2°a S. VIII. Dec. 3. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



461 



time reckonings, or almanacs ; as in the Com,' 

 putus Ecclesiasticus of Sacrobosco himself. To 

 compute, in the modern sense (a very old modern 

 sense) is derived from thumbing the almanac, 

 not the abacus. Some old vernacular works, 

 English and others, distinguish the digit from the 

 articulate number. The word articidus seems to 

 indicate that after the digits had been reckoned 

 on the finger ends — taking up the name of the 

 whole finger, as first tenants — the tens were 

 reckoned on the joints. It should be noted that 

 Sacrobosco means by articulus any number divi- 

 sible into tens, as 100, 1000, 200, 5000, &c. 



A. Db MofiGAN. 



Figures cut on Hill Sides (2°'* S. viii. 400.) — 

 Amongst other gigantic, or conspicuous figures 

 cut on hill sides, if last, yet surely not least, must 

 be commemorated the far-famed Giant of Cerne in 

 Dorsetshire — the Baal Durotrigensis of Mr. Sy- 

 denham — the Cenric, son of Cuthred of Hutchins, 

 — standing, or rather lying, 180 feet in height, and 

 bearing a club 120 feet long. Nor must the co- 

 lossal White Horse of Bratton, near Westbury, 

 in Wiltshire, be forgotten — an effigy which pro- 

 bably dates from Saxon times. Nor — since your 

 correspondent does not limit his inquiry to an- 

 cient monuments — the equestrian figure of good 

 old King George III., ambling over the Downs at 

 Osmington, near Weymouth. C. W. Bingham. 



" Death of the Fox'' (2"^ S. viii. 415.)— I think 

 this has already been answered in " N. & Q." 

 Scott wrote some bad lines, which were sung at a 

 dinner given on the termination of Lord Melville's 

 trial. One stanza ends : 



" But the Brewer (Whitbread) we'll boax, 

 Tally-ho to the ' Fox.' 

 Here's Melville for ever, as long as we live." 



Scott's political friends always asserted he was 

 not aware at the time Mr. Fox was dyinir. 



J. H. L. 



" Tally-ho to the Fox " is the last line but one 

 of a song of eight stanzas, written by Scott, and 

 sung by Ballantine at a public dinner in Edin- 

 burgh on the 27th June, 1 806. The occasion was 

 the acquittal of Lord Melville. (See Lockhart's 

 Scott, the 1 vol. ed. p. 142.) Fox, who had recently 

 come into power, died on Sept. 13, that year, — 

 an event which Scott could not of course foresee, 

 though it was made the ground of attack upon 

 him. H. 



Writers bribed to Silence (2"* S. viii. 415.) — I 

 well recollect the numerous caricatures which ap- 

 peared at the time of the notorious Mary Anne 

 Clarke's connexion with the Duke of York : one, 

 by Rowlandson, illustrated the bribe to silence. 

 It represented a large fire, burning an immense 

 pile of her books, and servants coming in loaded 

 with fresh copies to be thrown upon the fire. 



Mrs. Clarke stood over the fire, urging on the 

 consumption, and exclaiming: "Burn away! I 

 would burn the universe for the money. Not a 

 single copy in print or manuscript to be pre- 

 served, except a copy /or Dr. O'Meara and a few 

 private friends^ 1 think the sum she had re- 

 ceived appeared in a scroll in her hand ; but this 

 I do not clearly remember, as I do the rest of the 

 caricature, which was very clever both in design 

 and execution. F. C. H. 



" Cock an Eye" (2°* S. viii. 417.)— I have not 

 read the Minister's Wooing, but the phrase " cock 

 your eye" is not at all an uncommon one in York- 

 shire — meaning, " direct your eye, give a glance." 

 Cockeyed also means squint-eyed. There is a 

 curious epigram in the Elegant Extracts, which, 

 as illustrating a kindred plirase, may be worth 

 reprinting : — 



" As Dick and Tom in fierce dispute engage, 

 And face to face, the noisy contest wage; 

 ' Don't cock your chin at me,' Dick smartly cries. 

 ' Fear not, his head's not charged,' a friend replies." 



J. Eastwood. 



Brass at West Herling (2"'' S. viii. 417.)— The 

 expression, " et pro quibus tenentur," is fre- 

 quently met with on sepulchral brasses. It may 

 mean, as explained in " N. & Q.," " for the souls 

 of those for whom it was the duty of the deceased 

 while living to pray ;" but I believe it bears a 

 more decided meaning, and has immediate refer- 

 ence to the condition of the deceased. Catholics 

 pray for the dead, in case their souls should be 

 detained in Purgatory for smaller sins or neglected 

 satisfactions. I incline, therefore, to explain the 

 expression in this sense : — Pray for the remis- 

 sion of those faults /br which they are detained for 

 a time in a state of suffering. It may be objected 

 that this is sufliciently conveyed by the preceding 

 admonition to pray for their souls ; but it may be 

 considered as an additional exhortation to perform 

 works of satisfaction, and fulfil obligations for 

 them, and for their intention, praying the divine 

 mercy to accept them in their favour. F. C. H. 



What sort of Animal was the Bugle ? (2'"* S. 

 viii. 400.) — Bugle and bufle are quite distinct 

 words, although perhaps from the same root. 

 Bufle or bouffle is from bubalus (jSoujSoAos), while 

 bugle is from buculus, for huvicidus, dim. of bus, 

 bous (/Sous). R. S. Chabnock. 



Abdias Assheton (2°<* S. viii. 3.36. 408.)— In The 

 Journal of Nicholas Assheton of Downham, Esq., 

 for 1617 and 1618, edited by the Rev. Canon 

 Raines, M.A., F.S.A., for the Chetham Society 

 (1848), are several interesting notices of this 

 learned divine (pp. 103-4.). He was son of the 

 Rev. John Assheton, rector of Middleton (ob. 

 1584), and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge. He ob. 8th Nov. 1633, tct. seventy- five, 



