516 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 296. 



Cats Cradle : Cratch (Vol. xl., p. 421.); — The 

 game described by Mr. E. S. Taylor is here- 

 abouts called " scratch -cradle." 



Cratch (archaism) meant a species of cradle as 

 well as a manger. 



Carriers here call that a cratch which they let 

 down from the rear of their waggons for the pur- 

 pose of loading and unloading ; so called, I dare 

 say, from its resemblance to the rack of a manger. 

 C. Mansfield Ingleby. 



Some time ago I interfered to prevent a host of 

 well-known words from being monopolised by 

 Polperro in Cornwall ; and now a word for cat's 

 cradle, " a favourite amusement of children in 

 Norfolk, and probably elsewhere ;" and a de- 

 scription is given. If there should be any place 

 in England where cat's cradle is not common, 

 would that part of England be pleased to come 

 forward and confess. If there be one of your 

 readers who did not see cat's cradle when a boy, 

 I will answer for it that reader was a girl. M. 



Works of Sir Thomas More (Vol. xi., p. 324.)- 

 — As a slight contribution towards the inform- 

 ation sought for by Mr. Peacock, I subjoin a 

 Note of four different translations into French of 

 More's Utopia. 



The first is by Jehan Leblond, Paris, Ch. L'An- 

 gelier, 1550. This translation, with corrections 

 by Barthelemy Anneau, was published at Lyons 

 by J. Sangram in 1559. 



The second is by Samuel Sorbiere, Amsterdam, 

 J. Blaeu, 1643, 



The thu-d by N. P. Guendeville, Amsterdam, 

 F. L'Honore, 1715 or 1730. 



The fourth by M. T. Rousseau, Paris, F. Didot, 

 1780. Of this a second edition was published at 

 Paris by J. Blanchard in 1789. 



These particulars I have taken from La France 

 Litteraire, sub voce Morus ; and as there is no 

 mention of Sir Thomas More's other works, the 

 inference is that the Utopia is the only one that 

 has been translated into French. 



Henry H. Breen. 



St. Lucia, 



" Les Recreations Mathematiques " (Vol. xi., 

 p. 459.). — The first part of this work was pub- 

 lished in 1624, under the following title : 



" La Recreation Math^matique, ou Entretien fac^tieux 

 sur plusieurs plaisants Problfemes, en fait d'Arithmetique, 

 de Geometric, &c. Pont-k-Mousson, 1624. 8vo," 



It appeared under the name of H. Van Etten ; 

 but the real author was Jean Leurechon, a Jesuit, 

 who was born about 1591, in the duchy of Bar, 

 and was in course of time rector of the college 

 there. A short account of him is to be found in 

 the Supplement to the Biographic Universelle. 

 A second edition of the Recreation appeared at 

 Rouen, to which a second and third part were 



subsequently added anonymously ; after which it 

 passed through several editions under the hands 

 of Claude Mydorge and Denis Henrion. See 

 Barbier's Diet, des Ouvrages Anonymes, tome iii. 

 pp. 129, 130. 'AXievs. 



Dublin. 



Mathematical Bibliography (Vol. x,, pp, 190. 

 191, ; Vol, xi., p. 370., &c.). —At the sale of the 

 library of J. D. Gardner, in July last, by Sotheby 

 (Lot 520.) Cocker's Arithmetic, probably unique, 

 from the collection of Lea Wilson (1678), was 

 knocked down for 8^, 5s. E, W, O. 



Camberwell, 



" Oriana'" (Vol, xi,, p. 445,).— The veritable 

 Oriana was the beloved of Amadis de Gaul, who 

 called himself Beltenebros when he retired to the 

 Poor Rock. See Amadis de Gaul, book ii, cap, 6, 

 I am not aware that Mr, Tennyson's ballad is 

 founded on any legend ; there is certainly nothing 

 in Amadis de Gaul on which it could be founded. 

 L. S, will find the madrigal referred to by him, 

 with several others, in The Triumphs of Oriana, 

 edited by Thomas Morley, London, 1601, a short 

 account of which may be found under the name 

 of MoRLEY, in the Dictionary of Mttsicians, Lon- 

 don, 1825. 



Perhaps I may be allowed to follow this Reply 

 by the Query, How came this name to be applied 

 to Queen Elizabeth ? Was Amadis de Gaid then 

 popular in England ? I think I am correct in 

 saying that neither in Spencer nor in the Arcadia 

 is there any allusion to this romance, which we 

 should scarcely expect if it were then so well 

 known that the name of the heroine could glorify 

 Queen Bess. The madrigals themselves are pas- 

 toral, and it is at least questionable whether the 

 romances of chivalry ever were in the strict sense 

 popular in England, see'ng that (as I believe) it 

 has never been proved that one was written in 

 this country. A, F. B. 



Diss, 



Thomas a Kempis (Vol, xi., p. 442.). — Your 

 correspondent Anon, quotes from an old edition 

 of Brunet's Manuel. In the last edition of his 

 work (1842), that most accurate of all bibliogra- 

 phers has- changed his opinion respecting the 

 claims of John Gerson, Abbe of Verceil, to the 

 authorship of the De Imitatiane Christi. He 

 says : 



" In the mean time a third opinion, that which presents 

 John Gerson, Abbe' of Verceil in the thirteenth century, 

 as the author of the Imitation, has been renewed and sus- 

 tained latterly -with vigour, and some appearance of 

 reason, by the President De Gregory. However, he has 

 encountered a redoubtable adversary in the person of 

 M. Gence, a laborious savant, who has made the book of 

 the Imitation, and everything regarding it, a constint 

 study," 



James Darling. 



