478 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 15. 1855. 



Door Inscriptions (Vol. xii., p. 355.). — Over 

 an arched doorway in Cologne, the legend follow- 

 ing the line of arch, 



"PAX INTRANTIBVS SALUS EXEVNTIBVS " 



in the centre ; on the keystone a heart surmounted 

 by a cross, symbolical of Christian hospitality, in- 

 scribed with the initials of tlie "good man of the 

 house." The above truly hospitable greeting, 

 analogous to, but more comprehensive than our 

 own familiar line, 



" Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," 



was sent me a year or two since, by an archaeologi- 

 cal friend from Germany, who made a " note " of 

 it on the spot, and it now, mutatis mutandis, adorns 

 the doorway of my vicarage, with the addition of 

 a scroll over, inscribed — 



«' Ps. 127., « NISI DXVS.' " 



At Montlacute House, Somerset : 



" Thro' this wide op'ning gate 

 None come too earlj^ none return too late." 



And over the door on the other front, 



" Yours, my friend." 



Over the Pension Baumgarten, M. Ruffenacht, 

 1850: 



"INVENI PORTVM SPES ET FORTVNA VALETE," 



but of seventeenth century in date. Continuation, 

 " Sat me hisistis ludite nunc alios," 



Brookthorpe. 



Over-door Inscription. — Tn Scotland a clergy- 

 man's dwelling is named a Manse, a word evidently 

 derived from maneo, mansi, and denoting literally 

 a permanent place of abode ; but in marked con- 

 trast to this idea, over the door of the Manse of 

 St. Martin's, near Perth, is found inscribed the 

 motto " NuUi certa domus." J. A. Pkrthexsis, 



Door Inscription. — The following is on a house 

 in Watergate Street, Chester ; and is said to com- 

 memorate the escape of a family from the plague : 

 " God's providence is my inheritance." J. Y. (2) 



Common-Place Books (Vol. xii., p. 366.). — 

 Locke's method for a common-place book is well 

 known, but an improvement upon it came out 

 about thirty-five years ago, which I have ever 

 since followed with perfect satisfaction. You 

 enter your notes and extracts in your book just 

 as they occur to you, and without any order or 

 connexion in the body of the common-place book. 

 But you so construct your index as to afford the 

 greatest facility of reference and perspicuity of 

 arrangement. This is done by heading each page 

 with a letter of the alphabet, and then dividing 

 the page into six compartments, which are respec- 

 tively headed a, e, i, o, u, and p. The letter Q 

 must have u after it in the heading, thus, Qu, and 

 X and Z will not require full pages. Each article 



No. 320.] 



is entered in one of these compartments, accord- 

 ing to the first vowel in the word, or, if the word 

 begins with a vowel, the second vowel regulates 

 the entry. Thus, painting would be entered in 

 the first compartment a, under the letter P. The 

 word architecture would be entered in the com- 

 partment i, under tlie letter A. By this easy 

 method, a thick book, well filled, may be readily 

 arranged, so that any subject may be found in an 

 instant, and all confusion is avoided. F. C. H. 



Priests' Hiding-Places (Vol. xii., p. 149.). — 

 Paxhill, near Lindfield, Sussex, was built, I be- 

 lieve, by Dr. Andrew Borde, physician and jester 

 to Henry VIH., and the original " Merry An- 

 drew." It has remained in the possession of the 

 family up to the present time, and has been but 

 little altered. In the ceiling of the ground floor 

 is a large chamber surrounded by a stone bench, 

 which is entered by a trap-door in the floor above ; 

 and behind the shutters of the window in one of 

 the upper rooms is a door, opening into a recess 

 in the wall, capable of containing several persons 

 standing upright side by side. As the family is 

 an old Roman Catholic one, these were doubtless 

 hiding-places for recusants. 



At Borwick Hall, Lancashire, where the tra- 

 dition is current that Clarendon resided, and 

 Charles II. stayed, before the battle of Worcester 

 — a perfect specimen of an old English mansion, 

 which is being restored with great taste by George 

 Marton, Esq., its present owner — is a small room 

 once used as a chapel. The recess in the wall, 

 with a wooden altar, and the sacred monogram 

 emblazoned above, yet remain ; and adjoining 

 the chapel is a priest's oratory, wainscotted with 

 oak panelling, painted with various devices. ^ In 

 this is a confessional, and a secret door leads into 

 a hidden chamber, evidently used for concealment 

 in dangerous times. 



I will not vouch for the strict accuracy of all 

 my statements, as they are founded on hearsay 

 and a very brief inspection ; but of the fact of the 

 hidden chambers, and the purpose to which they 

 were applied, I am sure. J. R- M., M.A. 



Add, one at Treago, Herefordshire, in the siib- 

 stance of the wall," lighted by a shot-hole, and 

 provided with a sleeping-place and reading-desk. 

 When I saw it, a few years ago, the o]d woman 

 who showed the fine old fortified mansion, called 

 it " Pope's Hole." W. J. Bernhari> Smith. 



Temple. 



The cold Shade of the Aristocracy (Vol. xii., p. 

 428.). — This phrase first occurs in Sir W. F. P. 

 Napier's History of the Peninsular War, and refers 

 to the gallantry of our friendless officers and sol- 

 diers who fought and bled for their country, al- 

 though conscious that they dare not hope for 

 reward, from want of interest with the authorities 



