342 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 179. 



preface to his prose life of St. Cuthbert, written 

 previous to the year 721, reminds Bishop Eadfrith 

 that his name was registered in the album at Lin- 

 disfarne, " in albo vestrae sanctae congregationis." 

 (^BedcB OperaMinora,-p. 47 .y ed. Stevenson.) Else- 

 where Beda calls this book " the annal " (Hist. 

 Eccles., lib. iv. c. 14.). At a later period it was 

 called, both in England and abroad, the Liber 

 Vitm, or Book of Life, a name borrowed from St. 

 Paul (Philippians, iv. 3.). 



The earliest specimen of an English album, and 

 perhaps the most elegant one that this or any 

 other country ever produced, may be seen in the 

 British Museum (^Cotton MSS., Domitian VII.). 

 It is the Album, or Book of Life, of the monastery 

 of Durham. Nor need we add that this album 

 affords a relief to the eye wearied with looking 

 over the pages of a modern album, and to the 

 mind sick of the endless but monotonous repetition 

 of imaginary ruins, love sonnets, and moss roses. 



Cetbep. 



Gesmas and Desmas (Vol. vii., p. 238.). — For 

 the information of your correspondent A. B. R., 

 I copy the passage referred to by you in the dis- 

 puted Gospel of Nicodemus, formerly called the 

 Acts of Pontius Pilate. The extract is from an 

 English version, printed for William Hone, Lud- 

 gate Hill, 1820 : 



" But one of the two thieves who were crucified with 

 Jesus, whose name was Gestas, said to Jesus, If thou 

 art the Christ, deliver thyself and us." — vii. 10. 



" But the thief who was crucified on his right hand, 

 whose name was Dimas, answering, rebuked him, and 

 said. Dost not thou fear God, who art condemned to this 

 punishment? We indeed receive rightly and justly 

 the demerit of our actions ; but this Jesus, what evil 

 hath he done?"— vi. 11. 



" After this, groaning, he said to Jesus, Lord, re- 

 member me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."— 

 vi. 12. 



It thus appears the names have been differently 

 received : here they appear gestas the impenitent, 

 and BiMAS the penitent. 



I have a fine old engraving, nineteen inches by 

 fourteen, bearing date " Greg. Huret, Lugd. inv. 

 et sculp. 1664;" published in Paris, cum priv. 

 Regis. 



The three crosses, with their inscriptions (each 

 in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), appear. 



The Latin on the cross of the thief on the right 

 hand of our Lord (and, from the expression of 

 countenance, confessed the penitent) is djsmas 

 lATRo : the other is gestas latro. W. C. H. 



Chelsea. 



" Quod fuit esse " (Vol. vii., p. 235.). — Allow 

 me to suggest the following meaning of the epi- 

 taph in Lavenham churchyard, which is the sub- 

 ject of A. B. R.'s Query. The word est has 



evidently been omitted In the third line : with this 

 restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexa- 

 meters : 



" Quod fiiit esse, quod est ; quod non fuit esse, quod 

 esse ; 

 Esse quod (est), non esse ; quod est, non est, erit, 

 esse." 



And the literal meaning will be : " What was ex- 

 istence, is that which lies here ; that which was not 

 existence, is that which is existence ; to be what Is *• 

 now, is not to be ; that which is now, is not exist- 

 ence, but will be hereafter." 



This, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original : 

 but the following lines will render the meaning 

 plainer, though it Is difficult to preserve the brevity 

 of the Latin In an English version : 



All that I really was lies here in dust ; 

 That which was death before is life, I trust. 

 To be what is, is not, I ween, to be; 

 Is not, but wiU be in eternity. 



H. C. K. 

 — Rectory, Hereford. 



I think your correspondent A. B. R. is not quite 

 correct in his version of the epitaph of which he 

 inquires the sense. It Is evidently Intended for 

 two hexameter verses, and, as I have heard it, 

 runs thus : 



" Quod fuit esse, quod est ; quod non fuit esse, quod 

 esse ; 

 Esse quod est, non esse ; quod est, non est, erit, esse." 



I Inclose a similar epitaph in another church- 

 yard (the locale of which I do not know), which 

 may serve to elucidate Its meaning : 



" That which a Being was, what is it ? show : 

 That being which it was, it is not now. 

 To be what 'tis is not to be, you see'; 

 That which now is not shall a Being be." 



Q. S. 



Straw Bail (Vol. vii., p. 85.).— In connexion 

 with, though not as a reply to, Mr. Curtis's 

 Query touching the origin of the expression " A 

 man of straw," I beg to bring under notice a 

 phrase I heard for the first time a few days ago, 

 but whicll may nevertheless be well known to 

 others. A seaman, talking to me of a strike for 

 wages among the crew of a ship, said that^ the 

 captain, as the rate of wages had not been raised, 

 had manned his ship with a "lot of straw-yarders." 

 On my asking the meaning of the expression, I was 

 told that a " straw-yarder " was a man about the 

 docks who had never been to sea, and knew little 

 or nothing of the duties of a seaman. 



Beutoniknsis. 



PearZ (Vol. vl., p. 578. ; Vol. vii., pp. 18. 166.). 

 — In the Old German, merikrioz is pearl ; and In 

 the Ang.-Sax. It Is meregreot, — the latter from 

 merCy sea, and greot, grit, sand, or grot, an 



