158 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 172. 



the chair steps forward and chops a single stick, in 

 token of its having been customary for the tenants of 

 that manor to supply their lord with fuel. The owners 

 of a forge in the parish of St. Clement (which formerly 

 belonged to the city, and stood in the high road from 

 the Temple to Westminster, but now no longer exists) 

 are then called forth to do their suit and service ; when 

 an officer of the court, in the presence of the senior 

 alderman, produces six horse-shoes and sixty-one hob- 

 nails, which he counts over in form before the cursitor 

 baron, who on this particular occasion is the immediate 

 representative of the sovereign."] 



A B,ace for Canterbury. — I have just met with 

 a little volume of sixteen pages entitled A Race 

 for Canterbury or Lambeth, Ho! It is dated 1747, 

 and was evidently written on the death of Arch- 

 bishop Potter ; and describes four aspirants to the 

 see of Canterbury as four rowers on the Thames : 



" No sooner Death had seized the seer. 

 Just in the middle of his prayer, 

 But instantly on Thames appear'd 

 Four wherries rowing very hard." 

 &c. &c. &c. 



The first is thus introduced : 



" Sh , though old, has got the start, 



And vigorously plays his part." 



The second : 



" H in order next advances, 



And full of hopes he strangely fancies, 



That he by dint of merit shall 



Get first to land by Lambeth wall." 



The third: 



" M — s — n moves on a sober pace, 

 And sits and rows with easy grace. 

 No ruffling passion's in him seen, 

 Indifferent if he lose or win." 



The fourth : 



" Next Codex comes with lab'ring oar. 

 And, envious, sees the three before ; 

 Yet luggs and tuggs with every joint. 

 In hopes at length to gain the point." 



Having no list of the bishops by me, of the 

 above-mentioned date, to which I can refer, I 

 should be glad if any of your correspondents can 

 tell me who these four bishops are. May I ask 

 likewise, if it is known who was the author of this 

 not very refined or elegant composition ? 



John Branfill Harrison. 



Maidstone. 



[The four aspirants probably were, 1. Sherlock of 

 Salisbury ; 2. Herring of York, the next primate ; 

 3. Mawson of Chichester ; 4. Gibson of London.] 



Nose of Wax. — In so famous a public docu- 

 ment as the Nottingham Declaration of the Nobles, 

 Gentry, and Commons, in November, 1688, against 

 the Papistical inroads of the infatuated King 

 James, I find in the Ninth Kesolution that he is 



accused of " rendering the laws a nose of wax,''' in 

 order to further arbitrary ends. I have often 

 heard the phrase familiarly in my youthful days ; 

 may I ask of you to inform me of its origin ? 

 Its import is plain enough, — a silly bugbear, of 

 none effect but to be laughed at. W. J. 



[Nares explains it more correctly as a proverbial 

 phrase for anything very mutable and accommodating; 

 chiefly applied to flexibility of faith. He adds, " It 

 should be noticed, however, that the similitude'was 

 originally borrowed from the Roman Catholic writers, 

 who applied it to the Holy Scriptures, on account of 

 their being liable to various interpretations."] 



" Praise from Sir Hubert Stanley !" — I have 

 somewhere heard or read this, or a very similar 

 phrase, ironically expressive of surprise at appro- 

 bation from an unexpected quarter. I would 

 much like a clue to its source and correct shape. 



W.T.M. 



Hong Kong. 



[This is from Morton's Cure for the Heart Ache, 

 Act V. Sc. 2. : — " Approbation from Sir Hubert 

 Stanley is praise indeed."] 



Rosary. — What is the origin of the term rosai^y ? 

 Is it derived from the Latin rogare ? G. C. C. 



[Richardson derives it from Fr. Rosaire ; Ital. and 

 Sp. Rosario ; Low Lat. Rosarium, corona rosacea, a 

 garland or chaplet of roses. The definition of it by the 

 Abbe Prevost is this : — "It consists," he says, " of 

 fifteen tens, said to be in honour of the fifteen mysteries 

 in which the Blessed Virgin bore a part. Five Joyous, 

 viz. the annunciation, the visit to St. Elizabeth, the 

 birth of our Saviour, the purification, and the disputa- 

 tion of Christ in the temple. Five Sorrowful : our 

 Saviour's agony in the garden, his flagellation, crown- 

 ing with thorns, bearing his cross, and crucifixion. Five 

 Glorious : his resurrection, ascension, the descent of 

 the Holy Ghost, his glorification in heaven, and the 

 assumption of the Virgin herself" — Manuel Lexique. 

 Nares, quoting this passage, adds, " This is good au- 

 thority ; but why each of the fives is multiplied by ten 

 the Abbe does not explain ; probably to make the 

 chaplet of a sufficient length."] 



aacjiite^. 



THE BOD : A POEM. 



(Vol. vi., p. 493.) 



My copy of this poem bears date 1754, and is not 

 stated to be a second edition. It has " an adver- 

 tisement" of three pages, deprecatory of the im- 

 putation of any personal allusions, or design to 

 encourage school rebellions. It has also a frontis- 

 piece (" Jas. Green, sculp., Oxon."), representing 

 two youths, one standing, the other sitting, on a 

 form ; and before them the figure of an ass, erect 

 on his hind legs, clothed in a pallium. A birch, 

 doctorial hat, and books, lettered Priscian and 



