2='' S. X. Nov. 17. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



391 



of limiting bird to partridge in sporting colloquy, 

 and not a bit more to be imposed on educated so- 

 ciety at large, though perfectly excusable within 

 the sacred precinct. 



As to the usage of this same society, I shall 

 not attempt to prove that most well-educated 

 Englishmen talk of riding in carriages. Of the 

 vulgar of course it is admitted : so we are not 

 surprised that the Duchess is to — 



" Ride in a coach to take the air." 

 Nor will those, if any, of your readers who have 

 not heard it in the nursery, be prepared to reject 

 my positive assertion that in that atmosphere 

 there is a legend of a " Geoi'gy-porgy " who was 

 to " ride in a coachy-pochy." And the word drive 

 is as distinctively used. Many years ago there 

 was a company formed for setting up stage 

 coaches at lower fares. The regular whips got 

 up a satirical song, of which the two first lines 

 were — 



" The Stage-Coach Companj', wishing for to thrive, 

 Will take j-ou for nothing, and let yovL drive" 



Let us now turn to those writers who guide 

 our language. Johnson and Macaulay are, I 

 think, fair instances enough : at any rate, when 

 they both support a phrase, I can think of no 

 better authority. In less than a minute from 

 book in hand, I found in Johnson's Tour that he 

 and Boswell were " satisfied with the company of 

 each other, as well riding in the chaise as sitting 

 at an inn." And in less than two minutes I found 

 in Macaulay that " the richest inhabitants ex- 

 hibited their wealth, not by riding in gilded car- 

 riages, but by walking the streets with trains of 

 servants." 



A ship is best oil" as to absence of ambiguity. 

 For when at anchor, she does not drive if she 

 ride, nor does she ride if she drive. 



A. De Morgan. 



STONE COFFINS. 



(2"<» S. X. 228. 296.) 



In the passages of the catacombs [in Italy, the 

 bodies are interred by cutting a sort of groove 

 in the solid rock the length and width of a man, 

 and about eighteen inches or two feet high. In 

 this the body is placed as in a sort of cupboard, 

 and the front is closed with a slab of stone or 

 marble, or sometimes of terra cotta, in which 

 are inscribed the names of the dead and the em- 

 blems of their occupations. In the ' cubicula," 

 or small chapels in the catacombs, a semicircular 

 niche is often cut in the solid rock, under which a 

 sort of small sarcophagus is excavated, where the 

 body is deposited, and the top covered with a 

 slab of stone. The front is sculptured and some- 

 times painted, and the whole forms a kind of 



mural altar tomb, on the top of which mass is 

 even now often said. The Franks, Burgundians, 

 and the Saxon nations interred in stone. The 

 Salic Laws (tit. 58. c. 3.) speak of burials " in 

 petra aut in naufo," — in a stone, or wooden coffin. 

 See Ducange, sub voce " NofTus." The Laws of 

 Henry I. 83. sec. 5., use the words " noffb, vel 

 petra." See also the valuable introduction to 

 Akerman's Pagan Saxondom. But whether by 

 the word " petra " a solid stone coffin is meant, or 

 only the cist-vaen, or built-up chest of numerous 

 pieces of stone, is not clear. The " noffus," no 

 doubt, was part of a trunk of a tree hollowed out. 

 Sir Christopher Wren, whose discernment in such 

 matters was very acute, writing of his excavations 

 after the fireof London (Parentalia, 266.), describes 

 a row of graves under those of the middle ages, 

 which he very properly supposes to have been 

 Saxon ; and below them a row of British inter- 

 ments. In these last he says the bodies were only 

 wrapped in woollen shrouds fastened with pins of 

 ivory or hard wood, which being decayed the pins 

 remained entire. Below these were Roman urns. 

 " The Saxons," he says, " were accustomed to 

 line their graves with chalk-stones, though some 

 more eminent were interred in coffins of whole 

 sto7ies" I imagine these to have been the earliest 

 stone coffins on itcord, which differ from those 

 in the catacombs in being moveable. In mediaaval 

 times they are very common. There is a curious 

 passage in Matthew Paris (ed. Watts, p. 62.) in 

 his Life of Oarinus or Warin, the 20th Abbot of 

 St. Albans, a.d. 1188 to 1195. He tells us, before 

 that time the monks were always buried simply 

 under the turf, " sub solius terras cespite ; " but 

 that Garinus ordered them to be interred "in 

 lapldeis sepulchris." This probably means stone 

 coffins, as they are found about and after that 

 date in most of our cathedrals and abbeys. A, A. 

 Poets' Corner. 



Vulgar Errors in Law (2°'^ S. x. 191. 239.): 

 Search Warrants, how executed (2"** S. ix. 

 306.) — I concur in the sound opinion that answers 

 to. questions of law without a fee are worthless ; 

 but though law and theology are properly ex- 

 cluded from " N. & Q.," popular superstitions and 

 vulgar errors are fair game. 



"That notices from landlords to tenants must be 

 in writing, but that verbal notice to the landlord 

 is sufficient," is not without foundation ; but I am 

 not aware of any privilege in favour of tenants 

 south of the Thames. 



By statute 4 Geo. II. c. 28. the landlord, after 

 giving notice to quit in writing, may sue a tenant 

 holding over for double rent. By 11 Geo. II. c. 

 19. the landlord may levy, sue for, or recover, 

 double the value of premises held over by a tenant 

 who has given notice to quit. 



