Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/284

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. II. OCT. 1, '98.

others as ' Kingsthorpiana,' notes, p. 101, that this gentleman was William Cecil, after- wards Lord Burghley, and mentions that "in a pedigree in Lord Burghley's hand (given in facsimile iu Wright's ' Queen Elizabeth and her Times ') the name is written in the first place Sitsilt, afterwards Sicell, and again Cyceld." ST. SWTTHIN.

BROTHERS BEARING THE SAME CHRISTIAN NAME (9 th S. i. 446 ; ii. 51, 217). This sub- ject has been instructively touched upon by a well-known record scholar in Scotland, Mr. J. H. Stevenson, advocate. See Scottish Anti- quary (1898), xii. 168, xiii. 20. The suggestion has been made, and I have heard it discussed, that the doubling of the same narnein the same family was precautionary for the purpose of the latterensuring the preservation of anhere- ditary Christian name. There was, of course, less chance of its becoming extinct when it had two strings to its bow. As an explanation this does not sound convincing, yet one must re- member that in days when there was no postal service and no commercial life worth speaking of the confusion which would now ensue from such a practice would not be so likely to result. What a wonder it is, however, that the stage has never laid hold of the usage to supply one of those entanglements the extrication from which constitutes a dramatic plot ! My friend MR. BLACK'S query receives, I think, between MR. PEACOCK and Mr. Stevenson, a pretty clear answer. GEO. NEILSON.

Glasgow.

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY (9 th S. ii. 184). The quotation given under the above heading is apparently a free translation of the well- known verses composed by Famianus Strada, and published in his 'Prolusiones Academics' (Rome, 1617). Many editions of that work appeared in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; and Addisou, in No. 241 of the Spectator, and subsequently in the Guardian, No. 119, has given a prose rendering of these particular verses. The whole " prolusion " in which they are found is dealt with by Addi- son in Nos. 115, 119, 122 of the Guardian. There is also a verse translation in the first volume of Christopher Smart's Oxford and Cambridge magazine, the Student. If I remember rightly, there appeared about 1830 another verse translation in a West of Eng- land periodical (called, I think, The Bath and Bristol Magazine).

My copy of Strada's ' Prolusiones ' is the edition published at Oxford in 1745. It i certainly a curious coincidence that these exercises were delivered by Strada at Rome and that Signer Marconi is also a Roman.

Here are the verses : Vlagnesi genus est lapidis mirabile, cui si Corpora ferri plura stylosve admoveris, inde tson modo vim motumque trahent, quo semper ad

ursam ;

IJuse hjcet vicina polo, se vertere tentent : Verum etiam, mira inter se ratione modoque, Quotquot eum lapidem tetigere styli, simul omnes Conspirare situm motumque videbis in unum. Ut, si forte ex his aliquis Romae moveatur, Alter ad hunc motum, quamvis sit dissitu' longe, Arcane se natural fcedere vertat.

Ergo age, si quid scire voles, qui distat, amicum, Ad quern nulla accedere possit epistola ; sume Planum orbem pat/ulumque, notas elementaque

prima

Ordine, quo discunt pueri, describe per oras Extremas orbis ; medioque repone jacentem, Qui tetigit rnagneta, stylum, ut versatilis inde Literulam, quamcunque velis contingere possit. Hujus ad exemplum, simili fabricaveris orbem Margine descriptum munitumque indice ferri, Ferri, quod motum magnete accepit ab illo. Hunc orbem discessurus sibi portet amicus Conveniatque prius, quo tempore queisve diebus Exploret, stylus an trepidet quidve indice signet, His ita compositis, si clam cupis alloqui amicum Quern procul a tete terrai distinct ora : Orbi adjunge manum, ferrum versatile tracta. Hie disposta vides elementa in margine toto Queis opus est ad verba notis : hue dirige ferrum, Literulasque, modo hanc modo et illam cuspide

tange,

Dum ferrum per eas iterumque iterumque rotando Componas singillatim sensa omnia mentis. Mira fides ! longe qui distat cernit amicus Nullius impulsu trepidare volubile ferrum Nunc hue, nunc illuc discurrere : conscius hasret Observatque styli ductum sequiturque legendo Hinc atque hinc elementa, quibus in verba cpactis, Quid sit opus sentit ferroque interprete discit. Quinetiam, cum stare stylum videt, ipse vicissim, Si quae respondenda putat, simili ratione Literulis varie tactis rescribit amico. O utinam haec ratio scribendi prodeat usu ! Cautior et citior properaret epistola nullas Latronum verita insidias, fluviosque morantes : Ipsi suis princeps manibus sibi conficeret rem ; Nos soboles scribarum emersi ex sequore nigro Consecraremus calamum magnetis ad oras.

J. P. OWEN.

A still earlier reference to the same antici- pation of telegraphy may be seen in Hake- will's 'Apology,' Ox. 1630, 1. iii. c. 10, p. 285. This is taken from Famianus Strada (fl. A.D. 1572-1649), lib. ii. "Prolus." 6.

The anticipation of Strada was not with- out notice. It appears in the Guardian, No. 119 (1713) ; vol. ii. p. 134(1729).

ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.

HIGH COMMISSIONER OF THE CHURCH (9 th S. ii. 149), "The Lord High Commissioner" such is the correct designation is the re- presentative of the sovereign at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The appointment is annual. The nobleman to whom ' it is granted always belongs to the