550 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 241. 



Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 

 sub voc. Tabellarius : 



" As the Romans had no public post, they were 

 obliged to employ special messengers, who were called 

 Tabellarii, to convey their letters, when they had not 

 an opportunity of sending them otherwise." 



'AKievs. 



Dublin. 



Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bo- 

 noncini (Vol. ix., p. 445.). — This epigram, which 

 has frequently been printed as Swift's, was written 

 by Dr. Byrom of Manchester. In his very in- 

 teresting Diary, which is shortly about to appear 

 under the able editorship of my friend Dr. Par- 

 kinson in the series of Chetham publications, 

 Byrom mentions it. 



" Nourse asked me if I had seen the verses upon 

 Handel and Bononcini, not knowing that they were 

 mine ; but Sculler said I was charged with them, and 

 so I said they were mine ; they both said they had been 

 mightily liked." — Byrom's Remains (Cheetham Series), 

 vol. i. part i. p. 173. 



The verses are thus more correctly given in 

 Byrom's Works, vol.i. p. 342., edit. 1773 : 



" Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini. 

 Some say, compar'd to Bononcini, 

 That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny ; 

 Others aver that he to Handel 

 Is scarcely fit to hold a candle : 

 Strange all this difference should be, 

 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee!" 



Jas. Csosslet. 



Power of prophesying before Death (Vol. ii., 

 p. 116.). — In St. Gregory's Dialogues, b. iv. 

 ch. xxv., the disciple asks, — 



" Velim scire quonam modo agitur quod plerumque 

 morientes multa praedicunt." 



The answer begins (ch. xxvi.), — 



" Ipsa aliquando animarum vis subtilitate sua aliquid 

 praevidet. Aliquando autem exitura; de corpore 

 animae per revelationem ventura cognoscunt. Ali- 

 quando vero dum jam juxta sit ut corpus deserant, 

 divinitus afflatae in secreta coelestia incorporeum mentis 

 oculum mittunt." 



J. C. R. 



King John (Vol. ix., p. 453.). — I cannot reply 

 to the Queries of Prestoniensis, but I have a 

 note of a grant made by John (as Com. Moritonice) 

 of the tithes of the parishes between Rible and 

 Merse, which appears to have received the Bishop 

 of Coventry's confirmation, ap. Cestriam, an. 

 2 Pont. Papa Codestini. John's grant was to the 

 Priory of Lancaster. My reference is to Madox, 

 Formulare Anglicanum, Lond. 1702, p. 52, mxcvi. 

 The deed is witnessed by Adam de Blakeburn 

 and Robert de Preston, as well as by Phil. Sanson 

 (De Worcester ?) and others. Anon. 



Demoniacal Descent of the Plantagenets (Vol. ix., 

 p. 494.). — H. B. C. will find another passage, 

 illustrative of this presumption, in Henry Knygh- 

 ton's Chronica: 



" De isto quoque Henrico, quondam infantulo et 

 in curia regis Francorum nutrito, beatus Bernardus 

 Abbas de eo sic prophetavit, prassente rege, De 

 Diabolo venit, et ad Diabolum ibit .- Notans per hoc tarn 

 tyrannidem patris sui Galfridi, qui Sagiensem episco- 

 pum eunuchaverat, quam etiam istius Henrici futuram 

 atrocitatem qua in beatum Thomam desaeviret." — 

 Twysden, Hist. Angl. Scriptores, pp. 2393. 32., and 

 2399. 10. 



C. H. 



Burial Service Tradition (Vol. ix., p. 451.). — 

 The only cases in which a clergyman is legally 

 justified in refusing to read the entire service 

 over the body of a parishioner or other person 

 admitted to burial in the parochial cemetery, are 

 the three which are mentioned in the preliminary 

 rubric, which, as expounded by the highest au- 

 thorities, are as follows : 1. In case the person 

 died without admission to the universal church by 

 Christian baptism. 2. Or " denounced ' excommu- 

 nicate majori excommunicatione ' for some grievous 

 and notorious crime, and no man able to testify of 

 his repentance." (Canon 68.) 3. Or felo de se ; 

 for in a case of suicide the acquittal of the de- 

 ceased by a coroner's jury entitles him to Christian 

 burial. The extraordinary notion of the clergy- 

 man, mentioned by the Rev. S. Adams, is certainly 

 erroneous in law. I can only suppose it originated 

 from some case in which the severance of the de- 

 ceased's right hand was regarded by the jury as a 

 proof that he did not kill himself. Except in 

 certain special cases, none but parishioners are 

 entitled to burial in a parochial burying-place at 

 all. Advocates. 



Paintings of our Saviour (Vol. ix., p. 270.). — 

 Your correspondent J. P. may hear of something 

 to his advantage by visiting the church of Santa 

 Prassede (Saint Praxedes ?), not far from Santa 

 Maria Maggiore in Rome. In the former he will 

 see, as usual, a list of wonderful relics preserved 

 therein, and amongst them " A Portrait of the 

 Saviour, presented by St. Peter to Santa Pras- 

 sede." A valuable gift, truly, if only authentic. 

 The name of the artist is not given, I believe, in 

 the above veracious document. They had better 

 have made the catalogue complete by putting in 

 the name of St. Luke himself, whose pencil, I 

 rather think, is stated to have furnished other such 

 portraits elsewhere. " Credat Judseus ! " 



The Santa Prassede above alluded to is stated 

 to have been a daughter of Pudens, mentioned in 

 the Epistles of St. Paul. M. H. R. 



Widdrington Family (Vol. ix., p. 375.). — The 

 church of Nunnington, near Ilelmsly, in the North 



