PASSAGE IN BINGHAM.

Mr. Richard Bingham, whose new and improved edition of his ancestor's works is now printing at the Oxford University Press, would feel sincerely obliged to any literary friend who should become instrumental in discovering the following passage from one of the sermons of Augustine:

"Non mirari debetis, fratres carissimi, quod inter ipsa mysteria de mysteriis nihil diximus, quod non statim ea, quæ tradidimus, interpretati sumus. Adhibuimus enim tam sanctis rebus atque divinis honorem silentii."

Joseph Bingham (b. x. ch. v. s. 11.) cites those words as from "Serm. I., inter 40. a Sirmondo editos," which corresponds with Serm. V. according to the Benedictine edition, Paris, 1689—1700, tom. v. p. 28.; but no such words occur in that sermon. The passage is daggered by Grishovius, who first gave the citations at length; neither has Mr. R. Bingham hitherto been able to meet with it, though a great many similar desiderata in former editions he has discovered and corrected.

An answer through "N. & Q." will oblige; still more so if sent direct to his present address, 57. Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London.

Mr. Bingham would also be glad to be informed where Athanasius uses the term διάκονος, generally for any minister of the church, whether deacon, presbyter, or bishop? Joseph Bingham (b. ii. ch. xx. s. 1.) cites the tract Contra Gentes, but the expression is not there.

The earlier a reply comes the more acceptable will it be.

57. Gloucester Place, Portman Square.

Minor Queries.

"Terræ filius."—When was the last "Terræ filius" spoken at Oxford; and what was the origin of the name?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Daughter pronounced Dafter.—In the Verney Papers lately printed by the Camden Society is a letter from a Mistress Wiseman, in which she spells daughter "daftere." It is evident that she pronounced the -augh as we do in laughter. Is this pronunciation known to prevail anywhere at the present day?

C. W. G.

Administration of the Holy Communion.—Which side, north or south, is the more correct for the priest to commence administering the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper? Give the authority or reasons in support of your opinion. I cannot find any allusion in Hook's Church Dictionary, or in Wheatly's Common Prayer; and I have seen some clergymen begin one end, some the other.

Clericus (A.).

Love Charm from a Foal's Forehead.—I have searched some time, but in vain, in order to find out what the lump or love charm, taken out of a foal's forehead, was called. Virgil mentions it in Æneid, lib. iv. 515., where Dido is preparing her funeral pile, &c.:

Tacitus also makes mention of it continually. I have no doubt but that through your interesting and learned columns I shall obtain an answer. It was not philtrum.

H. P.

A Scrape.—What is the origin of the expression "Getting into a scrape?"

Y. B. N. J.

"Plus occidit Gula," &c.—Can any of your correspondents direct me where the following passage is to be found?—

T.

Anecdote of Napoleon.—I remember to have heard of a young lady, one of the detenus in France after the Peace of Amiens, having obtained her liberation through a very affecting copy of verses of her composition, which, by some means, came under the notice of Napoleon. The Emperor was so struck with the strain of this lament, that he forwarded passports, with an order for the immediate liberation of the fair writer. Can any of your correspondents verify this anecdote, and supply a copy of the verses?

Balliolensis.

Canonisation in the Greek Church.—Does the Greek Church ever now canonise, or add the names of the saints to the Calendar?

If so, by whom is the ceremony performed?

Antony Close.

Woodhouse Eaves.

Binometrical Verses.—Who made the following verse?—

It is either hexameter or pentameter, according to the scansion?

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

Dictionary of English Phrases.—Is there in English any good dictionary of phrases similar to the excellent Frasologia Italiana of P. Daniele?

G. K.

Lines on Woman.—W. V. will be glad to know if any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." can tell where the following lines are to be found?—

Collections for Poor Slaves.—I have met with the following memorandum in a parish register, and have seen notices of similar entries in others:

"1680. Collected for the redemption of poor slaves in Turkey, the sum of 2s. 8d."

Can you refer me to the king's letter authorising such collections to be made?

W. S.

Northiam.

The Earl of Oxford and the Creation of Peers.—Where will be found the answer made by the Earl of Oxford when impeached in the reign of Queen Anne for creating in one day twelve peers?

