2°i S. IX. Mar. 24. 'CO.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



223 



Day are a very old institution, dating from the time when 

 there were no daughter churches in the parish; and 

 farmers and others came great distances for the annual 

 Communion. I suppose the numbers were so great that 

 thev thought it best to have more than one celebration. 

 Even now the early Communions are attended, I believe, 

 by some people from a considerable distance, who keep up 

 the old custom," 



Of course early Communions on great festivals 

 (at 8 a.m. or thereabouts) are not uncommon in 

 town churches, but I believe this to be a solitary 

 instance of three celebrations of that Sacrament in 

 one day, in an English cathedral. I have heard 

 of a practice of very early services on Sundays in 

 some part of South Wales, and should be glad to 

 hear if any of your correspondents should happen 

 to know of such cases. The practice is common 

 enough abroad ; but in England the services are 

 very seldom early enough for persons who are 

 unable to attend during the day. 



John G. Talbot. 

 Freshwater. 



Lambeth Degrees. — Under what circum- 

 stances has the Archbishop of Canterbury the 

 power of granting the degree of M. A. ? Is such 

 a degree a mark of intellectual ability, as at Ox- 

 ford, Cambridge, and Dublin? What is the 

 peculiarity in the form or colour of the hood, 

 which distinguishes it from that granted by one 

 of the universities ? Enquirer. 



Manchester. 



Durance Vile. — Where is that very common 

 expression " durance vile " first met with ? 



C. DE D. 



Trees cut in the Wane or the Moon. — 

 In the first Lent-sermon of Segneri, I find the 

 following reflection : — 



" When people are going to cut down a tree for the 

 use of the artificer, to make a casket, or desk, or perhaps 

 a beautiful statue of it, they go with a hundred scrutinies 

 and examine whether it is sound, whether it is seasoned, 

 above all, whether it is cut at its proper time, as, for in- 

 stance, when the moon is on the wane." 



Is this a common superstition, and elsewhere 

 recorded ? C. W. Bingham. 



Dr. Robert Clayton. — Can one of your 

 readers supply any information about the family 

 and pedigree of Dr. Itobert Clayton, Bishop of 

 Clogher, in the last century ? I believe he was 

 one of the discoverers of gas, and was the first to 

 offer a reward for the elucidation of the Sinaitic 

 inscriptions. D. 



Noble Orthography. — In the second num- 

 ber of The Curnhill Magazine, the biographer of 

 Hogarth is made to say: "Neither the great 

 Due of Marlborough, nay, nor his Duchess, the 

 terrible 'Old Sarah,' nay, nor Mrs. Masham, 

 nay, nor Queen Anne herself, could spell ; and 

 that the young Pretender (in the Stuart Papers) 



writes his father's name thus, ' Gems' for 'James.' " 

 I should like to know what authority there is for 

 this statement respecting the Queen, the Duke, 

 and the Duchess ? And whether the famous let- 

 ters which passed between Mrs. Freeman and 

 Mrs. Morley are open to this accusation ? 



E: R. St. Maur. 



John de la Court. — Can you refer me to any 

 information respecting John de la Court, Chaplain 

 to Edward, Duke of Buckingham, about the year 

 1520? He is spoken of by Holinshed, and after 

 him by Shakspearc in the first Act of King Henri/ 

 the Eighth. Meletes. 



Finch. — Who was the Rav. John Augustine 

 Finch, rector of Aston and Hockerton ? And 

 when and where did he die ? His wife (who was 

 Elizabeth Burnell) died Oct. 15th, 1771. Hock- 

 erton is in Notts. Where is Aston ? Mr. Finch 

 is not in the catalogue of rectors of Aston, near 

 Rotherham. C. J. 



Devotional Poems. — Can any of the corre- 

 spondents of " N. & Q." give the author of a 

 small book of poems of the following title : 



" Devotional Poems, Festival and Practical, on some 

 of the Chief CI) ristian Festivals, Fasts, Graces, and Yer- 

 tues, &c, for the Use of his Country-Parishioners, espe- 

 cially the Younger and Pious Persons. By a Clergy-Man 

 of the Country. With a Dedication to Bp. Ken. 8vo. 

 pp. 79. Henry Bonwicke. London, 1699." 



Did these poems reach a second edition ? 



Daniel Sedgwick. 



Sun Street, City. 



Bullokar's "Bref Grammar." — Can any of 

 your readers tell where this book is to be met 

 with ? The British Museum does not own it, for 

 aught I could ascertain. Our grammarians, in 

 enumerating the pioneers on their field, do not 

 fail mentioning Bullokar ; but rather like a my- 

 thical being, that everybody has heard of, but 

 nobody has seen with his own eyes. R. T. 



Johanne de Colet. — Wanted information 

 concerning Johanne de Colet, who was a witness to 

 the charter of foundation granted to the " Hos- 

 pitale de Sutton in agro Eboracensi" by Galfridus, 

 son of Peter, Earl of Essex. Also, the date of the 

 said charter.- Any information concerning the 

 family of Collett will be acceptable. St. Liz. 



Steel. — When was this word introduced into 

 the English language ? My object in asking the 

 cpiestion is, that the word is used in a manuscript 

 of which I am desirous to ascertain the date 

 of the compilation of its contents. The MS. I 

 have before me being a copy of an earlier one, 

 only dates about 1700. I presume the MS. to be 

 a translation of a Mediasval work, and that the 

 word "steel," in conjunction with "iron and 

 brass," is a modem, that is, a seventeenth century, 

 interpolation. Am I likely to be correct ? W. P. 



