170 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 226. 



in several sects, of whom one worshipped the sun, 

 another a dog, and a third had an obscene worship, 

 with such lewd nocturnal meetings as were fabled 

 of the Yesedee. F. 



PRIMERS OP THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



Little is known respecting the Primers "of this 

 reign, and yet several editions were published. 

 My object will be to give some information on the 

 subject, in the hope that more may be elicited from 

 your correspondents. 



There is an edition of the year 1559, 4to. Two 

 copies only are known at present ; one in the li- 

 brary at Christ Church, Oxford, and the other at 

 Jesus College, Cambridge. It has been reprinted 

 by the Parker Society. This Primer contains 

 certain prayers for the dead, as they stand in that 

 of Henry VIII., 1545. In short, with the ex- 

 ception of " An Order for Morning Prayer," with 

 which it commences, this Primer follows the ar- 

 rangement of that of 1545 ; some things, relative 

 to saints, angels, and the Virgin Mary, having 

 been excluded. 



But I have in my possession another edition in 

 12mo. of this reign, of which I can trace no other 

 copy. My book wants the title, and consequently 

 I cannot ascertain its date. It was formerly in 

 Gough's possession. I am inclined to think that 

 it is earlier than the edition reprinted by the 

 Parker Society. 



Unlike the book of 1559, mine commences with 

 the Catechism, but the subsequent arrangement is 

 the same. The differences, when any exist, con- 

 sist in a more literal following of the Primer of 

 1545. The Prayers for the Dead are retained as 

 in the book of 1559. The Graces, also, are more 

 numerous in my edition, and some of them are 

 not found even in King Henry's book. One con- 

 sists of an address, as from the master of the 

 family, with an answer from the other members. 

 In some respects this is similar to a form in King 

 Edward's Primer, while in others it is altogether 

 different. At the close of the Graces, the book of 

 1559 has the words " God save our Queen and 

 Realm," while in my edition the reading is the 

 same as in the book of 1545, " Lorde, save thy 

 Churche, our Quene, and Realme," &c. 



In " The Dirige " there is a very singular va- 

 riation. In 1559 we find " Ego Dixi, Psalm 

 Esaie xxxviii. ;" in 1545 it is only "Esa. xxxviii. ;" 

 in that of 1546 the form is " Ego Dixi, Psal. Esa. 

 xxxviii. ; " and my edition has " Ego Dixi, Psal. 

 xxxv.," being different from all the rest. 



Some curious typographical errors are also 

 found in my edition. In the Catechism the word 

 king is substituted for queen. In the third pe- 

 tition in the Litany for the Queen, we have " That 

 it may please thee to be hys defendour, and 

 gevinge hyru," &c. ; yet in the previous clauses 



the pronoun is correctly used. It would seem 

 that the printer had the Primer of 1545 or 1546 

 before him, and that in these cases he followed 

 his copy without making the necessary alterations. 



Such are the more remarkable differences be- 

 tween my edition and that of 1559. 



There is a Primer of this reign in the Bodleian, 

 quite different from mine and that of 1559. In 

 this the Prayers for the Dead are expunged, and 

 the character of the book is altogether dissimilar. 

 Two copies of this book exist in the Bodleian, 

 which have been usually regarded as different 

 editions. From a careful examination, however, 

 I have ascertained that they are the same edition. 

 One copy has the title, with the date 1566 on the 

 woodcut border ; the other wants the title, but 

 has the colophon, bearing the date 1575. The 

 latter is the true date of the book, and the date 

 on the title is merely that of some other book, for 

 which the compartment had been used in 1566. 

 Such variations are common with early books. I 

 have several voluaies bearing an earlier date on 

 the title than in the colophon. Thus, the first 

 edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's Castle of Health has 

 1534 on the title, and 1539 in the colophon. The 

 latter was the true date. It may be remarked 

 that the two books in the Bodleian of 1575 will 

 together make up a perfect copy. 



Some of your correspondents may be able to 

 mention another copy of the edition which I 

 possess. I am very anxious to discover another. 



Thomas Lathburtt. 



Bristol. 



i3ftwar $att$. 



Objective and Subjective. — I tried, a little while 

 ago, to show in your pages that this antithesis, 

 though not a good pair of terms, is intelligible, 

 and justified by good English usage. But I must 

 allow that the writers who use these terms, do all 

 that is possible to put those who justify them in 

 the wrong. In a French work at least, recently 

 published, I find what appears to me a curious 

 application of the corresponding words in that 

 language. M. Auguste Comte, in the preface 

 to the third volume of his Systeme de Politique 

 Positive, speaks of some of his admirers who had 

 by their " cotisations," or contributions, supported 

 him while he was writing the work ; and he par- 

 ticularly celebrates one of them, Mr. Wallace, an 

 American, adding : 



" Devenu jusqu'ici le principal de mes souscrip- 

 teurs, Wallace a perpetue subjectivement son patro- 

 nage objectif, en me leguant une annuite de cinq cent 

 francs." 



I must confess that the metaphysics according to 

 which a sum paid by a living man is objeclif, and 

 a legacy subjectify is beyond my depth. 



