"Joanes Checkus

Rog. Aschamo. S.D.P. Amicitia lucrum non quærit, sed amicitiam utilitas sæpe consequitur. Ego vero tui erga me studii et laboris recordatus, hunc librum ad te mitto, non laboris tui mercedem, sed voluntatis nostræ significationem. Arbitror enim minime te illud tuum erga me beneficium vendere cogitasse, ne cauponariam exercere videremur, sed aliquam amicitiæ tuæ partem mihi commodasse, quam postea tibi reponere deberem. Hunc igitur librum pro testimonio a me accipe me multa tibi debere, et si quando habilis sum, ea velle omni cum studio compensare. Vale."

I have expanded contractions but retained the omega, which is somewhat capriciously substituted in some cases for long o. Knight adds his autograph: "S. Knight, 1770."

I forget what I gave for this book, but certainly a very trifling sum; probably the autograph alone would fetch much more. Singularly onough, I had bought many years before a copy of the Commentarii Linguæ Græcæ of Budæus (the book which Porson wished to edit), with the autograph of Sir Richard Morysine: Ρικαρδου Μορισινου Kaι Twv piλwv (see my note on Ascham's Scholemaster, London, Bell, 1863, p. 209). The auctioneer had not noticed the inscription, and I thus have become possessor, at the cost of a few shillings, of two of the Greek lexicons used by Roger Ascham. It certainly is an inducement to the study of classical antiquity that the most interesting relics in this field can be purchased for the price of waste paper. JOHN E. B. MAYOR. Cambridge.

AMEER YAKOOB KHAN (5th S. xii. 365).-A few words of comment on MR. MORRISON's interesting communication respecting the derivation of the name and titles of the Amir of Afghanistan may perhaps be deemed worthy of a place in the pages of "N. & Q." The word amir, from a root common to Arabic and Hebrew (Arabic amara, he commanded, or presided over as a prince), although, of course, Semitic, is not peculiar to rulers of Semitic nations, as is abundantly evidenced by the titles of the princes of Bokhara, Khiva, and other Tataric provinces.

The name Yakoob is familiar to Muhammadans, not through the Old Testament, but through the Koran, from which prenomens are given to Muslims of all nationalities and races. The derivation and use of the word khan are exhaustively discussed by Quatremère in his Histoire des Mongols de la Perse. He says, inter alia, that the word is one of those two (khan and kaan) which are met with in the historians as designating the Mongol monarchs. Khan, he continues, is a word common to the Mongolian language and other Tataric dialects, was the title taken by Tchinghiz, passed subsequently to a part of the princes of his family,

FREDERICK MANT.

A TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY FOR LONDON (5th S. xii. 424, 469, 493; 6th S. i. 21).—I am extremely obliged to you for your insertion of my note on this subject in "N. & Q.," but I should be glad if you will permit me to add that I do not desire to limit my proposal to London. Of course the Great Metropolis, as the very umbilicus mundi, would necessarily be the centre and starting point of such an institution as I have in view, but to restrict it to London would be to encroach on the domains of many existing antiquarian and archæological societies which already admirabiy play their parts, and which would naturally look with contempt not unmixed with jealousy on a young intruder into their own pocket boroughs. We should be content to be only their handmaid at best, to aspire only to index and chronicle their researches. My idea of the early duties of such an institution would be, in the case, say, of London, to take the sheets of the largest available plan, and to insert on it in colour plans of all the buildings known to have existed at a given date, say the commencement of each century. must be restricted to absolute facts, and each sheet should be accompanied by indexes of references to the authorities collated in its preparation. As we come down to later periods the plans would expand and the indexes would increase, and the society would have fledged its pinions and prepared itself for further flights, until, like certain of the fraternity, it should ignore the soil that gave it birth, and eventually die of depletion, or maddened, like a second Alexander, with the thought that it had no more worlds to conquer. point only connected with antiquarian and archeological research I desire to record my fervent protest. Let us have no museum. If in my first

This

On one

note I characterized as sacrilege the destruction of a sketch, plan, or map, how can I execrate too loudly the acts of those who, under the plea or guise of "science," falsely so called, deliberately destroy an ancient temple for a few remains of sculpture or inscription, deprive a Christian altar of its carving or its chalice, a tomb of its arms and ornaments, and disturb even the very bones of the occupant? Why are we to repeat the spoliation of the Parthenon, and to incur the opprobrium of all Europe and the civilized world by the unjustifiable robbery of Ephesus?

