Jan. 17. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



67 



I totally dissent from him in understanding 

 " quies lassis" in any sense short of absolute re- 

 cumbent repose : " finis," which he takes as the 

 real commencement of the siesta, I understand as 

 its conclusion: nor am I aware of any, except 

 the last final quies, to which the term finis would 

 be applicable. 



Neither can I admit, upon the authority of 

 Theophylact, that there was any gradual or 



Eartial cessation of business in Rome during the 

 our which we call "between eleven and twelve 

 o'clock in the forenoon." Julius Caesar left home, 

 commenced the business of the senate, was sur- 

 rounded by thronging applicants, and was assassi- 

 nated — all during that hour : and, unless Theo- 

 phylact can show that therefore, and on that 

 account, it became distasteful to succeeding em- 

 perors, he must excuse me from admitting his 

 laterpretation. A. E. B. 



Nelson's Signal (Vol. iv., p. 473.). — I send you 

 Nelson's exact words as conveyed by signal at 

 Trafalgar, as noted down by several ships in the 

 fleet: 



B: ^ H. 



= -- - H i 



253 269 863 261 471 958 220 370 4 21 19 24 



Let me add, that the refrain of the best song on 

 the Battle of Trafalgar, gives the exact words of 

 the signal : 



" From line to line the signal ran, 

 England expects that every man 

 This day will do his duty." 



You should have heard this chanted in the 

 singing-days of W. H. S. 



Cooper's Miniature, ^'•c. (Vol. v., p. 17.). — I have 

 a painting on copper of Oliver Cromwell. It is 

 oval, and about six inches by four. It resembles 

 the engravings of him which have Cooper's name 

 attached to them. In the distance is a " white 

 horse," faintly sketched in. My father, in whose 

 possession it long was, set a very great value upon 

 it. I have not had sufficient opportunity to in- 

 quire — Did ever Cooper paint in oil ? B. G. 



Roman Funeral Pile (Vol. iv., p. 381.). — The 

 ceremony of a Roman funeral concluded with a 

 feast, which was usually a supper given to the 

 friends and relatives of the deceased ; and some- 

 times provisions were distributed to the people. 

 (Vid. Adams' JRoman Hist., 3rd edit. p. 283.) Basil 

 Kennett, in his Antiquities of Rome, published 

 1776,. further observes (p. 361.) that — 



" The feasts, celebrated to the honour of the de- 

 ceased, were either private or publick. The private 

 feasts were termed silicernia, from si/ex and ccena, as if 

 we should say suppers made on a stone. These were 

 prepared both for tlie dead and the living. The repast 



designed for the dead consisting commonly of beans, 

 lettuces, bread and eggs, or the like, was laid on the 

 tomb for the ghosts to come out and cat, as they 

 fancied they would ; and what was left they burnt on 

 the stone." 



No authority is cited either by Adams or Ken- 

 nett for the custom, but your correspondent John 

 ap William ap John might perhaps refer to Petri 

 Morestelli Pompa Feralis, sive justa Funehria 

 Veterum," with some probability of success in 

 finding the subject there treated at large. 



Franciscus. 



Barrister (Vol. iv., p. 472.). — The derivation 

 of this word proposed by W. Y. can only be looked 

 upon as a joke, as he himself seems to regard it. 

 "Roister" can have no more to do with it than 

 " oyster " has with such words as " songster, 

 spinster, maltster, punster, tapster, webstei'," &c., 

 in which " ster" isjthe A.S. termination to"denote 

 one whose business is " song or spinning," &c. 

 Thus from the Mediaeval Latin "barra" we get 

 " barraster, one whose business is at the bar ; " 

 this is confirmed by the old mode of spelling the 

 word, viz., " barrester and barraster." See Spel- 

 mau's Glossary, v. Cancellarius — 



" Dicuntur etiam cancelU septa curiarum qua barras 

 vocant ; atque inde Juris candidati causas illic agentes, 

 Budseo Cancellarii, ut nobiscum Barrestarii." 



And again — 



" Barrasterius, Repagularis Causidicus." 



J. Eastwood. 



Meaning of Dray (Vol. iv., p. 209.). — Dray is 

 a squirrel's nest. 



" A boy has taken three little young squirrels in 

 their nest or drey." — White's Selhorne, p. 333. Bohn's 

 edition. 

 To which is appended the following note : — 



" The squirrel's nest is not only called a drey in 

 Hampshire, but also in other counties ; in Suffolk 

 it is called a bay. Tlie word drey, though now pro- 

 vincial, I have met with in some of our old writers." — 

 Mitford. 



Pantagruel. 



Tregonwell Frampton (Vol. iv., p. 474. ; Vol. v., 

 p. 16.). — In the History of the British Turf, by 

 James Christie Whyte, Esq. (London, Colburn, 

 2 vols. 8vo. 1840), T. R. W. will meet with a 

 sketch of the life of Mr. Frampton, together with 

 an inquiry into the truth of the well-known anec- 

 dote respecting his cruelty to his horse Dragon. 

 Mr. Chafin, in his Anecdotes of Cranhourne Chase 

 (London, 1818), p. 47., refers to him, and prints 

 one or two curious original letters from him. 

 Mr. Whyte illustrates his first volume by a por- 

 trait of Mi\ Frampton. Cranmore. 



Vermin, Parish Payments of, ^c. (Vol. iv., 

 p. 208.). — There is no doubt but that nearly all 

 country parishes paid at one time for the destruc- 



