Mar. 9. 1850. ] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
307 
that I find him making use of the word “ bull” in 
the sense of a laughable speech (“ to make a jest, 
or bull, or speake some eloquent nonsense,” p. 34.), 
and of the now vulgar expression “ to go to pot.” 
When recounting the particulars of the parlia- 
mentary visitation of the University in 1648, he 
tells us, that had it not been for the intercession 
of his mother to Sir Nathan. Brent, “he had in- 
fallibly gone to the pot.” If Dr. Maitland or any 
of your readers can give the history of these ex- 
pressions, and can produce earlier instances of 
their use, they would greatly oblige me. 
P.S. I ought to mention, that ‘“ Penniless 
Bench” was a seat for loungers, under a wooden 
canopy, at the east end of old Carfax Church: it 
seems to have been notorious as “ the idle corner” 
of Oxford. E. V. 
QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 5. 
A comparative statement of the number of those 
who ask questions, and those who furnish replies, 
would be a novel contribution to the statistics of 
literature. Ido not mean to undertake it, but 
shall so far assume an excess on the side of the 
former class, as to attempt a triad of replies to 
recent queries without fear of the censures which 
attach to monopoly. 
To facilitate reference to the queries, I take 
them in the order of publication :— 
1. “ What is the earliest known instance of the 
use of a beaver hat in England?” —'T. Hupson 
Turner, p. 100. 
The following instance from Chaucer (Canter- 
terbury tales, 1775. 8°. v. 272.), if not the earliest, 
is precise and instructive : — 
* A marchant was ther with a forked berd, 
In mottelee, and highe on hors he sat, 
And on his hed a Flaundrish bever hat.” 
2. “Has Cosmopoli been ever appropriated to 
any known locality ?” — Joun Jess, p. 213. 
Cosmopolis has been used for London, and for 
Paris. (G. Peignot, Répertoire de bibliographies 
spéciales, Paris, 1810. 8°. pp. 116, 132.) It may 
also, in accordance with its etymology, be used 
for Amsterdam, or Berlin, or Calcutta, ete. As 
an imprint, it takes the dative case. The Inter- 
pretationes paradoxe quatuor evangeliorum of San - 
dius, were printed at Amsterdam. (M. Weiss, 
Biographie wuniverselle, Paris, 1811—28. 8°, xl. 
312.) 
3. References to “any works or treatises sup- 
plying information on the history of the Arabic 
numerals” are requested by “ E. V.” p. 230, 
To the well-chosen works enumerated by the 
querist, I shall add the titles of two valuable pub- 
lications in my own collection : — 
Dictionnaire RAISONNE DE DIPLOMATIQUE—par dom 
de Vaines. Paris, 1774. 8°. 2 vol. 
ELEMENTS DE PALEOGRAPHIE, par M. Natalis de 
Wailly. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1838. 4°, 2 vol. 
The former work is a convenient epitome of the 
Nouveau traité de diplomatique. The latter is a 
new compilation, undertaken with the sanction of 
M. Guizot. Its appearance was thus hailed by 
the learned Daunou: “ Cet ouvrage nous semble 
recommandable par l’exactitude des recherches, 
par la distribution méthodique des matiéres et par 
l’élégante précision du style.” (Journal des savants, 
Paris, 1838. 4°. p. 318.) 
A query should always be worded with care, 
and put in a quotable shape. The observance of 
this plain rule would economise space, save the 
time which might otherwise be occupied in useless 
research, and tend to produce more pertinency of 
reply. The first and second of the above queries 
may serve as models. Borron Corney. 
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES. 
Old Auster Tenement (No. 14. p.217.).—I think 
that Iam in a condition to throw some light on the 
meaning of this expression, noticed in a former 
Number by “ W.P. PP.” The tenements held in 
villenage of the lord of a manor, at least where 
they consisted of a messuage or dwelling-house, 
are often called astra in our older books and 
court-rolls. If the tenement was an ancient one, 
it was vetus or antiquum astrum; if a tenure of 
recent creation (or a new-take, as it is called in 
some manors), it was novum astrum. The villen- 
age tenant of it was an astrarius. “ W.P.P.” may 
satisfy himself of these facts by referring to the 
printed Plautorum Abbreviatis, fo.282.; to Fleta, 
Comment. Juris. Anglicani, ed. 1685, p.217.; and 
to Ducange, Spelman, and Cowel, under the words 
“ Astrum,” ‘ Astrarius,” and “ Astre.” In the 
very locality to which “ W. P. P.” refers, he will 
find that the word “ Auster” is “ Astrum” in the 
oldest court-rolls, and that the term is not confined 
to North Curry, but is very prevalent in the 
eastern half of Somerset. At the present day, an 
auster tenement is a species of copyhold, with all 
the incidents to that tenure. It is noticed in the 
Journal of the Archeological Institute, in a 
recent critique on Dr. Evans’s Leicestershire 
words, and is very familiar to legal practitioners 
of any experience in the district alluded to. 
E. Surexe. 
Tureen (No. 16. p. 246.).— There is properl 
no such word. It is a corruption of the Frenc 
terrine, an earthen vessel in which soup is served. 
It is in Bailey’s Dictionary. I take this oppor- 
tunity of suggesting whether that the word “ swing- 
tng,” applied by Goldsmith to his tureen, should 
be rather spelt swingeing; though the former is 
the more usual way: a swinging dish and a swinge- 
ing are different things, and Goldsmith meant the 
latter. C. 
