the first shield are the arms of the city; on the third are the arms of Douglas of Dalkeith, as borne by the Regent Morton, the restorer of the college; the fourth has the coat of Hamilton, the first endower; the fifth has the royal arms of Scotland; the sixth has the episcopal and family arms of Bishop William Turnbull, the founder. The second shield is occupied with this inscription in modern italics: "Hec Virga empta fuit publicis Academic Glasguensis Sumptibus, A.D. 1465, in Galliam ablata, A.D. 1560; et Academia restituta, 1590." In rough off-hand translation this means: This rod or verge (hence verger, one who carries) was bought with the public gatherings or taxes of the University of Glasgow 1465, was renewed or overhauled in France 1560, and restored to the University 1590. The statement that the whole half-dozen maces were discovered in Bishop Kennedy's tomb in 1683, together with the St. Andrews University donations to the other three universities in Scotland, does not coincide with the inscription upon the Glasgow University mace, whereupon is the word empta, i.e. purchased, in 1465. This engraved fact manifests and proves that the Glasgow mace was bought by and in possession of the University 218 years before the said gift came from St. Andrews. J. F. S. GORDON, D.D. BOOKS ON NAVIGATION. Those who wish for further informatiou respecting the series of ancient laws known as the "Libre de Consolat" or "Book of the Consulate" cannot do better than study the introduction to the third volume of 'The Black Book of the Admiralty,' edited by Sir Travers Twiss for the "Rolls Series of Chronicles and Memorials." They will find there a clearly-written and interesting account of the origin of these and kindred bodies of marine law, and of the various manuscripts and printed editions in which they are found. They related not only to the merchandise carried by the ship, but also to the proper handling of the ship herself, and captains, pilots, and harbour masters, as well as owners and freighters, were bound to know and obey them. I judge then that they have an absolate right to be included in a bibliography of navigation, indeed more right than some perhaps forgotten treatise on fixed stars. Circa 1500. Routier (Le) de la mer jusques au fleuue de jourdain, nouuellement imprime a Rouen. (A la fin:) Cy finissent les iugemens de la mer, des nefs, des maistres, des marinniers, de marcha's & de tout leur estre auecques le Routier. Imprime a Rouen par Jacques le Forestier demourant audict lieu deuant Nostre dame a lenseigne de la fleur de lis.-Pet. in-8 goth de 29 f. Petit livre très-rare, impr. dans le commencement du xvie siècle. C'est probablement un des plus anciens traités de ce genre qui aient paru en français.-Brunet's 'Manuel du Libraire.' 1502, Carta da navigar per le Isole novam tr... in le A large map representing the several possessions of Spain and Portugal. It was sent from Lisbon to Hercules d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, before November 19, 1502, and is now preserved at Modena. A facsimile of it is exhibited in the King's Library, British Museum. It shows parts of Europe, Africa, and America, the several possessions of the rival countries being indicated by their respective flags. As a sea chart it could have been of very little use; but it serves to show the ideas that prevailed on the subject of map-making at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is generally believed that seamen used globes in preference to charts, as being more correct, until the latter end of that century. A good authority on this subject of maps is M. Lelewel in his Géographie du Moyen Age,' in which many of the earliest maps and charts are reproduced. Most of them were included in such works as Ptolemy's Geography,' but I have not thought it necessary to pad out this bibliography with every edition of that celebrated work, for the sake of perhaps one map of the world that was full of errors. From the days of Mercator onwards there will be more to say of them. 1502. Libre de co'solat tracta't dels fets maritims, &c. Colophon Fon acabada de stampar la present obra a xiiij de setembre del any. MDij en Barcelona, per Johan Luschner Allamany Stampador.-Pet. in-fol. goth. à 2 col. Édition fort rare, qui paraît être une copie de celle de 1494. Le titre et la table forment 6 f. préliminaires; le corps de l'ouvrage a 88 f. chiffrés, a la fin desquels se partie de 13 f. non chiffrés, ayant pour titre: Capitols lit la souscription de l'imprimeur. Vient ensuite une del Rey en pere sobre los fets e actes maritims. Vendu 60 fr. Gohier.