Page images
PDF
EPUB

lady sprung from this office, as laf-ord or loaf-giver (now lord) was so called from his maintaining a number of dependants: so leaf-diaw, or lof-diaw, i. e. loaf server, is the origin of lady, she serving it to the guests.

VICAR OF BRAY. We frequently hear this reverend son of the church mentioned; probably his name may have outlived the recollection of his pious manœuvres. The vicar of Bray in Berks, was a papist under the reign of Henry VIII. and a Protestant under Edward VI. He was a Papist again under Queen Mary, and again became a Protestant in the reign of Elizabeth. When this scandal to the gown was reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, he answered, "I cannot help that; but if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my principle, which is, to live and die Vicar of Bray."

ENGRAVING ON WOOD. The earliest impression of a wood-cut, of which we have any certain account, is that of St. Christopher carrying an infant Jesus through the sea; in which a hermit is seen holding up a lantern to show him the way; and a peasant with a sack on his back, climbing a hill, is exhibited in the back-ground. The date of this impression is 1423.

It is remarkable that England, at the era of the restoration of learning, supplied fewer than almost any other country, of those manuscripts from which the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans were first printed. The following extract from the preface of Bale, Bishop of Ossory, to his translation of John Leland's " New-year's Gift to King Henry VIII." accounts in part for a fact so discreditable to the literary fame of England.

"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased, those superstycyouse mansyons (monasteries) reserved of those lybrarye bookes, some to serve theyr jakes, some to scoure theyr candlestyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. Some they solde to ye grossers and sope-sellers, and some they sent over see to ye booke

bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full, to ye wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea ye Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in this detestable fact. But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural contreye. I knowe a merchant manne, whyche shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes of two noble lybraryes for fortye shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be spoken. Thys stuffe hathe he occupyed in ye stede of greye paper, by ye space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he hathe store ynoughe for as manye yeares to come. A prodygyuouse example is thys and to be abhorred of all men, whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The monkes kepte them undre dust, ye ydle-headed prestes regarded them not, theyr latter owners have moste shamefullye abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes have solde them awaye into foren nacyons for moneye." Bocking Academy, March 16, 1812.

D. COPSEY.

ANSWER TO THE ANTIQUARIAN QUERIES PROPOSED IN NO, V.

J. H. N. near Leeds, observes, "By the term Loreiner (or as it is sometimes, and more properly, written Lorimer) was meant a manufacturer of the iron caparison which forms a part of bridles, such as curbs, bits, &c. The word is derived from the Latin, Lorimer, a bridle.

The word Skellata is sometimes found in old records, and is generally supposed to mean the small bell, which is usually rung a few minutes previous to the commencement of the service in our English churches; and which is commonly, though very indefinitely, called the "tinkling bell."

Spaldinensis says, Lorriners or Lorrimers (Fr. Lormier, from the Latin, Lorum) is one of the Companies of London that makes bits for bridles, spurs, and such-like small iron ware. Anno 1 Rich. 2. cap. 12." (See Blount's Dictionary of difficult and obscure law terms.)

[merged small][ocr errors]

J. B. refers to Bailey's Dictionary, article Skeletta, where the subject of enquiry is defined to be "small bells formerly used in churches or steeples."

Mr. D. Copsey observes that the word Skillet signifres a kettle or caldron, and says that it is generally so explained in our Dictionaries.

Mr. C. gives the same definition of Loreiner as J. H. N. and Spaldinensis; and fixes the date of the incorporation of the Lorimer's Company at 1488.

By masse pennie (he says) was meant the alms which it was formerly, and is now, the custom for Catholics repose of to give to the poor-box, at masses for the souls departed.

Mr. Copsey supposes that the entries respecting Louth Church relate to some painting or carved work.

SOLUTIONS AND REPLIES

TO QUERIES PROPOSED IN THE PRECEDING NUMBER.

QUERY 32.

Answered by Mr. John Nowell, Farnley Wood, near Huddersfield.

