rington; Lady Pool at Hale, Garston Pool, Ot- F. M. S. a medal with fourteen clasps? Or what is the greatest number of clasps that anyone could be entitled to ? DON. WULFRUNA.-Who was Wulfruna? Three of your correspondents (4th S. vi. 536) name her as the sister of three different Saxon kings, and give two dates, twenty-six years apart, for the foundation of her monastery. Wulfruna, wife of Earl Aldhelm, must have been Edgar's sister, if her foundation were in 970; for had she been the sister of Ethelred II., her age in that year would have been six years at the utmost. She appears to have been the only daughter of Edmund 1. and Elgiva, and the sister of Edwy and Edgar. The sister of Egbert would in 996 have attained the venerable age of 200 years. HIERMENTRUDE. YORKSHIRE PRAYER-BOOK.-A friend of mine THE PRINT OF "GUIDO'S AURORA."-Can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the lines which appear at the bottom of the wellknown print of "Guido's Aurora." I have inquired in vain of anyone whom I know; and the subject is so celebrated, and the lines themselves Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual I find :are so accurately descriptive of it, and so poetical, that I venture to think that an answer to my query may gratify others beside myself. It is a question of some interest, whether the lines were written for the picture, or the picture was composed after the lines: has an old will, in which occurs the passage :— "I leave the sum of sixpence to , to buy a Yorkshire Prayer-book, therewith to quiet his conscience, if indeed he have any conscience." What was the Yorkshire Prayer-book? In THE PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK AND LATIN. Will some of the ripe scholars who write in "N. & Q." settle this matter for us? Skiliket and O kives! sound rather awful; and must we really accept Kikero? Mr. Blakiston of Rugby, writing to the Globe, asserts that the Latin v "was always equivalent to our w, or oo"; so that vinum was pronounced "weenum," and via "weea." Another correspondent asks how we would pronounce "vivida vis animi," or the following well-known verse : "Neu patriæ validas in viscera vertite vires." : "Book of Common Prayer, Sheffield, 1765, 4to, with an Exposition, being a few foot-notes to evade the law." Is this the Prayer-book referred to, and has it any further peculiarities? M. D. Replies. THE BLOCK BOOKS. (4th S. ii. 313, 361, 385, 421, 447.) This interesting subject having been revived in connection with my name in the Art Journal of November, and in the Builder of the 19th ult., I venture to resume it after a lapse of two years, during which it has been impossible I could attend to it with that care its importance demands If however, by your indulgence, I am now per-. mitted to continue it in N. & Q.," I shall be prepared to do so as long as may be necessary for a complete elucidation of the numerous questions which yet remain to be solved. One of the most mischievous features connected with the "History of Early Printing and Engraving" has been the system adopted by authors Vivida would clearly become "Oui oui-dà!" A of indulging in "general possibilities," and aftergreat number of those who love the Latin writers wards dealing with them as "admitted truths." without pretending to scholarship would be thank-The extent to which this pernicious practice has ful for an authoritative guidance in this matter. been carried is indeed alniost inconceivable. MAKROCHEIR. An instance of it may be readily found in Mr. H. Noel Humphrey's work entitled A History of the Art of Printing. London, 1868: where, in pp. 30, 31, the following crowd of imaginary theories VON SAVIGNY'S "TREATISE ON OBLIGATIONS." Is there any English translation of this work? Where could I find an analysis, review, or notices generally of the work in either French or Eng-occurs:lish ? T. A. M. WAR MEDALS.-The late Lord Hotham had a war medal with four clasps. Could anyone have "It is highly probable fairly attributed to"-"It is bable"-"There is yet some "which may be more than proreason to sup pose "-"It is evident from "-"which had probably for"-" which could only be obtained by " we may presume "These last may however" "which latter were possibly appears highly probable "It is therefore possible may have been brought "-" The knowledge may have spread "-"may however have been "-" may have been turned"-" may possibly have never been," &c., &c. 66 As the result of these "possibilities," several startling but positive statements appear in the same two pages, unqualified by doubt of any kind, and authoritatively announced as facts to be relied on, and to be accepted as such by the reader. Ex. gr.: "Engraving on wood had however been used in Europe, in a crude form, long before the time of the Polos." "It is known that