to make to her bedroom window. It came and diligently tapped with its bill soon after daybreak, and as this was done with steady persistency, at about the same early hour and for the same length of time every day, the matter looked mysterious enough. The explanation given at length was that the bird had been attracted by the fresh putty round a pane newly inserted in the window. The anecdote was told me by the observer herself, who alluded to the magpie superstition in connexion with this record of her own experience. THOMAS BAYNE,

Helensburgh, N.B.

In reply to MR. PAGE, I cannot doubt, until better informed, that the habit "of spitting on things for luck" has a sacred origin, owing to our Lord having mingled His spittle with clay and anointed the blind man's eyes, and so restored their sight (John ix. 6). A curious account is given in the Travels and Adventures of Dr. Wolff,' which he dictated at my house, and which bears on the subject. He was travelling in Abyssinia amongst the Coptic Christians, who had recently lost their "Aboona, or the archbishop of the nation," and the people were expecting his successor from Cairo, who always came in disguise. Wolff was talking with the priests about religion, when he was suddenly surrounded by a crowd, who shouted," Here is our Aboona in disguise.” "At once," he says," they fell down at his feet, kissed them, and implored his blessing, and desired him to spit at and upon them, and Wolff had to spit at them until his very mouth was dry."

Making a cross on the ground at the sight of a magpie is not an uncommon practice, even with those who do not conclude the ceremony with what might be thought was desecration.

ALFRED GATTY, D.D.

THE SPENSERIAN STANZA (7th S. iii. 409).-A correspondent, writing from Oxford, has kindly sent me the following additions to my list at the above reference, which he says I am at liberty to publish. I accordingly send them to you. It is very stange that I quite overlooked the fact that the introduction to 'The Lotos-Eaters' is in Spenserian verse. As, however, there are only five stanzas, and I do not know of any others by Lord Tennyson, my remark, though not absolutely correct, is true in the spirit, as one would have expected that one of the most musical of poets would have written more than five verses in one of the most musical of metres. I am surprised to see that so generally sound a critic as Hazlitt says that the Spenserian stanza is borrowed from the Italians, a remark which is very misleading. The resemblance to Italian ottava rima, to which, I presume, Hazlitt alludes, ceases with the fourth line, to say nothing of the alexandrine, with which the Spenserian stanza concludes, and which is its

most characteristic feature. I believe the stanza which bears the greatest resemblance to Spenser's is one used by an old Scottish poet (qy. Dunbar ?). But Spenser is justly entitled to the full credit of having invented this beautiful metre, which has since been used with great success by Byron, Shelley, Keats, and others, who, with Spenser himself, have, notwithstanding Johnson's strictures ('Rambler,' No. 121), most satisfactorily proved how suited it is to the genius of our language.

Allan's 'Bridal of Caolchaiarn' and 'Last Deer of Brenn Doran' (or Dran).

Cooper's Purgatory of Suicides.'
Edwards's 'Tour of the Dove.'
Howitt's 'Desolation of Eyam.'

Keats's Imitation of Spenser' (his first, or nearly his first, verses).

Keble's Mourners following the Cross,'

Has MR. BOUCHIER forgotten Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters,' which, though a fragment of five Spenserian stanzas, merits a place in his list, it being one of the Laureate's best-known poems, full of a beautiful and dreamy solicitude. This refers to the opening pre-Choric song. Mrs. Hemans also employs this very musical stanza in three of her historical poems, viz., 'The Last Constantine,' i.-cv.; 'The League of the Alps,' i.-xxviii.; and Belshazzar's Feast,' i.-xiii. HERBERT HARDY. Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury.

