is given at length, accompanied with the music. The editor, the Rev. James Plumptre, M.A., tells us that it is "attributed to Matthew Prior." As this book is somewhat difficult to procure, your correspondent is welcome to the loan of my copy.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Marriage of Bishops_ (Vol. iv., pp. 57. 125.).--In reference to the inquiry of your correspondent A. B. C., for any instances of bishops and priests who, during the first three centuries, were married after ordination, I may suggest that the Council of Nice in 325 declared it to be then "_an ancient tradition_ of the Church that they who were unmarried when promoted to holy orders should not afterwards marry."--Socrates, _Hist. Eccl._, lib. i. cap. ii.; Sozomen, _Hist. Eccl._, lib. i. c. xxiii.

May not the proper translation in the text which he quotes, 1 Cor. ix. 5., be "woman," instead of "wife;" and might not the passage be more accurately rendered by the expression "sister-woman?" Clemens Alexandrinus says (_Stromat._, lib. iii. edit. Poterii, Venet. 1757, tom. i. p. 526.): "Not as wives but as sisters did the women go round with the apostles:" and see also Matt. xxvii. 55., Mark xv. 41., and Luke viii. 3.

DORFSNAIG.

_Winifreda_ (Vol. iii., p. 27.).--LORD BRAYBROOKE has furnished your readers with a very curious list of the various printed forms in which, at different times, this popular song has been given to the world; but he has omitted one which I think ought to be placed on record. I allude to a copy contained in the third number of _The Foundling Hospital for Wit_, a rare miscellany of "curious pieces," printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's, 8vo. 1746 (p. 23.). This work was printed in numbers, at intervals, the first bearing date 1743; and the sixth, and last, 1749. My copy is particularly interesting as having the blank names filled up in a cotemporary hand, and the authors' names, in many cases, added. The song of _Winifreda_ is assigned to "Mr. G. A. Stevens;" so that, after all, the Edinburgh reviewer may have confounded _George_ Steevens, the "commentator," with his earlier and equally facetious namesake, _George Alexander_.

George Alexander Stevens was born (if a MS. obituary in my possession may be relied on) "in the parish of St. Andrew's Holborn, 1710." He died (according to the _Biographia Dramatica_) "at Baldock in Hertfordshire, Sept. 6, 1784."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_George Chalmers_ (Vol. iv., 58.).--The printed books and MSS. of the late George Chalmers were disposed of by auction in 1841 and 1842 by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall. The particular MS. inquired after by J. O. occurs in the third part of the printed sale catalogue, and is numbered 1891. It is thus described by Mr. Evans:

"CHALMERS'S BIBLIOGRAPHIA SCOTICA POETICA, or NOTICES OF SCOTTISH
POETS AND THEIR WORKS, from 1286 to 1806, 4 vols. Chalmers's
_Notices of the Scottish Poetry, Drama, and Songs_, 2 vols.,
together 6 vols.

"[Star symbol] These Volumes contain a great fund of Information,
and furnish very valuable Materials for a History of Scotch
Poetry. They would also be very useful to Collectors."

Lot 1894. is also highly interesting. It is described as--

"RITSON'S BIBLIOGRAPHIA SCOTICA, 2 vols. Unpublished.

"[Star symbol] A very Valuable Account of Scottish Poets and
Historians, drawn up with great care and indefatigable Research by
Ritson. The Work was intended for Publication. These Volumes were
purchased at the sale of Ritson's Library by Messrs. Longman and
Constable for Forty-three Guineas, and presented to George
Chalmers, Esq., who had edited Sir D. Lyndsay's Works for them
gratuitously."

