Chapter I: J. H. H

_Theoloneum._--In an agreement made A.D. 1103, before Henry I., between the Abbott of Fécamp, in Normandy, and Philip de Braiosâ, the Lord of Bramber, mention is made of a "theoloneum, quod injustè recipiebant homines Philippi, de hominibus de Staningis." What is a _theoloneum_?

M. T.

_Sterne in Paris._--I should feel extremely obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to any contemporary notices of Sterne's residence at Paris in 1762. The author of _Tristram Shandy_ must have been somewhat lionized by the Parisian circles, and allusions to his wit probably occur among the many memoirs of the period.

T. STERNBERG.

_King Robert Bruce's Watch._--In Dalyell's _Fragments of Scottish History_, I find the following:--

"The oldest known English watch was made, it is said, in the
sixteenth century. There exists a watch, which, antiquarians
allow, belonged to King Robert Bruce."--_Preface_, p. 3.

Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." give information regarding such an interesting relic of antiquity?

R. S. F.

Perth.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Hornchurch; Wrestling for the Boar's Head._--I have extracted from the _Daily News_ of the 5th instant, the following paragraph, which appears to have been quoted from the _Chelmsford Chronicle_, relative to this custom:--

"By ancient charter or usage in Hornchurch, a boar's head is
wrestled for in a field adjoining the church; a boar, the property
of the parish, having been slaughtered for the purpose. The boar's
head, elevated on a pole, and decorated with ribbons, was brought
into the ring, where the competitors entered and the prize
awarded."

The paragraph goes on further to observe that if the prize be taken by _a champion_ out of the parish, the charter is lost. And I shall be glad to know the origin of the custom, and of the notion of the charter or usage, as it is called, being lost if the prize be taken away as before alluded to. I observe that it is noticed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April, 1828, p. 305.

JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.

[It may be as well to state, as a clue to the discovery of this
ancient custom, that the tithes of Hornchurch belong to New
College, Oxford; the warden and fellows of which society are
ordinaries of the place, and appoint a commissary, who holds an
annual visitation. The lessee of the tithes supplies the boar's
head, dressed and garnished with bay leaves, &c. Several curious
notices are given by Hone in his works of the custom observed at
Christmas at Queen's College, Oxford, of serving up at the first
course at dinner, "a fair and large boreshead upon a silver
platter with minstralsye;" but he has omitted to furnish the
origin of the custom at Hornchurch. Perhaps some Oxonian connected
with New College will favour us with a reply.]

_Spectacles._--In recent numbers of "N. & Q." there have been several allusions to spectacles, and as I am not aware of any clear and satisfactory data relative to the origin or antiquity of this most important auxiliary to the extension and usefulness of that sense upon which the enjoyment and value of life so much depends, I beg to submit the Query, What is the earliest form in which evidence of the existence of this invaluable optical aid to the human eye presents itself?

H.

[Dr. Johnson expressed his surprise that the inventor of
spectacles was regarded with indifference, and has found no
biographer to celebrate his deeds. Most authorities give the
latter part of the thirteenth century as the period of their
invention, and popular opinion has pronounced in favour of
Alexander de Spina, a native of Pisa, who died in the year 1313.
In the Italian Dictionary, _Della Crusca_, under the head of
"Occhiale," or Spectacles, it is stated that Friar Jordan de
Rivalto tells his audience, in a sermon published in 1305, that
"it is not twenty years since the art of making spectacles was
found out, and is indeed one of the best and most necessary
inventions in the world." This would place the invention in the
year 1285. On the other hand, Dominic Maria Manni, an eminent
Italian writer, attributes the invention to Salvino Armati, who
flourished about 1345. (See his Treatise, _Degli Occhiali da Naso,
inventati da Salvino Armati_, 4to. 1738.) On the authority of
various passages in the writings of Friar Bacon, Mr. Molyneux is
of opinion that he was acquainted with the use of spectacles; and
when Bacon (_Opus Majus_) says, that "this instrument (a
plano-convex glass, or large segment of a sphere) is useful to old
men, and to those who have weak eyes; for they may see the
smallest letters sufficiently magnified," we may conclude that the
particular way of assisting decayed sight was known to him. It is
quite certain that they were known and used about the time of his
death, A.D. 1292.]

_Stoke._--What is the meaning of the word _stoke_, with regard to the names of places, as Bishopstoke, Ulverstoke, Stoke-on-Trent, &c.?

