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NOTES AND QUERIES. [10 s. vn. JAN. 19, 1907.

law of brokers, it states : " Now the number of Brokers, and their Brokage are limitec by a statute made for 7 years from Michal. 1700." The substance of this statute is given under eighteen heads.

No. 4. The number of these brokers (including all sorts before mentioned, viz. exchange, trade, and stock brokers) are not to exceed 100.

No. 11. Any broker taking above 10s per cent, for brokage shall forfeit 101.

No. 12. All brokers legally sworn anc admitted according to this statute sha carry about them a silver medal, having on one side his Majesty's coat of arms, and on the reverse the arms of the City of London, with the name of such broker, who shall at the concluding of all bargains, contracts, and agreements by him made produce such medal, or shall forfeit 40,s. for every omission.

No. 17 provides that " no person for buying or selling corn, cattel, or other provision or coal shall be esteemed a broker within the meaning of this Act."

Chap. xiv. is a "Dictionary or Alpha- betical Explanation of most difficult Terms commonly used in Merchandize and Trade." Amongst these terms are the following : _

" Key, a place to land or ship off goods at. the number of which are settled by the Parliament or appointed by the king. Those at present belonging to the Port of London are Galley Key, Brewer's Key, Chester's Key, Wooll-Dock, Custom-House

,, -, usom-ouse

Key (except the stone stairs on the west side thereof), Porter's Key, Bear Key, Sab's Dock excludin ' '

,, mers ey excep e sars

there), 5 Lyon Key, Hammon's Key, Botolph Wharfe, feaunt s Key (except the stairs on the east side) ' Cock s Key, and Fresh Wharfe, besides other places tor landing fish, salt, and provision ; as Billings- gate, Bridge House in Southwark, &c."

"Owler.They that carry sheep's wool or any prohibited goods in the night to the sea side in order to^ship off contrary to law."

" Subhavtation. Selling confiscate goods under a spear.

' Encyclopaedic Dictionary ' explains that a spear, originally as a sign of booty gained in fight, was stuck in the ground at public auctions. Ben Jonson, ' Catiline,' ii. : " My lords, the senators are sold for slaves, their wives for bondwomen, and all their goods under the speare."

" Wreck. The perishing of a ship and every person in it : What part is cast ashore belongs to the king, but if any creature in the ship escape, the goods are still the owner's, if claimed within a 12 month and a day."

" Piccage. Money paid at fairs or marts for breaking the ground to set up booths."

" Colour strangers' goods is when a freeman or . denizen permits a foreigner to enter goods at the

Custom House in his name, whereby the foreigner, who in many cases should pay double duty, by being entered in the name of a freeman, pays but single duty, against which there are many severe laws."

" Collibis. A money changer."

" Frist. To sell goods at time or upon trust."

"Garbling. Picking the worst from the best of anything."

" Murrage. Toll taken of every laden cart or horse toward the repair of the walls of a town or city."

" Pesterable wares. Those that are troublesome and take up much room in a ship."

"Stelionate. Deceit in merchandize."

" Tally-man. One that sells all manner of hous- hold goods, linnen, woollen, &c., to be paid by so much a week, in which method he usually extorts a prodigious advantage from the buyer."

A. H. ARKLE.

Elmhurst, Oxton, Birkcnhead.

" THE RIGHT " AND " THE WRONG." Without entering into casuistry or meta- physics, I think a frequent colloquial usage of the expression " the wrong " is suffi- ciently striking to merit attention. There may be more than one right way of doing a thing, but in the case, say, of an address there is one right and possibly many wrong ones. If there are only two addresses in question, one is the right and the other the wrong address. When a parcel or letter has gone astray in a street, the usual ex- planation is that it has gone to " the wrong house," affording no clue to the fate of the errant consignment. A person walks '" the wrong way," perhaps one out of several wrong ways ; but this expression is correctly applied to the passage of a morsel of food or drink into the wrong channel in the throat. A visitor in search of a particular house, after wandering about, will say that he '' has been to the wrong house several times," .e., he has called once at several wrong nouses. (I am reminded of an old friend who once caught himself, as he said after- wards, " going up to bed in the wrong house," which he had entered with his key from the street in the belief that he had arrived home. ) ' You will find yourself in the wrong shop " s a vague threat, recalling the expression ' to have the wrong sow by the ear."

FRANCIS^ P. MARCHANT.

HOWSON'S CASE. The following tran- script of Howson's case, Trinity, 4 Car. I. Com. Bane., is not only amusing, but, to a

ertain extent, throws light on the relative powers of the High Commission Court and of a Common-Law Court :

t "A Libel was against Howson, the Viccar of >turton in Nottinghamshire, in the High Com- nission Court at York. Because that he was not