Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/289

 2 8. VII. SEPT. 18, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

237

honour, colour, favour, &c., was always Tetained, and I do so still, but now it "is generally omitted. HENRY HOWARD.

18 Basil Mansions, Basil Street, S.W.3.

Of course the correct pronunciation of "humble is without the a,spirate, as is also "that of honest, hour, herb, &c. Dickens chose to assign a mispronunciation of the word to Uriah Heep, and convinced thought- less readers that there was a close connexion between the correct pronunciation and hypocrisy. I need not say that I pronounce this latter word with an aspirate.

JOHN WILLCOCK.

Lerwick.

JULIA, DAUGHTER OF CJESAR THE DIC- TATOR (12 S. vii. 130, 175, 216). I have been greatly interested in the answers sent by PROF. MOORE SMITH and MR. PIERPOINT to this query. The quotation from Heywoode may well give rise to another question. There is no need to remind readers of between Caesar and Pompey ; that, if she had lived, it is just possible there would never have been a battle of Pharsalia, and that Pompey 's toga, which caused her mis- carriage (not, at that time, her death), had foeen stained, not by his own blood, but by that of the fighters in a riot at an election. Whence, one may wonder, was the story, connecting Julia's death with Pharsalia, derived ? The narrative in Plutarch is clear enough ; and one might have supposed that so straightforward a story related by so well-known a writer would be safe from being garbled. E. R.
 * N. & Q.' that Julia died before the breach

LOCAL LONDON MAGAZINES (12 S. vii. 4, 57, 93). The B.M. Library contains : Magazine,' 1850 ; 'The Finsbury Magazine,' 1863, &c. ; 'The Hornsey Hornet,' 1866-7 (continued as 'The Hornet,' 1867-80).
 * The Chelsea Gazette,' 1822 ; ' The Clapham

J. ARDAGH.

AGE OF MATRICULATION AT OXFORD : EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (12 S. vii. 208). It is probable that in the few instances noted 'by MR. D. W. Do DWELL, the understate- ment of age at matriculation may have been accidental. Otherwise, may it not have originated from a desire on the part of older students entering upon a university course, not to appear much the seniors of the majority of their compeers ? Of course it is well known that formerly matriculation usually took place at a much earlier age

than is now customary. The majority of the junior members of the universities were, for ages, mere boys. To take one instance from the period under notice. Edward Gibbon, the author of the ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' was between 15 and 16, when, in 1752, he became a gentle- man-commoner of Magdalen College, Oxford.

F. A. RUSSELL. 116 Arran Road, Catford, S.E 6.

LONDON STREET "GROTTOES" (12 S. vii. 209). I believe that until recently these "grottoes" were displayed only on or about St. James's day (July 25), and I have always understood that they are a relic of of the times when people went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostella and brought back shells from the grotto in which it was situated. MR. SAMPSON does mention shells among the objects shown in the streets, but I have never seen anything else. Indeed I should say that the children simply hold out a shell and ask for money.

E. W. B.

Brewer's 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ' says that " Pray remember the Grotto," July 25 (new style), and Aug. 5 (old style), is the day dedicated to St. James tho Greater, and that the correct thing to do in days of yore was to stick a shell in your hat or cloak and pay a visit on that day to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Shell grottoes were erected for those who could not afford a pilgrimage.

HARRY K. HUDSON.

Stratford Lodge, Twickenham.

This subject was dealt with in the first number of 'N. & Q.' (1 S. i. 5) in a note by the then editor, Mr. William J. Thorns.

According to Mr. Thorns the grotto of oyster-shells lighted by a votive candle to which on old St. James's day (Aug. 5) the passer-by in London was entreated to con- tribute by cries of "Pray remember the Grotto " was a memorial of the world- renowned shrine of St. James at Com- postella. This was once a popular shrine and was visited by Englishmen and Mr. Thorns suggests that the London street grottoes were originally erected on St. James's day as an invitation to the pious who could not visit Compostella to show their reverence for the saint by giving alms to their needy brethren at home.

In N. & Q. ( 1 S. iv. 269) is a note by a cor respondent referring to Mr. Thorns 's note and quoting a passage from The Literary