Nov. 6. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



449 



in 4to., Ill 1515, but the dedicatory epistle is dated 

 1512. 

 11. In English — 



" Thirtie dayes hath November, 

 Aprill, June, and September, 

 Februarie hath twentie-eight alone. 

 And all the rest hath thirtie and one." 



These are to be found in the Great Cicle of 

 Easter, containivg a short rule to knowe uppon what 

 day of the month Easter day will fall, &c., 16mo., 

 London, 1583. A. Grayan. 



^'■Sacrum pingue dabo" &fc. (Vol. vl., p. 36.). — 

 This line is ascribed to Politian, on what authority 

 I know not. Mablllon, in his Museum Italicum, 

 says he found it on a picture representing Abel 

 and Cain, in the church of Sta Maria Novella, at 

 Florence. 



The following is of the same description : 



" Patrum dicta probo, nee saeris belligerabo." 



and Is said to express, in this form, the sentiments 

 of a Roman Catholic ; but, read backwards, those 

 of a Protestant : 



" Belligerabo saeris, nee probo dicta patrum." 



This line and Politian's are quoted in Lalanne's 

 Curiosites Litteraires, where may also be found the 

 following sample of what is called " palindromical " 

 verse : 



" Area serenum me gere regem munere sacra." 



But the most perfect specimen of this kind, that 

 I have met with, is the line — 



" Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet Anna." 



in which each separate word is the same, read 

 backward or forward. H. H. Breen. 



St. Lucia. 



On what principle Is this "remarkably clever" 

 line to be scanned as a pentameter ? There are 

 three syllables made long in the hexameter, which 

 require to be made short in the pentameter : and 

 furtlier, to make a pentameter of it, the final syl- 

 lable must also be shortened — making four errors 

 of quantity In the fourteen syllables it contains. 

 The hexameter appears correct, although clumsy. 



J. S. Warden. 



Passage in Sir W. Draper (Vol. vi., p. 340.). — 

 In reply to the Query of W. T. M., the author 

 alluded to by Sir ^V. Draper, wlicre he says that 

 he who does not defend an absent friend, when he 

 hears him accused, is a dangerous man, I take to 

 be Horace : 



" Absentem qui rodit amicum, 



Qui non defendit, alio culpante 



hie niger est; hunc tii, llomane, caveto." 



Sermonum, lib. I. iv. 81. 



W. AV. E. T. 

 Warwick Square, Belgravia. _ ^^ ^.^ 



Mistletoe (Vol. vl., p. 219.). — I have seen a plant 

 of mistletoe on a cedar in Somersetshire. 



W. C. Trevelyan. 



Some months ago an inquiry was made in 

 " N. & Q." whether the mistletoe could be found 

 growing on the oak. In 1844 a branch was cut 

 from an oak tree standing in Burslngfold Farm, 

 In the parish of Dunsfold, Surrey, belonging to 

 Miss Woods of Shopwich, near Chichester (since 

 dead and succeeded by her nephew the Rev. G. 

 Woods), by Robert Pennyand of Plalstow, who 

 was directed to the tree by Wm. Newman of 

 North Chapel, who knew it to have borne mistletoe 

 for sixteen years. I enclose also a note from the 

 Rector of Petworth, written in 1847, on the sub- 

 ject. M. F. W. 



Brighton. 



Spanish Vessels wrecked on Irish Coast (Vol. v., 

 pp. 491. 598.; Vol. vi., pp. 44. 182.).— A full ac- 

 count of the remnant of the Armada lost on the 

 Irish coast may be found in a rare pamphlet, en- 

 titled Certaine Advertisements out of Irelande, con- 

 cerning the Losses and Distresses happened to the 

 Spanish Nauie upon the West Coastes of Irelande, 

 in their Voyage intended from the Northeme Isles 

 beyond Scotland towards Spaine : London, 1588. 

 The pamphlet appears to be printed from official 

 sources, and gives a total loss of seventeen ships 

 " sonke," and 5394 men drowned, killed, and taken 

 prisoners, in the month of September, 1588. 



W. PiNKERTON. 

 Ham. 



::^tscellanc0tt^. 



notes on books, etc. 



We have at length received The Second Course of 

 Dr. Lardner's Handbook of Natural Philosophy and As- 

 tronomy, which is devoted to the subjects of Heat, 

 Common Electricity, Magnetism, Voltaic Electricity, and, 

 like its predecessor, illustrated with numerous well ex- 

 ecuted woodcuts. The work, it will be remembered, 

 is intended to supply that information relating to phy- 

 sical and mechanical science, which is required not 

 only by the medical and law student, the engineer, and 

 the artisan, but by many who, having entered into the 

 business of life, are still desirous to sustain and improve 

 their knowledge of the general truths of physics, with- 

 out pursuing them through their mathematical conse- 

 quences and details ; and according to the original plan 

 it was to have been completed with this second volume. 

 It has now, however, been found impossible to include 

 Astronomy and Meteorology, if those subjects were to be 

 treated with the fulness and clearness commensurate 

 with their importance ; they are therefore very pro- 

 perly destined to form a separate and concluding vo- 

 lume. The work is one likely to prove of great use, 

 from the simplicity and clearness of the explanations, 

 and from the manner in which the general principles 

 laid down in it are illustrated by familiar examples. 



