Fes. 9. 1850.] 
Fall of Rain in England. — “ Roypox” (No. 11. 
p- 73.) will find the average quantity of rain fallen 
at Greenwich, for twenty-five years, 1815 to 1839, 
in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price Is., by 
J. H. Belville, of the Royal Observatory, published 
by Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, called, 
Manual of the Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers. 
Henry WILKINSON. 
Judas Bell. — (No. 13. p. 195). In the 
“Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie,” a singular 
Scotch Poem, composed in the former half of the 
16th century, and printed in Ramsay’s Evergreen, 
the following passage occurs (Hverg. vol. i. 
p- 74.) :— 
“ A Benefice quha wald give sic a Beist, 
But gif it were to jingle Judas bells 2 
Tak thee a Fiddle or a Flute to jest, 
Undocht thou art, ordaind for naithing ells.” 
The Judas bells may probably have been used 
in the Easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with 
which we find Judas candles mentioned. See 
Brand’s Popular Antig. by Sir H. Ellis, vol. i. 
p- 29. Cc. W.G. 
Boduc or Boduoe on British Coins. — The real 
name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very 
uncertain. Walther (Tacitus, xiv. Ann. c. 31.), 
adopts Boudicea. It is probable enough that the 
syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as 
pronounced by the Britons. We are reminded of 
Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by 
Cesar. But to come nearer home, the name 
Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel dis- 
covered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr. 
Goddard Johnson, Archeologia, xxviil. p. 436. fe 
Co We G. 
Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms.— 
Lord Bacon’s translation of seven psalms, the 
Ist, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 127th and 149th, 
with a Dedication to George Herbert, is found at 
the end of the 2nd yol. of his works. (Lond. 1826.) 
They were printed at London, 1625, in quarto. 
C.W.G. 
[To this we may add, on the information of X. X., 
that some account of these Psalms, with specimens, 
may be seen in Holland’s Psalmists of Britain, 1824.] 
A “ Gib” Cat. —What is the etymology of the 
term ‘Gibbe,” as applied to the male cat? I 
may observe that the g is pronounced ard in this 
locality, and not jibbe, as most dictionaries have it. 
Burnley, Lancashire. TTsw. 
{Nares has shown, very satisfactorily, that Gib, the 
contraction of Gilbert, was the name formerly applied to 
acat,as Tom isnow. He states that Tibert (the name 
given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the 
old French for Gilbert; and at all events, be that as it 
may, Chaucer, in his Romance of the Rose, verse 6204., 
translates “ Thibert le Cas” by “ Gibbe our Cat.”] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
235 
Lay of the Phenix. Sereucvs” is informed that 
the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Pheenix is contained 
in the Codex E-xoniensis, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe. 
The Latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters, 
attributed to Lactantius, is given at the foot of the 
page. It will be found at the end of the works of 
Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche. 
(Lipsiz, 1842). Fritzsche mentions two separate 
editions of the poem; 1. by Martini, Luneburei, 
1825; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839. 
CHWAG: 
Lay of the Phenix. —“Sxrtevucus” (No. 13. 
p- 203.) asks, “Is there any published edition of 
the hexameter poem by Lactantius, which is said 
to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon 
Lay of the Phenix 2?” This poem is not in hexa- 
meter, but in elegiac verse; and though, on ac- 
count of its brevity, we could not expect that it 
would have been separately published, it is to be 
found very commonly at the end of the works of 
Lactantius ; for example, in three editions before 
me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563. That 
this poem, however, belongs to the Christian 
Cicero, at any period of his life, is more than 
doubtful, even by the admission of Romanists, 
who readily avail themselves of other compo- 
sitions of similar authority. It has been some- 
times ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus, and is by 
Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of 
Orleans. (Opp. ii. 840. cf. iv. 519. Venet. 1728.) 
R. G. 
Ordination Pledges. — Your correspondent, 
“Crericus” (No. 10. p. 156.), will find by far the 
most elaborate and judicious examination of the 
import, design, and obligation of the various oaths 
and subscriptions required of the elergy, in the 
successive numbers of The Christian Observer for 
1849. EK. V. 
Feast of St. Michael and All-Angels. — The 
difficulty started by * K. M. P.” (No. 13. p. 203.), 
with regard to the double second lessons for the 
Feast of St. Michael and All-Angels, is easily re- 
solved by comparing the Table of Proper Lessons 
before and after the last review of the Prayer 
Book in 1662; from which it will be seen, that 
the proper second lessons were then appointed for 
the first time, while the old second lessons for 
Sept. 29. were retained, either from inadvertence, 
or to avoid the necessity of disarranging all the 
subsequent part of the calendar. The present 
first lessons, Gen. xxxii., and Dan. x. v. 5., at the 
same time took the place of the inappropriate 
chapters, Hecles. xxxix. and xliv., which had been 
appointed for this day in Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer 
Book, 1559. E. V. 
Beaver Hat.— Mr. T. Hudson Turner (No. 7. 
p- 100.) asks, ‘‘ What is the earliest known in- 
stance of the use of a beaver hat in England?” 
