514 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nas. N'TS., Joi^e27.'67. 



With respect, to the use of this chequered cloth, 

 the Rev. T. D. Fosbroke, A.M., F.A.S., in his 

 British MonacMsm (3rd edit. p. 275.), says : — 



" Exchequer. At Ely was a chamber with a square 

 table in it for calculation.* It was also called counting 

 room, or Cubiculum computatorium.\ Gervase of Tilbury 

 describes an Exchequer table as square, about ten feet 

 long and five broad, covered with a black cloth, divided 

 by stripes in the manner of a chess-board.J Summing, 

 for want of Arabic numerals, being a most difficult 

 process, this cloth was for the arithmetical process by 

 counters, of which the Monks struck several still known 

 by the name of Abbey pieces. Mr. Pinkerton gives some 

 account of the process, but it applies to one method only. 

 One was when the table had six lines : 1. Units. 2. Tens. 

 3. Hundreds. 4. Thousands. 5. Ten Thousands. 6. 

 Hundred Thousands. Where there were no lines, there 

 were set in their stead ' so many counters as shall need, 

 for each line one.' In the Merchants Method, the lowest 

 line served for pence, the next abo%'e for shillings, the 

 third for pounds, the fourth for scores of pounds. The 

 space between was never occupied but by one counter, 

 which above the pence signified 6d., above the shillings 

 10s., above the pounds lOZ. The Auditor's Method made 

 one counter at the left of a line signifj' 5, and at the right 

 10. § Before counters, stones were used : the Augrim 

 stones of Chaucer ||, the yj/ri^oi and calculi of the Greeks 

 and Romans, and the use of them was the first Arithme- 

 tick taught to their children. Upon a bas-relief of the 

 Capitol is a Trajan and Plotina; near them is an Abacus 

 in the hands of a young man, upon which are placed 

 ranks of counters." ^ 



The Rev. T. D. Fosbroke, in the Encyc. of 

 Antiq. (vol. i. chap, ix.), gives a woodcut of a 

 counter, on the obverse of which is represented a 

 person employed in the arithmetical process with 

 counters. The figure stands at a square table, 

 on one part of which are marked two squares and 

 three lines, and on another part are counters 

 lying ready for use ; and in the window of Mr. 

 Whelan, the Numismatist, in Bedford Street, 

 Covent Garden, there now is a counter very 

 similar to that I have just described. 



F, A. Cabrington. 



Ogboume St George. 



Oldys's MSS. (2°^ S. iii. 468.) — The best ac- 

 count of Oldys and his MSS. that I have met 

 with is in Corney's Curiosities of Literature Illus- 

 trated, p. 162. Your correspondent may also con- 

 sult Gerdlemaris Mag,^ vol. liv., and European 

 Mag., XXX. 315. 



Grose in his Olio states that Oldys was so in- 

 toxicated at the funeral of the Princess Caroline, 



* Angl. Soar., i. 646. 



t Id., i. 779. 



i Du Cange v. Scaecarium. 



§ Mellis's Ground of Arts, book 1., 1632. The instruc- 

 tions occupy 43 pages. 



II Astle's writing, p. 183. 



t Diog. Laert, Solon, 39.; Juven., xi. 131.; Caylus, 

 Jiec, vii. pi. 7, Nos. 3, 4. et alii. 



that he reeled about with a coronet upon a cushion. 

 Noble endeavours to disprove this by asserting 

 that at public funerals Clarenceux carries the 

 coronet, and not Norroy. On turning, however, 

 to a contemporaneous account of the funeral, I 

 find that Norroy did carry the coronet on that 

 occasion. Thompson Coopbe. 



Cambridge. 



Portrait of Cromwell (2"'^ S. iii. 410.) — I re- 

 collect thirty years ago seeing a small full-length 

 portrait of Oliver Cromwell in the Due D'Arem- 

 berg's collection at Brussels. To the best of my 

 recollection it answers the description given of the 

 one at Goodwood. If any of your correspondents 

 at Brussels would be kind enough to communicate 

 an account of it, I think it would interest many of 

 your readers. Meletes. 



Swift, Portrait of (2"'^ S. iii. 423.) — I possess 

 a copy of Swift's Miscellanies, published as early 

 as 1722, London, but without any printer's name, 

 and this is called in the title-page the fourth edition. 

 To it is prefixed the portrait of Swift, alluded to 

 by Henry T. Riley, a fine portrait, exqui- 

 sitely engraved by " G. Vertue," whose name 

 stands thus, in a corner underneath the portrait. 

 Above appears the following, round the upper 

 part of the oval : Jonat. Swift, S.T.P. et Decan. 

 St. Pat. in Hib. Below the portrait are the words 

 Non Pareil. F. C. H. 



Meaning of " Two Turheyses or London 

 Drapers"' (2"'» S. iii. 168. 200. 257.) — At p. 200. 

 we doubtless have the true meaning of " two 

 Turkeyses " (two turquoises) in the passage cited 

 p. 168. In further elucidation of the passage I 

 would only remark, that we probably have here 

 the title of some tale, or drama, well known at the 

 period when Carew wrote : " Two Turquoises, or 

 The London Drapers." The passage will then 

 mean, " if, imitating the comparison in ' Two Tur- 

 quoises, or, The London Drapers,' we match our 

 own tongue with those of our neighbours." 



But at p. 257. we have a phrase which requires 

 a different explanation. The French king's let- 

 ters to the Duke of Espernon, descriptive of a 

 (supposed) controversial victory, were printed in 

 French at Antwerp, " and translated into English, 

 with some alterations and Turkeysing, by F. 

 Parsons." 



For the expression " Turkeysing," as here used, 

 there are two explanations. It should be borne in 

 mind that in the " Copies of certaine letters " that 

 passed between Wadesworth and Bedell, from 

 which the above passage is an extract (London, 

 1624), one of the parties is writing from Spain. 



1. In Spanish " turqui " is a colour, — deep blue. 

 The expression, " with some alterations and Tur- 

 keysing," may mean, then, that F. Parsons trans- 

 lated " with some alterations and colouring." 