It may be well to say that these wretched Turks are ignorant of the value of this new-found treasure, but it is scarcely permissible to rob a savage of a diamond because he is ignorant of its value; or what should we think of the ignorance that breaks up the diamond to secure a single fragment? When will this cruel collecting mania cease? What benefit has resulted, or will ever result, from it to the spoliator?

England robbed the Parthenon of its glories, and boasted of the influence they would produce on her arts; yet our sculpture is the scorn and byword of all Europe. And there may be worse retribution than this. Centuries hence, when the New Zealander exhumes in his turn the ruins of the Museum, he will declare to posterity that the Britons had no religion of their own, but adopted that of the countries they conquered, and that their Pantheon undoubtedly stood near the forum of Russell. The Hindoo primate will point to the figures of Siva and Vishnu in proof of the inspired origin of Southey's curse of Kehama; and the Chinese missionary will affirm that a prominent dignitary derived his philosophy from a teacher of their nation and from the study of Chinese metaphysics. Let us purge ourselves of this evil thing before the curse of "him that removeth his neighbour's landmark" comes upon us, and on the next archæological relic we disinter let us write that we 66 found it and left it there."

E.I.U.S. Club.

J. B.

As the author of a portion of Old and New London, I beg to be allowed to bear testimony to the extreme difficulty of identifying houses of historic interest, owing to the "reckless renumberings" of streets. I have in my possession a letter of Lord Nelson's, addressed to "Lady Hamilton, at No. 23 in Piccadilly," but I have been hitherto unable to identify the house occupied by the fair Emma, though it cannot have been far from Mr. Quaritch's book warehouse. I know of cases, also, where the existence of such a society, if its work were carefully kept up, would assist families in ascertaining and preserving the right boundaries of properties, and so in saving an outlay in fees to lawyers and E. WALFORD, M.A.

surveyors. Hampstead.

THE OLD HUNDREDTH PSALM (5th S. xii. 289, 418, 475).-MR. MORGAN'S copy of the Psalmes of David must be a very interesting volume, and may be unique; but what does he mean by calling it the first printed edition? Selections, at least, from the Psalms were printed many times during the first half of the sixteenth century, some few of them including music; and Archbishop Parker's Psalter, supposed to have been published in 1560, is generally accepted as the first complete edition containing the 150 Psalms.

Is the music in MR. MORGAN'S Psalter complete in one volume, or are there four separate parts, like Day's Psalter of 1563? In the Musical Times for January, 1878, p. 39, mention is made of “Hondert Psalmen Davids, J. Utenhove; London, Jan Daye, 1561," a Dutch version of a hundred psalms, with notes, printed for the use of Protestant refugees; and also as having appeared in Steeven's Catalogue, "Sternholde, Tho. Fourescore and Seven Psalmes of David, with the Musick, the Songe of Simeon, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. Black letter, 24mo., 1561." Fuller particulars of MR. MORGAN'S Psalter would be highly interesting to many of your readers; I trust that he may be induced to supply them. A. H. L.

"BRANDLET": "AUBE" (5th S. xii. 387).W. C. does not specify in what work of Gascoigne these words occur, or what is the general subject of the passage. Supposing birds with harsh voices to be meant, brand or brant was an old name of goose, and as owlet is but another form of owl, brandlet might be goose, a species of which is brent goose or brand goose. As to aube, it is another form of albe, and the albatross, another feathered screecher, might be intended. In the list of unclean "fowl" mentioned in Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv. the mysterious fowl "backe occurs in Coverdale and the Geneva version. This is undoubtedly the bat, and the back, according to Wedgwood, had originally an l before the a, as badger is in French bladier. It is a correct translation of the Hebrew. Coverdale does not venture upon the locusts, grasshopper, and beetle (A.V.) of v. 22, but gives his readers the Hebrew transcripts, "the Arbe, the Salaam, the Hargol and the Hagab," hardly an edifying verse. H. F. WOOLRYCH.