-Brunet's 'Manuel du Libraire,' tom. ii. p. 234. No copy of this in either B. M. or Bodleian. Sir Travers Twise, Q.C., D.C.L., in his introduction to vol. iii. of 'The Black Book of the Admiralty,' published for the Rolls Series, states that this edition differs slightly from that of 1494. A copy of this edition is in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Press mark, *E 284/A. 1505. Dat hogheste Gotlansche Water-Recht gedrucket to Koppenhaven. Anno Domini MDV. A Saxon or Low German text of a collection of sea laws, printed for the first time in 1505 by Godfrey de Gemen at Copenhagen. There are two copies in the Royal Library there, both without title-page; but upon a blank leaf which occupies the place of frontispiece in one of them the above title has been inserted with a pen, in alternate lines of black and red ink, and there has also been added on the first page of the text the introductory title, "Her beghynt dat hogheste Water-Recht' (here begins the supreme sea law). The collection comprises sixty-six articles, which are derived from three distinct sources, a Lübeck, an Oléron, and an Amsterdam. The work is mentioned by Panzer in his Typographical Annals,' and by Sir Travers Twiss in his introduction to the third volume of "The Black Book of the Admiralty,' bo there does not appear to be any copy of it in this country. term, as applicable to piety as to prejudice. But let that pass. I wish to state a fact, and not to preach a sermon. There are, within my knowledge, three houses in London that are fateful to the last degree. I do not know what their previous records may have been, but having observed these houses with passive curiosity for some years, 1 notice that they constantly change owners, while neighbouring dwellings do not, and that their 1507. Cosmographic Introdu | ctio, cum quibus dam geometriae ac astronomiae principiis ad eam rem necessariis. [By Martinus Hylacomylus. Insuper quatuor Americi Vespucci nauigationes. [Written by himself, and translated from French into Latin by Joannes Basinus. Gualterus Lud: Saint Dié, Lorraine vij kl'occupants are soon involved in disaster. For the Maij, 1507, 4to.-British Museum, press mark C. 40 g. 12. This is the first edition of this work, which is of especial interest from two reasons. It records the means used by Vespucci during his voyages to ascertain his longitude, and it also proposed to call the newly-discovered land in the west America. There were a great many editions of this work subsequently printed, both from the above-mentioned press and from those of Strasbourg, Lyons, and Venice. They differ very much from each other, some being greatly falsified. 1507. Cosmographiæ | Introductio cum quibus- dam geome-triæ ac astrono- | mise principiis ad eam rem necessariis. [By Martinus Hylacomylus.] Insuper quatuor Americi Vespucii nauigationes. [Written by himself, and translated from French into Latin by Joannes Basinue. End [Sig. F. 4 recto]: Gualterus Lud. Saint Dié. Lorraine, 29 Augt. 1507. 4to.-Copy in British Museum, press mark C. 20 b. 39. This copy has fifty-four leaves, with signatures A-D, A, b—f, the folding map in signature c being counted as two leaves. It differs from the earlier editions in the following particulars: The verses addressed by Philesius to the emperor are omitted, and the verso of the title is occupied by Hylacomylus's dedication to the emperor, in which the name of the Gymnasium Vosagene is substituted for that of M. Hylacomylus. 1508. Unterweisung und Auslegungen der Charta Marina oder der Meeres Karten, mit Figuren......(Lorenz Friess). Nürnberg. Folio.-Murhard's 'Bibl. Math.,' iv. p. 89. The earliest edition of this atlas, if correct; but the earliest copy I have been able to find is for the year 1527, and Brunet mentions nothing before 1539 (q.v.). 1509. Cosmographise Introductio, &c. Martinus Hylacomylus, Grüniger. Argento. (Strasbourg). 1509. 4to.-Copy in the British Museum, press mark 571 d. 1. HENRY R. PLOMER. 18, Eresby Road, West Hampstead. (To be continued.) UNLUCKY HOUSES.-In Catholic countries one not infrequently sees a priest, attended by acolytes, in the act of blessing a house prior to its adoption as a residence. On these occasions Protestants are apt to smile at what they are pleased to consider a remnant of the age of superstition. I am not so sure of this. "Superstition" is a relative sake of convenience, I will designate these houses as A, B, and C. In A, during the past six years, three persons have died. Neither of them was in die from an accident, nor from any malady caused failing health previous to occupation, nor did he by defective drainage. The greatest possible care was taken to ensure the sanitary condition of that house, and its inmates were unaware of any rumours in connexion with it. I have said that actually died on the same day. In course of time three persons died. I may add that two of them the remainder of the lease was sold to an officer, then in the prime of life and in perfect health. He resided in that house for two years, and died there, somewhat suddenly, last year. Although B is situated in a fashionable quarter and is a bright and pleasant dwelling, it is but rarely occupied. It has not, within my knowledge, been occupied for more than twelve months at a stretch by any one family, and yet, during the past six years, two persons, previously in affluent circumstances, have been financially ruined. C has a mystery of another kind. Although of tempting appearance, and situated in a favourite quarter in the West End of London, it has been tenantless for the past sixteen years. The house has often been painted and redecorated, as well as structurally improved, but hitherto in vain. The bill "Te Let" stands in the window, and is only removed occasionally to make room for a fresher announcement. I may add that there is not the faintest suspicion of a ghost about the house. similar experiences. I am not superstitious, but Possibly other readers of N. & Q.' could give in my humble opinion it would not be altogether unreasonable to employ a clergyman as an exorcising medium in dwellings where misfortunes so unaccountable are of such frequent occurrence. Haunted houses have of late years occupied general attention; and in some cases a cure has been effected. But unlucky houses, though possibly far more numerous, have escaped notice. 