Beylies. VATICAN EMERALD. (8th S. viii. 347, 412, 450.) double columns, fifty-eight lines to the full page, side-notes in small Gothic type, but headings and marginal references in Roman letter. The text differs from that of the Bible of 1595, so far as I have observed (except for slight variations in spelling), only in this point, that this prints within brackets such words as are not in the to have further particulars about the emerald which Your correspondent LADY RUSSELL may be glad original Greek, which the other gives in Roman adorned the tiara of Pope Julius II. The Pope type. I should judge this Testament to have been used this tiara for the first time on 26 Nov., 1503, printed by the Barkers, because the same tailpieces on the occasion of his coronation, and it was the occur in both volumes, and in a few cases the only tiara that was saved during the great sack of capitals are identical. The Testament has the Rome under the Constable de Bourbon in 1527. heading of fol. 109 verso misprinted "1 Tthessa- It was Pope Gregory XIII. who enriched it by the lonians." Mr. Dore (Old Bibles,' p. 275, sqq.) addition of the emerald, which he had placed on enumerates several editions of the Bishops' trans- the summit, surmounted by a cross enriched with lation of the New Testament printed alone, but diamonds, and on the emerald was engraved his most of these appear to have been small in size. name, Gregorius XIII. P.O.M." This tiara My queries are (1) What is this edition? (2) What weighed 7 lb., and the emerald 404 carats. is its value? The edges are rather frayed at Clement XI., on the occasion of the threatened beginning and end, but except for the defects men-invasion of Saxony in 1712, due to the contioned it is in very fair and clean condition. It is version of Prince Frederick Augustus to Catholoosely bound in a stiff wrapper. C. DEEDES. licism, offered to sell, if necessary, this tiara, that Brighton, he might provide pecuniary assistance to the young prince's father, King Augustus. SWINNERTON FAMILY.-Wanted, name and In 1789 Pius VI. had the tiara altered, and it address of the present possessor of the evidences of the descent of the Swinnertons which were with the addition of 3 diamonds of large size, was reset by Carlo Sartori, the Pope's jeweller, collected some forty years ago by (it is supposed) 36 smaller ones, 24 large balas rubies from Mogul, James Swinnerton, proprietor of the Macclesfield Courier, who died s.p. in 1881, and who represented in the male line the Swinnertons of Yew Tree, in the manor of Whitmore, and through them probably also the Swinnertons of Swynnerton, the Swinnertons of Eccleshall, and the Swinnertons of Butterton, all in co. Stafford. F.S.A. 22 large Oriental sapphires, 12 rubies, and a large number of pearls, with this inscription in diamonds: "Ex munificentia Pii VI. P.O.M." Pius VI. was, as is well known, forced by the French to dispose of this tiara, as well as most of his treasures, to pay in part the six millions of francs required by the treaty of Tolentino in 1797. Napoleon I., in the month of June, 1805, sent as the summit of which again appeared the celebrated a gift to Pius VII. a new and magnificent tiara, on emerald of Gregory XIII. It was presented to the Pope by Cardinal Fesch, the Emperor's minister plenipotentiary, and the Pope, in his letter of thanks, dated 23 June, 1805, informed the Emperor of his intention to use it for the first time at Paul. When the Pope was taken prisoner in 1809 the Papal Mass on the Feast of SS. Peter and by the Emperor, this tiara was seized by General Miollis, together with other treasure, and taken back to Paris; but, on the restoration of the monarchy and the return of the Pope to Rome, it was restored to him by Louis XVIII. On the death of the Pope, his relations now laid claim to it, and a compromise was arranged, by which they were accorded the sum of twelve thousand scudi by the Reverenda Camera Apostolica. The tiara now became the property of the Holy See. Its vicissitudes do not end even here, for during the insurrection of 1831 Pope Gregory XVI. was obliged to conceal it, and the chamberlain to whom it was consigned placed it in a box and buried it for safety in the Vatican gardens, and on its removal afterwards to the Papal sacristy it was found to be so much injured that it had to be thoroughly restored. This work was entrusted to Annibale Rota, the Pope's jeweller, on 28 Dec., 1833, and Monsignor Patrizi, the maggiordomo, had the satisfaction, on 15 March, 1834, of placing it once again in the Papal sacristy. Here it remained till the troubles of 1848-9, when, during the Roman Republic and the temporary exile in Gaeta of Pius IX., it was safely hidden W. should not have contradicted LADY RUSSELL and MR. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY with so little consideration-consideration to which a lady, at least, might have been entitled. They may be mistaken as to the Vatican emerald which is the subject of MR. GALE'S inquiry (he alone can tell us what emerald he meant); but both LADY RUSSELL and MR. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY write with such evident knowledge about the emeralds which they sup. posed to be the subject of inquiry, that W. goes too far in saying that their "explanations have no foundation whatever." I suppose even the proverbial schoolboy has heard of the Vatican emerald concerning which W. Supposes MR. GALE to inquire; but it is only the schoolboy and cocksure people who are ready without inquiry to accept legend as history. The inscription usually appended to engravings of the legendary likeness of our Lord, said to have been cut in an emerald by command of Tiberius (credat Judæus !), and with which many readers of N. & Q.' must be familiar, is as follows:"Vera Salvatoris nostri effigies ad imitationem imaginis smaragdo incisae jussu Tiberii Cæsaris, quo smaragdo postea ex thesauro Constantinopolitano Turcarum imperator Innocentium VIII. Pont. Max. Rom. donavit pro redimendo fratre Christianis captivo." W. gives as undoubted historical fact,-"The Vatican emerald (so called) came into possession of Pope Innocent VIII. in the following way: During the wars with the Turks, the brother of the Emperor of the Turks [what emperor is not said] was taken prisoner, and, in order to redeem him, the said gem was given to the Pope." Now, I trust that MR. GALE's inquiry will yet elicit distinct information as to whether or not the legendary emerald is still to be seen among the treasures of the Vatican; meanwhile, I question the truth of the legend of the gift. While Innocent VIII. was Pope (A.D. 14841492), the Emperor of the Turks was Bajazet II. (A.D. 1481-1512). At the time of the death of his father, Mahomet II., he was Governor of Amasia, and, instead of at once securing his succession, he persevered in the fulfilment of a previously designed pilgrimage to Mecca. His brother, Zizim, taking advantage of his absence, usurped the throne. Bajazet, on his return, inflicted on him a crushing defeat, when he sought refuge first at Rhodes and then in Italy. In the latter country the long arm of his brother reached him and compassed his death. Emerald or no emerald, given or not given, by Emperor of Turks to Pope of Rome, the legend which I have quoted is demonstrably false. Bajazet's brother was no captive among the Christians, but a refugee. So far from wonderful emeralds or other costly gifts being bestowed to procure his redemption, some far less costly payment (some say by means of a barber's razor) secured his death. R. M. SPENCE, M.A. Manse of Arbuthnott, N.B. P.S.-A thought has just struck me. If in the inscription given above we were at liberty to regard redimendo as a mistake for retinendo, so as to bring out the sense that Bajazet gave the emerald to Innocent to induce him to retain his brother as a captive," then the story might be true after all. It is a fact that Bajazet had paid an annual sum to Peter d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, to secure the safe custody of his brother, that he might not get at large to be a source of danger to himself. D'Aubusson, at Innocent's request, gave up Zizim to him. The Pope may have, in turn, been bribed by Bajazet, perhaps by the gift of the emerald, to keep him safe. Afterwards, to be doubly sure, he had him murdered. MAYPOLES (8th S. viii. 184, 297).-Now the subject of maypoles is under discussion, may I ask whether instances are known in western Europe of such poles being used as supports for a game, or religious exercise, in which the performers swing or circle in the air! In Russia, "the giant steps' consist of a tall, stout mast firmly planted in the earth, bound with iron at the top, and cables which touch the ground. The game consists of a upholding a thick iron ring to which are attached heavy number of persons seizing hold of these cables, running round the mast until sufficient impetus is acquired, and then swinging through the air in a circle."