Oare, Faversham.

THE CELTIC RACES (5th S. xii. 420).—The most exhaustive book I know on the subject is that by Baron Roget de Belloguet, the general title of which is: Ethnogénie Gauloise, ou Mémoires Cri tiques sur l'Origine et la Parenté des Cimmériens, des Cimbres, des Ombres, des Belges, des Ligures, et des Anciens Celtes, Paris, 1868-75, 4 vols., 8vo. This work was awarded the "Grand Prix Gobert " by the Institut de France. Its subdivisions are as

"DON QUIXOTE" (5th S. xii. 428).-With reference to the edition of Don Quixote translated by Thomas Shelton, with engravings, I note in the Athenæum of Saturday, December 6, 1879, in the account of the sale of Dr. Laing's library, the following:-"Cervantes's Don Quixote, translated by Shelton, illustrated with a set of French plates, 551." This would appear to supply what W. P. W. desires-a confirmation of his belief in the worth of his copy, as there can be little doubt, I should say, that it is similar to the above.

F. A. TOLE.

27, Overstone Road, Northampton. MARTYRS AT NEWBURY, 1556 (5th S. xii. 427). -Fuller (Worthies, "Barkshire," p. 91) says that

the

"three on July 16, 1556, were burnt in a place nigh Newberry called the Sandpits, enduring the pain of the fire with such incredible constancy, that it confounded their foes, and confirmed their friends in the truth."

At "Warwickshire" (p. 120) he remarks of Julius Palmer that he was 66 a hopefull scholar, bred in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford, and though burnt in Newbury, born at Coventry." Wood (Fasti Oxon., an. 1547) says that he was

"elected probationer fellow of the said coll, 25 July, 1549, and true and perpetual fellow in the year following. In 1553 he left his fellowship, and what became of him after, John Fox in his book of The Acts and Mon., &c., will tell you at large among the martyrs that stood up, and died for the Protestant Religion, under the year 1556." Consult Dr. J. R. Bloxam's Magdalen Register

for further information.

ED. MARSHALL.

A. W. will find a very full and interesting account of the "Examination of Julius Palmer at Newbury" in The History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs, including Twenty-eight

Julines (not Julius) Palmer, a Marian martyr, was of Magdalen College, Oxon, and sometime master of the school at Reading. His father had been mayor of Coventry, and his mother was living at Evesham temp. Mary. I have not the book at hand, but I think A. W. will find some account of him in Clarke's Martyrology. Julines Herring, who is commemorated by Clarke, and whose father also had been mayor of Coventry, seems to have derived from the Palmers his peculiar Christian name, which Foxe represents in Latin by Joscelinus.

CLK.

CHRISTMAS IN YORKSHIRE AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS CENTURY (5th S. xii. 506).—Under this heading MR. WALCOTT describes in the past tense a number of things which are still, I am happy to say, "to the fore"-at least in the wapentake of Bulmer, where I write these lines.

The waits still go about singing; at 11 A.M., or at 10.30, there still is service in the churches, which are still adorned with holly, not, indeed, stuck upright on the pews, each sprig in its own hole, as I remember it of yore, but arranged, and combined with much else, by the wit of ingenious woman. The Vessel Cup Girls, whom I and others have erewhile described in "N. & Q.," still go about with their Bambino-or, at any rate, I have not heard of their extinction. The Christmas cheese (not marked with a cross, however) and the The Yule frumety are as well known as ever. log is still burned on the hearth in this very house, on Christmas Eve, I saw the head of the family place it with his own hands on the fire, as in duty bound. And on Plough Monday-the first Monday of the year-our sword dancers will, I hope, reappear; for I learn from a cheery and good-looking labourer, who played the Bessy in the "Plough" that was sent forth in January, 1879, by the next parish to ours, that he, with the King and Queen, and the Fool, and the dancers, was out three days on that occasion, when they brought home no less a sum than nine pounds sterling. The last time I was here on Plough Monday, four or five years ago, we had an excellent sword dance, with all the regulation characters, in the forecourt. The performers came from another village, and simply gave us a call in the ordinary course; and they did not go away empty.

