alone, eighty-five witches were burnt, and more than two hundred in the diocese of Como in the year 1523. Mr. Conway, in his fearful enumeration of these atrocities, states that in 1657 the witch-judge Nicholas Remy boasted of having burnt nine hundred persons in fifteen years. The English law on the subject, as it existed previously to 9 Geo. II., c. v., which repealed the harsher statutes, is thus stated in Granger's 'Law Dictionary' (London, 1835), under the head of "Conjuration":

"All these [i.e., conjurers, witches, and sorcerers] were anciently punished in the same manner as hereticks by the writ de hæretico comburendo, after a sentence in the ecclesiastical court; and they might be condemned to the pillory, &c., upon an indictment at Common Law. 3 Inst. 44, H.P.C. 38."

*

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

MISTRANSLATIONS : "ALLA GIORNATA" (7th S. xi. 185, 351).-Coincidence has so often favoured me that I have delayed replying to the challenge at the last reference for the chance of some instances of the very common use of this expression turning up to serve for quotation. As I have not been lucky in this case, I will mention such few instances as I can recall in which I have heard or seen in print alla giornata more or less frequently used: (1) He is working at day-work; (2) he is living from hand to mouth; (3) he has a very small business; (4) he is not married, or tied to any one mistress in particular; (5) (less frequently) it is used as equivalent to giornalmente=daily.

I have, of course, confined myself strictly to the uses of alla giornata; naturally the word giornata has still more varied applications, but with these we have nothing to do here. I fancy one or two of the interpretations quoted by ESTE refer to this, but I am by no means concerned to defend the aberrations of dictionaries.

* Except in one very ordinary instance in L'Illustrazione Popolare of June 14, p. 374,-"viveva alla giornata come la rondine" she picked up something to live on from day to day like a swallow.

The reason why I was curious to see Lady C. Bury's book was for the sake of discovering in which sense her title was applied, because it was the English rather than the Italian that puzzled me. I could conjure up a romance out of any of the meanings I have quoted, but the words "To the Day' convey no idea whatever to my mind. But the London Library does not possess it, and I cannot find it at the British Museum. R. H. BUSK.

STEEL PENS (7th S. xi. 219, 371).-See also 7th S. v. 285, 396, 496; vi. 57, 115, 272. The earliest metallic pen yet discovered is that described by Mr. Charles Waldstein, in his paper, Is it Aristotle's Grave?' in the current number of the Nineteenth Century. "A metal pen (the only specimen I have heard of as having been found in Greece) about two inches long, cut and slit like a quill pen, and no later than the third century B.C." (p. 848). Q. V.

PORK MARROW POISONOUS (7th S. xi. 408).— I remember being told when a child that the spinal cord (miscalled "marrow") out of the backbone in a piece of beef would "make you deaf" (Winterton, Lincolnshire). J. T. F.

Bp. Hatfield's Hall, Durham, "REST AND BE THANKFUL (7th S. xi. 266).— Lest I fall into the condemnation of brother Scots, let me hasten to say that "Glencrae" should, of course, be Glencroe at the above reference. I must blame my handwriting; for apparently the 'N. & Q.' reader, like Mr. Pennell, has not consulted his Wordsworth.

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK.

MIRAGE (7th S. xi. 327).-Miss M. M. Howard, in her 'Handbook to Hastings and St. Leonards, Hastings, 1864, pp. 191, 192, has a notice of "a species of Fata Morgana, which was visible at Hastings in 1797, taken from the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxxxviii. p. 357. There is a notice of "an unusual example of aerial spectres" at Brighton, November 28, 1804, in Sir D. Brewster's Natural Magic," "Fam. Libr.," pp. 146, 154; also of an instance of "the phenomenon of Dover Castle seen on the Ramsgate side of the hill," in 1806, with figures (pp. 136-8, 151); also of the "aerial troopers seen at Souterfell" (pp. 131-3,152); also of "the inverted image of a ship beneath the image" of the real one, which was beneath the horizon, at Allonby, with figures (pp. 138-40). There is an examination of the phenomenon at Hastings, as above, pp. 135, 136. ED. MARSHALL. Your correspondent asks if any one has ever seen on the coast of the British Isles. I mirage" witnessed a beautiful one at 4 A.M., in July, 1887. For half a mile of horizon I saw a long straight line about ten degrees high, above which I saw

a

several vessels apparently at anchor. While I was watching the smoke of a steamer was quite plainly seen till it passed some trees. The glitter of the rising sun on the waves was most clear and beautiful. This I saw over Felixstowe, in Suffolk, from Playford distant in a straight line about eight miles. MANFRED Biddell.

