270 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 102. 



Jerdan's well-deserving pupils, the Literary Ga- 

 zette iov 1822:; 



" I am inclined to believe that tlie illuminated grottos 

 of oyster-shells for -nhich the London children beg 

 about the streets, are the representatives of some Ca- 

 tholic emblem which had its day, as a substitute for a 

 more classical idol. I was struck in London with the 

 similarity of the plea which the children of both coun- 

 tries urge in order to obtain a halfpenny. The ' It is 

 but once a year, sir ! ' often reminded me of the 



' La Cruz de Mayo 

 Que no come ni bebe 

 En todo el ano.' 



'fTlie Cross of May, 

 Remember pray, 



Which fasts a year and feasts a day.' " 

 [Letters from Spain. By Don Leucadio Doblado. 



This to prove that I did remember the grotto. 



*&? 

 Manpadt House. 



The King's Evil. — One Mr. Bacon of Ferns,- 

 being an one-aud-twentieth son born in wedlock, 

 without a daughter intervening, has performed 

 prodigious cures in the king's e%'il and scrofulous 

 cases, by stroking the part with his hand. {The 

 Cfentleman' s 3Iagazine ioi Decemher 1731, p. 543.) 



* & ? 



Bees. — Being at a neighbour's house about a 

 month ago, the conversation turned upon the 

 death of a mutual acquaintance a short time prior 

 to my visit. A venerable old lady present asked, 

 with great earnestness of manner, " Whether Mr. 

 li.'s bees had been informed of his death ? " (Our 

 ii-iend R. had been a great bee-keeper.) No one 

 appeared to be able to answer the old lady's cpes- 

 tion satisiactorily, whereat she was much con- 

 cerned, and said, "Well, if the bees were not 

 told of Mr. R.'s death they would leave their 

 hives, and never return. Some people give them 

 a piece of the funeral cake ; I don't think that is 

 absolutely necessary, but certainly it is better to 

 tell them of the death." Being shortly afterwards 

 in the neighbourhood of my deceased friend's 

 residence, 1 went a little out of my way to inquire 

 after the bees. Upon walking up the garden I 

 saw the industrious little colony at full work. I 

 learned, upon inquiring of the housekeeper, that 

 the bees had been properly informed of Mr. E.'s 

 death. 



I was struck with the singularity of this speci- 

 men of folk-lore, and followed up the subject with 

 further inquiries amongst my acquaintance. I 

 found that in my own family, upon the death of 

 my mother, some five-and-twenty years ago, the 

 bees were duly informed of the event. A lady 

 I'riend also told me, that twenty years ago, when 

 she was at school, the father of her school-mistress 

 died, and on that occasion the bees were made 



acquainted with his death, and regaled with some 

 of the funeral cake. 



I wish to know whether this custom prevails in 

 any other, and what part of England, and to what 

 extent ? L. L. L. 



North Lincolnshire. 



THE CAXTON COFFEE. 



Reflecting on the extreme rarity of the works 

 which issued from the press of Caxton, the ques- 

 tion arises. What number of copies was he accus- 

 tomed to print ? On that point, as it seems, we 

 have only conjectures. 



Maittaire assumes that the number was about 

 200 ; an opinion which I shall not controvert. 

 Dibdin, however, inclines to think, with regard to 

 The golden legend and other works of the same 

 class, " that at least 400 copies were struck ofi';" 

 and in support of this conjecture, cites the practice 

 of Sweynheym and Pannartz, as proved by the 

 memorial addressed in their behalf to Sixtus IV., 

 by J. Andrea, bishop of Aleria, in 1472, which 

 practice he thus states : — 



" If we are to judge from the celebrated list of the 

 number of copies of the different works printed by 

 those indefatigable typographical artists, Sweynheym 

 and Pannartz, it would appear that 275 was the usual 

 number of copies of a particular work; although some- 

 times they ventured to strike off as many as 550 ; and, 

 twice, not fewer than 1100 copies." 



Now, our renowned bibliographer misinterprets 

 the important document which he cites, Sweyn- 

 heym and Pannartz printed 300 copies of a 

 Donaixis, and the same number of a Speculum vita 

 humancB, and of two more works. In all other 

 cases, each impression of the works which pro- 

 ceeded from their press consisted of only 275 copies. 

 The words Vohtmina quingenta quinquaginta refer 

 to works of which two editions were published, or 

 which were in two volumes ; and the words Volu- 

 mina mille centum, to a work of which there were 

 two editions of two volumes each. So the con- 

 jectuj-e of Dibdin loses its best support. 



As Sweynheynx and Pannartz printed only 275 

 copies of the works of such authors as St. Augus- 

 tin and St. Jerome, of Cresar, Cicero, Livy, Ovid, 

 Quinctilian, and Virgil — works which must have 

 found purchasers in all parts of Europe — it is 

 rather improbable that Caxton should have ven- 

 tured to exceed that number with respect to books 

 for which, being chiefly translations, there could 

 bo no demand beyond the shores of England. 



Bolton Cokney. 



Minor ^atti. 



Braham Moor. — The following remarkable ac- 

 count of this place by John Watson, Escp, of Mal- 

 ton, in the year 1781, may be interesting to some 

 of the readers of your paper. Braham is situated 



