I have many such valuable and curious documents Comet of 1401 (2nd S. vi. 396.)-In the Illustrated London News of the 13th ultimo, a correspondent gives another extract from The Chronicle of England respecting this comet, viz.: "A.D. 1401. In the moneth of March appeared a blasing starre, first betwixt the east and the north, and last of all putting fierce beames toward the North; forshewing, per aduenture, the effusion of blood about the partes of Wales and Northumberland." Charter Oak has been dug up, and nothing now Sunday Suspended Animation (21a S. v. 453. 514.; vi. 298.) In the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1801, appears the following obituary notice : Lately at Chester, aged 92, Christopher Lowe, many This venerable patriarch was a native of Preston; and, years bill-distributor for the. Theatre Royal of Chester. when in his 16th year, was afflicted with a fever, of which he apparently died. He was laid out, sbrowded, and coffined; and nearly three days after his supposed "Poets, true Poets, are Prophets" (2nd S. vi. 409.)-Your correspondent, E. H. K., will find these prophetic anticipations of modern discovery not unfrequent in our earlier poets. In illustration of this remark I forward for insertion two passages which strongly prefigure the means adopted by modern science to render surgical demise, while carrying on four men's shoulders to the operations painless. They are extracted from A pleasant Conceited Comedy, wherein is shewed How a man may choose a Good Wife from a Bad, by an uncertain author, and first published in 1602. The play appears to have been very popular, for five editions were issued within a brief period. grave, he suddenly knocked at the lid of the coffin; and to the ineffable amazement of the carriers and attendants, on opening it, they found honest Christopher in a complete state of resuscitation. For many years after he used to amuse and astonish his neighbours and friends with the 'wonderful things he saw in his trance."" Chester. T. N. BRUSHFIELD. Airish, Grattan, and other Names for Stubble (2nd S. vi. 328.)-This word, which in Hampshire and Sussex is pronounced earsh, is most probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon erian (Lat. arare), to plough, with the ordinary affix -ish; that is, land from whence the crop has been taken, and is ready for tillage or ploughable. In the Weald of Kent and Sussex it is called grattan, which may probably be from the French "gratter," to scratch, because it has just been raked over. Can any of your readers correct me, if wrong? Pocts' Corner. A. A. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. The third volume of The History of Herodotus, a New English Version, with Copious Notes and Appendices, illustrating the History and Geography of Herodotus from the most recent Sources of Information, and embodying the Chief Results, Historical and Ethnographical, which have been obtained in the Progress of Cuneiform and Hieroglyphical Discovery, by George Rawlinson, M.A., assisted by Sir H. Rawlinson, K.C.B., and Sir J. G. Wilkinson, F.R.Š., is now before us. It is so difficult, in the limited space to which our notices of books is necessarily confined, to give an adequate idea of the value and importance of such a work as the present, that we feel we shall best do justice to the book. and to our readers, by pointing out the contents of the present volume; leaving them to judge from the well-known reputation of those engaged in its production, what are the real merits of the book. This third volume contains then, first, the translation of Herodotus's fourth book, entitled Melpomene, with an Appendix consisting of three Essays: 1. On the Cimmerians of Herodotus and the Migrations of the Cymric Race; 2. On the Ethnography of the European Scyths; 3. On the Geography of Scythia. These are followed by the translation of the Fifth Book, Terpsichore, with an Appendix of two Essays: 1. On the Early History of Sparta; 2. On the Early History of the Athenians. The translation of the Sixth Book, entitled Erato, with an Appendix likewise of two Essays: 1. On the Circumstances of the Battle of Marathon; and 2. On the Traditions respecting the Pelasgians, completes the volume: which, however, we ought to add, is, like its predecessors, admirably illustrated with maps and woodcuts. It is impossible to overestimate the care which has been bestowed on the production of this volume, or the amount of learning which has been employed in illustrating the narrative of the great Father of History. French men of letters seem gifted with a peculiar tact for the compilation of Biographical Dictionaries. The excellence of their Biographie Universelle may be taken as one proof of this. Another is now before us in a Dictionnaire Universel des