472 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2 nd S. IX. J one 16. '60. 



The Lady's and Gentleman's Skulls (2 nd S. 

 ix. 163.) — In our Historical Magazine for April, 

 1858 (pp. 118, 119.), is a short paper upon the 

 " Address of a Lady's Skull to the Fair," in which 

 the writer says that these verses, which he ap- 

 pends, " are from an old manuscript book dated 

 1775, and are in the handwriting of the then 

 owner (Col. Charles Clinton)." This gentleman, 

 a native of Europe, was the father of Vice- 

 President George Clinton, and grandfather of 

 Governor De Witt Clinton of New York. The 

 correspondent of the Historical Magazine adds : — 



" If some one of your correspondents does not indicate 

 some other author, I shall assume that it was the gentle- 

 man in whose handwriting they were found. I am au- 

 thorised to do so from the fact that I have several pieces 

 of poetry of which he was the undoubted author." 



The foundation for this assumption strikes me 

 as too slight, but it is offered for the considera- 

 tion of your Querist. Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



Mille Jugera (2" d S. ix. 372.) — I hasten to 

 correct an error in representing the acreage of 

 the Agro Romano as 27,850 : it should be 445,600. 

 To reconcile the statement of Cicero (Alt. ii. 16.) 

 according to his present text, with the ascertained 

 facts, is impossible ; but if we assume that the 

 purport of what he really wrote was " supposing 

 it to be divided amongst fifty [instead of fioe~\ 

 thousand men, no more than ten jugera [6 T *\y 

 acres] can fall to every man's share," which may 

 be done by reading quinquagittta instead of quin- 

 que, or in Roman numerals, l for v, we make a 

 correct approximation both to the actual acreage 

 of this territory, and also to ajust estimate of the 

 population of Rome. The acreage of Cicero is 

 thereby raised to 330,500, or three-fourths of the 

 ascertained quantity, 445,600, which may, ex- 

 cluding the marshy and barren districts, fairly 

 represent the portion in pasture and tillage. As 

 respects the population, " the number of citizens 

 may be estimated at 300,000, and the whole 

 number of residents at 2,000,000 and upwards " 

 (Eschenburg by Fiske, iii. s. 190.) : the fourth of 

 the citizens will be the number of males above 

 twenty years of age, or 75,000, but of these many, 

 say 25,000, might not be entitled to such division 

 of land. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



The Livery Collar of Scotland (2 nd S. ix. 

 341.) — " Gormettis fremalibus equorum" is pro- 

 bably the equivalent of the French gourmette, 

 which is a curb-chain, not a bit. The curb-chain 

 pattern is a well-known one, even in the present 

 day. I apprehend the merit of this kind of chain, 

 whether for curb-chains or watch-chains, or back- 

 bands of carts, is that it lies flat. A coachman 

 who thought any horse would get away from him 

 by hard pulling against a curb bit, used to roughen 



the curb chain (by untwisting it), which made it 

 more like an ordinary chain, and more severe and 

 painful to the horse. J. P. O. 



"Rock of Ages" (2 nd S. ix. 387.)— The Latin 

 version I sent you has been in print before, I be- 

 lieve. The friend from whom I received it 

 thought he copied it some years ago from The 

 Guardian newspaper, and that it was the original 

 of Toplady's hymn, but had no distinct recollec- 

 tion on the subject. Henry W. Baker, Bart. 



Monkland Vicarage. 



The Festival of the Ass (2 nd S. v. 3.) — In 

 Causes Amusantes et Connues, Berlin, 1770 (vol. ii. 

 p. 284., &c), is a note respecting la fete de I'Asne. 

 After giving most of the verses published in " N. 

 & Q." the writer adds that the prose which they 

 also sang at this festival, half Latin and half 

 French, explained the good qualities of the ass, 

 and each stanza ended with this burthen: — 



" He', Sire Asne, car chantez, 

 Belle bouche rechignez, 

 Vous aurez du foin assez, 

 Et de l'avoine a plantez. 

 Bin-ham, hin-ham, Kin-ham" 



To which the writer adds, " Voyez a la Biblio- 

 theque du Roi le manuscrit qui vient de M. 

 Laluze, et I'Histoire de France de l'Abbe Vely, 

 torn. iii. p. 542." Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



Fellowes' Visit to the Monastery of La 

 Trappe (2 nd ix. 403.) — A correspondent, Abhba, 

 inquires to whom, and upon what grounds, refer- 

 ence is made in the following MS. note in the 

 above work : — 



"Was not the principal incentive to this journey to 

 ascertain the fate of a noble fanatic who left the church 

 of his Fathers for the 'Papal Diadem,' but being foiled, 

 in despair buried himself in the Monastery of La Trappe, 

 the late Rev. Sir H. T. . . . y, Bart, of T. . . C . . . Ill " 



The baronet referred to must be Sir Harry 

 Trelawney. He indeed left the church of A is 

 Fathers, but only to return to the church of his 

 great-grandfathers, about the year 1814. He was 

 originally a clergyman of the Church of England, 

 but was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church 

 by Cardinal Odescalchi, May 30, 1830. There is 

 evidently some mistake about his entering La 

 Trappe, for he died at Lavino near Rome, on the 

 25th of February, 1834, at the age of seventy- 

 eight. F. C. H. 



The Nine Men's Morris (2 nd S. ix. 207.) — In 

 this country this is the name given to a game 

 played upon three squares connected by diagonal 

 and perpendicular lines, and sometimes painted 

 or stamped upon the backs of checker-boards. 

 Drafts or checkermen are used for the men, if not 

 too large ; sometimes raw and roasted grains of 

 coffee are substituted. The game played by hop- 