WHO WAS ROBIN HOOD? (7th S. ii. 421; iii. 201, 222, 252, 281, 323, 412.)-MR. STREDDER, in his interesting series of notes upon this subject, has developed with much ingenuity Ritson's theory with regard to the origin of this outlaw, but has missed the main point of my thesis, namely, that the later ballads of Robin Hood were founded on an earlier metrical romance dealing with the life and fortunes of Fulk Fitz Warine. The voluminous romances which during the long winter evenings formed the chief solace of lord and lady in hall and bower, were not adapted for the amusement of the humbler classes, and it was a common practice with the minstrels of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to cut them down to a reasonable length and, when in ballad measure, fit them to popular tunes. There is evidence to show that

there was an English romance of Fitz Warine, but that the adventures of the St. Liz family were put into metrical form is merely a guess. The coincidences which I pointed out in my first paper go a long way, in my opinion, to strengthen my theory. Many of the ballads cited by MR. STREDDER are of comparatively late date, and some of them, such as The Birth of Robin Hood,' are considered by the best judges not to belong to the Robin Hood series at all.

One correspondent has suggested that a perusal of the late Mr. Hunter's paper on Robin Hood would convince me that the outlaw flourished in the time of Edward II. In reply, I may state that I long since made myself familiar with the various theories on the topic under discussion, and that I mentioned in the opening paragraph of my note that the principal theories had been dealt with by Prof. F. J. Child in the introduction to the fifth volume of his 'English and Scottish Ballads.' Among these was, of course, the theory of Mr. Hunter. I may add that a few days ago I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from Prof. Child, in which it was stated that the Robin Hood series of ballads would be included in the next part of his monumental work. We may therefore look forward to having the matter fully discussed by the most eminent living authority upon the subject. W. F. PRIDeaux.

DARKLING (7th S. iii. 148, 191, 374).-This word is also used by Byron in his short poem Darkness,' occurring in the third line :

I had a dream, which was not all a dream,
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless and pathless, &c.

I have not gone through Byron in search of the
word, but came upon this instance while reading
Taine's Hist. of Eng. Lit.' (vide "Byron "), Van
Laun's translation.

I should think this would be a favourite word of Byron's, judging from his character. I know some of his reviewers, who have spitefully written concerning him, would gladly have it applied to him ab initio and ad finem.

HERBERT HARDY.

Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury. 'EAST LYNNE' (7th S. iii. 226, 459).-If the charge of want of originality made by MR. GARDINER in 'N. & Q.' against the authoress of East Lynne' rests on no other foundation than is there supplied, the admirers of the works of the late Mrs. Henry Wood may rest satisfied that her claims to originality are not in serious dispute. 'The Castle's Heir,' published by her in America, was written by her, and when issued in England under the title of Lady Adelaide's Oath,' some over-zealous writer in the Pall Mall Gazette charged her very discourteously with deception.

Seeing that the Americans bought the American book, and the English the English work, it is hard to see who was hurt by Mrs. Wood adopting a course frequently employed by Fenimore Cooper, and adapting the title to the tastes of the respective countries. Cooper's 'Wept of Wish-ton-wish' became 'The Borderers' in England, his 'FeuFollet' in the States was issued as 'The Jack o' Lantern' in England, and his 'Leaguer of Boston' on the other side of the Atlantic appeared here as Lionel Lincoln.' No one thought of charging Fenimore Cooper with intention to deceive. GEORGE BENTLEY.

BULLION (7th S. iii. 383).—If a word has been in use for upwards of one hundred and sixty years it cannot well be called a modern word. Referring to Boger's 'French Dictionary' (1720) I find billon, of which he says: "Brass money alloyed with a little silver; also base coyn cry'd down; or the place where such coin is received to be melted." Of bullion he says nothing.

Chambers, in his 'Cyclopædia' (1738), gives :"Billon, Billio, in coinage, a kind of base metal, either of gold or silver, in whose mixture copper predominates. The word is French, formed, according to Menage, from the Latin bulla, or bullo, bullion. According to M. or twenty-one carats; and billon of silver, all under ten Butterone, billon of gold is any gold beneath standard, pennyweights. But, according to others, and among the rest M. Boizard, gold and silver beneath the standard, as far as twelve carats, and six pennyweights, are properly base gold and silver, and all under these, billon of vailing metal. Bullion,' he says, ' denotes gold or silver gold and billon of silver, in regard copper is the prein the mass, or billet. Bullion is used also for the place where the King's Exchange is kept; or where gold and silver is brought in the lump to be tried or exchanged.'" All this is corroborative of much that is given in DR. CHANCE's note.

