194 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t2°<i S. IX. Mar. 17. '60. 



" She turned her head on her right shoulder, 

 Saw her lord come riding home — 

 O quench the fire, my dear mother, 

 For I am nearly gone. 



" He mounted off his milk-white steed, 

 And into the fire he ran, 

 Thinking to save his gay ladye, 

 But he had staid too long ! " 



CURIOUS SHROVE-TUESDAY CUSTOM AT 

 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 



In some remote parts of the country particular 

 seasons have their curious old customs still kept 

 up in form, though shorn of their former sig- 

 nificance, and on Shrove Tuesday last any one 

 who happened to be in the neighbourhood of 

 Dean's Yard, Westminster, or the cloisters near 

 the Deanery, might have witnessed a singular and 

 amusing if not edifying scene. 



At eleven o'clock in the morning a verger of 

 the Abbey in his gown, bearing the silver baton, 

 emerged from the College kitchen, followed — not 

 by one of the dignitaries of the church, but by the 

 cook of the school, who also was habited in pro- 

 fessional costume — white apron, jacket, and cap. 

 The cook, who seemed to feel the responsibilities 

 of his dignified position, carried on a platter an 

 article which a peculiarly fervid imagination might 

 designate a pancake, but which on a closer in- 

 spection appeared suspiciously like a crumpet of 

 pre-adamite manufacture. Cookey marched to- 

 wards the school-room, where the boys were con- 

 struing Homer and Virgil, or trying hard to 

 discover the hidden beauties of Euclid the de- 

 testable, and having arrived at the door the verger 

 opened it, announcing in the sonorous tones of 

 a Cheltenham master of the Ceremonies — " The 

 Cook." Thus ushered in, the honoured func- 

 tionary cast an eagle glance at the bar which 

 separates the upper school from the lower, twirled 

 the farinaceous delicacy once or twice round in 

 an artistic manner in the pan, and then tossed it 

 over, the bar into a mob of boys, all eager to 

 make what, we believe, is termed a "grab" at 

 it. Then followed a scene of scuffling, kicking, 

 shoving (as in an exciting football match at the 

 wall at Eton) which must be uncommonly plea- 

 sant — to be out of, and after the lapse of a few 

 minutes there came out of the melee, with dis- 

 ordered dress, but with undaunted mien and with 

 unbroken pancake, a big town boy, named Hawk- 

 shaw, who proceeded with the delicious pioduct 

 of flour to the Deanery, to demand the honorarium 

 of a guinea (sometimes it is two guineas) from 

 the Abbey funds, well merited by his powers of 

 resistance, which must be as tough as the " pan- 

 cake " itself. This young gentleman got the prize 

 last year for this singular item of school studies. 



It appears that this curious custom is provided 

 for by the statutes of the Abbey ; the cook re- 



ceiving two guineas for his performance, and the 

 boy who can catch or preserve the pancake whole, 

 receiving one guinea (or two) from the Dean. 



At Eton school it was, within the memory of 

 living Etonians, the custom to write long copies 

 of verses on scrolls, called Bacchuses, which were 

 hung up on the walls of the College Hall. C. B.B. 



ENGLISH BIBLES. 



The proceedings in Convocation on the 18th of 

 Feby., on the frequent omission of the Marginal 

 Readings and References in the publication of the 

 English Bible, are both interesting and important ; 

 and the judicious remarks transmitted to Convoca- 

 tion by the Bishop of Exeter *, and the observa- 

 tions which fell from the Bishops of Oxford, St. 

 David's, and Llandaff, will doubtless lead to the 

 adoption by the Curators of the press at the 

 Universities of the suggestions which were then 

 made, both as regards the introduction of those 

 readings and references, and the restoring the 

 Preface of the Translators, or such parts of it as 

 it may be deemed expedient to give. 



The following passages, on the subject of mar- 

 ginal references, are taken from a sermon of 

 Bishop Horsley's : they show the great importance 

 which that eminent prelate attached to them. 

 After telling us that it should be a rule with 

 every one, " who would read the Scriptures with 

 advantage and improvement, to compare every 

 text with the passages in which the subject-matter 

 is the same," he proceeds : 



" These parallel passages are easily found by the mar- 

 ginal references in the Bibles of the larger form. It were 

 to be wished indeed, that no Bibles were printed without 

 the margin. It is to be hoped that the objection obvi- 

 ously arising from the necessary augmentation in the 

 price of the book, may some time or other be removed by 

 the charity of religious associations. The Society for the 

 Promotion of Christian Knowledge could not more effec- 

 tually serve the purpose of their pious institution than 

 by applying some part of their funds to the printing of 

 Bibles, in other respects in an ordinary way, for the use 

 of the poor, but with a full margin." 



" Tt is incredible to anyone, who has not in some de- 

 gree made the experiment, what a proficiency may be 

 made in that knowledge which maketh wise unto salva- 

 tion, by studying the Scriptures in this manner (the 

 comparing the Old with the New Testament), without 

 any other commentary or exposition than what the 

 different parts of the sacred volume mutually furnish for 

 each other." — Bp. Horsley's Nine Sermons, 1817, pp. 

 224-6. 



The Society referred to by Bishop Horsley has 

 not been wanting in this matter. Upwards of 

 twenty-nine of the Bibles printed and dissem- 

 inated by the Society for Promoting Christian 

 Knowledge, are what are called Reference Bibles. 

 Your readers are doubtless aware that in the 



* Refer also to the Bishop of Exeter's Letter to the 

 Bishop of Lichfield, pp. 7. 47. &c. 



