Notes and Queries, Number 71, March 8, 1851

There it is conjectured to be of the twelfth century, and from the character there is no reason to doubt that antiquity. It is on paper, and has been ill-used. It proceeds no farther than into lib. v. c. xii., otherwise, from the beginning complete. The different public libraries of the country abound in MSS. of this book. It is probable that, under the civil commotions in the reign of Charles I. the MS. in my possession came into the hands of General Fairfax, and thence into those of John Thoresby: so that no blame can possibly attach to the present, or even some past, generations, of the curators of any library, whether cathedral or private. It is, at all events, desirable to trace the pedigree of existing MSS. of important works, where such information is attainable.

Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to inform me what became of the library of Ralph Thoresby; for into his possession, there can be little doubt, it came from his father.

    J. M.

Minor Notes

The Potter's and Shepherd's Keepsakes.—In the cabinet of a lover of Folk-lore are two quaint and humble memorials by which two "inglorious Miltons" have perpetuated their affection, each in characteristic sort. The one was a potter; the other, probably, a shepherd. The "pignus amoris" of the former is a small earthenware vessel in the shape of a book, intended apparently to hold a "nosegay" of flowers. The book has yellow clasps, and is authentically inscribed on its sides, thus:

"The. Love. Is. True.
That. I. owe. You.
Then. se. you. Bee.
The. Like. To. Mee.

(On the other side.)

"The. Gift. Is. Small.
Good. will. Is. all.
Jeneuery. y

12 day.
1688."

The shepherd's love gift is a wooden implement, very neatly carved, and intended to hold knitting-needles. On the front it has this couplet:

"WHEN THIS YOV SEE.
REMEMBER MEE. MW.

(On one side.)

MW. 1673."

To an uninformed mind these sincere records of honest men seem as much "signs of the times" as the perfumed sonnets dropped by expiring swains into the vases of "my lady Betty," and "my lady Bab," with a view to publication.

    H. G. T.

Writing-paper.—I have long been subject to what, in my case, I feel to be a serious annoyance. For the last twenty years I have been unable to purchase any letter-paper which I can write upon with comfort and satisfaction. At first, I was allowed to choose between plain and hot-pressed; but now I find it impossible to meet with any, which is not glazed or smeared over with some greasy coating, which renders it very disagreeable for use with a common quill—and I cannot endure a steel pen. My style of writing, which is a strong round Roman hand, is only suited for a quill.

Can any of your correspondents put me in the way of procuring the good honest letter-paper which I want? I have in vain applied to the stationers in every town within my reach. Would any of the paper-mills be disposed to furnish me with a ream or two of the unglazed, plain, and unhotpressed paper which I am anxious to obtain?

Whilst I am on this subject, I will take occasion to lament the very great inferiority of the paper generally which is employed in printing books. It may have a fine, glossy, smooth appearance, but its texture is so poor and flimsy, that it soon frays or breaks, without the greatest care; and many an immortal work is committed to a miserably frail and perishable material!

A comparison of the books which were printed a century ago, with those of the present day, will, I conceive, fully establish the complaint which I venture to make; and I would particularly remark upon the large Bibles and Prayer Books which are now printed at the Universities for the use of our churches and chapels, which are exposed to much wear and tear, and ought, therefore, to be of more substantial and enduring texture, but are of so flimsy, brittle, and cottony a manufacture, that they require renewing every three or four years.

    "Laudator temporis acti."

Little Casterton (Rutland) Church.—Within the communion rails in the church of Little Casterton, Rutland, there lies in the pavement (or did lately) a stone, hollowed out like the basin or drain of a piscina, which some church-hunters have supposed to be a piscina, and have noticed as a great singularity. The stone, however, did not originally belong to this church; it was brought from the neighbouring site of the desecrated church of Pickworth, by the late Reverend Richard Twopeny, who held the rectory of Little Casterton upwards of sixty years; he had long seen it lying neglected among the ruins, and at length brought it to his own church to save it from destruction.

