June 22. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



rates and duties upon marriages, births, deaths, 

 and burials, and upon bachelors and widowers (a 

 widely -spread net), for the term of five years, 

 " for carryino; on the war against France with 

 vigour." The taxes on births, marriages, and 

 burials were continued indefinitely by the 7 & 

 8 Win. III. c. 35. I know not wlien this act was 

 repealed ; but by the 23 George III. c. 67., taxes 

 were again imposed on burials, births, marriages, 

 and christenings ; and by 25 George III. c. 75. 

 these taxes were extended to Dissenters. By the 

 34 George III. c. 11., the taxes were repealed, 

 and they ceased on October 1st, 1794. The entries 

 in the parish register noticed by Arun, refer to 

 these taxes. Query, Were our ancestors justified 

 in boasting that they were " free-born " English- 

 men as long as one of these taxes existed ? 



C. Ross. 



M. or iV. (Vol. i., p. 415.).— These must, I think, 

 be the initials of some words, and not originating 

 in a corruption of noiii, as suggested. We have in 

 the marriage service : — 



" ' I pubUsh the banns of marriage between M. of 

 and N. of .' 



" The curate shall say unto the man, 



" M. ' Wilt thou have this woman.' &c. 



" The priest shall say unto the woman, 



" N. ' Wilt thou have this man.' &c. 



" The man says : ' I, M. take thee N. to my wedded 

 wife,' &c. 



" The woman says : ' I, N. take thee M. to my 

 wedded husband,' " &c. 



Again, " Forasmuch as M. and N. have consented 

 together," &c. 



All these passages would go to show that the 

 letters are initials either of some word by which 

 the sex was denoted, or of some very coranu)n 

 Christian names of each sex, which were formerly 

 in use. 



I grant that, in the baptismal service, N. may 

 possibly stand for nomeu. Thos. Cox. 



Preston. 



Arabic Numerals. — I am not entitled to 

 question cilher the learning or the "acumen" 

 of tlie Uisiiop of Rochester ; but I am entitled 

 to question i\\e inter pi-etation whicli E.S.'J'. tells 

 us (Vol. ii., p. 27.) he puts upon the Castleacre 

 inscription. My title to do so is this : — that in 

 the year of grace 1084 the Arabic numerals wei-e 

 not only of necessity unknown to the " pluisterers" 

 of those walls, but even (as fur as evidence hns 

 been yet adduced) to the most learned of England's 

 learned men. 



As to tlie regular (U'di-r in crossing himself, tliat 

 will entirely depend upon whellier the plaister 

 ■W!i8 considered to be a knight's shield, and llie 

 figures the ijhizonry, or not. Is it not, indeed, 

 stated in one of your former luunbers, that this 

 very inscri|itiou was to be read 1408, and not 



1048 ? I have already hinted at the necessity of 

 caidioii in such cases ; and Mr. Wilkinson of Burn- 

 ley has given, in a recent number of your work, 

 two exemplifications. The Bishop of Rochester 

 certainly adds another; though, of course, un- 

 designedly. T. S. D. 

 Shooter's Hill, June 7. 



Comment, in Apocalypsin ( Vol. i., p. 452.) . — There 

 was a copy of this volume in the library of the 

 Duke of Brunswick ; and in the hope that Sir F. 

 Madden may succeed in obtaining extracts, or a 

 sight of it, I intimate just as much, though not 

 in this kingdom. (See Von der Hardt's Autographa 

 Lutheriet Co(staneo?-um, torn. iii. 171.) You do not 

 seem to have any copy whatever brought to your 

 notice. This collection was, it appears from the 

 Centifolium Liitheranum of Fabricius (p. 484.), 

 bequeathed by the Duke to the library atlielmstad. 



Nevus. 



Robert Deverell (Vol. i., p. 469.). — If my in- 

 formation is too S(;anty to deserve a place among 

 the Replies, you may treat it as a supplement to 

 Dr. Rimbault's Query. Mr. Deverell also pub- 

 lished (according to Lowndes) A New View of 

 the Clasnic.i and Ancient Arts, tending (a show the 

 invariable Connexion with the Sciences, 4to. Lond. 

 1806; and Discoveries in Hieroglyphics and other 

 Antiquities, 6 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1813, — which was 

 suppres.sod by the author after a few copies had 

 been sold. I have the second and third volumes, 

 being all that relates to Shakspeare. They consist 

 of an edition of Hamlet, Lear, Othello, IMerchant 

 of Venice, and the third s.atire of Horace, 

 copiously illustrated with notes and woodcuts, in- 

 tended to prove that in the works in question, in 

 common with " all the classics and the different 

 specimens of the arts which have come down to us 

 from the ancients, no part of them is to be under- 

 stood withiuit supposing that they were mere 

 vehicles of knowledge, not intended to meet the 

 eye or the understanding on the first inspection or 

 perusal;" in short, that all the phrases, characters, 

 and inciilents are merely allusions to the appear- 

 ances of the moon ! a representation of which, and 

 of Shakspearian characters, &c., bearing supposed 

 resemblance to its lights and shadows, form the 

 staple of the illustr.itions. I collect from passages 

 in these volumes, that the first was devoted to a 

 similar illustration of Hudibras. The whole affair 

 seems to all'ord indications of insanity. In the 

 Tiiographicul Dictionary of Living Authors, 8vo., 

 Lond. 18 IG, I find that in 1802 he was returned 

 to Parliament by the borough of Saltash, in Corn- 

 wall : and fi'om the same authority it also appears 

 that, in addition to the works above noticed, he 

 was the author of A Guide to the Knowledge of the 

 Ancients, 1803, and A Letter to Mr. Whithreud on 

 two Hills pending in Purliumeut, 8vo. 1807. 



J. F. M. 



