Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/376

 310 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9"'S~ VI-OUI'-20, 1900- of the second, impaling three lions rampant. I am unable to give the colour of the ions, as they are not heraldically delineated b the engraver, being merely naturally shadedl For the same reason I can only cone ude that the fields on the shield are argent, as they are left quite plain. I have reason to thin that the salver belonged at the date iven above to a. lady named Oates, but I am unable to identi y the arms from Papworth. _ D. K. T. Tm: Anna LE LOUTRE.-111 the Library Journal, August, p. 13, I read the following passage :- “ John Bushell was King’s Printer in Nova Scotia as early as 1752. In 1756 we find his name adixed to a proclamation offering 251. for every Micmac scalp. Settlers on the outskirts of Halifax had been losing scalps; for the Micmacs made their collection a labour of love, and the Abbé le Loutre, who controlled the Micmacs, could buy eighteen British scalps for onlyll 800 livres. Naturally, they had to bid higher at alifax.” Where can I find an account of the Abbé le Loutre? G. W. gzglizs. “QUARTER” OF CORN. (9”‘ S. v. 456 ; vi. 32, 253.) AN inquiry in ‘N. & Q.,’ and an ingenious conjectural reply by a earned scholar four thousand miles away, seems a roundabout way of getting information which might be obtained at once from an elementary text-book of commercial arithmetic, or a national schoolboy’s card of Weights and Measures. Reference to such an autho- rity will show that in every table of measure or weight a §uarter is the quarter of the next higher enomination, and that this quarter tends itself to become a denomina- tion or unit when the next higher is so large a multiple of the next lower that some inter- mediate unit becomes a convenience. In the imperial measure of capacity the largest unit recognized by English law is the Chal- dron of 32 bushe s. 'l is is rather a lar e order in many commodities, and consequently its quarter, containing18 bushels, becomes itsel a unit, under t e name of Quarter. So in avoirdugois weight a Quarter is the quarter of the undredweight of 112 pounds ° in cloth measure, a Quarter is the quarter of the standard Yard of 36 inches (the Foot not being used in cloth measure) ; and in the measure of capacity again, a Quart is the quarter of a Gal on of 8 pints. Amon old measures now abolished or locally useg there are, or have been, other Quarters ; thus, in the retail trade of some commodities in which the pound is the ordinary unit, “a quarter ” in some places means “a qluartql' of a pound,” the le 1 term for w Ich IS 4 ounces. In the Cgiited States also “a quarter” appears to be current for a quarter of a dollar, or 25 cents. But the only Quarters legally recognized as units afppear to be the quarter of the chaldron, o the hundred- weight, and of the yard. That the quarter of the chaldron is more convenient ID the corn trade than the larger measure 18 proved by the fact that the inquirer asked many Eeople in this trade who knew the Quarter, ut had evidently never heard of the Chal- dron, which is, indeed, now confined to bulkier commodities, such as coal and lime; just as ints and quarts, though units of the same table of measure. are now confined less bulky commodities than corn. The origin of the chaldron, and the question whether In any of its former values, as apslied to any particular commodity, it coinci ed with, or approximated to, the weight of a ton, 1s,_no doubt, of interest; but It has no bearing on the simple question why the quarter of _a chaldron is called a Quarter viz., that a un1t between 1 bushel and 32 bushels was, for certain commodities, found to be convenient, and accordingly established itself in use. J. A. H. MURRAY. Oxford. Lone ADMINISTRATION (9*** S. vi. 245).-If the Yorkshire Post is no better informed as to Cabinet dissensions than it is as to the length of time during which Prime Ministers have held office, its statements should be received with caution. We are told that “ Lord Salis- bury has now been Prime Minister longer than any other statesman since the passing of the Reform Bill.” As a matter of fact, Mr. G1adstone’s four administrations covered a eriod of 12- years 141 days, and Lord Salis- Bury’s three administrations (reckoning to 22 August, the date of the article in the Yorkshire Post) 11 ears 293 days. It is unnecessary to give the details of t e calcula- tion, as the lfsigures are readily accessible in ‘Whitaker’s manack.’ Perhaps it may not be out of place here to call attention to an error which is found in all but a few newspapers. It appears to be assumed that when a Minister advises the Crown to dissolve Parliament, he goes out of oiiice to await the result. One meets constantly with expressions like “ the out- going Ministry,” and in one pager _I have seen a statement to the effect t at If Lord Salisbury secures a majority at the polls he