from other Nations, which is, To make still towards the chimney, though it be in the Dog-dayes." ERNEST E. BAKER.

Weston-super-Mare.

'DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY':

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS.

found at Whitby. Chapman the engineer also wrote on Scarborough harbour, 1800, 1829, and on the drainage of North and East Yorkshire, 1796, 1802. There is a notice and bibliography in Smales's 'Whitby Authors,' 1867, pp. 20, 29-33; 'Living Authors,' 1816, p. 61; 'N. & Q.,' 3rd S. iv. 325; 6th S. x. 76.

P. 60. See 'N. & Q.,' 3rd S. vii. 401, for a notice

(See 6th S. xi. 105, 443; xii. 821; 7th S. i. 25, 82, 342, of Chappell. 376; ii. 102, 324, 355; iii. 101.)

Vol. X.

P. 1 a. In the life of Virgil prefixed to Dryden's "Virgil' "the ingenious De la Chambre " seems to be quoted in favour of astrology.

P. 6 b. For "Nestor" read Neston.

P. 8 b. The twentieth edition of 'Angl. Notit.,' 1702, says that assistance was rendered by "the ingenious Mr. Humphry Wanley." There is a letter from Chamberlayne about a proposed College, 1670/1, in Bishop Cosin's Correspondence,' Surt. Soc., ii. 384.

P. 9 b. John Chamberlayne, F.R.S., acted as a mediator between Leibnitz and Newton; 'Theodicée,' 1760, i. 213-8. Thoresby often visited him ; see his 'Diary.' Wanley's meeting with him, "Letters of Eminent Literary Men,' Camd. Soc., p. 257.

P. 12 b. Hugh Chamberlen. Stukeley's 'Diary,' Surt. Soc., i. 132.

Pp. 22 a, 26 a. Joseph Wilton's only daughter is here married to two different persons named Chambers. The statement on p. 26 is an error; see N. & Q.,' 6th S. xii. 256.

P. 26 b. Chambers's 'Civil Archit.' was re-edited by Gwilt 1825, and by Leeds 1862.

P. 27 a. The Heroic Epistle' was very popular; it reached a fourteenth edition, and the 'Postscript' a ninth edition, in 1777. Mason wrote similar things afterwards either as "Malcolm Macgregor " or as "The Author of the 'Heroic Epistle.'" Many imitations appeared, and there were Heroic Epistles" to the Public, to Lord Craven, to R. Twis, &c. The Heroic Epistle to Chambers' was attributed to Walpole (Walpoliana,' i. 102), to Mathias (G. Chalmers, 'Supplem. Apol.,' 524), to John Baynes, and to Combe, author of 'Dr. Syntax.' See Walpole's 'Letters,' 1840, v. 342; Correspondence of Walpole and Mason, 1851, i. p. xi-xiii; Mathias, Purs. of Lit., 1801, pp. 51, 52, 75; Bohn's Lowndes,' i. 407; Barker, Lit. Anecd.,' ii. 9 ; ' N. & Q.,' 6th S. xii. 321. P. 38. Bishop Chandler's books are warmly commended in Blackwall's 'Sacred Classics,' 1737, 235.

6

|

P. 61 a. Chappelow also translated into English from the Latin of Golius an Arabic poem on the Deceptions of Outward Appearances,' 4to., pp. 30, Camb., 1765.

P. 119. A letter from Charlett in Thoresby's Corresp. Many letters to him from Wanley in 'Letters of Eminent Literary Men.'

P. 128 b. Lionel Charlton. See Smales's Whitby Authors' and Davies's 'York Press.' P. 134. Many notices of Charnock, his London audience, his books, his death, &c., in Thoresby's 'Diary and Corresp.'

P. 168 a. For "Parllament" read Parliament. P. 171 a, line 35. For "Chauncey's " read Chauncy's.

P. 171 b. On Chauncy's controversy with Williams see Nelson's 'Life of Bull,' second ed., 1714, pp. 262-3, 272.

P. 190 b. Brokesby dedicated to Cherry his 'Government of the Prim. Ch.'; see also Anderdon's 'Life of Ken,' Lathbury's 'Nonjurors,' Overton's 'Life in the Engl. Ch.'

