The Emerald Table of Hermes, quoted in the above by King Kalid, contains the earliest exposition we possess of the Golden Chain of Nature, and gives the keynote to the work of our anonymous author. I need not, however, take up space with it here, as it is readily to be met with.

In concluding this portion of my note, let me refer to the very interesting work entitled A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, London, T. Saunders, 1850, pp. 531,, 8vo. ;* as chap. ii. treats "Of the Theory of Transmutation in Ġeneral, and of the Universal Matter."

(To be continued.)

EIRIONNACH.

CURIOUS SURGEON'S BILL.

The following medical bill for curing a prisoner in the Tower, A.D. 1588, presenting so many curious items, I think it is worth preservation in the pages of "N. & Q." The perfumed quilts for his head, and some other articles, might pass muster; but we cannot refrain a smile when we read of four ounces of perfumed lozenges for his ear, and four ounces of syrup for his nostrils. In addition to this account for medicines supplied, the doctor seems to claim some reward for curing Gerald. Over and above his bill, therefore, reckoned at 5l. Os. 6d., they appear to have awarded him 19s. 6d., making a sum total of 61, This plentiful supply of drugs did not, however, prevent his falling sick again, for in July, 1589, we find another account of 10%. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to define what the "trossies de terra sigilata" were?

PAINTERS' ANACHRONISMS.

Since forwarding my observations on the hare which figures in mediæval representations of the "Last Supper," I have had an opportunity of looking in again at Lord Ward's pictures, and find the little painting by Albert Durer less extraordinary than I had supposed; indeed, it is quite thrown into the shade by a Dutch rendering of "Christ and the Crown of Thorns," which for extreme profanity has not, I should think, its equal.

Teniers seems to have been unable to leave his beloved pothouse even when treading holy ground; and consequently the Roman soldiers are so many Dutch boors, full of beer and vulgarity; and, as if not satisfied to have trenched thus far on the reverence of his admirers, the painter has represented a rude sketch of another boor stuck on the outside of the open door; and the room and furniture are quite in keeping with his Dutch imagination.

A collection of these painters' anachronisms might be made both interesting and amusing, if they have not as yet been gathered together; I believe no D'Israeli has as yet appeared to chronicle the "Curiosities of Art."

One of the most amusing I have stumbled on is

wherein he narrates his foreign adventures in 1820, the "Picturesque Tour."

Noticing the cheap chap-books then so popular in that part of France, which had their centre in Caen, he gives an illustration from one of them, conveying one of these artists' conception of the Departure of the Prodigal Son," who "is about to mount his horse and leave his father's house, in the cloke and cock'd hat of a French officer!".

In architectural details the painter is more startling still, for if there has never been a disposition to act, there has never been wanting inclination to paint " in the living present."

Gothic cathedrals and convents form backgrounds to Scripture subjects, and indeed, the conjectural architecture of Palestine alone would

districts of the country; a picture of one of them, of the old school, is worth noting.

In a trial before the Court of Session, to prove the legal succession to the property of John Morgan, Esq., of Coates Crescent, Edinburgh, a witness gave evidence as follows, namely:

"At Fettercairn, 6th May, 1853, compeared Catherine Napier, or Jamieson, widow of the deceased John Jamieson, wheelwright in Fettercairn, who being solemnly sworn, &c. I am past 88 years of age, and was born on the 26th of April. I was born at the waulkmill of Pitrenny, below Fordoun. I learned to be a midwife about sixty years ago, and I have lived in Fettercairn ever since, where I have practised as a midwife.

I

remember well of being at the birth of James Morgan,

and I acted as midwife on the occasion. The witness here detailed the whole circumstances attending the birth of James Morgan. His father had had a notion from judging the planets that the child would not be born on the day when the witness expected it, and accordingly, although she had been in the house at a previous part of the day, when she judged James Morgan's wife to be near her time, she was desired to go home, and was not again summoned until just before the child was born.

