Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/321

 n s. ix. APRIL is, i9i4j NOTES AND QUERIES.

315

are no feuer than three slabs, all bearing the five crosses ; some of them have been used subsequently as tombstones. When the chancel floor of Bishop Middleham Church, co. Durham, was being repaired a few years ago, the altar-slab with hollow - chamfered edges was discovered. The vicar (the Rev. M. Parker) had it removed and placed under the Communion table, where it is now.

R. B R.

JEREMIAH HORROCKS (11 S. ix. 187, 278). On pp. 238-9 of No. 30 of Chatterbox for 23 June, 1874, is a very pretty children's story of Jeremiah Horrocks, by M. P. ; and on p. 240 is a wood-engraving portrait of the astronomer with his telescope, but whether it is imaginary or not I cannot tell. I should be pleased to lend it to any one who would like to see it.

" BILLION," "TRILLION," &c. (11 S. ix. 228, 278). I was always taught at school that a billion was a million times a million,

and not two millions ; that a trillion was a million times a million times a million, and

1 . . Q 3

not three millions ; that a quadrillion was a million times a million times a million

times a million, and not four millions. And

4

so on quintillion, &c. until we were exhausted ! WILLIAM BULL.

House of Commons.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (US. ix. 270). Quotations 1 and 2 are from 'The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play ' in the Towneley MS. A version with modernized spelling is printed in ' Everyman, and Other Old Religious Plays,' in the " Everyman's Library.'' The Towneley Plays have been printed from the original MS. by the Surtees Society and the Early English Text Society. Neither of the quotations is quite correct. In the "Everyman" edition they are as follows :

1. 1st Shepherd. Lord ! what, these weathers are cold, arid I am ill happed ;

I am near hand-dold, so long have I napped ; My legs bend and fold, my fingers are chapped, It is not as I would, for I am all lapped In sorrow.

2. 2nd Shepherd. Lord, these weathers are spitous, and the weather full keen ;

And the frost so hideous they water mine een,

No lie.

Now in dry, now in wet, Now in snow, now in sleet, When my shoon freeze to my feet

It is not all easy.

The author of the play is unknown.

M. H. DODDS.

MAGISTRATES WEARING HATS ON THE BENCH (11 S. ix. 189, 253). R. B. P.'s query calls back to my mind a belief, quite unfounded perhaps, but current in my boy- hood, in the late eighties and in the nineties, to the effect that a police officer could not make a valid arrest bare-headed or rather, that in order to make an arrest he must be wearing his helmet at the moment of making such arrest. The helmet seemed to be, then, the essential part of the officer's insignia the real badge of his office. This may explain (though it may be somewhat far- fetched) why prisoners endeavoured to knock off the helmet when the officer was attempting arrest, and perhaps, top, the shouts of the crowd, desirous of aiding the prisoner to escape, " Knock his hat off." Daudet in * Tartarin de Tarascon ' hit off the important role played by the kepi in Algeria.

It may be worth while to note that cover- ing the 'head and keeping it so while per- forming some act of jurisdiction is quite common. For instance, the Pope wears his tiara at solemn acts of jurisdiction e.g., in giving solemn dogmatic decisions (vide 'Cath. Ency.,' art. 'Tiara'). Likewise the priest wears his biretta, especially when performing any act of jurisdiction e.g., reconciling a convert.

" It was formerly the rule that a priest should always wear it in giving absolution in confession, and it is probable that the ancient usage which requires an English judge to assume the 'black ca,p ' is identical in origin." 'Cath. Ency., Herbert Thurston, art. ' Biretta.' I am under the impression that, in conferring academic degrees, the one who confers the degrees ke'eps his head covered during the ceremony.

The following instance is more analogous to that mentioned by R. B. P. ; it is a description of the passing of sentence at a French court-martial :

" En avant, les sept officiers avaient repris leurs places, mais debout, le kepi ou le casque sur la tete, la main gauche touchant la poignee

du sabre Le colonel recitait des formules, des

nume'ros d'articles, puis des phrases trop claires, d'une precision terrible." Rene Bazin, ' De toute son Ame,' chap, xxviii.

Again, whereas most Christian men remove their headgear on entering a place of religious worship, soldiers, sailors, and policemen remain with heads covered when detailed for duty in such places.

The "reason for thus keeping the head covered in these various situations may, of course, be the very obvious and prosaic one, for mere protection at first, before the