JuLT 13. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



107 



officially employed by the crown to express trans- 

 actious somewhat similar to those for which they 

 appear to be now used. Persons conversant with 

 those records must frequently have met with cases 

 where money advanced, paid on account, or as 

 earnest, was described as " de prestito" or " in 

 prestitis." Ducange gives " praestare" and its de- 

 rivatives as meaning '" mutuo dare" with but 

 little variation ; but I think that too limited a 

 sense. The practice of describing a document 

 itself by the use of the material or operative parts 

 expressing or defining the transaction for which 

 it was employed, is very common. In legal and 

 documentary proceedings, it is indeed the only 

 one that is followed. Let D. V. S. run over and 

 compare any of the well-known descriptions of 

 writs, as habeas corpus, mandamus, fi. fa.. : or look 

 into Cowell's Interpretei; or a law dictionary, and 

 he will see numerous cases where terms now known 

 as the names of certain documents are merely the 

 operative parts of Latin formidcB. "Imprest" 

 seems to be a slightlj' corrupted translation of " in 

 prestito;" that part of the instrument being thus 

 made to give its name to the whole. Of " deben- 

 ture" I think there is little doubt that it may be 

 similaidy explained. Those liecord Offices which 

 possess the ancient accounts and vouchers of offi- 

 cers of the royal household contain numerous 

 "debentures" of the thirteenth, but far more of 

 the fourteenth, century. In this case the initial is 

 the chief operative word : those relating to the 

 royal wardrobe, commencing " Debenlur in gar- 

 deroba domini regis," being in fact merely 

 memorandums expressing or acknowledging that 

 certain sums of money "are owing" for articles 

 supplied for the use of that department. It is 

 well known that the royal exchequer was, at the 

 time these documents were executed, often in 

 great straits ; and it seems to me scaixely doubt- 

 lul that these early "debentures" were actually 

 delivered over to tradesmen, &c., as security for 

 the amount due to them, and given in to be can- 

 celled when the debts were discharged by the 

 Exchequer officers. 



There is a remarkable feature about these an- 

 cient " debentures" which I may perhaps be per- 

 mitted to notice here, viz., the very beautiful seals 

 of the officers of the royal household and ward- 

 robe which are impressed upon them. They are 

 of the somewhat rare description known as " ap- 

 plique;" and at a time when personal seals were 

 at the liigiiest state of artistic developement, those 

 few seals of the clerks of the household which 

 have escaped injury (to which they are particularly 

 exposed) are unrivalled for tiieir clearness of out- 

 line, design, delicacy, and beauty of execution. 



Allowing for tiie changes produced by time, I 

 think suflicicnt analogy may be found between 

 the ancient and modern uses of the words " \m.- 

 prest" and "debenture." J. lix. 



" Imprest" (Vol. ii., p.40.).— D. V. S. will find an 

 illustration of the early apjjlication of this word to 

 advances made by the Treasury in the " Eotulus 

 de Prestito " of 12 John, printed by the Record 

 Commission under the careful editorship of Mr. 

 T. Duff'us Hardy, whose preface contains a clear 

 definition of its object, and an account of other 

 existing rolls of the same character. 



Edward Foss. 



Derivation of News. — P.C. S. S. has read with 

 great interest the various observations on the de- 

 rivation of the word " News " which have appeared 

 in the " Notes and Queries," and especially those 

 of the learned and ingenious Mr. Ilickson. He 

 ventures, however, with all respect, to differ from 

 the opinion expressed by that gentleman in Vol. i., 

 p. 81., to the etiiict that — 



" In English, there is no process known by which a 

 noun plural can be formed from an adjective, without 

 the previous formation of the singular in the same 

 sense." 



P. C. S.S. would take the liberty of reminding 

 Mi\ H. of the following passage in the Tempest: — 



" When that is gone, 



He shall drink nought but brine, for I'll not show 



him 

 Where the quick freshes lie." 



Surely, in this instance, the plural noun 

 " freshes " is not formed from any such singular 

 noun as ^^ fresh," but directly from the adjective, 

 which latter does not seem to have been ever used 

 as a singular noun. 



While on the subject of " News," P. C. S. S. finds 

 in Pepys' Diary (vol. iii. p. 59.) another appli- 

 cation of the word, in the sense of a noun singular, 

 which he does not remember to have seen noticed 

 by others. 



" Anon, the coach comes — In the meantime, there 

 coming a news thither, with his horse to come over." 



In other parts of the Diary, the word Neivs- 

 book is occasionally employed to signify what is 

 now termed a newspaper, or, more properly, a bul- 

 letin. For instance (vol. iii. p. 29.), we find 

 that — 



" This News-booli, upon Mr. IMoore's showing 

 L'Estrange Captain Ferrers's letter, did do my Lord 

 Sandwich great right as to the late victory." 



And again (at p. 51.) : 



" I met this noon with Dr. Barnctt, who told me, 

 and I lind in the News-book this week, that he posted 

 upon the 'Change," &c. &c. 



Much has been lately written in the "Notes 

 AND Queries" respecting the "Family of Love." 

 A sect of a similar name existed here in 1G41, and 

 a full and not very decent description of their rites 

 and orgies is to be found in a small pamphlet of 

 that date, reprinted in the fourth volume (8vo. ed.) 

 of the Hurleian Miscellany. P. C. S. S. 