I kept a book in which I entered my professional visits to the number of 1565 deliveries, but I burned it in the year that the new steeple was built on the church at Fettercairn, when I thought I was going to die. There were a good many entries in the book unpaid for, and I was unwilling that anybody should be troubled about them after my death. James Morgan was born in the summer time, but I cannot tell the year. It was a bonny night in summer. I could have told the year if I had not burned the book as already mentioned.”

G. N.

The Orientalist, Joseph Hammer, Vienna.- As the biographers will be busy about the life of this greatest man, lately departed, it may be interesting to state what I know from personal knowledge, that Hammer, when upwards of fifty years of age, became a pupil of the great natation school in the Prater, Vienna, then also frequented by me. The late Hofrath became so proficient, that he performed the masterpiece of swimming across the great Arm of the Danube, near the Tabor bridge, and thus got the diploma (freedom) of the natation school. Et legere sciebat — et natare. J. LOTZKY, (Panslave).

evidence of the fact that I have a nose upon my face which I can feel when I will, and of which I can see the reflection in a mirror. In fact, there is no fact more indubitable to my mind, than this particular fact. Yet I learn, from an Edinburgh newspaper, which a good-natured friend has just forwarded for my gratification, that "Cheer, boys, cheer! is the literary product of Lady Maxwell of Monteith, sister to Admiral Sir Houston Stewart; and not of Charles Mackay." I will not be so ungallant as to call upon the lady herself to substantiate a claim which I am quite sure she has never made; but perhaps some of your correspondents will be able to inform me whether Lady Maxwell has written a parody or imitation of the original song? and thus led the correspondent of the northern newspaper into a blunder, which is amusing to me, but which may perchance be painful to a lady, who I am sure would no more think of robbing me of my poor verses, than I would of stealing her purse or her pocket-handkerchief. The thing is of little value, I admit; but if I am not to believe that it is mine, I must disbelieve, Sir, in your existencein that of "N. & Q."—in that of the piece of paper on which this letter is written nay, in that of the solid earth itself. CHAS. MACKAY.

PERRIN'S "HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES."

Looking through the very interesting Catalogue (No. 12.) issued by Mr. Thos. Jepps, of Queen's Head Passage, I find the same book occurring twice, but with two distinct titles, copies of which I enclose. Both are by the same printer and of the same date. Can you, or any of your readers inform me of any similar cases? R. D. GARLAND.

"Luther's Fore-Runners; or a Cloud of Witnesses, Deposing for the Protestant Faith. Gathered together in the Historie of the Waldenses; who for divers hundred years before Luther, successively opposed Popery, professed the truth of the Gospell, and sealed it with their bloud. Being most grievously persecuted, and many thousands of them martyr'd by the tyrannie of that man of sinne and his superstitious adherents and cruel Instruments. Divided into three parts. The first concerns their original beginning, the puritie of their Religion, the Persecutions which they have suffered throughout all Europe for the space of about four hundred and fiftie years. The second contains the Historie of the Waldenses called AlbigenThe third concerneth the Doctrine and Discipline which hath beene common amongst them, and the confutation of the Doctrine of their Adversaries. All which hath been faithfully collected out of the Authors named lated out of French by Samson Lennard. in the page following the Preface. By J. P. P. L. TransPrinted for Nathaniel Newberry, and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre, under S. Peter's Church in Cornhill, and in Popes-head Alley, 1624."

ses.

London:

"The Bloudy Rage of that Great Antechrist of Rome and his superstitious adherents, against the true Church

of Christ and the faithfull professors of his Gospell. Declared at Large in the Historie of the Waldenses and Albigenses, apparently manifesting unto the world the visibilitie of our Church of England, and of all the reformed Churches throughout Christendome, for above foure hundred and fiftie years last past. Divided into three parts. The first concerns their originall beginning, the puritie of their Religion, the persecutions which they have suffered throughout all Europe, for the space of about foure hundred and fiftie yeares. The second contains the historie of the Waldenses called Albigenses. The third concerneth the doctrine and discipline which hath bene common amongst them, and the confutation of the doctrine of their adversaries. All which hath bene faith

fully collected out of the Authors named in the page following the Preface. By J. P. P. M. (sic). Translated out of French by Samson Lennard. London: Printed for Nathanael Newbery, and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre under Saint Peters Church in Cornhill, and in Popes-head Alley, 1624."

