474 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2ndS. N6 76.,JoNEl3. '57. 



Weathercocks (2"'^ S. iil. 307.) — I copy the fol- 

 lowing from one of my Common-place Books, but 

 cannot refer to the work from which it is ex- 

 tracted : 



" The mystical explanation which mediaeval times at- 

 tached to a weathgrcock may be learnt from a poem, 

 taken from a MS. circa 1420, preserved in the cathedral 

 of Oehringcn, and published by M. Eidelestand du Meril. 

 The following are some of the verses, a few corrections 

 being made for the sake of the sense : 



" Multi sunt Presbyteri qui ignorant quare 

 Super domum Domini Gallus solet stare ; 

 Quod propono breviter vobis explanare, 

 Si vultis benevolas aures mihi dare. 



" Gallus est mirabilis Dei creatura, 

 Et rara Presbyteri illius est figura, 

 Qui prajcst parochi'ae animarum cura, 

 Stans pro suis subditis contra nocitura. 



" Supra ecclesiam positus gallus contra ventum 

 Caput diligentius erigit extentum; 

 Sic Sacerdos, ubi scit dajmonis adventum, 

 Illuc se objiciat pro grege bidentum. 



" Gallus inter cseteros alites coelorum 

 Audit supra sethera cantum Angelorum; 

 Tunc monet excutere nos verba malorum, 

 Gustare et percipere arcana supernorura. 



" Quasi rex in capite Gallus coronatur ; 

 In pede calcaribus, ut miles, armatur; 

 Quanto plus fit senior pennis deauratur; 

 In nocte dum concinit leo conturbatur. 



" Gallus regit plurimam turbam gallinarum, 

 Et solicitudines magnas habet harum ; 

 Sic Sacerdos, concipiens curam animarum, 

 Doceat et faciat quod Deo sit carum. 



" Gallus gramen reperit, convocat uxores, 

 Et illud distribuit inter cariores; 

 Tales discunt clerici pietatis mores, 

 Dando suis subditis scripturarum flores ; 



" Sic sua distribuere cunctis derelictis, 

 Atque curam gerere nudis et atflictis. 



" Gallus vobis prsedicat, omnes vos audite, 

 Sacerdotes, Domini servi, et Levitse, 

 Ut vobis ad cselestia dicatur, Venite. 

 Prffista nobis gaudia, Pater, feterna; vitoe." 



The following lines are by Durandus : 



" Yultis nunc presbyteri supremam rationem 

 Scire quare, nitens sere, Gallus Aquilonem 

 Dividit in apice Ecclesia;, latronem 

 Errantemque spectans quemque? Omnibus sermonem 

 Canit Poenitentiae. Nam Petrum ad dolorem 

 Imprimis civit efficax, cum lapsus in soporem 

 Hie Dominum negasset; tu Galium digniorem 

 Ad elevatam crucem revocare peccatorem." 



Clericus (D.) 



The vane at Fotheringay Church, Northamp- 

 tonshire, represents the Falcon and Fetterlock, 

 the badge of the Dukes of York. 



CUTHBEET BeDE, B A. 



Hugil (2°'' S. iii. 330.) — Hugil was the patri- 

 mony of a family named Benson (arms, Arg., on 

 a chevron, sab. 3 crosses pattee, or). The last male 

 representative, George Benson, died before the 



year 1580, leaving two daughters. Mabel, the 

 eldest, married, first, John Preston, of Holkar, and 

 secondly, in 1581, Thomas Farington, of Worden, 

 both in the county of Lancaster. She left chil- 

 dren by both husbands, and is represented by the 

 Earl of Burlington and^the Faringtons of Worden. 

 Ann Benson, the other daughter, married the son 

 of Rodes, Esq., Serjeant- at-Law, 1584. Hu- 

 gil was probably sold by the coheirs, as your cor- 

 respondent states that it was in the possession of 

 Peter Collinson in the following century. 



The Hall (if still in existence) is not now the 

 residence of any family of distinction. Lewis, in 

 his Topographical Dictionary, describes Hugil aa 

 a Chapelry 6^ miles N.W. of Kendal, containing 

 300 inhabitants, and states that the chapel was 

 rebuilt in 1743 by Robert Bateman, who increased 

 its endowment and that of the Free School, and 

 founded eight alms-houses, — the said Robert 

 being a poor native of the place, who subsequently 

 amassed great wealth as a merchant. 



Perhaps some Westmoreland correspondent of 

 " N. & Q." will kindly furnish the original querist 

 with some account of the present condition of the 

 Hall, if it be still in being. P. P. 



In connexion with the Query of A. S. A. may I 

 ask for any information respecting the parentage 

 of the Rev. John Collinson, Vicar of Kirkharle, 

 Northumberland, who died in 1805, in his forty- 

 third year. E. H. A. 



To call a Spade a Spade. — Mr. Forbes (1" S. 

 iv. 456.) cites the story about Philip of Macedon 

 using this phrase from a Latin annotation of J. 

 Scaliger. Scaliger got it from Plutarch's Apo- 

 phthegms. Plutarch reports the saying thus : 



" Sxaious, e(|)tj, ^i/crei koX aypoiKOVi ei^'at MaKeSdvaj, (cai rtf 

 a-Ka<j>io (TKa^ia KtyovTai." 



Scaliger had some authority for assigning the 

 expression to Aristophanes, although L. (2°'* S. ii. 

 120.) implies that he had not. For Thirlwall, in 

 a foot-note to his account of Philip's manner of 

 treating the Olynthian traitors, quotes thus from 

 Tzetzes, Chiliad, viii. 208. : 



"'Ek (cw^iwSias Sejitos elnotv 'ApioTOi^avovs * 01 MoKtSovii, 



LiMUS LUTUM. 



Ellsworth. 



Tolbooth (2""^ S. iii. 389.) — Wiclif (Baber's 

 edition) uses this word twice : Matt. ix. 9., Mark 

 ii. 14., to denote the place where Matthew or Levi 

 was "sitting at the receipt of custom," which 

 would seem to indicate that the original meaning 

 of the word was a booth or shed, in which sat the 

 collector of certain tolls ; accordingly, in the Imp. 

 Diet., we find : — 



" ToLLBOOTH. In Scotland the old word for a burgh- 

 jail, so called because that was the name originally given 

 to a temporary hut of boards erected in fairs or markets 

 in which the customs or duties were collected, and where 