THE electric fluid, like caloric, possesses that most curious property of penetrating the most compact bodies, and of passing through them with greater facility than through those bodies which, on account of their porosity, one would imagine would admit them the easier. From the similarity of the two fluids, in this respect, and from their uniform similarity in many others, one would be almost led to suppose that their radical properties are of the same nature. But, however, if we suppose their radical to be similar, various contrary facts point out to us only to consider them as modifications of each other. That pro perty of the electric fluid of being conducted by the most dense bodies, agrees equally with the properties of caloric in this respect, and it is very probable, reasoning from analogy, that each are conducted through such bodies, on one and the same principle.

Taking this then for granted, the same theory which is given to account for the difference that bodies possess for conducting caloric, will, it is evident, equally apply to the facts in question.

Bodies, whether in a solid, liquid, or aeriform state, are composed of innumerable particles, or atoms; not indeed cobering together, but kept asunder by an unknown cause called repulsion. Now the greater the action of this repulsive power, the greater distance the particles must be one from another; and this law evidently constitutes the difference between dense and light bodies.

If the particles of bodies then be not in a state of actual cohesion, as might easily be proved, between these particles there must exist a space, either void or filled up with some thin fluid, such as atmospheric air. Consequently, if either caloric or the electric fluid was given by any means to a light body, it would be imperfectly conducted by that body, because the void places left by the atoms not cohering close, on account of their thinness, would act as unperfect, if not as non-conductors, and by this means considerably impede their passage.

Now with iron it would be the reverse, for as the repulsive power of its particles are weak, and of course not containing so many void unconducting mediums, little resistance would be afforded to the particles of either caloric or the electric fluid in their passage through it. From the facts detailed we readily perceive that the conducting powers of bodies increase exactly in the same ratio as the repulsive power of their particles decrease; so that if, by any means, we could solidify bodies by diminishing the repulsive power of their particles, their capacity for conducting the electric fluid would be increased.

Communications relating to this query were also received from J. H. N. near Leeds, and Miss Willerton, Spalding Seminary.

QUERY 33.

Mr. J. Baines, jun. of Horbury Bridge, near Wakefield, says, "A philosopher is greatly superior to a clown, even if he be compelled by the iron hand of adverse

fortune to earn a livelihood by labour in conjunction with the most uncultivated class of men. He has an inexhaustible stock of consolation within his own breast unknown to the vulgar peasant; and the rays of enlivening hope shine more refulgent on him than on the generality of mankind. He is like a rare and curious flower growing amidst weeds, thistles, and brambles, and attracting the admiration of every ra tional beholder; or like a fruit-tree in a forest, bearing fruit, and also as useful as the fruitless timber-tree. But above all, he greatly excels the clown by transmitting his name to posterity, by leaving the traces of genius behind him, and by ornamenting the pages of literature with his labours, which, when ages have rolled away, will keep his remembrance alive in the grateful memory of mankind.

QUERY 34.

Answered by J. H. N. near Leeds.

The hair originates in the cutis and in the fat underneath it, and is thought by anatomists to have communication with the nerves; and as the nerves are the primitive organs of all muscular motion and animal sensation, and these two functions depending on the brain, though in a manner inexplicable to us; it is probable that sudden fear or terror by throwing the blood into quicker circulation, dilating the eyes, causing the heart to palpitate, and contracting all the muscles and nerves, will affect the roots of the hair, and cause it to rise from its usual level. We find this effect of fear mentioned in Scripture, see Job, chap. iv. ver. 15. The poets also notice it. When Æneas was searching for Creusa, "when Troy's proud city was on fire," her ghost appeared to him: in describing his terror he says,—

"Aghast, astonished, and struck dumb with fear
I stood: like bristles rose my stiff'ned hair."

So Ovid,

DRYDEN'S VIRGIL, EN ii.

gelidaque coma terrore rigebant.

METAM. LIB. iii. 1. 100.

« PreviousContinue »