Notes and Queries, Number 17, February 23, 1850

– - iiij

vij

"P

for brede and beer that day the quen cam
in xij

"P

for candells and mendinge the baldrocke[13 - The baldricke was the garter and buckle by means of which the clapper was suspended inside the bell.] vj

"P

for paynttinge y

stafe of the survayer iij

"P

for mendynge the lytell bell iij

"Pd to Mr. Sanders for the yearly rent of the
Laystall and skowringe the harnes[14 - Harnes, or armour, which perhaps hung over some of the monuments in the church.] for
his yer iij

viij

"P

to Mr. Wright for the makinge of the Cloke[15 - It was about this time that clocks began to be generally used in churches (although of a much earlier invention); and in subsequent years we have several items of expenditure connected with that above mentioned. In 1595:—"Paid for a small bell for the watche iiijs"Paid to the smith for Iron worke to it xxd"Paid for a waight for the Clocke wayinge36lb and for a ringe of Iron vs."Still, however, the hour-glass was used at the pulpit-desk, to determine the length the parson should go in his discourse; and xij

for a new hour-glass frequently occurs.]
mor than he gatheride, agred one at the laste
vestrie xvij

"P

to Peter Medcalfe for mending the Cloke
when it neade due at o

Ladies Daye laste
past in Anno 1581 iij

"P

for entringe this account xx

."

    W.C., JUNIOR,
Overseer of St. Antholin, 1850.

QUERIES

COLLEGE SALTING

Mr. Editor.—If your very valuable work had existed in October, 1847, when I published in the British Magazine a part of Archibishop Whitgift's accounts relative to his pupils while he was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, I should certainly have applied to you for assistance.

In several of the accounts there is a charge for the pupil's "salting;" and after consulting gentlemen more accurately informed with regard to the customs of the university than myself, I was obliged to append a note to the word, when it occurred for the first time in the account of Lord Edward Zouch, in which I said, "I must confess my inability to explain this word; and do not know whether it may be worth while to state that, on my mentioning it to a gentleman, once a fellow-commoner of the college, he told me, that when, as a freshman, he was getting his gown from the maker, he made some remark on the long strips of sleeve by which such gowns are distinguished, and was told that they were called 'salt-bags,' but he could not learn why; and an Oxford friend tells me, that going to the buttery to drink salt and water was part of the form of his admission.... This nobleman's (i.e. Lord Edward Zouch's) amounted to 4s., and that of the Earl of Cumberland to 3s. 4d., while in other cases it was as low as 8d." To this I added the suggestion that it was probably some fee, or expense, which varied according to the rank of the parties. It afterwards occurred to me that this "salting" was, perhaps, some entertainment given by the new-comer, from and after which he ceased to be "fresh;" and that while we seem to have lost the "salting" both really and nominally, we retain the word to which it has reference.

Be this as it may, my attention has just now been recalled to the question by my accidentally meeting with one of Owen's epigrams, which shows that in his time there was some sort of salting at Oxford, and also of peppering at Winchester. As I doubt not that you have readers well acquainted with the customs of both these seats of learning, perhaps some may be good enough to afford information. Owen was at Oxford not many years after Whitgift had been Master of Trinity at Cambridge, if (as Wood states) he took his bachelor's degree in 1590. The epigram is as follows:—

"Oxoniæ salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto;
Wintoniæque (puer tum) piperatus eram.
Si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello,
Oxoniense sal est, Wintoniense piper."

It is No. 64 in that book of epigrams which Owen inscribed "Ad Carolum Eboracensem, fratrem Principis, filium Regis," p. 205, edit. Elz, 1628. 12mo. I give this full reference in order to express my most hearty sympathy with the righteous indignation of my highly respected friend, your correspondent "L.S." (No. 15 p. 230.), against imperfect references. I do not, however, agree with him in thinking it fortunate that he is not a "despotic monarch;" on the contrary, now that I have not to take up verses, or construe Greek to him, I should like it of all things; and I am sure the world would be much the better for it.

