90 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 117. 



But name and residence in England may come in 

 aid of the manuscripts. 



The statement that he died in 1244 probably 

 arises as follows. In the epitaph, according to 

 Pits, are the following lines : — 



M. Christi bis C quarto deuo quater anno 

 De Sacrobosco discrevit tempora Ramus 

 Gratia cui noraen dederat divina Johannis, 



meaning that in 1244 a bough from the holy 

 wood discrevit tempora. This Pits calls an obscure 

 reference to the time of his death, in the same 

 sentence in which he places that time in 1256. 

 Very obscure indeed, if a reference to his death in 

 1256 be intended. But if discrevit tempora refer, 

 not to death, but ^to the matter of his celebrated 

 ■work de anni ratione, scu . . . computus Eccle- 

 siasticus, there is no obscurity at all. And at the 

 end of a Merton manuscript of this computus, 

 Tanner found the preceding lines inserted; the 

 copyist taking them to allude, of course, to the date 

 of the book. M. 



Age of Trees (Vol. iv., p. 401.). — Your corre- 

 spondent L. inquires after authentic evidence 

 respecting the age of ancient trees : 



" In the 12th vol. of Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, 

 p. 588., the Cowthorpe Oak [standing at the extremity 

 of the village of Cowthorpe, near Wetherby in York- 

 sdiire], is said to be * undoubtedly the largest tree at 

 present known in the kingdom.' 



*' Professor Burnet says, ' the Cowthorpe Oak is 

 axteen hundred years old. We may ask, how is this 

 ascertained ? From tradition, or calculated on bota- 

 nical data? If the latter, it is possibly far removed 

 from truth. The method of calculating the age of 

 dicotyledonous trees, with Tiollow trunks ' [and he else- 

 where says, so large Is the hollow of the Cowthorpe 

 Oak, that it is reported to have had upwards of seventy 

 persons at one time therein assembled], ' is by multiply- 

 ing the number of rings comprised in a given portion 

 of the remaining wood, by the proportion which half 

 the entire diameter of the trunk bears to the selected 

 portion .... It is evident, however, that this calcu- 

 lation proceeds on the assumption of two circumstances, 

 whose probable variations may seriously affect the 

 Tiesult. 



;.t*' ' 1st. That all the rings are of equal width. 

 •>;."^2nd. That each ring is of uniform width on both 

 sides of the tree. 



" ' It is known that the width of the rings diminishes 

 with the age of the tree, until, at the latter part of its 

 life, they are of very inconsiderable width, compared 

 with those near the centre of tlie trunk .... .\gain, 

 it is also known that the width of the rings differs 

 according to season, being of course wider in those 

 seasons most favourable to the action of the leaves, and 

 the general processes of growth ; but greatly dimi- 

 nished in seasons affected by blight, cold, or other 

 causes of injury to the leaves. It also happens that 

 the rings are often of unequal width on opposite sides 

 of the trunk .... While, if the tree be so hollow as 

 to^liaire no portion of its centre remaining . , . will 



expose the calculation to . . . error. In reference, 

 therefore, to the Cowthorpe Oak, we abandon all 

 scientific pretension.'" 



The foregoing is extracted from an account of 

 the Cowthorpe Oak by C. Empson, Esq., 1842 : 

 Ackerman, Strand. Cokely. 



" Mirabilis Liber'" (Vol. iv., p. 474.). — I have 

 a copy of this book, from which a "prophecy" is 

 quoted iu " ]^. & Q." p. 474., but the translation 

 there given differs from the prophecy, as given in. 

 ray book. I have therefore copied it out at 

 length, and exactly as given in the original, ^vith all 

 the faults of barbarous Latin and want of stops. 



My book is a small 8vo. without date : the first 

 part in Latin, and the second in French, in Gothic 

 characters. The colophon runs thus : " On les 

 vend au roy David en la rue St. Jacques." "' 



The " prophet " is S. Severus not S. Ccesario. 



" PROPHETIA SANCTI SEVERl ARCHIEPISCOPI. 



" Propter incohabitationem doni tertii reviviscet 

 scisma in ecclesia Dei tunc erunt duo sponsi unus 

 verus alter adulter. Adulter vero videlicet pars dia- 

 bolica quae ecclesia appellatur erit tanta strages et san- 

 guinis effusio quanta nunquam fuit ex quo gigantes 

 fuerunt. Legltimus sponsus fugiet, ecce leo surget et 

 aquila nigra veniens ex liguria et quasi fulgens eradi- 

 cabit nido suos sexatioribus pennis et tunc incipient 

 tribulationes et praelia terrena et marina et clamabitur 

 pax et non invenietur : blasphemabitur nomen domini 

 et non erit ratio in terra unusquisque opprimabitur 

 potentiam suam. Vae tibi civitas gentium et divitiarum 

 in principio. Sed gaudebis in fine. Vae tibi civitas 

 philosophorum gaudeas. O terra filii Noe edificata quia 

 prefatum habebis gaudium et totam dominaberis ro- 

 mandiolam. Vas tibi civitas philosophorum subdita 

 erit. Vffi tibi lombardiae gens turres etiam gaudii tui 

 dirimentur. Ecce leo magnus et galllcus obviabit 

 aquilae: et feriet caput ejus eritque helium immensum 

 et mors valida unus eorum amittet fugietque in thu- 

 ciam illic reassumet vires. 



« Et Romandiolam quae tunc caput Italiae erit in 

 eurola civitate coronam accipiet ecce praelia et mortali- 

 tatis qu£e non fuerunt ah origine mundi neque erunt 

 usque in finem quia illic congregabuntur ah omni 

 natione. 



" Unus eorum vincet et ibit in elephantem : et ibi 

 ponet sedem antiquara et declarabitur quia fiet postea 

 unus pastor in ecclesia Deirecipiet utramque ecclesiam 

 cardinalium cum maxima pace et praedictus sponsus de 

 dignitate columblnarum assumetur .- . Tunc temporanee 

 ecclesie et civitatis et dignitati columbinarum in roman- 

 diola dabuntur et sua operatione fiet concordlter pax et 

 unitas prajdictorum. Et praedictus rex diu regnabit in 

 regno sue : et deponentur omnes tyrannl de ecclesia Dei 

 et sub nomine regis gubernabuntur omnia : et univer- 

 sitas sanctorum credet in eligendum tanquam verum 

 sponsum et pastorem pra;dictum. Et non erit amplius 

 scisma usqiie ad tempora antichristi. Et fiet passagium 



[* For a notice of the various editions of this work, 

 see Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, s.v. Mirabilis, tome 

 iii. p. 401. — Ed.] 



