July 3. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



13 



duced, and, in the upper left-hand corner, the 

 arms of William of Wykeham, the founder of the 

 •college, surmounted by the episcopal mitre. Be- 

 low are the Latin and English verses engraved in 

 capitals. In this engraving, in addition to the 

 shovel, pitch-fork, and broom held in the left 

 hand of the figure, is inserted a square instrument 

 with bars, the use of which is not very obvious, 

 and which appears joined on to the shield sus- 

 pended from the arm. The coat, also, has the 

 addition of a collar, not seen in the earlier prints. 

 The coloured figure, as represented in this last en- 

 graving, has been copied and prefixed to the Polka 

 composed in 1850 by William Patten, and entitled 

 The Trusty Servant. I might here close my reply 

 to the Query of M. Y. R. W., but must entreat 

 the patience of your readers a little longer, in 

 order to introduce a counter- Query on the subject. 

 In Hoffman's Lexicon Universale, published at 

 Leyden in 1698, under the word Asinince, occurs 

 the following curious comment : — 



" Asininae aures digitis formatje, stupidum aliquem 

 et asinum denotabant. Salmas. in Tertullian. de Pallio, 

 ubi de varils digitorum ad aliquem deridendum forma- 

 tionibus, p. 338. Sed et asinince aures attentionis ac 

 obedientiae symbolum, in celebri Apellis pictura, qua 

 officia servorum auribus hujusmodi, naribus porcinis, 

 ■manibus omni instrumentorum genere refertis, humeris 

 ■patulis, ventre macilento, pedibus cervinis, tabiisque obse- 

 ratis, reprasentavit, etc." 



The words in Italics would seem to be a quo- 

 tation, and I would fain inquire from what author 

 they are taken, and also the authority for ascribing 

 this famous picture to Apelles, and the writers 

 by whom it is mentioned ? It is remarkable that 

 in this, as in the Winchester figure, the lips are 

 locked, a peculiarity that is unnoticed by Cousin 

 in his account of the French usage of depicting 

 such representations. I should likewise be glad 

 to receive information, whether any traces of this 

 usage still exist in France, or whether it is men- 

 tioned or allud'^d to by any other writers of that 

 country in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 

 turies ? 



Before I conclude, I am bound to acknowledge 

 that the references to the works of Cognatus, Bey- 

 erlinck, and Hoffman were given to me by the 

 late C. F. Barnwell, Esq., of the British Museum, 

 a gentleman gifted with a large amount of in- 

 formation on curious topics connected with early 

 literature, and whose urbanity and readiness to 

 impart his knowledge to others will ever cause his 

 memory to be deeply respected by his friends. 

 He is, perhaps, the individual alluded to by your 

 querist M. Y. R, W. F. Madden. 



British Museum, June 29. 



THE £ARL OP JBRKOLl. ; 



(Vol. v., pp. 297. 398.) 



I saw, with some interest, the observations made 

 by your correspondents Petropromontobiensxs 

 and Inveruriensis on the position and status of the 

 Earl of ErroU, who, with his peerage, holds the 

 office of Great Constable of Scotland, conferred 

 upon his ancestor by King Robert the Bruce in 

 1314. But I cannot come to the same conclusion 

 which they appear to have arrived at. This matter 

 is worthy of further elucidation. 



That the present Earl of ErroU holds the 

 honours of his house undoubtedly and without 

 dispute, is clear from the decision of the House of 

 Lords, given in favour of George Earl of ErroU, 

 the grand-uncle of the present Earl, in 1797. The 

 then Earl of Lauderdale had questioned Earl 

 George's right to vote at an election of the peers 

 of Scotland; and the House of Lords, after a 

 full inquiry, decided in favour of the right so 

 questioned. 



One of the objections made to the title was, that 

 it was claimed through a nomination, which Gilbert 

 Earl of ErroU, who died without issue in 1674, 

 had made in favour of his kinsman Sir John Hay, 

 a short time before his death. This was one of 

 the peculiarities in the Scottish law of Peerage, 

 that a party might, by a resignation to the Crown, 

 and a charter following upon such resignation, 

 obtain power to nominate the heirs to succeed him 

 in his honours and dignities. Some of the highest 

 of the Scottish peerages are held under such 

 nominations, at the present day. It was decided 

 in the case of the earldom of Stair (in 1748) that 

 this power of nomination could not be validly 

 exercised after the Union. 



It is true that the Earl of Erroll is the heir 

 (though barred by attainders) of the earldoms of 

 Kilmarnock, Linlithgow, and Calendar, which have 

 been held by his direct ancestors. 



But none of these facts and circumstances, nor 

 all of them together, could (as stated by your cor- 

 respondents) make " the Earl of Erroll, brj hirtky 

 the first subject in Great Britain after the blood 

 royal, and, as such, having the right to take place 

 of every hereditary honour." We have higher 

 authority upon this subject than " Dr. Anderson,, 

 the learned and laborious editor of The Bee" to 

 whom one of your correspondents refers. 



There was nothing in the Scottish peerage to 

 which its members were more anxiously and tena- 

 ciously attached than to their rights of precedency. 

 This often produced among them the most un- 

 seemly contentions at Parliaments and Conventions. 

 For avoiding of these contentions King James VI.,^ 

 in 1606, granted a royal commission to certain of 

 the Scottish nobility to call their brethren before 

 them, and " according to their productions and ve- 

 rifications to set down every man's rank and place.'* 



