with the head gilt. When Bp. Fox's tomb was opened at Winchester some few years since, his staff of oak was found in perfect preservation. A staff of wood painted in azure and gilt hangs over Trelawney's tomb in Pelynt Church, Cornwall. The superb staff of the pious and munificent founder of the two St. Marie Winton Colleges is still preserved at Oxford, as is also that of the illustrious Wykehamist, Bp. Fox, to whose devotion we owe Corpus Christi College in that university. One of the earliest tombs bearing a staff incised, is that of Abbot Vitalis, who died in 1082, and may be seen in the south cloister of St. Peter's Abbey in Westminster. There were croziered as well as mitred abbots for instance, the superior of the Benedictine abbey at Bourges had a right to the crozier, but not to the mitre. The Abbot of Westminster was croziered and mitred. I intended to write a reply, but have ended with a note. MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M. A. 7. College Street, Westminster. J. Z. P. will find a fully satisfactory answer to his Query, in regard to the real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff, on referring to the article headed "Crozier," in the Glossary of Architecture. It is there stated, that "the crozier of an archbishop is surmounted by a cross; but it was only at a comparatively late time, about the 12th century, that the archbishop laid aside the pastoral staff, to assume the cross as an appropriate portion of his personal insignia." From which it may be inferred, that the only existent real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff is, that the former is surmounted by a cross, and the latter is as it was before the 12th century, viz., surmounted by "a head curled round something in the manner of a shepherd's crook;" and the difference in regard to their use, that the crozier pertains to the archbishops, and the pastoral staff to the bishops. R. W. ELLIOT. Cheltenham, Sept. 16. 1850. PARSONS, THE STAFFORDSHIRE GIANT. (Vol. ii., p. 135.) Harwood's note in Erdeswick's Staffordshire, quoted by your correspondent C.H.B., is incorrect, inasmuch as the writer has confused the biographies of two distinct "giants"-WALTER PARSONS, porter to King James I., and WILLIAM EVANS, who filled the same office in the succeeding reign. The best account of these two "worthies" is that found in Fuller, and which I extract from the original edition now before me:— "WALTER PARSONS, born in this county [Staffordshire], was first apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. He afterwards was porter to King James; seeing as gates generally are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that the porter should be taller than other persons. He was proportionable in all parts, and had strength equal to height, valour to his strength, temper single person. He would make nothing to take two to his valour, so that he disdained to do an injury to any of the tallest yeomen of the guard (like the Gizard and Liver) under his arms at once, and order them as he pleased. "Yet were his parents (for aught I do understand to the contrary) but of an ordinary stature, whereat none will wonder who have read what St. Augustine (De Civitate Dei, lib. xv. cap. 23.) reports of a woman which came to Rome (a little before the sacking thereof by the Goths), of so giant-like a height, that she was far above all who saw her, though infinite troopes came to behold the spectacle. And yet he addeth, Et hoc erat maximæ admirationis, quod ambo parentes ejus, &c. This made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary stature. This Parsons is produced for proof, that all ages afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no general decay of mankind in their dimensions, which, if there were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than Pigmyes, not to instance in a lesse proportion. This Parsons died Anno Dom. 162-."-Fuller's History of the Worthies of England, 1662 (Staffordshire), p. 48. "WILLIAM EVANS was born in this county [Monmouthshire], and may justly be accounted the Giant of our age for his stature, being full two yards and a half in height. He was porter to King Charles I., succeeding Walter Persons [sic] in his place, and exceeding him two inches in height, but far beneath him in an equal proportion of body; for he was not onely what the Latines call compernis, knocking his knees together, and going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little; yet made a shift to dance in an antimask at court, where he drew little Jeffrey, the dwarf, out of his pocket, first to the wonder, then to the