166 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 70. 



' and sewed Jig-leaves, and worked them weed-breech, or 

 cloaths for the breech.' Wicliffe also translates ' and 

 maden hem breechis ;' and it is singular that Littleton, 

 in his excellent Dictionary, explains perizomata, the 

 word used in the Vulgate, by breeches. In the manu- 

 script French translation of Petriis Comestor's Com- 

 mentary on the Bible, made by Guiars des Moulins in 

 the l;Jth century, we have ' Couvertures tout autres- 

 sint comme unnes petites braies.' " 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



Etymology of Mushroom. — In the sixteenth 

 century this word appears generally to have been 

 spelt Mushrump. Nares, in his valuable Glossary, 

 gives an instance from Marlow's play of Edward 

 the Second, 1598 ; but there is an earlier example 

 in Robert Southwell's Spirituall Poems, 1595 : 

 " He that high growth on cedars did bestow. 

 Gave also lowly mushrumps leave to growe." 



It is also spelt Mushrump in Cockeram's Dic- 

 tio7iary, 1632. These instances may possibly lead 

 to a correct etymology of the word. 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



Curious Fact in Natural History. — There is in 

 the Brazils a popular superstition to this effect. 

 There is a tree called Japecarga, which is said to 

 grow out of the body of the insect called Cigara. 

 This is a very large tree, and the Cigara is an in- 

 sect which makes an incessant chirping on the tree, 

 and, as the saying goes, chirps till it bursts. When 

 the insect dies, the tree is said to grow out of it, 

 the roots growing down the legs. My explana- 

 tion is this : The insect feeds on the seeds of the 

 Japecarga, and occasionally, under advantageous 

 circumstances, some of the seeds germinate, and 

 cause the death of the insect, the tree shooting up 

 through the softest part, the back, and the rootlets 

 making their way down the only outlets, the legs. 

 I wish to know whether any similar fact in Natu- 

 ral History has been noticed, and if not, how is it 

 accounted for, since I can vouch for the skin of 

 the insect having been found with the tree grow- 

 ing out of its back, and the roots growing down 

 throujrh the legs. John Manley. 



Pernambuco. 



Hudibras iii 1710. — On the back of the oldest 

 register of the parish of Syston, Leicestershire, 

 is the following memorandum: — 



" July 19lh, 1710. Borrow'd then of Mr. Hesketh 

 Hudibrass in 3 parts, w'^'' I promise to return upon 

 demand ; witness my hand, John Kilby." 



A pretty strong proof of the value and interest 

 of this woi-k about a century and a half ago. 



Arun. 



The Great Exhibition. — It is well known that 

 the vineyai'ds of Switzerland have been long pro- 

 tected from hail by means of upright poles having 

 copper wire attached to them, termed " para- 

 greles," distant from each other from 60 to 100 



feet. The formation of hail is an effect of which 

 electricity is the cause, and the cloud being de- 

 prived of this agent by the conductors, descends in 

 the shape of rain. Mr. John Murray, F.S.A., 

 F.L.S., &c., in his work on Switzerland, speaks 

 very decidedly of their utility. Has then this 

 ingenious contrivance been considered with re- 

 ference to the protection of the Great Exhibition 

 and its valuable, or rather invaluable, contents ? 

 or why is it deemed inapplicable to the purpose ? 



C. T. 



caucrtc^. 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



Everybody can see that the first commandment is 

 directed against polytheism, and the second against 

 idolatry ; and most people know that the Church of 

 Rome diifers from the Church of Englanil in joining 

 these two into one commandment, and dividing the 

 tenth into two commandments, so as to make up 

 the full number, ten. This point of difference be- 

 twixt the two churches must necessarily have 

 been the subject of much dispute. There must 

 be plausible reasons on both sides for every com- 

 mandment in the Anglican ritual being different 

 from its correspondent on the Roman tables : and 

 the settlement of this question must properly be- 

 long to the theologian, since holy scripture only 

 mentions how many divine commandments there 

 are (Exodus, xxxiv. 28. ; Deuteronomy, iv. 13., 

 K. 4.), without authoritatively separating them. 



Will any one kindly inform me where this ques- 

 tion may be found fully discussed ; and where 

 mention is made of the earliest known divisions of 

 the law ? Also, I should be glad to know how 

 the Jews at the present day divide the command- 

 ments; and whether there is any record or tra- 

 dition of there ever having been discussions in 

 their church upon this very interesting and no 

 less important matter ? Alfred Gatty. 



Ecclesfield. 



Was Hugh Peters ever on the Stage ? — In a 

 pamphlet entitled Arbitrary Government dis- 

 played to the Life, in the illegal T?-nnsactions of 

 the late Tirnes under the tyrannick Usurpation of 

 Oliver Cromwell, ed. 1690, p. 98., we are in- 

 formed that Hugh Peters, after he had been ex- 

 pelled the University of Cambridge, went to Lon- 

 don, and enrolled himself as a player in Shak- 

 speare's company, " in which he usually performed 

 the part of Clown." Is there any other authority 

 for this statement ? Edward F. Rimbault. 



English Synonymes. — What are the books of 

 best authority for the st/nonymes of the English 

 languase ? A Foreigner. 



