Chapter C: T. a

Lyndon Rectory, Uppingham.

_Stone-pillar Worship_ (Vol. v., p. 121.).--The article "Hermae," in Smith's _Antiquities_, throws some light on this subject. The pillar set up as a _witness_ (see Genesis there quoted, and the Classics _passim_)[5] is of course closely connected with the idea of sanctity attached to it. The Laplanders in selecting the _unhewn_ stone "in the form in which it was shaped by the hand of the Creator Himself," seem, to a certain extent, unwittingly to have obeyed a command of the Creator: see Exodus, xx. 25.

[Footnote 5: Is it not as the _witness_ and keeper of Holy Writ
that St. Paul calls the church Στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας?]

A. A. D.

_John of Padua_ (Vol. v., pp. 79. 161.).--I am afraid we are not likely to obtain much additional information about John of Padua. The only account of him which I have ever met with is contained in the Earl of Orford's _Works_ (vol. iii. p. 100. et seqq., edit. 1798). The warrant, dated 1544, is there copied from Rymer's _Foedera_?; and from an expression which it contains, the inference is drawn that "John of Padua was not only an architect, but musician." I am not aware whether or no there is any other authority for such inference, but, if there is not, I submit that the evidence is far from conclusive. The words in the warrant run thus: A fee of two shillings per diem is granted to John, "in consideratione boni et fidelis servitii quod dilectus serviens noster Johannes de Padua nobis in architecture, ac _aliis in re musica inventis_ impendit ac impendere intendit."

Now, Sir, I submit that _res musica_, in this passage, is used in the same sense as the Greek ἡ μουσικὴ for "the fine arts;" and that the passage can have no reference to the art of the musician.

If John of Padua had been a musician, we should most probably meet with his name in some of the accounts of plays and pageants during this reign; and the silence of your correspondents seems to imply that no information concerning him is to be obtained from those sources.

In the absence of further proof, then, I have no hesitation in proposing to the critical readers of "N. & Q.," a resolution that, It is the opinion of this council that there is no sufficient evidence that John of Padua was a musician.

ERICA.

_Modern Greek Names of Places_ (Vol. iv., p. 470.; Vol. v., pp. 14. 209.).--Your correspondent L. H. J. T. says, at p. 209.:--

"That with the utmost deference to SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT, he must
deny that Cos, Athens, or Constantinople have been called by the
Greeks Stanco, Satines, or Stamboul. These corruptions have been
made by Turks, Venetians, and Englishmen."

This mode of expression would imply that the opinion which he corrects was held by me, whereas I have stated (Vol. v., p. 14.), even more explicitly than he, that--

"The barbarism in question is to be charged less upon the modern
Greeks themselves, than upon the European nations, Sclavonians,
Normans, and Venetians, and, later still, the Turks; who seized
upon their country on the dismemberment of the Roman empire. The
Greeks themselves, no doubt, continued to spell their proper names
correctly; but their invaders, ignorant of their orthography, and
even of their letters, were forced to write the names of places in
characters of their own, guided solely by the sound."

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

_Beocherie, alias Parva Hibernia_ (Vol. v., p. 201.).--_Beocera-ig_, i.e. the bee-keeper's island, was one of the small islets adjacent to the larger one, Avallon, whereon the Abbey of Glastonbury stood. Glastonbury was early resorted to by Irish devotees; St. Patrick and St. Bridget necessarily resided there. Concerning _Beocherie_ or _Bekery_, we are told that there "olim sancta Brigida perhendinavit" (MS. Ashmol. 790, quoted in the _Monasticon_, vol. i. p. 22.). This accounts for the name Parva Hibernia. _Beocera-gent_, in charter 652, is the name of some landmark or boundary. There can be little doubt that we should read _beocera-geat_, i.e. bee-keeper's gate, as suggested by Mr. Kemble in the preface to the third vol. of _Codex Dipl._ p. xxvi. The duties and rights of the _beocere_, _beo-ceorl_, or _bocherus_, are described in the "Rectitudines singularum personarum," Thorpe's _Anc. Laws_, vol. i. p. 434.