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Various

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W.J.

Havre.

Book of Homilies.—Burnet, in his History of the Reformation in anno 1542, says,—

"A Book of Homilies was printed, in which the Gospels and Epistles of all the Sundays and Holidays of the year were set down with a Homily to every one of these. To these were also added Sermons upon several occasions, as for Weddings, Christenings, and Funerals."

Can any learned clerk inform me where a copy of such Homilies can be seen?

B.

Collar of SS.—Where can we find much about the SS. collar? Is there any list extant of persons who were honoured with that badge?

B.

Rainbow.—By what heathen poet is the rainbow spoken of as "risus plorantis Olympi?"

J. SAMSON.

Passage in Lucan.—What parallel passages are there to that of Lucan:—

"Communis mundo superest rogus, ossibus astra
Misturus?"

J. SAMSON.

William of Wykeham.—Is there any better Life of William of Wykeham than the very insufficient one of Bishop Lowth?

What were the circumstances of the rise of William of Wykeham, respecting which Lowth is so very scanty and unsatisfactory?

Where did William of Wykeham get the wealth with which he built and endowed New College, Oxon, and St. Mary's, Winchester; and rebuilt Winchester Cathedral?

What are the present incomes of New College, and St Mary's, Winchester?

Is there a copy of the Statutes of these colleges in the British Museum, or in any other public library?

W.H.C.

April 22, 1850.

Richard Baxter's Descendants.—Can any of your correspondents inform me of the whereabouts of the descendants of the celebrated Richard Baxter? He was a Northamptonshire man, but I think his family removed into some county in the west.

W.H.B.

Passage in St. Peter.—Besides the well-known passage in the Tempest, what Christian writers have used any kindred expression to 2 Pet. iii. 10.?

J. SANSOM.

8. Park Place, Oxford, June 1. 1850.

Juice-cups.—Is it beneath the dignity of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to admit an inquiry respecting the philosophy and real effect of placing an inverted cup in a fruit pie? The question is not about the object, but whether that object is, or can be, effected by the means employed.

N.B.

Derivation of "Yote" or "Yeot."—What is the derivation of the word "yote" or "yeot," a term used in Glocestershire and Somersetshire, for "leading in" iron work to stone?

B.

Pedigree of Greene Family.—At Vol. i., p. 200., reference is made to "a fine Pedigree on vellum, of the Greene family, penes T. Wotton, Esq."

Can any person inform me who now possesses the said pedigree, or is there a copy of it which may be consulted?

One John Greene, of Enfield, was clerk to the New River Company: he died 1705, and was buried at Enfield. He married Elizabeth Myddelton, grand-daughter of Sir Hugh. I wish to find out the birth and parentage of the said John Greene and shall be thankful, if I may say so much, without adding too much to the length of my Query.

H.T.E.

Family of Love.—Referring to Dr. RIMBAULT'S communication on the subject of this sect (Vol. ii., p. 49.), will you allow me to inquire whether there is any evidence that its members deserved Fuller's severe condemnation? Queen Elizabeth might consider them a "damnable sect," if they were believed to hold heterodox opinions in religion and politics; but were their lives or their writings immoral?

N.B.

Sir Gammer Vans.—Can any one give any account of a comic story about one "Sir Gammer Vans," of whom, amongst other absurdities, it is said "that his aunt was a justice of peace, and his sister a captain of horse"? It is alluded to somewhere in Swift's Letters or Miscellanies; and I was told by a person whose recollection, added to my own, goes back near a hundred years, that it was supposed to be a political satire, and may have been of Irish origin, as I think there is some allusion to it in one of Goldsmith's plays or essays.

C.

REPLIES

PUNISHMENT OF DEATH BY BURNING

Probably some of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" will share in the surprise expressed by E.S.S.W. (Vol. ii., p. 6.), yet many persons now living must remember when spectacles such as he alludes to were by no means uncommon. An examination of the newspapers and other periodicals of the latter half of the eighteenth century would supply numerous instances in which the punishment of strangling and burning was inflicted; as well in cases of petit treason, for the murder of a husband, as more frequently in cases of coining, which, as the law then stood, was one species of high treason. I had collected a pretty long list from the Historical Chronicle in the earlier volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine, but thought it scarcely of sufficient importance to merit insertion in "NOTES AND QUERIES." Perhaps, however, the following extracts may possess some interest: one as showing the manner in which executions of this kind were latterly performed in London, and the other as apparently furnishing an instance of later date than that which Mr. Ross considers the last in which this barbarous punishment was inflicted. The first occurs in the 56th vol. of the Magazine, Part 1. P. 524., under the date of the 21st June, 1786—

"This morning, the malefactors already mentioned were all executed according to their sentence. About a quarter of an hour after the platform had dropped, Phoebe Harris, the female convict, was led by two officers to a stake about eleven feet high, fixed in the ground, near the top of which was an inverted curve made of irons, to which one end of a halter was tied. The prisoner stood on a low stool, which, after the ordinary had prayed with her a short time, was taken away, and she hung suspended by the neck, her feet being scarcely more than twelve or fourteen inches from the pavement. Soon after the signs of life had ceased, two cartloads of faggots were placed round her and set on fire; the flames soon burning the halter, she then sunk a few inches, but was supported by an iron chain passed over her chest and affixed to the stake."

