tion are rather pp. vi-468+13, the last being unnumbered, and consisting of twelve containing the index and one the errata. 2. There were two editions of Jardine's in 1829, that which I described (p. 242) being the later. Thanks to MR. JAMES DIXON I am able to give the following particulars of the earlier issue :1829. "The Natural History | of | Selborne. By the late | Rev. Gilbert White, A. M. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. With Additions | by Sir William Jardine, Bart. | Edinburgh: printed for Constable and Co. | and Hurst, Chance and Co. London. | 1829." | Six pages of Introduction. 330 pp. 6. The particulars of the 1836 issue of Browne's edition, called the "seventh," as given by FATHER FRANK (p. 338), are also new to me, but its existence was already indicated by my mentioning (p. 243) the "eighth." ALFRED NEWTON. Magdalene College, Cambridge. White, A. M., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. This is the printed title, which is preceded by an engraved title with the vignette "representing White seated in an arm-chair in his study. The well-known tortoise [Timothy] is on the floor." The same plate serves as frontispiece to the "new edition" of the same year. I confess I had not before seen that it referred to the subject, and even now I consider that the draughtsman's (D. O. Hill) design is not only fanciful, but incongruous and ridiculous. Both these editions formed vol. "xlv.," not "xiv." as stated (loc. cit.), of Constable's Mis-" carefully revised, corrected, and improved by the cellany. 3. I am glad to find that the opinion I had formed and expressed (loc. cit.) as to the woodcuts ascribed to Bewick in Mr. Harting's edit. of 1875 has proved true. Since I wrote, the Athenæum for April 21, 1877 (No. 2582, p. 519), contained a letter from Mr. R. Ward, in which he says, on authority which none can dispute, that "Bewick never illustrated the work in question." 4. J. W. is in error when he supposes (p. 296) that Blyth's edit. is that by Jardine of 1836, which I marked (p. 242) as not seen by me. This edit. of Blyth's (of which I am astonished that your correspondent thinks the cuts good) is duly entered by me (p. 264). Jardine's edit. of the same year I have still to see. But, by favour of MR. FREDERICK RULE, I have been allowed to see a copy of another issue of Blyth's edit., the particulars of which are as follows: 1858. The Natural History of Selborne. with its Antiquities, Naturalist's Calendar, &c. | By | the Rev. Gilbert White, A. M. | A New Edition, with notes by Edward Blyth. To which is added a Description of the Village and Neighbourhood, written on the spot for this Edition, by the late Robert Mudie. | Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, Edinburgh and New York. | MDCCCLVIII. This is to all appearance a stereotyped reissue of the Blyth of 1836, with a new title-page, &c., the omission of the former printer's name at the end, and the addition of the new printer's (Thomas Harrild) name, monogram, and address on the page following the title, as well as of double marginal lines round each page. 5. The edition of 1833 mentioned by MR. GANTILLON (p. 296) is evidently another addition to my list. REV. JOHN NORRIS (5th S. vi. 379, 413, 518; vii. 116, 377.)-Though the Collection of Miscellanies was first printed at Oxford in 1687, Norris had already published a volume of Poems and Discourses in 1684. Of the Collection there were five editions published during the life of the author; and in the advertisement to the fifth, authour," 8vo., London, 1710, pp. 322, he says:"I have endeavour'd to rectifie (this Juvenile Composition), leaving out what was Incorrigible, and making some Improvements up and down as Occasion offered: And tho' I cannot say it is now so Correct as if it were the present Production of my Pen, yet I think it is indifferently so. And accordingly this Edition is the Edition which I would Commend to Posterity, not owning the former any further than they agree with this...I design as I have opportunity to Revise my other Writings, and to Correct what is amiss in them." This Norris did not live to carry out. He died in "Rawlet's Remains lodge in this humble Cave," J. M. (ante, p. 377) = John March, the vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne when Rawlet was lecturer X. ¥. O. there. FREEMASONS AND BEKTASHGEES (5th S. vii. 323, 398, 435.)