Various

“ Jockey.—Mr. Borrow, in his Introduction to The Gypsies of Spain, says:
"The English gypsies are constant attendants at the race-course. What jockey is not? Perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even racing, at least in England. Jockeyism properly implies the management of a whip; and the word jockey is neither more nor less than the term, slightly modified, by which they designate the formidable whip which they usually carry, at present in general use amongst horse-traffickers under the title of jockey-whips."
Can any of your correspondents give the derivation of jockey? ”

“ The Protestants of the Church of England are sworn on the Gospels; so also are the Irish Roman Catholics. The Quakers reject every form of oath, and confine themselves to a simple affirmation. Upon these points I beg leave to submit the following Queries.
1. What form of judicial oath was first sanctioned by the professors of Christianity as a body? It is stated in Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, that "oaths were taken on the Gospels so early as A.D. 528." How were they taken before then?
2. Did the practice of swearing on the Gospels prevail in England before the Reformation? ”

“ In the first place, I differ from Mr. Collier entirely as to the famous passage from Henry VIII., p. 324., which he brings so prominently forward as to give it special notice in his Introduction. To me, I confess, the phrase—
"To steal from spiritual labour a brief span,"
appears quite tame and poor in comparison with
"To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span,"
and, moreover, destroys all the poetry of the thought. ”

“ Add true at the end of the line, and it mars the verse, but make the probable correction of true for haue, and you get excellent sense without any ellipsis. I am as averse to interpolation or alteration of the text, when sense can by any rational supposition be made of it, as my opponent, or any true lover of the poet and the integrity of his language, can possibly be; but I see nothing rational in refusing to correct an almost self-evident misprint, which would redeem a fine passage that otherwise must always remain a stumbling-block to the most intelligent reader. ”

“ In England, up to about the period when these curious acts of parliament were passed, the right of all soil impregnated with animal matter was claimed by the crown for this peculiar purpose; and in France the rubbish of old houses, earth from stables, slaughter-houses, and all refuse places, was considered to belong to the Government, till 1778, when a similar edict, to relieve the people from the annoyances of the saltpetre makers, was made. ”

“ The expression "soul-tainted flesh" is not intelligible. It should rather be "soul-tainting flesh." The soul may be tainted by the flesh: but how the flesh can be soul-tainted, I cannot understand.
Turning further back, to p. 69., we find it asserted, quite dogmatically, that the word "truths" of the folios ought to be "proofs;" but no reason whatever is offered for the change. I cannot help thinking that "seeming truths" is much the most poetical expression, while in "seeming proofs" there is something like redundancy,—to say nothing of the phrase being infinitely more common-place! ”

“ Is there not reason to believe that many of them are of great antiquity?
L.
Oxford.
Gloves at Fairs.—I think that I have read that at some large fair it was customary to hang out on the town-hall a large gilt glove, as a token of freedom from arrest for debt during the period that the fair lasted. Can any of your correspondents inform me if such was the case, and where? In Halliwell's Dictionary, "hoisting the glove" is said to be practised at Lammas Fair, in Devonshire: but why? In the east of England certain village fairs are called Gants,—Mattishall Gant, &c. ”

“ Marot's translation is said by Strada to have been ignorantly and perversely done, as being but the work of a man altogether unlearned; but not to be compared with that barbarity and botching, which everywhere occurreth in the translation of Sternhold and Hopkins. Which notwithstanding being first allowed for private devotion, they were by little and little brought into the use of the church, permitted rather than allowed to be sung before and after sermons; afterwards printed and bound up with the Common Prayer Book, and at last added by the stationers at the end of the Bible. ”

“ THE CAMDEN SOCIETY is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the Civil, Ecclesiastical, or Literary History of the United Kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of Historical Documents, Letters, Ancient Poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient form, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes.
The Subscription to the Society is 1l. ”

“ Khond Fable.—The following is a free version of a fable current among the Khonds of Oriosa, of whom a very interesting account is given by Captain Macpherson in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1852:
"A mosquito was seated on the horn of a bull, and fearing that his weight might be oppressive to the quadruped, he politely accosted him, begging that, if he felt any inconvenience, he would mention it, and professing himself ready, in that case, to remove to some other position. ”

“ This statement so thoroughly removes all uncertainty about the {464} author of the original, that I trust you will deem it worthy of insertion in your journal.
"A place I here describe, how gay the scene!
Fresh, bright, and vivid with perpetual green,
Verdure attractive to the ravish'd sight,
Perennial joys, and ever new delight,
Charming at noon, more charming still at night.
Fair pools where fish in forms pellucid play;
Smooth lies the lawn, swift glide the hours away. ”

“ It strikes me, that the true interpretation of this device, and the introduction of the lion and the lizard-like animal under the horse's feet, may be found in the 13th verse of Psalm xci.:
"Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet."
I should like to learn from some of your correspondents, whether this Psalm, or this portion of it, was used in the solemnities attendant on the installation of a knight, which would tend much to confirm my conjecture. ”

“ If any one could suggest the means for supplying the desiderata, it would prove in the coming season a boon to photographers at large, and confer a favour on
M. F. M.
Mr. Wilkinson's simple mode of levelling Cameras.—The following ingenious suggestion appears in the 3rd Number of the Journal of the Photographic Society, and deserves to be widely circulated. "My plan is to place a T-square on the bottom of the camera, and draw one perpendicular line on each side (exactly opposite to each other) , either with paint or pencil ”

“ The collection is principally composed of works of divinity published in the seventeenth century, the age of profound theological literature. I noticed amongst the goodly array of weighty folios, the works of St. Augustine, the Homilies of St. Chrysostom, works of St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, &c., the works of the high and mighty King James, Birckbek's Protestant Evidence, and Walton's Polyglott. Nothing is known of the history and formation of this library. Inside the cover of one of the volumes is the following inscription:
"Totnes Library. ”

