2»-»s. IX. June 9. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



437 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 9. 18C0. 



N°. 232.— contents. 



NOTES : — The Cross of Christ : its Inscription, 437 — Mili- 

 tary Centenarians, 438 — Mediaeval Rhymes , 439 — Cruden 

 and Addison, 440 — Coldharbour : Green Arbour Court: 

 Coal, Charcoal, and Coke, 441 — Full-bottomed Wig, lb. 



Minor Notes: — Flirt — First Book printed in Greenland 



— The Sayings and the Doings of Count Cavour — Anemo- 

 meter — Balk, and Pightel or Pikle : Ventilate — Latin 

 Puzzle — The " Gold Ants" of Herodotus — Bee Supersti- 

 tion — The Roman " Derby-Day," 442. 



QUERIES: — Drawing Society of Dublin, 444 — The Rev. 

 John Hutton, B.D. — Kippen — Donnybrook burned in 

 1624 — Soldiers' Library — William Baker — Manifold Wri- 

 ters — Hogarth Family — Epitaph — " To be found in the 

 vocative" — St. Makedranus, St. Madryn — Pope and Ho- 

 garth — " Mors mortis raorti," &e. — Burning Alive — " The 

 Christian's Duty " — Rev. Peter Smith — Law of Scotland 



— William Parker — Quotations Wanted— Put a sneck in 

 the kettle crook — Edward Basset — Stockdales the Pub- 

 lishers — Public Disputation — Mr. William Upton — 

 Annotated Copy of Minsheu's Dictionary, 444. 



Queries with Answers: — Revision 'of the Prayer-Book 



— Monumental Brasses — Benjamin Baxter — Les Chauf- 

 feurs du Nord — Conrad Cling, or Kling — Watson : Rock- 

 ingham — " Lacteur and Entendement," 448. 



REPLIES: —Mathematical Bibliography, 419 — Heraldic 

 Engraving, 450 — The Debate on Impositions, 1609-10, 

 451 — Edgar Family, lb. — David vVilkins — Allusion in 

 the " Rolliad " — Ur Chasdim — Alleged Interpolations in 

 the "Te Deum " — Cimex lectularius — The Judges' Black 

 Cap — Hereditary Alias — Peers serving as Mayors — Hy- 

 drophobia and Smothering — Origin of "Cockney" — Atter 

 or Alii, 452. 



Notes on Books. 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST: ITS INSCRIPTION. 



Among the relics which astonish the visitor at 

 Rome there are some at least which have an his- 

 torical interest ; and if their genuineness is as- 

 certained, are regarded as precious relics by 

 I Protestants as well as Catholics. For example, 

 how satisfactory would it be to know that the 

 title of the cross of Christ preserved in the church 

 of S. Croce, is that which Pilate caused to be 

 written. I am not about to determine the authen- 

 ticity of this relic, but to state the circumstances 

 under which it is said to have been discovered, 

 and to ask a question about it. In the Memorie 

 Havre of Giovanni Severano, published at Rome 

 in 1G30, it is stated that in the chapel over that 

 of S. Helena there are preserved three pieces of 

 the wood of the cross, the title of the same cross, 

 and one of the nails by which our Lord was fas- 

 tened to it. Of the second of these only I propose 

 now to speak. Severano states that this relic, 

 originally deposited in the church by the Emperor 

 Valentinian, was accidentally rediscovered in 1492 

 on the 1st of February, during a restoration of 

 the church by order of Cardinal Mendozza. The 

 workmen, perceiving that the wall above the arch 

 at which they were at work was hollow, broke it 





open, and found there a recess (Jinestrella), in 

 which was a leaden box two palms long, and well 

 fastened.* Above it was a stone of marble, with 

 this inscription : " Hie est titulus S. Crucis." 

 When the box was opened, there was found in it 

 a tablet, a palm and a half long, and a palm wide, 

 decayed and consumed on one side by age. Upon 

 it had been engraved, and afterwards coloured 

 red, with the following words in rough characters 



" HYESVS NAZARENVS REX IVD^EORUM ; " but the 



word "lVDiEORuai" was not complete, the two 

 last letters having been consumed by time. The 

 same words were placed in three lines, one above 

 another : the upper in Hebrew characters, the 

 second in Greek, and the third in Latin. At this 

 time, says Severano, this tablet is much smaller 

 than when it was found ; because not only has 

 time corroded it, but portions of it have been sent 

 to different churches, as to that of Toulouse and 

 others. Soarez, who visited Rome after the 

 Council of Trent, saw this title ; upon which he 

 saw, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters, these 

 words — " iesvs nazarenvs rex"; and ascribes 

 the loss of the word Judeeorum to the divine will 

 (" hasc dictio Judeeorum abstracta, non arte, sed 

 divino consilio fuit in omnibus, in quas in Scriptis 

 redacta erat Unguis "). " It is now," says Seve- 

 rano again, " inclosed in a tabernacle with a glass 

 before it, and only a few letters can be seen of 

 the Hebrew, one Latin word only, 'nazarenvs,' 

 and a letter or two of the following. word ; the 

 remainder, as well in Greek as in Latin, is all 

 gone. Of the discovery of this title, Alexander 

 VI. made mention in the bull ' Admirabile Sa- 

 cramentum' in 1496, in which he concedes an in- 

 dulgence to the church of S. Croce on the day of 

 the invention." 



The record of the original finding of this title 

 by Helena is given by some of the ancient church 

 historians ; but if it was sent to Rome with other 

 portions of the cross, it is a curious problem how 

 it could be forgotten in the church which was ex- 

 pressly erected to receive these relics. Such, 

 however, is said to have been the fact, and I leave 

 it to others to account for it. There is, however, 

 no doubt that the title was exhibited in 1497. In 

 that year Arnold von Harff visited Rome, and he 

 says that in the church of Holy Cross they show 

 the cord with which our Lord was bound to the 

 cross, a piece of his robe, part of the veil of our 

 Lady, and part of the sponge ; also twelve thorns 

 of the crown ; two vessels, one containing our 

 Lady's milk, the other our Lord's blood ; a great 

 piece of the holy cross, and many other sacred 

 objects, including an entire nail of the cross. He 

 also mentions our relic, but the sentence is very 

 obscure. I translate it : "Also, above an archway 

 in a hole of the wall, lies part of the title of Jesus 



* See also Ciaconii, Vita Paparunt, ed. 1C01, p. 1006., 

 for a similar account of the discovery. 



