MR. URBAN,-I am far from controverting the opinion advanced in the letter of Mr. Hudson Gurney (read at Norwich before the Archæological Institute, p. 283 of this volume) upon the site of Venta Icenorum, as I have for some time entertained similar views upon the subject; but I must beg leave to say a few words upon the etymology of the word Venta, on which I am inclined to differ with him. I cannot think that the Roman term Venta was derived from the British word GWENT, which signifies, I believe, an open or champain country. Venta was applied by the Romans to the chief cities or towns of three of the principal nations or states of Ancient Britain; viz. Venta Belgarum, Venta Silurum, and Venta Icenorum, and this word pointed out the chief town or metropolis of the states or people named in conjunction with it, and was, I confidently think, formed by the Romans from the British word pen, which means chief, head, supreme, &c. This is the radix of a multitude of words in that language of a similar tendency: e. g. pencaer signifies a metropolis. The Romans, it is well known, used indiscriminately the b, f, p, and v for each other in the derivation and inflection of words, to improve the sound. So that by Venta Icenorum was expressed the chief town of the Iceni. It may be as well to state here what occurs in Richard of Cirencester's work relating to this city. He divides the Iceni into two tribes, viz. the Cenomanni and the Coitanni, and says that the metropolis of the former was Venta, which city, in his third Iter, he describes as Venta Cenom (a contraction for Cenomanni). See also your last volume, p. 144, as to this division of the Iceni. I adduce this as some little evidence of the consistency of Richard's authorities.-Yours, &c. J. P.

WILCEBE has puzzled himself and his friends for a long time about the derivation of "Triforium," and now begs for the opinion of our Correspondents.

The following is an extract from Anthony Wood's "Athenæ Oxonienses" (1691, vol. i. col. 723): "JOHN BERE

BLOCK, of St. John's Coll. was admitted [Mast. of Arts] the same day [viz. Feb. 13, 1565]. He was afterwards Fellow of Exeter College, and most admirably well skill'd in the art of delineation, and drawing the description of places, some of which are extant, particularly that of the city of ROCHESTER, at which place, or near it, he was born." Can any of our readers inform T. A. what has become of the precious "delineation" above alluded to?— Our Correspondent will find something more of Bereblock in Gough's British Topography, vol. ii. pp. 100, 101. His views of the colleges of Oxford were engraved in plates attached by Hearne to his "Dodswelli de Parma Equestri," &c. 1713; and his account (in Latin) of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the university was printed at the end of Hearne's Historia Vitæ Ric. II. 1729.

In reference to the statement relative to the Works of Dr. Chalmers, which has been circulated in many periodicals, and was given in our last, p. 405, we are informed that 10,0007. neither has been nor will be paid for the copyright of Dr. Chalmers's Works, and that one half of that sum would have been nearer the mark; but an interest in the sale of the works is retained for the family, in the shape of a handsome per-centage upon the published price of every copy disposed; so that, the larger number the public consume, the more beneficial it will be to the family of the deceased.

A Correspondent wishes to obtain information on the following point :-Upon what authority a layman is permitted to read the Lessons, as is occasionally done during the divine service.

An individual in real ignorance upon the subject is desirous of knowing the meaning of the term non-natural sense, now so frequently in use. It is not in any polemical or controversial point of view that the inquiry is made, but from not having a definite understanding of the term. Is it an old scholastic term, or one of recent adoption under late circumstances?