206 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«-i S. IX. Mar. 17. *60. 



spondents give satisfactory information on this 

 point ? J. K. 



Edinburgh. 



Your correspondent, Mr. Keightley, mentions 

 the game called "cat," which he s;iys "was cricket 

 in effect, only, that instead of wickets there were 

 holes, and instead of a ball a shuttle-shaped piece 

 of wood, — in other respects it. was played precisely 

 like cricket." He adds : " I have never seen or 

 heard of it anywhere else, either in England or in 

 Ireland." This rather surprises me, because in 

 Norfolk I have often seen boys make the " cat," 

 and play the game. If Mr. Keightley will look 

 into my History of Sedgley Park School, he will 

 find the game mentioned at p. 104. with due 

 honour as a favourite game. So it was, but we 

 found it more convenient to play it with a hand- 

 ball, and with a peculiar round truncheon called a 

 cat-stick ; thinner in the middle than at the ends, 

 and the striking end thicker than the handle. 

 But the game was always called " cat," and care- 

 fully distinguished from a somewhat similar game 

 called "rounders." In "cat," one boy was "in," 

 and had to run round the holes in time to prevent 

 anyone putting the ball into the striking hole ; 

 but in "rounders" each hole had its boy standing 

 at it, and, when the ball was struck, all kept run- 

 ning round till the ball was returned ; when he 

 who got the striking hole, of course struck the 

 ball next. F. C. H. 



Marriage Law (2 nd S. viii. 328. ; ix. 112.) — 

 I think I was right when I said that the old law 

 of Christendom is what " we now know as the 

 Scotch Law" But waiving this, I did not quote 

 an Encyclopedia of 1774, but of 1744, before the 

 Act of Geo. II. It was the supplementary volume 

 of Dr. Harris's Lexicon Technician, which was 

 published in England at the time when the incon- 

 veniences of the existing marriage law were in 

 process of forcing amendment. It is contem- 

 porary evidence to the state of opinion as to what 

 was the English law : and the volume bears ample 

 marks of learning, legal and ecclesiastical. Neither 

 did I suppose that the Scotch law makes wit- 

 nesses essential; my words were, " Was the mar- 

 riage by simple contract in presence of witnesses 

 as common as it is supposed to be in Scotland?" 

 And I should like again to put the question, that 

 anyone of your readers who may meet with a case 

 turning upon such a contract may give information. 

 For since marriage without the presence of a priest 

 was not " null and void," but only " irregular," it 

 surely must have happened that some question of 

 succession depending on the validity of such a mar- 

 riage must have been decided by the courts. M. 



Chalk Drawing (2 nd S. ix. 123.) —It is ex- 

 tremely difficult to decipher mottoes and inscrip- 

 tions referring to graphic illustrations without a 

 copy of the drawing or plate. In a description, 



particularly as in the present instance, by a party 

 professedly ignorant, of the meaning and language 

 of the inscription, some possibly small touch may 

 have escaped him very needful to explain it. 

 However the following literal translation may in 

 some measure account for the design : — 



" Then the fire would have also destroj'ed me ; but on 

 crushing the stone upon the Eock, with might I kindled 

 the light." • 



I take it the first sentence refers to the fire in 

 the gouty foot, which is generally treated with 

 blankets and extra heat, to which the latter sen- 

 tence refers, as procuring the means of cure or 

 alleviation by the light to kindle a fire. Is not 

 the bladder-stone alluded to in crushing the 

 stone? W. B., Ph. Dr. 



The old man is Philoctetes ; the inscription is a 

 translation of 



"'Eira trvp av bv iraprjv 

 'AAA' €V ireTpoio'i Trerpuv eKxpi/Swr, juoAif 

 r E<j}iqv' afyavTQv $cG?. — Philoetet. V. 295. 



H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



Epigram on Homer (2 nd S. iv. 207.) — This 

 Query, which has only just now caught my atten- 

 tion, seems to have had no reply, so the following 

 may be acceptable : — 



The Rev. J. M. Neale, in his Hierologus (Lond. 

 Jas. Burns, 1846, p. 205.), speaking of Heywood 

 and his Hieraixhie, observes : 



"He has had his plagiarists; Dr. Seward's Epigram 

 has been often quoted : 



' Seven mighty Cities strove for Homer dead, 



Through all "the living Homer begged his bread.' 

 " But it is evidently only an improvement on — 

 ' Seven Cities warred for Homer, being dead, 

 Who living had no place to lay his head.' " 



Mr. Neale has not quoted Heywood's lines quite 

 accurately : they run as follows : — 



" Seven Cities warr'd for Homer being dead; 

 Who living had no roofe to shrowd his head." * 



Where is " Dr. Seward's Epigram" to be found, 

 and does be give it as his own ? 



In the Life of Tasso in Lardner's Cab. Cyclo. 

 (" Literary Men of Italy, &c." Lond. 1835, vol. 

 ii. p. 101.) this Epigram is quoted with the refer- 

 ence " Ath. i. 384." appended — an abbreviation, 

 I suppose, for Athenseus. As I have not a copy 

 of this author within reach, will some one kindly 

 verify the reference, and see if this epigram be 

 rightly ascribed to Athenseus ? f 



The " Seven rival cities " which contended for 

 the honour of Homer's birth-place, are comprised! 

 by Varro in a single line : — 



" Smyrna, Rhodus, Colophon, Salamin, Chios, Argos, 

 Athense." 



ElRIONNACH. 



- .... . — ■ —.—.■■■.■ , ■.— I !■■■■. V. Ill ■ 



* The Hierarchic of the blessed Angells. Lond. 1635: 

 folio, p. 207. 



[t It is not from Athenseus. — Ed.] 