2, Reichs Strasse, Dresden. RICHARD EDGCUMBE. recent number of the Morning Post, seems to me "HERNSHAW.”—The following paragraph, from a worth placing on permanent record in 'N. & Q.': particular districts gives hernshaw as a Suffolk term, but "A recent writer on words and phrases peculiar to surely this word is-or was-common in many parts of England. It is an interesting expression to those who share Hazlitt's views regarding notes on Shakespeare-reception of John Oliver, when deceased to the will viz., that if we wish to know the force of human genius of God; granted by William Westbrook Richardwe must read Shakespeare, but if we wish to see the insignificance of human learning we must study his son, Esq., 1766." On the south side is inscribed : commentators.' In Alexander Chalmers's edition of "In memory of John Oliver, miller, who departed the plays, published in 1811, and in which the combined this life the 22nd of April, 1793, aged 84 years." intelligence of Johnson, Steevens, Malone, and various His remains were interred beneath. The miller others tinkers of the text besides the editor himself are left twenty pounds a year for the keeping up of represented, Hamlet's remark, 'I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from his tomb and "summer retreat." All signs of the hernshaw,' is given—as in all old editions-with the last latter had disappeared when I visited the spot a word as handsaw,' and in a foot-note it is stated, with short time ago, and the tomb and railings are fast laconic wisdom, that 'to know a hawk from a handsaw' going to decay for want of paint. Is it possible, is a proverbial speech.' With the exception, perhaps, at this distance of time, to ascertain who was apof Theobald, whose claims have recently received some pointed trustee, and why the interest of the money tardy recognition, the older editors of Shakespeare never has not been appropriated in accordance with the seem to have looked beyond their own minds for explanations of obscurities. Surely, before stating that desire of the deceased? EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. this was a proverbial speech' these annotators might have found out what the proverb really was. In Shakespeare's time 'heron shaw,' shortened into hernshaw, was a common word enough, and was familiar, at any rate, to Spenser and other contemporary writers. In the very edition of the plays referred to above Dr. Burney's contemptuous allusion to commentators, who, regarding a certain passage in 'King Lear,' which to a musician was clear enough, perhaps, as unintelligible nonsense, have therefore left it as they found it, is quoted with approbation by an editor who left 'handsaw' when the real word was almost forced into the page by the context, E. WALFORD. GERM THEORY OF DISEASE.-De Foe seems to have been acquainted with this theory, and not to have thought much of it. In his 'Journal of the Plague Year' he refers to the talk there was "of infection being carried on by the Air only, by carrying with it vast Numbers of Insects, and invisible Creatures, who enter the Body with the Breath, or even at the Pores with the Air, and there generate, or emit most accute Poisons, or posionous Ovæ, or Eggs, which mingle themselves with the Blood, and so infect the Body." 71, Brecknock Road. THE NAME BELINDA. (See 8th S. ii. 364; iii. 66)-Let me thank MR. ADAMS for setting me right, and let me say that the Latin couplet was taken from Gilfillan's edition of Pope's 'Works,' vol. i. p. 53. The name certainly does not come from the quiver of Martial; perhaps it owes its paternity to Pope. At any rate, it seems a favourite with Pope; for not only is the name bestowed on Arabella Fermor, in the Rape of the Lock,' but it is used in the following beautiful passage in the 'Epistle to Mr. Jervas ': Thus Churchill's race shall other hearts surprise, Vv. 59-62. Pope has passed through many editions, and it would be interesting to know whether this error has been perpetuated in them all. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. JOHN BURTON, M.D. (1710-1771), ANTIQUARY AND PHYSICIAN.