Dec. 11. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



563 



Lensfis and their Makers. — The complaint of 

 E. S. in No .161., p. 5 1 5., on the subject of his dis- 

 appointment in finding that the chemical and 

 visual foci of a newly purchased lens did not 

 correspond, has overwhelmed us with a mass of 

 communications, principally from the friends of 

 that very scientific optician Mr. Ross. We could 

 not understand why this was so, until we received 

 a letter from that gentleman himself, in which 

 he remarks thnt, in the communication in question, 

 " the terminal ' 's ' appends very euphoniously to 

 my name, and with those who should draw such 

 an inference, I might be stigmatised as an incom- 

 petent optician and an unfair tradesman." Now, 

 though it is quite obvious, from the construction 

 of the sentence, that the name which we thought 

 right to omit from E. S.'s letter might just as well 

 have been Smith, Brown, Jones, or Robinson, and 

 the terminal "'s" must still have been there, we 

 think it fair towards Mr. Ross to remove any im- 

 pression that he was the party referred to. He 

 certainly was not. We may add that the only al- 

 lusion to Mr. Ross which has to our knowledge 

 appeared in " N. & Q.," is at p. 542. of our last 

 Number. He is the London optician there referred 

 to, and A. R— g having kindly exhibited to us the 

 specimens alluded to in that communication, we 

 have no hesitation in saying they justify all A. 

 R — g's commendations. And with ope word more 

 we must dismiss the question of lenses, and makers 

 of lenses, from our columns. All our successful 

 experiments had been made with Voightlander's 

 lenses ; had we tried Ross's, and experienced, as 

 we presume from the letters which have reached 

 us we should have done, the same results, we 

 should just as unhesitatingly have stated of Ross's 

 lenses what we have honestly said of Voightlander's. 



" In Nomine Domini " (Vol. vi., p. 487.). — 

 There is an old Latin proverb, " In nomine Do- 

 mini incipit omne malum." This is doubtless the 

 saying referred to : I thought it was too well 

 known to need a reply, but it appears it is not. 



Lau. Ang. 



Edward Polhill (Vol. vi., p, 460.). — I am Tin able 

 to furnish your correspondent G. with any inform- 

 ation regarding the personal history of Edward 

 Polhill, but may state that some of his works have 

 been recently reprinted by T. Ward & Co. of 

 Paternoster Row. Among these I find two trea- 

 tises not mentioned by G., viz. : 



1. " The Divine Will considered in its Eternal 

 Decrees, and Holy Execution of them." 



2. " A Preparation for Suffering in an evil Day." 



Besides these, A Discourse of Schism, originally 

 printed in 1694, was reprinted by Hatchard in 



1823; and I find in the Bodleian Catalogue, 

 Answer to Sherlock's Knowledge of Christ, &c., 

 printed in 1675. Ttbo. 



Dublin. 



" The Choice of Hercules " (Vol. vi., p. 485.).— 

 There is a long poem so called in the third volume 

 of Dodsley's Collection, edition 1782, without the 

 author's name. It begins thus : 



" Now had the son of Jove mature attained 

 The joyful prime." 

 Is this the production inquired for ? 



BBArBBOOKE. 



" Nine Tailors make a Man " (Vol. vi., p. 390.). 

 — In Democrittis in London, with the Mad Pranks 

 and Comical Conceits of Motley and Robin Good- 

 Fellow, will be found the following Note, which is 

 an earlier authority than yours of 1742 for the 

 above saying : 



" Let the following be recorded in honor of the 

 tailors 1 



' There is a proverb which has been of old, 

 And many men have likewise been so bold, 

 To the discredit of the Taylor's Trade, 

 Nine Taylors goe to make up a man, they said. 

 But for their credit I'll unriddle it t'ye: 

 A draper once fell into povertie, 

 Nine Taylors joyn'd their purses together then, 

 To set him up, and make him a man agen.' 



Grammatical Drollery, 1682." 



A SUBSCRIBEK. 



Goose Fair (Vol. vi., p. 149.). — The origin of 

 this name arose from the large quantities of geese 

 which were driven up from the Fens of Lincoln- 

 shire for sale at this fair, which is on the 2nd of 

 October, when geese are just in season. Persons 

 now living can remember seeing fifteen or twenty 

 thousand geese in the market-place, each flock 

 attended by a gooseherd with his crook, which he 

 dextrously threw round the neck of any goose 

 and brought it out for inspection by the customer. 

 A street on the Lincolnshire side of the town is 

 still called Goose Gate, and the flavour of the 

 goose is still fully appreciated by the good people 

 of Nottingham, as on the fair-day one is sure to 

 be found on the table of ninety-nine out of a 

 hundred of the better class of the inhabitants. 



J. W. 



Newark. 



Ecclesiastical Year (Vol. vi., p. 462.). — This is 

 an erroneous heading ; the ecclesiastical year 

 begins at Advent. The question raised by Me. 

 Russell Gole is between what were distinguished, 

 prior to the reformation of the style in 1752, as 

 the legal and the historical. The legal year began 

 on the 25th of March, the historical year on the 

 1st of January, and used frequently to be used 

 together in this form, January 16§y» t^e upper 



