136 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 119. 



eighteenth century. A personal account of each 

 is there given in reply to the inquiry of Mr. John 

 Holmes of the British Museum, and under the 

 signature of J. R. (Cork.) 



Church, lohence derived (Vol. v., p. 79.). — Theo- 

 philus Anglicanus supplies a sufficient answer to 

 Mr. George Stephens' inquiries respecting the 

 word church. 



There can be no doubt about its etymology. 

 The only question of difficulty seems to be, why 

 did the church of Rome adopt the word iKKKjitria 

 from the Greeks, and not KvpiaKij? Was it that 

 they had a word of their own, viz. Dominica f or 

 was it, that ecclesia was already a naturalised 

 word ? However this may be. Dr. Wordsworth 

 bases upon the fact an important argument, tend- 

 ing to show that the Britons did not receive their 

 Christianity in the first instance from Rome : 



" We may appeal," he says (Part ii. chap, ii.), "to 

 the English word church, which is derived, as has been 

 before said, from the Greek KvpiuKr}, a term which no 

 Roman ever applied to the church (which he called 

 ecclesia, and by no other name) ; and it is not credible, 

 that, if the British church had been derived from 

 Rome, it should have been desijrnated by a title alike 

 foreign to Romans and to Britons themselves." 



If this argument be of any value in relation to 

 Britain, it (of course) would not be without its 

 worth to those who ascribe the primary conversion 

 of the Teutonic countries, which Mr. Stephens 

 mentions, to the early British and Irish mis- 

 sionaries. J. Sansom. 



Cross-legged Effigies (Vol. iv., p. 382.). — 

 W. H. K. inquires for the latest known example 

 of a cross-lejrged effigy. The latest I have met 

 with is the very beautiful slab at Norton-Brize, 

 Oxfordshire, to Sir John Daubigne. He appears 

 in plate armour of the earliest kind, and wears the 

 caraail, and is surrounded by an inscription, with 

 the date 1346. It is engraved by Skelton, and 

 there is also an admirable woodcut of it in Boutell's 

 Christian Monuments, part ii. p. 141., a work of 

 which the continuation is much to be desired. That 

 this monument was not put down in Sir John 

 Daubigne's lifetime, and the date of his death filled 

 up afterwards, is evident from the perfect cor- 

 respondence of the costume with the date of 1346. 

 But it is probably the last example left us of the 

 cross-legged position, and even then out of 

 fashion. C. R. M. 



Sir Walter Raleigh's Snuffbox (Vol. v., p. 78.). 

 — In answer to your question from your corre- 

 spondent L. H. L. T., I have to inform you that 

 Sir Walter Raleigh's snuffbox is in my possession. 

 It was bought when the JJuke of Sussex's collec- 

 tion was sohi at Messrs. Christie's, in 1843, by a 

 gentleman of the name of Lake. Mr. Lake having 

 died, his effects were sold by Messrs. Christie, 

 'either 1849 or 1850, when it was purchased by me. 



Should your correspondent wish to see it, he can 

 have the opportunity by applying as below. 



R. Polwarth, 

 8. Queen's Row, Pimlico, 



Epigram on Erasmus (Vol. iv., p. 437.). — I 

 well remember to have seen this before, in one of 

 the multiplied editions of his Colloquies which I 

 cannot directly indicate. M. Menage could not 

 recollect, he says, the name of the author* of the 

 following singular epigram on the same celebrated 

 writer's character and name : — 

 " Hie jacet Erasmus, qui quondam bonus erat mus : 

 Rodere qui solitus, roditur a vermibus." 

 This distich, it has been remarked, presents two 

 obvious faults of prosodial quantity ; the first 

 syllable of homis being made long, and the first of 

 vermibus short, which the author explained by 

 maintaining that the one nullified and compensated 

 for the other, thus redeeming both. 



The best epitaph on Erasmus has always ap- 

 peared to me to be that of Julius Caesar Scaliger, 

 expressive of his regret for their long personal 

 hostility, and then rendering ample justice to his 

 deceased adversary. It begins thus : — 

 " Tune etiam moreris? ah quid me linquis, Erasme? 

 Ante meus quam sit conciliatus amor !" 

 To which may be aptly applied the sentiment ex- 

 pressed by Corneilie {Mort de Pompee, Acte V. 

 Sc. 1.):— 



" Ah ! qu'il est doux de plaindre 

 La mort d'un ennemi, quand il n'est plus a craindre." 

 To the portrait of Erasmus have been subscribed 

 these characteristic words, " Vidit, pervidit, risit." 



J. R. (Cork.) 



General Wolfe (Vol. iv., p. 439.).— To the in- 

 quiries of 5 relative to General Wolfe, I can only 

 answer that the northern English county to which 

 his ancestor. Captain George Woulfe, made his 

 escape in 1651 from Ireton's proscription, was 

 understood to be Yorkshire. After his expatri- 

 ation and change of religion, the family in Clare 

 lost, in a great measure, sight of him and of his 

 descendants, until, like Epaminondas and Nelson, 

 crowned with victory and glory at his death. 



I may be here permitted to observe that your 

 correspondent distinguishes me as J, R. (of Cork) ; 

 but, whether with the single initials, or the local 

 addition, the signature is mine, though latterly, to 

 avoid all mistake, I append my locality. 



J. R. (Cork.) 



Ghost Stories (Vol. iv., p. 5. ; Vol. v., p. 89.). 

 — Baron Reichenbach has evidently overrated 

 the importance of his discovery, but his system 

 may be advantageously applied to the explana- 



[* The author of the Critique de Marsollier says it 

 was Philip Labbe. See Burigni, torn. ii. pp. 428, 429. 

 Jortin's Life of Erasmus. — Ed.] 



