Notes and Queries, Number 66, February 1, 1851

That I a lesson thus might give
To thee, friend, and to all."

Ausonius, in the fourteenth century of the Christian era, imitates this in his 12th epigram.

Phædrus (lib. v., fab. 8), in the Augustine age, speaks of the same representation as already sanctioned by antiquity:—

"OCCASIO DEPICTA.
"Cursu veloci pendens in novaculâ,
Calvus, comosâ fronte, nudo corpore;
Quem si occuparis, teneas: elapsum semel
Non ipse possit Jupiter reprehendere;
Occassionem rerum significat brevem.
Effectus impediret ne segnis mora,
Finxere antiqui talem effigiem temporis."

    T. C.
Durham, Jan. 20. 1851.

Cross between a Wolf and a Hound (Vol. iii., p. 39.).—There is no doubt that a dog and a wolf are capable of breeding together. The fact is well known, and has been long ascertained. See Penny Cyclopædia, art. "Dog." The only question is whether the offspring of this cross is a mule, and, like other mules, incapable of continuing its race; or whether it is prolific? The latter position is maintained by Mr. Bell, in his History of British Quadrupeds. "The dog and wolf will readily breed together (he says), and their progeny is fertile." But query, can any authentic instance be produced of a cross between a dog and a wolf, which has produced a prolific animal?

    L.

Professor Thomas Bell states that the dog and wolf will readily breed with each other, and that their progeny thus obtained will again mingle with the dog.

    W. J. Bernard Smith.

Temple, Jan. 19. 1851.

I have read somewhere (in Kohl's Russia, if I mistake not) that this cross is not uncommon in the southern portions of European Russia, but I have not the book at hand to refer to.

    Diss.

Your correspondent, T–n, will find this fact referred to in Sir John Franklin's Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, vol. i., p. 268., 2nd edition, London. Murray, 1824. Lieutenant Hood says—

"On our way to the tent a black wolf rushed out upon an Indian, who happened to pass its den. It was shot, and the Indians carried away three black whelps, to improve the breed of their dogs."

    W. H. H. K.

Drayton Beauchamp, Jan. 22. 1851.

Touching for the Evil (Vol. iii., p. 42.).—I have seen an illuminated MS. containing the form of prayer in use previous to the Reformation. As far as I remember, the MS. in question must have been of the fifteenth century. Where it may now be found I am not aware. At the time of my seeing it, it was in the possession of Mr. Toovey of Piccadilly.

A somewhat curious field for inquiry on this subject is opened by a passage in Voltaire's Siècle de Louis XIV. Speaking of James II. touching for the evil while in exile at the French court, he says—

"Soit que les Rois Anglais se soient attribué ce singulier privilège, comme prétendans à la couronne de la France; soit que cette cérémonie soit établie chez eux depuis le temps du premier Edouard."

Have we any evidence of the ceremony having been performed by any French monarchs? I am not aware of any.

    J. Sn.

Old Booty (Vol. iii, p. 40.).—In 1830 there appeared a humorous versification, by W. T. Moncrieff, of this story, for the authenticity of which he prudently says he cannot vouch. He furnishes a sort of account of the affair, and of an action at the suit of Booty's widow, the records of which, it says, are at Westminster, Jan. 2. 1687.

Notwithstanding this apparent circumstantial account, we find in a very entertaining anonymous work, entitled The History of Man; or, the Wonders of Human Nature, 2nd edit. Edinb. 1790, 8vo., vol. i. p. 376., a similar incident related of a Mr. Gresham, an eminent merchant of London, which happened in the reign of Hen. VIII., the authorities for which are cited, Sandy's Trav. l. 4. p. 248. Clark's Mir. c. 33. p. 115.

    F. R. A.

Breeches Bible (Vol. iii., p 17.).—The first edition of this Bible is now before me. The title-page and portions of the addresses to Queen Elizabeth and to the reader are unfortunately wanting, as is also the first leaf of Genesis. But the title of the New Testament as follows:—

"The Newe Testament of ovr Lord Jesus Christ [***] Conferred diligently with the Greke, and best approued translacions in divers languages. At Geneva: Printed by Rouland Hull. M.D.LX."

There is a woodcut of the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea, surrounded with texts from scripture. It is a small quarto in Roman type, and divided into verses.

    Echo.

Separation of Sexes in Church (Vol. ii., p. 94.).—This custom appears to be of considerable antiquity. Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia (p. 285. of the edition of 1639), says—

"When they be come thither, the men goe into the right side of the church, and the women into the left side."

    J. Sn.

Defender of the Faith (Vol. iii., p. 9.).—By a hasty perusal of the letter of Col. Anstruther in your number of the 4th of January, I perceive that some doubt has been raised whether any of our sovereigns have used the title of Defender of the Faith, prior to the time of King Henry VIII.

If you will refer to the forth part of Prynne's Institutes, pp. 229-30, and 295-6-7, you will find set out at full length divers letters close and patent from King Richard II. in the 6th, 11th, and 19th years of his reign, for suppressing the heresies of Wickliff and his followers. These letters are addressed to the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, William Archbishop of Canterbury (Courtney), and to Ralfe Crombewell, Chivalier, and John Lekyll, and the Mayor and Bailiffs of Nottingham, in which King Richard II. styles himself thus—"Nos Zelo Fidei Catholicæ, Cujus Sumus Et Esse Volumus Defensores," &c.

    H. Witham.

Lincoln Chambers, Chancery Lane, Jan. 14. 1851.

Epigram on Synod of Dort (Vol. iii., p. 23.).—The statement in the Biographie Universelle, that this epigram was made in England, is probably taken from Mosheim (Eccl. Hist.), who says the same; but his authority Neal (Hist. of the Puritans) does not say that it was made in England; and one can hardly read the sentence in which he quotes it without feeling satisfied that he did not know who made it. After stating that the proceedings of the synod were much approved of by the English divines, and quoting expressions of Mr. Baxter and the learned Jacobus Capella in its favour, he proceeds—

"P. du Moulin, Paulus Servita, and the author of the life of Waleus, speak the same language. But others poured contempt upon the Synod, or burlesqued their proceedings in the following lines:

'Dordrechti Synodus, nodus; chorus integer, æger;
Conventus, ventus; sessio stramen. Amen.'

Lewis du Moulin, with all the favourers of the Arminian doctrine, as Heylin, Womeck, Brandt, &c., charge them with partiality and unjustifiable severity."

When a writer, in the midst of a shower of authorities, refers a particular expression to "others," it may almost be laid down as a rule, that he does not know whose property it is. Here, therefore, the inquiry seems brought to a dead stop, in this tract at least.

    B. R. I.

Parish Register Tax (Vol. ii., p. 10.).—In our register, Hawarden, I find the following entry:

"October, 1783. On the 2nd of this month the Act commenced which layeth a duty of threepence upon every Registry of a Burial, except a Pauper's."

And again:

"Oct. 1. 1794. The duty of threepence on each Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, imposed by Act of Parliament, commencing October 2. 1783, ceased this day."