images of saints were produced by similar means as early as the ninth century." "The art of printing patterns on stuffs, by means of engraved tablets of wood or metal, was in use in Europe in the twelfth century." These declarations only equal in boldness that of MONS. J. PH. BERJEAU (in "N. & Q.," Oct. 31, 1868, p. 421), who therein affirmed that "thousands of such images of saints [viz., like the "St. Christopher" called of "1423"] were printed before the invention of typography, and distributed for cash at the doors of the convents"-an assertion, I venture to state, as reckless and unfounded as ever escaped the pen of the most careless writer. Being an utter disbeliever in any theories which need so many flights of fancy to maintain them, I at once declare my preference for the region of "Fact," and therefore call upon Messrs. H. Noel Humphreys and J. Ph. Berjeau for the authorities on which their surmises are hazarded. If they are forthcoming, well and good; their true value can then be properly estimated; but, in any other event, the interest of art demands they should be swept away as mischievous "Will o' the Wisps" -mere decoys-to mislead the unwary. Notwithstanding the credit deservedly attached to the well-known name of "Weigel of Leipsig," as one of the "oracles in connection with "Early Engraving and the Block Books," I venture, at the risk of being roundly abused for my temerity, to positively deny the power of Mr. Weigel to produce a single engraving of the twelfth century, to which period he attributes a portion of his collection, and I invite him to do So. The truth is (unpalatable as it may be) that all the professors of xylographic art have permitted themselves to be thoroughly deceived by the so-called "St. Christopher of 1423," now in Lord Spencer's collection; and, misled by Heinecken's folly, have blindly wandered into a labyrinth of difficulties from which they cannot now escape. From Heinecken (1771) to H. Noel Humphreys (1868), "1423" has been treated by one and all as the true date of" the St. Christopher," and they have accordingly eagerly seized upon and adopted it as their sheet-anchor-the foundation stone of their building- the compass by which all their theories have been guided, and their "dreams" attempted to be justified: whereas my showing in September 1868 that the date "1423" was not that of the engraving, but, with the inscription, had direct and exclusive reference to the "Legend of St. Christopher," whose jubilee year was "1423" (as shown by MR. THOMS), added to the undeniable fact that the woodcut was printed with printing ink, and produced by a printing press altogether exploded the deception, and, as a necessary consequence, utterly destroyed at one fell swoop all the legion of unsound speculative theories founded on such universal belief in the imaginary date assigned to the engraving. It is wholly useless for any one of those who have written on the subject to now attempt to deny that all were thoroughly misled by the date on the "St. Christopher"; and such being the case, I find in that simple but important fact (as well as in the circumstance that every writer on "Early Engraving and the Block Books" has altogether overlooked the labour of ten of the most active years expended on wood engraving by the greatest master in that branch of art of the fifteenth century) a perfect justification for my altogether rejecting either of the theories heretofore propounded on the subject of " Early Engraving and the Block Books," which are repugnant to common sense and antagonistic to truth; and I claim to stand excused if, in fighting my present battle singlehanded, I unhesitatingly declare the statement "of the Block Books being the production of the beginning of the fifteenth century" as thoroughly illusory and groundless as the supposed "St. Christopher of 1423," "the Brussels Virgin of 1418," or "the Paris impostures of 1406." My remark applies equally to the statement made by the conceited Heinecken, the critical Ottley, the volatile Dibdin, the plodding Jackson, the ponderous Sotheby, the enthusiastic Weigel, or to Messrs. H. Noel Humphreys and J. Ph. Berjeau, all of whom I maintain to be utterly wrong in every cardinal point of their theories, and I challenge literature to make good, by satisfactory proof, a single one among them. This broadcast defiance may primâ facie appear indiscreet, if not unjustifiable; but the propriety of it will, if my challenge be accepted, be fully justified by the elucidation of a state of things at present but feebly imagined by the general public, and a death-blow be dealt to illusions which have hitherto sufficed to blind the senses, and mislead the intelligence of some of the most eminent men who have made "early printing and engraving " their peculiar study. "False