་

Edmund Tew, M.A., F.R. H.S. PICKWICK (7th S. ii. 325, 457; iii. 30, 112, 175, 273, 393).-During my boyish days, when Dickens always stayed at Broadstairs, near Ramsgate, i was generally remarked among his friends an acquaintances that he had taken all the name of the characters in 'Pickwick' from persons residing in Ramsgate. There was Weller, the straw hat manufacturer and hosier in High Street, near the market; Mr. Tupman and Mr. Snodgrass lived higher up; Mrs. Bardell also lived

near; and more names than I can now remember were inhabitants of either Ramsgate or Broadstairs. Dickens hardly ever laid his friends under contribution either for ridicule or notoriety. When he found earnest men doing good work unobserved he might draw aside the veil of obscurity to depict the "silver lining" to the black clouds of life, such as in the case of the Brothers Cheery ble; but daily life and pereginations at midnight furnished him with such a world of incident that his task was more that of a cheerful historian than of an ESSINGTON. imaginative novelist.

I canter by the place each afternoon. This, inaccurately quoted, is the stanza ciii. of canto iv. of Byron's Don Juan,' originally published in August, 1821. The true reading is as follows:

I canter by the spot each afternoon
Where perish'd in his fame the hero-boy,
Who lived too long for men, but died too soon
For human vanity, the young De Foix !
A broken pillar, not uncouthly hewn,

But which neglect is hastening to destroy, Records Ravenna's carnage on its face, &c. This memorial of Gaston de Foix and the battle of Ravenna I sketched in the year 1853, and have it in an old note-book. At that time, let me do the Italians the justice of recording, the condition of the monument betrayed no such signs of petty malignity as Lord Byron mentioned. Let me, in passing, express the loathing with which some of us regard the recent attacks on the genius of Byron under the shallow disguise of criticism, J. W. EBSWORTH.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Anecdota Oxoniensia.—Alphita: a Medico-Botanical Glossary. From the Bodleian MS. Selden B. 35. Edited by J. L. G. Mowat. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) PROF. EARLE'S little book on early plant-names has had a marked effect in directing attention to medieval botany and medicine. The two sciences are now quite distinct. A man may be eminent in the medical profession yet as ignorant of botany as the least instructed of his patients. On the other hand, the botanist may be, and often is, quite ignorant of the healing art. It was not so in the Middle Ages. Medicine was then, it is to be feared, mostly magical; and such botanical knowledge as existed was blended with it in a way that is not very easy for the ordinary moderns to comprehend. The value of books of the kind now before us is twofold. They furnish us with old plant-names which, but for such collections as this, would have perished, and they throw a faint and flickering light on the old medical practice. We are not among those vain and light persons who believe that the value of experiment was unknown until it was taught us by Francis Bacon; but it is a fact that cannot be gainsaid that in the Middle Ages but few persons appreciated this method of acquiring new knowledge. How, then, did our forefathers obtain the information which they undoubtedly possessed as to the medicinal properties of various herbs? The question is difficult; for if we say that they derived it from Greek and Teutonic traditions, we are only throwing

the Middle Ages. We gather from the explanation of the word Mummia that our forefathers did not know that they were swallowing portions of human bodies, but thought that it was something-probably spices-found with them. In a note (p. 140) the editor suggests a derivation for the word" donkey." It may be true; but in the present state of our knowledge must only be accepted provisionally. "Donn or Dun," he says, "seems to have been an old name for horse; hence don-key, little horse." Any future editor of Du Cange, or any one who shall take upon himself the labour of compiling a new medieval Latin dictionary which shall incorporate the results of modern scholarship, will find this book of great value. If we are not mistaken, there are many words here which do not occur in the dictionaries. Corrupt forms they undoubtedly for the most part are; but it is on that very account that they are puzzling, and require registration and comment.

Yorkshire Archæological Association Record Series. Vol. II.-Yorkshire Fines. I. (Printed for the Society.)

