Dec. 15. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



Winefo?' Easter Communion (Vol. xii., p. 363.). 

 — Mr. Denton, himself not the last ritualist of 

 the day, aftei' noticing in the " Rolls of Yarrow 

 and Monk-Wearmouth" such entries as these, 

 " In vino euipto pro communione parochianorum 

 ad Pascha ; " " In vino empto pro communione 

 parocliianorum et missis et aliis temporibus ; " 

 "In vino pro celebratione missarum communione 

 ad pascha," &c., says : 



" I should be glad to know what this ' celebratio ' 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 should be glad 

 if some of j'our learned ritualists would throw some light 

 on this subject." 



For a long time before these entries, the discipline 

 of the Latin Church was for the laity to receive 

 under one kind only ; and the wine spoken of 

 here for the parishioners' communion, was what 

 was given each one of them to drink, without its 

 being blessed, after they had taken the communion 

 in one kind. The expressions " pro celebratione 

 missarum (pro) missis " in the above entries, show 

 that a part of the wine had been used for saying 

 mass. This usage of giving unconsecrated wine 

 to the people after their communion, has been 

 fully gone into by Dr. Hock, vol. iii. part ii. 

 p. 169. of his Church of our Fathers, wherein 

 Mb. Denton will find enough to satisfy his in- 

 quiries, and whence the student of English me- 

 diaeval antiquities may draw answers to many of 

 those questions asked, in the pages of " N. & Q.," 

 about the olden ritual and church usages of this 

 country. Old England. 



The practice of receiving the Holy Communion 

 under one kind only did not begin till the twelfth 

 century, though the sick, and occasionally others, 

 were so communicated from the commencement 

 of the Christian Church. It was not indeed made 

 imperative till the Council of Constance, in 1414. 

 Therefore the practice of receiving under both 

 kinds may have been retained in some parts of 

 England as late as the fourteenth century. In 

 the last entry quoted by Wm. Denton, the word 

 " Celebracio " means the celebration of Mass. 

 Much of the wine must have been used for the 

 daily Masses, It must also be noted that when 

 the discipline of receiving under both kinds was 

 discontinued, it was still the custom, in many 

 places, to give unconsecrated wine to the com- 

 municants after receiving. This custom still pre- 

 vails in many Catholic churches. In a Catholic 

 Manual, printed in 1706, I find this direction to 

 the acolyth who serves Mass: " After they have 

 received, give them wine." As this occurs in our 

 oldest books, it is probable that the practice was 

 general In England. If so, the quantity of wine 

 in the entries quoted is easily accounted for. 



F. C. H- 



No. 320.] 



Voracity of the Hedgehog (Vol. xii., p. 383.). — 

 Having kept several, I can attest that hedgehogs 

 win eat animal food very greedily. I have trained 

 them to eat from my hand pieces of meat. Once 

 I had an amusing proof of their gluttony. I came 

 upon a large hedgehog in a plantation, and heard 

 him, at some distance, sucking up some disgusting 

 garbage with great relish. I took him up and 

 carried him but a short distance to the house, and 

 placed him on the floor of the pantry. But so 

 completely had he gorged himself with his filthy 

 repast, that he died in the night of absolute re- 

 pletion. F. C. H. 



Your correspondent, Alfred Gattt, does not 

 seem to be aware, that the fact of animals eating 

 their young is by no means an unusual occur- 

 rence. Tame rabbits, when disturbed by having 

 their young looked at, frequently do it ; and there 

 are many instances of sows also doing the same. 

 Therefore, there does not appear anything won- 

 derful in a hedgehog (which can scarcely be con- 

 sidered so harmless an animal as a rabbit, seeing 

 that there are well authenticated accounts of its 

 destroying both rabbits and hares), also eating its 

 young. H. J. 



Handsworth. 



Many years ago, a hedgehog was placed in one 

 hamper, a wood-pigeon in another, and two 

 starlings In a third ; the lid of each hamper was 

 tied down with string, and the hampers were 

 placed In a garden-house, which was securely 

 fastened in the evening. When I entered the 

 garden-house the next morning, I found the 

 strings of all the hampers severed ; the starlings 

 and wood-pigeon dead and eaten, feathers alone 

 remaining In their hampers, and the hedgehog 

 alive In the wood-pigeon's hamper. As no other 

 animal could have got into the garden-house, I 

 came to the conclusion that the hedgehog had 

 killed and eaten the birds ; but I have stated the 

 facts in order that others may form their own 

 opinion, as I am satisfied that there have been 

 cases in which unjust conclusions have been drawn 

 with reference to the habits of animals, which have 

 led to their unmerited destruction. 



C, S. Gkeaves. 



Octave System of Notation (Vol. xii., p. 304.). — 

 In Sir John Leslie's Philosophy of Arithmetic, 

 8vo., Mr. Pitman will find some examples of 

 various systems of notation, including the octave, 

 with references to earlier authorities, as well as 

 other curious speculations ; such as formed the 

 recreations of the learned, though whimsical, 

 northern professor. F. S. Q. 



Mr. Pitman will find a letter upon this subject 

 In the Mechanics Magazine, No. 1592., p. 128., 

 voLlx. W.K. 



