192 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 98. 



sentlbus tunc ibidem, Veneralailibus viris, Wil- 

 liclmo Mors, et Joliamie Younge, Legtvm^ et 

 Thonia Wodyngton, Dccretorvm, Doctoribus, Tes- 

 tibiis," &c. {Rymei; xiii. 61.) And in Wood's 

 Atken., 1845 (ii. 728.), we find the same " Tlio. 

 Wodyiiton, deei'. doctor," collated to the church of 

 St. Mary le Bow, on the resignation of the same 

 " Joh'is Yonge, LL.D." on May 3, 1514. *. 



148. Grimaclyke or Grimesditch. — If you do 

 not deem the following Query too trifling ibr your 

 most invaluable publication, I should be much 

 obliged if you would insert it, in hopes some of 

 your antiquarian correspondents may find some- 

 thing to say on the point. 



From near Great Berkhampstead, Hants, to 

 Bradenham, Bucks, about fifteen miles (I write 

 from memory), runs a vallum or ditch, called 

 Grimsdyke, Grimesditch, or the Devil's Dyke : 

 it is of considerable boldness of profile, being 

 in some places twelve or fourteen feet from the 

 crest of the parapet to the bottom of the ditch ; 

 it keeps within two miles of the crest of the 

 Chiltern Hills, and is passingly mentioned in 

 Lipscombe's Histoi-rj of Bucht, and in the com- 

 mencement of Clutterbnck's Histoi-y of Hert- 

 fordshire. Are there other earthworks of the 

 same name (Grimsdyke) in England ; and what 

 was their former use ? This one in question, 

 from its total want of flank defence, could hardly 

 hold an enemy in check for long ; nor does it seem 

 to have been a military way connecting detached 

 forts, as, though there are earthworks (camps) on 

 either side, it seems to hold a tolerably straight 

 course independent of them. And, lastly^ about 

 the etymology of the word : — I find, in Bosworth's 

 Anglo-Saxon Dictionary., among a host of other 

 meanings : 



" Grima, ghost, phantom, witch, hag." 



I may mention that there is the tradition about 

 the dyke, connnon to most works of the sort, that 

 it was "done by the Devil in a night." Nauticxjs. 



H.M. S. Phaiton, Lisbon, Aug. 25. 



149. Passage in Luther. — In Luther's Respon.'iio 

 ad lihrnm Anvbrosii Catharini, where he attacks 

 the confessional, he says : 



" Cogit etiam papa pcccata snarum legum confiteri — 

 ad ha;c tot pcccatorum ilifieientiis, specicbus, generibus, 

 filiabus, nepotibus, raniis, circunistantlis," &c. 



Were these expressions merely jocular, or hcve 

 any papal canonists or casuists given the title of 

 filice., ncpoies., or rami., to offences deducible from 

 the same root ? II. W. 



150. Linteamina and Surplices. — What is the 

 meaning of linteamina, to be met with in the writ- 

 ings of eeclesiologists of a past age, and in the 

 canonists ? 



At what date did the surplice first become an 



ecclesiastical vestment, and what are the differences 

 discernible in the surplices of the Greek, Latin, 

 and English churches ? J. Y. 



Ellrahe or Hellrake. — Can you kindly give 

 me any information respecting the word ell-rake 

 or hell-rake (for I know not which it is), an agri- 

 cultural implement in frequent use ? It is not 

 alluded to in Todd's Johnsons Dictionary, 1818. 



Vashti. 



[In Shropslilve an ell-rahe means a large rake: an 

 ellock-rahe, a small rake used for breaking up ant-hills.j 



Francis Gierke. — I have now before me a MS. 

 in small folio on paper, pp. 225., besides index, 

 entitled — 



" Pro Curatorium ac Modus postulandi in Curijs et 

 Causis ecclesiasticis Auct'at'e reverendissimi in Christi 

 patris ac Dfni DiTii Johannis providentia Divina 

 Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi, totius Anglie Prima'' et 

 Wetropolitani London! cclebra que commu)iiter Curie 

 de Arcubus apjiellantur. Per Franclscum Gierke, 

 Alme Curie de Arcubus procurcn' coUucta et edita." 



Who was Francis Gierke ; and was this collec- 

 tion ever published, and when ? S. P. II. T. 



[Francis Gierke for about forty years practised the 

 civil law in the Court of Arches, Admiralty, Audience, 

 Prerogative, and Consistorial of the Bisbop of London. 

 In 1594, the Oxford University conferred upon him 

 the degree of Baclielor of Civil Law. His principal 

 work, entitled Vraxis curia Admiralitatis Anglicc, passed 

 tbroiigh several editions. A short notice of the autlior 

 will be found in Wood's Allieniv, i. 657. (Bliss), and a 

 list of his other works in Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica. ] 



Nine Days' Wonder. — Did any particular cir- 

 cumstance give rise to the saying, "A nine days' 

 wonder?" W.R.M. 



[Most probably Kemp's Nine Daies Wonder, per- 

 formed in a Morrice Davmce from London to Norwich, 

 wlierein cuery dayos iourney is pleasantly set downe, 

 to satisfie his friends the truth against all lying ballad- 

 makers ; what he did, how he was welcome, and by 

 wliome entertained. — This very curious tract has been 

 reprinted by the Camden Society.] 



Streso. — In a book by Cradock on the Lives 

 of the Apostles, ])ublished in 1G41, I find many 

 extracts and quotations in Latin from Streso 

 in Fref. de Vit. Apostolorum. As I cannot find 

 out or hear of such an author or book of Streso, 

 could you inform me who he was ? 



LiNCOLNIENSIS. 



[The work is in the Bodleian Library : " Streso 

 (Gasp.), Anhaltinus, Commentarius practicus in Actorum 

 Apostolicorum per Lucnm EvmiCjeUatam descriptonnii 

 capita prinra sedecim. 4to. Amst. 1650." The same 

 library contains five other works by this author.] 



