2ndS.X.Ac6. 11.'60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



119 



Longevity of CLERicAii Incumbents (2"* S. 

 \x. passim.) — Having been lately shown a collec- 

 tion of what appeared to be excerpta, of a person 

 accustomed to jot down whatever he met with 

 which he thought remarkable, I noticed a curious 

 statement of the duration of life of four incum- 

 bents, and these consecutively holding one and 

 the same benefice. You have given some very 

 observable instances (1" S. xi. 407. &c.) of this 

 nature, to which I consider these may reasonably 

 be appended : — 



" Vicars of Worfield, near Bridgnorth, diocess of Lich- 

 field, from 1564 to 1763, a period of 199 Years. 

 No. 1. 1564 to 1608, being 44 years. 



2. 1608 to 1644, ditto 66 ditto. 



3. 1664 to 1707, ditto 43 ditto. 



4. 1707 to 1763, ditto 56 ditto. 



Total - - - 199 years." 

 I may observe, en passant^ that in some situations? 

 such as the fens of Lincolnshire, or the marshes 

 of the counties of Cambridge or Essex, incumbents 

 desirous of dispensations for residence on their 

 cures, on the score of unhealthiness of certain 

 localities and their tendency to abridge life, may 

 have very valid pleas for such licence ; but one 

 can scarce think a vicar of Worfield can allege 

 such an argument for leave of absence from his 

 charge. 2. 2. 



DiATEssARON (2"^ S. X. 69.) — The Eev. J. D. 

 Macbride, D.C.L., Principal of Magdalen Hall, 

 was the author oi Lectures explanatory of the Diu- 

 tessaron. A copy of the 1824 edition is in the 

 Bodleian Library ; but as I have not access to 

 one in London, I cannot assist Mr. Lloyd in 

 filling up the lacunce in his copy. Dr. Macbride's 

 name is on the title of the 1848 edition of the Lec- 

 tures. G. M. G. 



WiTTON (2°" S.x. 68.) — Has the first syllable 

 any relation to " wich," or " wych," as we call it,, 

 in connection with the salt districts ? I am think- 

 ing of Witton, which is almost the parish church 

 of Northwich ? Charles Paslam. 



Socrates (2"^ S. x. 69.) — I have before me a 

 pamphlet entitled Le Demon de Socrate, Paris, 

 8vo., 1829, pp. 94. The anonymous author of 

 this production is somewhat disposed to treat 

 Socrates as a mystic, and labours to prove that 

 Tiis Damon is identical with the Dieu of Fcnelon. 

 This, however, can hardly be the work sought 

 after by Fitzhopkins, for neither does it an- 

 swer in bulk, in date, nor in manner of treatment, 

 with his description. So far, too, as regards the 

 date, the following is at variance, D7i Demon de 

 Socrate, par L. F. Lelut, Membre de I'lnstitut, 

 Paris, 8vo., 1856. Here the psychological history 

 of the philosopher is investigated, and an attempt 

 made to demonstrate mental alienation from his 

 belief in a special religious mission ; his halluci- 



nations of hearing and sight; his reveries and 

 ecstasies ; and his belief in prophetic power. The 

 soundness of this deduction is attacked in a paper 

 in Forbes Winslow's Journal of Psychological Me- 

 dicine for July, 1857, p. 454., reference to which 

 in the absence of M. Lelut's book may afford 

 satisfaction. If neither of these should be the 

 book which Fitzhopkins desires to find, — and 

 I have some idea that the latter named, in 

 spite of the discrepancy of dates, may be, — that 

 gentleman may still be gratified by the communi- 

 cation of the titles of other dissertations upon the 

 same vexed question. William Bates. 



Edgbaston. 



I have just observed in " N. & Q." an inquiry 

 signed Fitzhopkins, concerning a work entitled 

 Du Demon de Socrate. It is written by Dr. F. 

 Lelut, Member of the Institute, and one of the 

 physicians of the insane at the Hospital of the 

 Salpetriere, Paris. The first edition appeared iu 

 1836, and has long been scarce. A new edition 

 has recently appeared, and may doubtless be pro- 

 cured at Bailliere's in Regent Street, who pub- 

 lished in 1846 another work of the same author of 

 a similar character, entitled L'Amulette de Pascal, 

 pour servir d VHistoire des Hallucinations. 



DiTCHFlELD, M.D. 



The Rev. E. W. Barnard (2"<» S.Ix. 94.290.)— 

 It may interest some of your readers to know that 

 this gentleman has been lost to literature and to 

 the Church, not only twelve or fifteen, but twenty- 

 five or thirty years. Also that his delightful little 

 volume on the Saints and Martyrs commemorated 

 by our English Church, containing biographical 

 notices of them, and hymns upon each of them, 

 was published in the year 1822 by F. C. & J. 

 Rivington, of whom it may probably still be ob- 

 tained. My own copy is, indeed, the only one I 

 ever met with. But I have often thought that it 

 deserved to be better known, and (if out of print) 

 to be reprinted. The modest introduction to this 

 classical little work, The Protestant Beadsman, is 

 dated " Brantingthorpe, Nov. 5. 1821." 



J. James. 



Avington. 



Country T^w^ern Signs (2"* S. ix. 459.) — Mr. 

 Jewitt seems to, and Mr. Fodder does, mistake 

 the " Mortar and Pestle " when used as a sign in 

 Derbyshire. It has no connexion with chemistry. 

 It is much 'the same sort of thing as Robinson 

 Crusoe tried to make when he wanted to convert 

 some of his barley into bread. It is, in fact, the 

 apparatus used for rubbing or crushing, not grind- 

 ing, the wheat' to make "fiirmity" or " frumity " 

 (a very good mess composed of crushed wheat 

 boiled in milk, with cream, sugar, and spice after- 

 wards added, much as " rice-milk "), a dish much 

 patronised at Christmas time. 



In the country districts of Derbyshire, at all 



