Oct. 18. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



295 



Meaning of Aneroid. — What is the derivation of 

 the word aneroid, as applied to a new description 

 of barometer lately introduced ? Agricola. 



[From a note in Mr. Dent's interesting pamphlet, 

 A Treatise on the Aneroid, a newly invented Portable 

 Barometer; with a short Historical Notice of Barometers 

 in general, their Construction and Use, it appears that 

 the word aneroid has been the subject of some philo- 

 logical discussion. " It is said to he derived from three 

 Greek words, o, vr)ph9, and eiSor, and to signify a form 

 without f aid. If so, it does not appear very happily 

 chosen, since it indicates merely what the instrument is 

 not, without at all explaining what it is."] 



Fox's Cunning. — Can any of your correspondents 

 or readers give any authentic information as to the 

 fact havinsj been witnessed by any one, of the old 

 story of the fox relieving itself of fleas by taking 

 a feather in its mouth, and gradually, though 

 slowly enough, retrograding itself into the water, 

 first by legs and tail, then boily, shoulders, and 

 head to the nose, and thus compelling the fleas, to 

 escape from the drowning element, to pass over the 

 nose on to the bridge of a feather, which is then 

 committed to the stream. 



Has any one actually seen this ? Has any one 

 beard it related by one who has seen the ejectment 

 performed ? J. D. 



Torquay, May 12. 



[Lord Brougham, in his Dialogues on Instinct 

 (ed. 1844, p. 110.), does not allude to this proverbial 

 instance, but says : " I know not if it (the Fox's cun- 

 ning) was ever more remarkably displayed than in 

 the Duke of Beaufort's country ; where Reynard, being 

 hard pressed, disappeared suddenly, and was, after strict 

 search, found immersed in a water pool up to the very 

 snout, by which he held a willow bough hanging over 

 the pond."] 



AECHBISHOP OF SPALATEO. 



(Vol. iv., p. 257.) 



Audi alteram partem is too excellent and equi- 

 table a rule, not to find ample scope given for its 

 exercise in " Notes and Queries," especially 

 where the memory of a foreigner is concernecl, 

 who, after dwelling awhile among us under the 

 protection of our hospitality, and in tiie communion 

 of our Church, was ('ontent eventually to sacrifice 

 his life, rather than forsake the truth, or repudiate 

 the Church of Kiiglaiid. 



I am led to this remark by observing the tone 

 of depreciation in which Chalmers speaks of An- 

 tonius de Dominis, Archbishop of S[)alatr(), in the 

 extract produced at p. 2.57. out of the Biographical 

 JJirlionurij, for the satisfaction of iMii. AV. Fkazer. 



The words of Chalmers, which I conceive to be 



objectionable, alike ungenerous and inaccurate — 

 such as Fuller might rejoice in (conf. Church 

 History, book x.) — are : 



" He returned to Rome in 1 6"22, where he abjured his 

 errors; but on the discovery of a correspondence which 

 he held with some Protestants, he was thrown into 

 prison, where he died in 1625. He was a man of great 

 abilities and learning, although remarkable for a fickle- 

 ness in religious matters." 



This reproach against the good archbishop, of 

 having renounced the English communion (for that 

 is doubtless what is meant), is clearly an unjust 

 accusation, and appears to be based upon no better 

 authority than a spurious book, published in the 

 Low Countries under Spalatro's name, but with- 

 out his knowledge or sanction, and bearing the 

 following title : Marc. Ant. de Dominis siii reditus 

 ex Anglid concilium exponit, 4to. Dilingee, 162.3. 

 This book at the time of its publication deceived 

 Bishop Hall, and gave occasion to the Alter Ece- 

 bolius 31. Ant. de Dominis, pluribus dominis inser- 

 vire doctus : 4to. Lond. 1624. 



It is only fair, certainly, to Spalatro's memory, 

 that the calumnies thus raised against him in his 

 lifetime should not now be perpetuated by the 

 inadvertency of modern writers, for so far at least 



the means are at hand to refute ther 



N( 



there is one writer especially who has dcme much 

 to vindicate the name of Ant. de Dominis from 

 this charge of " fickleness in religious matters." 

 That writer is Bishop Cosin, whose testimony 

 herein is of the more value from the i'act of his 

 having been present (as Bishop Overall's secretary) 

 at the " Conference between Spalato and Overall," 

 on the archbishop's first arrival in England ; of 

 which " Conference " the following particulars were 

 collected by Mr. Gutch, e Schedis MSS. Cosini, 

 and are preserved in the Collectanea Curiosa, 

 vol. ii. p. 18. : 



" A. Spalato came into England in 1616, being de- 

 sirous to live under tlie protection of King James, 

 having before been recommended by Padre Paolo. By 

 King James's bounty and care he was safely conveyed 

 through Germany into England, and lodged in Lambeth 

 Palace : Abbot thinking fit to retire to Croydon, till 

 either Bishop Andrewes or Bishop Overall had con- 

 ferred with him. The king sent Bishop Overall to him, 

 who took in his company his secretary, and commanded 

 him to be near him the same morning Spalato arrived, 

 to hear what passed between them, .ifter dinner, some 

 other being present, the discourse liegan about tlie 

 state of the Church of England; of which Overall 

 having given a large account, Spalato received great 

 satisfaction, and made liis protestation that he came into 

 England then to live with us in the union and profes- 

 sion of that Catholic religion which was so much ob- 

 structed in his own country, that he could not with 

 safety and peace of conscience live there any longer. 

 Then he added what satisfaction he had reCL^lved from 

 the monitory preface of King James [Vid. .Ipol. for the 

 Oath of Allegiance, od. 4 to. Lond. 1609] to all the 