-DR. HYDE CLARKE says, "As acting Grand Master I was engaged with the late Hon. J. Porter Brown, author of the History of the Dervishes, in examining the alleged connexion with Freemasonry, and we came to the conclusion that there was no such connexion." This decision of DR. HYDE CLARKE may be right or may be wrong (I believe it to be wrong), but he gives the readers of "N. & Q." no means of forming an opinion themselves. He does not tell us what sects of dervishes were passed in review before himself and his colleague, how far they penetrated into the rules and practices of these sects, and what others there were which they had no opportunity of investigating. All this the readers of "N. & Q." are entitled to know before their acceptance of any theory can be demanded. There are many sects of dervishes, and these sects differ inter se. A lately published Blue Book may be referred to as to this fact. The Pall Mall Gazette has given a résumé of it. After speaking of the five principal divisions of dervishes, the reviewer says: "Of these sects the Bektashy (sic) is that which comprehends the greater number of the higher and better educated classes. Its members profess to be rationalists or freethinkers, and Mr. Wood (of Tunis) thinks that it is in consequence comparatively harmless." any of the older dictionaries, and will be searched for in vain in Todd's Johnson, in Richardson, and even in Wedgwood's Etymological Dictionary (1859). Latham, indeed, gives it in his large dictionary, but the only corroborative quotation he can adduce for it is one from The Recreations of a Country Parson. The word, I have reason to believe, was originally Scotch. "Cosiely" is found in Allan Ramsay, and "cozie" in Burns: "While some are cozie i' the neuk, To meet some day." In more recent Scotch literature the word is of The Holy Fair (Globe ed., p. 18). frequent occurrence, e.g. Christopher North speaks of a flower "fu' o' life in its cozy bield ahint the mossy stane" (Noctes Ambros., vol. ì. p. 299). "The inside [of the coach] was a cosey place, for I had baith a cod [= cushion] at my back and ane to sit on."S. R. Whitehead, Daft Davie, &c., p. 224. The other dervishes are mostly bigoted Moham-Now "cosie," as Jamieson notes, is evidently medans. H. C. C. only another form of the Scotch word "cosh," meaning snug, comfortable, pleasant. "Their bosoms made cosh and tidy" (Noctes Ambros., vol. i. p. 94). This latter word, I would suggest, may, like many other colloquial and familiar Scotch words, have been borrowed from the Gipsies. In their peculiar dialect coosh-to or coosh-ko is the ordinary term for "good" (Smart, Glossary, p. 26, Philolog. Soc. Transactions). Col. Harriot spells it kashto, kashko (Transactions of Royal Asiat. Soc., 1830, vol. ii. p. 547). Although the reply H. C. C. makes to my query is as wide of the mark as was his allusion to the fate of the Templars, it may perhaps be as well that I should point out to him that Jews are admitted into the legislatures, the armies and navies, and the legal and medical professions of Great Britain and other countries of Europe; and that, therefore, all those bodies of men-distinguished by intelligence and learning-are as nonChristian as the Freemasons. And really, unless The Gipsy dialect being, as every one knows, we are to revert to the barbarous state of society near akin to the Hindústáni, we at once recognize which existed in the dark ages, it is difficult to relations of "cosy," "cosh," or coosh in the Hinimagine how all those bodies could become Chris-dústáni words khush, pleasant, agreeable, happy, tian, according to the test H. C. C. applies to the Freemasons. On the supposed connexion between the Freemasons of England and the Bektashgees, DR. HYDE CLARKE speaks with an authority which few persons of ordinary intelligence will feel inclined to deny. Even if Freemasons were "adopted" by the Bektashgees, there remains to be shown that they were received into the sect because they were Freemasons, and not on other grounds. RALPH N. JAMES. Ashford, Kent. ORIGIN OF THE WORD "COSY " (5th S. vi. 467; vii. 37, 373.)