Oct. 19. 1850.] 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



347 



referred to in his Query was compiled by Richard 

 Taverner, and consists of a series of " postils " on 

 the epistles and gospels throughout the year. It 

 appears to have been first printed in 1540 (Ames, 

 i. 407.), and was republished in 1841, under the ] 

 editorial care of Dr. Cardwell. C. H. 



St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge. 



Roman Catholic Theology (Vol. ii., p. 279.). — 

 I beg to refer M. Y. A. H. to the Church History 

 of England by Hugh Tootle, better known by his 

 pseudonyme of Charles Dod (3 vols, folio, Brus- 

 sels, 1737-42). A very valuable edition of this 

 important work was commenced by the Rev. M. 

 A. Tierney ; but as the last volume (the fifth) was 

 published so long ago as 1843, and no symptom of 

 any other appears, I presume that this extremely 

 curious book has, for some reason or other, been 

 abandoned. Perhaps the well-known jealousy of 

 the censor may have interfered. 



A useful manual of Catholic bibliography exists 

 in the Thesaurus Lihrorum Rei Catholicce, Svo. 

 Wiirzburg, 1850. G.R. 



Modum Promissionis (Vol. ii., p. 279.). — Without 

 the context of the passage adduced by C.W. B., it 

 is impossible to speak positively as to its precise 

 signification. I think, however, the phrase is equi- 

 valent to " formula professionis monastics." Pro- 

 missio frequently occurs in this sense, as may be 

 seen by referring to Ducange (s. v.). C. H. 



Bacon Family (Vol. ii., p. 247.). — The name of 

 Bacon has been considered to be of Norman origin, 

 arising from some fief so called. — See Roman de 

 Rose, vol. ii. p. 269. X. P. M. 



Execution of Charles I. and Earl of Stair 

 (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 140. 158.). — Matfelonensis 

 speaks too fast when he says that " no mention 

 occurs of the Earl of Stair." I distinctly recollect 

 reading in an old life of the Earl of Stair an 

 account of his having been sent for to visit a 

 mysterious person of extreme old age, who stated 

 that he was the earl's ancestor (grandfather or 

 great-grandfather, but whether paternal or not I 

 do not remember), and that he had been the ex- 

 ecutioner of Charles I. T. jST. 



[The story to which our correspondent alludes is, 

 probably, that quoted in Cecil's (Hone's) Sixty Curious 

 and Authentic Narratives, pp. 138 — 140., from the Re- 

 creations of a Man of Feeling. The peerage and the 

 pedigree of the Stair family alike prove that there is 

 little foundation for this ingenious fiction.] 



Water-marki on Writing-paper (Vol. ii.,p. 310.). 

 — On this subject C, will, I think, find all the 

 information he seeks in a paper published in the 

 Aldine Magazine, (Masters, Aldersgate-st., 1839). 

 This paper is accompanied by engravings of the 

 ancient water-marks, as well as those of more mo- 



dern times, and enters somewhat largely into the 

 question of how far water-marks may be considered 

 as evidence of precise dates. They are not always to 

 be relied upon, for in December, 1850, there will 

 doubtless be thousands of reams of paper issued 

 and in circulation, bearing the date of 1851, unless 

 the practice is altered of late years. Timperley's 

 Biographical, Chronological, and Historical Dic- 

 tionary is much quoted on the subject of " Water- 

 marks." E. B. Price. 



St. John Nepomiic (Vol. ii., pp. 269. 317.). — 

 The statues in honour of this Saint must be fa- 

 miliar to every one who has visited Bohemia, as 

 also the spot of his martyrdom at Prague, indi- 

 cated by some brass stars let into the parapet of 

 the Steineme Briicke, on the right-hand side going 

 from Prague to the suburb called the Kleinseite. 

 As the story goes, he was offered the most costly 

 bribes by Wenzel, king of Bohemia, to betray his 

 trust, and after his repeated refusal was put to the 

 torture, and then thrown into the Moldau, where 

 he was drowned. The body of the saint was em- 

 balmed, and is now preserved in a costly silver 

 shrine of almost fabulous worth, in the church 

 of St. Veit, in the Kleinseite. In Weber's Briefe 

 eines ditrch Deutschland reisende Deutschen, the 

 weight silver about this shrine is said to be 

 twenty " centener." C. D. Lamont. 



Satirical Medals (Vol. ii., p. 298.). — A de- 

 scriptive catalogue of British medals is preparing 

 for the press, wherein all the satirical medals re- 

 lating to the Revolution of 1688 will be minutely 

 described and explained. G. H. 



Passage in Gray (Vol. i., p. 150.). — I see no 

 difficulty in the passage about which your corres- 

 pondent A Grayan inquires. The abode of the 

 merits and frailties of the dead, i. e. the place in 

 which they are treasured up until the Judgment, 

 is the Divine mfnd. This the poet, by a very al- 

 lowable figure, calls " Bosom." Homer's expres- 

 sion is somewhat analoEcous. 



" To5e itaj/Ta Buov iv yovvaai Kurai." 



E. C. H. 



Cupid Crying (Vol. I., pp. 172. 308.). — Another 

 translation of the English verses, p. 172., which En- 

 glish are far superior to the Latin original : — 



" Perchi ferisce Venere 



II tiglio suo che genie? 

 Diede il fanciullo a Celia 

 Le freccie e I'arco insicme. 



Sarebbe mai possibile ! 

 Ei nol voluto avea ; 

 Ma rise Celia ; ei subito 

 La Madre esser credea." 



E. c. n. 