The crime for which this woman suffered was coining. Probably the method of execution here related was adopted in consequence of the horrible occurrence narrated by Mr. Ross.

In vol. lix. of the same Magazine, Part 1. p. 272, under the date of the 18th of March, 1789, is an account of the executions of nine malefactors at Newgate; and amongst them,—

"Christian Murphy, alias Bowman, for coining, was brought out after the rest were turned off, and fixed to a stake, and burnt, being first strangled by the stool being taken from under her."

From the very slight difference in dates, I am inclined to think that this is the same case with that alluded to by Mr. Ross.

OLD BAILEY

June 24, 1850.

TO GIVE A MAN HORNS

(Vol. i. p. 383.)

Your correspondent L.C. has started a most interesting inquiry, and your readers must, I am sure, join with me in regretting that he should have been so laconic in the third division of his Query; and have failed to refer to, even if he did not quote, the passages from "late Greek," in which "horns" are mentioned as a symbol of a husband's dishonor. The earliest notice of this symbolical use of horns is, I believe, to be found in the Oneirocritica of Artemidorus, who lived during the reign of Hadrian, A.D. 117-138:

[Greek: "Pepi de ippon en to peri agonon logo proeiraeiai. Elege de tis theasameno tini epi kriou kathaemenpo, kai pesonti ex autou ek ton euprosthen, mnaesteuomeno de kai mellonti en autais tais haemerais tous gamous epetelein, proeipein auto hoti hae gunae sou porneusei, kai kata to legomenon, kerata soi poiaesei kai outos apethae, k.t.l."—Artem. Oneirocritica, lib. ii, cap. 12.]

See Menage, Origines de la Langue Françoise, Paris, 1650, in verb. "Cornard." I have only seen Reiff's edition of Artemidorus, 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1805. His illustrations of the passage (far too numerous to be quoted) seem to be curious, and likely to repay the reader for the trouble of examination. His note commences with a reference to Olaus Borrichius, Antiqua Urb. Rom. facies:—

"Alexander Magnus ....successores ejus..... in nummis omnes cornuti quasi Jovii, honore utique manifesto, donee cornuum decus in ludibria uxoriorum vertit somnorum interpres Artimidorus."

On which he observes,—

"Benè. Nam ante Artimidorium nullus, quod sciam, hujus scommatis mentionem fecit. Quod enim Traug. Fred. Benedict. ad Ciceron. Epist. ad Div. 7.24. ad voc. 'Cipius' conjecit, id paullo audientus mihi videtur conjecisse."

I have not succeeded in obtaining a sight of this edition of the Epistles. And I should feel much obliged to any one who would quote the "conjecture," and so enable your readers to gauge its "audacity" for themselves. Is it not odd that Reiff should have made no remark on the utter want of connection between the "honor manifestus," and the "ludibria" of Olaus? or on the [Greek: kata to legomenon] of the author that he was illustrating? Artemidorus may certainly have been the first who recorded the scomma; but the words [Greek: kata to legomenon] would almost justify us supposing that

"—The horn
Was a crest ere he was born."

Menage (referred to above) evidently lays some stress on the following epigram, as an illustration of the question:—

[Greek: "Ostis eso purous katalambanei ouk agorazon,
Keinou Amaltheias hae gunae esti keras."]

Parmenon. Anthol. lib. ii.

But I confess that I am utterly unable to see its point and therefore cannot, of course, trace its connection with the subject. Falstaff, it is true, speaks of the "horn of abundance," but then he assigns it to the husband, and makes the "lightness of the wife shine through it." (K. Henry IV. Act i. Sc. 2., on which see Warburton's note.)

C. FORBES.

Temple, April 25.

L.C. may find the following references of service to him in his inquiry into the origin of this expression:—"Solanus ad Luc. D.M. 1. 2.; Jacobs ad Lucill. Epigr. 9.; Belin. ad Lucian, t. iii. p. 326.; Huschk. Anal. p. 168.; Lambec. ad Codin. § 126.; Nodell in Diario Class. t. x. p. 157.; Bayl. Dict. in Junone, not. E." Boissonade's note in his Anecdotae, vol. iii. p. 140.