Mar. 29. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



253 



Roman Catholic Peers (Vol. iii., p. 209.)- — Tlie 

 proper comment has been passeil on the Duke of 

 Norfolk, but not on the other two Roman Catholic 

 peers mentioned by iVIiss ]\Iartine:iu. She names 

 Lord Clifford ami Lord IJormer as "having ob- 

 taineil entrance at last to the legislative assembly, 

 ■where their fathers sat and ruled when their faith 

 was the law of the land." The term " fathers " is 

 of course figuratively used, but we may conclude 

 the writer meant to imply their ancestors possess- 

 ing the same dignity of peerage, and enjoying, in 

 virtue thereof, the right of " sitting and ruling" in 

 the senate of their country. Ifsucli was the lady's 

 meaning, what is her historical accuracy? The i 

 first Lord Dormer was created in the reign of 

 James L, in tlie year 1615; and, dying the next 

 year, never sat in parliament : and it has been 

 remarked as a very singular fact that this barony 

 had e.xisted for upwards of two centuries before 

 any of its possessors did so. But the first Lord 

 Dormer, who sat in the House of Lorils, was ad- 

 mitted, not by the Roman Catliolic Relief Act, but 

 I by the (act of his being willing to take the usual 

 oatl)s : this was John, the tenth lord, wln) suc- 

 ceeded his half-brother in 1819, and died without 

 issue in 18-26. As for Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, 

 that fimily was not raised to the peerage until the 

 year 1672, in the reign of Charles XL 



J. G. X. 



Election of a Pitpe (Vol. iii., p. 142.). — Pro- 

 bably T. refers to the (alleged) custom atten<l;int 

 upon the election of a pope, as part of the cere- 

 mony idluded to in the following lines in Hudi- 

 brus : — 



" .So, cardinals, th.-y say, do grope 

 At t'other end tlie new made Pope " 

 Part 1. canto iii. 1. 1249. [24mo. cd. of 17-20.] 

 In the notes to the above edition (and probably 

 to other of the old editions) your correspondent 

 will find a detailed exiilanation of these two 

 lines : I refer him to the work itself', as the 

 "note" is sca'-cely fit to transcribe here. 



J. B. COLMAN. 



Comets (Vol. iii., p. 223.). — Tliere is a copious 

 list of all the comets that have appeared since the 

 creation, and of all that will appear up to A. d. 

 2000, in the Art de verifier les Dates, vol. i. p.u't i. ; 

 ami vol. i. part ii. of the last edition. C. 



Camden and Ctirwen Families (Vol. iii., pp. 89. 

 12.'5.). — IL C. will find, in Harl. MS. 1437. fo. 69., 

 a short peiligree of the family of Nicholas Culwen 

 of Gressiard and Stuijbe, in the county of Lan- 

 ca.ster, showing his descent from Gilbert Culwen 

 or Ciirweii (a younger brother of Curwen of 

 Woikingtwn), who appears to iiave settled at 

 Stubbe aljoul the middle of the fifteenth century. 



Although tliis ped'gree was recorded by au- 

 thority of Norroy King of Arms, in 1613, while 

 Camden held the ofHcc of Clareiiceux, it does not 



show any connexion with Gyles Curwen, who 

 married a daughter and coheir of Barbara, of 

 Poidton Hall, in the county of Lancaster, and 

 whose daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Samp- 

 son Camden of Lomlon, and mother of Camden. 

 Nevertheless, it may possibly throw some light on 

 the subject. 



If H. C. cannot conveniently refer to the Harl. 

 ]\ISS., 1 will with much pleasure send him a copy 

 of this pedigree, and of another, in the same MS., 

 fo. 29., showing Camden's descent from Gyles 

 Curwen, if he will communicate his address to the 

 Editor of " Notes and Queries." Llewellyn. 



Auriga (Vol. iii., p. 188.). — That part of the 

 Roman bridle wlii(;h went about the horse's ears 

 (au?-es), was termed aiirea ; which, being by a 

 well-known grammatical figure put for the whole 

 head-irear of the horse, sutrsests as a meaning of 

 Auriga, '■'■is qui aureas agit, he who manages, 

 guides, or (as we say) handles, the reins." 



Pelethronius. 



Ecclesfield Hall. 



Straw Necklaces (Vol. i., p. 4., &c.). — ^lay not 

 these be possibly only Spenser's "I'ings of rushes," 

 mentioned by him among other fragile ornauients 

 lor the head and neck ? 



" Sometimes litT liead she fondly would aguize 

 Willi j/audy girloiids, or fresh tlosvrets dight 

 About her necke, or rmgs of rushes iilight." 



F. Q. lib. ii. canto vi. st. 7. 



Ache. 



The Nine of Diamonds, called the Curse of Scot- 

 land (Vol. i., pp. 61., 90.). — The ibllowing expla- 

 nation is given in a Classical Dictionary of the 

 Vulgar Tongue, 1785; an ignoble authority, it 

 must be admitted: — 



" Diamonds imply royalty, being ornaments to the 

 imperial crovvn, and every ninth King of Scotland U-dn 

 been obseived tor many ages to be a tyrant, and a 

 curse to that country." 



J. H. M. 



" Cum Grauo Salts" (Vol. iii., pp.88. 153.). — I 

 venture to suggest, that in this phrase the allusion 

 is to a rich and unctuous morsel, which, when 

 assisted bi/ a little salt, vvill be tolerateil by the 

 stomach, otherwise will lie rejected. In the same 

 way an extravagant statement, when talcen with a 

 slight (jualitication (cum grano salis) will be tole- 

 rated by the mind. I shoLdd wish to be iiifoiined 

 what writer first uses this phrase in a metaphorical 

 sen.se — not, 1 conceive, any classical author. 



X. Z. 



notes on hooks, sales, catalogces, etc. 



Mr. llees of Llandovery announces for publication 



by subscription (und;.'r the auspices of the Welsh 



MSS. .Society), a new edition of T/ic Mi/v;irian Arcliit- 



ohyy of Wales, with English translations and notes, 