S. N.

"Like one who wakes," &c.—Can any of your readers supply the authorship and connexion of the following lines?—

C. W. B.

Bells at Berwick-upon-Tweed.—Can any one favour me with a parallel or similar case, in respect to bells, to what I recently met with at Berwick-upon-Tweed? The parish church, which is the only one in the town, and a mean structure of Cromwell's time, is without either tower or bell; and the people are summoned to divine service from the belfry of the town-hall, which has a very respectable steeple. Indeed, so much more ecclesiastical in appearance is the town-hall than the Church, that (as I was told) a regiment of soldiers, on the first Sunday after their arrival at Berwick, marched to the former building for divine service, although the church stood opposite the barrack gate. My kind informant also told me that he found a strange clergyman one Sunday morning trying the town-hall door, and rating the absent sexton; having undertaken to preach a missionary sermon, and become involved in the same mistake as the soldiers.

But more curious still was the news that there is a meeting-house in Berwick belonging to the anti-burghers, who are dissenters from the Church of Scotland, which has a bell, for the ringing of which, as a summons to worship, Barrington, Bishop of Durham, granted a licence, which still exists. I was not aware that bishops either had, or exercised, the power of licensing bells; but my informant will, I doubt not, on reading this, either verify or correct the statement. At the time when the bell was licensed, the congregation were in communion with the Church of Scotland.

Alfred Gatty.

The Keate Family, of the Hoo, Herts.—I shall be obliged to any of your readers for information respecting the Sir Jonathan Keate, Bart., of the Hoo, Hertfordshire, who was living in the year 1683; also for any particulars respecting his family? I especially desire to know what were his relations to the religious parties of the time, as I have in my possession the journal of a nonconformist minister, who was his domestic chaplain from 1683 to 1688.

G. B. B.

Cambridge.

Divining-rod.—Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." supply instances of the use of the divining-rod for finding water? I know several circumstances which might incline one, in these table-turning days, to inquire seriously whether there be any truth in the popular notion.

G. W. Skyring.

Medal and Relic of Mary Queen of Scots.—I have in my possession a medal, the size of a crown piece, of base metal, with perhaps some admixture of silver. On one side of this are the arms of Scotland with two thistles, and the legend—

MARIA ET HENRICUS DEI GRATIA R: ET R: SCOTORUM,

and the reverse, a yew-tree with a motto of three words, of which the last seems to be VIRES, the date 1566, and the legend—

EXURGAT DEUS ET DISSIPANTUR INIMICI.

Associated with this for a very considerable period has been a small wooden cross, which is said to have been made from the yew-tree under which Mary and Darnley had been accustomed to meet.

I have been told that there is some farther tradition or superstition connected with these relics: if there be, I shall be glad to be informed of it, or of any other particulars concerning them.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Bulstrode's Portrait.—Prefixed to a copy in my possession of Essays upon the following Subjects: 1. Generosity, &c., by Whitelock Bulstrode, Esq., 8vo. Lond. 1724, there is a portrait of the author, bearing this note in MS.: "This scarce portrait has sold for 7l." It is engraved by Cole from a picture by Kneller, in oval with armorial bearings below, and is subscribed "Anno Salutis 1723, ætatis 72." I am at a loss to suppose it ever could have fetched the price assigned to my impression by its previous owner, and should feel obliged if any of your correspondents would state whether, from any peculiar circumstances, it may have become rare, and so acquired an adventitious value. It does not appear to have been known to Granger.

While the two names are before me, I venture to inquire how the remarkable interchange occurred between that of Whitelock Bulstrode the Essayist, and Bulstrode Whitelock the Memorialist, of the parliamentary period. Was there any family connexion?

Balliolensis.

The Assembly House, Kentish Town.—Can any of your antiquarian correspondents give me a clue as to the date, or probable date, of the erection of this well-known roadside public-house (I beg pardon, tavern), which is now being pulled down? I am desirous of obtaining some slight account of the old building, having just completed an etching, from a sketch taken as it appeared in its dismantled state. Possibly some anecdotes may be current regarding it. I learn from a rare little tome, entitled Some Account of Kentish Town, published at that place in 1821, and written, I believe, by a Mr. Elliot, that the Assembly House was formerly called the Black Bull. The writer of this Query asked "one of the oldest inhabitants," who was seated on a door-step opposite the house, his opinion concerning its age: considering a little, the old gentleman seriously said he thought it might be two or three thousand years at least! This opinion I am afraid to accept as correct, and I would therefore seek, through the medium of "N. & Q.," some information which may be more depended upon.

