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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. v. MAB. 9, 1012.

performance at these feasts. It appears that two special suits of vestments were used : " one imbroidered with Bucks, the other with Does." These were supposed to have been presented by the Bauds. Morant, in his 'History of" Essex ' (1768), i. 242, under ' Coringham,' in the Barstable Hundred, inaccurately gives the date of this deed as 1375.

There is an account of the feasts and customs in Dugdale's ' History of St. Paul's,' pp. 17 et seg. THOMAS WM. HUCK.

Saffron Walden.

With reference to the offering of a fat buck at the altar of St. Paul's Cathedral, Canon Sparrow Simpson, in his ' St. Paul's and Old City Life ' (1894), has a good deal of information to give. He mentions the legend of the ceremony being a continuation of sacrifices in honour of Diana, but does not agree that there was any truth in it, but rather traces it to a grant of land to the Cathedral, the donors of which made the offering. Stow, in his ' Survey ' (1618, p. 641). arrives at a similar conclusion, and gives an account of a deed dated 1274, which provides a fat buck and doe on Candle- mas Day for the benefit of the Cathedral clergy. He mentions the " Jupiter " legend, and his story altogether is full of informa- tion. Blount, in his ' Antient Tenures ' (1679, p. 105), also gives a full account of this " signal grant." WM. NOBMAJST.

During the excavations for new St. Paul's, Roman urns were found as well as British graves ; and in 1830 a stone altar with an image of Diana was unearthed in the course of excavations for the foundations of Goldsmiths' Hall in Foster Lane. On such incomplete evidence rests the accuracy of the story or tradition that a temple of Diana occupied part of the site of the present Cathedral.

Down to the reign of Philip and Mary there was observed a custom arising from an obligation incurred by Sir William Baud in 1375, when he was permitted to enclose twenty acres of the Dean's land, in consideration of presenting the clergy of the Cathedral with a fat buck and doe yearly on the days of the Conversion (25 January) and Commemoration (30 June) of St. Paul. See ' Beauties of England.' A. R. BAYLEY.

'COCKE LORELLE'S BOTE' (11 S. v. 110).

This poem was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, circa 1520. It was reprinted in 1815 for the Roxburghe Club, being pre- sented to the members by the Rev. Henry

Drury. An edition was also published in Edinburgh in 1841 and by the Percy Society. " Cock Lorell the author was the most notorious knave who ever lived " (see Lowndes). A very full account of the poem is given in ' The Cambridge History of English Literature,' vol. iii. chap. v. p. 83", which says :

" The tract is a burlesque rhapsody on the lower middle classes ; they are grouped under the classification of a crew which takes ship and sails through England."

J. E. L ATT ON PICKERING. Inner Temple Library.

The author of this poem is unknown. It was first printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and was not again reproduced until the nine- teenth century, when the Roxburghe Club and the Percy Society published it for the benefit of their members. I have a copy of the Percy issue, which was edited by Mr. Edward F. Rimbault, F.S. A. " Cock Lorell," he wrote, " appears to have been a notorious vagabond, and the head of a gang of thieves which infested London and its vicinity in the time of Henry VII. and Henry VIII." It is supposed that Brandt's ' Shyp of Folys ' suggested the satire. All the bad characters of the age rowed " in the same boat " with Cock = Captain or Boss, Lorell, whose name denotes a worthless person or evildoer.

Of euery craft some there was,

Short or longe, more or lasse.

All these rehersed here before

In Cokes bote eche man had an ore ;

and they

sayled England thorowe and thorowe, Vyllage, towne, cyte, and borowe.

The poem contains a most interesting record of Christian names and surnames, and a list of trades and occupations followed in medi- aeval times which cannot easily be matched.

ST. SWITHIN.

[MR. A. B. BAYLEY -who refers to fragment in Garrick Coll., B.M., reprinted in Maidment's Publications, xlvi. (1840), and reminds us that " Cock Lorelle " was a byword as late as Jaco- bean times also thanked for reply.

MR. A. COLLINGWOOD LEK suggests a reference to ' Literary Relations of England and Germany in the Sixteenth Century,' by C. H. Herford (sm. 8vo, 1886), for the relationship of this poem to the ' Ship of Fools ' and other allied satires. MR. ARTHUR MYNOTT also refers to the Percy Society edition.]

OMAR KHAYYAM (11 S. v. 105). I have not had an opportunity of seeing Prof. Jackson's book, but the extract given by A. N. Q. greatly interested me, because it bears out my own theories on the subject of Omar's descent. Some years ago I