dates"-" wilful misstatements "-"inventions "-" ignorance "and the "wildest flights of imagination," have, in the course of time, been accepted as fact, and boundless mischief has consequently arisen therefrom. Many instances of this being so might be readily adduced, but for the present one will suffice. What document connected with art literature can be cited to compare in interest to the Family Diary of Albert Dürer? the details of which are unreservedly accepted throughout the civilised world with perfect good faith, as being the simple and truthful relation of the great artist himself; and yet, no more mendacious relation can be found than that very Diary in the shape in which it has been permitted to reach the nineteenth century. Author after author has so interpolated it-first in one language and then in another, to suit his particular views and strengthen his especial arguments-that its truth, as a guide to Dürer's real position in life, has been utterly and wilfully perverted and lost sight of; and yet, to this moment, not a soul even imagines such a possibility. Knowing it to be so (and being at present engaged in preparing for publication the proof of what I now declare), I may well claim indulgence, if, disregarding all that has been written or imagined on the subject of the "Block Books and Early Printing and Engraving," I prefer to consult direct the sources whence every author on the subject must, or at all events ought to, have derived his information, and to express my own belief thereon, notwithstanding it may be diametrically opposed in almost every circumstance and detail to any and every thing hitherto submitted to the public. No easier task can possibly be desired by my opponents (and their name is "Legion") than to answer and crush my objections, if they have but truth on their side. Let them furnish the facts upon which they rely to justify their avowed conclusions, and I will then either promptly refute them, or very thankfully admit my defeat and their just claim to a victory, which will assuredly secure them the grateful remembrance of posterity. in any former edition of their works." 8vo, London, 1814, pp. 102. [Attributed to Horace Twiss]. "Parodies on Gay. To which is added the Battle of the Busts: a Fable attempted in the Style of Hudibras." Small 8vo, London, n. d., pp. 52. "Warreniana; with Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By the Editor of a Quarterly Review." Small 8vo, Loirdon, 1824, pp. 208. [A series of clever jeux d'esprit in the manner of the Rejected Addresses, written by William Frederick Deacon, a friend and fellow-pupil of the late Serjeant Talfourd, who has prefixed a memoir of him to his tale Annette, 3 vols. 8vo, 1852. Mr. Deacon wrote also "The Sorrows of a Bashful Irishman " in Blackwood's Magazine, and a series of papers entitled "The Picture Gallery.” He died at Islington in 1845, aged forty-six.] "Rejected Articles." 8vo, London (Colburn), 1826, pp. 353. [These clever imitations of Elia, Cobbett, Ward, Haz litt, Leigh Hunt, &c., are, unlike those I have already noted, entirely in prose.] "Scenes from the Rejected Comedies, by some of the Competitors for the Prize of 5007. offered by Mr. B. Webster," &c. 8vo, London (Punch Office), 1844, pp. 48. "The Shilling Book of Beauty. Edited and Illustrated by Cuthbert Bede, B.A." 8vo, London (Blackwood), n. d., pp. 126. "The Puppet-Showman's Album. With Contributions by the most eminent Light and Heavy Writers of the Day. Illustrated by Gavarni." 8vo, London, n. d., pp. 52. "Our Miscellany (which ought to have Come out, but Didn't); containing Contributions by W. Harassing Painsworth, Professor Strongfellow, G. P. R. Jacobus, &c., and other eminent Authors." Edited by E. H. Yates and R. B. Brough." Small 8vo, London, 1856, pp. 189. In addition to these volumes, which contain parodies of various authors, the following may be mentioned as being imitations of some one author or book: "Whitehall; or, the Days of George IV." 8vo, London (W. Marsh), 1827, pp. 330. [This extraordinary and now scarce work was the production of the late W. Maginn, LL.D. "The object," says the Quarterly Review, "is to laugh down the Brambletye House species of novel; and for this purpose we .... are presented with such an historical romance as an author of Brambletye House, flourishing in Barbadoes 200 or 2000 years hence, we are not certain which, nor is the circumstance of material moment, might fairly be expected to compose of and concerning the personages, manners, and events of the age and country in which we live The book is, in fact, a series of parodies upon unfortunate Mr. Horace Smith,-and it is paying the author no compliment to say that his mimicry (with all its imperfections) deserves to outlive the ponderous original." My own opinion is somewhat at variance with that of the reviewer; but the work is a very curious one, and merits a place among clever imitations.