W. B. R.

Camden New Town.

Letters respecting Hougomont.—Could any reader of "N. & Q." kindly furnish the undersigned with certain Letters, which have recently appeared in The Times, on "The Defence of Hougomont?" Such letters, extracted, would be of much service to him, as they are wanted for a specific purpose. The letters from Saturday, Sept. 10, inclusive, are already obtained: but the letters on the subject previous to that date are wanting, and would greatly favour, if it were possible to have them,

Aran.

Swillington.

Peter Lombard.—Mr. Hallam, in his Literature of Europe (vol. i. p. 128.), says, on the authority of Meiners (vol. iii. p. 11.):

"Peter Lombard, in his Liber Sententiarum, the systematic basis of scholastic theology, introduces many Greek words, and explains them rightly."

Having, however, examined this work for the purpose of ascertaining Peter Lombard's knowledge of Greek, I must, out of regard to strict truth, deny the statement of Meiners; for only one Greek word in Greek letters is to be found in the Liber Sententiarum, and that is μετάνοια: and so far frown Peter explaining this word rightly, he says, 'Pœnitentia dicitur a puniendo" (lib. IV. dist. xiv.); an etymological notion which caused Luther to think wrongly of the nature of repentance, till he learnt the meaning of the Greek word, which he received with joy as the solution of one of his greatest difficulties in Romanism. I do not consider the introduction of such Latinized church words as ecclesia, episcopus, presbyter, or even homoöusius, as evincing any knowledge of Greek on the part of Peter Lombard, wherein he appears to have been lamentably deficient, as the great teacher and authority for centuries in Christian dogmatics. Your correspondents will greatly oblige me by showing anything to the contrary of my charge against Peter Lombard of being ignorant of Greek.

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

Life of Savigny.—Is there in French or English any life or memoir of Savigny?

C. H.

Picture by Hogarth.—Some years since a gentleman purchased at Bath the first sketch of a picture said to be by Hogarth, of "Fortune distributing her favours." Shortly afterwards a gentleman called on the purchaser of it, and mentioned to him that he knew the finished painting, and that it was in the panelling of some house with which he was acquainted.

I am desirous of finding out for the family of the purchaser, who died recently, 1st, whether there is any history that can be attached to this picture and 2ndly, to discover, if possible, in whose possession, and where, the finished painting is preserved.

J. K. R. W.

Minor Queries with Answers.

Glossarial Queries.—In a Subsidy Roll of 25 Edward I., in an enumeration of property in the parish of Skirbeck, near Boston, Lincolnshire, upon which a ninth was granted to the king, I find the following articles and their respective value. What were they?—

In the taxation of Leake I find—

In that of Leverton—

In Butterwick—

In Wrangle—

Pishey Thompson.

Stoke Newington.

Military Knights of Windsor.—I shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who will furnish some account, or refer me to any work in which notices may be found of this foundation, its statutes, mode of appointment, endowments, &c.? Up to the reign of William IV. they were known, I believe, as Poor Knights of Windsor.

Y. B. N. J.

"Elijah's Mantle."—Who was the author of Elijah's Mantle? And are there any grounds for ascribing it to Canning?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Replies.

MILTON AND MALATESTI.

(Vol. ii., p. 146.; Vol. viii., p. 237.)

When I gave some account of La Tina of Antonio Malatesti, and its dedication to Milton, two years since, I was not aware that it had been printed, as I had no other edition of Gamba's Serie dell' Edizioni de' Testi di Lingua, than the first printed in 1812. That account was derived from the original MS. which formerly passed through my hands. I fear that my friend Mr. Bolton Corney will be disappointed if he should meet with a copy of the printed book, for the MS. contained no other dedication than the inscription on the title-page, of which I made a tracing. It represents an inscribed stone tablet, in the following arrangement:

I copied at the time eight of these equivocal sonnets, and in my former notice gave one as a specimen. They are certainly very ingenious, and may be "graziosissimi" to an Italian ear and imagination; but I cannot think that the pure mind of Milton would take much delight in obscene allusions, however neatly wrapped up.

