150 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 198. 



for the font is at the entrance of the chancel. The 

 holy rite, so edifying to the congregation, as well 

 as profitable to the recipient, can then be duly 

 seen ; and the position is tolerably symbolical, 

 expressing as it were " the wrry that is opened for 

 us into the holiest of all." I am curious to know 

 if there are any ancient examples of this position, 

 and how far the canon sanctions it, which directs 

 that the font be set np in " the ancient usual 

 places" [plural]? While on the subject let me 

 put another Query. The Rubric directs that the 

 font be "then," i.e. just before the baptism, 

 filled with pure water. In what vessel is the 

 water brought, and who fills the font? AA^hat 

 are the precedents in this matter? Rules, I 

 think, there are none. A. A. D. 



Aix Ruocliim or Romans loner. — On the verge 

 of the cliff at Kingsgate, near the North Foreland, 

 is a small castle or fort of chalk and flint, known 

 by the above name. Can any of your readers give 

 any infoi-mation regarding the date of the erection 

 of this curious edifice ? Some of the local guide- 

 books attribute it to the time of Vortigern, or 

 about 448 ; but this seems an almost fabulous 

 antiquity. A. O. H. 



Blackheath. 



" Lessons for Lent,'' Sec. — Lessons for Lent., or 

 Instructions on the Tioo Sacraments of Penance 

 and the B. Eucharist, printed in the year 1718. 

 AVho was the author ? H. 



"ia JBranche des reaus Lignages." — Have any 

 of your correspondents met with a romance, of 

 which I have a MS. copy, entitled " La Branche 

 des reaus Lignages ?" The MS. I possess is evi- 

 dently a modern copy, and begins thus : 



" Et tens de celi mandement 

 Duquel j'ai fait ramembrement 

 Et qu'aucun homme d'avis oit 

 Jehan, qui Henaut justisoit 

 Gucrreoit et grevoit yglises 

 En la garde le roi coinmises 

 Ne . . . ii vouloit faire liommage." 



The poem is divided by numbers, probably re- 

 ferring to the pages of the original : beginning with 

 1292, and ending with 1307. It is also evident, 

 from the first verses themselves, that I have only 

 a fragment before me. — From the Navorscher. 



Ganske. 



Marriage Service. — Are there any parishes in 

 which the custom of presenting the fee, together 

 with the ring, in the marriage service, as ordered 

 by the rubric, is observed ? E. VV. 



"Czar'' or '■'■Tsar." — Whence the derivation 

 of the title Czar or Tsar ? I know that some 

 suppose it to be derived from Caesar, while others 

 trace it from the terminal -sar or -zar in the 



names of the kings of Babylon and Assyria : as 

 Phalas-sa?-, Nebuchadnez-zar, &c. In Per.-ian, 

 sar means the supreme power. I have heard much 

 ai'guraent about its origin, and would be mucli 

 obliged if any reader of " N. & Q." could state 

 the correct derivation of the word. 



By which Emperor of Russia v/as the title first 

 assumed ? J. S. A. 



Old Broad Street. 



Little Silver. — There are several places in 

 Devonshire so called, villages or hamlets. It is 

 said, they are alway situated in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of a Roman, or some other ancient 

 catup. Hence, some people suppose the name is 

 given to these localities from the number of silver 

 coins frequently found there. 



Will any of your cori-espondents throw light on 

 this subject ? 



As every one knows, there is also a Silverton in 

 Devonshire — Silver-town par excellence. Is it 

 in any Avay connected with the "Little Silvers ?" 



A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



On .SEsops (?) Falle of icashing the Blacka- 

 moor. — Is it possible the well-known fable was a 

 real occurrence ? The following extract would 

 seem to allude to an analogous fact : 



" Counting the labour as endlesse as the maids in 

 the Strand, which endeavoured by washhig the Black- 

 a-more to make him white." — Case of Sir Ignoramus 

 of Cumlridye, 1648, p. 23. 



R. C. Warde. 



Kidderminster. 



Wedding Proverh. — Is the following distich 

 known in any part of England? — 



" To change the name, but not the letter, 

 Is to marry for worse, and not for better." 



I met with it In an American book, but it was 

 probably an importation. SpuisxER. 



German Phrase. — What is the origin of a sar- 

 castic German phrase often used ? 



*' Er erwartet dass der Ilimmel voU Bassgeigen 

 langt." 



L. M. M. R. 



German Heraldry. — Where can I refer to a 

 book in which the armorial bearings of all the 

 principal German families are engraved ? 



Speriend. 



Lcman Family. — About the middle of the seven- 

 teentli century, say 1650 to 1670, two gentlemen 

 left England for America, who are supposed to 

 have been brothers or near relatives of Sir John 

 Leman, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1616. 

 Traditions, which have been preserved in manu- 

 scx'ipt, and which can be traced back over one 



