Night ix. 1. 2416. Lucretius.

Extra flammantia moenia mundi. Gray too has imitated this line of Lucretius:He passed the flaming bounds of place and time. I have not noted some well-known resemblances of Horace to Young and of Young to Goldsmith. E. YARDLEY.

KINGSLEY'S HYPATIA.'-In chapter xxx., of which the title is "Every Man to his own Place," there is the story of the heathen refusing baptism, which the note terms "A fact." But a wrong name is assigned to the man in the text. The following is the exact statement of the occurrence: "Radbode enfin se rendit, sa perfidie cedant à la force et à la verité de ce miracle: pleust à Dieu qu'il eust persisté. Il demande bien le Baptesme, et on se prepare à le luy donner; mais quand il fut question de venir à l'effet, ayant mesme vn pied déjà dans le Baptistaire, il s'avisa de demander au sainct Euesque, en quel lieu il y auoit plus de ses predecesseurs et de la noblesse de Frise; ou en Paradis, qu'il promettoit par la grace du Baptesme, ou en Enfer. Ne vous trompez pas,' luy répondit Vulfran: Il est certain, que tous ceux qui sont decedez sans Baptesme, sont damnez eternellement en Enfer; or le nombre en est bien grand: au contraire, ceux à qui Dieu fait la grace de le receuoir, il est tres assuré qu'ils iouyront là haut au Ciel d'une ioye incroyable et perpetuelle.' Ce qu'entendant ce malheureux Duc, il retiroit son pied du Baptistaire, et dit qu'il ne vouloit pas se priuer de la compagnie de ses predecesseurs, qui estoient en si grand nombre, pour vivre au Ciel, auec si peu de pauures Chrestiens, et qu'il vouloit mourir en la Religion de ses Ancestres."-Ribadeneira, Les Fleurs des Vies des Saints,' Par., 1660, t. i. p. 366. A.

documents. It is used as a fore-name, or as an inseparable after-name. Cok Hagin is an example of one class, Mosse-cock of the other. It was a distinction or qualification, not a name absolute, and pointed to a layman of high degree. In the Exchequer Plea Rolls we frequently meet with Hagin fil Deulecresse "qui dicitur [or dicit se] Cok Hagin"; and I have seen his autograph "Cok fil Deulecresse," his title being used, not his actual name. We find also Cok fil Abraham and Cok fil Aaron, both murdered in London at separate dates; the former was Aaron fil Abraham, the latter Abraham fil Aaron. Durrant Cooper speaks of Cock signifying princeps," and so the early Anglo-Jews understood and employed it. It is allied to our modern vulgar phrase "cock o' the walk." M. D. DAVIS.

PARISH CONSTABLES' STAVES.

"The Home Secretary, Sir Matthew White Ridley, has just secured from Northampton, writes a correspondent, two relics of the past that are peculiarly associated with that Department of the State of which he is Minister. These are two staves, at once the badges and instruments of office of the village constables of long ago, when men's lives were considered of less account than they are now. The staff of those days, probably two hundred years ago, was a formidable, not to say bloodthirsty, instrument of offence. I have been able to obtain one of the same sort. Mine was formerly the property of the parish constable of Brington. It consists of two parts-a truncheon or handle, lathe turned, ten inches long, and a sphere, three inches in its longest and two and a quarter in its shortest diameter. Both handle and ball are of boxwood. They are united by a strong double thong of into both handle and bail. The ball has two inches of white leather, fastened by iron pegs into apertures bored play on the leather, so that from end to end the instru ment is fifteen inches long. As the ball hangs loosely about the straight handle, some degree of force is required to bring it into action; but when this is done, the execumoderate blow cannot be struck by it; with very little tion the weapon is capable of is something dreadful. A exertion on the part of the holder, a man's head, leg, or powerful weapon was required in the good old times." arm would be very easily broken. No doubt some such His Honour Judge Snagge was attracted not long ago by Marefair, Northampton, and, purchasing one, he took it a row of five of these staves in the window of Mr. Morrell, with him to London. Sir Matthew White Ridley, who heard of it, was intensely interested, and sent down to Northampton for two of the others. One of the two purchased for him had the ball curiously fashioned like a man's head. That formerly belonged to the parish of Wyken, near Coventry. The fourth, from Brington, I have procured, and there is only one other left. I understand that these staves are very rare."-Northampton Mercury, 17 April. JOHN T. PAGE.

