Jan. 24. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



^ 



per praedictum regem et gentes armorum quas secum 

 ducet : et tunc fiet quasi conversio generalis ad fidem 

 Christ! per leonem magnum et regem pradictum quam 

 qui tunc in romandiola: et semper gaudebunt quia 

 erunt amici et perpetui." 



w,s. 



Denton. 



Ccesarius, Sfc.-^'No facts have yet occurred to 

 convince me but that all prophecies are stuff; 

 by no means excepting those which Dr. Gregory 

 printed in Blackwood for 1850, and from which 

 (more strange) he is unweaned in 1851. Seeing 

 that you have reprinted (Vol. iv., p. 471.) the 

 prophecy falsely ascribed to that ancient Latin 

 father, Caesarius Arelatensis, I beg leave to men- 

 tion that I published in the British Magazine for 

 1846 an historical and chronological explanation 

 of that modern forgery, as well as of the far more 

 ancient predictions ascribed to Queen Basina. 

 Thomas of Ercildoun was anterior in date to the 

 pseudo-Caesarius, and borrowed the idea of his 

 French revolution from Basina's, if, indeed, that 

 prophecy be authentically from his pen, of which 

 the proofs are very slender. See it quoted in 

 Walter Scott's Poet. Works, vi. p. 236., ed. 1820. 



I wish to be informed in what sense, and for 

 what reason, Walter Scott in the same page calls 

 the prophecy-man Robert Fleming, "Mass Robert 

 Fleming." A. N. 



Tripos (Vol. iv., p. 484.). — The original tripos, 

 &om which the Cambridge class lists have derived 

 their names, was a three-legged stool, on which on 

 Ash Wednesday a Bachelor of one or two years' 

 standing (called therefrom the Bachelor of the 

 Stool) used formerly to take his seat, and play the 

 part of public disputant In the quaint proceedings 

 which accompanied admission to the degree of 

 B. A. In course of time the name was transferred 

 from the stool to him that sat on it, and the dis- 

 putant was called the Tripos ; and thence by 

 successive steps it passed to the day when the 

 three-legged stool became "for the nonce" a post 

 of honour ; then to the lists published on that day, 

 containing the seniority of commencing B. A.s 

 arranged according to the pleasure of the Proc- 

 tors ; and ultimately it obtained the enlarged 

 meaning now universally recognised, according to 

 which it stands for the examination whether in 

 mathematics, classics, moral or physical science, as 

 well as the list by which the result of that ex- 

 amination is made known. 



The Latin verses which do, or till very lately 

 did, accompany the printed lists, and which it was 

 expected were to partake more or less of a bur- 

 lesque character, are the only existing relics of the 

 functions of the Bachelor of the Stool (performed 

 in 155f by Abp. Whitgift), to whom, as to the 

 Prevaricator at commencements, or the Terrce 

 Filius at Oxford, considerable license of language 



was allowed; a privilege which, in spite of the 

 exhortation of the Father (see Bedle Buck's book) 

 " to be witty but modest withal," was not unfre- 

 quently abused. ^ 



Those who desire further information on this 

 subject may consult the appendixes to Dean Pea- 

 cock's admirable work On the Statutes of the 

 University, pp. ix. x. Ixx. E. V, 



"■Please the Pigs" (Vol. v., p. 13.).— The edi- 

 torial reply to my query about the origin of this 

 expression is very ingenious, and appears at first 

 sight to be very probable ; and, of course, if it can 

 be shown to rest upon authority, it will be ac- 

 counted satisfactory. But [and here let me say, 

 how conscious I am that it savours something of 

 presumption to be butting my buts against edi- 

 torial sapience which has been brought to the aid 

 of my own confessed ignorance; yet, as that "purry 

 furry creature with a tail yclept a cat " may with 

 impunity cast its feline glances at a king, I am 

 emboldened to hope that " a pig without a tail" 

 may enjoy the immunity of projecting just one 

 porcine squint at an editor. And so to my hvt 

 right boldly, though perhaps as blunderingly as 

 pigs are wont] the sound of the word "pyx" has 

 suggested to my mind another solution which, 

 while it is much less ingenious, appears to me to be 

 much more probable. May not the saying be a 

 simple corruption, alV allegria, of " please the 

 pixies?" This would save the metonymy, and 

 would also avoid what I conceive to be a more 

 formidable difficulty attaching to the idea of 

 " please the Host" — viz., the fact that, although I 

 have travelled and resided not a little in Roman 

 Catholic countries, in France, Italy, Spain, and 

 the Mediterranean Islands, I never yet have heard 

 any expression which could be supposed to involve 

 the idea of favour or disfavour from the Host ; 

 albeit such expressions applying to the several 

 persons of the blessed Trinity, and to every saint 

 in the calendar, are rife in every mouth. 



Having no authority, however, for my conjec- 

 ture, I put it in the form of a Query, in the hope 

 of provoking an authoritative decision. Porcus. 



Basnet Family (Vol. ill., p. 495. ; Vol.iv., p. 77.). 

 — My attention has been directed to the inquiries 

 made touching this family, and I have looked into 

 my Manuscript Collections for such as related to 

 the name. I find them distinguished by me into 

 Bassenet and Basnet, though the latter writer on 

 the subject Identifies them as one and the same. 

 The classification in my books subdivides the 

 notices I possess (as in the instance of other pedi- 

 grees, 3000 surnames, for which I have gathered 

 illustrations), according to the localities where 

 they fix the name. These references are numerous 

 in Ireland, and far more In England ; especially 

 in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Essex, 

 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham- 



