NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>-» S. VII. May 14. '59. 



bibliography obtained from the dissection of old 

 book-covers ; but the necessity of examining all 

 such, and especially those which bear signs of 

 having been manufactured in the infancy of the 

 art of printing, has never perhaps received a 

 stronger exemplification than in the case of a 

 volume recently exhumed from the neglected 

 little library of King Edward VI.'s Grammar 

 School, St. Albans, 



During last summer, whilst searching for speci- 

 mens of Caxton's press, I found myself at the old 

 Grammar School attached to the Abbey of St. 

 Albans. The library, consisting of few but valu- 

 able books, was (and I believe is still) all con- 

 tained in an old deal cupboard. No one had 

 apparently touched a book in it for years, and the 

 amount of dirt and decay was certainly enough 

 to deter anyone from doing so. After examining 

 a few books I took down one which was lying flat 

 on the top of the others. It was in- a deplorable 

 state, covered with a damp sticky dust, and with 

 a considerable portion of the back rotted away by 

 the rain which had dripped through the roof. A 

 brown decay dropped plentifully to the ground as 

 the book was opened. It was Caxton's Boethius 

 de Consolatione, in its original binding and uncut ! 

 While examining it I noticed a strip of parchment 

 at each end pasted inside the covers to strengthen 

 the back. On these were printed long lines in the 

 same type as that used by Caxton for his Croni- 

 cles of Englond. It was easily decyphered to be 

 a Latin indulgence, with the date 1481. On exa- 

 mining the cover I found that the wet which had 

 injured the book had also, by separating the 

 layers of which the boards were composed, re- 

 vealed the interesting fact that several printed 

 fragments in Caxton's type had been used in 

 their manufacture. With great difficulty, and 

 after repeated delays, the trustees were induced 

 to allow the book to be deposited in the care of 

 Mr. Winter Jones of the British Museum, and it 

 is now being rebound. On dissecting the covers 

 the binder found no less than fifty-six half-sheets 

 of paper, all about eleven inches by eight in size, 

 and all printed with Caxton's early types. The 

 major part, as might be supposed, were sheets of 

 known works, but some were of the greatest 

 rarity, and eight or nine are supposed to be 

 unique. These fragments are now in course of 

 identification, and when completed I shall be glad 

 to send some account of them to " N. & Q." The 

 book was evidently bound by Caxton's own work- 

 men, who having by them a number of waste 

 sheets, pasted them together to be used as boards 

 for binding. 



There are many old libraries attached to the 

 numerous endowed schools of this country, and 

 the widely-spread influence of "N. & Q." could 

 hardly be better employed than in calling atten- 

 tion to their condition, which in some cases is 



probably similar to that of the St. Albans Gram- 

 mar School. . WiiiLiAM Blades. 

 11. AbchurcU Lane. 



Trefoil.. — While reading the account of the 

 ceremonies, &c. of the ancient Persians in Hero- 

 dotus (^Clio, 131.) the other day, I was much 

 struck with the following passage : — 



" '"Eveav Si SiafUKTruX-ai Kara ixepea to tpijioi' e>W<rj) rot Kpea, 

 viroTricrai jrotrji' cos aTraXcDTan)!', /iia\i(TTa 6e to TpC<l>v\Kov, eiri 

 TavTJjs e6r]Ke Hiv TrdvTa ra Kpea, 



Liddell and Scott translate the word Tp'KpvKKov 

 trefoil. May not the use of the trefoil shamrock 

 among the Irish as a sacred emblem be derived 

 from the old Persians ? Few now doubt the 

 Eastern origin of the Celtic nations, and there are 

 several traces of fire-worship still to be found in 

 Ireland. Exul. 



Schlosser. — 



" Professor Schlosser of Heidelberg has written a His- 

 tory of the Eighteenth Century, in which the literary 

 history of that period in England was, to my positive 

 knowledge, written without ever reading the works of 

 the authors on whom he most confidently pronounces 

 judgment; yet, with such success, that the Algemeine 

 Zeitung triumphantly declared, that there never had 

 been more than three great historians in the world — 

 Herodotus, Tacitus, and Schlosser!" — German Experi- 

 ences, by William Howitt, Lond. 1844, p. 25. 



Acquiescing in the author's positive knowledge 

 of a negative fact, I am still disposed to seek some 

 verification of the strange declaration imputed to 

 the Algemeine Zeitung. If not copied when read, 

 a newspaper article in the memory is very liable 

 to mistranslation. Can any of your readers oblige 

 me with the original words ? H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



Ancient School Custom. — The Feast of St. 

 Gregory the Great, 12th March, was formerly ob- 

 served as a holiday and one of festivity in all the 

 rural schools in the baronies of Forth and Bargy 

 (the Strongbownian colony), in the county of 

 Wexford. The manner was this : — the children, 

 for some days previous, brought contributions, 

 according to the means or liberality of their pa- 

 rents, consisting of money, bread, butter, cream, 

 &c., and delivered them to the teacher. On the 

 morning of the joyous day, the children repaired 

 to the schoolhouse in holiday dress, where the 

 teacher had everything prepared for the festivity, 

 the simple temple of learning decorated with the 

 earliest flowers within his means of obtaining, and 

 the presence of two or more kind-hearted females 

 to do the honours and duties of the tea-table to 

 the happy juveniles. A "king" and a "queen" 

 were nominated, who of course took the seats of 

 honour, and the proud and busy teacher was 