There is a long detailed account of a mirage seen off Ramsgate, quoted in 'Encyclopædia Londinensis,' 1807 (s.v. Mirage"), from Prof. Vince's Bakerian Lecture, 1798, reported in Phil. Transactions, vol. lxxxix. p. 13.

A. COLLINGWOOD LEE.

DURRELL AND POPHAM OF LITTLECOTE (7th S. xi. 449).—This name is spelt variously Darell, Darrell, and Dayrell, but I have never seen Durrell before. The story has often been mentioned in N. & Q.,' and authorities asked for. Several references were given, but they all trace up in the end to Aubrey's 'Letters,' and no special book, such as MR. WELCH inquires for, was ever named. The story was brought into notice by Scott's ballad, founded on it, in 'Rokeby,' and the version given in his notes. Since then it rises up at intervals, as all these things do.

66

As to the date, or supposed date, MR. WELCH'S informants are quite wrong in putting it "three generations ago "; as a generation" is usually calculated, this would be only one century. But it is, at any rate, certain that Littlecote passed from the Darells to the Pophams just three centuries ago. See Burke's 'Extinct Baronetage,' s. v. "Darell," where it is stated that William Darell, who alienated the estate, died in 1590. Haydn's 'Book of Dignities' says, Sir John Popham, who received it, did not become C.J. till 1591; but one year's error may, perhaps, be pardoned, and according to Scott's notes Darell died only a few months after the alienation.

C. F. S. WARREN, M.A.

Longford, Coventry. There is a communication on 'Littlecott, Sir John Popham,' in 'N. & Q.,' 1st S. viii. 218, by a no less authority on matters of legal history than the author of the Lives of the Judges.' In vol. xi. p. 394, CL. HOPPER refers to Waylen's History of Marlborough.' At 5th S. x. 112, MR. PICKFORD refers to Burke's 'Commoners' for the statement that the Littlecot estate was purchased of the Darells by Sir John Popham. The story, as given to Sir Walter Scott by Lord Webb Seymour for the

ballad in 'Rokeby,' canto v. xxvii., appears in the notes to that poem. It is also examined in comparison with other similar stories in Chambers's Book of Days,' vol. ii. pp. 554-6. ED. MARSHALL.

MR. J. CUTHBERT WELCH will find a great deal of information respecting "Wild Will Darrell" (not Durrell) in Mr. Hubert Hall's 'Society in the Elizabethan Age,' with an elaborate defence of the man's character, and an appendix of nearly one hundred pages of his correspondence. A somewhat sensational account of his crimes is given by Mr. W. Outram Tristram in his very pleasant Tristram's principal object in retelling this book 'Coaching Days and Coaching Ways.' Mr. story appears to be the restoration to its original blackness of the traditional portrait of Darrell, which Mr. Hall had retouched almost to the likeness of an angel of light. In this, with the aid of Mr. Herbert Railton, Mr. Tristram succeeds— with the "general reader" at any rate. Whether his portrait or Mr. Hall's is the more correct historically I cannot say. Mr. Tristram, by the way, prefaces his account with the statement that "Scott told the story to the general world in a fine foot-note to 'Rokeby,"" but there is no note of the kind in my edition of the poem.

C. C. B.

LELAND'S GYPSY SORCERY' (7th S. xi. 199, 345).-MR. BLACK has done the readers of N. & Q.' a good service in clearing up the mistake about the word gad. I am inclined to think, however, that he is a little astray in speaking of goads as being still in use by ploughmen of the present day. When the teams of eight and four animals of the long ago went out of fashion, goadmen and goads, of necessity, passed away also. Can it be that MR. BLACK has in his mind the paddle (Burns's "murd'ring pattle "), a little spade, not unlike that used by mole catchers, which continues, for obvious reasons, to be carried by all ploughmen?

Glasgow.

J.

WHALES' JAWS (7th S. xi. 166, 293, 412).—I am afraid I have hit on the wrong Seaton in my note at the last reference. I had forgotten the Seaton (Seaton-Carew) on the south-east coast of Durham, which being so near the coast is gradually encroached on by the sea, and thus seems to be the more probable spot to which the sailing from Stockton to Newcastle. In fact, I bellowing whale was towed by the crew of the ship find Mackenzie in his 'Durham' places, without Carew. Seaton on the north-east lies a little comment,

inland.

the incident in a foot-note under Seaton

N. E. ROBSON.

There are three pairs of these in this parish. We are not far from the Humber, and I suppose the whales have at some time or other come up

At Shaldon, a picturesque little village, situated on the western bank of the river Teign-just where the latter flows into the English Channel is a house known as Hunter's Lodge. The gateway to its garden entrance is formed by a large pair of whale's jaw-bones. The name "Hunter's Lodge," outside the house, is composed wholly of leg of mutton knuckle-bones. HARRY HEMS.

