Sept. 13. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



189 



are sent to you are those which an author must 

 put to himself in his closet ; the manner in which 

 others help him shows the manner in which he 

 ought, if he couhl, to help himself. Occasionallj, 

 the querist betrays a want of power to reduce his 

 own difficulty to its proper category; occasionally, 

 also, the respondent fails to grapple with the real 

 point. All this is instructive, and reconciles those 

 who are instructed by it to the presence of many 

 things which seem trivial or out of place to those 

 who do not consider the nature of the whole un- 

 dertaking. But the instruction I speak of will 

 be much augmented in quantity and elevated in 

 character, if ever the time should come when the 

 mass of materials collected finds an architect to 

 arrange it. The classification of the obstacles 

 which an inquii-er meets with^ so treated as to 

 give a view of the causes of difficulty as they 

 arise, both from the state of our books, and of our 

 modes of using them, must surely one day suggest 

 itself as a practicable result of the " Notes and 

 QuER[ES." The more this result is insisted on 

 the more likely is it to be realised ; and though it 

 may need twenty volumes of the work to be com- 

 pleted, or even more, before anything can be 

 done, the mere suggestion may induce some of 

 your readers to keep an eye upon your pages with 

 a view to something beyond current matter. M. 



iHtitor §.atsi. 



Meaning of '' Ruell." — In the " Ehime of Sir 

 Thopas " Chaucer says : 



" His sadell was of ruell bone 

 His bridle as the sun yshone," &c. 

 Translated by Z. A. Z. : 



" His saddle was of jit black bone." 



Whitaker and Co, London, 1841. 

 Tyrwhitt says : 



" His sadel was of rcwel bone." 

 What kind of material this was, I profess my- 

 self quite ignorant. 



" In the Turnament of Tottenham, ver. 75. {Anc. 

 Poet., vol. ii. p. 18.), Tibbe is introduced with 'a gar- 

 land on her liead full of ruetl bones.' The derivation 

 in Gloss. LTrr. of this word from the French riole, 

 diversely colon rerl, has not the least probability. The 

 other, which deduces it from the French roiielle, rotula, 

 the whirl-bone or knee-pan, is more plausible; though, 

 ^s the glossarist observes, tliat sense will hardly suit 

 here." — Chaucer, by Thomas Tyrwliitt, Esq. Picker- 

 ing : London, 1 S.'JO. 



" His saddle was of ruel bone." 



Chaucer, by Thomas Si>eght. 

 London, lO'ST. 

 And its Glossary says : 



" RuEt.i. UoNK, / of the French word riole, that is, 

 diversely colored : an Antista;con in many words de- 



rived from another language; as, in Law from Lny, 

 and Rni/ from Hex." 



So far the printed attempts at explaining this 

 term rtiell. May I submit for the consideration 

 of your readers, that it is related to the French 

 adjective rouille, rusty ; used by Moliere iia the 

 form enrouille. Evidently this has affinity to 

 mber, rouge, and red. So that Tibbe's garland 

 would be of tortoise-shell combs : and the saddle 

 would be of a similar nature. 



La Bi/ole is found as the name of the tenement 

 occupied by Tliomas le Bat (temp. Ed. III. ?) 

 Was this the sign of " The Comb," which is so 

 often seen in the windows of our present shops ? 



J. W. P. 



Curious Facts in Natural History (Vol. iii., 

 pp. 166. 398.). — In St. Lucia a coleopterous insect 

 is found with a small plant growing directly from 

 the back. I have myself seen it ; but the plant 

 consisted merely of the first two leaflets. E. H. B. 



Demerary. 



PAPAL BULLS, ETC. 



A correspondent (S. P. H. T.) inquires, 1. Has 

 there been any authorised collection of Papal 

 Bulls, Breves, Encyclical Letters, &c., published 

 since the beginning of the present century ? 



2. If not, has there been any authorised list of 

 those addressed to the Roman Catholic Church in 

 England or Ireland ? 



3. What bulls have, during the last century, 

 been published against Bible Societies, &c., and 

 whei-e will I find authorised copies of them, more 

 particularly those of Pope Pius VII., bearing 

 date 29th June, 1816, and directed to the Primate 

 of Poland; that of 18th September, 1819, against 

 the circulation of the Scriptures in the Irish 

 Schools; that of Leo XII., dated 3rd May, 1824, 

 directed to the Irish clergy, which last is the latest 

 I am acquainted with ? 



4. AVliat authority is there for using the "Form 

 of receiving Converts from the Church of Rome," 

 as published by the British Reformation Society ? 

 Does it occur in anij edition of the Book of 

 Common Prayer ? 



5. What authority is there for the occasional 

 services of 5th November, 30tli January, 29th 

 May, and 20th June ? Some of these are, I am 

 aware, specially directed by act of parliament ; 

 but the point upon which I wish to obtain in- 

 formation is, what the precise amount of obligation 

 is that exists on the olBciatin'r minister to use or 

 neglect the services in the absence of any specific 

 directions on the matter from his Ordinary ? 



6. AMiat authority is there for the use of the 

 Gloria immediately after the minister's announcing 



