2»-s.viii.,AuG.27.'69.] ^OTES AND QUERIES. 



177 



signatures of Ministers of State, Lord Chancel- 

 lors, Lord Keepers, Lord Chief justices, and one 

 Archbishop (Whitgift) ; and Lord Coke, who, in 

 Lis Third Institute, denounces torture as unlawful 

 by the laws of England, signed torture warrants 

 as a Privy Councillor under the supposed prero- 

 gative of the Crown. 



These warrants were directed in most instances 

 to the Attorney and Solicitor- General, sometimes 

 to the Recorder of London, and sometimes to 

 Doctors of Civil Law. 



In Scotland torture was allowed by law until 

 its abolition at the Union in the reign of Queen 

 Anne ; and the last torture warrant that I am 

 aware of is signed with the sign manual of King 

 William III., and is dated at Kensington Palace, 

 and is for the torturing of Navill Pain. It is 

 printed in a note in the State Trials^ vol. x. p. 753. 



F. A. Cabbington. 

 Ogbourne St. George. 



Blodius (2°'^ S. vii. 317.) — Blodius or Blodeus, 

 for it is spelt both ways, is neither gules nor azure, 

 but the tincture called sanguine. Du Cange de- 

 rives it from the Anglo-Saxon Mod, the root of 

 our word blood, and gives several examples of its 

 use in both methods of spelling. A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



Qualitied: Fausens (2"* S. viii. 130.) — The 

 word qualitied, though of rare occurrence, is not 

 peculiar to Chapman, an example of its use being 

 cited by Richardson from Hales, 1618 : " He was 

 not so ill qualitied." 



There seems little doubt that the learned editor 

 of Chapman's Iliads, 1857, is quite correct in ex- 

 plaining the now almost unknown yvordf auseiis as 

 a kind of eel ; at least if we may accept the au- 

 thority of dictionaries, in the absence of any 

 example save Chapman's. 



" Anguilla .... An." [ Anglicfe] ** Eele. Apud eosdem 

 prcegrandis fausen eele, minima grigge, media scaffling di- 

 citur." Junius, Nomenclator Oetilinguis, 1619. 



"Fausen .... der Meeraal" (the sea- eel or conger). 

 Hilpert. 



" Fausen .... eine Gattung grosser Aah " (a sort of 

 large eels). Ebers. • 



" Fausen. Ridero Prffigrandis piscis h, genere Angvil- 

 larum." Skinner. 



To this we may add that the Homeric word 

 which Chapman renders fausens is iyx^^ves (eels). 



Althougli the derivation of fausen from the 

 Latin falx, which is suggested by Skinner, may 

 at first sight appear unsatisfactory, there are 

 reasons for viewing it with favour. Falx became 

 in French and in old English fauchon, which is 

 not very far from fausen. And as fauchon was a 

 sort of sword (falchion), it should also be borne in 

 mind that the names of other warlike implements 

 were formerly applied to eels, &c., e.g. *' Sand- 

 eels or launces." (Ray, Synopsis Methodica Pis. 

 cium, 1713, p. 38.) The sword-fish, again, appears 



in various languages, as schwerdtfisch, epee de mer, 

 gladius, xiphias espadon, spuda at Venice, and in 

 Italy generally pesce spado. And Willughby, as 

 cited by the learned commentator on Chapman, 

 " mentions an anguilliform fish found at Venice 

 called a falx, a worthless kind of eel." So fausen 

 may very possibly be only another form of the old 

 ISinglish fauchon, from falx. Thomas Bors. 



P.S. May we not conjecture, under all the cir- 

 cumstances, that the (a^reek tyx^^^h a" 6^1, is 

 connected with eyxos, a spear, javelin, arrow, or 

 sword ? 



" Then push about the flowing bowl" (2°'' S. viii. 

 128.) — The song quoted by your Geelong corre- 

 spondent is a vile version of one of Joanna Baillie's 

 spirited songs written for George Thomson's 

 (Burns's Thomson) Collection of Irish Melodies. 



The air is very beautiful ; the symphonies and 

 accompaniments were composed by Beethoven. I 

 subjoin the correct words : — 

 1. 

 " Come form * we round a cheerful ring, 

 And broach the foaming ale : 

 And let the merrj' maiden sing, 

 The beldame tell her tale. 



2. 



" And let the sightless harper sit 

 The blazing faggot near ; 

 And let the jester vent his wit, 

 The nurse her bantling cheer. 



3. 



" Who shakes the door with angrj' din, 

 And would admitted be ? 

 No ! Gossip Winter, snug within 

 We have no room for thee. 



4. 

 " Go, scud it o'er Killarney's lake, 

 And shake the willows bare, 

 Where water elves their pastime take, 

 Thou'lt find thy comrades there. 



" Will o' the Wisp skips in the dell, 

 The owl hoots on the tree ; 

 They hold their nightly vigil well, 

 And so the while will we. 



6. 

 « Then strike we up the rousing glee, 

 And pass the beaker round, 

 Till every head right merrily 

 Is moving to the .sound." 



J. N. 

 Liverpool. 



St. Dominie (2"« S. viii. 117. 135.)— Your cor- 

 respondent may find the information which he 

 seeks in a folio De Origine et Progressu Officii 

 sanctce Inquisitionis, ejusque Dignitate et Utilitate, 

 by Paramus, or L. a Paramo (Madrid, 1598). 

 Paramus, who is usually cited as an authority, 



* Altered to draic, to suit the music. 