P. 192 a. Cheselden. See Stukeley's 'Diary.' P. 210 b. Virgil's Georgic ii. in Dryden's Miscell. Poems' was translated by the learned, and every way excellent Mr. Chetwood," Dryden's Virgil,' 1721, iii. 1013. Pryme's 'Diary,' Surt. Soc., p. 58.

P. 226 b. Chichele and Higham Ferrers, 'Assoc. Archit. Soc., vol. i.

P. 231 a, line 15. For "T. Cole's” read J. Cole's.

P. 231 b. For " Chicheleiana " read Chicheleana. P. 236 a. For "Rorkholt" read Knockholt (?). P. 251 a. Dr. Childrey's 'Brit. Bac.' is quoted by Ray, '3 Disc.,' 1713, p. 95.

P. 253. Skinner, Bishop of Oxford, was Chillingworth's tutor, Nelson's Life of Bull'; on the influence of his works see Hammond's 'Defence of Falkland on Infallibility.' They were recommended in the Freethinker, 1719, and were used in the controversy between Middleton and Church on the "Miraculous Powers," 1749-50. The ii.'Relig. of Prot.' was reprinted by Bohn in 1 vol. 1846.

P. 42 b. Chandler's 'Hist. of Persecution' was reissued by Charles Atmore 1813. He is highly praised in Blackwall's 'Sacred Classics,' 1737, ii. 278.

P. 58 a. The elder Chapman's paper in Philos. Trans. 1758 was on the saurian, a fossil alligator

P. 269 a. For "Slingby" read Slingsby.
P. 272 a. For "Poever" (ter) read Peover.
P. 276 8. Letters from Matthew Henry about
Chorlton in Thoresby's 'Corresp.'
P. 293.
5th S. xi., xii.

Henry Christmas. See 'N. & Q.,'

P. 376 b. N. & Q.' has only reached 7th S. iii., and "v. 424" does not seem to fit any series.

P. 400 b. C. Clark, of Totham, also wrote against Eternal Punishment 1835. The whimsical lines which he used as a book-plate are worth mentioning.

P. 414 b, 416 b. Ripton-Abbotts, better AbbottsRipton.

P. 415. Dean Alured Clarke. See Chalmers's 'Biog. Dict.' and ref. there; Gent. Mag., 1734, p. 392; 1741, p. 51; 1742, p. 330; Annual Reg.,

1789.

P. 415. Sir Alured Clarke. There can be no doubt that he was the son of Baron Charles Clarke. See also Fox's 'Godmanchester'; Annual Reg., 1790-1818.

P. 416. Baron Charles Clarke. He was baptized at Godmanchester April 14, 1691. Fox's 'Godmanchester'; Gent. Mag., 1739, pp. 161, 606; 1742, p. 51; Misc. Gen. et Her., monthly, 1870, p. 35.

P. 433 a, line 12. The true date is 1727. The Formula is entered here wrongly, as Clark's 'Formulæ for oratorical compositions is mentioned as being then an old book in Newton's 'Rhetorick,' 1671.

Pp. 433 b, 434 a. Kirby Misperton. Better Kirkby Misperton.

P. 442 b. Character of S. Clarke and his father in Thoresby's 'Corresp.'

P. 453 a. For "Addle” read Adel (?). The relationship between Abp. Sharp and the ejected Thomas Sharp does not seem to have been established; see 'N. & Q.'7th S. i. W. C. B.

BULLION.

