hala, a noise, and in Hebrew halol, with a some-
what similar meaning; yet it is not clear how or
when such words came to be popularly used in the
English language.
W. E. MARSHALL.

WILLIAM HOWISON.-This writer was a friend
of Lockhart's, and is mentioned in terms of com-
mendation in the Life of Scott. Any particulars
concerning himself and his belongings will be
welcome to
C. M. I.
Athenæum Club.

or spreading itself out all round like a lion's mane. Although there is ancient authority for this, it seems very fanciful, and that which is ancient is not always correct. Now, Forcellini suggests that the true derivation is rather from aßop, which, according to Hesychius, was a dialectic (Laconian) word for ws, the dawn. The authority of Hesychius is great, and surely it is odd that our dictionaries, so far as I know, make no reference to this. Perhaps some classical reader of "N. & Q." will be able kindly to inform me whether any fresh

time of Forcellini.
Blackheath.

W. T. LYNN.

AN OLD SEAL.-Can any of your readers in-light has been thrown upon the word since the form me as to the origin of an oval seal with the Virgin and Child under a Gothic canopy and in a compartment below a kneeling figure? Round the border is the motto, in old English letters, SIGILLU' PREBENDARU' DE BULIDON. It is used by Giggleswick School, Yorks (founded by Edward VI.), but does not seem to have any connexion with it.

"A FORTUITOUS CONCOURSE OF ATOMS." This phrase occurs in the preface to "Marcus Minucius Felix his Octavius: or, A Vindication of Christianity against Paganism. Made English. London, Printed, and are to be sold by John Whitlock near Stationer's Hall. 1695." 12mo. Can an earlier instance of it be noted? C. D.

COLLEGIUM GRASSINEUM: GUALTERUS DONGANE. Can any one give information about the names and place mentioned in the following inscription, which I found in an old edition of Seneca's works, dated "Parisiis Apud Jacobum Dupuys sub signo Samaritanæ, MDLXXXVII"?"Ego infra scriptus collegii Grassinæi moderator fidem facio nobilem adolescentem Gualterum Dongane primum solutæ orationis præmium in Rhetorica jure merito consecutum illoq donatum esse die 12 Augusti anni 1682, in solemni præmiorum distributione. In cujus rei fidem subscripsi."

A CANADIAN TOKEN OR MEDAL [?].-A gardener, lately, turning over the ground in the garden at the White Cottage, one of the oldest houses on the beach at Lytham (Lancashire), found a token or medal about the size and thickness of one of the halfpennies in present circulation. After being cleared from incrustation as far as possible, it could be seen that the obverse has in the centre something like an altar, on which is the word FELL, and what has probably been a date beneath. Upon the altar is an urn, which two angels, flying, are apparently crowning with a wreath. Round this side there is the following of Up Canada." On the reverse in the centre is "Sr Isaac Brook [or Brock] the Hero inscription, the date 1816, with a radiating star above it and the same below it, and the inscription round the

Success to Commerce and Peace to the side, World." The edges of the token or medal are plated with nickel. Can any of your readers say with what event or place it is connected?

Lytham.

C. R.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE COUNTY OF DORSET.I should be glad if any of your readers would give me the names and publishers of any books treating of these. S. T. C.

THOMAS WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH, -Where was he born? He was one of the seven. Miss A. Strickland suggests Abingdon, Kent; but though Ireland mentions several manors in Kent appertaining to the Whites, Abingdon is not one of them. On the other hand, the estate and mansion of Goldwell, at Aldington or Allington, was held by them in connexion with the manor of Bonington from the reign of James I. till Thomas, Dean of Canterbury, who in 1690 married Grace, sister of John Lynch, Esq., of Groves, divided his estates amongst his children "JUBAR."-In all, or nearly all, our Latin dic-at his death, when they became alienated by sale tionaries, we are referred for the origin of the word jubar (the day-dawn or morning star, as in "jubare exorto") to "juba," a mane, it being sometimes explained that the idea is the daylight expanding

FRAMERY.

and marriage. Any information that will help the writer to materials for a memoir of the bishop will greatly oblige. CAROLINE A. WHITE. Preston on the Wild Moors, Salop.

