10 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 244. 



It is called Capella Dominica, the domain chapel ; is 

 not within the jurisdiction or diocese of any bishop ; 

 but, as a regal peculiar, exempt and reserved to the 

 visitation and immediate government of the King, who 

 is supreme ordinary, as it were, over all England. By 

 the dean are chosen all other officers of the chapel, 

 namely, a sub-dean, or prcecentor capellce, thirty-two 

 .gentlemen of the chapel, whereof twelve are priests, 

 and one of them is confessor to the King's household, 

 whose office is to read prayers every morning to the 

 family, to visit the sick, to examine and prepare com- 

 municants, to inform such as desire advice in any case 

 of conscience or point of religion," &c,] 



Negus. — In a lately-published catalogue of 

 books on sale by Mr. Kerslake of Bristol, I ob- 

 serve the following article, which may perhaps be 

 deemed worthy of a place in your pages : 



"6915. The Annates of Tacitus, and Description of 

 Germany, 1604, folio, old vellum wrapper, 16s. 



" This book has belonged to Thomas Vernon of 

 Ashton, Bishop's Waltham, Hants, 1704 — 1753, who 

 has made use of the margins throughout the volume 

 for the purpose of recording his observations, opinions, 

 friendships, including also his will ! On p. 269. is what 

 appears to have been the origin of the word ' Negus.' — 

 ' After a morning's walk, half a pint of white wine, 

 made hot and sweetened a little, is recond very good, — 

 Col. Negus, a gent" of tast, advises it, I have heard 

 say.' " 



If I might add a Query upon this IlTote, it 

 would be, Can any corroboration be given of the 

 correctness of the etymology ? and is anything 

 farther known of Colonel Negus ? T. S. B. R. 



[Wine and water, it is said, first received the name 

 of Negus from Colonel Francis Negus, who was com- 

 missioner for executing the office of Master of the 

 Horse during the reign of George I. Among other 

 anecdotes related of him, one is, that party spirit run- 

 ning high at that period between Whigs and Tories, 

 wine-bibbing was resorted to as an excitement. On 

 one occasion some leading Whigs and Tories having, 

 par accident, got over their cups together, and Mr. 

 Negus being present, and high words ensuing, he re- 

 commended them in future to dilute their wine, as he 

 did, which suggestion fortunately directed their atten- 

 tion from an argument which probably would have 

 ended seriously, to one on the merits of wine and 

 water, which concluded by their nicknaming it Negus. 

 A correspondent in the Gentleman's Mag. for Feb. 1799, 

 p. 119., farther states, "that Negus is a family name; 

 and that the said liquor took its name from an indivi- 

 dual of that family, the following relation (on the vera- 

 city of which you may depend) will, I think, ascertain. 

 It is now nearly thirty years ago, that being on a visit 

 to a friend at Frome, in Somersetshire, I accompanied 

 my friend to the house of a clergyman of the name of 

 Potter, The house was decorated with many paint- 

 ings, chiefly family portraits, amongst which I was par- 

 ticularly pleased with that of a gentleman in a military 

 dress, which appeared, by the style, to have been taken 

 in or about the reign of Queen Anne. In answer to 



my inquiries concerning the original of the portrait, 

 Mrs. Potter informed me it was a Colonel Negus, an 

 uncle of her husband's ; that from this gentleman the 

 liquor usually so called had its name, it being his usual 

 beverage. When in company with his junior officers 

 he used to invite them to join him by saying, ' Come, 

 boys, join with me; taste my liquor!' Hence it soon 

 became fashionable in the regiment, and the officers, in 

 compliment to their colonel, called it Negus."'\ 



" Terra Filiusr — Who was the author of 

 Terra Filius, or the Secret History of the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford, ^'•c, two vols. 12mo., London, 

 printed for R. Francklin, under Tom's Coffee 

 House in Russell Street, Covent Garden, 1726 ? 



Doubtless some of your correspondents will be 

 able to answer the above Query, and may, 

 perhaps, have the means of adding some inform- 

 ation about him, and the probable degree of credit 

 to be given to his representations. 



I would ask at the' same time what was the date 

 of the last appearance of a Terrcs Filius at Ox- 

 ford, and where any memorials of the custom, and 

 of the speakers, and their speeches (if any), are 

 to be found ? T. A. T. 



Florence. 



[Nicholas Amherst was the author of this popular 

 satire. He was the ostensible editor of the Craftsman, 

 under the assumed name of Caleb Danvers. (See 

 " Life of Amherst," in Cibber's Lives of the Poets, 

 vol. V. p. 325. ; Southey's Specimens of English Poets, 

 vol. i. p. 394.; and Gentleman's Magazine for October, 

 1837, p. 373.) Mr. Hallam says, "Amherst's Terra 

 Filius is a very clever, though rather libellous invective 

 against the University of Oxford at that time ; but I 

 have no doubt it contains much truth." — Constit. Hist., 

 vol. iii. p. 335. For an interesting and curious article 

 on the various Terras Filii, see Oxoniana, vol. i. pp. 104— 

 110.] 



Consecration of Colours. — Was it customary, 

 during the last war (the French war), on present- 

 ing colours to a regiment, to consecrate or bless 

 them previously ; and, if so, what was the form 

 generally used on the occasion ? Enquirer. 



[It was customary, during the last French war, to 

 consecrate the colours of a regiment. A form of prayer 

 was composed for the occasion, as will be seen from the 

 account of the presentation of colours to the Queen's 

 Royal Volunteers, noticed in the Gentleman's Magazine 

 for January, 1804, p. 71. In the same volume, at p. 34., 

 the prayer is printed. In a pamphlet, entitled An Ad- 

 dress delivered to the Royal Westminster Volunteers, on 

 the Consecration of their Colours, May 25, 1797, by the 

 Rev. Joseph Jefferson, there is also a prayer composed 

 for the occasion.] 



Motto of " The Sun " Newspaper. — A friend of 

 mine wishes to ascertain the precise words of the 

 Latin motto which, until recently, was uniformly 

 printed upon every copy of The Sun newspaper. 

 The quotation, for such I suppose it was in reality, 



