Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/367

 s. NO 18., MAY 3. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

359

The following extract from Tyrwhitt's Intro- ductory Discourse to the Canterbury Tales, will answer the Query respecting the text, " Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat : "

" The first considerable coinage of gold in this country was begun by Edward III. in the year 1343, and accord- ing to Camden [in his Remains, art. "Money"], 'the Alchemists did affirm, as an unwritten verity, that the Rosenobles, which were coined soon after, were made by projection or multiplication Alchemical of Raymond Lully in the Tower of London.' In proof of this, ' besides the tradition of the Rabbies in that faculty,' they alledged ' the Inscription ; Jesus autem per medium eorum transiens ibat ; ' which they profoundly expounded, as Jesus passed invisible and in most secret manner by the middest of Pha- risees, so that gold was made by invisible and secret art amidst the ignorant. But others say, ' that Text was the only amulet used in that credulous warfaring age to es- cape dangers in battles.' Thus Camden. I rather believe it was an Amulet or Charm, principally used against Thieves, upon the authority of the following passage of Sir John Mandevile, ch. x. p. 137. : ' And an half myle fro Nazarethe is the Lepe of Oure LOUD : for the Jewes ladden Him upon an highe roche for to make Him lepe down and have slayne Him : but JESU passed amonges hem, and l.epte upon another roche ; and yit ben the steppes of His feet sene in the roche where He allyghte. And therfore seyn sum men whan thei dreden hem of Thefes on ony weye, or of Enemyes, Jesus autem transiens per medium eorum ibat : that is to seyne ; Jesus forsothe passynge be the myddes of hem He wente : in tokene and mynde,, that Oure LORD passed thorghe out the Jewes crueltee, and scaped safly fro hem ; so surely mowe men passen the perile of Thefes.' (See also Catal. MSS. Harl., n. 2966.) It must be owned that a spell against Thieves was the most serviceable, if not the most elegant, In- scription that coud be put upon Gold Coin."

K. F. L. Dublin.

COAL IN ENGLAND.

(2 nd S. i. 293.)

Your correspondent MR. D. STEVENS, of Co- lumbus, Ohio (U.S.), inquires for some statistics of coal. Being myself an anxious observer of all matters affecting so important an item in relation to our country's welfare, I forward an extract from an elaborate article on the subject in my file of the Mining Journal (April 14, 1855), and from which I will, at my leisure, select others. I have a distinct recolleption of an article, giving an ac- count of the several estimates of the probable duration of the coal-fields of England, but cannot this moment remember the date. Perhaps MR. STEVENS will return the compliment by forward- ing some statistics respecting the coal of America.

" The area of the coal-fields of the British Isles had been estimated as extending over nearly 10,000 square miles, while those of Belgium do not exceed GOO, and the fields of France occupy only about 1719 square miles. Considerable difficulty has arisen in estimating the exact quantity of coal produced in the British Isles, arising partly from the dislike of some coal proprietors to allow the annual produce of the pits to be known. From a

visit paid to the various coal-fields, Mr. Hunt was satis- fied that this feeling of hesitation was dying away, but accounts were not kept in many small collieries supply- ing the towns in their immediate vicinities. Data have been obtained for estimating our coal produce with a greater degree of exactness than has been as yet reached, but the computation will occupy some considerable time. The estimates of Mr. Thomas Young Hale and Mr. Dick- inson may, however, be given as showing a close agree- ment, although they are both above that made by Mr. Thomas John Taj'lor, which was as follows

Tons. Tons.

For household purposes about - 19,000,000 For iron-works - 13,000,000

For steam, gas, and coking coal - 9,000,000

Export 4,000,000 = 45,000,000

Scotland has been estimated as

producing 7,000,000

Total -

Mr. Young Hale's estimate is Northumberland and Durham Cumberland - Lancashire and North Wales Staffordshire, Shropshire, and

Worcestershire

Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Notting- hamshire, Leicestershire, and

Warwickshire South Wales, Monmouthshire,

Dean Forest, and Bristol Fields Scotland -

Mr. Dickinson's estimate is Northumberland, Durham, and

Cumberland - - - - Lancashire, Cheshire, and North

Wales - Staffordshire, Shropshire, and

Worcestershire - Yorkshire, Derbyshire, &c. South Wales, Monmouthshire,

Gloucestershire, &c. Scotland -

- 52,000,000

13,300,000 1,000,000 10,000,000

- 8,000,000

- 7,000,000

10,000,000 7,250,000 = 56,550,000

11,000,000 10,000,000

8,000,000 7,500,000

10,000,000 7,500,000=54,000,000

In producing this quantity of coal, we have about 233,650 workmen employed underground, and at least .50,000 on the surface. Mr. Hall has been at considerable trouble to estimate the quantity of coal remaining in the Northumberland and Durham coal-fields, and this he considers to be equal to 1,251,232,504 Newcastle chal- drons of 53 cwts. each. By this estimate, at the present rate of demand, these coal fields will be exhausted in 331 years."

ADOLPHE BENOIT.

Upper Clapton.

DOLLY PENTREAT1I.

(1 st S. xii. 407.)

MR. TESTING no doubt satisfied MR. FRASER (1 st S. xii. 500.) that " Poor Dolly " was in myth, and his account of the origin of the epitaph, sub- sequently transcribed by MR. DUNKIN (2 nd S. 5. 17.) is correct; but not so its attribution by the latter gentleman, as the real author was Mr. John Scaddon, schoolmaster, Penzance, and the follow- ing additional particulars may not only be ac-