192 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 71. 



This MS. is of the very highest importance. It con- 

 tains tlie celebrated passage of St. John thus: ' Quia tres 

 sunt, qui testimonium dant, Spliritus, aqua, et sanguis, 

 et tres unum sunt. Sicut in coelo tres sunt. Pater, Ver- 

 bum, et Spirltus, ct tres unum sunt.' This most im- 

 portant word Sicut clearly shows how the disputed 

 passage, from having been a Gloss crept into the text. 

 And on the first page prior to the Seven Catholic 

 Epistles is the Prologue of St. Jerome, bearing his 

 name in uncials, which Porson and other learned men 

 think spurious. See Person's Letters to Travis, p. 290." 

 — Bp, Butler's Manuscript Catalogue. 



H. Foss. 



Rotherhithe, Jan. 29. 1851. 



Harrisons Chronology (Vol. iii., p. 105.). — To 

 the querist on William Hanihon all lovers of 

 bibliography are under obligations. At Oxford, 

 amid the Bodleian treasures, he could not have 

 had many questions to ask : at Thurles the case 

 may be much otherwise, and he is entitled to a 

 prompt reply. 



After examining the Ti/pographical Antiquities 

 of Ames and Herbert, and various bibliographical 

 works, relying also on my own memory as a col- 

 lector of books for more than thirty years, I may 

 venture to assert that the Clu-onulogy of W. 

 Harrison has never been printed. I can further 

 assert that no copy of the woi'k is recorded in the 

 Catalogi lihrorum manuscriptorum Aiiglice et Hiher- 

 nia:, Oxonian 1C97. 



The best account of Harrison is given by bishop 

 Tanner, in his Bihliotheca Britannico-Hihernica. 

 Wood, however, should be consulted. With 

 reference to the events of his life, it is important 

 to observe that the date of his letter to sir William 

 Brooke, which may be called an autobiography in 

 miniature, is 1577. 



Assuming that this question could not escape 

 the notice of other contributors, I had made no 

 researches with a view to answer it, and shall be 

 happy to remedy the defects of this scrap at a 

 future time. Bolton Cobnet. 



Mistletoe on Oaks (Vol. ii., pp. 163 214.).— Is it 

 ever found now on other trees? Sir Thos. Browne 

 (Fw/g". i??"r. lib. ii. cap. vi. § 3.) says, " AVe ob- 

 serve it in England very commonly upon Sallow, 

 Hazell, and Oake." By-the-bye, Dr. Bell (p. 163.) 

 seems to adopt the belief, which it is Browne's 

 object in the section referred to abo\ e to refute, 

 viz., that " Misseltoe is bred upon trees, I'roni 

 seeds which birds let i'all thereon." Plave later 

 observations shown that it was Browne himself 

 who was in error ? Ache. 



Swearing hy Swans (Vol. Iii., j). 70.). — An in- 

 stance of the cognate ctistom of swearing by phea- 

 sants is given by Michelet, Precis de I Histoire 

 Moderne (pp. 19, 20.). On the taking of Constanti- 

 nople by the Turks, — 



" L'Europe s'einut enfin : Nicholas \. precha la 

 croisade. ... a Lille, le due de Bourgoyne fit 



apparaitre, dans un banquet, I'lmage de I'Eglise 

 desolee et, selon les rites de la chevalerie, jura Dieu, 

 la Vierge, les dames, et le faisan, qu'il irait combattre 

 les infideles." (1454.) 



It seems, however, that in spite of all these for- 

 malities, the oath did not sit very heavily on the 

 conscience of the taker : for we are told imme- 

 diately after that — 



" Cette ardeur dura peu. . . . le due de Bourgoyne 

 resta dans ses etats. " 



Michelet gives, as his authority, Olivier de la 

 Marclie, t. viii. De la Collection des 3Iemoires 

 relati/s a I'llist. de France, edit, de M. Petitot. 



X.Z. 



Jurare ad caput unimalium (Vol. ii., p. 392. ; 

 Vol. iii., p. 71.). — Schayes, a Belgic writer (in 

 Les Pays Bos avant et durant la Domiiiation lio- 

 maine, vol. ii. p. 73. et seq.), furnishes references 

 to two councils, in which this mode of swearing 

 was condemned, viz. Concil. Aurelianense (Or- 

 leans), a. d. 541, and Concil. Liptinense (Liptines 

 or Lestines), 743. On the Indiculus Paganiarura 

 of the latter he subjoins the commentaries of Des 

 Roches {Anc. Mem. de I'Acad. de B?'ux.), de Mein- 

 ders {de statu relig. sub Carolo M., p. 144.), 

 d'Eckart {Francia Orient, lib. i. p. 407.), de Can- 

 ciani (de Legihiis harhui'or., torn. iii. p. 78.). The 

 enquirer may also consult Riveli Opera on the 

 Decalogue; Petiti, Ohsei-v. Miscell. lib. iv. c. 7. : 

 " Defenditur Socrates ab improba Lactantii ca- 

 luiunia et de ejus jusjurando per canem;" and 

 Alex, ab Alexandre, Geniales Dies, lib. v. c. 10. 



I may avail myself of this opjjortunity of no- 

 ticing the misprint in p. 152., P'ezron lor Pezron. 



T. J. 



Ten Children at a Birth (Vol. ii., p. 459. ; Vol. 

 iii., p. 64.). — We are indebted to the obliging 

 courtesy of the editor of the Leeds Mercury for 

 the following extract from that paper of the 9th 

 October, 1781 : — 



" A letter from Sheffield, dated October 1, says, 

 ' This day one Ann Birch, formerly of Derby, who 

 came to work at the silk-mills here, was delivered of 

 TEN children ; nine were dead, and one living, which, 

 with tile mother, is likely to do well.' " 



Our informant adds — 



" I never heard of any silk-mills at Sheffield. If 

 there was a Medical Society in Sheffield then, its 

 records might be examined." 



Can our correspondent N. D. throw any further 

 light upon this certainly curious and interesting 



case ? 



Richard Standfast (Vol. iii.,- p. 143.). — This 

 divine is buried in Christ Church, Bristol ; having 

 been rector of that church for the long space of 

 fifty-one years. There is a monument erected to 

 his memory in the above-mentioned building, 

 with the following inscription : — 



