Various

“ The method of trying and proving a bow is stated by Ascham to be thus:
"By shooting it in the fields, and sinking it with dead heavy shafts; looking where it comes most, and providing for that place betimes, lest it pinch and so fret. When the bow has thus been shot in, and appears to contain good shooting wood, it must be taken to a skilful workman, to be cut shorter, scraped, and dressed fitter, and made to come circularly round; and it should be whipped at the ends, lest it snap in sunder or fret sooner than the archer is aware of." ”

“ The best bows used by our ancestors were made of yew, as it appears from a statute made in the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII., by which it was enacted—
"That none under the age of seventeen should shoot with a bow of yew, except his parents were worth 10l. per annum in lands, or 40 marks in goods: and for every bow made of yew, the bowyer not inhabiting London or the suburbs should make four, and the inhabitant there two, bows of other wood." ”

“ The apparent universality of the Bellman throughout Europe gives rise to questions that would, I apprehend, extend beyond the object of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" such as, Is pure religion benefited by the engrafting of it upon stocks so familiar as the bellman or watchman? ”

“ I do not mean that Gray may not have had other poets in his mind when writing these lines (for there is nothing new or uncommon about them) ; but rather a careful going over of Cowley's poems convinces me that Gray was sensible of his "merits," and often corrects his want of "judgment" by his own refined and most exquisite taste. I must give one more instance; and I think that Bishop Hall's allusion to his life at Emmanuel College, and Bishop Ridley's "Farewell to Pembroke Hall," must every one fall into the background before Cowley. ”

“ But in appreciating the practical facility of this method, we must bear in mind that the constant, when once ascertained for any century, remains unchanged throughout the whole of that century; and that the solar epact, when once ascertained for any year, can scarcely require recalculation during the remainder of that year: furthermore, that [203] although the rule for calculating the epact, as just recited, is so extremely simple, yet even that slight mental exertion may be spared to the mass of those who might benefit by its application to current purposes ”

“ To calculate the solar epact for any year, Bede in another place gives the following rule:
"Si vis scire concurrentes septimanæ dies, sume annos Domini et eorum quartum partem adjice: his quoque quatuor adde, (quia) quinque concurrentes fuerunt anno Nativitatis Domini: hos partire per septem et remanent Epactæ Solis."
That is: take the given year, add to it its fourth part, and also the constant number 4 (which was the epact preceding the first year of the Christian era) , divide the sum by 7, and what remains is the solar epact. ”

“ TEST OF STRENGTH OF A BOW.
(Vol. iv., p. 56.)
Although unable to answer all the Queries of TOXOPHILUS, the subjoined information may possibly advantage him. His Queries of course have reference to the long bow, and not to the arbalest, or cross-bow. The length of this bow appears to have varied according to the height and strength of the bowman; for in the 12th year of the reign of Edward IV. an act was passed ordaining that every Englishman should be possessed of a bow of his own height. ”

“ These restrictions were doubtless owing to the great scarcity of yew. The other woods most in request were elm, witch-hazel, and ash. By the statute 8th of Elizabeth, cap 3., it was ordained that every bowyer residing in London should have always ready fifty bows of either of the before-mentioned woods. By this statute also the prices at which the bows were to be sold were regulated.
I believe the ancient bows were made of one piece; whether there is any advantage to be derived in having a bow of more than two pieces, I leave for some one better qualified than myself to determine. ”

“ The manner was, that when the corpse was brought out of the house, and laid on the bier, a loaf of bread was brought out, and delivered to the sin eater, over the corpse, as also a mazard bowl of maple, full of beer (which he was to drink up) , and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him, ipso facto, all the sins of the defunct, and freed him or her from walking after they were dead."
Perhaps some of your readers may be able to throw some light on this curious practice of sin-eating, or on the existence of regular sin-eaters. ”

“ At times Cowley's "harmony" is not first-rate, and his "style" is deeply impregnated with the fantastic conceits of the day; but he is still a poet, and a great one too. And I think that in some of his writings Gray had Cowley evidently in mind; e.g. in the epitaph to his "Elegy in a Country Churchyard:"
"Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompence as largely send:
He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear;
He gained from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend."
Cowley had previously written:
"Large was his soul ”

