Aug. 28. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



195 



ingenious conjectures might have been saved. The 

 word Ember is really a corruption of Qaatuor 

 tempora (just as Caresme or Car erne is of Qua- 

 dragesima). We have got it through the Dutch 

 Quatertemper, or Quatemper, and Germ. Quatember 

 Woche. I have met some note or other on the 

 word ayyapeva, -which occurs St. Matt. v. 41., 

 xxvii. 32. ; St. Mark xv. 21., in which it is stated 

 that the Germans call the Ember Weeks Angaries, 

 because on those weeks the vassals pay their quit- 

 rents, services, &c. to their lords. Eikionnach. 



Shakspeare Folios. — Would it not be interesting 

 to the lovers of Shakspeare if there was a record 

 in your pages of the "whereabouts" of the first 

 folios, with their dimensions and condition ? I 

 cannot but think the various owners would be 

 gratified to contribute such an account. The 

 Notes might be kept back until a tolerably com- 

 plete list was written, and then inserted in your 

 columns. It perhaps might not be displeasing to 

 many if a list even of the four editions was made 

 out. I shall be glad to give an account of those in 

 my possession. Bonsall. 



^uprt'f^. 



UNCOVERING THE HEAD AND UNCOVERING THE 

 FEET. 



Amongst many contradictory customs distin- 

 guishing the Oriental from the European, is that 

 of uncovering the feet instead of the head, as a 

 mark of reverence or respect. 



The Orientals have high authority for their 

 custom (see Exodus iii. 5.), and we find it widely 

 •spread ; the Levites officiated in the Tabernacle 

 with naked feet ; the Druids, I believe, performed 

 their sacred duties with naked feet ; the Egyptian 

 priests allowed no one to enter their temples with- 

 out uncovering their feet : whether the Greeks, 

 Romans, and other nations of antiquity observed 

 the same rule, I know not. In modern times we 

 find it general throughout the East, excepting, 

 perhaps, the Hindoo-Chinese nations ; though 

 even among them I think the Siamese put off 

 their shoes on approaching the presence of any 

 great man. Traces of it may exist in Europe 

 among Roman Catholics, in the form of barefooted 

 friars, pilgrims, and penances, &c., and traces of it 

 have existed even in the New World. The Pe- 

 ruvians, we are told, put off their shoes when ap- 

 proaching the boundaries of their Sun Temple, the 

 Inca alone retaining his as far as the door, where 

 he also bared his feet before entering the holy 

 place (See Harris's Collection^ vol. i. p. 82. fol.). 

 Clavigero tells us that no one could enter the 

 Palace of Jlotezuma without first pulling off his 

 shoes and stockings at the gate. (CuUen's Trans- 

 lation., vol. i. p. 211. 4to.) 



In Lewis and Clarke's Travels Is the description 



of their reception by a Shoshonee chief, with whom 

 they smoked the "pipe of peace :" 



" The chief then produced his pipe and tobacco, the 

 wariiors all pulled off their mocassins, and our party 

 was requested to take off their own," &c. 



I have omitted to note page, but think about 260., 

 ed. 4to. I have several other notices of American 

 Indians uncovering their feet on solemn occasions, 

 but cannot just now refer to them. 



If all mankind spread from a common centre, a 

 centre where this custom of uncovering the feet in 

 token of reverence, &c. prevailed, and had even 

 been ordered by the Lord, as above quoted, 

 whence does It arise that all European nations 

 (and European only), rejecting the usages of their 

 forefathers, and the command of God, have adopted 

 so opposite a practice ; and whilst polluting their 

 holy places by standing on them with covered feet, 

 are further guilty of the indecency (to say no 

 worse of it), in the eyes of an Oriental, of uncover- 

 ing the head ? Why St. Paul should write to the 

 Corinthians that every man praying, &c. with his 

 head covered, dishonoureth his head (1 Cor. xl. 

 5.), although he offers a sort of explanation, 

 verse 7., I do not exactly understand ; unless be- 

 cause it was in the spirit of the people addressed, 

 for the Greeks prayed with uncovered heads. 



Whence comes this practice of uncovering the 

 head in our places of worship at any and at all 

 times; by what law is it enjoined? The 18th 

 Ecclesiastical Canon (the only one bearing on the 

 subject) ordains that all people shall be uncovered 

 during divine service, except such as be sick, and 

 they shall be permitted to wear " a night-cap or 

 coif;" no other exception, no exception in favour 

 of officiating priest; and yet some dignitaries of 

 our church habitually appear in black skull-caps 

 (coif?). 



Much remains to be said on the subject of un- 

 covering heads and feet, but at present I am sen- 

 sible of having trespassed so unconscionably, that 

 I must express as briefly as possible my hope that 

 some of your very numerous and learned corre- 

 spondents will kindly answer the Queries respect- 

 ing it. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



"paradise lost." 



It has been conjectured that from a conversa- 

 tion with JManso, Marquis of Villa, Milton con- 

 ceived the Idea of writing an epic poem, and that 

 Andreinl's Adamo afterwards suggested the sub- 

 ject. Who was it first gave to the world the 

 following piece of romance, which looks as if it 

 had been written for some Ladies' Magazine ? 



" Milton possessed a fine figure, and when a young 

 man was extremely handsome. In one of his wander- 

 ings when in Italy, being of a very pensive cast, he sat 



