76 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 35. 



carncate frequently consisted of eight bovatse of 

 arable land ; but the number of acres appears to 

 have varied not only according to the quality of 

 the soil, but according to the custom of husbandry 

 of the shire : for where a two-years' course, or crop 

 and fallow, was adopted, more land was adjudged 

 to the carucate than where a three-years' course 

 obtained, the land lying tallow not being reckoned 

 or rateable. The object would appear to have 

 been to obtain a carucate of equal value through- 

 out the kingdom. B. W. 



Golden Frog and Sir John Foley (Vol. i., p. 214. 

 and 372.). — Your correspondent Gastbos sug- 

 gests that " to the Low Countries, the land of frogs, 

 we must turn for the solution of this enigma," 

 (Vol. i., p. 372.) ; accordingly, it appears from the 

 treatise of Bircherodius on the Knights of the Ele- 

 phant, an order of knighthood in Denmark, con- 

 ferred upon none but persons of the first quality 

 and merit, that a frog is among the devices 

 adopted by them ; and we need not further seek for 

 a reason why this Sipnholum Hcroicum was worn 

 by Sir Joli'n Foley, who served much under 

 Christian, king of Denmark (Vol. i., p. 214.), and 

 distinguished himself much by his military acliieve- 

 ments'in the Low Countries (p. 372.). T. J. 



The Foley Frog. — IMore than half a century 

 ago, I was present when this singular appendage 

 >vas the subject of conversation in a large literary 

 party, but being then a schoolboy I made " no note 

 of it." My rec'olleetion now is, that after some 

 jokes on the name of Foley as that of a frog, al- 

 lusion was made to an old court story of King 

 James II. throwing a frog into the neck of William, 

 third Earl of Fembroke. The story, with its con- 

 sequences, may be found in the Tixall Letters, vol. i. 

 p. 5. ; Wood's AthencB Ox., vol. i. p. 546. ; Fark's 

 Royal and Noble Authors, vol. ii. p. 249. ^« 



I have never seen a head of any engraving of 

 the portrait of Sir John Foley, of Boxsted Hall, 

 not Bexstead. I believe there is none. D. 



Bands (Vol. ii., p. 23.) arc the descendants of 

 the ruff a portion of the ordinary civil costume of 

 the sixteenth century. In the reign of James I., 

 the ruff was occasionally exchanged for a wide 

 stiff collar, standing out horizontally and squarely, 

 made of similar stuff, starched and wired, and 

 sometimes edged like the ruff with lace. These 

 collars were called bands. A good example occurs 

 in the portrait of Shakspeare by Cornelius Jansen, 

 eno-ravinofs of which are well known. At the end 

 ofThe seventeenth century these broad-falling bands 

 were succeeded by the small Geneva bands, which 

 have ever since been retained by our clergymen 

 and councillors, but in a contracted form, having 

 been originally bonuf.de collars, the ends of which 

 hung negligently over the shoulders. (See Flanche's 



Brit. Costtime, pp. 350. 390.) Bands are worn 

 by the ecclesiastics in France and Italy, as well 

 as in England. 



In the second number of Popidur Tracts Illus- 

 trating the Fruyer-Booh, p. 3., it is suggested that 

 bands are perhaps the remains of the amice, one of 

 the eucharistic vestments in use previous to the 

 Reformation, which consisted of a sijuare cloth, 

 so put on that one side, which was embroidered, 

 formed a collar round the neck, whilst the rest 

 hung behind like a hood. By analogy with the 

 scarf of our Frotestant clergy, which is clearly the 

 stole of the Roman Church retained under a dif- 

 ferent name, this suggestion is not without some 

 degree of plausibility. 



The fact that the present academical costume is 

 derived from the onlinaiy civil dress of the six- 

 teenth and seventeenth centuries, sufficiently ac- 

 counts for the retention of the bands as a part. 



Arun. 



Surely bands are no part of the peculiar dress 

 of tlie clergy, &c , but the ordinary dress of the 

 people, retained by cert;iin classes or professions, 

 because they wished for something regidar and 

 distinctive. So the wigs of the judges were the 

 fasiiionable dress 150 years ago. It is curious that 

 the clerffv have cut down their bands, while the 

 lawyers still glory in comparatively large and 

 flowing ones. Bands altered greatly in their form. 

 Taylor, the AVater Foet, I think, says — 



" The eigluh Henry, as I understand, 

 Was tlie first prince tliat ever wore a band," 



or, indeed, person of any sort. The date of the 

 same thing in France is mentioned in Vellay, but 

 I forget it now. C. B. 



Bishops and their Frecedence (Vol. li., p. 9 ). — 

 It may interest your correspondent E. to refer to 

 a passage in Baker's Chronicle, sub anno 1461, 

 p. 204., which would tend to show that the pre- 

 cedency of the spiritual barons was at that period 

 disputed. That writer says : — 



" John Earl of Oxford, with his son Aubrey de Vere, 

 &e. , was convicted of treason and beheaded. John 

 Earl of Oxford, in a former parliament, had disputed the 

 question concerning the precedency of Temporal and 

 Spiritual Barons, a bold attempt in those days, and by 

 force of whose argument Judgment was given for the 

 Lords Temporal." 



Where will this judgment or any account of the 

 dispute be found ? G. 



'■'■Impresf and '■'■Debenture" (Vol. ii., p. 40.) . — Im- 

 prest is derived from the Italian imprestai-e, to lend, 

 which is ijn-pr(sstare, (Fr. pretei'). Debenhir, or 

 Debenture (Lat. debeo), was originally a Custom- 

 house term, meaning a certificate or ticket presented 

 by an exporter, when a drawback or bounty was al- 

 lowed on certain exported goods. Hence it seems 



