Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/105

 12 s. iv. APRIL, 1918.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

99

Thomas Benn, 1757.

Richard Neale Badcock. Director of the South Sea Company. Died 1783.

James Ducane, 1756.

George Dennis.

-George Dance, 1756. Surveyor to the Corpora- tion of London. Died 1768.

Richard Fawson, 1755.

Robert Haynes, 1756.

Herman Henneker, 1757.

William Purcas, 1756. Can he be identified with William Purcas, one of the Six Clerks of Chan- cery, who died in 1766 ? Was he related to John Purcas of the Mercers' Company, who was Surveyor Accountant of St. Paul's School in 1749 ?

Joseph Partington, 1756.

Alexander Schomberg, 1755. Was not this Sir Alexander Schomberg, who was knighted by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1777, and who died in 1804, being the senior captain in the Navy ? He served under Boscawen at the reduction of Louisbourg, and was closely associated with Wolfe at Quebec.

Harry Skey, 1757. He was the son of William Skey of Falfield, Gloucestershire, and went up from St. Paul's to Oriel in 1739, aged 17, and took his B.A. degree in 1742.

Richard Widsor, 1755. Was he Richard Widsor, gentleman, a citizen of London and a member of the Mercers' Company (Surveyor Accountant of St. Paul's School in 1774), who went up from St. Paul's School to Pembroke College,

' Oxford, in 1778 ?

Nathaniel Worley, 1 757. Can he be identified with Mr. Worley of Staple Inn, who died in 1758 ?

Walter Wall, 1757.

MICHAEL F. J. MCDONNELL.

Bathurst, Gambia, British West Africa.

THE ' DE NUGIS CUBIALIUM ' OF WALTER MAP. The ' De Nugis Curialium ' of Walter Map contains a number of quotations from classical and mediaeval writers, most of which have been identified by Dr. James in his recent edition (Oxford, 1914). There is one, however, of some interest which Dr- James (p. xxiii), and also those who have since written on the ' De Nugis,' * have left unidentified. It occurs on p. 215 : lupiter esse pium statuit quodcumque iuuaret.

This famous line comes from the ' Heroides ' of Ovid (iv. 133), and seems to have been much appreciated in the Middle Ages. There is a curious Latin story printed by Thomas Wrightt from MS. Harl. 219,


 * C. C. J. Webb (Classical Review, xxix., 1915,

of the Modern Language Association of America, xxxii., 1917, pp. 81-132) ; H. Bradley (English Historical Review, xxxii., 1917, pp. 393- 400).

t ' A Selection of Latin Stories,' Percy Society, 1842, pp. 43, 225 ; cf. Sandys (' History of Classical Scholarship,' i. ed. 2, 1906, p. 640).

fol. 12a, entitled ' De duobus scolaribus Sepulcrum Ovidii adeuntes propter erudi- tionem.' Two students visit the tomb of Ovid eo quod sapiens fuerat. One of them asks the poet which was (morally) the best line that he had ever written ; a voice replies, virtus est licitis abstinuisse bonis (' Heroides,' xvii. 98). The other inquires which was the worst ; the voice replies, omne juvans statuit Jupiter esse bonurti (a paraphrase of ' Her.,' iv. 133). Thereupon both the students proposed to pray to Christ for the repose of Ovid's soul (ut pro anima Ovidii Christum exorarent per Pater' Noster et Ave), but the voice ungratefully sends them on their way with the words, nolo ' Pater Noster ' ; carpe, viator iter. * It is just possible that Map knew this story, for he introduces the line with the words, ' ' Decus et dedecus librare contempnunt, illo pessimo contenti versiculo, lupiter," &c.

M. Esposrro.

SILVER : WEIGHT AND VALUE. (See ante, p. 86.) MB. BRADBURY, referring to the entries " standing cup, 9li. 17s.," and " 12 silver spoons, 5li. 17s.," asks : " Is there not some confusion of weight and price in the above ? " There certainly is, but it is confusion that has a very inter- esting historical explanation.

Aa is well known, the pound of money was originally so named because it was a pound weight of silver. From this fact arose the practice (extremely common in the Middle Ages, and by no means limited to the precious metals) of expressing weight in pounds and shillings. To say that an article weighed Wl. 5s. meant merely that it weighed 10J Ib. This was fairly clear so long as the original weights of the coins were preserved, but with the depreciation of the currency complications b-agin to appear. This is well illustrated by many of the records printed in Riley's ' Memorials of London and London Life.' For instance, in 1379, on the occasion of a deposit of jewels by the King with the City Corporation to secure a loan, one of the items is 12 hanaps of gold " weighing by goldsmiths' weight 9t 165. Sd., and valued at 137Z. 13s. 4rf."

may be well to correct an inaccurate reference which has caused me and also my friend Dr. Hinton a certain amount of trouble. On p. xxxviii of his book Dr. James refers to " a paper by Mr. W. T. Ritchie in the Transactions of the Royal Philological Society of Glasgow (1909-10)." This reference should be Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, vol. xli., 1910, pp. 123-46.
 * Before leaving the subject of Walter Map it