Page:Notes and Queries - Series 1 - Volume 1.djvu/245

. 9. 1850.] Fall of Rain in England.—"" (No. 11. p. 73.) will find the average quantity of rain fallen at Greenwich, for twenty-five years, 1815 to 1839, in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price 1s., by J. H. Belville, of the Royal Observatory, published by Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, called, Manual of the Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers.

Judas Bell—(No. 13. p. 195.). In the "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie," a singular Scotch Poem, composed in the former half of the 16th century, and printed in Ramsay's Evergreen, the following passage occurs (Everg. vol. ii. p. 74.):—

The Judas bells may probably have been used in the Easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with which we find Judas candles mentioned. See Brand's Popular Antiq. by Sir H. Ellis, vol. i. p. 29.

Boduc or Boduoc on British Coins. The real name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very uncertain. Walther (Tacitus, xiv. Ann. c. 31.), adopts Boudicea. It is probable enough that the syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as pronounced by the Britons. We are reminded of Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by Caesar. But to come nearer home, the name Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel dis- covered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr. Goddard Johnson, Archaologia, xxviii. p. 436. C. W. G. Lord Bacons Metrical Version of the Psalms. Lord Bacon's translation of seven psalms, the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 127th, and 149th, with a Dedication to George Herbert, is found at the end of the 2nd vol. of his works. (Lond. 1826.) They were printed at London, 1625, in quarto C. W. G. [To this we may add, on the information of X. X., that some account of these Psalms, with specimens, may be seen in Holland's Psalmists of Britain, 1824.] A " Gib" Cat. What is the etymology of the trim " Gibbe," as applied to the male cat? I may observe that the g is pronounced hard in this locality, and nutjibbe, as most dictionaries have it. Burnley, Lancashire. T. T. W. [NAKES has shown, very satisfactorily, that Gib, the contr.iction of Gilbert, was the name formerly applied to a cat, as Tom is now. Hest.ites that Tibrrt (the name given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the old 1'YeiK'li tor (iillirrt; and at all events, be that as it may, C'haucer, in Ins h'tnnnnce of the Rune, verse 6204., translates * Thibert le Cas " by " Gibbe our Cat."J Lay of the Phamix. "SELEUCTJS" is informed that the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix is contained in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe. The Latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters, attributed to Lactantius, is given at the foot of the page. It will be found at the end of the works of Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche (Lipsiae, 1842). Fritzsche mentions two separate editions of the poem ; 1 . by Martini, Lunaeburgi, 1825 ; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839 C. W. G. Lay of the Phoenix. "SELEUCUS" (No. 13. p. 203.) asks, " Is there any published edition of the hexameter poem by Lactantius, which is said to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix f n This poem is not in hexa- meter, but in elegiac verse ; and though, on ac- count of its brevity, we could not expect that it would have been separately published, it is to be found very commonly at the end of the works of Lactantius ; for example, in three editions before me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563. That this poem, however, belongs to the Christian Cicero, at any period of his life, is more than doubtful, even by the admission of Romanists, who readily avail themselves of other compo- sitions of similar authority. It has been some- times ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus, and is by Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans. (Opp. ii. 840. cf. iv. 519. Venet, 1728.) R. G. Ordination Pledges. Your correspondent, "CLERICUS" (No. 10. p. 156.), will find by far the most elaborate and judicious examination of the import, design, and obligation of the various oaths and subscriptions required of the clergy, in the successive numbers of The Christian Observer for 1849. E. V. Feast of St. Michael and All- Angels. The difficulty started by " K. M. P." (No. 13 p. 203.), with regard to the double second lessons for the Feast of St. Michael and All-Angels, is easily re- solved by comparing the Table of Proper Lessons before and after the last review of the Prayer Booh in 1662 ; from which it will be seen, that the proper second lessons were then appointed for the first time, while the old second lessons for Sept. 29. were retained, either from inadvertence, or to avoid the necessity of disarranging all the subsequent part of the calendar. The present first lessons, Gen. xxxii., and Dan. x. v. 5., at the same timi- took the place of the inappropriate chapters, Eccles. xxxix. and xliv., which had been appointed for this day in Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book, 1559. E. V. Beaver Hat. Mr. T. Hudson Turner (No. 7. p. 100.) asks, " What is the earliest known in- stance of the use of a beaver hat in England ?"