214 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 254. 



Edward the Confessor. But however the pre- 

 sence of the s is to be explained, there is not the 

 slightest cause to doubt that the word pax was 

 intended to appear on these coins. John Evans. 



P. S. — A superfluous s after x is not uncom- 

 mon in Latin inscriptions, and even in some 

 existing manuscripts. Vide Key's Alphabet, Sfc. 

 p. 108. 



Inn SigTis (Vol. ix., p. 494.). — In reply to S. A., 

 I may mention that the sign of " The Green Man 

 andbtill" has been conjectured to owe its origin 

 to some of the numerous legends of the destruc- 

 tion of dragons, serpents, or worms by heroes of 

 old, such as St. George and the Dragon and the 

 Lambton Worm ; a portion of a still having a re- 

 semblance to a serpent coiled. 



Others, from the colour of the man, have at- 

 tempted to connect it with Robin Hood, "that 

 forester bold ; " but how they explain the still I 

 have forgotten. 



It has also been suggested, with an eye to a 

 more literal explanation, that the Green Man may 

 have been some notorious brewer of illic t whiskey, 

 the still meaning what it looks like ; but here the 

 reason of the man being green does not appear, 

 especially as men of that class are, at least morally 

 speaking, anything but green. Perhaps the sup- 

 porters of this theory would point to the verdant 

 isle as the most favoured locale for the true 

 Potheen, and hold that the painter gave the man 

 the hue of his country, simply intending to repre- 

 sent a " Paddy from Cork." S. A. may take his 

 choice of the explanations. M. H. R. 



P. S. I presume your readers have heard of the 

 translation of the sign in a French newspaper, 

 " L'homme est vert et tranquille." 



Druids and Druidism (Vol. x., p. 105.). — I beg 

 to add two or three books to your list on the sub- 

 ject of Druids, their religion, and remains. One 

 of them, printed at Lichfield " by and for T. G. 

 Lomax," and published in London (1810) by 

 Longmans' house, is entitled A Complete History 

 of the Druids ; their Origin, Manners, Customs, 

 Powers, Temples, Rites, and Superstitions : with an 

 Inquiry into their Religion, and its Coincidence with 

 the Patriarchal. It is a curious little volume, 

 illustrated by two plates : one representing a 

 Druid, and the other " the wicker image," filled 

 with human beings ready to be offered as a burnt 

 sacrifice to their idols. Another work I have to 

 cite is The Druid, a Tragedy, by a worthy lover 

 of antiquarian studies, the Rev. Dr. Thomas 

 Cromwell, the author of Oliver Cromwell and his 

 Times, and a lineal descendant of the great Pro- 

 tector. The notes to the tragedy are elaborate, 

 and full of curious illustrations of the antiquities 

 and early history of Ireland. It may not be de- 

 void of interest, having named this tragedy, to 



state that it is dedicated to Coleridge, " in grate- 

 ful recollection of his opinion of the work, on 

 perusing it in manuscript in the year 1820" — 

 no unimportant witness in favour of the merits of 

 the work. See also Fosbroke's Encyclopedia of 

 Antiquities, 4to. edit., 1825 (vol. ii. pp. 662-664.), 

 in the course of which account very numerous 

 authorities are quoted ; too numerous, indeed, to 

 be repeated here. I would farther call special 

 attention to p. 920. of the same admirable work : 

 where, among the "additions and emendations," 

 the author refers to the curious circumstance of 

 " cromlechs, rocking-stones, stone circles, and 

 other pretended Celtick remains," existing in " the 

 also pretended new ivorld." I give the Italics and 

 small capitals as Fosbroke presents them, so as to 

 preserve the relative degrees of emphasis intended 

 by the writer. James J. Scott. 



Downshire Hill, Hampstead. 



Old Ballad (Vol. x., p. 127.). — This was pro- 

 bably a Derbyshire version of the Scottish ballad 

 of " Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" given in 

 Percy's Reliques ; or rather of the earlier one en- 

 titled " Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor," to be 

 found in the same work, Series IIL Book i. 

 Ballad xv. : 



" This browne bride had a little penknife, 

 That was both long and sharpe, 

 And betwixt the short ribs and the long, 

 She prick'd faire Ellinor's harte. 



Oh, art thou blind, Lord Thomas ? she sayd, : 



Or canst thou not very well see ? 

 Oh ! dost thou not see my owne heart's bloode 



Kan trickling down my knee." 



AV. J. Beenhaed Smith. 

 Temple. 



Bernard Mandeville (Vol. x., p. 129.).— In your 

 answer to this Query of C. H. (2), you refer to 

 " the collected edition of his works, four volumes, 

 1728." Surely no such edition exists. If there 

 be a collected edition of his writings, of which 

 nearly a correct list will be found in Lowndes's 

 Bibliographer's Manual, and Watt's Bibliotheca 

 Britannica, it will be a surprise to me, and I shall 

 be very glad to make its acquaintance, having 

 been an assiduous collector of every thing of and 

 relating to Mandeville for many years past. 



Jas. Cbosslet. 



[On more carefully inspecting the copy of Mandeville's 

 Works, previously consulted, we find the lettering of th© 

 binder misled us. It is a collected edition of his pieces, 

 but printed at different times, uniformly bound, and con- 

 secutively endorsed Vols. I. II. III. IV.] 



'^Forgive, blest shade,'' 8fc. (Vol. ix., p. 241.; 

 Vol. X., pp. 133. 152.).— These lines appear to be 

 altered from the commencing stanzas of an elegy 

 " On the death of Mr. Hervey," by Miss Steele of 

 Broughton, Hants, which I find published in the 



