412 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 99., Nov. 21. '67. 



be visible, in a clear atmosphere, at 30 miles' dis- 

 . tance. Perhaps some of your correspondents may 

 be able to state the extreme distance at which the 

 beacon lighted on the Malvern Hills (I think) 

 last winter was visible. It was noticed in all the 

 newspapers of the day. Clearly, a beacon lighted 

 on a mountain would be visible at a much greater 

 distance than the mountain itself, even on the 

 clearest day. It is said that Ben Nevis is visible 

 from Snowdon. My impression is, that the Mal- 

 vern "fire" was seen at a distance of 100 miles ! 



H. C. K. 

 — ■^— Rectory, Hereford. 



JRunnymead. — The name of this celebrated lo- 

 cality is, in old documents, written in different 

 ways, as Runningmead, Runemed, Runemeid, 

 Rendmed, Redmede, and Rennemed. Somner, 

 in his Glossary, derives It from Ang.-Sax. Rcedan, 

 consulere, and so, to a certain extent, confirms 

 the statement of Matthew of Westminster (sub 

 ann. 1215, 17. Johan), who says: "Rennemed 

 quod interpretatum Pratuni Concilii eo quod an- 

 tiquis temporibus ibi de pace Regni ssepius Con- 

 cilia tractabantur." What historical testimony 

 have we which directly establishes the correctness 

 of this assertion ? Wm. Matthews. 



Cowgill. 



Luxembourg. — Allow me to add au inquiry 

 whether there Is any view of this important for- 

 tress of later date than that of Blaen published 

 in the seventeenth century. It seems very ex- 

 traordinary that whilst every picturesque and re- 

 markable spot on the Rhine, the Moselle and the 

 Meuse has been depicted over and over again, no 

 English artist should have published a sketch of 

 Luxembourg, which is on the high road from 

 Treves on the Moselle, to Dinant or Namur on 

 the Meuse, and in its imposing grandeur and 

 picturesque site far surpasses Ehrenbreltstein. 

 Have none of them visited it ? H. P. 



'■'Busirin fiigiens" — Will any of your readers 

 inform me who Is the author of the following hex- 

 ameters : 

 " Busirin fugiens et inhospita litora, Bacchus 

 Vidit inurnatam Semelen : quo tempore Faunus 

 Patroclum aspexit morientem, atque jmiiis diro, 

 Mutata in Nioben, Nox coecis se abdidit umbris." 



It has been suggested that in v. 2. " inorna- 

 tam " is the proper word, as that in the text is 

 not found in any Latin author " mellorls asvl et 

 notae." A reference to the original may decide 

 this question. J. T. C. 



Corry-hole, — 



« Dr. Todd says that within the tower (of Great Sal- 

 keld church in Cumberland) there is a place called the 

 Corry-hole, for the correction and imprisonment of the 

 clergy while the Archdeacon had any power within the 

 diocese." — Jefferson^s Leath Ward, co, Cumberland, 268. n. 



Are there traces of the existence of any such 

 place in other dioceses ? G. H. A. 



Sir Abraham Williams. — Any information re- 

 specting Abraham Williams, who was knighted 

 some short time before 1631, would be acceptable 

 to Meletbs. 



" Rocq pelle " and " Roches pellees." — Perhaps 

 some military reader of " N. & Q." can furnish 

 an explanation of this term. Its first and older 

 form occurs on the plan of Luxembourg in the 

 Delices des Pays-Bas, the other on several of the 

 larger plans of the same place In the British Mu- 

 seum. No French dictionary I have seen notices 

 the term, which from its apparent derivation seems 

 to mean " scarped rocks. Its use on the plans 

 indicates some kind of outwork. H. P. 



[Boyer, edit. 1729, gives " PeM, ^e, Adj. (qui n'a 

 point de Poll) bald." Our term " naked rocks " will 

 scarcely define " roches pelees " with sufficient accuracy, 

 the phrase implying that the rock is in such a position as 

 to make it impossible to append anything to it.] 



Commonwealth Tracts (1" S. vi. 175.; xi. 40.) — 

 In Oldys' " Dissertation on Pamphlets " in Mor- 

 gan's Phoenix Britannicus, p. 556., this collection is 

 said to have been made " by Tomlinson the Book- 

 seller," and reference is made to Memoirs for the 

 Ctirious, 4to., 1708, vol. ii. p. 176., as authority 

 for the statement. Which Is the true name, Tho- 

 mason or Tomlinson ? Will some of the readers 

 of "N. & Q.," who have access to the work refer- 

 red to, give us what Is said upon the subject in 

 question. C. M. S. 



[The collector was George Thomason, as stated in the. 

 article of our 1»' S. vi. 175. The notice of this valuable 

 Collection in the Memoirs for the Curious, ii. 176., occurs 

 in a paper entitled " An Account of Several Libraries in 

 and about London, for the Satisfaction of the Curious, 

 both Natives and Foreigners." The writer remarks, " Mr. 

 Tomlinson [Thomason] with great pain and cost, made 

 a collection of all the pamphlets that came out, beginning 

 at 1641, and continued to 1660. It is reported that King 

 Charles I., wanting a small tract, after a strict inquiry at 

 last was informed that it was in the collection, upon 

 which he took coach, and went to his house in Paul's 

 Churchyard, and there read it, not desiring it out of his 

 house, and for his encouragement gave him 101. This 

 collection, bound all uniform, containing several hundreds 

 of volumes in folio, quarto, and octavo, are so well di- 

 gested that the smallest tract to a single sheet may be 

 readily found by the Catalogue, which was taken by Mr. 

 Marmaduke Foster, and is in 12 vols, folio, and has been 

 valued at several thousands of pounds." 



The interesting and remarkable history of the collection 

 and preservation of these most important pamphlets is re- 

 lated in two papers inserted in the first volume of the 

 manuscript Catalogue of their contents, which appear to 

 have been drawn up with the design of making the col- 

 lection publicly known for sale. The principal of these 

 papers is in manuscript, which being more copious and 



