Dec. 21. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49o 



figure of the animal, mistaken for the common elk, 

 is engraved in tlie Nuremberg Chronicle. Now I 

 should feel exceedingly obliged if any information 

 could be rendered me on the matters stated above, 

 as I am most anxious to collect all possible inform- 

 ation regarding this most noble species of the 

 Dama tribe. "W.R.C. (a Subsci-iber). 



Exeter, Nov. 1S50. 



Red Sindon (Vol. ii., p. 593.). —Will Mr. 

 Planche be so good as to say what the red .sindon 

 of the chamber of Philippa was ? B. W. 



Lights on the Altar. — 1. What evidence is there 

 that in the Brilish or Saxon churches lights were 

 burned on the altar at the time oFthe eucharist ? 



2. Are there any Canons of these churches, 

 sanctioning the practice ? 



3. What evidence is there of any other service 

 or solemnity, where lights were burned in the 

 day-time in these churches. D. Sholbus. 



Beloe, Child's Book hy. — In (he Sexagenarian, 

 by Beloe, is the following passage : 



" In four mornings lie (Rev. SV. Beloe) wrote a 

 book which he inteiuied as an amusement for his chil- 

 dren. Some friends recommended him to print it, 

 and though many years have elapsed since it was 

 written, it still continues so great a favourite with 

 vounger readers, that an edition is every year pub- 

 lished." 



Can any of your readers inform me the name 

 of the book here alluded to; and who was the pub- 

 lisher ? F. B. Helton. 



MERCENAKY TREACHER. 



In reply to a Query as to the meaning of this 

 epitliet in an obituary notice, quoted in Vol. i, 

 p. 384., your correspotident Arun suggests, in 

 the same volume, p. 489., that it was most likely 

 " used in its primary .signification, and in the sense 

 in which we still apply it to troops in the pay of 

 a state foreign to their own." I cannot help 

 tliinking, that by the designation mercenarij was 

 implied something more disreputable than that 

 merely of " one who, having no settled cure, was 

 at liberty to be 'hired;'" and in this I am borne 

 out by Chaucer, no mean authority, who, in his 

 well-known picture of the parson, in the Prologue 

 to the Canterbury Tales, amongst the various 

 items of piety and virtiiousness with which, in 

 that inimitable piece of character-puiuting, he 

 credits the "pore persoun of a toun," distinctly 

 states (I quote Air. Wright's Percy Society edi- 

 tion), — 



" lie was a Scliepperdc and no mercenarie." 



Now this emphatic disclaimer shows clearly enough 

 that when Chaucer wrote, to be a nierceiua-y 



preacher was not, in repidation at least, a desirable 

 position ; and whether some two centuries and a 

 half later the appellation became less objection- 

 able, is a question not unworthy of elucidation. No 

 lengthened transcript is needed from so popular a 

 description ; its whole spirit is directed not only 

 against hirelings, but also against non-residents : — 

 '• He sette not his benefice to huyre, 

 And lefte his scheep encombred in the myre; 

 ***** 



But dwelte at hoom and kepte wel his folde." 

 Neither hireling nor non-resident found favour 

 in Chaucer's eves. They could have very little in 

 conmion with one of whom he says — 



" But Criste's lore, and his apostles twelve, 

 He taught, but first he Iblwed it himselve." 



The date of the obituary quoted, 1646, lends 

 too some force to the supposition that " old Mr. 

 Lewis" was, vulgarly speaking, "no better than he 

 ought to be." Milton not many years afterwards 

 published his memorable philippic On the likeliest 

 Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church ; and 

 after all allowance is made for the sternness of the 

 Puritan poet's theology, there would still remain 

 enough to show that his fiercely eloquent tract 

 might well have been called forth by the presence 

 in the church of an overweening army of " Mer- 

 cenary Preachers." Further space, however, need 

 not now be trenched on ; but should any new 

 facts be adduced by some of your correspondents 

 illustrative of the curious entry referred to, I am 

 sure they will be welcomed by all your readers, and 

 by none more than by yours, obediently, 



Henry Campkin. 



Reform Club, Dec. 2. 1850. 



"the owl is abroad. 

 (Vol. ii., p. 393.) 



A. Pi. asks, " On what ground is the base song, 

 ' The Owl is abroad' attributed to Henry Purcell ?" 

 To which I reply, the mistake — for mistake h is 

 — originated with Dr. Clarke (afterwards Clarke 

 Whitfield;, who inserted it in his Beauties of Pur- 

 cell. How little this musician knew of the 

 " beauties " of Purcell is exhibited in his work ; 

 and how little he knew of the style and peculi- 

 arities of the music of the period, is shown by his 

 insertion of the song in question. Dr. Clarke's 

 mistake is noticed in the late William Linley's 

 elegant work entitled Shakspeare's Dramatic 

 Songs, vol. i. p. 6. His words are these : 



" In regard to the Tempest music of Blr. Smith, it 

 has been jnit lo a strange medley of words ; some of 

 them are, however, by Su.\kspi:ahk ; but they do not 

 a])pear to couje the brigliter from tlie polish it was his 

 design to give them ; here and tlierc we have a flash 

 or two, but they nuist ever be vainly ojiposed to Pur- 

 cell's pure and steady light. The song of ' No More 