[A copy of this work before us contains both titlepages; that entitled Luther's Forerunners is the first, and has six lines printed in red ink. — ED.]

Minor Queries.

Baptism of William Cecill, Lord de Roos. Lord Burleigh, in his Notes of the Reigns of Queens Mary and Elizabeth (printed in Murdin's State Papers), thus records the birth and baptism of his great-grandson, among the public and private events of the period :

"1590, May. William Cecill, Lord Ross, born at Newark."

"June 4. Willielmus Cecill, post mortem Matris Ds. de Ross, baptizatus est in Castello de Newark."

William Cecill, grandson of Lord Burleigh, and son of Thomas first Earl of Exeter, married Elizabeth Manners, daughter and sole heiress of Edward Manners, third Earl of Rutland, of which marriage William Cecill, Lord de Roos, was the eldest son.

William Cecill, the father, built a house in or near Newark, I believe on the site of the Hospital of St. Leonard; but I should like to be informed whether he occupied the castle in 1590, and if so, in what capacity.

Also, if any of your correspondents can refer me to a contemporary or subsequent account of the birth and baptism of Lord de Roos, or of the rejoicings on the occasion, or to any verses on the subject? I have not found the event mentioned in any of the collections of the Cecil Correspondence to which I have had access. G.R. C.

Great Tom of Westminster.-The ancient clocktower, in the New Palace Yard at Westminster, is said to have been erected from a fine of eight hundred marks paid by Ralph de Hingham, chief justice in the reign of Edward I., for having been induced, corruptly we must presume, to mitigate man's fine from a mark to a noble, and to

a poor

erase a roll of record for that purpose. (See this related in Thoms's Anecdotes and Traditions.) According to Aubrey, the great bell was of no older date than John, Earl of Salisbury, who died in 1400 :

"The great bell at Westminster, in the Clockiar at the New Palace Yard, 36,000 lib. weight. See Stow's Survey of London, de hoc. It was given by Jo. Montacute, Earle of (Salisbury, I think). Part of the inscription is thus, annis ab acuto monte Johannis." "-Aubrey's History of Wiltshire, 4to., 1847, p. 102.

Stow says nothing of the age or donor of the bell. Is any other copy of its inscription extant? J. G. N.

Devonshire Anti-Cromwellian Song.-Upwards of thirty years ago, the following loyal effusion was commonly sung by old nurses, and others of the humbler classes, in the West of England. They adapted it to the music of the chimes; or rather, the singers used to say that it was what the chimes expressed : →

"I'll bore a hoale in Crummel's noase,
And therein putt a string,
And laid 'en up and down the teown,
For murdering Charles our King."

I should be glad to know what are its claims to antiquity? and whether there are any more is near at hand, the time is appropriate for verses ? As the anniversary of the martyrdom endeavouring to ascertain whether this reminiscence of Devonshire loyalty really dates so far back as the period of the Restoration.

ROYALIST.

A Leading Coach. What is a leading coach? If any reader of your useful miscellany can solve this question, I shall be obliged by his communicating it. The term occurs in Memoirs of the Reign of George II., by John Lord Hervey, edited by Mr. Croker, 2 vols. 8vo., London, 1855 (vol. i. p. 272.). The Prince of Orange having arrived in London for the purpose of marrying the Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of George II., was, on Nov. 8, 1733, fetched from Somerset House to St. James's in an equipage sent for him by the king, termed " a leading coach." Mr. Croker, who certainly has great aptitude to unravel obscure phrases, as well as to adapt English idioms to the French, &c., acknowledges his inability to give the peculiar meaning of a leading coach, but has discovered that the same sort of carriage was sent for the Duke of Wirtemberg, when he came over to marry the Princess Royal, daughter of George III., now sixty years ago; and that, therefore, a leading coach seems to have been the most suitable equipage. From coaches to stables the transition is not so outrée; but I may, I presume, be permitted to ask what a bottle-groom and a hobby-groom, in the royal stables, were? I mean what were their peculiar duties?

