2°d S. VII. Jan. 29. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



97 



simple term may not again be used, and hand- 

 kerchief, to say nothing of pocket-ditto, be among 

 the things that were, without employing mouchoir. 



T. W. WOSFOR. 

 Brighton. 



If the etymology usually given of kercJdef (viz. 

 couvrechef) be the true one, H. N. may perhaps 

 be justified in thinking that the compound term 

 which he adduces is somewhat clumsy in its con- 

 struction. But he is not correct in supposing 

 that the English language is so poor as to possess 

 no equivalent for mouchoir. Muckender is a good 

 old word to express the same thing ; though now, 

 on the score of gentility, discarded from colloquial 

 use. Ash, Halliwell, and Nares, all have the word. 

 The first named does not cite authorities ; but his 

 omission is abundantly supplied by the other two. 

 Were such a word actually wanting to our Eng- 

 lish tongue, the reason why would probably be 

 the greater refinement of our countrymen : since 

 the French mouchoir, or the corresponding Spa- 

 nish mocudero, involves a reference to the use of 

 the article, to which it is not generally held ne- 

 cessary to direct attention. R. S. Q. 



Inscription in a Bihle (2°"^ S. vii. 43.) — The 

 line — 



1. 2. 3. 4, 5. 6. 7. 



" Assuer, Mardocs, Aman, Hester, crux, gloria, tendet," 



appears to be, as W. B. O. suggests, a formula of 

 memoria technica, giving memorial catch-words 

 for the Book of Esther. A correspondent, in 2"^ 

 S. ii. 386., has referred to an apparatus such as 

 this, intended to assist the memory of the biblical 

 student, and embracing the whole Bible. But the 

 above line is not in the memorial series, the be- 

 ginning of which is there quoted, and which will 

 be found in a folio Latin Bible, printed at Lyons 

 in 1509 : probably in many others. V. F. S. 



The erudite Latin scholar may easily supply 

 the evident hiatus in the "divine alphabet" noted 

 by W. B. O., supplying a verb and substantive 

 commencing with the deficient letters, and corre- 

 sponding in sense with the other portions of the 

 quotation. To be strictly correct, however, the 

 word christum should have been written xpum, the 

 old abbreviated form of that word. 



The cabalistic line is not very intelligible. It 

 clearly embraces the principal characters in the 

 book of Esther, viz. Ahasuerus, Mordecal, Ha- 

 man, and Esther. Query, were these four words 

 written upon either limb of a cross ? Something 

 then approaching to a translation perhaps might 

 be twisted out of it. Ithukiel. 



Anderson's Papers (2"'^ S. vi. 495.) — Below is 

 another straw from the ample sheaf of Professor 

 John Anderson's Papers, to add to that about Rob 

 Roy kindly inserted in "N. & Q. : " It is a copy of 

 a letter from Arch. McAulay of Edinburgh (a law- 



yer I |hould think from the hand and style) to 

 Rev. John Anderson, parish clergyman of Dum- 

 barton, grandfather of Professor John Anderson. 

 The opening so smacks of the times that I retain 

 It ; the postscript is worth preserving : it throws 

 so vivid a flash on that bloody business of Hamil- 

 ton and Mohun Thackeray has made so masterly 

 a use of in his wonderful book Esmond. Colder 

 was, in 1715, 1 see by a letter before me, ArgyWs 

 man for the post-ofiice. The old seal has blurred 

 the words " called " and " surely " italicised below. 

 I could easily give the letter entire, but your space 

 is too valuable for that : — 



«Edin. 21st Nov. 1712. 



" Reverend Sir, — 

 " The inclosed should have gone to your hands by 

 M<=Lintock. I know not the contents, and I believe it's 

 no great matter. Only since I wrote it I delivered yo!' 

 two letters, I gave Mr. Calder a dram to'ther day, who 

 told me he had not as yett seen himself whipt " (in some 

 pamphlet. Presbytery v. Prelacy, attributed to Mr. An- 

 derson, but disowned by him — of this and like matter, 

 not now interesting to any mortal, the letter discourses — 

 ending thus) " I'm called away by some business, and 

 must break (off), being surely, 



" Reverend Sir, &c. &c. 



Arch. McAulay. 



"Just now I hear that D. (Duke) Hamiltoun just as 

 he was going to be greater than ever is killed in a Com- 

 bat betwixt him and my Lord Moon (Mohun) as is like- 

 ways his Lordship. Farewell." 



I am engaged in deciphering and copying some 

 letters from different persons to Rev. Jno. Ander- 

 son, giving curious details of the force and move- 

 ments of the rebels in 1715, which I should be 

 glad to preserve in " N. & Q." if you will favour 

 me with a little of your space. C. D. Lamont. 



P. M. A. C. F. (2"^ S. i. 49. ilO. 206. 247.) — 

 The manner in which these initials are printed 

 entitles the tradition that they represent Pere 

 Mansuet to be regarded as probable ; and the fol- 

 lowing extract shows that it was not merely the 

 conjecture of the biographer of Huddleston, if at 

 least the MS. referred to is, as I believe, of an 

 earlier date than Huddleston's Memoii's ; — 



" That his Majesty was then disposed to favour his 

 Catholic subjects, whom he had found to be most faithful 

 to his person, and most zealously attached to Monarchical 

 Governments, is certain — nay, that he was favourably 

 disposed towards their religion is not improbable ; but I 

 see no cause for crediting the assertion of the learned au- 

 thor of the Hihernia Dominicana, p. 711., that the King 

 was reconciled to the Catholic church by F. Peter Talbot 

 at Cologne, in the year 165G. There is too much reason 

 to believe that the King's was but a deathbed conver- 

 sion. 



" The honour of reconciliation is due to the Benedic- 

 tines. That holy Missionary, Benedict Gibbon (born at 

 Westcliffe in Kent ; professe'd at Lambspring 21 March, 

 1672 ; deceased 1 January. 1723), whilst dining with F. 

 Mansuet, 0. S. F. [of the Order of St. Francis, or a Capu- 

 chin Friar] Confessor to James Duke of York, desired him 

 to go to his Royal Highness, and advise him to propose 

 to the King, then near his end, whether he did not desire 

 to die in the Communion of the Catholic church. The 