5, Capel Terrace, Southend-on-Sea.

TWELFTH NIGHT IN WALES IN OLDEN DAYS.The following cutting from a local paper is worthy of a quiet nook in N. & Q.':

"Archdeacon Howell, writing in the Cyfaill Eglwysig on Welsh customs in the Vale of Glamorgan in olden days, says: 'Much importance was attached to the Twelfth Night in ancient times. I remember it was the

with the Registrar General a register of births belonging to the old Presbyterian meeting at Rochester, Kent, which was for some years in the possession of the Foord family of Rochester, but had been lent and lost sight of until discovered by me, and, with the permission of its recent owner, Mr. J. J. Foord, J.P., has now found a permanent home. The meeting to which it relates was discontinued some fifty years since. The regular entries commence in 1756 and end in 1808, but there are some of dates from 1700. Before delivering it up I made a transcript of it, and shall be pleased to give extracts from it to any one interested in Rochester families who, on account of distance from London, may not readily be able to consult the original.

Chatham.

HUMPHREY WOOD, F.S. A.

DANTE'S CAORSA.-Where is Caorsa, alluded

to in the Inf.,' xi. 50 ?—

E però lo minor giron sugella

Del segno suo e Sodoma e Caorga

E chi spregiando Dio, col cor favella.

Dante commentators, following Boccaccio, have held it to be Cahors, chief town of the department of Lot, sixty miles north of Toulouse, the ancient Divona, afterwards called Civitatis Candurcorum from the Celtic tribe of which it was the capital. During the Middle Ages the town is said to have been a great seat of the Caorsini (Cawertschen or Cauder-Wälsche), who preceded the Lombards as usurers and money-lenders. Thus the Ency. Brit.,' s. v. 66 Cahors." "Boccaccio, in a note, says: “Caorsa è una città sì del tutto data al prestare all' usura, che in quello non è nè uomo nè femmina, nè vecchio, nè giovane, nè piccolo, nè grande che a noi non intenda; e non che altri, ma ancora le serventi, non che il loro salario, ma se d'altra parte sei o otto denari venisser loro alle mani, tantosto gli dispongono e prestano ad alcun prezzo; per la quale cosa è tanto onesto loro miserabile essercizio divulgato, e massimamente appo noi, che come l' uom dice d'alcuno Egli è Caorsino cosi s' intende che egli sia usuraio.”

Are the commentators right in translating Caorsa as Cahors, looking to the fact that there is a Caorso in Italy, a commune of Emilia, in the province of Piacenza, the chief town of which is situate between Piacenza and Cremona, about eleven miles from the former town? The name Caorso is said to be a corruption of Casa Ursilia, and may

have been written Caorsa in Dante's time. There

is also a place called Chaourse, near Montcornet, in the department of Aisne, which is at present a place of no importance, but may have been of some importance in the Middle Ages. There are some very curious gold ornaments of the Roman period, discovered at Chaourse, in the Gem Room at the British Museum.

The Caorsini alluded to in 'Par.,' xxvii. 58,
Del sangue nostra Caorsini e Guaschi

S'apparechian di bere,

have nothing to do with the Caorsa of the 'Inferno,' although the two are generally connected by commentators. These lines refer to Clement V. of Gascony, elected Pope in 1305, and Giovanni XXI. (othewise XXII.) of Cahors, elected in 1316. Concerning these Popes and their creatures, an old commentator, quoted by Lombardi, remarks: "Illi di Vasconia et Caorsulis qui aliquando habent majorem partem cardinalium ita quod nulla alia generatio potest pervenire ad officium Papatus," which would seem to explain Dante's expression without having recourse to a forced interpretation that the lines allude to usury. JOHN HEBB.

