512 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d S. VI. 165., Dec. 18. '68. 



Passage in PhocyUdes (2"'* S. vi. 431.) — The 

 line for which K. N. S. seeks is, I presume, the 

 following : — 



"Has yap acfi'^o^ ai/Tjp fuiei (cXoTri'nwi' airo xe'Pm"." 



It occurs as line 144. in the very apocryphal 

 hortatory poem which is usually assigned to Pho- 

 cyUdes in the old collections. I need hardly point 

 out its obvious coincidence with Dr. Watts's well- 

 known distich : — 



" For Satan finds some mischief still 

 For idle hands to do." 



C. W. Bingham. 



The words sought are in the noiTjjua vovBtriKov 

 (v. 144.) : — 



** 'EpYa^eUj /iox^wt' toy e^ iBitav /Storeucr^s* 

 Ha? yo.p aepyb? av'rjp ^oiet K^OTTtjuwi/ aTro x^tpwl'. 



" Work that you maj' live by your own toil ; 

 For every idle man lives by his pilfering hands." 



T. J. BCCKTON. 



French and English Coin (2°« S. vi. 266. 357. 

 463.) — Le Blanc's Traite Historique des Mommies, 

 on which Say relies, and to which I have no access 

 here, will, I conceive, supply Meletes with the 

 information sought as to the variation in the silver 

 coinage of France to its lowest point in the time 

 of Louis XV., when the livre was only 8 sous, 

 raised by Louis XVI. to 20 sous. 



In reply to his first query, as to the relative 

 weight of the pound in the two countries, I find an 

 answer in the Companion to the Almanac of 1830 

 (p. 103.), where it is stated that, " under Charle- 

 magne its weight was 12 ounces, or 1 lb. troij 

 weight, and its value 78 liv. 17 sous of present 

 money." 



In answer to the second, — Say states that " the 

 livre [coin] of Charlemagne contained 12 ounces 

 oi fine silver" (i. c. xxi. s. 5.); and he excludes 

 the alloy in his computations. For English money 

 the deduction is 1h per cent. (" N. & Q." 2^-« S. 

 vi. 418.) Although the Tower pound used till 

 Henry VIII. (1527) was only 11|^ ounces, yet 

 there was a more ancient pound than the Tower 

 one, and which consisted of 12 ounces. {Penny 

 Cj/c. XXV. 311.) 



The poids de inarc of Charlemagne, which is 

 heavier than our avoirdupois pound *, may have 

 been used probably for impure or manufactured 

 silver or for silver bullion not tested, in the same 

 way as druggists buy by the avoirdupois pound 

 and sell by the troy pound. T. J. Bockton. 



Lichfield. 



Etymology of " Cockshut" and " Cockshoot" 

 (2°* S. vi. 400.) — I beg to assure your corre- 

 spondent, S. W. Singer, that it is not " old sports- 

 men" only who retrench the first syllable in 

 " Woodcocks." In my experience the abbreviated 



* In the ratio of 7560 to 7000 troy grains (Brunton's 

 Compend. of Mechanics, 17.) 



name is (as perhaps generally with John Bull at 

 least) the moi-e common. Bewick describes " the 

 springer or cocker." Bell says : " The small 

 black cocker is probably derived from the K. 

 Charles spaniel." I have also always been used, 

 when woodcocks were taking their voluntary flights 

 in the twilight, to have it designated by keepers, 

 &c., roding, or perhaps reading. I only write it 

 phonetically, and never inquired for the etymo- 

 logy. Will this bear at all on the " Cock wade " 

 of the Dictionarium Rusticum, as quoted by Me. 

 Singer ? Apropos to " Chien et Loup," I have 

 heard a definition of darkness as being " when you i 

 could not tell a grey horse half a mile ofi"." Some ' 

 of your correspondents may be able to say whe- 

 ther this is a common saying, and where it pre- 

 vails ? 1. P. O. 

 Argyllshii'e. 



To make Bread Seals (2"'' S. vi. 344.) — "Will 

 Septimus Piesses's recipe give seals that make a 

 glossy impression ? In my childhood we often 

 made them in the same way (except the gum), 

 using vermilion, lampblack, &c., for colouring 

 them, but the impressions were dead. We also 

 made seals of gum-arabic alone. These were very 

 brittle. I. P. O, 



Argyllshire. 



Mosaic (P' S. iii. 389. 469. 521.) — Mosaic or 

 Musaic work is designated in the New Testament 

 XiBinrpanov (John xix. 13.), which, being a pave- 

 ment of small sections of marble of various co- 

 lours, was described as vermiadatu by Lucilius 

 (Cicero, Oratore, iii. 43.), and iessellata et sectilia 

 by Suetonius (F. Jtd. Cms. 46.), and by Horace 

 as pavimentum superhum (Od. ii. 14. 27.), and 

 Lyhici lapilli (Epist. i. 10. 19.). The root of the 



more modern word is » , vashai, " to paint," 

 forming the participle in .•. 1. , rucham 



MusHAi, " coloured marble." From this word 

 miishai come the Latin inusa and musivum, and 

 the Italian musaico, the French mosa'ique, the 

 German mosaischer and musivisclier, and the Eng- 

 lish mosaic and musaic. The Arabians, therefore, 

 have furnished this word to the Europeans, who 

 have also adopted tessellata from the Romans. 

 The Hebrew (=Chaldee) equivalent to AifloVrpaj- 

 TOf is by St. John (xix. 13.) stated to be gah- 

 batha, meaning a high place, not here physically 

 but metaphorically high, being the place where 

 the prjetor or other eminent persons gave au- 

 dience. (Pliny, N. H. xxxvi. 25.) The Hebrew 

 term is not descriptive of the variegated colours 

 and designs peculiar to this art. In Esther (i. 

 6.), however, we find a description of such pave- 

 ment, and the Vulgate adds to the text, without 

 authority, '^quod mira varietate pictura decorahat." 



