Termination"-itis."—What is the derivation of the termination"-itis," used principally in medical words, and these signifying inflammation, as Pleuritis, vulgo pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura, &c.? ADSUM.

Loak Hen.-In two or more parishes in Norfolk was a custom, or modus, of paying a loak hen in lieu of tythes of fowls and eggs. I shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me what constituted a loak hen? G. J.

Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors. I remember reading an account of the traces of the social position of our Saxon ancestors yet remaining in our English customs, which interested me much at the time, and which I would gladly again refer to, as, Captain Cuttle's invaluable maxim not being then extant, I neglected "making a note of it.'

It described the Norman derivation of the names of all kinds of meat, as beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.; while the corresponding animals still retained their original Saxon appellations, ox, sheep, calf, &c. and it accounted for this by the fact, that while the animals were under the care of the Saxon thralls and herdsmen, they retained of course their Saxon names; but when served up at the tables of their Norman lords, it became necessary to name them afresh.

I think the word heronsewes (cf. Vol. iii., pp. 450. 207.; Vol. iv., p. 76.) is another example, which are called harnseys at this day in Norfolk; as it is difficult, on any other supposition, to account for an East-Anglian giving a French appellation to so common a bird as the heron.

E. S. TAYLOR.

Locke's Writings. In an unpublished manuscript of Paley's Lectures on Locke's Essay, it is stated that so great was the antipathy against the writings of this eminent philosopher, at the time they were first issued, that they were "burnt at Oxford by the hands of the common hangman." Is this fact recorded in any Life of Locke; or how may it be ascertained? There is no notice of it, I believe, in either Law's Life, or in that of Lord King. GEORGE MUNFORD.

East Winch.

Passage in Göthe's "Faust."—Has the following passage from the second part of Faust ever been noticed in connexion with the fact that the clock in Göthe's chamber stopped at the moment that VOL. VII.- No. 166.

"The Latin Inscription, composed by the Rev. Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, and ordered by the Dean and Chapter to be fixed up in the Cathedral of the said Church, over the place where the body of the great Duke of Schomberg lies, has been with all possible care and elegance engraved on a beautiful table of black Kilkenny marble, about eight feet long and four or five broad; the letters are gilded, and the whole is now finished with the utmost neatness. People of all ranks are continually crowding to see it, and the Inscription is universally admired."

The Daily Gazetteer of Saturday, July 12, 1740, gives a detailed account of the rejoicings in Dublin on the Tuesday preceding, being the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, and a particular account of the bonfire made by Dean Swift in St. Kevin's Street, near the watch-house.

E.

The Burial Service said by Heart. - Bishop Sprat (in his Discourse to his Clergy, 1695, for relates that, immediately after the Restoration, a which see Clergyman's Instructor, 1827, p. 245.), noted ringleader of schism in the former times was interred in one of the principal churches of London, and that the minister of the parish, being a wise and regular conformist, and afterwards an eminent bishop, delivered the whole Office of Burial by heart on that occasion. The friends of the deceased were greatly edified at first, but afterwards much surprised and confounded when they found that their fervent admiration had been bestowed

on a portion of the Common Prayer. Southey (Common-Place Book, iii. 492.) conjectures that the minister was Bull. This cannot be, for Bull, I believe, never held a London cure. Was it Hackett? And who was the noted ringleader of schism? J. K.

Shaw's Staffordshire MSS.-Can any of your Staffordshire correspondents furnish information as to the present depository of the Rev. Stebbing Shaw's Staffordshire MSS., and the MS. notes of Dr. Thomas Harwood used in his two editions

County History Societies.-I would suggest the idea whether County History Societies might not be formed with advantage, as there are so many counties which have never had their histories written. They are very expensive and laborious for individuals to undertake, and constantly require additions on account of the many changes which are taking place, to make them complete as works of reference for the present time: I think that by the means suggested they might be made very useful, particularly if complete statistical tables were annexed to the general and descriptive account. With comparatively little expense, the history and statistics of every county could be brought down to the latest date, making a valuable work of reference to which all could refer with confidence for the information which is constantly being sought for. G. H.

The English Domestic Novel.- My first intention was to ask whether Defoe was the founder of this pleasing class of literature, but have just recollected, that Mrs. Aphara Behn wrote something of the kind in the time of Charles II. My first question will be, therefore, who was the earliest writer of this description? And, secondly, is not the matter of sufficient interest to ask your readers' assistance in the formation of a list, giving full titles, authors' names, and dates extending to 1730

or 1750?

JOHN MILAND.

Dr. Young.-In the most authentic biographical accounts we have of Dr. Young the poet, it is stated that he left in the hands of his housekeeper a collection of manuscript sermons, with an injunction that after his death they should be destroyed; it is also added, that this request was only complied with in part. Can any of your correspondents confirm the hope that these sermons

may still be in existence and if so, in what quarter information may be obtained concerning them? The housekeeper is said to have been the widow of a clergyman, and therefore was not regarded by the Doctor in the light of a servant. J. H. Cambridge.