PIGEONS: NO GALL (7th S. xi. 368, 434).-Jean Raulin, a post-mediaval preacher, who died at Paris in 1514, gave as the first of seven reasons why the Holy Spirit chose the form of a dove, "A dove is without gall and is harmless, and therefore represents the character of those born of the (see Baring - Gould's 'Post - Mediæval Spirit Preachers'). Pliny asserted that at Chalcis, in Eubos, the cattle had no gall, and that the horse, mule, ass, stag, roe-buck, wild boar, camel, and dolphin were in like case (Bk. xi. chap. 74).

ST. SWITHIN.

The dow she had nae ga.

MUCKLESTONE, CO. SALOP (7th S. xi. 307).— There is a pedigree of Muckleston of Merrington (a township in the parish of Preston Gubbalds, in the county of Salop), in Burke's 'History of the Commoners,' vol. i. p. 168, 1836. It would appear from this that the family was one of considerable antiquity in that county, and was at that date represented by the Rev. John Fletcher Muckleston, D.D., Prebendary of Lichfield, who had surviving male issue. The arms are given as, Vert, on a fesse arg., between three greyhounds' heads erased of the second, three crosses patée gules. Crest, a greyhound's head erased ppr. collared gules. No pedigree of the family is given in Burke's 'History of the Landed Gentry,' 1871.

There is a large parish named Mucclestone, or Muxton, in Staffordshire and Shropshire, four miles distant from Market Drayton, and from its church tower local tradition asserts that Queen Margaret of Anjou witnessed the defeat of the Lancastrians at the battle of Blore Heath in 1459. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

For Muckleston of Merrington, Salop, see Burke's History of the Commoners,' vol. ii. p. 168.

F.D.

RICHARD OF CORNWALL (7th S. x. 467; xi. 14, 135, 295).-According to the German authorities, viz., Johann von Tritheim's 'Annales Hirsangienses,' the monk_of Kirschgarten's 'Chronicon Wormatiense,' and Rymer's 'Foedera,' as quoted by George Christian Gebauern in his 'Life and Memorable Acts of Richard, Roman Emperor Elect, Earl of Cornwall and Poitou,' written in German, and published at Leipzig in 1744, in 4to. Richard was married on June 16, 1269, in the imperial palace at Kaiser's-Lautern, in the Palatinate, to his third wife, Beatrice, daughter of Philip von Falkenstein, Hereditary Chamberlain of the Empire. Soon after the marriage, Richard, failing to induce the electors to confer on him the imperial dignity, finally retired from Germany, and arrived with his wife in England, at Dover, on August 3, 1269. By her, who survived him, he had no issue. She deceased October 17, 1277, and her body was interred before the high altar in the church of the Grey Friars (Minorites) in B. W. GREENFIELD. Oxford.

4, Cranbury Terrace, Southampton.

FREDERICK II. OF PRUSSIA (7th S. xi. 426).-Was the preacher so far wrong? The patronage given to the Jesuits after their expulsion from Roman Catholic countries, and his general tolerance in religious matters do not make up for the odious

Winchester Word - Book. A Collection of Past and Present Notions. Compiled by R. G. K. Wrench. (Winchester, Wells; London, Nutt.)

Ir is nearly four years since the "notion exam." at Winchester College was abolished, by order of the present head master. This examination consisted in a severe test of the knowledge acquired by the fortnight-old "new man," who was supposed in that time to have possessed himself of the entire vocabulary in use throughout the school, and commonly known as notions." In "Commoners" he was obliged to pick up the new language as best he could; in "College" a more ingenious method of inculcation was in vogue. A "pater was assigned to each new man on his arrival, and the pater was responsible for his son's efficiency in "notions." At the end of the fortnight pater and son were brought up together before their prefects, whose wrath was visited upon the pater for every notion the son did not know; and as there was every probability that the pater would pour out his vial in turn upon the son, a failure in the examination paid the latter even less than the former.

