Mar. 29. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



249 



Cross," and at another period of his life in Mon- 

 mouth Court. He is reported to have amassed a 

 large fortune from ])ractising upon the credulity of 

 the public, and was the grand answerer of " Que- 

 ries "in his d;iy. Defoe's entertaining pieces re- 

 lating to him are evidently novels founded u])on 

 fact. Jas. Crosslev. 



Christinas Day (Vol. iii., p. 167.). — Julian I. 

 has the credit of transferring the celebration of 

 Christ's birth from Jan. 6th to Dec. 25th ; but 

 ]\Iosheim considers the report very (piestion- 

 able (vol. i. p. 370. Soames's edit.). Bingham, in 

 bis Christian Antiq., devotes ch. iv. of book xx. to 

 the consideration of this festival, and that of the 

 Epiphany ; but does not notice the claim set up 

 on behalf of Julian I.; neither Neander (vol. iii. 

 pp. 41.5 — 22. Eng. Transhition). It would appear 

 tluit tlie Eastern Church kept Christmas on Jan. 

 6th, and the Western Church on Dec. 2oth : 

 at length, about the time of Chrysostom, the 

 Oriental Christians sided with the Western 

 Church. Bingham also cites Augustine as saying 

 that it was the current tradition that Christ was 

 born on the eighth oftlie kalends of January, that 

 is, oil the 2.3th of December. Had, therefore, 

 Julian I. dogmatically fi.xed the 2.5th of Decem- 

 ber as the birthday of our Saviour, it is scarcely 

 possible to suppose that Augustine, who flourished 

 about half a century later, would allege current 

 tradition as the reason, without any notice of 

 Julian. N. E. R. (A Subscriber). 



[See Tillemont's Histoire Ecclesiastique, tome i., 

 note 4., for a full discussion of this question. Also 

 Mcslieim's De Reims Chri.itiunorvm ante Consfanthivm 

 Ciimmentdrii, sa'ciiluni primom, sec. 1. ; and Butler's 

 Lives of the Saints, article Christmas-Day.] 



Christmas- day (Vol. iii , p. 167.). — St. John of 

 Chrysostom, arciiliishop of Nice (died a. n. 407), 

 in an e|)islle upon this subject, relates (tom. v. 

 p. 4.5. edit. Montf, Paris, 1718-34) that, at the 

 instance of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (died a.d. 385), 

 St. Julius (Pope A.D. 337-352) procured a strict 

 inquiry to be made into the day of our Saviour's 

 nativity, which being found to be the 25th Dec, 

 that day was thenceforth set apart for the cele- 

 bration of this " Festorum omnium metropolis," 

 as he styles it. St. Tilespiiorus (Pope a.d. 128- 

 139), however, is sui)pose<l by the generality of 

 ancient authorities to be the first who appointed 

 tile 25th Dec. for that purpose. The point is 

 involved in much uncertainty, but your cor- 

 respondent may find all the information he seeks 

 in Buronii Apparutux ad Aimalcs Ecclesiusticos, 

 fol., Lui-re, 1740, pp. 475. ct seq.; and in a curious 

 tract, enlitli'd The Feast of Feasts; or, the Cele- 

 bration of llie Sar-i-ed Niitirity of our lilessed Lord 

 and Saviour Jesus Christ; grounded npov the 

 Scriptures, and ennfirined by the Practice of the 

 Christian C/iiirch in all Ages. 4to. Oxf. 1644. 



This tr.act is in the British Museum. J. C. 

 makes a tremendous leap in chronolonfy when he 

 asks " Was it not either Julius I. or II! ?" Why 

 the one died exactly 1161 years after the other! 



COWGILL,. 



Christmas Day (Vol. iii., p. 167.). — In a note 

 to one of Bishoj) Pearson's sermons {Opera Minora, 

 ed. Churton) occurs the following passage from 

 St. Chrysostom : — 



" napa T&j'/ aKpifiws Tavra ilSSrioy, Koi -rriv ttoAiu 

 fKeivTif (sc. Riimain) oIkouvtwv, ■KaptiK-qipo.fxii/ T-fjv 

 ■)}fj.epav. Oi yap eVcT SiarpilSoiiTes avoidev Kai €(c 



TraAaTas irapaSoaecos TavTr]v iTrniKovvTiS," &c. 



Homil. m. Nat. ii. 354. 



The remainder of the quotation mv note does 

 not supply, but it may be easily found by the re- 

 ference. The day, therefore, seems fi.xed by 

 " tradition," and received both by the Eastern 

 and Western Church, and not on any dogmatical 

 decision of the popes. R. W. F. 



MS. Sermons by Jeremy Taylor (Vol. i., p. 125.). 

 — Coleridge's assertion, '' that there is now extant 

 in MS. a folio of unprinted sermons by Jeremy 

 Taylor," must have proceede<l frcuu his wishes 

 rather than his knowledge. No such MS. is known 

 to e.xist ; and such a discovery is, I believe, as 

 little to be expected as a fresh play of Shakspeare's. 

 Was it in the " Lands of Vision," and with " the 

 damsel and the dulcimer," that the transcendental 

 philosoplier beheld it? Jas. Ckossi.et. 



Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel (Vol. li., 

 p. 406.) — 'J'he editifui noticed by your corre- 

 spcmdent, " ]irinted s.nd sold by H. Hills, in Black- 

 friars, near the Water Side, lor the benefit of the 

 Poor," 1708, Svo., is a iuere catch-penny. Hills, 

 the jirinter, was a great sinner in this way. I 

 have Iloscommoii's translaticm of Horace's Art of 

 Poetry, 1709 ; his Essay on translated Verse, 1709; 

 Mulgiave's Essay on Poetry, 1709; Denham's 

 Coopers Hill, 1709; and many other poems, all 

 printed by Hills, on bad paper, and very incor- 

 rectly, from 1708 to 1710, for sale at a low price. 



Jas. Crosslet. 



The Fev. W. Adams (Vol. iii., p. 140.). — The 

 age of j\Ir. Adams at his death was thirty-three. 

 His tomb is in the churchyard of Bonchurch — a 

 simple coped coffin ; but the cross jilaced u])on it 

 is, in allusion to his own beautiful allegory, slightly 

 j-aised, so that its shadow falls — 



" Alonj^ tlie letters of his name. 

 Anil o'er the luunher of his years." 



I have a pretty engraving of this tomb, pur- 

 chased at Bonchurch in 1849, and your corre- 

 spondent may j)erhaps be glad to adopt the idea 

 f(jr an illustration of the book he mentions. 



E. J. M. 



Duchess of Ihichivgham (Vol. iii., p. 224.). — I 

 am much surprsed at this question ; 1 thought 