List of General Councils. Can some of your numerous and obliging correspondents refer me to a correct list of general councils? Authorities are so much at variance on this subject, that it seems to be almost hopeless to attempt to arrive at a very satisfactory conclusion. For instance, in Bohn's new edition of Blair's Chronological Tables, generally a trustworthy guide, I find, 1123, a general council held in the Lateran; 1414, Council of Constance, seventeenth general council; 1545, Council of Trent, the nineteenth and last general council; yet in Landon's Manual of

Councils, all the afore-mentioned are stated to be falsely styled ecumenical." Numerous instances of a similar kind occur; I inerely refer to these as cases in point. I have searched several of the best authorities for the information, but in none is it given with the reasons why, &c. HERBERT.

The King's Cock-Crower. During the season of Lent an officer, denominated "The King's Cock-Crower," crowed the hour every night within the precincts of the palace, instead of proclaiming it in the ordinary manner. On the first Ash Wednesday after the accession of the House of Hanover, as the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., was sitting down to supper, this officer suddenly entered the apartment and proclaimed, in a sound resembling "the cock's shrill clarion," that it was past ten o'clock. Taken thus by surprise, and very imperfectly acquainted with the English language, the prince mistook the tremulation of the assumed crow as some mockery intended to insult him, and instantly rose to resent the affront; with some difficulty he was made to understand the nature of the custom, and that it was intended as a compliment, and according to court etiquette. From that period the custom has been discontinued.

I have sent this curious account of the office of king's cock-crower, thinking it worthy of being preserved in "N. & Q." It would be very interesting if some account was given of other court offices which are now discontinued. By whom was the office of king's cock-crower instituted?

NOTSA.

Hebrew Bible. On the title-page of the first volume of a Hebrew Bible in my possession, is written in a very neat hand,

à translation of the Greek words? they seem to me to have formed a favourite motto with the writer, as I find it occurring in one or two places in the book.*

The interest which I feel in this volume is considerable; it was Bishop Morgan's, who was engaged in the first translation of the Bible from the Hebrew into the Welsh language; it is evidently the identical copy upon which he laboured. The verses are numbered to a considerable extent, and many marginal notes in Welsh in an ink brown with age.

Dr. John Davies (whose autograph the above is) was an eminent Welsh scholar, and author of a Latin-Welsh Dictionary, folio, and I believe was engaged upon the second translation of the Bible into Welsh. I should be very glad to know the date of my Hebrew Bible, and whether it is a scarce edition; perhaps some one of your readers who is versed in bibliography could assist me when I state that it contains from Genesis to end of Second Book of Kings. The Books of Genesis and Joshua have each a large word prefixed, engraved on wood, all the others have the first word in metal type. J. NIXON.

Bangor, N. Wales.`

Goethe's Paganism. May I inquire of EIRIONNACH Where I can find the opinion expressed as to Goethe's equal detestation of "tobacco, bells, bugs, and Christianity ?" If not in direct contradiction of his avowed belief, it is utterly at variance with the idea as to his faith one gathers from his autobiography; as well as with the notion of him formed by his admirer and student, J. T. N.

Clinch of Barnet. - What was the origin of this mimic or posture-master, who was so famous about the time of Queen Anne? Some information would also be acceptable as to the nature of his performances. What ultimately became of him? Does the saying "Like clever Tom Clinch, when going to be hanged," bear reference to this man? He is the "Archimimus" of a poem in the Musa Anglicana, and is also mentioned by Ned Ward, and in The Spectator I believe.

"Shathmon."

HENRY T. RILEY.

What is the length of a shathmon? This Query was much debated some years ago, when, at last, the question was supposed to have been put at rest by an interpretation of Sir Walter Scott; who has repeated it since in the

[* They are from the Greek Testament, 2 Cor. xii. 9., "My grace is sufficient for thee." Our correspondent should have sent the imprint, as well as the size of his Bible. In 1620, John Bill printed the second edition of the Welsh Bible. It was revised by Dr. Richard Parry, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Dr. John Davies, his chaplain, well known by his several learned and antiquarian pub.