laughter, of the beholders. He dyed Anno Dom. 163-." Ibid (Monmouthshire), p. 54. From these extracts it will be seen that the Christian name of Parsons was Walter, not William, as stated by Harwood. William was the Christian name of Evans, Parsons' successor. The bas-relief mentioned by the same writer represents William Evans and Jeffrey Hudson, his diminutive fellow-servant. It is over the entrance of Bull-head Court, Newgate Street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. On the stone these words are cut: "The King's Porter, and the Dwarf," with the date 1660. This bas-relief is engraved in Pennant. There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court; but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the Royal Collections. EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. EISELL AND WORMWOOD WINE. (Vol. ii., p. 249.) If Pepys' friends actually did drink up the two quarts of wormwood wine which he gave them, it must, as LORD BRAYBROOKE suggests, have been rendered more palatable than the propoma which was in use in Shakspeare's time. I have been furnished by a distinguished friend with the following, among other Notes, corroborative of my explanation of eisell: Replies to Minor Queries. Feltham's Works (Vol. ii., p. 133.). — In addition to the works enumerated by E. N. W., Feltham wrote A Discourse upon Ecclesiastes ii. 11.; A Discourse upon St. Luke xiv. 20; and A Form of Prayer composed for the Family of the Right Honourable the Countess of Thomond. These two lists, I believe, comprise the whole of his writings. The meaning of the passage in his Remarks on the Low Countries, appears to be this, that a person "I have found no better recipe for making worm-"courtly or gentle" would receive as little kindwood wine than that given by old Langham in his Garden of Health; and as he directs its use to be confined to Streine out a little spoonful, and drinke it with a draught of ale or wine,' I think it must have been so atrociously unpalatable, that to drink it up, as Hamlet challenged Laertes to do, would have been as strong an argumentum ad stomachum as to digest a crocodile, even when appetised by a slice of the loaf." It is evident, therefore, that but small doses of this nauseously bitter medicament were taken at once, and to take a large draught, to drink up a quantity, "would be an extreme pass of amorous demonstration sufficient, one would think, to have satisfied even Hamlet." Our ancestors seem to have been partial to medicated wines; and it is most probable that the wormwood wine Pepys gave his friends had only a slight infusion of the bitter principle; for we can hardly conceive that such "pottle draughts" as two quarts could be taken as a treat, of such a nostrum as the Absinthites, or wormwood wine, mentioned by Stuckius, or that prescribed by the worthy Langham. Mickleham, Sept. 30. 1850. S. W. SINGER. Eisell (Vol. ii., p. 242.).—The attempt of your very learned correspondent, MR. SINGER, to show that "eisell" was wormwood, is, I fear, more ingenious than satisfactory. It is quite true that wormwood wine and beer were ordinary beverages, as wormwood bitters are now; but Hamlet would have done little in challenging Laertes to a draught of wormwood. As to "eisell," we have the following account of it in the "Via Recta ad Vitam longam, or a Plaine Philosophical Discourse of the Nature, Faculties, and Effects of all such Things as by way of Nourishments, and Dieteticale Observations make for the Preservation of Health, &c. &c. By Jo. Venner, Doctor of Physicke at Bathe in the Spring and Fall, and at other Times in the Burrough of North-Petherton, neere to the Ancient Haven Towne of Bridgewater in Somersetshire. London, 1620." "Eisell, or the vinegar which is made of cyder, is also a good sauce; it is of a very penetrating nature, and is like to verjuice in operation, but it is not so astringent, nor altogether so cold," p. 97. J. R. N. ness from the inhabitants, and show as great a contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble ") among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for their beauty nor their politeness. The words "after Michaelmas " are used because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October." Bewick's British Birds, vol. i., p. 43. T. H. KERSLEY. King William's College, Isle of Man. lines from Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 23., suffiHarefinder (Vol. ii., p. 216.). The following ciently illustrates this term: "The man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sport The Finder sendeth out, to seeke out nimble Wat,Which crosseth in the field, each furlong, every flat, Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found: Then viewing for the course which is the fairest ground, The greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing then in case, And, choycely in the slip, one leading forth a brace; The Finder puts her up, and gives her coursers' law." &c. In the margin, at the second line, are the words, The Harefinder. What other instances are there of Wat, as a name of the hare? It does not occur in the very curious list in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 133. K. Fool or a Physician Rising and Setting Sun (Vol. i., p. 157.).