W. B.

[Bosworth (_Anglo-Saxon Dict._) derives it from "_stoc_, a place;
hence stoke, a termination of the names of places; locus:--Wude
stoc _sylvarum locus_, Sim. Dunelm. anno 1123."]

_Author of Psalm Tune "Doncaster."_--Our organist is about to add another selection of psalm tunes to the large number already existing. He has been able to assign all the tunes which it comprises to their proper composers, with one exception--the tune called "Doncaster," the author of which he has failed to discover. Will any of your correspondents kindly supply this desideratum?

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

[The well-known tune called "Doncaster" was composed by Dr. Edward
Miller, for fifty-one years organist of Doncaster Church, but
better known as the author of _The History and Antiquities of
Doncaster_. See his _Collection of Psalm Tunes for the Use of
Parish Churches_, 4to. 1790, pp. 32. 46. 106.]

_Dr. Henry Sacheverell._--Can any of your correspondents refer me to a copy of the Assize Sermon preached at Derby by Dr. Sacheverell, and which formed part of the charge against him?

L. J.

[We can favour L. J. with the loan of a copy of this sermon for a
week or two. It shall be left for him at our publisher's.]

Replies.

MEANING AND ORIGIN OF ERA.

(Vol. iv., pp. 383. 454.)

It would greatly assist the elucidation of this word, if the earliest instances extant of its use, in a chronological sense, could be ascertained.

The dictionary of Facciolatus goes no further back than Isidorus the younger, at the end of the sixth century; who perhaps was the first who gave to era the meaning of a cursus of years: before his time, as well as afterwards, it is certain that era was a synonyme of annus.

In recording dates, the Spanish account made no use of _annus_ either expressed or understood--_era_ was an independent word, having numerals in concord with itself: thus it was prima era, secunda era, tertia era, &c. Spelman therefore had sufficient reason to contend that the origin of _era_ might be Gothic and not Roman, and that it is but a variation of our own word _year_. He says that Isidorus, when dating from the Roman epoch, used the Roman word, but that when dating from the Gothic epoch, he conformed to the idiom of the Goths, "apud quos," he adds, "eram annum significasse ex eo liqueat, quod prisci Saxones (quibus magna Gothis sermonis affinitas) annum '{Ȝear}' dicebant--Angli hodie 'year'--Belgi 'iaer.'"

The absence of the diphthong in era is attributed by Facciolatus to the barbarism of the age; but it is at least equally probable that the diphthong never did really belong to era, but that its claim to it originated in the fanciful derivation from æs, as imagined by Isidorus--or rather from es, as he would spell it, the real corruption being in the latter word: thus, when the diphthong was restored to æs, it would, as a matter of course, be also applied to its supposed affinitive.

The Spaniards, who have the best right to the word, have never adopted the diphthong. With them it is still era, and Scaliger asserts that there is not in all Spain a single inscription in which the diphthong is recognised. Alluding to Sepulveda, he says,--

"Mirum mihi visum hominem doctissimum ac præterea Hispanum, cum
tot monimenta extent in Hispania in quibus hujus rei memoria
sculpta est, ne unum vidisse--In illis, ut diximus, nunquam æra,
semper era, scriptum est."

The practical institution of the Spanish, or era account, was probably, like the Dionysian, long subsequent to its nominal commencement; so that an enquiry into its earliest known record would possess the additional interest of determining whether such were the case or not.

Censorinus, in his comparative enumeration of the various accounts of years--the Julian--the Augustan--the Olympiad--and the Palilian, makes no mention of the Era, which he would scarcely have omitted, had it been then in existence and of imperial institution. Between his time, therefore, which was towards the middle of the third century, and that of Isidorus, the practice of computation by eras most probably arose.

As for its institution by Cæsar Augustus, which rests on the authority of Isidorus; that suggestion, even if free from anachronism, had probably no better foundation than an accidental similitude in sound, and a wish to compliment the bishop of CÆSARAUGUSTA, to whom the epistle containing it was addressed by him of Hispalis. The latter appears to have dealt largely in conjecture in framing his Origines--as, for example, in hora,--

"Hora enim finis est temporis sic et oræ, sunt fines maris,
fluminorum, et vestimentorum"--

an analogy which reminds one of the cockney--hedge from edge, because it _edges_ the field.

