Fes. 16. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
251 
cester, and after the Restoration was Clerk of the 
Acatry in the household of Charles the Second. 
Mr. Suckling, in his History of Suffolk, claims 
for a family some time seated at Stradbrook, in 
that county, a consanguinity with the descendants 
of Sir Stephen. 
On an altar-tomb in Stradbrook churchyard 
are inscribed notices of many members of this 
family, but without dates. One is rather extra- 
ordinary, making the lives of a father and son 
together to amount to 194 years. Amongst them 
is this : — 
“ Here is hourly expected Simon the next descend- 
ant, with his son Simon, who died young, tho’ still 
preserved to be interr’d with his father at the earnest 
request of his pious mother the Lady Hart. And also 
Maior John Fox, with his issue, who during the late 
rebellion loyally behav’d himself, undergoing with 
great courage not only the danger of the field, but 
many severe imprisonments.” 
The arms on this tomb differ from those of 
Lords Ilehester and Holland, being simply three 
foxes’ heads erased. 
Should this note supply a clue for your corre- 
spondent “ Vuxres” to identify Major John Fox 
with the brother of Sir Stephen, on knowing that 
he has found the scent J shall be able to assist 
him in unearthing the whole litter. VENATOR. 
French Maxim. —The maxim inquired after 
by “R. V.” (No. 14. p. 215.) undoubtedly belongs 
to Rochefoucault.- I have met with a somewhat 
similar passage in Massillon : — 
« Le vice rend hommage a la vertu en s’honorant de 
ses apparences.” 
Feb. 5. 1850. J. B. M. 
Shipster.— A scip-steora among our Anglo- 
Saxon ancestors was a pilot (“ ship-steerer”). The 
word has descended to our own times in the sur- 
name of the family of Shipster. As a common 
noun it was not obsolete in the days of Wynkyn 
de Worde, who printed that curious production 
i Coch Lorelle’s Bote,’ one line of which runs 
thus : — 
“ With gogle-eyed Tomson, shepster of Lyn.” 
It is pretty certain, however, that this masculine 
occupation was not the one followed by “ Marie 
Fraunceys de Suthwerk !” 
Pray accept this ‘“ Reply” for what it is worth. 
Perhaps I might have done better by meeting 
Mr. John R. Fox’s “Query” (No. 14. p. 216.) 
with another. Should not the designation of 
Marie F. be Spinster instead of Shipster ? 
Marx Antony Lower. 
Lewes, Feb, 2. 
Sparse. — Permit me to refer your corre- 
spondent “C. Forses” for a reply to his query, 
p- 215. of your last Number, to the article “ Ame- 
ricanism” in the Penny Cyclopedia, the author of 
which observes : — 
“ Sparse is, for any thing we know, a new word, and 
well applied: the Americans say a sparse instead of a 
scattered population; and we think the term has a 
more precise meaning than scattered, and is the proper 
correlative of dense.” 
In the Imperial Dictionary (avowedly based 
upon Webster’s American work, which 1 cannot 
at this moment refer to in its original form), the 
word in question is given both as an adjective and 
as a verb, and the derivatives “ sparsed,” “ spar- 
sedly,” “sparsely,” and ‘“sparseness,” are also 
admitted. The reference given for the origin of 
“sparse” is to the Latin “ sparsus, scattered, from 
spargo;” and the definitions are, 1. “‘'Thinly scat- 
tered, set or planted here and there; as, a sparse 
population ;” and, 2., as a botanical term, “ not 
opposite, nor alternate, nor in any regular order ; 
applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, &c.” 
J.T. Sranespy. 
Cosmopolis—Complutensian Polyglot.— Though 
in considerable haste, I must send replies to the 
fourth and eighth queries of my friend Mr. Jebb, 
No. 14. p. 213. 
Cosmopolis was certainly Amsterdam. That 
the Interpretationes paradoxe quatuor Evange- 
liorum, by Christophorus Christophori Sandius, 
were there printed, appears from this writer's 
Bibliotheca Anti-Trinitarionum, p. 169., Freistad, 
1684. I may add that “ Colonize” signifies “‘ Am- 
steledami” in the title-page of Sandius’s Nucleus 
Historie Ecclesiastice, 1676, and in the Appendix 
Addendorum, 1678, 4to. 
With regard to the MSS. used in the formation 
of the text of the Complutensian Polyglot, Mr. Jebb 
will find an account of their discovery in a letter 
addressed by Dr. James Thompson to the editor of 
The Biblical Review. See also The Irish Eccle- 
siastical Journal for April, 1847. R. G. 
Complutensian Polyglot.— The following extract 
from “ The Prospectus of a Critical Edition of the 
New Testament,” by the learned Mr. S. Prideaux 
Tregelles, affords a satisfactory reply to Mr. 
Jebb’s query, No. 14. p.212.:— 
“ However, there is now more certainty as to the 
MSS. belonging to the University of Aleala. Dr. 
James Thompson has published (Biblical Review, 
March, 1847), the result of inquiries made thirty years 
ago by Dr. Bowring, and more recently by himself. 
Hence it appears that all the MSS. which formerly 
were known as belonging to Cardinal Ximenes, and 
which were preserved in the library at Alcala, are now, 
with the rest of that library, at Madrid. . . . Dr. José 
Gutierrez, the present librarian at Madrid, communi- 
cated to Dr. J. Thompson a catalogue of the Com- 
plutensian MSS., and from this it appears that the 
principal MSS, used in the Polyglott are all safely 
preserved.” J. Mizner Barry. 
Totnes, Feb. 6. 1850. 
