Mar, 13. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



249 



poffoum^' from the holder of the Scilly islands ; 

 and " un arc' de arbouiu," presumed to be a bow 

 of laburnum wood, from the town of Truro. 



S. R. P. 

 Launceston. 



[TTie meaning of the first passage quoted by our 

 correspondent is clearly, "una parva capella quarum 

 parietes sunt de maheremio et plastro, et maheremium 

 inde fere disjungitur," i. e. "one small chapel whose 

 walls are of timber and plaster (or, as we say, built of 

 lath and plaster), and the timbers thereof for the most 

 part disjointed." Under the word Materia, Ducange 

 gives Maeremium, Maheremium, and many other forms 

 of the word, which is used for timber. 



Un arc de Arbouin. — If our correspondent will refer 

 to Ducange sub Arcus, he will find him, sub " Arcus 

 de Aubour," citing Monast. Ang., torn, ii. p. 602., and 

 explaining it, "arcus bellici species. Regestum Phi- 

 lippi August?, fol. 159. Habet sagittam et arcum de 

 aubour cum corda." He next cites Le Roman de 

 Gariw (MS.): 



" Arc d' Aubour porte et sajetes d'acier," &c. 



A learned friend whom we have consulted reminds 

 us that besides the common Laburnum, which it is 

 obvious could not be the wood referred to, there is 

 another sort known to our gardeners as " Cytisus Al- 

 pinus," Scotch Laburnum, which grows into an actual 

 tree, and supplies the hard black wood used by the 

 French as ebony, and called by them False Ebony. It 

 is of notorious hardness, and would have done well for 

 bows. It is a native of Dauphine, and indigenous 

 also in the Alps, and, even if unknown in England in 

 the reign of Edward III., was probably used in the 

 Alpine countries for bows, and possibly imported into 

 England for the same purpose.] 



MORAVIAN HYMNS. 



(Vol. v., pp.30. 113.) 



As no reply has been given to your various cor- 

 respondents on the above subject by one of the 

 Brethren's church, permit a friend to give a few 

 particulars with which he has become acquainted. 



The first authorised English edition of the Mo- 

 ravian hymn-book is that of 1754, in the preface 

 to which it is stated, that though there had been 

 some English Collections of Hymns, partly original, 

 and partly translations from the German, in use 

 among the societies in union with the Brethren's 

 church, " these were never regularly authorised, 

 nor always passably reviewed." This book is a 

 bulky 8vo. : it is in two parts ; the first consisting 

 of 380 pages, and the second of upwards of 400 ; 

 together containing about 1200 hymns and Scrip- 

 ture anthems. The next edition appeared in 1769 ; 

 and a third twenty years later. There have been 

 several editions during the present century, in 

 8vo., 12mo., and 18mo., the last of which was pub- 

 lished in 1819; and the preface states that the 



whole of the hymns had been revised by " Bi'other 

 James Montgomery" of Sheffield. 



To the inquiry of C. B. as to the honesty of 

 Rimius, I would refer him to an excellent essay by 

 the llev. P. Latrobe, appended to Jackson's trans- 

 lation of the Life of Count Zinzendorf by Spang- 

 enberg. (London, 1838.) 



The memory of your Thurles correspondent is 

 at fault, as may be supposed, from a twenty-five 

 years' recollection. Bishop Gambold could not 

 have published a Moravian hymn-book in 1738, 

 for he did not join the Brethren's church till 

 November, 1742; nor was he consecrated a bishop 

 till 1754. — See his Life, appended to his Works, 

 printed by S. Hazard, of Bath, 1789. 



When Southey's animadversions appeared, they 

 were rbplied to by " William Okely, M.D., Pres- 

 byter of the Brethren's Church, and Minister of 

 their Congregation at Bristol," in a letter written 

 in a good-humoured style, yet caustic withal. 

 Unfortunately, as long as Southey's work lasts the 

 poison will remain, while the antidote will be for- 

 gotten. The Doctor observes : 



" What could possibly induce you, with such ill- 

 judged eagerness, to rake into the kennels of oblivion ? 

 Why do you exhibit among your authorities the pub- 

 lications of such a vile fellow as Rimius? Was you 

 not informed that he wrote with all the rancour of a 

 renegado, and all the spite of an enemy ? Is such a 

 man proper to be publicly called forth as a witness 

 against a church which he had deserted from no excess 

 of virtue ; against a church which, yourself being 

 judge, has, by its silent but honorable exertions, first 

 glorified God among the heathen, and then stimulated 

 the rest of the Christian world to engage in similar 

 attempts ; against a church which, according to your 

 own representations, possesses in herself the rare prin- 

 ciple of gradual melioration, and, by a constant course 

 of good living, has, in the face of watchful enemies, 

 been able to rise superior to the consequences of former 

 acknowledged indiscretions in language? Did you 

 know that those writings were sinking fast into de- 

 served neglect? That the copies had become so rare, 

 that it was scarcely possible to obtain one ? What 

 merit, I ask you, is there in such publications, that 

 you should thus studiously fish them out of the mud 

 which was already closing over them, and after care- 

 fully scraping off the filth and mould which they had 

 contracted, spread over them a coating of your own 

 poetical varnish ? . ..... 



" What motive shall we assign for your conduct ? 

 You could not have intended to warn the Christian 

 world against indulging in similar imprudences ; for 

 you well know that in the present day, society has not 

 the smallest tendency that way. You could not mean 

 to warn the Brethren against the recurrence of the 

 same absurdities ; for you acknowledge yourself that 

 they have already for a long period risen superior to 

 them ; and instead of the least tendency to relapse, 

 they have repeatedly and publicly confessed tlieir 

 mistake, and have suffered so much, and such often un- 

 merited obloquy, on account of their long-exploded 



