July 10. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



45 



aod the graduates are winning for themselves con- 

 fidence. '-T- Westcott. 

 Philadelphia, U. S. A„ June 5, 1852, 



American Degrees (Vol. v., p. 177.).— Collegiate 

 honours in the United States are generally con- 

 ferred by the trustees of the institutions, with the 

 advice and consent of the professors. If J. W. 

 had stated what college conferred the " cargo of 

 diplomas " he speaks of, some estimate^ might be 

 made of the value of the honours. This is ac- 

 knowledged (by ourselves) to be " a great coun- 

 try," comprising in its area 2,280,000 square 

 miles. We have colleges and seminaries of learn- 

 ing authorised to confer the degrees in nearly all 

 the states. Some of them will compare with the 

 best European colleges in the reputation, and 

 skill, and learning of the professors ; and some are 

 but little better than large-sized boarding-schools. 

 The oldest institutions, and the best among us, are 

 Harvard University in Massachusetts, Yale Col- 

 lege in Connecticut, Princeton College in New 

 Jei-sey, the University of Pennsylvania *at Piii- 

 ladelphia, and Virginia University at Charlot- 

 tesburg. There are others of equal reputation, 

 and many of second, third, and even fourth-rate 

 importance. It is very probable that the "cargo" 

 sent to the Brougham Institute of Liver[)Ool ema- 

 nated from an inferior institution, as our first- 

 class universities do not usually confer many 

 honorary degrees. T. Westcott. 



Philadelphia, U. S. A„ Feb. 5, 1852. 



Note ly Warton on Aristotle's Poets (Vol. v., 

 p. 606.). — The passage quoted by J. M. is in 

 Joseph Warton's Essay on the Genius and Writings 

 of Pope, London, 1773, p. 171. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



Meaning of Whit (Vol. v., p. 610.).— The jug 

 referred to by your correspondent is a Whit-sun 

 ale jug. I have an engraving of one inscribed 

 « W H I T. 

 1649." 

 It is described as of white earthenware, with a 

 blue inscription. These jugs were used in the 

 (now obsolete) Whitsun, or church-ale festivals. 



J. B. COLMAN. 



" Possession is nine points of the law " (Vol. iv., 

 p. 23.). — In Swift's Works, vol, xvii. p. 270,, I 

 find " Possession, they say, is eleven points of the 

 law." J. P. 



A^e of Trees (Vol. iv., pp. 401 . 488.). — Allow 

 me, in addition to my former communication on 

 this subject, to give the following instances of 

 trees proved to have existed many years. Near 

 Mont Bhinc there is a fir-tree called by the in- 

 habitants of that district the Chamois Stable, (m 

 account of its affording shelter to the wild goats 

 during the winter. Its vegetation is extremely 



beautiful, and its trunk enormous, which, coupled 

 with the fact that it has bei^n ascertained by M. 

 Berthek't to be more than 1200 years old, make it 

 a very interesting object. At a short distance 

 from this venerable fir exists, in the forest of 

 Ferre, a tree called the Meleye, whose age cannot 

 be less than 800 years. The forest of Parey, 

 Saint Ouen, canum de Bulgneville, in the depart- 

 ment ol"the Vosges, is celebrated for a tree called 

 The Oak of the Purtizans. Its branches extend 

 over a space of 100 feet, and its lieight is 107. It 

 has lived during a period of 650 years, and was 

 known at the time when the Cotiiereaux, the 

 Carriers, and Routiers devastated France in the 

 days of Philip Augustus. A chesnut tree, near 

 the village of Vernet, of ordinary size and height, 

 is supposed to have been planted in the time of 

 Calvin, at the dawn of the great religious struggle 

 in Switzerland. 



Thus these wondrous natural monuments of 

 antiquity speak forcibly to the mind ; and the 

 erections built by man, which we term ancient, 

 dwindle into insignificancy when compared with 

 the stupendous and veteran trees of the forest. 



Unicorn. 



Market Crosses (Vol. v., p. 594,), — The rnarket 

 cross at Bury, rebuilt after the Great Fire of 

 1608, was converted into a playhouse in 1734, 

 and in 1774 gave place to the present town hall, 

 which was built for a theatre from the designs of 

 Robert Adams, Views of the market cross have 

 been several times engraved. There was no re- 

 ligious edifice at or near the cross in 1655. The 

 marriage referred to took place agi-eeably to the 

 Act of 14th August, 1653, which recjuired mar- 

 riages to be published " three several Lord's Days, 

 or three several weeks," and then to be celebrated 

 in the presence of a justice. The registers of the 

 parish of St. Mary, Bury, contain entries of mar- 

 riages so solenmized ; whence it appears that some 

 were published at the market cross on " three 

 several market days in three several weeks." 



BURIENSIS. 



::^t^fenattP0uS. 



KOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



The secon:! v( I.me of Messrs-. Rivington's handsome 

 library fdition of The Works and Correspondence of the 

 Right Honorable Edmund Burke, which had been kept 

 back for the purpose of enabling the editors to insert 

 in the coi respondence some new letters of Mr. Burke 

 from ori;j:inal M.SS., has now been issued. The cor- 

 respondence in this volume commences in the year 

 1791, and proceeds to the death of the distinjruished 

 writer; and it ontains in addition Burke's Vindica- 

 tion of Natural Societ;/, and his world renowned Philo- 

 sophical E-iqiiiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the 

 Sublime and Bnantiful. 



Although as i general rule, we abstain from noticing 

 all theoloiiical works which can be considered as of a 



