July 28. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



65 



1792) from an Englishwoman, who it seems had 

 sent him a pecuniary present in an order on her 

 bankers, which had not been presented for pay- 

 ment. She complains of this, and repeats her 

 offer. The letter is signed (in the printed vo- 

 lume) "Theeman Shephen," meaning probably 

 Freeman Stephen. Can any of your correspon- 

 dents guess who was Miss or Mrs. Freeman Ste- 

 phen ? C. 



Milton, Lines on. — Where are the following 

 lines to be found ? — 



^' When Milton's eye ethereal light first drew, 

 Earth's gross and cumbrous objects check'd his view; 

 Quick to remove these barriers from his mind, 

 Nature threw ope th' expanse, and struck him blind. 

 To him a nobler vision then was giv'n ; 

 He closed his e3'e3 on earth, to look on heaven ! " 



F. 



Carmelites in Hereford. — I have before me a 

 copy of Sandys' Travels in the Turkish Empire in 

 1610, published in 1632. On the title-page is 

 the inscription — 



" Ex Libris Carmelitaram Discalceatonim : Eesidentla 

 Hereford'." 



Can any of your readers give any information 

 as to any establishment of Carmelites in Hereford 

 during the seventeenth century ? E. T. S. 



Etymology of the Word " Chess." — Among the 

 derivations assigned to this word may be added 

 that given by Pezron, in his ingenious treatise of 

 the Antiquities of Nations. He states that Sacse, 

 or more anciently Scacae, was a term applied by 

 that section of the Gomerians who, migrating 

 into Media, and receiving the name of Parthians, 

 or exiles (parthu, in the Celtic language to this 

 day signifying to divide), retaliated by calling the 

 parent stock Sac(B or JScacce, a term implying 

 thief, robber, and the like. The remains of this 

 ancient word may be found in sac or sacager, 

 which is to commit murder ; and from this Pezron 

 thinks is derived our word chess. In barbarous 

 Latin the game is called Scacorum Indus, and by 

 the ancients latrunculorum ludu^, i. e. the thief's 

 game. The Italians called it schacchi, which they 

 borrowed from the schack of the Goths, who bore 

 sway amongst them so long a time. 



As I am not aware whether this view is at all 

 supported by other authority, perhaps you will 

 allow this Query to be inserted in your columns : 

 What is the earliest instance of the term Ivdus 

 Sacorum designating our game of chess ? 



E. I. B. 



Ear-piercing.- — Will any of your correspon- 

 dents, medical or others, inform me, on behalf of a 

 female relative who feels a repugnance to the 

 operation of having her ears pierced, whether 

 there is any foundation for the widely-spread idea 

 that it has a beneficial effect on the eyes ? If a 



No. 300.] 



dozen ladies are asked why they have submitted 

 to it, they will nearly all say : " Ah ! it is so good 

 for the eyes." Now, if this somewhat barbarous 

 practice has nothing more than vanity to be said 

 for it, it is well to let the same be stated. If the 

 eyes are in a condition to require counter-irrita- 

 tion, I should consider this might be much more 

 advantageously effected by other means than an 

 operation, the result of which must be merely 

 temporary. L. 



Dalston. 



Telegraphic System of the Universe. — The 12th 

 lecture in Professor E. Hitchcock's Religion of 

 Geology, and its Connected Sciences, treats of " The 

 Telegraphic System of the Universe." Can any 

 of your readers refer me to other works on this 

 subject? R. W. Hackwoo©. 



Holidays. — In the Miscellaneous Works of G. 

 E. Howard (vol. iii. p. ccxlvi,), the following pas- 

 sage appears ; 



•' If we calculate the number of holidays kept in Ire- 

 land, the working hands who keep them, and the value 

 of their labour, the amount will be immense. The priests 

 have it in their power to remedy this evil. Don Geronimo 

 Ustariz, in his book on the Theory and Practice of Com- 

 merce and the Marine, relates that St. Chrysostom said 

 ' That the Martyrs had no delight in being honoured at 

 the expense of the tears of the poor, as also that instead 

 of promoting religion and devotion, it had quite the op- 

 posite effect; and that piety should not trespass upon 

 industry, nor industry upon piety.' Pope Urban VIII. 

 was of the same opinion, and so he pronounced it upon 

 the representation of several zealous bishops of the time. 

 So it is also expressed by the Council of Trent, held in 

 the year 154:9, in the 10th Canon." 



Now the Council did not sit in 1549. Perhaps 

 some correspondent, familiar with the proceedings 

 of that Council, would oblige me by pointing out 

 the decree or canon which treats of the subject. 



Clebicus (D.') 



Quotation wanted. — Who is the author of the 

 lines beginning with — 



" I dream'd my love was a milke white doe, that roam'd 

 the forest wide ? " 



C.L. 



Full Fig. — What is the complete form of the 

 abbreviated word used in the expression "Full 

 fig.," meaningyMZZ dress ? J« G. T. 



Ch. Ch. Oxford. 



Verb and Nominative Case. — Is there no ex- 

 ception to the first rule of our grammars, that a 

 verb must agree with its nominative case, in 

 number, &c., save the "noun of multitude?" 

 " True," say the learned ; but my linendraper 

 says, " Three and elevenpence halfpenny is not a 

 high price for good Irish cloth," and I think he is 

 right, grammatically speaking. How can I say 

 " Ninety-five are a great age ? " It is manifest 



