May 1. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



421 



From our imperfect acquaintance with the early 

 history of the Goths, it is not easy to decide upon 

 the reasons why they adopted their mode of reckon- 

 ing from thirty-eight years before the Christian 

 epoch ; but if we accept the signification which we 

 know it was not unusual to affix to the word Era, 

 namely, that of year, time, or period, the solution 

 is easy as to its origin. It was only the engrafting 

 of their own vernacular word into the barbarous 

 Latin of the time, from whence also it was adopted 

 into the Romance, Castilian, or Spanish. 



It may also be observed that Liutprand uses the 

 word in this sense : in speaking of the Mosque of 

 San Sophia at Constantinople, and how the course 

 of the reign of its rulers was noted there, so as to 

 be manifest to all, he concludes : 



" Sic ^RAM qui non viderunt intelligunt." 



So Dudo, De Actis Normannorum, lib. v. p. 111.: 



" Transacta denique duarum Herarum intercapedine, 



mirabilibusque incrementis augmentata profusus Ri- 



cardo Infante, cocpit Dux Willelmus de Regni cora- 



modo salubriter tractare." 



It is also remarkable that we find it in use only 

 in those places under the domination of the Goths, 

 as in the southern provinces of France, — the 

 Council of Aries, for instance. — V. Mansi Collect. 

 Condi., t. xiv. col. 57. 



The earliest inscription in which it has been 

 found was at Lebrija, in the kingdom of Seville, 

 and the date corresponds with that of the year 465 

 from the birth of Christ. It runs thus : 



ALEXANDRA . CHRISSIMA . FEMINA 



VIXIT . ANNOS . PLVS . MINVS . XXV 



RECESSIT . IN . PACE . X . KAL . lANVAR 



ERA . Dili . PROBVS . FILIVS . VIXIT 



ANNOS . DVOS . MENSEM . VNVM. 



It is possible there may be some error even here, 

 for no other inscription yet recorded is so early by 

 eighty years. 



Had it been in use at an earlier period, the 

 Spaniard, Paulus Orosius, whose History ends with 

 A.D. 417, would doubtless have used it; whereas 

 we find that he makes use of the Anno Mundi, of 

 the Olympiads, and of the A. U. C. of the Romans. 



All circumstances, therefore, considered, we may 

 safely conclude that in the Spanish Era we have 

 nothing more than the adoption of the jera of 

 Ulfilas, by whom it is used for iros and ■xp6vos. 

 The Gothic word being written with the consonant 

 y ( 9 ) will account for the form in which, to mark 

 the aspiration. Era is often found with the initial 

 H. Whoever may desire to trace the etymology 

 further will do well to consult Dieffenbach's very 

 valuable Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Gothischen 

 Sprache. S. W. Singer. 



LADY ARABELLA STUART. 



(Vol. i., pp. 10. 274.) 

 It may be interesting to some of the readers of 

 " N. & Q." to peruse the following observations 



made by the Venetian ambassador resident in 

 England in 1606, respecting that " child_ of woe" 

 the Lady Arabella Stuart, whose romantic history 

 forms one of the most pleasing of D'Israeli'is 

 Curiosities of Literature. The extract I send 

 you is taken from a little French work, which pi'o- 

 fesses to be a translation from the manuscript 

 " Italian Relation of England " by Marc- Antonio 

 Correr, the Venetian ambassador, and was printed 

 at Montbeliard in 1668. The Lady Arabella is 

 here spoken of as Madame Isdbelle. 



" La personne la plus proche de sang de sa Majeste 

 apres ses enfans, est Madame Isabelle, laquelle descend, 

 ainsi que le Roy, de Marguerite fille de Henry VII., 

 estant nee d'un frere naturel du pere de S. M., par o\x 

 elle luy est Cousine. Elle est agce de 28 ans ; elle 

 n*est pas bien belle, mais en recompense elle est ornee 

 de mille belles vertus, car outre qu'elle est noble et 

 dans ses actions et dans ses moeurs, elle possede plu- 

 sieurs Langues en perfection, S9avoir le Latin, I'ltalien, 

 le Fran9ois, et I'Espagnol ; elle entend le Grec et 

 I'Hebreu, et estudie sans cesse. Elle n'est pas beau- 

 coup riche, car la Reyne deffunte prenant jalousie de 

 tout le monde, et principalement de ceux qui avoient 

 quelque pretention a la couronne, luy osta sous divers 

 pretextes, la plus grand part de ses revenus ; c'est pour- 

 quoy la pauvre Darae ne peut pas vLvre dans la splen- 

 deur, et n'a pas le moyen de faire du bien a ceux qui 

 la servent, comme elle voudroit. Le Roy temoigne 

 avoir de I'afFection et de I'estime pour elle, le laissant 

 vivre en cour, ce que la Reyne deffunte ne luy voulut 

 jamais permettre. Le Roy luy avoit promis de luy 

 rendre ses biens et de luy donner un mary ; elle est 

 neantmoins encore privee et de I'un et de I'autre." — 

 Relation (T Angleterre, p. 82. 



Her Flight. — Phineas Pette, the shipwright at 

 Chatham, received orders to assist in the capture 

 of the unfortunate lady ; and it would appear, from 

 his manuscript Diary (Harl. MS. 6279.), that he 

 did his best to execute them. His statement is as 

 follows : — 



" The 4th of June (161 1), being Tuesday, being pre- 

 pared to have gone to London the next day, about mid- 

 night one of the King's messengers was sent down to 

 me from the Lord Treasurer to man the light horsemen 

 [Query, what kind of boats were these?] with 20 

 musquetteers, and to run out as low as the Noor Head 

 to search all shipps, barks, and other vessells for the 

 Lady Arabella that had then made a scape, and was 

 bound over for France ; which service I performed 

 accordingly, and searched Queenborough, and other 

 vessells I could meet withall ; then went over to Lee, 

 in Essex, and searched the Towne ; and when we 

 could hear no news of her went to Gravesend, and 

 thence took post-horse to Greenwich, where his Majesty 

 then lay, and delivered the account of my journey to 

 the Lord Treasurer by his Maj"" command, and see 

 was dismissed, and went that night to RatclifFe," &c. 



The messenger above alluded to, whose name 

 was John Price, received 6^. for his pains in making 

 " haste, post-haste," to Gravesend, Rochester, and 

 Queenborough. (See Devon's Pell Records.) 



