Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/341

 s. in. APRIL 29,

NOTES AND QUERIES,

335

c< uld have been fortunate in his authorities (i he gave them) for the statement quoted. P 'obably these were Arago and Guillemin. B it I am fully open to correction. The hntory of excommunication contains eccle- si istical absurdities occurring in that century ai d the next almost rivalling this one.

Platina (a contemporary), in his * Lives of the Popes' (written later), tells quite another tale. He says that Calixtus

"ordered prayers and processions to be made by thj faithful, in order that the calamities which the scientists portended from the appearance of the ruddy comet might be turned upon their enemies I the Turks."

Now, as this fiery old Pontiff had but two passions nepotism and hatred of the Mos- lemit is very probable that, however alarmed at it, he would have made use of the timely advent of the comet to per- suade the faithful it was not directed against them. He had for many months previously been stimulating the sovereigns of Europe to combine for a crusade, and the mendicant orders had been every- where preaching it. The response, however, proved decidedly lukewarm, except on the part of those who were significantly near the (scene of action, namely, the Hungarians and Austrians, presently victorious under Hun- jjadi Janos (24 July). France, at any rate, Iwas too seriously influenced by the unrest of England to give ear, while the Italian states well supported, I venture to think, by 'nfessura, the diarist. Writing of the comet, mder the year and month above given, he nentions that "it had a long tail turned astward," and that prayers and processions ere commanded in order that God should entreated to turn away his anger, or ither, "che Dio ce revocasse ogni rea sen- ntia." "From the Turk and the comet, )od Lord, deliver us." So that, in fact, the )ecial invocations ordered by Calixtus in le previous month of June were merely
 * 1) ere embroiled one with another. This view
 * centuated by the astral phenomenon.

According to some accounts, Hunjadi was doubt, the evening before his glorious attle, whether to fight or to retire. Nicolaus arensis, according to Raynaldus ('Annali.' '56), declared that Hunjadi had a vision of brilliant arrow falling from heaven upon Q altar, and that St. John addressed him, Esto constans, Joannes ! " Further, that e face of the saint dazzled the eyes of the urks, his enemies.

It would be interesting to know how the iltan's astrologers regarded this comet, and hether their prophecies influenced the con-

duct of his troops; further, what Mohammed did to them after the battle. Perhaps MR. PLATT could tell us.

As Infessura may be unfamiliar to some of your astronomical readers, I will remark, for their benefit, that he records another comet " with a great tail " in January, 1472 ; another in 1490, which hung above St. Peter's ("paucis tamen diebus duravit") ; and, finally, one in the Jubilee year, 1500. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY.

INNES^DE INSULA (9 th S. iii. 188). There can be little doubt that the surname Innes is territorial or locative. The Gaelic inis signifies an island and also waterside pas- ture ; it appears in numberless place-names, both in Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland the nominative case appears frequently in the topography e.g., Ennis, Enniskillen, Ennis- corthy, &c. ; but in Scotland the oblique case innse (pron. inshe or inshy) seems the com- moner, at least in Anglicized place-names like Inch, Inchkeith, Inchmarnock, &c. Loch Inch, in Galloway, was originally locha innse CrindaiL the lake of Crindal's isle, and appears so named in Font's map, circa 1600, Crindal's isle being a huge crannog. There is another well-known Loch Insche in Strathspey.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

Innes is equivalent to De Insulis because it represents the Gael, innis, which is cognate with Irish inis, Welsh ynys, Cornish enys, Breton enez, and is clearly a Keltic word. Inch is an English pronunciation of Gael. innis, as explained in my 'Principles of English Etymology,' First Series, pp. 446, 447. It is a pity that a wild suggestion of con- necting it with Ing should be made. Ing has no more to do with Innes than sing has to do with sins. WALTER W. SKEAT.

MAYORS, 1726 (9 th S. iii. 167). Jonas E. Drinkworth, Knt., said to have been a judge or portrait painter, date 1727, formed the subject of an inquiry in ' N. & Q.,' 7 th S. vi. 27, from the Natural History Society, Torquay, to which no reply has appeared.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

"PARLEY'S PENNY LIBRARY" (9 th S. iii. 145, 233). ' Peter Parley's Annual,' men- tioned by your correspondent at p. 233, was a quite different publication from " Parley's Penny Library," though published about the same time, i.e., 1840. The former work was issued by Darton & Clark, of Holborn Hill, the well-known publishers of juvenile books, in small square 12mo. ; and, as far as I can remember, in monthly numbers illustrated