—The inquiry of your correspondent C. FORBES, respecting the authorship of the two well-known sayings on these subjects, seems to have received no reply. He thinks that we owe them both to that "imperial Macchiavel, Tiberius." He is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. The saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from Tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to Pompey. Winchester. R. V. sua utilia vel noxia alieni consilia indigerent." particulars respecting this road, I shall feel much Annal. vi. 46. Suetonius says: "Valetudine pros-obliged. perrimâ usus est, quamvis a tricesimo ætatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjumento consiliove medicorum." Tib. c. 68. And Plutarch, in his precepts de Valetudine tuendâ, c. 49., says— “Ήκουσα Τιβεριόν ποτε Καίσαρα εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἀνὴρ ὑπὲρ Chкovтa [sic vulgò, sed bene corrigit Lipsius ad Tac. loc. cit. τριάκοντα] γεγονὼς ἔτη, καὶ προτείνων ἰατρῷ χεῖρα, καταγέλαστός ἐστιν.” These passages sufficiently indicate the origin of the saying; but who first gave it the pointed form in which we now have it, by coupling fool with physician, I am not able to tell. The authority for giving the other saying to Pompey, is Plutarch, who says that when Pompey, after his return from Africa, applied to the senate for the honour of a triumph, he was opposed by Sylla, to whom he observed, ""OTI Tтdy hλiov àvaтéxλοντα πλείονες ἢ δυόμενον προσκυνοῦσιν,” that more worship the rising than the setting sun-intimating that his own power was increasing, and that of Sylla verging to its fall. (Vit. Pomp. c. 22.) J. S. W. may In in Stockwell, Sept. 7. Papers of Perjury (Vol. ii. p. 182.). the absence of a 66 graphic account," it terest your correspondent S. R. to be referred to the two following instances of "perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime." In Machyn's Diary, edited by the accomplished antiquary, John Gough Nichols, Esq., and published by the Camden Society, at p. 104. occurs the following: "A.D. 1556, April 28... The sam day was sett on the pelere in Chepe iij. [men; two] was for the preuerment of wyllfull perjure, the iij. was for wyllfull perjure, with paper sett over their hedes." In the same works at p. 250., we have also this additional illustration: Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury. - Being acquainted with the road to which your correspondent S. H. (Vol. ii. p. 237.) alludes, he will, perhaps, allow me to say, that in the neighbourhood of Kemsing a tradition is current, that a certain line of road, which may be traced from Otford to Wrotham, was the pilgrims' road from Winchester to Canterbury. How far this may be correct I know not. I have not been able to discover any road in the neighbourhood of this city which goes by the name of the pilgrims' road. If any of your correspondents would furnish any Capture of Henry VI. (Vol. ii., p. 228.). — In his correction of your correspondent, CLERICUS CRAVENSIS, MR. NicHoLs states : "Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington, of Brierley, near Barnesley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received 100 marks reward; but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of 100l." In this statement appears entirely to have been overlooked the grant of lands made by King Edward IV. to Sir James Harrington — "For his services in taking prisoner, and withholding as such in diligence and valour, his enemy Henry, lately called King Henry VI." This grant, which was confirmed in Parliament, embraced the castle, manor, and domain of Thurland; a park, called Fayzet Whayte Park, with lands, &c. in six townships in the county of Lancaster; lands at Burton in Lonsdale, co. York; and Holme, in Kendal, co. Westmoreland, the forfeited lands of Sir Richard Tunstell, and other "rebels." So considerable a recognition of the services of Sir James Harrington would seem to demand something more than the