454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 293. 



Academy, and set up a much less philosophical 

 explanation of "feasting with the Barmecide" 

 than that " intellectual extasy" the Editor speaks 

 of at p. 367. 



In The Guardian, No. 162., is an abridgment 

 of a " wild Arabian tale," containing the account 

 of one " Schacabac," who, " being reduced to great 

 poverty, and having eaten nothing for two days 

 together, made a visit to a noble Barmecide in 

 Persia, who was very hospitable, but withal a 

 great humourist." Here, the Barmecide receives 

 him at a table ready covered for an entertain- 

 ment ; and on hearing of his condition, desires 

 him lo sit down and fall to. He then gives him 

 an empty plate, and asks him how he likes his rice- 

 soup. On which Schacabac, falling Into his host's 

 humours, declares it to be admirable. The Bar- 

 mecide then asks him if he ever saw whiter bread. 

 Schacabac, who sees neither bread nor meat, an- 

 swers : " If I did not like it, you may be sure I 

 should not eat so heartily of it." And so on, 

 through a magnificent dinner, with a great variety 

 of dishes. Dessert follows in a similar manner, 

 and is succeeded by various wines. Schacabac 

 now becomes modest, and refuses to drink much, 

 alleging that he is " quarrelsome in his liquor." 

 The Barmecide presses him, however ; and Scha- 

 cabac pretends to comply, until he also pretends 

 to " grow flustered," as he predicted, and gives 

 the Barmecide " a good box on the ear." This 

 ends the joke. The humorous Barmecide is de- 

 lighted with his guest's wit, and says : " We will 

 now eat together in good earnest." On this, the 

 rice-soup, tine bread, goose, pistachio, lamb, and 

 all the nice dishes, dessert, lozenges, and Persian 

 wines, were successively served up : and " Scha- 

 cabac was feasted in reality with those very things 

 which he had before been entertained with in 

 imagination." 



Will the Editor forgive a lady for interfering in 

 •what looks so learned a matter ? 



I omitted to state that the original story of the 

 Barmecide's Feast, abridged in The Giidrdian, is in 

 the Arabian Nights. It is the story of the barber's 

 sixth brother. Margaret Gatty. 



Ecclesfield. 



Naval Action (Vol. xi., p. 266.). — Can C. M. 

 assign a date to the " memorable instance " re- 

 ferred to in his Query ? If so, he may obtain 

 accurate information from G. L. S., who possesses 

 several naval works of high authority. G. L. S. 

 has never seen Captain Basil Hall's Fragments of 

 Voyages and Travels. Does the Query refer to 

 Admiral Byng ? G. L. S. 



Junius's Letters, supposed Writers of (Vol. xi., 

 p. 302.). — L. (2) will find Dr. Wilmott's claims 

 very fully stated by his niece, Mrs. Olivia Wil- 

 mott Serres (jsoi-disant Princess Olive of Cumber- 

 land), in the Gentlemans Magazine for 1813, 



pp. 302, 303. ; and the controversy continued in 

 the same vol., pp. 405. 626., and in vol. ii. for the 

 same year, pp. 19. 315. 413., and in vol. I. for 

 1814, pp. 450. 535. W. K. R. B. 



Hannah Lightfoot (Vol. x., pp. 228. 328.).— 

 I would suggest to your correspondent to pur- 

 sue a similar course as that referred to in my 

 answer respecting the Weldons of Cornwall, viz., 

 to apply to one of the Society living in or near the 

 place where she was last supposed to live. The 

 registers will inform exactly at what time and 

 under what circumstance she became disunited 

 from that body ; that is, supposing that she did be- 

 long to them. If she had not been born In mem- 

 bership, but had merely professed with them, the 

 register will have no record of her, or will be 

 unlikely to afford any Information ; but, no matter 

 how distant may be the period of time (since the 

 formation of the Society), all particulars can be had 

 in the proper quarter, of births, marriages, deaths, 

 or disunity of each member. H. H. H. 



Latin and English Nomenclature (Vol. xi., pp. 

 311. 335.). — J. H., in quoting Comenius's Orhis 

 sensualium Pictus, has been unintentionally guilty 

 of a misquotation which destroys the sense of the 

 passage. Your correspondent writes : 



" The Phantasie, under tlie crown of the head, judgeth 

 of those things, thinketh, and detaineth." 



What does the phantasy detain ? Comenlus wrote : 



" The Phantasie, under the crown of the head, judgeth 

 of those things, thinketh, and dreameth." 



This is akin to Shakspeare's remark : 



" Oh, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you, 

 She is the fancy's midwife," &c. 



IMy edition of Comenius's work Is evidently that 

 published by Charles Hoole in 1705 ; the section 

 quoted by J. H. appears at page 52., and Is num- 

 bered XLIL : it is entitled " The outward and 

 inward Senses ; Sensus externi et interni." Was 

 Charles Hoole author of Hoole s Terminations f * 



G. L. S. 



Nuns acting as Pj-iests (Vol. xi., pp. 47. 294. 

 346.).— Tyrwhitt, in his note to the passage in 

 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Prologue 4. v. 163., 

 "The Prioress:" 



" Another nonne also with her had she, \ 

 That was her chapleine." 

 remarks : 



" It appears that some abbesses did at one time attempt 

 to hear the confessions of their nuns, and to exercise soma 

 other smaller ( ! ) parts of the clerical function ; but this 

 practice, I apprehend, was soon stopped by Gregory IX., 

 who has forbidden it in the strongest terms, -Decreta/, 1. y. 

 tit. 38. ex.:' Nova quaedam nostris sunt auribus inti- 



[* Charles Hoole, the author of Terminations, was also 

 the translator of Orhis sensualium pictus, first published in 

 1659.] 



