104 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 118. 



iHtiior cauertCiS. 



Madrigal, Meaning of. — What is the deriva- 

 tion ol' the word madrigal f Nbmo. 



" Expcrto crede Roberto" — Can any of your 

 correspondents inform me what is the origin of 

 the expression so frequently quoted, "Experto 

 crede Roberto ? " W. L. 



Chronological Institute. — I understand a Chro- 

 nological Institute has been formed in London. 

 Can you inform ma where a prospectus can be 

 obtained ? F. B. Relton. 



Buzz. — What is the derivation of the word 

 huzz, i. e. empty the bottle ; and how came it to 

 have that extraordinary meaning ? W. 



The Old Scots March. — Can any of your cor- 

 respondents throw liglit on the measure of the 

 " Old Scots March," whicli appears to have been 

 beat witli triumphant success as to many of the 

 onslaughts, infalls, and other martial progresses 

 of Gustavus's valiant brigades ? 



Grose has given what he styles " The English 

 March," as ordered to be beat by Prince Henry. 

 And as a pendant, the recovery of " The Scots 

 March" would be very desirable. J. M. 



Hans Holbein. — Is the place of this eminent 

 artist's sepulture now known ? His death (by 

 the plague) in 155-i was probably a release from 

 neglect and poverty. When he was compelled to 

 give up his painting-rooms at the palace, after 

 Henry's decease, he is conjectured to have resiiled 

 in Bishopsgate street. Edwakd F. Rimbault. 



Ivory Medallion of Lord Byron. — In the cata- 

 logue which Mr. Cole, of Scarborougli, printed in 

 1829, of books in his private collection, he men- 

 tions a copy of Lord Byron's Marino Faliero, 1821, 

 bound in a unique style, and having, inserted in a 

 recess, on the fi-ont cover, a finely finished head of 

 the noble poet, on ivoiy, in high relief, of beautiful 

 Italian carving. Can any of your correspondents 

 tell me who is now the possessor of this work of 

 art? W.S.G. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Trumpington Church. — On the north side of the 

 tower of Trumpington Church, Cambridgeshire, 

 there is a curious recess in the basement story, 

 which I have not met with anywhere else, or seen 

 fully accounted for. It is sufficiently cai)acious 

 for a man to stand in, having an arched entrance 

 six feet in height, with a turning to the westward 

 of about two feet, and is formed completely within 

 the thickness of the wall. The village tradition, 

 tliat it was formerly used as a confessional, 

 founded on the existence of an opening into the 

 interior part of the tower, now blocked up, has 

 long been disesteemed. In the volume by the 

 Cambridge Camden Society, on the Churches in 



Cambridgeshire, it is said to have been made for 

 an ecclesiastic to stand in, to ring the Sanctus 

 bell. A round hole, lined with wood, in the roof 

 of the niche, evidently intended for a bcll-rope, 

 and chafings upon the upper part of the little aper- 

 ture, such as the I'riction of one would produce, 

 are very convincive of its having been used for 

 some such purpose. But when we consider that 

 the Sanctus bell, except when a hnnd one, was 

 " suspended on the outside of the church, in a 

 small turret over the archway leading from the 

 nave into the chancel,"* the probability that it was 

 made for the purpose above-mentioned seems very 

 much weakened. I shall feel obliged for a re- 

 ference to any other iastance, or a more satisfac- 

 tory explanation. R. ^V. Elliot. 



" Carmen Perpetuum" Sfc. — Upon the title-page 

 of a Bible which I have had some years in my 

 possession, I have just discovered, in my own 

 handwriting, the following very beautiful and 

 apposite quotation : — 



" Carmen perpetuum primaque ab origine mundi ad 

 tempora nostra." 



I have lost all remembrance of the source from 

 which I borrowed this happy thouglit, so happily 

 expressed ; and shall feel much obliged to any 

 one whose better memory can direct me to the 

 mine from which I formerly dug the gem. Ham, 



" The Retired Christian." — Who was the author 

 of The Retired Christian, so generally, but I be- 

 lieve erroneously, attributed to Bishop Ken ? 



S. Fr. 



The Garrote. — The West India newspapers are 

 filled with the details of General Lopez's second 

 attempt on Cuba, and his subsequent capture and 

 execution. The latter event took place at Ha- 

 vannah on the 1st September, in presence of 8000 

 troops, ami the manner of it is said to have been 

 the Garrote, which is thus described in a Jamaica 

 journal : — 



" The prisoner is made to sit in a kind of chair with 

 a high back, to which his head is fastened by means of 

 an iron clasp, which encloses his neck, and is attached 

 to the back by a screw. When the signal is given, the 

 screw is turned several times, which strangles the 

 victim, and breaks his neck." 



The word Garrote being Spanish (derived pro- 

 bably from the French " garrotter"), and the 

 punishment having been inflicted in a Spanish 

 colony, it is to be presumed that we are indebted 

 to the latter nation for the invention of it. Can 

 any of your readers give any information as to the 

 origin and use of this mode of punishment ? 



Henry H. Breen. 



Monastic Establishments in Scotland. — Will any 

 of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish 



* Glossary of Architecture. 



