Aug. 7. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



137 



Blomefielcl, Collectanea Cantab.) was placed upon 

 the foundation stone of the chapel of my own col- 

 lege — the College of SS. Margaret and Bernard, 

 commonly called Queens' College, Cambridge : 



" Erit Dominae nostrae Margarettae Dominus in Re- 

 ugiuin et Lapis iste in Signum." 



This stone was laid by Sir John Wenlock, 

 April 15, 1448. The Margaret of the inscription 

 is, of course, Margaret of Anjou, consort of 

 Henry VI. And here let me note, that we claim 

 the title of Queens' College, not Queen's College : 

 Margaret of Anjou, in 1446, and Elizabeth Wid- 

 ville, consort of Edward IV., in 1465, being our 

 foundresses. W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A. 



The Word " Handbook" (Vol. vi., p. 72.).— This 

 word must be much older than " nineteen years," 

 and perhaps than Sir Harris Nicolas's whole life. 



In "1825" Murray published a Handbook, or 

 concise Dictionary of Terms used in the Ai'ts and 

 Sciences, and a most useful book it is. The author, 

 Mr. Hamilton, in the preface uses the word as if 

 then of well-known meaning. II. T. Ellacombe. 



Dissertation on a Salt-box (Vol. vi., p. 54.). — The 

 feu d'esprit to which your correspondent J. Wn. 

 alludes may be found in a small volume entitled 

 Facetice Cantabrigienses. It is there ascribed to 

 the late Professor Porson, and is said to have been 

 written as a satire on the mode of examination 

 pursued at Oxford. John Booker. 



Prestwich. 



All-fours (Vol. v., p. 441.). — In Tristram Shandy, 

 vol. i. c. 12., is the following passage : 



" The mortgager and mortgagee differ the one from 

 the other, not more in length of purse, than the jester 

 and jestee do in that of memory. But in this the com- 

 parison between them runs, as the scholiasts call it, 

 upon all-fours ; which, by the by, is upon one or two 

 legs more than some of the best of Homer's can pre- 

 tend to." 



_ It would seem then that this use of the expres- 

 sion " on all-fours " is to be found in some of the 

 scholia to the Iliad or Odyssey. Its origin, I con- 

 ceive, is not difficult of explanation. As we find 

 among the old commentators on Greek poets, an 

 irregular line described as "metro claudicante," so 

 also an imperfect simile might easily be said to 

 limp upon three legs, and a perfect one to 7-un upon 

 four. But this is merely conjecture. Erica. 



Warwick. 



Francis Davison and Dr. Donne (Vol. vi., p. 49.). 

 — The editor of Select Poetry, chiefly Devotional, 

 of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, printed a sup- 

 plementary volume, entitled Select Poetry, chiefly 

 Sacred, of the Reign of King James I. (Cambridge, 

 Deighton, 1847). Here, on p. 15., he prints the 

 fine nervous version of the 137th Psalm, correctly, 



as the composition of Dr. Donne. He appears ta 

 have forgotten that he had inserted it in his first 

 series as the production of Francis Davison. 



I do not see that Dr. Donne's claim to this 

 Psalm ought to be disturbed. I have several well 

 edited selections of sacred poetry before me, in all 

 of which it is given to that author. Furthermore, 

 it is contained among the " Divine Poems" (p. 345.) 

 in a small volume entitled Poems by J[ohn} 

 Z)[onne], with Elegies on the Author's Death, 

 London, printed by M. F. for John Marriot, &c., 

 1635. Edward F. Rimbault. 



Cromwell Family (Vol. v., p. 489.). — No answer 

 has as yet been given to J. G. C. ; permit me to 

 inform him, that persons of that name were rather 

 numerous in Hammersmith and Kensington in the 

 last century, but I cannot say whether the person 

 mentioned resided there or not. A note to Mr. 

 Faulkner, in whose local histories many notices of 

 the name occur, would doubtless elicit the neces- 

 sary information. This venerable topographer 

 still lives (I am happy to say) in Smith Street, 

 Chelsea. H. G. D. 



Royal "■ We " (Vol. v., p. 489.) Bishop Nicol- 



son, in his English Historical Library, informs ua 

 that — 



" The first of our kings that wrote in the plural 

 number was King John ; his predecessors writing in 

 the singular. They used Ego in their grants ; and this 

 king, with those that followed him, Nos." 



It is believed that King John was the first 

 European sovereign that adopted this usage ; but 

 his example was soon followed by the other princes. 



Henrt H. Beeen. 



St. Lucia. 



Mother Damnable (Vol. v., p. 151.). — 

 " I have had the curiosity to see Mother Damnable, 

 whose rhetoric was honey to the passion with which 

 the Quaker books are stuffed." — See " Defence of the 

 Snake in the Grass" quoted by Southey, Common-Place 

 Book, p. 47., about " Quaker Railing." 



James Cornish. 



Incantations at Cross Roads (Vol. vi., p. 74.). — 

 The sign of the cross has ever been considered in 

 early times as the best preservative against " in- 

 cantation," witchcraft, and all Satanic influence. 

 The passage from Plato alludes probably to the 

 form of incantation used by the Greeks, and thence 

 derived to the students of the black art even so 

 late as the seventeenth century, as may be seen in 

 Scott, Glanville, and others; where mention is 

 made of " waxen images stuck with pins," or 

 placed before a slow fire ; and as the pins were 

 moved in any part of the image, pain was felt in 

 that part by the person represented, or, as the 

 wax melted, the person pined away. As to their 

 being placed " where three roads meet," it must 