—The communication (ante, p. 373) on the use of a "cosy" as a device to keep teapots warm reminds me that the word is one of those the etymology of which has never been traced with anything approaching to certainty. I think the account which I now propose to give of it will be considered more satisfactory than any hitherto suggested. In the first place, I would call attention to the fact that " cosy seems to have crept into general use in quite modern times, probably within the present century. It does not occur in content; khúshí, delight, pleasure; khúshí khushi, pleasantly, cheerfully; khushi-se, comfortably, cosily; khúsh-bash, one who lives pleasantly or at his ease in the Persian khwush, good, pleasant, agreeable, happy; khwushi, happiness, comfort: and in the Sanskrit kusala, right, good, happy, well. All these are perhaps connected with the root kus, to embrace. Khush has passed into Anglo-Indian speech in the form of coosh. "I hope you are all well and coosh," wrote home a Bombay Grenadier to an old coosh-a Persian word for comfortable," says Sir brother officer of my acquaintance. "Now I am Charles Napier in his Journal (Quarterly Review, No. 208, p. 493). How closely this coosh corresponds both in form and usage to the Gipsy coosh, Scot. cosh, and "cosie," I need not point out. Lower Norwood, S.E. A. SMYTHE PALMER. completeness; I just forward the information that I possess at the moment, and I shall always be grateful to those who will kindly make up for my own deficiencies. Another time I hope to give a short supplement to BIB. CUR.'s very interesting list of books on the History of Fiction. Sm. Advineaux (les) amoureux. (Colard Mansion, about 1477.) Fol. goth. 26 leaves. "Pour par chevaliers et escuiers entretenir dames et damoiselles en gracieuses demandes et reponses." The first part of this curious book was several times reprinted with the title, "Demandes (les) damour, avecques les reponses." 4to. goth., no place nor date; 4to. goth., M. Le Noir (Paris, about 1520); sm. 8vo. goth. (Lyon, about 1530); sm. 8vo. goth., Paris, no date; sm. 8vo. goth., Rouen, Jehan Burges le jeune, no date. It is attributed to Alain Chartier, and is to be found also in "Demandes joyeuses ...Paris, Fleury Bourriquant" (about 1620). 16mo. Azais (G.). Les troubadours de Béziers. Béziers, 1869. 8vo. Baret (Eng.). Les troubadours et leur influence sur la littérature du midi de l'Europe. Paris, 1867. 8vo. Châteauneuf (Benoiston de). Essai sur la poésie et les poetes français, aux xii, xiii, et xive siècles. Paris, 1815. 8vo. Livre (le) des cent ballades, contenant des conseils à un chevalier pour aimer loialement, et les réponses aux ballades, publiés par le marquis de Queux Saint-Hilaire. Paris, 1868-74. 2 vols. 8vo. Livret contenant plusieurs honnestes demandes et responses sur le fait et mestiers d'amours, et touchant le fait des dames. No place nor date. Fol. goth. Martial d'Auvergne. Droictz nouveaux publiez de par messieurs les senateurs du temple de Cupido, sur l'estat et police d'amour, pour avoir entendu le différent de plusieurs amoureux et amoureuses. No place nor date. Sm. 8vo., black letters, woodcuts. (About 1540.) Also Paris, P. Sergent, 1541, sm. 8vo., black letters. Martial d'Auvergne. Les declamations, procedures et arrests d'amour, nouvellement donnez en la court et parquet de Cupidon, avec l'ordonnance sur le fait des masques. Paris, Roffet et Le Clerc, 1545. Sm. 8vo. Also Paris, N. Chrestien, 1555, 16mo., woodcuts. Lyons, Rigaud, 1581, 16mo. An ed., less complete, was published at Rouen by Jacq. Besognes, 1627, with the title "Plaidoyers et arrets d'amour." 12mo. I must also mention the ed. of "Les arrêts d'amour, avec l'amant rendu cordelier à l'observance d'amour, accompagnés des commentaires de Benoît de Court; éd. augmentée de notes et d'un glossaire" (by Lenglet du Fresnoy). Amsterdam or Paris, 1731. 2 vols. 12mo. Meyer (P.). Les derniers troubadours de la Provence, d'après le Chansonnier donné à la Bibliothèque impériale, par M. Ch. Giraud. Paris, 1871. 8vo. Meyer (P.). Le salut d'amour dans les littératures provençale et française; mémoire suivi de huit saluts inédits. Paris, 1867. 8vo. Observations sur les troubadours, par l'Editeur des Fabliaux. Paris, 1781. 8vo. Paris, Didot, 1817. 