With respect to the initial-letter method of derivation, of which, in the case of era, there are three or four different versions, something has been already said upon that subject, with reference to the alleged derivation of N. E. W. S. in the first volume of "N. & Q." Scaliger called such suggestions puerile and ridiculous, and doubtless they are little better; his castigation of Sepulveda's version was so complete that it may well serve for its modern imitations.

The original meaning of era has been, like our own word _day_, expanded into a period of indefinite duration; in that sense it is particularly useful as a general denomination for a running account of years. It is an elegant and convenient expression, and its service to chronological and historical language could be ill dispensed with--it has, moreover, the prescription of long usage in its favour.

But a modern and far more indefensible attempt has been made in the opposite extreme, to deprive era of all duration, and to restrict its meaning to that of a mere initial point--such a meaning, already well supplied by the word epoch, is, in the case of era, opposed alike to reason, analogy, usefulness, and usage.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

SINGING OF SWANS.

(Vol. ii., p. 475.)

Amongst the Egyptians, the SWAN was an emblem of music and musicians: _Cygnus_ with the Latins was a common synonym for _poeta_, and we sometimes use the expression ourselves; thus, Shakspeare is called "the _swan_ of Avon."

This bird was sacred to Apollo, as being endued with DIVINATION, "_because, foreseeing his happiness in death, he dies with singing and pleasure_:"

"Cygoni non sine causa Apolini dicati sint, quod ab eo
divinationem habere videantur, qua providentes quid in morte boni
sit, cum cantu et voluptate moriantur."--Tull. _Quæst. Tusc._ 1.
c. 30.

"The dying swan, when years her temples pierce,
In music-strains breathes out her life and verse,
And, chanting her own dirge, tides on her wat'ry hearse."

Phineas Fletcher's, _Purple Island_, Canto I.

Giles Fletcher, in his _Temptation and Victory of Christ_, speaks of--

"The immortal swan that did her life deplore."

An American poet has the following beautiful lines:

"'What is that, mother?'
'The swan, my love;
He is floating down from his native grove,
No lov'd one now, no nestling nigh:
He is floating down by himself to die.
Death darkens his eyes, and unplumes his wings,
Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings:
Live so, my love, that when death shall come,
Swan-like and sweet it may waft thee home.'"

G. W. Doane.[7]

[Footnote 7: I am not sure whether this gentleman be the American
Bishop of New Jersey, or a namesake only.]

Tennyson, with all that luxury of dreariness, sadness, and weariness, which characterises his masterpieces, has also sung of "The Dying Swan." I subjoin an extract, wishing your limits would admit of the entire:

"The plain was grassy, wild and bare,
Wide, wild, and open to the air,
Which had built up everywhere
An under-roof of doleful gray.
With an inner voice the river ran,
Adown it floated a dying swan,
Which loudly did lament.
It was the middle of the day.
Ever the weary wind went on,
And took the reed-tops as it went.

* * * * *

"The wild swan's death-hymn took the soul
Of that waste place with joy
Hidden in sorrow: at first to the ear
The warble was low, and full, and clear:
And floating about the under-sky,
Prevailing in weakness, the coronach stole
Sometimes afar, and sometimes anear:
But anon her awful _jubilant_ voice,
With a music strange and manifold
Flow'd forth on a carol free and bold."

So much for the melody of the _dying_ swan. That of the _living_ swan also requires consideration. Mr. Nicol, in his valuable _Iceland, Greenland, &c._, thus describes the _Cygnus musicus_ which frequents the lakes and rivers of Iceland:

"The largest and noblest of this class [the natatorial] is
undoubtedly THE WILD OR WHISTLING SWAN, with pure white plumage,
slightly tinged on the head with orange-yellow. This majestic bird
is five feet long, and, with extended wings, eight broad. It is
rarely seen in Greenland, and appears merely to rest in Faroe, on
its journeys to and from Iceland in the spring and autumn. Some of
them, however, remain all the winter in the latter, AND DURING THE
LONG DARK NIGHTS THEIR WILD SONG IS OFTEN HEARD as they are
passing in troops from one place to another. It appears to be a
kind of signal or watchword to prevent the dispersion of the
party, and is described as remarkably pleasant, RESEMBLING THE
TONES OF A VIOLIN, THOUGH SOMEWHAT HIGHER, each note occurring
after a distinct interval. THIS MUSIC IS SAID TO PRESAGE A THAW,
and hence the Icelanders are well pleased when, in long-continued
frosts, it breaks their repose."

