514 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. X. Dec. 29. '60. 



Sabell Snagg, Widow of the Abovesaid ; Avho died Aug'* 

 20«i', 1760. Aged 62." 



The foregoing inscription is on a stone slab, 

 slightly raised above the ground, a little north- 

 east of the church-tower ; and by It, on a black 

 marble slab similarly situated, is the following: — 



*' Here lyeth interr'd, the Bod}- of M' Richard Snagg, 

 Son of M'' Henry Snagg, Citizen of London, who departed 

 this Life 28"' of April, 1763, in the ^G*^ Year of his Age. 

 Also lies the Body of M" Ann Snagg, Widow of the 

 Abovesaid. Who died Jan^y 28«>, 1786. Aged 60 Years." 



In Hendon churchyard a reproduction of the 

 peculiar pattern of Woollett's tomb Is to be found. 

 It is to the memory of John Peltro, whose power 

 as a landscape etcher was, I am well informed, 

 deserving of the praise contained In his epitaph. 

 A MS. In my possession informs me that Peltro's 

 tomb was erected through the efforts of Holland, 

 the printseller, whose name appears as the writer 

 of the epitaph, which may perhaps be interesting 

 to the admirers of art. Besides the few copies of 

 It in my little volume of British Monumental In- 

 scriptions, I am not aware that it has been before 

 printed : — 



" TO THE 



« MEMORY OF JOHN PELTRO, 



LANDSCAPE ENGRAVER. 



Died August the 5, 1808 ; Aged 48. 

 " The hallow'd dead demands a tear, 

 From all who hold sweet friendship dear ; 

 The Man of Genius here enshrin'd. 

 Wore God's pure image in his mind ! 

 The labours of his now cold hand, 

 Th' applause of millions could command ! 

 In all his works, the face of nature 

 Was drest with ev'ry witching feature ! 

 Angels have borne him to the skies, 

 To bliss his happy spirit flies : 

 His works remain the Gems of Art; 

 His worth Engraved on many a heart ! 



" William Hollamd." 



Abraham Ralmbach, the line-engraver, also lies 

 buried at Hendon : where, on the tombs of his 

 father and mother, are to be found most excellent 

 epitaphs, written at his request by his friend, 

 W. Hayley. Edwin RorrE. 



Somers' Town. 



THE STATIONERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

 (2''"» S. X. 347.) 



I am obliged to Mr. Williams for noticing my 

 inquiry on tlals subject, but I cannot agree with 

 him that the writer In Rees's Encyclopaedia " has 

 certainly drawn on his Imagination," for his de- 

 scription of the manner In which the stationers of 

 the middle ages transacted their business. The 

 paragraph I before quoted (and it is the whole 

 that Rees gives on the subject) is indeed very 

 Incomplete, in stating that the Stationarii only 

 *' lent out books to be read ; " but the passage cited 

 by Mr. Williams (in which '■'■ prcecedant" is a 



misprint for preebeant) would be equally so if 

 taken alone ; lor it is clear from other quotations 

 presented in the last edition of Ducange (edit. 

 Henscliel, 1846), that the Stationarii lent their 

 books as well as sold them. The distinction be- 

 tween the Stationarii and the Librarii who were 

 the actual book-writers, appears to have been this, 

 — that the former were the accredited keepers of 

 the book-stores (bound by oath to be obedient to 

 the laws of the University and its Rector or head), 

 and that they distributed, either by selling copies 

 made by the libj-arii, or by lending books to be 

 copied by the students themselves, the necessary 

 literature of the university. Such is the infor- 

 mation' which I collect from the several passages 

 given In Henschel's edition of Ducange ; one of 

 which, from the Leges Alfonsince of Castile, speaks 

 of the scholars both making and mending their 

 books from the texts lent them by the estacion- 

 arios. Thei-efore It Is not at all Improbable that 

 the stationer might, particularly for " mending," 

 lend out only detached quires or sheets : nor can 

 I doubt that the statement in Rees's Cyclopcedia 

 is derived from some substantial authority, though 

 not among those in Ducange. Therefore I beg 

 to repeat my inquiry. 



I am surprised to find this serious subject 

 totally ignored by all our modern Cyclopaedias, 

 with the exception of the Encyclopcedia Metro- 

 politana, which speculates upon the derivation of 

 the word Stationer, but merely in the wake of 

 the Dictionary of Dr. Richardson, who suggests 

 that " It is not improbable that the name may 

 have been given to the sellers of books, paper, 

 &c., from the stalls or stations kept by them, es- 

 pecially at fairs, as is still the case at Leipsic, 

 Francfort, and other towns In Germany." This, 

 It will be perceived, was a conjecture made in 

 Ignorance of the real origin of the term In the 

 universities, which no English writer that I can 

 discover has hitherto recognised. 



It is very remarkable that the word does not 

 appear to have been engrafted into any modern 

 language but our own ; with the exception of 

 the Spanish : In Delpino's Spanish and English 

 Dictionary, 1763, I find Stacionero as " the oZcf 

 name for a bookseller," but it is not now In use. 

 In England it was the name for a bookseller 

 until a more recent date, and for a publisher 

 especially, as shown in the quotations from Dry- 

 den and Pope in the larger editions of John- 

 eon's Dictionary. But its present more popular 

 meaning prevailed at the beginning of the last 

 century, as will be seen by the following entry 

 from Abel Boyer's French Dictionari/, second 

 edition, 1702 (the first, which I have not seen, 

 being dated 1699) : — 



" Stationek, Subst. (one that sells Paper, Ink, Wax, 

 §•0.), Papetier, Marchand de Papier, d'Encre, de Plumes, 

 de Cire, et de Livres do Papier en blanc. 