WINCEBY FIGHT AND SLASH LANE. (See 'Maunder,' 8th S. ix. 436).-In my schoolboy days we used to tell each other about this battle, and about Cromwell, and about Sir Ingram Hopton who was killed while attempting to seize Cromwell just as his horse was shot, and who was buried in Horncastle Church. Winceby being only about three miles from Horncastle, we used to go on half-holidays, to see "Slash Lane," and do a little bird-nesting at the same time in Scrafield holts and plantations; when we used to repeat to the younger ones the legends on the subject-how that a cowboy was going through the gate, as the whom shouted out, "Open the gate!" but the boy, soldiers came galloping down the lane, one of being afraid, let the gate fall to and ran away. The frightened horsemen crowded upon each other and pressed up against the gate so that it could not be opened, and the Parliamentarians overtook them and killed so many of the Royalists that the blood at the bottom of the lane was up to the horses' girths. Then there was the large stone in Winceby field, where soldiers had sharpened their swords before the battle. This was a stone of fearful interest, for much treasure was supposed to have been buried under it. Numerous attempts had been made to get at this treasure, but they were always defeated by some accident or piece of bad luck. On the last occasion, by "yokkin” several horses to chains fastened round the stone they nearly succeeded in pulling it over, when, in his excitement, one of the men uttered an oath, and the devil instantly appeared, stamped on it with his foot-"Tha cheans all brok, tha solidder nur ivver; an' if ya doan't believe ya ma osses fell, an' tha stoan went back t'its owd place goa an' look fur yer sen, an' ya'll see tha divvill's fut mark like three kraws' claws, a-top o' tha On these excursions we took care to be stoan." home before dark, for it was firmly believed the lane was haunted, and that loud groans were often

heard there.

Boston, Lincolnshire.

R. R.

P.S.-One of my brothers occupies the whole of the parish of Scrafield, which adjoins Winceby, so I know the locality well.

Queries.

We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

ANCIENT SERVICE BOOK.-The first volume of the registers of this parish is a "paper book," and contains entries from 1583 to 1659. It is at present wrapped in two parchment leaves, which, when perfect, must have measured about 14 in. by 8 in. These leaves are beautifully written over in a handwriting which I can only describe by saying that it resembles black-letter print. The writing is in double columns and the capitals are brilliantly illuminated in red and blue. Though some of these capitals have been cut out, and though the writing is so rubbed in places as to be illegible, a very little study shows that both leaves contain lections from Holy Scripture alternating with prayers chiefly taken from the Psalms. These prayers are all set to music, the stave consisting of four lines only and the notes being very small. Both prayers and lections are in Latin, but the Latin does not everywhere coincide with the only version of the Vulgate to which I have access. The first lection is from Genesis xxxvii., beginning before verse 6 and ending with verse 22. The next lection is from St. Matthew xxi. 33 to 44 at least. Both these lections contain the phrase "Venite, occidamus eum." The prayer intervening between them is "Ad dominum dum tribulavi [sic] clamavi, et exaudivit me. Domine, libera animam meam a labiis iniquis et a linguâ dolosâ." The second leaf contains lections taken from St. Matthew xv., ending with verses 19 and 20, and from Jeremiah vii. 1-8, and the prayers set to music here are interspersed with others, such as the following, which is marked secre Suscipe......d'ne preces populi tui cum oblationibus hostiarium, et tua mysteria celebrantes ab omnibus defende p'iculis."

" 66

I should be much obliged if any correspondent of 'N. & Q.' could inform me from what ancient service book the above described leaves are taken, and would also suggest their probable date. GILBERT H. F. VANE.

The Rectory, Wem, Salop.

NORMAN ROLL AT DIVES.-In August, 1862, a roll or list of the companions of William the Conqueror was erected, amidst much pageantry, in the quaint old church of Dives, in Normandy. This roll is given by Burke in the appendix to his third volume of Vicissitudes of Families,' and amongst the four hundred and seventy-four names inscribed thereon occur those of Raoul de Mortemer, Renaud de Sainte-Hélène, Turstin de Sainte-Hélène, Robert de Rhuddlan, and Richard de Saint-Clair Each of these names evokes interesting suggestions. 1. De Mortemer is evi

dently still preserved this side of the Channel in its very traceable modern form of Mortimer. 2. De Sainte-Hélène could hardly be a territorial title from the lonely Pacific rock to which the Napoleonic eagle was chained in after centuries. Was it in existence in 1066; and, if so, did it bear that name then? More probably the patronymic owed its inception by courtesy to the mother of Constantine. 3. De Rhuddlan. Has this surname any connexion with Rhuddlan Castle, in Flintshire, of the third Edward's fame? Possibly; though I believe the Welsh pronounce it Rhylland. 4. De Saint-Clair. This looks very like the founder of the Earls of Rosslyn; but whence the patronymic? Who was the Saint Clair from whom it was derived? St. Claire I know (contemporary of Francis of Assisi); but who was he? Perhaps some of our many hagiologists can tell us.

