Aug. 3. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



157 



p. 122.) " to see and peruse" the rare and amusing 

 satire, entitled Eccius dedolatiis, authore Joanne- 

 francisco Cottalemhergio, Poeta Laureato, I shall 

 willingly forward to him a quarto volume which 

 contains two copies of it, at any time that an 

 opportunity may present itself. In the meanwhile, 

 he may not have any objection to hear that these 

 are copies of distinct impressions ; neither of them 

 intentionally recording place or printer. 



Four separate and curious woodcuts decorate 

 the title-page of one exemplar, which was certainly 

 printed at Basil, apud Andream Cratandrum. 

 The topmost woodcut, dated 1519, is here mis- 

 placed ; for it should be at the bottom of the page, 

 in which position it appears when employed to 

 grace the title of the facetious Responsio of Simon 

 Hess to Luther. The second copy is in Gothic 

 letter, and has typographical ornaments very simi- 

 lar to those used at Leipsic in the same year. A 

 peculiar colophon is added in the Basle edition ; 

 and after the words " Impressum in Utopia," a 

 quondam possessor of the tract, probably its con- 

 temporary, has written with indignation, "Stulte 

 mentiris ! " The duplicate, which I suppose to be 

 of Leipsic origin, concludes with " Impressum per 

 Agrippum Panoplium, Regis Persarum Bibliopolara 

 L. Simone Samaritano et D. Juda Schariottide 

 Consulibus, in urbe Lucernarum, apudconfluentes 

 Khenum et Istrura." 



Professor Ilanke, referred to by Mr. Singer, 

 was mistaken in assigning " March, 1520," as the 

 date of Eccius dedolatus. The terms "Acta de- 

 cimo Kalendas Marcii" are, I believe, descriptive 

 of Tuesday, the 20th of February, in that year. 



Perhaps Mr. Singer may be able to communi- 

 cate some ti<lings respecting the Apostolic Protho- 

 notary Simon Hess, of whom I have casually 

 spoken. Natalis Alexander (Hist. Ecclcs., viii. 105. 

 Paris, 1699) attributes the humorous production 

 which bears his name ("Lege et ridebis," declares 

 the original title-page) to Luther himself, amongst 

 whose works it maybe seen (torn, ii, fol. 126 — ■ 

 185. Witeb. 1551); and it is a disappointment to 

 read in Seckendorf, " Hessus Simon, (^uis hie 

 fuerit, compertum niihi non est." (Scholia sive 

 Supplem ad Lid. i. Ilistur., sig. 1. 3. Franco/. 1692.) 



E. G. 



lUpTirS ta jKinor Cfluerir*. 



Hiring of Servants (Vol. ii., p 89.). — It was 

 provided by several old statutes, the first of which 

 was passed in 1349, that all able-bodied persons 

 who h.ad no evident means of sidisistence should 

 put themselves as labourers to any that would hire 

 them. In the following year were passed several 

 other acts relating to labourers, by one of which, 

 25 Edward fll. stat. i. c. i., entitle<l, "The Year 

 nnd Day's \Vag(?s of Servants and Labourers in 

 Husbandry," it was enacted that ploughmen and 



all other labourers shoidd be hired to serve for 

 the full year, or other usual terms, and not by the 

 day ; and further, — 



'• That such labourers do carry openly in their hands, 

 in market towns, tlieir instruments of labour, and be 

 there hired in a public place, and not privately." 



For carrying into effect these provisions, it 

 would be necessary to have certain days, and a 

 fixed place set apart for the hiring of servants. In 

 the former particular, no days would be so con- 

 venient as feast days : they were well known, and 

 were days commonly computed from ; they were, 

 besides, holidays, and days for which labourers 

 were forbidden to receive wages {see 34 Edw. III. 

 c. 10. and 4 Henry IV. c. 14.) ; so that, although 

 absent from labour, they would lose no part of the 

 scanty pittances allowed them by act of parlia- 

 ment or settled by justices. As to the latter re- 

 quirement, no place was so public, or would so 

 naturally suggest itself, or be so appropriate, as the 

 market-place. 



Thus arose in our own land the custom respect- 

 ing which W. J. makes inquiry, and also our 

 statute fairs, or statutes; thus called on account of 

 their reference to the various " Statutes of La- 

 bourers." I was not aware that any usage to hire 

 on all festivals (for to such, I take it, your corre- 

 spondent refers) still existed in England. As to 

 France, I am unable to spe.ak ; but it is not impro- 

 bable that a similar custom in that country may 

 be due to causes nearly similar. Arun. 



George Herbert. — J. R. Fox (Vol. ii., p. Iu3.) 

 will find in Major's excellent edition of Walton's 

 Lives the information he requires. At p. 346. it is 

 stated that Mrs. Herbert, the widow of George 

 Herbert, was afterwards the wife of Sir Robert Cook, 

 of Highnam, in the county of Gloucester, Knt., 

 eight years, and lived his widow about fifteen ; all 

 which time she took a pleasure in mentioning and 

 commending the excellences of Mr. George Her- 

 bert. She died in the year 1653, and lies buried 

 at Highnam ; Mr. Herbert in his own church, 

 under the altar, and covered with a gravestone 

 without any inscription. 



And amongst the notes appended by Major to 

 these Lives, is the following additional notice of 

 Herbert's burial-place. The parish register of 

 Bemerton states that 



"Mr. George Herbert, Esq., parson of In.i^iTleston 

 and I5emerton, was buried tlie 8rd day of Marcii, 16.32." 



" Thus he lived and thus lie died," s:iys Walton, 

 " like a saint, unspotted of tlie world, full of ahns- 

 dc'wls, full of humility, and all tliu examples of a virtuous 

 life, which I cannot conclude better than with this 

 borrowed observation ; — 



' AH must to their cold jjraves ; 



IJiit the i-eligious actions of the just 



Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust.'" 



Altered from a dirge written by Shirley, attached 



