May 22. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



491 



record of an earlier adoption of this method of 

 .ascertaining the way of the wind ? B. B. 



Richard of Cirencester de Situ Britnnnice. — Is 

 1;his work a forgery or not ? Charles Julius Ber- 

 tram, Professor of English in the Royal Marine 

 Academy at Copenhagen, wrote to Dr. Stukeley 

 in 1747 that such a manuscript was in the hands 

 of a friend of his. It was not until some time had 

 elapsed, and after Dr. Stukeley was presented to 

 St. George's Church, Queen Square, that he 

 *' pressed Mr. Bertram to get the manuscript into 

 his own hands, if possible ; which, at length, with 

 some difficulty, he accomplished;" and sent to 

 Dr. Stukeley, in letters, a transcript of the whole. 

 Authors go on quoting from this work as genuine 

 authority, and therefore are perhaps misleading 

 themselves and their readers ; and it would be 

 •conferring a great boon if " N. & Q." could clear 

 up the doubt as to its authenticity. 



Mr. Worsaae, the eminent Danish author, or his 

 English translator, are exactly in the position to 

 render this further service to antiquarian litera- 

 ture ; and, as relating to the subject of Roman 

 Britain, the question is of so much interest that a 

 little trouble would not, probably, be deemed 

 uselessly expended in the inquiry. G. I. 



Spanish Vessels wrecked on the Irish Coast. — 

 Is it true that sixteen Spanish vessels, with 5300 

 men on board, were wrecked on the coast of 

 Ireland in 1589, and all put to the sword or 

 hanged by the executioner, at the command of the 

 Lord Deputy ; who found that they had saved 

 and got on shore a good deal of their treasure 

 •which he wanted to secure for himself. Where 

 is any account of it to be found? How came 

 Spanish ships so far north ? Cteus Redding. 



Analysis of Newton's Principia. — In ihe Journal 

 des Savants for April of this year, the celebrated 

 mathematician Blot, in a review of the Correspon- 

 dence of Sir Isaac Newton and Cotes (Cambridge, 

 1850), makes mention, with the highest praise, of 

 an analysis of Sir Isaac's Principia contained in 

 the Acta Emditorum for 1688. Mons. Biot says 

 that at that time there were only two men who 

 could have written such an analysis, Halley and 

 Newton himself; but adds, that the style is not 

 Halley's, being too concise and simple for him. 

 His admiration could not have been contained 

 "within such bounds. M. Biot firmly believes that 

 the writer of this analysis was no other than 

 Newton himself (ex ungue Leoneni)., and earnestly 

 •calls on the learned of England and Germany to 

 assist in discovering the origin of the analysis ; 

 should there perhaps be any means left for doing 

 &o in the literary depots of the two countries. 

 Permit a contributor to " N. & Q." to repeat 

 M. Blot's inquiry through the medium of a pub- 

 lication far more extensively circulated in Eng- 

 land than the Journal des Savants. J. M. 



Minor ^xittiti ^niixitttts, 



Welsh Women's Hats. — What was the origin of 

 the peculiar hat so universally worn by women 

 of the lower orders in Wales ; and at what period 

 did it come into use ? Teebok. 



[A gentleman who has resided for the last half cen- 

 tury in the Principality, and to whom we submitted 

 our correspondent's Query, has kindly forwarded the 

 following reply : — "I have consulted bards, Welsh 

 scholars, &c., and am sorry that 1 cannot forward any 

 satisfactory account of the custom alluded to by Treeor. 

 Some say, we remember the time when the women 

 wore ordinary felt hats manufactured from their own 

 wool : one or two travelling hatters occasionally set- 

 tled at Bangor, who made and sold beaver hats. We 

 do not think that the women here intended to adopt 

 any particular costume ; but retained the hat as agree- 

 ing with the peculiar close cap, and projecting border, 

 which it leaves in view, and in possession of its own ■up- 

 rightness ! The fashion is going out ; all our young 

 people adopt the English bonnet with the English 

 language. The flat hat, with a broad biim, is still re- 

 tained in the mountain regions."] 



Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. — Perhaps some of 

 your readers will kindly inform the Pancake Eat- 

 ing Public as to the period " when," and the reason. 

 "why" such a custom grew into existence? 



I have frequently heard the question mooted 

 upon this anniversary, without ever hearing, or 

 being able to give, a satisfactory elucidation of it ; 

 but it Is to be hoped that "N. & Q." will supply 

 the desideratum ere long, and confer a favour on i 

 A LovEE OF Pancakes and an UPHOujEa 

 OF Ancient Customs. 



Temple, Shrove Tuesday, 1852. 



[Fosbrooke, in his EncyclopcBdia of Antiquities, vol. ii- 

 p. 572., informs us that " Pancakes, the Norman 

 CrispellcB, are taken from the Fornacalia, on Feb. 18, 

 in memory of the practice in use before the goddess 

 Fornax invented ovens." The Saxons called February 

 " Solmonath," which Dr. Frank Sayers, in his Disqui' 

 sitions, says is explained by Bede " Mensis placen- 

 tarum," and rendered by Spelman, in an inedited manu- 

 script, " Pancake Month," because in the course of it 

 cakes were offered by the Pagan Saxons to the sun. 

 So much for the " when : " now for the reason " why '* 

 the custom was adopted by the Christian church. 



Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, as it is 

 sometimes called, from being the vigil of Ash Wed- 

 nesday, was a day when every one was bound to con- 

 fess, and be .shrove or shriven. That none might 

 plead forgetfulness of this duty, the great bell was rung 

 at an early hour in every parish, called the Pancake 

 Bell, for the following reasons given by Taylor, the 

 Water Poet, in his Jacke-a- Lent (Works, p. 115. fol. 

 1630). He tells us, " On Shrove Tuesday there is a 

 bell rung, called the Pancake Bell, the sound whereof 

 makes thousands of people distracted, and forgetful 

 either of manner or humanitie. Then there is a thinge 

 called wheaten floure, which the sulphory, necroman- 

 tlcke cookes doe mingle with water, egges, spice, and 



