Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/220

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

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fourteenth bishop, as it contains a statement which will probably be new to many of your readers :

" Zepherinus was a Romaine borne, a man, as writers do testifie, more addicted with all endeavour to the seruice of God, than to the cure of any worldly affayres. Whereas before his time the wine, in the celebrating the comunio, was ministered in a cup of woode, he first did alter that, and in steade thereof brought in cuppes or chalices of-glasse. And yet he did not this upon any su- persticion, as thinking woode to be unlawefull, or glasse to be more holy, for that use, but because the one is more conily and semely, as by experience it appeareth, then the other. And yet some wooden doultes do dreame that the wooden cuppes were chaunged by him, because that part of the wine, or, as they thought, the royall bloud of Christe, did soake into the woode, and so it cannot be in glasse. Surely soner may wine soake into any woode than any witte into those winie heads that thus both de- ceive themselves and slaunder this Godly rnartyr, who, in the yeare of our Lorde 220, suffered martyrdome under Aurelius."

I do not find any statement in the Pageant of Popes as to who it was that subsequently intro- duced for the first time silver or gold sacramental vessels instead of those of glass. Can any one settle this point ? HENBY KENSINGTON.

Thoresby MSS. Any reader who can inform me of the present habitat of the MS. letters of the Earl of Strafford, which were formerly in the Thoresby Museum, will confer a favour, by making known the information. Bis dot qui cito dat! B.H.C.

Porcelain that indicates Poison. There is a porcelain highly prized in the East from its sup- posed property of indicating poison in food. Whence originated the idea ? Where can one see specimens of the china in England ?

J. D. GAKDNEB.

Wolves. When were Dorset, Devon, and Hampshire cleared of wolves ? G. R. L.

" The Lady and Spaniels." I believe that " the lady " in this beautiful and twice-engraved pic- ture of Sir Edwin Landseer's is a portrait. Query,

Of whom ? CUTHBERT BfiDE.

Arms on a Seal. Information is desired as to the family to whom the following arms belong. They are on a seal apparently of the time of Elizabeth, with helmet and lambrequin, a lion passant, on a chief three martlets. Crest, an eagle displayed. It is suggested that as the arms cannot be traced among authentic collections of English arms, and from the general appearance of the seal, they may be those of some foreign family. N. B.

" The Rath" or Burmese State Carriage. Some thirty years ago there was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, the " rath," or Burmese state carriage, which was, I believe, taken at

Rangoon by our troops. Can you or your readers tell me what has become of the same ? Is it among the " old stores " at the Tower or Wool- wich ? As far as I recollect it was a very fine specimen of carving and gilding.* CENTURION. Athenaeum Club.

Coadjutor Bishops. There is an act of pnrlia- ment, 52 Geo. III. c. 62., respecting the appoint- ment of coadjutor bishops in Ireland. Can any of your correspondents inform me of any other acts of parliament bearing on this point ? Also, whether coadjutor bishops have ever been ap- pointed in Ireland under the above act of George III. ? ALFRED T. LEE.

Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

Dictionaries of the English Language. Having looked through many bibliographical works to find a list of the dictionaries of the English lan- guage, I have found them all dreadfully deficient ; the names and titles only being given of those that are well known. I have no doubt in the British Museum the subject may be catalogued and consulted, but it seems remarkable to me that whilst an almost obsolete science like heraldry should have a volume to guide us to the works that have been written upon it, that the English language should never have called the attention of any person to compile a chronological cata- logue of works upon the subject. I do not mean to include glossarial works. I cannot remember to have seen anything in the shape of an English dictionary of more than 250 years old. I may enumerate Phillips's World of Words, 1657; Henry Cockerain's curious little volume, 1642 ; and later, Bailey's and Ash's. As anything in the shape of a correct list would be a valuable ad- dition to English bibliography, I know of no better medium to attain it than " N. & Q.," where I feel confident your valuable contributors will lend a helping hand to bring about such a de- sideratum, which would go far to enable those who wish to consult the various works at different dates of publication, to attain a knowledge of those words which were common in our language, that are not found in later works. J. R. J.

Elizabeth Lady Lovell. Elizabeth, wife of Sir Richard Lovell, of Ballumbie, was maid of honour to Joanna, Queen of Scotland. On the attack made on the apartment by assassins, 1437, this lady endeavoured to secure the door ; and finding the bar had been removed, put her arm through the staple. Her arm was broken, and the door forced open.

Does the picture in the Polytechnic, with "Loyalty" under it, represent this circumstance?

[* See engravings of it in The Mirror, vol. vi. p. 385., and Hone's Every Day Book, p. 1521.]