THE OFFICE OF BAILIFF.-On the Patent Rolls of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries I find various grants of the office of bailiff of small towns, not corporations. Where can I find the duties of a bailiff given? W. G. D. F.

ELIAS BROWNE, NORWICH.-I have lately seen a brass clock with this name, &c., upon it. The engraving upon the face I was told by the clockmaker in whose hands it was marks the date at about 1600, if not before. When did Elias Browne live? H. A. W.

Horsfield's History of Sussex, and the Sussex
Archæological Collections. Sir William Burrell
states that the Sussex branch were descended
from a Hawes, who was seized of land at Wal-
sham-le-Willows, Suffolk, in the reign of
Edward III. Are there any pedigrees of the
family?
FREDERICK E. SAWYER.

Brighton,

TOADS WORSHIPPED BY THE MOLOSSIANS.-In an old play, Henry Shirley's Martyr'd Souldier, 1638, I have come across a curious tale, which I think I have met before, but cannot remember where. It is not in Lucian, as I at first supposed; and I should be glad if some reader of "N. & Q." would tell me where it may be found:"Had you as many gods as you have dayes, As once the Assyrians had, yet have yee nothing: Such service as they gave such you may give, And have reward as had the blind Molossians: A toad one day they worship; one of them drunke A health with's God and poyson'd so himselfe."

EDWARD VI. AND HIS SISTERS.-They appear to have been on the most cordial and loving terms. To his godmother Mary, Edward, before his accession, writes as follows:-"I love you as a brother ought to love a most dear sister who has all the ornaments of virtue and honour. I write to you very rarely, but I love you very much."Ellis, p. 134. Can any of your correspondents tell me whether Mary wrote in the same loving Sig. D. V. strain to Edward, and, if so, favour me with a Who is the authority for the statement about the few lines of any such letter? I have no copy of " Assyrians?" either series of Sir H. Ellis's works, but simply quote the above passage from Turner.

A. H. B.

A REFERENCE IN MALONE.-Malone, in one of his manuscripts in the Bodleian, noting that "the company at Blackfriars forbid to play Chapman's Byron, and some sent to prison, April, 1608," gives the reference to what looks like Bredern, vol. iii. pp. 196-7. I do not think Bredern is the name, but can make nothing else of it. Perhaps it is some foreign collection, and the correct reference. some of your readers may kindly supply me with

J. O. HALLIWell-Phillipps.

THE HERALDIC BEARINGS OF EDMUND SPENSER
AND OF THE POET GRAY.-Can any of your
readers supply me with these?
G. GILBERT SCOTT.

26, Church Row, Hampstead, N.W.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED.—
"I saw the laughing devil in his eye."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Replies.

H. W. C.

RUSHTON HALL, NORTHANTS.

OWLET.

(5th S. x. 48, 92, 138, 458; 6th S. iv. 510; v. 115.)

Neither MR. JULIAN MARSHALL, nor FAMA, nor my friend MR. WALFORD has quite hit off-if I may use that term-the Rushton Hall inscription; but by accepting MR. MARSHALL'S suggestion for the fifth line and MR. WALFORD's for the last, the meaning becomes quite clear. In 1880 I sent a version of the first four lines to "N. & Q."; I had prepared a version of the remainder, but I could

Est qui vult magnam tollere felle sitim :
our Lord cried out, “I thirst,” and He was offered
vinegar and gall on a sponge.

Mater at o! Mater, lachrymis compuncta labascit
Sed muliebre genu dat mulieris opem:

by muliebre genu the writer of the inscription
wished, I believe, to convey the idea of our Lord's
dead body being placed on His blessed Mother's
knee-the Pietà in Italy, the image of Our Lady
of Pity in England, a most favourite representa-
tion, and one which was to be found in almost

see the hymn Crux Fidelis in the Office for Good every church in England in Pre-Reformation days. Friday in the Roman Missal.

