LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1884.

CONTENTS.- N° 236. NOTES:-Third Part of "Boke of St. Albans," 1-Bibliography of Chaucer, 3-Letter of Sir J. Bowring, 4-Isolated Burials in Gibraltar-Gow, the Pirate, 5-Lord Cockburn and Moustaches-Earliest Verse in Italian-Oxen as Money -Document of Sir Isaac Newton, 6-Coincidence, 7."

QUERIES:-Shakspearian Queries-Portrait of St. Jerome, 7 -Grey of Wilton, 8-Register of Leckhampstead-Rastaquonere-Coker-Heraldic-St. Paul's Cathedral-Accepted Frewen-Atkinson - Royal Marriage with a Slave-King Arthur-William of Worcester-French Family, 9-Autograph Letters and History-Authorship of Hymns-English Names for Flowers and Shells-Collections about Giants, &c. -Raban, 10.

REPLIES:-Rococo, 10-Signatures to Covenant, 11-Coleridge's "Remorse -Posies for Rings-"Ignorance the mother of devotion"-Knowing Fine, 12-Beni: Hifac: Calpe Proofs of Literary Fame-Khedive-Termination "oe, "13-Prester John's Arms-Some Obsolete WordsRegnal Years-"Knight of Toggenburg"-Lamb and Mint Sauce, 14-Device on Picture-English Judicial CostumeThorpe, Surrey-Brewer's Phrase and Fable"-Date of Phrase Hebrew Language, 15- Tomb of Thackeray's

Parents-Balloon, 16-Eclipses of the Sun Inverted

Chevron, 17-Oak Tree and Contents-"Old English Drama" -Peter Jackson: Philip Jackson-Resurgam, 18. NOTES ON BOOKS:-Wyman's "Bibliography of the BaconShakespeare Controversy " "John Wiclif, Patriot and

Reformer."

Notices to Correspondents, &c.

Notes.

NOTES ON THE THIRD PART OF THE "BOKE OF ST. ALBANS."

This work was printed at St. Albans by the Schoolmaster Printer in 1486. I have lately been reading it, and have made notes of some curious and rare words contained in it. So far as I know, these have not been commented on before, so they may be of use to the reader of "N. & Q." The book is not paged, but there will be no difficulty in verifying the references (the extracts are taken in order).

MS.W.-the edition printed at Westminster by Wynkyn de Worde, 1496; reprinted in London by White & Cockrane, 1810.

Ch. used by Chaucer.

The first sentence of the third part explains the nature of the work, viz., a treatise upon heraldry: "Here in thys booke followyng is determyned the linage of cool armuris: and how gentilmen shall be knowyn from ungentilmen."

Linage (Ch. lynage), lineage.

Coot armuris (Ch. cote armure), a coat worn over the armour, on which the armorial bearings of the wearer were painted. Is is the plural form. Other similar plurals found in this book are bestys, werrys (wars), talys, maydonys, sparris (spars=bars), treys (trees), armys. Is, too, is sometimes the sign of the genitive case, as

"oon of the kyngis bage" (badge) and "ramys horne."

"Insomuch thatt all gentilnes cummys of God of hevyn, at hevyn I will begin,......where Lucifer with myliony's of aungelis owt of hevyn fell unto hell and odyr places, and ben holdyn ther in bonage, and all were erected in hevyn of gentill nature......Adam the begynnyng of mankynd was as a stocke unsprayed and unfloreshed, and in the braunches is knowledge wiche is rotun and wich is grene."

Ben, present tense plural, "are" (Ch.). Bonage may only be a misprint for "bondage," which, Skeat says, is the M. E. form. Erected, raised, brought up.

Unsprayed, without sprigs or shoots. Spray (see Skeat) is the same as prov. E. sprag, a sprig. Possibly asparagus comes from the same root.

The author divides the world into three parts: "Europe, that is to say, the contre of Churlys. Asia, that is to say, the contre of gentilmen. Affrica, that is to say, the contre of tempurnes."

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Tempurnes (MS. W. the countree of temperaunce) means, I think, a mixture of churls and gentlemen: Temper, due mixture of contrary qualities (Walker's Dict.). Trench discusses the word, Study of Words, p. 129.

"Hite and ful of courage" (hite-hot). "Hote brenning as fire occurs just below. Chaucer uses "hote and brenningly "; of hite=hot I have not been able to find another example.

Trone (Ch.) and tronly, for "throne" and "thronely."

Smaraydmat looks insoluble at first sight, but it is only opapaydos, an emerald, Englished. The four virtues of chivalry are worthy of being set down at length :

"Fower vertuys of chivalrie bene theis.

"The first is juste in his bestys, clenness of his persone, peti to have to the pore, to be gracious to his presoner, to be reverend and faythful to his God.

"The secunde is that he be wyse in his battayl, prudent in his fightyng, knowyng and having minde in his wittes.

before that his quarell be true, thank god ever of his

"The thirde is, that he be not slowe in his werrys, loke

victori, and for to have measure in his sustenance

[moderation in his manner of life].

"The iiij is to be stronge and stedfast in his gov' naunce-to hope to have the victory, and rode not from the fielde and not to shame his cote armure, and that he

be not bostful of his manhode, loke that [he be] curtes, lowly, and gentill, and without rebawdry in his lan guage."

The iiij soverayn gentilneses ben theis few othes in sweryng boxom to goddis byddyng knowyng his own birth in beryng and to drede his soverayn to offende."

Boxom (Ch. buxome),* obedient. See Skeat.

[* A curious and, we fancy, unrecorded use of the word buxomnesse is found in Occleve, De Regimine Principum :"God toke upone hym humble buxomnesse Whan he hym wrappede in our mortalle rynde." P. 128.]