Milton seems to have dwelt with pleasure on his intercourse with these witty, ingenious, and learned men, during his two-months' sojourn at Florence; and it is remarkable that Nicolas Heinsius has spoken of the same men, in much the same terms, in his dedication to Carlo Dati of the second book of his Italici Componimenti:

"Sanctum mehercules habebo semper Jo. Bapt. Donij memoriam, non tam suo nomine (et si hoc quoque) aut quod Frescobaldos, Cavalcantes, Gaddios, Cultellinos, alios urbis vestræ viros precipuos mihi conciliarit, quorum amicitiam feci hactenus, et faciam porrò maximi, quam quod tibi me conjunxerit, mi Date; cujus opera in notitiam, ac familiaritatem plurimorum apud vos hominum eximiorum mox irreperem."

And, after mentioning others, he adds:

"Quid de Valerio Chimentellio, homine omni literatura perpolita, dicam? Quid de Joanne Pricæo? qui ingens civitati vestræ ornamentum ex ultima nuper accessit Britannia."

One feels some decree of disappointment at not meeting here with the name of Milton.

Of the distinguished men mentioned by Milton, some interesting notices occur in that curious little volume, the Bibliotheca Aprosiana. Benedetto Buommattei and Carlo Dati are well known from their important labours; and of the others there are scattered notices in Rilli Notizie degli Uomini Illustre Fiorentine, and in Salvini Fasti Consolari dell' Accademia Fiorentina. I have an interesting little volume of Latin verses by Jacopo Gaddi, with the following title Poetica Jacobi Gaddii Corona e Selectis Poematiis, Notis Allegoriis contexta, Bononiæ, 1637, 4to.

There is a good deal of ingenious and pleasing burlesque poetry extant by Antonio Malatesti. I have before mentioned his Sphinx: of this I have a dateless edition, apparently printed about the middle of the last century at Florence: the title is La Sfinge Enimmi del Signor Antonio Malatesti. Commendatory verses are prefixed by Chimentelli, Coltellini, and Galileo Galilei. The last, from the celebrity of the writer, may deserve the small space it will occupy in your pages. It is itself an enigma:

Three more sonnets by this illustrious man are printed by Salvini in his Fasti, of which he says:

"I quali esendo parto di si gran mente, mi concederà la gloria il benigno lettore, che io, ad honore della Toscana Poesia, gli esponga il primo alla publica luce."

Dr. Fellowes was not singular in confounding Dati and Deodati; it has been done by Fenton and others: but that Dr. Symmons, in his Life of Milton (p. 133.), should transform La Tina into a wine-press, is ludicrously amusing. La Tina is the rustic mistress to whom the sonnets are supposed to be addressed; and every one knows that rusticale and contadinesca is that naïve and pleasing rustic style in which the Florentine poets delighted, from the expressive nature of the patois of the Tuscan peasantry; and it might have been said of Malatesti's sonnets, as of another rustic poet:

I may just remark that the Clementillo of Milton should not be rendered Clementini, but Chimentelli. As Rolli tells us,—

"Clementillus fu quel Dottore Valerio Chimentelli di cui leggesi una vaghissima Cicalata nel sesto volume delle Prose Fiorentine."

S. W. Singer.

Mickleham.

ATTAINMENT OF MAJORITY.

(Vol. viii., pp. 198. 250.)

I greatly regret that there should be anything in the matter or manner of my Query on this subject to induce Mr. De Morgan to reply to it more as if repelling an offence, than assisting in the investigation of an interesting question on a subject with which he is supposed to be especially conversant. I can assure him that I had no other object in writing ninth numerically instead of literally, or in omitting the words he has restored in brackets, or in italicising two words to which I wished my question more particularly to refer, than that of economising space and avoiding needless repetition; and in the use of the word "usage" rather than "law," of which he also complains, I was perhaps unduly influenced by the title of his own treatise, from which I was quoting. But however I may have erred from exact quotation, it is manifest I did not misunderstand the sense of the passage, since Mr. De Morgan now repeats its substance in these words,—

"I cannot make out that the law ever recognised a day of twenty-four hours, beginning at any hour except midnight."

