Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/87

 2' S. NO 4., JA.V. 26. '56. ]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

9

cause, but to suggest a remedy for the " putting out the lights." The gas-fitter must be cross- examined, and he should be made to give a reason for his unscrewings and disconnectings, and other mysterious operations. Small fittings, improperly arranged, thereby causing obstructions by the accumulation of water, are often conveniently laid to the account of a small service-pipe, want of pressure, or a choke from naphthaline.

N. H. L. R. Brighton.

This annoyance in gas-burners arises from the impurity of the gas, or want of care in laying on the pipe. I have found a very simple remedy without the interference of a gas-fitter. If PHOS- PHILOS will wipe the mantle of the pipe clean, and, turning the cock, just " blow it up," he will find the obstruction quite removed. It sometimes happens that this requires to be repeated twice ; when necessary, I light the adjacent burners, and blow till they burn blue, which is quite sufficient.

N. O. H. 'Blackheath.

_ I have no doubt but that Leslie's patent pu- rifiers, which can be applied to any supply of gas, would effectually get rid of the nuisance PHOS- PHILOS complains of. The office is 59. Conduit Street. FUIT.

CLIFFORD 8 INN DINNER CUSTOM.

(2 nd S. i. 12.)

As it is important, when accounts of ancient manners and customs are recorded in your his- toric page, that they should be described correctly, I take the opportunity of referring to the Query of your correspondent H. as to the dinner cus- tom, in lieu of grace, at Clifford's Inn Hall (which I believe to be altogether unique) ; more with a view of correcting his statement of it, than of answering the Query propounded, viz., whence the origin of the custom? which I verily believe to be as unanswerable as it is altogether unintelli- gible. It appears that the Ancient and Honour- able Society of Clifford's Inn, in dining-hall assembled, consists of two distinct bodies; viz. the upper house, or elders, so to speak, called the_" Principal r.nd Rules ;" and the lower house, or junior members of the Society, with the un- accountable name of the " Kentish Mess." These two bodies sit at two tables placed parallel in the hall ; that of the Principal and Rules to the right of the other. There is no ceremony whatever in lieu of grace before meat ; any blessing that may be asked, therefore, is consequently a private in- vocation merely in the breasts of the members of the Society. At the conclusion of dinner, the

chairman of the " Kentish Mess," first bowing to the principal of the Inn, who is seated at the table at his right hand, takes from the hands of a ser- vitor a batch of four small rolls or loaves of bread neither more nor less than that number; and, without saying a word, he dashes them three several times on the table; he then discharges them to the other end of the table, from whence the bread is removed by a servant in attendance. Solemn silence broken only by the three impressive thumps upon the table prevails during this st-range ceremony, which takes the place of grace after meat, in Clifford's Inn Hall ; and concerning which, not even the oldest member of the Society is able to give any explanation. Their archives, and the ancient rules of the Society, neither of them afford the slightest clue to the origin of a custom supposed by some to date from its founda- tion ; and which, moreover, at the present day, is persevered in with a sort of superstitious feeling, on the part of its members, that the welfare of the Society somehow is wrapt up in its scrupulous observance. MIDDLE TEMPLE GATE.

OLD ARITHMETICAL WORKS.

There is a notice of two old arithmetical works, 1" S. xii. 404. ; allow me to mention the following, of which I possess good copies :

1. " The Well-Spring of Sciences ; which teacheth the perfect worke and practise of Arithmetic, both in whole Numbers and in Fractions; set forth by Humphrey Baker, Londoner. Printed by Thomas Purfoot, and are to be sold by John Grismond in Ivy Lane, at the signe of the Gun, 1631."

This work was first published in 1584, and was dedicated " To the right worshipfull the Go- vernors, Assistants, and the rest of the Companie of Marchants Adventurers."

2. " The Ground of Arts, teaching the perfect worke and practise of Arithmetic, both in whole Numbers and Fractions. Made by Sir. Robert Record, D. in Phisick ; afterwards augmented by Mr. John Dee, and since en- larged with a Third Part, with a Table of the Valuation of all Coynes, as they are currant at this present time, by John Mellis ; and now diligently perused, corrected, &c., -with Tables of interest upon interest, with the true value of Annuities, calculated by Robert Hartwell, Philo- mathemat. Sold by John Harison at his Shop, the sign of the Unicorne, in Paternoster Row, 1636."

This work was originally dedicated by Robert Recordfto Edward VI. in 1551. It continued to be the book in most general use until the publica- tion of Cocker's Arithmetic in 1677.

3. "Moore's Arithmetick, discovering the secrets of that Art, in Numbers and Species ; fitted to the meanest capacity, and published for the generall good of this Kingdome, by Jonas Moore, late of Durham. This curious book contains the rules of Practise and Interest, performed in a more facile manner by Decimals, than hitherto hath been published ; the excellency, and new practise and use