2»d S. No 28., July 12. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



fluence on the matter, is the question to which an 

 explanatory reply is requested. 



Henry Daveney. 



Christian Names. — What is the meaning of the 

 practice which prevails in the United States, of 

 inserting between a man's Christian name and 

 surname a letter of the alphabet ? Is this part of 

 his baptismal name, and the initial of a second 

 Christian name, or the name itself? It seems 

 that in our own country a letter may be, and 

 sometimes is, a good name of baptism. In the 

 case of The Queen v. Dale^ 17 Queen's Bench 

 Reports, p. 66., Lord Campbell, C. J., said, with 

 reference to an objection that the name of a 

 person mentioned in a declaration was not stated 

 in full : 



"I do not see that there is anj' reason for supposing 

 that the magistrate's actual name is not ' J. H. Harper.' 

 There is no doubt that a vowel may be a good Christian 

 name ; why not a consonant ? I have been informed by 

 a gentleman of the bar, sitting here, on whose accuracy 

 we can rely, that he knows a lady who was baptized by 

 the name of ' D.' Why may not a gentleman as well be^ 

 baptized by a consonant ? " 



Medal of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria. — I 

 have in my possession an oval silver medal, with 

 the head of Charles I. on one side, and on the 

 other that of Henrietta his queen. This medal is 

 said to have been made from the plate melted up 

 by the nobility and gentry for the king's service, 

 and to have been worn as a badge of loyalty. It 

 has a small ring at each end, as if to sew it on to 

 the hat or coat. Can any of the readers of " N. 

 & Q-" give me any information respectiVig it ? 



G. H. C. (A Subscriber.) 



Passports. — In the case of the present dis- 

 turbed state of feeling betwixt this country and 

 the United States, the word passports occurs. It 

 may be worth while to inquire what this means, 

 and whether it is not a mere meaningless term, 

 borrowed from another and different domestic 

 policy than obtains in the one case and the other. 

 In Russia or France, for example, a passport is 

 necessary in order that one may be entitled to 

 enter the country, and I assume the same autho- 

 risation is necessary in leaving. But in the United 

 Kingdom and in the States, locomotion is free to 

 everybody whatever, not detained in a regular 

 way as a criminal or debtor. What is free to a 

 private party is certainly no less the right of an 

 ambassador. Still, as the word passports is used, 

 I would be glad if some of your correspondents 

 would explain what it means in the specific case 

 indicated. Scotus. 



Greek and Queen Elizabeth. — Hallam (citing 

 Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, p. 270.) notes it as a 

 mark of the revival of the English Uiiiversities, 

 that at Cambridge an address was delivered to 



Elizabeth in Greek verse, to which she returned 

 an answer in the same language. This was ia 

 1564. Is this account a mistaken tradition of the 

 following, or are we to say that tivo Greek ad- 

 dresses are on record ? 



To a small edition (London, 1669, 12mo.) of 

 the Parcenesis of Isocrates is appended (without 

 date) a speech in Greek made to Queen Elizabeth 

 at Trinity College by Doddington, the Greek 

 Professor. It is added that there might not be 

 too many fly-leaves; as appears by the heading, 

 " Ne post terminum immodica esset vacatio, en tibi." 

 The speech follows, in Greek and Latin ; after 

 which comes a Latin address, informing the Queen 

 that her humble servants are ready to repeat in 

 Latin what had just been said in Greek. To this 

 she answfered : "Ego iiitelligo, non est opus, 'Ara- 

 •ywdxTKO} vfj-wy r)]v euvoiav: " unless indeed the Latin 

 be the editor's translation of the Queen's Greek, 

 in which case she must be supposed to have spoken- 

 very satirically of their kind oflFer to translate. 



M. 



Norfolk Clergymen suspended. — It is commonly 

 believed in various parts of Norfolk that some 

 years ago, in that county, a clergyman was sus- 

 pended from exercising the functions of his office 

 for having in the pulpit offered to bet upon a 

 certain black dog which had unluckily and pro- 

 fanely selected the holy edifice for a ring in which 

 to fiuht a pitched battle with another of the canine 

 species of some other colour. The tale is exceed- 

 ingly improbable, and is rendered more so by 

 the fact, that to my knowledge at least a dozen 

 clergymen in different parishes have received the 

 benefit of having this profane act attributed ta 

 them ; but as I have not unfrequently come in 

 contact with persons who declare that the circum- 

 stance came under their own personal observation, 

 I should be glad if some of your Norfolk corre- 

 spondents would inform me whether there is any 

 small moiety of truth in the report, or whether it 

 is an entire fabrication belonging to the domaia 

 of myths, being, to use a Norfolk expression, 

 " made out of whole stuff." 



G. Sexton, M.D., F.R.G.S. 



Kennington Cross. 



Remote Traditions through few Links. — 



" In the fifteenth century King James I. (of Scotland) 

 met with an old lady who remembered Wallace and. 

 Bruce, and he inquired eagerly about their personal ap- 

 pearance. She told him that Bruce was a man of noble, 

 admirable appearance, and that no man of his day could 

 compete with him in strength. But she added, that so 

 far as Bruce excelled all the other men of his time, so iax 

 did Wallace excel Bruce in strength." 



The preceding extract is from a speech by Sheriflf 

 Bell at a meeting at Stirlinfj for a monument to 

 the memory of Sir W. Wallace, reported in The 

 Times, June 30, 1856. 

 Probably some of your correspondents will be 