8vo. Raynouard. Des troubadours et des cours d'amour. Reiffenberg (Baron de). Notice sur les cours d'amour en Belgique. No place nor date. 8vo. Rolland (Président). Recherches sur les prérogatives des dames chez les Gaulois, sur les cours d'amour, &c. Paris, 1787. 12mo. Roquefort Flaméricourt (J. B. B. de). De l'état de la poésie française dans les xii et xiii siècles. Paris, Fournier, 1815, 8vo. Also Audin, 1821. 173, 182, 254, 276.] STEPMOTHERS (5th S. vii. 250, 394.) --Another instance may be given to prove that this prejudice is an ancient one. It is a Greek epigram, commonly assigned to Callimachus, but by Jacobs to The following translation (not very literal, but a an uncertain author (Jacobs, iv. 210, ccccxxxii.). fair representation of the original) was made in the last century by John Duncombe: "A youth, who thought his father's wife "Several versions of this story are current in Hesse and Zwehrn, and it is one of the most universal currency. We understand that it is popular among the Welsh, as it is also among the Poles; and Schottky found it among (a satire of the sixteenth century), speaks of the tale of the Servian fables. Rollenhagen, in his Froschmüuseler the despised Aschen-pössel; and Luther illustrates from it the subjection of Abel to his brother Cain. MM. Grimm trace out several other proverbial allusions even in Scandinavian traditions. And lastly, the story is in the Neapolitan Pentamerone, under the title of Cennerentola. An ancient Danish ballad has the incident of child ill used by the stepmother, and ministering thence the mother hearing from her grave the sorrows of her to its relief. The slipper of Cinderella finds a parallel, though somewhat sobered, in the history of the celebrated Rhodope,' so says the editor of the new edition of Warton, vol. i. p. 86." The popularity of the story of Cinderella in this country is sufficient evidence of the hold which the prejudice has taken upon the people of England. H. P. D. The one word, nature, suggested by ARGENT, is doubtless a sufficient reply to the query as to the origin of this prejudice. But Greek and Roman stepmothers seem to have been specially odious; hence the common Virgilian epithets sava, injusta, mala. So Tacitus speaks of "novercales stimuli” and "novercalia odia," i.e. "hostile" or maligIn Horace, Epodes, v. 9, the boy asks Canidia, Quid ut noverca me intueris?" and there was a proverb "apud novercam queri” of nant." fruitless complaints. Hesiod, Works and Days, 1. 823, speaks of lucky and unlucky days as unty and unтpvià respectively. Eschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 727, calls the dangerous coast of Salmydessus, on the Euxine, a very "stepmother to ships," μητρvià vεov. Euripides has a celebrated passage on the subject in his Alcestis, 11. 305, foll., where the dying Alcestis entreats Admetus "not to marry a stepmother over the heads of the children. For a stepmother is an enemy to the children by a former marriage, in no way gentler than a viper," . ἐχθρὰ γὰρ ἡ ἐπιοῦσα μητρυιὰ τέκνοις τοῖς πρόσθ', ἐχίδνης οὐδὲν ἠπιωτέρα. And in the Ion he says, φθονείν γάρ φασι μητρυιὰν τέκνοις. Callimachus has an epigram to the effect that a youth was killed by the fall of a monumental pillar upon his stepmother's tomb, when he went to put a garland on it, a sign that her malignant nature was not improved even after death. The original is as follows: Στήλην μητρικής, μακρὰν λίθον, ἔστεφε κούρος, Sederit et nostro cauta noverca toro, -- C. S. JERRAM. SOME POSSIBLE SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT SHAKSPEARE AND HIS FAMILY (5th S. vii. 287, 333.)-The bound volume of Malone's correspondence with Bishop Percy, of Dromore, came into the possession of the Bodleian Library in 1851, having been purchased at the sale, by Messrs. Sotheby & Wilkinson, "of the property of an eminent collector," for 12l. 10s. It is in quarto size, but whether Sir James Prior, in his Life of Edmond Malone, published some twenty years ago, made any use of it, I am unable to say. Most likely, on the occasion of Malone's visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, alluded to in his letter printed ante, p. 333, he gave his orders for the painting in white of the bust of Shakspeare and the effigy of John à Combe, in the chancel of Trinity