606 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 216. 



above Act), I do not imagine that they can legally 

 claim precedence of mayor:?, on the alleged ground 

 of any "representation of Majesty," in the face of 

 the particular enactment above quoted ; which, 

 indeed, seems to me to give to the mayor within 

 his own borough precedence of a high sheriff of 

 a county, if pi'esent on any public occasion. I am 

 not aware that the sheriff of a borough, as such, 

 can ^^ claim to have a grant of arms, if he has not 

 any previous ;" altliough I have no doubt he may 

 readily obtain one, upon payment of the usual 

 fees. C. J. 



MouseJiunt (Vol. vili., p. 516.). — 



" A Mousehunt is a little animal of the species of 

 weasel ; it has a very slender body, about the length of 

 a rat, with a long jiairy tail, busby at the end ; the 

 back is of a reddish-brown colour, the hair long and 

 smooth ; the belly is white, as are also its feet ; it runs 

 very swiftly, swaying its body as it moves along from 

 side to side. The head is short and narrow, with small 

 ears, like those of a rat ; the eyes are black, piercing, 

 and very bright. Their chief food is rats, mice, young 

 chickens, little birds, and eggs. They frequent mole- 

 hills, and are often caught in the traps set for the 

 moles ; they are destroyed by ferrets and dogs. These 

 mousehunts live, for the most part, in holes beneath 

 the roots of trees, or in old buildings." 



The above description of the Mousehunt is given 

 in The History of a Field-mouse by Miss Black. 

 Should it be thought of sufficient aut,hnrity to de- 

 serve a place in " N. & Q.," the coincidence which 

 led " Little Downy" to be read to a little girl on 

 the morning of Nov. 26 will amuse. E. B. R. 



" Sains populi" Sfc. (Vol. viii., p. 410.). — Selden, 

 in his Table Talk (art. People), states, on v?hat 

 authority I know not, that this was part of the law 

 of XII Tables. E. S. T. T. 



Love Charm from a FoaTs Forehead (Vol. vlil., 

 p. 292.). — The word which H. P. wants is Hip- 

 pomanes. The reference which the Lexicons give 

 is to Aristotle's History of Animals, viii. 23. 5. 



I shall be glad to have some of H. P.'s refe- 

 rences to Tacitus, as I cannot now call one to 

 mind. In connexion with the subject, I should 

 like to know if the white star, which used to be so 

 fashionable on horses' foreheads, was always or 

 generally produced artificially. W. Eraser. 



Tor-Mohun. 



Land of Green Ginger (Vol. viii., pp. 160. 227.). 

 — So named, in all probability, from green ginger 

 having been manufactured there. Green ginger 

 was one of the favourite conserves of our ances- 

 tors, and great quantities of it were made in this 

 country from dried ginger roots. In an old black- 

 letter work without date, but unmistakeably of the 

 sixteenth century, entitled The Book of pretty 



COceits, taken out of Latine, French, Dutch, and 

 English, there is a receipt " To make Green Gin- 

 ger," commencing thus: — "Take rases of cased 

 ginger and use them In this sort." I need not 

 quote the long-winded receipt. Suffice it to say 

 that dried ginger was placed in alternate layers 

 with fine v/hite sand, and the whole mass kept 

 constantly wet until the ginger became quite soft. 

 Ifc was then washed, scraped clean, and put into 

 sirup. There can be no greater difficulty in finding 

 a derivation for the Land of Green Ginger, than 

 for Pudding Lane, or Pie Corner. 



W. PiNKERTON. 



llam. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



The Members of the Camden Society have just re- 

 ceived two volumes, with which we doubt not all will 

 be well pleased. The first is a farther portion, namely,' 

 from M to R, of Mr. Way's most valuable edition of the 

 Promptorium Parvulorum. A glance at the foot-notes, 

 so rich in philological illustration, and a knowledge 

 that Mr. Way's labours have been greatly impeded by 

 his removal from London, where only he can meet with 

 the authorities which he is obliged to consult, may 

 well explain the delay which has taken place in its 

 publication. But we doubt not that the Camden 

 Council are justified in the hope which they have ex- 

 pressed that the favour with which the present portion 

 is received, will encourage the editor to proceed with all 

 possible dispatch to the conclusion of the work. 



Rich, like the Promptorium, in philological illustra- 

 tion, and of the highest value as a contribution to the 

 social history of the thirteenth century, is the next 

 work ; and for wliich the Camden Members are in- 

 debted to the learned Vicar of Holbeach, The Rev. 

 James Morton. The Ancrcn Riwle ; a Treatise on the 

 Rules and Duties of Monastic Life, which he has edited 

 and translated from a Semi- Saxon MS. of the thirteenth 

 century, is a work which many of our best scholars have 

 long desired to see in print, — we believe we may add, 

 that many have thought seriously of editing. The in- 

 formation to be derived from it, with regard to the state 

 of society, the learning and manners, the moral and reli- 

 gious teaching, and the language of the period in which 

 it was written, is so various and so important, that it 

 is clear the Camden Society has done good service in 

 selecting it for publication ; while the manner in which 

 it has been edited by Mr. Morton, and the translation 

 and complete Glossarial Index with which he has en- 

 riched it, show that the Council did equally well in 

 their choice of an editor. The work does the highest 

 credit both to that gentleman and to the Camden 

 Society. 



Mr. Bridger, of .3. Keppel Street, Russell Square, 

 is desirous of making known to our readers that he 

 is engaged in compiling a " Catalogue of Privately 

 Printed Books in Genealogy and kindred subjects," 

 and to solicit information in furtherance of his design. 



