Notes and Queries, Number 57, November 30, 1850

"1516. To James Calcot for payntyng of Judas, 6d."

"1523. Paid for a staff for Judas crosse – 4d."

I venture to add these to the instances cited by Mr. Walcott, hoping that the slightly varied form may furnish a clue by which some of your readers may be able to unravel the meaning of such allusions more satisfactorily than any yet attempted.

    J.C.B.

Burial towards the West (Vol. ii., p. 408.).—Mr. Hawker has stated very confidently that

"It was the ancient usage of the Church that the martyr, the bishop, the saint, and even the priest, should occupy in their sepulture a position the reverse of the secular dead, and lie down with their feet westward and their heads to the rising sun."

It is true that a custom has existed in many places for nearly two centuries and a half to assign to the clergy a method of interment distinct from that adopted for the laity; and the observance of this usage is not limited to Romanists, for its continuance may be noted among members of the Church of Ireland also, at least in remote districts of that country. With respect to this matter, however, your correspondent has entirely misapplied the term "ancient;" for until the seventeenth century there was not any difference in the mode of sepulture prescribed for priests and laymen but, most commonly, all persons entitled to Christian burial were placed with their feet toward the east, in consequence of a tradition relative to the position of our Saviour's body in the tomb. (Haimo, Hom. pro Die Sancto Pasch.; J. Gregrory, Oriens nomen Ejus, 85., Martene, De Antiq. Eccles. Ritibus, tom. ii. p. 374. Venet. 1783.) It is believed that there is no earlier authority for the sacerdotal privilege in question than a rule contained in the Rituale Romanum sanctioned by Pope Paul V. in June, 1614; viz.:

"Corpora defunctorum in ecclesia ponenda sunt pedibus versus altare majus … Presbyteri verò habeant caput versus altare."—Cap. De Exsequiis, p. 63. Antwerp, 1635.

A rubric afterwards directs (p. 168.) that the bier should be so set down in the middle of the church that in every case the injunction previously given should be complied with, even from the commencement of the funeral service; and, in fact, the manner of adhering to the established practice of exhibiting in the church to the people the bodies of the deceased clergy, clad in vestments, prior to their interment (on which occasions an altar-ward posture was naturally selected for the head, in order that the remains might be more easily seen), appears to have originated the idea of the fitness of retaining an unjustifiable priestly prerogative at the time of burial.

Mr. Hawker may peruse with much advantage the first Appendix in the second edition of Eusebii Romani Epistola de Cultu Sanctorum ignotorum. Mabillon has herein very usefully enlarged what he had said, "De Sepultura Sacerdotum," in the preceding impression, of which a French translation was speedily published at Paris, 12mo in eights, 1698. The text of both editions may be found together in tome i. of the Ouvrages posthumes de Mabillon et Ruinart, à Paris, 1724.

    R.G.

Totnes Church (Vol. ii., p. 376).—As the priory of St. Mary stood on the N.E. side of the parish church, it is not improbable that the arched passage to which your querist H.G.T. refers may have been formed between the two buildings, and found needful to allow room for the extension of the chancel on the re-erection of the church in 1432. Perhaps if H.G.T. could refer to the ancient documents brought to light by the fall of one of the pinnacles into the room over the porch in 1799, he would gain some information in connexion with his inquiry. The following note may have reference to the very "gangway" in question:

"William Ryder of Totnes, by his will dated 18th Nov. 1432 desires to be buried in the cemetery of the parish church, in itinere processionali juxta ecclesiam prioris et conventus Totton, ex opposito magni altaris ejusdem ecclesiæ."—See Dr. Oliver's Monasticum Dioc. Exon. p. 239.

It appears that the present churchyard is the site of the priory, but on this point the labours of the sexton would probably give some intimation.

    S.S.S.

