494 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[•2'-d S. Xo 103., Dec. 19. '57. 



following day when they assisted f o celebrate the 

 Crucifixion. At the present day it is the fashion 

 to appear at church in mourning or in black on 

 Good Friday, at least with the ladies, in all coun- 

 tries. Three days beforehand is rather too long 

 an interval for rendering oneself smart against the 

 celebration of a festival. 



As to the anachronism advanced by E. G. R., I 

 may state that the object of the Roman Church, in 

 her imposing ceremonial of Holy Week, was to 

 represent the consecutive facts of the Atonement 

 in a grand drama, whose distinct and well-de- 

 veloped Five Acts begin on the Wednesday, and 

 end with the Gloria in Excelsis, triumphantly 

 sung on the Saturday. The four last days of Holy 

 Week are occupied with celebrating in detail 

 what is collectively embodied in the grand idea of 

 Easter, as conveyed to the faithful. On the Sa- 

 turday the Epistle says — " If you be risen with 

 Christ," &c., Coloss. ili. On Easter Sunday it 



says — " Purge out the old leaven For 



Christ, our pasch, is sacrificed," &c., 1 Cor. v. 7. 

 All that has been enacted during the previous 

 days is collectively commemorated on Easter 

 Tuesday. 



As to the precise time when the original Maun- 

 dye took place, see a learned dissertation by Har- 

 doMin, De supremo Christi paschate. (^Chron, Vet. 

 Test, Op. Select. 629.) 



The derivation by Spelman from mande, a 

 basket, — baskets being brought on that day to re- 

 ceive the alms of the king, — and all the other sug- 

 gestions, seem mere conjectures suggested by the 

 fancy, or the result of the homonyme maunde ; a 

 process very usual with those who dabble in philo- 

 logy. Nevertheless the word mand itself has been 

 derived from mandere, to eat, because eatables 

 were usually carried in it! See Richardson for 

 the various opinions. I submit that Maundy 

 Thursday is an ecclesiastical term to designate the 

 prominent celebration of the day, just like Shrove- 

 Tuesday, Ash-Wednesday, Whit-Sunday, Michael- 

 mas, Christmas, &c. 



That Spelman, in the seventeenth century, should 

 trace the word to a vulgar incident of the festival 

 is natural enough — the name of the baskets in 

 which the customary gifts were received ; — but it 

 is curious to find that a passage quoted by Spel- 

 man himself seems to refer to the primitive idea 

 which was typified by the very gifts distributed 

 to the poor — always something to eat, as well as 

 raiment. He quotes a bequest by a certain abbot, 

 " mandatum pauperibus facere et eos pascere, &c., 

 pro Christi amore;" that is, to make them a 

 present — to " give " them something, and to feed 

 them — clearly reverting to the idea of the original 

 Maundye as given by Sir T. More. 



In the Anglo-Saxon period the word Jiousel 

 was used for the Sacrament, and housele was to 

 administer the Sacrament, as is evident in Chaucer. 



Dr. Lingard quotes the following : — " We enjoin 

 that no man take of the housel unfasting, unless it 

 be for extreme sickness." (Anglo-Saxon Church, 

 i. 328.) This word has been derived from Hostia! 

 I submit that its derivation is far more homely, 

 namely, from the word house ; for to housele or 

 house together was a correct rendering of the 

 Latin communicare, which is the term for re- 

 ceiving the Sacrament — to ben houselyd. It is 

 ditBcult to find when Maundy was substituted for 

 Shere in the name of the day. That it must have 

 been before the Reformation seems evident from 

 the fact that the day is so called by the Catholics. 

 In Spain the ceremony of washing the feet of 

 paupers is called mandato ; and, according to 

 Vieyra, the sermon preached on that day is so 

 called in Portugal. These facts may have sug- 

 gested the modern English interpretation. James 

 II. was the last king of England who personally 

 washed the feet of paupers. See Hone, Every 

 Day Booh, ii., Year Book, 314., and Doblado's 

 Letters, 285., for a full account of the Catholic 

 ceremonies on Maundy Thursday, &c. 



Andrew Steinmetz. 



CLEBICAI- WIZARDS (2"'' S. iv. 393.) ; MARY HILI> 



OF BECKINGTON (2"" S. iii. 233.) 



On availing myself of your reference to the 

 cases of John Lowes in Baxter's World of Spirits, 

 I find that he did not doubt the guilt of the ac- 

 cused. 



" The hanging of a great number of witches in Suffolk 

 and Essex, by the discovery of one Hopkins, in 1645 and 

 1646, is famously known. Mr. Calamy went along with 

 the judges in the circuit to hear their confession.s, and 

 see that there were no fraud or wrong done to them. I 

 spake with many understanding and pious persons that 

 went to them to the prisons, and heard their sad confes- 

 sions. Among the rest, an old Reading parson, named 

 Lowis, not far from Framlingham, was one tliat was 

 hanged. He confessed, &c." — World of Spirits, reprint, 

 1834, p. 20. 



Who was Mr. Calamy ? The celebrated Non- 

 conformist divine, the contributor to Smectymnus, 

 and grandfather to Baxter's biographer, was born 

 in 1600, and in 1645 would liardly have been 

 called " old " Calamy, as in Mr. Clubbe's ex- 

 tract. 



What does Baxter mean by " an old Reading 

 parson ? " Is it that Mr. Lowes came originally 

 from the town of Reading, or does he use the 

 word disparagingly of one who read the Liturgy 

 and his sermons, instead of praying and preaching 

 extempore ? 



In 2"<* S. iii. 233. I expressed a doubt as to the 

 case of Mary Hill being real, or only taken by 

 Bekker from a "great news" sheet. Though the 

 World of Spirits was on my table when I wrote. 



