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NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis..xi.Fm. 20.1915.

"FOB WHY" (11 S. x. 509; xi. 35, 56, 94). Was it not Horace Walpole who used this word as a vulgarism when asked to make a verse to the words " brook," " why," " crook," " I " ? And was not his verse : I sits with my toes in a brook, And if any one axes forwhy ? I hits them a rap with my crook,

For 'tis sentiment does it, says I? I am sorry I cannot give the reference, but Cunningham's ' Walpole ' has an unusually bad index. J. J. FREEMAN.

ANTONIO VIEIBA (11 S. xi. 109). MB. SOLOMONS will find an account of this great man in 'The Catholic Encyclopedia,' vol. xv. pp. 41516, from the pen of Father John Clement Beville, S.J. Antonio Vieira was born at Lisbon, 6 Feb., 1608, and died at Bahia, Brazil, 18 July, 1697. It does not appear that he was ever " Secretary of the Inquisition," and indeed it would be sur- prising to find a Jesuit holding any position in that institution. Having " denounced the severity of the Portuguese Inquisition," Father Vieira was condemned by it and kept a prisoner from Oct., 1665, to Dec., 1667 :

" Under Pedro II. the Inquisition reversed its sentence. But Rome was a safer residence, and from 1609 to 1675 he found there an enthusiastic welcome."

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.

Antonio Vieira was born at Lisbon, 6 Feb., 1608, and died at Bahia, Brazil, 18 July, 1697. He was condemned by the Portuguese Inquisition, forbidden to preach, and kept prisoner for two years ( 1 665-7 ). This sentence was reversed. At the instance of Pope Innocent XI. he drew up a report of two hundred pages on the Portuguese Inquisi- tion, with the result that after judicial inquiry it was suspended for five years. ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica ' and ' The Catholic Encyclopedia ' give lengthy ac- counts of him.

ABCHIBALD SPABKE, F.B.S.L.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFOBMATION WANTED (11 S. x. 469). (21) Francis Mynne, son of Richard Mynne of Wymering, Herts, M.A. Oxon 1629. Wymering is in Hants. The Vicar writes : "I have no knowledge of the family of Mynne as residents of this parish." My suggestion is that Wymering should be Wymondley in Herts, although in Chauncy's Herts ' there are not mentioned any Mynnes in connexion with Wymondley, but several of that name are mentioned in connexion with Hertingfordbury. Anna

Boteler was one of the daughters of John Mynn ; she died 1619. Mention is made of John Mynne, George Mynne, and Bobert Mynne ; but there is no mention of Francis Mynne. George d. 1581 ; Bobert d. 1656 I lived many years in Herts, but never heard of Wymering in that county.

M.A. OXON.

" CONTUBBABANTUB CONSTANTINOPOLI-

TANI" (US. xi. 109). The distich quoted by MB. WAINEWBIGHT must have been popular among schoolboys some centuries before 1840. It is given, in the form

Collacrimabantur Constantinopolitani Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus,

by Julius Caesar Scaliger in book ii. chap, xxxi. of his ' Poetice,' first published posthumously in 1561, as an example of lines that are " long-limbed " (/mKpoKwAoi).

The author of ' The Comic Latin Grammar y and ' The Comic English Grammar ' was Percival Leigh (1813-89), who was for many years on the staff of Punch. Amongst other things he wrote ' Some Extracts from Mr. Pips hys Diary,' the letterpress that accompanied " Ye Manners and Customs of ye Englyshe. .. .Drawn from ye Quick by Bichard Doyle." There are lives of Percival Leigh in the ' D.N.B.' and vol. ii. of Mr. Frederic Boase's ' Modern English Bio- graphy.' EDWABD BENSLY.

This distich is centuries old. In ' The Complaynt of Scotland ' it is given as a specimen of the " lang tailit vordis " of Hermes. John Willis, who graduated at Christ's College, Cambridge, uses the lines in his ' Stenographia, sive ars compendiose scribendi,' 1618 (entered in the Stationers' Begister on 15 Dec., 1617), but he substitutes " Perturbabantur " for the first. word.

A. T. W.

" A good story is told illustrating the rivalry which has existed for three centuries between Westminster and Eton Schools. It is said that the Etonians on one occasion sent the Westminster boys an hexameter verse composed of only two words, challenging them to produce a pentameter also in two words so as to complete the sense. The Eton line ran thus :

Conturbabuntur Constantinopolitani. The Westminster boys replied to the challenge ' by return of post ' :

Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus. As the Eton line contains an obvious false quantity,, the Westminster boys, who contrived to steer- clear of mistakes, may be allowed to have had the best of it." 'Old and New London,' by Edward Walford, vol. iii. p. 472.

BENJ. W T ALKEB.

Langstone, Erdington.