478 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 238. 



to the shore to feed upon. I quote from Bees' 

 Cyclopedia, voce " Mytiltjs :" 



" Modiolus. Shell smooth and blackish, obtuse at 

 the smaller end, and rounded at the other ; one side 

 near the beaks is angular. Two varieties are noticed 

 by Lister. It inhabits the European, American, and 

 Indian seas, adhering to fuci and zoophytes ; is six or 

 seven inches long, and about half as broad : the fish is 

 red or orange, and eatable." 



J. S.s. 



Value of Money in the Seventeenth Century 

 (Vol. ix. p. 375.). — Say, in his Political Eco- 

 nomy (Prinsep's translation, i. 413.), has furnished 

 a comparative statement, the result of which is, 

 that the setier of wheat, whose relative value to 

 other commodities has varied little from 1520 

 down to the present time, has undergone great 

 fluctuations, being worth — 



a. n. 1520 - - 512 gr. of pure silver. 



A.r>. 1536 - - 1063 ditto. 



A.n. 1602 - - 2060 ditto. 



a.d. 1789 - - 2012 ditto. 



Whence it may be inferred that 1000/. in 1640, 

 1660, and 1680 did not vary much from its value 

 at the present time, such value being measured in 

 silver. But as the value of all commodities re- 

 solves itself ultimately into the cost of labour, the 

 rate of wages at these dates, in the particular 

 country or part of a country, must be taken as 

 the only safe criterion. 



Thus, if labour were 10d. per diem in 1640, and 

 is 40f/. at this time, 1000/. in 1640 is equivalent 

 to 5001. (only half as much) now. But, on the 

 contrary, as the cost of production of numerous 

 articles by machinery, &c. has been by so much 

 reduced, the power of purchase now, as compared 

 with 1640, of 1000/., is by so much increased. The 

 article itself must determine by how much. The 

 question put by C. H. is too general to admit of a 

 positive solution ; but should he specify the com- 

 modity and place of investment in the seventeenth 

 century and to-day of the 1000/., our statistics 

 might still be at fault, and deny us even a prox- 

 imate determination of his inquiry. Even his 

 1000/., which he may consider a fixed measure of 

 value, or punctum comparationis, is varying in 

 value (=power of purchase) daily, even hourly, 

 as regards almost every exchangeable product. 

 Tooke On Prices is a first-rate authority on this 

 subject. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Grammars for Public Schools (Vol. ix., pp. 8. 

 209.). — Pray add this little gem to your list, now 

 scarce : 



" The Gate of Tongues Unlocked and Opened, or else 

 A Seminarie or Seed Plot of all Tongues and Sciences, 

 that is, a short way of teaching and thorowly learning, 

 within a yeare and a half at the farthest, the Latin, 



English, French, and any other tongue, together with 

 the ground and foundation of Arts and Sciences, com- 

 prised under an hundred Titles and 1058 Periods. 

 In Latine first, and now as a token of thankfulnesse 

 brought to light in Latine, English, and French, in the 

 behalfe of the most illustrious Prince Charles, and of 

 British, French, and Irish Youths. By the labour and 

 industry of John Anchoran, Licentiate of Divinity, 

 London, 1633." 



Our British youths of those days seem to have 

 been apt scholars. I. T. Abbott. 



Darlington. 



Classic Authors and the Jews (Vol. ix., pp. 221. 

 384.). — Any edition of the Historian Augusta Scrip- 

 tores Sex, containing an index, ought to supply 

 B. H. C. with a few additional references. See, for 

 instance, the Index to the Bipont Edition, 2 vols. 

 8vo., cidiocclxxxvii, under the words " Judasi," 

 " Judaicus," " Moses." C. Forbes. 



Temple. 



Hand-bells at Funerals (Vol. ii., p. 478. ; Vol. vii., 

 p. 297.). — A few years ago I happened to arrive 

 at the small sea-port of Eoscoff, near the ancient 

 cathedral town of St. Pol de Leon in Britanny, on 

 the day appointed for the funeral of one of the 

 members of a family of very old standing in that 

 neighbourhood. My attention was attracted by a 

 number of boys running about the streets with 

 small hand-bells, with which they kept up a per- 

 petual tinkling. On inquiring of a friend of mine, 

 a native of the place, what this meant, he in- 

 formed me that it was an old custom in Britanny — 

 but one which in the present day had almost 

 fallen into disuse — to send boys round from door 

 to door with bells to announce when a death had 

 occurred, and to give notice of the day and the 

 hour at which the funeral was to take place, beg- 

 ging at the same time the prayers of the faithful 

 for the soul of the deceased. The boys selected 

 for this office are taken from the most indigent 

 classes, and, on the day of the funeral, receive cloaks 

 of coarse black cloth as an alms : thus attired, 

 they attend the funeral procession, tinkling their 

 bells as they go along. Edgar MacCuxloch. 



Guernsey. 



" Warple-way" (Vol. ix., p. 125.).— The com- 

 munications of your correspondents (Vol. ix., 

 p. 232.) can scarcely be called answers to the 

 questions put. 



I find, in Holloway's Dictionary of Provin- 

 cialisms, 8vo., 1838, that a ridge of land is called, 

 in husbandry, a warp. It is defined to be a quan- 

 tity of land consisting of ten, twelve, or more 

 ridges ; on each side of which a furrow is left, to 

 carry off the water. 



Again, in Halli well's Dictionary of Archaic and 

 Provincial Words, two volumes, 1847, it will be 