Bishop Hall's Meditations.-I have an old copy before me, the title-page of which runs as follows:

"Occasionall Meditations by Jos. Exon. Set forth by R. H. The Third Edition: with the Addition of Forty-nine Meditations not heretofore published: London, printed by M. F. for Nathaniel Butter, 1633.” It is edited by Bishop Hall's son (Robert). I should be glad to learn whether this is a scarce edition. BIOTICUS.

Edgmond, Salop.

Chatterton. Dr. Gregory, in his Life of Chatterton, p. 100. (reprinted by Southey in the first volume of his edition of Chatterton's Works, p. lxx.), says: “Chatterton, as appears by the coroner's inquest, swallowed arsenick in water, on the 24th of August, 1770, and died in consequence thereof the next day."

Mr. Barrett, the historian of Bristol, one of Chatterton's best friends and patrons, who, from his profession as a surgeon, was likely to have made, and seems to have made, inquiries as to the circumstances of his death, says, in his History of Bristol, not published before 1789, and therefore not misled by any false first report, that Chatterton's principles impelled him to become his own executioner. He took a large dose of opium, some death, and he was found the next morning a most of which was picked out from his teeth after his horrid spectacle: with limbs and features distorted as after convulsions, a frightful and ghastly corpse." (p. 647.). I do not know whether this contradiction has ever been noticed, and shall be obliged to any correspondent who can give me information. I believe that Sir Herbert Croft's Love and Madness was the authority followed by Dr. Gregory, but I have not the book. N. B.

Passage in Job.-The wonderful and sublime book of Job, authenticated by subsequent Divine records, and about 3400 years old, is very probably the most ancient writing in the world: and though life and immortality were especially reserved as the glorious gift and revelation of our Blessed Redeemer, the eternal Author and Finisher of our salvation, yet Job was permitted to declare his deep conviction, that he should rise from the dead and see God. This memorable declaration (chap. xix. ver. 25.) can be forgotten by none of your readers; but some of them may not know that the Septuagint adds these words of life to chap. xlii. ver. 17.: γέγραπται, σεαυτὸν πάλιν ἀναστήσεσθαι μεθ ̓ ὧν ὁ Κύριος ἀνίστησιν.” (But it is written that

he shall rise again with those whom the Lord raiseth up.)

Our authorised and truly admirable translation of the Holy Scriptures omits this deeply important conclusion of Job's life, so properly noticed by the learned and excellent Parkhurst.

Pray, can you or any of your readers explain the cause of this omission? As your pages have not been silent on the grand consummation which cannot be too constantly before us, I do not apologise for this very short addition to your Notes. EDWIN JONES.

Southsea, Hants.

Frenche into English. By Wyllyam Hayward. Imprinted at London, by Wyllyam How, for Wyllyain Pickeringe."

There is no date, but it is believed to have been printed in or about 1571. It is in black letter, and is an imitation of the Roman Catholic pardons.

It consists of twelve leaves. In my copy the last seven of these are torn through their middle vertically.

I have not been able to meet with this tract in the catalogues of any of the great libraries which I have consulted; e. g. the British Museum, Bodleian, Cambridge University, Lambeth, and several of the college libraries at Cambridge.

Clarke's Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning.-Can any of the readers of " N. & Q." assist me in obtaining a copy of this work? In the same author's Rationale of Circulating Numbers (Murray, London, 1778) it is stated that the demonstrations of all the theorems and problems at the end of the Rev. John Lawson's Dissertation on the Geometrical Analysis of the Ancients "will be given at the latter end of An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning, which will soon be published." In a subsequent portion of the work, a sketch of the contents of the Essay is given, which include " a Treatise on Magic Squares, translated from the French of Frenicle, as published in Les Ouvrages de Mathématique par Messieurs de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, with several Additions and Remarks." And in a list of "Tracts and Translations written and published by H. Clarke, LL.D.," which occurs at the end of my copy of the first volume of Leybourn's Mathematical Repository (London, 1805), the Essay appears as No. 10, and is stated to have been published in 8vo. at six shillings. None of my friends are acquainted with the work; but if the preceding description will enable any reader to help me to a copy, I shall esteem it a great favour.

Burnley, Lancashire.

T. T. WILKINSON.

"The General Pardon."-An imperfect copy of a small tract (measuring five and a half inches by three and a half inches) has recently come into my hands, of which I much desire to obtain the wanting parts. It is entitled:

"The general Pardon, geuen longe agone, and sythe newly confyrmed, by our Almightie Father, with many large Priuileges, Grauntes, and Bulles graunted for euer, as is to be seen hereafter: Drawne out of

CHARLES C. BABINGTON.

St. John's Coll. Cambridge.

[The following extract from Taylor's Glory of Regality, pp. 74. et seq., will give our Correspondent the legend referred to.