My catalogue of Chalmers's library, unfortunately, has not the prices or purchasers' names; and the firm of the Messrs. Evans being no longer in existence, I have no means of ascertaining the present locality of the above-mentioned MSS.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_The Three Estates of the Realm_ (Vol. iv., p. 115.).--W. FRASER is quite right in repudiating the _cockney_ error of "Queen, Lords, and Commons" forming the "three estates of the realm." The sovereign is _over_ the "realm;" a word which obviously designates the persons _ruled_. W. F. however does not exactly hit the mark when he infers, that "the Lords, the Clergy _in convocation_, and the Commons" are the "three estates." The phrase "assembled in Parliament" has no application to the Convocation; which moreover does not sit at Westminster, and was not exposed to the peril of the gunpowder plot. The three estates of the realm are the three orders (_états_) into which all natural-born subjects are legally divided: viz. the _clergy_, the _nobility_, and the _commonalty_. They are represented "in Parliament" by the "Lords Spiritual," the "Lords Temporal," and the "Commons" (elected by their fellows). The three estates thus meet their sovereign in the "chamber of Parliament" at the opening of every session; and there it was that the plot was laid for their destruction.

W. F. is no doubt aware that originally they all _deliberated_ also together, and in the presence of the sovereign or his commissioners: and though, for the freedom of discussion, the sovereign now withdraws, and the Commons deliberate in a separate chamber (leaving the chamber of Parliament to be used as "the House of Lords," both Spiritual and Temporal), yet to this day they all reassemble for the formal _passing_ of every act; and the authority of all three is recited by their proper names in the preamble.

The first and second estates are not fused into one, simply because they continue to deliberate and vote together as all three did at the first.

The _Convocation_ of the Clergy was altogether a different institution, which never met either the sovereign or the Parliament: but their order was _represented_ in the latter by the prelates. It is another mistake (therefore) to think the Bishops sit in the House of Lords as _Barons_.

CANONICUS EBORACENSIS.

"_You Friend drink to me Friend_" (Vol. iv., p. 59.).--When I was a boy, about sixty-five years ago, Mr. Holder (a surgeon of some eminence at that time) was a frequent visitor at our house, and much amused us by several catches in which (under his instruction) we delighted to join; and among which was--

"_I_ friend, drink to _thee_, friend, as _my_ friend
drank to _me_;
_I_ friend, charge _thee_, friend, as _my_ friend
charg[=e]d _me_;
S[)o] d[)o] _thou_, friend, dr[)i]nk t[)o] _thy_ friend,
as _my_ friend drank to _me_,
For the more we drink liquor the merrier are we."

R. S. S.

56. Fenchurch Street.

_Broad Halfpenny Down_ (Vol. iv., p. 133.).--_Broad halpeny_, or _broad halfpenny_, signifies to be quit of a certain custom exacted for setting up tables or boards in fairs or markets; and those that were freed by the King's charter of this custom, had this word put in their letters-patent: by reason whereof, the freedom itself (for brevity of speech) is called _broad halfpenny_. (_Les Termes de la Ley._) Hence the origin of "Broad-halfpenny Down."

FRANCISCUS.

Whence the name I cannot say, but would just note the fact, that sixteen miles from London, on the Brighton railway, is a breezy upland called _Farthing Down_. The country folk deem it a sufficiently famous place, and one told me "that was once London;" meaning, a town stood there before London was built. It is a locality well known to those who hunt with the Croydon pack.

P. M. M.

_Horner Family_ (Vol. iv., p. 131.).--Is it true that the following rhymes apply to one of the Horners of Mells?

"Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said what a good boy am I."

The plum being 100,000_l_. I have been told a long story on the matter by Somersetshire people.

P. M. M.

_The Man of Law_ (Vol. iv., p. 153.).--The lines so felicitously quoted by Mr. Serjeant Byles at a recent trial were thus given in _The Times_:

"The man of law who never saw
The way to buy and sell,
Wishing to rise by merchandise,
Shall never speed him well."

This version is rather nearer the original than that of your correspondent MR. KING, who avowedly writes from memory. The author of the lines was Sir Thomas More. They are thus given in "_A Mery Jest how a Sergeant would learn to play the Freere_. Written by Maister Thomas More in hys youth:"

"A man of lawe that never sawe
The wayes to bye and sell,
Wenyng to ryse by marchaundyse,
I praye God spede hym well!"

My quotation is at second-hand from Warton's _History of English Poetry_, sect. xliii.