second-rate position given to them by your correspondent. The order to give Sir James Harrington possession of the lands under his grant will be found in Rymer. The grant itself is printed in the Nuga Antique, by Henry Harrington, 1775 (vol. ii. p. 121.), and will, I believe, be found in Baines Lancashire. Mr. Henry Harrington observes that the lands were afterwards lost to his family by the misfortune of Sir James and his brother being on the wrong side at Bosworth Field; after which they were both attainted for serving Richard III. and Edward IV., " and commanding the party which seized Henry VI. and conducted him to the Tower." Brixton. H. K. S. C. a Andrew Becket (Vol. ii., p. 266.), about whom A. W. HAMMOND inquires, when I knew him, about twelve years ago, was a strange whimsical old gentleman, full of "odd crotchets," and abounding in theatrical anecdote and the "gossip of the green-room." But as to his ever having been “ profound commentator on the dramatic works of Shakspeare," I must beg leave to express my doubts. At one period he filled the post of sublibrarian to the Prince Regent; and that he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature” cannot be a question. His published works, as far as I can learn, are as follows: Stockwell, Sept. 7. "Quem Deus vult perdere" (Vol. i., p. 347., &c.). -To the illustrations of the saying "Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat," which have been given, may be added the following from the Fragments of Constantinus Manasses (edited with Nicet. Eugen., by Boissonade. Paris, 1819), book viii. line 40.:“ Ο γὰρ θεὸς ἀπτόμενος ἀνθρώπου διανοίας 'Ηνίκα τῷ δυσδαίμονι κίρνησι πένθους πόμα, Οὐδὲν πολλάκις συγχωρεῖ βουλεύσασθαι σύμφερον.” J. E. B. MAYOR. Marlborough College. Countess of Desmond (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 186.).— R. is referred to Smith's History of Cork, and European Magazine, vol. viii., for particulars respecting the Countess of Desmond. They show her picture at Knowle House, Kent, or Penshurst (I forget which); and tell the story of the fall from the cherry (or plum) tree, adding that she cut three sets of teeth! WEDSECNARF. Confession (Vol. ii., p. 296.).—The name asked for by U. J. B. of the Catholic priest, who, sooner than break the seal of confession, suffered death, is John of Nepomuc, Canon of Prague. By order of the Emperor Wenceslas, he was thrown off a bridge into the Muldaw, because he would not tell that profligate prince the confession of his religious empress. This holy man is honoured as St. John Nepomucen, on the 16th of May, in the kalendar of Saints. D. ROCK. [U. J. B., if desirous of further particulars respecting St. John Nepomuc, may consult Mrs. Jameson's interesting Legends of the Monastic Orders, pp. 214. 217. -ED.] Cavell, meaning of (Vol. i., p. 473.).—I concur entirely with the etymology of the word cavell given at p. 473. A lake having been drained in my country, the land is still divided into Kavelingen; as lots of land were formerly measured by strings of cord, kavel, kabel, cable. Vide Tuinman, Trakkel, d. n. t. p. 165. Kavelloten is to receive a cavell by lot. cf. Idem, Verrolg, p. 97. JANUS DOUsa. Lord Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico.Has Lord Kingsborough's splendid work on Mexican hieroglyphics ever been completed or not? J. A. GILES. [This magnificent work has been recently completed by the publication of the eighth volume, which may, we believe, be procured from Mr. Henry Bohn.-ED.] Aërostation (Vol. ii., p. 199.). The article BALLOON, in the Penny Cyclopædia, would give C. B. M. a good many references. The early works there mentioned are those of Faujas de St. Fond, Bourgeois, and Cavallo; to which I add the following: Thomas Baldwin, Airopaidia, containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion from Chester, Sept. 8. 1785. Chester, 1786, 8vo. (pp. 360.). Vincent Lunardi published the account of his voyage (the first made in England) in a series of letters to a friend. The title is torn out in my First Aerial Voyage in England. copy. The first page begins, "An Account of the Letter I. London, July 15. 