2nd s. No 44., Nov. 1. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



353 



contains the following communication, which shows that 

 Bacon was the originator of this very popular phrase : — 



" Knowledge is Power. — I can inform your Ventnor cor- 

 respondent, ' F. G. T.,' whence the above apliorism is 

 taken. It is from Bacon ; yet, not in the Advancement of 

 Learning, as you suppose, but from his treatise de Hoeresiis. 

 I met with the maxim in the course of my reading a day 

 or two since, and was at once struck by the complete con- 

 tradiction thus given to Sir E. B. Lytton's too confident 

 statement (in 3Iy Novel) that no such a sentence or thought 

 is to be found in all Bacon's works. The maxim, which is 

 parenthetical, is in the following terms : — ' Nam et ipsa 

 scientia potestas est. ' — C. T. B., Bristol. 



" This famous expression, the authorship of which has 

 so long been a literary problem, is then at last discovered. 

 It occurs in the treatise de Heresibus, i.e., on sects and 

 opinions, but is not used precisely in the sense attached 

 to it in the present day. Bacon is describing a sect which 

 entertains particular notions on the subject of predestina- 

 tion. He says they give wider limits to the knowledge 

 than to the power of God (implying that He may fore- 

 know acts without necessarily preordaining them), or 

 rather, he remarks, they restrict His power of doing, more 

 than His power of knowing ; for knoivledge itself is a 

 power. His meaning is that the capacity to know maj'be 

 termed a power, not that knowledge confers power. The 

 following is the sentence in which it occurs : — ' Tertius 

 gradus est corum, qui arctant et restringunt opinionem 

 priorem tantum ad actiones humanas, quaj participant ex 

 peccato, quas volunt substantive, absque nexu aliquo cau- 

 sarum, ex interna voluntate et arbitrio humane pendere, 

 statuuntque latiores terminos scientiic Dei quara potestatis, 

 vel potius ejus partis potestatis Dei (nam et ipsa scientia 

 potestas est) qua scit, quam ejus, qua movet et agit; ut 

 pra3sciat quajdam otiose, quag non praedestinet et praior- 

 dinet.' "] 



Banish Forts in Ireland. — Where may I find 

 trustworthy information respecting the Danish 

 forts in Ireland? They are curious relics of 

 early ages, and have not, I think, received the 

 attention they deserve. Abhba. 



[Consult A Discnurse concerning the Danish 3Tounts, 

 Forts, and Towers in Ireland. Bv Thomas Molyneux, 

 M.D., Dublin, 4to. 1725. With illustrations. This Dis- 

 course was republished in A Natural History of Ireland, 

 by Dr. Gerard Boate and others. Dublin, 4to., 1755. 

 Some account of the Danish forts will also be found in 

 Dr. Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1790, pp. 185 

 —193.1 



Meaning of " Redchej^ister " in " Domesday." — 

 This parish is thus described in that ancient re- 

 cord : 



" In Langetrewes Hund. Isdem. Rog. ten. Teteberie 

 Ibi xxiii. hidaj geld'. Siuuard tenuit T. R. E. In dnio 

 sunt viii car. et xxxii vill'i et ii bord. et ii radchen, cum 

 p'bro inter om's hintes xiii car." 



What is the meaning of radchen ? In some trans- 

 lations it is written redchenister ; but what office 

 did this signify, and what were the duties attached 

 to it ? Alfred T, Lee. 



[Sir Henry Ellis in his Introduction to Domesday Book, 

 p. 72., states that " the description of tenantry named 

 Raclienistres or Radchenistres appear likewise to have 

 been calleci Radmanni, or Rodmans, and that like the 



Socmen some were less free than others. Dr. Nash con- 

 jectured that the Radmanni and Radchenistres were pro- 

 bably a kind of freemen who served on horseback " This 

 word is also noticed by Du Gauge, who says, " De terra 

 hujus manerii tenebant Radechenistres, i.e. liberi homines. 

 Videntur iidem, qui Bractono Radeknights dicuntur, 

 liberi scilicet homines, qui tamen arabant, herciabant, 

 falcabant, metebant, &c." See also Coke on Lyttkton, 

 sect 117.3 



Symond's Court Castle. — Where may I find 

 particulars of Symond's Court Castle, in the 

 vicinity of Dublin ? It was well known, I under- 

 stand, in former days ; but a very small portion is 

 now forthcoming. Is any drawing of the structure 

 extant ? Abhba. 



[A view of Symond's Court Tower, drawn by T. Cock- 

 ing in 1790, will be found in Grose's Anti(puties of Ireland, 

 vol. i. p. 21., with a short account of this ancient struc- 

 ture.] 



Diocese of Worcester. — Where can I find what 

 the boundaries of this diocese were before the 

 formation of the sees of Gloucester and Bristol by 

 Henry VIII. in 1541 ? Alfred T. Lee. 



[Our correspondent will get a clue to the former 

 boundaries of this diocese from the following particulars 

 preserved in Thomas's Survey of Worcester Cathedral, 

 p. 1. He says, " The see of VVorcester was taken out of 

 that of Lichfield about the year 680 or sooner. The pro- 

 vince of Wiccia was allotted to it, and the bishops of it 

 were called Episcopi Wicciorum, the bishops of the Wic-. 

 cians. It contained all Worcestershire, except sixteen 

 parishes beyond Abberley Hills, belonging to the diocese 

 of Hereford^: all Gloucestershire on the east side of the 

 Severn, with the city of Bristol : and near the south-haU' 

 part of Warwickshire, with the town of Warwick."] 



Thomas Peacock. — Information is requested 

 concerning Thomas Peacock, who is commemo- 

 rated in a little work entitled, — 



"The Last Visitation, conflicts, and death of Mr. 

 Thomas Peacock, Batchellar of Divinity, and Fellow of 

 Brazen-nose Colledge, late Minister of Broughton in 

 North-hampton-shire. London, Printed for William 

 Miller at the guilded Acorn near the little north doore in 

 St. Paul's Church Yard, 1660." 



Was he born at or near to Scotter in Lincoln- 

 shire ? Where is he buried ? Can his age be 

 ascertained ? Edward Peacock. 



Manor Farm, Bottesford, Brigg. 



[Wood in his Fasti, Part I. 326. Bliss, states that 

 " Thomas Peacock was a Cheshireman born, and tutor to 

 the famous Robert Bolton, the author of whose life (Ed- 

 ward Bagshawe) doth much celebrate the said Peacock 

 for his learning, and great sanctity of life and conversation. 

 He was buried in St. Mary's Church in Oxon, Doc, 1611."] 



Eggs in Heraldry. — The other day I disco- 

 vered on an old piece of plate a coat of arms 

 (quartered) in which three eggs, in cups (proper, 

 I suppose), occurred. Neither GwiUira, nor the 

 Glossary, contain any mention of the use of such. 

 Perhaps som? of your readers may be able to help 



