July 23. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



77 



•was present, I copied an inscription, painted in 

 old characters on a board, and nailed to one of the 

 ■walls ; and as the whole thing had not the appear- 

 ance of belonging to modern times, and, as far as 

 I could decipher it, it referred to some agreement 

 between Alfred and some of his neighbouring 

 brother kings, concerning boundaries of territory, 

 I send it to you for insertion. A. Smith. 



5< " FCEDVS . QUOD . ^LFREDVS . ET . LVTHRVNVS . KEGES 

 OMSES . ANGLIAM . INTOLEBANT . ORIENTALEM 

 FERIERVNT . ET . NON . SOLVM . DE . SEIPSIS 

 VERVM . ETIAM . DE . NATIS . SVIS . AC . NON- 

 nVM . IN . LVCEM . EDITIS . QVOTQVOT . MISK- 

 IIICORDI^ . DIVINE . AVT . REGI^ . VELVNT . ESSE 

 PARTICIl-ES . JVREJVRANDO . SANXERVNT." ^ 



^ " PRIJIO. DITIONIS . NOSTRA . FINES . TAMESIN .EVEHVN- 

 TOR.INDE. LEAM.VSQVE.FONTEM. EJVS . TAM. RECTA 

 AD . BEDFORDIAM . AC . DENIQVE . PER . VSAM . AD 

 VIAM . VETE . LINTIANAM." 



Wordsworth. — In Wordsworth's touching "La- 

 ment of Mary Queen of Scots," one of the stanzas 

 opens with : 



«' Born all too high ; hy wedlock raised 

 Still higher, to be brought thus low !" 



Is it straining a point to suppose that the author 

 has here translated the opening words of the well- 

 known epitaph on the Empress Matilda, mother 

 of our Henry II. ? 



" Ortu magna ; viro major ; sed maxima prole ; 

 Ilic jacet Henrici fiiia, sponsa, parens." 



A. W. 



Sunningdale. 



" Magna est Veritas et prcevalehit" — I was 

 asked the other day whence came this hackneyed 

 quotation. It is taken from the uncanonical 

 Scriptures, 3 Esdras iv. 41. : 



" Et desiit loquendo : Et omnes populi clamaverunt, 

 et dixerunt : Magna est Veritas, et prcevalet." 



T. H. DE H. 



" Putting your Fool into it." — The legitimate 

 origin of this term I have seen thus explained. 

 Perhaps it may pass as correct until a better be 

 found. According to the Asiatic Researches, a 

 very curious mode of trying the title to land is 

 practised in Hindostan. Two holes are dug in 

 the disputed spot, in each of which the lawyers on 

 either side put one of their legs, and remain there 

 until one of them is tired, or complains of being 

 stung by insects, in which case his client is de- 

 feated. An American writer has remarked that 

 in the United States it is generally the client, and 

 not the lawyer, " who puts his foot in it." W. W. 



Malta. 



TRAGMENTS OF MSS. 



Dr. Maitland, in his valuable volume on the 

 " Dark Ages," has the following remarks on a 

 subject which I think has not met with the at- 

 tention it deserves : 



" Those who are in the habit of looking at such 

 tilings, know how commonly early printed books, 

 whose binding has undergone the analytical operation 

 of damp, or mere old age, disclose the under end pieces 

 of beautiful and ancient manuscript. They know how 

 freely parchment was used for backs and bands, and 

 fly-leaves, and even for covers. The thing is so common, 

 that those who are accustomed to see old books have 

 ceased to notice it," 



In order to come within the design of your 

 pages, I must put this in the shape of a Query, 

 and ask, if it is not a pity that this fact has ceased 

 to be noticed? We do not know what treasures 

 may be contained in the shabby covers which we 

 contemplate getting rid of. " There are thou- 

 sands" (of MSS.), says the same writer, "equally 

 destroyed, — thousands of mui'dered wretches not 

 so completely annihilated : their ghosts do walk the 

 earth ; they glide unseen into our libraries, our 

 studies, our very hands ; they ai"e all about and 

 around us. AVc even take them up and lay them 

 down, without knowing of their existence ; unless 

 time and damp (as if to punish and mock us for 

 robbing them of their prey) have loosed their 

 bonds, and set them to confront us." 



Archbishop Tenison had not " ceased to notice 

 it." He very diligently rescued these " fragments" 

 from the hands of his bookbinder : and it is tobe 

 regretted that he did not take equal precaution 

 in preserving them. Eecently, all that I could 

 collect have been cleaned, inlaid, and arranged 

 chronologically, making two interesting and valu- 

 able volumes. 



How far would it be desirable to unite for the 

 purpose of collecting MS. fragments, and early 

 printed leaves ? 



Might not a Society, which should have for its 

 especial object the discovery, cataloguing, and cir- 

 culating information about these stray bits, be of 

 great service ? E.g. 1 have before me five 

 volumes of Justinian's Codices and Digesta, Paris, 

 1526 ; the covers of which are made of MS. 

 Thirteen leaves go to make one board. They are 

 written on both sides ; and thus an easy multi- 

 plication gives us 260 pnges of MS., or early print- 

 ing, in the covers of one work ! 



It is not unlikely that, if the results of research 

 in this direction were carefully registered, many 

 perfect pieces might be recovered. Philip Hale. 



Archbishop Tenison's Library, 

 St. Martin-in-the- Fields. 



