150 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 225. 



Holy Loaf Money. — In Dr. Whitaker's Whal- 

 ley, p. 149., mention is made of holy loaf money. 

 AVhat is meant by this ? T. I. W. 



[This seems to be some ecclesiastical due payable on 

 Hlaf-mass, or Loaf-mass, commonly called Lammas- 

 Day (August 1st). See Somner and Junius. It was 

 called Loaf or Bread-mass, because it was a day of 

 oblation of grain, or of bread made of new wheat ; and 

 was also the holiday of St. Peter ad Vincula, when 

 Peter-pence were paid. Du Cange likewise mentions 

 the Pants benedictus, and that money was given by the 

 recipients of it on the following occasion : — "Since the 

 catechumens," says he, " before baptism could neither 

 partake of the Divine Mysteries, nor consequently of 

 the Eucharist, a loaf was consecrated and given -to them 

 by the priest, whereby they were prepared for receiving 

 the body of Christ."] 



St. Philip's, Bristol. — Can you inform me when 

 the Church of St. Philip, Bristol, was made paro- 

 chial, and in what year the Priory of Benedictines, 

 mentioned by William de Worcester in connexion 

 with this church, was dissolved, and when founded ? 



E. W. Godwin. 



[Neither Dugdale nor Tanner could discover any 

 notices of this priory, except the traditionary account 



preserved in William of Worcester, p. 210.: " 



juxta Cimiterium et Ecclesiam Sancti Philippi, ubi 

 quondam ecclesia religiosorum et Prioratus scituatur." 

 It was probably a cell to the Tewkesbury monastery ; 

 and the historians of Bristol state, that the exact time 

 when it became parochial is not known ; but it was 

 very early, being mentioned in Gaunt's deeds before 

 the year 1200; and, like St. James's, became a parish 

 church through the accession of inhabitants.] 



Foreign Universities. — Is there any history of 

 the University of Bologna ? or where can be 

 found any account of the foundation and consti- 

 tution of the foreign universities in general ? 



J. C. H. K. 



[Our correspondent will find some account of the 

 foreign universities, especially of Bologna, in the 

 valuable article " Universities," Encyclopedia Britan- 

 nica, vol. xxi., with numerous references to other works 

 containing notices of them. Consult also " A Dis- 

 covrse not altogether vnprofitable nor vnpleasant for 

 such as are desirous to know the Situation and Cus- 

 tomes of Forraine Cities without trauelling to see 

 them : containing a Discovrse of all those Citties 

 which doe flourish at this Day priuiledged Vniuer- 

 sities. By Samuel Lewkenor. London, 1 594, 4to."] 



fteylt'eS. 



DEATH-WARNINGS IN ANCIENT FAMILIES. 



(Vol. ix., p. 55.) 

 The remarks of John o' the Ford of Malta 

 deserve to be followed up by all your correspon- 

 dents who, at least, admit the possibility of " com- 



munications with the unseen world." In order to 

 facilitate the acquisition of the requisite amount 

 of facts, I beg to apprise John o' the Ford, and 

 your other correspondents and readers generally, 

 that a Society was founded about a year ago, and 

 is now in existence, composed of members of the 

 University of Cambridge ; the objects of which 

 will be best gleaned from the following extract 

 from the Prospectus : 



" The interest and importance of a serious and earnest 

 inquiry into the nature of the phenomena which are 

 vaguely called 'supernatural,' will scarcely be ques- 

 tioned. Many persons believe that all such apparently 

 mysterious occurrences are due, either to. purely natural 

 causes, or to delusions of the mind or senses, or to 

 wilful deception. But there are many others who 

 believe it possible that the beings of the unseen world 

 may manifest themselves to us in extraordinary ways; 

 and also are unable otherwise to explain many facts, the 

 evidence for which cannot be impeached. Both parties 

 have obviously a common interest in wishing cases of 

 supposed ' supernatural' agency to be thoroughly sifted. 

 .... The main impediment to investigations of this 

 kind is the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number 

 of clear and well-attested cases. Many of the stories 

 current in tradition, or scattered up and down in books, 

 may be exactly true ; others must be purely fictitious ; 

 others again, probably the greater number, consist of a 

 mixture of truth and falsehood. But it is idle to 

 examine the significance of an alleged fact of this 

 nature, until the trustworthiness, and also the extent 

 of the evidence for it, are ascertained. Impressed with 

 this conviction, some members of the University of 

 Cambridge are anxious, if possible, to form an exten- 

 sive collection of authenticated cases of supposed 'super- 

 natural' agency .... From all those who may be 

 inclined to aid them, they request written communi- 

 cations, with full details of persons, times, and places." 



The Prospectus closes with the following classi- 

 fication of phenomena : 



" I. Appearances of Angels. (1.) Good. (2.) Evil. 



II. Spectral appearances of — (1.) The beholder 



himself (e.g. 'Fetches' or 'Doubles'). (2.) Other 

 men, recognised or not. (i.) Before their death (e. g. 

 'second sight.') (a.) To one person, (b.) To several 

 persons, (ii. ) At the moment of their death, (a.) 

 To one person, (b.) To several persons. 1. In the 

 same place. 2. In several places, i. Simultaneously, 

 ii. Successively, (iii.) After their death. In con- 

 nexion with — (a.) Particular places, remarkable for — 

 1 . Good deeds. 2. Evil deeds, (b.) Particular times 

 (e. g. on the anniversary of any event, or at fixed sea- 

 sons), (c) Particular events (e. g. before calamity or 

 death)- (d.) Particular persons (e.g. haunted mur- 

 derers). — III. 'Shapes' falling under neither of the 

 former classes. (1.) Recurrent. In connexion with — 

 (i.) Particular families (e.g. the 'Banshee'), (ii.) 

 Particular places (e. g. the ' Mawth Dog'). (2.) Oc- 

 casional, (i.) Visions signifying events, past, present, 

 or future, (a.) By actual representation (e.g. 'second 

 si°-ht'). (b.) By symbol, (ii.) Visions of a fantas- 

 tical nature. — IV. Dreams remarkable for coinci- 



