Apeil 10. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



347 



learn of David divine arithmetic, which consisteth in 

 the due numbering! of the days of this short life, by 

 comparing them with the years of eternity ; and so I 

 fell upon translating this book of eternity. And this I 

 found, by daily experience, to be the best hypnaticon 

 that ever I used ; for it brought me to my rest better 

 than if I had taken diacodion." In 1634 he was nomi- 

 nated Professor of Physic in the University of Cam- 

 bridge; and in 1635 published an edition of the minor 

 Greek poets. The first edition of his translation of 

 Gerard's Meditations and Prayers was published in 

 1631, and in 1640 he translated Gerard's Summe of 

 Christian Doctrine, 8vo. There is a Latin distich by 

 Winterton among the Additional MSS. in the British 

 Museum, No. 5955.] 



Emblems of a Saint. — At the sale of the late 

 Mr. Cottingham's Museum of medieval art was 

 sold on the seventh day " a corbel with a figure 

 of a saint with a basket of birds in one hand, in 

 the other a staff." Will you allow me to inquire, 

 through your valuable columns, the name of this 

 saint ? BuBiENSis. 



[Joachim, the Father of Mary, is sometimes repre- 

 sented as holding in his hand a basket with two turtle 

 ■doves in it. — See Die Attribute der Heilegen, &c., 

 Hanover, 1843.] 



Quack. — Why are certain members of the medi- 

 "Cal profession so called ? I have seen " in print" 

 that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for a doctor was a 

 duck. Does this afford a clue ? A. A. D. 



[Our English Quack, or Quacksalver as it was ori- 

 ginally written, is from the German Quacksalber, or 

 rather the Dutch Kwaksalver ; which Bilderdijk, in his 

 Geslachtlijst der Naamwoorden, states should be more 

 properly Kwabzalver (latroliptes), from Kwab, a wen, 

 and zalver, to salve or anoint. ] 



Dr. Hieron Mercurialis. — Who was Dr. Hieron 

 Mercurialis, the author of a book having the fol- 

 lowing title : Medicina Practica, seu de cognoscen- 

 dis, discernendis, et curandis, omnibus humani cor- 

 poris affectibus earumque causis indagandis ? W. S. 



[Hieron Mercurialis, an eminent and learned physi- 

 •cian, was born at Forli, in Romagna, in 1530. During a 

 sojourn of seven years at Rome, he paid great attention 

 to classical literature and the monuments of antiquity, 

 and composed the learned and elegant work which first 

 Tendered him celebrated in the literary world, De Arte 

 Gymnastica Libr. sex, printed in 1567. After filling 

 Ihe Professor's chair at Padua for eighteen years, he 

 removed, in 1587, to Bologna, and subsequently to Pisa. 

 He died in his native place in 1606. See Rose's Bio- 

 graphical Diet.] 



The Book of Sports. — This celebrated royal 

 indulgence of Sabbath-breaking was first issued 

 in 1617, and again in 1633. On its first promul- 

 gation, Archbishop Abbott forbad the reading of 

 it in the parish church of Croydon ; but in 1637 

 many clergymen were deprived of their livings for 

 not complying with the royal ordinance. In that 



year, at least, Lawrence Snelling, Rector of 

 Paul's Cray, was for that ofience excommunicated, 

 and then deprived. 



In 1643 it was ordered by the Lords and 

 Commons that this book should be burnt by the 

 common hangman in Cheapside and other usual 

 places. The Sheriffs of London and Middlesex 

 were required " to assist effectually " in the ex- 

 ecution of the order; and all persons were re- 

 quired forthwith to deliver up all copies to the 

 sheriff. The 10th of May was the day fixed for 

 putting this order into execution. Was it com- 

 plied with generally ? I cannot find that any pe- 

 nalty was attached to disobedience. Is the book 

 now scarce ? I presume it is accessible in public 

 libraries. S. S. S. 



[The earlier editions of The Book of Sports are now 

 scarce, but may be seen in most public libraries. It 

 was reprinted in 1709, with the following title: The 

 Book of Sports, set forth by James I. and Charles I., with 

 remarks upon the same in vindication of Charles I. 4to. 

 It was also reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, and in 

 The Phoenix, vol. i.] 



MEANING OF GROOM. 



(Vol. v., p. 57.) 



Several of the recent articles of the " N. & Q." 

 having had relation to the word groom, I may be 

 allowed to submit to you a most ludicrous mis- 

 conception of the duties attributed by our con- 

 tinental neighbours to our court-office of " Groom 

 of the Stole," which struck me some years ago. 

 One of the most laborious, and, from his ex- 

 tensive historical knowledge, one of the most 

 competent editors of French memoirs, is M. F. 

 Barriere, whose introductory discourses have 

 been used so frequently by the writers on French 

 subjects in the Quarterly Review, though not 

 always with fi-ank avowal of the obligation. In 

 1828 he published Les Memoires du Comte de 

 JBrienne, a distinguished public man during the 

 minority and early reign of Louis XIV., and there, at 

 p. 372. of the second volume, referring to Brienne's 

 father's Memoires, tome i. p. 407. (Amsterdam, 

 1719, Svo.), produces the following singular mis- 

 apprehension of our habits and language. In 

 1624 the elder of these noblemen, it seems, was 

 deputed by Louis XIII. to adjust the preparatory 

 arrangements of our Charles I.'s marriage with 

 Henrietta Maria, the French monarch's sister, 

 who, it was stipulated, should be attended equally 

 by French and English ladles. Among the former 

 are named the Duchess of Chevreuse,the Marechale 

 de Themines (wife of the Marshal), and Madame 

 de Saint- Georges, who had been the princess's 

 governess and lady of honour, — a title unknown, it 

 is said, at the English court, but for which the 



