48 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»« S. X. July 21. '60. 



of French into English, ' A Treatise of Husbandry, which 

 Mayster Groshede, sometime Bishop of Lincoln, made 

 and translated out of French in English, cap. xvi, Pr. 

 The Fader in hys old age sayth . . . 4to.' Tanner, who 

 does not tell where the book is. (See Ames's Typog. 

 Antiq. p. 108.) Among Bishop More's books in the 

 Public Library of Cambridge is a 4to. ' Buke of Hus- 

 bandry.' Under this title on a scroll is the cut of a 

 person standing in a wood or park, giving orders to a 

 woodman who is felling a tree. It contains eighteen 

 leaves. ' Here begynneth a tratyse of Husbandry which 

 Mayster Groshede, somtyme Bishop of Lyncoln, made 

 and translated it out of Frenshe into Englyshe, which 

 techeth all manner of men to governe theyr londs, tene- 

 ments, and demenes, ordinatly as the chapytres evi- 

 dently is shewed.' It concludes with, ' Here endeth the 

 buke of Husbandry, and of plantynge and graffynge of 

 trees and vynes.' No date or printer mentioned. (Her- 

 bert's Ames's Typog. Antiq. p. 217.) Perhaps (adds 

 Pegge) the Bishop first wrote it in French, and then 

 translated it into English ; however, somebody rendered 

 it into Latin it seems, ' De Agricultura (Translatio), 

 lib. i. Pater setate decrepita. MS. Coll. Magdal. Oxon. 

 67. olim iu Bibl. Monast. Syon. in Bibl. Westmin.' "] 



Bridlington. — In an old MS. of the fifteenth 

 century, being a discourse between the natural 

 enmity between England and France, occurs the 

 following passage : — 



" For Bridlington amonge all other in the verses of his 

 profesy off Englond and off Fraunce saithe thus : 

 " ' Legifer instituit terras habuisse sorores 

 Quando mors capuit sine nat' progenitores 

 Nunquam naturam mutatuit ad hue sua jurit.' " 



When did Bridlington flourish, and where may 

 I find the passage ? as I have some doubts of the 

 above Latinity. Abracadabra. 



[John de Bridlington was educated at Oxford, and 

 retired into the monastery of the Canon Regulars at 

 Bridlington in Yorkshire, and was subsequently elected 

 Prior of the same. He died, aged sixty, in 1379, and was 

 canonised. He wrote three books of Carmina Vaiicinalia, 

 in which he pretends to foretel many accidents that 

 should happen to England. MSS. Digb. Bibl. Bodl. 89 

 and 186. There are also Versus Vaticinates under his 

 name, MSS. Bodl. NE. E. ii. 17. f. 21. Conf. Britannia 

 Saneta, Oct. 10, and Wartou's Hist, of English Poetry, i. 

 70., ed. 1840.] 



Beading School.— At the time Dr. Valpj was 

 master of the grammar school at Reading, it was 

 customary to act a play, Latin, Greek, or English, 

 at the triennial visitation. Perhaps some of your 

 readers could tell me when these performances 

 were given up ? I have been informed by a gen- 

 tleman who was himself a pupil of Dr. Valpy (the 

 Rev. C. A. Wheelwright, late rector of Tansor) 

 that these exhibitions were discontinued some 

 time before the Doctor's death. In Miss Mit- 

 ford's Belford Regis there is an amusing chapter 

 relating to these performances, entitled " The 

 Greek Plays." The Gentleman! s Mag. for 1802, 

 p. 1046., contains the Prologue and Epilogue to 

 the Merchant of Venice, as acted by Dr. Valpy's 

 scholars. The Epilogue was spoken by Mr. 

 Wheelwright in the character of Portia. Could 



you oblige me with a list of the performers on this 

 occasion ? R. Inglis. 



[An old Reading scholar informs us, that before the 

 year 1830 the exhibitions Avere discontinued, as he en- 

 tered about that time ; and although Dr. Valpy had 

 ceased to come into the school, he still had a class daily 

 in his library. He continued to instruct them for the 

 triennial exhibition, then called the Reading School 

 speeches, which consisted of select portions from different 

 plays. The Greek, Latin, and English prize poems were 

 spoken by their respective authors. Under the name of 

 " Belford Regis," Miss Mitford describes Reading and its 

 inhabitants. The Merchant of Venice, altered from Shak- 

 speare, as it was acted at Reading School, in October, 

 1802, was printed in 8vo. in that 3'ear, containing the 

 Dramatis Persona : — Duke of Venice, Mr. Elmes. An- 

 tonio, Mr, Eyre. Bassanio, Mr. Crespigny. Lorenzo, 

 Mr. A. J. Valpy. Solanio, Mr. Rodie. Salarino, Mr. 

 Chester. Gratiano, Mr. Ames. Salerio, Mr. Carr. Shy- 

 lock, Mr. Shuter. Tubal, Mr. Caines. Gobbo, Mr. Whit- 

 ton. Launcelot, Mr. Hawkes. Balthazar, Mr. Andrews. 

 Stephano, Mr. Chandler. Leonardo, Mr. T. Loveday. 

 Jailor, Mr. Balleine. Portia, Mr. Wheelwright. Nerissa, 

 Mr. Loveday. Jessica, Mr. Wigan.] 



Joannes' Britannicus. — Can you inform me 

 who was Joan. Britannici, commentator of an 

 edition of Persius published in 4to, at Leyden in 

 15 1 1, of which I have a fine copy ? and whether 

 the book is of any intrinsic value ? Clarach. 



[Joannes Britannicus was an Italian scholar of some 

 distinction, born at Palazzuolo, near Brescia. He was 

 long a teacher of youth at Brescia, where he died in 1510. 

 He bore the name of Britannicus in consequence of his 

 descent from British progenitors, and published obser- 

 vations on various classical authors, as Persius, Terence, 

 Statins, Juvenal, Ovid, &c. He left also other writings, 

 and various letters, besides a panegyric of B. Cajetan. 

 (Zedler, Gesn. Bibl., Ghil. Theatr. P. I., Cozzando delta 

 Libraria Bresciana, Rubei Etog. Brixiens., Bayle.) We 

 must refer our correspondent to some bookseller for the 

 intrinsic value of his copy.] 



Fairmaids and Alewives. — These singular 

 terms are used in the trade for certain kinds of 

 dried fish. Fair-maids are explained by Halliwell 

 as dried pilchards, and the term is probably a cor- 

 ruption of the Spanish fumado, a smoked herring. 

 We might thus expect alewives to be a corruption 

 of the ^corresponding name in Spanish ; and the 

 Query I would propose is, What is the real tech- 

 nical signification of the words in question ? and 

 what is the Spanish or Portuguese designation of 

 alewives ? . H. W. 



[We cannot suggest any' Spanish or Portuguese equi- 

 valent for the terra " alewives ; " but perhaps our corre- 

 spondent will like to see an American explanation, as 

 given by J. R. Bartlett in his valuable and interesting 

 Dictionary of Americanisms. The " alewife," according 

 to this writer, is " a fish of the herring kind, abounding 

 in the waters of New England " {Alosa vemalis, Storer). 

 Mr. Bartlett is disposed to derive " alewife " from the 

 Indian aloof. " The name," he says, " appears to be an 



Indian one In former times the Indians made use 



of these fish to manure their lands. Mr. Winthrop says, 

 ' Where the ground is bad or worn out, they put two or 

 three of the fishes called aloofes under or adjacent to each 

 corn-hill.' " (See a paper on the Vse of Maiz, Phil. . 