—Atlantic Monthly, lxxii. pp. 353, 354. In Mexico, at the time of the Spanish invasion, the game, which was called the "bird-dance" by the natives, and the "flying game" by their conquerors, was a far more elaborate performance. It took place especially during the laymen's feast, and seems to have had a religious significance connected with the calendar. Nearly every game among the Mexicans and the kindred nations enjoyed divine patronage: "In the centre of an open place, generally a public square, a lofty pole was erected. On the top of this pole was placed a wooden, moveable cap, resembling an inverted mortar; to this were fastened four stout ropes which supported a wooden frame about twelve feet square. Four longer ropes were carefully wound thirteen times about the pole just below the cap, and were thence passed through holes made one in each of the four sides of the frame. The ends of these ropes, while wound about the pole, hung several feet below the frame. Four gymnasts, who had practised some time previously, and were disguised as birds of different form, ascended by means of loops of cord tied about the pole, and each having fastened one of the ropes round his waist, they started on their circular flight with spread wings. The impulse of the start and the weight of the men set the frame in motion, and the rope unwound quicker and quicker, enabling the flyers to describe larger and larger circles. A number of other men, all richly dressed, sat perched upon the frame, whence they ascended in turn to the top of the revolving cap, and there danced and beat a drum, or waved a flag, each man endeavouring to surpass his predecessor in daring and skill. As the flyers neared the ground, and the ropes were almost untwisted, the men on the frame glided down the ropes so as to gain the ground at the same time, sometimes passing from one rope to the other in their descent and performing other tricks. The thirteen turns of the rope, with the four flyers, represented_the_cycle with its four divisions of thirteen years."-H. H. Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America,' 1875, ii. pp. 295, 296. A very similar sport, in which the pole was crowned with a gaudily painted idol of the god of cacao, was also customary among the Mayas of Central America (Bancroft, ii. pp. 713, 714), and during the Mexican month called "fall, or maturity of fruit" a pole played a principal part in the festival held to the god of fire : "At the beginning of the month certain priests went out into the mountains and selected the tallest and straightest tree they could find. This was cut down and trimmed of all except its top branches. It was then moved carefully into the town upon rollers, and set up firmly in the courtyard of the temple, where it stood for twenty days. On the eve of the feast-day the tree was gently lowered to the ground; early the next morning carpenters dressed it perfectly smooth, and fastened a cross-yard five fathoms long near the top, where the branches had been left. The priests now adorned the pole with coloured papers, and placed upon the summit a statue of the god of fire, made of dough of amaranth seeds, and curiously dressed in a maxtli, sashes and strips of paper. Three rods were stuck into its head, upon each of which was spitted a tamale, or native pie. The pole was then again hoisted into an erect position. Those who had captives to offer now appeared, dancing side by side with the victims, and most grotesquely dressed and painted. At sunset the dance ceased...... About midnight every owner brought out his captive. ....At dawn the human offerings were taken to the Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were [afterwards] spitted, and there stripped by the priests of their dress and ornaments." Then the victims were haled to the foot of the temple steps, partially stupefied by a powder thrown in their faces by the priests, borne up to the summit of the temple, and burnt nearly to death. After which each one was cast on the stone of sacrifice to have his heart torn out :— "These bloody rites over, the people came together and danced and sang in the courtyard of the temple. Presently all adjourned to the place where the pole before mentioned stood. At a given signal the youths made a grand scramble for the pole, and he who first reached the summit and scattered the image and its accoutrements among the applauding crowd below, was reckoned the hero of the day. With this the festival ended, and the pole was dragged down by the multitude amid much rejoicing. The Tepanecs, according to Duran, had a very similar ceremony. huge tree was carried to the entrance of the town, and to it offerings and incense were presented every day during the month preceding the festival. Then it was raised with many ceremonies, and a bird of dough placed at the top. Food and wine were offered, and then the warriors and women, dressed in the finest garments and holding