Jan. 24. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



7» 



ever, be doubts as to the antiquity of this term ; I 

 have heard ancient men say that it has been intro- 

 duced within their recollection. What is its origin ? 

 Whence also the name " moke," commonly ap- 

 plied to donkeys in and about London ? Is the 

 word used in other parts of England ? C. W. G. 



French and Italian Degrees. — Can you inform 

 a young Englishman (of good general knowledge, 

 and possessing a thorough knowledge of the French 

 and Italian languages), who is desirous of obtaining 

 a French or Italian degree as inexpensively as pos- 

 sible, how to proceed in order to obtain the same, 

 the expense, &c. ? Septimus. 



Buntingford, Hertfordshire. 



The Shadow of the Tree of Life. — Can any 

 of your readers oblige me with information re- 

 specting the author of a little book, the title of 

 which runs as follows : — 



" ^apfiouca ovpavodev : The Shadow of the Tree of 

 Life ; or a Discourse of the Divine Institution and 

 most Effectual Application of Medicinal Remedies, 

 in order to the Preservation and Restoration of Health, 

 by J, M. London, 1673." 



S. (An Original Subscriber.) 



Sun-dials. — The following is an inscription 

 on a sun-dial on the wall of a monastery, now 

 suppressed, near Florence. I copied it on the 

 spot in 1841. 



"A. D. S. 



Mia vita e il sol : Dell' uom la vita e Dio, 



Senza esso e 1' uom, qual senza sol son' io." 



What signification has A. D. S. ? L. S. 



Nouns always printed with Capital Initials. — 

 P. C. S. S. is desirous of information respecting 

 the origin and subsequent disuse of the practice 

 which appears to have prevailed among printers in 

 the last, and towards the end of the preceding cen- 

 tury, of beginning every noun-substantive with a 

 capital letter. It prevailed also, to a certain ex- 

 tent, in books published in France and Holland 

 during the same period ; but P. C. S. S. is not 

 aware of any other European language in which 

 ifr was adopted. P. C. S.S. 



John of Padua. — Who was this person, who 

 in various accounts of Henry VIII.'s time is 

 styled " Deviser of his majesty's buildings ? " 

 Where was he educated ? and what were his 

 works previous to his arrival in England? He 

 survived his royal master, and enjoyed the favour 

 of the Protector Somerset, who employed him to 

 build his famous palace in the Strand. 



From a warrant dated 1544, printed in Rymer's 

 Fcedera, it appears that Johannes de Padua was a 

 " musician " as well as an architect. 



Edward F. Rimbatji-t. 



St. Kenelm. — Can any of your readers inform 

 me where the life or legend of St. Kenelm, spoken 



of by Leland, in his Itinerary and Collectanea, may 

 be seen, if it is now in existence. Leland says, in 

 speaking of the murder of Kenelm, in Clinte in 

 Cowbage, near Winchelcumb (now Winchcomb), 

 Gloucestershire : — 



" He (Averey parson of Dene) tolde me that it is 

 in S. Kenelme's Lyfe that Ascaperius was married to 

 Quendreda, &c. &c." , , , , 



" He say th that it aperithe hy Seint Kenelme's Legeni 

 that Winchelcombe was oppidam muro cinctum." 



What does Clinthe or Clent in Cowbage mean 



in the Anglo-Saxon ? E. T, Jji; 



Hereford. ^ / 1 



Church. — What is the derivation of this word ? 

 and if from the Greek, how is it that it prevails 

 only in the Teutonic countries (England, Scan- 

 dinavia, the Netherlands, and Germany), while the 

 Latin Ecclesia prevails in the rest of Europe ? 



George Stephens. 



Copenhagen. 



Hieroglyphics of Vagrants and Criminals. — In 

 one of the recent deeply interesting Sanitary 

 Reports of Mr. Rawlinson to the General Board 

 of Health — reports which frequently contain 

 scraps of antiquarian, among a mass of more 

 directly utilitarian information — there is a passage 

 which opens up a curious subject, upon which, pos- 

 sibly, some of your readers may be able to furnish 

 illustrations from their literary stores. I allude 

 to that portion of his Report on the Parish of 

 Havant (Southamptonshire), in which he states : — 



" There is a sort of blackguard's literature, and the 

 initiated understand each other by slang terms, by 

 pantomimic signs, and by hieroglyphics. The vagrant's - 

 mark may be seen in Havant, on corners of streets, on 

 door-posts, and on house-steps. Simple as these chalk 

 lines appear, they inform the succeeding vagrants of all 

 they require to know ; and a few white scratches may 

 say 'be importunate,' or 'pass on.' The murderer's 

 signal is even exhibited from the gallows ; as, a red 

 handkerchief held in the hand of the felon about to be ' 

 executed, is a token that he dies without having be- 

 trayed any professional secrets." ; 



This is a curious subject; and I think it wt)uld . 

 prove interestinsc to many readers, if any illustra- 

 tion could be afforded of the above strange and ^ 

 somewhat startling statements. J. J. S^'* 



[Beloe, in his Anecdotes of Literature, vol. iL ', 

 pp. 146-157., has left us some curious notices of this 

 kind of vulgar literature, of English pure and undefiled - 

 from the " knowledge box" of Thomas Decker. But! 

 the most complete Lexicon Balatronicum et Macaroni- 

 cum was published in 1754, enriched with many "a- 

 word not in Johnson," and which leaves at a respectful ■ 

 distance the glossorial labours of Spelman, Ducange, 

 Junius, and even the renowned Francis Grose and his. 

 Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. It is en- . 



