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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ s. ix. APRIL 19, 1902.

surely it is the sound that is the really valu- able thing to get at ; for, after all, letters are to language only what coin-metal -is to "goods" (and the "words" are the coinage), the " medium of exchange." That coinage is very apt to get much worn, battered, and defaced in long usage, and apparently sorlt is a specimen. W. H. E.

"RATHER" (9 th S. ix. 7, 137, 275).-At the last reference I find that, in discussing rathe, it is said that "ready is a near relation." This remark would never have been made if any reasonable dictionary had been con- sulted ; and it is hard that we should have such impossible crudities submitted to us. The A.-S. form of rathe begins with hr ; but the A.-S. form of ready begins with r. Every beginner in Anglo-Saxon knows that words commencing with hr are distinct from those that commence with r. Hence the absurdity of the remark is obvious. Q. E. D.

PARENTAGE OF C.ESAR BORGIA (9 th S. viii. 524 ; ix. 176, 232). I confess that I wrote the major part of 'Chronicles of the House of Borgia *: but I will not pretend to provide my readers with ability to read intelligently. 1 ao not seek to convert any one. I merely express my proper opinion. In the present case I myself believe Varillas. Some of my grounds for believing him are stated in the book. MR. DAWES does not believe, does not want to believe him. He asserts that Creighton, Symonds, Gregorovius, Roscoe, Machiavelli, give Varillas the lie. I admit it. But does MR. DAWES dare to claim in- fallibilityan infallibility more ample than that of the Holiness of the Pope of Rome for Creighton, who mistook a draught of blood for transfusion ; for Symonds, who sacrificed fact to fiction in re Xystus P.M

II. and Cardinal Sclafenati ; for Gregoro- vius, who squared the circle in re Pintor- ricchio's Madonna of the Borgia Tower : for Koscoe, who is "a back number"; or for Machiavelli, who wrote two self- contradictory accounts of the colpo di stato of Sinigaglia ? 1 hardly think it.

"On roiavra O.VTOIS TO. oWa, ota o.v VTTO-

attack Varillas (or me). I, on the contrary, hnd Varillas very credible. An habitual har occasionally errs into truth. I think that Varillas has so erred in the present case It w human to err, as the copybooks 'say. Varillas was human. Ergo: And as Creighton Symonds, Gregorovius, Roscoe, MacHiavelh also were human, MR. DAWES mi$ht as well fit his champion quincunx with a similar simple syllogism.
 * TTir -?i DAWES a PP ears to be anxious to

These remarks are intended, not as a de- fence of * Chronicles of the House of Borgia,' a work which I despise, but as an intimation to MR. DAWES that, though he persist in thrumming his stringed instrument never so wisely, I decline to argue with one who can- not even cite his Webster accurately in re my deliberately selected word " gallimaufry." I am not a Freemason, but a Roman Catholic. 8' ap

FREDERICK BARON CORVO.

ARMS OF DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY (9 th S. ix. 9, 118, 272). The coats of arms borne on the copper coinage of the Dutch current in Ceylon were those of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Guelderland, and Utrecht. On the other side is the monogram of the company.

The carving referred to by L. L. K. is over the gateway of the old fort at Galle. He is correct in supposing that it is surmounted by a cock as a crest. This device is intended to represent the town of Galle an idea which the Dutch seem to have taken over from the Portuguese, who adopted that bird as the badge of the town, either from a notion that the name Galle had something to do with the Latin for a cock or as a punning allusion to that word. The Galle Club has recently adopted the same device for its note-paper, at the suggestion of a member with historical tastes.

I see that my account of the origin of the monogram reads as if the relative dimensions of the letters were fixed by the resolution of the company referred to therein. This I did not intend. I merely meant to describe the form of the monogram usually found. The colours, however, were prescribed.

J. P. LEWIS.

SWIFT'S VISITS TO ENGLAND: THE "FouR CROSSES" INN (9 th S. ix. 186). The lines re- lating the story of Swift's witty couplet were sent to the Gentleman's Magazine by Mr. Thomas Deacon, a native of Willoughby. They appeared in the issue for November, 1819. Mr. Deacon also wrote a * History of Willoughby,' which was published in 1828, and therein a portion of his poem was re- printed. I have seen it stated that Mr. Wil- liam Cropper, father of the gentleman to whom MR. HARPER refers, was at one time landlord of the ** Four Crosses " at Willoughby.

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

EAST INDIA BADGE (9 th S. ix. 67, 155). This badge is the commercial or merchant's mark adopted by the United Company of Merchants