Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/321

 d g. N 16., APRIL 19. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

313

Scriptural Legends on our English Coins. Can you throw any light on the rationale of the adoption of these scriptural passages, and their long continuance often through several reigns. The author of a serial, Rambles round Nottingham, in the course of a disquisition on some cojns dis- covered there, says :

"The reverse of Edward's gold noble bears a strange inscription, viz. ' I. H. C. Autem : Transiens : Per : Me- dium : Illorum : Ibat ' But Jesus passing through the midst of them went his way. It is from Luke iv. 30., that is to say from the Vulgate, or some monkish version of the Scriptures ; the words in the authorised version being without the initial letters. It may be remembered that when beginning to preach Jesus ' came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up ; ' but whilst all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which pro- ceeded out of his mouth, they said, ' Is not this Joseph's son ? ' Having told them, however, that no prophet is accepted in his own country,' the whole synagogue be- came filled with wrath. ' and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong ; ' ' but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.' Such are the circumstances connected with the quotation. It is certainly difficult to suggest in what manner it could appropriately form the most con- spicuous motto on our English coins not only on the rose nobles of Edward, but of his successor Richard II. ; and, indeed, we are not without traces of it on our broad gold pieces down to Elizabeth." Rambles round Not- tingham, part iii. p. 135.

Is it to be supposed that these mottoes were adopted from some imperfect interpretation of the sense, and because it was the fashion to employ a text of Scripture for the purpose, whether ap- plicable or not. The authority above quoted con- tinues to cite a number of equally strange Latin texts from our English gold coinage. S. M. D.

Felo-de-se. It appears, that in a charter of Edward VI., granted to one Thomas Wrothe, and under which Sir Thomas Wilson holds the manor of Hampstead, amongst other privileges is in- cluded the right to all property situated in England of a felo-de-se dying in that manor, in preference to the claims of the crown. Are there any other examples of such a manorial right ? and has the right in this case, or any other, ever been exercised ? T. LAMPRAY.

What was the Origin of Pantomime? In a recent conversation, Pantomimes came upon the tapis, when the above question naturally suggested itself: Who composed the first Pantomime? From whose imagination emanated that everlast- ing plot, which, with a few slight variations, has amused us for two months every year, from within the recollection of our oldest acquaintance ?

Doubtless, some of your " curiously knowing" correspondents can throw a little light upon this- subject,

Any information relative to the opening " Here we are," when the letter h was first dropped, any tradition with regard to the flight of the har- lequin through a window, and the subsequent dis- comfiture of the clown (without which no panto- mime is supposed to succeed), would be gratefully received by your correspondent. J. D.

Poet's Corner.

" Like Madam HasseWs feast" SfC. What is the origin of the following proverb, which, to my thinking, embodies much quaint wisdom ?

spare."
 * " Like Madam Hassell's feast, enough, and none to

Query, who was Madam Hassell ? and what was the festive occasion for which she made so thrifty a provision ? JOHN PAINE PHILLIPS.

Literary Forgeries. I shall be glad if any of your readers will give me such particulars as they may be able to afford, of the less known of the literary forgeries and their perpetrators, in Eng- land and abroad, with references where prac- ticable ? T. LAMPRAT.

Ancient Writers quoted by Camden. Who is the "ancient writer" quoted in Camden's Remains (7th edit., pp. 2, 3.), who thus apostrophises Britain ?

" Britain thou art a glorious Isle, extolled and re- nowned among all nations : the navies of Tharsis cannot be compared to thy shipping . . . the sea is thy wall, and strong fortifications do secure thy ports. Chivalry, clergy, and merchandise do flourish in thee," &c.

What "old riming poet" sings of Wales thus? (ut supra, p. 8.) :

" Terra foecunda fructibus, et carnibus, et piscibus, Domesticis, Silvestribus, Bobus, Equis, et Ovibus Lasta cuncta seminibus," &c.

P. 14. Who was the poet flourishing temp. Richard I. that wrote the verses commencing as follows ?

" Mores antiqui Britonum jam ex convictu Saxonum Commutantur in melius, ut patet ex his clarius. Hortos et agros excolunt, ad oppida se conferunt, Et loricati equitant, et calceati peditant," &c.

MA.RK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

Facetious Writer.

" This is the true meaning of a late facetious writer, who told the public that whenever he was dull there was a design in it." Tom Jones, vol. i.

Who is " the late facetious writer?" The idea, I think, occurs in Tristram Shandy; which, how- ever, was not published until some six years after Fielding's death. J. 13. (3.)

Family of Perry. It is stated that George Dash wood, in the time of Charles II,,*married