-See the Dublin Univ. Mag., Jan. 1844, p. 86.] "Lexiphanes, a Dialogue imitated from Lucian, and suited to the present times. Being an attempt to restore the English tongue to its ancient purity," &c. 8vo, London, 1783. [A well-known imitation of the style of Dr. Johnson, by Archibald Campbell.] "The Whig's Supplication, or the Scot's Hudibras. A Mock Poem. In Two Parts." By Samuel Colvil. 12mo, vehicle of parody in a manner which would scarcely be admired by that divine. Goethe's St. Andrews, 1796. Faust has quite recently passed through several "The Lay of the Scottish Fiddle. A Poem. In Five Cantos. Supposed to be written by WS— dramatic Esq." versions, in one of which, "There was a Small 8vo, London, 1814. king in Thule," is rendered by "There was a man in Tooley Street." I would suggest that the Rejected Addresses are travestied imitations rather than parodies, as your correspondent has described them. JULIAN SHARMAN. [Variously attributed to Washington Irving and James Kirke Paulding; the latter attribution probably correct]. "Jokeby, a Burlesque on Rokeby. A Poem. In Six Cantos. By an Amateur of Fashion." 8vo, London, 1813. [By T. Tegg or John Roby. See "N. & Q." passim.] "Fragments, after the Manner of Sterne." By Isaac Brandon. 12mo. Printed for the Author. This list might be greatly extended, but is already sufficiently long. I must not, however, conclude without reminding W. G. D of a few clever parodies buried among other matter. Such, for instance, are: Pope's "Imitations of English Poets"; the well-known "Pipe of Tobacco: in Imitation of Six Several Authors," by Isaac Hawkins Browne (see his Poems upon Various Subjects, 8vo, 1768, or the Cambridge Tart, p. 176); the "Castle of Indolence," by James Thomson, "writ in the manner of Spenser "; the imitations of the style of Milton, by Thomas Phillips; those of Milton and Spenser, by T. Warton; and, finally, the "Curious Fragments extracted from a Common Place Book, which belonged to Robert Burton, the Famous Author of the Anatomy of Melancholy," by Charles Lamb; cum multis aliis. WILLIAM BATES. Birmingham. Though this class of composition is by no means scarce, very few collections of parodies have at any time appeared. I may mention Thackeray's series of Old Friends with New Faces as fulfilling the requirements of parody, though they perhaps fall short of a collection. Among them is to be found a parody on "Wapping Old Stairs," in which the usual order of burlesque is inverted, the ridiculous being raised to the heroic instead of the heroic being lowered to the ridiculous. I am acquainted with no more pleasing parody than that on Southey's ballad "You are old, Father William, the young man cried," to be found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, though it is not so generally known as the almost classical parody in Ingoldsby on the "Death of Sir John Moore." In Hood's works will be found some half-score of them, mostly on songs and ballads popular forty years ago, and consequently not very telling on the present generation. "We met, 'twas in a crowd, and I thought he had done me," is one I can at present call to mind. Although the number of parodies of reputation is small, few works escape the ordeal of burlesque. Coningsby begat Codlingsby, and Rokeby begat Jokeby. The hymns of Dr. Watts are made the 80, Eastbourne Terrace, W. THE "BLUE LAWS" OF CONNECTICUT. Your correspondent NEPHRITE gives an extract relating to smoking tobacco from the "Blue Laws, or the Code of 1650 of the General Court of Connecticut." I should feel much obliged if he could give some information as to the and as to its authenticity. For many years these document from which the quotation is made, "Blue Laws" have been a byword for sarcasm and satire at the expense of the stern old Pilgrim Fathers, who went forth to people the wilderness, the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, and who were more conversant with the code of Moses than with the practices of the beau monde. We often see quotations made, and no doubt there is something in existence purporting to be the code in question, but that there is any authentic document containing the absurdities so frequently ascribed to it I cannot admit until it is demonstrated by satisfactory evidence. I believe it to be a literary imposture, to be classed with the Epistles of Phalaris and the Chronicles of Ingulf. I have met with a passage in a work recently published, which confirms this view. The writer paid a visit to Dr. John Todd, the author of the well-known Student's Manual—one of the oldest and most respected clergymen in New England. Amongst other things, the following conversation took place: "Speaking