2°d S. X. Sept. 29. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



253 



that Saturday was kept as the feast and rest day of 

 the Jewish Christians, whilst Sunday was so kept 

 by the Gentile Christians, the latter day having al- 

 ready obtained the ascendant at Rome in the time 

 of Augustin, although at Milan both practices 

 then prevailed. This also explains the meaning 

 of St. Augustin when speaking of " dies septem 

 vel octo" as Easter festivals. (Serm. ccxxxii. 

 in Dieb. Pasch. and elsewhere.) I think the pas- 

 sage quoted, as from Telesphorus, a.d. 127, needs 

 no comment, for the writer, whoever he was, ap- 

 pears not to know that the keeping of Lent was 

 voluntary, et non " statutum esse." And I re- 

 spectfully submit that the authorities'! have ad- 

 duced, and the purpose for which I have adduced 

 them, are not on all fours with cockney descrip- 

 tions of Moscow. I wish to avoid all inflammable 

 matter, but notice of the public crimes of church- 

 men cannot at all times be suppressed. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 

 Lichfield. 



CHURCH CHANCELS. 

 (2»d S. X. 68.) 



The parish church of Meopham, Kent, affords a 

 remarkable instance of an inclined chancel, and 

 since the high pews and other incumbrances have 

 been removed, the deviation (which is nineteen 

 inches from the centre line of the nave) has be- 

 come so palpable that no one on visiting the 

 church can fail to observe it. 



Whatever might have been the object of this 

 departure from the straight line in the construc- 

 tion of some (not all) of our ancient chancels, 

 there can be no doubt of its being an architectural 

 defect ; and I can scarcely think it would have 

 been adopted, except for the purpose of introduc- 

 ing the symbol to which your correspondents have 

 already alluded. There are too many instances of 

 its occurrence to admit of the probability of its 

 having been a mere blunder on the part of the 

 builders, and unless it can be shown that the 

 several churches in which the same obliquity oc- 

 curs were dedicated to the same saint, and that 

 the inclination corresponds with the sun's rising 

 on the particular day of such dedication, this 

 theory must likewise be abandoned. 



It might possibly assist the investigators of this 

 subject if a list of all the churches where the pe- 

 culiarity in question exists could be obtained, as 

 well as the dates of their erection. As far as my 

 research has gone, I am inclined to believe that it 

 occurs principally in those churches which were 

 erected in the reign of Edward III. If this should 

 prove correct, might not an order from the metro- 

 politan have been given that in the erection of 

 churches there should be an inclination at the 

 eastern end, which should symbolise the leaning 

 of our Lord's head on the cross ? a practice which 



once begun might have been continued for some 

 time after. J. Hoopeb, 



Vicar of Meopham. 



The parish church of Eastbourne, Sussex, is an 

 instance of a church with the chancel inclined. I 

 think the inclination is towards the north. 



W. L. Y. 



ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL. 

 (2°« S. X. 211.) 



The authority, as well of the founder Colet him- 

 self, as of his near friend and coadjutor in the 

 work, Erasmus, and of I believe every contem- 

 porary chronicler who records the foundation, is 

 alike wanting to show that Colet fixed the number 

 of scholars for his school with particular reference 

 to the miraculous draught of fish recorded by the 

 Apostle John, xxi. 11. No doubt the coincidence 

 is somewhat singular, but it is fair to presume 

 that if reference to the miracle was intended, the 

 circumstance would have been alluded to by the 

 founder or some contemporary. In the excellent 

 statutes drawn up by Colet himself for the go- 

 vernance of his school (the original in his own 

 hand is preserved in the British Museum, and they 

 are printed at length by Dr. Samuel Knight in the 

 Appendix to his Life of Colet), he twice refers to 

 the number of scholars, and in the following 

 words : — 



" John Colett, the sonne of Henrye Colett, Dean of 

 Paules, desiring nothyng more thanne Education and 

 bringing uppe Ciiildren in good maners and Literature ia 

 the yere of our Lorde a.m. fyve hundreth and twelve, 

 jjylded a schole in the Estende of Paulis Churche of cliii. 

 to be taught fre in the same " — 



And — 



" There shall b6 taught in the schole children of all 

 Nations and Centres indifferentl}', to the number of cliii., 

 according to the number of the seates in the Schole." 



I cannot find that he ever alludes to it else- 

 where. Erasmus has left frequent notices of Colet 

 and his school, particularly In a letter to Jodocus 

 Jonas, written shortly after Colet's death, and 

 containing the most authentic particulars we pos- 

 sess of his life. In giving in the letter a descrip- 

 tion of the school he says : " sed sic uti schola no7i 

 capiat nisi cerium numerum." I cannot find that 

 one of the chroniclers who record the foundation, 

 including Cooper, Holingshed, Grafton, and par- 

 ticularly Geo. Lily, the son of William Ijlly the 

 grammarian, Colet's friend and first high master, 

 mention any peculiarity in the selection of the 

 number of scholars. 



Thomas Smith, Librarian of Cambridge, a Pau- 

 line, who appears to have been a diligent searcher 

 into Colet's Iiistory, and who in 1662 published an 

 edition of the Dean's sermon on conforming and 

 reforming, preceded by a Life consisting of a free 



