•Z^iS. VI. 147., Oct. 23. '58. 1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



329 



M.A. 1717; D.D. 1729; Rector of St. Vedast, Foster 

 Lane ia 1736; Chaplain to the King; Dean of Peter- 

 borough ; Bishop Elect of St. Asaph, but consecrated as 

 Bishop of Lincoln, April 1, 1744; and translated toSalis- 

 bun-, Nov. 25, 1761. Ob. July 19, 1766. 



2'. Dr. .John Thomas, Fellow of All Souls' College, Ox- 

 ford; Eector of St. Benedict's and St. Peter's, Paul's 

 Wharf; Canon Piesidentiary of St Paul's, and Chap- 

 lain to the King; consecrated Bishop of Peterborough, 

 Oct. 4, 1747; translated to Salisbury, 1757; to Winches- 

 ter, 1761. Ob. May 1, 1781. 



3. Dr. John Thomas, Vicar of St. Bride's, Fleet Street; 

 Dean of We.stminster, 1768 ; and consecrated Bishop of 

 Rochester, Xov. 13, 1774. Ob. Aug. 22, 1793. 



From this sketch it would appear that the first two are 

 the clergymen noticed by Bishop Newton, as both were 

 chaplains to the king, as well as incumbents in the city. 

 That the first Bishop Thomas squinted is evident from 

 the following anecdote related of him. "He was enter- 

 taining the company with a humorous account of some 

 man. In the midst of his story he stopt short and said, 

 ' The fellow squinted most hideously ; ' and then turning 

 his ugly face in all the squinting attitudes he could, till 

 the company were upon the full laugh, he added, ' and I 

 hate your squinting fellows.' "] 



Keating s History of Ireland. — O'Conor, in his 

 Dissertations, p. 1 0., says of the English translation 

 of this remarkable work : — 



" It is but justice to inform the reader that this pre- 

 tended translation has hardly rendered him (£. e. the au- 

 thor) justice in a single period through his whole work. 

 The history given in English under Keating's name is 

 the grossest imposition that has ever yet obtruded on a 

 learned age." 



Do other Irish scholars share in this opinion ? 

 Where and when was the Irish Keating published ? 



H. C. C. 



[Keating left his History of Ireland in manuscript, 

 which Dermo'd O'Connor, who styles himself " Antinuary 

 of the Kingdom of Ireland " pretended " faithfully to 

 translate from the original Irish language." Although 

 the folio edition of this work has three different title- 

 pages, dated 1723, 1726, and 1732, there was but one im- 

 pression of the body of the work. Curiously enough the 

 title-page of 1726, as well as that of 1732, are both called 

 " The Seconu Edition, with an Appendix, collected from 

 the Remarks of the learned Dr. Anthony Raymond of 

 Trim." At the end of the Appendix published' in 1726, 

 Creake the publisher has printed the following unfavour- 

 able notice of the translator : — 



" To the Subscrihera for the first edition of Dr. Keating's 

 History of Ireland. 



" Gentle.men. — X'le hardships I have undergone, by 

 the vile treatment I have received from the translator 

 Dermo'd O'Connor, who, without any thought or design 

 of paying the expences of paper, print, engraving, and 

 other accidental charges, before the History could be pub- 

 lished, spent and imbezzcl'd about the sum of £300 in 

 the space of seventeen months, great part of it being sub- 

 scription money, which he never brought to account, nor 

 I never knew of, till publication of the History ; by which 

 means T am greatly a sufferer in the publication, as being 

 obliged to pay out of my own pocket about the sum 

 aforesaid, mure than I have as yet received for this His- 

 tory. As tlii.-i is fact, it is a sufHcient reason for falling the 

 price of the History, to be sold for XI 10s. bound, which 

 is much cheaper than the subscription price; but having 

 no other way to reimlnir.HO me the money that I'm out of 

 pocket, I hope yon will excuse, Gentlemen, your most 



obedient servant, B. Creake." After this pathetic epistle, 

 we are not surprised to find the translator's name omitted 

 from the title-page dated 1732.] 



Eve's Apple. — What is the origin of the com- 

 mon mistake of calling the fruit of the forbidden 

 tree an apple ? No such phrase occurs in the 

 scripture, and its use has given rise to a great 

 many unseemly remarks, and sorry jokes. 



F. S. A. 



[The mistake is probably due in part to a not very cor- 

 rect translation of the Latin word pomum. From " Pomum 

 Adam," we get "Adam's apple." Other circumstances, 

 however, have helped the error. The idea that the fruit 

 of Eden was an apple seems also to have found some 

 countenance in former days among the learned Jews. 

 Thus, on the Song of Solomon (ii. 6.), " comfort me with 

 apples" the Targum has "apples of tlie garden of Eden." 

 See also Song viii. 5. The supposition that the forbidden 

 fruit was an apple ma3' have originated thus. It has 

 long been known that there grows in parts of Palestine a 

 tree supposed to bear the identical kind of fruit b}' eating 

 which our first parents fell. " Sunt ibi [in Paliestina] 

 arbores, quse gignunt poma, quse dicuntur Poma Adam, 

 in quibus morsus [ !] evidentissime apparet" (Du Cange, 

 ed. Henschel, on Pomum Adam'). Now of this tree we 

 have a recent and trustworth}- account from the able pen 

 of Dr. Robinson, in his valuable Biblical Researches (IHbQ, 

 vol. i. p. 522., &c.) It is — such at least is his very satis- 

 factory conclusion — no other than the Asclepias gigantea, 

 the fruit of -which, though beautiful to the eye, is a mere 

 puff-ball and collapses on being touched ; and this fruit, 

 saj's the leai-ned Doctor, externally resembles a large 

 smooth apple or orange. Blay not this resemblance have 

 given occasion then, through the intercourse of our fathers 

 with the East in days long past, to the old-fashioned per- 

 suasion, whether aided or not aided by any Jewish tradi- 

 tion, that the forbidden truit of Paradise itself was actually 

 an apple ? Much interesting information on this subject 

 may be found in Dr. Robinson's work, as already referred 

 to ; ind the curious reader may also consult pp. 2 — 6. of 

 the short Dissertatio de Arbore Scietiticc Boni et 3Iali, by 

 Olaus Celsius, who cites, as well known, the following 

 quaint couplet : — 



" Adam primus homo damnavit secula/)o»io, 

 Per mahtm nobis intulit omne malum."] 



History of Bedfoi'dsliire. — Are there any his- 

 tories of Bedfordshire ? and if so, what ? In what 

 diocese are the parishes of Millbrook and Ampt- 

 hill situated? J. F. N. H. 



[Millbrook and Ampthill are in the diocese of Ely. 

 For the topography of the county, consult Lysons's Ac- 

 count of Bedfordshire, 4to., 1813 ; Parrj''s Select Illustra- 

 tions, containing Bedford, Ampthill, Houghton, Luton, 

 and Chicksand, 4to., 1827 ; Fisher's Collections, 4to., 1817 ; 

 and Fisher's Monumental Remains and Antiquities, 4t0., 

 1828. In the British Museum, Addit. MS., 21,067, are 

 T. O. Marsh's collections for the Biography of Bedford- 

 shire.] 



" What is a Spontoon ? — In The Mayor of 

 Garratt, Act I. Sc. 1., the inimitable Major Stur- 

 geon says : " Oh ! could you but see me salute ! 

 You have never a spontoon in the house ?" "No!" 

 answers Sir Jacob, " but we could get you shove 

 pike." AVhat sort of weapon was a spontoon ? 

 As the Enfield rifle has superseded " Brown Bess," 



