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NOTES AND QUERIES, m s. xn. NOV. 13, 1915.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED. I should be glad to have any particulars concerning the parentage and career of the following Old Westminsters : (1) Robert Langford, admitted September, 1752, aged 8. (2) Thomas Langley, aged 12, John Langley, aged 11, and William Langley, aged 9, admitted January, 1733/4. (3) Robert Lanley, admitted September, 1748, aged 11. (4) Richard Laussac, admitted October, 1744, aged 12. (5) James Lusack, admitted May, 1746 y aged 11. (6) Adam Lawrey, admitted June, 1717, aged 14. (7) Townshend Lea, admitted January, 1723/4, aged 12. (8) Henry Leacroft, admitted June, 1724, aged 9. (9) Edward Lechmere, admitted July, 1720, aged 10. G. F. R. B.

THE GOSPEL FOR THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION. This is taken from Luke x. " Maria opt imam partem elegit." How far back can the use of this " Gospel " be traced, and to what locality ? What was the reason for its selection ? PEREGRINTJS.

SHIPTON - UNDER - WYCHWOOD, OXFORD - SHIRE. Is there any work which touches on the local history of this town and vicinity during the sixteenth century ?

E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G. 14, Hartington Mansions, Eastbourne.

AN ESSEX PLACE-NAME. I am anxious to identify Coxsdell, Essex, which occurs in the following inscription on an old tobacco-box : " Joseph Beecham at Coxs- dell, Essex, 1759." I cannot find that Coggeshall was ever so spelt. Possibly it may be a farm-name. P. D. M.

BARLEY AND BLINDNESS. In MR. M. L. R. BRESLAR'S very interesting contribution on ' Hebrew Dietetics ' (ante, p. 334) a state- ment is given from Pesachim 42 concerning " a species of barley grown in Babylon causing blindness." Is there any reliable basis for this assertion ?

J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.

VERULAM. A small engraving of the ruins of the Roman buildings at St. Albans, showing a large part of the walls erect, and the remains of eight buildings standing within them, is inscribed :

"London. Printed for B. Tooke, A. & I. Churchil [-sic], and G. Sawbridge. 1696."

I shall be grateful if any reader can inform me, with particulars, of any earlier views of Yerulamium than this.

HUGH SADLER.

" ESSES." What is the meaning of this word ? It occurs in an old-fashioned (in. many ways) coo kery - book bearing the title :

" Rare and Excellent Receipts. Experienc'd and Taught By Mrs. Mary Tillinghast. And now Printed for the Use of her Scholars only. LONDON. Printed in the Year, 1690."

Copies of this and of an earlier edition (1678)* lie in the B.M., and one of the second edition in the Bodleian. The passage which contains the above curious word (p. 2) runs thus : "This Paste is good for Custards, and all Cotes, Feathers, and Esses." " Feathers " is, I understand, a term still used by confec- tioners. J. B. McGovERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, (J.-on-M., Manchester.

AUTHOR WANTED. Where does this quo- tation come from, and by whom is it ? I will remember while the light is yet, And in the darkness I will not forget.

X.

[This was asked at 11 S. xi. 168, but no reply has- so far been received.]

"ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR." Is the origin of this proverb known ? It has been quoted against us in the last few days in the German, press, which described it as " our own ' ' ; but this, in the sense that England was its source, is palpably untrue, for the sentiment is eminently un-English.

The proverb is mentioned only in quite modern authorities. More than one of these bases it on John Ray's " Fair chieve all where love trucks," \vhich is at most one half of it. Shakespeare paraphrases this half in ' The Two Gentlemen of Verona,' but puts it into the mouth of a despicable character, and by the answer shows his opinion of it :

Proteus. In love

Who respects friend ? Silvia. All men but Proteus.

Act V. sc. IT.

He also gives the other half in ' Henry VI. Part. III. Act I. sc. iv., but again by the context appears to use it contemptuously :

It is war's prize to take all vantage. This, by the way, was used by Schiller in ' Wallenstein's Tod ' (Act I. sc. v.) : _ t

Im Krieg gilt jedes Vorteil,

which, unless it is a direct crib, indicates that the maxim is widespread.

But in no early collection of English proverbs does either part or the whole appear to be mentioned.

G. W. WALLACE.