It may be interesting to some of your readers to learn that in the chancel of Little Casterton are monumental brasses of an armed male and a female figure, the latter on the sinister side, with the following inscription in black letter:—

"Hic jacet Dns Thomas Burton miles quondam dūs de Tolthorp ac ecclesiæ.... patronus qui obiit kalendas Augusti.... dna Margeria uxor ejus sinistris quor

, aīabus ppicietur deus amen."

    R. C. H.

The Hippopotamus (Vol. ii., pp. 35. 277.).—I can refer your correspondent L. (Vol. ii, p. 35.) to one more example of a Greek writer using the word ἱπποπόταμος, viz., the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, lib. i. 56. (I quote from the edition by A. T. Cory. Pickering, 1840):

"Ἄδικον δὲ καὶ ἀχάριστον, ἱπποποτάμου ὄνυχας δύο, κάτω βλέποντας, γράφουσιν."

He there mentions the idea of the animal contending against his father, &c.; and as he flourished in the beginning of the fifth century, it is probable that he is the source from which Damascius took the story.

I have in my cabinet a large brass coin of the Empress Ptacilia Severa, wife of Philip, on which is depicted the Hippopotamus, with the legend SAECVLARES. AVGG., showing it to have been exhibited at the sæcular games.

    E. S. Taylor.

Specimens of Foreign English.—Several ludicrous examples have of late been communicated (see Vol. ii., pp. 57. 138.), but none, perhaps, comparable with the following, which I copied about two years since at Havre, from a Polyglot advertisement of various Local Regulations, for the convenience of persons visiting that favourite watering-place. Amongst these it was stated that—

"Un arrangement peut se faire avec le pilote, pour de promenades à rames."

Of this the following most literal version was enounced,—

"One arrangement can make himself with the pilot for the walking with roars" (sic).

    Albert Way.

St. Clare.—In the interesting and amusing volume of Rambles beyond Railways, M. W. Wilkie Collins has attributed the church of St. Cleer in Cornwall, with its Well and ruined Oratory, to St. Clare, the heroic Virgin of Assisi; but in the elegant and useful Calendar of the Anglican Church, the same church is ascribed to St. Clair, the Martyr of Rouen. My own impression is, that the latter is correct; but I note the circumstance, that some of your readers better informed than myself, may be enabled to answer the Query, which is the right ascription? When Mr. Collins alluded to the fate of Bishop Hippo, devoured by rats, I presume he means Bishop Hatto, commemorated in the "Legends of the Rhine."

    Beriah Botfield.

Norton Hall, Feb. 14. 1851.

Dr. Dodd.—On the 13th February, 1775, Dr. Dodd was inducted to the vicarage of Wing, Bucks, on the presentation of the Earl of Chesterfield. On the 8th February, 1777, he was arrested for forging the Earl's bond. Dr. Dodd never resided at Wing; but, during the short period he held the living, he preached there four times. The tradition of the parish is, that on those occasions he preached from the following texts; all of them remarkable, and the second and fourth especially so with reference to the subsequent fate of the unhappy man, whose feelings they may reasonably be supposed to embody.

The texts are as follows:—

1 Corinthians xvi. 22. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha."

Micah vii. 8. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me."

Psalm cxxxix. 1, 2. "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off."

Deuteronomy xxviii. 65, 66, 67. "And among these nations thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see."

    Q. D.

Hats of Cardinals and Notaries Apostolic (Vol. iii. p. 169.).—An instance occurs in a MS. in this college (L. 10. p. 60.) circa temp. Hen. VIII., of the arms of "Doctor Willm. Haryngton, prothonotaire apostolik," ensigned with a black hat, having three tassels pendant on each side: these appendages, however, are somewhat different to those attached to the Cardinal's hat, the cords or strings not being fretty. I have seen somewhere a series of arms having the same insignia; but, at present, I cannot say where.