Notes and Queries, Number 179, April 2, 1853.

I have a fine old engraving, nineteen inches by fourteen, bearing date "Greg. Huret, Lugd. inv. et sculp. 1664;" published in Paris, cum priv. Regis.

The three crosses, with their inscriptions (each in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), appear.

The Latin on the cross of the thief on the right hand of our Lord (and, from the expression of countenance, confessed the penitent) is DISMAS LATRO: the other is GESTAS LATRO.

    W. C. H.

Chelsea.

"Quod fuit esse" (Vol. vii., p. 235.).—Allow me to suggest the following meaning of the epitaph in Lavenham churchyard, which is the subject of A. B. R.'s Query. The word est has evidently been omitted in the third line: with this restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexameters:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse;
Esse quod (est), non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

And the literal meaning, will be: "What was existence, is that which lies here; that which was not existence, is that which is existence; to be what is now, is not to be; that which is now, is not existence, but will be hereafter."

This, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original: but the following lines will render the meaning plainer, though it is difficult to preserve the brevity of the Latin in an English version:

All that I really was lies here in dust;
That which was death before is life, I trust.
To be what is, is not, I ween, to be;
Is not, but will be in eternity.

    H. C. K.
—– Rectory, Hereford.

I think your correspondent A. B. R. is not quite correct in his version of the epitaph of which he inquires the sense. It is evidently intended for two hexameter verses, and, as I have heard it, runs thus:

"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse;
Esse quod est, non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."

I inclose a similar epitaph in another churchyard (the locale of which I do not know), which may serve to elucidate its meaning:

"That which a Being was, what is it? show:
That being which it was, it is not now.
To be what 'tis is not to be, you see;
That which now is not shall a Being be."

    Q. S.
Straw Bail (Vol. vii., p. 85.).—In connexion with, though not as a reply to, Mr. Curtis's Query touching the origin of the expression "A man of straw," I beg to bring under notice a phrase I heard for the first time a few days ago, but which may nevertheless be well known to others. A seaman, talking to me of a strike for wages among the crew of a ship, said that the captain, as the rate of wages had not been raised, had manned his ship with a "lot of straw-yarders." On my asking the meaning of the expression, I was told that a "straw-yarder" was a man about the docks who had never been to sea, and knew little or nothing of the duties of a seaman.

    Brutoniensis.

Pearl (Vol. vi., p. 578.; Vol. vii., pp. 18. 166.).—In the Old German, merikrioz is pearl; and in the Ang.-Sax. it is meregreot,—the latter from mere, sea, and greot, grit, sand, or grot, an atom. These are so similar to the Greek margaritas, and the margarita of the sister language (Latin), that we may be excused believing they have a common origin; more especially as we find the first syllable (at least?) in almost all the cognate Indo-Germanic or Indo-European languages: Latin, mare; Celt., mor; Gothic, marei; Sax., mære or mere; Old Germ., meri; Slavon., more and morze; Swed., mar; Iceland, mar; Esthon., merri; Lett., marrios.

Among modern languages, we have,—Span., margarita; Ital., margarita and maugherita; Fr., marguerite, but used only in the proverb, "Il ne faut pas jeter les marguerites devant les pourceaux." Johnson, Webster, and Halliwell give margarite as an English word. Probably all derived from the Latin.

At the same time, although not occurring (as far as I am aware) in either Greek or Latin, the word pearl is found in some shape in most of the same Indo-Germanic languages: thus, Ital. and Span., perla; Low. Lat., perla; French, perle; Eng., pearl; Dan., paarl; Swed., perla or p[)a]rla; Bohem., perle; Ang.-Sax., pearl and pærl; Low. Sax., berel. Webster says the word pearl may be radically the same as beryl. In the Celtic we find, Irish, pearla, and Welsh perlyn.

The Germans derive pearl from beer, a berry, making thus berle or beerlein; as in Latin bacca also means a pearl.

Some of your correspondents can, no doubt, inform us whether any analogous words to pearl and margarita exist in the Sanscrit?

    A. C. M.

Exeter.

Sermons by Parliamentary Chaplains (Vol. vii., p. 34.).—On the day of Thanksgiving, 19th July, 1648, Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick was ordered to preach before the House, and his sermon to be printed. Where can a copy of it be seen?

    Joseph Rix.

St. Neot's.

Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors (Vol. vii., pp. 13, 14.).—Your correspondent may find the passage to which he wishes to refer again, in one of the back volumes of Dickens's Household Words, in an article with the title of "History in Words."

Another correspondent, in the succeeding page of the same Number, will obtain the information he requires by consulting Dunlop's History of Fiction.

    W. L. N.

Tuebeuf (Vol. vii., p. 207.).—J. E. J. will find Tubœuf is a town in France, in the department of Mayenne. On May 9, 1194, Richard I. sailed from England on his expedition against Philip II. of France; and he was accompanied by Master Eustace, Dean of Salisbury, for the purpose of his conducting such business of the Great Seal as might be necessary while the king remained abroad. The Doncaster Charter appears to have been sealed on the 22nd of the same month of May, and I shall feel obliged if J. E. J. will give me a copy of Eustace's title, and the date and place, as they appear on the document. The addition to his name in other charters is "tunc gerentis vices cancellarii." He himself became Chancellor and Bishop of Ely on the death of Longchamp.

    Edward Foss.

Street-End House, near Canterbury.

"Goe, soule, the bodies guest" (Vol. vii., p. 175.).—Your correspondent is mistaken in thinking that his "additions" are a new discovery. Both stanzas were printed, with slight variations from this copy, by Sir H. Nicolas, at the end of his edition of Davison's Poetical Rhapsody, 1826, pp. 413—415.; and both are mentioned by Mr. Hannah, when he says (p. 103.):

"In E (the mark by which Mr. H. designates that copy in Nicolas), one stanza is interpolated after line 36, and a second at the end."

As I entirely agree with Sir H. Nicolas that the lines in question are "a wanton interpolation," I think Mr. Hannah was perfectly justified in contenting himself with this acknowledgment of their existence.

    R.

Bells versus Storms (Vol. vi., p. 508.).—While returning my acknowledgments to your correspondents the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe and W. S. G., I would briefly refer to the subject again, which may be of interest to some of our readers.

Dr. Fuller says:

"That bells are no effectual charm against lightning. The frequent firing of abbey churches by lightning confuteth the proud motto commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each intitled itself to a six-fold efficacy.

'Men's death I tell, by doleful knell,
Lightning and thunder, I break asunder,
On Sabbath all, to church I call,
The sleepy head, I raise from bed,
The winds so fierce, I do disperse,
Men's cruel rage, I do assuage.'"

"It has anciently been reported," observes Lord Bacon, "and is still received, that extreme applauses and shouting of people assembled in multitudes, have so rarefied and broken the air, that birds flying over have fallen down, the air not being able to support them; and it is believed by some that great ringing of bells in populous cities hath chased away thunder, and also dissipated pestilent air. All which may be also from the concussion of the air, and not from the sound."