"The ring with which our Kings are invested, called

by some writers the wedding ring of England,' is illustrated, like the Ampulla, by a miraculous history, of which the following are the leading particulars: from the Golden Legende' (Julyan Notary, 1503), p. 187.:- Edward the Confessor being one day askt for alms by a certain fayre olde man,' the king found nothing to give him except his ring, with which the poor man thankfully departed. Some time after, two English pilgrims in the Holy Land having lost their road, as they travelled at the close of the day, there came to them a fayre auncyent man wyth whyte heer

for age. Then the olde man axed them what they

were and of what regyon. And they answerde that they were Pylgryms of Englond, and hadde lost their felyshyp and way also. Then this olde man comforted theym goodly, and brought theym into a fayre cytee; and whan they had well refresshyd them, and rested theym alle nyght; on the morne, this fayre olde man wente with theym and brought theym in the ryght waye agayne. And he was gladde to hear theym talke of the welfare and holynesse of theyr Kynge Saynt Edward. And whan he shold departe fro theym thenne he told theym what he was, and sayd I am Johan Theuangelyst, and saye ye unto Edward your king, that I grete hym well by the token that he gaaf to me thys rynge with his one hondes, whych rynge ye shalle de

:

stitutions were abundant in Germany in the seventeenth century that of the Pegnitz shepherds lasted at least till the beginning of the eighteenth. In Der Thörichte Pritschmeister, a comedy printed at Coblenz, 1704, one of the characters is "Phantasirende, ein Pegnitz Schäffer," who talks fustian and is made ridiculous throughout. The comedy is " von Menantes." I have another work by the same author: Galante, Verliebte, und Satyrische, Gedichte, Hamburg, 1704. I shall be very glad to be told who he was, as his versification is often very good, and his jokes, though not graceful, and not very laughable, are real. H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

MARRIAGES EN CHEMISE.-MANTELKINDER.

LEGITIMATION.

(Vol. vi., pp. 485. 561.)

The popular error on the legal effect of marriage en chemise is, I think, noticed among other vulgar errors in law in a little book published some twenty years ago under the name of Westminster Hall, to which a deceased lawyer of eminence, then young at the bar, was a contributor. I believe the opinion to be still extensively prevalent, and to be probably founded not exactly in total ignorance, but in a misconception, of the law. The text writers inform us that "the husband is liable for the wife's debts, because he acquires an absolute interest in the personal estate of the wife," &c. (Bacon's Abridgment, tit. "Baron and Feme.") Now an unlearned person, who hears this doctrine, might reasonably conclude, that if his bride has no estate at all, he will incur no liability; and the future husband, more prudent than refined, might think it as well to notify to his neighbours, by an unequivocal symbol, that he took no pecuniary benefit with his wife, and therefore expected to be free from her pecuniary burdens. In this, as in most other popular errors, there is found a substratum of reason.

With regard to the other vulgar error, noticed at the foot of MR. BROOKS' communication (p. 561.), that "all children under the girdle at the time of marriage are legitimate,” the origin of it is more obvious. Every one knows of the "legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium" of the canonists, and how the barons assembled in parliament at Merton refused to engraft this law of the Church on the jurisprudence of England. But it is not perhaps so well known that, upon such a marriage, the premature offspring of the bride and bridegroom sometimes used to perform a part in the ceremony, and received the nuptial benediction under the veil or mantle of the bride or the pallium of the altar. Hence the children so legitimated are said to have been called by the Germans Mantelkinder. The learning on this head is to be found

in Hommel's Jurisprudentia Numismatibus Illustrata (Lipsia, 1763), pp. 214-218., where the reader will also find a pictorial illustration of the ceremony from a codex of the Novelle in the library of Christian Schwarz. The practice seems to have been borrowed from the form of adopting children, noticed in the same work and in Ducange, verb. "Pallium, Pallio cooperire ;" and in Grimm's Deut. Rechts Alterth., p. 465.

Let me add a word on the famous negative given to the demand of the clergy at Merton. No reason was assigned, or, at least, has been recorded, but a general unwillingness to change the laws of England. As the same barons did in fact consent to change them in other particulars, this can hardly have been the reason. Sir W. Blackstone speaks of the consequent uncertainty of heirship and discouragement of matrimony as among the causes of rejection, arguments of very questionable weight. Others (as Bishop Hurd, in his Dialogues) have attributed the rejection to the constitutional repugnance of the barons to the general principles of the canon and imperial law, which the proposed change might have tended to introduce,―a degree of forethought and range of political vision for which I can hardly give them credit, especially as the great legal authority of that day, Bracton, has borrowed the best part of his celebrated Treatise from the Corpus Juris. The most plausible motive which I have yet heard assigned for this famous parliamentary negative on the bishops' bill at Merton, is suggested (quod minimè reris!) in an Assistant Poor-Law Commissioners' Report (vol. vi. of the 8vo. printed series), viz. that bastardy multiplied the escheats which accrued to medieval lords of manors. E. SMIRKE.

A venerable person whose mind is richly stored with "shreds and patches" of folk lore and local antiquities, on seeing the "curious marriage entry" (p. 485.), has furnished me with the following explanation.

It is the popular belief at Kirton in Lindsey that if a woman, who has contracted debts previous to her marriage, leave her residence in a state of nudity, and go to that of her future husband, he the husband will not be liable for any such debts.

A case of this kind actually occurred in that highly civilised town within my informant's memory; the woman leaving her house from a bedroom window, and putting on some clothes as she stood on the top of a ladder by which she accomplished her descent. K. P.D.E.