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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. SEPT. 21,1907.

Capelli, ' Dizionario di Abbreviature latine ed italiane,' Milan, 1899, treats especially of abbreviations in mediaeval Latin. He knows nothing of a mark of exclamation (ecphoneme), nor of an inversion of the letters of loannes, but has a full list of abbre- viations, viz. :

j Io I mo = J Cannes I mo la lO'Mo * Joa-n-nes ] <XTi - J

oannes

l

Jo I

/o.

o. de Fan ; JcaweS Ae fotmi

Jacob

(all S.XV)

In mortgage by Shakespeare and another, 11 March, 1612, one of the parties signs -Jo: Jackson.

M. Nizamuddin Hasan, B.A., B.L., ' The Derivation of Punctuation Marks.' B.M. 12904 g. 16. The hint may be worth some- thing that Arabic MSS. may supply a clue to some of the punctuation marks used among us ; but the method and argument in this little paper of Hasan are worthless, e.g., on the Note of Exclamation : " The point of exclamation is marked thus (!). This is plainly the abbreviation of the word Nida

= ^A> in Arabic, as it means exclamation. Take the Alif = in this term, and the first dot on the letter nun=e, the note of exclamation is easily formed thus (!)." Too easily, Mr. Nizamuddin Hasan ! He has nothing more about it.

F. W. G. FOAT, D.Lit.

THE INCHES VOLUNTEERS, 1797-1800.

THE MS. cash-book of the Inches Volun- teers, which lately came into my possession, has an interest of its own, being the account- book kept by the captain of the Volunteer Company raised at Inverness in the spring of 1797. The captain's name is not given in the MS., but appears to have been Robert- son. The first parade of the Inches Volun- teers is noted inside the cash-book cover as having taken place on " May 18th, 1797." The extracts given below form about one third of the contents of the MS. in ques- tion :

July, 1797.

To three suits of cloaths for the Drum and Fifes, 12*.

Paid for horse keeping before I left Edin r, &c., 81. 10s. 6d.

To travelling expences, 41.

Ladies poket book, II. 12s.

Gentlenian's ring, 1L 10s. 6d.

Subscription Coffee House, 10s. 6d.

Waiters, chamber-maids & hostlers at Inverness, 12. M.

Washing and [hair] dressing previous to the families arrival, 12s.

My expence during the time I remained at Ettles Hotel previous to their arrival, [blank].

Ditto for my gallaway, [blank].

Money given to Volunteers for drink money, &c. , 8s. 6d.

August, 1797.

Two bibles, 12*.

A clasped psalm book, 4s.

An undress sword, II. 15s.

Freight of arms, ammunition, &c., 21. lls.

Freight of officers app 8, 11s. 6rf.

Expence of unloading & carriage at Inverness, 10s.

Letter M r Fraser, agent, Is. 2d.

Postage M r Fraser, agent, from London, Is. 2d.

Sept. 1st, 1797.

To a gage for seizing the men, 3s. 6d.

To a black velvet stock, 4s. 6d.

To salmon from Culloden for the dinner for the Company, II. 13s. 4d.

To loaf bread for the dinner, 15s.

To strong beer & small beer for the Company dinner, [blank].

To the smith for whisky for the Company dinner, &c., 11.

To M r Ettles for dinner for the Inches Volunteers and for a party of gentlemen who dinned [sic] at the same time, [blank].