232 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 100. 



dotf ? In some of the nutliorities it is said to be 

 Charles VI., and in others " Le Koi Jean," mean- 

 ing, I presume, John II. Henrt H. Breen. 

 St. Lucia. 



176. Sanford's Descensiis. — Can any of your 

 correspondents say if Sanford's Descensus has 

 ever been published separately ? It is spoken of 

 in the 2nd vol. of Gale's Court of the Gentiles, and 

 was published in the works of a bishop wlio sur- 

 vived him. A copy of that prelate's works is in 

 the Bodleian Library, and contains the Descensus. 

 What is the bishop's name ? xEgrotus. 



177. Parish Registers — Briefs for Collection. — 

 What acts of parliament since the reign of 

 George I. affect parish registers ? 



On what authority were collections made in 

 churches by h-ief; in what year was that mode of 

 collection decreed ; and when did it cease ? 



J. B. (A Subscriber.) 



178. Early Printing Presses, Stichs, and Chases. 

 — lam a compositor, and have read with great 

 interest the " N" otes " on Caxton and Printing in 

 your valuable publication. May I ventiu-e to put a 

 Query which has often crossed my mind, especially 

 when I went to see Mr. Maclise's great painting at 

 the Royal Academy. What kind of press did 

 Caxton and his successors use ? Also, is any- 

 thing known of the shape of their "sticks" and 

 " chases ? " Mr. Maclise seems to have taken a 

 modern pattern for all of these, especially the two 

 last. l^M Quad. 



179. BootiMns. — Horace Walpole speaks in 

 many of his letters of the great benefit he had 

 experienced from the use of hooiikins in his attacks 

 of gout. In a letter to George Montagu, Esq., 

 dated July 31, 1767, he says: 



" Except one day's gout, which I cured with the 

 bootikins, I have been quite well since I saw you." 



Eight years afterwards his expectations of care 

 fromthem were not so high. In a letter to the 

 Eev. Mr. Cole, dated June 5, 1775, he remarks: 



" I am perfectly well, and expect to be so for a year 

 and a half. 1 desire no more of my lootikins than to 

 curtail my fits." 



Dr. E. J. Seymour (Thoughts on the Nature 

 and Treatment of several severe Diseases of the 

 Human Body, i. 107.: London, 1847), says that — 



" The bootikins were simply a glove, with a partition 

 for the thumb, but no separate ones for the fingers, 

 like an infant's glove, made of oiled silk." 



Can any of your readers shed light on this 

 matter ? E. D. 



Philadelphia. 



180. Printers' Privilege. — I have heard it con- 

 fidently stated that printers have the privilege, if 

 they are disposed to use it, to wear on all occasions 

 a sword dangling at their sides. If it be so. 



whence does it arise ? I have heard two expla- 

 nations, one, bearing prima facie evidence of in- 

 correctness, a special grant as a mark of favour ; 

 the other, which is the only reasonable way of ac- 

 counting for such a totally rmsuitable privilege, 

 that when the act passed forbidding arms to be 

 commonly worn, all kinds and manner of people 

 were mentioned by the name of their trades, bu- 

 sinesses, &c., except printers, who were accidently 

 omitted. How much of truth might there be in all 

 this ? AVhat is the act alluded to ? Tee Bee. 



181. Death of Pitt. — What authority is there 

 for the accompanying statement respecting the 

 death of Mr. Pitt '( 



" Among the anecdotes of statesmen few are more 

 interesting than that which records the death of Pitt. 

 The hand which had so long sustained the sceptre of 

 this country found no hand to clasp it in death. By 

 friends and by servants he was alike deserted ; and a 

 stranger wandering on from room to room of a deserted 

 house, came at last by chance to a chamber untcnded 

 but not unquiet, in which the great minister lay, alone 

 and dead." — See Edinburgh Review for July, 1851, 

 p. 78., on the Poems and Memoir of Hartley Coleridge. 



Nathaniel Ellison. 



182. "-A Utile, Bird told me."—C. W. wishes to 

 know if any of the readers of " Notes and 

 Queries" can tell him the origin of the proverb, 

 " A little bird told me." 



C. W. has an idea that the origin is from the 

 Koran, where is an account of all the birds being 

 summoned before Solomon. The lapwing absents 

 himself. Upon being questioned why he did not 

 immediately obey, he says he has been at the 

 court of the Queen of Sheba, who has resolved 

 upon visiting Solomon. On the hint, Solomon 

 prepares for the queen's reception. The lapwing 

 sets off to Ethiopia, and tells the Queen that Solo- 

 mon wishes to see her. The meeting, as we know, 

 took place. 



Not having the Koran, C. W. cannot refer to it 

 to see if it is right or wrong. 



183. Baroner. — At page 105. of the volume of 

 Bury Wills published by the Camden Society, is 

 the will of AVilliam Place, priest, Master of the 

 Hospital of St. John Evangelist without the south 

 gate of Bury St. Edmunds, dated 21st July, 1504, 

 whereby he willed that " Damp " William Carsey 

 (elsewhere in the same will called Karsey), " Ba- 

 roner" of the Monastery of Bury St. Edmunds, 

 should assign two children to say De profundis at 

 his grave for Lis soul every day from his burying 

 day till his thirtieth day be past, and they to have 

 each day for their labour one penny betwixt them. 

 Mr. Tymms's notes to the .above publication are 

 copious .and valuable, but he omits to explain the 

 term " Baroner;" and the object of this Query is 

 to ascertain if he, or auy of your numerous cor- 

 respondents, can do so. I conjecture that the 