Prof. Skeat in his article upon this word quotes Littré, but all that he says about him is this, "The mod. Fr. word is billon; which Littré derives from Fr. bille, a log.” Now, if Prof. Skeat had read Littré's long and carefully written article with attention, he must have seen that the earliest quotation in which billon occurs dates from the thirteenth century, and yet he talks of the word as being modern French! So far from being a modern word, it is, as far as I can see, older than bullion; for of this Wedgwood gives no instance earlier than 1336, which is the fourteenth century. In Ducange, again, 8. v. "Billio" (the Low Lat. form of billon), I find examples as far back as 1295 and 1305. The only point upon which Prof. Skeat and Littré are at one is that the form bullion is confined to England; but the conclusions they draw from this fact are different. Prof. Skeat (second edition) thinks that bullion has been lost in French, whilst Littré is of opinion that it never existed in the French of France, and is merely an Anglo-Norman French corruption of billon. I must say that to my mind Littré's arguments are very much more convincing than those of Mr. Wedgwood, whom Prof. Skeat follows; and I cannot understand how it is that Prof. Skeat altogether neglects the former in favour of the latter. Scheler, in an early edition, evidently held the same view as Scaliger, Ménage, and Wedgwood (for Scaliger originated the derivation from bulla), seeing that he is quoted to this effect by E. Müller; but in a much later edition (1873) at least half his note is devoted to Littré's views, though he does not state to which derivation he himself gives the preference.

I will now briefly state Littré's views with regard to billon and those of Mr. Wedgwood with regard to bullion (for both Mr. Wedgwood and Prof. Skeat admit that bullion and billon are merely different forms of the same word), and then the reader will be in a position to form his own opinion.

Littré's views, then, are as follows: That bullion is a corruption of billon, which is older (1); that

*As billon is still used in French, it is not to be found P. 443. There is a printed sermon of S. Clarke's (in our sense) in Godefroy, for he has committed the great mistake of omitting, nearly always, those words preached before the queen at St. James's Dec. 30, which are still in use, even though dating back beyond 1705, on 1 John iv. 21. Amherst rejoiced that the the fifteenth century (his limit). Still he does not give works of Locke, Clarke, and Newton were super-bullion (in our sense) either, and as his dictionary comseding Aristotle at Oxford, Terra Filius,' 1726, Skeat and Littré are right in saying that the word does mences with the ninth century this shows that both Prof. i. p. xvii. Wilson and Fowler, 'Principles of not occur in the French of France. See, however, Morals,' note §§.

billon comes from bille, which originally meant (and apparently still means) a section of the whole trunk of a tree, that is to say a more or less round block of wood (see billet (2) in Prof. Skeat's 'Dict."), and was then applied to a cast log or ingot of metalt (2); that after this it came to signify the place where billons or ingots were cast, that is the mint, or perhaps rather that part of the mint where the casting was carried on‡ (3); that then it was used of good or bad coin which was taken to the mint to be remelted (4); and lastly that it was applied to bad coin, or to copper alloyed with silver, and even to copper only (5). Mr. Wedgwood, on the other hand, is of opinion that the first meaning of bullion, and the other forms (bullione and boillion) which it had in AngloNorman French, is Littré's No. 3, viz., that of mint, and that it comes from bulla, a seal or stamp, because the metal was stamped there ;§ and he agrees with Littré in supposing that Nos. 4 and 5 came from this. Mr. Wedgwood does not go into the question whether billon_or bullion is the older form, but says distinctly that the original meaning of both was mint. Prof. Skeat, however, has, as we have seen, come to the conclusion that bullion is very much the older form, and that billon belongs to modern French only!

Now, not only does one of Littré's quotations, as I have shown, date from further back than Mr. Wedgwood's, but in this earlier quotation, as well as in the two earlier quotations cited from Ducange, billon certainly means uncoined metal, and not mint. Here Littré has a decided advantage, and there is the further advantage to be obtained from his views that by them we can explain certain words which occur in two passages quoted by himself (from the Statutes of the Kings of England), and of which the second has been

† Littré gives bille d'acier as still meaning "morceau d'acier carré." But carré in French (like quadratus in Latin) does not mean so much square as having four sides and four right angles (see Littré), and so sometimes means oblong. See notes || and **.

