2°a S. No 56., Jan. 24. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



" The Choice.'' — I bave before me Miscellany 

 Poems, by the author of The Choice, London, 

 1702 8vo. Can you give me the name of the 

 author ? J- C. WiTTON. 



Bath. 



List of General Councils. — Can some of your 

 numerous and obliging correspondents refer^ me 

 to a correct list of general councils ? Authorities 

 are so much at variance on this subject, that it 

 seems to be almost hopeless to attempt to arrive at 

 a very satisfactory conclusion. For instance, in 

 Bohn's new edition of Blair's Chronological Tables, 

 generally a trustworthy guide, I find, 1123, a 

 general council held in the Lateran ; 1414, Coun- 

 cil of Constance, seventeenth general council; 

 1545, Council of Trent, the nineteenth ani last 

 general council; yet in Landon's Manual of 

 ^Councils, all the afore-mentioned are stated to be 

 " falsely styled oecumenical." Numerous instances 

 of a similar kind occur ; I merely refer to these as 

 cases in point. I have searched several of the 

 best authorities for the information, but in none is 

 it given with the reasons why, &c. Herbert. 



The Kings Cock-Crower. — Durin^the season 

 of Lent an officer, denominated "The King's 

 Cock-Crower," crowed the hour every night 

 within the precincts of the palace. Instead of pro- 

 claiming it in the ordinai-y manner. On the first 

 Ash Wednesday after the accession of the House 

 of Hanover, as the Prince of Wales, afterwards 

 George II., was sitting down to supper, this officer 

 suddenly entered the apartment and proclaimed, 

 in a sound resembling " the cock's shrill clarion," 

 that it was past ten o'clock. Talcen thus by sur- 

 prise, and very imperfectly acquainted with the 

 English language, the prince mistook thetremula- 

 tion of the assumed crow as some mockery in- 

 tended to insult him, and instantly rose to resent 

 the affront ; with some difficulty he was made to 

 understand the nature of the custom, and that it 

 was intended as a compliment, and according to 

 court etiquette. From that period the custom has 

 been discontinued. 



I have sent this curious account of the office of 

 king's cock-crower, thinking it worthy of being 

 preserved iii " N. & Q." It would be very inter- 

 esting if some account was given of other court 

 offices which are now discontinued. By whom 

 was the office of king's cock-crower instituted ? 



NOTSA. 



Hebrew Bible. — On the title-page of the first 

 volume of a Hebrew Bible in liiy |)OSsession, is 

 written in a very neat hand, — 



' John Dauid. 



'KpKei <roi r] x*P'S M'"'. _ 



ex dono reuerendi patris Dni 

 W. Morgan Episcopi Landauen. 

 18 September, 1595." 



Will some contributor to " N. & Q." kindly give 



d, translation of the Greek words ? tliey seem to 

 me to have formed a favourite motto with the 

 writer, as I find it occurring in one or two places 

 in the book.* 



The interest which I feel in this volume is con- 

 siderable ; it was Bishop Morgan's, who was en- 

 gaged in t\\& first translation of the Bible from the 

 Hebrew into the Welsh language ; it is evidently 

 the identical copy upon which he laboureil. The 

 verses are numbered to a considerable extent, and 

 many marginal notes in Welsh in an ink brown 

 witli age. 



Dr. John Davies (whose autograph the above 

 is) was an eminent AVelsh scholar, and author of a 

 Latin- Welsh Dictionary, folio, and I believe was 

 enofaged upon ttie second translation of the Bible 

 int'o Welsh. I should be very glad to know the 

 date of my Hebrew Bible, and whether it is a 

 scarce edition ; perhaps some one of your readers 

 who is versed in bibliography could assist me when 

 I state that it ctmtaiiis from Genesis to end of 

 Second Book of Kings. The Books of Genesis and 

 Joshua have each a large word prefixed, engraved 

 on wood, all the others have the first word ia 

 metal type. J- Nixo*. 



Bangor, N. Wales. " 



Goethe's Paganism. — May I Inquire of Eirion- 

 NACH where I can find the opinion expressed as to 

 Goethe's equal dfetestation of " tobacco, bells, bugs, 

 and Christianity ?" If not in direct contradiction 

 of his avowed belief, it is utterly at variance with 

 the idea as to his faith one gathers from his auto- 

 biography; as well as with the notion of hint 

 forttied by his admiter and student, J. T. N. 



Clinch of B'arnet. —What was the origin of this 

 mimic or posture-master, who was so famous 

 abbut the time of Queen Anne ? Some informa- 

 tion would also be acceptable as to the nature of 

 his performances. What ultimately became of 

 him ? Does the saying " Like clever Tom Clinch, 

 when going to be hanged," bear refeience to this 

 man? He is the "Archimimus" of a poem in 

 the Musce Anglicance, and is also mentioned by 

 Ned Ward, and in The Spectator I believe. 



Henry T. Riley. 



^^ Shathmon." — What is the length of a shath- 

 mon ? This Query was much debated some years 

 ago, when, at last, the question was supposed to 

 have been put at rest by an interpretation of Sir 

 Walter Scott; who has repeated it since in the 



[* They are from the Greek Testament, 2 Cor. xii. 9., 

 " My grace is safficient for thee." Our correspondent 

 should have sent the imprint, as atcU as the size of his 

 Bible. In 1620, John Bill printed the second edition of 

 the Welsh Bible. It was revised by Dr. Richard Parry, 

 Bishop of St. Asaph, and Dr. John Davies, his chaplain, 

 well known by his several learned and antiquarian pub- 

 lications.] 



