2«'> S. NO 72., May 16. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



397 



pronounced bayal, i. e. peril, hurt, danger ; and 

 our legal word, bail, I apprehend is from this 

 word, as it clearly signifies the taking on one's- 

 self the peril or danger in which an offender stands, 

 for the sure production of the latter to meet the 

 charge against him at a future day. 



Fkas. Crossley. 



JEsofs Fables (2"'^ S. iii. 281.) — I have in my 

 possession a number of early engravings illustrat- 

 ing the Fables of ^^sop in a bold and masterly style, 

 I think engraved by a French artist ; the headings 

 of the Fables are not the same as those in Sir 

 Roger L'Estrange's work. The one I am about 

 to describe is headed, " The Angler and Little 

 Fish," which corresponds in subject with that of 

 L'Estrange, Fable 216. 



A man seated on a rural bank extracting a 

 hook from the mouth of a small fish, a basket at 

 his side ; it is very well drawn, and measures 6 in. 

 by 5 ; underneath are the following lines, and it 

 is curious to observe that in the last line are the 

 words " eleven points of law : " 



" An Angler did for his owne foode and dish 

 With a false baj't surprize a smaller fish ; 

 The fish did him implore that he'd transmitt 

 Her to her watry dwelling as unfitt 

 For any table yett, but if he'd please 

 To let her range i'th desart of the seas, 

 And but one yeare improve her selfe, she then 

 Being thus mature would court his hooke agen. 

 Noe, said he, never ile my selfe devest 

 Of that firme right of which I am possest. 



" We from this fable this result may draw, 

 Possession is eleven poynts of Law." 



W. D. Haggard. 

 50. Brunswick Road, Brighton. 



Etymology of Buxqm (2"'^ S. iii. 291.) — Oxon- 

 lENSis will find the following in Missale ad nsiim 

 EcclesicB Sarum, fol. 1527. tit. Ordo Sponsalium 

 fol. xxxix. : 



" I, N take the iV to my weddyd husbode tho haue & to 

 hokle for thys day for beter, for wurs, for richere, for 

 porer, in sykencsse and in helthe to be boneere and 

 hixum in bed et at bord tyll deth vs depart, yf holy 

 cherche wol it ordeyne: And thereto I plyche the my 

 trewthe." 



M. C. 



In Cotgrave's English-French Didionat-y, pub- 

 lished in 1650, OxoNiENSis will find "Buxom" 

 with its present signification, the French meanings 

 given being " gai, joyeux, haite." This last word, 

 haite, now obsolete, I think, is translated, " Lively, 

 lusty, blithe." Chris. Koberts. 



South Place, Norwood. 



Good Friday Buns (2"^ S. iii. 286.) — With- 

 out entering into the question of the Jewish or 

 Pagan origin of " Good Friday buns," I beg to 

 say that the correspondent in The Athenmum, who 

 suggests that the tablet in i\\Q Museo Lapidario 

 is representative of a pagan or revived antedi- 



luvian offering, is in my judgment quite mistaken. 

 I have before me this moment a pen and ink 

 sketch of the tablet in question, taken with a 

 number of others on the .spot, some years ago ; 

 and while it contains no inscription whatever, it 

 has also a rude representation of two fish, thereby 

 plainly indicating, in catacomb language, a re- 

 ference to " the Jive hurley loaves and two small 

 fishes,'' which were so little for so many. (Matt, 

 xiv. 17.) A. B. R. 



Belmont. 



Walpole and Macaulay's Ruins of London (2"'' S. 

 iii. 286.) — When I recently showed that Wal- 

 pole had sketched the ruins of London before 

 Macaulay, I referred to a letter written by the 

 former to Mason, in 1775. In the preceding year, 

 however, he had indulged in the same prospect, in 

 a letter to Mason (Nov. 24, 1774). The extract 

 below will still more closely remind one of the 

 famous passage in Macaulay than the quotation 

 I previously made from the letter to Mason : — 



" The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side 

 of the Atlantic. There will perhaps be a Thucydides at 

 Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and in time, a Virgil 

 at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last some curious 

 traveller from Lima will visit England, and give a descrip- 

 tion of the ruins of St. Paul's, like the editions of Balbec 

 and Palmyra: — but am I not prophesying, contrary to 

 my consummate prudence, and casting horoscopes of em- 

 pires, like Rousseau ? " 



J, DoRAN. 



A Child's Caul (2"'' S. iii. 329.) — This super- 

 stition is undoubtedly of ancient date ; and as 

 usual in such cases, the virtues attributed to the 

 caul have varied with times and places, ^lius 

 Lampridius, in the fourth century, mentions it in 

 his life of the Emperor Antoninus Diadumeni- 

 anus ; and Majolus, in like manner, attributes to 

 the Roman lawyers the belief that the possession 

 of a child's caul would make them eloquent and 

 triumphant : 



" Causidici Romani multa pecunia involucrum istud 

 emebant, se illo ad causae victoriam juvari multum arbi- 

 trantes." 



The superstition is equally prevalent in France, 

 where having a caul is accounted a guarantee of 

 good fortune. The French say of a fortunate 

 man : II est ne coeffe. F. C. H. 



Fashions (2°* S. iii. 33. 197.)— Prince Frederick 

 attended Bartholomew Fair in a ruby-coloured 

 frock coat, richly guarded with gold lace ; his hair 

 curiously curled over his forehead, and ending in 

 a bag and queue ; on the top was a small three- 

 cornered silk court hat. 



At the marriage of the prince, the Duke of 

 Marlborough appeared in white velvet and gold 

 brocaded tissue. The gold brocade suits of the 

 noblemen cost 300^. to 5001. a piece ; the waist- 

 coats were brocades with large flowers ; the cuflTs 



