338 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2na s. No 95., Oct. 24 ''57. 



Erasmus and Sir Thomas More (2"^ S. iv. 24'8.) 

 — The anecdote is not related very differently, but 

 verbatim et literatim. Erasmus did not borrow 

 a horse of some German prince. He was passing 

 through London, and visited Sir Thomas More in 

 his way from Cambridge, when the conversation 

 took place about transubstantiation. Sir Thomas 

 ordered a servant with a couple of horses to con- 

 vey him to Gravesend, where he was to embark. 

 From this place, having sold one of the horses, he 

 sent back the other with the witty note which is 

 alluded to by F. C. H. in 2°^ S. iv. 294. 



II. R. F. refers F. C. H. to Dr. Adam Clarke's 

 Life, vol. iii. pp. 243, 244., where the anecdote is 

 related, and should thank him to state the source 

 of his version of the story : 



" How can I, said Erasmus to Sir Thomas, believe and 

 eat the flesh and drink the blood of our Lord Jesus, when, 

 to all my senses, nothing but me;e bread is apparent." 



Sir Thomas answered, " Crede quod edes et 

 edes." R, R. F. 



Havering Parsonage. 



[Our correspondent has omitted to add Dr. Adam 

 Clarke's authority for the anecdote. " I had this anec- 

 dote," he remarked, " from my father, nearly sixty years 

 ago {circa 1770) ; I never met with it elsewhere, but 

 from what we know of the parties, it bears every internal 

 evidence of authenticity." The earliest notice of the lines 

 yet discovered occurs in the Lansdowne MS., 762. fol. 99., 

 a volume partly on vellum, and partly on paper, consist- 

 ing of a collection of Latin and English verses on mis- 

 cellaneous subjects, some proverbial, and others calculated 

 to help the memory on various occasions, as in history, 

 music, &c. Mr. Halliwell (see « K & Q.," 1"* S. ii. 263.) 

 states that this MS. is of the time of Henry VII. ; but the 

 compilers of the Lansdowne Catalogue describe it as 

 about the time of Henry VIII. The lines are — 

 " Tu dixisti de corpore Christi, crede et habes, 

 De palefrido sic tibi scribo, crede et habes."] 



W. S. Landor's Ode (2"'^ S. iv. 249.) — Eurydice 

 is meant. The lines in Ovid and Virgil are too 

 well known to be cited. 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



Solidus (2"* S. iv. 250.) — I have examined 

 several old arithmetics in order to ascertain the 

 value of the solidus mentioned by Mr. Offok, 

 whose book was purchased at Lugduni (Lyons), 

 1531. 



Mellis, in his edition of Record's Arithmetick, or 

 The Grovnd of Arts, 1648, says, p. 551 : 



" At Lyon they use Franks, Souln, and Deniers Tur- 

 nois. A Frank maketh (containeth) 20 Souln, and one 

 Souln 12 Deniers." 



And at p. 548. : 



" The pound sterling maketh 8/. 8sh. French, that is 

 to say 82 pounds : the shillings 8|s. and the peny Sjd. 

 French." 



Humphrey Baker's Well Spring of Sciences, 

 1646 (first edition, 1562), p. 262. says : 



"And here you must note that in France they make 

 their account by deniers Tournois, whereof 12 deniers 



maketh 1 Souse Tournois, and 20 Souse Tournois maketh 

 11. Tournois, which they call a Livre or Franc, :uk1 the 

 French crowne is current among merchants for 51 Souse 

 Tournois, but by exchange it is otherwise, for they will 

 deliver but 50 Souse Tournois, which is 21. IDs. Souse 

 Tournois for a Crown." 



Hence the solidus must be the old French sous, 

 = -^o of a French crown. Mr. Offor's book 

 would therefore cost f of a French crown. Or, 

 according to Mellis, about 3fs. sterling. C. D. H. 



Keighley. 



Saint Margaret (2""* S. iv. 209.) — There was 

 printed at Douay in 1660 a Life of this Saint, 

 which was translated by a J. R. and printed at 

 Paris in 1661, under the title of 



"The Idea of a perfect Princesse in the Life of St. 

 Margaret, Queen of Scotland ; with Elogiums on her 

 Children, David, King of Scotland, and Mathilda, Queen 

 of England, also a Postscript clearly proving Charles II.'s 

 Right and Title to the Crown of England." 



It is in small 8vo., and now very rare. A copy 

 was priced lately in a catalogue at 21. 12s. 6d. A 

 Life of this Saint was, I understand, written in 

 Spanish in 1617, and also in Italian in 1674. 

 " Memoires " of her also appeared in French in 

 1629, but I have never fallen in with them. They 

 must be all very scarce. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Abhotsford Catalogue (2"^ S. iv. 249.) —Please 

 permit me to correct a few mistakes of your cor- 

 respondent, " An Old Subscriber," in respect to 

 the Catalogue of the Library of Sir Walter Scott 

 at Abbotsford. It was compiled by Mr. J. G. 

 Cochrane, late bookseller, London, and printed in 

 1838 at the expense of the family trustees, and 

 copies thereof were by Major Sir Walter Scott, 

 Bart., " Presented to the President and Members 

 of the ' Bannatyne ' and ' Maitland ' clubs, as a 

 slight return for their liberality and kindness in 

 agreeing to continue to that Library the various 

 valuable works printed under their superintend- 

 ence." It was 7iot published by the " Abbotsford 

 Club." In a bibliographical point of view I con- 

 sider that there is a great difference in the expres- 

 sion " Published " (for sale), while the work was 

 only " Printed " (for private circulation), and also 

 between that of its being " Compiled and Edited." 



T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Shank's Nag (2""> S. iv, 86. 115.) — Consider- 

 able labour has been bestowed to explain this 

 very usual and obvious phrase. In Scotland al- 

 most every boy as well as grown-up people under- 

 stand their shanks to denote their legs, and hence 

 to ride on shanks' naigie, may be said to be uni- 

 versally known as the healthful exercise of walking 

 on foot. There is a modern phrase meaning the 

 same excellent thing — Walker's omnibus. A late 

 witty advocate in Edinburgh being waited on by 



