Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/392

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [9 th s. XIL NOV. u, 1903.

beth Rastell, by her marriage with John Hey \vood, became mother of Ellis and Jasper the Jesuits, and grandmother of John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's.

In his interesting monograph on Robert Greene in the first-mentioned volume (429), Prof. Gay ley calls Edward (afterwards Ed- ward I.) Prince of Wales ; but for this anachronism he has the authority of Greene himself, who in the play which follows, viz., Frier Bongay,' denotes the Crown Prince Edward, son of King Henry III., by the style of Prince of Wales, as I noted ante, p. 361. A. R. BAYLEY.
 * The Honorable Historic of Frier Bacon and

[The confusion between Frankenstein and the monster created by him is of frequent occurrence ; see, for example, 8 th S. vii. 485 ; viii. 88, 135, 294.]

" CATECHISM." The usual definition of this word is not comprehensive enough e.g., the ' Oxford Dictionary ': " An elementary treatise for instruction in the principles of the Christian religion, in the form of question and answer." 'Century Dictionary': "A form of instruction by means of questions and answers, particularly in the principles of religion." Of course this is etymologically and usually correct ; but the term has been, and is, applied to treatises of instruction which are not methodized in question and answer form e.g., to quote a title - page, the Decree of the Council of Trent faith- fully translated into English .London.
 * ' The Catechism for the Curats, compos'd by

1687." This treatise is purely didactic, and is simply an instruction for teachers. So also is Cranmer's 'Catechismus,' 1548. This is for the instruction of children, and consists of a general preface and a series of sermons on the elements of the Christian faith. It was a very usual sense of the word on the Conti- nent, and Cranmer's book is really a transla- tion of a * Catechismus pro Pueris et Juven- tute,' by Justus Jonas, 1539 ; and another well-known text-book is the ' Catechismus Catholicus Reverendiss. quondam Dn. Mi- chaelis Episcopi Merspurgerisis,' written in the vernacular German, and translated into Latin in 1562. This was divided into eighty- four " conciones." In Archbishop Hamilton's 'Catechism' (St. Andrews, 1552) the ques- tions are rather incidental than of the essence of the treatise, for the whole was to be read out by the priest in specified portions.

The * Standard Dictionary ' begins its de- j finition, " a short treatise," a question of | degree, but I have 'A Short Treatise, contain- ing all the Principall Grounds of Christian Religion, by way of Questions and Answers '

(1617), which runs to 246 pages small 8vo, besides preface; Archbishop Hamilton's filled 205 folios, quarto size = 410 ^ages ; and Peter Canisius's 'Opus Catechisticum ' nearly touched p. 900 in large folio size, with closely printed double columns.

A definition something like this might escape cavil, to take that of the 'Oxford Dictionary' as it stands, inserting between the words "religion" and "in" "usually, though not necessarily." C. DEEDES.

Chichester.

MAORI LUCKY STONE. The following from the Daily Mail, 16 October, may interest the editors of the 'N.E.D.' :

" The latest fashion in wedding presents is some- thing in Pounamu : Pounamu cigar cases, or Pounamu paper knives, or Pounamu bracelets, rings, or neck- laces, or Pounamu earrings, weighing, if you like, a quarter of a pound each, as worn by Maori ladies. Pounamu comes from New Zealand. It is a hard and heavy dark green stone, known to the Maoris as the ' lucky stone.' "

Pounamu ornaments are on sale in Bond Street. It is evidently the same word which Capt. Cook writes poenammoo^ ('Voyages,' 1773, ii. 400). Webster's * Dictionary ' has : " Poenamu, a variety of jade or nephrite, used in New Zealand for the manufacture of axes and weapons." JAMES PLATT, Jun.

COENISH MEASUEES. In 2 nd S. vii. 295 A. B. S. wrote: "I notice in 'A Londoner's Walk to the Land's End,' p. 323, it is stated that ' the Camelford bushel is 24 gallons, and the Launceston bushel is 16 gallons' "; and he obviously sought an explanation, which was to some extent supplied at ibid., p. 385, in a quotation from Gutteridge's tables of 1825, which, describing the various bushels then in use, said that in Cornwall it was " 24 gal- lons. The double measure of 16 gallons is also used in the eastern parts, and runs occasionally to 17 or 17| ; the triple in the western."

An earlier and more precise explanation, however, is to be found in ' ' The Royal Trea- sury of England : or, A General History of Taxes, from The Conquest to the present Time, by the late Capt. John Stevens," the second edition of which (and it is from this I quote) was printed in London in 1728. There is given on pp 229-31 a quotation, of the time of Edward VI., from ' Repository of Originals,' 'Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials,' vol. ii. p. 143, this being a "Table, making mention of certain Prices made by the King's Majesty's Justices, of all kinds of Corn, and sundry other Necessaries." This refers par- ticularly to the prices of a bushel of various kinds of corn in the market towns of Corn-