He adds in a note, "The account of the MIDNIGHT SONG OF THE SWAN is from Olafsen, who says it 'das allerangenehmste zu hören ist,' is very delightful to hear."

Henderson says of the river Nordura in Iceland, near its confluence with the Hrita:

"The bleakness of the surrounding rocks was greatly enlivened by
the number of SWANS that were swimming and SINGING MELODIOUSLY in
the river."--_Iceland_, 2nd ed. p. 277.

In the Edda we find Njörd, god of the winds and waves, when he came back to the mountains to please his wife, thus singing:

"How do I hate the abode of the mountains! There one hears nothing
but the howling of wolves, instead of the SWEET SINGING OF THE
SWANS who dwell on the sea-shores."

Waterton gives an account of the last moments of a favourite swan which he watched, in hopes of catching "some plaintive sound or other, some soft inflection of the voice," but was "disappointed."

GERONIMO.

QUEEN BRUNEHILDA. (Vol. v., p. 40.) [8]

I am glad that C. B. has questioned the propriety of the epithet "female monster," which some of your correspondents have applied to Queen Brunehilda. Knowing how the passion and prejudice that characterise party spirit have under our own observation been able to distort facts and blacken characters, we should receive with the greater caution the statements of those who, if they were free, which is hardly possible, from a strong bias, lived in an age when exact information was hardly possible to obtain, and when the most odious calumnies could defy refutation. From the success with which Brunehilda maintained the sovereignty of her husband's kingdom through a long life, I should conclude that she was a woman of great abilities as well as energy; and the terms in which Gregory the Great addresses her, tend to confirm this opinion. And in reference to this it seems somewhat surprising that it should not have struck those who first raised this question, that the evidence of the "wise and virtuous pontiff" was at least as good as that of the historian who might be neither wise nor virtuous. Gregory is surely as powerful to raise Brunehilda, as Brunehilda to pull down Gregory. But the plain fact is, that there is a tendency to be hyperbolical in our estimation of crowned heads; in all probability, if one was no monster the other was no saint.

The circumstances in favour of the more favourable view of Brunehilda's character, are sufficiently well attested. That she was the superior in every respect to Fredegunda probably she felt herself, and as probably the latter was made to feel. Gregory of Tours was not merely struck by the beauty of her person and her engaging manner, but he has also remarked upon her good sense and her agreeable conversation. Sisterly affection appears in the first instance to have precipitated her into a conflict that ended but with her life. Her sister's murder was followed by those of Sigebert and Merowig; and it is not a little remarkable that though it is not doubted who was the instigator of these crimes, the name of "monster" is never applied to Fredegunda, but reserved for the familiar appellation of her victim. When we consider how generally vague are the charges against Brunehilda, and, regarding what is otherwise known of her, how improbable, I think some suspicion of an undue leaning on the part of the Frankish historians will not be altogether misplaced. My own opinion is that she was one of those remarkable women who from time to time astonish the world; one, whom for her superior knowledge and acquirements, the rumour of a rude age gifted with supernatural powers. And I am farther inclined to think that in the course of time the characters reported of her from opposite sources became finally so antagonistic, that they came to be considered as those of two distinct persons; and with a reference to the eternal enmity between Fredegunda and herself, she became more world-wide famous than has been hitherto supposed, as both the Criemhilda and Brunehilda of the _Nibelungen Noth_. Many circumstances may be brought forward to support this latter view.

[Footnote 8: Why do your correspondents adopt the barbarous French corrupted form of this name, "Brunéhaut?"]

SAMUEL HICKSON.

St. John's Wood.

COVERDALE'S BIBLE.

(Vol. v., p. 59.)

The answer of our friend MR. OFFOR to the inquiry of your correspondent H. H. H. V., Vol. v., p. 59., would have required no remarks but for the paragraph which follows his description of the copies of Coverdale's Bible in his valuable collection. That paragraph was as follows:--

"The introduction of the words _from the Douche and Latyn_ has
never been accounted for; they probably were inserted by the
German printer to make the volume more popular, so as to interest
reformers by the German of Luther, and Romanists by the Vulgate
Latin. The translation is certainly from the Hebrew and Greek,
compared with Luther's and the Vulgate."

