Dec. 21. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



493 



very aocurate reprint of Cardinal Allen's Admoni- 

 tion to the Nobility and People of England and 

 Ireland, with a Preface by Eupator (the Kev. 

 Joseph jMendbain), London, Duncan, 1842? 



(28.) In an article on Tickiior's Histoi-y of 

 Spanish Literature, in the Quarterly Review for 

 last September, p. 316., we read: 



" The second Index E.vpmgntorins ever printed was 

 the Spanish one of Charles V. in 1546." 



Was the critic dreaming when he wrote these 

 words? for, otherwise, how could he have ma- 

 naged to compress so much confusion into so small 

 a space ? To say nothing of "the second" Ex- 

 purgatory Index, the fiist was not printed until 

 1571 ; and this was a Belgic, not a " Spanish one." 

 It is stamped by its title-j)age as having been " in 

 Belgiaconciniiatus," and it was the product of the 

 press of Plantin, at Antwerp. With regard to the 

 Indices Expurgatorii of Spain, the earliest of them 

 was prepared by ttie command of Cardinal Quiroga, 

 and issued by Gomez, typographer-royal at Madrid, 

 in 1584. The copy in my hand, which belonged 

 to Michiels, is impressed with his book-mark, 

 "premiere edition." Will the writer in the Quar- 

 terly Review henceforth remember that an Expur- 

 galory Index is essentiidly dillerent from one of 

 the Prohibitory class ? But even thougli he should 

 faithfully promise to bear this fact in mind, his 

 misreport as to the year " 1546" must not remain 

 unceiisured ; for this was not the date of the 

 " second " appearance of an imjjerial mandement. 

 There was an ordinance published for the restraint 

 of the press, not oidy in 1544, but also in 1540, 

 and even iu 1510. For the last, see Panzer, 

 vii. 258. 



(29.) What is the nearest approach to certainty 

 among the attempts successfully to individuate the 

 ancient relater of Mirabilia Romcef That he 

 lived in the tliirteenth century seems to be ad- 

 mitted; and the work, as put forth in Montfaucou's 

 Diariuvi Italicuni (pp. 28:5-298.), will be found to 

 dilTer considerably from the edition, in 12mo. with 

 the :irms of Pope Leo X. on the title-page. 



(.30.) " Anliqnitns Sceculi Jiiventus Mundi." —The 

 discussion in your pages (Vol. ii., pp. 218-. 350. 

 395. 4G6.) of the origin of this plirase has so dis- 

 tinctly ;issiimcd a bibiiograpliical aspect, that I 

 feel jiistilicd on the present occasion in inquiring 

 from your various correspondents whetlier, while 

 tlicy have buen citing Bacon and Bruno, Whewell 

 and Ilallam, tliey have lost siglit of tlie beautiful 

 language of the author of the Second Book of 

 Esdras (chap. xiv. 10.)? 



" Tlie world hath lost his youth, and the times begin 

 to wax old " 



" S.ccnluni perdidit juventiitein suain, et tempora 

 appropiiiquant senescere." — i/;t//«, ed. Paris, 1.32'$. 



K. G. 



Minav d^ueviti. 



Rah. Surdam, Meaning of. — The eccentric but 

 clever and learned William Nicol, one of the 

 masters of the High School of Etlinburgh, and 

 noted as the friend of Burns, was the son of a poor 

 man, a tailor, in the village of Ecclefechan, in 

 Dumfriesshire. He erected, over the grave of his 

 jtarents, in Hoddam churchyard, a throuch stone, 

 or altar-formed tonib, bearing the words 



" RAB. SURDAM." 



Query the meaning of these mystical charac- 

 ters ? Edinensis. 



Abbot Richard of Strata Florida. — Can you or 

 any of your antiquarian readers solve me the fol- 

 lowing. It is stated in vol. i. p. 100. of Lewis 

 Dwnn's Heraldic Visitation into Wales, ^c, art. 

 " Williames of Ystradffin iu the county of Caer- 

 martheu" : — 



" WiUiam ab Thomas Goch, Esq., married Joan, 

 daughter and sole heiress to Richard the Abbot of 

 Strata Florida, county of Cardigan (temp. Henry VIL), 

 son of David ab Howel of Gwydyr, North Wales." 



From this I naturally expected to find some 

 connecting link between the Abbot and the an- 

 cient family of Wynn of Gwydyr, derived from 

 Rhodri Lord of Anglesey. In their lineage, how- 

 ever, the name of David ab Howel does not occur ; 

 but about the aforesaid period one of their pro- 

 genitors named Meredith ab Sevan, it is stated, 

 purchased Gwydyr li-om a David ab Howel Coyt- 

 more, derived through the Lord of Penymachno 

 from Prince David, Lord of Denbigh, the ill-fated 

 brother of Llewelyn, last sovereign prince of 

 North Wales. Is it not therefore likely that the 

 said Abbot Bichard was sou to the above David 

 ab Howel (Coytmore), the ancient proprietor of 

 Gwydyr; that his surname was Coytmore; and the 

 arms he bore were those of his ancestor David 

 Goch, Lord of Penymachno, viz., Sa. a lion ramp., 

 ar. within a bordure engr. or. W. G. S. J. 



Cardinal Chalmers. — Can any of your readers 

 give me some information about a Cardinal Chal- 

 mers, — whether there ever was a cardinal of the 

 name, and where I C(juld find some account of 

 him ? I have the boards of an old book on which 

 are stampe<l in gilding the Chalmers arms, with a 

 cardinal's hat and tassels over them. If I remem- 

 ber correctly, the arms are those of the i'amily of 

 Chalmers, of Balnacraig, in Aberdeenshire. 



1 have some reason to believe that the boards 

 were purchased at the sale of the author of 

 Caledonia. S. P. 



Armorial Beariiigs (Vol.ii., p. 424.). — J\ly note 

 of the coat-armour in (jucsliou stands thus : " Tliree 

 bars between ten bells, four, three, two, and one." 

 And I have before now searched in vain for its 

 appi'opriation. I am consccj^uenlly obliged to 



