9nd §, No 29., May 81. °56,] 
tack when turning to windward, or sailing against 
the direction of the wind. The non-nautical in- 
quirer may conceive the extent of the board by 
imagining a zigzag of any length, the extreme 
angles of which are points in the board. If a ship 
by such zigzag course makes only a little advance 
forward, she is said to make a short board; but if 
instead of advancing, the current or other accident 
cause her to recede, she is said to make a stern 
board. ~ 
When the helm is put to starboard, or to the 
right side of the ship or board as the helmsman 
looks to her head, the vessel goes to the left. 
When the helm is put to larboard, the vessel’s 
course is to the right of the board, or zigzag. 
These words closely resemble each other amongst 
the chief maritime nations of the North Sea: 
Starboard, larbourd = - - English. 
Stribord, basbord - - French. 
Steuerbord, backbord = - German. 
Stuurboord, bakboord = - Dutch. 
Steorbord, baecbord - - Danish or 
Ang.-Sax, 
It therefore appears that starboard has reference 
to the s/ern, whilst larboard refers to the stem of 
the vessel. Bak in Dutch means the forecastle. 
Port used in lieu of larboard refers, I conceive, 
to the direction in which the port of destination 
lies. The probability is that when boats and 
ships were first moved by oars, one oar would be 
at the stem to pull the vessel out of her straight 
course, say to the right, whilst another oar would 
be at the stern to pull her to the left. In the 
Thames, bad sailers, such as the heavy barges, are 
often to be seen thus directed, the more necessary 
where any strong. current runs, or where quick- 
ness in turning or tacking is much needed. I 
consider that the term larbord is a corruption of 
basbord, as that is a corruption of bakboord. The 
word stower means a boat-hook when used in- 
stead of the oar. T. J, Bucxton, 
Lichfield. 
Doorhead and other Inseriptions (2°4 §, i. 379.) 
— Alphonso Fonseca, Archbishop of Toledo, 
founded a college and chapel at Salamanca, and 
placed on it the following inscription : 
“Ad Dei omnipotentis gloriam; ad Virginis matris 
honorem ; ad beati Jacobi Zebedei laudem; ad Divini 
huminis purissimum cultum; ad reipublice perpetuam 
utilitatem; ad proprie civitatis magnificentiam et splen- 
dorem; ad pauperum nobilium ingenia sublevanda; ad 
cleri augmentum; ad sui animi piam memoriam et cor- 
poris perpetuum domicilium,” 
_A certain proud knight, we read, caused these 
lines to be inscribed over the gateway of his 
castle : 
“Decretum detur ne dormiat aut epuletur 
Hic gens villana, sed Achilles, Plato, Diana,” 
meaning that no one should be received into his 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
441 
house but knights, philosophers, or noble ladies. 
Afterwards he repented of his vanity and pride, 
and resolved to entertain chiefly the poor. So he 
removed the former inscription, and substituted 
the following : 
“ Muta decretum, Saffetorum suseipe cetum 
Nudum Martinum, Lazarum, Jacobum peregrinum.” 
by which names he signified that henceforth the 
naked and poor, the sick and infirm, the exile and 
the pilgrim, would be his guests. (Joan. Major, 
Magnum Speculum, 501.) 
In the country-house of Giacomo Gianfiliazzi, 
near Marignolle, where Leo X. was received to 
hospitality on his journey to Florence, the memory 
of the visit was perpetuated by these lines, in- 
scribed on the bedroom of his holiness : 
“ Dulcis et alta quies decimo pergrata Leoni 
Hic fuit: hinc sacrum jam reor esse locum.” 
CEYREP. 
Arboreal and Floral Decorations of Churches 
(2™4 S. i. 267.) —The parish church of Hordley 
in Shropshire is always profusely decked with 
birch boughs on Whitsunday ; and this is not any 
revival, but a custom from time immemorial in 
that parish. It is also decked with evergreens on 
Easter Sunday. A friend writing from Auckland, 
New Zealand, says of the church in which he 
officiates, that on last Christmas Day “it was 
beautifully decked with ferns, with the beautiful 
Pohotokana with its crimson blossoms, and with 
other flowers.’ One is rejoiced to hear of the 
traditional customs of Old England being kept up 
on the Midsummer Christmas Day of the southern 
world, WiiiaM Fraser, B.C.L. 
Alton, Staffordshire. 
With reference to the remarks of your cor- 
respondent Curaspert Bepe on this subject, it 
may be interesting to some of your readers to 
know, that the practice of decorating churches at 
Easter with evergreens and flowers prevails to a 
great extent in the city and neighbourhood of 
Oxford. The custom also survives in the parish 
of St. Margaret, Westminster. Perhaps some of 
your readers may be able to say why Easter is 
so much less generally observed in this way now 
than Christmas ? and also, whether in early days 
both festivals were in this respect observed alike ? 
J. G, T. 
Facetious Writer (24 S. i. 318. 402.) — Let me 
suggest Swift’s Tale of a Tub, preface: 
“There are certain common privileges of a writer, the 
benefit whereof I hope there will be no reason to doubt; 
particularly that where I am not understood, it shall be con- 
cluded that something very useful and profound is couched 
underneath,” &c. 
A. B. 
Horsley Family (2°° 8. i. 375.) — Will your 
correspondent E. E, Byn@ have the goodness to 
