Aug. 21. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



183 



from the sliifting of the sands. Attempts were 

 made to i-aise some of the cannon, but without 

 success. An anchor was however recovered, of 

 which a drawing is given. A. A. D. 



Dress of the Clergy (Vol. vi., p. 99.). — The 

 dress of tlie clergy, before the lleibrmation, was 

 not, as far as I am aware, fixed by any eccle- 

 siastical regulation. Their luxurious dresses are 

 often attacked by the writers, especially the poets, 

 of the IVIiddle Ages. In a ballad of not later date 

 than 1467 we hear of "prestis" — 



"With your wyde fueryd hodes voyd of discrecion 

 Un to your ouyn preachyng of contrary condition." 



who are bidden to 

 " Make shorter your taylis and broder your crownys, 

 Leve your short stufFede dowblettes and your pleylid 



gownys."* 

 Scarlet, however, seems to have been the most 

 favourite colour with the priests, and on that 

 account was especially ridiculed by the maligners 

 of the clergy : 



" Of scarlet and grene gaie gownes 

 That mote be shapin for the newe, 

 To clippen ond kissin in townes, 

 The dainoseles that to the dauncc sewe, 

 Cuttid clothes to sewe the hewe, 

 With longe pikis on ther shone: 

 Our Godd'is gospell is not true, 

 Either they serve the devill or none."f 



Much curious matter on this point, as well as all 

 others connected with the domestic concerns of 

 our ancestors, is to be found in the wills and in- 

 ventories of the time. In that of Roger de Kyrkby, 

 vicar of Gainford, published by the Surtees Society, 

 there is mention made of more than one article of 

 dress of a scarlet colour. It is probable that the 

 Protestants were the more violent against the 

 clergy for wearing scarlet dresses because they 

 considered that colour symbolical of the " Baby- 

 lonish apostacy." K. P. D. E. 



Virgilian Lots (Vol. vi., p. 77.). — The Editor's 

 note is indeed " a very curious illustration" of the 

 Sortes Virgilianae; but it is hardly a direct answer 

 to Tecede's question, " What is the meaning of 

 The Virgilian Lots?" Perhaps, therefore, the 

 following extract from Dr. Smith's Antiquities 

 (p. 1052.) may be found worth inserting : 



" It was the practice to consult the poets in the same 

 way that the Mohammedans do the Koran and Hafiz, 

 and many Christians the Cible, namely, by opening the 

 book at random, and applying the first passage that 

 struck the eye to a person's own immediate circum- 

 stances. (S. Aug. Conftss., iv. 3.) This practice was 

 very common among the early Christians, who substi- 

 tuted the Bible and Psalter for Homer and Virgil : 



* Satirical Songs on Costume, p. 56. Percy Society, 

 No. LXXXI. 



t The Plowman's Tale. 



many Councils repeatedly condemned these Sortes 

 Sanctorum, as they were called. (Gibbon, Decline and 

 Fall, xxxviii. Note 51.) The Sibylline Books were 

 consulted in the same way." 



Tecede will find more on this curious subject 

 in Prideaux's Cojinexion, vol. ii. pp. 309, 310. 

 (Tegg's ed.) 



Bingham says (b. xvi. c. v. § 3.) : ' 



" It appears that some of the inferior clergy, out of a 

 base spirit and love of filthy lucre, encouraged this 

 practice, and made a trade of it in the French church : 

 whence the Gallican councils are very frequent in the 

 condemnation of it." — Quoted in Southey's Common- 

 place Book. 



I can vouch for this superstitious use of Scrip- 

 ture being by no means extinct, and this in the 

 " higher classes." (Vol. vi., p. 6.) As a kindred 

 bit of Folk Lore, I may add that the words of 

 King Lemuel's mother, the last chapter of Pro- 

 verbs, are often made to do duty in the divining 

 line. The chapter is divided into thirty-one verses, 

 one of which is appropriated to each day of the 

 month ; the response depends on which is the con- 

 suiter's birthday. What is the history of this 

 plan ? The mystery was explained to me by an 

 Italian Roman Catholic servant. A. A. D. 



General Lambert (Vol. vl., p. 103.). — The fol- 

 lowing traces him a little later. In the Maccles- 

 field Correspondence (vol. ii. p. 31.) is a letter from, 

 the Rev. Thomas Baker to Collins, as is supposed, 

 dated Sept. 4, '78, which ends thus : 



" Major-General Lambert, pri.soner at Plymouth, 

 hath sent me these problems to be solved. I desire the- 

 solutions of them (having sent mine to him) : 



" Prob. I. a : b :: c '. d 



aa + bb + cc +dd = 250. 



b + 5 = c. 



a + 9=d. Q.U. a, b, c, d? 



" Prob, 2. aa + bb + cc + dd= 756. 

 6 + 6 = 0. 

 b-9=a. Qu. a, b, c d9" 



M. 



" Sic transit gloria mundi " (Vol. vi., p. 100.). — 



" And therefore the master of the ceremonies, at the- 

 Pope's inauguration, beareth two drie reeds, whereof 

 the one hath on the top a candle to kindle the other, 

 crying aloud unto the Pope, 



' Sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi.' 



(Paradinus in Symbol.)"* 



I transcribe the above passage from Boys' Woi'ks, 

 p. 422. 1622, fol., but cannot help your corre- 

 spondent any further in his search. Rx. 

 Warmington. 



[* This work, by Claude Paradin, is entitled Spn- 

 bola Heroica C. P. et Gabriel is Symeonis, de Gallica 

 Lingua in Laiinam conversa : Antv. 8vo. 1 583. — Kd.] 



