96 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 83., Aug. 1. '57. 



SEPARATION OF THE SEXES IN CHURCHES. 



(2"'^ S. iii. 108. 178. ; iv. 54.) 



The separation of women from men in public 

 worship, is rather a result of the social position or 

 Status of women in a given country or community, 

 than of religious discipline. The first tabernacle, 

 and the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel, as 

 also the specification of a temple in Ezekiel, did 

 not provide, as far as can be now ascertained, any 

 separate accommodation for the women. But in 

 the temple of Herod, " a court of Hebrew women " 

 was provided between the court of the Israelites 

 and that of the Gentiles ; so that they could see 

 the men, whilst remaining themselves unseen, {Jos. 

 Ant, XV. 11. 5. ; Wars, v. 5. 2. ; Lightfoot, ix. 302., 

 X. 62.). Amongst the early Christians, the men 

 and women assembled together ; and women held 

 offices in the church, as in the tabernacle and 

 sanctuary (see Numbers, iv. 23. ; Romans, xvi. 1. ; 

 Lightfoot, ii. 163.). Amongst the Mahometans, 

 altliough women were not forbidden by the Pro- 

 phet to attend public prayers in a mosque, but 

 advised rather to pray in private, they are placed 

 apart from the men, and behind the latter in some 

 countries ; whilst in Cairo, neither females nor 

 young boys are allowed to pray with the congre- 

 gation in the mosque (Lane's Mod. Egypt., i. 

 117). In our own churches, the official attend- 

 ance of men in authority, and corporate bodies, 

 requiring the appropriation of pews for themselves, 

 renders a corresponding provision necessary for 

 their wives and daughters ; the men taking the 

 south side as the more honourable, and the women 

 the north side ; whilst in other parts of the church 

 men and women sit together in the pews, likewise 

 assigned them by the ordinary. 



The authorities given by Bingham (viii. c. v. 

 s. 6.) for the separation of women from men, re- 

 ferring to periods subsequent to the third century, 

 are Cyril (in Catech. 8.), Augustine {Civ. Dei, 

 ii. c. 28., xxiii. c. 8.), Paulinus (Ambros., p. 3.), 

 Socrates (i. c. 17.), Chrysostom (Hom. 74. in 

 Matt.), and Eusebius (ii. c. 17.). Bingham also 

 quotes, in proof, the Apostolical Constitutions 

 (ii. c. 57._, viii. c. 20. 28.) ; but the authenticity of 

 this portion is doubtful. (Bunsen's Hippolytus, ii. 

 318.). Bunsen has critically discussed the ques- 

 tion of the genuineness of the Apostolical Con- 

 stitutions {Hipp., ii. 220.). The Coptic Church 

 required " the women to stand praying in a place 

 in^ the church, apart by themselves, whether the 

 faithful women, or the women catechumens" {Id. 

 ii. 317.). Upon the whole, it may be inferred, 

 that this separation of the sexes is not sanctioned 

 by Scripture, nor by the practice of the first three 

 centuries ; and that it has been adopted by the 

 oriental churches and religions on moral or con- 

 ventional grounds, without the express authority 

 of their respective founders. T. J. Buckton. 



Beau Wilson. — In some earlier numbers (1" S. 

 xii. 495. ; 2""^ S. ii. 400.) there is reference to Beau 

 Wilson, killed in a duel by the subsequently fa- 

 mous financier Law. Your correspondents seem 

 to refer to Mrs. Manley as the author or original 

 propagator of the romantic story about the mys- 

 terious sources of Wilson's wealth. That such a 

 story was current while Wilson was living is evi- 

 dent from a note in Luttrell's Diary (iii. 291.), 

 under date of — 



" 10 April, 1C94. A duel was yesterday fought between 

 one Mr. Lawes and Mr. Wilson in Bloomsbury Square ; 

 the latter was killed upon the spot, and the other is sent 

 to Newgate ; 'tis that Mr. Wilson who for some years past 

 hath made a great figure, living at the rate of 4000/. per 

 annum, without any visible estate ; and the several gen- 

 tlemen who kept him company, and endeavoured to find 

 out his way of living, could never effect it," 



B.W. 



Warlmrton, Johnson, and " Fitting to a T" 

 (2""* S. iv. 71.) — Our Editor's explanation of the 

 general phrase is, I presume, the right one ; but 

 it does not answer L. E. W.'s Query, or, at least, 

 the Query which I should make on the passage in 

 Boswell (p. 760., Oct. edit.). What was the point 

 of what Johnson seems to have meant as a plea- 

 santry turning specially on the letter T ? What 

 more than if he had said " fitted him exactly," or 

 any general expression of that meaning ? C. 



Action for not Flogging (2""^ S. iv. 50.) — 



"Thursday Aug. 1st, 1816. — The Lord Mayor having 

 latelj' committed to the House of Correction a working 

 sugar-baker for having left his employment in conse- 

 quence of a dispute respecting wages, and not having 

 during his confinement received any personal correction, 

 conformably to the statute, in consequence of no order to 

 that effect being specified in the warrant of committal ; 

 he actually brought an action against the Lord Mayor in 

 the Court of Common Pleas for non-conformity to the 

 law, as he had received no whipping during his confine- 

 ment. The Jury were obliged to give a farthing damages, 

 but the point of law was reserved." — Gentleman's 3Iaga~ 

 zine, vol. Ixxxvi. pt. ii. p. 175. 



Zeus. 



Field Marshal Robertson of the House of Strowan 

 (2""* S. iii. 448.) — According to Douglas's Peer- 

 age, by Wood, ii. 371., Sir Alex. Robertson of 

 Strowan was created a baronet of England, Fe- 

 bruary 20, 1677. His eldest son. Sir David Col- 

 year, came over into England with the Prince of 

 Orange at the Revolution, and on June 1, 1699, 

 was created a peer of Scotland by the title of 

 Lord Portmore and Blackness. J. Y. 



Godly Prayers (2"'' S. iii. 353.; iv. 35.)— These 

 Prayers were placed at the end of the Prayer- 

 Book long before 1628. They occur in a copy I 

 have of 1615 (Barker), and also of 1591. These 

 begin with "A Prayer, containing the duetie of 

 every true Xtian ; " then come " Prayers for 



