Notes and Queries, Number 14, February 2, 1850

The Fraternity of Christian Doctrine.—I think I see some names among your correspondents who might inform me where I shall find the fullest account of the Fraternity of Christian Doctrine, established by St. Charles Borromeo in the diocese of Milan. I am acquainted with the regulations for their establishment in Acta. Concil. Mediol., and with the incidental notices of them which occur in Borromeo's writings, as also in the later authors, Bishop Burnet, Alban Butler, and Bishop Wilson (of Calcutta). The numbers of the Sunday schools under the management of the Confraternity, the number of teachers, of scholars, the books employed, the occasional rank in life of the teachers, their method of teaching, and whether any manuals have ever been compiled for their guidance—are points upon which I would gladly gather any information.

    C.F.S.

Treatise by Englebert, Archbishop of Treves.—Bishop Cosin (in his Hist. Trans. cap. vii. §12) refers to Engelb. Archiep. Trevirensis, ap. Goldasti Imper. tom. i. In Goldast's Politica Imperialia there is a treatise by S. Engelb. Abb. Admoutens in Austria: but I find neither the author referred to, nor the treatise intended, by Cosin. According to Eisengrein, who is followed by Possivinus, there were two Engelberts; viz. Engelbertus, S. Matthiæ Treverensis, Benedictinæ possessionis Abbus, patria Mosellanus, who lived A.D. 987; and S. Engelbert, who flourished A.D. 1157, and who is described as Admontensis Benedictinæ posessionis Abbus, Germanus. Can any of your correspondents kindly direct me to the intended treatise of the Archbishop of Treves?

    J. SANSOM.

Oxford, Jan. 9. 1850.

New Year's Day Custom.—I shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me of the origin and signification, of the custom of carrying about decorated apples on New Year's Day, and presenting them to the friends of the bearers. The apples have three skewers of wood stuck into them so as to form a tripod foundation, and their sides are ornamented with oat grains, while various evergreens and berries adorn the top. A raisin is occasionally fastened on each oat grain, but this is, I believe, and innovation.

    SELEUCUS.

Under the Rose.—That the English proverbial expression, Under the Rose, is derived from the confessional, is, I believe, generally admitted: but the authorship of the well-known Latin verses on this subject is still, as far as I am aware, a rexata quæstio, and gives a somewhat different and tantaleau[1 - See Pindar's First Olympic Ode.] meaning to the adage:—

"Est Rosa flas Veneris, quem, quo sua furta laterent,
Harpoerati, Matris dona, dicavit Amor.
Inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis,
Convivæ ut sub ca dicta tacenda sciant."

Can any of your correspondents obligingly inform me to whom these not inelegant or unclassical lines are to be attributed?

    ARCHÆUS.

Wiesbaden, Dec. 15. 1849.

Norman Pedigrees.—Can any gentleman inform me where (in what book) may be found the situation of the places from which the companions of William the Norman took their names? Such French names as have De prefixed—in fact, a Gazetteer? Also, where may be found—if such exist—pedigrees of the same worthies?

    B.

Dr. Johnson's library.—I have long wanted to know what became of the library of Dr. Samuel Johnson (of our city), or if he had any considerable collection of books. Perhaps some of your correspondents would answer both these queries. I happen to have a few, some of which were used in compiling his Dictionary, and are full of his marks, with references to the quotations, most of which are to be found in the Dictionary. I have also his own Prayer-Book.

    T.G. LOMAX.

Lichfield, Jan. 11. 1850.

Golden Frog.—In the church of Boxstead, in the county of Suffolk, there is a large and very handsome monument of marble, in a niche of which stands, in full proportion, a man in armour, his head bare, with moustaches and a tuft on his chin; in his right hand he holds a truncheon, and by his side is his sword; his armour is garnished with gold studs, and his helmet stands on the ground behind him; from his right ear hangs a gold frog.

This monument was erected in memory of Sir John Poley, of Wrongay, in Norfolk, knight, who died in 1638, at the age of upwards of eighty, having served much abroad under Henry IV. of France, Christian King of Denmark, &c., and in Queen Elizabeth's service against the Spaniards.

"Illius ante alios cepit cum dextera Gades
Militis Angliaci, et fulmina sensit Iberis."

I send you this detail, in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to explain the ornament in his ear, whether it be the badge of any order, and whether any other instance is known of its use. There is in Boxstead Hall, the seat of the very ancient family of Poley, a portrait of Sir John having the same ornament.

    D.

Singular Motto.—Being at Cheltenham in the summer of 1811, I saw a chariot standing in an inn yard, on the panels of which, under a coat of arms, apparently belonging to some foreign family, was the following on a scroll, in the nature of a motto:—"oemn3—ononoe.7 ano—7 emn3." If any of your correspondents can inform me what is its meaning, and if it be a motto, to what family it belongs, he will oblige.

    P.H.F.

Stroud.

Sir Stephen Fox.—Will any of your intelligent correspondents inform me whether Sir Stephen Fox, the ancestor of the present Lord Holland and the Earl of Ilchester, had any brothers or sisters, and if so, whether they had any children, and who are the legal representatives of those collateral branches, if any?

    VULPES.

Antony Alsop.—Will any of your correspondents kindly tell me who Antony Alsop was? A thin Quarto volume of Latin Odes was published in 1753, with the following title: "Antonii Alsopi Ædis Christi olim Alumni Ordarum Libri Duo," Londoni, 1753. They are extremely elegant, and deserving the attention of all lovers of Latin poetry. I have also another volume, "Latin and English Poems, by a Gentleman of Trinity College, Oxford," Quarto London, 1738. In this latter volume, with but two or three exceptions, the poems are very obscene, yet I find one or two of Alsop's odes in it. Could any of your readers tell me if both volumes are by the same author? Was Alsop at Trinity College and subsequently a student of Christ Church?

    R.H.

Derivations of "Calamity," and "Zero;" and meaning of "Prutenicæ".—Will some of your correspondents give the derivations of Calamity and Zero; also the meaning of the word Prutenicæ, used by Erasmus Rheinholt, in his astronomical work on the Motions of the Heavenly Bodies?

    F.S. MARTIN.

Jew's-Harp.—What is the origin of the term Jew's-Harp, applied to a well-known musical toy?

    MELANION.

Sir G. Wyattville.—J.P. would be glad to be informed in what year Sir G. Wyattville was knighted?

Sparse.—As I am "less an antique Roman than a Dane," I wish to know what authority there is for the use of this word, which is to be found in a leading article of The Times, January 8th, 1850?—"A sparse and hardy race of horsemen." I should like to see this among the Queries, but I send it as a protest.

"Hostis et Peregrinus unus et idem."

    C. FORBES.
The word "Peruse."—I find the word Peruse employed as a substantive, and apparently as equivalent to Examination, in the following part of a sentence in the martyr Fryth's works, Russell's ed., p. 407.:—"He would have been full sore ashamed so to have overseen himself at Oxford, at a peruse."

Can any of your correspondents cite a corresponding instance of its use, or say whether it is still retained at Oxford as the name of any academic exercise?

    H.W.

French Maxim.—Who is the author of the following French saying?—

"L'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu."

    R.V.

Ave Trici and Gheeze Ysenoudi.—If "S.W. SINGER" can give information as to what convent, English or foreign, the sisters Ave Trici and Gheeze Ysenoudi, mentioned in his note on Otloh, state themselves (or are assumed) to have belonged, he will much oblige, by doing so,

    H.L.B.

A Latin Verse.—Everybody has seen the following quotation—

"Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis,"

and everybody thinks he knows from whence it is taken. Which of your readers can verify it?

    E.V.