of the old Puritan strictness, and of the so-called Blue Laws of Connecticut, the Doctor said: 'I have been amused to see that some of your writers imagine that there really were such laws in New England. The whole thing is an absurd fiction, got up by an English officer who lived for some time in Connecticut; but who disliked so much its strict Sabbath observances that, when he went to New York, he drew up these pretended laws out of spite and passed them off for real enactments. It was not wonderful, perhaps, that people so ignorant about us as the English were should have been hoaxed into the belief that there had really been laws in Connecticut making it penal for a man to kiss his wife on Sundays, and all that nonsense; but to find some of your living writers still falling into an error so American Men, Manners, and Institutions. By David Macrae. 2 vols. Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas. 1870. *The Americans at Home: Pen and Ink Sketches of preposterous, is very melancholy. What would you think of an American writing about England, and quoting Jack and the Bean Stalk' as an authentic historical work?" If this be correct, the "Blue Laws of Connecticut" belong to the same category as Knickerbocker's History of New York. I think it is very desirable, for the sake of literary and historical truth, that this point should be cleared up. Your correspondent NEPHRITE may aid in the inquiry, by stating from what source he derived the quotation he has given. What is the imprint, and under what authority is it published? From what archives is it drawn? What is its date, and what names are attached? Where is the original document, and what stamp of authenticity does it bear? Answers to these queries would aid in clearing up a mystery, or in exposing a hoax which has been anything but harmless. J. A. PICTON. Sandyknowe, Wavertree, near Liverpool. ST. AUGUSTIN'S SERMONS. (4th S. vi. 502.) I am not aware of any book which mentions the churches of Carthage; nor have the churches in which the sermons of St. Augustin were preached been generally given in any edition of his works. For probably the greater number of the localities were unknown, though several places where the holy Father preached are specified in some editions of his works. The Collectio Selecta SS. Ecclesia Patrum (Parisiis, 1836, et seq.) contains St. Augustin's works in full, and in this edition many of his sermons have notices of the places where they were preached, and with some the dates are also given. Most of those enumerated by T. P. will be found in the following list taken from the above edition. I give its own enumeration, generally appending the old numbering, as aliter : Serm. XLIX. al. 237 de tempore, in Matt. xx. de conductis in vinea.-Habitus ad mensam* Si Cypriani in die Doma. Serm. LXXXVIII. al. 18 de verb. Domi. Preached at Carthage before his bishop Aurelius. Serm. XC. al. 14 ex editis a Sirmondo De verbis Evang. Matt. xxii. de nuptiis filii regis. Habitus Carthagine in Restituta. Serm. CXI. Preached at Carthage: at its conclusion the saint gives notice that the next day will be the anniversary of the ordination of his bishop-" domni senis The "Mensa Cypriani" was the altar dedicated to God in honour of St. Cyprian. St. Augustin himself thus explains it: "Denique, sicut nostis, quicumque Carthaginem nostis, in eodem loco mensa Deo constructa est; et tamen mensa dicitur Cypriani, non quia ibi est unquam Cyprianus epulatus, sed quia ibi est immolatus, et quia ipsa immolatione sua paravit hanc mensam, non in qua pascat sive pascatur, sed in qua sacrificium Deo, cui et ipse oblatus est, offeratur."-Serm. CCCX. al. 113 In Natali Cypriani Martyris II. Aurelii," and that the bishop desires the faithful to assemble that day at the Basilica of Faustus. Serm. CXII. De verbis Evangelii Lucæ xix., "Homo fecit cœnam magnam," etc. Habitus in Basilica Restituta. Serm. CXIV. De verb. Ev. Lucæ xvii., "Si peccaverit in te," etc. Habitus ad mensam Si Cypriani, præsente comite Serm. CXXXI. al. 2 de verb. Apost. Habitus ad mensam Si Cypriani ix. Kal. Octob. Serm. CL. de verbis Act. Apost. xvii. Serm. CLII. de verbis Apost. Rom. vii. et viii. Serm. CLIV. de verbis Apost. Rom. vii. Habitus in Basilica SS. Mart, Scillitanorum. Serm. CLXIII. al. iii. de verb. Apost. Gal. v. Habitus in Basilica Honoriana viii. Kal. Octob. Serm. CLXIV. al. xxii. de verb. Apost. Gal. vi. Contra Donatistas, paulo post habitam Carthagine collationem pronuntiatus. Serm. CLXV. al. vii. de verb. Apost. Ephes. iii. Serm. CLXIX. al. xv. de verb. Apost. Philip. iii. Serm. CLXXIV. al. viii. de verb. Apost. 1 Tim. i. Serm. CCLVIII. In diebus Paschalibus. Serm. CCLX. De monitis baptizatorum. Serm. CCLXI. In die Ascensionis Dom1. Habitus in Basilica Leontiana. Serm. CCLXXVII. In festo Si Vincentii M. |