Dec. 9. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



473 



explanations. Now, to obtain is, as the Latin ob- 

 tinere, " to hold or keep the hold ; to get or gain 

 the hold or possession ;" and that which gains and 

 keeps hold, establishes itself — becomes — is esta- 

 blished. 



Johnson gives us a third explanation, " to pre- 

 vail, to succeed," which is included in "to get or 

 gain." Bacon writes : 



" There is due from the judge to the advocate some 

 commendation and gracing, where causes are well han- 

 dled and faire pleaded ; especially towards the side which 

 obtaineth (i.e. gaineth, winneth)." — Essay, Of Judicature. 



Johnson adds, " not in use." 



The error (or " egregious blunder," as Warbur- 

 ton would say) in Johnson is, that all his explana- 

 tions are framed to suit his quotations. Thus he 

 gives us one meaning of to obtain, " to impetrate," 

 and " to impetrate " is to obtain by entreaty, a 

 means of obtaining most assuredly not included in 

 the word obtain, and, indeed, in some of his quo- 

 tations very obscurely impliable from the context. 



Q. 



Bloomsbury. 



Designation of Works under Review (Vol. ix., 

 p. 516.). — Ought not the reviewer to refer to any 

 one of these as " the first, second, third, in the 

 caption of our articles," or is this technical term 

 peculiar to America ? See the postscript to a 

 letter by Harvakdiensis (Vol. ix., p. 244.). I 

 am surprised that Mr. C. M. Inglebt has not 

 received an answer from some one who could 

 speak with certainty on the subject. C. Forbes. 



Temple. 



The Masters of St. Cross Hospital (Vol. x., 

 p. 299.). — Allow me to correct, in the following 

 particulars, your correspondent's List of the Mas- 

 ters of this celebrated hospital. 



The Raymond, mentioned in the charter of De 

 Blois, was the master of the hospital of Jerusalem 

 and not of St. Cross. 



The " Humphrey de Milers" probably refers to 

 "De Molins," the master of the hospital of Jeru- 

 salem in 1185, in whose custody St. Cross then was. 



Alan de Stoke was appointed master of St. 

 Cross by the Bishop of Winchester in 1204 (vide 

 reg. Winton). 



Walter de Wetewang succeeded Richard de 

 Luteshall, having been appointed In 1347 by the 

 king, who claimed the right of presentation for 

 that turn. The appointment, however, was sub- 

 sequently cancelled. 



William Meadowe succeeded John Incent in 

 1545 (reg.). 



Robert Bennett, in 1583, succeeded John 

 Watson, and was followed by Arthur Lake in 

 1603. 



Brook and Hudson were never masters of the 

 hospital (reg.). 



Bishop Compton succeeded William Lewis in 

 1669 (reg.). 



The appointment of Dr. Harrison was in 1675 

 (reg.). Chas. T. Keixt. 



Irish Newspapers (Vol. x., p. 182.). — The 

 statement of Abhba under the above heading is 

 incorrect. The Limerick Chronicle, which made 

 its first appearance in 1768, is not the oldest Irish 

 provincial newspaper ; the Belfast Newsletter was 

 started in 1737. W. Pinkebton. 



Abhba says that the Freeman's Journal is the 

 oldest of the existing Irish newspapers, and adds, 

 that^it was started by Charles Lucas in or about 

 the year 1755. There is a slight mistake here ; 

 and as it is always well to be accurate, even in 

 trifles, I beg to say that the first number of the 

 Public Register, or Freeman's Journal, appeared 

 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 1763, price one penny. 

 The impression referred to lies before me as I 

 write. Its first three lines are, " Man comes into 

 this world the weakest of all creatures, and while 

 he continues in it is the most dependent." The 

 Freeman, strictly speaking, is not the oldest exist- 

 ing Irish journal ; the Dublin Evening Post was 

 in existence at least 125 years ago, but, in conse- 

 quence of a severe prosecution, ceased its issue for 

 some time anterior to 1778. Saunders sprang into 

 vitality almost simultaneously with the Freeman, 

 but is, I believe, its junior. 



WiLUAM John Fitzpateick. 



Monkstown, Dublin. 



' Descendants of Sir Matthew Hale (Vol. ix., 

 pp.77. 160.). — Sir Matthew Hale's eldest daugh- 

 ter Mary married first, Edward Adderley, Esq., of 

 Innishannon, county of Cork : the descendants of 

 this marriage now living are, first, Edward Hale 

 Adderley (late of Innishannon), unmarried ; 

 secondly, George Augustus Adderley, residing 

 officially at Gibraltar, rnarried ; thirdly, Richard 

 Boyle Adderley, residing in Pimlico, married and 

 has a family. The only sister of these three 

 brothers, viz. Maria Elizabeth, married in 1796 

 the second Lord Gardiner, from whom being di- 

 vorced, she re-married Henry Jadles, Esq., and 

 died in 1831. 



E. Hale Adderley, at his seat, Innishannon, had 

 an original portrait of Sir Matthew Hale, which 

 was handed down in his family, and which he sold 

 many years ago to the Earl of Bandon : it is at 

 present at Castle Bernard. T. *. 



-2,<piH (Vol. ix., p. 541.). — I am obliged by 

 the information conveyed by B. H. C. and 'Axieis. 

 Several lexicons, I know, contain this word ; but 

 as it is not found in Stephens nor in Aristotle, 

 where the latter treats so largely of animal func- 

 tions, I venture to doubt the authority of those 

 lexicographers, who do not, like Stephens or 



