m 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2-^ s. v. iia. Apkil 3. ss. 



life he should be a member of that very profes- 

 sion." These words led me into the error which 

 " J. Speed D." has effectually corrected, of con- 

 founding Silvester with his namesake, the actor of 

 all-work. I took the words to apply to the pro- 

 fession of player, but the context shows that 

 Wilson alluded to the law. Silvester, it will be 

 remembered, was well known, during his tenure 

 of office of Recorder, by the name of " Black 

 Jack." From the time of Jeffrey de Xorton, the 

 first Recorder, in 1298, down to the period when 

 Silvester retired from the office, few of these judi- 

 cial officers of the corporation bore such a reputa- 

 tion for severity as the once young actor who 

 had played the comic part of a lawyer at Merchant 

 Tailors. The nickname, however, was sometimes 

 given to a man who strictly performed his own 

 duty, and insisted on a like performance at the 

 hands of everyone under his control. I will only 

 instance the late Mr. Joseph Gilbert, who, when 

 master of Deptford dockyard, was universally 

 known as " Black Jack" and yet no man was more 

 beloved by those under his authority. J. DoRAi*. 



BACON, MILTON, HARROW. 



(2°'i S. v. 214.) 



I do not know enough of Milton's prose to say 

 positively that he did not write in depreciation of 

 the school logic and of Aristotle, but the following 

 extract makes it very unlikely that he did : — 



" Quod autem Aristotelis aliorumque veterum auctori- 

 tatem ad singulas fereLogicas regulaa adjungimus, id qui- 

 dem in tradenda arte supervacuum fuisset, nisi novitatis 

 suspicio, quae Petro Ramo hactenus potissimum obfuit, 

 adductis ipsis veterum authorum testimoniis, esset amo- 

 lienda." — Joannis Miltoni Angli, Artis Logicce, plenior 

 InstUutio, ad Petri Rami Methodum condnnata, p. 4. ; Lon- 

 don. 1672. 



Reid's fitness to write about Aristotle may be 

 judged of from his own honest confession : — 



" If I had lived in those ages when the knowledge of 

 ^ristotle's Organon entitled a man to the highest rank in 

 philosophy, ambition might have induced me to employ 

 upon it some years of painful study, and less, I conceive, 

 would not be sufficient. Such reflections as these always 

 got the better of my resolution, when my first ardour be- 

 gan to cool. All I can saj' is, that I have read some part 

 of the different books with care ; some slightly, and some 

 perhaps not at all. I have glanced at the whole often, and 

 when anything attracted my attention, have dipped into 

 it till mj' appetite was satisfied." — Analysis of Aristotle's 

 Logic, c, iii. 



I wonder whether he read Euclid in that way. 

 From the extract, " Dr. T. Brown's Exposition of 

 Syllogistic Reasoning " seems to be cited as a dis- 

 tinct work. I never heard of it, but offer evidence 

 of his fitness for writing such : — 



" However futile an explanation might be, it was still 

 possible to advance it in all the customary solemnities of 

 mood aad figure; aad it was very natural, therefore, for 



those who heard what they had been accustomed to re- 

 gard as reasoning to believe, that, in hearing a reasoning, 

 they heard a reason. Of this I may take an instance 

 which Lord Karnes has quoted from the great inventor of 

 the system himself, and one which very few of his fol- 

 lowers have been able to surpass : ' Aristotle, who wrote 

 a book about mechanics, was much puzzled about the 

 equilibrium of a balance, when unequal weights are hung 

 upon it at different distances from the centre. Having 

 observed that the arms of the balance describe portions 

 of a circle, he accounted for the equilibrium by a notable 

 argument, — All the properties of a circle are "wonderful; 

 the equilibrium of two weights that describe portions of 

 a circle is wonderful; therefore the equilibrium must be 

 one of the properties of the circle.' " — Brown's Lectures 

 on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, lib. 50. 



From the above it will be apparent to every one 

 who does know what a syllogism is that Brown 

 did not. 



Where did Lord Kames find the queer stuff 

 which he ascribes to Aristotle ? H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



Origin of the Passport System (2°"^ S. v. 233, 

 234.) — The "Reformatories" in the olden time 

 were " the shrines of Saints," which flagrant sin- 

 ners were as "pilgrims" doomed to visit. Amongst 

 the most celebrated of those shrines were the 

 tombs of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul at 

 Rome. It is mentioned by the old monkish his- 

 torians of England as one of the great achieve- 

 ments of King Canute, that he obtained for his 

 subjects travelling to Rome a free pass through 

 all the countries they had to visit on their way to 

 that city. The only means of securing to such 

 passengers a respect for their persons and pro- 

 perty was by a document testifying to their na- 

 tionality. These were, in fact, their pass-ports, 

 or, as they were originally termed, " Tracturia de 

 Itinere peragenda;^ and in Marculfus will be 

 found a copy of one of those pilgrim's pass-ports. 

 I annex a translation of the document : — 



"L 



[here the name of the person giving the 



pass-port], to our holy and apostolic and venerable 

 Fathers in Christ, and to all kings, bishops, abbots, priests, 

 and clerks in every nation of Christendom, who devote 

 themselves to the service of their Creator, in monasteries, 

 in cities, in villages, or in hamlets. Be it known to you 

 that this our brother [here name of person carry- 

 ing the pass- port], and your servant, has obtained per- 

 mission from us to proceed on a pilgrimage to the church 

 of St. Peter your father, and to other churches, to pray 

 for his soul's sake, for yours, and for ours. Therefore do 

 we address this to you, begging that you will, for the 

 love of God, and of St. Peter, give him hospitable treat- 

 ment, aiding, consoling, and comforting him — affording 

 to him free ingress, egress, and regress, so that he inay 

 in safety return to us : and for so doing may a fitting re- 

 ward be bestowed on you, at the last day, by Him who 

 lives and reigns for ever." 



The above will be found in Marculfus, Formvlce 

 Veteres, x. pp. 124, 125. (Paris, 1666). I have 



