Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/166

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. AUG. 15, im

ROMANS AT YORK (10 S. x. 8). It has been conjectured that the Ninth Legion, which had formed part of the Roman ex- peditionary force in 43 A.D., and which had been nearly annihilated eighteen years later in the insurrection of Boudicca (Boadicea), was moved to York about the year 80, when that place became a principal military station in the governorship of Agricola. About 120 A.D. this legion disappears. It is usually supposed that it must have suffered very heavy losses during Hadrian's British wars, and that the survivors may have been incorporated in the legion which took its place. It is presumably the Ninth Legion to which Sir H. Drummond Wolff's antiquary referred. A few inscriptions men- tioning soldiers of the same, and many tiles bearing its stamp, have been found at York.

But the legion that had the longest con- nexion with York was the Sixth (Victrix), which apparently succeeded to the quarters of the Ninth. Its presence there is men- tioned by Ptolemy and the Antonine Itine- rary. The ' Notitia Dignitatum ' (beginning of fifth century) notes a " prsefectus Le- gionis Sextse " at York. Several inscrip- tions mentioning this legion and many legionary tiles have been discovered (see ' Ephemeris Epigraphica,' vols. iii. and vii. ; Pfitzner, ' Geschichte der romischen Kaiser- legionen von Augustus bis Hadrianus').
 * Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum,' vol. vii. ;

But apparently as early as the reign of Vespasian Italy ceased to supply recruits for the legions (see Prof. Purser's ' Exercitus ' in Smith's ' Diet, of Antiquities,' vol. i. p. 806, and Mommsen's article in Hermes there referred to). EDWARD BENSLY.

" SABARITICKE " (10 S. ix. 488; x. 33, 53). From the days of Dr. Johnson the task of a lexicographer has generally been regarded as one identified with patience and long-suffering. Among his woes are unsuit- able suggestions. DR. BRADLEY admittedly knows his business ; at the same time it may be averred that the allusion to the "Gulf of Sabara " is unlikely, Gr. 2a/3apaKos not corresponding to the English form " Sabariticke." And as to " Sybaritic sea " not having " any point," the fact is surely the opposite. Gluttony is implied in the passage quoted, not mere savage craving.

W. B.

MEDAL OF CHARLES I. (10 S. x. 68). To judge from the presence of the ring for attaching the medal to the person, this is probably a " badge " medal, which was

furnished with a ring for suspension, par- tisans of each side wearing such a medal to signify their political sympathies. " When," says Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole in his ' Coins and Medals,' 1892 (p. 257), " we reflect that these pieces were once worn by the actors in that memorable drama, they can hardly fail to awaken a peculiarly pathetic interest." See further pp. 258-9.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

HOLY GRAIL (10 S. ix. 465 ; x. 17). On the alleged recent discovery of the Holy Grail at Glastonbury see The Academy, vol. Ixxii. pp. 739, 740 ; and on the subject of the Grail legends generally see Mr. Arthur Machen's papers in the same volume at pp. 797, 823, 844.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

SNAIL-EATING AND GIPSIES (10 S. x. 69). Snails are now carefully hunted for in the hedges, and eaten as an article of food, in the neighbourhood of Swindon, Wilts. They were considered very valuable made into a broth in cases of weakness after illness, and even prescribed by a doctor for children after scarlet fever some fifty years ago.

Helix aspersa is the sort used here, the well-known " Roman snail " not being found in this neighbourhood. T. S. M.

Swindon.

DEFOE : THE DEVIL'S CHAPEL (10 S. ix. 187, 255, 331). Humphrey Kynaston, one of the Kynastons of Myddle, was outlawed in 1491, and lived in a cave at Nesscliffe. There are many traditions concerning him, and, like other heroes of mediaeval times, he is said to have sold himself to the devil. Gregory in ' The Shropshire Gazetteer,' published by him in 1842, says :

"The Chapel, which was in the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, the Deanery of Salop, and Archdeaconry of Salop, is dilapidated, and a school now occupies its place. Upon the front of the publick school is the following singular inscrip- tion :

God protect the public good,

A school erected where a chapel stood."

It will be noticed that the first line of the above differs from that given by MR. PICK- FORD. A friend of mine, living in the district, sends me the inscription, which is : God prosper and prolong this public good : A school erected where a chapel stood. 1753. HERBERT SOUTHAM.

PRIOR AND HIS CHLOE (10 S. x. 7, 77). MR. YARD LEY'S condemnation of Chloe does not seem very convincing. I have known