Various

“ The Tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer in Westminster Abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. A sum of One Hundred Pounds will effect a perfect repair. The Committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the contribution; they themselves have opened the list with a subscription from each of them of Five Shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour Chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. ”

“ We mere Irish assume to be descended from a Phœnician colony; the word Milesian is not Irish, the families so designated being known in the Irish language only as "Clonna Gäel" (I spare the English reader the mute consonants, which would rather bother him to get his tongue round) .
Our tradition is, that the leader of the said colony saw Ireland from a tower, still said to exist near Corunna; he bore the style of Mileadle Spaniogle, for which no better translation is offered than "the soldier of Spain." ”

“ For I cannot but think it very unlikely that, with a celebrated road leading almost straight as a line to Canterbury, the pilgrims should either go many miles out of their way to seek another, as they must have done, or run the risk of losing themselves in a "horse-track."
In attempting to determine this point, your readers will remember the injunction of Poins:
"But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning by four o'clock early at Gadshill; there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses."—Henry IV., Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 2. ”

“ The pronunciation of gh to which he alludes, exists only amongst the English (or Anglicised natives) who are unable to pronounce the guttural ch or gh of the Celtic Irish, and have substituted for it the sound of h, or the sound of the Spanish j, to which W. R. M. refers. Besides this, every philologist knows that the present language of Spain had no existence at the period to which the Milesian invasion of Ireland must be referred. It is true that on the west coast of Ireland some families among the peasantry retain many of the characteristic features of modern Spaniards ”

“ And when we find men, of excellent judgment in other respects, proposing, as Tyrwhitt did, to alter Chaucer's words to suit their own imperfect comprehension of his meaning, it is only reasonable to suspect that similar mistakes may have induced early transcribers to alter the text, wherever, to their wisdom, it may have seemed expedient. ”

“ Nor can there be much doubt that so loyal a company, following a pious custom, would tarry at Rochester, to make their offerings on the shrine of St. William; if so, among the many thousands who have trodden the steps, now well-nigh worn away, leading to its site, is there one individual whose presence here we can recall with more pleasure than that of the father of English poetry?
It is evident that the road mentioned by S. H. (Vol. ii., p. 237.) is not Chaucer's road; but I can well understand why it should be called the "Pilgrims' Road;" ”

“ Petrie's book on The Ecclesiastical Antiquities or Architecture of Ireland has set that question at rest. He has shown that they are undoubtedly Christian buildings intended as Bell-houses, which their name in Irish signifies; and further, probably, for the safe keeping of the sacred vessels, &c., in time of war or tumult. It is unfortunately too certain that agitation was always rife in Ireland. On all points connected with Irish antiquities, the safest and best reference is to the Secretary of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. ”

“ The process of transition would be easy; "min" or "men" requires little violence to become "mene" (the modern "mean" with its many significations) , and "al auwâ" (or "alwai," as Chaucer would probably write it) is equally identical with "alway." The misplacement of "Libra" might then follow as a seeming necessity; and thus the line would assume its present form, leaving the reader to understand it, either with Urry, as,
"I mene Libra, that is, I refer to Libra;"
or with Tyrwhitt:
"In mene Libra, that is, In the middle of Libra." ”

“ This, then, is the precedent by which I support the similar, and rather startling, interpretation I propose of these obscure words "In mena Libra alway."
There are two twin stars, of the same magnitude, and not far apart, each of which bears the Arabic title of Min al auwâ; one (β Virginis) in the sign Virgo—the other (δ Virginis) in that of Libra.
The latter, in the south of England, in Chaucer's time, would rise a few minutes before the autumnal equinoctial point, and might be called Libra Min al auwâ either from that circumstance, or to distinguish it from its namesake in Virgo. ”

“ There is a corporate body, long established in this country, whose sole occupation is to make such registers; but at present they confine themselves to those called gentlemen. Why not make them useful as registers of the poor, at a small remuneration for entering each family. These poor, or their descendants, will some day become gentlemen, and perhaps not ashamed of their ancestry, although they may derive it through poverty. ”

“ In reference to the Milesians and other early colonists of Ireland, he will find the most authentic ancient traditions in the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, lately published by the Irish Archæological Society of Dublin, with a translation and notes, by the Rev. J. H. Todd, D.D. The same volume contains also some very curious and valuable notes by the Hon. A. Herbert.
What W. R. M. says about the pronunciation of certain names of towns in Ireland, as confirming the tradition of a Milesian colony from Spain, is a complete mistake. ”

“ May I venture to observe, in confirmation of ARUN'S suggestion as to the origin of this term, that the bell appears to have been a constant attribute of St. Anthony, although I have tried in vain to discover any allusion to it in his legend?
Frederick von Schlegel, in describing a famous picture by Bramante d'Urbino (Æsthetic and Miscellaneous Works, p. 78.) , mentions St. Anthony as "carrying the hermit's little bell;" and Lord Lindsay, in the Introduction to his Letters on Christian Art (vol. i. p. 192.) , says that St. Anthony is known by "the bell and staff, denoting mendicancy." ”

“ And Gadshill the robber tells his fellows:
"There's money of the king's coming down the hill; 'tis going to the king's exchequer."—Act II. Sc. 2.
Here we learn, not only that in Shakspeare's time the road between London and Canterbury was by Gadshill, but also that the tradition was that the pilgrims had been accustomed to travel that road. We cannot, I think, be far out of the way in concluding this to have been the road that Chaucer selected, and thus have the satisfaction of connecting with it in an immediate and especial manner the two greatest names in our literature ”

“ Bowring of its poetical literature, an Englishman has no work to which he can turn in his own language for information; and Dutch books may be sought for in vain in London. The late Mr. Heber when in Holland did not neglect its literature, and at the dispersion of his library I procured a few valuable Dutch books ”

