NOY. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



376 



dainties, and cake ; it seems much more natural 

 to refer it to questes, in the singular qiiete, from 

 guester, to cater, whence quetier, queteur, a caterer. 

 As the Editor of "N. & Q.'s" unphilological 

 countrymen here have transformed a tan-yard 

 (tcheroterie) into a cherry-tree, three knolls (les 

 treis hougues) into three hogs, and Notre Dame 

 du Castel into the kettle parish, we need not be 

 surprised at the substitution of so unusual a dish 

 as the said cat-in-a-pan for the proverbial nick- 

 name of an unprincipled and time-serving dis- 

 ciple of the Vicar of Bray. G. M. 

 Le Hurel, St. Martin's, Guernsey. 



'■^Konx Ompax'"' (Vol. xii., p. 305.). — Your 

 correspondent Mr. Mansfield Ingleby will pro- 

 bably find all that he requires in Lobeck's Aglao- 

 phamus, p. 775. sq. The connexion of these words 

 with the Eleusinian Mysteries depends probably 

 on a misunderstanding of the words of Hesychius, 

 S.V., a mistake perpetuated by Potter {Greek 

 Antiq., vol. i. p. 448. ; Cf. Smith's Dictionary of 

 Antiquities, s. v. " Eleusinia "). 



The interpretation given in Liddell and Scott's 

 Lexicon is no doubt correct. The following ex- 

 tract from a note I made many years ago, may 

 interest your correspondent : 



"At the conclusion of the Mj'steries of Eleusis, the 

 congregation was dismissed in these words, ' Koy^ '0/x7ra^.' 

 These mysterious words have been considered hitherto as 

 inexplicable. They are pure Sanscrit, and used to this 

 day by Brahmins at the conclusion of religious rites. 

 Tliey are thus written in the language of the gods, as the 

 Hindoos call the language of their sacred books. 

 "Canscha . Oin. . Pacsha. 



"Canscha signifies the object of our most ardent wishes. 



"Om is the famous monosyllable used both at the be- 

 ginning and end of a prayer, or any religious rite, like 

 Amen. 



"Pacsha exactly answers to the obsolete Latin word 

 vl.v ; it signifies change, course, stead, place, turn of work, 

 dutj', or fortune. It is used particularly after pouring 

 water in honour of the gods and Pitris. 



" It appears also from Hesychius, 1. That these words 

 were pronounced aloud at the conclusion of eveiy mo- 

 mentous transaction, religious or civil. 2. That when 

 judges, after hearing a cause, gave their suff'rages by 

 dropping of pebbles of different colours into a box, the 

 noise made by each pebble was called by one of these 

 three words (if not by all three), but more probably bj' 

 the word Pacsha, as the turn or pacsha of the voting- 

 judge was over. When lawyers pleaded in a court of 

 justice, they were allowed to speak two or three hours, 

 according to the importance of the cause, and for this 

 purpose there was a clepsydra or water-clock ready, 

 which making a certain noise at the end of the expired 

 pacsha, vix, or turn, this noise was called joasc/ia." 



From Asiatic Researches, vol. v. § 19., Lond. 

 8vo., 1801, remarks by Capt. Francis Wilford on 

 the Cabirian Deities, &c. Anon. 



No. 315.] 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



With the dull days and long evenings of November 

 come the usual signs of increased activity in the Old 

 Book Trade. Catalogues are daily issued ; and the lead- 

 ing auctioneers announce the various collections of Books, 

 Coins, Engravings, and other articles of a similar cha- 

 racter, which are destined to change hands under the in- 

 fluence of their all-powerful hammers during the coming 

 season. 



Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, besides sundrj* miscella- 

 neous collections, announce for sale under their auspices, 

 the libraries of Sir Richard Burton, the Rev. Dr. Towns- 

 end, the Rev. Dr. Gilly, and Mr. Golding Bird ; a valuable 

 collection' of autographs ; and a verj-^ extensive and in- 

 teresting Collection of Historical MSS., formed by the 

 late Francis Moore, Esq., during a fifty years' residence 

 in Paris. 



Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, in addition to many 

 important Sales of Coins, Engravings, &c., including the 

 late Col. Durrant's collection of the Works of Hollar and 

 Faithorne, will dispose of the libraries of the Rev. H. 

 Pemble, Sir G. A. W. Shuckford Evelyn, the late William 

 Brockedon, F.R.S., the late Dr. Stokes, and the Shak- 

 spearian and Dramatic Literature, collected for and used 

 in the first five volumes of Mr. Halliwell's folio edition of 

 Shakspeare, and Mr. Meigh's Collection of Autograph 

 Letters. 



Mr. Hodgson, in addition to some extensive miscella- 

 neous collections, is about to sell the valuable stock of 

 Mr. Bigg, the well-known Parliamentarj' Bookseller, and 

 the entire stock of books, copyrights, &c., of Messrs. Orr 

 and Co. 



Messrs. Southgate & Barrett, besides other Collections 

 of Engravings, announce the Sale of the entire remainder 

 of the " Vernon Gallery," and the water-colour drawings 

 of the same ; the entire stock of the valuable Standard 

 Publications of Messrs. Ingram & Co., with stereotype 

 plates, copyrights, and unpublished MSS. 



Mr. Lewis, in addition to sundry Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions of Books, Engravings, &c., will sell the stereot3'pe 

 plates, copj'rights, &c., of Mr. Addey of Old Bond Street. 

 While on the subject of Sales, and knowing how fre- 

 quently books are sold in the country without the know- 

 ledge'^'of the London Trade, we call attention to a three 

 days' Sale, which will commence on Tuesday next, at 

 Sandhills, near Christchurch, Hampshire, of a portion of 

 the Library of the late Sir George Rose. 



All visitors to the interesting I^xhibition of Mr. Fenion's 

 Photographs from the Crimea will remember the very 

 characteristic portrait of The Times' " Special Correspon- 

 dent" there exhibited. From this, a most admirable 

 lithograph has just been published; and all who have 

 read the brilliant reports made by this much abused (his 

 opponents say much abusing) representative of the En- 

 glish newspaper press, cannot but look with some inte- 

 rest on this picture of him, " in his habit as he lives." 



We have several interesting books waiting for Notes, 

 but must postpone them until next week. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PURCHASE. 



Alfred, A Masque; as revived at Drury Lane. 1773. Svo. Cadell. 

 Ker^s Donaides, with Mallet's Imitation. 



*«» Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be 

 sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUEKIES," 

 186. Fleet street. 