I say this because as moneta is used in classical Latin mint, as it is found in this sense in the Low Latin of France in 1050 (Ducange), and this sense is still preserved in the French monnaie, which comes from moneta -it is probable that monnaie mint is very considerably older than billon, which cannot well, therefore, have had precisely the same meaning. For an instance in which the thing made has given its name to the place where it is made cf. bouillon, broth, and bouillon, a kind of restaurant now common in Paris, where at first bouillon only was sold.

If so, is it not curious that bullion should at the present time be properly applied to the precious metals when uncoined and unstamped only? See Webster, and Trench, Select Glossary.' Surely this is in favour of the view which I have enounced in the text, viz., that bullion "was that part of the mint only where the casting was carried out"; and surely it is also in favour of Littré's and against Wedgwood's derivation.

borrowed from Mr. Wedgwood.
These words
are bille and billette, and the two passages in which
they occur are as follows:-

"Et vous mandons......que nul ne soit si hardi de
porter ou faire porter hors de nostre royaume billon
d'or ne d'argent en masses ne en billes n'en plates,
&c."-Statutes, Edward III., 1365, iv. 552.

And

"Que toutz marchauntz puissent sauvement porter plate d'argent, billettes d'or, &c."-Statutes, 27 Edw. III. 1354.

Now, how can Mr. Wedgwood explain these two words bille and billette according to his theory? He cannot. They can have nothing to do with bullion as he explains it, whereas they perfectly agree with Littré's explanation. Bille is the original word, billon probably at that time meant a large or largish bille¶ (or ingot), and billette certainly meant a small one.** We see, therefore, that Littré's views suit even Mr. Wedgwood's own quotations better than Mr. Wedgwood's views do.

I am scarcely called upon to show how the confusion between the forms billon and bullion arose, inasmuch as Mr. Wedgwood, Prof. Skeat, and Littré all agree that the two words are the same, and that the confusion did exist between them in England. We see, indeed, from the first of the two French passages (date 1365) quoted a few lines above, that billon still persisted in England in the sense of uncoined metal after the introduction of bullion (date 1336) in the sense of mint, and this was probably why Mr. Wedgwood thought the meaning of mint was the primary one. Bullion evidently corresponds to a French form bouillon+t (just as cullion to couillon), and bouillon_comes from bouillir, to boil. Now there was in O.French

According to a note quoted by Littré, a masse of to cool there or poured into a deep vessel of indeterminate gold or silver was melted in a crucible and either left size and shape. Another name for it was culot. Gold and silver en plate was obtained in a very similar manner, only that the recipients used were shallower, and so the mass was thinner. A bille, billon, or billetle of gold or silver, on the other hand, was what we call an ingot, and was cast in a special mould, and consequently had a determinate size and shape. These ingots seem commonly to have been longer than they were broad or deep, and to have been originally more or less cylindrical. See note **. According to a passage quoted by Littré, the word billon was used-mass or ingot as late as the sixteenth century.

Now, this on is commonly (but not always) a diminutive, but originally it was probably an augmentative, as the corresponding one still is in Italian.

**Billette is still used in French of the round billet mouldings in what we call the Norman style, and also of other cylindrical objects (see Littré). This looks as if the ingots called billettes were also cylindrical, and Littré's definition of bille also points this way. But they may have been oblong, for billette is occasionally applied to oblong objects. See note t

tt Old French bollon, boillon, boellon, boullon. Still bouillon occurs as early as the fourteenth century. See note §§.

that-referring to the all-night sitting of the House leges in Rome and Lisbon, and the Italian and of Commons on the previous Monday and Tuesday Portuguese terms being without the c (viz., refet-he said, "Several hours later the Government torio, and sometimes in old Italian reffettorio, and closured the discussion on the Navy vote, but they refeitorio respectively), many of them may have had great difficulty to find the necessary two hun- by carelessness fallen into a habit of imitating the dred men." And further on he said, "The Radicals omission, and the pronunciation so formed would would resist the Coercion Bill at every stage. They gradually get imitated by their flocks at home. ought to talk and protest until closured on every R. H. BUSK. stage." J. H. NODAL.