30 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 272. 



•second inventory. It is said, however, "In an- 

 other apartment, under lock and key, is the 

 corporation plate. Many of the vessels are 

 masterpieces of goldsmiths' work of the fifteenth 

 century" (p. 329.) Perhaps some relic of the 

 table may be found among these ; and I hope 

 readers likely to visit Luneburg will make a note 

 to look. 



The book describes with tedious minuteness the 

 discovery, trials, and executions of the thieves. I 

 shall enter into these no farther than is necessary 

 to answer P. B. E.'s Query. On March 21, 1699, 

 six were executed at Zell. Christian Zwanke and 

 Andrew Z wart were broken on the wheel; Jur- 

 jam Kramer and Christopher Pante were be- 

 headed, — the sentence states that the beheading 

 was a favour, because they had confessed without 

 being tortured, and Pante had behaved with 

 credit as a soldier ; Gideon Peerman and Jonas 

 Meyer were hanged, — no reason for the distinc- 

 tion is given in the sentences. Perhaps some 

 might be discovered by a careful perusal of the 

 Jhistory ; perhaps it was only for variety. The 

 Court, in its post-mortem treatment of Jonas 

 Meyer, showed folly enough to warrant the sus- 

 picion. At the scaffold Andrew Zwart* blas- 

 phemed and behaved with great violence, but 

 grew calmer and joined in prayer just before he 

 was broken. The Jew Meyer persisted in re- 

 pelling the ministers, and blasphemed till he was 

 drawn up. This being told to the Court, on the 

 next day a strange judgment was given : 



" That the body of Jonas Meyer be taken from the place 

 of execution and brought before the Court, and that the 

 tongue with -which lie has blaspliemed God be torn from 

 his throat and publicly burned ; that the body be dragged 

 back to the place of execution, and there hung up by the 

 feet with a dog by its side." 



Absurd and shocking as this was, it was not in- 

 flicted on Jonas Meyer as a Jew, but as a blas- 

 phemer. 



On May 23, 1699, six more of the gang were 

 executed : two were broken on the wheel, the 

 other four hanged. Two of the latter were Jews. 

 It was expected that Christian Miiller would 

 speak ill of the authorities as Zwart did, and 

 that the two Jews would blaspheme, after the 

 example of Meyer ; so they were told that if they 

 did their tongues should be torn out before their 

 execution, and the executioner was ordered to 

 have an assistant ready with the proper instru- 

 ments. The assistant, fully prepared for action 

 (met gloijenden tavgeri), accompanied them to 



* "Dezen Misdader, over zyn voorgeleezen Straf- 

 vonnis, in hevigen toorm ontsteeken, koa door geene re- 

 denen tot bedaaren gebragt worden. Zyn gemoed 

 stoud, Avegens yver en wraaklust, in vollen vlam, en 

 braakte, in de tegenwoordigheid van alle aanscliouwers, 

 gelyk de Berg Vesuvius, somwylen geheele klompen van 

 weerwraak uit." — P. 287. 



the scaiTold, but his services were not required 

 (p. 361.). 



In July, 1700, two more of the gang, one of 

 whom was a Jew, were simply hanged (p. 367.). 



The translator, in his preface, states that the 

 original work had gone through two editions, and 

 that the author, a Protestant minister, was dead. 

 He acted as gaol-chaplain, attending the prisoners 

 after sentence, and at their execution. Telling 

 the truth seems to be his only merit. His matter 

 is a mixture of Newgate calendar and condemned 

 sermon — facts, morals, and theology jumbled into 

 almost inextricable confusion, so that it would be 

 as difficult to arrange a connected and continuous 

 story or sets of stories from it as to make a draw- 

 ing of the back of an engine-turned watch. Even 

 the dates are confused, the yeiir being often sepa- 

 rated from the month, and the month from the 

 day, by twenty or more pages about what took 

 place at twenty different times, some before and 

 some after that which is wanted. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



MILITARY TITLES. 



(Vol. X., pp.433. 511.) 



There are three distinct classes of commissioned 

 officers in the army, viz. the company officers, the 

 regimental or field officers, and the general officers. 

 Of these three classes, the captain, the colonel, 

 and the general may be considered respectively 

 the chiefs ; each having a locum tenens and a 

 second assistant, thus : 



1. Captain Colonel General. 



2. Lieutenant Lieut. -Colonel Lieut.-General. 



3. Second Lieutenant) ■., . at • n i 



or Ensign - ]^^^i°^ Major-General. 



Here the junior, or No. 3, of each class is only 

 major to the senior of the class immediately be- 

 low him. 



It will thus be observed, that the major belongs 

 to a distinct class from the lieutenant, and cannot 

 be compared with him ; as a lieutenant-general 

 may be compared with the major-general, being 

 in the same class. The lieutenant being in each 

 case the second officer of his class, the third being 

 supplemental. 



If for an instant we allow the head of each 

 class to be called magnus (the great man of his 

 class), the second will of course be minor to him ; 

 and, to continue the supposition, the junior will 

 be minimus (of his class). Starting with these 

 data, and carrying on the comparison into the 

 next higher class, the junior of that class being 

 senior to magnus becomes major. 



Your correspondent Archdeacon Cotton sug- 

 gests : 



" Whenever any of the last three (major, lieutenant- 

 colonel, and colonel), who are called field officers, are 



