Dec. 29. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



51» 



that of Cleonice, ■which haunted her murderer, 

 Pausanias, are of this description. Xiv. 



Etymology of '■'■Manse'''' (Vol. xli., p. 478.). — 

 This word is derived from the low Latin man- 

 sus ; see Jaraieson s. v. The original meaning of 

 mansus was a determinate portion of land ; " cer- 

 tus a^ri modus," as it is defined by Ducange, 

 who has copiously illustrated the word in his 

 Glossary. Concerning the origin of mansus, there 

 are two opinions, one of which derives it from a 

 Latin, the other from a Teutonic source. Grimm, 

 whose authority in such a question is of great 

 weight, thinks that it was formed from manere, 

 " because the coloni were accustomed to dwell 

 upon their portion of land " (Deutsche Rechts- 

 alterihumer, p. 536,). This derivation of the word 

 is approved by Diez, Romanisches Worterbuch, in 

 V. mas, p. !219. On the other hand, Adelung con- 

 siders it as formed from tlie German mass, or masse, 

 a measure. It appears to me that the latter ety- 

 mology is decidedly preferable to the former. 

 First, it agrees best with the original meaning of 

 a fixed quantity of land. Secondly, it explains 

 the low Latin forms, masus, masa, massa, massum, 

 massagiuni, massuagium, masada, the Provencal 

 mas, the old French mes and mase, better than the 

 other derivation. Thirdly, the formation from 

 matisi, the preterit of munere, is unusual. L. 



Anonymous Hymns(Vo\. xii,,p, 11,), — No, 13, is 

 by the Kt, Rev, George W, Doane, Bishop of New 

 Jersey. Charles Wesley has a hymn beginning 

 " Hail ! thou long-expected Jesus ; " but I do not 

 know if this is what your correspondent means. 

 After these notes, I should like to make a Query 

 upon the authorship of some other hymns, which, 

 to avoid confusion, I will number continuously 

 with those of C. H, H. W., viz. : 



17. " My opening eyes with rapture see." 



18. "High on the bending willows hung." 



19. " He's come, let every knee be bent." 



20. " Father of all, whose love profound." 



21. " Dread Jehovah, God of nations." 



22. '-Go forth, ye heralds, in my name." 



23. " Disown'd of Heaven, by man opprest." 



24. " Peace, troubled soul, whose plaintive moan." 

 26. " Now the shades of night are gone."_ 



Any of your readers who can help to a know- 

 ledge of these will much oblige. I. H. A. 



Wywivvle (Vol. xi., p. 487.). — This plant, upon 

 further inquiry, I find is also called VVirwivvle. 

 It may therefore be derived from A.-S. wir, a 

 myrtle, and wifel, an arrow, or dart ; i. e. arrow- 

 myrtle, or thorn-myrtle. In Hallamshire (Hun- 

 ter's Glossary) the yew is called wire-thorn. 



E. G. R. 

 «S'^. Cuthherts Remains (Vol, xi,, pp. 255. 304.). 

 — The phrenologists will, no doubt, be pleased to 

 learn that a doubt has been cast upon the genuine- 

 No. 322.] 



ness of these remains ; for, I remember reading, at 

 the time, that the conformation of the supposed 

 scull of the saint was such, as, according to phre- 

 nological rules, to indicate the very lowest order 

 of intellect — in fact, almost idiocy ; but as no one 

 could consider St. Cuthbert to have been such 

 a person, the inferences drawn were not very 

 favourable to the doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim. 



Xiv. 

 Polygamy (Vol. ix,, pp, 246. 329. 409.), — " Is 

 it lawful for a Jew to have more than one wife?" 

 was the first of the twelve questions which, on 

 the 29th of July, 1806, were laid before the great 

 Sanhedrin assembled in Paris by order of Na- 

 poleon. The answer was, 



" It is by no means lawful for Jews to have more than 

 one wife ; in the states of Europe they conform to the 

 general custom. Moses does not expressly command 

 polygamy, yet he by no means forbids it ; he seems in- 

 clined tacitly to admit it, since he determines the here- 

 ditary portions of children, the issue of several wives. 

 Though this custom prevails in the East, yet their old 

 teachers forbid it, unless there be property to provide 

 abundantly for several Avives. Xot so in the West ; the 

 wish to conform to the customs of the people, among 

 whom they were dispersed, led them to determine the 

 abolition of polygamy ; yet, as some refused to submit, an 

 assembly at Worms, in 1070, composed of an hundred 

 rabbis, decided the question. They pronounced excom- 

 munication against any Israelite who should henceforth 

 take more than one wife." 



See Keizer, Palcestina, pp. 34, seq. Compare 

 Saalschiitz, das Mosdische Recht, p. 746. — From 

 the Navorscher. J. S. 



Norwich. 



Paston Family (Vol. xii., p. 366.). — The name 

 of James Paston does not occur in the genealogy 

 of the Paston family, communicated from a MS. 

 in the possession of the Duke of Newcastle, by 

 Francis Worship, Esq., to the Norfolk Archaeolo- 

 gical Society's Papers, vol, iv,, and which is brought 

 down to the year 1674. It was from this James 

 Paston that the late Sir Astley Paston Cooper was 

 descended, and not from the family of the Pastons, 

 Earls of Yarmouth, as stated in his biography. 



G. A. C. 



Wash (Vol. xii., p. 365.). — This is a Saxon 

 word ; the root is the same as that of the German 

 waschen; but the Germans, in speaking of the 

 washes in bays, call them smnpjige Oerter ; the 

 French, marais, andte7-res marecageuses ; in Latin, 

 cestuaria. I cannot trace the origin of wash to the 

 Sanscrit, except through vas, to take, to clothe, 

 and vastis, cloth ; Greek, ecrOos ; Latin, vestis, &c. ; 

 by confounding the thing washed with the act of 

 washing. T. J. Bucktok. 



Lichfield. 



Throckmorton Careiv (Vol. xii., p. 227.). — See 

 Lysons's Environs of London, vol. i. p. 53., and the 

 " Genealogy of the Family of Courtenay," by the 



