Mat 10. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



P.S. When was the name of Poe(s Comer first 

 attached to the south transept of Westminster 

 Abbey? 



Jermyn Street. 



Ahhot Eiistacius, of whom J. L. (Vol. iii., p. 141.) 

 asks, was the Abbot of Flay, and came over from 

 Normandy to England, and preached all thi-ough 

 tills kingdom with much effect in the beginning of 

 John's reign, A. d. 1200, as Roger Ilovedene tells 

 us, AiiJial., ed. Savile, London, 1596, fos. 457. b, 

 466. b. AVendover (iii. 151.) and Matt. Paris in 

 anno, mention him. D. Rock. 



Vox Populi Vox Dei (Vol. iii., p. 288.) is, I 

 find, a much older proverb in England than Ed- 

 ward ITI.'s reign, for whose coronation sermon 

 it was chosen the text, not by Simon Mepham, but 

 Walter Reynolds, as your correspondent St. Johns 

 rightly says. Speaking of the way in which St. Odo 

 yielded his consent to be Abp. of Canterbury, 

 circ. A. D. 920, William of Malmesbury writes : 

 "Recogitans illud proverbiuni, Vox populi vox Dei.'' 

 — De Geslis Pont., L. i. fo. 114., cd. Savile. 



D.RocK. 



Francis Moore and his Almanack (Vol. iii., 

 p. 263.). — Mr. Knight, in his London, vol. iii. 

 p. 246., throws a little light on this subject : 



" The renowned Francis Moore .seems to have made 

 his first appearance about the end of the seventeenth 

 century. lie published a Kakndarium Ecdcsiasticum 

 in 1699, and Ills earliest Vux Stellariim or Almanac, as 

 far as we can discover, came out in 1701," &c. 



But Mr. Knight is not sure that " Francis 

 Moore " was not a nnm de guei-re, although at 

 p. 241. he gives the portrait of the "Physician" 

 from an anonymous print, published in 1657. 



A. A. 



Abridge. 



There is an Irish edition published in Drogheda, 

 sold for threepence, and embellished with a portrait 

 of Francis JMoore. Can Ireland claim this worthy? 

 Many f irmers and others rely much on the weather 

 prophecies of this almanack. A tenant of mine 

 always announces to me triumphantly that " Moore 

 is right :" but his triumphs come at very long 

 intervals. K. 



I can answer part of 11. P. W.'s Query. Francis 

 Moore's celebrateil Almanack first appeared in 

 1698. We have tiiis date upon his own confession. 

 iJefore his Almanack for 1771 is a letter which 

 begins thus : 



" Kind Header, 



" Tliis being tlie 73rd year since my Almanack 

 first appeared to the world, and luivln;; for several 

 years presented you with observations that have come 

 to pass to the adniiration of many, I have likewise pre- 

 sented you with several hieroglyphics," &c. 



EUWAED F. Rl.MUAUI.T. 



That such a personage really did exist there can 

 be little doubt. Bromley (in Engraved Poi'traits, 

 §-c.) gives 1657 as the date of his birth, and says that 

 there was a portrait of him by Drapentier ad 

 vivum. Lysons mentions him as one of tlie re- 

 markable men wlio, at different periods, resided at 

 Lambeth, and says that his house was in Calcott's 

 Alley, High Street, then called Back Lane, where 

 he seems to have enlightened his generation in 

 the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and 

 schoolmaster. J. C. B. 



iJflt^frnaitr0us. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC. 



Professor De Morgan lias just furnished a new con- 

 tribution to U Art de verifier les Dates, in the shape of 

 a small but most u.soful and practical book, entitled 

 Thi Book of Almanacks, with an Index of Reference, by 

 which the Almanack may he found fur every year, whether 

 in the Old Style or Alw, from any Epoch Ancient or 

 Modern vp to A.E. 2030 Willi means of finding the 

 Day of any Neio or Fidl Mooyi from B.C. 2000 to a. n. 

 2000. An example will slunv, better even than this 

 ample title-page, the great utility of this work to 

 the historical cnrjulrer. Walter Scott, sjieaking of 

 the battle of Bannockburn, whicli was fought on the 

 day of St. John the Baptist, June 2'I, 1.314, says, 

 " It was a night of lovely June, 

 High rose in cloudless blue the moon." 

 Now, should the reader be desirous of testing the 

 accuracy of this statenTCnt, (and how many statements 

 have ere this been tested by the fact of the moon's age!), 

 he turns to Professor De Morgan's Index, which at 

 1314 gives Epact 3., Dominical Letter F. , Number of 

 Almanack 1 7. Turning to this almanack, he finds that 

 the 24tli June was on a I\Ionday ; from the Introduction 

 (p. x:ii.) and a very easy calculation, he learns that the 

 full moon of June, 1314, would be on the 27th, or within 

 a day, and from a more exact method (at p. xiv. ), that 

 the full moon was within two hours of nine a. ji., on 

 the 28tli. So that Sir Walter was correct, there being 

 more than half moon on the night of which he was 

 speaking. .Such an instance as the one cited will show 

 how valuable tli2 Book of Almanacks must prove to all 

 historical students, and what a ready test it furnishes 

 as to accuracy of dates, &c. It must take its place on 

 every shelf beside Sir H. Nicolas' Chronolor/y of His- 

 tory. 



We doubt not that many of our readers share our 

 feeling as to the importance of children's books, from 

 the influence they may be destined to exercise upon 

 generations yet unborn. To all such we shall bo doing 

 acceptable service by pointing out iVIrs. Alfred Gatty's 

 little volume, The Fairy Godmothers anil other Tales, as 

 one which combines the two essentials of good books 

 for children; namely, imagination to attract, and sound 

 morals to instruct. Both these reipiisites will be 

 found in Mrs. Gatty's most pleasing collection of tales, 

 which do not require the very clever fiontispiece by 

 Miss Barker to render the volume an acceptable gift to 

 all "gcjod little iMasters and Mistresses." 