Irish Brigade (Vol. ii., p. 407.).—Your correspondent J.B. will find some interesting particulars concerning the Irish Brigade in the Military History of the Irish Nation, by Matthew O'Conor, extending to the peace of Utrecht in 1711. It was never finished. There is very valuable Appendix in French, written in 1749, and authenticated September 1. 1815, by the Adj.-Comm.-Col. De M. Morres (Hervé); it gives the war-orders, pay, changes in the organization, and numbers of this gallant corps.

    MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

We have received the second edition of Chronicles of the Ancient British Church. The author exhibits great industry and research, and brings that kindly reverential temper to his subject, which cannot fail to win for it the sympathy of his readers. The apostolic origin of British Christianity, and the early independence of the British Church, are satisfactorily maintained, the labours of St. Patrick in Ireland, St. David and his workfellows in Wales, St. Columba and St. Ninian in the North, are duly chronicled; and the slender particulars that remain to us of the ancient Church in Cornwall, are gleaned up with diligence and accuracy. The volume is put together in a readable and popular shape, but is not unworthy the attention of even our clerical friends. The author takes nothing upon trust, and while availing himself of the labours of Usher, Stillingfleet, &c., he ascends to the original authorities from which they drew, and makes us acquainted with the pages of Gildas, Nennius, and Giraldus Cambrensis.

There is a time-honoured proverb, which bids us "Laugh and grow fat." The author of a series of very witty and instructive papers written under the title of, and for the prose of showing us How to make Home Unhealthy,—written, too, it is obvious, on the principle of "When I say hold fast, let go, and When I say let go, hold fast,"—has improved upon the old saw, and bids us "Laugh and grow healthy." The subject is one which comes home to everybody, and we accordingly recommend everybody in search of a pleasant half-hour's reading of a happy combination of common sense and uncommon humour to apply themselves to the study of How to make Home Unhealthy.

We last week called attention to several Flemish works likely to interest English readers. We have since seen how desirable it is that this should be done, in the fact, that a curious Flemish Rhyming Chronicle respecting our Edward III., by Jan de Klerk, edited in 1840 by that accomplished antiquary Willems, and of which only 100 copies were printed, has hitherto been so little known in this country, that nearly a quarter of the whole impression was left unsold in the hands of the late Mr. Rodd. At the last sale of Mr. Rodd's books they were purchased by Mr. Quaritch.

We have received the following Catalogues:—Thomas Thorpe's (13. Henrietta Street, Covent Garden) General Catalogue of the most extensive Collection of Curious Books on Sale in this or any other country, in most Languages and classes of Literature, and including many hundred Articles of the utmost rarity; William Brown's (46. High Holborn) Catalogue of Second-hand English and Foreign Books; Cole's (15. Great Turnstile, Holborn) List No. XXX. of Miscellaneous Second-hand Books; Reeves' and Turner's (98. Chancery Lane) Catalogue No. 14. of Cheap Books, many Rare and Curious; John Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 14. for 1850, of Books Old and New; John Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue Part CXVIII., No. 12. for 1850, of Old and New Books.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Wednesday next and three following days, the valuable Philological, Biblical, and Miscellaneous Library of the late Rev. Richard Garnet of the British Museum.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE

OBI. An early and abridged edition.

BURKE'S WORKS. 9 vols. 8vo. 1845.

LAWRIE'S HOMŒOPATHIC DOMESTIC MEDICINE. Last Edition.

Odd Volumes.

KNIGHT'S LONDON, Nos. 27. 53. 57. 98. 105. 146.

POPE'S WORKS. Warburton, 8vo. 1760. Vol. II.

CARTER'S ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLAND. 1793. Part I.

PARKINSON'S SERMONS on Points of Doctrine and Rules of Duty. 1832. Vol. I.

ALISON'S EUROPE. First 8vo. edition. Vol. IX.

NAPIER'S PENINSULAR WAR. Vols. II. III. V.

NICHOLSON'S ARCHITECTURAL DICTIONARY. Parts XV. to the end.

URE'S DICTIONARY of Arts and Manufactures. Part VI.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

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