-It may be noted, as an addition to the account of him appearing in 'Dict. Nat. Biog., vol. viii. p. 10, that he was born at Colchester, Essex, on June 9, 1710, the son of John Burton, previously a merchant in London, by his wife Margaret, the daughter of the Rev. John Leake, for fifty-six years Vicar of Warmfield, otherwise Kirkthorpe, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She died at an early age, and was buried in the parish church of All Saints, Colchester, in the month of January, 1712/13. John, their eldest son, who entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1725, was on June 19, 1727, admitted a pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, and in 1733 obtained the degree of M.B. in that university. Subsequently he pursued his medical studies at the University of Leyden, and ultimately proceeded to the degree of M.D. in the University of Rheims. His marriage is thus recorded in the register of York Minster, under date Jan. 2, 1734/5: “John Burton, of Heath, Dr. of Physick and Mary Henson, of St. Delpike parish in York, by License." Dr. Burton died on Jan. 19, 1771, and was buried in the church of the Holy Trinity, in Micklegate, York. His wife, who died on Oct. 28 following, aged fifty-eight, was interred near her husband. An admirable memoir of the learned author of the 'Monasticon Eboracense' appears in the Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, 1871-2, Lond., 1873, vol. ii. p. 403. DANIEL HIPWELL. 17, Hilldrop Crescent, N. BURIAL BY TORCHLIGHT. In the Athenæum of Feb. 4 (No. 3406, p. 148) are the remarks :"In the seventeenth century and the earlier part of the eighteenth, burial by torchlight was a common custom among the upper classes. We know of one case which has occurred almost within the memory of living people." There is detailed support for this assertion in Mr. A. F. Robbins's 'Launceston, Past and Present,' in which it is stated (pp. 298-9), in explanation of an entry in the parish sexton's note-book, that, at a burial by torchlight, the church was "Crowded with Spectator's, Some Very Disorderly":— "This was of Christopher Morshead Lawrence, who died at the age of sixteen, and was interred at eight o'clock in the evening on March 2, 1816. His father, Humphry Lawrence, who died at Whitely, Lifton, on April 2, 1811, had received a similar funeral, the remains being met at the head of Race Hill, at half-past eleven at night, by the mayor. corporation, and tradesmen of the town, and, amid muffled peals, escorted by torchlight to St. Mary Magdalene's, where they arrived exactly at midnight, and were buried in the family vault." The following extract from the St. James's Gazette of April 30, 1886, brings the matter down to a much more recent date: The burial by torchlight a few nights since of Mr. Robert Staples, a landlord and magistrate of Queen's County, recalls one of the most striking scenes in 'The Antiquary, where the Countess of Glenallan was interred in the Abbey of St. Ruth's to the smoky light of many flambeaus." Until the early years of the present century, torchlight burials were by no means uncommon...... The prohibition of burials first in churches and next in churchyards had much to do with the practical extinction of an old and picturesque custom." DUNHEVED. PALFREY AND POST.-Palfrey is undoubtedly the modern form of the Low Latin paraveredus; but does the latter really mean an extra post horse, as Lewis and Short, Skeat, and others tell us? We all know that horses were kept by the state for use on the cursus publicus of the Roman empire. These horses were animalia publica, that is, owned by the state, and employed as Occasion required. There was no occasion for extra horses on the cursus publicus; in a case of need the public stock was increased at the public cost, and a horse so added was called veredus, like any other Roman post horse that carried couriers The on the cursus publicus. When the courier left the post road, he was entitled to a paraveredus, which means and was intended to mean a horse pressed into the public service for use away from the regular post road. The veredus served on the post road; the paraveredus served on the cross road, and was private property, temporarily supplied by the local authority for imperial uses. A glance at the Theodosian Code, 'De Cursu Publico,' especially with the luminous notes of Gothofredus, will prove convincing. The terms survive to this day, veredus being the German Pferd (which is not derived from paraveredus), while paraveredus has become palefroi in French, and palfrey in English. palfrey was the horse supplied to the king or bis representative, and thus came to mean a noble and gentle horse, as distinguished from a war horse; but this meaning came only with the days of chivalry. The cursus publicus, together with the supplementary service on cross roads, had disappeared; the public veredus, as state property, was gone; but the obligation of towns and communes to supply paraveredi for royal use, especially on state occasions, remained, chiefly in France, though traces of it are found in England and elsewhere. Originally, then, the vulgar German Pferd and the gentler palfrey are post-office terms; for the cursus publicus was a real post office, though used for government purposes only or mainly. The post office fell with other things when the barbarians broke over Europe. In 1464, to give the date of the first postal law in more recent days, the modern post office began, in France, and with it came new words in the place of veredi, &c., the first use of post in the present sense being, perhaps, the term " chevaucheurs en postes" (post-riders) in the French ordinance of 1487. The word immediately became the property of all Europe, meaning a messenger, and then simply haste, as in many English writers of the sixteenth century, in Shakespeare, and in the English Bible. How the later postilion was coined, is not clear. It is a little