Qnd §, No 1, Jan. 5. '56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 
LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1856, 
OUR NEW VOLUME. 
On commencing our Thirteenth Volumg, we must be 
permitted a few words of self-gratulation on the progress | 
which “Nores & Queries” has made, and the position 
it has attained since November 3, 1849, when the first 
Number of it was submitted to the Reading World. 
We havé the less scruple in referring with pride to 
our success, because, whatever merit may attach to the 
idea on which “N. & Q.” is founded, that success is 
chiefly to be attributed to the kindly spirit in which our 
friends and correspondents have come forward to help 
this Journal and one another. And not the least gra- 
tifying result of the establishment of “N. & Q.,” has 
been the interchange of which it has been the medium; 
not only of friendly offices—of books—and of other 
literary assistance—but even, in some cases, of more 
substantial benefits among parties whose first acquaint- 
ance has originated in our columns. Lorp Monson’s 
very graceful allusion to this characteristic of “ N. & Q.” 
in the Number of the 8th Dec. last, is but one of many 
such instances which have come to our knowledge. 
This friendly spirit on the part of our correspondents, 
has greatly facilitated our editorial labours. But with 
all the care and tact that we can exercise, we know too 
well that we cannot at all times expect to please all 
readers. We are happy to acknowledge, however, that 
our endeavours to gratify their varied tastes have, on 
the whole, been very successful. We hope in future to 
be yet more so: especially if they will bear in mind the 
advice of the learned and witty Erasmus: 
“ A reader should sit down to a book, especially of the 
miscellaneous kind, as a well-behaved visitor does to a 
banquet. The master of the feast exerts himself to 
satisfy his guests; but if,-after all his care and pains, 
something should appear on the table that does not suit 
this or that person’s taste, they politely pass it over 
without notice, and commend other dishes, that they 
may not distress a kind host.” 
‘But we are occupying space for ourselves which we 
would rather see occupied by our Correspondents. One 
remark, however, we must find room for. We have 
spoken of this as our Thirteenth Volume, as indeed it is; 
but, in compliance with a wish urged upon us from many 
quarters, we have made it the first of a New Series: 
that they who may now wish to subscribe to “ N. & Q.,” 
may have the opportunity of doing so; without, on the 
one hand, having an incomplete work, or, on the other, 
incurring the expence of purchasing the back volumes.* 
We may hope the Series now commenced in the same 
spirit, and, as it will be seen, in a great measure by the 
same friendly hands, will be received with the favour so 
kindly bestowed upon its predecessor. That it may de- 
serve such favour, we will spare no efforts. And so, Gentle 
Reader, we bid you heartily Farewell. 
sR ee rie Re id 
_ * Avery elaborate Index to the first Twelve Volumes 
is in a forward state of preparation. 
ates, 
PROSE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND CALLED THE 
BRUTE. 
In the Introduction to the Ancient English Ro- 
mance of Havelok the Dane, printed in 1828, I 
| endeavoured to clear up the somewhat confused 
history of this compilation; but as the volume in 
_ question was intended only for the members of 
the Roxburghe Club, my remarks can have been 
| read by few, except through the medium of the 
French translation published by M. Francisque 
| Michel, in 1833. I may therefore be permitted, 
perhaps, to offer again to a wider circle of readers 
the result of my inquiries on the subject of this 
Chronicle, corrected and enlarged by subsequent 
| investigation. 
With regard to the name, it is weli known that, 
from the middle of the twelfth century, the title 
of Brut or Brutus was often given to the various 
French and Latin translations or abridgments 
made from the popular history of Geoffrey of 
Monmouth, and was derived from the name of the 
Trojan hero who first set foot on the land, since 
denominated from him Britain. Not only have 
we the metrical French Brut of Wace, but a 
prose Petit Bruit, said to have been abridged out 
of the Grand Bruit, by Rauf de Boun, in 1310 
(MS. Harl. 902.), and in Latin we have a metrical 
version of Geoflrey, named Brutus (MS. Cott. 
Vesp. A. x.), dedicated to Hugh Pudsey, Bishop 
of Durham, 1153 — 1194; together with many 
prose chronicles so intitled (MSS. Cott. Vesp. E. 
x., Lambeth, 99., &e.),:as also a Brutus Abbre- 
viatus (MS. Rawlinson, 150.).. Whether among 
the numerous Latin compilations preserved still in 
our manuscript libraries there exists one which 
ean with certainty be affirmed to be the prototype 
of the subsequent French and English prose 
Chronicles, I am unable to say, but it is sufficient 
for my present purpose to assume that the original 
tezt was compiled in French, and doubtless at the 
commencement of the reign of Edward III., since 
all the copies of it, which are complete, unite in 
coming down to the year 1332. It is chiefly 
-founded on Geoffrey of Monmouth, but borrows 
also from other sources; and in the later portion, 
from the reign of Edward I., contains much ori- 
ginal and valuable matter. The copies of this 
French Chronicle are by no means so common as 
of the English version, but among the MSS. of 
the British Museum I have examined five, which 
will enable us to determine with sufficient accu- 
racy the character of the text. The earliest copy 
is that contained in the Cottonian MS. Domitian 
A. x., which must have been written shortly after 
the date (1332) at which it concludes. The in- 
troductory chapter has been cut out, but is pre- 
served in two later copies of the same text (Add. 
MS. 18,462. art. 2., and Harl. 200.), both written 