Church, for 1793 is the date of the perpetration of that act of vandalism. They were faithfully carried out, it is almost needless to observe, and the caustic epigram written in consequence :— "Stranger to whom this monument is shown, Whose meddling zeal his barbarous taste displays, William Howitt, in his Visits to Remarkable Places, originally published in 1839, gives an interesting account of a visit paid by him to Stratford-upon-Avon, and mentions his having detected a descendant of Shakspeare's sister among the boys of the National School there, owing to his strong likeness to the pictures and bust of the great dramatic bard. The boy was named William Shakspeare Smith, and was the seventh in descent from Shakspeare's sister, Joan Hart (vol. i. p. 98, 3rd edit.). Mr. Howitt again refers to this boy in his Homes and Haunts of the British Poets, which was published some years subsequently to the issuing of the first-named book, and alludes to the ill success which had attended his efforts in endeavouring to enlist the sympathies of influential people in favour of the boy. He also expresses himself very strongly in the same work in regard to the neglect which was shown by the English nation at large towards the descendants of Shakspeare. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. DOLBEN IN CHRIST CHURCH HALL (5u S. vii. 388.) -In the interesting query whether this fine picture has been engraved or photographed, it is stated that Fell and Dolben, in their early days, fought bravely for Charles I. It may be mentioned that Allestree, afterwards Provost of Eton, also bore arms for his majesty King Charles I. under Sir John Byron. The Allestrees were a good Derbyshire family who came into Shropshire, and Richard Allestree was born about 1621 at Uppington, in Shropshire. His sister Rachel Allestree married John Stanier, of Uppington, descended from the ancient family of Stonyers, of Hurst, Staffordshire. Her great-grandson Richard Stanier was High Sheriff of the county of Salop in 1740. I have a folio volume of Dr. Allestree's forty sermons preached before the king, in which there is an excellent engraving of the Provost of Eton. After the battle of Worcester, Dr. Allestree, who was chaplain to Francis Newport, afterwards Lord Newport, of High Ercal, attended the king at Rouen, in Normandy, and took from thence despatches to England, when be afterwards joined his friends Dolben and Fell, who were living privately at Oxford, and performing the offices of the Church of England to the royal party there. Dr. Allestree might, it is said, have been a bishop as well as his friends Dolben and Fell, but he refused the honour. The only engraving I have been able to meet with shall be glad if the query by the author of the of an engraving of the picture by Sir Peter Lely. Life of Bishop Percy should lead to the discovery Dr. Allestree died Jan. 28, 1680, and was buried in Eton College Chapel. Wood's Athen. Oxon. and the Magna Britannia give some account of this eminent divine. HUBERT SMITH. THE PORTRAITS OF ALLESTREE, FELL, AND is similar to the one in his folio of sermons. I The first attempts at the class of insurance he names were during the South Sea period; see Lawson's "List of the Bubbles of 1721” (Hist. of Banking, p. 478), where he will find 22. Wild's Insurance against Housebreakers. 23. Wild's Insurance against Highwaymen. From time to time since similar schemes have been projected, the latest being a bona fide insurance company against burglary and theft founded in New York during the present year. In my collection of prospectuses I have several of the same class of modern date. Will DR. CLARKE lend me the prospectus he refers to? Mine are entirely at his service. I may state that my appeal in your pages a few weeks since has produced some very useful results. I intend to bring the subject of special collections of books before the Conference of Librarians to be held in London early in October of the present year. CORNELIUS WALFORD. Belsize Park Gardens, N. W. THOMAS STERNHOLD (5th S. vii. 268, 396.)