344 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 288. 



but as the passage itself has not been quoted, vre give the 

 concluding lines to explain the reference in Gay : — " The 

 young Levite was permitted to dine with the family; but 

 he was expected to content himself with the plainest fare. 

 He might fill himself with the corned beef and the car- 

 rots: but as soon as the tarts and cheese cakes made 

 their appearance, he quitted Lis seat, and stood aloof till 

 he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a 

 great part of which be had been excluded." {Hist, of Eng., 

 vol. i. p. 327.) See also Oldham's Satire, addressed to a 

 Friend about to leave the University ; and Tatler, Nos. 255. 

 258.] 



Godwyn on the Jewa or Hebrews. — I will feel 

 exceedin^jly oblijjed if you could favour me with 

 a transcript of the title-pa^e of a book published 

 about 1624, written by Tliomas Godwyn, " from 

 Kensington, Feb. 21, 1624," as the Epistle Dedi- 

 catory states, the subject of the work being the 

 Jews or Hebrews, their persons, places, &c. 



James J. Lamb. 

 Underwood Cottage, Paisley. 



[The following is a copy of the title-page: — "Moses 

 and Aaron : Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites, used by the 

 ancient Hebrews ; observed, and at large opened, for the 

 clearing of many obscure texts thorowout the whole 

 Scripture : which texts are now added to the end of the 

 book. Wherein likewise is showed what Customs the 

 Hebrews borrowed from Heathen People : and that many 

 heathenish Customs, originally, have been unwarrantable 

 imitations of the Hebrews. By Thomas Godwyn, B.D., 

 London, printed by S. Griffin for Andrew Crook. 1625." 

 There are numerous editions.] 



St. Vedast. — Who was St. Vedast, or where 

 can any particulars be found about him ? There 

 is no mention of his name in Butler's Lives of the 

 Saints., neither is his name in the calendar. In 

 Foster Lane, London, there is a church dedicated 

 to him, built, I believe, from the designs of Sir 

 Christopher Wren. L. J. B. 



Comm. Wint. 



[There is a long account of St. Vedast, Bishop of Arras, 

 under Feb. 6, in the Dublin edition of Butler's Lives now 

 before us. A notice of his festival also occurs in ArchcBo- 

 logia, vol. xxiv. p. 6C.] 



Summa and Modus. — Matthew Paris and Wal- 

 singham, in noticing certain years of scarcity, 

 mention (as proofs of dearness) the number of 

 solidi necessary to purchnse a .mmrna of wheat 

 and a modus of wheat. What quantities are in- 

 dicated by these two words — summa and modus ? 



Bkead. 



[The former word is, in London measure (in contra- 

 distinction to Winchester measure) eight bushels, or a 

 quarter. Spelman, in his Glossary, in voce Suma, says, 

 "Quiesi sauma vel sagma, item summa, mensura continens 

 8 modios Londonienses, inde dicta quod ad onus equi suf- 

 ficiat. Mat. Paris in anno 1205. Suma frumenti duo- 

 decim solidis vendebatur." The latter word is thus 

 explained in Matthew Paris's Glossary : — " Summa 

 bladi, vel frumenti : saepissime occurrit- mensuram 8 mo- 

 diorum, A Seme (pro sume) decimus. Sane Huntin- 

 doniensis noster Summam per onus equi est interpretatus. 

 {Hist., lib. vii. p. 219., anno 1121.)] 



Quarter of Wheat. — Can any of your readers 

 familiar with the weights and measures of early 

 days state what is the origin or meaning of a 

 quarter of wheat, or any other corn ? It must 

 have been a fourth part of something ; but what 

 was this something ? We know that a quartern 

 loaf or a quartern of flour implies a fourth part of 

 a peck; but was there any particular designation 

 for thirty-two bushels of corn, of which a fourth 

 part might be called a quarter ? Bread. 



["Quarterinm frumenti constat ex octo bussellis." 

 Fleta seu Commentarius Juris Anglicani, lib. ii. This 

 seems to have signified originally the fourth part of a tun 

 in weight or capacity. ] 



A. Greenfield. — Can any of your readers give 

 me any account of Andrew Greenfield, author 

 of a volume of Poems, 1790? R. J. 



[Andrew Greenfield was educated at the universities 

 of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Oxford. On taking Orders, 

 he was presented by Dr. Oswald, Bishop of Eaphoe, to 

 the rectory of Moira, in Ireland. He died suddenly in 

 May, 1788, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and left a 

 widow and family. He was brother of Professor Green- 

 field of Edinburgh. In The Scots Magazine, vol. xxxv. 

 p. 91., are " Verses occasioned by the Death of Dr. Gre- 

 gory, late Professor of Physic in the University of Edin- 

 burgh," signed A. Greenfield, Coll. Ball. Oxon.] 



The Ash Igdrasil or Ygdrasil. — Will any of 

 your readers be so good as to explain the refer- 

 ence in the following passages from Carlyle's Hero 

 Worship ? 



" The tree Igdrasil, that has its roots down in the king- 

 doms of Hela and Death, and whose boughs overspread 

 the highest heaven. . . . 



" The living tree Igdrasil, with the melodious waving 

 of its world-wide boughs, deep-rooted as Hela." 



J. E. T. 



[Mr. Carlyle's allusion is to the sacred ash Yggdrasill 

 of the Scandinavian Mythology. " The principal and 

 most sacred tree of the gods," says Pigott {Manual of 

 Scandinavian Mythology, p. 216.), "is the ash-tree Yqg- 

 drasill, which is the best and greatest of all trees. Its 

 branches extend over the whole universe, reaching beyond 

 the heavens ; its stem bears up the earth ; its three roots 

 stretch themselves wide around: one is among the gods; 

 another with the frost giants, where Ginnungagap was 

 before; the third covers Niff-heim." Much farther illus- 

 tration of this myth will be found in the work just quoted ; 

 in Ellmuller's edition of the Vaulu-Spa (Leipsic, 1830); 

 in Grimm's Deutsche Mythnlogie ; and in Einn Magnissen's 

 valuable Dissertation on the Edda Doctrine.] 



franklin's parable and Taylor's "liberty 

 of prophecying." 



(Vol. X., pp. 82. 169. 252.; Vol. xi., p. 296.) 



The first edition of Jeremy Taylor's Liberty 

 of Projihecying was printed in small 4to. in 1647, 

 and does not contain the parable. This is now a 