hard to imply dissent from Lewis and Short, Skeat, Ducange, and Grimm; but their postal articles do not always tally with the service they denoted. A solution appears in the Cod. Theod., in the decrees of the Roman emperors, and in the history of the postal establishment, both ancient and more recent. C. W. ERNST. Boston, Mass. Magazine, No. 1, March 1, 1834, p. 92, thus TENNYSON, 1834. The Oxford University compares the reviews of Tennyson in Blackwood's Magazine and the Quarterly Review: Compare the article on Tennyson in the Magazine, coarse-abuse; no mitigation-no praise of any sort: with that in the Quarterly Review. Here virulent-even there, ridicule where ridicule was due-praise in its right place; the best things extracted for commendation-the worst for blame; all fair and above board. No one now doubts which was the fairer; if Alfred Tennyson is still more laughed at than wept over, it is for the same reason that the philosophy of Democritus was more easily learnt than that of Heraclitus; any body can laugh-some eyes are naturally dry." the last of the set being secured by a buckle and 'CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL STRIPT AND In No. 3, November 1, 1834, p. 446, it is said that the title of Graham's Vision of Fair Spirits' was "suggested by Alfred Tennyson's Vision of Fair Women."" W. C. B. "PREVENTATIVE.”—I am surprised to find that this gross vulgarism is gaining ground, in spite of its being so plainly against analogy, another instance of the loose way in which too many people express themselves in these days of school boards and what not. An adjective ending in -tative is usually formed from a substantive ending in -tation, as argumentative from argumentation, augmentative from augmentation, representative from representation, &c., whereas from such substantives as attention, invention, deception, prevention, &c., are formed adjectives like attentive, inventive, deceptive, preventive, &c. Indeed it would seem 9, New Square, Lincoln's Inn. that, as some might say, we needed no ghost to tell us that. Yet this spurious word, like so many HERALDIC.-In Whalley's 'Northamptonshire,' others, has passed muster and is getting more and vol. ii. p. 131, the following coat appears, viz.: more into use, though there is not an "Academy "Lane, impaling Argent, three chevrons engrailed in England, as there is in France, to spoil the good old mother-tongue by authority. Queries. F. E. A. GASC. We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only privato interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. OCTAGONAL FONTS, WHEN INTRODUCED.-In the Rochdale parish churchyard has recently been discovered an ancient stone font. It is two feet high, eight feet seven inches outside diameter at its widest part, across the top it measures two feet eight inches, the basin being one foot eleven inches wide and twelve inches deep. On the brim (which is four and half inches wide) are the four holes showing where the staples or iron rods were inserted to which was attached the lid or cover (fonts before the Reformation being locked). At one side of bottom is the hole through which the water was drawn off. This font is made of native coarse sandstone, is without any ornamentation, but is massive and symmetrical and it is octagonal. When did this shape first come into use? Are there any examples of Saxon or Norman fonts which are octagonal ? HENRY FISHWICK. LOOPS.-Was it customary at any date to fasten garments with loops instead of buttons, each loop having the succeeding one drawn through it, HENRY MADDOCK.-I should be very grateful to any reader of N. & Q.' who would furnish me with biographical information concerning Henry Maddock (died 1824), author of a 'Life of Lord Chancellor Somers,' and some other works. J. M. RIGG. sable, which is not to be found in Papworth's 'Ordinary,' the only one at all similar being Arg., three chev. engr. az., for Cother. Can any correspondent supply information as to the above coat? H. M. SHAKSPEARE AND GREEN.-In a small volume published anonymously, entitled 'The British Theatre,' Dublin, 1750, there is a brief biographical notice of "Mr. William Shakespear." In it the writer makes the following statement : "His first Acquaintance with the Play-house is said to have commenced about this Time, where it is not unnatural to suppose he was introduced by Thomas Green the Comedian, who, we have learned, was born in the same Town with our Author. But as this is only Conjecture, we shall not think it improper to alledge Reasons Maids of Morelack,' Green, who acted the Clown, enters for such a Presumption. In the Interlude to the 'Two singing and repeating Verses. One of the Country Girls says to him, Why how now Tom! how long have you been in this Veine? Green answers, I prattled Poesie in my Nurses Arms, He the sweetest Swan, and thou a cackling Goose." There is a foot-note, written possibly by the owner of the book: "No such passage is there to be found, however he probably met those lines in some ancient play, but forgot the name.—Malone." Malone, who made this comment, evidently held no high opinion of the industrious compiler of this little work. In the fly-leaf is written "The author of this book was Chetwood-who also wrote the |