A. J. M.

and from the cases of Rex v. Stubbs, in which it was held that a woman is not exempt from serving the office of overseer of the poor, and Olive v. Ingram, in which it was held that she may be a parish sexton, there may perhaps be some grounds for contending that a woman is not exempt from this duty. But however this may be in point of law, there can be little doubt that the courts would relieve her from the burden of serving, unless the necessity of the case required that she should do so. 2 T. R. 995; 1 Bott, 10."-C. G. Prideaux, Churchwardens' Guide, Lond., 1875, p. 5. ED. MARSHALL.

WHERE DID THE ORIGINAL INDIA HOUSE STAND? (5th S. xii. 429.)-In September, 1599, the first meeting of London merchants took place at Founder's Hall. On Dec. 31, 1599, the first East India Company was formed. From that time to 1600 at the private houses of the directors (then called committees). From 1600 to 1621 principally at Sir Thomas Smith's house in Philpet Lane. Is this house still extant, and is there a drawing or engraving of it? From 1621 to 1638 at Crosby House in Bishopsgate Street, then Lord Northampton's. From 1638 to 1648 at Sir Christopher Clitherowe's house (the Governor of the E. I. Co.), in Leadenhall Street. Is there a drawing or engraving of this house? From 1648

to 1726 at Lord Craven's house in Leadenhall Street (next door to Sir Christopher Clitherowe). In 1726 Lord Craven's house was rebuilt. From 1726 to 1796 in this new house. In 1796 this house was rebuilt. From 1796 to 1858 (1860) in the house so rebuilt, commonly known as the East India House. CHARLES MASON.

3, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W.

"The East India House, on the south side of the street (Leadenhall Street), formerly Sir William Craven's, a very large building, with spacious rooms, very commodious for such a public concern. It hath a large hall and courtyard for the reception of people who have business there, to attend on the Company on their court days. There belongs to it also a garden, with warehouses in the back part toward Lime Street; into which there is a back gate for the entrance of carts to bring their goods into their warehouses. This house did belong to the Earl of Craven, and was lett by him to this Company at a yearly Rent."-Maitland's History of London, vol. ii. p. 1000.

S. L.

GRIMM'S "MÉMOIRES INÉDITS" (5th S. xii. 429). -This book is mentioned in Michaud's Biographie Universelle, where it is said: "Enfin en 1829 on a publié à Paris en 2 volumes in 8°: Mémoires Politiques et Anecdotiques du Baron de Grimm. Ces mémoires sont apocryphes."

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. Seville Villa, Forest Hill, S.E.

A TOKEN (5th S. xii. 509).—The Beccles token that your correspondent MR. JONES inquires about is fully described in my work on Suffolk Coinage, p. 79, and the letters F. S. U. stand for "Facta Societatis Usu" (sic) (made for the use of society). The work embraces an account of regal as well as token currency that bears any impression referring to Suffolk tokens or villages. I am endeavouring to compile the same for Essex, and shall be glad of any additional information. C. GOLDING.

[Qy.for Suffolk use?]

PORTRAITS OF CENTENARIANS (5th S. xii. 407).— The portrait of Matthew Greathead, of Richmond, Yorkshire, will be found in the Illust. Lond. News of (I think) the second week in July, 1870. I took the trouble to verify the fact of his birth, and his baptismal register, from the parish of High Coniscliffe, Durham, runs thus: "Matthew, son of John Greathead, was baptized on the 24th day of April, 1770." He was born on the previous day, the 23rd. I believe he lived to see his hundred and second birthday, that is, he completed 101 years of life. I am not, however, sure when he died. engraving is an excellent likeness. BOILEAU.

The

THE HISTORY OF LITERARY FORGERIES (6th S. i. 17).-Many articles have appeared in reviews and magazines on the Ireland, Byron, and Shelley forgeries, and also on the fabrications of Simonides, but the only separate work on the subject I have