Contemporains, contenant toutes les Personnes Notables de la France et des Pays E'trangers, a goodly octavo volume of 1800 pages; in which the editor, M. Vapereau, with the assistance of literary brethren of all nations, gives us an account of the birth, family, services, writings, professional career, their works, their victories, their characteristics of all the men of note-of all the men who have made for themselves a name in the history or the literature of our own time. We have taken some pains to test the care which has been bestowed upon such portions of the Biography as relate to the natives of these islands: the result is most satisfactory. As, therefore, there can be but little doubt that similar pains have been taken to secure correctness with regard to the notables of France and the rest of the world, it is obvious that the Dictionnaire Universel des Contemporains, while it is indispensable to the library table of every man of letters, will be found a book to which every reader of the ordinary newspapers may turn for information as to the history of the men of the time-whether of the pen or of the sword whose names figure in such journals-with the certainty of getting full and satisfactory sketches of their lives and characters. We recently called attention to De La Rue's elegant and useful Pocket Diaries. The same firm have issued their Red Letter Diary and Improved Memorandum-Book for 1859, the arrangements of which are everything that can be desired to fit it for the desk of the man of business or the writing-table of the man of letters. To the latter class we would also recommend Gutch's Literary and Scientific Register and Almanack for 1859, which from the variety and utility of its contents justifies its Editor in calling it a Pocket Cyclopædia. BOOKS RECEIVED.-The Forest of Dean; an Historical and Descriptive Account derived from Personal Observation and other Sources, Public, Private, Legendary, and Local, by H. G. Nicholls, is a very curious and instructive account of one of the most interesting and remarkable localities in England. Mr. Nicholls has bestowed great pains in the compilation of his volume, which is full of information of the most useful and practical kind. We could have wished it richer in the Folk Lore of that very peculiar district, and shall hope, in the second edition of the book, to see this branch of Mr. Nicholls's subject considerably enlarged. The Handbook of Autographs, being a Ready Guide to the Handwriting of Distinguished Men and Women of every Nation, designed for the Use of Literary Men, Autograph Collectors, and others. Executed by F. G. Netherclift. This ample title-page shows the nature of a book which cannot fail to be extensively useful. The present Part, the First, gives for the small sum of two shillings no less than one hundred and twenty well-executed facsimiles. BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES YOUNG'S INQUIRY INTO THE PROGRESSIVE VALUE OF MONEY, AS MARKED Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose. OWEN JONES' ALHAMBRA. Parts VIII., IX. X. Wanted by Rev. J. C. Jackson, 8. Sutton Place, Hackney. DEAN DAVIES' Journal, 1699-1600, edited by Caulfield. 4to. (Camden LORD BLAYNEY'S SEQUEL TO A NARRATIVE, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE Wanted by Rev. B. H. Blacker, Rokeby, Blackrock, Dublin. Wanted by Samuel Shaw, Andover, Hants. STRUTT'S HORDA ANGEL-CYNNAN, OR A COMPLETE VIEW OF THE MAN- Wanted by S. H. Harlowe, Esq. 2. North Bank, St. John's LIPSCOMA'S HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. SOUTH'S SERMONS. 5 Vols. Oxford. STIRLING'S ANNALS OF THE ARTISTS OF SPAIN. 3 Vols. Wanted by C. J. Skeet, 10. King William Street, Strand, W. C. Aatices to Correspondents. We have been induced by the number and variety of interesting articles which we have waiting for insertion, to enlarge NOTES AND QUERIES this week to thirty-two pages. C. M. The inscription on the ring is the sacred Monogram IHC. The woodcuts are left at the Publishers. J. N. The lines are from Pope's celebrated character of Addison. "NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, and is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS. The subscription for STAMPED COPIES for Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers (including the Halfyearly INDEX) is 118. 4d., which may be paid by Post Office Order in favour of MESSRS. BELL AND DALDY, 186. FLEET STREET, E.C.; to whom all COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EDITOR should be addressed. Second Edition, fcap. 8vo., 59. LEGENDS AND LYRICS. By ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER. "It entitles Miss Procter to a place among those who sing out of the fulness of a thoughtful heart, and not merely because they have the restless brain and glib tongue of the mockingbird."