“ In approving of the design mentioned in your "Notes" by MR. DUNKIN, it has surprised me that in no one of the communications which you have there printed is any allusion to the multitude of inscriptions already collected, and now preserved in the British Museum and other libraries. A list of what are already copied should first be made, which would considerably abridge the labour of collecting. For instance, the whole of Gloucestershire has been preserved by Bigland, and nearly two-thirds of these have been printed. ”

“ With regard to Mr. Wright's appropriation of particular passages of the longer poems to different authors, it is obviously impossible that it should be more than a vague conjecture. I know that both Canning and Gifford professed not to be able to make any such distribution; but both left on my mind the impression that Canning's share of the "New Morality" was so very much the largest as to entitle him to be considered its author. Ought not Canning's verses to be collected?
C.
"Felix, quem faciunt," &c. (Vol. iii., p. 373.) ”

“ THE TANTHONY. (Vol. iii., pp. 105. 229. 308.)
I remember hearing a worthy citizen of Norwich remark, that it was very odd there should be three churches in the city called after saints whose names began with the letter T. Having been myself resident in that city many years, without [429] being aware of this fact, I took the liberty of inquiring to which three he alluded; when I was unhesitatingly told, "Why, Sain Tandrew's, Sain Taustin's, and Sain Tedmund's, to be sure!" Let me then be allowed to repeat ARUN'S question, and to ask, "Why not Tanthony for Saint Anthony?" ”

“ The Almighty God, who is a most strong tower to all them that put their trust in Him, to whom all things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth do bow and obey, be now and evermore your defence, and make [437] you know and feel that there is none other Name under heaven given to man, in whom, and through whom, you may receive health and salvation, but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. ”

“ Secondly, that Drogheda, Aghada, &c., are names significant in the Irish language and perfectly well understood, and that as now written they are not seen in their correct orthography, but in an Anglicised spelling intended to represent to English ears the native pronunciation. In the last century Drogheda was usually written Tredagh in English; but the word in its proper spelling is Droichet-atha, the bridge of the ford, trajectum vadi. ”

“ In New Zealand the plant is different, being a single stem from six to ten inches high: its apex, when in a state of fructification, resembles the club-headed bulrush in miniature. When newly dug up, and divided longitudinally, the intestinal canal is distinctly visible, and frequently the hairs, legs, and mandibles. Vegetation invariably proceeds from the nape of the neck ”

“ Now, to Urry's reading, it may be objected that it makes the thing ascending to be Libra, and does not of necessity imply the moon's appearance above the horizon. But since the rising of the moon is a visible phenomenon, while that of Libra is theoretical, it must have been to the former Chaucer was alluding, as to something witnessed by the whole party as they
"Were entrying at a towne's end;" ”

“ Although disappointed in the hope we had entertained of being, by this time, in a position to announce that some decided steps had been taken to carry out, in a practical manner, the great scheme of preserving a record of our existing Monuments, we are gratified at being enabled to bring under the notice of our readers several communications which show the still increasing interest which is felt upon the subject. ”

“ These poor people will, many of them, become rich in half a century; will then probably die without a kindred soul in America to possess their wealth; and their next of kin must be sought for in the mother land, where, unless some registered memorial of their departure and connexions is kept, all traces of their origin may be lost for ever. ”

“ Gay, the author of the Dissertation prefixed to Bishop Law's translation of King's Origin of Evil. It is sufficient evidence of the importance of that Dissertation, that it put Hartley upon considering and developing the principle of association, into which principle he conceived, and endeavoured to prove, that all the phenomena of reasoning and affection might be resolved, and of which Laplace observes, that it constitutes the whole of what has yet been done in the philosophy of the human mind ”

“ MERCURII will find his Query respecting Matthew's Mediterranean Passage in our 74th Number, p. 210. This correspondent is assured that our paper is regularly published at noon on Friday,—and that the London agent of his bookseller is deceiving him if he reports it as "not out." If his bookseller will try another agent for a week or two, he will find no difficulty in getting "NOTES AND QUERIES" in time for the Yarmouth readers on Saturday. ”

“ Though the expression is generally, if not always, used disparagingly, as the corresponding expressions "birds of a feather" and "of the same kidney," yet I should doubt whether the term "farinæ" is itself expressive of baseness, any more than "feather" or "kidney." By the way, what is the origin of the latter of the above expressions?
E. S. T. T.
The Sempecta (Vol. iii., pp. 328. 357..) —I have to return many thanks to DR. MAITLAND for his kindness in so promptly answering my Query. ”

“ Having myself seen a man whose father lived in the time of Oliver Cromwell, I trust I shall be excused for stating some particulars of this fact, which I think will be considered by your readers as one of the most remarkable on record. In the year 1844 died James Horrocks, a small farmer, who lived at Harwood, a short distance from Bolton, in Lancashire, having completed his hundredth year. ”

“ In many county histories, all the monuments inside the churches, up to nearly the date of the publication, have been printed, as in Nichols's Leicestershire. I have myself printed the greater part of those for Wiltshire; but some are incorrectly printed, not having been collated; for I merely printed a few as handbooks to accompany me in my personal correcting survey of each church at another time. I have also printed as far as letter "E" of Antony à Wood's and Hinton's Oxfordshire Monuments, of which, I believe, MR. DUNKIN has a MS. copy. ”

“ Owners of Entailed Estates, Trustees, Mortgagees, Corporations, Incumbents, Life Tenants, and other Persons having only limited interests, may obtain the use of the Company's Powers to carry out every kind of permanent Improvement, either by the Application of their own or the Company's Funds, secured by a yearly Charge on the Property Improved. ”