    S.R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester, Feb. 18. 1850.

A FEW DODO QUERIES

The discovery and speedy extinction of that extraordinary bird the DODO, belongs rather to human history than to pure zoology, and I therefore hope that a few Queries relating to this curious subject will be admissible into your publication. I have already, in the work entitled The Dodo and its Kindred, and in the Supplementary notices inserted last year in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (ser. 2. vol. iii. pp. 136, 259; vol. iv. p. 335), endeavoured to collect together the omne scitum of the Dodo-history, but I am satisfied that the omne scibile is not yet attained.

Query I.—Is there any historical record of the first discovery of Mauritius and Bourbon by the Portuguese? These islands bore the name of Mascarenhas as early as 1598, when they were so indicated on one of the De Bry's maps. Subsequent compilers state that they were thus named after their Portuguese discoverer, but I have not succeeded in finding any notice of them in the histories of Portuguese expeditions to the East Indies which I have consulted. The only appartently authentic indication of their discovery, that I am aware of, is the pillar bearing the name of John III. of Portugal, and dated 1545, which is stated by Leguat, on Du Quesne's authority, to have been found in Bourbon by Flacour, when he took possession of the island in 1653.

Query II.—It appears from Leguat's New Voyage to the East Indies, London, 1708, pp. 2, 37., that the Marquis Du Quesne, being desirous of sending out a colony from Holland to the Isle of Bourbon in 1689 or 1690, published (probably in Dutch) an account of that Island, with a view of inducing emigrants to go thither. I should be greatly obliged if any of your readers can tell me the title, date, and place of publication of this book, and where a copy of it is to be seen or procured.

Query III.—Are there in existence any original oil-paintings of the Dodo by Savery or any other artist, besides the five described in the Dodo and its Kindred—viz., the one at the Hague, at Berlin, at Vienna, at the British Museum, and at Oxford? And are there any original engravings of this bird, besides that in De Bry, in Clusius, in Van den Broecke, in Herbert, in Bontekoc, and in Bontius, of all which I have published fac-similes?

Query IV.—Are there any original authors who mention the Dodo as a living bird, besides Van Neck, Clusius, Heemskerk, Willem van West-Zanen, Matelief, Van der Hagen, Verhuffen, Van den Broecke, Bontekoe, Herbert, Cauche, Lestrange, and Benjamin Harry? Or any authority for the Solitaire of Rodriguez besides Leguat and D'Heguerty; or for the Dodo-like birds of Bourbon besides Castelton, Carré Sieur D.B., and Billiard?

Query V—In Rees' Cyclopæia, article BOURBON, we are told that in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated l'Oiseau bleu, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." Where did the compiler of the article pick up this statement?

Query VI.—Is there in existence any figure, published or unpublished, of the Dodo-like bird which once inhabited the Isle of Bourbon?

Query VII—What is the derivation or meaning of the words Dodaers and Dronte, as applied to the Dodo?

Query VIII.—Sir Hamon Lestrange has recorded that about 1638 he saw a living Dodo exhibited in London. (See Sloane MSS. 1839, v. p. 9. in Brit. Mus.; Wilkin's ed. of Sir T. Browne's Works, vol. i. p. 369.; vol. ii, p. 173.; The Dodo and its Kindred, p. 22.) Is there any contemporary notice extant in print or in MS. which confirms this statement? A splendidly bound copy of The Dodo and its Kindred will be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively.

Query IX.—In Holme's Academy of Armory and Blazou, Chester, 1688, p. 289, we find a Dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of which is given in the Annals of Natural History, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 260. The author thus describes it: "He beareth Sable a Dodo or Dronte proper. By the name of Dronte. This exotic bird doth equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. Now I wish to ask, where did this family of Dronte reside? Is anything known concerning them? How did they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living?

Query X.—From a passage in the Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 1776, p. 37, it appears that Pingré the French astronomer, published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to Rodriguez, in which he speaks of Solitaires. Is this the fact? and if so, what is the title of his work?