2°'S. VI. 144., Oct. 2. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



263 



bottom with one representing the betrayal of 

 Christ by Judas. 



It may be strange to assert it, but to my mind 

 the grouping of figures in the Last Supper is so 

 deciiiedly better than we find it in some modern 

 representations, that an artist might well borrow 

 from it in attempting a finished painting of the 

 subject. Perhaps the place of Judas at table is not 

 correct ; but on examining the print with a mag- 

 nifying glass the features of the betrayer, with his 

 crooked Jew nose and dark frown, as he leans 

 forward to dip in the dish, are really characteristic 

 of the man. And since there is a popular tale 

 about Judas and a saltcellar, I may add that no 

 saltcellar is placed near him on the table iu this 

 old woodcut. • 



P. H. F. having dwelt on the spelling Hexia, I 

 am led to explain that, although such spelling 

 occurs twice in the Old Testament (Gen. ch. iii. 

 and iv.), yet the name is twice spelled Eve in the 

 New Testament (2 Cor. xi. and 1 Tim. ii.). The 

 one name is taken from the Hebrew, the other 

 from the Greek. 



The name by us \vritten Hannah in the opening 

 of the 1st Book of Samuel is spelled without a 

 final h by Cranmer : in the Vulgate it is Anna, 

 and in the version by Tremellius, Channa. 



The name Eli is spelled as we spell it, but in an 

 ecclesiastical document bearing date a.d. 1280, 

 the spelling is Hely ; and in the Vulgate and the 

 Latin translations by Tremellius and Franciscus 

 Junius, A.D. 1607, it is Heli. 



The Archbishop of Canterbury who names Hely 

 gives an unllattering picture of " the piety of our 

 forefathers " in 1280 ; for he compares the Lichfield 

 ecclesiastics to the sons of Hely, who exhibited so 

 much carnal love " at the dore of the tabernacle 

 of the congregation : " " Fillii Hely fillii Belial es- 

 sent, luxuriosi pariter, et gulosi," &c. See Dug- 

 dale's MonaMicon, ed. 1673, vol. iii. p. 228. col. 1. 



A comparison of Cranmer's translation with our 

 authorised version shows in a remarkable manner 

 what extensive changes took place in the English 

 language immediately after the great Reformation. 



As to the Prayer Book of 1559, 1 observe in it : 

 " This is also to be noted, concernyng the leape 

 yeares, that tbe xxv. day of February, which in 

 leape yeares is counted for two dayes," &c. 



Query, the history of the twenty -fifth day of 

 February being thus made a double date in leap- 

 year? 



Throughout the Prayer Book, as well as in a 

 table after the New Testament, the name of the 

 first day of the week is invariably spelled with 

 Son, instead of Sun, for its first syllable. 



t^uery. Was the name Sunday intended or de- 

 signed to be a translation of, or substitute fur, 

 Dieg Dominica ? Jacobus ue Lkcetfeld. 



[Mk. Okfoii lias kindly ad'dcil tlie following note to 

 this article: — "This Biljlc is a copy of Cawood's Cran- 



mer, fully described in " N. & Q." 2"'i S. vi. 30, 31. It is 

 the first edition of Cranmer in which the verses and words 

 added have no mark to distinguish them. They were 

 previously either printed in a smaller type or between 

 brackets. The Book of Common Prayer was probably 

 the first edition published by virtue of the Act of Uni- 

 formity, April 2S, 1559, altered from that of Edward VI., 

 and certainly before Elizabeth's order to peruse the les- 

 sons and cause new calendars to be imprinted. Bissextile, 

 the additional day, was fixed by Caesar to be on the 24th 

 July, and by 21 Hen. III. the intercalary day and that 

 next before it were to be accounted as one dny. There is' 

 no allusion to Feb. 24 being the intercalary day in any of 

 mv early Bibles, except in that printed at Geneva by 

 John Crespin, 1509. Calendar Feb. " 24 the place of 

 leape j-ere." When shall we has'e a good history of the 

 Book of Common Prayer?] G. Offor." 



LETTER FROM GRAND MASTER OF THE ORDER OF 

 ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM TO ROBERT BOTIL, 

 PRIOR OF ENGLAND. 



I have much pleasure in forwarding the en- 

 closed, which is a correct copy from the original, 

 now existing among the records of the Order of 

 St. John of Jerusalem at Malta. 



As you will perceive, it is a letter from the 

 Grand Master, John de Lastic, and addressed to 

 the Prior of England, Robert Botil ; its date 6th 

 July, 1453-4. 



1 am not aware that it has heretofore been pub- 

 lished, and am hoping that it will be first brought 

 to light through the columns of " N. & Q." 



Wm. WiNTHROr. 



" Frater Joannes de Lastico et Venerabili ac Religioso 

 in Christo Nobis prxCarissimo fratri Roberto Botil Pri- 

 oratus Nostri Anglias Priori Salutem in Domino et nostris 

 firmiter obedire mandatis: Summa cordis nostri amari- 

 tudine fraternitati Vestrte intimamus Magnum Teucruni 

 inimicissimum Cristianorum cum vertisset animum ad 

 Urbem Constantinopolim habendam, eoruin, ut fertur, 

 Sexcentis Millibus pugnatorum obsedisse — et deraum die 

 vigesima nona Mensis Maij proxime elapsi vi armorum 

 magna Christianorura Strage cepisse. In qua omnia 

 crudelitatis impietatis et abominacionum genera exercuit 

 ut nihil crudelius dici aut excogitari queat. Imperatorem 

 vero Grecorum fortiter bello defunctum inter cadavera 

 perquisitum et inventum ac si viveret decolari jussit 

 — Mobiliores et principes illius Urbis infelicissimaB filiis 

 eorum prius ante ora parentum interfectis trucidavit — 

 Urbem totam in praidaui dedit — Classis Christiano- 

 rura quae in auxilium Imperatoris venerat cum paucis 

 dumtaxat navibus Januensium et triremibus Veneto- 

 rum vix vacuis naut; nam reliqui bello perierat — 

 e.xceptis qua celcritate evaserunt Perani civitatem Janu- 

 ensium sine armis Magnus Teiiccr prajfatns obtinuit 

 Muros illius solo equavit — Incolis censum imposuit — 

 Et id facturum de Constantinopoli creditur — Classeni 

 suam de novo restaurat infestat urns omnes hujus Orient; 

 insulas, ut temptet eas ulterius tributarias facere vel de- 

 lere — Ex quibus reruni mutatiouibus considerare potestis 

 quo in timore et periculo nos urbesque nostra; Khodi et 

 insuhe nostnc consistaiit propter hujus perfidissimi hostis 

 niiniam jiotentiain et propinquitateni cui dicere et facere 

 sine mora est. — Promissa inliniavinuis omnibus regibus 

 et principibus Chrisliain.rum et Venerabilibus Prioribus 

 nostra; llcligiouis, cum matura nostri nostrique Venerandi 