If MR. OFFOR will look at "the Prologue to the Translation of the Bible--Myles Coverdale unto the Christian Reader," in that copy of his, which he describes with the delight of an amateur of rare editions as having "several uncut leaves," he may read in its first page, how Coverdale confesses, with that humility which especially adorned his character, that "his insufficiency in the tongues" made him loath to undertake the task. He then touchingly alludes to Tyndale's adversity, suppressing his name, while he speaks of his "ripe knowledge," and laments the hindrances to his completing the translation of the Scriptures. But "to help me herein," he proceeds, "I have had sundry translations, not only in Latin, but also of the Dutch [_i.e._ German] interpreters, whom because of their singular gifts and special diligence in the Bible, I have been the more glad to follow for the most part, according as I was required." And again he says, "Lowly and faithfully have I followed mine interpreters."

My attention was drawn to this subject nearly thirty years ago by the strange inaccuracies in Bishop Marsh's account of the sources of our authorised version; in which he had assumed that Tyndale could not translate from the Hebrew, which there is the clearest evidence that he knew well; and that he therefore translated from the German, of which language it is almost equally certain that he was ignorant.

I saw, on the other hand, that Coverdale honestly confessed that his own translation was a secondary one, from the German and the Vulgate. He named the language, but not the translator, Luther, for the same reason that in two references to Tyndale's ability he desisted from naming him, viz., that his translation was to be dedicated to Henry VIII., who hated both their names.

To test the different sources from which Tyndale and Coverdale formed their respective translations, nothing more is necessary than to open any chapter in the Hebrew and German Bibles; and whilst the translators from either will of course be found to agree in the broad meaning of any verse, there will be delicate distinctions in rendering idiomatic forms of speech, which will be decisive of the question. Having preserved my collation of some verses in Genesis xli., I find the following:

Ver. 1. First word, יִהְיַו, literally, _And it was_. An introductory expression fairly represented by the Greek Εγενετο δε. Tyndale, _And it fortuned_. Luther and the Vulgate have omitted it, and therefore so has Coverdale.

הֵּנִהְו, lit. _And behold_; Luther, {Wie}; Coverdale, _How that_.

ראיה-לע, LXX, Επι του ποταμου; Tyndale, _By a river's side_; Luther, {Am Wasser}; Coverdale, _By a water side_. Here the Greek preserves the emphatic article ה, which pointed to the Nile; the Latin necessarily lose it, Tyndale neglects it, Coverdale copies Luther's vague expression. Our authorised version has correctly, _By the river_.

Ver. 2. תלע ראיה-ןמ, literally, _Out of the river ascending_; LXX, Εκ του ποταμου ανεβαινον; Vulg., _De quo ascendebant_; Luther, {Aus dem Wasser steigen}; Coverdale, _Out of the water there came_; Tyndale, _There came out of the river_.

Ver. 3. הנדמעתו, Tyn Tyndale, _And stode_, which is quite literal; Vulg., _Et pascebantur_; Luther, {Und traten}; Coverdale, _And went_.

Ver. 7. םולח הנהו, lit. _And behold a dream_; Vulg., _Post quietem_; Tyndale, _And see, here is his dream_; Luther, {Und merckte daß es ein Traum war}; Coverdale, _And saw that it was a dream_.

Such instances might be multiplied to any extent. Their effect upon my mind was to convince me that Coverdale did not even know the Hebrew letters when he published his version of the Bible. In fact, the Jews being then expelled from England, and the only Hebrew Lexicon, that of Xantes Pagninus, having probably not arrived here, it was scarcely possible for an Englishman to master the Hebrew tongue, without going abroad to obtain access to learned Jews, as Tyndale did, and as Coverdale himself did after the appearance of his Bible; and then, as I think Mr. Pearson has afforded some evidence, he may have become acquainted with Hebrew.

If H. H. H. V. desires to know more of Coverdale, he can find all that late researches have been able to discover in the first volume of Mr C. Anderson's _Annals of the English Bible_, and in the biographical notice of Coverdale prefixed to the Parker Society's edition of his _Remains_, by the Rev. G. Pearson. But when that gentleman describes Coverdale's portion of Matthew's Bible, and says that the book of Jonah is of Tyndale's version, he has made a mistake. Perhaps I may be allowed to say, that the question, whether Tyndale put forth any version of Jonah, is _adhuc sub judice_. At any rate, I can say, from collation, that the Jonah in Matthew's Bible is identical with that which Coverdale put forth in his own version.

The account of our early versions in Macknight's _Introduction to the Epistles_ is very erroneous; and that prefixed to D'Oyley and Mant's Bible, published by the Christian Knowledge Society, is far from being correct.