Journal of the Yorkshire Archæological Association. Parts XXXVI, and XXXVII. Vol. IX. Part IV.; Vol. X. Part I. (Printed for the Society.) DR. FRANCIS COLLINS has done good service to all genealogists by editing for the Yorkshire Archæological Association a portly volume of Yorkshire fines for the Tudor period. Prefixed is a useful explanation of the nature of the documents known as fines, or feet of fines, as to which our own columns have shown that there is not much general knowledge afloat. The index of names of persons and places is so scrupulously faithful to the original as to exhibit its contractions. In the case of such well-known names as Metham, Calverley, &c., this seems almost an excess of scrupulosity, and perhaps a little likely to mislead the general reader as to the frequency of the occurrence of a given name. Among names in which some of our readers have shown au interest we may mention that Lythe occurs under Hilary Term, 6 Eliz., when John Lythe and William Lythe were plaintiffs in a fine of two messuages and lands in Newton-upon-Roclyffe. Among the more remarkable or unusual names which occur we may cite Langfelowe, Ferthyng (whose ancestor may have been a Farthingman), Drinkrawe (who, it may be supposed, took his spirituous comfort "neat "), Straytebarrell, Vycarman. Wadsworth is represented as well as Longfellow, and his Excellency the present French Ambassador is not without a Waddington.

The Journal of the Association, of which Parts XXXVI, and XXXVII., for 1886 and 1887, are now before us, continues to be as full as ever of valuable matter for the genealogist as well as for the archæologist, Mr. R. E. Chester Waters is represented in

Part XXXVI. by the second portion of his historical account of the Counts of Eu, Lords of Tickhill; while in the same number figures his opponent on the Gundreda controversy-Sir George Duckett-who prints the original foundation charter of Lewes from the Clugny records in the French archives. We doubt whether Sir George has done more than scotch his snake, though he evidently writes under conviction, and believes himself to have killed it. He is in any case entitled to our thanks for the documents printed with his article in the Journal of the Yorkshire Archæological Association. In the opening part of Vol. X. we hail with pleasure the continuation by Rev. C. B. Norcliffe of his valuable transcript of Paver's marriage licences, being the portion for 1597-99. The Cistercian Statutes,' by our wellknown correspondent Rev. J. T. Fowler, constitute another welcome continuation. Among new features we may mention that Rev. W. C. Boulter opens up the interesting field of Court Rolls of Yorkshire manors, while Mr. W. H. St. John Hope deals with the Premonstratensian House of St. Agatha juxta Richmond,' and Mr. Clements Markham, C.B., gives us another battle-piece in the battle of Towton.

A Letter upon the Roman Catholic Emancipation Question and the State of Ireland in 1829. By Prof. Niebuhr. (Hatchards.)

THE opinions of so great an historian as Niebuhr on any question of European politics would always command attention. In the case of the pamphlet before us they derive additional force from the well-known opportunities which Niebuhr enjoyed of becoming acquainted with the political views of the Roman Curia. It is often said that history repeats itself, and the representative of the British member of Parliament to whom the present 'Letter' was addressed by his old teacher at the University of Bonn has judged rightly that this saying is sufficiently true at the present moment to justify the circulation of the great German historian's views. It may not be without significance that we read how Niebuhr foreshadowed a possible separation of Ulster from the South. Indeed, he would have had it so separated, t. Jac. 1. It is impossible for us to do adequate justice to this deeply interesting Letter' in the space at our disposal. We can only hope that it will be widely read and carefully studied.

Cucumber Chronicles: a Book to be taken in Slices. By J. Ashby-Sterry. Sampson Low & Co.) VERY far from antiquarian is the volume of miscellanies Mr. Sterry has reprinted. Some of its brightest chapters deal, however, with parts of old London concerning which curiosity will not soon be sated. With its sketches of Lamb, Coleridge, and Hazlitt, "The Haunted Precinct" is both readable and happy. Much of Mr. Sterry's work is the lightest conceivable. Not a few of the descriptions are, however, very entertaining and successful.

