482 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"^ s. VII. June 11. '69. 



swallow a camel," — and in corroboration of his 

 opinion that it is an error of the press, continued 

 ever since by the King's(now the Queen'ff) printers, 

 who enjoy the monopoly of printing all Bibles. 



In a copy, now before me, of Queen Elizabeth's 

 Bible, sometimes called the "Breeches Bible," 

 from translating Gen. iii. 7., that our first parents, 

 when they saw they were naked, "sewed fig-tree 

 leaves together and made themselves breeches." 

 " Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Chris- 

 topher Barker, Printer to the Queene's Majestic, 

 1580. Ciim gratia et privilegio." In the second 

 table of contents, which is a sort of concordance, 

 under the word " gnat " it states : " The Pharisees 

 strayned out a gnat and swallowed up a camel" 

 (Matt, xxiii. 24.) And in the text there referred 

 to, it is " which straine out a gnat, and swallow a 

 camel." In a marginal note to the word " straine," 

 it says : " Ye stay at that which is nothing, and 

 let passe that which is of greater importance." 



In the versions of Tyndall, Cranmer and Geneva, 

 the passage is translated " strained out," that of 

 Rheims has " strain a gnat," and WyclifFe's "clen- 

 senge a gnat." Mill, in his correct version, gives 

 the original as " SioM^ovres rhv Kcii/anra.''' Luther 

 renders it, " die ihr Miicken seiget," which is to 

 strain or filter a gnat or a midge, anything pro- 

 verbially small. M. Martin's highly valued French 

 version translates it, " qui couler le moucheron." 



In the East it is difficult to keep liquids clear 

 from insects, and they require to be strained. In 

 addition to the common motives of cleanliness, the 

 ancient Jews had religious scruples ; as the Mosaic 

 law forbade their eating " flying creeping things." 

 On this commandment they refined largely, and 

 the Talmuds contain many singular explanations 

 and directions on this head. " One that eats a 

 fleCj" say they, " or a gnat, is an apostate, and is 

 not to be counted one of the congregation." But 

 they allow remissions for a part of a fly, by scourg- 

 ing, &c. What would they say to some of our 

 gourmands eating mites by hundreds in rotten old 

 cheese, and maggoty venison ? We may be told 

 there is no accounting for taste : to which it may 

 be replied, nor for want of taste. 



Dean Trench's suggested amendment is such 

 as Dr. Parr used to tell his country parishioners 

 to alter in their Bibles with a pen, if there were 

 any who had not before heard his suggestions on 

 that head. James Elmes. 



Greenwich. 



3Sitpliti to Minat ^\tttiti. 



St. PauTs Visit to Britain (2»^ S. vii. 90. 158. 

 222. 320. 457.) — The Anti-British zeal dis- 

 played by F. C. H. has mustered a numerous host 

 of writers who reject the long prevalent belief 

 that St. Paul visited Britain. The Anti-Papal 

 repudiators of St. Peter's peregrinations into this 



country ought dispassionately to receive the ar- 

 guments which are equally subversive of the visit 

 of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and I now candidly 

 admit that the passage, so often quoted from Fe- 

 nantius Fortunatus, is by no means available for 

 proving anything more than the epistolary labours 

 of the Apostle of the Gentiles. I am also obliged 

 to give up Sophronius, whose testimony your cor- 

 respondent says he has no means of examining, 

 because, in the fragment referred to — " De labo- 

 ribus certaminibus et peregrinationibus SS. Apost. 

 Petri et Pauli" — there is no such statement as 

 that cited by Godwin ; and all he says of St. Paul 

 is conveyed in these few words : " turn demum 

 Romam (Petrus) pervenit ibique cum Paulo A p. 

 30. Neronis anno passus est" (v. Bibliotheca Pa- 

 trum, 1618, vol. iv. 970. ; Bill. Patr., 1624, vii. 

 107-8. ; Bill. Maxima, v. 1123.) Nor is the in- 

 formation given by Nicephorus to the purpose. 

 In cap. xi. of his Chronographia, he merely states : 

 " Hoc Nerone persecutionem prime commovente 

 Petrus et Paulus Romas martyres facti sunt." In 

 his treatise, " Contra Iconomachos," St. Peter, or 

 rather his imago, is frequently introduced, but of 

 St. Paul there is nothing. The former will be 

 found in the series of Byzantine historians (Syn- 

 cellus, &c.) in Greek and Latin. The Latin trans- 

 lation is inserted in the Bibl. Patr., 1618, vol. ix. 

 part I. 1-16. ; Bibl. Pair., 1624, vii. 265-98. ; 

 Bibl. Maxima, xiv. 72-88. The latter in the 

 Bibliotheca, 1618, and in Bibl. Maxima, ubi supra. 



BiBLIOTHECAR. ChETHAM. 



[We are reluctantly compelled, on account of a pres- 

 sure of other matters, to terminate with this communica- 

 tion the discussion of this interesting but obscure point 

 of our Church histor}'. Our correspondents may not be 

 aware that since Bishop Burgess published his celebrated 

 Tracts on the Ancient British Church in 1815, his Lord- 

 ship, in 1831, favoured the ecclesiastical student with 

 his more matured thoughts in another work, entitled 

 A Discourse delivered at the Amiiversary Meeting of the 

 Royal Society of Literature, April 20, 1830 ; in the Ap- 

 pendix to which he has farther investigated the grounds 

 of evidence for the Western Travels of St. Paul, from the 

 Scriptures and the Fathers. — Ed.] 



Lists of M. P:s (2"^ S. vii. 437.) — Hansard's 

 Parliamentary History and Debates gives lists of 

 the Members of the House of Commons from a 

 very early period down to the last parliament of 

 the current reign. The lists will be found pre- 

 fixed to each new parliament. J. C. W. 



Temple. 



Bev. Charles Wolley (2"'^ S. vii. 341.) — One 

 Charles Wolley, probably the person respecting 

 whom your correspondent seeks information, was 

 a member of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He 

 took the degrees of b.a. 1673, m.a. 1677. 



On application to the college authorities, a copy 

 of his admission may doubtless be obtained. 



Thompson Cooper. 



Cambridge. 