-Athenæum. "The manner in which the authoress develops the hidden strength which carries 'Maud Bingley through her trials, and the skill with which she has delineated the character of Mrs. Murray, are alone sufficient to insure the success of her story." Notes & Queries. BELL & DALDY, 186. Fleet Street. A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By CHARLES RICHARDSON, LL.D. Combining Explanation with Etymology, and copiously illustrated by Quotations from the best Authorities. New Edition, with a Supplement containing additional Words and further Illustrations. In 2 Vols. 4to., 4l. 148. 6d. Half bound in russia, 57. 15s. 6d. Russia, 67. 123. The WORDS- with those of the same Family- are traced to their Origin. The EXPLANATIONS are deduced from the Primitive Meaning through the various Usages. The QUOTATIONS are arranged Chronologically, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. ***The Supplement separately, 4to. 12s. A SMALLER EDITION, without the Quotations, 8vo. 15s. London: BELL & DALDY, 186. FLEET STREET. PRIVATE TUITION A ABROAD. MARRIED GENTLEMAN, A CAMBRIDGE GRADUATE, and repeated prizeman, who has resided many years in France, receives into his family FOUR PUPILS, to whom he devotes the whole of his time. His house is a detached chateau, most eligibly situate on the coast. He has had constant experience in Tuition, and his pupils are young persons of the highest connexions. Terms, including extra professors, from 100 to 150 guineas, according to age. For address apply to H. I. D., "NOTES & QUERIES" OFFICE, NACK, 1859. -Two sizes, for the Card Case or Pocket Book. DE LA RUE&CALENDARS, 1959. LA RUE & CO.'S ILLU -Royal 8vo. and Royal 4to. DE LA RUE & CO.'S RED LETTER SHEET ALMANACK, 1839. Printed in three Colours; size, 20 by 16 in. WHAT WILL THIS COST TO PRINT? is a thought often occurring to literary minds, public characters, and persons of benevolent intentions. An immediate answer to the inquiry may be obtained, on application to RICHARD BARRETT, 13. MARK LANE, LONDON. R. B. is enabled to execute every description of PRINTING on very advantageous terms, his office being furnished with a large and choice assortment of TYPES, STEAM PRINTING MACHINES, HYDRAULIC and other PRESSES, and every modern improvement in the Printing Art. A SPECIMEN BOOK of TYPES, and information for authors, sent on application, by RICHARD BARRETT, 13. Mark Lane, London. HYDROPATHIC ESTA BLISHMENT, SUDBROOK PARK, near Richmond, Surrey. The treatment is safe for Infancy and Age, and is absolutely agreeable. Thousands of sufferers have been cured when all other curative means had failed. JAMES ELLIS, M.D. THE W. ALFORD LLOYD, 19, 20, and 20A. Portland Road, Regent's Park, London, W. Wines from South Africa. DENMAN, INTRODUCER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN PORT, SHERRY, &c., 20s. per Dozen, Bottles included. WELL-ESTABLISHED THE DALLY-INCREASING REPU TATION of these WINES (which greatly improve in bottle), renders any comment respecting them unnecessary. A pint sample of each for 24 Stamps. WINE in CASK forwarded Free to any Railway Station in England. EXCELSIOR BRANDY, Pale or Brown, 15s. per Gallon, or 30s. per Dozen. Terms: Cash.-Country Orders must contain a remittance. Cross Checks, Bank of London. Price Lists forwarded on application. JAMES L. DENMAN. 65. Fenchurch Street, Corner of Railway LONDON, SATURDAY, December 11. 1858. Notes. where μereoxe is rendered "Took part of." Tyndale had rendered it "Took part with." A St. Barnabe's Day and a St. Lucie's Night.In an exposition of I. Epist. of Peter, composed WORDS AND OLD SAYINGS IN TRANSITU, OR WHOSE by Thomas Adams about 1633, he says, when ORIGINAL MEANING IS PASSING BEYOND THE COGNISANCE OF ORDINARY READERS. Ear. The verb active, of indisputable Saxon origin, is acknowledged by Bailey and by Johnson as meaning to plough; yet Bailey only recognises caring, as derived from the verb neuter, which is of much later origin, "to come into ear," and explains earing time as meaning harvest; whilst Johnson rightly cites Gen. xlv. 6., "There shall be neither earing nor harvest." The text in Exod. xxxiv. 