36 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 245. 



each invention was a new one to the best of my judg- 

 ment and belief, and that it was of great importance in 

 photography, and that it has continued to be used by 

 photoffraphers ever since the time of its publication. 

 '^ " *^ J, F. W. Herschel. 



Sworn at the house of the above-named Sir John 

 Frederick William Herschel, Xo. 32. Harley 

 Street, in the county of Middlesex, this 2oth 

 day of May, 1854, before me, 



W. STRICKT.AJJD COOKSON, 



A London Commissioner to administer 

 oaths in Chancery. 



Obsolete Statutes (Vol. ix., p. 562.). — The Rev. 

 John Hildrop, Rector of Wath near Ripon, was 

 the author of the Letter to a Member of Parlia- 

 ment proposing a Bill to revise, &c. the Ten 

 Commandments. It was attributed at the time to 

 Dean Swift, but afterwards owned and inserted 

 by Dr. Hildrop in a collection of his miscellaneous 

 works, printed in two small 8vo. volumes, pub- 

 lished in the year 1754. For the titles of these 

 works, and some account of the author, J. O. is 

 referred to the Gentleman's Magazine for August, 

 1834 ; where, it must be observed, Magnus White- 

 grave has unfortunately repeated Dr. Whitaker's 

 incorrect transcript of a memorial in the chancel 

 at Wath to Dr. Hildrop's daughter ; and the as- 

 sertion, untruly made, that there is no inscription 

 there to the memory of the doctor himself. He 

 died January 18, a.d. 1756, aged seventy-three 

 years. His daughter Catherine, wife of Mr. 

 Francis Bacon, died September 6, a.d. 1754, aged 

 thirty-three years. 



I should be very glad to know to what univer- 

 sity Dr. Hildrop belonged, and in what year he 

 graduated D.D. I believe he was not of Cam- 

 bridge, and that he did not take his Doctor's de- 

 gree till after the year 1741. Patonce. 

 [Dr. Hildrop was a student at St. John's College, 

 Oxford; M.A.Junes, 1705; B. and D.D. June 9, 

 1743.] 



''Selah" (Vol.ix., p. 426.) ; Songs of Degrees 

 (Vol. ix., pp. 121. 376. 473.). — Having devoted a 

 considerable portion of a work on the Psalms, 

 published a few years back, to the consideration of 

 the word selah, it was with some surprise that I 

 observed a quotation in the " N. & Q." from The 

 People's Edition of the Bible, to the effect that the 

 word means da capo. The great mass of ancient 

 authorities (which, though various, are not in 

 reality discordant) does not favour this opinion ; 

 nor is it borne out by internal evidence. The word 

 is, I am confident, a musical direction ; but always 

 connected with the sentiment, and the peculiar 

 construction of the psalm. If my view is correct, 

 it was not intended to be read ; still, for my own 



part, I would not venture to omit it when pub- 

 licly reading the Ode of Habakkuk. As the 

 Bible translation of the Psalms is not intended for 

 liturgical use, I would omit the word were I read- 

 ing the Psalms in private. It may be remarked 

 as a curious fact, that Jackson of Exeter set the 

 word selah to music in an anthem composed for 

 the opening verses of the Ode of Habakkuk. He 

 evidently regarded it as an exclamation of praise. 

 As to the " Songs of Degrees," I venture to 

 refer to the work mentioned above for an essay 

 which discusses this question also. John Jebb. 



Pax Pennies of William the Conqueror (Vol. ix., 

 p. 562.). — Without any pretension to numismatic 

 lore, I throw out a suggestion that the letters on 

 the reverse of the Conqueror's pennies, paxs, may 

 stand for Willelmi AnglicB Christus Salus, which 

 of course would hold equally good in whatever 

 order the letters were placed. F. C. H. 



Holy-loaf Money (Vol. ix., pp. 150. 256. 568.). 

 — The custom of distributing the pain beni, or 

 blessed bread, is retained I believe in France only. 

 It is the sole remnant of the oblations of the faith- 

 ful. In the fourth century the Christians, as a 

 sign of union and charity, sent to each other small 

 loaves called E1U07101, and the distribution of 

 blessed bread during Mass from what remained of 

 the offerings unconsecrated, was afterwai'ds mtro- 

 duced as "a sign of union among the assistants. 

 When the primitive practice of daily communion 

 be<Tan to be discontinued, the blessed bread be- 

 came a kind of substitute for those who did not 

 actually receive the blessed Eucharist. F. C. H. 



''Emori nolo," ^c. (Vol.ix., p. 481.). — This 

 line occurs in Cicero, Tusc. Quasi., 1. 8. 15. Ihe 

 correct version has aestumo, not euro, which would 

 not scan, H- "^- ^* 



Palindromic Verses (Vol. ix., p. 343.).— The 

 origin of the lines quoted by T. A. T. is thus ex- 

 plained in Hone's Every-Day Book, col. 170. : 



« St Martin having given up the profession of a 

 soldier, and being elected Bishop of Tours, when pre- 

 lates neither kept carriages, horses, nor servants, had 

 occasion to go to Rome in order to consult his holiness 

 upon some important ecclesiastical matter. As he 

 was walking gently along the road he met the devil, 

 who politely accosted him, and ventured to observe 

 how fatiguing and indecorous it was for him to per- 

 form so long a journey on foot, like the commonest of 

 cockle-shell-chaperoned pilgrims. The samt knew 

 well the drift of Old Nick's address, and commanded 

 i him immediately to become a beast of burden or 

 jumentum; which the devil did in a twmkling, by as- 

 I suming the shape of a mule. The saint jumped upon 

 1 the fiend's back, who at first trotted cheerfully along, 

 1 but soon slackened his pace. The bishop of course 

 had neither whip nor spurs, but was possessed ot a 

 much more powerful stimulus, for, says the legend, he 