1784." (8vo. pp. 66+ii., with a With his senses about him could form such a plan, 318 the original music of Shakspeare's Plays, but it has not been my good fortune to meet with the air of Concolinel. The communication of your correspondent R. is of the greatest interest, and I should be for ever grateful if he would allow me to see the manuscript in question, in order that I might test the genuineness of the air "stated, in a recent hand, to be the tune of Concolinel mentioned by Shakspeare." This air has double claims on our attention, as its existence, in any shape, is placed amongst the "doubtful" points by the following note extracted from the Rev. J. Hunter's New Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 268. : "CONCOLINEL. In the absence of any thing like sufficient explanation or justification of this word, if word it is, I will venture to suggest the possibility that it is a corruption of a stage direction, Cantat Ital., for Cantat Italicé; meaning that here Moth sings an Italian song. It is quite evident, from what Armado says, when the song was ended, 'Sweet air!' that a song of some sort was sung. and one which Shakspeare was pleased with, and meant to praise. If Moth's song had been an English song, it would have been found in its place as the other songs are." I, for one, cannot subscribe to Mr. Hunter's suggestion that our great poet intended an Italian song to be sung in his play; and for this reason, that Italian music for a single voice was almost unknown in this country in 1597, at which date we know Love's Labour's Lost was in existence. Surely Concolinel is just as likely to be the burden of a song as Calen o Custure me, mentioned in Henry the Fifth (Act iv. sc. 4.), of which there is now no doubt. I may just mention, in passing, that I have discovered the air of Calen o Custure me in a manuscript that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and have ample proof that it was an especial favourite with her maiden majesty. The commentators were at fault when they pointed out the more modern tune of the same name in Playford's Musical Companion, 1667. EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. 3. Augustus Square, Regent's Park. Andrewes's Tortura Torti (Vol. ii., p. 295.). On what forms Mr. Bliss's third quotation, which does appear in some shape in Bernard, De Consid. ad Eugen., iii. 4. 18., the Bibliotheca Juridica, &c., of Ferraris observes, under the head of Dispensatio: "Hinc dispensatio sine justa causa non dispensatio sed dissipatio dicitur communiter a doctoribus, ut observant et tenent Sperell;" then referring to several Romish canonists, &c., the last being Reiffenstuel, lib. i., Decretal, tit. 2., n. 450., of which I give the full reference, his volumes being accessible in the British Museum, if not elsewhere. Novus. Swords worn in Public (Vol. ii. p. 218.)-A very respected and old friend of mine, now de ceased, used to relate that he had often seen the "Whereas many mischiefs and dangerous accidents, tending not onely to the highest breach of the peace, but also to the destruction of the lives of his Maties subjects, have happend and been occasioned by Footmen wearing of Swords, for the prevention of the like evill accidents and disturbance for the future, I doe hereby order that no Foot-man attending any of the Nobilitye or Gentry of his Maties Realms, during such time as they or any of them shall reside or bee within the Cities of London or Westm', and the Liberties and Precincts of the same, shall wear any Sword, Hanger, Bagonet, or other such like offensive weapon, as they will answer the Contempt hereof." Dated 30th Dec. 1701. F. E. Speech given to Man to conceal his Thoughts (Vol. i., p. 83.).—The maxim quoted by your correspondent F. R. A. was invented, if I may rely upon the notebook of memory, by the Florentine Machiavelli. The German writer Ludwig Börne says: "Macchiavelli, der die Freiheit liebte, schrieb seinem Prinzen so, dass er alle rechtschaffenen Psychologen in Verlegenheit und in solche Verwirrung gebracht, dass sie gar nicht mehr wussten, was sie sprachen und sie behaupteten, Macchiavelli habe eine politische Satyre geschrieben." Le style c'est l'homme! JANUS DOUSA. The Character"&," and Meaning of "Parse" different from any of the twenty-four letters, was Vol. ii., pp. 230. 284.).—This character, being placed at the end of the alphabet, and children, after repeating their letters, were taught to indicate this symbol as and-per-se-and. Instead of spelling the word and, as composed of three letters, it was "and by denoted by a special symbol, which was itself, and." Hence the corruption, an ampussy and. The word parse is also derived from the Latin To parse a sentence is to take the words per se. per se, and to explain their grammatical form and etymology. L. Wife of Edward the Outlaw (Vol. ii., p. 279.).— With reference to the Query of E. H. Y. (Vol. ii., p. 279.), there seems to be much confusion in all the accounts of Edward's marriage. I think it is evident, from an attentive consideration of the various authorities, that the Lady Agatha was |