Hard Knots of Shakespeare. By Sir Philip Perring, Bart. (Longmans & Co.)

UPON its first appearance, Sir Philip Perring's contribution to the elucidation of Shakspeare's text received full notice at our hands. A second edition now appears, with an improved arrangement and with some additions. The most important change consists in the transference to the margin, where they immediately strike the eye, of the passages which are the subject of comment. Among the additions are papers on The Merry Wives of Windsor,' Much Ado about Nothing,' 'Love's Labour's Lost,' Troilus and Cressida,'' Romeo and Juliet,' and Othello.' Fresh light has been thrown on a passage in 'The Tempest,' and a second in 'Taming of the Shrew'; and fresh matter has been imported into

the portions dealing with King John,' Julius Caesar,' and Hamlet.' To the estimate of the original edition supplied by one of the acutest of Shakspearian scholars, who, unfortunately, has passed away, there is nothing to be added except that the new matter is in form and spirit consonant with the old. The Diversions of a Bookworm. By J. Rogera Rees. Second Edition. (Stock.) THIS pleasant volume, to which on its first appearance second edition. The value of the new edition is greatly we drew attention, has not been long in reaching a enhanced by the addition of that most indispensable of things an index, which in this case has been compiled by Mr. F. G. Aylward.

IN the latest number of Le Livre appears an article by M. Henri Welschinger upon La Direction Générale de l'Imprimerie et de la Librairie' (1810-1815). In this, which is a continuation of a study of La Censure Imperiale' which appeared five years ago, M. Welschinger shows from manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale the singular precaution taken under the First Empire by successive censors of the press. Much curious informa tion as to the manner in which writers of authority and position were dealt with is supplied. In his 'Causerie' M. Octave Uzanne deals, among other subjects, with the recently published work of Miss Devey upon Lady Lytton.

of fifteen years, has been compiled by Mr. G. H. Brierley, AN index to Byegones, vols. i. to vii., covering a period and published at Oswestry and Wrexham by Messrs. Woodell, Minshall & Co.

Notices to Correspondents.

We must call special attention to the following notices : ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

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

C. D.-The Life and Death of the English Rogue; or, his last Legacy to the World: with a Canting Dictionary," was first published in 4to., London, 1679. An edition also appeared in 1719. The authorship is unknown. The English Rogue; or, the Life of Jeremy Sharp' is a different work, with, we believe, no “canting dictionary.” There is, of course, another "English Rogue," described as the Life of Meriton Latroon,' which is by Richard Head, 4 vols., 8vo., 1671-80. Head also wrote 'The Canting Academy; or, Villainies Discovered,' London, 1674, 12mo., and other works.

J. B. S.-Article McMurrough' will appear. The other communication you mention cannot be traced, ERRATUM.-P. 496, col. 2, 11. 2, 3, and 7, in an inquiry after Cornish Tokens,' for " Bougthen " read Bonython. Contributors would do well to write proper names with special distinctness.

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HOLLOWAY'S PILLS and OINTMENT offer

to suffering mankind the most effectual cure for gout and rheumatism. An unhealthy state of the blood, attended with bad digestion, lassitude, and great debility, conduces to these diseases, showing the want of a proper circulation of the fluid, and that impurity of the blood greatly aggravates these disorders. Holloway's Pills are of so purifying a nature that a few doses taken in time are an effectual preventive against gout and rheumatism, but any one that has an attack of either should use Holloway's Ointment also, the powerful properties of which, combined with the effects of the Pills, ensure rapid relief. The Ointment should be thoroughly rubbed into the parts affected at least twice a day, after they have been sufficiently fomented with warm flannels to open the pores in order to facilitate the absorp tion of the Ointment.

EMBLEMS OF SAINTS

BY WHICH THEY ARE DISTINGUISHED IN WORKS OF ART.

By the late Very Rev. F. C. HUSENBETH D.D.

A New Edition,

With numerous Corrections and Additions,

By the Rev. AUGUSTUS JESSOPP, D.D Forming the Seventeenth and Last Volume of Mr. Baring-Gould's 'Lives of the Saints.'

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