HENRY WALTER.

SERJEANTS' RINGS AND MOTTOES.

(Vol. v., pp. 59. 92.)

For much curious information upon these subjects, I would refer your correspondents to a rather scarce and privately printed tract or volume, entitled _Observations touching the Antiquity and Dignity of Serjeant-at-Law_, 1765. I am not sure that it was not subsequently reprinted and published. The author was Mr. Serjeant Wynne. He says:

"The first introduction of rings themselves on this occasion (of
making serjeants) is as doubtful as that of mottoes. They are
taken notice of by Fortescue in the time of Hen. VI., and in the
several regulations for general calls in Hen. VIII. and Queen
Elizabeth's time. The antiquity of them, therefore, though not to
be strictly ascertained, yet being thus far indisputable, makes
Sir H. Spelman's account rather extraordinary (see _Gloss._ tit.
_Serv. ad Legem_); but whatever is the antiquity of these rings,
that of mottoes seems to fall short of them at least a century.
That in the 19 & 20 Eliz. (1576-77) may perhaps be the first;
because, till that time, they are nowhere mentioned.

"When Dugdale speaks (p. 136.) of the posies 'that were usual,' he
must be understood to speak of the usage of his own time."

The motto which Serj. Wynne notices as of the earliest occurrence in 19 & 20 Eliz., was _Lex regis præsidium_. The earliest of subsequent date appear to be as follow:

13 Car. II. _Adest Carolus Magnus._

2 Jac. II. _Deus, rex, lex_, (at the call of Christopher Milton, the poet's brother, John Powell, and others).

3 Jac. II. _Rege lege._

1 Wm. & Mary. _Veniendo restituit rem._

12 Wm. _Imperium et libertas._

2 Anne. _Deo et regina._

5 Anne. _Moribus, armis, legibus._

9 Anne. _Unit et imperat._

1 Geo. _Plus quam speravimus._

10 Geo. _Salvâ libertate potens._

20 & 21 Geo. II. _Mens bona, fama, fides._

Serjeant Wynne brings his list of the Serjeants called down to the year 1765, and gives in most cases the mottoes, which were not confined, it would seem, to individuals, but adopted by the whole call. He remarks, that in late years they have been strictly classical in their phrase and often elegant in their application,--whether in expressing the just idea of regal liberty--in a wish for the preservation of the family--or in a happy allusion to some public event, and, at the same time, a kind of prophetic declaration of its success. At p. 117. will be found an account of the expense and weight of the rings, which, upon the occasion referred to, were 1,409 in number, and the expense 773_l._ I will not occupy further space, but refer your correspondents to the work of Serjeant Wynne.

G.

The custom of Serjeants-at-law presenting rings on their creation was used in (and probably before) the reign of Henry VI. (See _Fortescue De Laudibus Legum Angliæ_, cap. 50,; and see instances and particulars in the reigns at Henry VIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, and Elizabeth in Dugdale's _Origines Juridiciales_, 2nd edit., pp. 116. 118. 122. 123. 124. 130.) Mottoes were used as early as 1606, but I am not prepared to say they originated at that period, though I do not observe any mention of them in Dugdale's accounts of the ceremonies at the creation of Serjeants of an earlier date. The following mottoes may interest some of your readers:

Sir Edward Coke, 1606. _Lex est tutissima cassis._

Sir John Walter and Sir Thomas Trevor, 1625. _Regi legi servire
libertas._

Sir Henry Yelverton, 1625. _Stat lege corona._

Sir Robert Berkeley, 1627. _Lege Deus et rex._

Robert Callis, 1627. _Regis oracula legis._

Sir George Vernon, 1627. _Rex legis regnique patronus._

Sir James Weston, 1631. _Servus regi serviens legi._

Sir Robert Heath, 1631. _Lex regis vis regis._

Sir George Jeffreys, 1680. _A Deo rex a rege lex._

Sir Michael Foster, 1736. _Nunquam libertas gratior._

Sir William Blackstone, 1770. _Secundis dubiisque rectus._

Sir Alexander Thomson, 1787. _Reverentia legum._

William Cockell, 1787. _Stat lege corona._

On Serjeant Cockell's call, "in consequence of a late regulation no rings were given to the judges, the bar, or to the attornies."

Some of the older, and most of the modern, law reporters, mention the mottoes on the rings given by the serjeants.