4^4 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 134. 



true name from which Cagots, the t being mute, is 

 but a slight deviation ; while some other forms 

 have scarcely retained more than the initial Ca. 

 The etymology from the Goths (most absurd in 

 substance, and worthy of the days when Lan- 

 guedoc was fetched from Land-got, Land of the 

 Goths,) has reference only to one of the French 

 spellings. 



Cacosus, meaning a leper, as well as a Cacous or 

 Cagot, was from KaKhv, KCLKUKri^, in Greek ; and 

 from it came cacosomium, contracted for cacoso- 

 comium, not a mere noso-comium, but an asylum 

 for lepers. See Ducange. 



But the Cacous in question were not only lepers, 

 but families in which leprosy was considered here- 

 ditary. For this reason they are called Giezites, 

 les Gezits, les Gesitains, from Giezi, servant of 

 Elisha and his posterity. (See Michel, vol. i. pp. 56. 

 148. 238. &c.) A simple leper was Lazarius or 

 ladre. The latter were, like Lazarus, merely 

 afflicted ; but the former were deemed to be under 

 an abiding curse, like Giezi. 



But those who were Giezites by condition, as 

 inheriting and transmitting the disease, were by 

 many of the vulgar imagined to be Giezites by 

 blood, and the real posterity of Elisha's servant, 

 "Cagots de Chanaan." By an equally natural 

 result, persons actually free from disease were 

 shunned as Cacous ; since the stigma attached to 

 the race, not to the individual. Indeed, the wear- 

 ing out of the malady has created the whole 

 obscurity of the case. 



Their most curious title, Crestiaas or Christians, 

 was_ not given them in direct affirmation, but in 

 denial of a negative, "not non-christian." Be- 

 cause, being considered of Giezi's lineage, not 

 only Jews, but Jews under a curse, many would 

 be disposed to repell them from communion. See 

 Dom Lepelletier's Diet. Bretonne, in Cacous. 



Whether hereditary lepra was rightly thought 

 to exist, or whether the negligence of the more 

 abject and squalid families in communicating it 

 to each other falsely raised that idea, is a separate 

 question, which I must leave to physicians. A. N. 



SHERIFFS AND I.ORDS LIEUTENANT. 



(Vol. v., p. 394.) 



Dalton saith : 



" Vice comites have the same authority that the 

 antient comites had ; and at this day there are some 

 relicts of that dignity, for he hath album baculum, and 

 the grant of the office is commisimus vobis [comita- 

 tum]. And also he takes place of every nobleman 

 during the time that he is in office." 



The Writ of Assistance ran thus : 



" To archbishops, bishops, dukes, earls, barons, 

 knights, freeholders, and all others of our county of 

 G. Whereas we have committed to our well-beloved 



A. B. the custody of our said county, with the appur- 

 tenances, during our pleasure, We command you that 

 ye be aidinsf, answering, and assisting to the said A. B. 

 as our sheriff of our said county in all things which 

 appertain to the said office." 



This form was abolished in 1833. The Lord 

 Lieutenant is a military officer, who appears to 

 have grown into permanence under the Tudors- 

 The office of Custos Rotulorum, which, though 

 quite distinct, is usually joined with it, is much 

 more ancient ; its duties are to keep the records 

 of the sessions, which involve the appointment of 

 the clerk of the peace, and the power of recom- 

 mending to the Great Seal of persons to be in- 

 serted in the commission of the peace. 



As for instances of such precedence being 

 claimed, it is not easy to recollect what is usually 

 taken as a thing so much of course. Perhaps the 

 instance of a Duke, who had been Lord Lieute- 

 nant forty years, apologising to a Sherifi' for having 

 inadvertently taken precedence, may serve. 



Vice. Com. Deputat. 



In answer to L, J.'s inquiry, upon what autho- 

 rity the precedency of the Sheriff over the Lord 

 Lieutenant is maintained ; may it not partly be 

 founded on the office of Sheriff being of greater 

 antiquity, and on this officer having the command 

 over, and the power of summoning all the people 

 of the county above the age of fifteen, and under 

 the degree of a peer ? The office of Lord Lieu- 

 tenant was first created in the third year of King 

 Edward VI., to suppress, as Strype tellsus, " the 

 routs and uproars" in most of the counties. We 

 might suppose that the Sheriff already possessed 

 sufficient power for this purpose : the means then 

 adopted to promote tranquillity were not well 

 calculated to be popular among the people. No 

 drum or pipe was to be struck or sounded. Plays 

 were forbidden. In the churches of Devonshire 

 and Cornwall, Lord Russell was to take down 

 every bell In a steeple but one, so as to prevent 

 a peal being rung. 



The precedency in question is acted upon to 

 the present hour ; and a Lord Lieutenant, how- 

 ever high his rank in the peerage, gives place to 

 the Sheriff as a matter of course. But do not 

 both these officers yield precedence to her Majesty's 

 justices of assize, when actually engaged on the 

 circuit ? J- H. M. 



ST. CHRISTOPHER. 



(Vol. v., pp.295. 334.372.) 



Two questions are asked by E. A. H. L. con- 

 cerning St. Christopjier : 1. Are there any known 

 representations of St. Christopher in painted glass ? 

 There is a very interesting example in a window 

 in St. NeoCs Church, Cornwall. It represents St. 

 Christopher with the child Jesus on his back, and. 