The "notion exam." has had its day. It is said that a small boy who was to enter the school in September spent all his summer holidays in abject terror at the thought of the fearful scrutiny to come, and the chastisement which might possibly follow it. Whether this be true or not, the fact remains that in 1887 or thereabouts to examine a new man in his notions was declared non licet." It is, therefore, most fitting that a collection such as Mr. Wrench's should have been compiled just at this time, and an attempt made to preserve a language not in any sense "a rude mode of disguising English," or merely "a puerile specimen of work," as the compiler of the 'Slang Dictionary' would have it, but an extremely interesting collection of relics of Old and Middle English. Such relics, for instance, are "clow," a box on the ear (still surviving in Gloucestershire dialect); "poser," an examiner (also at Eton); "scob" (escabeau, scabellum); "thoke," an idling (very old English), and many others whose derivations are more obscure. And, as Mr. Wrench remarks, this is as perfectly "tug" English to the present generation as it was to their forefathers three centuries ago. They, probably, like their descendants, were often enough "deadbrum" because "battlings" had been "sconced" once too often for them-they, too, were "tunded" if they were "spree" enough to "splice" a "snack" in a prefect's "duck"-aud amongst them, too, was to be found the rara avis who was jig" enough to "jockey" his whole "div." in one "half," and "run cloisters" at the end of it.

Consequently, the 'Winchester Word-Book"-which, by the way, is illustrated and printed in the most charming style-deserves to be looked upon with respect by philologists as well as Winchester men; and we heartily wish Mr. Wrench success in his enterprise. One or two words might be eliminated with advantage,

such as "pi," "pax," "frater," &c. (common enough at t'other schools), and "sorry," and a few good notions go circum (made historical by Ken, inserted, e. g., though now obsolete), "run cloisters" (ie., to be put up two divisions in the school in one term) and "pater," in the technical sense noticed above, which surely ought to be recognized, though strictly only a "college notion." A second edition, however, no doubt destined to appear not long hence, will easily put these slight defects to rights.

The Works of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Baronet. Vols. V. and VI. (Nimmo.)

WITH the appearance of these two volumes the new and superb library edition of the works of Sir William Stirlingthe earlier volumes, containing the Annals of the Artists Maxwell is completed. On the merits and beauties of of Spain,' we have already dwelt. Vol. V. gives 'The Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles V.,' including the author's last notes, and some notices of the emperor hitherto unpublished. It is illustrated with eight mezzotint engravings and five illustrations in colours, representing the scene of the emperor's retreat. Vol. VI. consists of Miscellaneous Essays and Addresses,' especially interesting to our readers, since they are principally on historic and antiquarian subjects, and contain more than one reference to N. & Q. In this volume of the author, a biographical notice, and an elaborate are six mezzotint engravings, one of them a fine portrait bibliography of his writings, many of them published in very small editions, and all of them counting among Sir William would have derived from contemplating an rarities. It is difficult to avoid thinking of the pleasure edition so conformable to his taste. A veritable epicure in such matters, he issued his separate works in forme more or less elegant. His own accumulated treasures for which are of his own selection. Only within recent have been used to enrich the present edition, the designs days has it been possible, however, to produce volumes such as now appear. Of the miscellaneous essays, many are new to us. His 'Cloister Life' is, of course, a work of recognized value. We congratulate Mr. Nimmo on the completion of his task, and cannot refrain from a speculation as to what author will be the next to receive such enviable service of posthumous honour. Edward VI. and the Book of Common Prayer. With an Examination into its Origin and Early History, by Francis Aidan Gasquet, O.S.B., and Edmund Bishop. (Hodges.)

OUR readers have, we trust, not forgotten Mr. Gasquet's learned book on the suppression of the English monasteries. It is a work which, from whatever point we view it, contains much new knowledge. By his present work the author has shown that his acquaintance with our unpublished records is not confined to documents of a single class. The book is in no sense controversial. If, indeed, the title-page did not indicate that Mr. Gasquet was a Benedictine monk, most persons might read the volume before us without discovering to what body of Christians its author belonged. 'N. & Q.' never ventures into the thorny paths of religious controversy, but the Anglican Prayer Book has a secular as well as a religious side. No one can properly understand the history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries without some knowledge not only of the contents, but also of the origin of this memorable work. Unlike most books of devotion, it has a legal as well as a religious aspect.

