Oct, 27. 1855;] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



335 



cause the scarcity and slackness of preachers -were so 

 great, that some of the king's chaplains were appointed to 

 ride circuit about the kingdom to preach to the people. 

 He preached before the king at court, and in some public 

 places in the kingdom, wearing a velvet bonnet, or round 

 cap, a damask gown, and a chain of gold about his neck, 

 in which habit he was seen and heard preaching several 

 times in St. Mary's church, in Oxon, in the beginning of 

 Q. Elizabeth. In like manner, other lay gentlemen, such 

 that had been educated in the universities, did preach. . . 

 William Holcot, of Buckland, in Berks, Esq., sometime of 

 Univ. Coll., was often seen in the same habit in pulpits in 

 London, and in his own country. ... Sir Thomas More, 

 after he was called to the bar in Lincoln's Inn, did for a 

 considerable time read a public lecture out of St. Austin 

 De Civitate Dei, in the church of St. Lawrence, in the Old 

 Jewry." 



He became high sheriff in 1569 (See Wood's 

 AthencB Oxon., I. pp. 420-4.). His sermon is 

 given as Mr. S. Ward transcribes it ; he is de- 

 scribed wearing his sword and a gold chain ; and 

 the reason for his preaching is assigned to a great 

 scarcity of divines. In Cardwell's Documentary 

 Annals will be found prohibitions against preach- 

 ing, except under the licence of the king, the arch- 

 bishops, or diocesan. The congregation of the 

 University of Oxford possesses the power of 

 licensing a M.A., B.C.L., or B.D. (after seven 

 years' study of theology at the university ; having 

 also held a disputation in the Divinity School, and 

 preached four times before the university), " quo 

 admittatur ad annuncianduni Dei verbum per 

 universam Angliam. ... In quibuscunque eccle- 

 sias Angliae, et conventibus publicis ecclesiasticis 

 ad hoc accommodatis." {Stat. Tit. ix. §§, 1, 2, 3.) 

 Mackenzie Walcoit, M.A. 



Bacchanalian Rules. — "Old Simon the King" 

 (Vol. xii., p. 122.) fairly states the pro and con as 

 to drinking. The following lines, sung by Sir 

 Toby Belch and his roistering companions, en- 

 courage too much that evil practice : 



" Which is the properest day to drink? 

 Saturday, Sundaj"-, Monday? 

 Every day is proper, I think. 

 Why would you fix on one day ? " 



They may be compared, in this respect, with an 

 epigram attributed to a reverend father of the 

 Roman Catholic Church (not Father Mathew) : 



" Si bene commemini, causes sunt quinque bibendi : 

 Hospitis adventus ; prassens sitis ; atque futura ; 

 Et vini bonitas ; et quselibet altera causa." 



Menagiana, vol. i. p. 172. 



Which may be thus translated : 



" Five causes for drinking : a guest's health the first ; 

 The next, that you feel or anticipate thirst ; 

 The fourth, if the wine appear pleasant to drink ; 

 And the fifth, when the reason sufficient you think." 



Such rules are " more honoured in the breach 

 than the observance;" or, rather, tbey must be 

 considered as harmless ye?/a: iV esprit, and therefore 

 it is hoped not out of place in "N. & Q." F. 



No. 313.] 



'■'■ Slea-silk" (Vol. xii., p. 58.). — In his funeral 

 sermon on the death of Anne Clifford, Countess of 

 Pembroke, Dr. Donne is reported to have said of 

 her that " she knew well how to discourse of all 

 things, from predestination down to slea-silk." 

 Here is another illustration of the word slea or 

 sleeve, so well explained by Mr. Singer. Val. 



Seals, Books relating to (Vol. x., p. 485.). — I 

 have obtained what I believe to be the work 

 which Mr. John Thomas, of Glasgow, refers to 

 (Vol. xi., p. 174.) as Bailey's Dictionary of the 

 English Language, folio, London, 1736 (with illus- 

 trations) ; but I do not find therein engravings of 

 the common seals of any of the London City 

 Livery Companies, although the same does contain 

 plates of the arms of some of such companies. 

 The dictionary which I have procured is of the 

 size and date mentioned by Mr. Thomas, but is 

 intituled Dictionarium Britannicum, or a more 

 Compleat Universal Etymological English Dic- 

 tionary than any Extant, by N. Bailey. Perhaps 

 Mr. Thomas will kindly state whether he merely 

 alluded to the heraldic bearings of the several 

 companies, or whether I have got hold of the 

 wrong book. Adrian Adninan. 



Great Grimsby. 



The Celestial Divorce (Vol. xii., p. 47.). — A 

 short time since, you were kind enough to insert a 

 Query relative to the authorship and translation 

 into English of the Celestial Divorce, together with 

 a reply. Since then, I have received, through a 

 London bookseller, a copy of the translation, pub- 

 lished in 1718 ; but I find that, although the copy 

 seems perfect as published by Mr. Boerham, it 

 contains only the first part of the Italian original. 

 Whereas the whole work consists of three parts : 

 first, " The Complaint of Lewdness ; " second, 

 " The Mission of St. Paul to Earth, with the Sen- 

 tence of Divorce ; " and the third, the " Preten- 

 sions of other Churches to replace that of Rome." 

 !Now, I would beg to inquire, whether the whole 

 work has been translated ? On reference to 

 Watt's Biblio. Brit., I find the following titles : 



" St. Paul's late Busyness upon Earth about a Divorce 

 betwixt Christ and the Church of Rome, by reason of its 

 Lewdness and Excesses, bv James Howell : London, 1644. 

 12mo." 



Also, — 



" Christ divorced from the Church of Rome, because of 

 its Lewdness : London, 1G79." 



I should be very glad to procure, if possible, 

 copies of these two publications. p. 



Donee's MS. Notes (Vol. i., p. 9.). — We are 

 obliged to G. D. S. for reminding us of the pro- 

 mise made in our very first Number, of giving, 

 from time to time, extracts from these bibliogra- 

 phical treasures. We have only delayed doing so 