This is clearly at direct issue with Ben Jonson, whose introduced phrases, "pleaded nonage," "wardship," "pupillage," &c., seem to smack too much of legal technology to countenance the supposition of poetic license.

But had I not accidentally met with an interesting confirmation of Ben Jonson's law of usage, or usage of law, I should not have put forth my Query at all, nor presumed to address it to Professor De Morgan; my principal reason for so doing being that the interest attaching to discovered evidence of a forgotten usage in legal reckoning, must of course be increased tenfold if it should appear to have been unknown to a gentleman of such deep and acknowledged research into that and kindred subjects.

In a black-letter octavo entitled A Concordancie of Yeares, published in and for the year 1615, and therefore about the very time when Ben Jonson was writing, I find the following in chap. xiii.:

"The day is of two sorts, natural and artificiall: the natural day is the space of 24 hours, in which time the sunne is carried by the first Mover, from the east into the west, and so round about the world into the east againe."

"The artificiall day continues from sunne-rising to sunne-setting: and the artificiall night is from the sunne's setting to his rising. And you must note that this natural day, according to divers, hath divers beginnings: As the Romanes count it from mid-night to mid-night, because at that time our Lorde was borne, being Sunday; and so do we account it for fasting dayes. The Arabians begin their day at noone, and end at noone the next day; for because they say the sunne was made in the meridian; and so do all astronomers account the day, because it alwayes falleth at one certaine time. The Umbrians, the Tuscans, the Jewes, the Athenians, Italians, and Egyptians, do begin their day at sunne-set, and so do we celebrate festivall dayes. The Babylonians, Persians, and Bohemians begin their day at sunne-rising, holding till sunne-setting; and so do our lawyers count it in England."

Here, at least, there can be no supposition of dramatic fiction; the book from which I have made this extract was written by Arthur Hopton, a distinguished mathematician, a scholar of Oxford, a student in the Temple; and the volume itself is dedicated to "The Right Honourable Sir Edward Coke, Knight, Lord Chiefe Justice of England," &c.

A. E. B.

Leeds, Sept. 10.

JOHN FREWEN.

(Vol. viii., p. 222.)

He is supposed to have been the son of Richard Frewen, of Earl's Court in Worcestershire, and was born either at that place or in its immediate vicinity in the early part of the year 1558. Richard Frewen purchased the presentation to Northiam rectory, in Sussex, of Viscount Montague, and presented John Frewen to it in Nov. 1583; and he continued to hold that living till his death, which took place at the end of April, 1628. He was buried in the chancel of his own church, May 2nd; and a plain stone on the floor, with an inscription, marks the place of his interment. He was a learned and pious Puritan divine, and wrote:

1. "Certaine Fruitfull Instructions and necessary Doctrine meete to edify in the feare of God." 1587, 18mo.

2. "Certaine Fruitfull Instructions for the generall Cause of Reformation against the Slanders of the Pope and League, &c." 1589, small 4to.

3. He edited and wrote the preface to—

"A Courteous Conference with the English Catholickes Romane, about the Six Articles administered unto the Seminarie Priestes, wherein it is apparently proved by theire own divinitie, and the principles of their owne religion, that the Pope cannot depose her Majestie, or release her subjects of their alleageance unto her, &c.; written by John Bishop, a recusant Papist." 1598. Small 4to.

4. "Certaine Sermons on the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 verses of the Eleventh chapter of S. Paule his Epistle to the Romanes." 1612, 12mo.

5. "Certaine choise Grounds and Principles of our Christian Religion." 1621, 12mo.

6. A large unpublished work in MS. entitled "Grounds and Principles of Christian Religion," left unfinished (probably age and infirmity prevented him from completing it): it consisted of seven books, of which two only (the fourth and fifth, of 95 and 98 folio pages respectively) have been preserved.

