2' :J S. IX. Feb. 1. '6ft.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



91 



as pancakes to Shrove Tuesday, tansy to Easter, furmity 

 to Midlent Sunday, or goose to Michaelmas Day. And 

 they think it no wonder, that our finical gentry should 

 be so loose in their principles, as well as weak in their 

 bodies, when the solid substantial Protestant min<;e pie 

 has given place among them to the Roman Catholic 

 Amulets, and the light, puiiy, heterodox Pets de jfie- 

 ligituses." 



W. P. 



Stakes fastened together with Lead as a 

 Defence (2 nd S. ix. 27.) — This title is altogether 

 gratuitous. It takes for granted tbe very point 

 which is in doubt. Sudes circumfuscc plumbo does 

 not mean stakes fastened together with lead, but 

 stakes round which lead has been poured. Now 

 the pouring of lead round stakes, or, which is 

 the same thing, dipping the stakes into molten 

 lead (temperature G12°) would be a very effica- 

 cious and rapid means of charring them. Tra- 

 dition says that the stakes were charred ; the 

 passage is therefore sufficiently clear without 

 supposing the impossible process of pouring lead 

 round stakes inserted into the bed of a river 

 under water. 



But a friend of mine has some doubts about 

 the correctness of the text. He cannot give the 

 Britons credit for so much engineering skill as 

 the above explanation would suppose. Pie there- 

 fore suggests to read fiuvio for plumbo, which 

 would make the passage perfectly clear. J. isf. 



Cannot Bede's expression, "circumfusa? plumbo," 

 be translated, "having been surrounded by lead," 

 i. e. tipped or shod, to make the stakes sufficiently 

 weighty to be rammed into the bed of the ford. 



It is clear from the general scope of the sen- 

 tence that the operation, whatever it was, was 

 done before they were placed in the water. 



The " very sharp" points would of course be 

 uppermost. Ciielsega. 



Tukiwssf.u (-2 nd S. ix. 13.) — This word in its 

 original form undoubtedly includes the letter s ; 

 it cannot possibly, therefore, be an abbreviation 

 of outre-passer. Besides, this mode of abbre- 

 viation is not French, it is Italian : as we see in 

 micida, homicide ; and Masuniello, for Tommaso 

 Aniello. M. Louis Barre, in his Preface to the 

 Complement du Dictiomtaire, says that the French 

 language rejects such contractions as barbarous. 

 As to the " value " also of the word, required by 

 your correspondent, it is not in common use. "II 

 ne se dit," says the Dictionuuire de VAcudimie, 

 " que des personnes qui meurent de leur mort 

 naturelle, et n'est guere usitcV' And as to the 

 substantive trfpas, the same high authority says, 

 " II n'est guero usitu dans le discours ordinaire, 

 inai- on Pemploie souvent dans la poesie, et dans 

 le style soutenu." John Williams. 



Supcrvisor (2 nd S. ix. 13.) —Perhaps the pas- 

 sage from tin: " Charta feOai," quoted by Du 

 Cange, may designate tin: Gffieef in question : — 



" Ilabetnr ** formula constituendi reeeptorem. et super - 

 visorem omnium et singnlorum dominiorum et manerio- 

 ruro, et tenernentoruni, tat." 



But, in the reign of Elizabeth, and in previous 

 reigns also, there were other persons, also called 

 supervisors, such as supervisors of wills, whom 

 each testator himself appointed to see that the 

 executors faithfully fulfilled their duties, as may 

 be seen in the " Wills and Inventories " pub- 

 lished by the Surtees Society. John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



Hymns for the Holy Communion (2 nd S. vii. 

 415.) — It was the custom to sing a short hymn 

 at St. Catherine's church, Dublin, some few years 

 ago, atthat period of the service immediately before 

 the Lord's Prayer, after " all had communicated." 

 The usual hymn was that beautiful one commenc- 

 ing "May the Grace of Christ our Saviour," which 

 is not one of those "appointed" at the end of the 

 Metrical Psalms. I never heard it elsewhere, but 

 it had a very solemnising effect. George Lloyd. 



Oliver Goldsmith (2 nd S. ix. 11.) — The piece 

 of glass on which he inscribed his name when a 

 student in Trinity College, Dublin, has been in- 

 closed in a frame and deposited in the Manuscript 

 Room of the College Library, where it is still to 

 be seen. 'AAievs. 



Dublin. 



The Prussian Iron Medal (2 nd S. ix. 33.) — 



In answering the Query (2 nd S. viii. 470.), Mb. 

 Boys says as follows : — 



" So far as those patriots who devoted their jewels and 

 plate are concerned, the facts are these: All being surren- 

 dered, 'Ladies wore no other ornaments than those made 

 of iron, npon which was engraved : " We gave gold for 

 the freedom of our country ; and, like her, wear an iron 

 yoke ! " ' A beautiful but poor maiden, grieved that she 

 had nothing else to give, went to a hair-dresser, sold her 

 hair, and deposited the proceeds as her offering. The 

 fact becoming known, the hair was ultimately resold for 

 the benefit of fatherland. Iron rings were made, each 

 containing a portion of the hair; and these produced far 

 more than their weight in gold." 



A historical event of much interest seems to be 

 here stated in a manner likely to produce an in- 

 accurate impression, in illustration of which I beg 

 to quote the following passage from an official 

 despatch of Senor Pizarro, the Spanish ambassa- 

 dor in Prussia in 1813, and which is printed in 

 extenso among the " Pieces Justificatives" in the 

 twelfth volume of D'Allonville's Memoires d'un 

 Homme d'Etal (Prince Hardenberg) : — 



" La sceur du roi a envoye' tons ses bijoux au tre'sor 

 pour soutenir la guerre et h l'instant toutes les femmes, 

 faisant le sacrifice do c'o qui leur est si cher, se sont em- 

 pressees rt'envoyer lea leurs, et jusqu'aux plus legers 

 orncmens, pour ce louable objet. Quand je dis toutes les 

 femmes, je n'exagere point, car je no crois pas que Ton 

 puisse en excepter nu seul individu, excepte' de la classe 

 indigent?, qui ne possede pas tin seul article en or. Tons 