Serpens hic æneus alter erat:

the brazen serpent was a figure of Christ cruci-
fied, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in Him
against the bites of the hellish serpent. Cf.
John iii. 14, 15, "And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be
lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him may
not perish, but may have life eternal."
Venditus hic Joseph pro vili munere :

It is for this reason that I prefer MR. WALFORD'S reading, muliebre genu. EDMUND WATERTON. Deeping Waterton Hall, Market Deeping, Linc.

:

THE PRONUNCIATION OF "ER" AS 66 AR" (6th S. iii. 4, 353, 393, 457) PARSON: PERSON (6th S. ii. 281, 411, 497; iii. 37, 371).—I must say that I cannot see that it makes much difference whether er is pronounced ar, as sometimes in English, or whether the cr has been perma

Joseph was sold by his brethren, and our Lord nently changed into ar, as in the cases I quoted was sold by Judas.

Jonas

Qui triduo ceti corpore clausus erat:
this representation often occurs in the Catacombs.
Jonas was three days in the whale's belly; our
Lord lay three days in the sepulchre.

Hic salientis aquæ fons:

in French; and, indeed, PROF. SKEAT'S remark about "that singular habit of English whereby when writing about the word parson, in which the er is frequently pronounced ar" was made by him er has actually become ar. Would he, then, really separate such words as parson, parrot, partridge, pardon, marvel, Harry, &c., in which the er has become ar in English from the other words, much fewer in number, such as clerk, serjeant, Derby, &c., in which the er has been retained in writing but is pronounced ar? If so, he must have changed his opinion very recently, for in his note published in "N. & Q.," 6th S. iii. 4, he says, As cf. Ps. cix., “Tu es Sacerdos in æternum secun- the pronunciation of er as ar is often discussed, I dum ordinem Melchisedech."

cf. John iv. 13, 14, "......He that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever; but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting."

Omnia ad æva sacerdos :

แ

have collected more than fifty examples of it, as will be seen below." According to his present view, these examples ought to be all words in which er is written and ar pronounced; but, lo and behold thirty of them, beginning with barn and ending with barberry, are words in which ar is now written, whilst in nearly all the remaining examples in which er is now written the ar pronunciation is either obsolete or only heard among the lower classes, as in sarve, sarvant, &c. If examples like these last are to be taken into account and I quite agree that they ought to be -then there is no doubt that PROF. SKEAT is that "no other modern language [than English] also wrong in saying, as he does (6th S. iii. 393), uses the written symbol er when the pronunciation ar is intended." On referring to some notes which I made years ago with regard to this point, I find no less than fourteen examples which I had discovered in French, viz., in Molière's Festin de Pierre, act ii., in which two peasants (it is not

Longinus, the centurion, who pierced the side of said from what part of France) are represented as

our Blessed Lord with his spear.

talking together. These fourteen words are

Sydenham Hill.

renvarsés, mar, tarre, aparçu, Piarrot, envars, so equivalent to our 'Arry! Imagine my dismay. barlue, pardre, sarmonné, sarvir, varre, marciers, I almost resolved to leave etymology alone for marles, parsonnest (twice), all of which are now the future.* F. CHANCE. (as, indeed, they were then by educated people) written with er. And that er is still so pronounced even by some of those who are considered to belong to the educated classes (to say nothing of the lower classes) in France in certain cases is shown by the fact that I find argots and arboriste given as the pronunciation of ergots and herboriste in a very small pamphlet on Parisian vulgarisms written by a M. Hamel (a Frenchman).

