180 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 71. 



tl)e fist being employed in tlie "ame. Shall we vien' 

 nick as allied to the E. v. signifying ' to touch 

 luckily '? " 



Now, there is no such seeming derivation in the 

 first part of the word. The Neioe, though em- 

 ployed in the ganie, is not the object addressed. 

 It is held out to him who is to guess^the conju- 

 ror — and it is he who is addressed, and under a 

 conjuring name. In short (to hazard a wide con- 

 jecture, it may be), he is invoked in the persfin of 

 Nic Neville (Nrivie Ni/;), a sorc-erer in the days 

 of James VI., who was biunt at St. Andiew'.s in 

 1569. If I am right, a cuiious testimf>ny is fur- 

 nished to his quondam popularity among the com- 

 mon people : 



" Fxom that he past to Sanctandrois, whare a notable 

 sorc'jres callit Nic Neville was condamnit to the death 

 and brynt," &c. &c. — T/ie Historic and Life of King 

 James the S'tjri, p. 40. Edin. I8'J5. Baiinatyne Club Ed. 



J D.N.N. 



RECORDS AT MALTA. 



Let me call yovr attention, as well as that of 

 your readers (for good may come from hotli). to 

 an article in the December No. of the Archceologi- 

 cal Ju2i?-nal, i850, entitled " Notice of Documents 

 preserved in the Record Office at Malta ;" an article 

 which I feel sure ought to be more publicly known, 

 both for tlie sake of tlie reading world at large, 

 and the high character bestowed upon the present 

 keeper of those records, M. Luigi Velia, under 

 whose charge they have been brought to a minute 

 course of investigation. There njay be found here 

 many things worthy of elucidation ; many secret 

 treasures, whether tor the archaeologist, bibliopole, 

 or herald, that only recpiire your widely dissemi- 

 nated " brochure" to bring nearer to our own 

 homes and our own firesides. It is with this view 

 that I venture to express a hope, that a precis of 

 that article may not be deemed irregular; which 

 point, of couise, I must leave to your good judg- 

 ment and good taste to decide, being a very Tyro 

 in archteology, and no book-worm (though I really 

 love a book), so I know nothing of their ))oints of 

 etiquette. At the san)e time I must, in justice to 

 Mr.A. Milward (the writer of the notice, and to 

 whom I have not the honour of being known), 

 entreat his pardon for the plagiarism, if such it 

 can be calleil, having only the common " recipro- 

 cation of ideas" at heart ; and remain as ever an 

 huuible follower under Captain Cuttle's standard. 



One Corporal Whip. 

 Precis of Documents preserved in Record Office, Malta. 



Six volumes of Records, pareliment, consisting of 

 Charters from Sovereigns and Princes, Grants of Land, 

 and other documents coimected with the Order of St. 

 John from its establishment by Pope Pascal II., whose 

 original bull is perfect. 



Two volumes of Papers connected with the Island 

 of Malta bcfure it came into the possession of the 

 Knights, trom year 1397 to beginning of sixteenth 

 century. 



A book of Privileges of the Maltese, compiled 

 about MO years ago. 



Several volumes of original letters from men of note ; 

 among whom we may mention, Vicemys of Sicily, 

 Sovereigns of Enf;l:ind, One from the Pretender, 

 dated 1725, from Uome ; three from Charles II., and 

 one from his admiral, John Narbrough. Numerous 

 Processes of Nobility, coniaining much of value to 

 many noble families ; of these last, Mr. Vella has 

 taken the trouble of separating all those referring to 

 any English families. 



Also a volinne of fifteenth century, containing the 

 accounts of the coinmanderies. This is a continuation 

 of an older and still more interesting volume, which is 

 now in the Public Library. 



For further particulars, see Archceulogicul Jour- 

 nal, December, 1850, p. 369. 



ON AN ANCIENT MS. OF " BED^ HISTOBIA 

 ECCLESIASTICA." 



Some gentleman connected with the cathedral 

 libi-ary of Lincoln may possibly be able to give me 

 some information respecting a MS. copy of the 

 Historia Ecclesiastica oi Beda in my possession, 

 and of which the following circumstances are 

 therein apparent : — It is plainly a MS. of great 

 antiquity, on piiper, and in folio. On a fly-leaf it 

 has an inscription, apparently of contemporaneous 

 date, an<l whicii is repeated in a more modern 

 hand on the next page with additions, as follows: 



" Huuc lihrum legavit Willms Dadyngton qu°dHm 

 Viearius de Barton fup hiimbre eccfie Lincoln ut eet 

 sub custodia Vicecancellarii." 



Then follows ; — 



" Scriptu p manus Nicoi Belytt Vicecancellarii iiii'" 

 die mesis Octub' .-\nno Dni inilleslmo quicentessimo 

 decimoijulto et Lra duiealius G et Anno pp henrici 

 octavi sexto." 



In the hand of John, father of the more cele- 

 bratetl Ralph Thoresby, is added : 



" Nunc e Lihris Joliis Thoresby de Leedes emp. 

 Executor^"' Tho. Dfii Fairfax, 167.'5." 



Through what hands it may have passed since, 

 I have no means of knowing; but it came into 

 mine from Mr. J. A>'ilson, 19. Great May's Build- 

 ings, St. Martin's Lane, London, in whose Cata- 

 logue for December, 1831, it appeared, and was 

 purchased by me for 3Z. 3«. 



There it is conjectured to be of the twelfth cen- 

 tury, and from the character there is no reason to 

 doubt that anti((uity. It is on paper, and has been 

 ill-used. It proceeds no fixrther than into lib. v. 

 c. xii., otherwise, from the beginning complete. 

 The ditfei-ent public libraries of the country 

 abound in MSS. of this book. It is probable 



