490 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2=^ s. N" 103., dec. 19. '57. 



determined at the Council of Melfi, under Pope Urban II., 

 A. D. 1090. [1089], that it was impossible with a safe con- 

 science to exercise any traffic, or follow the profession of 

 the law."* (^Commentaries, ed. Kerr, i. 255.) 



The authorities cited for this statement are (a.) 

 an extract from Gratian's Decretum, I.lxxxviii. 11.: 



" Homo mercator vix aut nunquam potest Deo pla- 

 cere; et ideo nuUus Christianus debet esse mercator; 

 aut si voluerit esse, projiciatur de ecclesia Dei." 



Part of the 16th canon of Melfi (5.), which I give 

 with the variations which appear in Hardouin's 

 ^Concilia : — 



" Falso [falsa] fit poenitentia, cum penitus [a?, pceni- 

 tens] ab officio [vel] curiali vel negotiali non recedit, 

 quae sine peccatis agi ulla ratione non prsevalet [prseva- 

 lent]." 



J. C. R. 



Curious Reason for Non-payment of Tithes. — 



" The landholders of this parish (Renwick) formerly 

 paid a prescription in lieu of tithes, excepting the owners 

 ■ of an estate at Scalehouse, long in the possession of the 

 Tallentier family, who claimed exemption on account of 

 an ancient owner having slain a ' Cockatrice.' This is 

 said to have happened about 250 years since." — Jeffer- 

 son's Leath Ward in the County of Cumberland, p. 104. 



E.H.A. 



Card Playing. — Robert Bell has written in one 

 -of his lectures, that card playing — 

 ■" was a favourite diversion in Shakspeare's times. The 

 principal games then played are now unknown — such as 

 ' primero,' ' gleek,' ' maw,' ' ruff,' and ' knave out of doors.' 

 There were games of tables, one of which was identical 

 with our modern backgammon. Dice were much in use, 

 and false dice were constantly emploj'ed by sharpers. 

 Shakspeare's expression, 'false as dicers' oaths,' bears 

 strictly in his own time. At the period of the Restora- 

 tion false dice were called Fulhams, from having been 

 manufactured in a town of that name." 



w. w. 



^tn0r <h\xtx\ti. 



Arabic Testaments. — Parke took into Africa, on 

 bis second expedition, Arabic Testaments printed 



excommunicate — a proposition at once so monstrous, and 

 so notoriously contrary to fact, that we must wonder how 

 the learned commentator should have failed to be startled 

 by it. 



* The canon of Melfi appears to be misinterpreted. Its 

 primary object is not to condemn certain occupations, but 

 to ensure the reality of penance. If Sir William Black- 

 stone's indignation was roused by its supposed attack on 

 his own profession, the feeling would seem to have been 

 quite groundless, inasmuch as officium curiale does not 

 mean " the profession of the law," but the duties connected 

 with attendance at a sovereign's court. The use ofprce- 

 valent is in any case barbarous; but perhaps it may 

 mean sclent rather than possunt. And the whole sentence 

 seems to imply only that the engagements of courtiers 

 and traders must be avoided by persons under a sentence 

 of penance, as likely to tempt them to something incon- 

 sistent with their penitential obligations, — not that such 

 engagements must necessarily be sinful for Christians in 

 general. 



in England, as he found the people in the interior 

 valued even an English printed book, although they 

 could not read it. 



If any one can point out where those were 

 printed, it may enable Dr. Livingstone to obtain 

 some of the copies which remain in this country, 

 and which will be very useful in Africa. 



Rob Roy. 



Lyric Ejaculation. — In a periodical publica- 

 tion of the year 1723, appears the following lyric 

 ejaculation for the speedy and safe delivery of the 

 Princess of Wales (afterwards Queen Caroline) : — 



" Promised blessing of the year. 

 Fairest blossom of the spring,' 

 Thy fond mother's wish — appear ! 



Haste to hear the linnets sing. 

 Haste to breathe the vernal air. 



Come to see the primrose blow : 

 Nature doth her lap prepare, 

 Nature thinks thy coming slow ! 

 Glad the people, quickly smile, 

 Darling native of our isle." 



May I ask through your columns whether this 

 loyal and rather sprightly effusion is included 

 among the acknowledged works of any of the 

 minor poets of that era? The unborn subject of 

 it duly responded to the invocation by showing 

 himself at the end of February. A. L. 



Armorial Bearings. — Can any of the corre- 

 spondents of " N. & Q." who are skilled in heraldry 

 inform me whether a son is entitled to any por- 

 tion of the armorial bearings of his mother, sup- 

 posing his father to have none ? K. K. K. 



S. John's College, Cambridge. 



Endeavour used as a reflective Verb. — Of this 

 there are three instances in the English Prayer- 

 book : — 



(1.) " Endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps." 

 (Collect for Second Sunday after Easter.) 



(2.) " I will endeavour myself, the Lord being my 

 helper." (Ordering of Deacons.) 



(3.) " I will endeavour myself so to do, the Lord being 

 my helper." (Ordering of Priests.) 



Can any correspondent produce a parallel ex- 

 ample from secular literature? I have in vain 

 consulted Todd's Johnson and Richardson's Dic- 

 tionary (^Encyc. Metrop. edition). J. C. R. 



'■^Petronius Maxiinus." — In the Edinburgh Ma- 

 gazine, vol. Ixxxviii., July, 1821, there is some 

 account given of an old play with the following 

 title : 



" The Famouse Historie of Petronius Maximus, with 

 the tragicall Deathe of Jitius the Roman Consul, and the 

 Misdeeds of Valentinian, the Western Emperour, now at- 

 tempted in Blank Verse, by W. S. London, printed bj' 

 Wm. Brent, for Nathaniel Butter, and sold by him at his 

 shop in Paule's Church-yarde, 1619." 



Is anything known I'egarding the author of this 

 play, which is not noticed in the Biographia Dra- 

 matica ? R. Ikglis. 