— There is no evidence that I am aware of to connect Thomas Sternhold with the parish of Awre, nor, indeed, with the county of Gloucester. It is likely that the author of the Biog. Dict. cited by MR. PRIDEAUX COURTNEY, and writers in other works of the same class, are accurate in stating that he was born in Hampshire, for he died seized of lands in Slacksted, in that county. On July 2, 1544, King Henry VIII. granted to his beloved servant, Thomas Sternold, Gent., upon the payment of 1007. into the Court of Augmentation, the house and site of the Priory of Bodmin, dissolved, and certain meadows and lands thereto pertaining, to hold the same in capite by the fortieth part of one knight's fee (Originalia, 36 Hen. VIII. Part 9, m. 81). Sternhold died in 1549, as stated by MR. HEANE, and in the inquisition taken thereupon the jury found that the said Thomas Sternhold before his death was seized of the site, without a house, of the late Priory of Bodmin, and of lands at Slackested, in co. Southampton; that he died on August 23, 1549, and that Judith and Philipp to Sternhold were his daughters and nearest heirs; that Judith was of the age of three years and more, and that Philipp was of the age of three and a quarter (sic) and more. In his will, set out in the inquisition, and dated two days before his death, he describes himself as 66 Groom of the Robes to the King's Majesty." He gives his lands in the village of Slackestead, in co. Southampton, and his lands in the parish of Bodmin, co. Cornwall, and elsewhere, valued at 167. per annum, to his wife Agnes for her life, with remainder to his daughters, and he charges his wife to see that his daughters are brought up "virtuously in knowledge and bearing, and likewise to present them to honest marriages." Judith Sternhold, being of full age, was granted, on March 8, 1563/4, livery of seizin of her moiety of the lands, as was Philipp on May 13 following (Fine Rolls, 6 Eliz.). Before Michaelmas, 1568, both were married: Judith to Nicholas Pescodd, of Eastmeane, co. Southampton, and Philipp to William Tydderly, of Knoyle, co. Wilts. I have no doubt that Sternhold died at Slackested, but I do not know in what parish that place is situate. JOHN MACLEAN. Bicknor Court, Coleford, Glouc. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS (5th S. vi. 483, 544; vii. 40, 153, 294, 437.)-DR. HYDE CLARKE is quite correct in saying that I did not include in my enumeration of insurance subjects any reference to the schemes against robbers and burglars; but when I remind him that the principle of insurance has been extended to something like eighty different kinds of contingencies, he will readily see that I could not enumerate them all, although I am diligently collecting facts and documents regarding them. embody the information asked for by B. at the BYRON (5th S. iii. 120.)-The following appears above reference : Major of Lord Byron's Brigade, Commanding Officer of "Byron, Lord, Last Days of. By William Parry, Artillery, and Engineer in the Service of the Greeks, with his Lordship's Opinions on various Subjects, particularly on the State and Prospects of Greece. With Fine Hand-Coloured Views by R. Seymour. Condition. 8vo. cloth," &c.-Vide Book Mart, May 19, 1877. 80, Litchfield Street, Gateshead. Fine JOHN CRAGGS. PRESTON BISSETT, BUCKS (5th S. vii. 373.)— May I inform MR. PARKIN that Preston Bissett, of which place he mentions that John de la Row was instituted rector on Oct. 4, 1462, is not in Berks, but in Buckinghamshire, about four miles from Buckingham, and rather less than that from the Claydon station on the L. & N. W. R.? The church is small and ancient, and has recently been carefully restored. Being personally interested in the place, I shall be glad of any other archæological information your correspondent can kindly afford me. ROYSSE. THE SCRIPTURES "PART AND PARCEL OF THE LAW OF ENGLAND" (5th S. vii. 349.)—I transcribe the dictum of Prisot C. J., in the original law French "Prisot. A tiels leis que ils de Saint Eglise ont en ancien scripture, covient à nous a doner credence; car Et auzy, Sir, nous sumus obliges de conustre lour Ley de ceo Common Ley sur quel touts man's Leis sont fondes. Saint Egl': et semblablement ils sont obliges de conustre nostre Ley." Not being much of a "black-letter" lawyer, I translate with fear and trembling as follows: "Prisot. To such laws as they of Holy Church have in ancient writings it becomes us to pay respect; for |
