IffAE. 5. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



23d 



tories, I am anxious to learn whether that degree 

 was conferred upon him by any English university 

 on his consecration in 1846 ? A. S. A. 



Wuzzeerabad. 



Crescent. — The article under this head in the 

 Encyclopedia Metropolitana, asserts that the cres- 

 cent was first adopted by the Ottomans as a 

 symbol after the taking of Constantinople in 1446. 

 If so, the device must have been unknown to the 

 Saracens at the time of the Crusades. Can any 

 of your readers inform me whether this statement 

 is correct ? Ficulnus. 



" Quod fuit esse." — I should be glad to know 

 the sense of the following epitaph, copied at La- 

 venham Church, Norfolk, many years since ; it 

 has long lain in my note-book, waiting for such a 

 publication as " N. & Q.," through which to in- 

 quire its meaning : 



"John Weles, Ob. 1694. 

 Quod fuit esse, quod est 

 Quod non fuit esse, quod esse, 

 Esse quod non esse. 

 Quod est, non est, erit, esse." 



A.B.R. 

 Belmont. 



" Coming home to m£rCs business." — ^Where does 

 the phrase " coming home to men's business and 

 bosoms " first occur ? I find it said of Bacon's 

 Essays in Baconiana, 1st edit. 1679 ? J. P. 



Birmingham. 



Thomas Gibbes ofFenton. — Can any of your 

 genealogical readers tell me what other issue (if 

 any) there was of the marriage of Thomas Gibbes 

 of Fenton, in the parish of Dartington, in the 

 county of Devon, and Anne, daughter of Sir 

 William Courtenay of Powderham, besides their 

 son William Gibbes, who died in London a.d. 

 1570? 



Also whether John Gibbes of Fenton, father of 

 tie above-named Thomas Gibbes, who married 

 the heiress of William May or Mey, had any other 

 issue ? Henry H. Gibbs. 



Frognal, Hampstead. 



" The Whipping Toms " at Leicester. — A sin- 

 gular annual custom, under the above designation, 

 formerly prevailed in this town, from time imme- 

 morial, on Shrove Tuesday. It is unnecessary to 

 take up j^our valuable space with a detailed ac- 

 count of it, as it is fully described in Throsby's 

 History of Leicester, p. 356., and in Hone's Year- 

 Book, p. 538. 



My object is to inquire if any custom at all 

 analogous to it is known to have existed elsewhere, 

 and, if so, what is the supposed origin of it ? 



Nothing whatever is known of the origin of the 

 custom in this town, beyond a vague popular tra- 



dition that it was instituted (like several other 

 curious customs) by John of Gaunt, during his 

 lengthened residence in the castle, within what 

 was then termed " The New-Works " of which 

 (now called " The Newarke ") the gathering was 

 held. 



However venerable from its antiquity, it was, 

 like too many of the sports of the Middle Ages, a 

 custom " more honoured in the breach than the 

 observance," and, as such, was put down in the 

 year 1847 by a local act of parliament ; not, how- 

 ever, without a serious afiray between the police 

 and the people. Leicestrieksis. 



The Trial of Our Lord. — I have lately seen 

 an old picture of the Trial of Our Lord before 

 Pilate, who sits in the midst of the Jewish San- 

 hedrim, each member of which has a scroll over 

 his head, giving his name and the sentence he 

 is said to have uttered on that occasion. I have 

 been told there is a large coarse engraving of this 

 picture sometimes to be found in cottages, but I 

 have not been able to procure one. The names 

 and sentiments are of course fictitious ; is anything 

 known of their origin ? P. P. 



Olney. — Can any correspondent state what is 

 the signification of this name ? The ancient 

 spelling is Olnei or Olney, not Oidney, as it has 

 sometimes been spelled of late years. The diffi- 

 culty is not as to the termination ey, but as to the 

 first syllable. 



The parish church, which stands at the southern 

 extremity of the town, on the banks of the Ouse, 

 is entirely (modern alterations excepted) of the 

 fourteenth century. There is not a trace of any 

 earlier work. Tradition says that the church was 

 formerly at the other, or northern end of the 

 town, where there is a place which is, as I am in- 

 formed, described in the deeds of some of the ad- 

 joining premises as the old churchyard, though it 

 has been desecrated time out of mind. Closely 

 adjacent is a clear spring, still called " Christen- 

 well," and also the trunk of a very ancient elm. 

 Human bones are stated to have been occasionally 

 dug up within the enclosure. 



There is a vague tradition that the town as well 

 as the church has been removed southward, i. e. 

 nearer the river. Readers of " N. & Q." who can 

 supply any information respecting the removal of 

 the church and town, or any other particulars 

 (in addition to those contained in Dr. Lipscomb's 

 History of Bucks) concerning the parish of Olney, 

 including the hamlet and manor of Warrington, 

 and the now district parish of Weston-Underwood, 

 will greatly oblige W. P. Stobeb. 



Olney, Bucks. 



Album. — What was the origin, and where do 

 we find the earliest notice of the kind of friendly 



