Nov. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



363 



regard the "medical gentleman's" testimony as 

 unimpeachable evidence : — 



" Mysterious Affair. — On Saturday last a corpse 

 ■was brought from Charterhouse Square, and buried in 

 Islington Churchyard, and a stone erected at the place 

 ■with this inscription : 



" ' In Memory of 



MRS. ELIZABETH EMMA THOMAS, 



Who died the 28th October, 1808, 

 Aged 27 Years. 



She had no fault, save what travellers give the moon — 

 The light was bright, but died, alas ! too soon.' 



" Mr. Hodgson, the Coroner, received a letter, inti- 

 mating very strong suspicions that the deceased had not 

 died naturally ; in consequence of which he applied to 

 the parish officers, who ordered the grave to be opened, 

 which was done yesterday morning, and the body re- 

 moved to the vault under the church, for the inspection 

 of the jury, which sat upon it in the course of the day; 

 when the following appeared in evidence : — 



" Tlie lady died on Friday, was buried on Saturday; 

 and the gentleman with whom she lived (not being mar- 

 ried) left town on Sunday, and embarked at Portsmouth 

 on Monday for Spain. On examining the body, a silver 

 pin, about nine inches long, was found sticking in the heart, 

 through the left side of the body. A medical gentleman, 

 who had attended the deceased, declared that the pin was 

 inserted at the request of the gentleman, to prevent the pos- 

 sibility of her being buried alive. The jury, after consider- 

 able consultation, brought in a verdict of — " Died by the 

 visitation of God.' The corpse still lies unburied in the 

 vault." 



William Joun Fitz-Patrick. 



Booterstown, Dublin. 



Squaring the Circle. — May I beg to call atten- 

 tion to the accompanying letter, which appeared 

 in the Spectator of Saturday last? So apt an 

 illustration of some remarks made by Professor 

 De Morgan, a few months ago (Vol. xii., p. 57.), 

 deserves a place in your pages; even if it ■were 

 not unique as a specimen of mathematical reason- 

 ing:— 



" THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE. 



" Liverpool, 9th October, 1855. 

 " Sir, — I do not know whether I am in place in asking 

 for a nook in j'our valuable journal for the squaring of 

 the circle. I conceive it to be simply this: — If you take 

 a silver wire, twelve inches and a quarter long, the quar- 

 ter being allowed to unite the two ends, j'ou have a cir- 

 cular Avire exactly twelve inches; and if this wire is 

 made to form the true square, each of its sides will be 

 equal to three inches, and the area equal to nine square 

 inches. Now, if the same wire is allowed to assume the 

 true circle, it is evident that the area of the circle will be 

 the same as it was in the square. For instance, if a wall 

 be built around a city, and it is found to be twelve miles 

 round, the area of that city is nine square miles. There- 

 fore, the square of any circle is equal to three-fourths of 

 the length of its own circumference. R. D. S." 



J. Eastwood. 

 The last of the Equestrian Lord Mnyoi's. — It 

 was once the custom for the Lord Mayor to ride 

 on horseback in the procession on Lord Mayor's 

 Day. The last of the equestrian Lord Mayors 

 was Sir Gilbert Heathcote, in the time of Queen 

 No. 315.] 



Anne. A fine portrait of him (life-size, three- 

 quarter length), in his robes of office, is preserved 

 by his descendant Jolm Moyer Heathcote, Esq., 

 and hangs in the dining-room of Conington Castle, 

 Huntingdonshire. Cuthbert Bedb, B.A. 



cauerffjS. 



WINE FOR EASTER COMMUNION, 



In the " Inventories and Account Rolls of the 

 Benedictine Houses of Yarrow and Monk-Wear- 

 mouth," just issued by the Surtees Society, occur 

 the following, and many similar entries : 



" 1370. In vino empto pro diebus festivalibas et coni- 

 munione parochianorum ad Pascha, xj» vj^. 



1371-2. In vino empto et dato in camera Prions 

 post ultimum compotum cum communione parochianorum 

 ad Pascha, xxiij". 



1378-9. In vino empto pro communione parochia- 

 norum ad Pascha et pro aliis expensis vini necessariis p. t. 

 cxxxvj". 



1384-5. In vino empto pro communione parochia- 

 norum et missis et aliis temporibus, xx'. 



1386-7. In vino empto pro communione parochia- 

 norum ad Pascha et aliis temporibus, xxx'." 



These and similar entries occur down to the close 

 of the accounts of Yarrow in the early part of the 

 sixteenth century. In the " Compoti domus de 

 Wermouth," what I imagine to be corresponding 

 expenses occur usually in another form : 



" In vino, fructu, candela et sale emptis, xviij». 

 In vino pro celebracione missarum communione ad 

 Pascha, etc., ix'." 



But in 1380, — 



" In vino empto pro celebracione et communione paro- 

 chianorum, V" iiij''." 



About the same period we learn, from Fleet- 

 wood's Chronicon Preciosum, that " red wine by 

 the gallon " cost fourpence ; so that in 1386-7 the 

 wine purchased for the yearly communion of the 

 parishioners must have been at least sixteen gal- 

 lons, unless the price of wine was much greater, in 

 Northumberland than in London. 



I should be glad to know what this " celebracio " 

 and " communio " of the parishioners could be. 

 The quantity of the wine, and the precise words 

 of the record, seem to make it clear that this was 

 a communion in which the parishioners received 

 under both kinds. I think that I have read that 

 the churchwardens' accounts in other parishes of 

 the north of England make this probable. I 

 should be glad if some of your learned ritualists 

 would throw some light on this subject. 



Wm. Destou. 



