2"'i S. VI. 148., Oct. 30. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



347 



As it consists of sixteen pages, title and dedica- 

 tion included, it is presumed that very few copies 

 exist. Who was Andrew Morison ? J. M. 



Palm Sunday at Rome. — I have always been 

 told the bouglis borne in the processions were 

 really branches of palm, which tree is not uncom- 

 mon in Rome and its vicinity, and not only so, 

 but that one of the families of Rome had the ex- 

 clusive right of supplying the branches, which are 

 gathered the preceding year, and laid up during 

 the winter. Can any of your readers furnish me 

 with the name of such family ? A. A. 



Proposed University of Armagh In the Me- 

 moirs and Correspondence of Viscount Casilereagh, 

 vol. ii. p. 302., there is an interesting letter from 

 the late Rev. Dr. Miller of Armagh (then one of 

 the Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin), respect- 

 inii the proposed University of Armagh. Some de- 

 fails are likewise given in the same volume, p. 64. 

 The plan did not succeed ; but I shall be glad to 

 know where to look for farther particulars. 



Abhba. 



Chess Calculus. — I learn from an extraordin- 

 ary letter which Lord Lyttelton has just received 

 from a gentlemen of Guernsey (Mr. Henry Man- 

 ning), that the latter is about publishing a tract 

 to exhibit the close analogy between music and 

 chess, even to the point of translating a game of 

 chess into a piece of music. Of what worth this 

 theory may be I cannot say, but it reminds me of 

 another in connexion with chess, viz., the Mathe- 

 matical Theory of Chess. To turn this Note into 

 a Query, I wish to ask PnoFESSOR De Morgan 

 ■whether it is practicable to construct a Chess Cal- 

 culus, so that every position in a game may be ex- 

 pressed by a function of the positions and powers 

 of the pieces, by operating on which the best move 

 for the next player might be evolved. Chess is a 

 science which is wholly evolved from its axioms 

 and definitions ; and the power of any piece may 

 be expressed in terms of its coordinate axes 

 (these last being measured by the number of 

 squares). \N hy, then, cannot the whole science 

 be reduced to a mathematical calculus ? I should 

 be much obliged to the learned Professor if he 

 would give me a tolerably full answer. 



C. Mansfield Ingleby. 



Birmingham. 



"Narren Beschworu7ig." — The Narren Besch- 

 tcoruHg, or Exorcism of Fools, is as remarkable for 

 its curious woodcuts as for its poignancy as a 

 satire. Can you give me any information — 



1 . Who is supposed to be the author ? 



2. When was it first printed ? 



3. Where is a copy to be found of the oldest 

 edition ? 



I have a very fine copy in black-letter, without 

 date, and full of the most clever cuts; but it 



wants a leaf, or perhaps two leaves, at the end ; and 

 I am very desirous of completing it if I possibly 

 can. My inipi-ession is that the one belonging to 

 me is the Edilio Princeps. J. M. 



Ogham Inscription, a.d. 296. — Webb, in his 

 Analysis of the Antiquities of Ireland (l7Ql,y. 144.), 

 states that an Irish inscription in Ogham charac- 

 ters had then recently been discovered, which 

 "ascertained the reality of the battle of Gabhra" 

 (pronounced Gaura). This inscription was con- 

 tained on a stone erected on the Callen Mountain 

 in memory of Conan. The date of this battle 

 (one of the decisive battles of Ireland) is affirmed 

 by the annals of Innisfallen to have been a.d. 296. 

 Can anyone inform me where this stone now is, and 

 what the words of the inscription are ? H. C. C. 



TwinUing of a Bed Post : What is a Bed Staff? 

 — I have often heard this phrase, which George 

 Colman puts into the mouth of Lord Duberly in 

 the Heir at Laio, quoted as an instance of his 

 whimsicality, and the originality of his ideas. I 

 was much surprised the other day to find in Mot- 

 teux and Ozell's Translation of Rabelais (author's 

 prologue, Book iv.), " He would have cut him 

 down in the twinkling of a bed-staff." It is ge- 

 nerally supposed to have been a staff or round 

 piece of wood, fixed by the side of a bedstead to 

 keep the bed in its place. If this were the case it 

 must have been at least six feet long, and strong 

 enough to bear the weight of any one leaning 

 against it. But how can this be when we find it 

 used by Bobadil, in Every Man in his Humour, to 

 exhibit his skill with the rapier? Such a pole 

 might have been used to show what could be done 

 with a pike or spear ; but it seems impossible 

 that a staff as tall as a man's self, and as thick as 

 his wrist, could have elucidated the lightning-like 

 passes of the small sword. A. A. 



Passage in Burke. — 



"Let me repeat the memorable words of Burke: 'Is 

 there a man in bis senses wbo judges from words, not 

 actions, whether others are at peace with him, and when 

 struck, does not make up his mind till his question is 

 answered ! ' " — Letter to the Rt. Hon. Lord Grenville, 

 on the War in Spain, Lond. 1810, p. 27. 



Can you help me to the place in Burke where 

 this passage occurs ? E. J. P. 



Portrait of Dr. Robert Langton, — I have lately 

 seen a picture, evidently ancient, representing an 

 elderly man, with white flowing beard, moustache, 

 and hair ; the features of a pronounced character, 

 the nose being long and aquiline, and the eye 

 piercing. The costume of the figure is that of an 

 ecclesiastic, consisting of a black gown and cap. 

 In the right hand he holds a book, in the left a 

 long staff", from which is suspended what is ap- 

 parently a pilgrim's scrip, covered with pilgrim's 

 emblems. At the head of the portrait (for such 



