198 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 98. 



the 8th volume of the Spectator^ and the supposed 

 iuveiitor of the universal English short-hand. The 

 author of the rebus seems to have been then un- 

 known (1765), and it is said to have been "com- 

 monly ascribed to Lord Chesterfield." Whether 

 this was asserted in jest, does not appear : but 

 Dr. Byrom, to whom application for a solution 

 liad Ijcen made, in the course of his reply, given 

 in his own peculi;ir style, has the following pas- 

 sage, which may be a guide to those who may 

 now seek to arrive at the mystery : — 



" Made for excuse, you see, upon the whole, 

 The too great number of the words, that poll 

 For correspondency to cv'ry line ; 

 And make the meant one tedious to divine : 

 But we suspect that other points ambiguous, 

 And eke unfair, contribute to fatigue us. 



For first, with due submission to our betters ; 

 What antient city would have eigliteen letters? 

 Or more ? — for, in the latter lines, the clue 

 May have one correspondent word, or two : 

 Clue should have said, if only one occurr'd. 

 Not correspondent words to each, but word. 



From some suspicions of a bite, we guess 

 The number of the letters to be less ; 

 And, from expression of a certain cast, 

 Some joke, unequal to the pains at last ; 

 Could you have said that all was right and clever, 

 We should have try'd more fortunate endeavour. 



It should contain, should this same jeu de siots, 

 Cteun-pointed turn, short, fail; and A raopos ; 

 int without straining ; neatness without starch ; 

 Hinted, tho' hid ; and decent, tho' iis arch; 

 No vile idea should disgrace a rebus — 

 Sic mcUNT MUS^, SIC EDICIT PHCEBUS." 



T.W. (1) 



[We are also indebted to 11. P. for a similar Reply.] 



Speculative Difficulties (Vol. iii., p. 477.). — As 

 L. M.M. R. is not certain as to the title and 

 author of the book he inquires about, perhaps he 

 may find it under the title of The Semi-sceptic, 

 or the Common Sense of Religion considered, by 

 the Kev. J. T. James, M.A.; London, 1825. This 

 is a very unpretending but very beautiful work, of 

 some 400 pages. The author died Bishop of 

 Calcutta. O. T. Dobbin. 



St. Paul (Vol. iii., p. 451.). — In answer to 

 Emun, allow me to name a Life of St. Paul by the 

 Rev. Dr. Addington, an eminent dissenting mi- 

 nister of the close of the last century ; a work on 

 the life and epistles of St. Paul by Mr. Bevan, 

 a member of the Society of Friends ; and two 

 books by Fletcher and Hannah More on the cha- 

 racter of the same apostle. O. T. D. 



Commissioners on Officers of Justice in England 

 (Vol. iv., p. 152.). — I can give no information re- 

 specting the commission of July 27, 1783 ; but on 

 June 2, 8 Geo. II. [1735], a commission issued 



to Sir William Joliffe, Knt., William Bunbury, 

 Simon Aris, Thomas Brown, Thomas De Veil, 

 Esquires, and others, for inquiring into the officers 

 of the Court of Exchequer, and their fees, " and for 

 the other purposes therein mentioned." I imagine 

 this commission also extended to other courts. 

 The names of the jurors impannelled and sworn as 

 to the Court of Exchequer, July 9, 1735 ; their 

 oath, presentment, and six schedules of fees, are 

 given in Jones's Index to the Originalia and Memo- 

 randa Records (London, fo. 1793), vol.i. Preface, 

 xxxiii. — xliv. C. H. Cooper. 



Cambridge. 



Noble and Workhouse Names (Vol. iii., p. 350.). 

 — I can enumerate several old names, some Anglo- 

 Saxon, in the parishes of Burghfield and Tylchurst, 

 in Berks, belonging to the ])easantry, many of 

 whom may have been gentry in bygone years ; 

 such as Osborne, Osman, Seward, Wolford, God- 

 dard. Woodward, Redbourne, Lambourne, Engle- 

 field, Gower, Harding, Ilussey, Coventry, Avery, 

 Stacy, Ilsley, Ilandin, Pigot, Hemans, Earner, an(l 

 Powel. A respectable yeoman's widow, whose 

 maiden name was Wentwortli, told me she was of 

 the same family as Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl 

 of Straflbrd, beheaded in Charles's reign. 



Julia R. Bockett, 



Southcote Lodge. 



Poulster (Vol. iv., p. 152.). — The meaning of 

 this word is undoubtedly as D. X. surmises. The 

 original term was upholder, which is still in occa- 

 sional use ; next upholster ; and, thirdly, uphol- 

 sterer. In Stowe's Survey of London, it a])pears in 

 the second form : and so also poulter, which still 

 exists as a surname. " Mv. Richard Deakes, Up- 

 houlster," was buried at St. Dunstan's in the AVest, 

 London, in 1630. {Collectanea Topog. et Geneal., 

 V. 378.) It would be worth inquiry when the in- 

 correct duplication of termination first produced 

 our modern words upholsterer and poulterer ? Mr. 

 Pegge remarks, that " Fruiterer seems to be 

 equally redundant;" and that "cater-fris written 

 cater in the niaigin of the Life of Gusmand de 

 Alfarache, folio etlition, 1622, p. 125. {Anecdotes of 

 the English Language, edit. Christmas, 1 844, p. 79.)" 



J.G.N. 



Judges styled Reverend (Vol. iv., p. 151.). — Your 

 correspondent F. W. J., before he receives an 

 answer to his Query, "When did the judges lose 

 the title of Reverend and Very Reverend!'" must 

 first show that they ever bore it. By the example 

 he quotes he miuht as well argue that tliev bore 

 the title of "Trcs Sages," as "that of "Tres Re- 

 verend." The fact is, that, as a title, it was never 

 used by them, the words quoted being nothing 

 more than i-espectful epithets applied to eminent 

 men of a past age, by the editors or publishers of 

 the work. 



