596 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 190. 



me that the connexion said to exist between the 

 heart and the third finger refers to that finger of 

 the right hand, and not, as we suppose, to the 

 third finger of the left hand. He added, that the 

 English are the only nation who place the ring on 

 the left hand. I do not find that this latter state- 

 ment is borne out by what I have seen of the ladies 

 of continental Europe ; and I supjjose it was an 

 hallucination in my worthy informant. 



I must leave to better scholars in the Italian 

 language than I am, to say whether " Lo Sposa- 

 lizio" means "Betrothal" or " Marriage :" cer- 

 tainly this latter is the ordinary signification. 



I have a sort of floating idea that I once heard 

 that at the ceremony of "Betrothal," now, I believe, 

 rarely if ever practised, it was customary to place 

 the ring on the right hand. I am by no means clear 

 where I gleaned this notion. 



G. Brindlet Acwobth. 



Brompton. 



" To the Lords of Convention.^'' — Where can I 

 find the whole of the ballad beginning — 



" To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverh'se that 

 spoke ; " 



and also the name of the author ? L. Evans. 



Richard Candishe, M. P. — Pennant ( Tour in 

 Wales, vol. ii. p. 48.) prints the epitaph of "Richard 

 Candishe, Esq., of a good family in Suffolk," who 

 was M.P. for Denbigh in 1572, as it appears on 

 his monument in Ilornsey Church. AVho was this 

 Richard Candishe ? The epitaph says he was 

 •'derived from noble parentage;" but the arms on 

 the monument are not those of the noble House 

 of Cavendish, which sprung from the parish of 

 that name in Sufiblk. The arms of Richard Can- 

 dishe are given as " three piles wavy gules in a 

 field argent; the crest, a fox's head erased azure." 



BUBIENSIS. 



Alphabetical Arrangement. — Can any one fiivour 

 me with a reference to any work treating of the 

 date of the collection and arrangement in the 

 present form of the alphabet, either English, 

 Latin, Greek, or Hebrew ? or what is the earliest 

 instance of their being used to represent nume- 

 rals ? A. H. C. 



Saying of Pascal. — In which of his works is 

 Pascal's saying, " I have not time to write more 

 briefly," to be found ; and what are the words in 

 the original ? W. Fbasek. 



Tor-Mohun. 



Irish Characters on the Stage. — Would any of 

 the contributors to " N. & Q." oblige me with this 

 information ? Who, or how many, of the old En- 

 glish dramatists introduced Irishmen into their 

 dramatis persona ? Did Ben Jonson ? Shadwell 

 did. What others ? Philobiblion. 



Family of Milton s Widow. — Your correspon- 

 dent Cranmobe, in his article on the " Rev. John 

 Paget" (" N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 327.), writes thus : 

 " Dr. Nathan Paget was an intimate friend of 

 Milton and cousin to the poet's fourth (no doubt 

 meaning his third) wife, Elizabeth Minshall, of 

 whose family descent, which appears to be rather 

 obscure, I may at another time communicate some 

 particulars." 



Now, as more than a year has elapsed since 

 the article referred to appeared in your valuable 

 columns, without the subject of Elizabeth Min- 

 shall's descent having been farther noticed, I hope 

 your correspondent will pardon my soliciting him 

 to supply the information he possesses relative 

 thereto, which cannot fail proving interesting to 

 every admirer of our great poet. V. M. 



Table-moving. — Was not Bacon acquainted 

 with this phenomenon ? I find in his Syha Syl- 

 varum, art. Motion : 



" Whenever a solid is pressed, there is an inw;ird 

 tumult of the parts thereof, tending to deliver them- 

 selves from the compression : and this is the cause of 

 all violent motion. It is very strange that this motion 

 has never been observed and inquired into ; as being 

 the most common and chief origin of all mechanical 

 operations. 



" This motion operates first in a round by way of 

 proof and trial, which way to deliver itself, and then in 

 progression where it finds the deliverance easiest." 



C. K. P. 

 Newport, Essex. 



Form of Petition, ^c. — May I request the inser- 

 tion of a Query, requesting some of your readers 

 to supply the ellipsis in the form with which peti- 

 tions to Parliament are required to be closed, viz. : 

 " And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." To me, 

 I confess, there appears to be something like im- 

 piety in its use in its present unmeaning state. 

 Would a petition be rendered informal by any 

 addition which would make it more comprehensible ? 



C. W. B. 



[The ellipsis appears to have varied according to cir- 

 cumstances: hence we find, in an original petition 

 addressed to the Privy Council (apparently temp. 

 Jac. I.), the concluding fonnula given at length 

 thus: — " And yo"" sup", as in all diitie bounden, shall 

 daylie pray for your good L?'." Another petition, per- 

 sented to Charles I. at Newark, a.d. 1641, closes thus: 

 " And your petitioners will ever pray for your Majesty's 

 long and happy reign over us." Another, from the 

 Mayor and Aldermen of London, in the same year : 

 " And the petitioners, as in all duty bound, shall pray 

 for your Majesty's most long and happy reign." Again, 

 in the same year, the petition of the Lay-Catholic 

 Recusants of England to the Commons closes thus: 

 " And for so great a charity your humble petitioners 