small dough idols in their hands, danced round the pole, while the youths struggled wildly to reach and knock down the bird image. Lastly the pole was overthrown."Bancroft, ii. pp. 329-331. Such was the use made of festal poles among the American aborigines at the period when the New World was discovered. In what districts of the Old World and the Oceanic Islands beyond it are such poles known to have been employed at religious rejoicings, or at feasts connected with the course of the seasons? The use of tree-stems in public or family ceremonial seems to occur at any season of the year; not alone In May, the lovely month of May, When all the leaves are springing. As we see, one Mexican festival during which a pole was set up fell in the season of ripe fruits, and the German Christmas-tree is erected in the shelter of the house at mid-winter, when the spirits of vegetation may perhaps find comfort in the glow of the Christmas-log. M. P. In the village of Offenham, on the Avon, near Evesham, there stands a maypole. It is, I believe, of comparatively recent erection, but I do not know whether it succeeded to a more ancient one. In some of the villages in that same district it is usual for children (generally girls), on 29 May, to carry from house to house a miniature pole, decked with garlands and ribbons. They sing the following rhymes: All round the maypole, trit, trit, trot, W. C. B. SMOKING IN CHURCH (8th S. viii. 366).—I have a note made in 1891 of a conversation with an old inhabitant of this town, in which he told me that HOMER OMAR (8th S. viii. 307).-The personal name which we usually write Aymer or Aylmer appears in various forms in early charters-Eymer, Eumerus, Homer, Homerus, Hamer, &c. As a patronymic it assumes the form Emerson, and the Italian diminutive Amerigo (corresponding to English Almeric) provided the name of the Western continent. HERBERT MAXWELL. Bardsley's English Surnames,' ed. 1875, has the following statement at p. 223 : "Our classical-looking Homers' are the naturally corrupted form of the once familiar 'le Heaumer,' he who fashioned the warrior's helmet." ARMORIAL SEAL (8th S. viii. 429).-The arms described by MR. FLOYD as (presumably) occupying the dexter half of the shield, viz., A lion rampant reguardant sable; crest, the same holding between his paws a fleur-de-lis, are those of Sir Pryse Pryse, Bart., of Gogerddan, Cardiganshire. The impaled arms (doubtless the wife's) I am unable to identify. OSWALD HUNTER BLAIR, O.S.B. Fort Augustus, N.B. Arms, Sable, a lion rampant reguardant or (Lloyd, co. Brecon). Sable, a fess between three dexter hands appaumy argent (Bates, co. York). Crest, a lion rampant reguardant, in the dexter paw a fleur-de-lis argent (Lloyd). · JOHN RADCliffe. REV. DR. GLASSE (8th S. viii. 228, 389).—In Lysons's Environs of London' we find that Dr. Hanwell Church in 1781, the total cost of the Glasse contributed 2001. towards the rebuilding of edifice being 1,7657. He wrote an epitaph to the memory of his wife Anne, who was buried in the church in 1802. The doctor himself died in 1809. Hanway was related to Dr. Glasse, and frequently visited him at the rectory. I know one family which still bears the name of Glasse, but cannot say if they are the descendants of Hanwell's rector. ETHERT BRand. Barry Road, Stonebridge Park, N.W. WILLIAM THOMPSON, OF HUMBLETON (8th S. viii. 408).-Fifty years ago there existed (and for aught I know there exist still) in the village of Humbleton two endowed schools, one of them "supported by the munificence of Thomas Thompson, Esq." This fact may in part supply an answer to MR. BETHELL'S query, as Mr. Thompson, if not lord of the manor, was, presumably, at least a landowner in the parish which he thus benefited. OSWALD HUNTER BLAIR, O.S.B. Fort Augustus, N.B. See the pedigree in Dugdale's 'Visitation,' Surtees Soc., p. 122, and Poulson's 'Holderness." An inscription at Kilham speaks of this family as gens numerosissima." W. C. B. "COMFORTABLE"=Comforting, KIND (8th S. viii. 286, 413).