“ Where our ancestors wanted words, they made them, or imported them ready made. But we are become so particular about the etymological force of newly coined words, that we can never please ourselves, but rather choose to do without than to tolerate anything exceptionable. ”

“ Notices to Correspondents 215
Advertisements 216 [201]
List of Notes and Queries volumes and pages
Notes. VENERABLE BEDE'S MENTAL ALMANAC.
If our own ancient British sage, the Venerable Bede, could rise up from the dust of eleven centuries, he might find us, notwithstanding all our astounding improvements, in a worse position, in one respect at least, than when he left us; and as the subject would be one in which he was well versed, it would indubitably attract his attention. ”

“ The fault of using false weights and measures is grown so intolerable and common, that if you would build churches you shall not need for battlements and halls, other than false weights of lead and brass. ”

“ As regards arrows, Ascham, in his Toxophilus, has enumerated fifteen sorts of wood of which arrows were made in his time, viz. brasell, turkie-wood, fusticke, sugercheste, hard-beam, byrche, ash, oak, service-tree, alder, blackthorn, elder, [211] beach, aspe, and sallow; of these aspe and ash were accounted the best; the one for target-shooting, the other for war. The author of The Field Book says:
"That an arrow weighing from twenty to four-and-twenty pennyweights, made of yew, was considered by archers the best that could be used." ”

“ The word hyphen being Greek (ὑφ' ἕν) , and being made a substantive, we might join Greek suffixes to it, and speak of hyphenisms and hyphenic phrases. For example, the following I should call a hyphenic error. When the British Museum recently published A Short Guide to that Portion of the Library of printed Books now open to the Public, a review pronounced the title a misnomer; because the books are not open to the public, but are in locked glass cases. ”

“ The sturdy watchers are muffled in uniform [207] great coats, and also wear fur caps. In their hand they carry a staff of office, on which they screw, when occasion requires, that fearful weapon the 'morning star.' They also sometimes may be seen with a lanthorn at their belt: the candle contained in the lanthorn they place at the top of their staff, to relight any street-lamps which require trimming. In case of fire, the watchmen give signals from the church towers, by striking a number of strokes, varying with the quarter of the city in which the fire occurs ”

“ The verses in question are of great antiquity, and were written, I am told, by one of the Danish bishops. They are printed on a large sheet of paper, with an emblematical border, rudely engraved in the old style; and in the centre is a large engraving exactly representing one of the ancient watchmen, in the now obsolete costume, with his staff and 'morning star' in hand, a lanthorn at his belt, and his dog at his feet. ”

“ These regulars, in any year whereof the concurrent, or solar epact, is 0 or 7, express, of themselves, the commencing day of each month: but in other years, whatever the solar epact of the year may be, that epact must be [202] added to the regular of any month to indicate, in a similar manner, the commencing day of that month. ”

“ If the lust be upon us, and sharply tempting, by inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest passion by the most violent pain, we shall find great ease for the present, and the resolution and apt sufferance against the future danger ”

“ What are the causes that the old ecclesiastic bellman is no longer heard in some countries, whilst in others he continues with little or no variation? Has religion lost or gained by the change?
Dr. Forbes's notice of the Tessino watchman calls up the public crier in England, another class of bellmen, asking for a hearing, with his "O yes! [208] O yes!" Little does he think that he is speaking French.
F. W. J.
Minor Queries. 151. Quotation from Bacon.
—In Lord Campbell's Life of Lord Bacon (Lives of the Lord Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 314.) ”

“ Queries. CONTINENTAL WATCHMEN AND THEIR SONGS.
The inquiries I made in Vol. iii., p. 324., respecting the Bellman and his Songs, have been answered by most interesting information (pp. 377. 451. 485.) ; and the references made by the Editor to V. Bourne's translation was most acceptable. The interest of this subject is increased by finding that the Custos Nocturnus exists at the present day in other countries, resembling very much in duties, costume, and chants the Westminster Bellman. ”

“ The question whether Flatman borrowed from Pope or Pope from Flatman (the former seems far more probable) may perhaps be decided by the date of Flatman's composition, if that can be ascertained. Pope's ode was composed in November, 1712, as recorded in the interesting series of letters in the correspondence between Pope and Steele (Letters iv. to ix.) ”

“ One of these is about a mile and a half south of Boston, on what is called the low road to Freiston; a very ancient hawthorn tree marks the spot, and the tree itself is said to have sprung from the stake which was driven through the body of the self-murderer. The tradition was told me sixty years since, and the interment was then said to have occurred a hundred years ago; the suicide's name was at that time traditionally remembered, and was told to me, but I cannot recall it. The tree exhibits marks of great age, and is preserved with care ”

“ Besides, Wakefield is so very egotistical, and at times so very puerile, that he is too much for most people. However, his volume, The Poems of Mr. Gray, with Notes, by Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge: London, 1786, would furnish a good substratum for the volume I am now recommending. ”

“ Cecilia's Day:' for Cowley (who had his merit) yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony for such a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a man."
We must submit to Gray's oracular sentence, for he himself was pre-eminently gifted in the three great qualities in which he declares the deficiency of Cowley (at least if we are to judge from his English poems; for the prosody of his Latin efforts seems sadly deficient) . ”

“ A neglect of mental hyphenization often leads to mistake as to an author's meaning, particularly in this age of morbid implication. For instance, a person writes something about "a Sunday or other day-for-which-there-is-a-special-service;" ”

“ TUT is a very general term applied in Lincolnshire to any fancied supernatural appearance. Children are frightened by being told of Tom Tut; and persons in a state of panic, or unreasonable trepidation, are said to be Tut-gotten.
P. T.
Stoke Newington, Aug. 30.
A Sword-blade Note (Vol. iv., p. 176.) .
—The sword-blade note, to which R. J. refers, was doubtless a note of the Sword-blade Company, which was intimately connected with the South Sea Company. ”

“ Will rise with other years, till man shall learn
Vainly his incense soars, his victim bleeds;
Poor child of Doubt and Death, whose hope is built on reeds."
How many read the above beautiful stanza from Childe Harold, Canto II. Stanza 3., without asking themselves who the "Son of the morning" is. Perhaps some of your literary correspondents and admirers of Byron may be able to tell us. I enclose my own solution for your information. ”

“ Fleet Street.
MR. L. A. LEWIS will have SALES by AUCTION of Libraries, small parcels of Books, Prints, Pictures, and Miscellaneous Effects every Friday. Property sent in on the previous Saturday will be certain to be sold (if required) in the following week.
2 vols., sold separately, 8s. each.
SERMONS. By the Rev. ALFRED GATTY,
M.A., Vicar of Ecclesfield.
"In the effective simplicity with which Mr. Gatty applies the incidents and precepts of the Gospel to the every-day concerns of life, he has no superior. His faith is that of a sincere and genuine scriptural Churchman."—Britannia. ”

“ They not only called, but sung out, every hour, in the most sonorous strains, and even chanted a long string of verses on the striking of some.... I suppose the good people of Chur think nothing of these chantings, or from habit hear them not; but a tired traveller would rather run the risk of being robbed in tranquillity, than be thus sung from his propriety during all the watches of the night."—A Physician's Holiday, pp. 80, 81.
Dr. Forbes gives a copy of a "Watch Chant at Chur," with a translation, pp. ”

“ Mr. L. A. Lewis of 125. Fleet Street will sell on Friday next two extraordinary Collections of Tracts on Trade, Coinage, Commerce, Banks, Public Institutions, and Trade generally. The First, in 167 Vols., in fol., 4to., and 8vo., commences with Milles' Customer's Replie, 1604. The Second, in 20 Vols., collected upwards of a century since, commences with H. Gilbert's Discourse of a Discoverie for a New Passage to Cataia, 1576. ”