21. was probably in Bailey's memory, where yet he should have observed that times of pressing for labour were intended by a law which said, "On the seventh day thou shalt rest; in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest;" Vulg., "Cessabis arare et metere." The Hebrew has the usual word for ploughing. Quarrel. — Johnson gives his readers ten different meanings of this word, but takes no notice of one of the two meanings assigned to it by Bailey, viz. a plaintiff's action at law. Both of these give the French querelle as its origin, without going farther back to querela, which Du Cange's Glossary explains as meaning, in legal documents, "idem quod causa, actio, lis intentata." In our Canons of 1603, the 95th is entitled "The Restraint of double Quarrels." It says, "We do ordain and appoint, that no double quarrel shall hereafter be granted out of any of the archbishops' courts, at the suit of any minister." The legal sense of the word is the sense intended in Ps. xxxv. 23. (Prayer-Book translation), "Awake and stand up to judge my quarrel;" where our Bible translation has "Awake to my judgment, even to my cause." In fact the Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Vulgate, all use terms here connected with judicial procedures, and not with a quarrel in its ordinary or vulgar sense. Stand with, for Withstand.-In the very characteristic conversation of Henry VIII. with Cranmer, when warning him of the probability of his not meeting with fair dealing, if brought as a prisoner before the Council, the monarch advises him what to say; and then adds, "If they stand with you, without regard of your allegations appeal from them to our person." (Anderson's Annals of Eng lish Bible, vol. ii. b. 11. §8. p. 176.) This occasional transfer of the usually prefixed preposition to a place after the verb, is common enough in the tongue of our German kinsmen. Took part, for Partook - is a similar transfer of the originally separate, but ordinarily combined, parts of a verb. It occurs in our authorised version of the New Testament, in Heb. ii. 14., commenting on ii. 21., "Every day of their pa tience appearing to them a St. Barnabe's day, and every night a St. Lucie's night." Looking into an odd authority for saints' days, the EtatGénéral des Postes du Royaume de France, published at the Imprimerie Royale immediately after the first restoration of Louis XVIII., in which every day of the year has its saint, I find "Juin 11, S. Barnabé," and "Decembre 13, Ste Luce." When T. Adams wrote, June 11th was the longest day, and December 13th the longest night: because the reformation, not of religion, but of the calendar, had not yet corrected the gradual advance of the days of the month, by which June 11th had got into the place of Midsummer-Day, and December 13th into that of December 21st. HENRY WAlter. THE MODERN PURIM: BURNING IN EFFIGY, A JEWISH CUSTOM. To commemorate a signal deliverance from the machinations of Haman, who had obtained, in the days of Esther, a decree for the total destruction of the Jews throughout the Persian empire, that people instituted, as your readers are well aware, the feast Purim: so called from a Persian word Phur, or Pur, signifying Lot, that having been used to determine the month in which the minister should execute his design of extermination. This annual solemnity was observed by the ancient Jews with great national rejoicing in Shushan, and throughout the Persian dominions, being kept in the capital on the 14th day of Adar (February), in the provinces a day later. This was to be a perpetual ordinance throughout their generations: for "the days of Purim were not to fail among the Jews, nor the memorial of them to perish from their seed;" it is accordingly observed to this day, but as a season of fearful licentiousness, the modern Jews disgracing it by every sort of intemperance and excess; having so degenerated from its original institution, which was one of religious mirth and thanksgiving, as to receive from the learned Ussher the just but opprobrious designation of the Bacchanals of the Jews. It is, however, due to them to say that the eve of Purim is duly solemnised by strict fasting and rest by all of the age of thirteen years and upwards. Should this vigil, if such it may be termed, fall on a Sabbath, which will not sanction such devotional rigour, the fast is anticipated, being kept on the 11th instead of the 13th day of the month. Calmet tells us, that in reading through the Book of Esther from a Hebrew MS. on parchment (the use of a printed version being unlawful), a rule scrupulously observed on this occasion, the mention of the name of "Haman" is the signal for a scene of intense and almost frenzied excitement, the junior members of the congregation belabouring the synagogue benches amidst howlings, and various other vocal and practical expressions of the national abhorrence; while the names of the traitor's ten sons are vociferated by the excited reader with a furious volubility, and with a single inspiration, to represent to the imaginations of his audience their sudden and momentary end. The synagogue services are followed by a brief interval of sober thankfulness and repose, the earlier part of the feast being devoted to games of chess, and sundry other amusements such as music and dancing, &c.