-The late learned and witty Sheriff Barclay, of Perth, in his 'Old Glasgow,' gives the following grim instance of the word in this etymological sense : "One Thomas or Tam Young long held the office of headsman. He was to be seen every day taking his solitary walk in the public Green escorted by one or two ugly bulldogs. The gallows-tree at the Cross was a strange erection, fixed with many ropes upright to the The Steeple. Afterwards, when death was inflicted in front his connecting it with the Carlton Club. The Pitt of the Jail at the foot of the Green, a large box or chest Club was composed of members sharing in the was formed as the gallows. It was erected in a wright's yard then in Buchanan Street. It was frequently visited political principles of Mr. Pitt, supporting and during its erection by morbidly curious people. It could advocating his measures on all questions. be separated, and each board was numbered, and so could Fox Club was, and is, analogous to it, save that be easily put together. There were four or five who the latter advocated the opinions of Mr. Fox, were at the time of its construction under sentence of Pitt's great political opponent. death. Tamas having been taken to see the machine and to give his opinion as to its accommodation, naively replied that four could be comfortably hanged on the beam, but not more.' That number did in 1819 expiate their crimes on this ill-fated machine." A. G. REID. Auchterarder. com At the second reference AYEAHR quotes from Dr. Aldis Wright's The Bible Word Book,' coumfortide hym with nailes," and asks whether the word is used in legal indictments-as 66 forting" a traitor. Now this query is curious, as Dr. Wright says, just before the quotation above: "Lord Campbell, in his 'Essay on Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements (p. 82), remarks upon the passage in 'K. Lear,' III. v., 'If I find him comforting the king, it will stuff his suspicion more fully'; The indictment against an accessory after the fact for treason charges that the accessory "6 29 comforted the principal traitor after knowledge of the treason.' Trench says, in his 'Select Glossary,' that confortare, so frequent in the Vulgate, is first to make strong, to corroborate, and only in a secondary sense to console. "A comfortable sort of body' is a common expression in the North of England, as applied to a kind, motherly sort of person. In the Cornhill Magazine for December, 1895, No. 150, p. 602, there is the remark, in 'An Arbitrary Lover," "I had a comfor❜able home an' a comfor❜able husband." So we speak about a comfortable room, chair, bed, fire, &c., whereby we imply that they impart comfort. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. In the active sense of affording comfort, comfortable occurs in our Prayer Book version of the Psalms (liv. 6), "I will praise Thy name, O Lord, because it is so comfortable." E. WALFORD, Ventnor. "Hear what comfortable words Our Saviour Christ saith." These words, from the Communion Service, are to be found in the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI. of 1549. C. W. PENNY. Wokingham, The Pitt Club, as a matter of course, met and dined together, and each member wore, suspended from the buttonhole by a dark blue ribbon, a badge, of which the obverse had the profile likeness of the great statesman on a black enamelled ground, with the motto, "Non sibi, sed patrie, vixit," the whole encircled by a silver-gilt setting of oak-leaves. On the reverse was the name of the member to whom the badge belonged. One such badge is in my possession at this moment, formerly worn by my father. That the Carlton, a Conservative club of recent times, thought fit to incorporate the died-out embers of the Pitt Club is exceedingly likely, though I never knew it before; but it had otherwise nothing in common with the original Pitt Club, save its politics. The members of the club were perfectly well known at the time, and each sat in the House of Commons-with one Z. or two exceptions in the Upper House. WELDON FAMILY, IRELAND (8th S. viii. 145, 210). The following extracts concerning the Clerk of the Spiceries, from whom Sir A. Weldon, Bart., without warrant, claims descent, are not without interest. Bishop Goodman, in the 'Aulicus Coquinaria,' says of Sir A. Weldon, of Kent:: "That his parents took rise from Queen Elizabeth's kitchen, and left it (i. e., the kitchen) a legacy for preferment of his issue. Sir A. went the same way, and by grace of the Court set up to the grace of cloth, in which place attending King James into Scotland he practised there to libel that nation, which [presumably the libel] was wrapped up in a record of that Board, and by the from his place as unworthy to eat his bread whose birthhand being known to be his was deservedly removed right he had so vilely defamed." Bishop Goodman adds, "I have given him the "Sir CHEFOO. CONVENT OF CHAILLOT, PARIS (8th S. viii. 509). -There is no difficulty in getting leave to work at "les Archives." D. THE SPORTING DOG OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS some weeks back is exceedingly misleading, through | (8th S. viii. 366).—The Rev. John Whitaker, in PITT CLUB (8th S. viii. 108, 193).—The definition of the Pitt Club given by a correspondent |