Manchester.

J. B. S.

KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.-Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' kindly inform me where I could get a copy of the etching (?) of the picture, after Hollar, of the Priory in Clerkenwell of the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England? A. A. GORDON, F.S.A.Scot. 128A, George Street, Edinburgb.

AUTHORSHIP OF HYMN.-"Sleep thy last sleep," the hymn, used by express desire of Princess Beatrice at the funeral of her late husband, is spoken of in the Times as of "unknown authorship." Can any one say if it is an original English hymn; or is it an adaptation from a hymn used in the Latin or Greek Church?

LAICUS.

THE EYE OF A PORTRAIT.-Keble, in a note in The Christian Year,' after Miller's 'Bampton Lecture' in 1817, notices the manner in which the

eye of a portrait appears to follow one. A not young farmer made a similar remark as to the portraits in a room, in which I left him lately for a short time, appearing to look at him, with the statement that he never noticed this before. Has any earlier writer than Miller, u. s., noticed it; or has any later writer examined it?

ED. MARSHALL. THE FOUNTAIN OF PERPETUAL YOUTH.-Was there in classical mythology such a thing as a fountain of perpetual youth? In the ordinary books of reference I can find no allusion to it. The 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable' states that such a fountain was supposed to be situated in the Bahamas; but this, of course, must be a comparatively modern conception. A. CALDER.

GOETHE-In a very interesting address on Milton, given by Matthew Arnold in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, in February, 1888, the following passage occurs: The older one grows," says Goethe, "the more one prizes natural gifts, because by no possibility can they be procured and stuck on." Can you or any correspondent kindly state where in Goethe's writings the above occurs? I have been trying, but without success, to find it.

T. H.

&c., of a farm-what in Scotland is called a steading-is often called the "toun" or town" by the elder ploughmen of to-day. Besides Newton there are thirty Newtowns and over fifty Burtons and Suttons, and thirty or more representatives of Walton, Milton, Weston, Upton, Carlton, Barton, and Broughton. R. HEDGER WALLACE

UNIVERSITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.-Can any of your many readers furnish me with a complete list of the universities in North America? to those which seem only to exist for the purpose I mean one including Harvard and Cornell down of broadcasting degrees among those with modest acquirements and large ambitions. I have consulted the Report of the Commissioners of the Commission on Education,' Washington, 1895, without success. GISORS.

JNO. ROBINSON, BISHOP OF LONDON.-Where did he die-Fulham or Hampstead? Who is the present representative of the family? His epitaph tells us: "Anno 1692 causam Protestantium strenue asseruit, labentem Regis Suecici animan confirmavit, et ne consiliis Gallicis de nono Electoratu emergeret, effecit." What was the "ninth electorate," respecting which he prevented the effect CHAS. JAS. FERET.

of French counsels ?

"A GREEN BAG MAKER."-What was the origin of the term " a Green Bag Maker"? In 1817 a political spy named Oliver was so termed by Mr. Baines, of Leeds: "What the trade of this man may be we cannot pretend to say-but that he is a Green Bag Maker by profession is, we think, sufficiently obvious." ST. SWITHIN.

STRAPS. The lack of straps to the crepida in the original statue of Cornelia Mater Gracchorum (alluded to by Pliny), and a similar omission in certain other classic statues, is generally attributed (by authors who notice it) to indifference or oversight on the part of the sculptor-an inference strangely inconsistent with the accuracy of detail and perfection of scheme of such works. Is it not more probable that these straps were dispensed with in chiselling the foot from nature as hindering breadth of treatment, and that they were in tended to be (and perhaps actually were) supplied afterwards by strips of metal, possibly painted over, as were often the statues themselves? The introduction of bronze crowns, implements, reins, to suggest a parallel. &c., in modern marble statuary is familiar enough

ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

TRINITY IN UNITY,' 1729.-The title-page of a copy of this pamphlet in the British Museum runs thus: "Trinity in Unity, in answer to a great and ingenious Lady, that asked, How she might have an Idea of the Divinity of Christ, without a Notion of Two Gods. London: printed for J. Roberts near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane