2»» S. VII. Jaw. 8. »59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



29 



the other I am noi aware. Another likeness of a 

 white horse is near Lambourne, Berkshire, and 

 known as the Berkshire White Horse, and which 

 perhaps is the largest of all. Caballabius. 



Selwoodshire. — In Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Bohn's 

 edition, p. ] 4., it is said, 



" A. D. 709. Four years afterwards died the holy Bishop 

 Aldhelm, by whose wonderful art were composed the 

 words which are now read, and his bishopric was the 

 province which is now called Selwoodshire [Sherborne]." 



In Asser's Life of Alfred, ib. p. 62., it is said : — 



" Also in the seventh week after Easter, he (Alfred) 

 rode to the stone of Egbert [foot-note : now called Brix- 

 ton Deverill in Wilts J which is in the eastern part of 

 the wood which is called Selwood, which means in Latin 

 Silva magna, the Great Wood, but in British Ooit-matOr." 



Another foot-note says : — 

 " Selwood Forest extended from Frome to Bnrhain, and 

 was probably much larger at one time." 



Can any of your readers afford any information 

 as to what Selwoodshire comprehended ? why it 

 was called in the Chronicle a province? or any 

 local or other information connected with the 

 subject, and who are the authorities ? 



Anglo-Saxon. 



Napoleon I. — In ScoCs Magazine, 1807, vol. 

 Ixix., p. 763., is a paragraph, announcing that — 



" The University of Leipzig has resolved henceforth to 

 call by the name of Napoleon that group of stars which 

 lies between the girdle and the sword of Orion ; and a 

 numerous deputation of the University was appointed to 

 present the ' Conqueror * with a map of the group so 

 named ! " 



Query. Was this resolution performed ? T. P. 



ters. — Can any of your readers direct me to 

 any publication in regard to the cultivation and 

 management of oysters ? or on the law of property 

 in oyster-beds, and the means of protecting them ? 

 Is there more than one kind of edible oyster? 



I. P. O. 

 Argyllshire. 



Orders of Monks. — Is there any work, English 

 or foreign, which contains an accurate list of all 

 the Orders of monks and friars which exist, or 

 have ever existed ? together with an account of the 

 origin or institution of each, and of their distinc- 

 tive dresses, rules, and objects? Stylites. 



Rubens' s Great Picture at Antwerp. — Can you 

 inform me whether there is anything known of 

 the injury of Rubens's great picture at Antwerp, 

 mentioned in the following extract ? — 



" But when Sathan had performed this wicked tragedj' 

 before spoken of, 5'et he began a new, to shew the munckes 

 what he was further able to doe, he began to pla}' a com- 

 medy with a great picture that was hangde within the 

 church, that had bin made by one of the rarest or excel- 

 lentest workeman in the whole countreys, whose name 

 was (as then called) Peter Rubbens, a man well knowne 

 throughout all the seuenteene Provinces for his know- 



ledge and skill in that art or science, and that there is 

 none comparable unto him, which said picture the deuill 

 rent and tore all in many pieces ; he ruinated the same 

 in such manner and sort, that the repayring thereof will 

 cost an hundred pound (at the least) before it can be 

 brought to that perfection which it was of, and to set up 

 again, in the like order and forme as it was, at the first 

 there placed." — Strange Newes from Antwarpe which hap- 

 pened the 12 of August last past, 1612. First printed in 

 Dutch at Bergen op Zoame by Soris Staele, and now 

 translated into English by J. L. London, 1613. 



G. H. K. 

 Quotations Wanted. — 



" The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," 



" Thirst for applause calls public judgment in, 

 To praise our own." 



Ache. 



Whence the following ? — 



" Hoarser winds are round us blowing, 

 Clouds obscure the sky ; 

 Day's brief span is shorter growing, 

 Darker nights draw nigh." 



P. J. F. Gahtillon. 



Cicero and Chrysippus. — 



" Cicero plainly lays down that to fall short of perfec- 

 tion whether by a mile or an inch is equally bad, and the 

 Predestination of the Conventicle is but a harder and 

 meaner version of the Necessity of the Porch ; naj'. Final 

 Perseverance itself, as expressed by the Synod of Dort, 

 differs in name only from the absolute Wisdom, which 

 once acquired could not be lost, and which Chrj'sippus 

 was blamed for supposing to be suspended during mad- 

 ness or ebriety." — A Sermon preached before the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford at St. Mary's, on Sunday, Jan 20, 17-{^, by 

 George Williams, B.D., late Fellow of Jesus College in 

 Oxford. Oxford, 1714. 



The sermon is well composed and learned, but 

 has no reference to pages or chapters. It seems 

 to have been printed exactly as preached. Can 

 any of your correspondents direct me to the pas- 

 sage in Cicero, and the censure of Chrysippus ? 



T. W. B. 



Minutes of Committees. — What is the proper 

 mode, according to the best authorities, of authen- 

 ticating the minutes of Committees f By whom and 

 when should they be signed f By the chairman of 

 the meeting to which they refer, or by the chair- 

 man of the meeting at which they are read over ? 



Liber. 



Conundrum, Etymology of. — Can any of your 

 readers give the derivation of the word conun- 

 drum ? Several dictionaries have been consulted 

 without success. N. D. 



[The etymology of conundrum is a question of some 

 difficulty, and one which lexicographers leave as they 

 find it. The signification of the term itself, also, is un- 

 settled. With some, conundrum is "a sorry joke; " with 

 others, " any witty saying." A learned friend, who thinks 

 that, when help is not to be got from the Anglo-Saxon, 