John Frewen had three wives, and by each of the first two several children, of whom the following lived to grow up, viz. by Eleanor his first wife, (1.) Accepted Frewen, Archbp. of York; (2.) Thankful F., Purse Bearer and Secretary of Petitions to Lord Keeper Coventry; (3.) John F., Rector of Northiam; (4.) Stephen F., Alderman of the Vintry Ward, London; (5.) Mary, wife of John Bigg of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; (6.) Joseph F. By his second wife, Helen, daughter of —— Hunt, J. F. had (7.) Benjamin, Citizen of London; (8.) Thomas F.; (9.) Samuel, Joseph, Thomas, and Samuel joined Cromwell's army for invading Ireland; and one of them (Captain Frewen) fell at the storming of Kilkenny; another of them died at Limerick of the plague, which carried off General Freton; the other (Thomas) founded a family at Castle Connel, near Limerick.

John Frewen's Sermons in 1612 are in some respects rare; but the following copies are extant, viz. one in the Bodleian at Oxford; one in the University Library at Cambridge; one in possession of Mr. Frewen at Brickwall, Northiam; and one sold by Kerslake of Bristol, for 7s. 6d., to the Rev. John Frewen Moor, of Bradfield, Berks.

If R. C. Warde, of Kidderminster, has a copy which he would dispose of, he may communicate with T. F., Post-office, Northiam, who would be glad to purchase it.

J. F.

"VOIDING KNIFE," "VOIDER," AND "ALMS-BASKET."

(Vol. vi., pp. 150. 280.; Vol. viii., p. 232.)

In later times (the sixteenth century) the good old custom of placing an alms-dish on the table was discontinued, and with less charitable intentions came the less refined custom of removing the broken victuals after a meal by means of a voiding-knife and voider: the latter was a basket into which were swept by a large wand, usually of wood, or voiding-knife, as it was termed, all the bones and scraps left upon the trenchers or scattered about the table. Thus, in the old plays, Lingua, Act V. Sc. 13.: "Enter Gustus with a voiding-knife;" and in A Woman killed with Kindness, "Enter three or four serving men, one with a voider and wooden knife to take away."

The voider was still sometimes called the alms-basket, and had its charitable uses in great and rich men's houses: one of which was to supply those confined in gaols for debt, and such prisoners as had no means to purchase any food.

In Green's Tu Quoque, a spendthrift is cast into prison; the jailer says to him:

"If you have no money, you had best remove into some cheaper ward; to the twopenny ward, it is likeliest to hold out with your means; or, if you will, you may go into the hole, and there you may feed for nothing."

To which he replies:

"Ay, out of the alms-basket, where charity appears in likeness of a piece of stinking fish."

Even this poor allowance to the distressed prisoners passed through several ordeals before it came to them; and the best and most wholesome portions were filched from the alms-basket, and sold by the jailers at a low price to people out of the prison. In the same play it is related of a miser, that—

"He never saw a joint of mutton in his own house these four-and-twenty years, but always cozened the poor prisoners, for he brought his victuals out of the alms-basket."

In the ordinances of Charles II. (Ord. and Reg. Soc. Ant. 367.), it is commanded—

"That no gentleman whatsoever shall send away my meat or wine from the table, or out of the chamber, upon any pretence whatsoever; and that the gentlemen-ushers take particular care herein, that all the meate that is taken off the table upon trencher-plates be put into a basket for the poore, and not undecently eaten by any servant in the roome; and if any person shall presume to do otherwise, he shall be prohibited immediately to remaine in the chamber, or to come there again, until further order."

The alms-basket was also called a maund, and those who partook of its contents maunders.

W. Chaffers.

Old Bond Street.

THE LETTER "H" IN HUMBLE.

(Vol. viii., p. 229.)

The recent attempt to introduce a mispronunciation of the word humble should be resisted by every one who has learned the plain and simple rule of grammar, that "a becomes an before a vowel or a silent h." That the rule obtained a considerable time ago, we have only to look into the Book of Common Prayer to prove, where the congregation are exhorted to come "with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart," and I believe it will be admitted that the compilers of that work fully understood the right pronunciation.

It may assist to settle the question by giving the etymology of the word humble. It is derived from the Celtic uim, the ground, Latin humus. Umal in Celtic is humble, lowly, obedient; and the word signifies the bending of the mind or disposition, just as a man would kneel or become prostrate before a superior.

Fras. Crossley.

