258 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



C2'"3S. V. 117., Mar. 27. '58. 



Pearls found in Britain. — Classic authors fre- 

 quently describe this island as producing pearls. 

 Suetonius in his Life of Julius Ccesar (cap. 47.) 

 says that one of his objects in crossing to Britain 

 was to obtain them ; and he describes him as pois- 

 ing them frequently in his hand, " interdum sua 

 manu exegisse pondus," as if they were of unusual 

 size. Solinus (i. 2.) tells us the brooch, or sto- 

 macher (thoracem) of the statue of Venus Gene- 

 trix (the temple to whom was founded by Julius), 

 was of Biitish pearls. Tacitus (vita Agricoloe) 

 says they were brownish or dusky, "subfuscae ac 

 liventia ; " and xElian (Z)e Natura, Animal., xv. 8.) 

 says they were gold coloured. How is it, among 

 the millions of oysters annually opened, none are 

 now found ? A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



Coh at Lyme Regis. — Richardson's Dictionary 

 makes al-cove from Arabic al-cobba. May not 

 the " cob " at Lyme be from this ? The word 

 may have been imported by some of the Eastern 

 tin merchants. Will some Arabic scholar say 

 what cobha exactly means ? A. Holt White. 



Cabalistic Doctrines. — Are the mysterious doc- 

 trines of the Cabala, which are said to have been 

 imparted by tradition to Adam, Abraham, Moses, 

 &c., but since the time of Ezra retained in the 

 memories of the priests, still remembered, held 

 by, and believed in by the learned llabbis of the 

 present day ? or do they themselves only regard 

 them as an invention of the philosophising Jews 

 of the later centuries preceding the Christian era, 

 with the view of accommodating the speculations 

 of the Gnostics to the religion of the Old Testa- 

 ment? M. G. 

 Leamington. 



Usher, Reredos, Ereyne. — 1. What is the mean- 

 ing and etymology of Usher in the following lines 

 of Hudibras, Part II. Canto i., line 95. ? — 

 " This b'ing resolv'd, she call'd for hood 

 And usher, implements abroad 

 Which ladies wear, beside a slender 

 Young waiting damsel to attend her." 



2. What is the etymology of reredos? 



3. What is an " ereyne " in the following ? — 



" He held this conclusion, that the Sacrament of tlie 

 Auter is a thing without soule, wen than a tode or a 

 ereyne, whech have lyfe." — Capgrave's Chronicle of Eng- 

 land, p. 297. 



Beta. 



Cambridge. 



Milbournes of Co. Hereford. — In one of the 

 Ilarl. MSS., Brit. Mus., it states that Sir Piers 

 Milbourne of Tillington, co. Hereford (about 

 1400), was related to King Edward V., and was 

 also heir to one of the Beauchamp family. I 

 should feel obliged by any information on the 

 subject. T. M. 



King Charles at Carisbrooke. — In a book 

 publislied 1852, under this title, is a story of a 

 young merchant, who agreed to find a ship, and 

 help the king's escape. Can any one inform me 

 who this young merchant was ? A. Holt White. 



Manvjicript Collection of Madrigals. — In the 

 library of the Sacred Harmonic Society are four 

 oblong quarto volumes containing the Cantus, 

 Altus, Tenor, and Bassus, parts of nearly 250 

 English and foreign madrigals for three, four, five, 

 and six voices. I am desirous of recovering (if 

 possible) the two volumes containing the Quintus 

 and Sextus parts, which are necessary to perfect 

 the five and six part madrigals, and should feel 

 obliged for any information as to their present 

 ownership. The collection is in a handwriting of 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, and in the 

 original binding, and has stamped on the centre 

 of each cover the name " William Firmage," the 

 two words being separated by a wreath. From 

 an inscription in the Cantus book, it appears that 

 these volumes were formerly in the library of the 

 Academy of Ancient Music. W. H. Husk. 



Sykes Dyke, and Manor of John de Chappell, 

 near Carlisle. — Can any of your readers inform 

 me in what parish Sykes Dyke, near Carlisle, is 

 to be looked for ? also, which of the Sykes family 

 acquired the manor of John de Chappell in or 

 near that city ? J. S. (3.) 



" Three things are ever silent." Sfc. — Bulwer, in 1 

 his Harold (book x. chap, ii.), observes : " Three 

 things are ever silent — Thought, Destiny, and the 

 Grave." I have a dim recollection of this idea in 

 one of the ancient classics. Can any of your cor- 

 respondents help me with a parallel passage ? 



C. W. Staunton. 



" Besant." — 



" Wednesday, Jan. 1. 1752. Was a great court at St. 

 James's to compliment her majesty and the roj'al family ; 

 but on account of the mourning (for the Queen of Den- 

 mark, his majesty's daughter) his majesty did not go to 

 the chapel roj^al to offer the ' bj'zant.' " — Goit. Mng., 

 vol. xxii. p. 40. 



What ceremony was this ? J. B. S. 



[Besant, or Byzant, is a coin of pure gold, struck at 

 Byzantium in the time of the Christian emperors; and 

 hence the gold offered by our kings on festivals is called 

 Besant. The origin and use of these Besants is pointed 

 out by Camden (Remains, art. Money) ; who saj-s, " that 

 a great piece of gold, valued at 15/., which the king 

 ofFereth on high festival days, is yet called a Bezantine, 

 which was anciently a piece of gold coined by the Em- 

 perors of Constantinople; but afterwards there were two 

 purposely made for the King and the Queen, with the 

 resemblance of the Trinity inscribed, In Honorem sancfce 

 Trinitatis; and on the other side, the picture of the Vir- 