I

I am afraid that PROF. SKEAT has somewhat but hope it will not be thought that I intend to misunderstood me concerning the word starve, suggest that it may not be my own fault. But I did not say or suppose that starve was derived from the German sterben; only that they had a common origin, and that the Germans had retained the e, whilst we had changed it, as in so many other words, into a. Also I wished to point out that this change had taken place since the time of Chaucer. From him I would quote

two familiar lines :

"Alas! Custence, thou hast no champion, But He that starfe for our redemption.' Starfe evidently here means died; it would be interesting to know when it came to be restricted in meaning to dying for want of food.

The A.-S. cor seems so frequently in modern

Though I believe that we derived this habit of ours in a great measure from the French, still said in my last note that the same habit probably prevailed in other languages to a greater or less extent quite independently, and of this view I can now give some confirmation. Thus, in the Romance language spoken in the Engadine, &c.,‡ of which I know but little, and of which no good dictionary has been published, I have come across several words in which er has become ar, or in which they interchange. These are marcau (Lat. mercatus), a town, city, or market; marcadont=English to have become er, and afterwards ar, Fr. marchand; marveglia (cf. Ital. maraviglia and our marvel with the Fr. merveille, from Lat. mirabilia); and darchiar, also written derchiar (cf. the Span. derecho, from Lat. dirigere, directus), to judge or go to law; the prep. par (Lat. per), with compounds as pardunar, parfumar, &c.; pardagar (Lat. prædicare); and in the Coire dialect, tiara (Lat. terra) and tiarm (Lat. terminus, our term). And I could give other examples in which e not followed by r has become a

In the Piedmontese dialect of Italian, again, I find (see Sant' Albino's Dict.) marca-mercato (market), marcant (merchant), with other words from the same root; sarvan, also written servan; sarpan, also written serpan (serpent). In one case ar is inclined to become er, for I find both sarmenta and sermenta (Lat. sarmentum).

In pure Italian again, in addition to maraviglia, which I have already given, there is Arrigo our Harry. And in connexion with this last may I mention that recently I discovered that Ary, in Ary Scheffer-a name of which I had always considered the first part to be highly poetical, and thus well suited to a great painter-was nothing more nor less than a corruption of the Fr. Henri, and

In Italian however, it is barlume, so that I should not, perhaps, quote this word.

It is interesting to find parsonne (cf. our parson) in

French also.

This language has been no doubt, and still is, much influenced by German and Italian, especially by the former, but I cannot discover that it has ever been subjected to French influence.

§ And there are no doubt other examples, though it is not by any means a common change in Italian.

See Etude sur les Noms de Famille du Pays de Lüge, par Albin Body, Liège, 1880, p. 94.

that one's attention is naturally attracted to a remarkable exception. Steorra, the AngloSaxon for star, has never, so far as I am aware, been spelt ster in English. Perhaps PROF. SKEAT will, if I am wrong in this, kindly point it out. In German, as is well known, the vowel is e, but besides this the word has a final n.

Blackheath.

W. T. LYNN.

Sheridan's pronunciation of Berks had the authority of a very eminent inhabitant of that

county:

"Tell at your Levee, as the Crowds approach,
To whom to nod, whom take into your Coach,
Whom honour with your hand to make remarks,
Who rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks."
Pope, Imitations of Horace, i. 6.
EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

THE EARLIEST DATED ENGLISH BOOK-PLATE

(6th S. v. 9, 78).-A friend writes to me that he possesses in his collection of book-plates two English dated specimens, the existence of which I certainly think deserves recording in the columns of "N. & Q." The first of these plates appears to have been used to mark certain volumes which Sir Nicholas Bacon gave to the University of Cambridge, as it bears this inscription, "N. Bacon, eques auratus, & magni

* At the same time this should teach us to be more indulgent to those who drop their h's. Why should it be criminal in us English to do so, whilst the French, Italians, and Spaniards do it habitually without incurring reproach, and the Italians have even almost abolished it in writing also? The Latin language, from which theirs have been formed, possessed a pronounced as much as the languages of Teutonic origin.