Nov. 5. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



441 



clerical brethren have noticed the same super- 

 stition as I must call it. Labourers' wives in 

 some cases have at once stated their being married 

 as a valid objection; and in others their husbands, 

 although Churchmen, have at once entered their 

 veto on their being confirmed. Can it arise from 

 any vague reminiscence of the practical rule of 

 tlie Church of England on the subject, which has 

 been so long ignored ? W, Fraseb. 



Tor-MohHU. 



Epigram on Mac Adam. — Who was the author 

 of the following epigram? 

 " My Essay on Roads, quoth Mac Adam, lies there, 

 The result of a life's lucubration; 

 But does not the title-page look rather bare ? 

 I long for a Latin quotation. 



" A Delphin edition of Virgil stood nigh, 

 To second his classic desire; 

 When the road-maker hit on the shepherd's reply, 

 ' Miror Magis,' I rather add-vawQ." 



mi. ^. 



Jane ScrimsTiaro. — Can any of your numerous 

 correspondents inform me if there is any other 

 biographical notice of Jane Scrimshaw, who at- 

 tained the advanced age of 127, and resided for 

 upwards of eighty years in the Merchant Taylors' 

 Almshouse, near Little Tower Hill, than that 

 recorded in Caulfield's Memoirs of Remarkable 

 Characters ? J. T. M, 



The Word " Quadrille.^' — . May I trouble some 

 kind reader to give me the origin, derivation, full 

 and literal meaning, and the several senses, in their 

 regular succession, of the above word Quadrille f 

 There seems to be much uncertainty attached to 

 the word. Veritatis Amicus. 



Oxon. 



The Hungarians in Paules. — Perhaps some of 

 the ingenious contributors to " N. 8{ Q." may be 

 able to assist P. C. S. S. to explain the following 

 passage in the dedication of a rare little book, 

 Dehkers Dreame (Lond. 4to. 1620). It is in- 

 scribed : — 



" To the truly accomplished gentleman, and worthy 

 deserverof all men's loves. Master Endymion Porter. Sir, 

 if you aske why, from the heapes of men, I picke you out 

 only to be that Murus ahcsneus which must defend me, 

 lett me tell you (what you knowe allready) that bookes 

 are like the Hungarians in Paules, who have a privi- 

 ledge to holde out their Turkish history for anie one 

 to rcade. They beg nothing : the texted past-bord 

 talkes all — and if nothing be given, nothiijg is spoken, 

 but God knowes what they thinke 1" 



An explanation of the above passage is very 

 earnestly desired by P. C. S. S. 



Ferns Wanted. — Specimons of the following 

 rare ferns are much wanted to complete a col- 

 VoL. VIIL— No. 210. 



lection : — Woodsia ilvensis, Woodsia alpina, Cys- 

 topteris montana, Lastrea cristata, Lastrea recurva, 

 Lastrea multiflora, Asplenium alternijlorum, Tri' 

 chomanes speciosum. 



The undersigned will feel very much obliged to 

 any charitable person, residing near the habitat of 

 any of the above-mentioned ferns, who would take 

 the trouble to forward to him, if not a root, at 

 least a specimen for drying, he need scarcely say 

 that any expenses will be most cheerfully defrayed. 

 Henry Cooper Key. 



Stretton Rectory, near Hereford. 



Craton the Philosopher. — Two of the figures on 

 the brass font in the church of St. Bartholomew 

 at Liege are superscribed Johannes Evangelista 

 et Craton Philosophus. — Can any reader of " N. 

 & Q." say if anything is known about the latter, 

 who is represented as being baptized by the 

 Evangelist ? R. H. C. 



The Solar Annual Eclipse in the Year 1263. — 

 In the Norwegian account of Haco's expedition 

 against Scotland, a.d. 1263, published in the 

 original Islandic from the Flateyan and Frisian 

 MSS., with a literal English version by the Rev. 

 James Johnstone, I read as follows : 



" While King Haco lay in Ronaldsvo, a great dark- 

 ness drew over the sun ; so that only a. little ring was 

 bright round the sun, and it contini^,ed so for some 

 hours." — P. 45. 



King Haco, according to the account, left 

 Bergen on his expedition " three nights before the 

 ' Selian' vigils . . . with all his fleet," and, 

 " having got a gentle breeze, was two nights at 

 sea when he reached that harbour of Shetland 

 called Breydeyiar Sound (Bressay Sound, I pre- 

 sume) with a great part of his navy." Here he 

 remained " near half a month, and from thence 

 sailed to the Orkneys ; and continued some time 

 at Elidarwick, which is near Kirkwall . . . After 

 St. Olave's wake (July 18, O. S.) King Haco, 

 leaving Elidarwick, sailed south before the Mull 

 of Ronaldsha, with all the navy ;" and being joined 

 by Ronald from the Orkneys, with the ships that 

 had followed him, he "led the whole armament 

 into Ronaldsha, which he left upon the vigil of 

 St. Lawrence (July 30, O. S.)." 



Now I wish to know, 1. On what day in 

 August this eclipse took place, the day of the 

 week, commencement of the eclipse, &c. 



2. Whether any cotemporary, or other writer 

 besides the Icelandic historian, has recorded this 

 eclipse ? S. 



Fitaroy Street. 



U Israeli — hoio spelt? — Caucasus is so for- 

 tunate as to possess all the acknowledged works 

 of D'Israeli the elder, as published by himself. 

 In the title-page of every one of them, the name 



