June 9. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



455 



mata, quod abbatissae moniales proprias benedicunt ; ipsa- 

 rum quoque confessiones in criminibus audiunt, et legentes 

 Evaiigelium praesumunt publice prasdicare : cum igitur id 

 absonum sit et pariter absurdum, mandamus quatenusne 

 id de csetero fiat cunctis firmiter inhibere.' " 



To those who know anything of the necessity 

 that existed for popes, bishops, and provincial 

 synods, to iterate and reiterate their denunciations 

 against irregularities and sins in the Middle Ages, 

 and who remember to have read aught of the blas- 

 phemous profanation of the Christian sacraments 

 at the same period, Tyrwhitt's charitable conjec- 

 ture, that the performance of clerical functions by 

 nuns was " soon stopped," will have little weight. 

 After all, this usurpation of the chaplain-nun is 

 scarcely more extraordinary than the customary 

 ceremonial of the boy-bishop. W. Denton. 



Quarter of Wheat (Vol. xi., p. 344.). — Your 

 correspondent Bread probably supposes himself 

 to be enunciating a truism, when he says a quarter 

 " must be the fourth part of something." Farmers 

 and merchants all know that there are five quarters 

 to a load of corn, viz. forty bushels, which of 

 ordinary wheat are about a ton in weight ; whilst 

 barley is about three-fourths, and oats about two- 

 thirds of that weight. I believe ton is commonly 

 applied to the weight, and tun to the measure, so 

 called, though, doubtless, they are etymologically 

 identical. J. P. O. 



Kilmory, 



York Chapter-house (Vol. xi., p. 323.). — The 

 verses ought not to be described as taken from "an 

 old memorandum-book," but from the Chapter- 

 house itself, where they are rather conspicuously 

 carved on a stone, to which the verger is sure to 

 call the visitor's attention, if, amidst the many 

 beauties of the building, he has failed to notice it. 



P.P. 



Legend of the Co. Clare (Vol. ix., p. 145.). — A 

 story almost identical with this legend by Mb. 

 Davies, appeared years ago under the name of 

 The White Horse of the Peppers, written by 

 Samuel Lover ; the main difference appears to be 

 that Lover's tale is of a Jacobite in the co. Meath, 

 Me. Davies' of a Cromwellian in the co. Clare. 

 The Peppers of Ballygarth Castle are well known in 

 Meath to this day. Mr. Davies will perhaps men- 

 tion the name of the Clare family. Y. S. M. 



Etiquette Query (Vol. xi., p. 325.). — The 

 daughter, not the sister of the representative, is 

 "Miss;" and when her father dies, in a baron's, 

 baronet's, or esquire's family, the lady has to resign 

 the title to her neice, as a matter of course. P. P. 



Bishops' Arms (Vol. xi., p. 145.). — I agree 

 ■with the observations of Sir Frederic Madden, 

 but I need scarcely suggest to his acute mind one 

 reason at least to account for the personal arms of 



bishops being omitted from Peerages. In Ireland, 

 many of the highest ornaments of the Episcopal 

 Bench have been promoted to that dignity from 

 Trinity College, Dublin, where, to fill the office of 

 Provost, Fellow, or Professor, it is not a condition 

 precedent to exhibit one's armorial bearings. 

 Many other clergymen too, eminent for their 

 piety and talents, have been from time to time 

 promoted to the Bench, though born in an humble 

 station of life ; and no doubt many of them lived 

 and died without dreaming of adding heraldic, 

 honours to their names. It is quite true, on the 

 other hand, that the peerage is fully represented 

 both by peers in their own right and by members 

 of noble families. While speaking of the Episcopal 

 Bench, it is an easy transition to the Legal Bench. 

 It is scarcely necessary to allude to the vast numbers 

 of eminent lawyers who have been the founders of 

 their families. Many of the judges never troubled 

 the heralds, even though sometimes they may have 

 assumed armorial bearings without any authority^ 

 I have the highest authority for stating that in Ire- 

 land there are, or were, a few years since, several 

 peers, and not a few baronets, whose right to the 

 arms they bear is no better than that of the 

 judges in question; but I should much like to 

 have the opinion of York Herald and other 

 competent authorities on the question, whether 

 the publication of a peerage and baronetage con- 

 taining descriptions of their arms by the " Ulster 

 King," Sir Bernard Burke, does not amount to a 

 specific grant, or at least a confirmation, of arms 

 to them ? Y. S. M. 



Notice of Funerals hy Town Crier (Vol. xi., 

 p. 414.) . — " Such a custom existed in the ancienfc 

 town of Hexham," &c. " I understand such a 

 custom also existed at Carlisle," &c. I was read- 

 ing this very recently to a sister-in-law of mine, 

 a widow, who has lived for many years within 

 four miles of Carlisle. She tells me that though 

 it is not actually done, so far as she knows, by 

 the agency of the town crier, yet it is quite 

 common to send persons round and invite all and 

 sundry to funerals. That she, at the distance of 

 four miles, has often received invitations of this 

 kind to the funerals of persons whom she had 

 never heard of. That her servants are in the 

 constant habit of receiving such invitations. 



J. S. s. 



Dover or Dovor (Vol. xi., p. 407.). — Your 

 correspondent A. B. C. will find Dovova in Mo- 

 rell's Dictionary given as one of the Latin appel- 

 latives for Dover. I should be glad to know, 

 whilst on this subject, why the Eton grammars 

 always translate Dorobernia as Dover (audita 

 regem Doroherniam profcisci), when every dic- 

 tionary gives this word as the Latin for Canter- 

 bury. ^ N. L. T. 