-when their season of Bacchanalian revelry commences. The Jews are strangely enough guilty of an unblushing violation of their law on this occasion (Deut. xxii. 5.), attiring themselves in the garb of the other sex; their Doctors too have ruled that wine may be drank to excess; the inebriate limit is attained by a confusion of the formulas pronounced at such times with much religious fervour: "Cursed be Haman," "Blessed be Mordecai" (see for a more detailed account of the above, Patrick on Esther; Calmet, Dict., art. PURIM). The anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot will hardly furnish an historical parallel, except in a point of ceremony, which is as religiously observed by the juvenile zealots of the memorable 5th of November as by the Jews of a remoter age: as Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy on the famous fifth, so was it a custom with the Jews at one time to subject the Amalekite traitor to the same ignominious process of imaginary cremation. At the season above mentioned, they erected a gibbet to which they affixed a man of straw they called Haman, and delivered it, amidst loud execrations, to the flames. But such a demonstration being deemed, in process of time, a mockery of the highest Christian mystery, the Emperor Theodosius forbad its continuance. In spite, however, of the above prohibitory edict, an instance is recorded of the Jews having fastened to the gibbet a Christian in the place of their Haman, and in this position scourged him to death. Perhaps some of the numerous readers of "N. & Q." may be able to say when, or where, may be found the earliest trace of this mode of perpetuating the infamy of traitors, criminals, and other objects of public execration or fanatical hatred. Cremation, as a custom of Pagan antiquity, is familiar to us from the remotest times, but not as practised for purposes of posthumous degradation. Hanging in effigy arose out of the ancient practice of suspending images of escaped criminals; and as hanging is said to have been a punishment of Edgar's time, the process alluded to may possibly have been in vogue in this country at that early age. It was not my intention to have trespassed on your valuable space at such length; but if the Query, appended to my Note, possesses any interest for the correspondents of "N. & Q.," your indulgence may guarantee me a reply. F. PHILLOTT. EVELYN'S MEMOIRS: CORrigendum. Under the date of August 18, 1688, Evelyn makes the following entry (Bray's edition, 1827, iii. 248.): "Dr. Jeffryes, the minister of Althorp, who was my Lord's Chaplain when Ambassador in France, preach'd the shortest discourse I ever heard; but what was defective in the amplitude of this sermon he had supplied in the largeness and convenience of the parsonage house, which the Dr. (who had at least 6001. a year in spiritual advancement) had new built, and made fit for a person of quality to live in, with gardens and all accommodation according therewith." In the year 1688 the minister of Althorp (or rather of Brington, for that is the name of the parish in which Althorp is situated) was not Jeffryes but Jessop, and Evelyn's ear probably misled him when he was told the preacher's name. The monumentum perennius,—“the large and convenient parsonage house," has been replaced by one still better, erected by the Earl Spencer of Lord Grey's administration for his brother, the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer (now Father Ignatius), who was rector of Brington until he seceded to the church of Rome. Brington church contains an epitaph to the memory of Dr. Jessop, which is as follows: "Lætam hic præstolatur Resurrectionem Constans Jessop, S. T. P. Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis Præbendarius, et hujus ecclesiæ Rector. Cætera fama dabit. Sed nec monumento perenniori carebit vir desideratissimus, quoad usque successores gratos ædes Rectoris sustentare non piguerit; quas elegantissimas, modestas tamen (animi sui quam simillimas) propriis sumptibus condidit et ecclesiæ dicavit. Decubuit xi die Martii, A. D. MDCXCV. ætatis suæ LV." Anthony Wood mentions two Constant Jessops, father and son. The former, he says, conformed to the Presbyterian model during the time of the troubles, succeeding John Owen in a parish in Essex, where he ministered with great success. He became afterwards one of the Triers of the Clergy, and altogether was esteemed by the Puritans as a man faithful and beloved, excellent in piety as well as learning, which last attainment he showed by divers writings. Wood continues :— "He left behind him at his death a son, of both his being importuned, when he proceeded D. of D. in this names, and a true Son of the Church of England; who University, 1685, to give the author information concerning his Father and his Writings, he seemed not to care to have the Memory of him perpetuated; other |