In the course of a somewhat long life I have resided in the North of England, in the West, and in London, upwards of twenty years each, and my experience is directly the reverse of that of Mr. Dawson. I have very rarely heard the h omitted in humble, and when I have heard it, always considered a vulgarity. The u at the beginning of a word is always aspirated. I believe the only words in which the initial h is not pronounced are derived from the Latin. If that were the general rule, which, however, it is not, as in habit, herb, &c., still, where h precedes u, it would be pronounced according to the universal rule for the aspiration of u.

E. H.

The letter "h" to be passed unsounded in those words which are of Latin origin.—Try it:

* *.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

(Vol. viii., p. 220.)

I have great pleasure in removing from the mind of your correspondent an erroneous impression which must materially affect his good opinion of a school to which I am sincerely attached. He asks if in any of the public schools there are libraries of books giving general information accessible to the scholars. Now my information only refers to one, that of Eton. There is a library at Eton consisting of some thousand volumes, filled with books of all kinds, ancient and modern, valuable and valueless. It is open to the 150 first in the school on payment of eighteen shillings per annum, and on their refusal the option of becoming subscribers descends to the next in gradation. The list, however, is never full. The money collected goes to the support of a librarian, and to buy pens, ink, and paper, and the surplus (necessarily small) to the purchase of books. The basis of the library is the set of Delphin classics, presented by George I. The late head master (now provost) has been a most munificent contributor; Prince Albert has also presented several valuable volumes. Whenever the Prince has come to Eton he has always visited the library, and taken great interest in its welfare; and on his last visit said to the provost that he should be quite ready and willing to obey the call whenever he was asked to lay the first stone of a museum in connexion with the library.

Etonensis.

The free grammar school at Macclesfield, Cheshire, has always had a library. It did contain some rare volumes of the olden time; it was at various times more or less supported by a small payment from the scholars. Some years since Mr. Osborn, the then head master, solicited subscriptions from former pupils, and with some success. Of the present state of the school library I know nothing.

Edward Hawkins.

At Winchester there are libraries for the commoners and scholars containing books for general reading: they are under the several charge of the commoner-prefects and the prefect of library, who lend them on application to the juniors.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

Christ's Hospital has a library such as inquired after by Mr. Weld Taylor. The late Mr. Thackeray, of the Priory, Lewisham (who died about two years ago), bequeathed to this school his valuable library of books on general literature for the use of the boys. Previously to this bequest the collection of books was small.

N.

DR. JOHN TAYLOR.

(Vol. i., p. 466.)

My attention has been caught by some remarks in the early volumes of your work upon my learned ancestor Dr. John Taylor, minister at Norwich, and subsequently divinity tutor at Warrington. Whatever opinion may have been attributed to Dr. Parr concerning Dr. Taylor, this I know, that on revisiting Norwich he desired my father (the Dr.'s grandson) to show him the house inhabited by him while he was the minister of the Octagon Chapel.

Dr. Parr looked serious and solemn, and in his usual energetic manner pronounced, "He was a great scholar."

Dr. John Taylor was buried at Kirkstead^[4], Lancashire, where his tomb is distinguished by the following simple inscription:

"Near to this place lies interr'd
what was mortal of
Iohn Taylor, D.D.

Reader,
Expect no eulogium from this Stone.
Enquire amongst the friends of
Learning, Liberty, and Truth;
These will do him justice.
Whilst taking his natural rest, he fell
asleep in Jesus, the 5th of March, 1761,
Aged 66."

The following inscription, in Latin, was composed by Dr. Parr for a monumental stone erected by grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the Octagon Chapel, Norwich:

"Joanni Taylor, S.T.P.
Langovici nato
Albi ostii in agro Cumbriensi
bonis disciplinis instituto
Norvici
Ad exequendum munus pastoris delecto A.D. 1733.
Rigoduni quo in oppido
Senex quotidie aliquid addiscens
Theologiam et philosophiam moralem docuit
Mortuo
Tert. non. Mart.
Anno Domini MDCCLXI.
Ætat. LXVI.
Viro integro innocenti pio
Scriptori Græcis et Hebraicis litteris
probe erudito
Verbi divini gravissimo interpreti
Religionis simplicis et incorruptæ
Acerrimo propugnatori
Nepotes ejus et pronepotes
In hac Capella
Cujus ille fundamenta olim jecerat
Monumentum hocce honorarium
Poni curaverunt."

S. R.