50 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. No 81., July 18. 'o7. 



Majesty also felt: and that he was commanded by 

 him to present each of the dissenting ministers 

 there with the sum of five hundred pounds a-piece, 

 as a token of his good-will, and as a little assist- 

 ance to the cause. The statesman also intimated 

 as long as he should remain in the Cabinet the 

 same sums should be annually paid to the same 

 parties out of the Privy Purse. The story went 

 on to say, the dissenting ministers were wonder- 

 fully softened by this conduct, pocketed the money, 

 and never were troublesome personally to govern- 

 ment again. Now, so far, this is a vague story, 

 and might have been a mere "weak invention of 

 the enemy;" but it went on to say that after a 

 payment or two had been made the secret leaked 

 out, the sterner part of the Puritans were very 

 indignant, and a pamphlet was published stigma- 

 tising the whole proceeding in the strongest terms. 

 This was entitled Acharis Golden Wedge — allud- 

 ing to the crime of the Israelite warrior who hid 

 the Canaanite spoils in his tent, as is recorded in 

 the seventh chapter of the Book of Joshua. This 

 pamphlet it was said was instantly rigidly sup- 

 pressed, and every copy destroyed that could be 

 got hold of. The origin of the Regium Donum is, 

 and always has been, involved in mystery. It 

 was paid out of the Privy Purse for years, and 

 afterwards, when some fresh arrangement of the 

 Civil List had taken place, was the subject of an 

 annual Parliamentary Grant. The system of 

 slipping money into people's hands was common 

 at that time. You will remember in Pope's 

 Epistle to Lord Bathurst — 



" Beneath the Patriot's cloak 

 From the cracked bag, the dropping guineas spoke, 

 And jingling down the back-stairs told the crew 

 Old Cato is as great a rogue as you." 



Can any readers of "N. & Q." inform me, 1st, 

 Whether there is any truth in the story of the 

 bribe ? 2nd. Whether any such pamphlet is in 

 existence ? 3rd. What is the true history of the 

 Regium Donum, and with whom did it originate ? 

 and 4th, though not directly connected with the 

 subject. Who was Pope's " old Cato ? " A. A. 



Poet's Corner. 



O'Reilli/s Money. — In a parliament holden at 

 Trim, in the county of Meath, in the year 1447, 

 an act was passed against clipped money, money 

 called O' Beyle's [O'Reilly's] mo7iey, and other un- 

 lawful money, &c. What money was so called ? 

 Dean Butler, in his Notices of the Castle and Ec- 

 clesiastical Buildings of Trim, p. 77., says : 



" Several small unstamped pieces of billon, or rather of 

 iron, have been found in Trim ; tlfey are of the size of a 

 sixpence, but very thin ; they may have been O'Kevle's 

 money," 



Abhba. 



Heraldic Query. — Can anyone inform me who 

 was the bearer of the following arms ? 



Quarterly 1st and 4th. Gules, on a bend be- 

 tween three garbs, or (or argent), as many crosses, 

 pattee, fichee of the field, 2nd and 3rd argent, two 

 bars, azure, between eight mallets, sable, 3, 2, 

 and 3. 



They appear on a portrait of the time of 

 Charles I., and, I think, belong to families of the 

 Midland Counties. J. E. 



Tea after Supper. — 



" Le Pfere Couplet supped with me ; he is a man of 

 very good conversation. After supper we had tea, which 

 he said was really as good as any he had drank in China. 

 The Chinese who came over with him and Mr. Fraser 

 supped likewise with us." — Lord Clarendon's Diary, 

 Feb. 10, 1688. 



E. H. A. 



Action for not flogging. — Can anyone refer me 

 to the particulars of a case which is said to have 

 occurred about forty years ago, when a culprit 

 who had been imprisoned by the chief magistrate 

 of some town brought an action against the 

 magistrate for not ordering him to be flogged, as 

 the act under which he had been imprisoned and 

 his oflence required. Geohge. 



Horses eaten in Spain. — Burton says, Anat. 

 Mel, part i. s. 2. m. 2. s. 1. : 



" Young foals are as commonly eaten in Spain, as red 

 deer ; and, to furnish their navies, about Malaga espe- 

 cially, often used." 



Does this practice still prevail in Spain ? 



Henry T. Riley. 



Lines on Lord Fanny. — In an old common-place 

 book I find the following lines : — 



" Vulpes ad Personam Tragicam. 

 " A Strolling Fox once chanced to drop, 

 Grand Connoisseur, in Ry-sbrack's shop. 

 A noble bust he there beheld, 

 Whose beauty all the rest excell'd. 

 Much he admir'd the Carver's craft. 

 The Sculptor prais'd, and praising laught: 

 ' A pretty figure I profess, 

 This is Lord Fanny's head, I guess : 

 How happy Ilysbrack are thy pains — 

 The Life, by G— d — it has no brains ! ' " 



My Queries are : Do these lines refer to Pope's 

 Lord Fanny ? and, Who wrote them ? L. B. 



Cornish Prefixes: '■'Tre^' " Poif," and '' Pen."— 

 What is the meaning of these words prefixed to 

 proper names ? They occur in " The Song of the 

 Western Men : " 



« And shall they scorn Tre, Pol, and Pen ? " 



NOTSA. 



Dr. Alex. Holiday. — In the Memoirs of the 

 Earl of Charlemont, published in 1812, there are 

 extracts from a number of his letters addressed to 

 Dr. Ale^tander Haliday, of Belfast. Can any of 



