gible. 
gud §, No 4,, JAN. 26. °56.] 
NOTES AND’ QUERIES. 79 
cause, but to suggest a remedy for the “ putting 
out the lights.” The gas-fitter must be cross- 
examined, and he should be made to give a reason 
for his unscrewings and disconnectings, and other 
mysterious operations. Small fittings, improperly 
arranged, thereby causing obstructions by the 
accumulation of water, are often conveniently 
laid to the account of a small service-pipe, want 
of pressure, or a choke from naphthaline. 
N. HL. R. 
Brighton. 
This annoyance in gas-burners arises from the 
impurity of the gas, or want of care in laying on 
the pipe. I have found a very simple remedy 
without the interference of a gas-fitter. If Pxos- 
PHILOs will wipe the mantle of the pipe clean, and, 
turning the cock, just ‘“ blow it up,” he will find 
the obstruction quite removed. It sometimes 
happens that this requires to be repeated twice; 
when necessary, I light the adjacent burners, and 
blow till they burn blue, which is quite sufficient. 
N. O. H. 
Blackheath. 
I have no doubt but that Leslie's patent pu- 
rifiers, which can be applied to any supply of gas, 
would effectually get rid of the nuisance Pxos- 
PHILOs complains of. The office is 59. Conduit 
Street. Forr. 
CLIFFORD’S INN DINNER CUSTOM, 
(2"4 S. i. 12.) 
As it is important, when accounts of ancient 
manners and customs are recorded in your his- 
toric page, that they should be described correctly, 
I take the opportunity of referring to the Query 
of your correspondent H. as to the dinner cus- 
tom, in lieu of grace, at Clifford’s Inn Hall (which 
I believe to be altogether unique) ; more with a 
view of correcting his statement of it, than of 
answering the Query propounded, viz., whence 
the origin of the custom? which I verily believe to 
be as unanswerable as it is altogether unintelli- 
It appears that the Ancient and Honour- 
able Society of Clifford’s Inn, in dining-hall 
assembled, consists of two distinct bodies; viz. 
the upper house, or elders, so to speak, called 
the “ Principal and Rules ;” and the lower house, 
or junior members of the Society, with the un- 
accountable name of the “ Kentish Mess.” These 
two bodies sit at two tables placed parallel in the 
hall ; that of the Principal and Rules to the right 
of the other. There is xo ceremony whatever in 
lieu of grace before meat; any blessing that may 
be asked, therefore, is consequently a private in- 
vocation merely in the breasts of the members of 
the Society. At the conclusion of dinner, the 
chairman of the “ Kentish Mess,” first bowing to 
the principal of the Inn, who is seated at the table 
at his right hand, takes from the hands of a ser- 
vitor a batch of four small rolls or loaves of bread 
—neither more nor less than that number; and, 
without saying a word, he dashes them three several 
times on the table; he then discharges them to 
the other end of the table, from whenee the bread 
is removed by a servant in attendance. Solemn 
silence—broken only by the three impressive 
thumps upon the table—zprevails during this 
strange ceremony, which takes the place of grace 
after meat in Clifford’s Inn Hall; and concerning 
| which, not even the oldest member of the Society 
is able to give any explanation. Their archives, 
and the ancient rules of the Society, neither of 
them afford the slightest clue to the origin of a 
| custom supposed by some to date from its founda- 
| tion; and which, moreover, at the present day, is 
persevered in with a sort of superstitious fecling, 
on the part of its members, that the welfare of 
the Society somehow is wrapt up in its scrupulous 
_observance. Mippiz Tempre Gare. 
OLD ARITHMETICAL WORKS. 
There is a notice of two old arithmetical works, 
1% S. xii. 404,; allow me to mention the following, 
of which I possess good copies : 
1. “The Well-Spring of Sciences; which teacheth the 
perfect worke and practise of Arithmetic, both in whole 
Numbers and in Fractions; set forth by Humphrey 
Baker, Londoner. Printed by Thomas Purfoot, and are 
to be sold by John Grismond in Ivy Lane, at the signe of 
the Gun, 1631.” 
This work was first published in 1584, and was 
dedicated “To the right worshipfull the Go- 
vernors, Assistants, and the rest of the Companie 
of Marchants Adventurers.” 
2. “The Ground of Arts, teaching the perfect worke 
and practise of Arithmetic, both in whole Numbers and 
Fractions. Made by Mr. Robert Record, D. in Phisick; 
afterwards augmented by Mr. John Dee, and since en- 
larged with a Third Part, with a Table of the Valuation 
of all Coynes, as they are currant at this present time, 
by John Mellis; and now diligently perused, corrected, 
&c., with Tables of interest upon interest, with the true 
value of Annuities, calculated by Robert Hartwell, Philo- 
mathemat. Sold by John Harison at his Shop, the sign 
of the Unicorne, in Paternoster Row, 1636.” 
This work was originally dedicated by Robert 
Record to Edward VI. in 1551. It continued to 
be the book in most general use until the publica- 
tion of Cocker’s Arithmetic in 1677. 
8. “Moore’s Arithmetick, discovering the secrets of 
that Art, in Numbers and Species; fitted to the meanest 
capacity, and published for the generall good of this 
Kingdome, by Jonas Moore, late of Durham. This curious 
book contains the rules of Practise and Interest, performed 
in a more facile manner by Decimals, than hitherto hath 
been published; the excellency, and new practise and use 