“ FOLIO EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE.
SPECIMEN COPIES of the First Volume of this Work may be seen at MR. SKEFFINGTON'S, 192. Piccadilly, and at MR. RUSSELL SMITH'S, 36. Soho Square, London.
The Editor having, at a great sacrifice, adhered to the original limit, and the estimates having been considered exceeded, has been compelled, to avoid incurring an extravagant loss, to make the terms very absolute, and to raise the Subscription to the later copies. Notwithstanding, therefore, the great demand for the Work, a few copies may still be secured by early written application. ”

“ In reply to your correspondent Arun, who inquired about the origin and authority of metrical psalms and hymns in churches, in addition to an extract from one of Bishop Cosin's letters on the subject, I referred also to the treatise commonly known as Watson's Deduction, but of which treatise Heylin was in fact the author. I have recently met with a passage in Heylin's History of the Reformation (ann. 1552, Lond., 1674, p. 127.) ”

“ The new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed to answer the purpose for which the patent was granted, an act was passed in 1656, forbidding the saltpetre makers to dig in houses or lands without leave of the owner: and this is the point to which the learned commentator of the law, in his Discouerie of the Abuses and Corruption of Officers, alludes, when "any such fellowe if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to understand his office." ”

“ POLICIES effected before the 30th of June next, will be entitled, at the next Division, to one year's additional share of Profits over later Assurers.
On Assurances for the whole of Life only one half of the Premiums need be paid for the first five years.
INVALID LIVES may be Assured at rates proportioned to the risk. ”

“ If he kind been drinking ale from Staffordshire, or Derbyshire, or Kent, he might possibly have named the county it came from; but to talk of Warwickshire ale within a few miles of Stratford-on-Avon seems absurd. It is as if a man came from Barclay and Perkins's, and talked of having been drinking "London porter."
In p. 144., I submit, with great deference, that turning "Aristotle's checks" into "Aristotle's ethics" is the very reverse of an improvement. What can be more intelligible than the line—
"And so devote to Aristotle's checks;" ”

“ The Latin cross, , is rarely found on the sepulchres in the catacombs at Rome,—the most ancient Christian memorials; but, instead of it, a combination of the letters ΧΡ prevails, as the monogram for "Christ." Aringhi, in his Roma Subterranea (Romæ, 1651) says:
"Illud autem fatendum nobis est, nullatenus ante felicissima Constantini Magni ad fidem traducti tempora crucem publicæ populorum venerationi expositam fuisse."—Vol. ”

“ The German name is 'Mangold wurzel,' or 'Mangold root;' but it is sometimes pronounced 'Mangel wurzel,' which means scarcity root; and, by a strange translation, it is called in French racine d'abondance, as well as racine de disette. The name of field-beet is much more appropriate. ”

“ I mention these two entries principally because neither Ritson nor Percy were acquainted with them; but they may be seen among the extracts published by the Shakspeare Society in 1848 and 1849. {446}
No impressions by Kynge or Charlwood having come down to us, we have no means of knowing whether they availed themselves of the permission granted at Stationers' Hall; and, unless I am deceived, the fragment which occasions this Note is not from the presses of either of them, and is of an earlier date than the time of Copland; the type is much better, and less battered, than that of Copland ”

“ S. W. Singer.
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
Hamlet.
The notable quotation of this line by the Earl of Derby, in the Lords, on Monday evening, April 25, has once more reminded me of my unanswered Query respecting it, Vol. vi., p. 270.
On the 26th February (Vol. vii., p. 217.) Mr. Collier was good enough to say, that his only {450} reason for not answering it was, that he had not then within his reach the copy of "N. & Q." wherein it had been proposed; politely adding, that if I would reprint the Query, he would at once answer it. ”

“ Zollikofer, thinking that it contained much useful matter, had it printed; and among others, sent a copy of it to his friend Lavater, who was beyond measure astonished at the sight. However, as it was now before the world in a somewhat disfigured state, Lavater edited it with the necessary alterations, and with an additional volume: Leipsic, 1771 and 1773. In 1795, the German original was translated into English by the Rev. Peter Will, of the Reformed German Chapel in the Savoy, in two vols. 8vo. Prefixed to the second volume is a letter from Lavater to the editor, with the editor's reply. ”

“ It is part of an unknown edition of the celebrated poem relating to the adventures of Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly.
There are (as many of your readers will be aware from Ritson's small volume, Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, 8vo. 1791) two old editions of Adam Bell, &c., one printed by William Copland, without date, and the other by James Roberts in 1605. The edition by Copland must have preceded that by Roberts by forty or fifty years, and may have come out between 1550 and 1560 ”

“ Epitaphs imprecatory (Vol. vii., p. 256) .—I have no doubt that the churchyards of Scotland will furnish many examples of the embittered feelings which religious persecution produced, during the latter half of the seventeenth century; and as a specimen I forward the following, which is found in the churchyard of Dalgarnock, in Dumfriesshire. The Duke of York alluded to was afterwards James II.; and the descendants of Mr. Harkness are still most respectable inhabitants of the parish of Closeburn, which has been united to Dalgarnock ”

“ Murray has added to his valuable collection of Railway Readings, a reprint of The Life of Lord Bacon, by his noble biographer Lord Campbell.—Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Göthe, with Illustrations by J. Wolf. Part V. This translation is kept up with spirit, and the present number carries us to The Pardon of the wily transgressor.—Mr. Bohn has put forth numerous fresh claims on the favour of poor scholars: in his Standard Library he has given a third volume of Miss Bremer's Works, containing Home and Strife and Peace ”

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