The Prayer Book now in use is in most particulars the same as that which is commonly known as the second book of Edward VI. This second book was the same as the first book, but with certain modifications,

mostly in the direction of a more advanced Protestantism. The first book is known to have owed its origin in a great measure to Cranmer. Some of it may have been written with his own hand. It is probable that the whole was produced under his auspices. The common opinion has been that its compilers had the old English service-books before them-the missals, breviaries, pontificals, and manuals of the unreformed time-and from these compiled the Book of Common Prayer for Protestant use. The authors of the volume before us do not deny this in toto, but they maintain that the reformed volume in a great degree owed its origin to the various service-books which had already been issued by continental Protestants. The authors have a surprising knowledge of the devotional literature of Germany in the early days of the Reformation, and they argue their case with great learning. On a subject so obscure, and where almost every fact and date bristles with controversy, it would be dangerous for us to do more than state the conclusions at which the writers have arrived. If they have proved their case, it must make something like a revolution in the literary aspect of the question. We cannot doubt that their statements will be carefully examined, and that if errors have been made they will be ruthlessly exposed. All that we can desire is historical truth. We are extremely glad that the authors have written as scholars, and that the odium theologicum is entirely absent.

Records of Walmer, together with the Three Castles that keep the Downs. By Rev. Charles R. S. Elvin. (Gray.) THIS is a sumptuous quarto relating to a place well known in recent annals. Walmer is well worthy of a history, were it only from the fact that its castle was the favourite residence of "the Great Duke" and the place where he died. It has, however, other and earlier claims on our regard. Though a place of little note in the Middle Ages, it became important during the troubled period when Charles I. and his Parliament were in their death grapple. When the fleet revolted to the royal service, some months before the execution of the king, Walmer may be said to have been the scene of this change of front. It was here that the Parliamentary admiral was turned adrift. Mr. Elvin is a careful historian.' We have found no errors, and he has given us much interesting information as to modern days of a kind which, we regret to say, is but rarely found in town histories.

A Handbook for Travellers in Durham and Northumberland. New Edition. (Murray.)

IT is hardly necessary for us to praise a book of this nature. Mr. Murray's handbooks have long outgrown the time when reviews are needed. There is no part of England more interesting than these two northern shires. Unlike some of our counties, which seem to have

stood aside and let the world drift for long periods of our history, Northumberland and Durham are concerned in every political and social movement from Agricola to George Stephenson. Kelt and Roman, Dane and Norman, have left their traces superimposed in the relics of earlier men who were none of these, but probably of the great Tauranian stock. Durham, with its stately line of Prince Bishops, from Ralph Flambard, the warlike Norman, to William van Mildert, the mild and gentle clergyman, on whose death, in 1836, the Palatinate jurisdiction ended, is a subject to which an antiquary might profitably devote a lifetime. Memorials of the power of that great see are scattered over the whole of the north of England. The northern abbeys have a history of their own much diverse from that of more southern counties. The near neighbourhood of the Scotch compelled their inmates in many cases to take military pre

cautions. At times they were, what a Spanish writer says a good man's heart ought to be, half church and half fortress.

To any one who loves the north country, its history, and associations, it was natural to turn to the paragraph descriptive of Mainsforth, once the abode of Robert Surtees, the historian of the bishopric of Durham. His name is venerated by antiquaries, but is uncared forperhaps, indeed, unknown to most south country folk. The writer of the guide speaks of his work as "one of the best existing specimens of a county history." There are points in which Surtees's great work surpasses all others. In the matter of style and poetic sentiment we know of no work of the character that can be in any way compared with 'The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham.' The book is well furnished with maps. It is, indeed, not only a volume to carry in the pocket when we visit the north, but to stand on a handy shelf for constant reference.

tion A Vindication of the Decorated Pottery of Japan, MR. JAMES L. Bowes has printed for private circulaMorse. His vindication is earnest, and as the book is in which he answers some strictures of Prof. got up in the luxurious fashion to which Mr. Bowes has accustomed us, it will be not the least esteemed among its author's works.

MR. ARTHUR H. D. ACLAND, M.P., Hon. Fellow of Balliol Coll., Oxon., has published (Stanford) a Guide to the Choice of Books which will be useful to the young student driven to trust to his own resources. It does not, of course, pretend to completeness, and it challenges much dissent. As its index is full and it gives prices it will be of use to a very large number of individuals.

MR. HENRY LITTLEHALES, of Clovelly, Bexley Heath, purposes reproducing in facsimile the Durham Liber Vitæ,' and seeks subscriptions.

Notices to Correspondents.

We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and

address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate."

ANONYMOUS WORKS (7th S. xi. 223).-In consequence of the length to which the Index to the volume now completed extends, it is impossible to insert under this heading the list given at the above reference. The works shall be indexed as replies appear.

KILRUSH (" Er pronounced ar").—A full list of the English words in which e before r takes the sound of a would be serviceable.

CORRIGENDUM.-P. 497, col. 2, 1, 27, for "7th 8." read

6th S.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries'"-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 22, Took's Court, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, E.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return com. munications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.